JP4178200B2 - Coin milling machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a coin milling machine in which a user brings brown rice, inserts coins, and automatically performs a rice milling process.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Normally, in a coin rice mill, three whiteness switches of “upper white”, “standard”, and “seven minutes” are provided on the operation panel so that the user can select the degree of whitening. The milling unit 27 of the rice milling apparatus that performs the rice milling process has a configuration as shown in FIG. 4. While the brown rice is fed by the milling roll 30 that rotates, the rubbing action between the brown rice and the surrounding demineralization net 41 is rubbed. Thus, the degree of whitening can be adjusted by adjusting the resistance of the resistance plate 31 that closes the exit of the finer portion 27. A resistance spring 33 is used as a means for mechanically setting the force. A nut body 34 is in pressure contact with the tip of the resistance spring 33, and the nut body 34 moves back and forth by rotating a screw shaft 36 directly connected to the resistance motor 35, thereby changing the amount of deflection of the resistance spring 33. . The rotation amount of the resistance motor 35 is set in advance to a specific fixed value for each setting of “upper white”, “standard”, and “seven minutes”.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, even if the resistance of the resistance plate is the same, the degree of whitening varies considerably depending on the amount of water contained in the brown rice. Low moisture rice with low moisture content is hard, so the degree of milling tends to be suppressed, and conversely, high moisture rice is soft and is polished to a whiteness that is higher than expected. The amount of rotation of the resistance motor is usually set on the assumption that it is an ideal moisture amount of 14 to 16%. However, the brown rice brought in by the user is not in this range depending on the storage conditions before. In many cases, the degree of whitening is not as good as the customer wants.
[0004]
The biggest problem is when high-moisture rice is milled with the most resistant “Kamishiro” setting, in which case the brown rice is crushed and rice mashing occurs in the milled area. It becomes a factor of failure. Therefore, as detected in JP-A-6-274754, when it is detected that the fed brown rice is high-moisture rice, it is determined that it is inappropriate and is fed without performing the rice milling process. There are coin mills that return coins and brown rice.
[0005]
In view of the actual situation as described above, the present invention causes rice clogging to whiteness as desired by users even if the moisture content of brown rice is out of the standard range. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a coin-milling machine that can polish rice without fail and can provide objective taste data of rice at the same time.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a coin milling machine according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a brown rice transfer device, a stone removing device, a rice milling device, a white rice storage tank, and a control device for controlling them. Measures the amount of water contained in brown rice in the brown rice transport path in a coin rice milling machine that can automatically mill rice at different degrees of milling according to the operation information of the plurality of whiteness switches provided on the operation panel A moisture measuring device is provided, and based on the obtained moisture content data, the rice milling resistance of the rice milling device is corrected, and control is performed so as to cancel the influence of the moisture content on the degree of milling.
[0007]
The moisture measuring device crushes brown rice with two electrode rollers, measures the electrical resistance at that time, calculates the amount of moisture, or measures the capacitance of the brown rice and converts this to moisture content Use a capacitance type. The position where the moisture measuring device is provided may be installed anywhere in the brown rice conveyance path from the brown rice input hopper to the hopper of the rice milling device. The measured water content data is sent to the control device and compared with a standard water content (for example, 14 to 16%), and the resistance of the rice milling device is corrected according to the difference. That is, if the amount of water is smaller than 14%, for example, the resistance is increased, and if it is larger than 16%, the resistance is decreased. By controlling in this way, even if the moisture content of brown rice is out of the standard range, it is possible to polish the rice to the degree of milling as desired by the user.
[0008]
Et al is provided with a taste meter to any of the transport path of the brown rice or polished rice, rice palatability data measured by the same, and if you like to provide to the customer a water content printed by the printer The customer can obtain objective taste data of the rice he / she eats at the same time as the polished rice, which is useful information for selecting the rice thereafter. The taste meter measures the spectrum by irradiating the rice grains with near-infrared rays, and determines how much amino acids, fatty acids, amylose, etc. are contained, as well as the aging and comprehensive evaluation of rice. The technology has already been established by the equipment manufacturer and is also commercially available. The taste meter can measure either brown rice or white rice, so the position to install can be either brown rice or white rice. In addition, since the taste meter can also measure the amount of moisture, if it is installed in the brown rice conveyance path, it is possible to use only the taste meter without using the moisture measuring device described above.
