JP2012223115A - Vacuum steam thawing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vacuum steam thawing apparatus that quickly cools a material, which is to be thawed having been overheated, with evaporative cooling by vaporization of cooling water.SOLUTION: A steam supply pipe 3 and a cooling water supply pipe 4 are connected to a thawing chamber 2 on which a material 1 to be thawed is placed. Electric heaters 14 and 15 for steam generation are mounted on a cooling water storage space 13 at the bottom of the thawing chamber 2. A vacuum pump 5 is constituted of a cooling water tank 22, a circulation pump 23 and ejectors 24 and 25. The cooling water tank 22 is connected to a low-temperature chiller 31. When steam is supplied to the thawing chamber 2 and the material 1 to be thawed is turned partially overheated, cooling water is supplied from a cooling water supply pipe 16 to the material 1 to be thawed so that the material 1 to be thawed is evaporatively cooled and the overheated state is promptly eliminated by a large amount of heat by vaporization latent heat.

Description

The present invention relates to a vacuum vapor thawing apparatus capable of thawing frozen stuff to be thawed such as meat and fish with the heat of vacuum vapor below atmospheric pressure.

A conventional vacuum vapor thawing device is connected to a vacuum pump that maintains the thawing space in a vacuum state below atmospheric pressure, and is connected to a vapor feed circuit that supplies saturated steam at a constant temperature to the thawing space. The object to be thawed can be uniformly heated and thawed by the vacuum vapor.

  The conventional vacuum vapor thawing apparatus still has a problem that the whole object to be thawed cannot be thawed uniformly. This is an overheated state in which the surface temperature of the material to be thawed is partially increased depending on the type and surface shape of the material to be thawed, and the entire material to be thawed cannot be thawed uniformly.

JP-A-10-179019

  The problem to be solved is to allow the object to be thawed to be thawed uniformly by quickly cooling the object to be thawed by evaporative cooling by evaporating cooling water. It is.

  The present invention includes a sealed thawing chamber for storing an object to be thawed, and a steam supply pipe for supplying steam at a predetermined temperature to the thawing chamber while being connected to a vacuum pump for depressurizing the thawing chamber to a vacuum below atmospheric pressure. In the connected one, a cooling water supply pipe that supplies cooling water of a predetermined temperature to the thawing chamber is connected, and the object to be thawed is vaporized and cooled by vaporization of the cooling water, and an electric heater is attached to the bottom of the thawing chamber, Steam is supplied to the thawing chamber by the electric heater.

  In the present invention, when the steam supply pipe and the cooling water supply pipe are connected to the thawing chamber, when the steam is supplied to the thawing chamber and the object to be thawed is partially overheated, the cooling water supply pipe By supplying cooling water to the material to be thawed, the material to be thawed can be vaporized and cooled, and the overheated state is quickly eliminated with a large amount of heat due to the latent heat of vaporization, and the entire material to be thawed is thawed uniformly. Can do.

The block diagram which shows the Example of the vacuum vapor thawing apparatus which concerns on this invention.

According to the present invention, a cooling water supply pipe for supplying cooling water at a predetermined temperature to the thawing chamber is connected. A plurality of spray nozzles are attached to the thawing chamber side of the cooling water supply pipe, and the spray nozzles are covered. It is desirable to inject cooling water onto the thawing material.

  In FIG. 1, a thawing chamber 2 containing an object to be thawed 1, a steam supply pipe 3 for supplying steam for thawing to the thawing chamber 2, and a cooling water supply pipe for supplying cooling water for vaporization cooling to the thawing chamber 2. 4 and the vacuum pump 5 constitute a vacuum vapor thawing device.

 The steam supply pipe 3 is connected to a steam source such as a boiler (not shown), is attached with steam pressure control valves 6 and 7, and is connected to the thawing chamber 2 through the steam branch pipes 8, 9, 10, and 11.

  The thawing chamber 2 is hermetically sealed, and the size thereof is an appropriate size according to the size of the object 1 to be thawed. A mounting table 12 for mounting the object 1 to be thawed is attached to the lower part of the thawing chamber 2. The upper and lower spaces of the mounting table 12 allow vapor and liquid to pass freely. A cooling water storage space 13 is provided in the lower space of the mounting table 12.

  Steam generating electric heaters 14 and 15 are attached to the left and right sides of the cooling water storage space 13. By energizing the electric heaters 14 and 15 for generating steam, the object to be defrosted 1 in the thawing chamber 2 can be evacuated by the vapor generated by evaporating the cooling water in the cooling water storage space 13 by elevating the temperature. It is. The steam that has been deprived of heat by vacuum steam thawing condenses and becomes condensed water, drops into the cooling water storage space 13, and is heated again by the steam generating electric heaters 14 and 15 to become steam. In this way, thawing can be performed smoothly by appropriately using the steam in the steam generating electric heaters 14 and 15 and the steam from the steam supply pipe 3 appropriately.

