JP2000041476A - Air distribution control in green tea-leaf processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air distribution controlling method capable of setting the strength of the blast according to the height of the piled green tea-leaf by grasping the height of the piled green tea-leaf of each sectional block. SOLUTION: This air distribution controlling method sets the amount of the air blast; the strength of air blast of the blower 18 as to nearly proportional to the detected height of the piled green tea-leaf (A) by detecting the height of the green tea-leaf piled on every previously set sectional block in the green tea-leaf containing apparatus 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a management device for temporarily stocking fresh tea leaves plucked in a tea plantation in a tea plant and supplying an appropriate amount of fresh tea leaves to the next steaming step. The present invention relates to a novel air blowing control method in which the air blowing amount can be set according to the stacked height of fresh tea leaves.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Raw tea leaves plucked in a tea garden are usually carried into a tea factory, then once put into a raw tea leaf container device or the like for quality retention, and then stored in appropriate quantities according to the processing conditions of the next process. Supplied. This raw tea leaf container device,
In general, a side plate is set up from the side end of the conveyor, and the raw tea leaves are stored here, and the lower part of the conveyor is provided with a blower arranged in each of a plurality of sections, thereby blowing the raw tea leaves being stored. , Maintaining freshness. Here, although the blowing time to the raw tea leaves can be set as appropriate by a timer or the like, the blowing time and the stop time can be appropriately set, but the blowing amount of the blowing device, that is, the blowing intensity itself, assumes that the conventional raw tea leaves are stacked up to the full container. , Was fixed in this state.

However, in reality, depending on the variety, rank (grade, quality), moisture content, and the like of the raw tea leaves, for example, high-grade ones are piled low, and relatively low-grade ones are piled high up to the full container. In some cases, the stacking height is intentionally made different, and for fresh tea leaves stacked low, the air blowing is too strong, causing wilting, overdrying, and the quality may be reduced.

[0004]

[Technical Problems Attempted to Be Developed] The present invention has been made in view of such a background. The stacking height of fresh tea leaves is grasped for each block, and the blowing intensity is determined according to the height. This is an attempt to develop a new ventilation control method that can set the air flow.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling air blowing in a fresh tea leaf management step, wherein fresh tea leaves plucked in a tea plantation are carried into a tea factory, and once put and stored in a fresh tea leaf container device. When managing tea leaves, in the method of blowing air from below the raw tea leaf container device by a blowing device to maintain the freshness of the raw tea leaves during storage, the blowing amount of the blowing device, i.e., the blowing intensity, the raw tea leaf container device It is characterized in that it is set according to the stacking height of stored fresh tea leaves. According to the invention,
Even if the stacking height of green tea leaves is different in one green tea container device, the blowing intensity can be set according to the height,
For example, withering of fresh tea leaves piled low can be prevented.
Further, since the freshness of the raw tea leaves can be maintained, the adjustment of the next step is also facilitated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method for controlling air blowing in the fresh tea leaf management step, in addition to the requirement described in the first aspect, the air blowing intensity is set so as to be substantially proportional to the stacked height of the green tea leaves. It is characterized by the following. According to the present invention, it is possible to more accurately set the amount of air to be blown in accordance with the stacking height of fresh tea leaves.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the requirement of the first or second aspect, the stacking height of the fresh tea leaves is preliminarily partitioned in a fresh tea leaf container device. It is characterized by being detected for each block. According to the present invention, since one blower is normally provided in one partition block, the stacking height is detected for each blowing range of one blower, and setting and blowing can be performed more easily.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiments. In the description, the fresh tea leaf management device M that implements the present invention will be described first, and then the air blowing control method of the present invention will be described while describing the operation mode of this device. The raw tea leaf management device M can be roughly divided into
As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus comprises a plurality of raw tea leaf container devices 1 and a raw tea leaf feeding device 2 provided above the device, and furthermore, a feeding height of raw tea leaves A for setting a blowing intensity. That is, it is provided with a stacked height detecting device 3 for detecting the stacked height. Then, each fresh tea leaf container device 1 is provided with a scraping device 4 for scraping and removing the fresh tea leaves A stacked on the transport end end. As an example, the raw tea leaf A is loosened by a rotating scraping rod or the like, and is dropped into a take-out conveyor 5 disposed below the raw tea leaf A. Further, a supply conveyor 6 for supplying the raw tea leaves A carried in from the tea plantation to the container is provided for the raw tea leaf input device 2, and a relay conveyor 7 is provided between the supply conveyor 6 and the raw tea leaf input device 2.
And a control device 8 for setting the blowing intensity of the blowing device 18 based on the data detected by the stacked height detecting device 3. Hereinafter, each component will be described.

