JP7023627B2 - Rice gel manufacturing system and rice gel manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a rice gel production system for producing a gel-like rice gel and a rice gel production method.

In recent years, rice flour produced by grinding white rice with a flour milling apparatus has been widely used as a material for rice flour bread and the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). However, such rice flour has a problem that the betaization (aging) of starch is rapid and the taste cannot be maintained for a long time.
Therefore, as a substitute food for rice flour, rice gel, which can maintain its taste for a relatively long period of time and has good handleability, is attracting attention. As a method for producing such a rice gel, conventionally, water is added to white rice or rice flour and heated to form a paste-like paste, and the paste is mechanically stirred to form a rice gel. Is known (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-136255 International Publication 2014/199961

In the prior art, a technique for producing rice gel from rice is disclosed, but only an example of small-quantity production at a table prototype level of about 10 kg per day is shown. For example, assuming that it is used in large quantities as a material for processed foods, mass production technology is indispensable.
Furthermore, rice gel is desirable to be white in consideration of its intended use as a material for ice cream, white sauce, etc., but there is a risk that the quality will deteriorate due to discoloration due to heat applied during the manufacturing process. be. Further, in order to produce a smooth and highly palatable rice gel, it is desired to reduce the graininess corresponding to the number of fine rice grains remaining in the rice gel.

In view of this situation, a main object of the present invention is to provide a rice gel production system and a rice gel production method capable of mass-producing rice gel having high quality and taste.

The first characteristic configuration of the present invention is a rice gel production system for producing a gel-like rice gel.
A rice cooker that cooks or steams raw rice to obtain cooked rice,
The cooked rice transport unit that transports the cooked rice,
A crushing section for crushing the cooked rice inherited from the cooked rice transport section to obtain the rice gel is provided.
As the crushing part,
The first crushing section for crushing the cooked rice to obtain the first crushed rice,
The point is that the first crushed rice discharged from the first crushed portion is crushed more finely than the first crushed portion to obtain the rice gel, and the second crushed portion is provided.

According to this configuration, a rice-cooking section for obtaining rice-cooked rice by cooking or steaming raw rice, a rice-cooking rice transport section for transporting the rice-cooked rice, and the rice-cooked rice inherited from the rice-cooked rice transport section are crushed into rice. Since it is equipped with a crushing section to obtain gel, the rice-cooking rice transport section automatically transports the cooked rice from the rice-cooking section to the crushing section, and the crushing section can sequentially produce rice gel, enabling mass production of rice gel. become.

Further, it is provided with a two-stage crushing section in which a first crushing section and a second crushing section are arranged in series, and after the cooked rice is crushed relatively coarsely by the first crushing section, the first crushed rice after the crushing is first. 2 Since the rice gel is produced by crushing it more finely in the crushing section, the crushing load in each crushing section is reduced. As a result, the production amount of rice gel can be further increased in the form of increasing the processing amount in each of the crushed portions. In addition, since the crushing load in each crushing section is reduced, the rice gel is sufficiently crushed so that the graininess is reduced in the second crushing section, and the rice is cooked as an object to be crushed during crushing in each crushing section. It is possible to reduce the frictional heat applied to the rice or the first pulverized rice, suppress the discoloration of the rice gel due to the frictional heat, and produce a rice gel having high quality and palatability.

The second characteristic configuration of the present invention is to include a first crushed rice transport section for transporting the first crushed rice discharged from the first crushed section to the second crushed section.

According to this configuration, by providing the first crushed rice transport section, the first crushed rice discharged from the first crushed section is automatically transported to the second crushed section, and the rice gel is sequentially transferred in each crushed section. Since it can be produced, further mass production of rice gel becomes possible.

The third characteristic configuration of the present invention is a stone mill type that crushes the first crushed rice in a form in which the second crushed portion allows the crushed object to pass through the gap between the upper and lower mortar portions that rotate relative to each other. The point is that it is composed of a grinding device.

