JP2006314232A - Food dryer and method for drying food raw material - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a food dryer for drying food raw material such as bean curd refuse to obtain uniformly dried and safe food raw material: and to provide a method for drying food raw material by which uniformly dried and safe food raw material can be obtained. <P>SOLUTION: The food dryer 1 has a sealed container shape at the lower part of which cross sectional side surfaces extending upward is formed, and is provided with a drying chamber 30 having a discharge port 70. In the dryer, the food raw material is charged into the drying chamber 30 through an input port 10 by a raw material supply means 3, heated air is supplied to a hot air supplying port 47 in the drying chamber 30 by an electrical means (an electrical heater 50), a stirring means 40 upwardly sends out the hot air, pulverizes the food raw material into powdery state while stirring the food raw material, and swirls the dried food raw material to discharge the dried food raw material through the discharge port 70. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a food dryer for drying a food material such as okara and a method for drying the food material.

Powdery food materials such as okara in a wet state are prone to spoilage and are difficult to store for a long period of time, and transporting to other places while containing moisture is high in moisture content and bulky This is inefficient. Therefore, a dryer for making it easy to store, transport and process these by drying wet food materials has been known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this dryer, the drying chamber has an inverted conical inclined surface, and has a hot air supply port for supplying hot air for swirling movement of balls and raw materials to the bottom of the drying chamber, and is dried at the top of the drying chamber. It has a discharge port for discharging raw materials. With this configuration, the ball and the raw material swivel along the inverted conical inclined surface, and heat is efficiently transmitted from the ball that is heated by hot air to the raw material to the raw material. At the same time, since the raw material is roughly crushed by the collision with the balls, the heat transfer area is further increased to further increase the thermal efficiency.
JP 2001-133150 A

  However, in the dryer of Patent Document 1 described above, when a powdery food having a high water content such as okara is used as a raw material, the food material is roughly crushed by a ball and the surface of the lump is dried. The outside solidifies in a wet state. Then, since this solidified material is not crushed by the collision with the ball and is not reduced in weight, there is a problem that it is not discharged from the discharge port and accumulates at the bottom of the drying chamber. .

  Moreover, since the heating means of the hot air supplied to the raw material is low in cost, a system in which hot air is sent by a gas burner or an oil burner is employed. However, when natural gas or the like is burned, NOx is generated, and when petroleum fuel such as kerosene or heavy oil is burned, gases such as SOx, NOx, and HC are generated. These gases are said to contain substances that can cause respiratory damage or cause carcinogenesis. In the heating means using a burner that blows these gases together with air, the food raw material dried by this may have an adverse effect on the human body.

  The present invention has been made in view of such various points, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a uniformly dried safe food material.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, food raw materials are pulverized while being stirred by stirring means provided at the lower part of the drying chamber, and dried by hot air heated by electrical means.

  Specifically, in the first invention, the food material is supplied to the inlet provided in the hermetic drying chamber, and the hot air heated by electric means is supplied to the hot air supply port provided at the bottom of the drying chamber. The supplied food material is pulverized into powder while being stirred by a stirring means provided in the lower part of the drying chamber, and is dried while swirling, and the dried powdered food material is dried into the drying chamber. It is set as the structure discharged | emitted from the discharge port provided in the upper end of.

  In the second aspect of the invention, the drying chamber has a closed container shape formed with a circular cross-sectional side surface extending upward at the lower portion, and has a charging port provided on the lower side and a discharging port provided on the upper end. Raw material supply means for supplying food raw materials to the inlet of the drying chamber; heating means for supplying hot air heated by electrical means to a hot air supply port provided at the bottom of the drying chamber; The heating means includes a stirring means that is provided in the lower portion and sends the hot air supplied by the heating means by rotation upward, and pulverizes the supplied food raw material into a powder while stirring, and rotates the powder. The powdery food material dried and blown up by the stirring means is discharged from the outlet.

