JP2007203228A - Coating device and coating method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a defective product from being produced due to separation of an adhering substance by avoiding adhesion of a coating base substance on the inner surface of a rotary drum and the surface of a baffle. <P>SOLUTION: A coating device 1 comprises a hollow rotary drum 3 arranged rotatively about an rotation axis, a spray gun 15 feeding a coating object substance to a treatment object matter 2 housed inside the rotary drum 3 and the baffle 22 disposed inside rolling flow of the treatment object matter 2 in the rotary drum 3. The rotary drum 3 is provided with drum cooling spray guns 31a, 31b for spraying cooling water directly to the inner face 3a of the rotary drum 3 and a baffle plate spray gun 32 for directly spraying cooling water to the baffle 22. In coating treatment operation, the inner face 3a of the drum and the baffle 22 are cooled by the spray guns 31a, 31b, 32 to inhibit the adhesion of the coating base substance on them. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a coating apparatus and method using a drum-shaped rotating container, and more particularly to a technique effective when applied to a coating process for tablets, foods, and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a coating apparatus using a rotating drum is known as a manufacturing apparatus for pharmaceuticals and foods. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a device that rotates a rotary drum having a polygonal cross section (here, an octagon) around a horizontal axis. Such a rotating drum is also called a coating pan, and a spray device for supplying a coating liquid is disposed inside. The granular material thrown into the rotating drum rolls along with the rotation of the drum, and the coating liquid is sprayed on the surface from the spray device. At that time, hot air and cold air are appropriately supplied and exhausted into the rotating drum, and the formation and drying of the coating layer are promoted. Further, a baffle for disturbing the rolling flow of the powder particles is provided in the rotary drum, and the mixing and stirring efficiency of the powder particles is promoted by this baffle.
Japanese Patent No. 3129786 JP-A-1-315329 JP 2000-189059

  However, in such a coating apparatus, if the temperature of the rotating drum or baffle rises (or falls) during the coating process, the coating substrate material may solidify and adhere to the inner surface of the rotating drum or the surface of the baffle. If this solidified material peels off from the drum inner surface and adheres to the product, it may cause defective products such as botches and protrusions. In actual coating processing, it rotates when the amount of adhered material on the drum inner surface increases. The drum is stopped and the adhering residue is discharged out of the drum. That is, in the conventional apparatus, in order to prevent the occurrence of defective products, it is necessary to appropriately clean the inside of the rotating drum during the processing step, and there is a problem that the production efficiency is reduced accordingly.

  The purpose of the present invention is to prevent the adhesion of the coating base material to the inner surface of the rotating drum and the surface of the baffle, prevent the generation of defective products due to the peeling of the adhered material, and eliminate the cleaning process for removing the adhered material. The goal is to improve efficiency.

  The coating apparatus of the present invention includes a hollow processing container that is rotatably arranged around a rotation axis, a coating substance supply unit that supplies a coating substance to an object to be processed contained in the processing container, A coating apparatus comprising a baffle device disposed in a rolling flow of the object to be processed in the processing container, wherein a cooling liquid or a heating liquid is disposed on the inner surface of the processing container disposed in the processing container. It has the 1st temperature control spray gun to inject, and the 2nd temperature control spray gun which is arrange | positioned in the said process container and injects a cooling liquid or a heating liquid to the said baffle apparatus, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  In the present invention, when the coating process is performed, the processing container and the baffle device are appropriately cooled or heated by the first and second temperature control spray guns arranged in the processing container, and the temperature of the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device is increased. Is optimally maintained depending on the processing mode. That is, for example, in the case of sugar coating processing, the processing container can be kept cold, and in the case of chocolate coating processing or fats and oils processing, the processing container can be kept warm. For this reason, the adhesion of the coating base material to the inner surface of the processing vessel or the baffle device is suppressed, and the occurrence of defective products due to the separation of the deposit and the adhesion to the workpiece is suppressed.

