JP5486511B2 - Freezer equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a freezer capable of continuously cooling or freezing a material to be cooled, particularly fresh food or the like while being conveyed by a conveyor belt in a cooling space, and in particular, a housing is made compact and disassembled. The present invention relates to a freezer device that can be stored in a container.

  A conventional food freezing apparatus is provided with a conveyor for transporting food to be frozen in a freezing room, and a plurality of cold air circulation devices including a freezer unit, an air cooler and a blower are arranged in the upper space of the freezing room, Thus, the cool air is convectively circulated toward the conveyor surface. In this way, continuous freezing processing can be performed while conveying the food to be frozen on the conveyor, and the processing efficiency can be improved. In addition, a cold air impact jet is applied to the food to be frozen to improve the cold air effect.

  The present applicant has proposed such a continuous conveyance type freezer device (Patent Document 1). This device sprays a cold impinging jet from a slit nozzle having a funnel-shaped cross section onto the food to be frozen, and forms a thin film flow of cold air in close contact with the surface of the food to be frozen by the Coanda effect, thereby obtaining a high cooling effect. It is what I did. The outline of the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 14, the freezer apparatus 100 has a cooling space s formed inside a sealed housing 102 constituted by a heat insulating wall 104. The partition wall of the hermetic housing 102 is provided with inspection doors 106, 108, and 110 that can be opened and closed. A conveyor belt 112 that conveys the food to be frozen w is disposed in the sealed housing 102. The conveyor belt 112 is configured by an endless belt including an outward path 112a and a return path 112b.

  An upper cold air injection section 114 is provided above the forward path 112a, and a lower cold air injection section 116 is provided below the forward path 112a. An air cooler 118 is provided inside the side wall of the hermetic housing 102, and a blower (sirocco fan) 120 is provided above the air cooler 118. Refrigerant or brine is supplied to the air cooler 118 from a refrigerator unit (not shown) provided outside the hermetic housing 102 to cool the air in the cabinet. The cooled internal air c is sent to the upper cold air injection unit 114 and the lower cold air injection unit 116 by the blower 120.

  As shown in FIG. 15, the upper cold air injection unit 114 is integrally provided with slit nozzles 124 having a plurality of funnel-shaped cross-sections arranged below the nozzle unit 122 in the conveyance direction a of the food to be frozen w. Yes. Each slit nozzle 124 extends in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction a of the food to be frozen w, and includes an accelerating unit 126 having a funnel-shaped cross section and a rectifying unit (running unit) 128 having the same flow path area. It is configured. The jet port provided at the tip of the rectifying unit 128 forms a slit-shaped opening directed in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction a.

  The cold air c sent to the upper cold air injection unit 114 is accelerated by the acceleration unit 126, rectified by the rectification unit 128, and then perpendicular to the frozen food w placed on the belt surface of the forward path 112a of the conveyor belt 112. Be sprayed. Since the impinging jet r sprayed on the food to be frozen w forms a thin film flow t that is in close contact with the surface of the food to be frozen w by the Counder effect, the cooling effect of the food to be frozen w can be improved.

  Similarly to the upper cold air injection unit 114, the lower cold air injection unit 116 is also provided with a plurality of slit nozzles 132 including an acceleration unit 134 having a chevron cross section and a rectifying unit 136, and the belt of the forward path 112a. A collision jet r is jetted toward the back of the body. The cold air after cooling the to-be-frozen food w passes through the exhaust space e formed between the slit nozzles, is discharged in the width direction of the conveyor belt, and then forms a circulating flow that reaches the air cooler 118.

  The configuration of the belt body of the conveyor belt 112 includes a case where a large number of pores are provided to improve the circulation effect of the cold air r sprayed from above and below, and the heat transfer property such as stainless steel. In some cases, the food to be frozen w is cooled with a belt body that is made of a good material and cooled with cold air r to enhance the cooling effect.

