JP2003310191A - Superheated steam drier for noodles - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a new superheated steam drier for noodles, satisfactorily giving a good feeling (taste) to the mouth, by taking a serious view of the facts that the treated material is food and further that the feeling thereof, when actually taken, is most important, to say nothing of decreasing a time for drying the noodles nor of effectively sterilizing thermoduric bacteria. <P>SOLUTION: This superheated steam drier 1 for the noodles is equipped with a treatment part 4 which blows the superheated steam S having a temperature of ≥100°C and a transport unit 5 which transports the noodles W into the treatment part 4 in a state that the noodles W are hung on holders 22, wherein the noodles W are uniformly dried by making the superheated steam S evenly contact with surfaces of the noodles W while the noodles W pass through the treatment part 4. Thus, the noodles W are dried in an extremely short time and therefore the noodles W are scarcely thermally denatured. Further, the noodles have the excellent feeling to the mouth, such as stiffness and toughness, when people actually take the noodles because changing of the noodles into an alpha cellulose is, it is considered accelerated by using the superheated steam for drying the noodles. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an apparatus for drying noodles such as noodles for ramen, noodles for udon, noodles for buckwheat noodles, noodles for noodles, noodles for yakisoba, pasta, spaghetti noodles, etc. By contacting such noodles with steam in a high temperature state heated to 100 ° C. or higher, the water content can be efficiently reduced in terms of taste (texture) such as waist and texture, and also from the viewpoint of hygiene. The present invention relates to a new drying device.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION For example, when various noodles such as ramen, udon, soba, etc. are circulated in the state of raw noodles, the water content is controlled to prevent the change (deterioration) of the noodle properties and the propagation of various fungi. It needs to be dropped, i.e. dried. At this time, as a method of removing water, there are methods such as supplying cold / warm air for drying, or leaving it for a certain period of time. Among them, wind power drying in which hot air or cold air is blown is generally adopted for noodles. Specifically, a method of blowing air generated by a large-capacity blower or a fan onto the noodles to dry it, or a method of blowing dry air heated by an electric heater or the like onto the noodles. It should be noted that such a drying method not only lowers the water content of the noodles, but also has a bactericidal effect of killing bacteria that are attached to the surface of the noodles and are weak to dryness. And the noodles from which water has been removed to the desired water content,
For example, in the next packaging process or the like, a package or the like prepared for commercialization is applied. However, the following problems have been encountered in subjecting noodles to such wind drying.

First, there has been a problem that the time required for wind drying is long. For example, in the drying process with raw noodles for udon,
Although it depends on the noodle quality, it is necessary to reduce the water content of about 35% to around 25%, and in the case of a general mechanical hot air dryer, it takes about 1.5 hours to dry. It was In addition, noodles are generally carried into a processing chamber in a state of being hung on a stick-shaped holding member and dried, so that the transfer length in the processing chamber may reach a linear distance of 10 m as an example. It tended to increase in size.

Further, since the object to be treated is noodles, not only the production efficiency is improved, but also the texture of the person's waist or the texture when eating is important. In the drying, there is a problem that the noodles are not easily heat-denatured due to the long drying time and the like, and the texture is impaired thereby. Furthermore, in conventional wind drying, the temperature is about 20 to 40 ° C even with warm air, and 130 ° C for sterilization.
The problem is that the sterilization of thermostable bacteria that require a certain temperature is not always sufficient. Especially for this thermostable bacterium,
The food poisoning problem resulting from this has been widely taken up in recent years.

Of course, in order to solve such a problem, for example, if the temperature of the supply air is increased and the air volume is increased, a drying process can be performed in a short time and the heat-resistant bacteria can be effectively sterilized. Is possible. However,
The method of simply increasing the hot air temperature and its air volume is, since the object to be treated is noodles that actually enter the human mouth as described above, the components contained such as starch and protein easily undergo thermal denaturation by high temperature hot air, Since the texture of noodles may be significantly impaired, it was not a method that could be easily adopted.

From the above, the present applicant has fundamentally reviewed the semi-fixed method of drying with cold / warm air and dried it by bringing overheated steam in a high temperature state of 100 ° C. or more into contact with the object to be treated. Developed a method of
2235 "Superheated steam drying method and superheated steam drying device"
Has been applied for.

