JP3352388B2 - Electricity processing equipment for food - 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 processing apparatus for heating food, in particular, raw fish, and heating the food to cook it in a boiled or grilled fish style.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Grilled fish and boiled fish served as in-flight meals, hotel meals, hospital meals, etc. are prepared by grilling the former with a gas fire or a microwave oven, the latter with raw fish in a pot, water and seasonings. And cooked with gas or electricity and serve them as they are, or they are frozen or refrigerated and reheated with a microwave oven or the like when serving.

[0003] There is no particular problem when the food prepared by the above-mentioned conventional method is served immediately after cooking, but since grilled fish is heated to the center of the fish meat only by dry heat, the water is dissipated and once cooled, Even if it is reheated, the taste will be drastically reduced. As another problem, there is a case where very skill is required for baking, such as miso-picked fish meat.

On the other hand, in the case of boiled fish, the protein is heated for a relatively long time in a boiled state.
When frozen and then reheated, the meat tends to be harder and fresher than immediately after cooking. Also, to cool after cooking,
There is a problem that the body is easily broken, and the shape is lost when transferred to a tray or the like.

[0005]

Therefore, there is a need for a cooking method that can retain as much moisture in fish meat as possible after cooking. One of them is an electric heating method. For example, JP-A-5-308934, JP-A-7-87882, and JP-A-7-1479.
No. 12 discloses a method in which food is immersed in a conductive liquid and heated by energization. However, when this method is applied to fish meat, the umami component of fish meat moves into the conductive liquid to deteriorate the taste, and electric energy is consumed in the conductive liquid more than fish meat, so that the energy cost is bulky and uneconomical. In addition, in the case of sweet-salt fish meat or miso-marinated fish meat, there is a problem that the attached salt and miso components move into the conductive liquid, the conductivity of the conductive liquid fluctuates greatly, and uniform heating is almost impossible.

Further, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-259090 discloses that
An apparatus is disclosed in which a sheet-like cushion material impregnated with an electrolytic solution is brought into contact with both ends of a surimi molded body and is heated by energization. However, since this apparatus is designed to heat food while sandwiching the food with a belt, it cannot be applied to cooking of soft and irregular shaped food such as fish fillet.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-47261 discloses an apparatus in which a kneaded product is wound around a rotating rod-shaped electrode, and is passed through a container containing water to heat the electric current. However, in this device, the rod-shaped electrode must be inserted into food, and in the case of fish meat, it is difficult to apply the device from the viewpoint of workability and shape retention. In addition, since the interval between the water storage container and the rod-shaped electrode is constant, it is not possible to uniformly heat amorphous fish meat or the like.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus capable of efficiently heating an amorphous food without losing the taste of fish meat and the like and without wasting electric energy.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which can heat foods having a large effect on the conductivity of an electrolytic solution, such as miso-marinated meat, as it is, and does not require skill for heating. It is to be.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, there are provided an electrolytic solution supply means, a plurality of brushes connected to the supply means and having good infiltration into the electrolytic solution and flexible, A conveyor having a porous conveying surface for conveying the food so as to contact the food, a lower electrode disposed on the lower surface of the conveying surface, and a means for applying an AC voltage between the brush and the lower electrode. Thus, an electric machining apparatus was configured.

Preferably, the flexible brush is integrated with a material having good conductivity.

[0012] After passing through the lower electrode, the conveyor surface of the conveyer may be passed between means for applying boiled juice or sauce.

