JP2001355952A - Cooling box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reliably prevent food quality form deteriorating by preventing over cooling and cooling shortage to heat-treated food materials. SOLUTION: When composing a cooling box 1 for cooling food materials Fa, etc., by sending cold air to a cooling chamber 22 by a refrigerator 24 and fans 3u and 3d in the box, this cooling box is provided with sensors 2a, etc., for detecting the temperature of the food materials Fa, etc., being accommodated in the cooling chamber 22, and a reporting part 9 for reporting that the temperature of the food materials Fa, etc., has reached a set temperature Ts when detection temperatures Td, etc., of the food materials Fa being detected by the sensors 2a, etc., have reached the preset temperature Ts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooler suitable for use in rapidly cooling a foodstuff that has been heat-treated at a cooling temperature lower than a storage temperature.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in the step of cooling foodstuffs required in the cooking process, it is necessary to suppress the growth of various bacteria and to maintain freshness, taste, nutritional value and the like. ℃) quickly cool the food.

Heretofore, a method of cooling food in a cooling cabinet for cooling such heat-treated high-temperature food has been proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-10643. In this cooling method, the surface temperature and the internal temperature (core temperature) of the food are detected by a temperature sensor, and the first setting is performed until the surface temperature reaches the first set temperature set to a temperature immediately before the freezing temperature of the food. While cooling rapidly with cold air at a temperature lower than the temperature, after the surface temperature reaches the first set temperature, the surface temperature is controlled to be maintained at the first set temperature. , The time required to shift to the storage mode can be shortened, the deterioration of the food quality can be prevented, and the uniformity of the food quality can be improved.

[0004] However, the conventional refrigerator using the above-described food cooling method is not notified even if the cooling of the heat-treated food is completed, so that the food may be overcooled and insufficiently cooled. There was also a problem to be improved that quality could not be reliably prevented from deteriorating.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems existing in the prior art, and aims to prevent overcooling and insufficient cooling of a heat-treated food material and to surely prevent deterioration of the food material quality. The purpose is to provide a cooler that can be used.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a refrigerator 1 for cooling a food Fa by sending cool air to a cooling chamber 22 by a refrigerator 24 and fans 3u and 3d in the refrigerator. , A sensor 2a for detecting the temperature of the food Fa contained in the cooling chamber 22, and a detection temperature Tda of the food Fa detected by the sensor 2a reaches a preset set temperature Ts. And a notifying unit 9 for notifying that the temperature has reached the set temperature Ts. In this case, according to the preferred embodiment, a core temperature sensor that detects the core temperature of the food can be used as the sensors 3a.
One or more of a buzzer, sound, and alarm lamp can be used.

As a result, the food material F stored in the cooling chamber 22
a are detected by the sensors 2a,
When the detected temperature, that is, the detected temperature Tda, reaches a preset set temperature Ts, the notification unit 9 notifies the user of that fact.
In addition to preventing overcooling and insufficient cooling of the food, it is possible to surely prevent deterioration of the quality of foodstuffs.

[0008]

Next, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the structure of the cooling cabinet 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

The cooling cabinet 1 has an opening / closing door 21 at the front of a heat insulating case 20 and a cooling chamber 2 at the front inside.
2 The cooling chamber 22 has a plurality of trays 23.
, And the food ingredients Fa, Fb, Fc to be cooled
It is placed on ... In this case, it is assumed that the ingredients Fa... Of the embodiment have a slow cooling end in the order of the ingredients Fa, Fb, and Fc. "Tonkatsu" can be applied to. On the other hand, a refrigerator 24 and a pair of upper and lower internal fans 3u, 3d are provided at the rear of the heat insulating case 20, and a controller 4 having a computer function is provided at the upper part of the heat insulating case 20, and the refrigerator 24 and the internal fan 3u are provided. , 3 d are driven and controlled by the controller 4.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, core temperature sensors 2a, 2b, 2c are connected to the input side of the controller 4 through cords 5a, 5b, 5c, and the inside of the chamber for detecting the inside temperature is detected. The temperature sensor 6 is connected. In this case, the core temperature sensors 2a, 2b, and 2c are arranged in the cooling chamber 22, and inserted into the foods Fa, Fb, and Fc stored in the cooling chamber 22, so that the core temperatures of the foods Fa, Fb, and Fc ( (Detected temperatures) Tda, Tdb, and Tdc are detected. Further, an operation unit 7 including a setting unit is connected to the input side of the controller 4. On the other hand, to the output side of the controller 4, the in-compartment fans 3 u and 3 d are connected via an inverter 8, and a notification unit 9 that can use a chime (buzzer), a sound, an alarm lamp, and the like is connected.

