JPS6235027B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a hydrostatic vacuum cooling device, and particularly to a hydrostatic vacuum cooling device suitable for cooling fruits and vegetables such as root vegetables and fruits, which have hard skins and insufficient evaporation of internal moisture. .

Vacuum cooling of leafy vegetables has been widely practiced. After storing the object to be cooled in a sealable vacuum container, use a vacuum pump to reduce the pressure in the vacuum container to an absolute pressure of 10
mm of mercury or less. Then, the water contained in the leafy vegetables evaporates at low temperatures, and the leafy vegetables themselves cool down to 10%.
Cools to the center in ~15 minutes.

However, since the skin of root vegetables such as radish is hard, the moisture cannot be evaporated sufficiently even if the above method is used, so the vacuum cooling method has been considered inappropriate. Therefore, the water-added vacuum cooling method has been improved to vacuum-cool these root vegetables.
In this method, a water tank, a pump, and a spray pipe are arranged in a vacuum container, and water is sprayed onto the object to be cooled from the spray pipe to wet the surface of the object while vacuum cooling is performed.

However, the conventional water-addition type vacuum cooling method has a drawback that if the water in the water tank becomes dirty, pathogenic bacteria and the like will adhere to the entire object to be cooled and contaminate the fruits and vegetables, leading to spoilage and deterioration of the quality of the fruits and vegetables. In addition, if the object to be cooled is packed in a cardboard box, it will not be exposed to water, so the object to be cooled must be replaced in a special box, which has the drawback of requiring more labor and causing more damage to the quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, an object of the present invention is to provide a hydrostatic vacuum cooling device that is easy to handle, does not require manual labor, and does not cause quality deterioration.

The above object of the present invention is to place a container filled with water and air on top of the object to be cooled packed in a cardboard box, and then reduce the pressure so that the air inside the container expands and pushes out the water. This is achieved by moistening the surface of the object to be cooled with water, thereby humidifying the object while it is still inside each individual cardboard box.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a water-addition type vacuum cooling device according to the present invention.

The vacuum chamber 12 has a secret door 1 through which objects to be cooled are taken in and out.
4 and an exhaust pipe 16 for evacuating the inside. A vacuum pump 20 is connected to the exhaust pipe 16 via a cold trap 18. The cold trap 18 is provided with a cooling pipe 22 connected to a refrigeration device (not shown). The object to be cooled 26 packed into the box 24 by opening and closing the secret door 14
is carried into the vacuum container 12. A ventilation hole 27 is opened in the box 24, and a water container 28, which is a feature of this embodiment, is placed on the top of the box.

Figure 2 shows the box 2 for storing objects to be cooled shown in Figure 1.
4, which shows the top lid open. A ventilation hole 27 is opened in the box 24, and the material of the box 24 is ordinary corrugated paper. This box 2
After the object 26 to be cooled is loaded onto the container 4 and the water container 28 is placed on top of the object 26, the upper lid is closed and the object is housed in the vacuum chamber 12 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the external appearance of the water container 28, in which a plurality of outflow portions 30 are attached radially from the bottom of a flat cylindrical container 29.

Figure 4 A and B are water containers 28 shown in Figure 3.
2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an example of the present invention. In FIG. A, an octopus-shaped outflow pipe 30 is connected to the bottom of the container 29, and a water spout 32 is opened at the tip. Air 34 is contained in the upper part of this water container 28, and water 36 is contained below. Water 36 does not flow out from the water spout 32 under normal atmospheric pressure.

Figure B has a configuration in which a plurality of outflow pipes 30 are directly connected radially to the lower outer peripheral surface of the container 29, and has the same function as that shown in Figure A.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. Water 36 and air 34 are placed in the water container 28 and placed on the object 26 to be cooled as shown in FIG. At this time, the outflow portion 30 is cut or bent to match the box 24. For this reason, the outflow pipe 30 is preferably a soft polyethylene pipe with a small diameter. Further, the water container 28 is suitably made of hard vinyl chloride. As mentioned above, under atmospheric pressure, the water container 28
The water 36 inside does not flow out to the outside.