According to this configuration, the second crushed portion for obtaining rice gel by crushing the first crushed rice more finely can be suitably configured by the above-mentioned stone mill type grinding device. That is, in the stone mill type grinding device configured as the second crushing portion, the first crushed rice is passed through the gap between the upper mill portion and the lower mill portion that rotate relative to each other, and is generated at the time of the passage. The first crushed rice can be finely crushed by the shearing force to obtain a smoother and higher quality rice gel. Further, in this second crushed portion, the first crushed rice that has been relatively coarsely crushed in the first crushed portion is supplied as a crushing object, so that the first crushed rice is finely crushed so as to reduce the graininess. Even in this case, the crushing load is suppressed to a low level, and discoloration due to the frictional heat of the first crushed rice can be suppressed.

In the fourth characteristic configuration of the present invention, in addition to the third characteristic configuration, the first crushing portion allows the crushed object to pass through the gap between the upper mill portion and the lower mill portion that rotate relative to each other, and the rice is cooked. It consists of a stone mill type grinder that grinds rice.
The gap width, which is the width of the gap between the upper mill portion and the lower mill portion in the second crushing portion, is set to be smaller than the gap width in the first crushing portion.

According to this configuration, when both the first crushing section and the second crushing section are configured as a stone mill type grinding device, the gap width in the second crushing section is smaller than the gap width in the first crushing section. Since it is set, in the first crushing portion, rice cooked rice having a relatively large particle size can be passed through a relatively wide gap between the upper and lower millstones, and as much rice cooked rice as possible can be crushed relatively coarsely. On the other hand, in the second crushed portion, the first crushed rice having a relatively small particle size is passed through a relatively narrow gap between the upper and lower mills, and the first crushed rice is ground as finely as possible to make the height smoother. You can get quality rice gel.

The fifth characteristic configuration of the present invention is a method for producing a rice gel for producing a gel-like rice gel.
It is equipped with a crushing process to obtain a gel-like rice gel by crushing cooked rice obtained by cooking or steaming raw rice.
As the crushing step,
In the first crushing step of crushing the cooked rice to obtain the first crushed rice,
The point is that the first crushed rice obtained in the first crushing step is pulverized more finely than the first crushing step to obtain the rice gel, and the second crushing step is provided.

According to this configuration, after the cooked rice is crushed relatively coarsely in the first crushing step, the crushed first crushed rice is crushed more finely in the second crushing section to produce a rice gel. The crushing load in the rice is reduced. As a result, the production amount of rice gel can be further increased in the form of increasing the processing amount in each of the crushing steps. In addition, since the crushing load in each crushing step is reduced, the rice gel is sufficiently crushed so that the graininess is reduced in the second crushing step, and the rice is cooked as a crushed object at the time of crushing in each crushing step. It is possible to reduce the frictional heat applied to the rice or the first ground rice, suppress the discoloration of the rice gel due to the frictional heat, and produce a rice gel having high quality and palatability.

By the way, in cooked rice in which the starch component of the raw rice is gelatinized (also referred to as alpha (α) conversion), when the temperature of the cooked rice decreases, aging (also referred to as beta (β) formation) progresses, and the cooked rice The hardness of the rice increases, and the crushing load when crushing the cooked rice with the crusher increases, leading to the failure of the crusher and the shortening of the life of the rice. Therefore, in the rice gel production system of the present invention, the cooked rice may be supplied to the crusher at a temperature higher than the aging temperature. As a result, it is possible to prevent an increase in the crushing load of the crusher due to the aging of the cooked rice, and eventually it is possible to prevent the crusher from malfunctioning or shortening its life. As a result, the maintenance cost of the crushed portion can be reduced, and the frequency of repair and replacement of the crusher can be reduced to realize stable rice gel production.

Further, in the rice gel production system of the present invention, the crushing unit includes a plurality of the crushers, and the rice-cooking rice transporting unit distributes and supplies the cooked rice inherited from the rice-cooking unit to the plurality of crushers. You may do so.
By doing so, the rice cooked from the rice cooker can be crushed in parallel by multiple crushers to produce rice gel, so that it becomes possible to introduce a rice cooker with a higher rice cooker production capacity, and the rice gel. The production capacity can be further improved.