[0009]
In addition, data obtained by a taste meter or a moisture measuring device can be displayed on an operation panel provided with a display unit such as a liquid crystal or CRT panel.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of a coin rice mill according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, here, for convenience, a coin milling machine installed in a building 14 partitioned into a machine room 12 and a guest room 13 will be described. The machine room 12 includes a brown rice transfer device 2, a stone removing device 3, a rice milling device 4, a white rice storage tank 5, and a control device which are connected to the brown rice loading hopper 1 on the guest room side 13. 6 is provided, and when the user starts driving by inserting brown rice and a predetermined number of coins from the guest room 13, the amount of coins to be automatically inserted is automatically determined according to the program stored in the control device. It is for milling rice.
[0011]
The brown rice throwing hopper 1 is installed at a low position on the side of the guest room 13 so that the user can easily put brown rice, and a throwing confirmation sensor 16 is provided on the back side thereof. The brown rice transfer device 2 is constituted by a screw conveyor 17 that takes in the fed brown rice into the machine room 12 and a standing bucket conveyor 18 that pumps the brown rice that has been taken in and throws it into the stone removal device hopper 19 in the next stroke. A moisture measuring device 8 as shown in FIG. 3 is provided on a chute 20 that delivers brown rice from the screw conveyor 17 to the bucket conveyor 18.
[0012]
The moisture measuring device 8 has a sample intake port 21 that is opened and closed by a cylinder (not shown), and includes two electrode rollers 22 and 22 arranged so as to be in contact with each other. The electrode rollers 22 and 22 are energized, and the brown rice is crushed one by one while rotating inward with each other as shown by the arrows in FIG. 3 (a) by a motor (not shown), and the electrical resistance during crushing is measured. Thus, the moisture content per grain can be calculated. When the measurement of a predetermined number of grains (for example, 30 grains) is completed, the sample inlet 21 is closed as shown in FIG. 3 (b), and the electrode rollers 22 and 22 are rotated outward in the opposite direction to measure moisture. The brown rice in the apparatus 8 is scraped and sent to the next process.
[0013]
The stone removing device 3 includes a sorting plate 23 that swings in an inclined state, and a wind tunnel that includes a stone removing fan 24 provided on the lower surface side of the sorting plate 23, and brown rice that has fallen on the sorting plate 23. While flowing down on the sorting plate 23, impurities such as stones with heavy specific gravity are removed by swinging and ventilation, and are poured into the hopper 25 of the rice milling device 4. A rice milling sensor 26 is installed at the bottom of the hopper 25 to detect the presence or absence of brown rice.
[0014]
As shown in FIG. 4, the structure of the milling unit 27 of the rice milling apparatus 4 is provided with a cylindrical milling chamber 28 communicating from the outlet of the hopper 25, in which brown rice is rotated by a milling roll 30 that is rotated by a milling motor 29. It is sent forward while being rubbed, and wrinkles are scraped off in the process. The exit of the whitening chamber 28 is blocked by a resistance plate 31, but the resistance plate 31 swings through a resistance arm 32, and a resistance spring 33 is pressed against the tip of the resistance arm 32. Therefore, the whitening chamber 28 is elastically blocked by the repulsive force of the resistance spring 33 as a resistance force.
[0015]
Further, a nut body 34 is pressed against one end of the resistance spring 33, and a screw shaft 36 directly connected to the resistance motor 35 is inserted into the nut body 34. Therefore, if the screw shaft 36 is rotated, the nut body 34 is The repulsive force of the resistance spring 33 can be adjusted by moving back and forth. A rotation dog 37 is fixed to the root of the screw shaft 36, and a rotation count sensor 38 installed at a position opposite to the rotation dog 37 counts how many rotations of the screw shaft 36 to control the movement amount of the nut body 34. is doing. Further, a dog 39 protrudes from the nut body 34, and the origin and the forward limit are detected by the limit switches 40a and 40b. Therefore, the nut body 34 is in the initial position in the initial state, but the screw shaft 36 is rotated by a predetermined number of rotations according to a command from the control device, and the nut body 34 is moved, and the resistance force of the resistance plate 31 is adjusted. The degree of whitening is adjusted. Further, the peripheral wall of the whitening chamber 28 is constituted by a wire net-shaped debris 41, and a collecting fan 42 is connected to the tip thereof. The separated soot is sucked together with the air by the collecting fan 42, and the collecting cyclone is collected. The soot and air are separated at 43 and the soot is stored in the soot collection bag 44.