First, the raw tea leaf container device 1 will be described. The fresh tea leaf container device 1 temporarily stores fresh tea leaves A while keeping the freshness of the fresh tea leaves A, and supplies an appropriate amount of the fresh tea leaves A to a steaming step as a next step.
As shown in FIG. 1, four raw tea leaf container devices 1 are combined in parallel. Each of the fresh tea leaf container devices 1 is provided with a conveyor 1 for transporting the inputted fresh tea leaves A.
0, and is laid in a horizontal direction over a length of about several meters to about several tens of meters, and takes a form in which the tip of the take-out conveyor 5 is slightly raised. Of course, an appropriate one such as a flat one having a certain level as a whole, or a one slightly inclined in a direction of ascending or descending can be applied. From the side edge of the conveyor 10, a side plate 11 is provided.
Are provided so as to rise up in pairs on the left and right sides, and the end face plate 12 is raised up at one end of the conveyor 10, that is, at the end opposite to the take-out conveyor 5. With such a configuration, the raw tea leaf container device 1 includes the transport conveyor 10 and the side plate 11.
Thus, the entire structure is formed in a gutter shape, and the inside of the gutter is used as the storage portion 13.

The transport conveyor 10 is provided with air permeability as a whole. Specifically, the structure of the transport conveyor 10 is as follows. First, each component slat 14 is supported by a chain 15 at both ends. The chain 15 is suspended between sprockets 16 provided at the front and rear ends of the conveyor 10 and at least one of the sprockets 16 is driven to drive the chain. And the slat 14 is shown in FIG.
As shown in enlarged form in FIG. On the other hand, the chain 15 is provided with rollers, which are configured to roll and move on an appropriate guide rail-shaped frame of the raw tea leaf container device 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, an air blow drum 17 for cooling the raw tea leaves A that is being stored or being conveyed is provided immediately below the conveying operation surface of the conveyer 10 with the raw tea leaf container device 1.
A plurality is provided for each block partitioned in advance. One blower 18 is provided for one section of the blow drum 17. As an example, the blower 18 is driven by a motor 18M to blow a blower 18A.
Is driven to send cooling air from the air duct 18B to the air blow drum 17. In addition, without being limited to such a form, for example, one of the blowers 17 may be selected by a form in which one blower 18 takes charge of the two sections of the blower 17 and blows all at once, or by appropriately attaching a damper or the like. Various air blowing modes, such as air blowing, can be adopted. Further, in addition to the air blowing, a mechanism may be provided in which a blowout hole of a humidifier is provided in parallel so as to blow wet air in order to appropriately provide the fresh tea leaves A with moisture. In the blower device 18, the blower volume of the blower 18A, that is, the blower strength is set according to the stacking height of the raw tea leaves A. For example, the rotation speed of the blower 18A is controlled by an inverter circuit or the like, and the blower volume is controlled. Is adjusted so as to be approximately proportional to the stacking height.

Next, the raw tea leaf feeding device 2 will be described.
This is for putting the raw tea leaves A carried in from the tea garden into the raw tea leaf container device 1 and, as an example, one raw tea leaf container device 1 arranged side by side as shown in FIG. It is provided based. The raw tea leaf feeding device 2 is configured to be movable in the longitudinal direction (longitudinal direction) and the width direction (horizontal direction) on the two raw tea leaf container devices 1 so that the raw tea leaf A can be fed at an arbitrary position. I have.

A stacking height detecting device 3 for detecting the stacking height of the raw tea leaves A put in the container is provided below the raw tea leaf feeding device 2. As an example, a microwave distance sensor that can measure the distance from the installation position is applied, and measures the distance from the installation position to the upper surface of the raw tea leaves A. This measurement distance is compared with the transport conveyor that has been measured in advance. The stacking height is detected based on the difference from the distance up to 10. It should be noted that, as such a non-contact type sensor, a device utilizing not only a microwave but also a sound wave, a radio wave, light, magnetism, or the like can be applied to the stacked height detection device 3. In this embodiment, since one air blower 18 is provided for one air blower 17 in one section, the stacking height is also detected for each block, but one air blower 18 is not used. In the case of taking the form of taking charge of the blower drum 17 of the section, a form in which the stacking height is detected for every two section blocks can be adopted.

Next, the control device 8 will be described. The control device 8 sets the air blowing intensity of each of the air blowing devices 18 divided into blocks according to the data detected by the stacked height detecting device 3. As an example, the raw tea leaves A are empty. In the state of, set the air volume to zero, and increase the air volume proportionally with the increase of the stacking height,
When the fresh tea leaves A are almost fully stacked, the blowing amount is set to the maximum. However, the present invention is not limited to such a form. For example, a form in which the amount of air to be blown is switched in several stages according to the data of the detected stacking height may be adopted. In addition, the placement position of the raw tea leaf A changes every moment as it is supplied to the next process, but the movement state of the raw tea leaf A is displayed on the monitor 81 or the like, and the stock position of the raw tea leaf A is always grasped. .