Next, a method of using the cooling cabinet 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings and the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

First, in the cooling cabinet 1, the detected temperature Tdc detected by the last core temperature sensor 2c is set in advance to the set temperature T.
s, the storage temperature Tp, the foodstuffs Fa, Fb, and Fc subjected to the heat treatment are stored in the cooling chamber 22, the cooling temperature Tcs after the rapid cooling time tw has elapsed, and the set temperature Ts for terminating the cooling mode, respectively. Set. In this case, in the embodiment, the storage temperature Tp is 18 [° C.] and the cooling temperature Tcs is 1
An example in which the temperature is set at 5 ° C. and the set temperature Ts is set at 18 ° C.

Now, it is assumed that the foods Fa, Fb, and Fc that have been subjected to the heat treatment are accommodated in the cooling chamber 22 of the cooling cabinet 1. In this case, the temperature of the food ingredients Fa is in a high temperature state of about 60 to 80 ° C. Each of the food materials Fa is placed on each of the trays 23, and the core temperature sensor 2a is inserted into the food material Fa, the core temperature sensor 2b is inserted into the food material Fb, and the core temperature sensor 2c is inserted into the food material Fc (see FIG. 2). ). Then, in the quenching mode, the refrigerator 24 is operated at full power and the fans 3u and 3d are operated, and for example, cold air having a wind speed of about 5 to 7 m / s at about -20 ° C is sent to the cooling chamber 22. , The foods Fa... Are rapidly cooled by rapid cooling (step S).
1). The cooling temperature Tcf at this time is as shown in FIG. One of the internal fans 3u and 3d rotates forward, the other reversely rotates, or one operates, the other stops, and the blowing direction is reversed at a predetermined cycle. In FIG. 2, the forward direction of the air blowing direction is indicated by an arrow H1, and the reverse direction is indicated by an arrow H2.

The rapid cooling time tw in the rapid cooling mode
Is set by the method disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2668320 already proposed by the present applicant. That is, in advance, a plurality of temperature lowering times between different internal temperatures set in the quenching period are detected under different conditions, and an optimum quenching time corresponding to each temperature lowering time is obtained, and the conversion characteristic between the temperature lowering time and the quenching time is determined. Find and memorize. Then, at the time of rapid cooling in the rapid cooling process mode, the temperature lowering time between different in-compartment temperatures is detected, a corresponding rapid cooling time tw is obtained from the temperature lowering time and the conversion characteristic, and rapid cooling is performed for the rapid cooling time tw. On the other hand, if the rapid cooling time tw has elapsed, the internal temperature Tm
Is set to a preset cooling temperature Tcs.

Further, the controller 4 is configured to control the inside temperature Tm detected by the inside temperature sensor 6 and the core temperature sensors 2a and 2a.
b, 2c, detected temperatures Tda, Tdb, T
Monitor dc. Since the foods Fa, Fb, and Fc are rapidly cooled as time passes, the detected temperatures Tda, Tdb,
Tdc falls quickly. In the embodiment, since the food material Fa finishes cooling the earliest, as shown in FIG.
da first reaches the set temperature Ts at time ta.
When the detected temperature Tda reaches the set temperature Ts, the controller 4 records the elapsed time (cooling time) from the start of cooling at the time ta (steps S2 and S3). Further, a command signal is given to the notification unit 9 to operate the notification unit 9 (step S4). In this case, a chime (buzzer) can be sounded for a certain period of time, or a notification can be given by voice. At this time, since the worker may miss the chime, the chime can be sounded at regular time intervals or the alarm lamp can be turned on at the same time until the food Fa is taken out of the refrigerator 1. Incidentally, one alarm lamp may be used in common, or a plurality of alarm lamps may be provided corresponding to each core temperature sensor 2a.

