JP2000106858A - Low-temperature preservation of frozen food in transit, and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for low-temperature preservation which allows frozen foods to be delivered to each store under stable conditions, and also to provide an apparatus therefor. SOLUTION: This apparatus is for delivering frozen foods 4, held in a low- temperature insulation container 3, which can be opened or closed, wherein the foods 4 are covered with a sheet 5 of gas-permeable material and then with a given quantity of granular dry ice 6 in the container 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for cooling and storing frozen food when delivering frozen food from a storage facility such as a merchandise center to each store. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for cooling and storing frozen food.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Frozen foods and frozen desserts (hereinafter simply referred to as frozen foods) are cooled to about -20 ° C. from a commodity center equipped with a refrigerated warehouse or a refrigerated warehouse of a wholesaler.
Is subdivided for each store and stored in a container, and the container is delivered to a franchise store such as a convenience store or a family restaurant or each retail store.

[0003] In this case, when delivering frozen food, dry ice may be stored together with frozen food in an insulated container and delivered by a general freight car. In this case, a large amount of dry ice is consumed. Therefore, in recent years, delivery has been made using a freezer equipped with a freezer on the loading platform.However, even with delivery using a freezer, unloading is performed for each store in the scattered franchise chain and each store in the retail store. Therefore, the freezer truck for delivery stops frequently and opens and closes the refrigerator. For this reason, as for the temperature inside the refrigerator, the outside air flows into the refrigerator every time the refrigerator is opened and closed, and the temperature inside the refrigerator rises, so that the product temperature of the frozen food rises.

Recently, it has been recommended to stop idling when the vehicle is stopped in order to suppress global warming.
Since the operation of the refrigerator is stopped, there is a problem that the temperature in the refrigerator increases more remarkably. For this reason, conventionally, frozen food is stored in an insulated insulated container, and dry ice compacted in a plate shape is placed in a state of being suspended from the lid side in the insulated insulated container, or frozen in an insulated insulated container. The dry ice granulated on the food is spread and sprayed, and the adiabatic insulated container is housed in the freezer of the freezer and delivered.

[0005]

However, dry ice absorbs heat during sublimation and cools the surroundings. However, in the case of plate-like dry ice, the sublimation amount is small due to the small surface area, and the cooling capacity is low. Is relatively small, it has only a temperature rise suppressing effect, and the inside of the heat insulating and cooling container cannot be cooled. As a result, in a store where the delivery order is late, the temperature of the frozen food stored in the insulated insulated container, particularly the surface temperature, is an allowable temperature (for example, in the case of ice cream,-
13 ° C).

When granular dry ice is spread and spread on frozen food stored in an insulated insulated container, the dry heat of the dry ice is directly transmitted to the product, and the granular dry ice has a large surface area and is abrupt. The temperature inside the container can be lowered by sublimation, and the temperature of the product can be lowered.However, since the frozen food is simply sprinkled over the frozen food, the gap between the products due to vibrations during transportation etc. And accumulated at the bottom of the insulated insulated container.
When the dry ice accumulates at the bottom in this way, it becomes difficult for cold air to act on the upper part in the container, so that there is a problem that the frozen food placed on the upper stage cannot be sufficiently kept cool.

[0007] The present invention has been proposed in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for cooling and preserving a frozen food which can be stably delivered to each store at the time of delivery.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention relates to a method for delivering frozen food, wherein the frozen food is stored in an openable and heat-insulated insulated container, and the frozen food in the insulated insulated container is provided. A sheet material formed of a material having gas permeability is stretched on the upper side of the sheet material, and a predetermined weight of granular dry ice is sprayed on the upper side of the sheet material to cool and store the frozen food in the insulated cold storage container. It is characterized by:

[0009]

According to the present invention, the upper side of the frozen food contained in the insulated cold storage container is covered with a sheet material formed of a material having gas permeability, and granular dry ice is sprayed on the sheet material. Although the inside of the adiabatic insulated container can be strongly cooled with granular dry ice having a large surface area, due to the presence of the sheet material, the granular dry ice does not fall into the gaps between foods for a long time. It is possible to maintain a stable cooling state.

[0010]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a cooling storage device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of taking out a sheet material, and FIG. FIG. This cooling preservation device covers a heat insulating material container (3) composed of a container body (1) and a lid (2) and a frozen food (4) stored and stored in the heat insulating material container (3). Sheet material (5) and particulate dry ice sprayed on the upper side of the sheet material (5)
(6).

The sheet material (5) is formed of a gas permeable material such as a mesh net or a non-woven fabric.
As shown in FIG. 3, the periphery is folded, the folded portion is reinforced with a reinforcing cloth (7), and the central portions of the opposing sides are overlapped with each other, and the overlapped portion is formed with a reinforcing cloth (8).
The sheet surface is divided into four by a weir formed by a reinforcing cloth (8). In each divided portion, the sheet surface of the sheet material (5) is slightly loosened as shown in FIG.
When the sheet surface is divided by the weir in this way, the movement of the granular dry ice scattered on the sheet surface is suppressed.