  In the coating apparatus, the first and second temperature control spray guns apply cooling liquid or heating liquid to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle apparatus at a position where no rolling flow of the object to be processed exists. You may make it inject. The first and second temperature control spray guns may directly inject the cooling liquid or the heating liquid to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device. Furthermore, the first and second temperature control spray guns may spray the cooling liquid or the heating liquid from the vertical direction on the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device.

  On the other hand, in the coating method of the present invention, an object to be processed is accommodated in a hollow processing container that is rotatably arranged around a rotation axis, and a coating substance is supplied into the processing container to rotate the processing container. A coating method for performing a coating process on the object to be processed, wherein a baffle device is arranged in a rolling flow of the object to be processed in the processing container to promote stirring and mixing of the object to be processed. A cooling liquid or a heating liquid is supplied to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device inside the processing container, and the coating process is performed while cooling or heating the processing container and the baffle device. Features.

  In the present invention, when the coating process is performed, a cooling liquid or a heating liquid is supplied to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device so that the processing container and the baffle device are appropriately cooled or heated. Is optimally maintained depending on the processing mode. That is, for example, in the case of sugar coating processing, the processing container can be kept cold, and in the case of chocolate coating processing or fats and oils processing, the processing container can be kept warm. For this reason, the adhesion of the coating base material to the inner surface of the processing vessel and the baffle is suppressed, and the occurrence of defective products due to the separation of the deposit and the adhesion to the workpiece is suppressed.

  According to the coating apparatus of the present invention, a hollow processing container disposed rotatably about a rotation shaft, and a coating substance supply means for supplying a coating substance to an object to be processed contained in the processing container; In the coating apparatus comprising a baffle device disposed in a rolling flow of an object to be processed in the processing container, a first liquid that injects a cooling liquid or a heating liquid onto the inner surface of the processing container in the processing container. Since the temperature control spray gun and the second temperature control spray gun for injecting the cooling liquid or the heating liquid to the baffle device are arranged, it is possible to efficiently cool or heat the inner surface of the processing vessel and the baffle device when performing the coating process. it can. For this reason, the temperature of the inner surface of the processing vessel and the baffle device can be optimally maintained according to the processing form during the coating process, and the adhesion of the coating base material to the inner surface of the processing vessel and the baffle device can be suppressed. Become. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of defective products due to the deposits on the inner surface of the processing container being peeled off and adhering to the workpiece. Moreover, since the deposits on the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device are suppressed, the number of cleanings and the number of cleaning steps of the processing container can be reduced, and the coating process can be efficiently performed correspondingly.

  According to the coating method of the present invention, an object to be processed is accommodated in a hollow processing container that is rotatably arranged around a rotating shaft, and a coating substance is supplied into the processing container to rotate the processing container. In a coating method for coating a workpiece, a baffle device is arranged in the tumbling flow of the workpiece in the processing container to promote stirring and mixing of the workpiece, and inside the processing container. Since the cooling liquid or the heating liquid is supplied to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device and the coating process is performed while cooling or heating the processing container and the baffle device, the inner surface of the processing container The baffle device can be efficiently cooled or heated. For this reason, the temperature of the inner surface of the processing vessel and the baffle device can be optimally maintained according to the processing form during the coating process, and the adhesion of the coating base material to the inner surface of the processing vessel and the baffle device can be suppressed. Become. Accordingly, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of defective products due to the deposits on the inner surface of the processing container being peeled off and adhering to the workpiece. Further, since the deposits on the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device are suppressed, the number of cleanings and the number of cleaning steps of the processing container can be reduced, and the coating process can be efficiently performed correspondingly.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a coating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the coating method of the present invention is also carried out by the coating apparatus. FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a configuration in a rotating drum in the coating apparatus of FIG.