  According to these inventions, the food material supplied to the inlet of the drying chamber is pulverized while being stirred by the stirring means. At the same time, the agitating means feeds hot air supplied from a hot air supply port provided at the bottom of the drying chamber by being heated by electrical means. Then, the food material that has been dried to some extent by hot air and crushed by the stirring means to reduce its weight is swung along the substantially inverted conical inclined surface in the lower part of the drying chamber by the wind pressure and the centrifugal force generated by the stirring of the stirring means. Ascend while moving. Among the food ingredients that are rising, those that are still large in mass and still have moisture and are not lighter than a certain mass will rise to a certain height and fall off when the centrifugal force weakens . And it grind | pulverizes, stirring again by a stirring means, and rises while drying. In this way, the food material that has been reduced in weight and made into a uniform dry state by being repeatedly raised and dropped is discharged from a discharge port provided at the upper end of the drying chamber.

  In a third aspect of the invention, the agitation means includes drive means provided below the drying chamber and a propeller fan provided integrally with the drive shaft of the drive means.

  According to the above configuration, the hot air supplied to the hot air supply port becomes a swirl flow by the rotation of the propeller fan provided on the drive shaft of the drive means, and the food material is swung by the rotation of the wind pressure and the propeller fan. Raise while letting.

  According to the first and second inventions, the food material is pulverized while being stirred by the stirring means provided in the lower part of the drying chamber. For this reason, even if the surface of the lump of food raw material is dried and the outside is solidified while the inside is wet, it can be further crushed by the stirring means, and it does not accumulate in the drying chamber and remains in the drying chamber. Since it is blown up and discharged, the food material can be dried uniformly.

  Moreover, the food raw material is dried by supplying hot air heated by electric means. For this reason, since a food raw material can be dried without generating gas that may adversely affect the human body such as NOx, a safe food raw material can be obtained.

  According to the third aspect of the invention, the food material is blown up by generating a swirling flow in the hot air supplied to the hot air supply port by the propeller fan of the stirring means. For this reason, the food material can be swung at high speed with a stronger wind pressure, and the food material can be efficiently dried.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIGS. 1-5 shows the food dryer 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and this food dryer 1 makes powdery materials, such as okara which remain | survives after extracting a soybean milk content from soybeans, the food raw material 90. In order to make it easy to store, transport and process it.

  The food dryer 1 includes a drying chamber 30 in which the food raw material 90 is dried, a raw material supply means 3 that supplies the food raw material 90 to the drying chamber 30, and a cyclone 72 that collects the food raw material 90 after drying. These are disposed on a housing 5 containing therein an electric heater 50 as a heating means for drying the food raw material 90 and a stirring means 40 for crushing the food raw material 90 while stirring. In the following description, in FIG. 5, the left side is the front side of the food dryer 1, the right side is the rear side, the upper side is the right side, and the lower side is the left side.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the raw material supply means 3 is disposed at the left rear portion on the housing 5. The raw material supply means 3 is provided with a loosening machine 6 into which a food raw material 90 is charged, and a gear housing portion 7 and a supply motor 8 disposed on the rear side. The unwinder 6 has an inlet 10 opened upward, and a screw shaft 15 formed in a spiral shape extending in the front-rear direction of the housing 5 is disposed at the lower end. The rear end of the screw shaft 15 is connected to the supply motor 8 that rotates the screw shaft 15. A gear housing portion 7 is disposed between the supply motor 8 and the loosening machine 6. The gear housing portion 7 includes a rear portion of the screw shaft 15, a bearing 16 that rotatably supports the screw shaft 15, and a lower portion. The side gear 20 and the upper gear 21 are accommodated. That is, a lower gear 20 is provided integrally with the rear portion of the screw shaft 15, and meshes with the lower gear 20 in the gear housing portion 7 above the lower gear 20, and rotates with this rotation. An upper gear 21 is disposed. A rear end of the horizontal rotation shaft 22 is connected to the upper gear 21 in a rotating manner. The horizontal rotating shaft 22 extends forward and is disposed in the unwinding machine 6. The horizontal rotating shaft 22 is provided with a plurality of, for example, cross-shaped loosening blades 11 that are integrally rotated at regular intervals in order to loosen the powdered food raw material 90 that has been spoiled. The front end of the screw shaft 15 protrudes from the unraveling machine 6 and is accommodated in a connecting pipe 25 provided continuously to the unraveling machine 6. When the screw shaft 15 is rotated, the food raw material 90 loosened by the loosening blade 11 is pushed forward from the inside of the connecting pipe 25.

