JP2007129972A - Method and apparatus for storing raw laver - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for storing raw laver capable of cooling in a tank seawater for cooling raw laver when storing raw laver without performing treatment of circulating seawater to cool in a circulation route passing a cooling apparatus like a conventional apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: This apparatus (A) for storing raw laver has a collecting tank (1) which stores seawater and raw laver, a discharge pipe (13) which sends the seawater and raw laver to a next process, a stirring apparatus (2) which stirs the seawater and raw laver in the storing tank (1), and a diffuser (3) which supplies cool air to the seawater in the storing tank (1). The diffuser (3) has an air compressor(30), a freezer (31), and a diffusing pipe (33) which passes a freezer (31) from the air compressor (30), and whose end extends to the bottom of the storing tank (1). It is possible to cool the seawater and raw laver through aeration of supplying cool air from the diffuser (33). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for storing laver raw algae. More specifically, the present invention relates to a solution in which seawater for cooling nori seaweed can be cooled in a tank without performing a treatment such as cooling by circulating a circulation path through a cooling device.

  The seaweed raw algae collected at the seaweed farm are temporarily stored in the storage tank before being sent to the mincing and washing process or the laver making process. At this time, the inside of the tank should be in the same condition as when the seaweed was in the sea, and management should be performed so that the cells of the seaweed original algae would not die. This management is performed by maintaining the temperature of seawater at, for example, about 8 ° C. while stirring so as to prevent sedimentation of seaweed raw algae, supplying oxygen to the seawater by aeration, and maintaining the necessary amount of dissolved oxygen. Has been done.

  As an apparatus for storing the seaweed original algae as described above, for example, there is a “original alga nori / water adjusting apparatus” described in Patent Document 1. This device stirs seawater containing raw algae while supplying air into the seawater in the tank from the bottom of a plurality of stirring tubes that rotate horizontally, and further circulates the seawater in a circulation path through the refrigerator. It is made to cool by.

JP 61-128870 A

However, the “original alga nori / water conditioner” described in Patent Document 1 has the following problems.
In other words, in a structure in which seawater is circulated and cooled by a circulation path passing through the refrigerator as in this device, and the air is also diffused, the pump in the circulation path may cause cavitation and the seawater may not be cooled. It was.

  In addition, it is necessary to prevent pieces of nori seaweed algae produced by stirring in the tank from entering this circulation path. In other words, if a piece of nori seaweed remains in the path (for example, the impeller of a pump), the cells of the piece die before the next storage operation, and new seaweed is circulated by the circulation of new seawater during storage. It will be mixed with the original algae. These strips of dead cells appear as spots in the dry seaweed that becomes the product, and reduce the value (grade) of the product.

  Therefore, a filter is installed so that the seaweed circulation does not leave strips of seaweed raw algae in the circulation path through the refrigerator, the tank itself has a double structure using mesh dredging, and one storage operation It is necessary to take various measures such as cleaning the tank and the circulation path every time. However, this not only increased the equipment cost, but also caused a new problem of clogging of filters and the like, and further required a lot of labor and time for the cleaning work, so it was not a fundamental solution.

(Object of the present invention)
An object of the present invention is to perform a process of cooling seawater for cooling the seaweed raw algae by circulating a circulation path through a conventional cooling device when storing the seaweed raw algae. The object is to provide a method and an apparatus for storing laver raw algae that can be cooled in a tank.

Means taken by the present invention to solve the above problems are as follows.
In the first invention,
Introducing seawater and seaweed algae into the tank, and stirring the mixture of seawater and seaweed algae, supplying cold air that can adjust the temperature of the seawater in the tank to a temperature at which the seaweed algae can maintain its activity It is characterized by performing aeration,
This is a method for storing seaweed algae.

In the second invention,
A storage tank for storing seawater and laver
Discharge means to send seawater and seaweed raw algae to the next process;
Agitation means for agitating the seawater in the storage tank and the seaweed original algae;
Aeration means capable of supplying cold air, which can be adjusted to a temperature at which the seaweed algae can maintain activity, to the seawater temperature in the storage tank,
It is characterized by having,
It is a seaweed original algae storage device.

In the third invention,
A storage tank for storing seawater and laver
Discharge means to send seawater and seaweed raw algae to the next process;
Agitation means for agitating the seawater in the storage tank and the seaweed original algae;
Aeration means capable of supplying cold air into the seawater in the storage tank;
With
The aeration means is
An air compressor,
A refrigerator,
An air diffuser pipe whose tip extends from the air compressor to the bottom of the storage tank,
It is characterized by having,
It is a seaweed original algae storage device.

