JP2000287665A - Production of food material pellet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing food material pellets each with a size suitable to an injection expansion apparatus used in molding them so as to stably afford favorable expanded molded forms using the above apparatus. SOLUTION: This method comprises the following practice: the size of each of food material pellets to be fed to an injection expansion apparatus when expanded molded foams for food are to be produced is set to the depth of the screw groove of the injection expansion apparatus, in particular being set within the range from the minimum groove depth×0.5 to the maximum groove depth×0.8. By injection expansion molding of the food material pellets thus produced following feeding the injection expansion apparatus therewith, invariably favorable expanded molded forms can be produced stably.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for producing food material pellets for use in producing a foam material by performing injection foam molding using an injection foaming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, a conventional general injection molding machine is an apparatus which has been developed and developed for molding a thermoplastic material into a desired shape, and includes a cylinder barrel and a cylinder barrel. It is composed of a screw driven in the rotation direction and the axial direction, a driving device that drives the screw in the rotation direction and the axial direction, a nozzle attached to the tip of the cylinder barrel, and the like. When the solid material is supplied from the hopper into the cylinder barrel, the solid material is kneaded, melted and plasticized by the heat applied from the outside and the frictional heat and shear heat generated by the rotation of the screw. After the accumulation is measured in the accumulation chamber in the cylinder, the screw is advanced in the axial direction and the cylinder barrel tip is driven. It emitted from the nozzle into the mold, the injected material, the holding pressure in mold and is cooled and molded into a desired shape.

[0003] When a thermoplastic material is injection-molded as described above, usually, pellets of the material supplied to the injection molding machine are supplied to any type of injection molding machine.
It is formed in a substantially constant size. This is due to the physical properties of the material. This is because the thermoplastic material is plasticized when heat is applied, so that it is not necessary to attach importance to the size of the pellet. Only in the case of a small injection molding machine having a screw diameter of 30 mm or less, small pellets are used in accordance with the groove depth of the screw in order to improve the penetration of the pellet into the screw.

[0004] In addition, an injection foaming apparatus for food using an injection molding machine has been proposed. This injection foaming apparatus applies energy such as heat to the supplied food material to process and melt the food material, and the molten food material is foamed by injecting the melted food material from a nozzle at high pressure and high temperature. This is for producing a foam molded article.

[0005]

When a food material is foam-formed using an injection foaming apparatus, the food material supplied to the injection foaming apparatus is not thermoplastic, and is therefore similar to a general thermoplastic plastic. Simply applying heat to the product will cause it to burn without melting. Further, in order for the food material to be pregelatinized or thermally denatured and fluidized, the presence of water is necessary. In this way, in order to cause the food material to undergo pregelatinization or thermal denaturation while holding the necessary water, frictional heat or shear heat generated by externally applied heat or screw rotation, or shear force or compression It is necessary to give energy such as power. Therefore, in the injection foaming apparatus, in order to efficiently pregelatinize the food material to which water has been added by the above-described energy, and heat-denature and melt the food material, the food material is pelletized and supplied to the injection foaming apparatus. Is necessary.

However, in the case of a food material or the like, when a pelletized food material is supplied to an injection foaming apparatus and injection-processed without considering the size of the pellet, a sufficiently foamed molded product is obtained. In some cases, the injection cannot be performed at all or the injection cannot be performed at all from the nozzle, and there has been a problem that a good foamed molded product cannot always be stably obtained.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned unsolved problems of the prior art, and is used for molding so that a good foamed molded article can be stably obtained by an injection foaming apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for producing food material pellets for producing food material pellets having a size suitable for an injection foaming apparatus.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have conducted intensive studies on food materials and an injection foaming apparatus used for molding the food materials. It has been found that a large difference appears in the obtained foamed molded article depending on the relationship between the size of the material pellet and the groove depth of the screw of the injection foaming apparatus.