[0007]

The present invention has been made as a part of such development, and is intended to shorten the drying time and to effectively sterilize thermostable bacteria, as well as to be treated. Based on the premise that the body is noodles, especially trying to develop a new superheated steam drying device for noodles, which places the most importance on the texture (taste) of the waist and texture when actually eating this Is.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] That is, an apparatus for drying superheated steam of noodles according to claim 1 comprises a processing unit for ejecting superheated steam at 100 ° C. or higher, and a conveying device for transferring the noodles to the processing unit. It is characterized in that the noodles are brought into contact with superheated steam to dry the noodles while passing through the treatment section. According to the present invention, the water content can be reduced in an extremely short period of time as compared with wind drying, which has been widely performed conventionally for drying noodles. Due to this, the noodles are hardly thermally denatured. Further, the drying of the noodles with superheated steam accelerates the gelatinization of the noodles, and when the person actually cooks and eats the noodles, the noodles have an excellent elasticity and a chewy texture. Further, since the superheated steam applied to the noodles is in a high temperature state of 100 ° C. or higher, it is possible to effectively sterilize various bacteria, particularly heat-resistant bacteria.

The noodle superheated steam drying apparatus according to a second aspect of the invention is, in addition to the requirements of the first aspect, the transporting apparatus includes a holder for suspending the noodles. The treatment section is characterized by spraying superheated steam on the surface of the noodles being conveyed so that the noodles act almost entirely. According to the present invention, the superheated steam can be applied to the surface of the noodles almost evenly, and the water content of the noodles can be reduced almost uniformly.

Furthermore, in the overheated steam drying apparatus for noodles according to a third aspect, in addition to the requirements according to the second aspect, the processing section blows overheated steam from the vertical direction of the noodles conveyed in a suspended state. In the portion that ejects the superheated steam, a support that can change the suspended noodles into a substantially horizontal state is provided, and the superheated steam is allowed to act almost entirely on the surface of the noodles. It consists of According to this invention, since the processing section is provided with a support for placing the noodles being transferred from the suspended state in a substantially horizontal state, the superheated steam is contacted with the suspended noodles in the vertical direction. In the dried form, a concrete method for drying the noodles almost uniformly is realized.

According to the superheated steam drying apparatus for noodles described in claim 4, in addition to the requirements described in claim 1 or 2, the processing section can convey the noodles in a substantially vertical direction while the noodles are suspended. It is characterized in that it is formed in a vertically long shape. According to the present invention, the installation space of the processing unit, and thus the installation space of the entire apparatus, can be reduced as compared with the case where the processing unit is formed substantially horizontally and horizontally.

Further, in the overheated steam drying device for noodles according to a fifth aspect, in addition to the requirements according to the first, second, third or fourth aspect, the processing section is a substantial drying section for blowing the overheated steam onto the noodles. It is characterized in that the pre-stage is provided with a preheating part for preheating the noodles to an appropriate temperature. According to this invention, the noodles are heated to an appropriate temperature before being blown with the superheated steam, so that when they come into contact with the superheated steam in a high temperature state, the noodles do not undergo a rapid temperature change, and the noodles The thermal denaturation of can be prevented more reliably.

Further, in the overheated steam drying apparatus for noodles according to a sixth aspect, in addition to the requirement according to the first, second, third, fourth or fifth aspect, the processing section is a substantially closed processing space,
An air blower for circulating the air in the processing space is provided. According to the present invention, the local temperature rise in the processing space is effectively prevented, and the noodles can be dried more effectively.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Prior to the description of the embodiments,
The noodles W to be dried in the present invention will be described. This is noodles W such as noodles for ramen, noodles for udon, noodles for buckwheat noodles, noodles for noodles, noodles for yakisoba, pasta, spaghetti noodles, etc., and is particularly suitable for drying when circulating these in a raw noodle state. It is a thing. That is, when various noodles W are circulated in the state of raw noodles, a drying treatment for reducing the water content is indispensable in order to prevent their property changes and the growth of various fungi, and the present invention is particularly applicable to this. It is suitable.

The overheated steam drying apparatus 1 for noodles of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiment. In the present invention, steam that has been conventionally used exclusively as a humidifying action is heated to 100 ° C.
The above-mentioned high-temperature overheated state is brought into contact with the noodles W as the object to be treated to reduce the water content of the noodles W. Therefore, the superheated steam drying device 1 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
2, a steam generation unit 2 for generating steam,
The superheated steam generation unit 3 that reheats the generated steam to generate superheated steam, the processing unit 4 that ejects the superheated steam so as to contact the noodles W and dry the noodles W, and the processing unit 4 Thus, the transportation device 5 for transferring the noodles W is provided. In general, the noodles W are hung (hanged) in a substantially folded state on the stick-shaped holding body 22 and dried, so that the noodles W are conveyed to the processing unit 4 in the hung state also in the present invention. The dry form is basically adopted. Hereinafter, each component of the superheated steam drying device 1 will be described.