Next, an operation mode for setting the air blowing intensity will be described. (1) Input of Raw Tea Leaves and Detection of Stacked Height After the raw tea leaves A picked in the tea plantation are transported to a tea factory, they are transported to the raw tea leaf input device 2 by the supply conveyor 6, the relay conveyor 7, and the like. It is put into the raw tea leaf container device 1. Then, during or after the addition of the raw tea leaves A, the stacking height of the raw tea leaves A is measured for each section block by the stacking height detecting device 3 provided below the raw tea leaf feeding device 2.

(2) Setting of the blowing intensity The controlling device 8 sets the blowing intensity of the blowing device 18 in the corresponding section according to the measured data of the stacking height. At this time, as an example, the amount of air blown is controlled by an inverter circuit or the like to control the rotation speed of the blower 18A, and is set to zero when the raw tea leaves A are empty, and increases proportionally with an increase in the stacking height. When the air is almost completely stacked, the air is blown at the maximum setting.
By performing the above-described setting and air blowing for each block, for example, even if the stacking height of the raw tea leaves A differs for each block, air blowing can be performed according to the stacking height.
Further, the placement position of the raw tea leaf A is changed with the supply to the next process, but the movement state of the raw tea leaf A is displayed on the monitor 81 or the like, and the stock position of the raw tea leaf A is always grasped, and the raw tea leaf A It also adjusts the blowing intensity of the corresponding blowing device 18 by moving.

[0017]

[Other Embodiments] The present invention is based on the above-described embodiment as one basic technical idea, but the following modifications are conceivable. That is, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the blowing intensity of the blowing device 18 is
Although the air flow rate is set so as to be substantially proportional to the stacking height of the air, it is possible to adopt a form in which the air flow rate is switched and set in several stages according to the data of the detected stack height. is there. Further, in this case, the stacked height detecting device 3 applies a plurality of devices for detecting a fixed detection distance in addition to the device for measuring the distance from the installation position, and applying the raw tea leaves A
It is possible to detect the stacked height of
As an example, as shown in FIG. 4, three stacked height detecting devices 3A, 3B, and 3C are provided, one each for measuring three stacked heights of low, medium, and high. Of course, the amount of air blow is set to small, medium, and large according to each height.

[0018]

According to the method for controlling the air flow in the raw tea leaf management step according to the first aspect, even if the stacked height of the green tea leaves A in one raw tea leaf container device 1 is different, the air blowing according to the height is performed. The strength can be set, and for example, the raw tea leaves A stacked low will not be too dry. Further, since the freshness of the raw tea leaves A can be maintained, the adjustment of the next step is also easy.

Further, according to the method for controlling air blowing in the fresh tea leaf managing step according to the second aspect, it is possible to more accurately set the air blowing amount according to the stacking height of the green tea leaves A.

Furthermore, according to the method for controlling air blowing in the fresh tea leaf management step according to the third aspect, since one air blowing device 18 is normally provided in one partition block, the detection of the stacking height is performed by one air blowing device. This is performed for each of the 18 air blowing ranges, and the setting of the air blowing intensity and the air blowing can be performed more easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a raw tea leaf management device embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment in which a plurality of stacked height detecting devices for detecting a specific distance are applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 raw tea leaf container device 2 raw tea leaf input device 3 stacked height detection device 3A stacked height detection device 3B stacked height detection device 3C stacked height detection device 4 scraping device 5 extraction conveyor 6 supply conveyor 7 relay conveyor 8 control device DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Conveyor 11 Side plate 12 End plate 13 Housing part 14 Slat 14a Vent hole 15 Chain 16 Sprocket 17 Blower cylinder 18 Blower 18A Blower 18B Blower duct 18M Motor 81 Monitor A Raw tea leaves M Raw tea leaf management device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. When fresh tea leaves plucked in a tea garden are transported to a tea factory, and then once put into a fresh tea leaf container device and stored to manage the fresh tea leaves, a blower is used to maintain the freshness of the fresh tea leaves during storage. In the method of blowing air from below the raw tea leaf container device, the blowing amount of the blowing device, that is, the blowing intensity, is set according to the stacked height of the raw tea leaves stored in the raw tea leaf container device. Air blowing control method in the raw tea leaf management process. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the intensity of the air is set so as to be substantially proportional to the height of the stacked green tea leaves. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the stacking height of the fresh tea leaves is detected for each block partitioned in advance in a fresh tea leaf container device. .