[0013] Further, the carry-out end of the conveyor can face the carry-in end of the conveyor of the roaster.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the energization processing apparatus comprises a conveyer 10 for conveying food, an upper energizing section 20 and a lower electrode 30 arranged so as to vertically sandwich the conveying surface of the conveyer. The electrolyte A is dropped or dropped on the outer surface of the food B being conveyed from the upper energization section 20 by 10 to form a thin film of the electrolyte A, and the upper energization section 20 and the lower electrode 30 energize and heat the electrolyte thin film. It is supposed to.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the upper conducting section 20 includes a supply tank 21 for supplying the electrolytic solution A and a flexible brush 23 hanging from the supply tank 21.
The supply tank 21 stores an appropriate electrolytic solution A such as a saline solution, and is provided with a unit for appropriately supplying the electrolytic solution A. The bottom of the tank 21 has a number of slits 22.
Are provided at substantially regular intervals in the traveling direction at right angles to the traveling direction of the conveyor 10, and the brushes 23 are attached to the slits 22 so that the electrolytic solution A drops down or flows down on the food B through the brushes 23. Has become. The brush 23 is made of a material that is flexible and easily penetrates a liquid, such as a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a nonwoven fabric, a sponge having continuous air bubbles, or a fiber bundle. As shown in FIG. It may be in the form of a sheet, a blind with a fine cut 23b, or the like. The material itself may or may not be conductive. Further, the shape of the sheet-like brush 23 can be arbitrarily selected in addition to the square shape, and it is sufficient that the electrolyte solution A can be applied to the whole food B.

When the brush 23 is formed of a material having poor conductivity, a current loss may occur. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, it is preferable that a metal foil 23c of titanium, aluminum, iron, platinum, stainless steel or the like be attached to the brush 23. In the illustrated case, the brush 23 is formed in a U-shape, but may be of a goodwill or interdigital as shown in FIG. The surface on which the metal foil 23c is attached is preferably opposite to the direction of travel of the food indicated by the arrow.
If the metal foil 23c comes into direct contact with food, sparks may be generated. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5A, the metal foil 23c may be completely covered with a sponge or the like. If there is no risk of sparks or the like, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), when the metal foil 23c is inserted into the slits provided at regular intervals in the brush 23 in a zigzag manner, the metal foil 23c is more firmly integrated than the pasted one and peels off. hard. In addition, a woven or knitted fabric in which carbon fibers are woven can be used. Further, as shown in FIG.
d and a chain 23e as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, the electrolytic solution may be dropped along the chain 23e. In this case, using the same material as the flexible brush 23,
The tip of the chain 23d or the ball chain 23e is covered.

The mounting structure of the brush 23 can be variously selected, but the following structure is preferable. That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the upper portion of the brush 23 is held between the pair of holders 24. This holder 24 also serves as an electrode, and titanium,
It is made of aluminum, iron, platinum, stainless steel or the like, and titanium is particularly preferable. As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG.
A small projection 24a can be provided in order to improve the holding property of the brush 4 to the brush 23. Further, a projection 24b and a recess 24c into which the projection 24b fits are provided at both ends of the holder 24.
It is preferable that the pair of holders 24 can be accurately positioned, and should not be displaced even after the mounting. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 24d denotes a terminal for connecting an electric wire.

The brush 23 held by the holder 24 as described above is inserted into the slit 22 provided on the bottom of the supply tank 21 as shown in FIG. At that time, in order to prevent leakage of the electrolytic solution A, the packing 25 is fixed to the peripheral edge of the slit 22 in advance. When the brush 23 is attached in this manner, the electrolytic solution A in the tank 21 permeates from the upper end of the brush 23 having good wettability and flows down to the lower portion of the brush 23.

As shown in FIG. 11, the brush 23 may be formed of a brush-like or wire-like fiber bundle. In this case, it is preferable to disperse the lower end of the brush 23 as shown. The holding tool 24 for holding the brush 23 is preferably formed by a hollow split pin 24e and a nut 24f that engages a threaded portion provided at the upper end of the pin. Then, the brush 23 is held by engaging the nut 24f with the split pin 24e and tightening it. The brush 2
When the brush 3 is shaped as shown in FIG. 4, the brush 2 is fixed to the conductive plate 24g with bolts 24h as shown in FIG.
3 can be held.

As shown in FIG. 13, a supply pipe 21a may be used in place of the supply tank 21. If this tube 21a is formed of a metal, for example, titanium, aluminum, iron, stainless steel or the like, it can be used as an electrode as it is.
The brush 23 may be fixed directly to the tube 21a. Of course, a continuous pipe 21a is used, and the pipe 21b is bent in a zigzag manner, and the electrolytic solution A is continuously supplied from one end of the pipe 21a.