That is, in an injection foaming apparatus or the like, a screw is connected to a transfer section S as illustrated in FIG.
1 and a compression section S2.
The screw has a different groove depth depending on the purpose of kneading, melting and the like. For example, in the screw transfer section S1, the groove depth (d ₁ ) is formed deep in order to increase the material transfer capacity, and in the compression section S2,
In order to compress the material preheated in the transfer section S1 and fluidize it by frictional heat generated by the rotation of the screw and heat from the outside and send it to the accumulation chamber, the depth of the screw groove in the section is adjusted by the transfer section S1. Is formed so as to become shallower sequentially from the groove depth (d ₁ ), and is formed to have a shallow groove depth (d ₂ ) in a region in front of the compressed portion S2. As described above, the groove depth of the screw is generally the maximum groove depth (d ₁ ) in the transfer section S1, and the minimum groove depth (d ₂ ) in the compression section S2.

[0010] The size of the food material pellets supplied to the injection foaming apparatus used for molding is determined by the screw transfer section S.
1 requires a size such that it is efficiently transferred to the next compression section S2 while being preheated in accordance with the rotation of the screw, and the compression section S2 of the screw requires heat applied from outside or rotation of the screw. It is necessary to have a size that can be efficiently melted and fluidized by causing pregelatinization or thermal denaturation while holding water by receiving energy such as frictional heat, shearing heat, or compressive force generated by the heat treatment.

As described above, it has been found that a good foam molded article can be obtained by selecting the size of the food material pellets according to the screw groove depth of the injection foaming apparatus. Reached.

That is, according to the method for producing food material pellets of the present invention, there is provided a method for producing food material pellets for producing food material pellets to be supplied to an injection foaming apparatus for molding. Is selected according to the screw groove depth of the injection foaming apparatus used for molding.

[0013] In the method for producing food material pellets of the present invention, the size of the food material pellets is from the minimum groove depth x 0.5 to the maximum groove depth x 0.8 of the screw of the injection foaming apparatus used for molding. It is preferable to set within the range.

In the method for producing food material pellets according to the present invention, a composition comprising a food material as a main component, water, and, if necessary, a nucleating agent and a seasoning is added to the food material by screw extrusion. To the machine, heat kneading to pregelatinize,
It is preferable to extrude from a die in a temperature range of 60 to 130 ° C., granulate, and then adjust the humidity to produce food material pellets. 80% by weight of water and 0-3% by weight
A nucleating agent and a composition comprising 0 to 10% by weight of a seasoning are supplied to a screw type extruder, heated and kneaded to be pregelatinized, and extruded from a die in a temperature range of 60 to 130 ° C to granulate. Then, it is preferable to produce food material pellets by controlling the humidity so that the water content becomes 10 to 30% by weight in a temperature range of 20 to 100 ° C.

In the method for producing pellets of food material according to the present invention, the food material may be soybean, soybean protein, isolated protein,
Defatted soybeans, corn, corn starch, corn protein, tapioca starch, rice, rice starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch, wheat flour, wheat starch, whole milk powder, skim milk powder, beans,
The nucleating agent is preferably composed of one or more selected from seeds, and the nucleating agent is preferably eggshell powder, calcium carbonate, or shell powder.

[0016]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

Examples of food materials to which the method for producing food material pellets of the present invention can be applied include soybeans and soybeans.
Soy protein, isolated protein, defatted soybean, corn, corn starch, corn protein, tapioca starch, rice, rice starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch, flour, wheat starch, whole fat milk powder, skim milk powder, beans, seeds and the like. One selected from these can be used alone, or two or more can be used as a mixture.

Seasonings for seasoning food materials include salt, sugar, soy sauce, spices, dried vegetables,
Umami seasonings, fats and oils and the like can be appropriately selected and used.

The nucleating agent used when preparing food material pellets includes eggshell powder, calcium carbonate, shell powder and the like.

