JP2001233386A - Storage container and storage method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a storage container provided with a moisture conditioning material supporting a liquid moisture conditioning agent and provided with the moisture absorption rate corresponding to the quick rise of temperature while retaining the atmosphere in a container with the high moisture level and effectively preventing the condensation and also provide a storage method thereof. SOLUTION: The storage container can be closed and provided with a moisture conditioning material with a liquid moisture conditioning agent such as a glycerin, a low-molecular weight liquid polyethylene glycol or a body of liquid saccharide itself supported in the container, a water solution of the same or a water solution of water-soluble saccharide, which is supported on a substrate not generating the waterdrop separation even when a water content having the weight twice or more as much as the weight of the liquid moisture conditioning agent is absorbed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a foodstuff such as meat, fish, vegetables, and cooked food, a horticultural seedling, a medical sample, an experimental sample, and the like. The present invention relates to a storage container and a method for storing the same. In particular, the present invention relates to a storage container capable of preventing dew condensation on the inner surface of the container when the container is kept at a low temperature, and a storage method using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As the volume of a home refrigerator increases, it is common practice to wrap it in a container or a plastic wrap and keep it in a refrigerator in order to keep the food fresh. It is also widely practiced to store preserved materials that need to be kept at a low temperature in containers and store them at a low temperature. However, when storing in a refrigerator a preserved product containing a large amount of water, such as meat or fish, or a preserved product with a large amount of moisture transpiration, such as a vegetable, as the temperature in the container decreases, Condensation easily forms on the inner wall surface of the container, and when the dew comes into contact with food, the preserved material often deteriorates and loses freshness.

[0003] In order to prevent the occurrence of dew condensation, a method of adding a desiccant or using a dew-absorbing agent has been tried. However, in the case of foods and the like, drying is undesirably caused. Attempts have been made to combine a humidifier, a dryer and a temperature controller in the storage device (warehouse) to simultaneously control the humidity and temperature of the atmosphere in the warehouse, but the device becomes large-scale, but such a device requires a local system. However, there is a problem that it is not possible to properly control every place, for example, inside a small container containing contents such as food. In addition, in the method using a supersaturated aqueous solution of an inorganic substance utilizing parallel humidity, it takes a long time to reach equilibrium humidity, and thus cannot sufficiently cope with a change in humidity in the system.

When a small closed space is kept at a low temperature by cooling, even a slight change in the temperature of the space greatly changes the humidity (relative humidity). Therefore, in order to keep this humidity constant even if the temperature changes, a large water storage capacity (water absorption capacity and water supply capacity) and fast moisture absorption and desorption rates are required. In a method combining a dryer and a humidifier, when it is desired to maintain a high humidity, the flow of the high-humidity air flow supplied from the humidifier causes dew condensation due to slight changes in wind speed and temperature.
In this case, once the dew is formed, the dew does not easily dry in the low-temperature, high-humidity storage device, and the humidity cannot be reduced effectively. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to control the inside of a low-temperature storage device such as a refrigerator at high humidity without causing dew condensation. In addition, in the control using a saturated aqueous solution of an inorganic salt, the area exposed in the system cannot be larger than the bottom area of the container. There are drawbacks.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has a moisture absorption rate corresponding to a rapid rise in humidity while maintaining the atmosphere in the container at high humidity even when the temperature of the storage container changes suddenly. It is another object of the present invention to develop a storage container provided with a humidifier supporting a liquid humectant capable of effectively preventing condensation and a storage method using the container.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided [1] a hermetically sealable container, in which water droplets are separated even if the container absorbs more than twice the weight of the liquid humidifier supported. storage container characterized by comprising a support in a liquid tone Moisturizers the humidity control material made of a support which does not cause, [2] flat on a support, more humidity agent 5g to support 1 m ² The storage container according to the above [1], wherein the humidifying material supporting the above is used so that the liquid humectant is at least 5 g per 1 m ^{3 of} the container internal volume,
[3] The storage container according to the above [2], wherein the planar support is a pulp, nonwoven fabric or cloth-like substance having a large surface area, [4] the liquid conditioning agent is glycerin, a low molecular weight liquid polyalkylene. Any one of the above-mentioned [1] to [3], which is at least one selected from the group consisting of glycol, a liquid saccharide or an aqueous solution thereof, and an aqueous solution of a water-soluble saccharide;
[5] The storage container according to any one of [1] to [4], wherein the humidity control material is a humidity control material having a liquid humectant and a polymer water-absorbing agent supported on a support. Food storage containers, and

