JP2021058172A - Tea leaf hot blast treatment apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a tea leaf hot blast treatment apparatus that raises the temperature of tea leaves in a short time, and efficiently removes water content.SOLUTION: A tea leaf hot blast treatment apparatus consists of: a cylindrical treatment cylinder in which one end is used as an inlet port of tea leaves and the other end is used as a discharge port of tea leaves; driving means for rotating the treatment cylinder; rails provided inside the treatment cylinder; and hot blast supply means for blowing hot blast from one end of the treatment cylinder. An upper part of tea leaf discharge port side is provided with an exhaust port which can adjust an exhaust amount, and a tea leaf discharge valve for tea leaf discharge port, the treatment cylinder is designed to be substantially sealed, and hot blast airflow inside the treatment cylinder is made adjustable by adjusting an exhaust amount.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus that raises the temperature of tea leaves in a short time and efficiently removes water.

In the conventional tea making line, taking the case of green tea production as an example, after performing a blue-killing treatment with a steamer, the tea leaves are kneaded according to the moisture and properties of the tea leaves, such as a rough kneader, a kneader, a medium kneader, a refiner, and a dryer. It was necessary to use the apparatus to produce the tea leaves over time while keeping the temperature of the tea leaves at 35 to 36 ° C. As a result, it had characteristics such as the taste and flavor of sencha and the needle-like shape of rough tea.

In recent years, tea leaves that emphasize taste, light blue, and aroma have been increasingly used regardless of the shape, such as raw materials for drinks and tea bags, and there is growing interest in reducing tea making costs. A manufacturing method with a characteristic scent has been sought. Attempts have been made to reduce the load on the subsequent kneading process by efficiently drying tea leaves in a short time at high moisture content. By efficiently removing water from tea leaves at high temperature when the water content is high, excess aroma volatilizes, suppressing the aroma peculiar to summer tea, etc., resulting in a refreshing aroma and making tea with less discoloration of leaf color. it can.

A high-temperature hot air treatment device is used for the above-mentioned manufacturing method, but it is difficult to adjust the hot air temperature and the amount of hot air according to the amount of tea leaves input and the water content of the tea leaves with the conventional device only by controlling the supply hot air. In particular, when it is desired to remove a large amount of water, tea leaves with thin mesophyll may become overdried or charred, which may lead to deterioration of tea quality. The degree of water removal may also change due to changes in the amount of tea leaves input during production, and a tea leaf hot air treatment device capable of stably adjusting the degree of drying has been desired.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-34405 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-152774

In Patent Documents 1 and 2, most of the supplied hot air temperature is naturally discharged as exhaust gas on the outlet side. The amount of heat in the processing cylinder could not be controlled, and the amount of heat in the processing cylinder constantly changed due to changes in the amount of tea leaves input and the air flow of hot air, resulting in overdrying or insufficient drying.

An object of the present invention is to efficiently remove tea leaf moisture in a short time, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for stably removing tea leaf moisture while preventing overdrying and insufficient drying.

The first means of the present invention includes a cylindrical processing cylinder having one end as a tea leaf inlet and the other end as a tea leaf discharge port, a driving means for rotating the processing cylinder, and a crosspiece provided inside the processing cylinder. In a tea leaf hot air treatment device composed of a hot air supply means for blowing hot air from one end of the treatment cylinder, a tea leaf discharge port is provided at the upper part on the tea leaf discharge port side and a tea leaf discharge port is provided. A tea leaf hot air processing device characterized in that the processing cylinder can be substantially sealed and the hot air flow inside the processing cylinder can be adjusted by adjusting the intake and exhaust.
A second means of the present invention is a tea leaf hot air treatment device, wherein the first means is provided with an exhaust fan capable of adjusting the air volume at the exhaust port and a rotary valve at the tea leaf discharge valve.

In the second means, the third means of the present invention includes a control means capable of freely changing the rotation speed of the processing cylinder, a control means capable of setting the hot air amount and the hot air temperature of the hot air supply means, and the exhaust fan. A tea leaf hot air processing apparatus comprising a control means capable of setting the air volume of the tea leaf, and adjusting the hot air airflow state inside the processing cylinder to a desired tea leaf processing state.
The fourth means of the present invention is the tea leaf hot air processing apparatus according to the first, second or third means, wherein the supply hot air temperature is 150 ° C. to 400 ° C.