In the fourth invention,
The jet direction of the cold air by the air diffuser is the same as the moving direction of the mixture of seawater and seaweed original algae by the stirring means,
It is a seaweed original algae storage device concerning the 2nd or 3rd invention.

In the fifth invention,
When cooling the seaweed original algae in a preservation solution such as seawater or salt water, it is characterized by sending cold air into the preservation solution.
This is a method for cooling nori seaweed.

  The discharge means has a structure in which, for example, a discharge pipe is connected to the bottom of the storage tank. In this case, seawater and laver can be sent to the next process using water pressure. Moreover, it can also be set as the structure which derived | led-out the exhaust pipe from the upper part or side part of the storage tank using the pump. In this case, the degree of freedom of piping is high, and it is easy to match various conditions such as the size and shape of the installation location and the positional relationship of the auxiliary devices when installing the device.

  For example, the stirring means is provided with blades on a rotating shaft provided in the vertical direction and the blades rotate and stir in the horizontal direction, the blades rotate and stir in the vertical direction, or the blades are linear. Various known means such as a structure for moving up and down and stirring can be adopted, but the invention is not limited to these.

  The air diffuser has a structure in which air diffuses at the bottom of the storage tank, for example. However, if the agitation means can diffuse the bubbles throughout the mixture of seawater and seaweed raw algae to compensate for functionality, the air diffuser is not necessarily in the storage tank. There is no need to aerate at the bottom.

  For example, when a plurality of nozzles are provided and the nozzles have different heights, the water pressure applied to the nozzle outlet changes. As a result, the amount of cold air sprayed from each nozzle differs, and it may be difficult to average the dispersion of bubbles in the mixture of seawater and laver. In such a case, the structure may be such that the cold air injection pressure at each nozzle can be adjusted, for example, by changing the diameter of the nozzle injection port so that the amount of cold air injection from each nozzle becomes equal.

  In addition, for example, the aeration tube of the aeration means rotates in the horizontal direction so that it can be agitated, or cool air is jetted from the agitation blades so that it can be agitated. It is also possible to have a structure with the other function.

  A refrigerator can be cooled to a required temperature by passing compressed air produced by an air compressor. In addition, when the temperature of the compressed air before passing through the refrigerator is sufficiently low so as not to be cooled, it is possible to send only the compressed air without operating the refrigerator.

(Function)
The operation of the seaweed original algae storage device according to the present invention will be described. Here, each constituent element used in the description is assigned in correspondence with a reference numeral given to each part in the embodiment described later, and this reference sign is described in each claim of the claims. As in the case of the reference numerals, this is merely to facilitate understanding of the description, and the meaning of each component is not limited to the above-described parts.

The seaweed algae storage device (A) is designed to prevent the seaweed algae cells from dying before sending the seaweed algae collected at the seaweed farm to the minced and washed process and the seaweed making process. It is temporarily stored while being managed.
First, seawater and nori seaweed algae are introduced into the storage tank (1) at an appropriate mixing ratio and stored. In addition, the salt water which adjusted the density | concentration of the salt content to the same as sea water can also be used as an alternative to sea water.

  The stirring means (2) is operated to stir the mixture of seawater and laver. Further, the air compressor (30) and the refrigerator (31) of the air diffusion means (3) are operated to generate cold air and inject it from the nozzle (34) of the air diffusion pipe (33) and the like. Bubbles made of cold air injected into the sea water are diffused by the blades (23) of the stirring means (2), etc., and dispersed almost uniformly in the sea water.

Thereby, heat exchange is performed between the cold air in the air bubbles, the seawater, and the seaweed raw algae, and the seawater and the seaweed raw algae are cooled. In addition, the temperature of seawater preferable for maintaining the activity of the seaweed original algae is around 8 ° C. The temperature of the cold air is appropriately adjusted or set in order to keep the seawater at this temperature, and is not particularly limited, but is, for example, 8 to 10 ° C. In addition, a temperature detection can be automated by providing a sensor or the like for detecting the temperature of the seawater in conjunction with the refrigerator (31).
Then, when the necessary storage time is completed, it is sent to the next step by the discharging means (13).

  The direction in which the cold air jetted by the air diffuser (3) is the same as the direction of movement of the mixture of seawater and seaweed by the stirring means (2), Easy to spread and can help to evenly distribute in seawater.

The present invention has the above configuration and has the following effects.
(A) When storing the seaweed original algae, the seawater for cooling the seaweed original algae can be cooled by diffusing cold air in the storage tank. This eliminates the need for processing to circulate the seawater through a circulation path that passes through the cooling device as in the past and eliminates the need for equipment to prevent laver fragments from remaining in the circulation path. Therefore, the labor of cleaning can be reduced.