First, the steam generator 2 will be described. This is a part that evaporates water to produce water vapor,
Generally, a steam generator (boiler) that can efficiently generate steam at low cost is used to obtain steam at an appropriate temperature and pressure. However, the steam generation unit 2 is not necessarily limited to the generation method using a boiler, and water can be obtained by heating water with, for example, an electric heater or a Joule heating device. Further, when fossil fuel such as LPG gas or heavy oil is used in the superheated steam generation unit 3 which will be described later, it is also possible to heat water by the residual heat to obtain steam. In addition, by making the heating part of the steam generating part 2 have a negative pressure, steam can be generated more efficiently.

Next, the superheated steam generator 3 will be described.
This one further heats the steam generated by the steam generation unit 2 (this is referred to as live steam) to produce 100% live steam.
This is a part that has the ability to turn into superheated steam in a high temperature state between ℃ and 1000 ℃, and here, LPG gas, which has the lowest energy cost, is used to obtain superheated steam at a desired temperature. For this reason, the superheated steam generation unit 3 is provided with, for example, a hollow pipe material made of a corrosion-resistant metal through which live steam passes, and a burner portion for heating the pipe material, and the LPG gas is used in the burner portion. Is burned to heat the pipe material, and the necessary amount of heat is given to the live steam passing through the inside of the pipe to convert it into superheated steam. The combustion temperature is determined and controlled according to the temperature of the superheated steam generated.

Although a method of generating superheated steam by burning and heating a fossil fuel such as LPG has been described here, Joule heat may be used in consideration of the processing amount, processing speed, processing temperature, running cost, and the like. It is possible to reheat live steam using electromagnetic induction or the like. Specifically, in the method of utilizing Joule heat, a metal having high electric resistance is energized to generate heat, and live steam is brought into contact with the metal body to generate superheated steam. In the present specification, the raw steam before being reheated, the superheated steam after being reheated, the steam which has become a somewhat low temperature state after the noodles W have been dried are collectively referred to as S. is there.

Next, the processing section 4 will be described. This is a part where the superheated steam S is blown onto the noodles W to dry it, and here, as an example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the treatment space 10 formed in a substantially closed state and the superheated steam injection port 1
1 and a blower device 1 for circulating the air in the processing space 10
2 and a damper 13 having a function of appropriately discharging high temperature air in the processing space 10.

In the present embodiment, the processing space 10 is formed in a so-called laterally elongated shape that extends substantially horizontally due to the noodles W being transferred in a substantially horizontal direction, but is not limited to this. . Further, the processing space 10 is formed in a substantially sealed state, but may be formed in an open state. When performing the drying process, the noodles W are rapidly heated with the superheated steam S.
Instead of contacting with the superheated steam S
It is preferable to bring them into contact with each other, and particularly when the preheating space and the drying space are distinguished from each other, these are respectively indicated.
A and the drying unit 10B. By the way,
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the preheating section 10A and the drying section 10
The boundary with B is not clear, and the superheated steam injection port 11
The first half portion not provided with corresponds to the preheating portion 10A, and the second half portion provided with the superheated steam injection port 11 corresponds to the drying portion 10B.

The superheated steam injection port 11 is connected to the superheated steam generator 3
It is a part for injecting the superheated steam S supplied from the toward the noodles W, and is generally a drying part 10B (the latter half of the processing space 10).
It is provided in. Here, an injection port is provided so that the superheated steam S is sprayed from above and below to the noodles W in the suspended state. The noodles W in the suspended state
On the other hand, in the drying mode in which the superheated steam S is mainly blown to the upper part and the lower part, it is difficult to uniformly dry the whole noodle W, and in some cases, the degree of dryness may be different depending on the part of the noodle W. That is, in such a dry form, the upper end portion (folded portion) of the suspended noodles W and the lower end portion in the free state are mainly dried, and the middle portion therebetween may be insufficiently dried. Conceivable.

Therefore, for example, as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 1, the noodles W being conveyed are received by the support 15 such as a free roller and the noodles W are in a substantially horizontal state from the drooping state, that is, the noodles W as a whole. The noodles W, and in this state, the superheated steam S is evenly sprayed from above and below the noodles W to make the noodles W
An appropriate form may be employed in which the surface of is dried almost uniformly. It should be noted that such a support 15 is not necessarily limited to a free roller, and can be formed in a plate shape with a breathable member such as punching metal that allows the superheated steam S from below to pass therethrough. is there.