When the notification unit 9 is activated, the operator opens the opening / closing door 21 and removes the core temperature sensor 2a from the food material Fa. Packing (vacuum packing). Further, the controller 4 automatically detects that the core temperature sensor 2a has been extracted from the food Fa, and
A cooling end process associated with the end of the cooling of a is performed. The cooling end process is, for example, stopping the chime in the notification unit 9 or turning off the alarm lamp.

By the way, the detection that the core temperature sensor 2a has been extracted from the food material Fa can be easily performed by monitoring the detected temperature Tda and the inside temperature Tm detected by the core temperature sensor 2a. Next, this detection method will be described with reference to FIGS.

Now, it is assumed that the worker opens the opening / closing door 21 to take out the food Fa from the refrigerator 1 (step S11). The worker removes the core temperature sensor 2a from the food material Fa with the opening and closing door 21 opened.
The detection temperature Tda detected by the core temperature sensor 2a rapidly rises as shown by a reference symbol Tdap in FIG. 6, and falls rapidly when the opening / closing door 21 is closed after taking out the food material Fa. Internal temperature Tm (cooling temperature Tc
s) is detected. Therefore, by detecting this temperature change, it is possible to detect that the core temperature sensor 2a has been pulled out by opening the opening / closing door 21.
da and the inside temperature Tm are monitored, and when the detected temperature Tda reaches the set temperature Ts, a change rate x of the detected temperature Tda is obtained by calculation (step S12). That is, the detected temperature Td
a is sampled at a constant period, and the rate of change x is calculated from the ratio of the detected values before and after the sampling. If the rate of change x is equal to or greater than the set value, the controller 4 temporarily determines that the core temperature sensor 2a has been removed (step S13).

Next, a deviation between the detected temperature Tda and the internal temperature Tm is determined (step S14). Since the core temperature sensor 2a is left in the cooling chamber 22 with the core temperature sensor 2a removed from the food material Fa, the core temperature sensor 2a detects the internal temperature Tm, and the difference between the detected temperature Tda and the internal temperature Tm. Is theoretically zero. Therefore, the detected temperature Tda and the internal temperature Tm
When the deviation y becomes equal to or less than the set value,
It is determined that the core temperature sensor 2a has been removed (step S15).

Therefore, if both the results that the rate of change x is equal to or greater than the set value and the deviation y is equal to or less than the set value are obtained, it is determined that the core temperature sensor 2a is finally removed. Then, a cooling end process associated with the end of the cooling of the food material Fa, that is, a process of stopping the chime in the notification unit 9 and turning off the alarm lamp is performed (step S16). In addition, such a determination may be simply made based on either one of the result that the rate of change x is equal to or more than the set value or the result that the deviation y is equal to or less than the set value.

On the other hand, the same processing is performed on the remaining foodstuffs Fb and Fc. That is, the food Fb is followed by the food Fb
Ends the cooling, and as shown in FIG.
db reaches the set temperature Ts at time tb. Therefore, similarly to the case of the food Fa, the controller 4 records the elapsed time (cooling time) from the start of cooling at the time tb, and gives a command signal to the notification unit 9 to notify the notification unit 9.
(Steps S5, S1, S2, S3, S
4). As for the last food Fc, as shown in FIG. 5, the detected temperature Tdc reaches the set temperature Ts at time tc. Therefore, similarly to the case of the food Fa, the controller 4 records the elapsed time (cooling time) from the start of cooling at the time tc, and gives a command signal to the notification unit 9 to operate the notification unit 9 ( Steps S5, S1, S2, S
3, S4). In this case, each food Fa may be stored. However, since the extraction of the core temperature sensors 2a is automatically detected, at this time, the next food Fb is further stored in the storage mode. In such a case, the notification unit 9 may perform a process such as continuing to sound a chime or keeping an alarm lamp lit.

