JP2014045753A - Immersion/inversion/water absorption equipment for manufacturing retort rice - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide immersion/inversion/water absorption equipment for manufacturing retort rice, which can be installed in a small site and prevents rice grains in a container to be inverted from being crushed in boiling.SOLUTION: The equipment includes a plurality of belt conveyors 11 arranged in vertical direction, and an inversion device 52 which holds the container 12 transported from the front-position belt conveyor 11 for 180 degree inversion so as to transfer the product 12 to the rear-position belt conveyor 11. The inversion device 52 includes a mount plate 55 on which the container 12 can be mounted, a holding cylinder 56 fixed to the mount plate 55, and a container presser 58 disposed at the rod end of the holding cylinder 56 through a spring 57. The container 12 is held with the container presser 58 and the mount plate 55.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a dipping / reversing water absorption facility for producing retort cooked rice used for producing retort cooked rice.

In recent years, various types of retort cooked rice that can be eaten simply by soaking in hot water or heating in a microwave oven have been commercially available, and many methods for producing these retort cooked rice have been proposed. When retort cooked rice is packaged in a container such as a pouch or tray, if it is weighed and filled after cooking, the cooked rice adheres to the pouch and the like, resulting in a packaging process with poor yield such as erroneous weighing. Therefore, in recent years, cooking in pouches and trays has become the mainstream, as it is also used for sterilized cooked rice.

In the cooking of rice in pouches and trays, at the beginning of the water absorption, almost the whole white rice is immersed in the rice cooking liquid, but as the water absorption proceeds, the amount of water decreases, and the upper and lower parts of the container such as the pouch become rice cooking liquid. There is a difference in the immersion time. As a result, it is easy to make a difference in cooking between the upper part and the lower part in the container.

Furthermore, in the case of colored rice products such as curry pilaf and paella, the cooking liquid is mostly a seasoning liquid, so the difference in immersion time appears in the coloration of the rice, greatly affecting the appearance.

Therefore, in the case of retort cooked rice that is soaked or cooked in a pouch or tray, it is necessary to uniformly absorb the rice cooking solution necessary for cooking. Therefore, in order to improve the immersion and water absorption effect, a dipping / reversing water absorption facility having a function of reversing the heat retaining function and a vibration function capable of adjusting the degree of accommodation of white rice and ingredients in the container is required.

Patent Document 1 is a method for producing a cooked rice retort food as described above, and in Patent Document 1, after washing rice, water that has been hydrated to a low water content of about 30% is drained and heated in advance. Furthermore, a method for producing a cooked rice retort food is described in which the treated rice is filled in a container together with an appropriate amount of water, sealed, inverted and absorbed, and then retort cooked and sterilized.

Patent Document 2 also discloses a method for producing retort cooked rice. In this Patent Document 2, raw rice is subjected to pressurized heating steam treatment to form a thin pregelatinized layer on the surface layer portion of the rice grain and the center portion is made porous, and the rice grain is immediately subjected to a predetermined amount without passing through a cooling step. Filling and sealing the container together with the rice cooking liquid, immersing and absorbing the rice grains in the rice cooking liquid to adjust the water absorption state of the rice grains and the amount of the rice cooking liquid in the container, and retort sterilizing .

Also in the manufacturing method of Patent Document 2, the sealed container is soaked and impregnated for 20 to 40 minutes to uniformly absorb and impregnate the rice cooking liquid in an amount corresponding to the type of cooked rice. . In this Patent Document 2, tempering is performed until the raw rice becomes saturated water absorption or a predetermined water absorption state. During this time, the raw rice is inverted by several to ten times, preferably about 4 to 6 times. Evenly absorbs and impregnates rice cooking liquid evenly and solidly.

Shoko 62-5574 W0 2012/046272

In the method for producing retort cooked rice, in order to improve the soaking and water absorption effect, a soaking / reversing water absorption facility having a function of reversing the rice grains in the rice cooking liquid by at least pressure heating treatment is required. In Patent Document 1, it is described that a reversing machine is used in order to obtain the uniform water content, but details of the reversing machine are not disclosed.

In Patent Document 2, there is a description that as a reversing means, a pouch conveyed on a belt arranged in a multi-stage shape may be reversed and dropped sequentially on a lower belt. There is no description of a specific configuration. When the pouch is conveyed by a multi-stage belt, it is possible to adjust the immersion time by controlling the belt conveyance speed, and when the container drops from the upper belt to the lower belt, the pouch is moved. There is an advantage that a large amount of retort cooked rice can be produced.