International Publication WO2006 / 046317

The conveyor belt that conveys the object to be cooled needs a width dimension of a certain degree or more from the viewpoint of processing capability. As shown in FIG. 14, in the conventional freezer apparatus, since the air cooler 118 is arranged in the lateral direction of the conveyor belt, the width of the housing is large.
In addition, since the blower 120 is disposed above the air cooler to form a cold air flow from the top to the bottom, it is necessary to form a large positive pressure space for rectification of the cold air flow. Moreover, since the upper cold air injection part 114 and the lower cold air injection part 116 provided with the slit nozzle which has a funnel-shaped cross section are arrange | positioned at the upper and lower sides of a conveyor belt, these installation space had to be taken large.

  Further, since the return path of the conveyor belt is disposed in the cooling space, the height of the housing must be increased accordingly. In a conventional freezer apparatus, a duct for forming a cold air circulation flow protrudes from side to side. For these reasons, for example, the size of the internal volume of a container that can be transported by a truck or the like is 40 feet (12 m) long × 2.3 m wide × 2.5 m high. Could not be accommodated in a large container. Therefore, since it was disassembled and transported and reassembled on site, time wasted and the performance after reassembly was not stable.

  In addition, since the lower cold air injection section is provided with a slit nozzle having a complicated structure, the cleaning performance is poor, and there are some problems in maintenance and sanitary properties. Furthermore, since a positive pressure space having a pressure higher than the outside air is provided above the cooling space, a positive pressure is applied to the inspection door provided facing the positive pressure space. Therefore, there is a problem that opening the inspection door during operation is dangerous and the durability of the inspection door is lowered.

Moreover, in order to reduce the installation space of a conveyor belt, the diameter of the rotating drum which drives a conveyor belt must be made small. Therefore, considering the metal fatigue of the belt body made of a steel belt or the like, the plate thickness of the conveyor belt is increased (about 1 mm), but this increases the thermal load of the belt body and makes it difficult to cool, The cost of the conveyor belt is also increased.
In addition, a meandering prevention device is provided in the return path of the conveyor belt, but this meandering prevention device may freeze and cannot perform its original function.

  In view of the problems of the prior art, a first object of the present invention is to realize a freezer apparatus that is compact in housing and can be accommodated in a container, and does not require disassembly and transportation and on-site reassembly. It is a second object of the present invention to reduce the positive pressure space higher than the outside air in the cooling space, eliminate the danger of opening and closing the inspection door, and improve the durability of the inspection door.

In order to solve such a problem, the freezer apparatus of the present invention is:
A housing forming a horizontally long cooling space surrounded by a heat insulating wall, a conveyor belt for conveying an object to be cooled disposed in the longitudinal direction of the housing, an air cooler and a blower forming a cold air circulation flow in the cooling space A freezer device comprising a cold air circulation device comprising: a continuous processing of cooling or freezing the object to be cooled;
The conveyor belt is disposed in the positive pressure chamber and has both ends connected to the outside on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the housing, and both ends are connected to both ends of the outbound path and are located below the bottom wall of the housing. Is an endless belt consisting of a return path arranged in
Furthermore, the housing has a rectangular cross section, and is provided in an upper region of the cross section, and the negative pressure chamber in which the air cooler and the blower are arranged adjacently to form a negative pressure space;
A slit nozzle-like cold air jet that is provided in a lower region of the negative pressure chamber, forms a positive pressure space by being supplied with cold air from the blower, and injects cold air toward the upper surface of the conveyor belt from the upper direction of the forward path A positive pressure chamber provided with a portion,
In the housing below the forward path of the conveyor belt, a lower cold air jet part having an upper surface formed in a flat surface along the back surface of the forward path,
A return flow of cold air provided in a side region of the negative pressure chamber and the positive pressure chamber, which receives the cold air after being cooled in the positive pressure chamber and returns the received cold air to the negative pressure chamber A normal pressure maintenance space to form a
The lower cold air injection section is provided above the upper surface of the return path , and the flat upper surface facing the back surface of the forward path is supplied from the blower toward the lower surface of the conveyor belt from the lower direction of the forward path. It consists flat box-shaped casing large number of cold Kibuki outlet bored for injecting, whereas the negative pressure chamber, an air condenser with an outlet to the blower disposing space side has an inlet into the maintenance space side, blowing outlet With a blower arranged downward toward the positive pressure chamber in the lower region of the negative pressure chamber, taking in air from the maintenance space, and blowing out the cool air cooled through the air cooler toward the positive pressure chamber in the lower region It is configured.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, the blower and the air cooler are disposed adjacent to each other in the negative pressure chamber, the space of the negative pressure chamber is reduced, the housing has a rectangular cross section, and the negative pressure chamber is disposed in the upper part of the inner space of the housing. By disposing a positive pressure chamber below the negative pressure chamber, the width direction dimension of the housing can be reduced. In addition, a normal pressure maintenance space is arranged on the side of the negative pressure chamber and the positive pressure chamber, and a return flow path for the cold air supplied from the negative pressure chamber to the positive pressure chamber is formed in this maintenance space. The pressure loss of the cold air circulation flow is reduced, and a large positive pressure space is not required.

