JP5463442B2 - Drying equipment after washing food containers - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a drying technique after washing a food transport thin container such as a pot or a crate container mainly used in the food distribution industry.

  Conventionally, the present applicant has proposed a technique for cleaning a thin transport container called a guard or a crate container used when transporting, for example, bread, confectionery or noodles (Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-23453). In this technology, a thin container is washed with high pressure water and then blown with air toward the thin container, and then air-blown, and then diluted with a vegetable detergent that has a sterilizing effect on the thin container. In addition to spraying, warm air is blown toward the thin container to dry it.

Conventionally, as a technique for cleaning and drying a food transport container, a method of spraying a fluid such as cleaning water or hot air is generally used. For example, an apparatus for a container transported by a transport means such as a belt conveyor. A technique (for example, refer to Patent Document 1) is also known in which a fluid is blown out from nozzles provided in column portions and upper and lower beam portions constituting the skeleton of the box.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-322528

By the way, for the conventional general drying after washing, including the above-mentioned technology, when hot or cold air is blown, a nozzle that blows air or the like in a certain direction is used. There is a problem that water tends to remain and it takes time to completely remove moisture.
On the other hand, the number of crockery containers or crate containers used at convenience stores, etc. is used in large quantities every day, so there are restrictions on the time for washing and drying, and it is unsanitary if moisture remains attached after washing. It was easy to fall into.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a drying technique for reducing the time and cost required for drying after washing a food transporting thin container and further limiting the amount of moisture attached.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a drying device for cleaning a food transporting thin container while transporting it, and then drying the transporting means for transporting the thin container and the cleaning water adhering to the thin container. It is arranged at least vertically and horizontally with respect to the container transport path, and automatically and regularly changes the direction of air jetted vertically and horizontally, obliquely forward and obliquely toward the thin container. A plurality of jetting direction variable nozzles, and a plurality of slit-like nozzles arranged above and below the conveying path and capable of jetting hot air of 60 to 70 ° C. in order to remove cleaning water remaining on the thin container An air ejection hole at the tip of the ejection direction variable nozzle is set in a distance range of 5 to 10 cm from the thin container, and the slit nozzle is In addition, the slit hole of the slit-shaped nozzle is a long hole having a width of at least a thin container width in a direction intersecting the transport direction, and a slit of a hot air blowing device disposed above and below the transport path The holes are arranged in a staggered manner so that the ejection directions from the top and bottom do not overlap, and the ejection direction of the warm air blown up and down from the slit hole of this warm air ejection device is within 10 degrees with respect to the transport direction. It was made to incline at an angle.
And, in the drying method using such a drying apparatus, up and down, left and right and diagonally forward from a plurality of ejection direction variable nozzles arranged at least up and down, left and right with respect to the conveyance path of the thin container, The first washing water removing step for removing the washing water adhering to the thin container by automatically or regularly changing the blowing direction of the air blown obliquely rearward, and this step is completed. A second washing water removing step is provided for removing the remaining washing water by blowing hot air from the slit holes of a plurality of hot air blowing devices arranged above and below the conveyance path toward the thin container .

  Here, the ejection direction variable nozzle is a nozzle that is set so that the ejection direction of air from the nozzle automatically changes. For example, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-253040 as described later, the nozzle A wave nozzle or the like in which air is ejected while the tip moves so as to draw a circular or predetermined pattern orbit is applicable. Moreover, as washing water, in addition to 100% tap water, for example, an aqueous solution containing 3 to 7% of a plant sterilizing solution in tap water is also applicable. It is meant that only water is removed from the diluted solution of the chemical solution adhering to the container surface. And in a 1st washing water removal process, air is sprayed from one simple direction by spraying air, changing the ejection direction of the air blown from all directions from a plurality of ejection direction variable nozzles for every nozzle. In contrast, the amount of water adhering can be greatly reduced, and then, in the second washing water removal process, the hot air is blown out from the slit holes of a plurality of hot air blowing devices, so that it adheres almost completely. To remove moisture.

  At this time, the air ejection holes of the ejection direction variable nozzles disposed on the left and right sides of the transport path are set to be close to the thin container within 15 cm and the air can be ejected in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. By doing so, the water removal efficiency in the first washing water removal step can be extremely increased, and if the warm air blown from the slit hole of the hot air blowing device is set to 60 to 70 ° C., the second The water removal function of the washing water removal step can be sufficiently performed, and the energy saving effect can be enhanced.

At this time, if the slit-like nozzle is provided in the booth, the temperature in the booth increases, and the drying can be performed more efficiently.

