JP2007003144A - Cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent generation of frost in a heat exchanger, and accumulation of food or the like. <P>SOLUTION: The cooling device 1 has a defrosting conveyor 5 having a conveyor belt 51. The food (v) or the like on the conveyor belt 41 is blown up along with moisture by cold air sent from a blower 3. Even when the food (v) or the like is scattered above the heat exchanger 2, intrusion of the moisture and food or the like into an interior of the heat exchanger 2 is suppressed by freezing of the moisture scattered on the conveyor belt 51 as frost, or adherence of the scattered food or the like. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling device.

  There is a cooling device such as Patent Document 1 that freezes foods and the like in an individual manner without freezing individual vegetables and the like contained in the foods while sticking to each other. In the cooling device of Patent Document 1, food is agitated by cold air from below the conveyor while being conveyed by the conveyor. As a result, the individual vegetables and the like contained in the food do not freeze while sticking to each other, but are frozen in a discrete state.

JP 2004-28536 A

  In the cooling device of Patent Document 1, moisture easily scatters due to the airflow blown from below the conveyor. When such moisture flows into the heat exchanger of the cooling device together with the intake air to generate frost, the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger may be reduced.

  In addition, foods such as vegetables may scatter and accumulate as residues in the heat exchanger or in the air intake, which may cause a decrease in the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device in which a decrease in cooling capacity due to generation of frost and accumulation of a residue to be cooled is prevented.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

  The cooling device of the present invention is a heat exchanger that cools a gas, a blower that blows the gas cooled by the heat exchanger, and a transport device that conveys a group of objects, the gas blown by the blower. A plurality of first openings formed on a conveying surface to be passed, a first conveying device that stirs the object group with the gas that has passed through the first opening, and the gas in the heat exchanger. And a partition having a plurality of second openings that are disposed between the intake port and the first transfer device and allow the gas that has passed through the first opening to pass therethrough.

  According to the cooling device of the present invention, the object to be cooled such as food scattered from the first transport device is blocked by the partition, and therefore, it is difficult to reach the gas inlet of the heat exchanger. For this reason, the amount of objects that enter the heat exchanger or deposit on the gas intake port of the heat exchanger is suppressed, and a decrease in the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger is suppressed. Moreover, since the scattered water forms frost and freezes on the partition, a large amount of water is prevented from entering the heat exchanger. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the frost in a heat exchanger is suppressed and the fall of the cooling capability of a heat exchanger is suppressed.

  Moreover, in this invention, it is preferable to further provide the 2nd conveying apparatus which conveys the said partition.

  According to this, the frost and the object adhering to the partition are conveyed to a position away from the heat exchanger. Thereby, generation | occurrence | production of the frost in a heat exchanger and an object entering into a heat exchanger are suppressed.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the partition shields the gas intake port.

  According to this, since the partition shields the gas inlet, it is possible to more effectively suppress moisture and objects from entering the heat exchanger through the gas inlet.

  Moreover, in this invention, it is preferable to further provide the removal means which removes the deposit | attachment adhering to the said partition from the said partition.

  According to this, since frost, an object, etc. adhering to the partition are removed, it is more effectively suppressed that moisture and an object enter the heat exchanger through the gas intake.

  In the present invention, the partition is preferably made of a metal material.

  According to this, since the partition is made of a metal material, the heat transfer coefficient of the partition is large, and frost is easily formed by the partition. Therefore, the scattered water is more effectively prevented from entering the heat exchanger.

  In the present invention, the area opening ratio of the first opening with respect to the transfer surface of the first transfer device is smaller than the area opening ratio of the second opening with respect to the opening surface of the second opening in the partition. It is preferable.

  According to this, since the opening ratio of the second opening is larger than the opening ratio of the first opening, the gas that has passed through the first opening is smoothly sucked into the heat exchanger through the second opening. Thereby, the circulation of gas becomes smooth, and the cooling efficiency increases.

  Further, in the present invention, the first transport device has an endless conveyor belt that transports the object, and the plane of the conveyor belt is perpendicular to the transport surface of the conveyor belt and parallel to the transport direction. A region surrounded by a projection surface obtained by projecting a cross section perpendicular to the conveyance surface and parallel to the conveyance direction from a direction perpendicular to the plane, and a projection shape obtained by projecting the shape of the blower outlet of the blower from the direction perpendicular to the plane Preferably, the enclosed area overlaps.

  According to this, the ventilation from the blower is not easily blocked by the conveyor belt, and the gas circulation becomes smoother.

