JP3034864B1 - Surface irradiation method and apparatus for granular material - Google Patents

Abstract

Kind Code: A1 Abstract: The entire surface of a large amount of granular material is continuously irradiated. SOLUTION: The granular material is dropped along a smooth inclined surface 12 developed in a lateral direction, and after a rotation is added to the granular material by a rotation applying unit 16 having an uneven surface 18 provided near the end of the inclined surface, the granular material is rotated. It is introduced into a vertical drop section 26 having an irradiation window elongated in the direction, and the vertical drop section irradiates an electron beam, ultraviolet light, or X-ray in the horizontal direction from the irradiation window.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for irradiating a granular material such as wheat, buckwheat, and other cereals with a surface. Accordingly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for continuously irradiating a large amount of cereals over the entire surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The transmission ability of electron beams, ultraviolet rays and X-rays is reduced by adjusting the intensity thereof, so that a modification treatment or a sterilization treatment limited to a surface without deterioration of the central portion can be performed.
However, when applied to granular materials, the entire surface of the particles must be directed to the electron beam generation side.

Conventionally, as irradiation for the purpose of surface modification (polymerization), irradiation of an electron beam or ultraviolet rays on a sheet-like plastic or a film-like plastic has been performed. However, the following methods and apparatuses have been tried for granular materials, but it is difficult to irradiate the entire surface of each particle, and the throughput and the processing speed are small. Processing has not been completed. (1) A method and an apparatus in which a granular material is sandwiched between sheets, irradiated with an electron beam or ultraviolet light, then inverted and re-irradiated to irradiate the entire surface. (2) As described in JP-A-8-52201, Powder (granular material) on air slide conveyor
And apparatus for irradiating an electron beam by developing a thin film, (3)
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-308508, a method and an apparatus for spraying feed material (granules) on a flat surface such as an air slide conveyor or a vibrating transporter that performs fine vibration and irradiating with an electron beam. ,

[0004]

The method of the above (1) is as follows.
There is a problem that the packing operation for sandwiching the granular material between the sheets requires labor and the sheets are required as a consumable material, so that commercialization cannot be performed. In addition, the method of the above (2) has a problem that a surface that is not irradiated is generated because rotation is not added to the granular material. Also,
The method (3) has a problem that an air slide conveyor or a vibration transporter, particularly a vibration transporter, has a low moving speed, and when a large amount of granular material is processed, a processing layer becomes thick and a portion not irradiated is formed. I have.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and an object of the present invention is to make a flow uniformly by dropping a granular material on a smooth slope so as to have the same width as an electron beam irradiation region which is elongated in a lateral direction. A method and an apparatus for irradiating a surface of a granular material capable of continuously irradiating a large amount of the granular material over the entire surface by providing a surface having irregularities such as a wire net near the end of the slope and providing rotation to the granular material. To provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a method for irradiating a surface of a granular material according to the present invention is to spread the granular material into a laminar flow along a smooth inclined surface developed in a lateral direction. After dropping and adding rotation to the granular material by a rotation applying portion having an uneven surface provided near the end of the slope, the granular material is introduced into a vertical falling portion having a horizontally elongated irradiation window, and rotated at this vertical falling portion. It is configured to irradiate any one of an electron beam, an ultraviolet ray, and an X-ray from a radiation window horizontally to the falling granular material (see FIGS. 1 to 4).

[0007] In the above method, it is preferable to restrict the width of the flow path immediately before the rotation applying section to suppress the jumping-up of the particulate matter, and then to introduce the particulate matter into the rotation applying section (see Figs. 1 to 3). In addition, by sucking air from the vertical drop section or supplying air to the vertical drop section, the granular material falling speed and granular material
It is preferable to adjust at least one of the rotation speeds (see FIGS. 1 to 3). Further, Ri mower when vibrating the smooth slope, the breadth and declines in this case, the lateral direction of the granulate
Uniformly lower, and Ru can be performed at high speed (see Fig. 5).

[0008] The surface irradiation apparatus for a granular material according to the present invention comprises: a developing section having a laterally developed smooth slope for spreading the input granular material in the lateral direction to fall into a laminar flow; Rotation to the granular material provided near the end of the
A rotating addition unit having an uneven surface for projection and a vertically falling irradiation window having a horizontally elongated irradiation window connected to the rotation adding unit. The irradiation window includes any one of an electron beam accelerator, an ultraviolet lamp, and an X-ray irradiator. And an irradiating unit having the above arrangement (see FIGS. 1 to 4).