When the temperature Tdc detected by the last core temperature sensor 2c reaches the set temperature Ts, the cooling temperature Tcs is changed to the preset storage temperature Tp, that is, the upshift is performed (steps S5 and S6). ). Also,
A process of decelerating the in-compartment fans 3u and 3d is performed (step S7). In this case, the wind speeds of the internal fans 3u and 3d are controlled to 0.1 to 0.2 [m
/ S] as much as possible. Thereby, even if there are foods Fa... Which are not taken out of the refrigerator 1, the normal storage mode is set thereafter, and the foods Fa.

As described above, according to the cooling cabinet 1 according to the present embodiment, the fact that the cooling has been completed is reported for each of the plurality of types of foods Fa, Fb, and Fc, so that the cooling is performed simultaneously. Optimum cooling can be performed on all of the various foods Fa, Fb, and Fc without causing overcooling and insufficient cooling, and reliable deterioration of the food quality can be prevented. Also,
Temperature Tdc detected by last core temperature sensor 2c
Since the temperature has reached the set temperature Ts, the mode shifts to the preservation mode, so that accurate cooling can be performed even on the food material Fc whose cooling has been completed most slowly, and the entire cooling time can be shortened. The warehouse 1 can be used efficiently.

The embodiment has been described in detail above.
The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment,
The detailed configuration, technique, numerical values, and the like can be arbitrarily changed, added, or deleted without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the method of rapidly cooling the heat-treated foods Fa, Fb, and Fc at a cooling temperature lower than the storage temperature Tp is not limited to the illustrated example, but may be other methods, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H05-205686. As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 10643,
The temperature sensor detects the surface temperature and the internal temperature (core temperature) of the food, and the temperature is lower than the first set temperature until the surface temperature reaches the first set temperature set to the temperature immediately before the freezing temperature of the food. After the surface temperature reaches the first set temperature, the surface temperature may be controlled so as to be maintained at the first set temperature. Further, the set temperature Ts and the storage temperature Tp may be the same value or different values. Furthermore, although three core temperature sensors 2a, 2b, and 2c are illustrated, two or four or more core temperature sensors can be used.

[0026]

As described above, the cooling cabinet according to the present invention comprises a sensor for detecting the temperature of foodstuffs stored in the cooling chamber, and a sensor for detecting the temperature of the foodstuffs detected by the sensor reaches a preset temperature. In order to provide a notification unit for notifying that the temperature of the food has reached the set temperature, it is possible to prevent overcooling and insufficient cooling of the heat-treated food, and to surely prevent deterioration of the food quality. Has a remarkable effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electric system of a refrigerator according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an internal structural view of the cooling box,

FIG. 3 is a flowchart sequentially showing a processing procedure of a food cooling method by the cooling box,

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a detection method for detecting that a core temperature sensor has been removed from food in the food cooling method;

FIG. 5 is a timing chart of the temperature of each part and the processing by the food cooling method,

FIG. 6 is a temperature characteristic diagram of each part for explaining the principle of a detection method for detecting that the core temperature sensor is removed from the food in the food cooling method;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling cabinet 2a ... Sensor (core temperature sensor) 3u Cooling fan 3d Cooling fan 9 Notification part 22 Cooling room 24 Refrigerator Fa ... Foodstuff Tda ... Detection temperature Ts Set temperature

Claims (3)

[Claims] In a cooling cabinet that cools food by sending cool air to a cooling chamber by a refrigerator and a fan in the refrigerator, a sensor that detects a temperature of the food stored in the cooling chamber, and a sensor that detects the temperature of the food detected by the sensor. A cooling unit provided with a notifying unit for notifying that the temperature of the food material has reached the set temperature when the detected temperature has reached a preset set temperature. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein said sensor is a core temperature sensor for detecting a core temperature of a foodstuff. 3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit uses one or more of a chime, a buzzer, a sound, and an alarm lamp.