  The following is a description of a freezing apparatus that is one of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of the freezing apparatus 1. FIG. 1B is a front view of the inside of the freezing apparatus 1, and FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of the freezing apparatus 1 along the line AA shown in FIG. In FIG. 2B, the frame 42 and the like of the conveyor 4 are omitted for easy viewing.

  The freezing device 1 has a heat exchanger 2 for pre-cooling, a blower 3 and a conveyor 4.

  The heat exchanger 2 cools air taken in from an inlet (not shown) formed above. The cooled air is blown by the blower 3 installed below the heat exchanger 2 to the conveyor 4 installed in front of the blower 3 (left side in FIG. 1A).

  The conveyor 4 (first conveying means) includes a conveyor belt 41, a frame 42, and four rollers 43. The endless conveyor belt 41 is wound around four rollers 43. The conveyor 4 is provided with a plurality of roller pairs (not shown) that sandwich the conveyor belt 41. The plurality of roller pairs guide the conveyor belt 41 so that the conveyor belt 41 moves along a predetermined movement path. Since food is placed on the conveyor belt 41, a resin or the like is used for the conveyor belt 41 as a material preferable for food hygiene and quality.

  The conveyance surface C of the conveyor belt 41 is arrange | positioned in the front of the heat exchanger 2, as FIG.1 (b) shows. On the other hand, the return side R of the conveyor belt 41 is disposed in front of the blower 3 below the heat exchanger 2. That is, in FIG.1 (b), the area | region enclosed by the conveyor belt 41 and the area | region enclosed by the shape of the ventilation port M of the air blower 3 have overlapped. This is because a cross section perpendicular to the conveyance surface C of the conveyor belt 41 and parallel to the conveyance direction D1 is projected from a direction perpendicular to the plane in the plane perpendicular to the conveyance surface C and parallel to the conveyance direction D1. A projection shape (FIG. 1B) obtained by projecting the area surrounded by the projection surface (the surface shown in FIG. 1B) and the shape of the air outlet M of the blower 3 from the direction perpendicular to the plane. This is equivalent to overlapping the area surrounded by the shape shown in FIG.

  The conveyor 4 further has a drive device (not shown). This driving device drives the conveyor belt 41 in the transport direction D1. As a result, the conveyor belt 41 rotates clockwise toward FIG.

  FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating the conveyance surface C of the conveyor belt 41. As shown in FIG. 2A, a plurality of openings 45 are formed on the conveyance surface C of the conveyor belt 41. Such an opening 45 is formed over almost the entire surface of the conveyor belt 41. The conveyor belt 41 is formed of a large number of small segments, and is formed flexibly so that it can be bent at various angles.

  The freezing apparatus 1 further includes a heat exchanger 12 for main cooling, a blower 13 and a conveyor 14. These main cooling side devices are arranged adjacent to precooling side devices such as the heat exchanger 2. The conveyor 14 has the conveyor belt 141 by which the return side was arrange | positioned in the front of the air blower 13 similarly to the conveyor 4. FIG. Moreover, the conveyor belt 141 has the opening similar to the conveyor belt 41 (refer FIG. 2). The main cooling side conveyor belt 141 is installed below the pre-cooling side conveyor belt 41. The upstream end closest to the pre-cooling side of the conveyor belt 141 on the conveyance surface receives the food conveyed from the pre-cooling conveyor 4, and the conveyor 14 conveys the food in the conveyance direction D2. Since these main cooling apparatuses have the same configuration as the pre-cooling heat exchanger 2 and the like, detailed description of each apparatus is omitted.

  The food is frozen as follows by the freezing apparatus 1 having the above configuration. First, food such as vegetables is placed on the upstream end of the conveying surface C of the conveyor belt 41 (the left end of FIG. 1B) through the carry-in port of the freezing apparatus 1 (not shown). The placed food is transported along the transport direction D1 as the conveyor belt 41 moves.

  On the other hand, the air cooled by the heat exchanger 2 is blown by the blower 3 from below the conveyance surface C. The cool air blown advances along the direction of the white arrow in FIG. That is, the cool air blown toward the conveyor 4 rises and proceeds to the conveying surface C side of the conveyor belt 41. As shown in FIG. 2A, since a plurality of openings 45 are formed on the conveyance surface C of the conveyor belt 41, the cold air rising to the vicinity of the conveyance surface C passes through the openings 45 and is conveyed to the conveyor. Head up 4

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 1A, the food v transported on the transport surface C is exposed to the cold air that has passed through the opening 45, and is rolled up and stirred. Thus, the food is frozen by cold air while being stirred. Therefore, individual vegetables contained in the food are individually frozen without sticking to each other. It should be noted that at this stage, it is not necessary to freeze completely to the final required level. For example, only the surface layer portion of the food may be frozen.

