JP2006248544A - Method and apparatus for heating solid content, and container for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method, an apparatus and a container for heating a solid content capable of uniformly and efficiently heating a solid food filled in the container in a short time without irregularities, increasing the speed of a manufacturing line, preventing the solid content from being scattered when heating the solid content, and preventing deposition of the solid content on a seal surface of a flange or an inner surface of a chamber body. <P>SOLUTION: In the heating method in which an opening part of a container 15 filled with the solid contents is covered by the chamber body 21 for each container to form a sealed space, a heated medium is injected toward a vicinity of an inner wall surface of the opening of the container from an injection port 28 of the chamber body, a flow is generated so that the heated medium passes through the inside of the container, and the contents are heat-sterilized in a short time, the heated medium injected from the injection port 28 is interfered with a baffle plate 34 provided on a side wall of the chamber body, and applied to the solid content 18 while the flux is disturbed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a heating method and apparatus for solid contents in a flexible container, and in particular, in a production line for container-packed solid food such as molded container-packed cooked rice, The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for heating, and a container suitable for applying the method for heating the solid food.

Conventionally, in a production line for plastic container-packed cooked rice, after the cooked cooked rice is filled in a single-meal tray (plastic container), the steam is sprayed on the cooked rice just before sealing to sterilize the cooked rice and then the container is sealed. It is done. In this method, the applicant moves the first chamber having the first vapor chamber in which the air supply hole and the exhaust hole are formed and the second chamber having the second vapor chamber relatively to each other, and moves between the chambers. A container group is supplied to the first chamber and the second chamber to form a pressurizing chamber, and the container is opened through a plurality of small holes in a perforated plate disposed on the opening of the container in the pressurizing chamber. A steam sterilization was proposed in a batch process so that steam was allowed to flow out toward the part (see Patent Document 1). Furthermore, we proposed a device that formed a single chamber in the entire steam replacement line, enabled continuous processing, and secured the advantages of spraying steam while avoiding the environment from becoming hot and humid by using steam. (See Patent Document 2).
JP 2002-176959 A JP 2004-182320 A

  In each of the proposed prior arts, the steam supply position and the discharge position do not correspond to individual containers, so the amount of steam flowing into the container per unit time is small, and the processing time is increased accordingly. Still, I was not satisfied with the speedup of the production line. In particular, since solids are in close contact with the bottom wall surface of the container and there is almost no gap and the flow of steam is hindered, it takes considerable time to uniformly heat the contents near the bottom of the container. In addition, since the conventional method injects steam from the upper part of the container opening toward a plurality of containers supplied into the chamber, the steam is applied to the sealing surface of the flange of the container and is condensed to form a seal. In some cases, it was disturbed. In order to solve these problems of the prior art, the present applicant forms a sealed space by covering a container opening filled with solid contents to be conveyed by a conveyor with a chamber body for each individual container, A heating medium injection port and an exhaust port are arranged apart from the chamber body, the heating medium is injected from the injection port toward the opening of the container, and the flow is controlled so that the heating medium passes through the inside of the container. A method and apparatus for heating a solid food for a short time, wherein the heating medium is brought into contact with the contents to exchange heat with the contents, and the contents are heated by discharging the heating medium from the exhaust port. Further proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-363083). The proposed method and apparatus for heating a solid content solves the above-mentioned problems, but if the content (for example, cooked rice) has low adhesiveness, the content may be scattered by spraying steam. If the scattered content adheres to the flange part of the container, it may cause a sealing failure, and if it adheres to the inner surface of the chamber, it will solve the problem that it may cause problems such as reduced productivity due to the removal work. There are issues to be solved.

  Therefore, the present invention is a further improvement of the above-described proposed heating method and apparatus for solid contents, can be uniformly and efficiently heated in a short time, and can speed up the production line, It is an object of the present invention to provide a heating method and apparatus for solid contents that can eliminate the above-mentioned problems without causing the contents to be scattered by the injection of the heating medium, and a container suitable for applying the method for heating the solid food. .

  As a result of further research to solve the above problems, the present inventor needs to inject the heating medium from the injection port at a pressure of a certain level or more in order to heat the solid contents in a single hour. In the proposed method, the present inventors have found that the solid contents can be heated in a short time without splashing by acting at least part of the heating medium directly on the solid contents without disturbing the flux. The invention has been reached.