However, if the container is turned over and dropped from the upper belt to the lower belt in sequence, there will be a considerable drop between the upper and lower belts, so a considerable impact will be applied to the container during the fall, and the rice cooking liquid There is a problem that the cooked rice is crushed and the appearance of the cooked food becomes worse.

In view of such problems, the present invention provides a dipping / reversing water absorption facility for retort cooked rice production that can produce retort cooked rice that can be cooked nicely without being crushed in the cooked rice liquid. For the purpose.

The immersion / reverse water absorption equipment for producing retort cooked rice according to the present invention includes a plurality of conveyors that sequentially convey containers filled with rice grains together with rice cooking liquid, and the conveyor that is conveyed from the preceding conveyor among the plurality of conveyors. And a reversing device for moving the containers to the rear conveyor by sandwiching and reversing the containers.

In the present invention, when the container filled with rice grains together with the rice cooking liquid is transferred from the upper belt to the lower belt sequentially, the impact is small, and the rice grains in the rice cooking liquid are immersed and inverted without being crushed in the container. Is possible.

Plan view of the immersion / reversal water absorption equipment of the present invention Front view of the immersion / reverse water absorption equipment of the present invention Side view of the delivery mechanism of the present invention Side view of the reversing mechanism of the present invention Process diagram of reversal conveying apparatus of the present invention

  A container such as a pouch or a tray filled with rice grains together with the rice cooking liquid is added before the soaking / reversing treatment with the soaking / reversing water-absorbing equipment (hereinafter simply referred to as soaking / reversing water-absorbing equipment). Raw rice is treated under pressure and heating steam using a pressure heating kettle. As a result of the treatment, the raw material rice is made alpha into the surface layer portion, and a micro crack is generated in the central portion and exhibits a porous shape.

The rice grains that have been subjected to the pressurized and heated steam treatment are weighed using a weighing packaging machine or the like and filled into a container such as a pouch. At this time, according to the kind of cooked rice, solid materials such as ingredients, and liquid materials such as rice cooking liquid and seasoning liquid are also filled in the container, mixed with rice grains and sealed. In order to promote uniform water absorption and penetration into the rice grains and solids in the sealed container, a head space is secured so that the rice grains can move and reverse in the container.

The rice grain immersed in the rice cooking liquid in the container absorbs the rice cooking liquid at a stretch in about 10 minutes. Then, tempering is performed until the rice grains are in a saturated water absorption state or a predetermined water absorption state over a period of about 10 to 30 minutes. During that time, the container is squeezed several times by the immersion / reverse water absorption equipment of the present invention. The rice cooking liquid can be uniformly absorbed and impregnated uniformly with respect to the rice grains and solid matter by reversing about ten or more times, preferably about 4 to 6 times. (See above, Patent Document 2)

Next, the immersion / reversal water absorption facility of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the immersion / reverse water absorption facility, and FIG. 2 is a front view of the immersion / reverse water absorption facility.
The dipping / reversing water absorption equipment of the present invention includes a conveying / reversing device 13 including a plurality of conveyors 11 for placing and conveying containers 12 such as pouches and trays in which rice grains and rice cooking liquid are sealed, and this conveying / reversing device. A temperature-controlled room 14 that covers the entire apparatus 13 and heats the inside of the conveying / reversing apparatus 13 to maintain the temperature; a step-like conveying conveyor 31 that intermittently supplies the containers 12 to the conveying / reversing apparatus 13; It has.

    As shown in FIG. 2, the transport / reversing device 13 is composed of a belt conveyor 11 having a four-stage structure, and the container 12 is reversed each time the container 12 is transferred from the upper belt conveyor 11 to the lower belt conveyor 11. By doing so, the rice cooking liquid is evenly immersed and absorbed in the rice grains. In addition, the container 12 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is a pouch and a tray, and both are shown for explanation of the present application, and after one type of retort cooked rice is continuously manufactured during normal processing. The following types of retort cooked rice are produced.

In this embodiment, an example in which the belt conveyor 11 is used as a conveyor is shown, but a roller conveyor or a chain conveyor may be used as described later. As conditions for the conveyor, it is necessary at least that the conveyance time can be accurately controlled and that the packaging container to be conveyed can be reversed.

Although not shown in detail, the belt conveyor 11 is provided with a plurality of rollers that support an endless conveyance belt, the driving roller is rotated by the power of the roller driving unit, and the driven roller is also moved in the conveyance direction of the conveyance belt. Accordingly, the conveyor belt is rotated so that the conveyor belt can be moved in a predetermined direction.

