JP2002277128A - Container for vacuum cooling - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a container for vacuum cooling capable of preventing a liquid substance to be cooled from being accompanied from a container and sucked during vacuum suction. SOLUTION: In the container 1 for vacuum cooling having a vacuum suction port 4, a boiling accelerator 9 is situated on the liquid surface of a liquid substance to be cooled contained in the container 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vacuum cooling container used for vacuum cooling an object to be cooled, particularly a liquid object to be cooled.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in the food manufacturing industry, when storing cooked food in a refrigerator, it is required from the viewpoint of food hygiene to rapidly cool hot food after cooking. I have. Such food is generally cooled by a vacuum cooling method. In this vacuum cooling method, as is well known, by reducing the pressure in the container containing the food, the saturated steam temperature in the container is reduced, and the moisture contained in the food is evaporated,
The food is cooled using the heat of vaporization at that time.

Meanwhile, as an apparatus used for performing a vacuum cooling operation, that is, as a vacuum cooling apparatus, there is a vacuum cooling apparatus disclosed in, for example, JP-A-5-60438. The vacuum cooling device includes a vacuum suction unit, an upper lid connected to the vacuum suction unit, a movable container body,
An opening / closing means for separating or closely contacting the container body and the upper lid is provided. Then, after storing the food in the container body, and moving the container body toward the upper lid,
The container body and the upper lid are airtightly contacted to form a cooling container, and the inside of the cooling container is depressurized by the vacuum suction means to perform vacuum cooling of the food.

[0004] However, in the vacuum cooling device, depending on the decompression speed in the cooling container by the vacuum suction means, the food may be a gas in the cooling container (ie, air in the cooling container or vapor evaporated from the food). Was sucked in with the patient. The accompanying suction will be described with reference to an example in which the food is a liquid food such as a soup or a broth.

[0005] First, when vacuuming the liquid food, when the inside of the cooling container is decompressed, the moisture contained in the liquid food becomes vapor bubbles (hereinafter referred to as "bubbles") and is continuously generated. Phenomenon, ie boiling. In this boiling state, a gas such as air dissolved in the liquid food (hereinafter, referred to as “dissolved gas”) becomes a nucleus for generating air bubbles, and promotes the generation of air bubbles. appear. However, since the dissolved gas is released together with bubbles from the boiling liquid food, the amount of the dissolved gas in the liquid food decreases with time, and the amount of the dissolved gas decreases with the decrease in the amount of the dissolved gas. The number of bubbles generated in the food also decreases. In addition, the growth rate of the bubbles increases as the degree of vacuum in the cooling container increases, so that the size of the bubbles increases with time.

[0006] When the dissolved gas disappears from the liquid food, the boiling is stopped. However, in a state where the boiling has subsided, a phenomenon in which large bubbles suddenly and irregularly and rapidly occur in the liquid food, that is, bumping may occur. Here, in the boiling state, almost uniform evaporation is performed by continuously generating air bubbles, but in the bumping state, sudden generation of air bubbles causes intensive evaporation in a short time. The size of the bubbles in the state is larger than that in the boiling state.
Further, as described above, the growth rate of the bubbles increases as the degree of vacuum in the cooling vessel increases. Therefore, the bubbles in the bumping state grow large at the same time as they are generated, and their size is significantly larger than the size of the bubbles in the boiling state.

By the way, when the liquid food comes to a boiling state,
Since the liquid surface of the liquid food is lifted by the bubbles, if the decompression speed is too high, the liquid surface of the liquid food reaches the upper lid, and the liquid food is directed from the vacuum suction port formed in the upper lid to the vacuum suction means. Was sucked. Further, even when the liquid surface of the liquid food does not reach the upper lid, splashes of the liquid food when the air bubbles burst may be sucked from the vacuum suction port toward the vacuum suction means.

As described above, when the liquid food is sucked together with the gas in the cooling container, the liquid food in the cooling container loses its weight. Further, when the liquid food is sucked into the vacuum suction means, a pipe for vacuum suction of the cooling container is clogged, and the efficiency of vacuum suction is reduced.
Furthermore, if the liquid food is left as it is sucked into the pipe or the vacuum suction means, the liquid food will rot and give off an unpleasant odor. Therefore, conventionally, in order to eliminate such entrainment suction, the decompression speed has been adjusted according to the liquid food.