The apparatus of the present invention makes it possible to control the flow of hot air inside the processing cylinder of the tea leaf hot air processing apparatus, suppress changes in the degree of tea leaf processing due to the flow rate of tea leaves and the properties of the tea leaves, and cause insufficient drying or overdrying. , Phenomena leading to quality deterioration such as charring can be reduced, and the tea leaves can be treated stably and in a good state.

FIG. 1 is an external view of the front of the tea leaf hot air processing apparatus. FIG. 2 is an external view of the processing cylinder of the tea leaf hot air processing apparatus. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the processing cylinder of the tea leaf hot air processing apparatus.

The processing cylinder 1 is provided with a charging port 2 for charging the tea leaves 20 from one end, and the tea leaves 20 are continuously charged into the charging port 2 by the charging device 3. The processing cylinder 1 is rotated by the driving means 5. A hot air blowing pipe 22 is inserted as a hot air supply means 7 at one end of the processing cylinder, and the hot air blowing pipe 22 is a cylinder of an arbitrary length, is composed of a breathable member, and blows hot air into the processing cylinder. Supply. The shape of the hot air blowing pipe 22 is not limited to this, and other shapes such as one that blows hot air from the tip of the cylinder and one in which a part of the cylinder is made of a breathable member may be used. The hot air supplied to the hot air blowing pipe 22 is generated by the hot air generator 21. The supplied hot air passes through the hot air supply pipe 23, is connected to the hot air blowing pipe 22, and is discharged to the processing cylinder 1 through the breathable member of the hot air blowing pipe 22. The hot air supply pipe 22 is fixed to the processing cylinder by the fastener 26 and rotates with the rotation of the processing cylinder. A thermometer (not shown) is provided in the middle of the hot air supply pipe 23 to monitor the supply hot air temperature and control the set hot air temperature. The hot air generator 21 can generate hot air at 150 ° C. to 400 ° C., can supply air at an air volume of about 15 to 24 cubic meters / minute, and can adjust both the hot air temperature and the air volume. The adjustment of hot air temperature and air volume is changed according to the properties of the tea leaves, the moisture content of the tea leaves at the time of injection, the weight reduction of the tea leaves, and the degree of treatment.

A plurality of crosspieces 6 having a substantially linear shape in the longitudinal direction are attached to the inner surface of the processing cylinder 1, and the tea leaves 20 diffuse in the processing cylinder 1 and move toward the outlet 4. The processing cylinder 1 in the embodiment is made of SUS having a diameter of about 1000 mm, a total length of about 5000 mm, and a material of about 1.5 mm. The rotation speed of the processing cylinder 1 can be adjusted steplessly at a maximum of about 30 rpm, and the degree of drying of tea leaves (time in the cylinder) can be controlled.

The outside of the processing cylinder 1 is covered with a cover 13, and the outlet 4 is provided with a discharge port cover 14 to retain heat and prevent free dissipation of hot air.

There is an outlet cover 14 on the outside of the outlet 4 at the other end of the processing cylinder 1, a chute 15 for taking out the tea leaves 20, a rotary valve 17, and an exhaust fan 16 are provided on the upper part of the outlet cover 14 to make the tea leaves substantially sealed. By taking out the tea leaves while rotating the rotary valve and adjusting the exhaust fan, the state of the hot air supplied in the processing cylinder can be adjusted. Instead of an exhaust fan, an exhaust damper that can be opened and closed in stages may be used.

The tea leaves thrown in from the charging port 2 are diffused by the rotation of the processing cylinder 1 and the crosspiece 6, and the tea leaves are heated by the supplied hot air and the water evaporates due to the heating, so that the treatment accompanied by drying is performed. The temperature of the supplied hot air decreases due to heat exchange with the tea leaves, and the humidity of the hot air rises due to the evaporated moisture of the tea leaves. If you want to proceed with the drying of tea leaves, it is necessary to promptly discharge the hot air after treatment and supply hot air with low humidity. However, if this is excessive, the tea leaves will be dried too much, resulting in overdrying and, in some cases, charring, which will deteriorate the quality of the treated tea leaves. On the other hand, if you want to emphasize the heating of tea leaves, you can proceed with the heating of tea leaves while suppressing the amount of evaporation of tea leaf moisture by increasing the hot air humidity inside the processing cylinder, that is, by reducing the exhaust amount. However, if the high-humidity exhaust is trapped inside the processing cylinder, the tea leaves will get stuffy and the quality will deteriorate, so care must be taken.

If there is no exhaust fan, rotary valve, or other substantially sealing device on the take-out side, that is, on the exhaust side, the exhaust will be discharged with the tea leaves almost open. It is difficult to keep the exhaust balance. The same applies even if only one of them is installed.