A driving motor is used for the power of the roller driving unit. The driving motor can control the rotation speed by a control device (not shown). As described above, the rice grains immersed in the rice cooking liquid in the container 12 are tempered until the rice grains are in a saturated water absorption state or a predetermined water absorption state over a period of about 10 to 30 minutes. If it is the conveyor 11, the speed | rate of the container 12 from the start end of each conveyor 11 to the termination | terminus is about 2.5-7.5 minutes. In the meantime, in order to uniformly absorb and impregnate the rice cooking liquid evenly with respect to the rice grains and solids, it is preferably reversed about 4 to 6 times, but in the four-stage belt conveyor 11, the container 12 can be reversed four times. it can.

The transport / reversing device 13 including the four-stage belt conveyor 11 is entirely covered with a temperature-controlled room 14. The temperature-controlled room 14 includes a heater 91 that generates heated steam or hot air. The heater 91 heats the entire conveying / reversing device 13 with hot air of 60 ° C. to 85 ° C., soaking rice grains and solids. -Promote water absorption by heating. Although not shown in the figure, the constant temperature chamber 14 is provided with a fan so that the warm air of 60 ° C. to 85 ° C. is circulated in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the belt conveyor 11. Like to do.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the container 12 is carried into the transport / reversing device 13 from a step-shaped transport conveyor 31. That is, the rice grains that have been subjected to the pressurized and heated steam treatment are weighed by a weighing and packaging machine (not shown), filled into the container 12 and carried out one after another. The containers 12 are aligned and arranged on the buckets 32 of the transport conveyor 31 at a constant pitch using the length of the shuttle conveyor 21 that expands and contracts. The containers 12 arranged in the bucket 32 are intermittently conveyed to the upper part of the conveying / reversing device 13. A transfer mechanism 41 is provided between the end of the transfer conveyor 31 and the transfer / reversing device 13 to transfer the containers 12 arranged in the bucket 32 to the transfer / reversing device 13.

As shown in FIG. 3, the delivery mechanism 41 is the same as the transfer mechanism 43 that reciprocates between the transport conveyor 31 and the transport / reversing device 13 in conjunction with the intermittent motion of the transport conveyor 31. It is comprised with the movable saucer 42 which reciprocates interlockingly. The transfer mechanism 43 includes a scraping arm 47 on a base plate 44 and a cylinder 45 attached thereto. The base plate 44 is integrated with the scraping arm 47 and the cylinder 45 and can reciprocate between the transport conveyor 31 and the transport / reversing device 13. One end of a scraping arm 47 pivotally supported by a fulcrum shaft 46 is connected to the rod of the cylinder 45. The other end of the scraping arm 47 is a free end bent in a bowl shape, and the container 12 arranged in the bucket 32 can be scraped out like a rake. The movable tray 42 reciprocates between the transport conveyor 31 and the transport / reversing device 10 by placing a container 12 between them by a driving source (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 4, a reversing mechanism 51 is disposed near the end of the upper belt conveyor 11 and the start end of the lower belt conveyor 11. The reversing mechanism 51 includes a reversing device 52 that sandwiches the container 12 and reverses 180 degrees vertically, a carry-in device 61 that pushes the container 12 from the upper belt conveyor 11 to the reversing device 52, and the reversing device 52 And a carry-out device 71 that pushes the container 12 onto the lower belt conveyor 11.

The reversing device 52 includes a rotation base 54 that rotates 180 degrees up and down around a rotation shaft 53 by a drive source (not shown), and a long length on which the container 12 is placed on the bottom side of the pentagonal rotation base 54. A mounting plate 55, a holding cylinder 56 fixed to the mounting plate 55, a container press 58 provided with a spring 57 interposed at the rod end of the holding cylinder 56, and a vibration fixed to the container press 58 And a feeder 59.

When the sandwiching cylinder 56 contracts, the container retainer 58 approaches the placement plate 55, and the container 12 can be sandwiched between the container retainer 58 and the placement plate 55. When the rotation base 54 rotates around the rotation shaft 53 with the container 12 being sandwiched, the container 12 can be inverted 180 degrees up and down. The vibration feeder 59 may be any type as long as it vibrates, such as a ball vibrator. When the height of the container 12 changes, the spring 57 absorbs the change. Further, since the container presser 58 is fixed via the spring 57, the vibration generated by the vibration feeder 59 is efficiently transmitted to the container 12. The spring 57 may be an elastic body that serves the purpose of transmitting the height absorption and vibration of the container 12 and is not limited to a so-called spring.