However, bumping may occur even if the decompression speed is adjusted. When bumping occurs, bubbles significantly larger than the boiling state are generated, so that entrainment suction occurs. Therefore, conventionally, in order to prevent bumping, vacuum cooling is performed by slowing down the decompression speed, but when the decompression speed is reduced, the time required for cooling the liquid food to a predetermined temperature increases, There is a problem that the working efficiency is reduced.

[0010]

A problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a vacuum cooling container capable of preventing a liquid object to be cooled from being sucked from the container during vacuum suction. It is to provide.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the invention according to claim 1 is a vacuum cooling container provided with a vacuum suction port. It is characterized in that a boiling accelerating material is arranged on the liquid surface of the stored liquid cooling object.

[0012]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present invention relates to a vacuum cooling container (hereinafter, “container”) used for vacuum cooling a liquid object to be cooled.
). This container is used as a container for accommodating a liquid object to be cooled when, for example, the food manufacturing industry vacuum-cools a high-temperature liquid food item after heating and cooking (eg, soup, soup stock) as the object to be cooled. can do. Here, the liquid object to be cooled includes a case where all are liquid and a case where a liquid and a solid are mixed.

The container according to the present invention is a container for accommodating a liquid object to be cooled in an airtight state. The container is provided with a vacuum suction port, and is configured to vacuum suction the inside of the container via the vacuum suction port when the object to be cooled in the container is vacuum-cooled.

The container will be described in more detail. First, the container comprises a container body having an opening at an upper part, and a lid for closing the opening in an airtight state. The lid is provided with the vacuum suction port.
Here, the vacuum suction port may be provided in the container body.

Further, the container is provided with a boiling accelerating material disposed on the liquid surface of the liquid object to be cooled contained in the container. The boiling accelerating material functions as a nucleus for generating vapor bubbles (hereinafter, referred to as "bubbles") in the liquid object to be cooled, and has a function of continuously generating air bubbles in the object to be cooled. It has a function to promote boiling.

The boiling accelerating material is formed into a plate having an appropriate shape such as a polygonal shape or a circular shape in accordance with the shape and size of the container. It is formed so as to cover almost the entirety. Also,
As the boiling accelerating material, an appropriate material such as a synthetic resin or ceramic can be selected according to the type of the object to be cooled. Here, the boiling accelerating material is arranged on the liquid surface of the object to be cooled by being configured to be able to float on the object to be cooled. Further, by using a suitable supporting member, the boiling accelerating material may be configured to be suspended from the container body or the lid, or may be configured to be floated from the bottom surface of the container body to be cooled. On the surface of the liquid.

In order to perform vacuum cooling of the object to be cooled using the container, the object to be cooled is accommodated in the container body, and the boiling promoting material is floated on the object to be cooled.
The boiling accelerating material is disposed on the liquid surface of the object to be cooled. Next,
By attaching the lid to the container main body, the object to be cooled is housed in the container in an airtight state.

Then, by connecting an appropriate vacuum suction means to the vacuum suction port, the interior of the container is directly vacuum-evacuated, and the pressure in the container is reduced. When the pressure inside the container is reduced,
Boiling of the object to be cooled is promoted by the boiling promoting material, and the object to be cooled is brought into a boiling state. This boiling state is maintained by the boiling accelerating material even if dissolved gas (that is, gas such as air dissolved in the object to be cooled) disappears from the object to be cooled. Can be suppressed.

In the boiling state after the dissolved gas has disappeared from the object to be cooled, bubbles are generated near the liquid surface of the object to be cooled by the boiling accelerating material. Explodes and disappears. Therefore,
In the boiling state after the dissolved gas has disappeared from the object to be cooled, the size of continuously generated bubbles can be suppressed to be small.

Therefore, when the vacuum cooling operation is performed using the container, the generation of large bubbles due to bumping can be suppressed, and the size of the bubbles can be kept small in the boiling state after the dissolved gas has disappeared. be able to. Therefore, entrainment suction of the object to be cooled due to lifting of the liquid surface of the object to be cooled by the bubbles can be prevented. In addition, since the boiling accelerating material is disposed in the vessel so as to cover almost the entire liquid surface of the object to be cooled, the amount of splashes scattered above the boiling accelerating material can be suppressed. Also, accompanying suction of the object to be cooled due to the splash can be prevented.

Therefore, when the vacuum cooling operation is performed using the container, it is possible to prevent loss of the object to be cooled and to solve the problem of clogging of a pipe for vacuum suction in the container. . Further, when the object to be cooled is a food, it is possible to solve a problem on food hygiene such as generation of an unpleasant odor due to spoilage of the food in the pipe or the vacuum suction means.

