Simultaneous observation of milk coagulation by echography, ultrasonic propagation and thermography

A cell has been developed to perform the simultaneous observation of milk coagulation by echography, local thermography and ultrasonic propagation. The chamber has five 4 MHz transducers and four thermocouples distributed along the chamber. At the upper part, an acoustic window permits the coupling of a 2.5 MHz phase array transducer linked to an echograph. The entire chamber is thermostatized at 35.00°C into a water tank. Automatic recording of all the temperature and acoustic channels is made with typical lab instrumentation. The images are recorded in videotape to be post-processed. The results obtained are potentially useful for the dairy industry and also to understand the physicochemical process occurring during the milk gelation.