JP2011089666A - Food drying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly dry various kinds of foods to the inside. <P>SOLUTION: This food drying device includes a breathable rotary container 1 receiving foods 9, a drying chamber 2 in which the rotary container 1 is disposed, ceramic 3 disposed in the drying chamber 2 for irradiation of far infrared ray, an air ventilating mechanism 4 supplying the outside air to the drying chamber 2 and discharging the damp air in the drying chamber 2, a heater 5 for heating the air in the drying chamber 2, and a humidifying mechanism 6 for adjusting a humidity by humidifying the drying chamber 2, and a temperature and the humidity in the drying chamber 2 are controlled by the air ventilating mechanism 4, the humidifying mechanism 6 and the heater 5 to dry the foods 9 received in the rotary container 1. The humidifying mechanism 6 includes a regenerated water generator 7 for generating the regenerated water from the supplied water, the regenerated water supplied from the regenerated water generator 7 is evaporated to humidify the drying chamber 2, and further the humidity in the drying chamber 2 is controlled by water vapor of the regenerated water. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a food drying apparatus, and more particularly to a drying apparatus that irradiates food with a far infrared ray to dry the food.

  The food can be dried by supplying heated air. When the air is heated, the relative humidity becomes low, and the moisture on the surface of the food is evaporated to make it easy to dry. However, a dryer that supplies heated air cannot dry all foods in the preferred state. When the surface of the food is dried, the dried layer becomes a heat insulating layer, and heat cannot be efficiently conducted inside, and the dried layer becomes a water-repellent layer so that moisture can be smoothly transferred to the surface. It is because it prevents. A dryer that only dries the surface of the food and cannot quickly dry the interior has the disadvantage of causing the food to decay during drying. In order to eliminate this drawback, an apparatus has been developed that irradiates food with far infrared rays and heats the inside with the far infrared rays to dry the food. (See Patent Document 1)

  This drying device irradiates food with far infrared rays emitted from graphite silica. Far-infrared rays penetrate into the food and heat the food to make it easier to dry. However, not all foods can be quickly dried even with this drying device. This is because heating the inside of the food with far-infrared rays does not prevent the formation of a dried layer on the surface, and the dried layer on the surface prevents rapid surface migration of moisture inside.

  An apparatus for supplying heated steam to a drying chamber has been developed as a drying apparatus that prevents the formation of a dried layer on the surface and quickly moves the surface of moisture. (See Patent Document 2)

JP 2004-321110 A JP 2007-104928 A

  Patent Document 2 includes a convection heater that supplies heated steam to a drying chamber and a radiant heat heater that radiates radiant heat. This drying apparatus dries so that sticky food materials such as starch, paste and oil lipid can be made into powder. This drying apparatus supplies heated steam to the drying chamber with a convection heater, and further heats and dries the food material with a radiant heat heater. Since this drying apparatus heats a food material with heated steam and further heats and drys it with radiant heat, it can quickly dry the food as compared with an apparatus that irradiates and heats far infrared rays. However, even with this drying device, it is not possible to quickly dry all foods to the inside, and there is a demand for a device that can dry the whole food more quickly.

  The present invention has been developed for the purpose of realizing this. An important object of the present invention is to provide a food drying apparatus that can quickly dry various foods to the inside.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

  The food drying apparatus of the present invention includes an air-permeable rotating container 1 in which food 9 is stored and rotated by a motor 10, a closed drying chamber 2 in which the rotating container 1 is disposed, and the drying chamber. 2 is disposed in the ceramic container 3 for irradiating far-infrared rays to the food 9 stored in the rotating container 1, and air for supplying outside air to the drying chamber 2 and exhausting humid air in the drying chamber 2. A ventilation mechanism 4, a heater 5 that heats the air in the drying chamber 2, and a humidification mechanism 6 that humidifies the inside of the drying chamber 2 to adjust the humidity are provided. The air ventilation mechanism 4, the humidification mechanism 6, and the heater 5, the temperature and humidity in the drying chamber 2 are controlled to dry the food 9 stored in the rotating container 1. In the food drying apparatus, the humidifying mechanism 6 includes a reduced water generator 7 that generates reduced water from supplied water. The reduced water supplied from the reduced water generator 7 is vaporized to dry the drying chamber 2. The inside is humidified, and the food 9 is dried by controlling the humidity in the drying chamber 2 with steam of reduced water.