Further, when the vacuum cooling operation is performed using the container, it is possible to prevent the object to be cooled from being entrained and sucked. There is no need to slow down the pressure in the vessel. In addition, the effect of preventing the accompanying suction by the boiling accelerating material is exerted even when the pressure reduction speed is increased, so that the time required for cooling the object to be cooled to the predetermined temperature can be reduced.

In the above description, when depressurizing the inside of the container, the inside of the container is directly vacuum-evacuated by using an appropriate vacuum suction means. By connecting to a tank, storing the container in the reduced-pressure tank, and vacuum-suctioning the inside of the reduced-pressure tank, the inside of the container can be indirectly vacuum-suctioned.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing an embodiment of a vacuum cooling container according to the present invention and an example of use of the vacuum cooling container. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a vacuum suction port in FIG. FIG. Here, the object to be cooled in this embodiment is a liquid food such as soup or broth.

In FIG. 1, first, a vacuum cooling container (hereinafter, referred to as “container”) 1 has an opening (not shown) at an upper part.
And a lid 3 attached to the container body 2 and closing the opening in an airtight state.
At substantially the center of the lid 3, a vacuum suction port 4 for reducing the pressure inside the container 1 is provided. This vacuum suction port 4
Is a cylinder 5 attached so as to penetrate the lid 3
Is formed by A check valve 6 is provided in the cylindrical body 5 as a means for maintaining the inside of the container 1 in a vacuum state. The check valve 6 also has a function as a vacuum release unit for releasing the vacuum state in the container 1 when the cover 3 is removed from the container body 2. Further, a vacuum suction means 7 for vacuum suctioning the inside of the container 1 is connected to the cylinder 5 via a vacuum suction line 8. Here, the cylinder 5 and the vacuum suction line 8 are connected to be detachable as appropriate.

The container 1 is provided in the container body 2.
A boiling accelerating material 9 is provided on the liquid surface of the liquid food inside. The boiling accelerating material 9 functions as a nucleus for generating vapor bubbles (hereinafter, referred to as "bubbles") in the liquid food, and has a function of continuously generating bubbles in the liquid food, that is, to promote boiling. It has the function to do. Therefore, the boiling accelerating material 9 functions to suppress the occurrence of bumping in the liquid food by promoting the boiling of the liquid food. The boiling promoting material 9 is made of a synthetic resin, and is formed as a rectangular plate-shaped member so as to cover almost the entire liquid surface of the liquid food in the container body 2. Further, the boiling promoting material 9 is configured to be able to float on the liquid surface of the liquid food.

Here, in the container 1 of this embodiment,
The lower end of the cylindrical body 5 is provided so as to protrude downward from the lid 3, and at the lower end thereof, as shown in FIG.
A predetermined number of notches 10, 10,... Are provided. Each of these notches 10 is provided to prevent the boiling-up material 9 from being lifted up by bubbles when the liquid food boiled violently, and to prevent the boiling-up material 9 from closing the vacuum suction port 4. ing. That is, the respective notches 10 are provided to prevent the vacuum suction in the container 1 from the vacuum suction port 4 from being hindered.

Next, a vacuum cooling operation using the container 1 will be described. First, the cooked high-temperature liquid food is accommodated in the container body 2, and the boiling accelerator 9 is floated on the liquid food, thereby disposing the boiling accelerator 9 on the liquid surface of the liquid food. Next, by attaching the lid 3 to the container main body 2, the liquid food is accommodated in the container 1 in an airtight state.

Next, the container 1 and the vacuum suction means 7
Are connected by the vacuum suction line 8. Then, the inside of the container 1 is depressurized by operating the vacuum suction means 7. Then, as the degree of vacuum in the container 1 increases, the saturated steam temperature in the container 1 decreases, so that the water contained in the liquid food evaporates, and the heat of vaporization released at this time causes the liquid food to evaporate. Cooled.

When the liquid food is cooled to a predetermined temperature, the vacuum suction means 7 is stopped. Then, the connection between the container 1 and the vacuum suction means 7 is released by removing the vacuum suction line 8 from the cylinder 5. In a state where the connection with the vacuum suction means 7 is released, the inside of the container 1 is maintained in a reduced pressure state by the check valve 6, and the lid 3 connects the inside of the container 1 with the outside. The container is pressed against the container body 2 by the pressure difference. Therefore, by transferring the liquid food after vacuum cooling to the storage means such as a refrigerator together with the container 1, it is possible to prevent the liquid food from being contaminated due to mixing of dust and various germs. Further, during storage in the storage means, since the inside of the container 1 is maintained in a reduced pressure state, propagation of various bacteria in the residual air in the container 1 and oxidation of the liquid food by oxygen in the residual air are prevented. Thus, deterioration of the quality of the liquid food can be prevented.

