JP3350493B2 - Continuous steaming equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a continuous steaming apparatus, and more particularly to a continuous steaming apparatus for rice which is effective for producing fast-cooked rice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Pretreatment such as washing and immersion of rice in making rice or rice cooked is unnecessary, and the rice can be cooked in a shorter time than the time required for ordinary rice cooking and steaming. As processed rice, so-called "early-cooked rice" is known, and in recent years, demand has been increasing due to its simplicity. Conventional techniques for producing fast-cooked rice include, for example,
As described in Japanese Patent No. 31540, there is known a technique in which rice soaked in water is steamed with heated steam while being forcibly conveyed by a screw-type feeder. In addition, although it is not a technique of manufacturing rice that is cooked quickly, as a steaming technique of grains containing rice, water-absorbed grains are stirred using a batch-type steamer as described in JP-A-55-108264. There is a technique of steaming. Further, as a steam rice cooking technique, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-24863, a technique is known in which rice soaked in water is steamed while being spread and transported on a chain conveyor.

[0003]

However, according to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-31540, since rice is forcibly conveyed by a screw-type feeder during or immediately after the steaming process, the rice is fed to the rice. Excessive pressing force is applied, and the rice grains are crushed, and the rice grains bind together due to the stickiness of the rice grain surface and become clumpy, which hinders the work such as quantitative bagging in the next process, and also makes the prepared fast-cooked rice. There is a problem that the taste and appearance are adversely affected, and the commercial value is impaired. Further, the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-108264 discloses a method in which a cooking process is performed for each pot using a batch-type steaming device, and the cooking process cannot be performed continuously. There was a problem that it was extremely bad. Furthermore, according to the technology described in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-24863, steamed rice can be continuously produced. However, a heated steam sprayed on rice, such as a chain conveyor installed in a steaming path, is used. Is easily diffused into the surroundings, so that the heating steam does not sufficiently pass between the rice grains, resulting in uneven heating due to the location.In addition, the heating efficiency is poor, so a large amount of heating steam is required and the production cost of steamed rice is low. There was a problem that it became expensive. In addition, since a chain conveyor is used to transport rice during the steaming process, there is a problem that the entire steaming apparatus becomes large. The present invention has been made in view of these problems, and can cook steamed rice such as fast-cooked rice with high commercial value, which can be cooked uniformly without binding rice in a lump. It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact continuous steaming apparatus that can perform the process.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventor has conducted intensive studies to achieve the above object and completed the present invention. That is, in the present invention, (1) the top is a raw rice supply port, the bottom is a freely openable and closable steamed rice discharge port, and a steam blow-out section is formed on the inner wall surface. (2) a steamed rice outlet comprising: a substantially tubular steaming path; raw rice supply means provided above the raw rice supply port; and steam supply means for supplying steam to the steam blowing section. (1) The continuous steaming apparatus according to (1), wherein steamed rice cutting means is provided below, and (3) the steaming path is erected at 45 to 80 ° with respect to the horizontal plane. Continuous steaming equipment,
(4) The continuous steaming apparatus according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein a plurality of flat plate members each having a cutout portion serving as the steam blowout portion are vertically connected to at least a part of the inner wall surface of the steaming path. ,
Is provided.

According to the present invention, raw rice, which has been subjected to a water immersion treatment, is supplied from the raw rice supply means to the raw rice supply port at the top of the steaming path, and heated steam is blown out from the steam blowing section on the inner wall surface of the steaming path. By steaming the raw rice, and then discharging the steamed rice (steamed rice) from the steamed rice outlet at the bottom of the steaming path, the rice can be continuously steamed. At this time, if you shorten the steaming time, you can get rice cooked quickly,
By lengthening the steaming time, it is possible to produce steamed rice like ordinary cooked rice. Further, in the present invention, since the rice is subjected to the steaming process in a state where the rice is substantially filled in the substantially tubular steaming passage lumen, the heated steam blown out from the steam blower into the steaming passage lumen is a raw material at the steaming passage top portion. The rice passes between a large number of rice grains with sufficient time before being exhausted to the outside from the rice supply port or the steamed rice discharge port at the bottom. Therefore, all the rice grains in the steaming path can be uniformly steamed with a relatively small amount of heated steam.