The blower 12 appropriately circulates the air in the processing space 10 to prevent a local temperature rise in the space and more effectively dry the noodles W. The air blower 12 can circulate warm air by utilizing the residual heat when the superheated steam S is generated. The damper 13 controls the flow rate (blowing amount) of the blowing device 12, and controls the processing space 10
Amount of air that communicates with the outside (including live steam and superheated steam)
Is to control. In addition, the blower 12 and the damper 13
Need only be provided if necessary, and is not necessarily an essential configuration, for example, when the processing section 4 is formed to be open.

Next, the transport device 5 will be described. The conveyor 5 conveys the noodles W, is formed so as to pass through the processing unit 4, and here, as an example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a chain 21 is wound around the sprocket 20 to convey the noodles W. A track is formed. Specifically, when viewed from the side, the upper base portion is formed so as to form a short isosceles trapezoidal endless track, and, for example, a stick-shaped holding body 22.
The noodles W are suspended by means of the holder 2
2 are attached to the chain 21 at appropriate intervals. And by rotating the sprocket 20,
The noodles W hung on the holder 22 are transferred.

In this case, the noodles W are dried in the upper and lower portions of the isosceles trapezoidal shape (conveyance track).
Further, the noodles W to be dried are hung on the holder 22 in the front stage of the processing unit 4, and the dried noodles W are removed from the holder 22 in the rear stage of the processing unit 4. As described above, in the present embodiment, the isosceles trapezoidal transportation path is formed and the noodles W are dried at the substantially horizontal portion of the upper bottom. However, the transportation path, particularly the portion passing through the processing section 4, is various. Can be taken.

The superheated steam drying apparatus 1 of the present invention has the basic structure as described above, and the operation mode of this apparatus will be described below. (1) Supply of Noodles To supply the noodles W, the noodles W are provided in the preceding stage of the processing unit 4.
Is hooked on the holder 22. At this time, noodles W
Is appropriately bent so as to fit in the vertical dimension of the processing space 10, and is hung in a folded state in appearance. The noodles W supplied to the processing unit 4 have a water content of about 35%, for example.

(2) The noodles W sent to the processing section 4 by the drying and conveying device 5 are
It is dried while passing through the processing section 4. At this time, first, the noodles W are preferably heated to an appropriate temperature in the preheating section 10A in order to suppress thermal denaturation as much as possible. Then, the noodles W that have been appropriately heated are sprayed with superheated steam S from above and below at the stage of reaching the drying unit 10B and the like, and dried until the water content becomes about 25%. When the superheated steam S is sprayed onto the noodles W, the noodles W hung on the holder 22 are temporarily placed in a substantially horizontal state on the support 15 such as a free roller so that the water content is not biased. It is preferable to cause the superheated steam S to entirely act on the surface of the noodles W (see the enlarged view of FIG. 1). Incidentally, the time required for drying in the present embodiment is, for example, about 90 seconds, and it can be dried in an extremely short time compared to about 1.5 hours when the equivalent noodle W is dried by conventional wind power. is there.

(3) Taking Out Noodles As described above, the noodles W whose water content has been reduced almost uniformly as a whole are conveyed from the processing unit 4 to the conveying device 5 when they come out of the processing section 4.
It is removed from the (holding body 22) and then moved to an appropriate step such as bag packing for commercialization.

According to the present invention, the superheated steam S in such a high temperature is sprayed onto the noodles W to dry them, whereby the noodles W can be dried almost uniformly in an extremely short time, and due to this, the drying is performed. It does not cause heat denaturation to the noodles W inside. Furthermore, probably because the superheated steam S promotes the gelatinization of the noodles W, when a person actually eats the dried noodles, the texture such as the waist and the chewyness is much higher than that in the conventional wind drying. It turned out to be excellent. In addition, since the superheated steam S that is brought into contact with the noodles W at the time of drying is 100 ° C. or higher, sterilization, particularly sterilization of heat-resistant bacteria, can be effectively performed during drying.

In the present embodiment, the noodles W mainly distributed in the state of raw noodles are explained as the object to be treated, but the object to be treated is not necessarily limited to this, and in the state of so-called dry noodles. It is also possible to target the noodles W to be circulated for drying. Incidentally, the final moisture content when the dried noodles are dried is about 11 to 13% for spaghetti noodles. Further, in the present embodiment, when the noodles W are conveyed to the processing unit 4, it is described that the noodles W are mainly hung on the holder 22.
It is also possible to supply it in a state that it is laid almost horizontally from the beginning and dry it in this posture.