  A hermetic drying chamber 30 is disposed in front of the raw material supply means 3. The drying chamber 30 is formed in a substantially inverted conical shape at the bottom and a substantially cylindrical shape at the top, and has a constriction 36 at the center. A supply port 31 is opened at a lateral rear end of the lower portion of the drying chamber 30, and a connecting pipe 25 in which the front end of the screw shaft 15 is accommodated is connected. In the position corresponding to the constriction 36 in the central portion in the drying chamber 30, a blocking portion 33 having an upper portion having a substantially conical shape and a lower portion having a substantially inverted conical shape is arranged suspended from the upper wall of the drying chamber 30. A passing portion 35 is formed between the blocking portion 33 and the inner periphery of the drying chamber 30 with a predetermined interval. In addition, a viewing window 37 (shown only in FIG. 2) is provided at the left side end of the lower portion of the drying chamber 30.

  In the housing 5 below the drying chamber 30, a stirring means 40 is disposed in a ventilation chamber 46 continuous with the drying chamber 30. The stirring means 40 includes a vertical rotation shaft 42 extending in a substantially vertical direction. The lower end of the vertical rotation shaft 42 is connected to a stirring motor 41 that rotates the vertical rotation shaft 42. The vertical rotating shaft 42 is rotatably supported by a lower bearing 43 disposed above the stirring motor 41, and a plurality of (for example, twelve) stirring blades 44 are provided at the upper end. The stirring blade 44 is disposed below the supply port 31 of the drying chamber 30. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, these stirring blades 44 are evenly connected over the entire circumference of a boss portion 45 provided integrally with the vertical rotation shaft 42. Each stirring blade 44 is configured to rotate in the clockwise direction in FIG. 7 along with the rotation of the vertical rotation shaft 42, and its shape extends downward in the rotational direction while spreading outward in the radial direction. Inclined.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an electric heater 50 as a heating means for drying the food raw material 90 is disposed below the raw material supply means 3 in the housing 5. A blower 51 is disposed below the electric heater 50 and is connected to the lower end of a blower pipe 52 extending from the lower portion of the electric heater 50. As shown in FIG. 4, the blower 51 is provided with a blower 53 that blows air to the blower pipe 52 and a blower motor 54 that is provided on the left side of the blower 53 and operates the blower 53. A suction pipe 55 extends rightward from the blower 53, and a right end of the suction pipe 55 protrudes from the housing 5 and opens to suck air from the outside.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a vent pipe 56 through which air heated by the electric heater 50 is blown extends from the front end of the electric heater 50, and a hot air supply port provided on the side of the vent chamber 46. 47.

  Wheels 57 are attached to the four corners of the bottom of the housing 5 so that the food dryer 1 can move. Then, a plug (not shown) provided in the food dryer 1 is inserted into an outlet to obtain an electric current. The electric motor 8, the agitation motor 41, the blower motor 53, etc. are operated by this electric current, and the electric The heater 50 is operated to heat the air blown from the blower pipe 52 of the blower 51 and send out hot air. For this reason, even if it does not provide an electric current generator separately, the electric heater 50 can be operated by obtaining an electric current from the outlet provided in the installation place of the food dryer 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a discharge port 70 is opened at the upper end of the drying chamber 30. A discharge pipe 71 extends upward from the discharge port 70, further extends rightward, and is connected to the upper side end of the cyclone 72. The cyclone 72 is formed in a sealed shape with an upper part in a substantially cylindrical shape and a lower part in a substantially inverted conical shape. At the lower end of the cyclone 72, a rotary valve 73 for controlling the discharge of the food raw material 90 after drying is provided. The rotary valve 73 is accommodated in the housing 5. The housing 5 is provided with a take-out door (not shown).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, an exhaust pipe 75 for exhausting air in the cyclone 72 is inserted in a sealed manner at the upper end of the cyclone 72. The exhaust pipe 75 extends upward, and an exhaust port 74 for exhausting air is opened at the upper end of the exhaust pipe 75. The exhaust pipe 75 further extends rearward from the upper part thereof, curves downward from the central position of the housing 5, extends into the housing 5, and is connected to the suction pipe 55 extending from the blower 53. .

