JP6397796B2 - Food liquid heat sterilization method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a food liquid heat sterilization method and apparatus, and more particularly to a food liquid heat sterilization method and apparatus suitable for continuously performing pasteurization such as dressing and seasoning liquid.

Conventionally, as described in Patent Document 1, food sterilization is performed by heat sterilization before filling a container such as a bottle or a can. And in patent document 2, a vacuum steam control valve is provided in the inlet side of a sterilizer, a suction means is provided in an outlet side, and the vapor | steam supplied to a sterilizer with a vacuum steam control valve is made into the vacuum steam below atmospheric pressure. At the same time, the inside of the sterilizer is maintained at a predetermined reduced pressure by the suction means, and the steam below the atmospheric pressure, that is, the low-temperature steam at 100 ° C. or lower is stably supplied to the sterilizer, resulting in the quality deterioration of the food at 100 ° C. or lower. Sterilization is performed at a steam temperature that does not occur.
Patent Document 2 also discloses the use of an ejector-type vacuum pump in which a circulation pump and an ejector are combined as suction means.

JP-A-6-98734 JP 11-332532 A

However, since the sterilizer is a sealed tank, the technique described in Patent Document 2 cannot continuously pasteurize food.
In addition, although the water to the ejector is circulated, the high temperature steam used by the sterilizer is also mixed, so the temperature gradually rises. Of course, it is possible to discard the water whose temperature has risen in the middle and put water in the tank, but water and heat are not effectively used.
Furthermore, since the food conveyed in a sterilizer is not preheated beforehand, there exists a problem that heat sterilization takes time.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3, the method of heating a food liquid using a heat exchanger using the warm water for the heating source is also performed. The food liquid heat sterilization apparatus 60 uses a heat exchanger having an inner tube 61, an outer tube 62, and flanges 63 to 66. The food liquid flows through the inner tube 61, and hot water flows through the outer tube 62 to produce food. Heat sterilization at the proper temperature of the liquid. Here, 68 indicates a circulation pump and 69 indicates a heating device for hot water.

However, in this apparatus 60, when trouble occurs in the food liquid filling apparatus provided on the downstream side, it takes time to drain the hot water from the heat exchanger, and the food liquid is heated more than necessary. There was a problem that. In addition, since warm water is used, there is a problem that it takes time to increase the temperature of the apparatus 60 and the warm water.
Further, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has the same problem.

This invention is made | formed in view of this situation, and it aims at providing the responsiveness of the whole apparatus, and providing the food liquid heat sterilization method and apparatus which improved the whole thermal efficiency.

The food liquid heat sterilization method according to the first aspect of the present invention uses a heater having a bent inner tube and an outer tube surrounding the inner tube, and flows the food liquid through the inner tube, the inlet side of the outer tube supplies high-temperature steam, from the outlet side of the outer tube, and vacuum suction (vacuum suction) with an ejector for generating a negative pressure in its surroundings by high-pressure water flow, the temperature of the heater In the food liquid heat sterilization method for controlling
The water discharged from the ejector by exchanging heat between the water heated by integrating the sucked steam and the high-pressure flowing water with the food liquid before being supplied to the heater. And the heating of the food liquid are performed simultaneously.

The food liquid heat sterilization apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention is directed to a heater having an inner pipe through which a food liquid to be sterilized by heating, an outer pipe surrounding the inner pipe, and an inlet side of the outer pipe. A high-temperature steam generating source that supplies high-temperature steam, and an ejector that is connected to the outlet side of the outer pipe, generates negative pressure around the high-pressure running water, and controls the pressure in the outer pipe by vacuum suction . In the food liquid heat sterilizer,
In the ejector, provided is a heat exchanger for heating that performs heat exchange between water sucked and water heated by integrating the high-pressure flowing water and the food liquid before being supplied to the heater, The temperature of water is prevented from rising and the food liquid is heated.

In the food liquid heat sterilization method according to the first invention and the food liquid heat sterilization apparatus according to the second invention, high temperature steam is used as a heating source of the heater, and an ejector is connected to the outlet side of the heater. Therefore, the pressure in the heater can be controlled to adjust the heating temperature.
In this case, the heating source is steam, the amount of heat remaining is smaller than that of hot water, and the responsiveness when responding to an accident in the food liquid heat sterilizer is fast.
In addition, the said heater can also be comprised from the some heater arrange | positioned in series or in parallel.

1 is a block diagram of a food liquid heat sterilization apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a partial explanatory view of the food liquid heat sterilizer. It is a partial explanatory view of a food liquid heat sterilizer according to a conventional example to be compared.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a food liquid heat sterilization apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention has a heater 11 that heats and sterilizes food liquid (for example, seasoning liquid). The heater 11 includes a heat exchanger 11a having an inner tube 12 and an outer tube 13 surrounding the outside of the main part.

As shown in FIG. 2, the outer tube 13 of the heater 11 has a cylindrical shape and has flanges (end plates) 14 and 15 at both ends, and the flanges 14 and 15 are inserted into the flanges 14 and 15. A plurality of U-bends 17 and 18 connected to the straight pipe portion of the inner pipe 12 are provided, the connecting flanges 19 and 20 are connected, and the inner pipe 12 is arranged in a zigzag manner (bently formed) in the heat exchanger 11a. Is forming. In addition, about the structure of this heat exchanger 11a, it is disclosed by patent 5358660, for example. In addition, a plurality of heat exchangers 11a can be connected in series or in parallel to form a single heater.

A steam inlet 21 for introducing high-temperature steam is provided at a position above one side end (inlet side) of the outer pipe 13, and a high-temperature steam (at a position below the other end (outlet side) of the outer pipe 13 is provided. And a steam outlet 22 for discharging water).