  The cooling water supply pipe 4 is branched up and down and connected to the branch pipes 16 and 17. The upper branch pipe 16 is a cooling water supply pipe to the thawing chamber 2. The branch pipe 16 is extended to the inside of the thawing chamber 2 and connected to the extension pipe 18, and spray nozzles 19 and 20 for injecting cooling water are attached to the ends of the extension pipe 18. Further, a pipe 21 is attached by extending the right end of the extended pipe 18 to the lower part of the mounting table 12. A part of the cooling water can be directly supplied to the cooling water storage space 13 by the pipe line 21. The branch pipe 17 below the branch pipes 16 and 17 is connected to a cooling water tank 22 constituting the vacuum pump 5 described later.

The vacuum pump 5 includes a cooling water tank 22, a circulation pump 23, a first ejector 24, and a second ejector 25. A predetermined amount of cooling water 26 is stored in the cooling water tank 22, and the cooling water 26 is supplied to the ejectors 24 and 25 by the circulation pump 23, thereby generating suction force in the suction chambers 27 and 28 of the ejectors 24 and 25. Is. The suction chamber 27 of the first ejector 24 is connected to the upper space of the thawing chamber 2 by a conduit 29, and the suction chamber 28 of the second ejector 25 is connected to the lower space of the mounting table 12 by a conduit 30. Therefore, the second ejector 25 sucks a part of the cooling water in the cooling water storage space 13 and causes it to flow down to the cooling water tank 22. A surplus water discharge pipe 35 is connected by branching a circulation path 34 communicating with the cooling water tank 22, the circulation pump 23, and the ejectors 24 and 25.

The cooling water tank 22 is connected to the low temperature chiller 31 via the pipe lines 32 and 33. The low temperature chiller 31 can circulate the cooling water 26 in the cooling water tank 22 into the low temperature chiller 31 to maintain the temperature of the cooling water 26 at a predetermined low temperature, for example, about 5 to 20 ° C. It can be done.

In order to thaw the material 1 to be thawed placed in the thawing chamber 2, the circulating pump 23 is driven to suck the remaining air in the thawing chamber 2 with the suction force of the ejectors 24 and 25 and discharge it outside the system. . When the inside of the thawing chamber 2 is in a predetermined vacuum state, by supplying a predetermined pressure, that is, a low temperature steam, for example, about 5 to 20 ° C., from the steam supply pipe 3 to the thawing chamber 2, Defrosted.

By energizing the steam generating electric heaters 14 and 15, the cooling water in the cooling water storage space 13 can be heated to generate steam and the object 1 to be thawed can be thawed. The steam deprived of heat by the material 1 to be thawed condenses into condensate and drops into the cooling water storage space 13. A part of the cooling water in the cooling water storage space 13 is sucked into the second ejector 25 and reaches the cooling water tank 22.

When steam is supplied to the thawing chamber 2 and the material 1 to be thawed is partially overheated, the cooling water is supplied from the cooling water supply pipe 16 to the material 1 to be thawed. Evaporation cooling can be performed, and the overheated state can be quickly eliminated with a large amount of heat due to vaporization latent heat, so that the entire object 1 can be thawed uniformly.

 Although not shown, the temperature state of the object 1 to be thawed can be detected by attaching a plurality of temperature sensors to the object 1 to be thawed.

When the material to be thawed 1 is partially overheated, the cooling water is also supplied to the thawing chamber 2 while being vaporized and cooled, or the vapor supply is temporarily stopped and vaporized and cooled. You can also

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Object to be thawed 2 Thawing chamber 3 Steam supply pipe 4 Cooling water supply pipe 5 Vacuum pump 12 Mounting table 13 Cooling water storage space 14, 15 Electric heater for steam generation 16 Branch pipe 17 Branch pipe 18 Extension pipe 19, 20 Spray nozzle 22 Cooling water tank 23 Circulation pump 24 First ejector 25 Second ejector 31 Low-temperature chiller

Claims (1)

  In a sealed thawing chamber for storing an object to be thawed and a vacuum supply pipe for supplying the steam at a predetermined temperature to the thawing chamber while being connected to a vacuum pump for reducing the thawing chamber to a vacuum below atmospheric pressure A cooling water supply pipe for supplying cooling water of a predetermined temperature to the thawing chamber is connected, and the object to be thawed is vaporized and cooled by vaporizing the cooling water, and an electric heater is attached to the bottom of the thawing chamber, and the electric heater A vacuum steam thawing apparatus characterized by supplying steam to a thawing chamber.

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