  That is, the heating method of the solid content of the present invention is a method of heating the solid content filled in the container with a heating medium before sealing, and the container opening filled with the solid content is provided for each individual container. A sealed space is formed by covering with a chamber body, and a heating medium spray port and an exhaust port are arranged apart from the chamber body, and the heating medium sprayed from the spray port passes through the inside of the container to heat the solid contents. The heating medium injected from the injection port interferes with the buffering means, and acts on the solid contents in a state where the flux is disturbed. The heating medium is preferably water vapor, more preferably saturated steam, but superheated steam, heated air (hot air) or heated inert gas can also be used. By disposing the injection port and the exhaust port as far apart as possible, it is desirable that the flow path through the solid food of the heating medium is widened and the heating range is widened.

  As the buffering means, an obstacle provided in the flow path of the heating medium from the injection port to the contents can be adopted as the chamber body, and at least a part of the heating medium hits the obstacle, The flux can be disturbed. As the obstacle, a baffle plate provided so as to protrude from the side wall of the chamber body to the virtual flow path of the heating medium can be suitably employed. The shape and the number of baffle plates are not particularly limited, but at least part of the virtual flow path of the heating medium is faced. Here, the virtual flow path refers to a virtual space extending from the injection port of the chamber body in the injection direction with the diameter of the injection port. (Alternatively, it refers to a virtual space in which the heating medium ejected from the ejection port becomes a flux having a certain spread and proceeds in the ejection direction.)

  Moreover, the side wall of the said chamber body can be employ | adopted as another form of the said buffer means. In that case, the heating medium injection port is provided so as to be inclined so that at least a part of the virtual flow path of the heating medium is in contact with the inner surface of the side wall of the chamber body, and at least a part of the heating medium is in contact with the inner surface of the side wall. Thus, the flux of the heating medium can be disturbed. Furthermore, as another form of the buffer means, an obstacle provided at the heating medium injection port can be adopted, and when the heating medium is ejected from the injection port, the obstacle of the heating medium is disturbed by the obstacle. can do. Further, the buffer means may be an obstacle provided in the container without being provided in the chamber body. Further, a flange of the container can be used as the buffer means. In that case, the opening of the chamber body is formed larger than the opening of the container in such a range that the open end of the chamber body can form a sealed space with the container, and the heating medium is supplied from the heating medium injection port to the flange. By spraying toward the solid content, it is possible to act on the solid contents in a state where the flux of the heating medium is disturbed.

  The solid content heating device of the present invention is a device that heats a solid content filled in a container conveyed by a conveyance conveyor with a heating medium before sealing, toward the opening of the filled container. Each chamber has a chamber body that covers the container opening and forms a sealed space, and the heating medium injection port is positioned above the inner wall of the container opening. And a buffer means for disturbing the flux by interfering with the heating medium jetted from the jet port is provided in the chamber body. It is what.

  The said buffer means can be made into the obstruction provided in the said chamber body so that it might be located in a part of virtual channel of the heating medium which goes to the content from an injection nozzle. The obstacle may be a baffle plate that protrudes into the chamber from the middle or bottom of the side wall of the chamber body. Furthermore, as another form of the buffer means, an obstacle provided at the ejection port of the heating medium may be used. Further, when the side wall of the chamber body is used as the buffering means, the injection port is arranged on the side wall of the chamber body so that at least a part of the flux of the heating medium injected from the injection port hits the inner surface of the side wall of the chamber body. Be inclined towards Further, the container according to the present invention is a container having a flange or curl portion for sealing a lid material on the outer periphery of the opening, and an obstacle is formed in the vicinity of the opening so as to protrude from the upper surface of the filled contents. It is characterized by becoming.

