JP2008306954A - Application treatment device for fruit and vegetable using roller conveyer and application treatment method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an application treatment device for fruit and vegetable for controlling necessary quantity of application of treatment liquid to fruit and vegetable and enabling uniform application thereof when adhesively applying the treatment liquid to the surface of the fruit and vegetable continuously conveyed, and to provide an application treatment method therefor. <P>SOLUTION: The application treatment device is provided with a roller covered with a fabric-state soft material, and a cylindrical rotary body arranged under the roller conveyer and variable in rotation frequency, wherein the surface of the cylindrical body and the fabric soft material are brought in touch with each other and the surface of the cylindrical rotary body is brought in touch with the treatment liquid contained in a container so as to enable control of the necessary application quantity and uniform adhesion and application. The application treatment method enables control of the necessary application quantity and uniform adhesion and application. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique and an apparatus for continuously applying and treating a large amount of fruits and vegetables with a treatment solution relating to preservation and prevention of diseases. That is, the present technology provides an apparatus and a coating method capable of controlling the amount of processing liquid required and uniformly coating the processing liquid on the surface of fruits and vegetables that are continuously conveyed.

  Conventionally, as a method of applying the processing liquid to the fruits and vegetables that are continuously conveyed to a roller conveyor or the like during selection, a method of applying wax is well known, and this is a continuous method. It is used as a method of applying to citrus. As an example, wax is continuously dripped from the upper side of the roller by bringing the required number of scraping spats into contact with the wax tank and the rotating roller in which the rotating roller is immersed, and the dripped wax is made into a mist with air, A method of spraying and applying to citrus fruits that are continuously conveyed is well known.

  This method is excellent as a method of applying while spraying a certain amount, but by making it into a mist, the volatiles in the processing liquid diffuse and generate odor etc. in the surroundings. Due to the scattering method, there are disadvantages such as loss of processing liquid due to scattering to the surroundings, and relatively expensive equipment and a large space are required when the apparatus is introduced.

In addition, a brush that rotates on the upper side of the conveyor and a drum that supplies the processing liquid to the brush from the upper side are attached, and a method of applying the processing object and the brush by direct contact (Patent Document 1) and spray nozzles are made uniform. A method of spraying continuously while moving so as to be applied (Patent Document 2) has also been proposed. However, in the former, there is a possibility that the object to be processed is easily damaged. In addition, since all of these methods supply liquid or mist from the upper side of the conveyor, basically there are weak points such as a lot of scattering as described above. When processing liquids other than water, the same problems such as worsening of odor and loss due to scattering were found.
Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-001840 JP-A-62-151568

  In order to solve the above problems, it is necessary to always apply a constant and arbitrary amount to the fruits and vegetables continuously conveyed on the roller surface. For this purpose, the amount of processing liquid is arbitrarily adjusted on the roller surface. And can be supplied continuously. In addition, it is necessary to have a method for minimizing the dispersion of odors and the like in the surrounding environment and the loss of the processing solution, and it is necessary to find a simple method that can be performed at a low installation cost.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors have intensively studied and found the present invention. In this method, the fruits and vegetables that are rotated and moved up and down and left and right by the rotating rollers of the roller conveyor are kept in contact with the roller surface covered with the cloth-like soft material impregnated with the treatment liquid for a certain period of time. The coating process can be performed without scratching. In addition, a method of supplying only a necessary amount from the lower side of the conveyor in a state of less scattering is used instead of a method of spraying the processing liquid which is a cause of odor or loss of the processing liquid from the upper side. That is, a roller conveyor with a cloth-like soft material coated on a roller, a cylindrical rotating body installed so as to be in contact with the cloth-like soft material on the lower side of the roller, and a surface of this cylindrical rotating body were installed so as to be in contact with the processing liquid A fruit and vegetable application processing apparatus comprising a processing liquid container. Further, the surface of at least one cylindrical rotating body installed on the lower side of the roller is preferably mounted with a convex elastic body, and this elastic body surface is always in contact with the processing liquid contained in the container. The liquid is continuously supplied to the cloth-like soft material. Further, the convex elastic body on the surface of the cylindrical rotating body is preferably a rubber-like elastic body that is not impregnated with the treatment liquid, and has a shape in which the rubber-like elastic body is attached to the cylindrical rotating body in a spiral shape.