Further, the rice-cooking rice transport section includes a main conveyor connected to the rice-cooking section and a plurality of feeding conveyors connected to the main conveyor and connected in series, and below the transport downstream end of the main conveyor. The middle part of the loading conveyor of the first stage is arranged, and the middle part of the charging conveyor on the crusher or the rear stage side is arranged below both ends of the charging conveyor, and the transport direction of the charging conveyor. By switching between, the rice cooked rice may be supplied to the crusher, or may be supplied to the loading conveyor on the subsequent stage side, and the rice cooked rice may be distributed and supplied to the plurality of crushers.
In this way, cooked rice can be distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushers with a simple configuration.

Further, in the rice gel production system of the present invention, the rice cooking unit is configured by a continuous rice cooker for obtaining the cooked rice by heating while transporting a plurality of rice cookers accommodating the raw rice and the cooked water. The rice cooker transport unit may invert the rice cooker to take out the rice cooker from the rice cooker and supply it to the crushed unit.
By doing so, the rice cooked rice can be mass-produced, and the cooked rice is taken out from the rice cooker by the rice cooked rice transport section and automatically supplied to the crushing section, so that the rice gel can be mass-produced.

Further, in the rice gel production system of the present invention, the rice cooking unit may be configured by a continuous rice cooking device that steams the raw rice while transporting it by a conveyor.
By doing so, the production capacity of cooked rice can be improved, and the rice gel production capacity can be further improved, as compared with a rice cooker that cooks rice in a plurality of rice cookers transported by a conveyor, for example.

Further, in the rice gel production system of the present invention, a rice gel transfer unit for transferring the rice gel obtained in the crushing unit and a gel storage unit for subdividedly accommodating the rice gel inherited from the rice gel transfer unit are provided. You may do it.
In this way, the rice gel can be subdivided and stored in the gel storage section so that it can be easily shipped.

Further, the rice gel transfer unit may transfer the rice gel by a uniaxial eccentric screw pump.
By doing so, since the uniaxial eccentric screw pump can transfer the highly viscous fluid, the rice gel can be transferred to the packaging portion even when the viscosity of the rice gel obtained in the pulverized portion is high.

It is a schematic plan view of one Embodiment of a rice gel production system. It is a schematic block diagram of the same embodiment. It is a vertical sectional view which shows the schematic structure of the crushing equipment provided as a crushing part. It is a schematic block diagram of another embodiment of a rice gel production system. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of still another embodiment of the rice gel production system. It is a schematic block diagram of the same embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram around the rice cooked rice transport part of the same embodiment. It is a schematic block diagram which shows the control system of the cooked rice transport part. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the operation of the cooked rice transport part. It is a figure for demonstrating another example of the operation of the cooked rice transport part. It is a schematic plan view which shows the periphery of the cooked rice transport part in still another embodiment of a rice gel production system. It is a schematic block diagram around the cooked rice transport part in the same embodiment. It is a schematic plan view which shows the periphery of the cooked rice transport part in still another embodiment of a rice gel production system. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of still another embodiment of the rice gel production system. It is a schematic plan view which shows the area around the cooked rice transport part in the same embodiment in an enlarged manner.

Hereinafter, embodiments embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the scope of the claims of the present application and the specification of the present application, the cooked rice means a gelatinized product in which the starch component of the raw rice is gelatinized by adding water and heating the raw rice. So-called steamed rice is also included.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of an embodiment of a rice gel production system. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the same embodiment. The rice gel production system 1 has a rough structure of a rice storage unit 2 for storing raw rice, a rice washing unit 3 for washing raw rice, a dipping unit 4 for immersing the washed rice, a rice cooking unit 5 for cooking the soaked rice, and rice cooking rice. Rice-cooking rice transport section 6 for transporting rice, crushing section 7 for crushing rice-cooked rice to obtain rice gel, rice gel transfer section 8 for transferring rice gel, gel storage section 9 for subdividing rice gel, and rice gel container. It includes an inspection unit 10 for inspection and a shipping unit 11 for shipping rice gel bags.