The carry-in device 61 includes a pusher 69 that pushes the container 12 onto the mounting plate 55 described above. The pusher 69 is fixed to the rod end of the carry-in cylinder 68, and the lift base 67 to which the carry-in cylinder 68 is fixed is moved up and down by the lift cylinder 62 via the link mechanism 65. When the elevating base 67 is in the raised position, the container 12 on the belt conveyor can pass under the pusher 69. Further, when the rear end of the container 12 is pushed out by the pusher 69 when the elevating base 67 is in the lowered position, the container 12 is moved from the upper belt conveyor 11 to the mounting plate 55 of the reversing device 52. Transfer to the top.

In the unloading device 71, one end of the push-out arm 74 is pivotally supported on the middle shaft 73, the rod end of the unloading cylinder 72 is connected to the lower center portion, and the push-out head 75 is fixed to the other end, and the container 12 is pushed out by the push-out head 75. . That is, when the container 12 on the placement plate 55 after being reversed by 180 degrees is pushed out by the push-out head 75 through the push-out arm 74 by the operation of the carry-out cylinder 72, the container 12 is placed on the placement plate. Transfer from 55 to the lower belt conveyor 11.

1 and 2 is transferred to the container 12 after the belt conveyor 11 having been inverted at the end of the final belt conveyor 11 of the four-stage belt conveyor 11 is transferred to the retort sterilizer. It is conveyed.

Next, the operation of the immersion / reverse water absorption facility 10 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the containers 12 are aligned and arranged on the bucket 32 of the transport conveyor 31 by the shuttle conveyor 21, and are delivered to the transport / reversing device 13 by the bucket 32. Is intermittently conveyed to a position where

As shown in FIG. 3, the container 12 on the bucket 32 that has been intermittently transferred is transferred from the transfer conveyor 31 to the transfer / reversing device 13 by the transfer mechanism 41. Specifically, the cylinder 45 of the delivery mechanism 41 extends, the scraping arm 47 rotates about the fulcrum shaft 46, and the free end of the scraping arm 47 is positioned behind the container 12. In this state, the base plate 44 moves toward the transport / reversing device 13, and the scraper arm 47 scrapes the container 12 from the bucket 32 to the movable tray 42 like a rake. When the container 12 is scraped to the movable tray 42, the scraping arm 47 and the movable tray 42 are moved together to the transport / reversing device 13 side. Thereafter, the movable tray 42 stops and the scraping arm 47 continues to move, so that the container 12 is delivered from the movable tray 42 to the upper belt conveyor 11 of the transport / reversing device 13.

The container 12 that has been transferred onto the belt conveyor 11 is conveyed to the end of the upper belt conveyor 11 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5B, when the container 12 is detected by a sensor (not shown), the elevating cylinder 62 of the carry-in device 61 is extended, and the elevating base 67 is lowered by the link mechanism 65, and the carry-in cylinder 68 pushers 69 are arranged on the rear side of the container 12. Subsequently, the carry-in cylinder 68 extends, the pusher 69 pushes out the container 12, and the container 12 is transferred from the upper belt conveyor 11 onto the mounting plate 55 of the reversing device 52.

As shown in FIG. 5C, the elevating cylinder 62 of the carry-in device 61 contracts and the elevating base 67 rises to prepare for the next operation. Further, the holding cylinder 56 of the reversing device 52 contracts, the container presser 58 is lowered, and the container 12 is held between the container presser 58 and the mounting plate 55 described above.

As shown in FIG. 5 (D), the pivot shaft 53 pivots up and down 180 degrees while being sandwiched between the container retainer 58 and the mounting plate 55 to reverse the container 12. When the vibrating feeder 59 is operated in this state to vibrate the container 12, the unevenness of the rice grains in the container 12 is eliminated, and the whole rice grains are uniformly immersed and absorbed in the rice cooking liquid.

As shown in FIG. 5 (E), the holding cylinder 56 of the reversing device 52 is extended, and the container retainer 58 is lowered together with the reversed container 12. Subsequently, the carry-out cylinder 72 of the carry-out device 71 contracts, the push-out arm 74 rotates around the center shaft 73, and a push-out head 75 fixed to the other end of the push-out arm 74 pushes out the container 12. The container 12 is transferred from the container presser 58 of the reversing device 52 to the lower belt conveyor 11.

