JP2004331003A - Trailer for transporting agricultural and fishery products - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable agricultural and fishery products requiring moisture retention and low temperature condition for keeping freshness to be transported for a long time without being affected by forced cooling wind. <P>SOLUTION: Using a trailer for transporting the agricultural and fishery products having a freezing machine as a precondition, the trailer is provided with a water storage tank and a cooling device for cooling water in the water storage tank with cold wind or a refrigerant of the freezing machine. The cooled water is supported via a pump to a distributing pipe disposed inside the trailer body, and is sprayed from a shower nozzle disposed at a suitable part of the distributing pipe. The sprayed water is stored in a recovery tank disposed under the floor of the trailer body. The shower nozzle may be positioned in the ceiling inside the trailer body. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products, and more particularly to a structure for maintaining freshness in long-time transport.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In order to prevent the freshness of agricultural and marine products from deteriorating due to long-term transportation, a refrigerator is conventionally provided in the trailer for agricultural and marine products, and the internal temperature of the trailer is kept in a favorable state by cold air.
[0003]
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, a refrigerator 2 is provided outside and forward of the trailer main body 1, and a cooling air X is sent into the internal space 3 of the trailer through a duct. A heat insulating material is provided inside the trailer body 1 so as to minimize an increase in indoor temperature due to direct sunlight, outside air temperature, or the like. 4 is a tractor for towing a trailer.
[0004]
However, the air (X) forcibly cooled using the refrigerator 2 is very dry as a result of removing moisture. For this reason, when transporting seafood and vegetables, there has been a case where a packaging container has conventionally been improved (for example, JP-A-2002-243340, JP-A-2001-145434), and an improvement has been made in the packaging method ( For example, JP-A-2002-078446). Means for transporting fish and shellfish using an aquarium have also been proposed (for example, JP-A-2002-218862).
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Conventional transport problems of fresh food are as follows. First, if packaging for agricultural and marine products is improved, water loss due to cold air can be prevented to some extent, but water is gradually lost, making it unsuitable for long-term transportation. If used, there is a problem that the transportation cost increases.
[0006]
In addition, the use of the aquarium is limited to some products such as transport of fresh fish, vegetables that are important for water retention (for example, spinach, lettuce, green onions, etc.), fish and shellfish that are not desirable to put in the aquarium, For example, it cannot be applied to scallop larvae and raw sea urchin.
[0007]
For this reason, when transporting agricultural and marine products that do not want to dry, for example, scallop larvae for a long time, put scallop larvae in a dedicated basket with good drainage, and cover the basket with water-filled linen or hemp bags. That is the fact. Vegetables and fresh flowers, for which water retention is important, use the same method when transporting for a long time.
[0008]
However, in various conventional transport systems, it is necessary to supply cooled air (X) to the internal space 3 in order to keep the internal temperature of the trailer below a certain level. By doing so, the ambient temperature inside the trailer is maintained in a favorable state. However, since the humidity of the supplied cold air (X) is extremely low, water impregnated in linen cloth or linen bags evaporates rapidly, and after 2 to 3 hours, the moisture disappears and the freshness of vegetables thereafter It is not uncommon for many of the live scallop larvae and the like to die (30-50%) as well as declining gradually. The scallop scallop has its mouth open, and when exposed to cooling air (X), the inside of the living body dries and immediately dies when it dries.
[0009]
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to transport agricultural and marine products that require moisture retention for a long time to maintain the freshness of the agricultural and marine products under favorable atmospheric temperature conditions while minimizing the influence of cooling air. Keep it good.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the agricultural and marine product transport trailer according to the present invention is based on the technical premise of an agricultural and marine product transport trailer equipped with a refrigerator, and a water storage tank in the trailer, and a water storage tank with cold air or refrigerant of the refrigerator. And a cooling device for cooling the water, while supplying the cooled water to a water distribution pipe laid inside the trailer body via a pump, and spraying water from a shower nozzle provided at an appropriate position of the water distribution pipe. At the same time, the sprayed water is stored in a collection tank provided below the floor of the trailer body (claim 1). The shower nozzle may be located on the ceiling inside the trailer body (claim 2).
[0011]
[Action]
The trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products according to the present invention cools the water in the water storage tank by using a refrigerator originally provided in the trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products, instead of maintaining the ambient temperature by the cooling wind, and the cooled water. Is sprayed from the shower nozzle inside the trailer to keep the temperature of the agricultural and marine products in a favorable state for a long time and to completely prevent the loss of water (claim 1). The cooling water sprayed from the shower nozzle only needs to be in a drizzle state to guarantee moisture, so that the amount of water used can be minimized, so that even a limited-volume water storage tank can be used for a long period of 5 to 7 hours. Withstand time transportation. By spraying the cooling water, the ambient temperature inside the trailer can also be kept low, but the temperature of the produce receiving the cooling water is surely kept lower than the ambient temperature, so that the cooling air does not need to be forcibly blown. Freshness can be sufficiently maintained.