Further, the slit hole of the slit-shaped nozzle is a long hole having a length of at least a thin container width in the direction intersecting the transport direction, and the slit hole of the hot air blowing device disposed above and below the transport path is If the arrangement is made so that the ejection directions from above and below do not overlap, hot air can be applied to a precise location without causing turbulence in the sprayed air.
Further, the water removal efficiency can be further improved by inclining the direction of hot air blown up and down from the slit hole of the hot air blowing device at an angle of 0 to 10 degrees with respect to the transport direction. .

As a drying device that cleans the food transport thin container while it is being transported, the transport means for transporting the thin container and the cleaning water adhering to the thin container are removed at least up and down with respect to the transport path of the thin container. A plurality of jetting direction variable nozzles arranged on the left and right and capable of automatically and regularly changing the jetting direction of the air jetted up and down, left and right, diagonally forward and diagonally backward toward the thin container; In order to remove the cleaning water remaining on the thin container, a plurality of slit-like nozzles arranged above and below the conveyance path and capable of blowing hot air of 60 to 70 ° C. are provided, and a plurality of nozzles arranged vertically and horizontally The first washing that removes washing water by automatically changing the ejection direction of the air that is ejected from the ejection direction variable nozzle up and down, left and right, diagonally forward and diagonally backward A water removal step is performed, and then, in the second washing water removal step, the water adhering to the thin container can be almost completely removed by spraying hot air from the slit holes of a plurality of hot air blowing devices, such as a boiler This equipment is also unnecessary, so it is not costly and can be dried efficiently in a short time.
At this time, if the air ejection hole of the ejection direction variable nozzle is set to be close to 5 to 10 cm with respect to the thin container and the air is ejected in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, the water removal efficiency can be improved. In addition, if the warm air of the warm air blowing device is set in the range of 60 to 70 degrees, the remaining water can be sufficiently removed, and the energy saving effect can be enhanced.

In addition, the slit hole of the slit-shaped nozzle is a long hole having a width of at least a thin container width in the direction intersecting the conveyance direction, and the slit hole of the hot air blowing device disposed above and below the conveyance path If it arrange | positions alternately so that the ejection direction from may not overlap, a water | moisture content can be removed more effectively.
In addition, if the direction of the hot air blown up and down from the slit hole of the hot air blowing device is tilted forward at an angle of 0 to 10 degrees with respect to the transport direction, the moisture removal efficiency can be further enhanced. .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Here, FIG. 1 is an overall view of a state in which the drying process according to the present invention is combined with a cleaning process, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the drying process, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing for doing.

  The method and apparatus for drying a food transport thin container according to the present invention can be efficiently dried without spending time or cost after washing while transporting the food transport thin container. Is configured as a drying technology for food transport thin containers for the food industry called pancakes or crate containers.

  This food transport thin container called Pban or crate container is of a size that can be carried by one person, most of which has a height of 15 cm or less, and can be stacked without a lid. For this reason, many holes are often opened. For example, after being used for transportation by a food wholesaler to a food retailer, etc., it is used repeatedly. ing.

Therefore, before describing the drying process of the present invention, an example of the cleaning process of the food transport thin container P will be briefly described.
As shown in FIG. 1, in the washing | cleaning process S, the high pressure water washing | cleaning part A which wash | cleans with the high pressure water which contained about 3-7% of plant sterilization liquids in the tap water toward the downstream from the conveyance path | route upstream When the rinsing part B for performing the rinsing process is provided in order, and the food transport thin container P is transported from the right side on the conveyor v, the high pressure water washing part A sprays and cleans it with high pressure water, Clean water is jetted by the rinse part B. During this time, the action of the plant sterilization solution enhances the sterilization effect against, for example, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus subtilis, and viruses. In addition, this vegetable sanitizing solution may be added to rinse water, and the same sanitizing effect is acquired.

  For this reason, in the high-pressure water washing section A, the washing liquid tank 52 connected to the water heater 51 and containing about 3 to 7% of the vegetative sterilization liquid, and the washing liquid in the washing liquid tank 52 are pumped to the blowing nozzle 53. A high-pressure pump 54 that can be used, a receiving tray 55 that can collect the sprayed cleaning liquid, and the like. The cleaning liquid recovered by the receiving tray 55 is sent again to the blowing nozzle 53 by the high-pressure pump 54 and circulated. I am doing so.

  Further, the rinsing section B is sprayed with a cleaning liquid tank 58 containing about 3 to 7% of a plant sterilizing liquid, a high-pressure pump 59 capable of pumping the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid tank 58 to the blowing nozzle 56, and so on. The rinsing process is performed by a process similar to that of the high-pressure water cleaning unit A.