For example, raw rice such as brown rice and polished rice is put into the rice hopper 12 by the rice storage unit 2, raised by the rice elevator 13, and stored in the rice storage 14 from the upper part of the rice storage 14. The rice storage 14 is provided with a weighing device for measuring the raw rice discharged from the lower part of the rice storage 14, and discharges a predetermined amount of raw rice. The raw rice discharged from the rice storage 14 is sent to the rice washing machine 16 of the rice washing unit 3 by the raw rice transporting machine 15 having an elevator or the like. The rice washing obtained by washing the raw rice with water in the rice washing machine 16 is sent to the dipping tank 18 of the dipping section 4 via the rice washing transfer pipe 17 and is immersed in the dipping tank 18 for, for example, about 1.5 hours.

The soaked rice in the soaking tank 18 is weighed and drained, and is supplied to the rice cooker A in predetermined amounts. The rice gel manufacturing system 1 includes a plurality of rice cookers A and a conveyor 19 that conveys the rice cookers A to the rice cooker 5. A predetermined amount of soaked rice is supplied from the soaking tank 18 to the empty rice cooker A arranged on the transport upstream side of the conveyor 19. Further, a predetermined amount of rice cooking water is supplied to the rice cooking pot A from the water addition machine 20. The rice cooker A for accommodating soaked rice (raw rice) and rice cooking water is conveyed to the rice cooking section 5 side by the conveyor 19, and is covered by the lid arrangement section (not shown) during the transfer, and then the rice cooking section 5 is continuous. It is sent to the rice cooker 21.

The continuous rice cooker 21 heats the rice cooker A while conveying it by a conveyor and a heat source (not shown) provided inside, and cooks the soaked rice in the rice cooker A. A rice cooker A for accommodating soaked rice and rice cooking water is sequentially supplied from the conveyor 19 to the continuous rice cooker 21. The continuous rice cooker 21 continuously cooks the soaked rice in the plurality of rice cookers A inherited from the conveyor 19. The heat source of the continuous rice cooker 21 may be any type, for example, a gas type or an IH (Induction Heating) type.

The rice cooker A for accommodating the cooked rice cooked by the continuous rice cooker 21 is inherited by the conveyor 22 of the cooked rice transport unit 6. The rice cooker transfer unit 6 is provided with a transfer conveyor 22, an automatic reversing machine 23, and a loosening machine 24, and while steaming the rice cooked rice in the rice cooker A inherited from the continuous rice cooker 21 on the transfer conveyor 22, the rice cooker A is moved. It is conveyed to the automatic reversing machine 23. After the lid on the rice cooker A is removed by the lid remover (not shown) at the downstream end side of the transfer of the transfer conveyor 22, the rice cooker A is lifted and inverted by the automatic reversing machine 23 to cook rice in the rice cooker A. The rice is taken out and supplied to the loosening machine 24.

The loosening machine 24 stirs and loosens the cooked rice. The loosened cooked rice is supplied to the crushing equipment 25 constituting the crushing unit 7. The temperature of the cooked rice when it is supplied to the crushing equipment 25 is higher than the temperature at which it ages, and is about 85 degrees in this embodiment. The temperature of the cooked rice when it is steamed and transported on the conveyor 22 is about 90 degrees. The crushing equipment 25 is composed of, for example, a stone mill type grinding device (also called a crusher), and crushes cooked rice to obtain rice gel. The crushing equipment 25 is not particularly limited in the crushing method as long as the rice gel can be obtained by crushing the cooked rice.

The rice gel obtained in the crushing equipment 25 is supplied to the transfer pump 26 of the rice gel transfer unit 8. The transfer pump 26 is composed of, for example, a uniaxial eccentric screw pump called a mono pump, and transfers rice gel to the packaging machine 28 of the gel accommodating portion 9 via the rice gel transfer pipe 27. The rice gel transfer pipe 27 is made of, for example, stainless steel.

The gel storage unit 9 stores rice gel in small portions. The packaging machine 28 of the gel accommodating portion 9 makes a bag of the resin film, fills the bag-shaped resin film with rice gel, seals it in a predetermined amount (for example, 5 kilograms), cuts it into bags, and cuts the rice into bags. The gel inclusions P are sequentially obtained.

