JP2005098528A - Packaged food cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a packaged food cooling device for certainly cooling packaged foods without biting them between a water tank and a screw vane by arranging a brushed elastic needle body along the front end of the screw vane of a screw conveyor. <P>SOLUTION: The cooling device 1 comprises the semi-cylindrical cooling water tank 2 with its upper end opened, the screw conveyor 3 capsuled in the cooling water tank 2, a driving motor 4 for driving the screw conveyor 3 to be rotated, a cooling water spraying part 5, and a cooling water circulation pump 6. Synthetic resin needle portions 14, 7-8 cm long, form a brush-filled trapping part 15 along the front end of the screw vane 8 of the screw conveyor 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling device for packaged food. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bag-packed food cooling device for cooling bag-packed foods such as mentuyu and seasonings with cooling water.

  Changes in quality and taste of bagged foods such as retort curry, noodle soup, and seasonings such as ramen are rapidly cooled to about 30 ° C after heating such as retort treatment, resulting from protein denaturation, etc. A water-cooled or air-cooled cooling device is used for cooling.

  This water-cooled cooling system is designed to cool the food in the bag by heat exchange with water while carrying the bag-packed food in a water tank and transporting it by the belt conveyor, or by spraying the cooling water on the belt conveyor. As shown in FIG. 8, as a cooling device of this type, the cylindrical container 101 is conveyed by a conveyor belt 102 for transportation, but the upper and lower shutters are lowered. 103 is temporarily blocked, and the upper and lower shutters 103 move up and down purely one by one from the front to the rear in the conveying direction, so that each cylindrical container 101 is sent forward one by one in order. Is transported. The cylindrical container 101 is configured to be able to perform uniform cooling by being rotated by receiving a frictional force in the conveying direction by the belt conveyor 102 while the conveyance is blocked (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-318641 (Abstract, Fig. 1)

  However, in the cooling device having the above-described configuration, the cylindrical container rotates by being blocked by the upper and lower shutters, and uniform and rapid cooling can be performed. However, the shape of the container is limited to a cylindrical shape. Arise.

  For example, in the case of packaged foods, a flat container such as a retort curry or the like about 15 cm in length and 10 cm in width, or a packaged food such as seasoning that is carried in instant ramen or lunch box, is a flat shape about 3 cm in length and 2 cm in width. There are differences in the size of containers, such as containers.

  Therefore, in small bag-packed food, the bag-packed food bites between the mesh belt conveyor and the side plate and the bag is torn, or when the bag-packed food is dropped on the mesh belt conveyor, When pinholes are generated in bag-packed products, the cooling water becomes dirty, and there is a problem that it is necessary to replace all of the bag-packed foods dropped together with the cooling water. In addition, because of the light weight, there is a problem that buoyancy occurs in the water and it is in a floating state, so that it cannot be reliably conveyed by the belt conveyor.

  In addition, packaged foods that are transported by a belt conveyor are often transported in a state of being overlapped on the belt conveyor when dropped, and for that purpose, bubbling is carried out in a water tank and dispersed on the belt conveyor. Although we try to make it uniform, bag-filled foods such as instant ramen and seasonings carried in lunch boxes have a very low specific gravity, so they bounce up to the water tank by bubbling and fly between the belt conveyor and the side plate, or mesh The above-mentioned trouble may occur due to strong contact on the belt conveyor. In addition, bubbling raises the temperature of the cooling water due to room temperature air, and there is a problem that efficient cooling cannot be performed.

  The present invention was devised in view of the above points, and is packaged food between the water tank and the screw blades by providing a braided elastic needle-like body along the tip of the screw blades of the screw conveyor. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooling device for packaged food that can reliably cool without biting.

  In order to achieve the above object, the cooling device for bagged food according to the present invention cools and conveys the packaged food by a conveying screw conveyor contained in a semi-cylindrical cooling water tank having an upper end opening. In the cooling device, a trapping portion formed of an elastic body that is provided along the tip of the screw blade of the screw conveyor for conveyance, and a terminal side wall of the cooling water tank via a bagging food takeout port Dispensing tanks provided in series, dispensing vanes in which packaged food conveyed together with cooling water in the dispensing tanks is dispensed together with cooling water, storage tanks for storing cooling water dispensed by the dispensing blades, and the storage A circulation pump for pumping the cooling water stored in the tank into the cooling water tank, and a cooling water jet for discharging the cooling water circulated by the circulation pump into the cooling water tank It provided with a part.

Here, the gap between the cooling water tank inner surface and the screw blades is closed by the trapping portion provided at the blade tip of the screw blades, so that the packaged food that flows into the trapping portion side by the water flow caused by the rotation of the screw blades is formed from an elastic body. It is possible to reliably convey without catching between the catching portion and the cooling water tank.
Therefore, breakage of bag-packed food by the blade edge of the screw blade and contamination of cooling water by pinholes can be prevented, and further, the water flow can be made uniform in the cooling water by the screw blade, and the cooling temperature of the bag-packed food can be made uniform. Is improved.