  The coating apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is an apparatus generally called a pan coating apparatus, and granulates, coats, dries, mixes, etc., a workpiece by rotating a rotating drum and a processing gas and a coating substance passing through the rotating drum. The desired processing is performed. In this embodiment, as the coating apparatus 1, for example, an apparatus for coating a sugar-coating liquid mainly composed of a syrup obtained by dissolving white sugar in water is assumed on an object 2 to be processed such as tablets and confectionery. The coating apparatus 1 is provided with a rotating drum (coating pan) 3 which is a horizontal drum-shaped processing container for storing the workpiece 2. The rotating drum 3 includes a hollow main body portion 4 having a polygonal cylindrical shape or a cylindrical cross section, and end wall portions 5 provided on both ends of the main body portion 4 in the axial direction.

  Ventilation portions 6 through which a processing gas such as hot air or cold air circulates are provided at several places or around the periphery of the main body portion 4. An air supply / exhaust duct 11 is disposed on the outer peripheral side of the main body portion 4 so as to cover each ventilation portion 6. On the other hand, a blower duct 8 is provided in the rotary drum 3 as an air supply means. The blower duct 8 is disposed substantially above the center of the rotary drum 3, and the processing gas introduced from the blower duct 8 into the rotary drum 3 is discharged to the supply / exhaust duct 11 through the ventilation portion 6. .

  The air duct 8 supplies warm air (for example, about 40 to 90 ° C., preferably about 50 to 80 ° C.) to the workpiece 2 in the rotary drum 3. The air duct 8 is directed to the workpiece 2 in the rotary drum 3. The hot air blown out from the air duct 8 passes through the layer 2 to be processed and is discharged from the ventilation portion 6 to the air supply / exhaust duct 11. Thereby, the temperature of the to-be-processed object 2 is controlled, and the sugar-coating liquid is dried and solidified.

  The air supply / exhaust duct 11 is further connected to an air supply / exhaust jacket 23 formed with one air supply port and one exhaust port (both not shown) along the circumferential direction. These air supply and exhaust ports communicate with the air supply and exhaust duct 11 at a predetermined timing as the rotary drum 3 rotates. Usually, the air supply / exhaust duct 11 is provided at an exhaust port formed in the air supply / exhaust jacket 23 so as to communicate with the rotary drum 3 when it reaches a specific rotational position.

  A plurality of spray guns 15 (coating substance supply means) are installed inside the rotary drum 3. From the spray gun 15, a sugar coating liquid (coating substance) is sprayed in the form of a mist and supplied to the workpiece 2. After the sugar coating liquid is applied, the workpiece 2 rolls while being rubbed while being kneaded, and hot sugar is supplied when the sugar coating liquid spreads and spreads to some extent. Further, a baffle (baffle device) 22 is installed on the inner surface 3 a of the rotating drum 3 to promote mixing and stirring of the workpiece 2 in the rotating drum 3. The baffle 22 is formed of a plate-like member, and a plurality (four in this case) of baffles 22 are provided at regular intervals along the circumferential direction on the main drum portion 4 of the rotary drum 3.

  Further, in the rotating drum 3, drum cooling spray guns 31 a and 31 b (first temperature control spray gun) and a baffle cooling spray gun 32 (second temperature control spray gun) are installed. Cold water (coolant) is supplied to the spray guns 31 a, 31 b, and 32 from the outside of the drum via the coolant supply pipe 33. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the drum cooling spray guns 31a and 31b directly inject cold water onto the drum inner surface 3a. On the other hand, the baffle cooling spray gun 32 injects cold water directly onto the baffle 22. Cold water is supplied to the drum inner surface 3 a and the baffle 22 at a position where there is no rolling flow of the spray guns 31 a, 31 b, and 32 and the workpiece 2.

  Each of the spray guns 31a, 31b, and 32 preferably adjusts the nozzle direction so that cold water is jetted vertically to the object to be cooled (the drum inner surface 3a and the baffle 22 surface). In particular, the baffle 22 is installed obliquely (arbitrary angle) with respect to the drum inner surface 3a in consideration of the stirring efficiency of the workpiece 2, so that the cold water for the drum inner surface 3a and the cold water for the baffle 22 are In some cases, the two are injected in a crossing manner. As described above, by spraying cold water directly and vertically onto the drum inner surface 3a and the baffle 22 by the spray guns 31a, 31b, and 32, the drum inner surface 3a and the baffle 22 can be efficiently cooled. .