  Thereby, it can be set as the magnitude | size which can be accommodated in a container. Further, since the maintenance space can be used for checking the devices installed in the housing, the maintenance of the devices in the housing is facilitated.

In the apparatus of the present invention, a cold air port for supplying cold air from the negative pressure chamber to the positive pressure chamber is provided in the vicinity of the side wall of the housing on the side away from the maintenance space, and the lower cold air injection section is vertically arranged below the cold air port. An air supply space for supplying cold air is formed, and the blower is disposed downward so that the air outlet is opposed to the slit nozzle and the air supply space in the positive pressure chamber in the lower region of the negative pressure chamber . Good.
Accordingly, it is possible to secure a cold air flow path for supplying cold air to the cold air ejection portion in the positive pressure chamber without increasing the width dimension of the housing. Furthermore, since a smooth circulating flow of cold air can be formed in the lower positive pressure chamber, and pressure loss of the cold air circulating flow can be reduced, the power of the blower can be reduced.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, an opening / closing door may be provided on the housing side wall facing the maintenance space so that an operator can enter the maintenance space. As a result, the inside of the housing can be easily inspected, and the opening / closing door is provided facing the maintenance space at normal pressure, so that the danger when the opening / closing door is opened can be eliminated. Moreover, the durability of the door can be improved.

In the apparatus according to the present invention, the conveyor belt is disposed in the positive pressure chamber and both ends thereof are led to the outside on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the housing, and both ends are connected to the outbound path and disposed outside the cooling space. It is preferable that the endless belt is composed of a return path, and a rotating drum is provided outside the cooling space, and the conveyor belt is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the rotating drum to support and convey the conveyor belt.

Thus, since the return path is arranged outside and below the bottom wall of the housing, the installation space for the positive pressure chamber can be reduced accordingly. Thereby, since the height dimension of the housing can be reduced, the housing becomes further compact and can be more easily accommodated in the container. In addition, since the return path is provided outside the cooling space, the meandering prevention device does not freeze, and the original function can be exhibited.

Furthermore, since both ends of the conveyor belt are led to the outside on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the housing, a rotating drum can be provided outside the housing, and there is no restriction on the installation space of the rotating drum, The diameter of the rotating drum can be increased. Therefore, since the metal fatigue of the belt body can be alleviated, the plate thickness of the belt body can be reduced, whereby the thermal load on the belt body can be reduced and the cost of the belt body can be reduced.

  In the apparatus of the present invention, if the belt body of the conveyor belt is formed of a metal belt without a cold air hole, the lower cold air injection section disposed below the conveyor belt only needs to have a function of cooling the belt body. . Therefore, it is not necessary to use a slit nozzle having a funnel-shaped cross section with a long cold air reach in the lower cold air injection section. Therefore, since the installation space of the lower cold air injection part can be reduced, the height dimension of the housing can be reduced, and the container can be easily accommodated.

According to the present invention apparatus, it is possible to reduce the width and height of the housings, without decomposition can be realized capable of accommodating freezer device to the container.