  As described above, according to the heating method and apparatus for solid contents of the present invention, the heating medium is ejected from the ejection port located above the opening of the container in a state of covering the opening of each container. The heating medium can pass through the container, the solid content can be heated uniformly in a short time, the production line can be speeded up, and the solid content is a solid food such as cooked rice In this case, the solid food can be sterilized efficiently and the flavor of the solid food is not impaired. And since the heating medium interferes with the buffer means and acts on the solid contents in a state where the flux is disturbed, there is little scattering of the contents, and the contents are not attached to the flange of the container and the sealing performance is improved. In addition, the contents are less likely to adhere to the inner surface of the chamber, the chamber body can be kept clean, the work for removing the deposits can be reduced, and productivity can be improved.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a production line of a packaged solid food to which a heat sterilization apparatus for solid contents such as cooked rice according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a heat-welding property such as polypropylene, or a synthetic resin tray-like container (hereinafter simply referred to as “container”) to which the container 15 is fitted to receive a flange back surface of the container 15. The conveyor 2 is arranged at an equal pitch. An empty container transfer station 5, a content filling station 6, a heat sterilization station 7, a lid seal station 8, and a sealed container discharge station 9 are arranged in this order from the upstream side along the conveyance path of the conveyor 1. Yes. Each station other than the heat sterilization station 7 can adopt the same configuration as a conventionally known station as shown in, for example, Patent Document 2, and the empty container transfer station 5 receives empty containers on the conveyor 1. A supply device (not shown) for supplying the base 2 with a flange mounted thereon is provided, and the content filling station 6 contains a solid content 18 sized to accommodate a single container into the container. A content filling device (not shown) to be sequentially supplied is arranged. A lid material feeding device (not shown) that sequentially supplies film-like lid material 11 to cover lid opening 8 and discharges the skeleton film from which the lid material has been punched out to lid sealing station 8. A lid material sealing device 12 for heat-sealing the lid material to the flange portion of the container and punching the lid material after sealing is disposed. The discharge station 9 is provided with a discharge device 13 for extruding the sealed container from the cradle 2 of the transport conveyor 1 and discharging it. Since these can employ | adopt the means similar to a prior art suitably, detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

Next, the solid content heating apparatus of the present invention disposed in the heat sterilization station, which is a feature of the present invention, will be described in detail.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory view schematically showing a main part of the solid content heating apparatus 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As a main configuration of the solid content heating device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention, a container filled with contents that is fitted to the conveyor conveyer base 2 and supported by the flange 17 to be intermittently or continuously conveyed. A chamber body 21 that covers 15 openings for each individual container to form a sealed space with the container, and a container bottom push-up means 22 that pushes up the bottom of the container and elastically deforms the chamber body. is doing. The chamber body 21 is supported by an appropriate vertical movement drive means (not shown) so as to be moved up and down toward the opening of the container conveyed by the conveyor, and an open chamber 23 having one end opened at the lower portion thereof is formed. Has been. The opening chamber 23 is formed so that the inner peripheral edge 24 of the opening end thereof is substantially the same shape and size as the inner peripheral edge of the container opening, and the opening end is formed so as to press the flange 17 of the container. A sealed space is formed. That is, the chamber body 21 functions as a container sealing lid during heating. In addition, you may attach the suitable endless sealing material 25 which presses and seals a container flange surface like illustration to an opening edge part.

  The opening chamber 23 of the present embodiment is formed such that the top wall has a stepped surface, the vicinity of the outer peripheral edge is a low stepped surface 26, and the inner part thereof is a high stepped surface 27. A heating medium injection port 28 is formed at a position near the outer peripheral edge of the low step surface 26, and the injection port communicates with the heating medium / substitution fluid supply switching unit 30 through a communication pipe 29. The ejection port 28 is preferably provided close to the inner peripheral surface of the container so that the heating medium can be ejected in the vicinity of one inner wall surface of the container with the chamber body covering the container opening. On the upstream side of the heating medium / substitution fluid supply switching unit 30, a heating medium supply pipe 31 communicating with the heating medium supply source and a substitution fluid supply pipe 32 communicating with the substitution fluid supply source are attached. The heating medium / substitution fluid supply switching unit 30 can switch and control the fluid supplied to the opening chamber to the heating medium 38 or the substitution fluid 39, and can control the supply amount and pressure thereof. On the other hand, the high step surface 27 is provided with an exhaust port 33 so as to be positioned as far as possible from the injection port 28 on the side opposite to the injection port 28. The exhaust port 33 is formed larger in diameter than the injection port 28 as shown. Thereby, the pressure of the small-diameter injection port 28 becomes higher than that of the large-diameter exhaust port 33 so that a positive flow of the heating medium is generated from the injection port to the exhaust port side.

  In the present embodiment, a baffle plate 34 is provided as a buffer means so as to protrude from the side wall of the chamber body so as to face the lower side of the injection port 28. The baffle plate 34 can be provided in the middle or at the lower end of the side wall of the chamber body, and the heating medium sprayed from the spray port is relaxed to an appropriate pressure, and a predetermined pressure passing through the solid content is maintained. What is necessary is just to determine an attachment position suitably so that the conditions which can be performed are satisfy | filled. The baffle plate relaxes the working pressure on the solid content by interfering with the jet flow and disturbing the flow of the jet flow so that the heating medium jetted from the jet port 28 does not directly act on the solid content. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the baffle plate 34 is provided so that the edge 35 reaches the vertical lower part of the injection port 28. It is provided so that at least a part of the heating medium flux flowing with The baffle plate 34 may be formed and attached as a separate member from the chamber body 21 as shown in FIG. 2, or may be formed integrally with the same member as the chamber body. And the shape can employ | adopt various forms so that it may mention later. If the amount of protrusion of the baffle plate 34, that is, the amount of interference with the flux is large, the working pressure on the contents will be too low and rapid heating will not be possible. Conversely, if the amount of interference is small, the scattering prevention effect will be reduced. Select the optimum amount of interference that allows rapid heating and prevents scattering.

