JP2024089255A - Rice hulling and polishing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

【assignment】
The bran generated by hulling and polishing rice is prone to be contaminated with rice husks, reducing its value as a usable substance, but the object of the present invention is to reduce this.
SOLUTION
In a rice hulling and rice milling facility having a rice huller (5) and a rice milling machine (9) in a building (T), a rice hulling and rice milling operation in which unhulled rice is hulled with the rice huller (5) and then milled with the rice milling machine (9) can be selected, and a rice milling operation in which brown rice is milled with the rice milling machine (9) can be selected.
The apparatus is provided with a bran fan (12) for sucking in bran generated during rice hulling and polishing and conveying it by air, a first bran storage container (14) for storing the bran conveyed by the bran fan (12), a second bran storage container (15) for storing the bran generated during rice polishing, and a bran switching valve (11) for guiding conveyance to either the first bran storage container (14) or the second bran storage container (15).
[Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an unmanned rice milling facility that mills brown rice brought by users.

Patent Document 1 describes a fee-based rice husking and polishing facility that husks and polishes unhulled rice brought in by users, or polishes brown rice.

JP 5-245399

The bran produced during hulling and polishing of rice is prone to being contaminated with rice husks, reducing its value as a material.

The objective of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned shortcomings.

In order to solve such problems,
The invention described in claim 1 is
In a rice hulling and rice milling facility having a rice huller (5) and a rice milling machine (9) in a building (T), a rice hulling and rice milling operation in which unhulled rice is hulled with the rice huller (5) and then milled with the rice milling machine (9) can be selected, and a rice milling operation in which brown rice is milled with the rice milling machine (9) can be selected.
The rice hulling and polishing equipment is characterized by comprising a bran fan (12) for sucking in bran generated during rice hulling and polishing work and transporting it by air, a first bran storage container (14) for storing the bran transported by the bran fan (12), a second bran storage container (15) for storing bran generated during rice polishing work, and a bran switching valve (11) for guiding transport to either the first bran storage container (14) or the second bran storage container (15).

The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, when husking and polishing work is performed, the bran fan (12) is driven for a predetermined time after the husking and polishing work is completed.

This invention allows the bran generated during the hulling and polishing process and the bran generated during the brown rice polishing process to be stored separately, making it difficult for rice husks to become mixed into the bran generated during the brown rice polishing process, thereby reducing the decrease in the usability value of the bran generated during the brown rice polishing process.

Plan view of the inside of rice milling equipment Diagram of the passenger compartment from the front Work flow chart A diagram explaining part of the interior of the building as seen from the side Plan view of the inside of rice milling equipment A diagram explaining the inside of the bran packing device Control Block Diagram Work flow chart

The embodiment of the rice hulling and milling equipment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

The building T is divided by a partition wall 27 into a guest room 1 where users who bring bags containing unhulled rice or brown rice enter and exit, and a machine room 2 where each part of the device is located.

The machine room 2 is equipped with an input hopper 3 into which the user inputs unhulled rice or brown rice, a conveying screw 29 that conveys the unhulled rice or brown rice input by the input hopper 3, a first elevator 4 that lifts the unhulled rice or brown rice conveyed by the conveying screw 29, a rice/brown rice switching valve 11 that switches the destination of the unhulled rice or brown rice lifted by the first elevator 4, a rice huller 5 that hulls the unhulled rice, a stone remover 6 that selects and removes stones mixed in with the brown rice, a foreign object sorter 7 that removes straw mixed in with the brown rice, a second elevator 8 that lifts the brown rice that has passed through the stone remover 6 and the foreign object sorter 7, a rice polisher 9 that polishes the brown rice lifted by the second elevator 8, and a bran storage section 10 that stores the bran generated by the rice polisher 9.

The bran storage section 10 will be explained.

The rice milling machine 9 is provided with a bran fan 12 that sucks in and pressurizes the bran generated during the rice milling process, a bran switching valve 13 that switches the transport direction of the bran pressurized by the bran fan 12, a first bran storage container 14 for storing bran generated during the rice hulling and polishing process described below, and a second bran storage container 15 for storing bran generated during the brown rice polishing process described below. The rice milling machine 9 is provided with a bran fan guide tube 12a that guides the bran pressurized by the bran fan 12 to the bran switching valve 13, a first bran guide tube 14a that guides the bran air-transported to the first bran storage container 14, and a second bran guide tube 15a that guides the bran air-transported to the second bran storage container 15.

The first bran storage container 14 and the second bran storage container 15 are each equipped with a first cyclone 16 and a second cyclone 17 for separating the air-transported bran from the air.

The guest room 1 is equipped with a fee slot 18 through which the user inserts the fee, and an operation panel S, which is equipped with a degree of polishing selection switch 19 for selecting the degree of polishing, such as rough, standard, or superior white. There is also an opening and closing door 20 that slides up and down to open and close the input port of the input hopper 3. There is also a white rice tank 21 that stores the white rice that has been polished by the rice polishing machine 9.

The control unit C of the rice hulling and milling equipment is explained below.