  The above drying apparatus is characterized in that various foods can be dried more quickly to the inside. Further, the above drying apparatus has a feature that the food can be quickly dried to the inside while preventing discoloration and deterioration by preventing the food from being oxidized without causing any harmful effects due to drying. This is because the above drying device has a humidifying mechanism that humidifies and controls the relative humidity in the drying chamber, and this humidifying mechanism has a reduced water generator that generates reduced water, and is generated by this reduced water generator. This is because the reduced water is vaporized and the water vapor of the reduced water is supplied to the drying chamber to dry the food while controlling the humidity in the drying chamber. The drying chamber to which the water vapor of the reducing water is supplied to control the humidity is filled with the water vapor of the reducing water that easily penetrates into the food. Reduced water easily penetrates into food, and its water vapor penetrates throughout the food, making the contained water easy to migrate to the surface. Moisture that can be smoothly transferred to the surface moves from the inside of the food to the surface, and is quickly vaporized and removed from the surface. Moreover, since the water vapor of the reducing water quickly penetrates the entire food, a dry layer is formed on the surface of the food, and this does not prevent the surface migration of moisture, and the dried layer becomes a heat insulating layer. It does not prevent heat from conducting inside. This is synergistic with the property that far-infrared rays penetrate efficiently to the inside of the food, and realizes the feature that various foods can be dried quickly in a short time by removing moisture of the whole food very quickly and efficiently. . In addition, by allowing the water vapor of the reducing water to permeate inside, the reducing water that permeates the whole prevents the food from being oxidized and prevents the food from being discolored or denatured, and can be dried.

In the food drying apparatus of the present invention, the reduced water generator 7 can be an electrolyzer 8 that electrolyzes supplied water to generate reduced water.
The above drying apparatus can easily increase the redox potential of the reduced water by adjusting the voltage and current for electrolyzing water. Electrolysis can increase the voltage, increase the current, and increase the negative potential of the redox potential. For example, reduced water obtained by electrolysis can quickly penetrate foods, preferably with a redox potential of -200 mV to -700 mV.

The food drying apparatus of the present invention can be a device in which the reduced water generator 7 has the natural stone 15 that is brought into contact with the supplied water to obtain reduced water, and the natural stone 15 generates reduced water. .
This drying device is characterized in that it can be reduced water with a simple device without consuming energy.

The apparatus for drying food according to the present invention includes an electrolyzer 8 in which a reduced water generator 7 electrolyzes supplied water to obtain reduced water, and a natural stone 15 in contact with water to produce reduced water. Both can be provided.
Since this drying device uses reduced water for both electrolysis and natural stone, it has the feature that water can be made into reduced water that is extremely easy to permeate food while reducing energy consumption.

The food drying apparatus of the present invention can supply the reduced water produced by the reduced water generator 7 with the heaters 5 and 17 and supply it to the drying chamber 2 as heated steam.
Since this drying apparatus heats food using reduced water as heated steam, the heated steam heats the food, and this penetrates throughout the food, effectively drying the food while effectively preventing the food from being oxidized. it can.

It is a schematic block diagram of the drying apparatus of the foodstuff concerning one Example of this invention. It is the II-II sectional view taken on the line of the drying chamber of the food drying apparatus shown in FIG.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the Example shown below illustrates the drying apparatus of the foodstuff for actualizing the technical idea of this invention, Comprising: This invention does not specify a drying apparatus as the following.

  Further, in this specification, in order to facilitate understanding of the scope of claims, numbers corresponding to the members shown in the examples are indicated in the “claims” and “means for solving problems” sections. It is added to the members. However, the members shown in the claims are not limited to the members in the embodiments.

  The apparatus for drying food of the present invention includes, for example, citrus fruits such as yuzu, sudachi and mandarin oranges, moss such as shiitake mushrooms and maitake, root vegetables such as taro, carrot and burdock, vegetables such as kale, seaweeds such as wakame and kelp Used to dry food such as fish and shellfish. The food to be dried is dried as it is or sliced to a predetermined thickness.