In this device, immediately before the rotation applying section,
It is preferable to provide a configuration in which a flow straightening unit is provided to reduce the width of the flow passage of the rotation applying unit and suppress the jumping of the granular material (see FIGS. 1 to 3). Also, the falling speed of granular material in the vertical drop section
And at least one of the particle rotation speed can be adjusted.
As described above, it is preferable to provide a configuration provided with an air duct connected to the lower part of the vertical drop portion for sucking air or supplying air (see FIGS. 1 to 3). In some cases, the air duct is installed at an opening near the lower end of the deployed portion in FIGS. As the uneven surface of the rotation applying portion, a structure in which lattice-like or horizontal stripe-like unevenness is provided on the bottom surface near the end of the slope, a wire mesh, a wire, or the like is used (see FIGS. 1 and 3). In addition, by vibrating the smooth slope, the granular
To spread and drop uniformly and at high speed,
In some cases, a vibrator is connected to a deployment section having a smooth slope (see FIG. 5).

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments and can be implemented with appropriate modifications. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a particle surface irradiation apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, particularly an irradiation apparatus using an electron beam. FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a main part (handling section) of the apparatus. FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional explanatory view around the irradiation unit, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the irradiation device is incorporated. In order to reduce the penetration depth of electron beams, ultraviolet rays, or X-rays and to perform surface irradiation treatment of the granular material, it is necessary to eliminate the overlap between the granular materials and make one or more rotations in the irradiation area. In addition, the shape of the irradiating portion is a slit shape elongated in the horizontal direction from the general shape of the device serving as the radiation source. Therefore, in order to increase the processing speed, it is necessary to spread the granular material thinly and pass it at a high flow rate. This problem has been solved by providing the following structure.

Reference numeral 10 denotes a flat duct-like developing section, which is a flat duct-like developing section which spreads the supplied granular material uniformly in the same width as the electron beam irradiation area and drops it. Have. The angle of inclination of this smooth slope is 20-8.
It is 0 degrees, for example, 30 degrees. Wheat 1 as an example of a granular material
In the case of processing at 5 t / hr, the supply line is divided into two lines in advance, and then, for example, the shape is such that it falls on a smooth surface having an inclination angle of about 30 degrees and a width of about 100 cm from a lower end to about 55 cm from the lower end. . Reference numeral 14 denotes a granular material inlet to which a supply line is connected. Reference numeral 16 denotes a rotation applying portion, which has an uneven surface 18 provided near the end of the smooth slope 12. The rotation applying section 16 has a structure in which lattice-like or horizontal stripe-like irregularities are provided on a flat plate having an inclination angle of 30 to 80 degrees, for example, 60 degrees, or irregularities on the bottom surface are formed by a wire net or a wire. The point is that any projections may be provided to form the uneven surface.

Immediately before (upper side) the rotation applying section 16, a rectifying section 20 capable of reducing the width of the flow path (1.2 to 3 times the length of the particles to be treated) and suppressing the particles from jumping up is provided. Is preferred. Reference numeral 22 denotes an irradiation unit, which is a horizontally elongated irradiation window (slit) 24 connected to the rotation applying unit 16.
The irradiation window 24 of the vertical drop portion 26 having the structure (see FIG. 2)
An electron beam accelerator 28 is arranged in the configuration. The flow path width of the vertical falling section 26 is set to be equal to or less than the effective irradiation distance of the electron beam, and the irradiation window 24 is provided in a range of 0 to 30 cm from the end of the rotation applying section 16. The irradiation window 24 has a shape that matches the electron beam emitting portion (irradiation region).

An air duct 30 for sucking air is preferably connected to a lower portion of the vertical drop section 26. Although not shown, a blower is connected to the air duct 30. The air duct 30 for sucking air is used.
Alternatively, it is also possible to connect an air duct for supplying air. When sucking air, for example, the air is sucked from an opening 32 provided near the lower end of the developing unit 10. In addition, the opening for air intake is the vertical drop part 2
6 may be provided at any position on the upstream side. The amount of air suction is determined by the required irradiation time. In addition, an air duct may be installed in the opening 32 in some cases. The irradiated granular material is separated from the air flow at the connection between the vertical drop section and the air duct, and is discharged through the collection duct 34. In addition,
The air duct 30 may be connected to the collection duct 34. A transfer pipe (not shown) to a subsequent process is connected to the collection duct 34. 36 is a granular material outlet. FIG. 3 shows a case where a wire mesh is used as the uneven surface 18. By appropriately combining the above components and appropriately adjusting the conditions and operating conditions of each component, a large amount of granular material is continuously irradiated with an electron beam over the entire surface. FIG.
Is a support plate.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a granular surface irradiation apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment,
The vibrator 38 is connected to the developing unit 10 having the smooth slope 12 so that the input granular material can be spread and dropped in the lateral direction more uniformly and at a higher speed. Other configurations and operations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