[0016]
The polished white rice flows down from the chute 45 and is stored in the white rice storage tank 5. A predetermined amount of white rice is taken as a sample from the sample intake port 48 provided in the chute 45 and is arranged in parallel with the white rice storage tank 5. To send. The taste meter 9 itself is also equipped with a control device, which measures the spectrum by irradiating white rice with near-infrared rays and performs comparison operations with the stored data to calculate taste data such as amino acids, fatty acids and amylose. Do. The obtained taste data is sent to the control device of the coin rice mill.
[0017]
On the front surface of the control panel 15, an operation panel 6 as shown in FIG. The operation panel 6 includes a coin insertion slot 46, three whiteness switches 7 for selecting the degree of whitening, a display charge indicator lamp 47, and the like, and a display unit 11 using a liquid crystal that displays measured taste data and water content. And a printer 10 for outputting the same. A control device using a microcomputer is provided inside the control panel 15, and as shown in FIG. 6, the input data output from the switch or sensor is taken into the controller via the input interface and based on the program data recorded in the memory. A predetermined process is performed to output a start signal and a display signal to the output interface. The output interface applies predetermined signals to the motors and the light emitting elements in accordance with a start signal and a display signal output from the controller.
[0018]
Next, the operation and operation sequence of the above-configured coin rice mill will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. First, coins are inserted into the coin insertion slot 46 according to the amount of brown rice brought in by the customer. Then, the number of coins inserted by the charge number detection means is detected and displayed on the charge indicator lamp 47. At the same time, the three whiteness switches 7 blink to inform the user that the operation is ready. In response to this, the customer puts the brown rice into the brown rice throwing hopper 1 and presses the desired whiteness switch 7. Then, the selected whiteness switch 7 is turned on, and the other two are turned off. At the same time, the screw conveyor 17, the bucket conveyor 18, and the stone removing device 3 are activated to start taking in brown rice.
[0019]
When the whiteness switch 7 is pressed, a rotation command of a predetermined amount (for example, “seven minutes” → 5 rotations, “standard” → 10 rotations, “upper white” → 15 rotations) is applied to the resistance motor 35. Therefore, the resistance motor 35 rotates by that amount, and the resistance force of the resistance plate 31 is set to a target for brown rice having a standard moisture amount. When the insertion confirmation sensor 16 provided on the back side of the brown rice charging hopper 1 is turned on to confirm the loading of the brown rice, the operation time T for one coin is counted. If brown rice is not put in at this time, the waiting time Tn is counted, and after waiting for this to expire, the operation time T is counted. The charge indicator lamp 47 is decremented whenever the count of the operation time T expires, and when the T count for the last coin expires, “1” is displayed on the charge indicator lamp and the screw conveyor 17 is stopped.
[0020]
On the other hand, the sample intake 21 provided in the chute 20 between the screw conveyor 17 and the bucket conveyor 18 is opened, and the brown rice is taken into the moisture measuring device 8. In the moisture measuring device 8, the moisture content of a predetermined number of grains (for example, 30 grains) of brown rice is measured by the electrode rollers 22, 22, and the data is sent to the control device. When the measurement is finished, the sample inlet 21 is closed.
[0021]
In the control device, the obtained moisture amount data is averaged to obtain the average moisture amount. Next, the corrected rotational speed of the resistance motor 35 is calculated based on the average moisture content. As shown in the graph of FIG. 9, the correction rotation speed is 0 rotation in the standard region where the moisture content is 14 to 16%, and becomes a negative rotation speed on the side of decreasing the resistance force as it increases from 16%, and as it decreases from 14%. It becomes a positive rotation speed on the side of increasing the resistance force. For example, if the amount of water is 17%, it is minus 4 rotations. The controller applies a correction rotation speed command to the resistance motor 35, and the resistance motor 35 rotates by that amount, so that the resistance force of the resistance plate 31 is adjusted to match the moisture content of the brown rice before rice milling begins. Is done. The water content data is displayed on the display unit 11 on the operation panel 6.