The control unit C built into the operation panel S receives inputs of information on the degree of polishing selected by the polishing degree selection switch 19, information on whether the rice is unhulled or unpolished rice is determined by the unhulled rice discrimination sensor 22, and information on the amount of the fee inserted into the fee slot 18. Then, operation information for each part of the device, such as the rice huller and rice polisher, is output. The operation time, rice hulling and polishing work, and brown rice polishing work are performed corresponding to the fee inserted by the user.

Next, we will explain the hulling and polishing process when users bring their own rice.

When a user enters the guest room 1 and inserts a fee into the fee insertion slot 18, the door 20 rises, allowing rice grains to be inserted into the input hopper 3. When the user inserts rice grains into the input hopper 3 and selects the desired degree of polishing with the degree of polishing selection switch 19, the various parts of the equipment in the machine room 2 start up. The input hopper 3 is equipped with a rice/brown rice discrimination sensor 22 to determine whether the input grain is rice or brown rice. If it is determined to be rice grains, the rice grains are transported sequentially by the conveying spiral 29, and the rice grains lifted by the second elevator 84 are guided to the rice huller 5 via the rice huller side flow path 26 by switching the rice/brown rice switching valve 11, where the rice huller 5 removes the husks, turning most of the rice into brown rice. Specifically, the rice is hulled using an impeller-type rice huller 23, the rice husks are sucked and removed using a rice husk suction fan 25 in the winnowing device 24, and the rice husks are transported outside the building T by the rice husk suction fan 25, while the brown rice flows down to the stone remover 6.

The stone remover 6 separates and removes stones that are mixed in with the brown rice, and the foreign object sorter 7 separates and removes long objects such as straw that are mixed in with the brown rice, and the rice is then sent to the rice polisher 9 by the second elevator 8.

The polished rice produced by the rice polishing machine 9 is stored in the polished rice tank 21 and is removed by the user.

The bran generated during the rice polishing process in the rice polisher 9 is sucked in by the bran fan 12 and air-transported through the bran fan guide tube 12a. It is guided to the first bran guide tube 14a by the bran switching valve 13, passes through the first cyclone 16, and is stored in the first bran storage container 14.

When the operating time corresponding to the fee entered has elapsed, each part of the device will stop and the rice hulling and polishing operation will end.

Next, we will explain the brown rice milling process when users bring their own brown rice.

When a user enters the guest room 1 and inserts the fee into the fee slot 18, the door 20 rises, allowing brown rice to be inserted into the input hopper 3. When the user inserts brown rice into the input hopper 3 and selects the desired degree of polishing with the degree of polishing selection switch 19, the various parts of the device in the machine room 2 start up. The unhulled/brown rice discrimination sensor 22 installed in the input hopper 3 determines whether the input grain is unhulled or brown rice, and if it is determined to be brown rice, the brown rice is transported by the conveying spiral 29, and the unhulled rice lifted by the second elevator 84 is guided to the stone removal machine side flow path 27 by switching the unhulled/brown rice switching valve 11.

The stone remover 6 separates and removes stones that are mixed in with the brown rice, and the foreign object sorter 7 separates and removes long objects such as straw that are mixed in with the brown rice, and the rice is then sent to the rice polisher 9 by the second elevator 8.

The polished rice produced by the rice polishing machine 9 is stored in the polished rice tank 21 and is removed by the user.

The bran generated during the rice polishing process in the rice polisher 9 is sucked in by the bran fan 12 and transported by air. It is guided to the second bran guide tube 15a by the bran switching valve 13, passes through the second cyclone 17, and is stored in the second bran storage container 15.

When the operating time corresponding to the amount entered has elapsed, each part of the device will stop and the brown rice milling operation will end.

In the rice hulling and polishing process, some of the rice grains are not hulled by the rice huller 5 and are sent to the rice polisher 9, where the rice husks are removed and the rice is polished, so a small amount of rice husk may be mixed in with the bran that is generated. If rice husks are mixed in with the bran, the value of the bran decreases, but with this embodiment, the bran generated in the rice hulling and polishing process and the bran generated in the rice polishing process are stored separately, so the decrease in value of the bran generated in the brown rice polishing process can be reduced.

When the rice hulling and polishing work has been performed, the rice husk cleaning mode may be performed after the rice hulling and polishing work is completed, in which the bran fan 12 is driven for a predetermined time to transport small amounts of rice husks that may remain in the rice polisher 9 or the bran fan guide tube 12a to the first bran storage container 14. This makes it difficult for the rice husks to mix with the bran the next time brown rice polishing work is performed.

In addition, since brown rice is generally polished more frequently than rice hulling and polishing, by locating the second bran storage container 15 closer to the machine room door 28 of the building T than the first bran storage container 14, it becomes easier for the manager of the rice polishing equipment to collect the second bran storage container 15.

The first bran storage container 14 and the second bran storage container 15 are each equipped with a load cell (not shown), and when a specified weight is reached, the control unit C can communicate with the smartphone of the manager of the rice hulling and polishing equipment to request replacement of the first bran storage container 14 or the second bran storage container 15.