Further, according to the present invention, the rice is transported during the steaming treatment by the action of the natural sliding down of the rice by its own weight in the lumen of the steaming path provided at an angle of 30 to 80 ° with respect to the horizontal plane. No excessive pressing force is applied between the rice grains, and the rice is not bound or crushed during the steaming process. At this time, if the angle of inclination of the steaming path with respect to the horizontal plane is set to 45 ° or more, the rice easily slides down the steaming path, and even when sticky rice such as glutinous rice is used, the rice grains are not removed from the steaming path. It is preferable because it hardly remains on the inner wall. However, if the angle of inclination of the steaming path exceeds 80 °, the weight of the rice is directly applied to the lower rice, so that the rice grains are liable to be crushed or bound in a lump, which is not preferable. Also, if a steamed rice cutting means is provided below the steamed rice discharge port, the steamed rice can be cut out from the steaming path while loosening high-temperature steamed rice immediately after the steaming process. Even if they are bound, it is possible to cleanly disintegrate and is preferable.
Further, the continuous steaming apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the steaming path is erected at an angle of 30 to 80 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, and the steaming path is not provided with a rice conveying mechanism such as a screw feeder or a chain conveyor. The whole can be small and compact.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side view, partially in section, showing a main structure of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a flat plate member 7, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cutting tool 11, and FIG. It is a perspective view of. In the continuous steaming apparatus 1 of the present invention, a rectangular long tubular steaming path 2 is erected at an angle of 60 ° with respect to a horizontal plane, and the top of the steaming path 2 is a raw rice supply port 3 which is always open. Further, above the raw rice supply port 3, a raw rice supply means including a hopper 4 and a belt conveyor 5 having a rotating means (not shown) is provided, and raw raw rice immersed in water is supplied from the hopper 4 to the raw rice supply means. It is configured to be charged into the raw rice supply port 3 via the belt conveyor 5. An inner wall surface (hereinafter, referred to as a lower wall surface) 6 on a lower side of the steaming path 2 has both end portions 22, as shown in FIG.
Nine flat plate members 7 provided with cutouts 23 except for 22 are formed in a row in the vertical direction, and in this case, the cutouts 23 of the flat plate members 7 are connected to the upper flat plate members connected in series. 7 and the lower end side 24 of the horizontal slit-shaped gap hole (length 2 m
m, 400 mm in width) to form the steam blowing section 8. In order to prevent rice grains from entering the steam blow-out portion 8, a slanted portion 25 cut in an obliquely downward direction is formed in the front half of the cutout portion 23 of the flat plate member 7. The material of the flat plate member 7 is stainless steel, but its surface is coated with Teflon resin in order to improve the slip of rice. As described above, in the present embodiment, the lower wall surface 6 of the steaming passage 2 is formed by connecting the flat plate members 7, 7,... 7,7 ... easy to remove and clean
It has excellent maintainability, such as sterilization.

[0008] The bottom of the steaming path 2 is a steamed rice outlet 9 having an opening / closing door 10 which can be opened and closed by a drive means (not shown). Steamed rice cutting means comprising a belt conveyor 12 is provided. As shown in FIG. 3, the cutting tool 11 has a plurality of rod members 27, 27... And the steamed rice can be cut out from the steamed rice outlet 9 at an arbitrary speed. Further, the belt conveyor 12 uses the power of a motor 14 installed in a base 13 below the belt conveyor 12 to control the power of the sprocket 1.
5, it is configured to rotate by transmitting through a chain 16 and a gear 17. Above the belt conveyer 12, as shown in FIG.
29, two comb-tooth rotating bodies 30 erected in a comb shape,
A stirrer 18 comprising 30 is provided. This stirrer 18
Is rotated in the directions of arrows b and b shown in FIG. 1 by rotating means (not shown), and the steamed rice conveyed by the belt conveyor 12 is agitated and loosened to become loose. In addition, the stirrer 18 is used to more surely unravel the steamed rice, and does not need to be provided when the cutting tool 11 alone can sufficiently loosen it. The steaming path 2
A housing 19 having a hollow portion 20 therein is continuously provided in a lower half portion thereof. Two porous pipes 21 and 21 communicating with a boiler (not shown) are provided at a predetermined lower portion of the hollow portion 20.
Provided as steam supply means. Also, if a large number of ceramic balls (not shown) for removing water droplets in the heated steam are loaded in the hollow portion 20, the stickiness of the surface of the steamed rice can be suppressed, so that the rice is bound in a lump. It is difficult and preferable.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. In order to cook rice with the continuous steaming apparatus 1 of the present invention, first,
Raw rice that has been subjected to the water immersion treatment is fed from the hopper 4 to the raw rice supply port 3 of the steaming path 2 via the belt conveyor 5. At this time, the open / close door 10 of the steamed rice discharge port 9 is kept closed. The input amount of rice is an amount that makes the steaming path 2 almost full, and in the case of the present embodiment, the weight of the water-immersed rice is about 100 k.
g. Next, a steaming process is performed using heating steam. First, heating steam generated by a boiler (not shown) is supplied to the hollow portion 20 in the housing 19 through the porous pipes 21 and 21 and further passes through the hollow portion 20. The steam is blown out from the steam blower 8 into the inner cavity of the steaming path 2. The temperature of the heated steam blown into the inner cavity of the steam path 2 is adjusted to 100 to 110 ° C. Further, the heated steam passes through a large number of rice grains evenly and cooks the rice. Finally, the heated steam is exhausted from the raw rice supply port 3 or the cooked rice discharge port 9 of the steaming path 2 to the outside of the apparatus. The heating steam pressure and the processing time required for the steaming process vary greatly depending on the type of rice used and the desired properties of the fast-cooked rice to be produced, but usually the steam pressure is 0.25 to 1.5 k.
It is preferable to perform a steaming treatment at g / cm ² for ² to 15 minutes.
In any case, since the steaming path 2 is a rectangular long cylinder and the steaming process is performed in a state where rice is filled almost completely in the lumen of the steaming path 2, the whole rice in the steaming path 2 is uniformly dispersed. The steam can be steamed, and the heated steam blown into the inner cavity of the steaming passage 2 is hard to diffuse out of the apparatus, so that the heating efficiency is good and a small amount of the heated steam can be processed in a short time. By the above-mentioned steaming treatment, steamed rice having a degree of gelatinization of 80% or more and a water content of about 30 to 44% can be produced.