In the present invention, a rotary valve is provided for tea leaf discharge to prevent exhaust from the tea leaf discharge port, and an exhaust fan is adjusted to adjust the amount of exhaust hot air used for processing in the processing cylinder 1. The temperature and humidity of the hot air in the processing cylinder 1 can be controlled, and the degree of processing of tea leaves can be adjusted and maintained more stably than natural exhaust. That is, in the case of a process that emphasizes drying, by increasing the exhaust amount, the exhaust hot air that has become high humidity can be quickly discharged, and the tea leaves can be blown with the low humidity supply hot air, and the drying can proceed. When heating is emphasized, by reducing the rotation speed of the exhaust fan and suppressing the amount of exhaust gas, it is possible to maintain the hot air in the processing cylinder with high humidity, and it is possible to process tea leaves that are less likely to be overdried or burnt.

The apparatus of the present invention is a processing apparatus that involves drying tea leaves, but in general, there are cases where the tea leaves are treated after the steaming step or the fresh tea leaves are subjected to a blue-killing treatment and a drying treatment by omitting the steaming step. It is useful for both treatments, but when used as a treatment device after the steaming process, it is also effective as a treatment to compensate for blue-staining unevenness in the steaming process by using hot air in the processing cylinder with appropriate humidity. is there. Further, as a blue-killing device, a sufficient heating effect on fresh tea leaves can be obtained, and it can be used in a manufacturing method requiring a treatment different from the blue-killing process by a steaming process.

According to the present invention, since the state of the hot air in the processing cylinder can be adjusted, it has become possible to further advance the drying of tea leaves without causing charring or the like. With the conventional tea leaf hot air treatment device, the water content of the tea leaves taken out tends to be high, and when the tea leaves are directly put into the kneading treatment device, drip occurs, and the internal components of the tea leaves may flow out together with the drip. Therefore, in the conventional hot air treatment device, there is a case where a tea-making dryer that complements the drying after taking out is introduced. In the apparatus of the present invention, since the drying can be further promoted, the kneading treatment can be performed without causing drip even if the tea leaves are directly put into the kneading treatment apparatus after the treatment, and the tea leaf components do not flow out, and the taste of the tea leaves It is possible to produce tea leaves that do not impair.

In the sencha manufacturing process, there is a kneading process after the steaming process, and the drying is carried out with the physical kneading of the tea leaves. However, the apparatus of the present invention only diffuses the tea leaves and does not involve the physical kneading process. It can be dried to the appropriate moisture for operation. Therefore, tea astringency does not easily adhere to the tea making machine, which leads to a reduction in the burden of cleaning the machine and is expected to improve the yield.

Since the state of hot air in the processing cylinder can be adjusted by the apparatus of the present invention, for example, emphasis is placed on heating in the first half and drying in the next processing. It is possible to build a high-level processing line.

1 Processing cylinder 2 Input port 3 Input device 4 Outlet 5 Drive means 6 Rail 7 Hot air supply means 8 Conveyor 9 Conveyor 10 Worker 13 Cover 14 Outlet cover 15 Shoot 16 Exhaust fan 17 Rotary valve 18 Machine frame 19 Inspection port 20 Tea leaves 21 Hot air generator 22 Hot air blowout pipe 23 Hot air supply pipe 24 Hot air supply pipe 26 Fasteners

Claims (4)

A cylindrical processing cylinder with one end as a tea leaf inlet and the other end as a tea leaf discharge port, a driving means for rotating the processing cylinder, a crosspiece provided inside the processing cylinder, and hot air from one end of the processing cylinder. In the tea leaf hot air treatment device consisting of the hot air supply means for blowing in, the tea leaf discharge port is equipped with an exhaust port that can adjust the displacement and a tea leaf discharge valve at the upper part on the tea leaf discharge port side so that the processing cylinder can be substantially sealed. A tea leaf hot air treatment device characterized in that the hot air flow inside the treatment cylinder can be adjusted by adjusting the displacement. The tea leaf hot air treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the exhaust port is provided with an exhaust fan capable of adjusting the air volume, and the tea leaf discharge valve is provided with a rotary valve. A control means capable of freely changing the rotation speed of the processing cylinder, a control means capable of setting the hot air amount and the hot air temperature of the hot air supply means, and a control means capable of setting the air volume of the exhaust fan are provided, and the inside of the processing cylinder is provided. The tea leaf hot air processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the hot air airflow state is adjusted to a desired tea leaf processing state. The tea leaf hot air treatment apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the supply hot air temperature is 150 ° C. to 400 ° C.

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