  According to the method of the present invention, the treatment liquid is supplied to the roller surface without excess or deficiency with respect to the required amount of treatment liquid, and the necessary treatment liquid amount is applied to the surface of the fruits and vegetables that are continuously conveyed and uniform. Application can be performed. Moreover, since it can be carried out relatively easily, introduction is easy in terms of cost, and adverse effects such as odor can be suppressed.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail, but this method can be applied not only to the processing of fruits and vegetables but also to other agricultural products and various industrial products conveyed by a roller conveyor. The present invention also includes various processing methods based on this method and combined with other methods.

  An example of an apparatus used in the present invention is shown in FIG. This operation method will be described as follows: 3. It is continuously extruded and conveyed on a rotating roller conveyor. 4. The fruit or vegetable to be applied is brought into contact with the cloth-like soft material for a certain time required for the processing. Decide the number of rollers to cover the cloth-like soft material. Install on a rotating roller conveyor.

  At the same time, the rotational speed can be adjusted freely. 4. The cylindrical rotating body is 2. Adjust to lightly contact the cloth-like soft material; 6. In the container containing the processing solution. Adjust so that it also contacts the treatment solution.

  4). 1. In accordance with the conveying speed of the application target fruits and vegetables and the supply amount of the necessary treatment liquid with respect to the amount of fruits and vegetables per unit time. Set the number of cylinders and the number of rotations.

  After this setting, 4. Flow the target fruits and vegetables on a roller conveyor and attach the treatment liquid. The coated fruits and vegetables may be dried using a blower or a heatable dryer. At this time, in order to apply more uniformly or to perform constant drying, 5. Following the roller covered with the cloth-like soft material, a roller wound with a cloth or the like may be installed in the conveying direction.

  The cylindrical rotating body used in the present invention is preferably mounted with a convex elastic body, but this is preferably made of a material that is not impregnated with the treatment liquid as much as possible, and hard rubber or rubber such as acrylic can be used. This convex elastic body, if too much treatment liquid is supplied to the cloth-like soft material, increases the amount of attachment to the fruits and vegetables and causes unnecessary loss. is required.

  Although it is possible to supply this convex elastic body even if it is wound in several pieces so that each is parallel, as a system that can supply the minimum required amount more uniformly to the cloth-like soft material with no difference in density The most preferable method is to wind a convex elastic body in a spiral shape. At this time, it is necessary that the total area of the upper portion of the convex elastic body and the rotational speed of the cylindrical rotating body determine the contact area and be suitable for supplying an amount necessary for coating. The supply amount required per unit time can be set by multiplying the total area of the upper portion of the convex elastic body by the number of rotations per unit time of the cylindrical rotating body.

  The present invention is directed to fruits and vegetables that are collected after harvesting at a fruit selection site or a farmer, and are continuously graded and sorted by a fruit sorting device or a home fruit sorter. Are often oval or nearly circular, and some are elongate cones. The rotation of the roller contributes to the individual fruits and vegetables rotating in various directions on the roller in the up, down, left and right directions, and is effective for uniform application over the entire surface. Usually, a uniform coating process can be performed by keeping contact with the cloth-like soft material for a fixed time of several seconds to several tens of seconds.

  Here, the uniformity of application to the surface of the fruits and vegetables depends on the contact time with the cloth-like soft material containing the processing liquid on the roller, and the contact time is determined according to the transport speed of the fruits and vegetables. What is necessary is just to determine the number of rollers and the number of cylindrical rotating bodies that contact the lower side. In other words, securing the necessary contact time, such as increasing the number of both when the conveyance speed is high, is important for ensuring the uniformity of processing. The cloth-like soft material used here can be a normal cloth such as cotton, kitchen paper, felt, or the like, but a material that does not damage fruits and vegetables as much as possible is preferable, and a material that has a very hard surface is not preferable.

  On the other hand, the amount of the treatment liquid attached depends on the amount of the treatment liquid contained in the cloth-like soft material, and this amount is supplied by the convex elastic body wound around the lower cylindrical rotating body. In the case where a large amount of liquid is impregnated, it is supplied excessively, and the convex elastic body is preferably made of a material that hardly impregnates the processing liquid. With this material, the contact area per unit time of the convex elastic material in contact with the cloth-like soft material determines the supply amount, and the rotation rate of the cylindrical rotating body is determined by the contact area required per unit time. Can be adjusted. Therefore, by adjusting to the necessary minimum supply amount, the loss of the processing liquid amount can be reduced, and the cost required for the processing can be made reasonable.

  Hereinafter, although the Example of this invention is described, the fruit and fruit to be processed and a process liquid are not limited only to this Example from the meaning of this invention.

