JP2995143B2 - Retort sterilizer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a retort sterilizer for heating and sterilizing objects to be sterilized such as pouch foods and canned foods, and more particularly to a retort sterilizer capable of equalizing the ambient temperature inside a retort pot. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, pouch foods and canned foods are sterilized for a certain period of time using a heating medium such as steam or hot water. A kettle, a tray for placing the object to be sterilized, which is introduced into the retort kettle in a state of being multi-tiered and has several slits on the bottom surface, and heated from below the tray toward the slits 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a retort sterilizing apparatus including a pipe including an injection nozzle for injecting a medium.

[0003]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional retort sterilizer, the heating medium blown up toward the slit of the tray passes through the slit and then collides with the upper surface of the retort pot to be dispersed. As a result, the atmosphere in the retort pot becomes turbulent, and as a result, the internal temperature becomes non-uniform, making it impossible to perform a uniform treatment on the material to be sterilized.

[0004] In particular, the heating medium does not sufficiently spread below the inside of the retort pot, and the temperature difference between the upper and lower parts becomes extremely large, so that the degree of treatment differs greatly between the upper and lower parts to be sterilized.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a retort pot for accommodating an object to be sterilized. A retort sterilizing apparatus comprising: a tray for disposing the object to be sterilized provided with a slit of a strip; and a tube including an injection nozzle for injecting hot water from below the tray toward the slit. The slits are formed by side plates having a U-shape facing each other, and a curved shape for turning hot water that has escaped from the slits to a position below the retort kettle is provided above the inside of the retort kettle. The present invention provides a retort sterilizer characterized in that a deflector having a guide plate is fixedly provided.

[0006]

According to the retort sterilizing apparatus of the present invention, when a heating medium (hot water) is jetted from below toward the slit of the tray, the heating medium passes through the multi-layered tray, It comes out of the slit of the uppermost tray and collides with the inner curved surface of the guide plate. Thereafter, the heating medium is turned along the guide plate, and flows downward of the retort pot. The airflow thus generated circulates the atmosphere in the retort pot, and the temperature of the atmosphere is made uniform.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows a schematic front view of a retort sterilizer according to the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 10 denotes a retort pot, and the retort pot 10 is formed of a cylindrical can body using a stainless steel plate having excellent strength and corrosion resistance as a coating material for the inner and outer walls, one end of which is sealed and the other end is illustrated. It can be opened and closed freely by a pressure lid (not shown).

On the other hand, reference numeral 20 denotes a tray.
0 is introduced into the retort pot 10 in a state of being stacked on the carriage D in a multi-stage manner. The retort pot 1
Rails E, E are laid below the inside of the housing 0 so that the truck D can be introduced into the retort pot 10 along the rails E, E.

Each tray 20 has a slit 28,.
Are provided, and each slit 28,
... are connected in series. A predetermined number of objects to be sterilized, particularly pouch foods, are arranged on each tray 20, and are subjected to a sterilization treatment in the retort pot 10.

In the drawing, reference numerals 30 and 40 denote pipes for injecting a heating medium used for sterilization of an object to be sterilized. These pipes 30 and 40 are, as shown in FIG. The tray 20 is laid in parallel below the slits 28, 28.

A pipe via a valve V2, a pump P2 and a valve V3 is connected to the pipes 30, 30.
By opening the valves V2 and V3 and operating the pump P2, the hot water stored at the bottom of the retort pot 10 is supplied from the injection nozzle provided in the pipe 30 to the slit 28,
28.

Further, pipes are connected to the pipes 40, 40 via a valve V5. When the valve V5 is opened, steam from the boiler causes a slit 28 from an injection nozzle mounted on the pipe 40 to pass therethrough. , 28 are injected.

The hot water as the heating medium is supplied to the pump P1
After the water is supplied to the retort pot 10 via the valve V1 and the water to such an extent that the substance to be sterilized is not flooded, the water is supplied to the valve V1.
2. It is obtained by circulating in the path of the pump P2 and the valve V4 and simultaneously introducing steam into the retort pot 10 to preheat the water. The heating pipe 50 is for preheating the water, and is laid below the inside of the retort pot 10, particularly at a position below the supplied water surface.

The heating pipe 50 is a perforated pipe formed by opening a large number of discharge ports in a steel pipe, which is connected to and communicated with a boiler or the like by piping via a valve V6.
By opening 6, the steam is spouted from the discharge port.

Here, reference numeral 60 denotes a deflector fixed above the inside of the retort pot 10. This deflector 60
The guide plates 61 have a curved shape, and the guide plates 61 are disposed in such a manner that a heating medium coming out of the slits 28 hits an inner curved surface of the guide plates 61.

FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross section of the deflector 60. As clearly shown in this figure, the deflector 60
Is composed of guide plates 61 and 61 having an inverted U-shaped cross section and a holding plate 62 having a concave cross section. The guide plates 61 are fixed to both ends of the holding plate 62 using bolts, and the holding plate 62 is fixed above the inside of the retort pot 10 using projecting pieces 63 bent at right angles.

