JP3534661B2 - Heating device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heating device for heating a food or drink having a fluidity such as a liquid or paste as an object to be heated while flowing through a pipe.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Liquid foods and drinks such as soups, juices and soy sauces, pasty foods such as miso and kneaded mustard, and solid foods such as vegetables and meats such as curry roux and beef stew. As a heating device for heating an object to be heated that has fluidity such as liquid or semi-solid food containing a, so as to heat the object to be heated by Joule heat by energizing food and drink. Technology has been developed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Nos. 2793473 and 2821087).

A conventional heating device has a tubular or pipe-shaped heater main body, and an annular electrode having an inner peripheral surface substantially the same as the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body is provided at predetermined intervals. It is set up in.

[0004]

When heating an object to be heated, it is desirable to uniformly heat the entire object to be heated,
When the object to be heated is heated by Joule heat, the object to be heated is heated by heating the object to be heated.Therefore, as compared with the case where the container containing the object to be heated is heated from outside the container by steam or the like, There is an advantage that the heated material can be heated uniformly.

However, when the object to be heated is heated by Joule heat using the annular electrode, the object to be heated may not be sufficiently stirred even if it is flowed into the main body of the heater. An agitating blade is provided in the main body of the heater to heat the object to be heated while stirring. Especially, when the object to be heated having a relatively high viscosity is heated, the heating may become uneven. It was

The present inventor has conducted various experimental studies in order to heat an object to be heated more uniformly in a heater adapted to heat food or drink as an object to be heated by Joule heat. When an electric current is made to flow in the object to be heated using, the outer peripheral portion, that is, the portion closer to the inner peripheral surface of the heater body than the central portion of the object to be heated flowing in the pipe-shaped heater body is It was found that the higher temperature was obtained.

It is considered that the reason for this is that the higher the temperature of food and drink, the smaller the electric resistance. That is,
When an annular electrode is used, the current easily flows through the outer peripheral part of the object to be heated in the flow path according to the shape of the electrode, so the outer peripheral part of the heated part close to the inner peripheral surface of the heater body. It is considered that when a large amount of current flows into the part and the part is heated, the temperature of the part becomes high and the electric resistance becomes small, and the temperature of the part becomes higher and higher. In addition, when the object to be heated flows inside the heater body, the temperature of the object to be heated in the portion close to the inner wall is also lower because the flow velocity in the part in contact with the inner wall of the heater body is lower than that in the central part. Is considered to be higher.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to uniformly heat food and drink while utilizing the Joule heat to flow food and drink in the heater body.

[0009]

A heating device according to the present invention is a heating device for heating a food or drink having fluidity as an object to be heated and flowing it into a flow path by Joule heat. a cylindrical heater body having a channel through which, before
An electrode that is provided at both ends of the heater main body, has an energizing surface in a direction that traverses the flow path, and forms a pair at a predetermined interval so as to face each other and to set the end part of the flow path;
It is provided at one end of the heater body,
One of the joints to flow into the flow path, and the heater
It is provided at the other end of the main body and the object to be heated is
Power to the other joint and the electrode
And a power supply unit for supplying power . In the present invention, a space may be provided between the electrode and the inner peripheral surface of the heater body, and the electrode is fixed to the heater body by a spacer arranged at the space. Is also good.

In the present invention, the object to be heated flowing in the flow path of the heater body has a smaller flow velocity in the portion close to the inner peripheral surface of the heater body than in the central portion due to its viscosity. Since the current-carrying surface of the electrode is provided in the large central part of the electric field, a larger current flows in the central part than in the peripheral part. As a result, the object to be heated flowing in the flow path has a uniform heating time and heating temperature as a whole, and the food or drink can be heated with high quality.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a heating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing a portion A in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the B line.

This heating device comprises two heating units 11,
12 and each heating unit 11, 12
Is provided with a tubular or pipe-shaped heater body 14 in which a flow path 13 is formed. The heater body 14 is made of an insulating material such as resin, and is composed of a straight portion 15 and joint portions 16 provided at both ends thereof, and the inner diameter of the joint portion 16 is substantially the same as the inner diameter of the straight portion 15. A connection hole 17 is formed in the joint portion 16. Although the respective heating units 11 and 12 are installed substantially vertically, they may be tilted or installed horizontally.

In each of the joint portions 16, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
An electrode 18 formed of a metal such as titanium is provided. Therefore, in the heater body 14, the electrodes 1 in the joint portions 16 provided at both ends of the straight portion 15 are provided.
8 will be provided in pairs facing each other,
The end face of the flow path 13 is set by the current-carrying surface of the electrode 18, and the electrode 18 is connected through the connection hole 17 of the one joint part 16.
The object to be heated flows in toward the current-carrying surface, and the object to be heated flows out from the connection hole 17 of the other joint portion 16. Electrode 18
The heater body 14 may be attached by using a screw member such as a nut, and the attaching member is not shown.