  In the present embodiment, an exhaust flow rate relaxation plate 37 made of a porous plate is provided on the low step wall surface so as to cover the opening below the high step wall surface. The exhaust flow rate relaxation plate 37 is provided so as to cover the inlet portion of the exhaust port 33 and relaxes the flow rate of the exhaust flow from inside the chamber so that the heating medium is exhausted without acting on the contents. Is preventing. The container bottom push-up means 22 is a cylinder device having a rod 40 with a blunt tip as shown in the figure, or a rod with a blunt tip or a plate having a predetermined width. Any pushing mechanism such as pushing up and down with an actuator can be adopted.

  In the present embodiment, the case where there is one injection port 28 is shown. However, for example, when the container is a substantially rectangular container, a plurality of nozzles 28 are installed at predetermined intervals in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in the figure. Then, the fuel may be ejected from a plurality of ejection ports toward the inner surface of the container along the inner surface of the side wall on one side of the container. In this case, the communication pipe 29 is formed as a manifold pipe so that the downstream side communicates with each injection port. Further, when the container is a container having a circular cross section or an ellipse, a plurality of containers are arcuately arranged at predetermined intervals in an arc shape along the upper side wall of the container in a predetermined angle range (preferably 120 ° or less) with the illustrated injection port as the center. You may arrange. Alternatively, instead of forming a plurality of round holes, it is also possible to form injection ports in a slit shape over a predetermined range.

  The solid content heating apparatus of the present embodiment is configured as described above, and the container 15 filled with the contents 18 such as cooked rice is supported by the cradle 2 of the transport conveyor at the content filling station 6 and is heat sterilized. When the station 7 is reached, the chamber body 21 is lowered by a vertical movement mechanism (not shown), the sealing material 25 provided at the lower end thereof hits the flange surface of the container, and the inner peripheral edge of the lower end of the open chamber substantially coincides. By holding in this way, a sealed space is formed between the container and the open chamber 23 of the chamber body 21. In this state, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the injection port 28 is positioned so as to inject the heating medium substantially in the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface of the container.

  Next, the container push-up means 22 is operated, and the bottom of the container is pushed up below the elastic deformation range of the container to deform the bottom. As a result, as shown in the figure, the rod 40 is deformed around the action point 41, so that when the contents have shape retaining properties, a gap is formed between the bottom surface of the container and the bottom surface of the contents, and the heating medium Reduce the passage resistance. In this state, the heating medium supplied from the heating medium supply pipe 31 via the heating medium / substitution fluid supply switching unit 30 is ejected from the ejection port 28 at a predetermined pressure. The injected heating medium is solid content in a state in which the flux is disturbed, as indicated by arrows schematically in FIG. 2, as at least a part of the flux strikes and interferes with the baffle plate 34. Since it acts on a thing, the pressure which acts on a content is moderated moderately, and particles, such as a rice grain of a solid content, are prevented from scattering.

  A part of the heating medium whose flux is disturbed by the baffle plate 34 flows along the contents surface, but most of the heating medium is blown downward and flows down toward the gap between the inner peripheral surface of the container side wall and the solid contents. Then, the contents are heated by passing through the solid food, and exhausted from the exhaust port to the outside of the chamber. At that time, since the bottom of the container is deformed and there is a gap between the contents, the heating medium flows along the bottom of the container, and the flow as shown by the arrows in FIG. Heating is also performed from the bottom side, and heating to the vicinity of the bottom can be performed in a short time. Moreover, since the cross-sectional area of the exhaust port is larger than that of the injection port, a pressure difference is created between the injection side and the discharge port, the flow of the heating medium is promoted, the contact efficiency with the contents is high, and the heating efficiency And the contents can be heat-sterilized substantially uniformly. In addition, since the exhaust flow rate relaxation plate 37 made of a perforated plate is provided facing the exhaust port, it acts as a baffle plate to alleviate the rapid flow of the heating medium to the exhaust port, and the heating medium becomes a content. It is prevented from being discharged without acting, and heating efficiency is increased. In the present embodiment, the bottom of the container is deformed by the container bottom push-up means, but the heating medium flow path such as a groove having a size that does not allow the solid contents to be buried in the container bottom is formed in advance. If is used, it is not necessary to deform the bottom of the container by the push-up means.