Therefore, when the freezer apparatus is transported to the installation location, disassembly and reassembly are not required, and the time required for disassembly and reassembly can be eliminated, and there is no possibility that the performance is deteriorated during reassembly. In addition, since the maintenance space of normal pressure is arranged, the operator can freely enter this maintenance space, and maintenance of the devices in the housing is facilitated.
In addition, since the cold air after cooling is returned to the negative pressure chamber via the maintenance space, a smooth circulation flow of the cold air can be formed, the pressure loss of the cold air circulation flow can be reduced, and the power of the blower can be increased. Can be reduced.

It is a cross-sectional view which concerns on one Embodiment of the freezer apparatus of this invention. It is a perspective view of the freezer apparatus concerning the embodiment. It is a front view of the freezer device. FIG. 4 is a plan view sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3. It is a perspective view of the cold air injection mechanism of the freezer device. It is a front view which shows the drive part of the metal belt drive device of the said freezer apparatus. It is a side view of the drive part of FIG. It is a front view which shows the driven part of the said metal belt drive device. It is a side view of the follower. It is a perspective view when accommodating the said freezer apparatus in a container. It is a diagram which shows the relationship between the height to the belt lower surface of the lower cold-air injection part of the said freezer apparatus, and the heat transfer rate of a metal belt. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the box-shaped casing of the said embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the box-shaped casing as a comparative example. It is a diagram which shows the cooling effect of the food conveyance thing of the said embodiment and a comparative example. It is a cross-sectional view of a conventional freezer device. It is explanatory drawing of the cold air injection mechanism of the conventional freezer apparatus. It is explanatory drawing of the cold air injection mechanism as a comparative example.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the component parts described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to that unless otherwise specified.

  An embodiment of the device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the overall configuration of the freezer apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The freezer apparatus 10 includes a housing 12 that forms a horizontally long cooling space surrounded by a heat insulating wall. In FIG. 2, the front side wall and the upper wall of the housing 12 are removed so that the internal structure can be seen. In FIG. 3, the front side wall of the left half of the housing 12 is removed for the same purpose.

  The housing 12 has a sealed structure except for the conveyor belt inlet opening 14 provided in the inlet wall 12c and the conveyor belt outlet opening 16 provided in the outlet wall 12d. A plurality of monitoring windows 18 are arranged on the front wall 12 a in the longitudinal direction of the housing 12. A plurality of opening / closing doors 20 are provided on the rear wall 12 b so that an operator can enter the housing 12.

  The upper wall 12e of the housing 12 is a hermetically sealed wall, and a supply pipe 22 that supplies refrigerant or brine from a refrigerator unit (not shown) to the air cooler and a discharge pipe 24 that discharges refrigerant or brine pass therethrough. Yes. The bottom wall 12 f of the housing 12 is supported and supported by the legs 26 at a distance from the floor surface F. A transport device 30 that transports the food to be frozen w into the housing 12 is provided below the housing 12. The conveying device 30 includes an endless conveyor belt 32 and rotating drums 34 and 36 that drive the conveyor belt 32.

  The conveyor belt 32 is made of a thin stainless plate having a good heat transfer property and has a sealed structure with no cold air holes. The conveyor belt 32 is wound around the driven drum 34 outside the entrance wall 12c, and is wound around the drive drum 36 outside the exit wall 12d. The forward path 32a of the conveyor belt 32 has a conveying surface arranged in a horizontal direction, is arranged to penetrate through the housing 12 from the inlet opening 14 and the outlet opening 16, and moves in the direction of arrow a. The return path 32b is disposed in a space below the bottom wall 12f.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 12 has a rectangular cross section. The inside of the housing 12 is partitioned by a partition walls 38 and 40 into a negative pressure chamber 42, a positive pressure chamber 44, and a maintenance space 46 disposed on the sides thereof. The negative pressure chamber 42 is provided in an upper region in the housing 12, and an air cooler 48 is fixed to the upper surface of the partition wall 38. The air cooler 48 is connected to a refrigerator unit (not shown) arranged separately from the housing 12 via the supply / discharge pipes 22 and 24.