[0012]
The shower nozzle may be provided at an arbitrary position inside the trailer main body, but in consideration of general use, it is desirable to dispose the shower nozzle on the ceiling portion and spray the cooling water like drizzle (claim 2). .
[0013]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of a trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products according to the present invention. 4 is a tractor, 10 is a trailer, and 11 is a trailer body (cargo storage). The refrigerator 2 is located outside and forward of the trailer body 11. The refrigerator 2 is conventionally provided in a transport trailer dedicated to agricultural and marine products.
[0014]
A water storage tank 21 is provided inside the trailer main body 11, and a cooling device 23 is arranged near the water storage tank 21 for cooling the water in the water storage tank 21 by the refrigerant of the refrigerator 2 or cool air.
[0015]
The structure of the cooling device 23 is configured, for example, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. In the configuration shown in FIG. 2, a refrigerant flow path (pipe member) 24 having a coil-shaped portion is arranged in the water storage tank 21, and the refrigerant of the refrigerator 2 is passed through the refrigerant flow path 24 so that the water storage tank 21 Of water W is cooled. Both ends of the coil-shaped refrigerant passage 24 are connected to a refrigerant supply source of the refrigerator 2 to circulate the refrigerant. The refrigerant is caused to flow by a pump (not shown).
[0016]
The configuration shown in FIG. 3 circulates the water W in the water storage tank 21 through the cooling pipe 25, blows the cool air X of the refrigerator 2 at an appropriate place in the cooling pipe 25, and cools the water flowing through the cooling pipe 25. It returns to the water storage tank 21. It is desirable to form the cooling pipe 25 into, for example, a coil shape at the portion where the cold air X is blown, so as to enhance the heat exchange efficiency with a small space volume.
[0017]
Referring back to FIG. 1, reference numeral 31 denotes a pump disposed near the water storage tank 21, for example, and reference numeral 32 denotes a water distribution pipe disposed on the trailer main body 11. The water in the water storage tank 21 is sent out to a water distribution pipe 32 via a pump 31, and is sprayed onto the cargo G from a shower nozzle 33 provided at an appropriate position of the water distribution pipe 32.
[0018]
The pump 31 only needs to have one end on a path of a water distribution pipe 32 connected to the water storage tank 21. Therefore, it is not always necessary to provide it near or inside the water storage tank 21 (inside the tank).
[0019]
The water distribution pipe 32 connects the terminal part to the bottom of the water storage tank 21 or is located near the inner bottom surface of the water storage tank 21 so that the water in the water storage tank 21 can be effectively used as much as possible. Keep it.
[0020]
The arrangement location and arrangement pattern of the water distribution pipe 32 are appropriately set in consideration of the utilization efficiency of the transport trailer. The shower nozzle 33 that sprays water onto the cargo G needs to be exposed inside the trailer main body 11, but the location of the water distribution pipe 32 is not limited. For example, it may be provided along the side wall or ceiling surface inside the trailer body 11, or may be provided outside the trailer body 11, for example, on the roof. This is because if the water distribution pipe 32 is covered with a suitable heat insulating material or provided with a suitable heat insulating structure, it is not always necessary to route the inside of the trailer main body 11.
[0021]
The arrangement pattern of the water distribution pipe 32 is not limited. This is because, in some cases, it is necessary to switch and use the shower nozzle 33 according to the type of the load G, the transport time, and the like.
[0022]
FIG. 1 shows that the water distribution pipe 32 is arranged along the ceiling 18 inside the trailer main body 11. This is because, in the case where the shower nozzle 33 that can diffuse and spray water is used, the shower nozzle 33 is arranged at an appropriate interval on the ceiling 18 so that the simplest structure with one water distribution pipe 32 can be obtained. However, the water distribution pipes 32 may be arranged in a meandering pattern as shown in FIG. 4, for example, or a plurality of water distribution pipes may be arranged in parallel as shown in FIG.