Next, the conveyor belt 11 of the conveyor 10 for conveying the food B is formed of a porous and flexible material having good permeability of the electrolyte A. For example, a mesh sheet made of a synthetic resin as shown in FIG. 14 is preferable, and carbon fibers may be woven to improve conductivity. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 15, the food B may be formed of a sponge having a certain thickness so as to be able to follow irregularities on the bottom surface of the food B. Such a conveyor belt 11
As shown in FIG. 14, when the timing belt 12 is fixed to a side edge and is driven by a pulley 13 which meshes with the timing belt 12, the food can be surely conveyed at a constant speed. Can be. Or,
As shown in FIG. 16, the side edge of the transport belt 11 may be fixed to the inner arm 14 of the chain 12a, and the belt 11 may be run by a pulley 13a meshing with the chain 12a.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a lower electrode 30 is arranged below the conveyor belt 11 so as to come into contact with the belt 11. The electrode 30 is made of a metal plate such as titanium, aluminum, iron, platinum, and stainless steel, and supplies electricity to the food B to which the electrolyte A is applied by the brush 23 while being conveyed by the conveyor 10. The electrolytic solution A applied to the outer surface of the food B flows down from the conveyor belt 11 to the upper surface of the electrode 30. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, the cross section of the electrode 30 is formed as an inclined surface that descends in both directions so that the electrolyte solution A can easily flow down to both sides as shown by an arrow, or as shown in FIG. A large number of through-holes 31 are provided, or a groove 32 descending in both sides is provided as shown in FIG.
So that the electrolytic solution A can be collected. The stored electrolyte solution A may be returned to the supply tank 21 by a pump and reused as shown in FIG.

Now, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
For example, when a fish fillet is placed on the belt 11 of the conveyor 10 and conveyed, and reaches the location of the brush 23, the brush 23 is flexible and bends to wrap the food B along the outer surface of the food B. Since the brush 23 is sufficiently infiltrated with the electrolytic solution A in the supply tank 21, the outer surface of the food B is wet with the electrolytic solution A, and the electrolytic solution A is further transferred from the brush 23 onto the conveyor belt 11 and the lower electrode 30. As a result, a thin film of the electrolytic solution A is formed on the entire surface of the food B. At the same time, since an AC voltage is applied between the holder 24 of the brush 23 and the lower electrode 30, the food B is energized and heated through the thin film of the electrolytic solution A. Thus, the food B is energized and heated while the belt 11 conveys and passes the food B through the zone where the brushes 23 are arranged.

The cooked food B 'may be stored frozen or refrigerated as it is. For example, if the food B' is to be boiled, it is immersed in broth. One example is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the conveyor belt 11 is extended so that the food B 'after the heating and cooking passes through the broth C stored in the immersion tank 40. Of course, the broth C is kept at an appropriate temperature.

[0026] The cooked food B 'can also be made into a porcelain style. In that case, normal roasting processing may be performed. However, in the case of performing roasting processing after applying soup in advance, as illustrated in FIG. 21, the nozzles 41 and 42 disposed above and below the belt 11 are used. Spraying the sauce D
As shown in (1), the sauce D is applied by the upper and lower rollers 43 and 44. The drip D is dropped onto the upper roller 43 from the nozzle 43a.

As a method of applying the sauce D, the sauce D may be passed through a tank containing the sauce D, similarly to FIG.
FIG. 23 shows an example in which heating of food, application of sauce, and roasting are performed in-line. As shown, the conveyor 10 shown in FIGS.
And the process up to the step of applying the sauce D is continuously performed. The carry-in end of the conveyor 51 passing through the inside of the roaster 50 faces the carry-out end of the conveyor 10.
Therefore, the food discharged from the conveyor 10 is transferred to the conveyor 51.
It is automatically placed on top. The roasting device 50 uses a known device such as a gas burner or an electric heater, and the conveying surface of the conveyor 51 uses heat-resistant stainless steel or the like. Needless to say, the apparatus shown in FIGS. 21 and 22 can be used instead of the immersion tank 40.