  A food drying apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a breathable rotating container 1 in which food 9 is stored and rotated by a motor 10, a closed drying chamber 2 in which the rotating container 1 is disposed, and the drying A ceramic 3 that irradiates far-infrared rays to the food 9 that is disposed in the chamber 2 and is stored in the rotating container 1, and air that supplies outside air to the drying chamber 2 and exhausts the humid air in the drying chamber 2. A ventilation mechanism 4, a heater 5 that heats the air in the drying chamber 2, and a humidification mechanism 6 that humidifies the inside of the drying chamber 2 to adjust the humidity.

  The rotating container 1 has a cylindrical shape that can be rotated with the food 9 inside, and is made of a mesh material or a perforated plate that can freely transmit the air in the drying chamber 2 to the inside. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotating container 1 has a rotating shaft 11 fixed linearly at both ends. The rotating shaft 11 is connected to the drying chamber 2 so as to be able to rotate via a bearing 12. The rotating container 1 is arranged so as to be able to rotate in the drying chamber 2 via a rotating shaft 11 and a bearing 12. A motor 10 is connected to one rotating shaft 11. The motor 10 rotates the rotating shaft 11, and the rotating container 1 is rotated by the rotating shaft 11. The rotating container 1 is rotated with the rotating shaft 11 as a horizontal posture. However, the rotating container can also be arranged in the drying chamber in a posture in which the rotation axis is inclined by 0 to 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. The rotating container 1 has an agitation blade 13 for agitating the stored food 9 fixed to the inner surface. Since the stirring blade 13 rotates more effectively to stir the food 9, the entire food can be uniformly and quickly dried. However, it is not always necessary to fix the stirring blade on the inner surface of the rotating container. This is because the food can be stirred by rotating.

  The drying chamber 2 is a box shape that is closed and insulated, and has a size that allows the rotary container 1 to be disposed therein. The drying chamber 2 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 has a rectangular rotating container 1 disposed in a square shape.

  The ceramic 3 irradiates the food 9 stored in the rotating container 1 with far infrared rays. The ceramic 3 is fixed to the inner surface of the drying chamber 2 or fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the rotating container 1, and the food 9 is irradiated with far infrared rays. Irradiate. In the illustrated drying apparatus, a plate-shaped ceramic 3 </ b> A is fixed to the inner surface of the drying chamber 2. Further, the granular ceramic 3B is put in a heating container 14 provided on the bottom surface of the drying chamber 2. The ceramic 3 filled in the heating container 14 is heated and effectively radiates far infrared rays. Further, the ceramic 3 can be supplied with water vapor of the reducing water to the drying chamber 2 by using the natural stone 15 as the reducing water with the oxidation-reduction potential of the water supplied to the heating vessel 14 being negative.

  The ceramic 3 uses an igneous rock as the natural stone 15 that radiates far infrared rays efficiently. For the igneous rock, rhyolite composed of quartz and feldspar with the following composition can be used to efficiently radiate far infrared rays. Igneous rock, which is rhyolite composed of quartz and feldspar with the following composition, has a high infrared emissivity of 89% for black bodies, and the far infrared wavelength emitted is in the far infrared wavelength region. Furthermore, the natural stone 15 also has the effect of reducing the redox potential of the water in contact with it to make it reduced water.

Silicon oxide (SiO ₂ ) ... 71.3 wt%
Alumina (Al ₂ O ₃ ) …… 17.1% by weight
Iron oxide (Fe ₂ O ₃ ) …… 2.3% by weight
Titanium oxide (TiO ₂ ) ………… 0.1% by weight
Calcium oxide (CaO) …… 2.3% by weight
Magnesium oxide (MgO): 0.2% by weight
Potassium oxide (K ₂ O) …… 2.6% by weight
Sodium oxide (Na ₂ O): 3.0% by weight

  The plate-like ceramic 3A is manufactured by cutting the natural stone 15 into a plate shape, or crushing the natural stone 15 and sintering it into a plate shape. The granular ceramic 3B is manufactured by processing the natural stone 15 into a granular shape, or pulverizing and sintering the natural stone 15 into a granular shape. Furthermore, the ceramic 3 can also pulverize the natural stone 15 and apply | coat to the inner surface of the drying chamber 2 with a binder, or can apply | coat to the outer surface of the rotation container 1, and can irradiate the foodstuff 9 with a far infrared ray.

