JP5180681B2 - Continuous production method and apparatus for strip or dice food - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for continuously producing a plate-like food having a low hardness such as cheese, butter, oily food, kamaboko or other kneaded food in a strip shape or a dice shape, and an apparatus for carrying out the method.

Examples of the plate-like food that is continuously produced in a strip shape or a dice shape while being transferred include cheese. There is not much demand for appropriately cutting the cheeses that have been melted by heating them into a thin plate, cooling them, and solidifying them. As a conventional technique for cutting such a plate-like food while cutting it into a strip or dice, a process of forming a sheet by dispersing fluid food on a rotating roll, and longitudinally cutting the sheet A method of dividing a food comprising a step of forming a plurality of adjacent longitudinal strips and a step of cutting the longitudinal strips so as to form flakes of a desired length and width (see, for example, Patent Document 1); A conveyor assembly having a feed belt for supporting and transporting a severable article; and a rotatable feed roll disposed in the vicinity of the outlet of the feed belt so as to be engageable with the article. A substantially cylindrical rotary blade unit having a plurality of cutting machines for cutting (see, for example, Patent Document 2), a plurality of thin disk-like rotary rotary blades with sharp tips, and the respective times A plate-like food manufacturing apparatus provided with a substantially cylindrical holding roll unit or the like provided with a concave groove surrounding the tip portion in a ring shape at a position corresponding to the tip portion of the blade (see, for example, Patent Document 3) ) Etc. are disclosed.
Also disclosed is a heating-type cutting device for cutting so that a cut end portion is not frayed when cutting a sheet-like material such as a non-woven sheet made of synthetic fiber or a resin film while heat welding. (For example, see Patent Document 4).

JP 47-14372 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-152793 JP 2003-39382 A JP-A-11-198091

However, the method described in JP-A-47-14372 (Patent Document 1) does not have a mechanism for discharging the cut cheese from the blade, and cuts food with high adhesion or cuts food into small pieces. In this case, the food is attached to the cutting blade, and the non-uniformity and deformation of the cutting shape, clogging of the food, etc. cannot be avoided. Moreover, the method (patent document 2) described in JP-A-2-152793 is intended to cut raw meat or frozen meat in a dice shape, such as cheese, butter, oily food, kamaboko, etc. When a plate-like food with low hardness, such as kneaded food, is cut, the food adheres to the cutting blade, and it is inevitable that the cutting shape is uneven or deformed, and the food is clogged. In addition, the method described in JP-A-2003-39382 (Patent Document 3) cuts a plate-like food into strips and then cuts it with a cutting blade that reciprocates substantially perpendicularly to the direction of transport of the strip-like plate-like food. However, in general, it is difficult to increase the speed of reciprocating cutting blades, and when food is cut into small pieces or cut at high speed, food adheres to the reciprocating cutting blades, causing deformation and food. Clogging occurs.
Furthermore, the heating type cutting device (Patent Document 4) described in JP-A-11-198091 is a method of cutting a sheet shape such as a non-woven sheet made of synthetic resin or a resin film, and is not related to food. In addition, since it is reported that the heating temperature is preferably 300 ° C. or higher, it cannot be diverted to the dice food of the present invention.
Due to the problems of the prior art as described above, the present invention prevents sticking to the blade, deformation, clogging of food, etc., and continuously plate-like or strip-like food in strips or dice at high speed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a manufacturing method and an apparatus for performing the method.

  As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have developed the apparatus of the present invention and have completed the present invention.

That is, the present invention is an apparatus for cutting a plate-like or strip-like food in a direction transverse to the transfer direction, a rotary blade that circularly moves so that the food can be cut in a substantially vertical direction from the downstream side in the transfer direction, A processing plate for placing the food on the upstream side of the cutting position of the food by the rotary blade is provided , and the clearance between the rotary blade and the tip surface of the processing plate is 0.1 mm to 1 mm, Even when the food is scattered outside the orbit of the rotary blade due to the impact of the rotary blade, the food having a thick shape in the upstream direction in a side view so as not to collide with the food is continuously cut. Features.
The continuous production apparatus for strip-shaped or dice-like food of the present invention includes a heating mechanism in the rotary blade, and when the temperature of the rotary blade is maintained at 20 ° C. or higher and 75 ° C. or lower, food does not adhere to the rotary blade.
Furthermore, the present invention is a method of cutting a plate-like or strip-like food in a direction transverse to the transfer direction, transferring the food and placing it on a processed plate, and circularly moving the food from the downstream side in the transfer direction. With the rotary blade, the clearance between the rotary blade and the tip surface of the processed plate is set to 0.1 mm or more and 1 mm or less from a substantially vertical direction, and the cut food is caused by the impact of the rotary blade. This is a continuous manufacturing method of strip-shaped or dice-shaped foods in which the processed plate is thick in the upstream direction in a side view so that it does not collide with the food even when scattered outside the track of the rotary blade. .
In this case, when the food is cut by heating the temperature of the rotary blade to 20 ° C. or higher and 75 ° C. or lower, the food does not adhere to the rotary blade.