The foods that can be cooked by the apparatus of the present invention include processed meats such as fish meat, livestock meat, poultry meat, and miso-picked meats thereof, vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, spinach, and asparagus. Compound foods such as gas bacon wrap and meat stuffed peppers are also included.

[0029]

According to the present invention, as described above, since the Joule heating that can raise the temperature in a short time and accurately control the temperature is used, even if reheating at the time of eating, it is almost the same as immediately after cooking. High quality can be maintained.

In addition, since the electrolytic solution is applied to the food being conveyed using a flexible brush, a thin film of the electrolytic solution is formed around the food and the electric current is heated, so that regardless of the shape and the hardness of the food, It can be processed and there is almost no loss of umami components. Furthermore, since electricity is supplied through the thin film of the electrolytic solution, energy loss is small.

In addition, when cooking pre-processed food such as miso-zuke, it is only necessary to apply the electrolytic solution instead of immersing it in the electrolytic solution. It is easy to control voltage and current, and cooking can be done just by passing it through an electric heating device,
Does not require skill.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially longitudinal side view showing an example of an electric machining apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the above.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a shape structure of a brush.

4A is a perspective view showing another example of the brush, and FIG.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing still another example of the brush.

FIG. 6 is a partially longitudinal side view showing still another example of the brush.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a brush holder.

FIG. 8A is a plan view showing another example of a brush holder.
(B) Front view

FIG. 9 is a partially enlarged perspective view of a brush holder.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a brush holding mechanism.

11A is a longitudinal sectional view showing another example of a brush holding mechanism, and FIG. 11B is a perspective view showing another example of a brush holding device.

FIG. 12 is a vertical sectional view showing still another example of the brush holding structure.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the supply section of the electrolytic solution.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the structure of a conveyor.

FIG. 15 is a longitudinal sectional view showing another example of the conveyor belt of the conveyor.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the structure of the conveyor.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a lower electrode.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing an example of a lower electrode.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing another example of the lower electrode.

FIG. 20 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an immersion tank.

FIG. 21 is a side view showing a structure for applying sauce.

FIG. 22 is a side view showing another example of a structure for applying sauce.

FIG. 23 is a partial vertical cross-sectional schematic view showing an example of an apparatus for performing continuous processing from electric current processing to immersion and roasting steps of food.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Conveyor 11 Conveyor belt 12 Timing belt 12a Chain 13, 13a Pulley 14 Arm 20 Upper conducting part 21 Supply tank 21a Supply pipe 22 Slit 23 Brush 23a, 23b Cut 23c Metal foil 23d Chain 23e Ball chain 24 Holder 24a Projection 24b Projection Depression 24d Terminal 24e Split pin 24f Nut 24g Dielectric plate 24h Bolt 30 Lower electrode 31 Through hole 32 Groove 33 Storage tank 40 Immersion tank 41, 42 Nozzle 43, 44 Roller 50 Roasting device 51 Conveyor A Electrolyte B, B 'Food C D sauce

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A23L 1/01 A23L 3/005 A23L 1/31-1/325

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A supply means for supplying an electrolytic solution, a number of brushes which are connected to the supply means and have a good wettability and are flexible, and a porous transfer surface for transferring food so as to come into contact with the brush. An electric current processing apparatus for food, comprising: a conveyor having the same; a lower electrode disposed on a lower surface of the conveying surface; and means for applying an AC voltage between the brush and the lower electrode. 2. The flexible brush according to claim 1, wherein said flexible brush is integrated with a material having good conductivity.
An electric current processing apparatus for food according to claim 1. 3. The electric current processing apparatus for food according to claim 1, wherein the conveying surface of the conveyor passes between the means for applying the broth or the drip after passing through the lower electrode. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge end of the conveyor faces the transfer end of the conveyor of the roaster.