It is preferable that the curvature of the guide plates 61 is equal to or smaller than the curvature of the inner wall surface of the retort pot. The width of the holding plate 62 is optimally set so that the heating medium hits the base end portions of the inner curved surfaces 61a of the guide plates 61, 61. Curved surface 61
a, 61a, and is turned more smoothly along the guide plates 61, 61 at an acute angle.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the tube 30. As shown in FIG. In the drawing, 31, ... are the above-mentioned injection nozzles, which are fixed on the upper surface of the tube 30 and are arranged at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the tube 30. I have. Since the tube 40 has the same configuration, a detailed diagram is omitted.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the tray 20.
FIG. 5 shows a cross section taken along line XX in FIG. As is clear from FIG. 4, the tray 20 has a rectangular bottom surface 22,
A stand 2 for supporting an upper tray at the time of stacking is provided at each corner thereof.
6, ... are fixed. Many small holes 2 on the bottom surface 22
9 are opened, and four slits 28 are provided so as to divide the bottom surface 22 into three.

Also, as is apparent from FIG.
8,... Are formed by folding a part of the bottom surface 22 upward, so that the opposing side plates 28a, 28a have a C shape. Therefore, the speed of the heating medium passing through the slit 28 is increased, and the vicinity thereof is in a reduced pressure state. Will be heated.

As is apparent from FIG. 6, the object to be sterilized r,.
Are arranged between the slits 28 of the tray 20 one by one. Further, as is apparent from this figure, small holes 29 are also opened in the peripheral wall 24 of the tray 20 so that the objects to be sterilized r disposed on the tray 20 are heated. The atmosphere is well-distributed.

By the way, in the retort sterilizing apparatus configured as described above, the sterilizing process of the object to be sterilized is performed as follows (see FIG. 1).

First, the valve V1 is opened and the pump P1 is operated to supply water from a water storage tank or the like to the bottom of the retort pot 10 to the extent that the substance to be sterilized does not flood. The upper limit of the water level at this time is a position immediately before the injection nozzles provided in the pipes 30 and 40 are submerged. And then the valve V
2. Open V4 and operate pump P2 to circulate the supplied water. At the same time, the valve V6 is opened to inject steam from the submerged heating tube 40 to preheat the water.

Thus, when the water becomes hot water of about 80 ° C., the valve V4 is closed, the valve V3 is opened to send hot water as a heating medium to the pipe 30, and the valve V5 is opened. Steam as a heating medium is sent to the tube 40, and hot water and steam are jetted from both jet nozzles toward the slit.

Then, the hot water jetted from the pipe 30 and the steam jetted from the pipe 40 are mixed at the time of jetting, and jetted toward the slit 28. Thereafter, the hot water and steam as the heating medium pass through the slit 28 and are thus turned by the deflector 60.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, as another embodiment, an in-line heater is provided in a pipe (path passing through the valve V2, the pump P2, and the valve V3) connected to the pipe 30 for hot water injection. There is also a method of injecting steam through a nozzle and injecting a mixture of hot water and steam from an injection nozzle of the tube 30.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, a retort pot for accommodating an object to be sterilized is introduced into the retort pot in a state of being stacked in a multi-stage manner, and a number of A retort sterilizing apparatus comprising: a tray for disposing an object to be sterilized provided with strip slits; and a tube including an injection nozzle for injecting a heating medium (hot water) from below the tray toward the slits. The slits are formed by side plates having a U-shape facing each other, and a heating medium (hot water) that has escaped from the slits is turned above the inside of the retort pot to turn it downward under the retort pot. Since the deflector having the curved guide plate is fixed, the heating medium (hot water) injected from below the object to be sterilized is smoothly turned along the guide plate of the deflector, and the inside of the retort pot is Good atmosphere So that is circulated to. As a result, there is an excellent effect that the atmosphere temperature in the retort pot is made uniform, and the treatment of the object to be sterilized is uniformly performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a retort sterilizer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a deflector provided in the retort sterilizer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a part of a tube provided in the retort sterilizer.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a tray provided in the retort sterilizer.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 r Object to be sterilized 10 Retort pot 20 Tray 22 Bottom surface 28 Slit 30, 40 Tube 31 Injection nozzle 50 Heating tube 60 Deflector 61 Guide plate 61a Inside curved surface

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A23L 3/00-3/3598 A47J 27/00-27/18 A47J 27/20-29/06 A47J 33/00-36 / 42

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A retort pot for accommodating an object to be sterilized, and an arrangement for disposing the object to be sterilized which is introduced into the retort pot in a multi-layered state and has several slits on a bottom surface. A retort sterilizer comprising a tray and a tube including an injection nozzle for injecting hot water from below the tray toward the slit, wherein the slits are opposed to each other and have a C-shape. A deflector having a curved guide plate for turning hot water, which has escaped from the slit, down to the lower part of the retort pot is fixedly provided above the inside of the retort pot while being formed by the side plate. Characterized retort sterilizer.