JP2001087132A - Heating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To uniformly heat the entire part of food and drink while passing the food and drink in a heater body by utilizing Joule heat. SOLUTION: This heating device passes the food and drink having a flow property as the materials to be heated in a flow passage and heats the same by the Joule heat. The flow passage 13 for guiding the materials to be heated is formed in the heater body 14 from its one end toward the other end. Both ends of the heater body 14 are provided with electrodes 18 in a pair facing each other. Spacings are disposed between the outer peripheral surfaces of the electrodes 18 and the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14. The velocity of the flow of the materials to be heated which flow in the heater body 14 is higher in the central part of the flow passage and is lower in the peripheral part and the more current than in the peripheral part than in the central portion where the velocity of flow is higher eventually flows to the inside of the materials to be heated between the electrodes 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating apparatus for heating a food or drink having fluidity such as a liquid or a paste while flowing it through a pipe as an object to be heated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Liquid foods such as soups, juices and soy sauces, pasty foods such as miso and kneaded mustard, and solids such as vegetables and meats such as curry roux and beef stew. As a heating device for heating an object to be heated having fluidity such as a liquid or semi-solid food containing, as an object to heat the object to be heated by Joule heat by energizing the food and drink The following techniques have been developed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Nos. 2793473 and 2821087).

[0003] A conventional heating apparatus has a cylindrical or pipe-shaped heater main body, and an annular electrode having an inner peripheral surface substantially identical to the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body is provided at predetermined intervals. Is provided.

[0004]

When heating an object to be heated, it is desirable to uniformly heat the entire object to be heated.
In the case where the object to be heated is heated by Joule heat, the object to be heated is heated by causing the object to generate heat, so that the container in which the object to be heated is heated by steam or the like from the outside of the container is heated. There is an advantage that the heating object can be heated uniformly.

However, when an object to be heated is heated by Joule heat using an annular electrode, the object to be heated may not be sufficiently agitated even when the object is heated in the heater body. Stirring blades are provided in the heater body to heat the object to be heated while stirring it.In particular, when heating the object to be heated having relatively high viscosity, the heating may be uneven. Was.

The inventor of the present invention has conducted various experimental studies on a heater for heating food and drink as an object to be heated by Joule heat in order to more uniformly heat the object to be heated. When a current is caused to flow through the object to be heated by using the heater, the outer peripheral portion, that is, the portion closer to the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body than the central portion of the heated object flowing in the pipe-shaped heater main body. It was found that the temperature was higher.

It is considered that the reason for this is that the higher the temperature of food and drink, the lower the electrical resistance. That is,
When an annular electrode is used, the current easily flows through the outer peripheral portion of the object to be heated in the flow path in accordance with the shape of the electrode, so that the outer peripheral portion of the heated portion closer to the inner peripheral surface of the heater body. It is considered that when a large amount of current flows and the part is heated, the temperature of the part increases, the electric resistance decreases, and the temperature of the part increases. Moreover, when the object to be heated flows through the inside of the heater main body, the temperature of the portion of the object to be heated near the inner peripheral wall is lower because the flow rate of the portion in contact with the inner peripheral wall of the heater main body is smaller than that of the central portion. Is likely to be higher.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to uniformly heat food and drink while flowing the food and drink in the heater body using Joule heat.

[0009]

A heating apparatus according to the present invention is a heating apparatus in which food or drink having fluidity is heated as Joule heat by flowing the food or drink into a flow path. In a heater main body having a flow path through which a fluid flows, an electrode is provided so as to have a current-carrying surface in a direction crossing the flow path and to face each other in pairs at a predetermined interval. In the present invention, an interval may be provided between the electrode and the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body, and the electrode is fixed to the heater main body by a spacer arranged at the interval. You may do it.

According to the present invention, the flow rate of the object to be heated flowing in the flow path of the heater main body is lower at the portion near the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body than at the central portion, but the flow rate is lower. Since the energizing surface of the electrode is provided at the central portion where the current is large, a larger current flows in the central portion than in the peripheral portion. Thus, the object to be heated flowing in the flow channel has a uniform heating time and heating temperature as a whole, and the food can be heated with high quality.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a heating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing a portion A in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the B line.

This heating device comprises two heating units 11,
And heating units 11 and 12 respectively.
Is provided with a tubular or pipe-shaped heater body 14 in which a flow path 13 is formed. The heater body 14 is formed of an insulating material such as a resin, and includes a straight portion 15 and joint portions 16 provided at both ends thereof. The inner diameter of the joint portion 16 is substantially the same as the inner diameter of the straight portion 15, A connection hole 17 is formed in the joint 16. Although the respective heating units 11 and 12 are installed substantially vertically, they may be installed inclined or horizontally.