  Moreover, by making the said capture | acquisition part the needle-shaped part which consists of elastic bodies, such as a synthetic resin raw material, in the blade tip of the screw blade, without suppressing the water flow produced between a screw blade and a tank wall surface, and It becomes possible to capture the packaged food without damaging it.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the effect of being able to prevent the food packed in the bag from being caught by the screw blades and the cooling water tank by the brush-shaped capturing portion provided around the blade edge of the screw blade, This has the effect of preventing the cooling water from becoming dirty due to breakage.

  Further, the bag-packed food is conveyed while rotating in the water by the screw blades, so that heat can be efficiently dissipated by the cooling water, and dirt attached to the packaging bag can be efficiently removed. Furthermore, a wide range of packaged foods can be cooled by adjusting the rotational speed of the screw blades from small packaged foods used for instant noodles to large packaged foods such as retort foods.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view for explaining an example of a cooling device for packaged food to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a front view in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a side view in FIG. The cooling device 1 shown here includes a semi-cylindrical cooling water tank 2 having an open upper end, a screw conveyor 3 included in the cooling water tank 2, and a drive motor that drives and rotates the screw conveyor 3. 4, a cooling water ejection part 5, and a cooling water circulation pump 6.

  Here, the cooling water tank 2 has an opening at the upper end, and the screw conveyor 3 is included in the cooling water tank 2 in a state where it can be driven and rotated by a drive motor 7. The screw conveyor 3 is formed by screw blades 8 spirally provided around the screw shaft 7, and both ends of the screw shaft 7 are bearings provided on the start side wall 9 and the end side wall 10 of the cooling water tank 2. Passed between the sections 11. The start end side of the screw shaft 7 protrudes outward from the start end side wall 9, and the drive shaft 12 of the drive motor 7 and the screw shaft 7 are connected by an interlocking chain 13 to drive and rotate the screw conveyor 3. It is what.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, along the tip of the screw blade 8, a needle-like portion 14 having a length of 7 to 8 cm formed from a synthetic resin material forms a capturing portion 15 in which a brush is planted. is there. Therefore, the trapping portion 15 can shield the gap between the screw blade 8 and the inner surface of the cooling water tank 2 by the trapping portion 15.

  Next, the cooling water jetting part 5 is installed on the side end of the cooling water tank 2, that is, in a direction opposite to the rotation direction of the screw blades 8, in parallel with the screw shaft 7. Innumerable jet holes 16 are drilled from the end to the start. A cooling water discharge port 17 is provided at the front end side of the cooling water ejection portion 5.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, a discharge tank 18 is provided at the end of the cooling water tank 2 adjacent to the end side wall 10. The payout tank 18 communicates with a bag-filled food take-out port 19 opened on the terminal side wall 10. The bag-filled food take-out port 19 is provided with a high-pressure water ejecting portion 20, and the bag-filled food is forced to flow into the dispensing tank 18 from the bag-filled food take-out port 19 by the high-pressure water ejected from the high-pressure water ejecting portion 20. . In the dispensing tank 18, a dispensing blade 22 having the upper position of the screw shaft 7 as a turning shaft 21 is provided. Further, a catching portion 15 in which the needle-like portion 14 is planted in a brush shape is formed at the tip of the payout blade 22.

  Further, a payout chute 23 is provided in the payout tank 18 approximately the same height as the swivel shaft 21 of the payout blade 22, and the packed food flowing into the discharge tank 18 from the cooling water tank 2 is discharged from the discharge vane 18. 21 is configured to be discharged from the discharge chute 23 to the storage tank 24 together with the cooling water by the turning of 21.

  Further, the swivel shaft 21 is connected to the drive motor 4 and passes below the cooling water tank 2 so as to drive and rotate the discharge blade 22 by connecting the interlocking shaft 25 disposed below the swing shaft 21 with the interlocking chain 13. It is to be configured.

  A cooling water circulation pump 6 is installed in the storage tank 24, and the cooling water circulation pump 6 is connected to the cooling water ejection part 5. Therefore, the overflow of the cooling water discharged into the storage tank 24 is absorbed by the cooling water circulation pump 6 and supplied from the cooling water ejection part 5 to the cooling water tank 2.

  Further, a mesh-like conveyor (not shown) is arranged between the storage tank 24 and the payout chute 23, and only the packed food dropped on this mesh-like conveyor is conveyed to the next process. Only the cooling water is collected and circulated to the storage tank 24.

  Further, a water flow adjusting valve 27 is provided between the cooling water discharge port 17 on the front end side of the cooling water jetting portion 5 and the jet hole 16, and the water flow adjusting valve 27 discharges from the cooling water discharge port 17 and the jet hole 16. It is set as the structure which can adjust freely the quantity of water and water pressure. Further, a shielding plate 28 is provided along the ejection hole 16, and a mechanism for preventing scattering of cooling water ejected from the ejection hole 16 by the shielding plate 28 is used.