The present invention provides the following effects by including the following configuration.
That is, according to the plate-shaped or strip-shaped food manufacturing apparatus or method of the present invention, the supplied plate-shaped or strip-shaped food is transferred while being placed on the processed plate, and is rotated from the substantially vertical direction downstream in the transfer direction. The cutting is done. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the food from adhering to the rotary blade by flipping off the food using the tip of the processed plate as a fulcrum by the impact of the rotary blade during food cutting.
In this case, the clearance between the rotary blade and the tip surface of the processed plate is set to be 0.1 mm or more and 1 mm or less, and the clearance is set narrow, so that the cut surface of the food becomes smooth and the cutting is stable.
In addition, the processed plate has a thick shape in the upstream direction in a side view so that the food does not collide with food even when the food is scattered outside the orbit of the rotary blade due to the impact of the rotary blade. The normal product rate of food is improved.
Also, by cutting while heating the rotary blade, part of the fats and oils in the food dissolves during food cutting and acts as a lubricating oil for the rotary blade and food to prevent the food from adhering to the rotary blade. This can further prevent and further stabilize the cutting of food.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. The present invention is `` a device for cutting plate-like or strip-like food in a direction transverse to the transfer direction, and a rotary blade that circularly moves so that the food can be cut in a substantially vertical direction from the downstream side in the transfer direction; A processed plate for placing the food on the upstream side of the cutting position of the food by the rotary blade is provided , and the clearance between the rotary blade and the tip surface of the processed plate is 0.1 mm to 1 mm, In addition, even when the food is scattered outside the track of the rotary blade due to the impact of the rotary blade, the food having a thick shape in the upstream direction in a side view so as not to collide with the food is continuously cut. A continuous production apparatus for strip-shaped or dice-shaped foods characterized by the above "(50-53, 60). As an example of the apparatus, an apparatus in which a circular blade unit (20) and a press roll unit (30) are installed. Explain with. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
In addition, the present invention provides a method for continuously producing a plate-like food with low hardness such as cheese, butter, oily food, kamaboko and other kneaded foods in a strip shape or a dice shape, and an apparatus for carrying out the method However, here, cheeses that have been heated and melted will be described as an example.

  The cheese melted by heating is extruded into a thin plate shape and cooled and solidified by a rotary cooling and conveying device or the like. The cheeses (10) solidified in a plate shape may be formed into a strip shape by a circular blade unit or the like. In this case, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-39382), the plate cheese is transferred between the circular blade unit (20) and the press roll unit (30) to form a strip. To do.

  The circular blade unit (20) includes a substantially cylindrical rotating body (22) that rotates about an axis (21). The rotating body (22) is provided with a plurality of thin disk-shaped circular blades (23) having sharp edges on the same axis. The tip (23a) of the circular blade (23) is sharply pointed as shown in FIG.

  The holding roll unit (30) includes a substantially cylindrical rotating body (32) that rotates about an axis (31), similarly to the rotating body (22) of the circular blade unit (20). These two rotating bodies (22) and (32) are arranged in close proximity and in parallel as follows. That is, a plurality of concave grooves (33) are coaxially installed in the rotating body (32) of the press roll unit (30), similarly to the circular blade (23) of the circular blade unit (20). As shown in FIG. 2, the concave groove (33) is disposed at a position corresponding to the tip (23a) of each circular blade (23), and as shown in FIG. 3, the tip of the circular blade (23). It is a ring shape surrounding the part (23a) in a separated state.

  The plate-like cheeses (10) transferred between the rotary body (22) of the circular blade unit (20) and the rotary body (32) of the holding roll unit (30) are both rotary bodies (22) ( During the transfer along with the rotation of 32), the circular blade (23) is sandwiched between the tip (23a) and the groove (33) and cut. Thereby, plate-shaped cheeses (10) are cut | disconnected in strip shape.