(Processing equipment used)
The roller conveyor used for the treatment is one in which a fall prevention plate is attached to the roller end on the left and right sides in the conveying direction. The roller has a diameter of 57 mm, a width of 400 mm, a machine length of 1000 mm, and 14 rollers. Among these rollers, felt (each of width 400 mm × length 179 mm × thickness 1.5 mm) was uniformly wound around four rollers, and guides were attached so that the fruits and vegetables would not escape from the felt part. The first two rollers equipped with this felt are shown in FIG. 6. Cylindrical rotating body A rubber-like elastic body was lightly contacted.

  The cylindrical rotating body shown in FIG. 2 has a diameter of 120 mm and a length of 400 mm, and rotates around a central axle. A motor and an inverter capable of arbitrarily adjusting the rotation speed are attached to the axle.

  FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a rubber-like elastic body attached to this cylindrical rotating body. V-belt-shaped hard rubber having a height of 20 mm, a lower width of 10 mm, and an upper width of 3 mm was used. The rubber-like elastic body having a length of 160 cm was attached in a spiral shape so that the lower part of the elastic body on rubber was in contact with the cylindrical rotating body shown above.

Example 1
The fruits and vegetables to be coated were Unshu early-growing mandarin oranges, and the citrus spoilage inhibitor SK-202 (manufactured by Sakamoto Yakuhin Kogyo Co., Ltd.) was used as the treatment liquid at a citrus fruit transport speed of 1.7 m / min. Table 1. The mandarin orange was allowed to flow for 30 minutes continuously under the above conditions, and then the mandarin orange that had been coated was sampled. The total amount of mandarin oranges used at this time was 224 kg. The amount of processing liquid supplied during this process is determined by measuring the amount used during the processing operation. The amount of attachment applied to the mandarin was extracted by immersing the treated mandarin in a predetermined amount of ethanol solvent, and then measuring with an absorptiometer using the UV wavelength characteristic of the treatment liquid to obtain the absorbance. . Here, a calibration curve of the amount of the treatment solution dissolved in ethanol and the absorbance was prepared. Next, the measured absorbance was converted into the weight of the treatment liquid. The amount of attachment per 100 g of mandarin orange was 0.12 ± 0.05 g. Next, the total amount of attachment was determined by converting the average value of the amount of attachment into the total mandarin weight processed. The results are shown in Table 1, and the loss rate of the treatment liquid was 4.3%.

(Example 2)
The fruits and vegetables to be coated are lemons, the transport speed of the lemon is 1.4 m / min, and the treatment liquid is citrus spoilage inhibitor SK-202 (manufactured by Sakamoto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.). After flowing the lemon continuously for 30 minutes under the above conditions, the applied lemon was sampled. The total amount of lemon used at this time was 136 kg. The amount of the treatment liquid supplied during this period and the measurement of the coating amount were determined in the same manner as in Example 1, and the results are shown in Table 1. The amount of attachment per 100 g of lemon was 0.09 ± 0.05 g, and the loss rate of the treatment liquid during this treatment was 10.2%.

It is a vertical side view which shows schematic structure of the application processing apparatus of the fruits and vegetables concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the circular rotary body which wound the rubber-like elastic body concerning embodiment of this invention in spiral shape. It is sectional drawing of the rubber-like elastic body concerning embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Rotating roller conveyor 2 Cylindrical rotating body (Rotating type with adjustable rotation speed)
3 Containers with treatment liquid 4 Fruits and vegetables to be applied 5 Cloth-like soft material coated on rollers 6 Rubber elastic body 7 Treatment liquid

Claims (4)

Roller conveyor with a cloth-like soft material coated on a roller, a cylindrical rotating body installed in contact with the cloth-like soft material on the lower side of the roller, and a processing liquid installed so that the surface of the cylindrical rotating body is in contact with the processing liquid An application processing device for fruits and vegetables consisting of containers. The surface of at least one cylindrical rotating body installed on the lower side of the roller is mounted with a convex elastic body, and the elastic body surface comes into contact with the processing liquid contained in the container and continuously applies the processing liquid. 2. The fruit and vegetable application processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is applied to a soft material. The fruit and vegetables according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the convex elastic body on the surface of the cylindrical rotating body is a rubber-like elastic body that is not impregnated with the treatment liquid, and the rubber-like elastic body is spirally attached to the cylindrical rotating body. Coating treatment equipment. The coating method using the application processing apparatus of the fruits and vegetables in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3.

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