[0022]
When the brown rice is conveyed and collected in the hopper 25 of the rice milling device 4, the rice milling sensor 26 in the hopper 25 is turned on to detect the brown rice, and in response to this, the rice milling device 4 and the collecting fan 42 are started to start the rice polishing. The milled rice is stored in the white rice storage tank 5 through the chute 45, but a part of it is taken into the taste meter 9 from the sample intake 48 and the taste data is measured. The taste data is sent to the control device of the coin milling machine, displayed on the display unit 11 of the operation panel 6, printed by the printer 10, and provided to the user. The rice milling device 4 polishes all the brown rice that has been taken in. When the rice milling sensor 26 is turned off, the rice milling device 4 and the remaining devices (the bucket conveyor 18, the stone removing device 3, and the collecting fan 42) are stopped all at once, “0” is displayed on the indicator lamp 47, the origin return of the resistance motor 35 is performed, and all operations are completed.
[0023]
In the embodiment described here, the moisture measuring device and the taste meter are provided separately, but since the moisture meter can also measure the moisture content of brown rice, the moisture measuring device is provided if the taste meter is provided in the brown rice transport path. It becomes unnecessary.
[0024]
【The invention's effect】
In the present invention, the coin milling machine according to the first aspect of the present invention measures the amount of water contained in the brown rice before milling with the moisture measuring device, and based on this, the resistance of the rice milling device is corrected. Regardless of the amount of water, the rice milling can be performed to the degree of milling as desired by the customer, and the rice milling machine does not cause rice stuffing.
[0025]
Furthermore, according to the present invention with a taste meter 9 to measure the taste data and the moisture content of rice, by displaying the taste data and the moisture content was measured by taste meter printing by the printer, or a display unit, customer Can obtain objective and effective information on the quality and physical properties of the polished rice at the same time as the polished rice, which will be an effective judgment material when selecting rice in the future.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a coin rice mill according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a coin rice mill according to the present invention as viewed from above.
3A and 3B are schematic views showing the structure of a moisture measuring device.
FIG. 4) Schematic diagram showing the structure of the milling part of the rice milling apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a front view showing an example of an operation panel.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a control system of a coin rice mill according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the operating status of a coin rice mill according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a continuation of the flowchart shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 is a graph showing the relationship between the amount of water contained in brown rice and the corrected rotational speed of the resistance motor.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Brown rice input hopper 2 Brown rice conveyance device 3 Stone removal device 4 Rice milling device 5 White rice storage tank 6 Operation panel 7 Whiteness switch 8 Moisture measuring device 9 Taste meter 10 Printer 11 Display part

Claims (3)

A brown rice transfer device (2), a stone removing device (3), a rice milling device (4), a white rice storage tank (5), and a control device for controlling them are provided to communicate with the brown rice charging hopper (1). ) In a coin milling machine that can automatically mill different milling degrees according to the operation information of the plurality of whiteness switches (7) provided above,
A moisture measuring device (8) for measuring the amount of moisture contained in brown rice is provided,
The moisture measuring device (8) includes two electrode rollers (22, 22) arranged to contact each other,
The electrode rollers (22, 22) measure the water content per grain while rotating inward with respect to each other, and rotate outward when the predetermined number of grains is measured,
The control device increases the resistance to the milling resistance by the resistance plate (31) of the rice milling device (4) as the moisture data obtained by the moisture measuring device (8) increases from the reference moisture content. The coin rice mill is characterized in that it performs a correction to increase the resistance as the water content data obtained by the water measuring device (8) decreases from the reference water content .   The moisture measuring device (8) has a sample inlet (21), opens the sample inlet (21) to take in brown rice, and when the measurement of the moisture content of the brown rice is finished, the sample inlet (21). The coin milling machine according to claim 1, wherein The coin rice mill according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the moisture content of the brown rice measured by the moisture measuring device (8) is displayed on a display unit (11) provided on the operation panel (6).

Images