When producing food material pellets for injection foam molding by an injection foaming apparatus, one or two or more desired materials selected from the above-mentioned food materials are used as main components. 20-8 for the amount of food material
A composition is prepared by mixing 0% by weight of water, 0 to 3% by weight of a nucleating agent, and 0 to 10% by weight of a seasoning. And
This composition was supplied to a screw-type extruder, and heated and kneaded in the screw-type extruder to be pregelatinized.
It is extruded from a die having a desired pore size in a temperature range of 30 ° C. and granulated. Next, humidity control is performed in a temperature range of 20 to 100 ° C. so that the water content becomes 10 to 30% by weight to produce a pellet product of a food material.

Various extruders such as a twin screw extruder (manufactured by Nippon Steel Works: TEX47F, screw diameter 47 mm) can be used as a screw extruder for producing pellets. When extruding and granulating from a die, a hot cut method that cuts the molten material immediately after it exits from the small hole of the die, or a strand cut that pelletizes the linear material that has come out of the die after cooling with water with a cutter (Cold cut) method or the like can be used.

The size of the pellet can be variously set by appropriately selecting the pore size of the die to be used.
In addition, after granulation, it is 4 ~ in the temperature range of 20 ~ 100 ° C.
In order to produce a pellet product by performing drying for 6 hours and controlling the moisture so that the moisture content becomes 10 to 30% by weight, the pore diameter of the die does not directly become the size of the pellet. In the case of using a 3 mm or 4 mm die, the pellets prepared by adjusting the moisture after extrusion are 2.0 to 2.3 mm, respectively.
The size is in a range such as 2.8 to 3.2 mm and 4.0 to 4.4 mm.

The food material pellets produced in a desired size as described above are supplied to an injection foaming apparatus shown in FIG. 1A to perform injection foam molding. The injection foaming apparatus corresponds to a general injection molding machine with the mold clamping device removed.

Next, an embodiment in which food material pellets are supplied to the injection foaming apparatus shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1 (a), reference numeral 1 denotes a cylinder barrel, an injection nozzle 2 is mounted in front of the cylinder barrel 1, and an opening is opened in the rear part.
A hopper 3 for supplying food material pellets is attached to the opening. A plurality of heaters 4 whose temperature is individually controlled are arranged on the outer periphery of the cylinder barrel 1 and the nozzle 2. And cylinder barrel 1
Inside, a screw 11 is disposed so as to be freely driven in the axial direction and the rotational direction. An injection motor 12 for driving the screw 11 in the axial direction and a plasticizing motor 13 for driving the screw 11 in the rotational direction are respectively provided with the screws 11. Are connected mechanically.

In such an injection foaming apparatus, first,
A controller (not shown) sets the measurement completion position for retracting the screw 11 and the individual temperatures of the plurality of heaters 4 based on the size and capacity of the foam molded article to be manufactured.

After completing these various settings, the metering by the injection foaming apparatus is started. The plasticizing motor 13 is started by a signal from the controller, the screw 11 is driven to rotate, and solid food material pellets are supplied from the hopper 3 into the cylinder barrel 2.

In accordance with the rotation of the screw 11, the food material pellets remain in the solid state in the cylinder barrel 1 heated by the heater 4 in the transfer section S1 of the screw 11, which has a deep screw groove depth. While being preheated, it is sent to the compression section S2, where the heat added from the heater 4 and the screw 11
Heated by frictional heat or shearing heat generated by the rotation of, is compressed and kneaded and melted,
In accordance with the rotation of the screw 11, it is gradually transferred to the accumulation chamber 5 in the front part of the cylinder barrel 1, and is accumulated and measured in the accumulation chamber 5. When the screw 11 is retracted to the predetermined measurement completion position, the food material in the molten state in the accumulation chamber 5 is measured to a predetermined amount. At that time, the rotation drive of the screw 11 is stopped or the supply of the food material pellets is stopped.