(B) When the direction in which the cold air is sprayed by the air diffuser is the same as the direction of movement of the mixture of seawater and seaweed original algae by the stirring means, bubbles produced by the sprayed cold air are easily carried by the movement of the seawater, Can help evenly disperse in seawater.

  The present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional explanatory view showing an embodiment of a laver original algae storage device according to the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a plan view explanatory view of the laver original algae storage device.

  The seaweed original algae storage device A supplies cold air to the storage tank 1 for storing seawater and seaweed original algae, the stirring device 2 for stirring the seawater and seaweed original algae in the storage tank 1, and the seawater in the storage tank 1. A diffuser 3 is provided. Hereinafter, each device will be described in detail.

(Reservoir 1)
The storage tank 1 has a bottomed rectangular tube shape (a square shape in plan view) constituted by an inner bottom plate 10 and four side plates 11, and an upper portion is open. According to this shape, when the agitating blade 23 of the agitator 2 described later rotates to agitate the seawater, the seawater causes turbulent flow at the corners of the four corners of each side plate 11, and the agitation is more efficient and effective. There are advantages to be made.

  At the lower part of the storage tank 1, leg members 12 are provided at three locations at equal intervals in the circumferential direction. Further, the inner bottom plate 10 of the storage tank 1 is inclined downward toward the center in order to facilitate the discharge of seawater and seaweed raw algae (in this embodiment, it is about 10 ° but is not limited). A discharge pipe 13 is connected to the central portion.

  The discharge pipe 13 passes through a gap formed below the storage tank 1 by each leg member 12 and extends horizontally. An opening / closing valve 14 is provided outside the storage tank 1 in the discharge pipe 13. The discharge pipe 13 sends the seaweed raw algae together with seawater to the next process such as a mincing machine (not shown).

(Agitator 2)
The stirring device 2 has a structure driven by a motor 20. The motor 20 is a decelerating motor, and is fixed to the center of a support member 21 installed between a pair of opposing side plates 11 of the storage tank 1. A stirring shaft 22 is attached to the rotating shaft (not shown) of the motor 20 in the vertical direction. The tip of the stirring shaft 22 extends to the vicinity of the inner bottom plate 10.

  The stirring shaft 22 is provided with stirring blades 23 having a required length at three locations (upper and lower ends and an intermediate portion) at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction. Each stirring blade 23 is inclined so that the tip side is slightly lowered from the horizontal direction. Moreover, the stirring blade 23 is inclined in the direction of scooping up seawater in the rotation direction.

(Air diffuser 3)
The air diffusion device 3 includes an air compressor (air compressor) 30 provided outside the storage tank 1, a refrigerator 31, an air supply pipe 32, and an air diffusion pipe 33.
The air supply pipe 32 extended from the air compressor 30 passes through the refrigerator 31 and is connected to the air diffusion pipe 33 on the upper opening side of the storage tank 1. The air diffuser 33 is introduced into the tank in the vertical direction from there, and the tip is closely attached along the inclined upper surface of the inner bottom plate 10.

Nozzles 34 are provided at five locations at equal intervals in the portion along the inclined upper surface of the inner bottom plate 10 of the air diffuser 33. The nozzle 34 is capable of jetting cool air as extremely fine bubbles, and is a type in which the jet quantity or jet pressure can be adjusted by narrowing or expanding the diameter of the jet nozzle.
The injection direction of each nozzle 34 is set to be substantially the same as the rotation direction of the stirring blade 23, that is, the moving direction of the seawater to be stirred, as indicated by arrows in FIG. In addition, the injection direction of each nozzle is not limited to the above direction, and can be directed to other directions.

  In addition, since the tip side of the air diffusion tube 33 is inclined along the upper surface of the inner bottom plate 10, the height of each nozzle 34 is different, and the water pressure applied to the injection port of each nozzle 34 is also different. Correspondingly, in order to make the amount of ejection from all the nozzles 34 substantially uniform and to prevent the occurrence of unevenness in the dispersion of bubbles, the ejection ports of the high (shallow) nozzles 34 are narrowed and low. The adjustment is made while providing a difference in order so that the injection port of the (deep) nozzle 34 is expanded.

The air diffuser 33 employs a rectangular tube having a rectangular cross section, and when one surface of the square tube is brought into close contact with the inclined upper surface of the inner bottom plate 10, nori seaweed is caught between the upper surface. No gaps or recesses are formed.
It is also possible to make the air diffuser less likely to be caught by making the air diffuser a circular tube and creating a gap slightly away from the upper surface of the inner bottom plate 10. Further, a groove may be provided in the inner bottom plate 10 to embed a diffuser tube so as not to protrude from the upper surface of the inner bottom plate 10 to prevent the seaweed raw algae from being caught.