[0015]

EXAMPLES Examples and comparative examples are shown below to further clarify the features of the present invention. Example 1 A test was performed using the apparatus of the present invention shown in FIG. 6 as a test apparatus. The main components are as follows. (1) Hopper 40: A structure in which 40 kg of wheat is stored and a fixed amount of 0.1 to 5 t / hr is supplied using a valve 42 with a throttle. The supply time is 0.5 to 3 minutes. (2) Development unit 10: A structure having a duct-like smooth slope 12 with a width of about 50 cm and a length of about 70 cm to spread the flow of wheat in the horizontal direction. 20: a structure in which the slit width is reduced to 10 mm; (4) a rotation applying portion 16: provided at the lower end of the rectifying portion 20 near the end surface of the smooth inclined surface 12, provided with a wire mesh on the lower surface to form an uneven surface 18, (5) Irradiation unit 22: Electron beam of width 5 is applied to vertical drop unit 26.
(6) Collection duct 34: for collecting irradiated wheat, (7) Cyclone 44: Collecting fine dust (dust) from air sucked for acceleration of wheat (8) blower 46, collecting tank 48, dust receiving tank 50, control panel 52,

Using the test apparatus constructed as described above, wheat was irradiated at 5 t / hr with an electron beam accelerator (electron beam irradiation device) having an irradiation width of 50 cm and a height of 8 cm. The center of the wheat supply unit is located 53 cm from the end of the developing unit 10, the slit width of the rectifying unit 20 is 10 mm (smallest part), the width of the vertical drop unit is 20 mm, and the width of the irradiation window ( Height) (slit width (height)) is 80mm,
It was the same as the electron beam irradiation width of the irradiation device. The wire mesh width was 100 mm, and the wire mesh was 1 mm. The air suction speed was 20 m / sec.

As a result of the test, as shown in Table 1, the irradiation unit 2
The falling speed of wheat at 3.3 m / sec and the number of rotations of wheat 6
500 rpm and an overlap rate of 0.14. As a result, it rotated on average 2.6 times when passing through the irradiation section, and almost no overlap was made.

[0018]

[Table 1]

When the average rotation number in the irradiation area is less than 1.0 to 2.0, particles having less than 1.0 rotation are also included, and those that cannot be irradiated entirely are included. 0.0 or more, and the entire surface of all particles can be irradiated. If there is an overlap, the electron beam is blocked, and the portion not irradiated increases. However, during the movement in the irradiation area, the particles slightly eliminate overlap due to rotation or displacement of the movement direction, etc., so that the lower the overlap ratio, the more the entire surface can be irradiated, and the case where the overlap ratio is 0.2 or less. Can completely irradiate the entire surface. The overlap ratio is a measured value of the overlap of the granular materials at a certain point in time, that is, a value indicating the ratio of the number of the granular materials overlapping at least partially in the image of the illuminated unit 22.

Example 2 In Example 1, wheat was dropped naturally without suctioning air. Table 1 shows the results. The overlap ratio is 0.38, which is smaller than the overlap ratio of 0.54 in Comparative Example 1 described later, and it can be seen that the irradiation effect is improved.

Example 3 In Example 1, wheat was allowed to fall naturally without a rectifying section and without air suction. Table 1 shows the results. The overlap ratio is 0.48, which is smaller than the overlap ratio of 0.54 in Comparative Example 1 described later, and it can be seen that the irradiation effect is improved.

Comparative Example 1 Wheat was allowed to fall naturally in Example 1 without the provision of a wire netting and a rectifying section and without air suction. Table 1 shows the results
Shown in The overlap rate was 0.54.