[0031]

Other Embodiments The present invention has the above-described embodiments as one basic technical idea, but the following modifications are possible. That is, in the basic embodiment described above, the noodles W have the processing space 1 formed in a horizontally long shape.
It was transported in a substantially horizontal direction along 0.
However, in this case, it is necessary to secure a relatively large installation space for the processing unit 4, and it may be unsuitable at an actual processing site, especially in a small scale. Therefore, in such a case, as shown in FIG. 3 as an example, it is possible to dry the noodles W while transporting the noodles W substantially vertically by forming the treating part 4 in a vertically elongated shape.

Here again, the noodles W are the stick-shaped holder 2
It is conveyed in a state of being hung on 2. Further, here, a preheating unit 10A for heating the noodles W while transferring them upward.
The partitioning member 16 clearly distinguishes between the drying unit 10B that blows the superheated steam S while transferring the noodles W downward. The partition member 16 also serves to effectively circulate the air (warm air) from the air blower 12 in the processing space 10.

Further, the superheated steam injection port 11 is provided in the drying section 10B.
It is installed on the wall surface of the processing space 10, the partition member 16 or the like so as to act on the noodles W passing through. When the superheated steam S is sprayed on the noodles W, the superheated steam S is sprayed on the noodles W hung on the holder 22 from the front and the rear thereof. At this time, in the present embodiment, since the superheated steam S acts on the entire surface of the noodles W in the suspended state, the noodles W are dried substantially uniformly without the need for the support 15 for regulating the posture thereof. Can be made. The processing unit 4 is not only formed horizontally (horizontally long) or vertically (vertically long) as described above, but may also be formed by appropriately combining these depending on the situation of the processing site, post-process, or the like, or It can be formed in an arc shape or the like.

[0034]

According to the present invention, the noodles W can be almost evenly dried by the superheated steam S of 100 ° C. or higher. Further, according to the present invention, the noodles W can be dried in an extremely short time as compared with the conventional wind drying, and the noodles W are hardly heat-denatured. Furthermore, probably because the drying with the superheated steam S promotes the gelatinization of the noodles W, when a person actually boiled and eats this after drying, the texture of the noodles such as the waist and the chewyness becomes extremely good. it can. Moreover, since the superheated steam S has a high temperature of 100 ° C. or higher, sterilization of various fungi,
Particularly, sterilization of heat-resistant bacteria can be effectively performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an overheated steam drying apparatus for noodles of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing another embodiment of the superheated steam drying device in which the processing unit is formed vertically long in the vertical direction.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Superheated steam dryer 2 Steam generator 3 Superheated steam generator 4 processing section 5 Conveyor 10 processing space 10A preheating section 10B Drying part 11 Superheated steam injection port 12 Blower 13 damper 15 Support 16 partition members 20 sprockets 21 chains 22 Holder S steam W noodles

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A processing unit for ejecting superheated steam at 100 ° C. or higher, and a conveying device for transferring noodles to the processing unit, wherein the noodles are brought into contact with the superheated steam to pass the noodles while the noodles pass through the processing unit. An overheated steam drying apparatus for noodles, which is characterized by being dried. 2. The transporting device comprises a holder for suspending noodles, and the processing section acts substantially entirely on the surface of the noodles being transported. The superheated steam drying apparatus for noodles according to claim 1, wherein the superheated steam is blown. 3. The processing unit sprays superheated steam from above and below of the noodles conveyed in a suspended state, and changes the suspended noodles into a substantially horizontal state at a portion where the superheated steam is ejected. The superheated steam drying apparatus for noodles according to claim 2, characterized in that the superheated steam is made to act almost entirely on the surface of the noodles, comprising a support to be obtained. 4. The superheated steam drying of noodles according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit is formed in a vertically long shape so that the noodles can be conveyed in a substantially vertical direction while the noodles are suspended. apparatus. 5. The treatment section comprises a preheating section for preheating the noodles to an appropriate temperature in front of a substantial drying section for blowing superheated steam to the noodles.
The superheated steam drying device for noodles according to 2, 3, or 4. 6. The processing unit is a substantially closed processing space, and a blower for circulating the air in the processing space is provided.
An overheated steam drying device for the noodles described.