(Function)
With reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, the effect | action of the seaweed original algae storage apparatus A and the storage method of the seaweed original algae using it are demonstrated.

First, an appropriate amount of seawater and seaweed algae are introduced and stored in the storage tank 1 of the seaweed algae storage device A at an appropriate mixing ratio.
The motor 20 of the stirring device 2 is operated to rotate the stirring blade 23 in the horizontal direction. Thereby, the mixture of seawater and nori seaweed is agitated. In addition, the air compressor 30 and the refrigerator 31 of the air diffuser 3 are operated to generate cool air, which is sent from the air supply pipe 32 to the air diffusion pipe 33 and injected from each nozzle 34 in the storage tank 1. The injection pressure is, for example, 1 to ² kg / mm ² , but can be adjusted as appropriate.

  The temperature of the cold air from each nozzle 34 is 8 ° C. Moreover, since the jet direction of the cold air is the same as the moving direction of the mixture of the seawater and the seaweed original algae by the rotation of the stirring blade 23, the air bubbles made of the jetted cold air are carried so as to be accompanied by the movement of the seawater. Can help to evenly distribute in seawater. Moreover, since the pressure by a water flow is not received from the front side of an injection nozzle, there also exists an advantage that foreign materials, such as a strip of seaweed original algae, do not clog easily. The bubbles made of the cold air injected into the seawater in this manner flow so as to be scooped up with the seawater by the rotation of the stirring blade 23, and are further refined and dispersed almost uniformly in the seawater.

Thus, heat exchange is performed between the cold air in the bubbles and the seawater and the seaweed original algae, and the seawater and the seaweed original algae are cooled, which is a preferable seawater temperature for maintaining the activity of the seaweed original algae. Maintained around ℃. In this case, the air bubbles directly hit the nori seaweed and cool it, so that the nori seaweed algae can be efficiently cooled and the activity of the nori can be more reliably maintained.
When the necessary storage time is completed, the stirring device 2 and the aeration device 3 are stopped, the open / close valve 14 of the discharge pipe 13 is opened, and the seaweed raw algae is sent to the next process such as a mincing machine together with seawater.
After that, the storage tank 1 is simply washed so that no strips of seaweed original algae remain, and is prepared for the next storage operation.

  Note that the terms and expressions used in the present specification are merely explanatory and not restrictive, and do not exclude terms and expressions equivalent to the above terms and expressions. The present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea.

Cross-sectional explanatory drawing which shows one Embodiment of the seaweed original algae storage apparatus which concerns on this invention. Plan view explanatory drawing of a seaweed original algae storage apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

A Nori seaweed storage device 1 Reservoir 10 Inner bottom plate 11 Side plate 12 Leg member 13 Drain pipe 14 On-off valve 2 Stirrer 20 Motor 21 Support member 22 Stirrer shaft 23 Stirring blade 3 Aeration device 30 Air compressor 31 Refrigerator 32 Feed Trachea 33 diffuser 34 nozzle

Claims (5)

Seawater and seaweed algae are introduced into the tank (1), and the temperature of the seawater in the tank (1) can be adjusted to a temperature at which the seaweed raw algae can maintain activity while stirring the mixture of seawater and seaweed raw algae. It is characterized by supplying cold air into seawater and performing aeration.
How to store seaweed algae. A storage tank (1) for storing seawater and seaweed algae,
Discharge means (13) to send seawater and seaweed raw algae to the next process,
Stirring means (2) for stirring the seawater in the storage tank (1) and the seaweed raw algae,
Aeration means (3) capable of supplying cold air, which can be adjusted to a temperature at which the seaweed algae can maintain activity, to the seawater temperature in the storage tank (2),
It is characterized by having,
Nori seaweed storage device. A storage tank (1) for storing seawater and seaweed algae,
Discharge means (13) to send seawater and seaweed raw algae to the next process,
Stirring means (2) for stirring the seawater in the storage tank and the seaweed algae,
Aeration means (3) capable of supplying cold air into the seawater in the storage tank,
With
The aeration means (3)
An air compressor (30),
A refrigerator (31),
A diffuser pipe (33) extending from the air compressor (30) through the refrigerator (31) and extending to the bottom of the storage tank (1),
It is characterized by having,
Nori seaweed storage device. The jet direction of the cold air by the air diffusion means (3) is the same as the moving direction of the mixture of seawater and seaweed original algae by the stirring means (2),
The seaweed original algae storage device according to claim 2 or 3. When cooling the seaweed original algae in a preservation solution such as seawater or salt water, it is characterized by sending cold air into the preservation solution.
Cooling method of seaweed raw algae.

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