In the present embodiment, three heating devices as described above are arranged along the conveyor flow direction as shown in the figure, and the contents are more effectively sterilized by intermittently repeating the above heating three times. I can do it. It is possible to increase the speed of the line by performing the process in a plurality of times as described above rather than performing the process at one place for a long time. In addition, the positions of the ejection ports and exhaust ports of the heating medium of the _three heat sterilizers 20 ₁ , 20 ₂ , and 20 ₃ are alternately changed as shown in the figure, and the flow direction of the heating medium is alternately reversed every time. By making it, there exists an advantage which can heat-sterilize the content more uniformly.

  As described above, when the heating medium at a predetermined time or at a predetermined flow rate is sprayed and the heat sterilization of the contents is completed, the communication medium 29 is connected to the replacement fluid supply pipe 32 by the heating medium / substitution fluid supply switching unit 30. The replacement fluid 39 such as an inert gas is ejected from the ejection port 28. As a result, the replacement fluid is discharged from the exhaust port through the inside and upper part of the container by the same action as that of the heating fluid, so that the gas in the sealed space is efficiently replaced with the replacement fluid. At that time, since the residual heating medium (for example, steam) remaining in the container is also discharged by the replacement gas, the residual steam in the container can be reduced particularly compared to the conventional case.

  The contents-filled container that has been heat sterilized and the headspace gas replaced with the replacement fluid proceeds to the next lid sealing station 8 and is hermetically sealed with the lid 11. The container-packed solid food obtained in this way is heat sterilized in a short time in the container, so there is no deterioration in quality and there is little condensation of water vapor on the lid, and it is sealed immediately after the heat sterilization / replacement process. Therefore, the contents are sealed in a high temperature state, and after cooling, the container is in a negative pressure state and the lid is stretched to improve the appearance of the container.

The above is the basic embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various design changes are possible. Hereinafter, various modified examples will be shown. In the embodiment of the modified example shown below, the same members as those in the above embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and only differences will be described.
FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the solid content heating apparatus of the present embodiment, the baffle plate 45 provided in the chamber body is provided integrally with the side wall so as to protrude from the lower end of the side wall of the chamber body 46 into the chamber. Therefore, the lower surface is flush with the flange restraining surface 47 of the container. In the figure, the dimension a is the width of the baffle plate 45 protruding into the chamber, the dimension b is the container flange pressing width, and c is the interference width of the heating medium to the virtual flow path 48. The amount of interference with the virtual flow path 48 below the injection port differs depending on the difference in the interference width c of the baffle plate 45, and the working pressure on the contents of the heating medium can be controlled. To set. Thus, there is an advantage that the chamber body configuration can be further simplified by integrally forming the baffle plate 45. In FIG. 3, the dimension d is the distance from the side wall surface of the opening chamber to the central axis of the injection port 28, and h is the height from the low step surface 26 of the opening chamber to the upper surface of the baffle plate 45.

  In each of the above embodiments, when the front edge of the baffle plate is linear and there are a plurality of ejection holes for the heating medium, it may be formed to have a uniform amount of interference with each ejection port. As schematically shown in FIG. 4, the front end edge 51 of the baffle plate 50 is formed in an arc shape, and the lower end of the plurality of jet nozzles 52 provided in a single line in the vertical direction in the figure. By setting the amount of interference so as to cross, the amount of interference of the baffle plate for each injection port can be made different. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the tip edge is formed in an arc shape. However, in addition to the arc shape, it may be formed in a non-linear shape such as a comb shape or a saw blade shape as necessary. A shape effective for disturbing the flux of the heating medium may be employed. Further, the baffle plate is not necessarily provided horizontally, but can also be provided in a state where the tip portion is inclined downward or upward. Further, the baffle plate is not limited to a complete plate, and a perforated plate or a net-like material may be employed.

  Although the above embodiment is a case where a baffle plate is provided in the chamber body as the buffer means, the buffer means is not limited to the baffle plate. FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a main part of another embodiment of the heating device of the present invention when no baffle plate is provided in the buffer means. Although only the main part of the chamber body is schematically shown in FIG. 5, the basic structure is the same as that shown in FIG. 2, so only the different parts will be described. The chamber body 60 of the present embodiment is characterized in that the heating medium outlet 61 is inclined so as to inject the heating medium toward the inner surface of one side wall 62 thereof. In addition, the exhaust port 63 is provided vertically like the said embodiment.