An ejector 24 is connected to the steam outlet 22 of the heater 11 via a check valve (not shown). The ejector 24 generates a negative pressure around the high-pressure flowing water and vacuums the steam from the steam outlet 22 and functions in the same manner as a vacuum pump. The sucked steam is integrated with the high-pressure flowing water to become water. Since the sucked steam is high-temperature steam, the high-pressure running water is heated. The ejector 24 controls (heats) the pressure in the outer tube 13 to control the vapor temperature of the heater 11 to, for example, 70 to 80 ° C. lower than 90 ° C.

The water from the ejector 24 is sent to the tank 25, sent to the food liquid heating heat exchanger 27 connected in series via the pump 26, cooled by the heating heat exchanger 27, and supplied to the ejector 24. Is done.

On the other hand, the high temperature steam supplied to the heat exchanger 11a constituting the heater 11 is supplied from a steam source (high temperature steam generation source) 29 (0.02 MPa) that generates high temperature steam, passes through a strainer, Then, the steam is supplied to the steam inlet 21 through a steam device including a pressure reducing valve, a stop valve, a flow rate adjusting valve (steam valve 38), a valve, and a check valve. The suction pressure of the steam device and the ejector 24 is adjusted so that the steam temperature at the steam inlet 21 is 70 to 80 ° C.

The food liquid is first stored in the food liquid tank 31, supplied to the heat exchanger 27 for heating via the pump 32, and heat-exchanged with water in the tank 25 (water from the ejector 24). By this heat exchanger 27 for heating, the food liquid is heated, the water in the tank 25 is cooled, and temperature rise is prevented.

The food liquid preheated by the heating heat exchanger 27 flows through the inner tube 12 of the heat exchanger 11a and is sterilized by heating. When necessary, the food liquid leaving the heat exchanger 11a is supplied to a heat retaining unit (not shown). A switching valve 33 is provided at the outlet of the heat retaining unit, and a selection can be made between returning unnecessary food liquid to the food liquid tank 31 and flowing food liquid to the outside.

Therefore, in the food liquid heating sterilization method and apparatus according to this embodiment, the food liquid is caused to flow through the inner tube 12 bent in the heat exchanger 11a, and the outer tube 13 surrounding the inner tube 12 has a predetermined temperature. Steam heating is performed, and the heat-sterilized food liquid is conveyed to a filling device (not shown).
In this case, since the pressure flowing water (high pressure flowing water) passing through the ejector 24 is heated by the high-temperature steam, the heat is recovered by the heating heat exchanger 27 to heat the food liquid.

Moreover, when the food liquid filling device disposed on the downstream side stops, the heating of the food liquid needs to be stopped suddenly, and the steam valve 38 of the steam device is closed to inject cold water into the heat exchanger 11a. Thus, the food liquid heat sterilization apparatus 10 can be rapidly stopped. It has been confirmed that the time required for the food liquid heat sterilizer 10 to stop heating is about 1/3 of the conventional time.
Furthermore, since steam is used without using hot water in the heat exchanger 11a, the responsiveness of the heat exchanger 11a is increased, and the target heating temperature of the heat exchanger 11a can be achieved immediately.

In the present invention, since steam is used directly, energy loss is reduced. Moreover, since the steam has a high film heat transfer coefficient, the heat transfer efficiency is improved.
In the food liquid heat sterilization apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, since the inside of the outer tube 13 is set to a negative pressure, leakage of the heat exchanger 11a can always be monitored. You can also stop the rapid heating of the food liquid. In FIG. 1, 35 is a water source and 36 is a valve. Reference numeral 37 denotes a pressure controller that controls the steam valve 38 to keep the secondary side steam pressure constant. Reference numerals 39 and 40 are temperature sensors that always manage the temperature of the food liquid and the water in the ejector 24.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the configuration thereof can be changed without changing the gist of the present invention.

10: Food liquid heat sterilizer, 11: Heater, 11a: Heat exchanger, 12: Inner pipe, 13: Outer pipe, 14, 15: Flange, 17, 18: U vent, 19, 20: Connection flange, 21 : Steam inlet, 22: Steam outlet, 24: Ejector, 25: Tank, 26: Pump, 27: Heat exchanger for heating, 29: Steam source, 31: Food liquid tank, 32: Pump, 33: Switching valve, 35 : Water source, 36: Valve, 37: Pressure controller, 38: Steam valve, 39, 40: Temperature sensor

Claims (2)

An inner tube which is bent, with a heating device having an outer tube surrounding the inner tube, flushed with food liquid into said tube, to supply hot steam to the inlet side of the outer tube, the outer tube In the food liquid heating and sterilization method for controlling the temperature of the heater by performing vacuum suction using an ejector that generates a negative pressure around the outlet by high-pressure running water from the outlet side,
The water discharged from the ejector by exchanging heat between the water heated by integrating the sucked steam and the high-pressure flowing water with the food liquid before being supplied to the heater. The food liquid heat sterilization method characterized by simultaneously cooling the food liquid and heating the food liquid. An inner pipe through which a food liquid to be heat-sterilized flows, a heater having an outer pipe surrounding the inner pipe, a high-temperature steam generating source for supplying high-temperature steam to the inlet side of the outer pipe, and an outlet side of the outer pipe In the food liquid heating and sterilization apparatus comprising an ejector that generates a negative pressure around the high pressure flowing water and controls the pressure in the outer pipe by vacuum suction ,
In the ejector, provided is a heat exchanger for heating that performs heat exchange between water sucked and water heated by integrating the high-pressure flowing water and the food liquid before being supplied to the heater, A food liquid heating and sterilizing apparatus for preventing temperature rise of water and heating the food liquid.

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