  Here, the catching part does not necessarily have to be formed in a brush shape by the needle-like part, and it should be elastic enough not to bite and damage the packaged food between the cooling water tank inner surface and the screw blade. For example, any material such as a rubber plate or a synthetic resin plate may be used, but it is preferably formed by a brush shape having excellent resistance pressure variability with respect to water flow and bag-packed food.

  Note that the temperature of the circulating cooling water is adjusted when the cooling water created by a separately provided cooling device is replenished into the cooling water tank, or when the cooling water is being circulated and installed in the storage tank. The discharged water may be circulated while cooling, and the most suitable cooling mechanism is adopted depending on the capacity of the packaged food to be cooled.

  In the present invention having the above configuration, as shown in FIG. 6, the packaged food A is introduced into the cooling water tank 2 viewing side. The packaged food A is conveyed to the end side while rotating in the cooling water tank 2 by the screw blades 8 of the screw conveyor 3.

  In this case, the water pressure of the cooling water ejected from the cooling water ejection part 5 pushes and sinks the packaged food A that tends to float on the water surface by the rotation of the screw blades 8 and does not synchronize with the rotational speed of the screw blades 8. By reducing the speed, it is possible to reliably carry to the end side.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the gap between the cooling water tank 2 inner surface and the screw blade 8 is closed by the brush-shaped capturing portion 15 provided at the blade edge of the screw blade 8, so that the bag flows into the capturing portion 15 side by the water flow. Stuffed food A can be reliably conveyed without biting between the cooling water tank 2 inner surface.

  In addition, if the packaged food is relatively small in volume, for example, if it is a flat packaged food that contains seasoning or noodle soup that is carried in instant ramen or lunch boxes, it is 7-8 cm long formed from a synthetic resin material. The needle-shaped part may be a trapped part that is flocked in a brush shape, but the specific gravity and volume of bagged food that contains retort curry, meatballs, hamburgers, etc. It is necessary to make the elastic plate such as rubber or the needle-like part short and thick, and the form of the capturing part is selected according to the situation.

  Moreover, it becomes possible to cool to the set value temperature by adjusting the rotational speed of the screw blades and the temperature of the cooling water in accordance with the heating temperature, capacity or quantity of the packaged food.

The top view for demonstrating an example of the cooling device of the bag-packed food to which this invention is applied is shown. The front view in FIG. 1 is shown. The side view in FIG. 1 is shown. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the screw blade | wing of the cooling device of the bagging food to which this invention is applied. It is a partial expansion explanatory drawing of the cooling water tank and the discharge tank of the cooling device of the bag-packed food to which this invention is applied. It is front explanatory drawing which shows the use condition of the cooling apparatus of the bagging food to which this invention is applied. It is explanatory drawing which shows the action state of the cooling water tank and screw blade of the cooling device of the bagging food to which this invention is applied. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the conventional cooling device.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cooling device 2 Cooling water tank 3 Screw conveyor 4 Drive motor 5 Cooling water ejection part 6 Cooling water circulation pump 7 Screw shaft 8 Screw blade 9 Start end side wall 10 End side wall 11 Bearing part 12 Drive shaft 13 Interlocking chain 14 Needle-like part 15 Capture part 16 Ejection hole 17 Cooling water discharge port 18 Discharge tank 19 Bag-packed food take-out port 20 High-pressure water ejection part 21 Swivel shaft 22 Discharge blade 23 Discharge chute 24 Storage tank 25 Interlocking shaft 27 Water flow adjustment valve 28 Shielding plate

Claims (4)

In the cooling device in which the packaged food is cooled and conveyed by a conveying screw conveyor contained in a cooling water tank having a semi-cylindrical shape with an upper end opening,
A capturing part formed from an elastic body that is provided around the tooth tips of the screw blades of the conveying screw conveyor;
A dispensing tank connected to the end side wall of the cooling water tank through a bag-filled food outlet,
Discharge vanes with which the packaged food conveyed with the cooling water into the discharge tank is discharged with the cooling water;
A storage tank in which the cooling water discharged by the discharge vanes is stored;
A circulation pump for pumping the cooling water stored in the storage tank into the cooling water tank;
A cooling device for bagging food, comprising: a cooling water jetting unit for jetting cooling water circulated by the circulation pump into a cooling water tank. The bag-packed food cooling device according to claim 1, wherein a catch portion is provided at a tip of the payout blade. The bag-like food cooling device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the capturing part is implanted with a needle-like part along a tooth tip of a screw blade. The cooling water jetting section is installed in parallel with the screw blades from the start end to the end of the cooling water tank, and innumerable jet holes are drilled from the start end to the end. The cooling device for packaged food according to 2 or 3.

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