  The ventilation mechanism 4 controls the relative humidity of the drying chamber 2 to a preferable drying environment of the food 9 by adjusting the air supplied to the drying chamber 2 and the amount of air to be exhausted. The ventilation mechanism 4 in FIG. 1 includes a supply fan 4A that forcibly supplies outside air to the drying chamber 2 and an exhaust fan 4B that forcibly exhausts the humid air in the drying chamber 2 to the outside. . Supply fan 4A and exhaust fan 4B forcibly blow air at the same flow rate. The ventilation mechanism 4 including the supply fan 4A and the exhaust fan 4B can efficiently ventilate the drying chamber 2, and can increase the amount of air to be ventilated to quickly dry the food 9. However, the ventilation mechanism does not necessarily need to be provided with a supply fan and an exhaust fan, and can either ventilate the air in the drying chamber. When the outside air is supplied to the drying chamber with the supply fan, the pressure of the drying chamber is increased and exhausted from the exhaust port. On the other hand, when the air in the drying chamber is forcibly exhausted with the exhaust fan, the pressure of the drying chamber is reduced. This is because outside air is sucked from the supply port.

  The supply fan 4 </ b> A and the exhaust fan 4 </ b> B are controlled to the set humidity in the drying chamber 2 by controlling the amount of air forcedly blown by the control circuit 16. The control circuit 16 controls the amount of air ventilated in the drying chamber 2 by controlling the number of rotations of a motor that drives the supply fan 4A and the exhaust fan 4B, or by controlling operation and stoppage. The control circuit 16 stores the set humidity of the drying chamber 2 according to the food to be dried. Since the set humidity optimum for drying differs depending on the food, the control circuit 16 stores the set humidity for the food in a look-up table of a storage circuit (not shown). If the set humidity of the drying chamber 2 is too high or too low, the food cannot be quickly dried in a preferable state. If the set humidity is too low, the surface is dried too quickly to transfer the internal moisture to the surface quickly. On the other hand, if the set humidity is too high, the amount of water vaporized from the food is reduced, making it impossible to dry efficiently. Although the set humidity stored by the control circuit 16 is not constant depending on the food, for example, the food is actually dried within a range of 40% to 60%, and the optimum humidity is examined and stored in the lookup table. .

  The heater 5 heats the air in the drying chamber 2 to reduce the relative humidity. In the drying apparatus of FIG. 1, a heater 5 made of a nichrome wire heater is disposed on the discharge side of the supply fan 4 </ b> A to heat the air supplied to the drying chamber 2. The amount of heat generated by the heater 5 is also controlled by the control circuit 16, and the air temperature in the drying chamber 2 is heated to the set temperature.

  The humidification mechanism 6 includes a reduced water generator 7 that uses water as reduced water. The humidifying mechanism 6 vaporizes the reducing water generated by the reducing water generator 7 to humidify the inside of the drying chamber 2 and controls the humidity in the drying chamber 2 with the water vapor of the reducing water.

  The drying apparatus in FIG. 1 includes a first reduced water generator 7A and a second reduced water generator 7B. The first reduced water generator 7A is an electrolyzer 8 that electrolyzes supplied water to generate reduced water. In this electrolysis apparatus 8, a plate-like plus electrode 21 and a minus electrode 22 are arranged facing each other in an electrolytic cell 20, and an insulating separator 23 is arranged therebetween. The separator 23 is a plastic non-woven fabric or a microporous membrane, and allows the ions contained in water to pass through while insulating the plus electrode 21 and the minus electrode 22. The electrolyzer 8 includes a DC power source 24 connected to the plus electrode 21 and the minus electrode 22. In the electrolyzer 8, reduced water is generated in the vicinity of the negative electrode 22. Therefore, water from the vicinity of the negative electrode 22 of the electrolytic cell 20 is drained to obtain reduced water.

  The second reduced water generator 7 </ b> B is obtained by putting a natural stone 15 that is brought into contact with water into reduced water into a heating container 14. For the natural stone 15, the ceramic made of the rhyolite described above is used. Rhyolite has a bactericidal action in addition to reducing the water in contact with it. Therefore, the drying apparatus that heats the water obtained in the second reduced water generator 7B with the heater 17 to form heated steam and supplies the heated steam to the drying chamber 2 is used to supply the food 9 with the reduced water. It can be sterilized, and further reduced water can be quickly infiltrated into the whole food and dried quickly.