  In the chamber body 60 configured as described above, the flux of the heating medium ejected from the ejection port 61 is buffered against the side wall 62. In this case, the side wall constitutes a buffering means. Therefore, in that case, as shown in the figure, it reflects on the inner wall of the side wall and the flux is disturbed and acts on the contents in a state where the pressure is moderately relaxed. The contents can be heated. In this embodiment, the heating medium directly hits the vertical side wall, but an inclined baffle plate may be provided on the side wall.

  FIG. 6 shows a schematic cross section in the vicinity of the replacement fluid injection port, which is a main part of still another embodiment of the solid content heating apparatus of the present invention. In the present embodiment, a baffle plate 72 is provided in the vicinity of the outlet of the heated fluid jet 71 provided on the top wall of the chamber body 70. Therefore, in that case, when jetting from the jet outlet, part of the jet interferes with the baffle plate 72 and jets in a state where the flux is disturbed as indicated by the broken line arrows, thereby reducing the jet pressure. In the present embodiment, the shape of the baffle plate 72 may be, for example, a semi-disc shape, an arbitrary shape such as a protrusion protruding from both sides or a plurality of locations, or a mesh shape.

  FIG. 7 shows still another embodiment of the solid content heating method of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the heating device itself basically uses the heating device as previously proposed, the buffer means is provided in the container, the heating medium injected from the injection port 28 interferes with the buffer means, and the flux It is made to act on the solid contents in a state in which is disturbed. The container 90 used in the present embodiment is characterized in that an obstacle 91 is provided on the inside of the opening so that a part of the replacement fluid ejected from the ejection port 28 of the chamber body 75 hits and interferes. . Obstacles project into at least one side of the container opening into the virtual flow path below the injection port as desired below the injection port 28 when the container reaches the position below the injection port and starts the heating process. It is provided to do. In the present embodiment, a part of the lid member sealing flange 92 provided on the outer periphery of the opening protrudes into the container opening to form the obstacle 91, but the shape of the obstacle is not limited thereto. There is no particular limitation on the shape as long as it is a shape that relaxes the flux before the jet flux acts on the contents.

  FIGS. 8A and 8B show schematic cross-sectional shapes of other embodiments of the container in the case where an obstacle is provided as a buffering means for disturbing the flux of the heating medium in the container. Only differences from the container shown in FIG. 7 will be described. In the container 95 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 8 (a), the upper end portion of the side wall 96 is once bent inward and then bent outward to form an obstacle 97 protruding on the upper surface of the contents, and the obstacle A flange 98 for sealing the lid material is formed by extending the end of the object as it is. Further, in the container 100 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 8B, similarly, the obstacle 102 is formed by bending the upper end of the side wall 101 diagonally upward inward and horizontally bending outward, and further The flange 103 is formed by horizontally bending the end portion outward in a stepped shape. These obstacles can be formed using a slide mold or a split mold. Moreover, you may shape | mold by the method of fusing another member.

  Obstacles formed as described above do not necessarily have to be provided on the entire circumference of the container opening, but may be provided at least at a position corresponding to the heating medium injection port. FIG. 9 is a plan view of an embodiment in the case where obstacles having the shape shown in FIG. 8A are provided on the entire circumference, and FIG. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 8A are used to omit detailed description. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, by providing the obstacle 97 around the entire circumference, there is an advantage that it has a good appearance and does not require positioning during heating. This case is particularly advantageous when the opening 105 is a circular container 105. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, in the tray-like container 110, there is no obstacle by providing the obstacle 97 only at the position corresponding to the heating medium injection port or symmetrically at the position corresponding to the exhaust port. However, since the contents can be easily taken out, the buffering function of the heating medium can be provided without hindering the take-out property of the contents.