In each joint section 16, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the current-carrying surface is in a direction crossing the flow path 13,
An electrode 18 made of a metal such as titanium is provided. Therefore, the heater 1 has electrodes 1 in joints 16 provided at both ends of the straight portion 15.
8 will be provided in pairs facing each other,
The end of the flow path 13 is set by the conducting surface of the electrode 18, and the connection hole 17 of one joint 16
The object to be heated flows toward the current-carrying surface, and the object to be heated flows out from the connection hole 17 of the other joint portion 16. Electrode 18
May be attached to the heater main body 14 using a screw member such as a nut, and the attachment member is not shown.

As shown in FIG. 1, a hopper 22 is connected to a lower end portion of the upstream heating unit 11 through a supply flow path 21. After being heated in the heating unit 11 by the pump 23, the heated object flows into the downstream heating unit 12 via the communication pipe 24 and flows out from the lower end of the heating unit 12 to the outside. . The heated object that has flowed out is supplied to a product tank (not shown) by an outflow pipe 25.

The power supply unit 26 is connected to the pair of electrodes 18.
The power can be supplied from a commercial power supply or a high-frequency power supply.

As described above, each heating unit 1
The electrodes 18 are provided on the heater bodies 14 of the heaters 1 and 12 so as to face each other at a predetermined interval with a current-carrying surface crossing the flow path 13. A large amount of current also flows through the central portion of the object to be heated flowing through the path 13. In addition, the flow velocity distribution of the object to be heated in the flow path 13 is large at the center as shown by the arrow in FIG.

Therefore, compared with the case where an annular electrode is used, a relatively large amount of current flows in the central portion where the flow velocity is high. Each portion in the flow path 13 is heated on average, and high-quality heat treatment can be performed. As a result, when a ring-shaped electrode is used, a large amount of current may flow in a peripheral portion having a small flow velocity and a portion may be heated for a relatively long time. In this way, it is possible to prevent such non-uniformity of heating, and a stirring blade is provided inside the
There is no need to stir the object to be heated inside.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a portion corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
In this case, the outer diameter of the plate-shaped electrode 18 is set smaller than the inner diameter of the heater main body 14, and a gap is formed between the outer peripheral surface of the electrode 18 and the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body 14. In this part, a spacer 19 made of an insulating material is incorporated.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a portion corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention, and has an electrode 18 having the same outer diameter as the electrode 18 shown in FIG. Is attached to the inner surface of the insulating plate 20, and the electrode 18 is attached to the heater body 14 via the insulating plate 20. Therefore, in this case, an open gap is formed between the outer peripheral surface of the electrode 18 and the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, if an interval is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the electrode 18 and the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14, the object to be heated flowing near the inner peripheral surface will not be heated. The current does not flow much, and a large amount of current flows mainly in the radially central portion of the flow path 13. Therefore, even when the object to be heated having a particularly high viscosity is heated, it can be heated at a uniform temperature as a whole. However, when heating an object to be heated having a high viscosity, a stirring blade may be provided in the heater body 14 so that the heated object to be heated also circulates positively on the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14. You may do it.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the heating device shown in FIG. 1 has two heating units 11 and 12, but one or three heating units are provided.
A heating device may be formed by one or more heating units. Although the heater main body 14 has a circular cross section as shown in FIG. 3, the heater main body 14 may be formed using a tube or a cylinder having a square cross section. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the heater body 14 is formed by the straight portion 15 and the joint portions 16 provided at both ends of the straight portion 15, but the straight portion 15 and the joint portion 16 are integrally formed. The heater body 14 may be formed by the changed member. Furthermore, by covering the outside of the heater body 14 with a cover,
The coolant may be circulated between the cover and the heater body 14 to prevent the heater body 14 from being overheated.

[0024]

According to the present invention, it is possible to heat the food or the food to be heated flowing through the flow path in the heater body to a uniform temperature as a whole. Thereby, food and drink can be efficiently heated without impairing the flavor and texture of the food and drink. It is not necessary to provide a stirring blade to stir the food flowing in the flow path. In particular, even foods with high viscosity can be heated uniformly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a heating device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing a portion A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a portion corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a part corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 12 Heating unit 13 Flow path 14 Heater body 15 Straight part 16 Joint part 17 Connection hole 18 Electrode 19 Spacer 21 Supply flow path 22 Hopper 23 Pump 24 Communication pipe 25 Discharge pipe 26 Power supply unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A heating apparatus for heating a food or drink having fluidity as an object to be heated and flowing the same into a flow path and heating it by Joule heat, wherein the heating apparatus has a flow path through which the object to be heated flows. A heating device having a current-carrying surface in a direction crossing the flow path, and having electrodes provided so as to face each other in pairs at a predetermined interval. 2. The heating device according to claim 1, wherein an interval is provided between the electrode and an inner peripheral surface of the heater main body. 3. The heating device according to claim 2, wherein the electrodes are fixed to the heater body by spacers arranged at the intervals.