  The humidifying mechanism 6 of FIG. 1 also includes a nozzle 18 that sprays the reduced water obtained by the electrolyzer 8 onto the drying chamber 2 and a pressure pump 19 that pressurizes and supplies the reduced water to the nozzle 18. In the drying apparatus shown in the figure, the nozzle 18 is disposed close to the heater 5 disposed on the discharge side of the supply fan 4A, and the reducing water sprayed from the nozzle 18 is heated by the heater 5 to dry the chamber. 2 is supplied. In this structure, the reduced water obtained by the electrolyzer 8 can be heated by the heater 5 and supplied to the drying chamber 2 as heated steam. Also in this structure, since the food 9 is heated with heated steam, the reduced water can quickly penetrate into the whole food and can be dried quickly. The humidifying mechanism 6 controls the operation of the pressurizing pump 19 with the control circuit 16 to control the amount of reducing water sprayed from the nozzle 18.

  The above drying apparatus controls the heater 5 disposed on the discharge side of the supply fan 4A by the control circuit 16 to control the air temperature in the drying chamber 2 to the set temperature. By controlling the operation of the exhaust fan 4B, the heater 17 disposed in the heating container 14, and the operation of the pressure pump 19, the relative humidity in the drying chamber 2 is maintained at the set humidity, and the rotating container 1 is rotated. The food 9 stored here is dried.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Rotary container 2 ... Drying chamber 3 ... Ceramic 3A ... Plate-shaped ceramic
3B ... Granular ceramic 4 ... Ventilation mechanism 4A ... Supply fan
4B ... exhaust fan 5 ... heater 6 ... humidification mechanism 7 ... reduced water generator 7A ... first reduced water generator
7B ... Second reduced water generator 8 ... Electrolyzer 9 ... Food 10 ... Motor 11 ... Rotating shaft 12 ... Bearing 13 ... Stirring blade 14 ... Heating vessel 15 ... Natural stone 16 ... Control circuit 17 ... Heater 18 ... Nozzle 19 ... Pressure pump 20 ... Electrolyzer 21 ... Positive electrode 22 ... Negative electrode 23 ... Separator 24 ... DC power supply

Claims (5)

A breathable rotating container (1) in which food (9) is stored and rotated by a motor (10), a drying chamber (2) having a closed structure in which the rotating container (1) is disposed, and the drying container A ceramic (3) disposed in the chamber (2) for irradiating far-infrared rays to the food (9) stored in the rotating container (1), and supplying the outside air to the drying chamber (2), and An air ventilation mechanism (4) for exhausting the humid air in the drying chamber (2), a heater (5) for heating the air in the drying chamber (2), and humidifying the drying chamber (2) A humidifying mechanism (6) for adjusting humidity, and the temperature and humidity in the drying chamber (2) are controlled by the air ventilation mechanism (4), the humidifying mechanism (6) and the heater (5). A food drying apparatus configured to dry the food (9) stored in the rotating container (1),
The humidifying mechanism (6) includes a reduced water generator (7) that generates reduced water from the supplied water, and vaporizes the reduced water supplied from the reduced water generator (7) to perform the drying. A food drying apparatus for humidifying the inside of the chamber (2) and controlling the humidity in the drying chamber (2) with steam of reduced water to dry the food (9).   The food drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reduced water generator (7) is an electrolyzer (8) for electrolyzing supplied water to produce reduced water.   The said reduced water generator (7) is an apparatus which has the natural stone (15) which makes contact with the supplied water and makes reduced water, and produces | generates reduced water with this natural stone (15). Food drying equipment.   The reduced water generator (7) includes both an electrolyzer (8) for electrolyzing supplied water to obtain reduced water and an apparatus having natural stone (15) for bringing reduced water into contact with water. A food drying apparatus according to claim 1.   The reduced water produced in the reduced water generator (7) is heated by the heaters (5) and (17) and supplied to the drying chamber (2) as heated water vapor. apparatus.

Images