  As described above, by providing an obstacle projecting from the upper surface of the filled contents in the vicinity of the opening of the container, the opening of the container is covered with the chamber body, and a heating medium such as steam is placed in the container. When injecting, a part of the heating medium injected from the injection port 28 of the chamber body hits an obstacle provided near the opening of the container, and acts on the solid contents in a state where the flux is disturbed. It is possible to effectively prevent the contents from being scattered by the heating medium.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment in which the flange 117 of the container 115 is used as an obstacle that interferes with the flux of the heating medium. In that case, the opening of the chamber body 80 is formed to be larger than the opening of the container as shown in the figure, and the opening end of the chamber body 80 presses and seals the vicinity of the outer periphery of the flange 117, and heating is performed from the heating medium injection port 28. By injecting the medium toward the flange 117, it is possible to act on the solid contents in a state where the flux of the heating medium is disturbed. Therefore, in this case, the configuration of the chamber body can be further simplified. In each of the above embodiments, although not shown, it is preferable to deform the bottom part during heat sterilization so that the heating medium easily passes near the bottom part of the container, as shown in FIG.
In addition, these drawings (FIGS. 5, 7, and 11) are schematic diagrams, and the injection port and the discharge port are drawn with substantially the same diameter. As described above, the discharge port is made larger than the injection port. Is desirable.

In the heating apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the ejection port diameter is 3 mm when the protruding amount a (see FIG. 3) of the baffle plate 34 from the side wall of the ejection port having the same diameter as the ejection port diameter φ is set to 2 mm, 4 mm, and 6 mm. An experiment was conducted under the following conditions to examine the heating state and the scattering state of the contents at 5 mm when the vapor pressure was injected at 0.07 MPa and 0.10 MPa.
container:
Material: Polypropylene with a multilayer structure with an oxygen barrier layer in the middle layer Shape: Rectangular shaped container External dimensions: 150 mm x 100 mm x 30 mm
Average wall thickness: about 1mm
Contents and filling amount;
200g per container of cooked rice whose surface is cooled to 50 ° C by natural cooling immediately after cooking rice Filling Heating medium: Saturated steam Pressure: 0.07MPa, 0.1MPa
Chamber body temperature: 110 ° C
Heating method: A heating time of 1.0 second and a standing time of 2.0 seconds were repeated three times. At that time, steam
The direction of the injection port-exhaust port was changed every time as shown in FIG. During the heating time,
The bottom surface of the container was pushed up 5 mm from the bottom with a plate-like container pushing tool having a thickness of 3 mm.
After heating as described above, each container was immediately cut, the cross section was observed with an infrared camera, the temperature distribution of the cross section was measured, and the entire temperature was measured. In addition, the situation of rice grain scattering in each case was observed. The results are shown in Table 1 for a vapor pressure of 0.07 MPa and in Table 2 for a case of 0.1 MPa.

  As is clear from the results in Tables 1 and 2, it is clear that the heating state and the scattering state of the contents are affected by the amount of interference of the baffle plate with respect to the jet flux, and the interference of the baffle plate with respect to the steam injection port diameter By appropriately setting the amount, the whole can be quickly heated without scattering the contents, and the usefulness of the present invention was confirmed. Regardless of the vapor pressure, if the amount of interference of the baffle plate is small, overall heating is performed well, but on the other hand, the amount of scattered content tends to increase. Conversely, if the amount of interference is large, the amount of scattering is small. Heating took time, and in the above experimental example, when the baffle protrusion amount was 4 mm, the contents did not scatter and could be heated well in a short time.

The present invention can heat the contents uniformly and efficiently in a short time, and the amount of scattered contents is small, the contents do not adhere to the flange of the container, improve the sealing performance, and clean the inner surface of the chamber. It is possible to speed up the production line, and can be suitably applied as a heating device in a solid food filling and packaging line in which solid food such as cooked rice, agar, and beans is filled in a molded container and then sterilized by heating. . It can also be applied to a cooked food production line, in which case the contents are cooked by filling the container in an uncooked or semi-cooked state and then applying the heating method of the present invention. Can be sterilized. Alternatively, the solid content such as ingredients filled in the container is heated and cooked and sterilized as described above, and then the sterilized soup is filled to obtain a packaged food containing liquid contents.
By doing in this way, in the process from cooking rice to sealing, even if the line stops due to trouble and the cooked rice cools and the outside air bacteria adhere, it can be sealed in a state where it is heated again and sterilized just before sealing, Moreover, by sealing immediately after heating, a good container-filled cooked rice can be obtained with an uneven effect.