After the box 24 with the water container 28 placed on the object to be cooled 26 is housed in the vacuum chamber 12 shown in FIG. 1, the pressure inside the vacuum chamber 12 is reduced by the vacuum pump 20. As a result, the air pressure around the water container 28 decreases, causing the air 34 in the water container 28, which is sealed at atmospheric pressure, to drop.
expands and passes the water 36 through the outflow pipe 30 to the water spout 32
Let it flow out. At this time, if the inner diameter of the outflow pipe 30 is made small, the outflow of water will be suppressed by the resistance and the outflow of water will continue for a long time. In this way, the object to be cooled 26 is sprinkled with water, and this water evaporates at a low temperature, so that even if the object to be cooled 26 has a hard skin, such as root vegetables or fruits, the surface of the object is self-cooled. It will be done. Note that if a sterilizing agent (such as ethyl alcohol), a fungicide, or the like is added to the water 36, the contamination of the object to be cooled 26 can be more effectively prevented.

According to this embodiment, it is possible to place the water container 28 on top of the object to be cooled 26 loaded in an ordinary box 24, then store the box 24 in the vacuum chamber 12, and sprinkle water on the object to be cooled. Therefore, there is no need to take out the object 26 to be cooled from the box 24, so there is an effect of humidifying the object 26 to be cooled without requiring human labor and without damaging the product. Also,
Since an independent water container 28 is placed in each of the boxes 24 for humidification, the entire object to be cooled is prevented from being contaminated by water stains, and the quality of the object to be cooled 26 is prevented from deteriorating. . Furthermore, there is no need to install a water tank, a pump, a spray pipe, etc. in the vacuum container, and the object to be cooled 26 can be humidified simply by placing the water container 28 on top of the object to be cooled, making handling easier. It is easy and has the effect of reducing cooling costs.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the water container, in which a stopper 40 is attached to the top of the pot-shaped container 38,
An outflow pipe 42 having a T-shaped cross section is inserted into the container 38 through the stopper 40.
Air 44 is placed in the upper part of the container 38, and water 46 is placed in the lower part. Water container 38 like this
is placed on top of the object to be cooled and the surrounding area is depressurized,
Similarly to the above, the air 44 expands and pushes out the water 46, and the water 46 flows out from the sprinkling port 48 of the outflow pipe 42.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing still another embodiment of the water container. Air 52 is stored in the upper part of the airtight lid 50, water 54 is stored in the lower part, and the bottom part is covered with a semipermeable membrane 56 to seal it. The semipermeable membrane 56 is, for example, a normal semipermeable membrane made of cellulose acetate.

When the water container of this example is placed on top of the object to be cooled and the surrounding pressure is reduced, the air enclosed at atmospheric pressure 5
2 expands and forces water 54 towards the semipermeable membrane. Therefore, water 54 leaks out through the semipermeable membrane.

This embodiment also has the same effect as the previous embodiment, but in particular, since the water 54 oozes out over the entire surface of the semipermeable membrane 56, it has the effect of uniformly sprinkling water onto the object to be cooled. This has the effect of making it easier.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, by placing a water container containing water and air on top of the object to be cooled, water is added that is easy to handle, does not require manpower, and does not cause quality deterioration. A vacuum cooling device can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a water-addition type vacuum cooling device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the box shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a water container shown in Fig. 1. 4A and B are vertical sectional views showing an example of the water container shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the water container, and FIG. It is a sectional view showing still another example of a container. 12... Vacuum chamber, 16... Discharge pipe, 18... Vacuum pump, 24... Box, 26... Cooled object, 28... Water container, 29, 38... Container, 30, 42... Outflow pipe, 5
0...Airtight lid, 56...Semipermeable membrane.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum system in which an object to be cooled is housed in a sealable container, and the inside of this container is depressurized by a vacuum pump, whereby water is evaporated from the object at a low temperature and the object is self-cooled. In a cooling device, a water container is provided that is filled with water and air, has an outflow portion formed on the water side, and encloses the air while being blocked from the outflow portion by the water, and the water container is connected to the object to be cooled. A water-addition type vacuum cooling device characterized by being placed on top. 2. The water-containing vacuum cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the water container has a structure in which a plurality of outflow pipes are radially connected to the bottom of a cylindrical closed container. 3. The water-adding type vacuum cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the water container has an open bottom surface covered with a semi-permeable membrane to seal the water container.