In the vacuum cooling operation using the vessel 1, when the pressure in the vessel 1 is reduced, the boiling promoting material 9
Thereby, the boiling of the liquid food is promoted, and the liquid food is brought into a boiling state. This boiling state is maintained by the boiling accelerating material 9 even if dissolved gas (ie, gas such as air dissolved in the liquid food) disappears from the liquid food. Can be suppressed. In the boiling state after the dissolved gas has disappeared from the liquid food, the boiling accelerator 9
As a result, air bubbles are generated in the vicinity of the liquid surface of the liquid food, but the air bubbles burst and disappear before growing large. Therefore, in the boiling state after the dissolved gas has disappeared from the liquid food, the size of continuously generated bubbles can be suppressed to a small value.

That is, when the vacuum cooling operation is performed using the container 1, it is possible to prevent the generation of large bubbles while the pressure in the container 1 is reduced. Therefore, the liquid surface of the liquid food is prevented from being lifted by the bubbles,
Moreover, since the boiling accelerator 9 is disposed on the liquid surface of the liquid food, it is possible to prevent the liquid surface of the liquid food from reaching the vacuum suction port 4. Therefore, accompanying suction of the liquid food due to the liquid surface of the liquid food being lifted by the bubbles can be prevented.

In this boiling state, when air bubbles burst and disappear, droplets of liquid food are generated. However, in liquid food, to cover almost the entire surface of the liquid,
Since the plate-like boiling accelerating material 9 is disposed, most of the air bubbles rupture below the boiling accelerating material 9, and the splash at this time collides with the lower surface of the boiling accelerating material 9 and the container 1 Drops into liquid food inside. Splashes scatter above the boiling accelerating material 9 from between the outer peripheral edge of the boiling accelerating material 9 and the inner side wall of the container body 2, and the splash reaches the vacuum suction port 4. Thus, accompanying suction of the liquid food can be prevented.

Therefore, even if the liquid food boils violently, only the gas in the container 1 (that is, the air in the container 1 or the vapor evaporated from the liquid food) flows into the vacuum suction port 4, so that It is possible to prevent liquid food from being sucked from the container 1 to the vacuum suction means 7 accompanying the liquid food.

As described above, when the vacuum cooling operation is performed using the container 1, it is possible to prevent the liquid food from being sucked together with the gas in the container 1.
Therefore, loss of the liquid food in the container 1 can be prevented, and the clogging of the vacuum suction port 4 and the vacuum suction line 8 and the like, and the inside of the vacuum suction line 8 and the vacuum suction means 7 can be prevented. The problem of food hygiene such as generation of off-flavor due to spoilage of liquid food at the same time can be solved.

Further, when the vacuum cooling operation is performed by using the container 1, it is possible to prevent the liquid food from being entrained and sucked. Therefore, the vacuum cooling operation is performed as in the conventional vacuum cooling operation using the cooling container. There is no need to reduce the pressure reduction rate in the container 1. Moreover, the accompanying suction preventing effect of the boiling promoting material 9 is exerted even when the decompression speed is increased, so that the time required for cooling the liquid food to a predetermined temperature can be shortened.

[0037]

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the object to be cooled from being sucked from the inside of the container when the liquid object to be cooled is vacuum-cooled. Therefore, the problem of loss of the object to be cooled and the problem of clogging of the pipe for vacuum suction in the container can be solved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing one embodiment of a vacuum cooling container according to the present invention and an example of use of the vacuum cooling container.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory sectional view showing a vacuum suction port portion in FIG. 1 in an enlarged manner.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container (container for vacuum cooling) 4 Vacuum suction port 9 Boiling accelerator

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Yuki Matsufuji 7 Horie-cho, Matsuyama-shi, Ehime Miura Industrial Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3E067 AA03 AB01 BA01A EA32 EE28 FA01 FB11 FC01 GA01 3L044 AA04 BA05 CA04 DD04 KA04

Claims (1)

[Claims] A vacuum cooling container provided with a vacuum suction port.
3. The vacuum cooling container according to claim 1, wherein a boiling accelerator 9 is disposed on the liquid surface of the liquid object to be cooled contained in the container 1.