[0023]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. (1) By making the flow of the granular material into a thin laminar flow of about one particle by using a smooth slope, it is possible to reliably irradiate each particle with an electron beam, and furthermore, to have an uneven portion having a projection on the flow channel surface. Is added to provide rotation, and by rotating once or more, preferably a plurality of times within the irradiation range,
The entire surface can be irradiated with an electron beam, the amount of treatment and the processing speed can be increased, and a large amount of granular material can be continuously irradiated with the entire surface with the electron beam. (2) The irradiation window (slit), which extends the irradiation unit in the horizontal direction
The electron beam irradiation device can be easily incorporated by adopting the structure of the vertical falling portion having the following. (3) When sucking the air in the vertically falling portion in the direction of falling of the granular material or in the opposite direction, the falling speed of the granular material within the irradiation range, or the falling speed of the granular material and the rotating speed of the granular material can be adjusted. (4) In the case where the rectifying section is provided, it is possible to prevent the particulate matter from jumping up, and to efficiently rotate the particulate matter in the downstream rotation addition section. (5) When the developing unit is vibrated, the input granular material can be spread and dropped in the lateral direction more uniformly and at a high speed. (6) When grains such as wheat and buckwheat are used as the granular material, the processing amount and the processing speed are large, the grains can be easily directly incorporated into a milling line, and an electron beam irradiation apparatus for grain on a commercial scale (cereal sterilizer) ) Can be configured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a granular material surface irradiation apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory longitudinal sectional view around an irradiation unit in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state where an irradiation device is incorporated in the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram of a granular material surface irradiation apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of an apparatus of the present invention used as a test apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Unfolding part 12 Smooth slope 14 Granular material entrance 16 Rotation addition part 18 Uneven surface 20 Rectification part 22 Irradiation part 24 Irradiation window 26 Vertical falling part 28 Electron beam accelerator, ultraviolet lamp or X-ray irradiator 30 Air duct 32 Opening 34 Recovery Duct 36 Granular material outlet 37 Support plate 38 Vibrator 40 Hopper 42 Valve with throttle 44 Cyclone 46 Blower 48 Receiving tank 50 Dust receiving tank 52 Control panel

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiromasa Satake 118 Notsuka, Noda-shi, Chiba Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. Noda Plant (56) References JP-A-10-268100 (JP, A) JP-A-1-8969 ( JP, A) JP-A-62-47361 (JP, A) JP-A-1-192362 (JP, A) JP-A-8-317964 (JP, A) JP-A-10-228 (JP, A) 57-3374 (JP, B2) Table 7-506744 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61L 2/08-2/12 A23B 9/00 B65G 53 / 24 B65G 47/00-47/20

Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A granular material is spread in a thin laminar flow on a smooth inclined surface developed in the lateral direction and dropped, and rotation is added to the granular material by a rotation applying portion having an uneven surface provided near the end of the slope. After that, it is introduced into the vertical drop section with the irradiation window elongated in the horizontal direction, and the granular material that rotates and falls in this vertical drop section
Surface irradiation method of the particle, which comprises irradiating either the horizontal direction of the electron beam, ultraviolet ray and X-ray from the irradiation window. 2. The method for irradiating the surface of a granular material according to claim 1, wherein the flow passage immediately before the rotation applying portion is narrowed to suppress the rise of the granular material, and then introduced into the rotation applying portion. 3. The granular material falling speed by sucking air from the vertical drop portion or supplying air to the vertical drop portion.
The method for irradiating the surface of a granular material according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein at least one of the rotational speed of the granular material and the rotational speed of the granular material are adjusted. 4. A method for vibrating a smooth slope to move a granular material in a lateral direction.
4. The method for irradiating the surface of a granular material according to claim 1 , wherein the spread and fall to the surface are performed uniformly at a high speed . 5. A thin layer formed by spreading the input granular material in the lateral direction.
Rotation is applied to a developing part having a smooth slope that is developed in the horizontal direction for dropping as a flow, and a granular material provided near the end of the smooth slope .
A rotation applying portion having an uneven surface for projection, and a vertically falling irradiation window connected to the rotation adding portion, the irradiation window of an electron beam accelerator, an ultraviolet lamp, and an X-ray irradiator. An irradiation unit having any one of them, and a surface irradiation apparatus for a granular material, comprising: 6. The apparatus for irradiating a surface of a granular material according to claim 5, further comprising a rectifying section provided immediately before the rotation applying section to narrow the flow path width of the rotation applying section to suppress the jumping of the granular substance. 7. The falling speed and granularity of a granular material at a vertical falling portion.
7. The apparatus for irradiating a surface of a granular material according to claim 5, further comprising an air duct connected to a lower portion of the vertical drop portion for sucking or supplying air so that at least one of the number of rotations of the object can be adjusted. . 8. The surface irradiation of a granular material according to claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the uneven surface of the rotation applying portion is a structure, a wire mesh or a wire having a lattice-like or horizontal stripe-like unevenness on the bottom surface near the end of the slope. apparatus. 9. A method for vibrating a smooth inclined surface in a lateral direction of a granular material.
Spread and drop uniformly and at high speed
9. The apparatus for irradiating a surface of a granular material according to claim 5, wherein a vibrator is connected to a developing section having a smooth slope.