  A circular ventilation path 38 a is formed in the partition wall 38 adjacent to the air cooler 48. A cylindrical casing 50 is attached to the ventilation path 38 a, and an axial fan 52 and its drive motor 54 are provided in the casing 50. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, two air coolers 48 are provided in the longitudinal direction of the housing 12, and four axial fans 52 are provided per unit in the longitudinal direction of the housing 12. Then, the internal air cooled by the air cooler 48 is sent from the ventilation path 38 a to the positive pressure chamber 44 by the axial fan 52. For this reason, the negative pressure chamber 42 becomes a negative pressure atmosphere.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the positive pressure chamber 44 is provided in a region below the negative pressure chamber 42, and both are partitioned by a partition wall 38. In the positive pressure chamber 44, the forward path 32a of the conveyor belt 32 is disposed in the horizontal direction. The forward path 32a is arranged at a predetermined height by a plurality of support bars 56 provided in the width direction. Support frames 58 and 60 are disposed in the longitudinal direction of the housing 12 above both sides of the forward path 32 a of the conveyor belt 32. Above the forward path 32a, an upper cold air jet section 62 is provided along the forward path 32a in the conveying direction a of the conveyor belt 32.

  The upper cool air injection unit 62 includes a plurality of nozzle units 64, and the lower part of the nozzle unit 64 is integrally formed with four slit nozzles 64a having the same structure as the slit nozzle 124 shown in FIG. A flange 64b is formed. The flange 64b is placed on and supported by the support frames 58 and 60. The lower end of the slit nozzle 64a forms a slit-like cold air injection port arranged in the width direction of the forward path 32a.

  Below the forward path 32a, a lower cold air injection section 66 is provided along the forward path 32a. The lower cold air injection section 66 is configured by a box-shaped casing 68 having a cold air flow inlet 68a on one side. The box-shaped casing 68 is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom wall 12f, and the upper surface 68b of the box-shaped casing 68 is formed as a flat surface, and a large number of circular cold air outlets 70 are formed therein. The upper surface 68b and the bottom wall 12f are inclined downwardly toward the maintenance space 46 side substantially in parallel with each other.

  Next, the configuration of the transport device 30 on the inlet wall 12c side will be described with reference to FIGS. A frame 72 is connected to the inlet wall 12 c of the housing 12 and is supported horizontally by the legs 26. A cylindrical driven drum 34 is disposed in the horizontal direction, and a conveyor belt 32 is wound around the driven drum 34. The surface of the driven drum 34 is covered with a rubber material. Both ends of the rotating shaft 34 a of the driven drum 34 are rotatably supported by bearings 74.

  The bearing 74 is supported by the frame 72 so as to be slidable in the direction of the arrow a or b, and is attached to the frame 72 via a coil spring 76. As a result, the driven drum 34 can move in the direction of the arrow a or b, and the tension of the conveyor belt 32 can be adjusted. A reinforcing bar 79, a support bar 80 for supporting the return path 32b of the conveyor belt 32, and a guide bar 82 for guiding the return path 32b are installed between the frames 72.

  Next, the configuration of the transport device 30 on the outlet wall 12d side will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, a frame 84 is fixed to the outlet wall 12d, and a rotation shaft 36a of the drive drum 36 is rotatably supported by the frame 84 via a bearing 86. A drive motor 88 for driving the rotary shaft 36 a is attached to the frame 84. The conveyor belt 32 is wound around the drive drum 36, and the conveyor belt 32 moves in the direction of arrow a or b by the rotation of the drive drum 36. Similar to the driven drum 34, the outer peripheral surface of the drive drum 36 is covered with a rubber film.

  Further, a rubber protrusion 33 having a tapered trapezoidal cross section is vulcanized and joined to the back surface of one side edge of the stainless steel plate constituting the conveyor belt 32. On the other hand, a pulley 77 having a recess 77a on the outer peripheral surface is joined to one end face of the driven drum 34. A concave groove that fits the rubber protrusion 33 is formed by the concave portion 77 a and the end surface of the driven drum 34. During the running of the conveyor belt 32, the rubber protrusion 33 is fitted into the groove and slides in the groove.