[6] The storage according to any of [1] to [5], wherein the container is a sealable container, and the container is provided with a humidity control material having a liquid humidifier supported on a support. The object of the present invention has been solved by developing a method for storing articles, which is characterized in that a preservation object required to be kept at a low temperature is put in a container and cooled and stored.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to prevent dew condensation from occurring in a sealable container when storing foods such as meat, fish, vegetables, etc., and other low temperatures in order to maintain freshness or prevent deterioration. A container capable of refrigerated storage and a storage method using the container. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.
Here, as the container 1 that can be sealed, any container can be used as long as it can substantially prevent air from flowing between the inside and the outside of the container.
It is not necessary that the material be sealed with a rubber packing or the like and be completely airtightly sealed with a closing device or the like. Therefore,
There is no particular limitation on the material, and any material that is generally used as a storage container for foods such as plastic products, metal products, wood products, glass products, and pottery products can be used as a target. Therefore, the size is not particularly limited, and the size is from several tens of ml to several m ³ , from a small household size to a size used on an industrial scale.

[0009] The liquid humectant used in the present invention is a non-toxic non-volatile organic compound which is liquid at room temperature and which is highly hygroscopic, such as glycerin, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, and a low molecular weight liquid. Examples thereof include those containing liquid saccharides such as polyethylene glycol or polypropylene glycol, starch syrup, and molasses (including alone or an aqueous solution thereof) or a concentrated aqueous solution of water-soluble saccharides such as sucrose, fructose, and glucose. Since these have different hygroscopicity (water vapor partial pressure), a liquid humectant is selected according to use conditions. However, the hygroscopicity of the liquid humectant changes as it absorbs water, so it is necessary to determine the conditions under which it will be used before selecting it.

As a support for the humidity control material 2, a porous substance having a large specific surface area and capable of holding the liquid humidity control agent is used. Examples of such a substance include pulp, nonwoven fabric, woven fabric, fiber, sintered metal, porous stone, activated carbon, and the like. Among them, pulp, nonwoven fabric, woven fabric, etc. as a planar support are lightweight, have a large surface area,
It has favorable performance such as flexibility. When the liquid humectant is supported on these supports, the surface of the liquid humectant is entirely covered with the liquid humectant, so that the surface area of the liquid humectant (the contact area with the atmosphere) is extremely large. Therefore, it becomes several hundred times or several thousand times that when a liquid humidifier is simply put in a liquid state, and remarkably accelerates the control of the humidity of the atmosphere.

The humidity control material (a material in which a liquid humectant is supported on a support) 2 of the present invention has a sufficient water absorbency by the liquid humidifier itself, and the support itself absorbs excess water. It is not likely to separate water droplets even if the amount of water absorption is large because it has the ability to retain water.However, it is conceivable that the amount of the humidifier support used is too small compared to the amount of water inside. In this case, it is conceivable that the liquid humidifier absorbs water in an amount equal to or greater than the saturation amount of the support to cause water droplet separation. Even in such a case, supporting the polymer water-absorbing agent together with the liquid humectant in order to prevent the separation of water droplets is effective to enhance the safety of preventing the separation of water droplets. The amount of water used is 0.5 to 20% by weight, preferably about 2 to 10% by weight, based on the liquid humectant, so that water droplet separation can be efficiently prevented. The moisture-absorbing humectant support can be easily replaced, incinerated, or disposed of, so that there is no problem because the liquid humectant is biodegradable. When used in large quantities, it is possible to dehydrate and reuse.

The amount of the liquid humectant supported on the support is determined by
To increase the amount of water, consider that the more the amount of liquid humectant, the more effective
However, if too much, the surface area will be reduced, so
5g / m for flat supports such as pulp and non-woven fabric^Two 
Or more, preferably 50 g / m ^Two And the surface area
That is, the amount is such that 80% is not crushed. That day
As a rough guide, the supported liquid conditioning agent is twice as wet.
Amount that does not separate water droplets even when moisture (moisture) is absorbed
It is to be. This humidifier 2 has an inner volume 1 of the container 1.
m^Three 5g / m as liquid humidifier^Three Above, preferably
Is 50 g / m^Three Or more, more preferably 500 g / m^Three About
Use it once. Storage containers, liquid
Antibacterial and bacteriostatic on at least one of the humidifier or humidifier
Alternatively, an agent having a bacteriostatic action may be added.
Wear.