  Rotating shafts 17a and 17b supported by bearings 16 are coaxially attached to both ends of the rotating drum 3. The rotary drum 3 is installed so as to be rotatable about the rotary shafts 17a and 17b. The rotating shaft 17b is driven via a chain 19 by a motor 18. The air duct 8 and the exhaust pipe 14 are fixed, and the rotary drum 3 and the air supply / exhaust duct 11 are rotated by a motor 18. Further, in FIG. 1, an opening 20 is provided at a substantially central portion of the left end wall portion 5 for use in charging the powder raw material and discharging the product. An inspection lid 21 that can be opened and closed is installed outside the opening 20.

Next, the coating process in the coating apparatus 1 will be described taking the production of sugar-coated tablets as an example. Here, first, a tablet such as a lactose tablet (for example, diameter 8 mm, 200 mg / T) is put in the rotating drum 3 as the object to be processed 2, and the motor 18 is driven to rotate the rotating drum through the chain 19 and the rotating shaft 17b. 3 is rotated in the direction of arrow X (forward direction, see FIG. 4) (for example, about 8 rpm). As shown in FIG. 2, with the rotation of the rotating drum 3, the tablet is lifted in the rotating direction along the main barrel portion 4 and the end wall portion 5 and falls inward, and rolls in the rotating drum 3. Do. A sugar coating liquid (for example, 60 ° C., 340 to 900 mL / time when the amount of the sugar-coated tablet is about 100 L) is sprayed from the spray gun 15 while the rotating drum 3 is rotated. At this time, warm air is appropriately fed from the air duct 8 (for example, 70 ° C., 12 m ³ / min) to solidify and form a sugar coating on the tablet.

  On the other hand, in the coating apparatus 1, cold water is intermittently sprayed from the drum cooling spray guns 31 a and 31 b and the baffle cooling spray gun 32 during the coating process. At this time, the amount of spray from each of the spray guns 31a, 31b, and 32 is set so as not to affect the physical properties of the product. By performing such water spraying, in the coating apparatus 1, the rotating drum 3 and the baffle 22 are appropriately cooled during the coating process. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the jacket type coating apparatus 1 in which the air supply / exhaust duct 11 is arranged outside the rotating drum 3, the drum inner surface 3 a can be efficiently formed even if cooling is performed from the outside of the rotating drum 3. It cannot be cooled. On the other hand, in the coating apparatus 1 according to the present invention, the drum inner surface 3a is directly cooled with cold water, so that the drum inner surface 3a can be efficiently cooled even in a jacket type apparatus.

  The baffle 22 can also be cooled by installing a cooling pipe in the interior (Patent Document 2). However, if such a configuration is adopted, the structure of the apparatus becomes very complicated. . In particular, in a jacket type apparatus, it is difficult to arrange the cooling pipes, which is not practical. On the other hand, in the coating apparatus 1 according to the present invention, the spray gun 32 for baffle cooling is provided and the baffle 22 is directly cooled with cold water, so that the baffle 22 can be easily and reliably cooled even in a jacket type apparatus.

  Thus, in the coating apparatus 1, the temperature of the rotating drum 3 and the baffle 22 can be kept low during the coating process, and adhesion of the sugar coating liquid to the drum inner surface 3a and the baffle 22 is suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the generation of the bottoms and protrusions due to the peeling of the adhered matter, and to reduce the incidence of defective products. Further, since there are few deposits on the drum inner surface 3a and the baffle 22, the number of cleanings and the number of cleaning steps of the rotating drum 3 can be reduced, and the coating process can be efficiently performed correspondingly. Furthermore, each spray gun 31a, 31b, 32 can be easily added by remodeling an existing apparatus, and the configuration of the present invention can be applied to an existing apparatus without much cost.