  A control panel 80 is disposed at the right rear end of the housing 5. The control panel 80 controls the operation of the blower 51, the operation of the electric heater 50, the operation of the stirring motor 41, and the like.

-Driving action-
Next, a method for operating the food dryer 1 according to the present embodiment to dry the powdered food material 90 such as okara will be described in detail.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1, a powdery food raw material 90 such as okara containing a lot of moisture and in the form of a bowl is charged into the charging port 10 of the loosening machine 6. Then, the supply motor 8 is operated to rotate the screw shaft 15. Then, as the screw shaft 15 rotates, the lower gear 20 rotates, and the upper gear 21 meshing with the lower gear 20 also rotates. As the upper gear 21 rotates, the horizontal rotation shaft 22 rotates, and the loosening blades 11 also rotate. The food material 90 introduced into the inlet 10 falls downward while being loosened by the rotation of the loosening blade 11. The loosened food material 90 is pushed forward by the rotation of the screw shaft 15 and supplied to the supply port 31 of the drying chamber 30 through the connecting pipe 25.

  Then, the agitation motor 41 is actuated to rotate the vertical rotation shaft 42. As the vertical rotation shaft 42 rotates, the stirring blade 44 rotates. Air is sucked from the suction pipe 55 connected to the blower 53 by the rotation of the stirring blade 44 and the operation of the blower 53 by the blower motor 54 of the blower 51. The sucked air is blown to the electric heater 50 through the blower pipe 52. The air heated by the electric heater 50 becomes hot air and is blown through the vent pipe 56 to the hot air supply port 47 of the vent chamber 46. The hot air blown into the ventilation chamber 46 is sucked by the rotation of the stirring blade 44 and blown upward toward the drying chamber 30.

  The food material 90 supplied from the supply port 31 is crushed while being stirred by the stirring blade 44 while being dried by hot air blown from below the stirring blade 44. The food material 90 pulverized to a certain size and reduced in weight has a substantially inverted conical slope at the bottom of the drying chamber 30 due to the wind pressure of the swirling flow of hot air generated by the rotation of the stirring blade 44 and the stirring force of the stirring blade 44. It rises while turning along. Among the food materials 90 that are rising, those that are still large in mass, with moisture remaining and not being lighter than a certain mass will rise to a certain height, and when the centrifugal force weakens, they will stall and fall. Go. And it grind | pulverizes, stirring again by a stirring means, and rises while drying. The food material 90 that has been repeatedly raised and lowered and reduced in weight to a uniform mass and in a uniform dry state passes through the passage portion 35 and further rises in the drying chamber 30. The food material 90 that has been raised by the wind pressure in the substantially vertical direction without being swung is hit the blocking portion 33 in the drying chamber 30 and falls. For this reason, only the uniformly dried food material 90 that has been raised by the centrifugal force passes through the passage portion 35, and the food material 90 with stable quality can be obtained.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the food material 90 that has passed through the passage portion 35 of the drying chamber 30 is further raised in the drying chamber 30 and discharged from the discharge port 70. Then, the dried food material 90 is transported together with air to the cyclone 72 through the discharge pipe 71 and accumulated in the cyclone 72. 1 to 3, black arrows indicate the flow of the mixture of the dried food material 90 and air, and white arrows indicate the flow of air.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the air blown into the cyclone 72 passes through the exhaust pipe 75, a part is exhausted from the exhaust port 74, and the rest further passes through the exhaust pipe 75 and is sucked to the suction pipe 55. Then, the air is blown again to the electric heater 50 by the blower 53.