[0023]
The water in the water storage tank 21 is, for example, 10 ° C. or less, and when low-temperature conditions are preferable, such as scallops, in order to maintain seawater at 2 to 3 ° C., the temperature increases as the movement distance of the water flowing through the water distribution pipe 32 increases. It becomes difficult to manage strictly. For this reason, it is most desirable to arrange the water distribution pipe 32 linearly using a straight pipe from the front to the rear of the trailer main body 11 rather than taking a meandering pattern. If the supply of cooling water is not sufficient with one water pipe 32, preferably two or three straight pipes are arranged in parallel.
[0024]
In that case, one pump (31) for pumping the cooling water to the subsequent stage may be provided. This is because the water distribution pipe 32 may be branched downstream of the pump 31. Needless to say, a plurality of water distribution pipes 32 may be independently provided with pumps (31).
[0025]
Reference numeral 41 denotes a recovery tank for storing water sprayed from the shower nozzle 33. The recovery tank 41 is located below the floor 19 of the trailer body 11 and recovers water through an opening (not shown) provided in the floor 19. It is desirable to provide an appropriate cover such as a dust-repelling mesh in the opening.
[0026]
The water in the water storage tank 21 may be ordinary water suitable for drinking such as tap water, or may be water preferable for special marine products such as seawater. This is because, in the case of a living marine product, freshness can be kept much better by using seawater at a preferable temperature than simply keeping the ambient temperature.
[0027]
Therefore, according to such a configuration, it is possible to cool the water in the water storage tank 21 using the function of the refrigerator 2 and spray the cooled water onto the cargo G through the water distribution pipe 32 and the shower nozzle 33. By adjusting the temperature and the moisture content, it becomes possible to transport agricultural and marine products to be maintained in a preferable freshness for a long time.
[0028]
The temperature is most important for the load G itself, and the ambient temperature is a secondary condition. By spraying the cooled water, the atmospheric temperature in the storage (the space inside the trailer) is kept below a certain level, and the surface temperature of the fresh cargo is kept in a more preferable state. If necessary, the cool air of the refrigerator 2 may be tentatively blown into the storage using a temperature sensor or the like, but even in that case, the moisture of the cargo G is not lost.
[0029]
The trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products according to the present invention is not limited to the above description. For example, the cooling device 23 does not need to have a coiled pipe configuration as long as the cooling device 23 can cool the water in the water storage tank using cold air or refrigerant. A valve for stopping water supply to the shower nozzle 33 at an arbitrary position may be provided at an appropriate position of the water distribution pipe (32). The opening and closing of the valve may be manual or controlled based on an electrical signal from an appropriate location such as a driver's seat. By using a valve, the degree of freedom of the loading position can be significantly increased. When a valve is provided, a bypass pipe can be provided so that a shower nozzle (33) for spraying water can be arbitrarily selected.
[0030]
In order to determine the timing of spraying the water in the water storage tank 21, a temperature sensor for detecting the ambient temperature in the refrigerator may be provided, and the measurement result may be numerically displayed on the driver's seat or displayed as a warning. Preferably, the pump 31 can be manually turned on and off. Also, the pump 31 may be automatically controlled to be turned on and off based on a temperature sensor provided in the refrigerator, or the pump 31 may be timer-controlled to reduce a driver's psychological work load. The on / off of the pump 31 can be program-controlled in accordance with the outside temperature of the transportation area, the time, the type of the cargo G, and the like.
[0031]
The water stored in the recovery tank 41 is often disposed of. However, the water may be filtered, recirculated, and reused as supplementary cooling water during long-term transport.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As explained above, according to the trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products according to the present invention, agricultural and marine products that require moisture retention for maintaining freshness can be transported for a long time.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a transport trailer according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a first cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a second cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a first diagram illustrating a water distribution pipe according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a second diagram illustrating a water distribution pipe according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a conventional trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 Refrigerator 4 Tractor 10 Trailer 11 Trailer body (cargo storage)
18 Ceiling 19 Floor 21 Water storage tank 23 Cooling device 24 Refrigerant flow path 25 Cooling pipe 31 Pump 32 Water distribution pipe 33 Shower nozzle 41 Recovery tank G Loading W Water X Cold air

Claims (2)

In a trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products equipped with a refrigerator,
The trailer is provided with a water storage tank and a cooling device that cools the water in the water storage tank with the cool air or refrigerant of the refrigerator,
The cooled water is supplied via a pump to a water distribution pipe laid inside the trailer main body, and sprayed with water from a shower nozzle provided at an appropriate position of the water distribution pipe,
A trailer for transporting agricultural and marine products, wherein sprayed water is stored in a collection tank provided under the floor of the trailer body. The agricultural and marine product transport trailer according to claim 1, wherein the shower nozzle is located on a ceiling inside the trailer body.

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