Subsequently, in order to inject the food material in a molten state accumulated up to a predetermined amount, the injection motor 12 is operated to drive the screw 11 forward to the nozzle side. As a result, the food material in the molten state in the accumulation chamber 5 becomes high pressure,
It is ejected from the nozzle 2 at a high temperature. The injected food material is steam-foamed at the same time as being injected from the nozzle 2 to obtain a foam molded article.

In the injection foaming apparatus, the screw diameter (D) varies depending on the type and capacity of the injection foaming apparatus, and the groove depth (d) of the screw depends on the characteristics of the material to be charged and the screw diameter. Since it is set and further set by the screw transfer section (S1) and the compression section (S2), the use of food material pellets of a fixed size in each injection foaming apparatus always results in the desired foam molding. In some cases, the body cannot be obtained and cannot be injected.

Therefore, in the present invention, by selecting the pellet size of the food material in accordance with the groove depth of the screw of the injection foaming apparatus used for molding, it is possible to stably obtain a good foamed molded article. In particular, the size of the food material pellets, the minimum groove depth of the screw of the injection foaming apparatus used for molding × 0.5 ~
It is preferable to set the size within a range of maximum groove depth × 0.8. That is, the food material pellets supplied to the injection foaming device are appropriately transferred to the screw in the screw transfer section (S1), and are reliably transferred to the compression section (S2) while being preheated. Need to be. In the compression section (S2), friction heat and compression force are generated properly, and in addition to this, the size should be such that it can be quickly pregelatinized or thermally denatured by the heat energy from the cylinder and fluidized. preferable. By the way, when the size of the food material pellets is set to be equal to or more than the maximum groove depth of the screw (S1 portion) × 0.8, a halfway compression force is applied in the middle of the transfer section (S1) and the compression section (S2). In addition, due to frictional heat, partial pregelatinization and thermal denaturation occur, and the pellets stick to each other. As a result, weighing becomes unstable or weighing becomes impossible. Further, if the screw is set to a size of 0.5 or less, the minimum groove depth (S2 portion) of the screw, an appropriate compression force is not applied to the pellet in the compression section (S2).
Not only is a good foam not obtained, but also because no frictional heat or compressive force is generated, no pregelatinization or thermal denaturation occurs, and the material does not flow, resulting in a state in which measurement and injection are impossible. Therefore, as described above, the size of the food material pellet is the minimum groove depth of the screw ×
The size is preferably in the range of 0.5 to maximum groove depth × 0.8.

An embodiment of the method for producing food material pellets according to the present invention will be described below.

As a food material, wheat flour, potato starch, tapioca and rice flour are used, and as a seasoning, sugar and salt are used.
These were blended at a ratio of 55: 20: 15: 7.5: 2: 0.5 as a material, and as a nucleating agent, eggshell powder,
It was selected from calcium carbonate and shell powder. A twin-screw extruder (manufactured by Nippon Steel Works: TEX47F, screw diameter 47) at a rate of 60 kg / h of water and 20 kg / h of water.
mm), heated and kneaded, and the material temperature was 98.
The mixture was extruded from a die at a temperature of ° C, and the extruded product was formed into pellets using a strand cutter. As the die used for extrusion, three types having a hole diameter of 2 mm, 3 mm, and 4 mm were used.
The obtained pellets were dried at 65 ° C. for 4 to 6 hours, and the moisture content was adjusted to 13.2 to 13.8%.

The pellets whose moisture has been conditioned as described above are:
2.0-2.3mm, 2.8-3.2mm, 4.0-
It was of three sizes in the range of 4.4 mm.

Using the thus obtained food material pellets of three different sizes, injection foaming was performed by two different types of injection foaming apparatuses. One such injection foaming apparatus is an injection foaming apparatus manufactured by Japan Steel Works (model J
50), the screw diameter is 28 mm, and the maximum groove depth and the minimum groove depth of the screw are 4.9 mm, respectively.
And 2.1 mm. This injection foaming device (model J50)
As a result of injection foaming in
The pellets of 2.3 mm and 2.8 to 3.2 mm can be foamed, and a good foam molded article (snack) having a crisp feeling could be produced. However, 4.0-
With 4.4 mm pellets, injection foaming could not be performed.