The method of disposing the humidity control material 2 in the container is as follows.
It is preferable to arrange them so as to have as large an area as possible including the side wall of. Although the bottom surface alone has a certain effect, it tends to be insufficient. For example, the bottom surface of the container is a humidifying material of a granular support or a planar support, the side wall surface of the container is pulp,
For example, a humidity control material supported on a planar support such as a nonwoven fabric may be used. In addition, between the contents and the humidity control material,
A separator (barrier) 4 such as a mesh, a perforated plate, or a nonwoven fabric may be provided to allow the flow of air (humidity) but prevent the contact between the humidity control material and the contents. preferable. In the storage container of the present invention, dew condensation hardly occurs, but it is also preferable to arrange the storage container so as not to contact the side wall as much as possible in order to prevent contact with the contents even if it occurs.

[0014]

EXAMPLES (Examples 1 and 2, Comparative Examples 1 to 5) As a rule, the shape shown in FIG. 1 is 15 cm × 25 cm and height is 10 cm.
In a polystyrene food storage container, a liquid humidifier and a humidifier 2 (4.5 cm × 80 c) shown in Table 1 as a support were used.
m) was fixed to the side wall. Although the outside air temperature was 31 ° C., 200 g of tuna cuts were put in the container and stored in a refrigerator at 5 ° C. for 3 days. (Example 1) 0.5 g of glycerin was used as a liquid conditioning agent,
A humidity control material spray-supported on pulp having a basis weight of 30 g / m ² was used as a support. (Example 2) A humidity control material in which 2 g of glycerin was supported on the same support as in Example 1 as a liquid humidity control agent was used.

Comparative Example 1 Glycerin was directly sprayed on the side wall of a container as a liquid conditioning agent. Comparative Example 2 Only a pulp having a basis weight of 30 g / m ² was used as a support without using a liquid humidifier. (Comparative Example 3) 0.5 g of glycerin as a liquid conditioning agent,
It was used by being supported on a laminate of three 15 cm × 25 cm polyethylene films. (Comparative Example 4) 2 g of glycerin was used as a liquid humidity conditioner.
A humidity control material supported on a nonwoven fabric of g / m ² was used. (Comparative Example 5) The same humidity control material was used as in Example 1 except that the lid of the food storage container was removed. Table 1 shows the above results.

[0016]

[Table 1]

[0017]

According to the storage container of the present invention, a humidifying material in which a liquid humectant is supported on a support having a large surface area is provided in the container, and storage under high humidity is possible, and the occurrence of dew condensation is prevented. Therefore, when the temperature is changed while preventing the occurrence of dew condensation, it can be stored properly in low-temperature preservation of foods and various samples that have a large amount of water emission and easily deteriorate when exposed to dew condensation. It has become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an example of a sectional view of a container having a separator of a storage container of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Storage container 2 Humidity control material 3 Contents 4 Separator

Continued on front page F-term (reference) 3E067 AA11 AB01 AB02 AB04 AB08 AB90 BA05A BB06A BB07A BB13A BB14A BB24A CA09 EC31 EE28 EE33 FA03 FC01 GA01 GD01 4B021 LA07 LA14 LA15 LA24 LP10 LW02 LW03 LW04 LW10

Claims (6)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A container capable of being hermetically sealed and containing a liquid humectant in a support which does not cause water droplet separation even if it absorbs more than twice the weight of the liquid humectant supported. A storage container comprising a supported humidity control material. 2. A container having a volume of 1 m ² containing a humidifier supporting a humectant of 5 g or more per 1 m ² of a support on a flat support.
^2. The storage container according to claim 1, wherein the liquid humectant is used in an amount of 5 g or more. 3. The storage container according to claim 2, wherein the planar support is a pulp, nonwoven fabric or cloth material having a large surface area. 4. The liquid conditioning agent according to claim 1, wherein the liquid conditioning agent is at least one selected from the group consisting of glycerin, low molecular weight liquid polyalkylene glycol, liquid saccharide or an aqueous solution thereof, and an aqueous solution of a water-soluble saccharide. The storage container according to claim 1. 5. The food storage container according to claim 1, wherein the humidity control material is a humidity control material having a liquid humectant and a polymer water absorbing agent supported on a support. 6. The storage container according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the container is a hermetically sealable container, and the container has a humidifier having a liquid humectant supported on a support. A method for preserving an article, comprising storing a preservative that needs to be kept at a low temperature and storing it in a cooled state.