  A pulley 77 for forming the recess 77 a is also attached to one end face of the drive drum 36. The rubber protrusion 33 and the pulley 77 constitute a meandering prevention device 78. The conveyor belt 32 travels while the rubber protrusions 33 are loosely fitted in the recesses 77a, thereby preventing the meandering of the conveyor belt 32.

In this configuration, the operator places the food to be frozen w on the belt surface of the forward path 32 a of the conveyor belt 32 on the inlet wall 12 c side of the transport device 30. The food to be frozen w placed on the belt surface is conveyed from the inlet opening 14 to the positive pressure chamber 44 in the housing 12.
On the other hand, the air cooler 48 and the axial flow fan 52 are operating in the housing 12, and the cold air c cooled by the air cooler 48 passes through the ventilation path 38 a by the axial flow fan 52 and the positive pressure chamber 44. Sent to.

  In the positive pressure chamber 44, the cold air c is jetted from the upper and lower sides of the outward path 32a toward the food to be frozen w. In the upper cold air injection unit 62, a slit-like collision jet r that is perpendicular to the food to be frozen w is injected from the slit-like injection port of the slit nozzle 64a. As described above, the slit nozzle 64a has an accelerating portion having a tapered cross section for accelerating the cold air c and a rectifying portion (running portion) for rectifying the accelerated cold air c, and ejects a jet having a long reach distance. Can do. Since the collision jet r ejected from the slit nozzle 64a forms a cold airflow in close contact with the surface of the food to be frozen w due to the Counder effect, the cooling effect can be enhanced.

  In the lower cold air injection section 66, the cold air c is injected from the cold air outlet 70 provided on the upper surface 68b of the casing 68 toward the lower surface of the forward path 32a. The reach distance of the cold air c is six times the diameter of the cold air outlet 70. Since the cold air outlet 70 has a large diameter, even if the reach distance of the cold air c becomes long and the upper surface 68b is inclined, the cold air c can reach the lower surface of the forward path 32a over the entire width direction of the forward path 32a.

Further, since the exhaust space e formed between the slit nozzles 20 can be widened, the cool air after being cooled can be smoothly discharged from the food transport object w, and this exhaust cool air disturbs the collision jet r. There is nothing.
FIG. 16 shows, as a comparative example, an upper cold air injection unit configured by an upper cold air injection unit 150 having a rectangular nozzle portion 152 and having a perforated tip flat injection surface 154.
In this configuration, the exhaust space e cannot be sufficiently secured unless the height h of the rectangular nozzle portion 152 and the pitch p between the rectangular nozzle portions 152 are set to be considerably large.

  For this reason, the exhaust cooling air may remain around the collision jet r, disturb the collision jet r, and impair the cooling effect. Conversely, when the pitch p is considerably large, the area where the collision jet r is not sprayed on the food transport object w increases, and the cooling effect is reduced. Therefore, it was found that the cooling effect was not obtained so much in this comparative example.

  In the lower cold air injection section 66, the cold air c is injected from the cold air outlet 70 provided on the upper surface 68b of the box-shaped casing 68 toward the lower surface of the forward path 32a. Since the cold air outlet 70 has a large diameter, the reach distance becomes long, the upper surface 68b is inclined, and the cold air c reaches the lower surface of the forward path 32a even when the distance from the cold air outlet 70 to the lower surface of the belt increases. it can. Therefore, the cooling effect on the metal belt 32 is not reduced.

According to the present embodiment, the housing 12 has a rectangular cross section, the negative pressure chamber 42 is disposed in the upper part of the inner space of the housing, the positive pressure chamber 44 is disposed below the negative pressure chamber 42, and the axial flow fan is disposed in the negative pressure chamber. Since 52 and the air cooler 48 are disposed adjacent to each other, the dimension in the width direction of the housing can be reduced.
Further, since the cold air passage that guides the cold air c into the box-like casing 66 is formed in the vertical direction below the ventilation passage 38a, it is not necessary to provide a protrusion for the cold air passage on the front wall 12a.