  The opening 45 formed in the conveyor belt 41 shown in FIG. 2A is preferably formed to have a sufficient area so as not to interfere with the cool air passing through the opening 45. On the other hand, if the area is too large, the amount of food that can be conveyed by the conveyor belt 41 decreases, and the food on the conveyor belt 41 may fall from the opening 45. For this reason, it is preferable that the area opening ratio of the opening 45 is about 10% to 30% with respect to the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 41.

  Here, as described above, the return side R of the conveyor belt 41 is disposed in front of the blower 3. For this reason, compared with the case where the return side R is arrange | positioned above the air blower 3, smooth air ventilation is made | formed without the return side R interrupting | blocking the ventilation from the air blower 3. FIG. In addition, the return side R may be arrange | positioned further lower than the position shown by FIG.

  In this way, the food pre-cooled or frozen by the pre-cooling heat exchanger 2 is transported along the transport direction D1 by the conveyor 4 and moves to the main cooling conveyor 14. On the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 141 of the conveyor 14, the cold air cooled by the heat exchanger 12 and sent from the blower 13 is blown up from below, like the conveying surface C for pre-cooling. The food on the conveyor 14 is frozen while being stirred by the cold air blown up while being transported along the transport direction D2. Therefore, as with freezing on the conveyor 4, the individual vegetables included in the food are stuck to each other and are individually frozen without becoming a clump. As a result, the food frozen to a desired level is carried out from the carry-out port of the freezing device 1 (not shown).

  By the way, the frozen food often contains moisture. Moisture contained in such foods flows into the heat exchanger 2 together with the intake air, which may generate frost and reduce the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger 2. Such a phenomenon is more likely to occur as the amount of water contained in the food to be frozen increases. For example, when freezing vegetables, blanching may be performed before freezing. As a result, the oxidase in the vegetable tissue becomes inactive, and the quality of the frozen vegetable is hardly deteriorated. However, the water content of vegetables increases due to blanching, and in a device such as the freezing device 1 that freezes food while being stirred by cold air, the water tends to scatter. If such moisture flows into the heat exchanger 2 together with the intake air to generate frost, the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger 2 may be reduced. In addition, foods such as vegetables may scatter and accumulate as residue in the heat exchanger 2 or in the intake port, which may cause a decrease in the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger 2.

  The freezing device 1 has a defrosting conveyor 5 and a purging device 52 in order to prevent frost and residues generated in such a heat exchanger 2.

  The defrosting conveyor 5 is installed above the pre-cooling heat exchanger 2 and shields an intake port (not shown) formed on the upper surface of the heat exchanger 2. The defrosting conveyor 5 includes a conveyor belt 51, a driving roller 53, and a driven roller 54. The conveyor belt 51 (partition) is made of a metal material such as stainless steel. The conveyor belt 51 is wound around the driving roller 53 and the driven roller 54. The defrosting conveyor 5 is provided with a plurality of roller pairs (not shown) that sandwich the conveyor belt 51. The plurality of roller pairs guide the conveyor belt 51 so that the conveyor belt 51 moves along a predetermined movement path. The driving roller 53 is connected to a driving device (not shown), and the driving device drives the driving roller 53, whereby the conveyor belt 51 is conveyed along the conveying direction D3 (second conveying means). As a result, the conveyor belt 51 rotates counterclockwise toward FIG.

  FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating a conveyance surface of the conveyor belt 51. As shown in FIG. 2B, a plurality of openings 55 are formed on the conveyance surface C of the conveyor belt 51. The opening 55 is formed over almost the entire surface of the conveyor belt 51. Therefore, the return side of the conveyor belt 51 also has the same shape as the conveying surface shown in FIG.

  The purge device 52 is installed on the uppermost downstream side of the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 51 and blows air against the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 51. As a result, the purge device 52 blows away deposits on the conveyor surface of the conveyor belt 51 and removes them from the conveyor surface.

  The defrosting conveyor 5 having the above-described configuration prevents the generation of frost and the accumulation of food residues in the heat exchanger 2. That is, a part of the water and food blown off from the conveyor belt 41 is carried upward of the heat exchanger 2 by the air current as shown by the white arrow in FIG. The blown food adheres to the conveyor belt 51. On the other hand, the blown moisture adheres to the conveyor belt 51 as frost. Here, since the conveyor belt 51 is made of a metal material such as stainless steel having a large heat transfer coefficient, the blown moisture is likely to freeze on the surface of the conveyor belt 51.

  Thus, the frost and food adhering to the conveyor belt 51 are conveyed by the conveyor belt 51 and blown off by the purge device 52 installed downstream of the conveying surface. This prevents moisture from entering the heat exchanger 2 and generating frost. Further, food is prevented from entering the heat exchanger 2 and depositing residues.