  An example of the outline of the configuration of the cleaning step S is as described above. In such a cleaning step S, first, when the transport container P is transported to the high-pressure water cleaning unit A, it faces the outer surface of the transport container P. High-pressure water is sprayed from the blowout nozzle 53 to remove mud adhering to the container P, paste marks on shipping labels, foreign matters, and the like. Then, after the high-pressure water washing is completed, the remaining water or the like adhering to the transport container P is cleaned by being transported to the rinsing section B and spraying clean water from the blowout nozzle 56. In the above-described high-pressure water washing and rinsing process, a thin solution of a diluted solution of a chemical solution having a sterilizing effect is applied to almost the entire outer surface of the transport container P.

  The food transport thin container P is cleaned and sterilized by passing through the above-described cleaning process. At this stage, the diluted solution of the chemical solution remains as a film on the surface of the food transport thin container P. Yes. Therefore, the drying process K according to the present invention spends almost all of the water only from the diluted solution of the chemical solution that is formed on the downstream side of the transport path of the cleaning process S and adheres to the surface of the food transport thin container P, and costs and takes time. Not for removal. At this time, it has been confirmed that even if only moisture is removed from the surface of the container P, there is no problem as a sterilizing effect. The outline of the configuration will be described below.

  The drying process K after washing is composed of an upstream first washing water removing section D and a downstream second washing water removing section E, and any of the washing water removing sections D and E is thin. Only the water can be dried from the diluted solution of the chemical solution adhering to the surface of the container P. The details are as shown in FIG.

  Each of the first and second washing water removal units D and E is provided with a conveyor v as a conveying means that is continuous with the conveyor v in the washing step S, and the first washing water removal unit D includes A plurality of ejection direction variable nozzles 1 capable of ejecting air in the vertical direction, the horizontal direction, diagonally forward and downward, and diagonally backward and downward are provided on the top and bottom and the left and right sides of the conveyor v, and the second washing water removing unit In E, a plurality of slit-like nozzles 2 are provided above and below across the conveyor v.

The ejection direction variable nozzle 1 of the first washing water removing unit D is such that the air ejection direction can be ejected while automatically or regularly changing the air ejection direction. In this embodiment, for example, A rotational wave nozzle as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-253040 is used. Here, the outline of the configuration of the rotating wave nozzle will be explained. The elastic tube that can be elastically deformed is covered with a trumpet-shaped cylindrical guide, and the cylindrical guide can be rotated by a rotation support portion on the base end side. The elastic tube is rotated while being bent into an S shape by the reaction of the jet flow by supplying pressurized air into the elastic tube, and the rotation transmission provided on the distal end side of the elastic tube and the outer periphery of the intermediate portion By bringing the portion into close contact with the inner wall of the trumpet-shaped cylindrical guide, the air ejection hole at the tip of the elastic tube is moved while drawing a circular or predetermined pattern trajectory. As a result, when the air flow rate and the wind speed are measured at the same point where the air blow is performed in the vicinity of the nozzle, the strength of the air blow is regular (when the nozzle moves regularly) or irregularly (the nozzle moves irregularly). In this case, it is measured as a undulating wave, and the air flow direction is changed.
Of course, the structure of the nozzle is arbitrary as long as the air ejection direction changes regularly or irregularly.

  An air compressor 4 is connected to the ejection direction variable nozzle 1 via an air header 3. In this embodiment, the air discharge capacity of the air compressor 4 is a pressure of 0.4 MPa or more and an air amount of 4000. By setting the number of ejection direction variable nozzles 1 to about 35 in total, up, down, left and right, the air ejected from one ejection direction variable nozzle 1 is at least about 1100 liters / min. Thus, air can be sprayed regularly or irregularly from almost any direction on the food transport thin container P.

  Further, in this embodiment, the air ejection hole at the tip of the ejection direction variable nozzle 1 disposed on the left and right of the carrying path is brought close to the food transport thin container P within 15 cm, and the food transport thin container P advances. Air can be ejected in a direction perpendicular to the direction. As a result of experimenting by changing the distance of the air ejection hole for ejecting air in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, when the distance exceeds 20 cm, the effect of changes in the air flow rate, wind speed strength, and wind direction is lost and the wind speed is lowered. This is because it was proved that it was inappropriate because of the tendency, and when the distance was within 15 cm, it was confirmed that the amount of moisture adhering after air spraying was greatly reduced. The distance with the highest removal effect was in the range of about 5 cm to 10 cm.

  The second washing water removing section E is provided with a booth 5 that encloses a space other than the carrying path, and in the present embodiment, four slit nozzles 2 are provided above and below the conveyor v in the booth 5 respectively. Provided. Each slit-shaped nozzle 2 is connected to a fan 7 connected to the fan booth heater 6, and the air heated to 60 to 70 degrees by the fan booth heater 6 is used as a slit hole 2 s of the slit-shaped nozzle 2. Can be erupted from.