It is a schematic diagram of the filling sealing line to the shaping | molding container of the solid food to which the heating apparatus of the solid content which concerns on this invention is applied. It is a section schematic diagram of the heating device of the solid contents concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is principal part sectional drawing of the chamber body of the heating apparatus of the solid content which concerns on other embodiment. It is a plane schematic diagram showing the form of the baffle plate of the heating apparatus of the solid content which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a chamber body cross-sectional schematic diagram of the heating apparatus of the solid content which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a principal part cross-sectional schematic diagram of the chamber body of the heating apparatus of the solid content which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a principal part cross-sectional schematic diagram of the chamber body of the heating apparatus of the solid content which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. (A), (b) is a principal part cross-sectional schematic diagram which shows embodiment of the container which concerns on this invention. It is a plane schematic diagram of the container which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a plane schematic diagram of the container which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a principal part cross-sectional schematic diagram of the chamber body of the heating apparatus of the solid content which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Conveyor 2 Receptacle 5 Empty container transfer station 6 Contents filling station 7 Heat sterilization station 8 Lid sealing station 9 Sealed container discharge station 11 Lid material 12 Lid material seal device 13 Discharge device 15, 90, 95, 100 , 105, 110, 115 Container 17, 92, 98, 103, 117 Flange 18 Contents 20 Food heating device 21, 46, 60, 70, 75 80 Chamber body 22 Container bottom pushing-up means 23 Open chamber 28, 52, 61 , 71 Injection port 29 Communication tube 30 Heating medium / substitution fluid supply switching unit 31 Heating medium supply tube 33, 63 Exhaust port 34, 45, 50, 72 Baffle plate 37 Exhaust flow rate relaxation plate 38 Heating medium 39 Substitution fluid 40 Push-up rod 47 Flange holding surface 51 Tip edge 91, 97, 1 02 Obstacle

Claims (13)

  A method of heating a solid content filled in a container with a heating medium before sealing, wherein the container opening filled with the solid content is covered with a chamber body for each individual container to form a sealed space, and the chamber A heating medium spraying port and an exhaust port are arranged apart from each other in the body, and the heating medium sprayed from the spraying port passes through the inside of the container to heat the solid contents, and the heating sprayed from the spraying port A method for heating solid contents, characterized in that the medium interferes with the buffer means and acts on the solid contents in a state where the flux is disturbed.   The buffer means is an obstacle provided in a flow path of the heating medium that faces the contents from the injection port to the chamber body, and the flow of the heating medium is caused by at least a part of the heating medium hitting the obstacle. The method for heating a solid content according to claim 1, wherein the bundle is disturbed.   The method for heating solid contents according to claim 2, wherein the obstacle is a baffle plate that protrudes from a side wall of the chamber body into a virtual flow path of the heating medium.   The buffer means is a side wall of the chamber body, and the heating medium spray port is provided so as to be inclined so that at least a part of a virtual flow path of the heating medium hits the inner surface of the side wall of the chamber body. The method for heating a solid content according to claim 1, wherein the flux of the heating medium is disturbed by at least a part of the medium hitting the inner surface of the side wall.   2. The solid content according to claim 1, wherein the buffering means is an obstacle provided at an ejection port of the heating medium, and the flux of the heating medium is disturbed by the obstacle when the heating medium is ejected from the ejection port. Heating method.   The method for heating solid contents according to claim 1, wherein the buffer means is an obstacle provided in the container.   The buffer means is a flange of a container, and the opening of the chamber body is formed to be larger than the container opening within a range in which an opening end of the chamber body can form a sealed space with the container; The heating method according to claim 1, wherein the flux of the heating medium is disturbed by injecting the heating medium from the injection port toward the flange.   A device that heats solid contents filled in containers conveyed by a conveyor with a heating medium before sealing, and is provided so as to be relatively close to and away from the opening of the filled containers. Each container has a chamber body that covers the container opening and forms a sealed space. The chamber body is provided with a heating medium injection port positioned above the inner wall surface of the opening of the container, and the exhaust port is provided with the injection port. An apparatus for heating solid contents, characterized in that it is provided at a position away from the mouth, and buffer means is provided in the chamber body for disturbing the flux by interfering with the heating medium ejected from the ejection port.   The solid content heating apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the buffer means is an obstacle provided in the chamber body so as to be located in a part of a virtual flow path of a heating medium from the injection port toward the content.   The solid content heating apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the obstacle is a baffle plate that protrudes into the chamber from the middle or bottom of the side wall of the chamber body.   The solid content heating apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the buffer means is an obstacle provided at an ejection port of the heating medium.   The solid content according to claim 8, wherein the injection port is inclined toward the side wall of the chamber body so that at least a part of the flux of the heating medium injected from the injection port hits the inner surface of the side wall of the chamber body. Heating device.   A container having a flange or curl portion for sealing a lid material on the outer periphery of the opening, wherein an obstacle is formed in the vicinity of the opening so as to protrude from the upper surface of the filled contents .

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