  The area opening ratio of the opening 55 with respect to the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 51 may be larger than the area opening ratio of the opening 45 with respect to the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 41. That is, since the food that is blown up to the top of the heat exchanger 2 is only a part of the whole, even if the total area of the opening 55 is relatively large, the blown food is transferred to the conveyor belt 51. Can be captured sufficiently. On the other hand, if the total area of the openings 55 is too large, the effect of defrosting and blocking food is not sufficiently exhibited, so the area opening ratio of the openings 55 with respect to the conveying surface of the conveyor belt 51 is about 40% to 80%. Is preferred.

  In addition, the defrosting conveyor is not installed in the heat exchanger 12 for main cooling. This is because the pre-cooling conveyor 4 is loaded with foods such as freshly-branched vegetables and the freezing has not progressed sufficiently, so that food and moisture are likely to scatter, but the main cooling conveyor 14 This is because, since the freezing is progressed to some extent and the amount of water is small, the amount of water and food is less scattered than the pre-cooling side. However, a defrosting conveyor may be installed above the heat exchanger 12 for main cooling. Accordingly, even when food or moisture is scattered frequently on the main cooling side, a decrease in the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger 12 can be suppressed.

<Modification>
The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made as long as they are described in the claims.

  For example, the conveyor belt 51 may be made of a metal material other than stainless steel or a material other than a metal material. If the material has a large heat transfer coefficient, the effect of defrosting is sufficiently exhibited. Or even if it is a material with a small heat transfer coefficient, the effect which prevents a foodstuff from entering into the heat exchanger 2 is show | played.

  Moreover, the defrosting conveyor 5 may be arrange | positioned anywhere if it is a position which interrupts | blocks the flow of the airflow which goes to the inlet port of the heat exchanger 2 from the conveyance surface C of the conveyor 4. FIG. For example, the conveyor belt 41 may be disposed directly above the conveyor belt 41. Even in such a case, moisture and food blown off from the conveyor belt 41 are blocked from the intake port of the heat exchanger 2 by the defrosting conveyor 5.

  Furthermore, even if the freezing device 1 does not have the purge device 52, the effects of defrosting and food blocking are exhibited to some extent. Alternatively, the freezing apparatus 1 may not have a conveyor for conveying frost or the like, but may have a simple partition that has the effect of freezing scattered water as frost and blocking the scattered food.

  Furthermore, the purging device 52 may be one that blows water or hot water to melt and remove frost instead of blowing air to the conveyor belt 51. Thereby, the frost adhering to the conveyor belt 51 can be removed more reliably.

  Furthermore, the freezing apparatus 1 has a pre-cooling heat exchanger, a conveyor, a defrosting conveyor, and the like that are different from the heat exchanger 2 and the like, and has a configuration in which pre-cooling is performed in two stages. Good. Thereby, pre-cooling, defrosting and the like are surely performed before the main cooling.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the freezing apparatus which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the conveyor belt shown by FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Freezing apparatus 2, 12 Heat exchanger 3, 13 Blower 4, 14 Conveyor 5 Defrosting conveyor 41, 51 Conveyor belt 52 Purge apparatus 45, 55 Opening

Claims (7)

A heat exchanger for cooling the gas;
A blower for blowing the gas cooled by the heat exchanger;
A transport device for transporting an object group, wherein the object has a plurality of first openings formed on a transport surface through which the gas blown by the blower passes, and the gas passes through the first opening. A first transport device for stirring the group;
A partition having a plurality of second openings that are disposed between the gas inlet and the first transfer device in the heat exchanger and allow the gas that has passed through the first opening to pass therethrough; A cooling device characterized by comprising:   The cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising a second transport device that transports the partition.   The cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the partition shields the gas inlet.   The cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a removing unit that removes deposits attached to the partition from the partition.   The cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the partition is made of a metal material.   The area opening ratio of the first opening with respect to the transfer surface of the first transfer device is smaller than the area opening ratio of the second opening with respect to the opening surface of the second opening in the partition. The cooling device according to any one of 1 to 5. The first transport device has an endless conveyor belt for transporting the object;
In a plane perpendicular to the conveyance surface of the conveyor belt and parallel to the conveyance direction, a region surrounded by a projection surface obtained by projecting a cross section perpendicular to the conveyance surface of the conveyor belt and parallel to the conveyance direction from the direction perpendicular to the plane; The cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a region surrounded by a projected shape obtained by projecting the shape of the blower opening of the blower from a direction perpendicular to the plane is overlapped. .

Images