As shown in FIG. 1, a hopper 22 is connected to the lower end of the heating unit 11 on the upstream side through a supply flow path 21, and the food and drink having the fluidity put into the hopper 22. The object to be heated is supplied into the heating unit 11 by the pump 23, then flows into the heating unit 12 on the downstream side through the communication pipe 24, and flows out from the lower end of the heating unit 12 to the outside. . The object to be heated that has flown out is supplied to an unillustrated product tank by an outflow pipe 25.

The pair of electrodes 18 has a power supply unit 26.
Power is supplied from the power source, and the power can be a commercial power source or a high frequency power source.

As mentioned above, each heating unit 1
Electrodes 18 are provided in the heater main bodies 14 of Nos. 1 and 12 such that the current-carrying surfaces are in a direction crossing the flow path 13 and are opposed to each other with a predetermined gap therebetween. A large amount of current also flows in the central portion of the object to be heated that flows through the path 13. Moreover, the flow velocity distribution of the object to be heated in the flow passage 13 is large in the central portion and is small in the peripheral portion, that is, in the portion close to the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14, as shown by the arrow in FIG.

Therefore, as compared with the case where the annular electrode is used, a relatively large amount of current flows in the central portion where the flow velocity is high, so that the object to be heated heated while flowing in the flow path 13 Each part in the flow path 13 is heated on average, and high-quality heat treatment can be performed. As a result, when an annular electrode is used, a large amount of current may flow in the peripheral portion where the flow velocity is low and a portion that is heated for a relatively long time may be generated. It is possible to prevent such non-uniformity of heating and to provide a stirring blade inside the flow path 13
It becomes unnecessary to stir the object to be heated therein.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a portion corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
In this case, the outer diameter of the plate-shaped electrode 18 is set smaller than the inner diameter of the heater body 14, and a space is formed between the outer peripheral surface of the electrode 18 and the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14. A spacer 19 made of an insulating material is incorporated in this portion.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a portion corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating device according to still another embodiment of the present invention, and an electrode 18 having an outer diameter similar to that of the electrode 18 shown in FIG. Is attached to the inner surface of the insulating plate 20, and the electrode 18 is attached to the heater body 14 via the insulating plate 20. Therefore, in this case, there is an open gap 19a between the outer peripheral surface of the electrode 18 and the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, when a space is provided between the outer peripheral surface of the electrode 18 and the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body 14, the object to be heated flowing near the inner peripheral surface is Since the current does not flow so much and a large amount of current mainly flows in the radial center portion of the flow path 13, it is possible to heat the object to be heated having a particularly high viscosity at a uniform temperature. However, when heating an object to be heated having a high viscosity, a stirring blade should be provided in the heater body 14 so that the heated object to be heated also wraps around the inner peripheral surface of the heater body 14. You can

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the heating device shown in FIG. 1 has two heating units 11 and 12, but one or three heating units are provided.
The heating device may be formed by one or more heating units. As shown in FIG. 3, the heater body 14 has a circular cross section, but the heater body 14 may be formed by using a tube or a tubular body having a quadrangular cross section. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the heater main body 14 is formed by the straight portion 15 and the joint portions 16 provided at both ends thereof, but the straight portion 15 and the joint portion 16 are integrally formed. The heater main body 14 may be formed by the removed member. Furthermore, by covering the outside of the heater body 14 with a cover,
A cooling liquid may be circulated between the cover and the heater body 14 to prevent overheating of the heater body 14.

[0024]

According to the present invention, it is possible to heat the food or drink, which is the object to be heated, flowing through the flow path in the heater body, to a uniform temperature as a whole. As a result, the food or drink can be efficiently heated without impairing the flavor or texture of the food or drink. It is not necessary to provide a stirring blade to stir the food or drink flowing in the flow channel. In particular, even food and drink with high viscosity can be heated uniformly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a heating device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing a portion A in FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a portion corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a portion corresponding to FIG. 2 in a heating device according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

11,12 heating unit 13 channels 14 Heater body 15 Straight part 16 joint 17 Connection hole 18 electrodes 19 Spacer 21 Supply channel 22 hoppers 23 pumps 24 communication pipes 25 discharge pipe 26 power supply unit

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Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A heating device for heating a food or drink having fluidity as an object to be heated and flowing the same into a channel by Joule heat, wherein the cylindrical heater has a channel through which the object to be heated flows. Body
And an electrode which is provided at both ends of the heater body, has an electric conduction surface in a direction crossing the flow path, and which forms a pair at a predetermined interval to face each other and set an end of the flow path. , provided at one end of the heater body, before the object to be heated
One joint part to flow into the flow path and the other end part of the heater main body, and the front part to be heated is provided.
A heating device comprising: the other joint part that flows out from the flow path; and a power supply unit that supplies electric power to the electrode . 2. The heating device according to claim 1, wherein a space is provided between the electrode and the inner peripheral surface of the heater main body. 3. The heating device according to claim 2, wherein the electrodes are fixed to the heater main body by spacers arranged at the intervals.