  Here, the width of the circular blade (23) is preferably designed to be about 5% or less of the interval between the adjacent circular blades (23) (23). For example, when the width of the plate-like cheeses (10) is 5 mm, the setting of this value corresponds to setting the width of the circular blade (23) to 0.25 mm or less. When cut with such a thin circular blade (23), the compression of the cheeses (10) is suppressed to a minute. Therefore, the compaction with respect to the circular blade (23) is reduced, the deformation at the time of cutting is reduced, the edge stands and the cut surface becomes uniform, and the generation of chips is prevented.

  Since the cheeses (10) are compressed very little, the adhesion force to the circular blade (23) can be kept small, but the adhesion may not be completely prevented. Moreover, after cutting, the cut surfaces of strip-shaped cheeses (10) adjacent to each other may come close to each other and adhere to each other. Therefore, the cheeses (10) cut into strips are actively peeled off from the circular blade (23), and a discharge scraper (40) is installed to prevent the cut surfaces of the cheeses (10) from adhering to each other. .

  The discharge scraper (40) is comb-shaped with a plurality of protrusions (41) at the tip. The tip of each protrusion (41) is disposed at an intermediate position between the circular blades (23) and (23) adjacent to each other. And as shown in FIG. 1, it is designed so that the protrusions (41) (41) adjacent to each other may have different lengths. Therefore, the striped cheeses (10) and (10 ′) adjacent to each other are out of contact with the protrusions (41) and (41), and the discharge angles of the (10) and (10 ′) are different. The cut surfaces are prevented from coming into contact with each other.

  A rotary blade unit (50), a processed plate (60), and a presser roller (70) are provided downstream of the discharge scraper (40) in the transfer direction. As a result, the plate-shaped or strip-shaped cheeses (10 ') are cut into strip-shaped or dice-shaped cheeses (10 ").

The rotary blade unit (50) has an elongated rotary blade (51) fixed to the width of the plate-like or strip-like cheese (10 ′) at the tip of the support column (52) supported by the rotary shaft (53). Has been.
The rotary blade (51) is a single-edged straight blade in which the outer side of the circular orbit of the blade edge is a vertical plane, and is fixed to the tip portion of the column (52). The support (52) is provided to fix the rotary blade (51) to prevent deformation of the rotary blade (51) during food cutting, and the shape and number are not particularly limited. In addition, since the rotary blade is provided on the downstream side in the transfer direction from the processing plate (60), which will be described later, and moves circularly by the support column (52), and the circular orbit outer side of the blade edge is a vertical plane, The food placed and transferred on the processed plate (60) can be cut in a substantially vertical direction. Thereby, a plate-shaped or strip-shaped food can be cut | disconnected to a horizontal direction with respect to the transfer direction, and a food can be cut | disconnected in strip shape or a dice shape.
Furthermore, the rotating shaft (53) is rotated by a driving device such as a motor. The number of rotary blades (51) that rotate about the rotary shaft (53) is not particularly limited, and can be arranged coaxially along the rotary shaft as necessary. In that case, it is preferable to provide an even number from the viewpoint of the rotational stability of the rotating shaft (53). The rotational speed can also be selected as necessary, and the shape of the cut cheese (10 ″) can be changed by changing the rotational speed.

The processed plate (60) is installed for the purpose of supporting the cheese from below when cutting the plate-shaped or strip-shaped cheese, and the food is placed on the processed plate and transferred. Smooth cheeses (10 ')
In order to transfer the sheet, it is desirable that the processed plate is made of a material having good slipperiness. Moreover, it is also possible to give surface coating as needed. Rotary blade unit (50) and processed plate (6
The clearance of the tip surface of 0) is preferably narrowed, and preferably 0.1 mm or more and 1 mm or less. When the clearance between the rotary blade (51) and the tip surface of the processed plate (60) is 1 mm or more, the shape of the cut cheese (10 ″) is deteriorated and chips are generated. On the other hand, it is difficult to reduce the thickness to 0.1 mm or less, and there is a risk of generation of metal pieces due to contact between the rotary blade (51) and the processed plate (60). Thus, by setting the clearance between the tip surface of the processed plate (60) and the rotary blade (51) to be narrow, the cut surface of the cut cheese (10 ″) becomes smooth and the cutting is stable. The shape of the processed plate (60) is that the cut cheeses (10 ″) are scattered outside the orbit of the rotary blade (51) by the impact of the rotary blade (51), and thus the scattered cheeses (10 '') It is preferable to have a shape that does not hit.