  The dried food material 90 accumulated in the cyclone 72 is taken out from the rotary valve 73 provided at the lower part of the cyclone 72 and taken out from the housing 5 in which the take-out door is opened.

-Effect of the embodiment-
Therefore, in the present embodiment, the food material 90 is pulverized while being stirred by the stirring blade 44 provided in the lower part of the drying chamber 30. For this reason, even if the surface of the lump of the food raw material 90 is dried and the outside is solidified while the inside is wet, it can be further crushed by the stirring blades 44 without being solidified in the drying chamber 30. Since it is blown up and discharged by the swirling flow, the food material 90 can be dried uniformly.

  In addition, the food material 90 is dried by supplying hot air heated by the electric heater 50. For this reason, since the food raw material 90 is dried without generating gas that may adversely affect the human body such as NOx, a safe food raw material 90 can be obtained.

  Further, the rotation of the stirring blade 44 causes a swirl flow in the hot air supplied to the hot air supply port 47 to blow up the food material 90. For this reason, the food raw material 90 can be swung at high speed with a stronger wind pressure, and the food raw material 90 can be efficiently dried.

<< Other Embodiments >>
The present invention may be configured as follows with respect to the above embodiment.

  That is, in the above embodiment, the stirring means 40 is provided with the stirring blade 44 that is inclined outward in the rotational direction while spreading outward in the radial direction, but the shape of the stirring blade and the rotational direction thereof are not limited thereto. In short, what is necessary is just to grind | pulverize the food raw material 90, stirring and to rotate it so that a centrifugal force may be produced.

  In the above-described embodiment, the drying chamber 30 has the constriction 36 at the center, but may not have the constriction 36.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the prevention part 33 was arrange | positioned in the center part in the drying chamber 30, this prevention part 33 does not need to be provided.

  As described above, the present invention is useful for a food dryer for drying food ingredients such as okara and a method for drying the food ingredients.

It is the II sectional view taken on the line of FIG. 4 which shows the dryer for foodstuffs concerning embodiment of this invention. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line of FIG. 5 which shows a drying chamber and a cyclone. It is a side view which partially cuts and shows a cyclone and an exhaust pipe. It is the IV-IV sectional view taken on the line of FIG. It is a top view of the dryer for foodstuffs. It is a side view which expands and shows a stirring means. It is a top view which expands and shows a stirring means.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Food dryer 3 Raw material supply means 10 Input port 30 Drying chamber 50 Electric heater (heating means)
40 Stirring means 41 Stirring motor 42 Rotating shaft 44 Stirring blade (propeller fan)
47 Hot air supply port 70 Discharge port

Claims (3)

Supply food ingredients to the inlet provided in the sealed drying chamber,
Supply hot air heated by electrical means to a hot air supply port provided at the bottom of the drying chamber,
The supplied food material is pulverized into powder while being stirred by a stirring means provided in the lower part of the drying chamber, and dried while swirling,
A method for drying a food material, characterized in that the dried powdery food material is discharged from a discharge port provided at an upper end of the drying chamber. A drying chamber having a closed container shape in which a circular cross-sectional side surface extending upward is formed in the lower part, and having an input port provided on the lower side and a discharge port provided on the upper end;
Raw material supply means for supplying food raw materials to the inlet of the drying chamber;
Heating means for supplying hot air heated by electrical means to a hot air supply port provided at the bottom of the drying chamber;
A stirring means provided at the lower part of the drying chamber, for sending the hot air supplied by the heating means by rotation upward, and crushing the supplied food raw material into a powdery form while stirring; ,
A food dryer characterized by being configured such that the powdery food material dried and blown up by the heating means and the stirring means is discharged from the outlet. The food dryer according to claim 2, wherein
The food drier according to claim 1, wherein the agitation means includes a driving means provided below the drying chamber and a propeller fan provided integrally with the drive shaft of the driving means.

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