The above-mentioned sheet material (5) is placed on the upper surface of the frozen food (4) stored inside the container body (1) of the heat insulating material container (3), and has a diameter of 5 to 10 mm and a length of 5 mm. Dry ice (6) formed in a granular form of 1 to 1.5 times is sprayed almost uniformly on the upper surface of the sheet material. In this case, since the sheet material (5) is formed in a state in which the sheet surface is slackened, the sheet material (5) enters a gap portion between the adjacent frozen foods (4) because the sheet material (5) enters the gap. The frozen food (4) located at the top of the worst condition is wrapped in the granular dry ice (6). In addition, the granular dry ice (6) does not fall into the gap between the frozen foods (4) due to the vibration during the transfer.

FIG. 4 shows a case where plate-like dry ice is used and a case where granular dry ice is thrown in loosely.
It is a graph which shows a goods temperature change at the time of dispersing granular dry ice by arranging (5). According to FIG. 4, when plate-shaped dry ice is used, the product temperature gradually rises, and when the plate-shaped dry ice is 1.5 kg, the temperature reaches an allowable temperature of −13 ° C. after about 3.3 hours. Reached, plate-shaped dry ice 2.0k
g, even after about 4.3 hours, the allowable temperature is -13 ° C.
Has been reached.

[0014] On the other hand, when granular dry ice is used, the temperature of the product once drops and then gradually rises due to the cooling by the sublimation of the dry ice, regardless of whether it is thrown in loosely or when a sheet material is used. become. And when granular dry ice is thrown in loosely, a part of the thrown granular dry ice falls into the gap between frozen foods, and the fallen granular dry ice suppresses the cooling and radiating effect. It can be seen that the cooling effect is lower than that of the sheet material. Further, when the particulate dry ice is received by the sheet material, the cooling effect can be obtained by using a small amount (1.5 kg) more than a large amount (2.0 kg) up to about 5 hours. This is probably because when a large amount of dry ice is sprayed, granular dry ice concentrates, the apparent surface area decreases, and the sublimation speed of dry ice decreases.

From the results shown in FIG. 4, when the granular dry ice is used in a state of being received by the sheet material, a large cooling effect can be obtained as compared with the case where the granular dry ice is used in the form of loose pieces. The same effect can be obtained even if is reduced. In addition, since the cooling is performed once, the time until the product reaches the limit temperature at which the product becomes defective (for example, -13 ° C. of ice cream) can be provided.

FIG. 5 shows an example of changing the state of the section in the sheet material (5), and FIG. 5 (a) connects the three equally divided positions of a pair of opposite sides of the sheet material (5). In this state, a weir is formed by the reinforcing cloth (8), and three partitions are formed in a state of juxtaposition, and the one shown in FIG. 5 (b) is formed by the reinforcing cloth (8) connecting diagonally. Four triangular sections are formed by forming a weir. FIG. 5 (c) shows a sheet surface divided into eight by forming a weir with a reinforcing cloth (8) so as to connect the central portions of the opposing sides and the diagonals. FIG. 5 (d) shows a weir formed by a reinforcing cloth (8) connecting a central portion of one side and both corners of the opposite side.

[0017]

According to the present invention, since the upper side of the frozen food contained in the heat insulating and cooling container is covered with a sheet made of a material having gas permeability, and granular dry ice is sprayed on the sheet. Although the inside of the adiabatic insulated container can be strongly cooled with granular dry ice having a large surface area, due to the presence of the sheet material, the granular dry ice does not fall into the gaps between foods for a long time. A stable cooling state can be maintained.

When the upper surface of the sheet material is divided into a plurality of sections by a projecting weir-shaped dividing line, since the deviation due to the movement of the granular dry ice on the sheet surface is eliminated, the entire inside of the heat insulating and cooling container is uniformly cooled. I can do it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a cooling storage device.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of taking out a sheet material.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a sheet material.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a change in product temperature according to an arrangement of dry ice.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a modified example of a sheet material partitioned state.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 ... Insulated cool container, 4 ... Frozen food, 5 ... Sheet material, 6 ...
Granular dry ice.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3L044 AA04 BA02 CA04 CA11 DC02 KA01 KA04 4B021 LA13 LA16 LT04 LT04 MQ02 4B022 LF12 LP08 LT10

Claims (6)

[Claims] When delivering frozen food, a frozen food (4) is housed in an openable / closable insulated cold storage container (3), and a gas is placed above the frozen food (4) in the insulated cold storage container (3). A sheet material (5) formed of a material having permeability is stretched, and a predetermined weight of granular dry ice (6) is sprayed on the upper side of the sheet material (5) to freeze the inside of the heat insulating and cooling container (3). A method for preserving frozen foods at the time of delivery of frozen foods. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material (5) is a mesh net. 3. The sheet surface is divided into a plurality of sections by a weir-shaped division line projecting from the upper surface of the sheet material (5).
Method for cooling and storing at the time of delivery of frozen food as described in. 4. An insulated cold storage container (3) that is openable and closable, and a frozen food delivery container, and the insulated cold storage container (3).
A sheet material (5) formed of a material having gas permeability and stretched over the frozen food (4) housed inside the container; and granular dry ice (6) sprayed on the upper surface of the sheet material (5). Refrigeration storage device for frozen food delivery. 5. The cooling storage device according to claim 3, wherein the sheet material (5) is a mesh net. 6. The cooling and preserving apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the sheet surface is divided into a plurality of sections by a weir-shaped division line projecting from the upper surface of the sheet material (5).