Next, we will explain the case where the rice mill is equipped with a bran packing device 30 that provides the bran generated during the polishing process of brown rice to the user instead of storing it in the first bran storage container 14.

The bran packing device 30 supplies bran to a plastic pack and packs it, and is a well-known technology described, for example, in JP 2019-130453 A.

The difference between Figure 1 and Figure 5 is that the bran is transported from the bran switching valve 13 to the first cyclone 16 side via the first bran guide tube 14a and to the cyclone side 31 for the bran packing device via the bran guide tube 30a for the bran packing device.

A bran transport spiral 32 is provided below the cyclone 31 for the bran packing device, and a bran packing device 30 is provided below the transport end of the bran transport spiral 32.

The bran removed from the rice polisher 9 is supplied to the bran packing device 30, which packs it into a predetermined amount using a film sheet F. The packed bran packs P are received on the upper surface of the inclined bran pack chute 33 and slide down into the passenger compartment 1.

At this time, the bran packs P that are dropped one after another between the rice polishing machine 9 in the machine room 2 and the side wall of the building slide down the inclined surface of the bran pack chute 33 and flow down from the bran pack discharge outlet 34 in the partition wall 27 to the guest room 1 side. The rice polishing user can take out the bran packs P that have flowed down and take them home.

The film roll F for obtaining the bran packs P is loaded in advance inside the film roll storage chamber 35 when the rice polishing machine is used to polish the rice. When the film roll F runs low through use or needs to be replaced or replenished, a new film roll F can be loaded into a designated location in the film roll storage chamber 35 to maintain the bran packs P in a state where they can be formed.

The bran conveying screw 32 is configured to be able to rotate forward and backward, so that it can be switched between supplying the bran generated during the brown rice polishing process to the bran packing device 30 or to the second bran storage container 15.

When a user selects the bran pack selection switch (not shown) and the rice milling operation is brown rice milling (when the unhulled/brown rice discrimination sensor 22 discriminates brown rice), the bran generated during the brown rice milling operation is used to create a bran pack P in the bran packing device and provided to the user. At this time, if the previous user performed hulling and milling, the bran generated a predetermined time after the start of the brown rice milling operation is transported to the second bran storage container 15, and the bran that has passed the predetermined time is packed, thereby reducing the risk of rice husks being mixed into the bran pack P. Note that if the unhulled/brown rice discrimination sensor 22 discriminates rice, the bran pack selection switch is disabled even if it is selected. This makes it possible to prevent rice husks from being mixed into the bran packing device.

Next, we will explain the fees for rice hulling and milling equipment.

When the bran pack selection switch (not shown) is selected, the operation time for the brown rice milling operation corresponding to the fee may be extended compared to when the switch is not selected. This is based on the advantage that the frequency of the manager's collection of the second bran storage container 15 can be reduced by having the user take the bran home. If the system is configured to allow payment by the user's smartphone, when the bran pack selection switch is selected, additional complimentary points equivalent to the operation time of the rice milling operation may be given.

In addition, when rough pounding is selected with the degree of polishing selection switch 19, the operating time corresponding to the input fee may be extended as compared to when standard or fine white are selected. This is based on the advantage that rough pounding, which produces less bran, reduces the frequency with which the manager must collect the bran.

A weighing scale may be provided in the input hopper 3, and when rice is input into the input hopper 3 and the degree of polishing selection switch is operated, the weight is detected, and the necessary fee may be paid in advance in one lump sum via smartphone. In this case, if one lump sum payment is made via smartphone, and the operation time corresponding to the settled fee is not reached for the paddy/brown rice to be polished, points may be awarded and can be used for the next polishing operation.

A rain gauge (not shown) may be installed in the building, and when the rain gauge detects rain, a service may be provided in which the operating time corresponding to the input fee is extended. This increases usage on rainy days during the off-season and decreases usage on sunny days during the busy season, dispersing the usage of the same rice hulling and milling equipment among users.

T Building 5 Rice huller 9 Rice polisher 10 Bran storage section 11 Bran switching valve 12 Bran fan 14 First bran storage container 15 Second bran storage container 19 Polishing degree selection switch 30 Bran packing device

Claims (2)

In a rice hulling and rice milling facility having a rice huller (5) and a rice milling machine (9) in a building (T), a rice hulling and rice milling operation in which unhulled rice is hulled with the rice huller (5) and then milled with the rice milling machine (9) can be selected, and a rice milling operation in which brown rice is milled with the rice milling machine (9) can be selected.
The rice hulling and polishing equipment is characterized by comprising a bran fan (12) that sucks in bran generated during the rice hulling and polishing process and transports it by air, a first bran storage container (14) that stores the bran transported by the bran fan (12), a second bran storage container (15) that stores the bran generated during the rice polishing process, and a bran switching valve (11) that guides transport to either the first bran storage container (14) or the second bran storage container (15). The rice hulling and polishing equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that, when the rice hulling and polishing work is performed, the bran fan (12) is driven for a predetermined time after the rice hulling and polishing work is completed.