The other injection foaming apparatus is an injection foaming apparatus (model J350) manufactured by Nippon Steel Works, and has a screw diameter of 86 mm. The maximum groove depth and the minimum groove depth of the screw are respectively 9. 4 mm and 6.5 mm. As a result of injection foaming molding using this injection foaming apparatus (model J350), foaming molding could be performed only for pellets having a size of 4.0 to 4.4 mm, but good foams were obtained with the other two sizes. In particular, pellets of 2.0 to 2.3 mm could not even be ejected from the nozzle.

As described above, by selecting the size of the food material pellets in accordance with the groove depth of the screw of the injection foaming apparatus used for injection foaming molding, in particular, the minimum groove depth of the screw of the injection foaming apparatus × 0.5 to maximum groove depth x
By setting the pellet size within the range of 0.8, a good foam molded article can be stably obtained.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By manufacturing food material pellets of a size suitable for an injection foaming apparatus used for injection foaming molding, a good foam molded article can be stably obtained by the injection foaming apparatus, and in particular, the size of the food material pellets is reduced. If the food material pellets are set and manufactured in relation to the screw groove depth of the injection foaming apparatus, and the food material pellets are supplied to the injection foaming apparatus and injection foamed, a good foamed molded article can always be obtained stably.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating an injection foaming device, and FIG. 1B is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating an example of a screw in the injection foaming device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cylinder barrel 2 nozzle 3 Hopper 4 heater 5 storage chamber 11 screw 12 injection motor 13 plasticizing motor S1 transfer portion S2 compression unit d _1, d ₂ screw groove depth

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Osamu Moriyama 1-6-1, Funakoshi Minami, Aki-ku, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture Inside Japan Steel Works Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshinori Tokugawa 1-chome, Funakoshi-minami, Aki-ku, Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture No. 6 No. 1 F term in Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (reference) 4B048 PE02 PM02

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a food material pellet for producing a food material pellet for supplying to an injection foaming apparatus and performing molding, wherein a screw groove of the injection foaming apparatus used for molding the size of the food material pellet. A method for producing food material pellets, wherein the method is selected according to the depth. 2. The size of a food material pellet is determined by the minimum groove depth of a screw of an injection foaming apparatus used for molding × 0.5.
The method for producing food material pellets according to claim 1, wherein the value is set within a range of to a maximum groove depth × 0.8. 3. A composition comprising a food material as a main component and water, and if necessary, a nucleating agent and a seasoning added to the food material,
The mixture is fed to a screw type extruder, heated and kneaded to be pregelatinized, extruded from a die in a temperature range of 60 to 130 ° C., granulated, and then humidified to produce food material pellets. 3. The method for producing a food material pellet according to 1 or 2. 4. A food material as a main component, comprising 20 to 80% by weight of water, 0 to 3% by weight of a nucleating agent and 0 to 10% by weight of a seasoning based on the amount of the food material. The resulting composition is supplied to a screw type extruder, heated and kneaded to be pregelatinized, extruded from a die in a temperature range of 60 to 130 ° C., and then granulated, and then has a water content of 1 in a temperature range of 20 to 100 ° C.
The method for producing food material pellets according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the food material pellets are produced by controlling the humidity so as to be 0 to 30% by weight. 5. The food material is soybean, soybean protein, separated protein, defatted soybean, corn, corn starch, corn protein, tapioca starch, rice, rice starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch, flour, wheat starch, whole fat powdered milk The method for producing food material pellets according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the method comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of skim milk powder, beans, and seeds. 6. The method for producing food material pellets according to claim 3, wherein the nucleating agent is eggshell powder, calcium carbonate, or shell powder.