Moreover, since the upper cold air injection part 62 provided with the slit nozzle 64a with a large cooling effect and the lower cold air injection part 66 which consists of the box-shaped casing 68 which can reduce installation space are provided, the cooling effect of the to-be-frozen food w is provided. The installation space of the cold air ejection part can be reduced while maintaining high.
Furthermore, since the driven drum 34, the drive drum 36, and the return path 32b of the metal belt 32 are disposed outside the housing 12, the installation height of the conveyor belt 32 can be reduced accordingly. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, it can be accommodated in the container 90 of the said dimension, without disassembling.

  Therefore, it is possible to save time and labor for disassembling and reassembling the freezer device 10 when transporting to the installation site, and avoid performance degradation due to reassembly.

  Further, since the driven drum 34 and the driving drum 36 are disposed outside the housing 12, the diameter of these drums can be increased. Therefore, it becomes possible to set a drum diameter (about 1000 times the belt thickness) at which the conveyor belt 32 made of stainless steel does not break due to metal fatigue. Thereby, since the bending load added to the conveyor belt 32 can be reduced, the metal fatigue of the conveyor belt 32 can be relieved. Therefore, the conveyor belt 32 can be thinned, and the belt cost can be reduced. For example, in this embodiment, the thickness of the stainless steel plate constituting the conveyor belt 32 can be 0.6 mm.

  Further, since the upper surface 68b of the box-shaped casing 68 and the bottom wall 32f of the housing 12 are inclined toward the rear wall 32b, cleaning water does not accumulate on the upper surface 68b and the bottom wall 12f during cleaning. Further, since the inclined lower side wall of the box-shaped casing 28 is composed of a door 28c that can be slid up and down, when the operator slides the door 28c upward during cleaning, the washing water from the box-shaped casing 28 is washed. Easy to discharge. This improves the sanitary property of the sealed space.

  In addition, since the diameter of the cold air outlet 70 formed in the upper surface 68b of the box-shaped casing 68 is as large as 25 mmφ, the reach distance of the cold air c is large. Therefore, the cooling effect of the conveyor belt 32 can be maintained high even if the gap between the cold air outlet 70 and the belt lower surface is increased.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the results of an experiment conducted with the apparatus of the present embodiment regarding the relationship between the height from the cold air outlet 70 to the lower surface of the belt and the heat transfer coefficient with respect to the metal belt. In the present embodiment, the upper surface 68b of the box-shaped casing 68 is inclined, and the distance from the cold air outlet 70 to the lower surface of the belt varies in the range of 75 to 95 mm. As shown in the figure, it can be seen that the heat transfer coefficient with respect to the belt body does not change much even if the distance between the cold air outlet 70 and the belt lower surface changes. Therefore, it can be seen that the cooling effect of the conveyor belt 32 hardly decreases even when the upper surface 68b is inclined as in the present embodiment.

FIG. 12A shows the box-shaped casing 68 of the present embodiment. Upper surface 68b of the box-shaped casing 68, since the inclined in the width direction of the conveyor belt 32, the interval _{H 1} from the cold air ejection port 70 to the conveyor belt 32 varies between 75～95Mm. The diameter of the circular cold air outlet 70 is 25 mmφ, and the cold air outlets 70 are arranged so as to form an equilateral triangle. Pitch _{P 1} between the cold air ejection port 70 is 100 mm.

On the other hand, FIG. 12B shows a configuration shown as a comparative example. The box-shaped casing 68 ′ is provided with a plurality of exhaust spaces e, and the distance H ₂ between the flat ejection surface 68 b ′ of the box-shaped casing 68 ′ and the conveyor belt 32 is 50 mm, and is constant in the width direction of the conveyor belt 32. is there. The flat jet surface 68b ′ is provided with a circular cold air outlet 70 ′ having a diameter of 12.5 mmφ. Each cold air ejection port 70 'is arranged to form an equilateral triangle with one another, each cold air ejection port 70' the pitch P ₂ between is 50 mm. Note that the aperture ratios of the flat ejection surface 68b and the flat ejection surface 68b ′ are set to be the same.