  The pressing roller (70) is a cylindrical roller that is installed for the purpose of suppressing the lifting of the plate-shaped or strip-shaped cheese (10 ') due to an impact at the time of cutting. Moreover, there is also an effect of adjusting the height position of the strip-shaped cheeses (10 ') discharged at different angles by the discharge scraper (40). The pressing roller (70) may be driven to rotate as necessary to contribute to stable feeding of the plate-shaped and strip-shaped cheeses (10 ′). The circular blade unit (20) and the rotary blade unit (50 ) May be installed between.

Moreover, it is effective to heat the rotary blade (51) for the purpose of preventing the cheeses (10 ″) from adhering to the rotary blade (51) and stabilizing the cutting. In this case, the rotary blade (51) is effective. The temperature is preferably maintained at 20 ° C. or higher and 75 ° C. or lower. When the temperature of the rotary blade (51) is less than 20 ° C., the heating effect is poor, and when it is higher than 75 ° C., the protein in the food is dissolved by heat and the food adheres to the rotary blade (51). The method for heating the blade is not particularly limited, but for example, a method of heating with a heater from the outside of the rotating track, a method of heating the rotating blade (51) by installing a heating wire, and a rotating shaft (53) It is possible to select a method for blowing the hot air sent in a hollow shape onto the rotary blade (51) from the inside.
Furthermore, the temperature of the rotary blade is more preferably selected as the optimum temperature at which the normal product rate is highest and the cutting is stable in the range of 20 ° C. or higher and 75 ° C. or lower depending on the characteristics of the cheese to be cut. In that case, the percentage of normal products of the cut cheese is desirably 96% or more, and more desirably 98% or more. When the normal product rate is less than 96%, unsatisfactory cheese becomes noticeable in the obtained dice cheese, which is not preferable.
In addition, the normal product in this invention refers to what was correctly cut | disconnected by the rectangular parallelepiped of the target magnitude | size. Chip refers to a small piece of cutting waste generated in the cutting process with at least one side having a length of 1 mm or less. A defective shape means a product that is less than the target size, or that has a different size and shape from the target cube.
The normal product rate, chips and defective product rate are calculated by measuring the weight ratio after separating the samples collected during cutting into normal products, chips and defective products by a trained paneler. did.

  The following examples and test examples illustrate the present invention in more detail, but these are merely illustrative.

  Process cheeses having the composition shown in Table 1 were prepared in a plate shape having a thickness of about 4 mm, and then cut into dice using a production line incorporating the apparatus shown in FIG. The temperature of the rotary blade was 20 ° C.

  As a result, the plate-shaped process cheese is cut into strips by the circular blade unit (20) and the holding roll unit (30), discharged by the discharge scraper (40), and then formed into a die by the rotary blade unit (50). disconnected. The cut surface was sharp, no adhesion to the rotary blade (51) was observed, and 200 kg per hour of die-shaped process cheese could be stably produced. The normal rate of the obtained die-shaped process cheese was 96.0%, and the rate of chips and defective products was 4.0%.

  After preparing the processed cheese shown in Table 1 into a plate shape having a thickness of about 4 mm, the rotary blade (51) was heated to 26 ° C. using a production line incorporating the apparatus shown in FIG. Disconnected. The conditions were the same as in Example 1 except for the heating of the rotary blade.

  As a result, the plate-shaped process cheese is cut into strips by the circular blade unit (20) and the holding roll unit (30), discharged by the discharge scraper (40), and then formed into a die by the rotary blade unit (50). disconnected. The cut surface was sharp, no adhesion to the rotary blade (51) was observed, and 200 kg per hour of die-shaped process cheese could be stably produced. The normal rate of the obtained die-shaped processed cheese was 98.5%, and the rate of chips and defective products was 1.5%.

  After preparing the processed cheese shown in Table 1 into a plate having a thickness of about 4 mm, the rotary blade (51) was heated to 45 ° C. using a production line incorporating the apparatus shown in FIG. Disconnected. The conditions were the same as in Example 1 except for the heating of the rotary blade.

  As a result, the plate-shaped process cheese is cut into strips by the circular blade unit (20) and the holding roll unit (30), discharged by the discharge scraper (40), and then formed into a die by the rotary blade unit (50). disconnected. The cut surface was sharp, no adhesion to the rotary blade (51) was observed, and 200 kg per hour of die-shaped process cheese could be stably produced. The normal rate of the obtained die-shaped processed cheese was 99.5%, and the rate of chips and defective products was 0.5%.