The operation described with reference to FIGS. 5A to 5E is repeated three times, and the container 12 after being inverted at the end of the final belt conveyor 11 is transferred to the carry-out conveyor 81 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The container 12A is conveyed to the retort sterilizer.

In the above embodiment, the container 12 </ b> A is transported to the uppermost belt conveyor 11 by the intermittent transport device 31, and the container 12 is transported from the uppermost belt conveyor 11 to the lower belt conveyor 11. However, the flow direction of the belt conveyor 11 shown in FIG. 2 is reversed, and the carry-in device 61 is arranged at the end of the lower belt conveyor 11 and the carry-out device 71 is arranged at the start of the upper belt conveyor 11. Then, the container 12 is conveyed from the lower belt conveyor 11 toward the upper belt conveyor 11, and such a case is also included in the present invention.

After the conveyance / reversing device 13 completes the immersion / reversal water absorption operation of the container 12, the container is unloaded by the unloading conveyor 81 and sent to the retort sterilization process. The heat treatment conditions in the retort sterilization step are according to a conventional method, and the heat treatment corresponding to 4 minutes is performed in a state where the temperature of the food center is 120 ° C.

In the said embodiment, although the example which used the belt conveyor 11 for the conveyor was shown, you may use a roller conveyor instead of the belt conveyor 11. FIG. A roller conveyor is a conveyor which arrange | positions the cylindrical roller which rotates to a flame | frame in parallel, mounts a container on these rollers, and conveys it. There are several types of roller conveyors. If a motor roller system is used in which a small motor is installed in each individual roller and each roller rotates independently, the conveyor / reversing device 13 The speed can be finely controlled. That is, since it is possible to individually control the rotation speed of the motor of each roller, for example, control is performed such that the conveyance speed is slow near the entrance, slightly faster near the middle, and the speed is decreased when the reversing part is applied. Is possible. In addition, according to the temperature distribution of the temperature-controlled room 14, for example, the upper roller conveyor having a high temperature lowers the speed so that the temperature rises, and the lower stage increases the speed so that the temperature does not decrease. In this way, energy loss can be reduced. Thus, the roller conveyor is very suitable for fine speed control.

A chain conveyor may be used instead of the belt conveyor 11. The chain conveyor has two chains on the sprocket, and is equipped with a connecting plate for placing the object to be transported between the chains and a hook for holding the object to be transported. Transport things.

In the transport / reversing device, sprockets are arranged at each stage, and a single continuous chain is stretched over the four layers of sprockets from the upper stage to the lower stage. A container can be placed on the connecting plate between the chains, and a mechanism such as the container retainer 58 is provided to hold the container so that it does not fall when the placed container is reversed. In this chain conveyor, if the belt is connected from the upper stage to the lower stage and the container does not fall at the reverse part, the speed cannot be finely adjusted as with the roller conveyor, but at the reverse part like the belt conveyor 11 above. Since it is not necessary to provide the reversing mechanism 51, the structure becomes very simple.

The present invention relates to a dipping / reversing water absorption facility for producing retort cooked rice used when producing retort cooked rice, and is useful as a facility for producing retort cooked rice.

10 .. Dipping / reversing water absorption equipment 11. Belt conveyor 12 Container 13. Transporting / reversing device 21 Shuttle conveyor 31 Transporting conveyor 41 Transfer mechanism 43 Transfer mechanism 51 Reversing mechanism 52 ..Reversing device 53 ..rotating shaft 54 ..rotating base 55 ..mounting plate 56 ..clamping cylinder 57 ..spring 58 ..container press 59 ..vibrating feeder 61. Unloading device 81 .. Unloading conveyor

Claims (4)

A plurality of conveyors that sequentially convey containers filled with rice grains together with rice cooking liquid, and among the plurality of conveyors, the containers conveyed from the preceding conveyor are sandwiched and inverted to the subsequent conveyor A reversing device for moving the container, and a dipping / reversing water absorption facility for producing retort cooked rice. The reversing device is
A long mounting plate on which the container can be mounted;
A clamping cylinder fixed to the mounting plate,
A container presser provided via a spring at the rod end of the clamping cylinder,
The article is sandwiched between the container holder and the mounting plate,
The immersion / reversal water absorption equipment for producing retort cooked rice according to claim 1. The dipping / reversing water absorption equipment for retort cooked rice production according to claim 2, wherein the container holder is provided with a vibration feeder. The immersion / reversal water absorption equipment for retort cooked rice production according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of stages of conveyors are installed in a temperature-controlled room.

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