It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the coating apparatus and method according to the present invention have been described taking the sugar coating process as an example, but the form of the coating process is not limited to the sugar coating process, and various processing forms can be adopted. For example, the present invention can be applied to a chocolate coating process or the like. In that case, a heating liquid such as warm water is sprayed from each spray gun 31a, 31b, 32 instead of the cooling liquid (cold water). Thereby, the drum inner surface 3a and the surface of the baffle 22 are heated, the adhesion of chocolate to them is reduced, the generation of defective products due to the peeling of the deposits is suppressed, and the number of cleanings and the number of cleaning steps of the rotating drum 3 can be reduced. Moreover, it is applicable also to fats and oils processing, such as fats and oils coating (wax) process, and can also be used for the sustained release purpose of fats and oils coating processing.

  In addition, although the configuration in which two drum cooling spray guns and one baffle cooling spray gun are arranged in the rotary drum 3 is shown, the number of spray guns installed is not limited to the above example. Depending on the size of the rotating drum 3, it can be appropriately increased or decreased. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the horizontal rotating drum type coating apparatus in which the rotating drum 3 rotates around the horizontal axis has been described. A type having an inclined rotating drum may also be used.

  On the other hand, the object to be treated in the present invention is not limited to tablets such as the above-mentioned lactose tablets, and foods such as confectionery and gum, other pharmaceuticals, and the like are also applicable. In addition to the syrup obtained by dissolving sugar in water, sugar coating liquids of various specifications such as those obtained by adding various medicinal ingredients, flavors, pigments and the like can be applied. The various numerical values described above are merely examples, and it goes without saying that the values can be changed as appropriate.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the coating apparatus which is one Example of this invention, and has shown the state which looked at the said coating apparatus from the side surface direction. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure in the rotating drum in the coating apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Coating apparatus 2 To-be-processed object 3 Rotating drum (processing container)
3a Inner surface 4 Main body 5 End wall 6 Vent 8 Air blow duct 11 Supply / exhaust duct 14 Exhaust pipe 15 Spray gun (coating substance supply means)
16 Bearing 17a, 17b Rotating shaft 18 Motor 19 Chain 20 Opening 21 Inspection lid 22 Baffle (baffle device)
23 Supply / exhaust jacket 31a, 31b Spray gun for drum cooling (first temperature control spray gun)
32 Baffle cooling spray gun (second temperature control spray gun)
33 Coolant supply pipe

Claims (6)

A hollow processing container rotatably disposed around a rotation axis, a coating substance supply means for supplying a coating substance to an object to be processed accommodated in the processing container, and the object in the processing container A coating apparatus comprising a baffle device disposed in a rolling flow of a workpiece,
A first temperature control spray gun which is disposed in the processing container and injects a cooling liquid or a heating liquid onto the inner surface of the processing container;
A coating apparatus, comprising: a second temperature control spray gun which is disposed in the processing container and injects a cooling liquid or a heating liquid onto the baffle apparatus.   2. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second temperature control spray guns are a cooling liquid with respect to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device at a position where no rolling flow of the object to be processed exists. Or the coating apparatus characterized by injecting a heating liquid.   3. The coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second temperature control spray guns directly inject the cooling liquid or the heating liquid to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device. 4. apparatus.   The coating apparatus of any one of Claims 1-3 WHEREIN: A 1st and 2nd temperature control spray gun makes the said cooling liquid or heating liquid from the orthogonal | vertical direction with respect to the inner surface of the said process container and the said baffle apparatus. A coating apparatus for spraying. The object to be processed is accommodated in a hollow processing container that is arranged to be rotatable around a rotation axis, and a coating substance is supplied into the processing container and the processing container is rotated to coat the object to be processed. A coating method for performing a treatment,
While arranging a baffle device in the rolling flow of the object to be processed in the processing container to promote stirring and mixing of the object to be processed,
A cooling liquid or a heating liquid is supplied to the inner surface of the processing container and the baffle device inside the processing container, and the coating process is performed while cooling or heating the processing container and the baffle device. Coating method to do.   6. The coating method according to claim 5, wherein the cooling liquid or the heating liquid is intermittently supplied.

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