  The slit hole 2s of the slit-like nozzle 2 is a long hole having at least the width of the thin container P in the direction orthogonal to the carrying path. In this embodiment, the slit width is about 4 mm and The slit holes 2s of the slit-shaped nozzle 2 are staggered so that the air jets from above and below do not overlap.

Also, as shown in FIG. 3, the ejection direction α of the air ejected up and down from the slit hole 2s of each slit-like nozzle 2 is an angle that is perpendicular to the conveyance path or within 10 degrees toward the conveyance direction. It is supposed to be inclined at.
By setting the air blowing direction in this way, it is possible to increase the wind speed and the air volume with respect to the moving food transport thin container P, and at the same time, to reduce the remaining portion of the blown food. It can be effectively removed.

The operation of the drying process K as described above will be described.
After the cleaning process S, when the food transport thin container P having the chemical solution on its surface adheres to the drying process K and is inverted by a reversing machine (not shown), a part of the cleaning liquid adhering to the inside and outside of the container P is It falls downward and is put into the drying process K as it is.

  In the first washing water removal step of the drying step K, the air of each nozzle 1 is directed toward the food transport thin container P by the plurality of jetting direction variable nozzles 1 from the vertical and horizontal directions, diagonally forward, and diagonally rearward. Air is jetted while automatically changing the jetting direction to remove cleaning water adhering to the surface. By carrying out like this, the whole surface will be blown off with air from all directions, and most of the water | moisture adhering can be removed.

  Thereafter, the food transport thin container P is transported to the second washing water removing section E where the second washing water removing step is performed. In this second washing water removing step, the upper and lower slit nozzles 2 to 60 to 70 are used. Residual moisture is removed by spraying hot air of ℃. At this time, the air jetted up and down from the slit holes 2s of the respective slit-like nozzles 2 is made not to overlap each other, and the jet direction α of the air jetted from the slit holes 2s is set at an angle of 0 to 10 degrees. Therefore, it can be removed more efficiently. Moreover, since the periphery is enclosed by the booth 5, the temperature in the booth 5 rises and it is useful for raising the drying speed.

  In addition, when drying according to the above procedure, the conveyance speed by the conveyor v cannot be ignored. Generally, when the conveyance speed is increased, the amount of moisture adhering to the food transport thin container P through the drying step K increases. However, when the conveyance speed is lowered, the amount of moisture attached decreases, but as a result of testing with a predetermined amount of moisture attached to the thin container P, the speed of the conveyor v is about 2000 pieces of food conveying thin containers P per hour. When set to a speed at which processing can be performed, the amount of moisture adhering to the final food transport thin container P is set to 10 g or less, and the speed of the conveyor v is set to a speed at which about 500 food transport thin containers P can be processed per hour. In this case, it has been confirmed that the amount of moisture adhering to the final food transport thin container P can be reduced to 1.0 g or less.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Those having substantially the same configuration as the matters described in the claims of the present invention and having the same operational effects belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

  When washing and drying a thin container for food transportation, cost and time can be greatly reduced and a high moisture removal effect can be obtained.For example, by combining with the cleaning technology proposed by the applicant, food distribution High effect in the industry.

Overall view of a state in which the drying process according to the present invention is combined with a cleaning process Explanatory drawing of the drying process which concerns on this invention Explanatory drawing for demonstrating the ejection direction of the air ejected from the slit hole of a slit-shaped nozzle

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Jetting direction variable nozzle, 2 ... Slit-shaped nozzle, 2s ... Slit hole, 5 ... Booth.

Claims (1)

A drying apparatus for cleaning a food transport thin container and then drying it, and at least up, down, left and right with respect to the transport path of the thin container in order to remove transport means for transporting the thin container and cleaning water adhering to the thin container A plurality of jetting direction variable nozzles that can be automatically and regularly or irregularly changed the jetting direction of the air jetted in the vertical and horizontal directions and diagonally forward and diagonally backward toward the thin container; In order to remove the cleaning water remaining on the thin container, it is provided with a plurality of slit-like nozzles arranged above and below the conveying path and capable of jetting hot air of 60 to 70 ° C. The air ejection hole is set within a distance range of 5 to 10 cm from the thin container, the slit nozzle is provided in the booth, and a slit of the slit nozzle is provided. The hole is a long hole having a width of at least a thin container width in a direction intersecting the transport direction, and the slit holes of the hot air spray device disposed above and below the transport path overlap with the top and bottom jet directions. The food transport is characterized by being arranged in a staggered manner so that the direction of the hot air blown up and down from the slit hole of the hot air blow-out device is inclined at an angle of 10 degrees or less with respect to the carrying direction. Drying equipment after washing thin containers.

Images