After preparing the processed cheese shown in Table 1 into a plate having a thickness of about 4 mm, the rotary blade (51) was heated to 75 ° C. using a production line incorporating the apparatus shown in FIG. Disconnected. The conditions were the same as in Example 1 except for the heating of the rotary blade.
As a result, the plate-shaped process cheese is cut into strips by the circular blade unit (20) and the holding roll unit (30), discharged by the discharge scraper (40), and then formed into a die by the rotary blade unit (50). disconnected. The cut surface was sharp, no adhesion to the rotary blade (51) was observed, and 200 kg per hour of die-shaped process cheese could be stably produced. The normal rate of the obtained die-shaped processed cheese was 96.5%, and the rate of chips and defective products was 3.5%.

[Comparative Example 1]
After preparing the processed cheese having the composition shown in Table 1 into a plate shape having a thickness of about 4 mm, the rotary blade (51) was kept at 15 ° C. and cut into dies using a production line incorporating the apparatus of FIG. . The conditions were the same as in Example 1 except for the heating of the rotary blade.

  As a result, the plate-shaped process cheese is cut into strips by the circular blade unit (20) and the holding roll unit (30), discharged by the discharge scraper (40), and then formed into a die by the rotary blade unit (50). Although it was cut, a part of the cheese bite into the rotating blade (51) during the cutting, and the cutting became unstable, making it impossible to stably manufacture the die-shaped process cheese. The normal product rate of the obtained die-shaped process cheese was 93.2%, and the rate of chips and defective products was 6.8%.

[Comparative Example 2]
After preparing processed cheese with the composition shown in Table 1 into a plate shape with a thickness of about 4 mm, the rotary blade (51) is heated to 80 ° C. and cut into dice using the production line incorporating the device of FIG. did. The conditions were the same as in Example 1 except for the heating of the rotary blade.

  As a result, the plate-shaped process cheese is cut into strips by the circular blade unit (20) and the holding roll unit (30), discharged by the discharge scraper (40), and then formed into a die by the rotary blade unit (50). Although cut | disconnected, a part of cheese melt | dissolved at the time of a cutting | disconnection, and it adhered to the rotary blade (51), and the stable manufacture of die-shaped process cheese was not made. The normal rate of the obtained die-shaped processed cheese was 90.0%, and the rate of chips and defective products was 10.0%.

  The results of Examples 1 to 4 and Comparative Examples 1 and 2 are as shown in Table 2 below.

Side explanatory view showing the main part of the present invention Plane explanatory view showing the main parts of the circular blade unit and the holding roll unit Partial enlarged view of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10 ′, 10 ″ cheese 20 Circular blade unit 30 Pressing roll unit 40 Discharging scraper 41 Projection body 50 Rotary blade unit 51 Rotary blade 52 Post 53 Rotary shaft 60 Work plate 70 Pressing roller

Claims (4)

An apparatus for cutting a plate-like or strip-like food in a direction transverse to the transfer direction, a rotary blade that circularly moves the food so as to be cut in a substantially vertical direction from the downstream side in the transfer direction, and the food of the food by the rotary blade Provided with a processed plate for placing the food on the upstream side of the cutting position, the clearance between the rotary blade and the front end surface of the processed plate is 0.1 mm or more and 1 mm or less, and the processed plate is such that the food is the rotary blade In the case where the food is scattered outside the orbit of the rotary blade due to the impact of the strip , the food having a thick shape in the upstream direction in a side view so as not to collide with the food is continuously cut or Continuous production equipment for dice food.   The continuous production apparatus for strip-shaped or dice-shaped food according to claim 1, wherein the rotary blade is provided with a heating mechanism, and the temperature of the rotary blade is maintained at 20 ° C or higher and 75 ° C or lower. A method for cutting a plate-shaped or strip-shaped food transversely to the transport direction, is placed on the working plate by transferring the food product, the rotary blade for circular motion foodstuff from the transport direction downstream side, substantially From the vertical direction, the clearance between the rotary blade and the tip surface of the processed plate is set to 0.1 mm or more and 1 mm or less, and the cut food is caused by the impact of the rotary blade. A strip-shaped or dice-shaped food is produced in which the processed plate is thick in the upstream direction in a side view so that it does not collide with the food even when splashed outside. Or the continuous manufacturing method of die-shaped foodstuffs.   The continuous production method of strip-shaped or dice-shaped food according to claim 3, wherein the food is cut by heating the heated rotary blade to a temperature of 20 ° C or higher and 75 ° C or lower.

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