When the steaming process is completed, the opening and closing door 10 of the steamed rice outlet 19 is opened, and the cutting tool 11 is rotated in the direction of arrow a to cut the steamed rice coming out of the steamed rice outlet 9 while breaking it down. It is discharged onto the belt conveyor 12. The belt conveyor 12 rotates and conveys the steamed rice to a cooling device or a bag filling device (not shown) in the next step. Further, since the stirrer 18 is provided above the belt conveyor 12, by rotating the stirrer 18 in the directions of arrows b and b, the steamed rice being conveyed can be further loosened and loosened. . The continuous steaming apparatus 1 of the present invention, as described above,
At the start of the operation, the steaming process is started after the rice cooker 2 is almost completely filled with the raw rice. However, once the operation is started, the steamed rice is gradually discharged from the steamed rice discharge port 9 and is substantially the same as this discharge amount. By feeding an amount of raw rice from the raw rice supply port 3 into the steaming path 2, steamed rice can be continuously produced.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the steaming path is inclined at an angle of 30 to 80 ° with respect to the horizontal plane, the rice can be transported during the steaming process by the natural sliding action of the rice by its own weight. Therefore, excessive pressing force is not applied to the rice, and it is difficult for the rice grains to be crushed or clumped in a lump. It can be efficiently manufactured. Furthermore, according to the present invention, since the steaming process is performed in a state in which the rice is filled almost completely in the inner space of the steaming passage, the whole rice in the steaming passage can be uniformly cooked. In addition, since the heating efficiency is good, short-time treatment can be performed with a small amount of heating steam, and the energy cost during the steaming treatment can be reduced.
Furthermore, on at least a part of the lower inner wall surface of the steaming path,
Since a plurality of flat plate members forming a cutout portion serving as a steaming blowout portion and a slope portion cut obliquely downward in the first half of the cutout portion are continuously provided in the vertical direction, rice grains are provided in the steam blowout portion. When cleaning the steaming path, remove the flat plate member to easily clean and
Excellent maintainability, such as sterilization. Further, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to separately provide a rice transport mechanism in the steaming path, so that the apparatus can be made small and compact.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view, partially in section, showing a main structure of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a flat plate member.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cutting tool.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a stirrer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Continuous steaming apparatus 2 Steaming path 3 Raw material rice supply port 4 Hopper 5 Belt conveyor 6 Lower wall surface 7 Flat plate member 8 Steam blowout part 9 Steamed rice discharge port 10 Opening door 11 Cutting tool 12 Belt conveyor 13 Base 14 Motor 18 Stirrer 19 Housing 20 Hollow part 21 Perforated pipe 23 Notch part 30 Comb rotating body

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-214318 (JP, A) JP-A-52-108065 (JP, A) JP-A-2000-41599 (JP, A) Jpn. (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A47J 27/16-27/18 A23L 1/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A substantially tubular shape having a top as a raw material supply port, a bottom as a freely openable and closable steamed rice discharge port, and a steam blow-out portion formed on an inner wall surface, and inclined up to 30 to 80 ° with respect to a horizontal plane. , A raw rice supply means provided above the raw rice supply port, and a steam supply means for supplying steam to the steam blowing unit, and at least a lower inner wall surface of the steam path is provided.
Partly, a cutout portion serving as the steaming blowout portion and a portion in front of the cutout portion
In the half part, the slope part cut off diagonally downward
A plurality of formed flat members are connected in the vertical direction
A continuous steaming device characterized by the following . 2. A continuous steaming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein steamed rice cutting means is provided below the steamed rice discharge port. 3. The continuous steaming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the steaming path is erected at an angle of 45 to 80 ° with respect to a horizontal plane.