  FIG. 13 shows the results of experiments on the cooling effect of konjac using the cold air injection mechanism provided with the two types of box-shaped casings and using konjac as the food carrier w. In the drawing, a curve X is a case where a box-shaped casing 68 is used, and a curve Y is a case where a box-shaped casing 68 'is used. Curve Z is the temperature transition of the cooling space, and curve W is the transition of the outside air temperature. In addition, the temperature of the konjac was measured with the temperature sensor stuck in the center part of the konjac.

  From FIG. 13, it was found that when two types of box-shaped casings were used, the cooling effect of konjac was hardly changed. Similar results were obtained in experiments conducted by packaging konjac. For this reason, it has been found that the use of the box-shaped casing 68 of the present embodiment that does not form the exhaust space e is simpler, easier to process, and can reduce the processing cost.

Moreover, according to this embodiment, since the maintenance space 46 in which an operator can enter from the opening / closing door 20 is provided, the maintenance in the housing 12 becomes easy. Furthermore, since the open / close door 20 is provided in the normal pressure maintenance space 46, it is not dangerous to open the open / close door 20 during operation of the apparatus.
Furthermore, since the axial fan 52 is provided to form a cold air circulation flow, the number of installations can be reduced and the power consumption can be reduced by about 30% compared to a sirocco fan or the like.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the freezer apparatus can be implement | achieved by making the housing of a freezer apparatus compact, accommodating in a container, without disassembling, and reducing the effort which a conveyance requires significantly.

Claims (3)

A housing forming a horizontally long cooling space surrounded by a heat insulating wall, a conveyor belt for conveying an object to be cooled disposed in the longitudinal direction of the housing, an air cooler and a blower forming a cold air circulation flow in the cooling space A freezer device comprising a cold air circulation device comprising: a continuous processing of cooling or freezing the object to be cooled;
The conveyor belt is disposed in the positive pressure chamber and has both ends connected to the outside on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the housing, and both ends are connected to both ends of the outbound path and are located below the bottom wall of the housing. Is an endless belt consisting of a return path arranged in
Furthermore, the housing has a rectangular cross section, and is provided in an upper region of the cross section, and the negative pressure chamber in which the air cooler and the blower are arranged adjacently to form a negative pressure space;
A slit nozzle-like cold air jet that is provided in a lower region of the negative pressure chamber, forms a positive pressure space by being supplied with cold air from the blower, and injects cold air toward the upper surface of the conveyor belt from the upper direction of the forward path A positive pressure chamber provided with a portion,
In the housing below the forward path of the conveyor belt, a lower cold air jet part having an upper surface formed in a flat surface along the back surface of the forward path,
A return flow of cold air provided in a side region of the negative pressure chamber and the positive pressure chamber, which receives the cold air after being cooled in the positive pressure chamber and returns the received cold air to the negative pressure chamber A normal pressure maintenance space to form a
The lower cold air injection section is provided above the upper surface of the return path , and the flat upper surface facing the back surface of the forward path is supplied from the blower toward the lower surface of the conveyor belt from the lower direction of the forward path. It consists flat box-shaped casing large number of cold Kibuki outlet bored for injecting, whereas the negative pressure chamber, an air condenser with an outlet to the blower disposing space side has an inlet into the maintenance space side, blowing outlet With a blower arranged downward toward the positive pressure chamber in the lower region of the negative pressure chamber, taking in air from the maintenance space, and blowing out the cool air cooled through the air cooler toward the positive pressure chamber in the lower region The freezer apparatus characterized by having comprised in. A cold air port for supplying cold air from the negative pressure chamber to the positive pressure chamber is provided in the vicinity of the side wall of the housing on the side away from the maintenance space, and the cold air is supplied to the lower cold air injection section vertically below the cold air port. An air supply space is formed ,
2. The freezer device according to claim 1, wherein the blower is disposed downward so that a blower outlet faces the slit nozzle and the air supply space in a positive pressure chamber below the negative pressure chamber. .   2. The freezer apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an opening / closing door is provided on a side wall of the housing facing the maintenance space so that an operator can enter the maintenance space.

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