The rice gel container P obtained in the gel container 9 is conveyed to the inspection unit 10 by the conveyor 30. In the inspection unit 10, the presence or absence of foreign matter in the rice gel container P is inspected by the foreign substance detector 31, and the weight of the rice gel container P is inspected by the weight inspection machine 32 within a predetermined weight range. To. After the inspection is completed, the rice gel container P is sequentially placed on the moving table 33 of the shipping unit 11. In the shipping unit 11, a plurality of rice gel containers P are transported together with the moving table 33, sterilized by heating and cooled by the sterilizer 34, water is sequentially removed by the water remover 35, and then packed in a box and shipped. Be made.

In the rice-cooking rice transport unit 6, the empty rice-cooking kettle A from which the cooked rice is taken out by the automatic reversing machine 23 and returned to the transport conveyor 22 is, for example, manually transported to the kettle washing machine 36 for cleaning. , Is arranged at the soaked rice supply position on the upstream end side of the conveyor 19. Here, as shown by the broken line arrow in FIG. 1, the empty rice cooker A returned to the transfer conveyor 22 is automatically moved from the transfer conveyor 22 to the kettle cleaning machine 36 by another conveyor or the like, and the kettle cleaning machine 36 is used. It may be automatically washed by the conveyor 19 and automatically arranged at the soaked rice supply position of the conveyor 19 by another conveyor or the like. As a result, the rice cooker A automatically circulates and moves along the moving paths of the conveyor 19, the continuous rice cooker 21, the conveyor 22, the automatic reversing machine 23, and the pot washing machine 36, so that the burden on the operator is reduced.

The rice gel production system 1 of this embodiment has a rice cooking unit 5 that cooks or steams raw rice to obtain rice cooked rice, a rice cooked rice transport unit 6 that transports rice cooked rice, and rice cooked rice inherited from the rice cooked rice transport unit 6. Is provided with a crushing section 7 for obtaining rice gel by crushing the rice in the crushing facility 25. Therefore, the rice cooking section 6 automatically transports the cooked rice from the rice cooking section 5 to the crushing section 7, and the crushing section 7 sequentially transfers the rice gel. It can be produced, and mass production of rice gel becomes possible.

Further, since the rice gel production system 1 supplies the rice cooked rice having a temperature higher than the aging temperature (for example, about 85 degrees) to the crushing equipment 25, the load increase due to the crushing of the crushing equipment 25 due to the aging of the cooked rice is increased. This can be prevented, and by extension, the failure of the crushing equipment 25 and the shortening of its life can be prevented. As a result, the maintenance cost of the crushing unit 7 can be reduced, and the repair frequency and the replacement frequency of the crushing equipment 25 can be reduced to realize stable rice gel production. The temperature at which the starch component of rice is gelatinized by watering and heating is about 60 degrees, and the starch is rapidly gelatinized at about 80 to 90 degrees. Further, the cooked rice in which the starch component is gelatinized is accelerated to age when the temperature is less than about 20 ° C. Therefore, the temperature of the cooked rice supplied to the crushing equipment 25 is preferably a temperature higher than the temperature at which the cooked rice ages, for example, 20 degrees or higher, more preferably 30 degrees or higher, still more preferably 60 degrees or higher. be.

Further, in the rice gel production system 1, the rice cooking unit 5 is composed of a continuous rice cooker 21 for obtaining rice cooked rice by heating while transporting a plurality of rice cookers A accommodating raw rice (immersed rice) and rice cooking water. The rice cooker transport unit 6 inverts the rice cooker A, takes out the rice cooked rice from the rice cooker A, and supplies the rice cooked rice to the crushing unit 7. As a result, the rice cooked rice can be mass-produced, and the cooked rice is taken out from the rice cooker A by the rice cooked rice transport unit 6 and automatically supplied to the crushing unit 7, enabling mass production of rice gel.

Further, the rice gel production system 1 includes a rice gel transfer unit 8 for transferring the rice gel obtained in the crushing unit 7, and a gel storage unit 9 for subdividing the rice gel inherited from the rice gel transfer unit 8. The rice gel can be subdivided and stored in, for example, the rice gel container P in the storage unit 9 to make it easy to ship. The method for subdividing the rice gel in the gel accommodating portion 9 is not particularly limited, and any accommodating method may be used as long as the rice gel can be subdivided and accommodated. For example, the gel storage unit 9 may be configured to sequentially store rice gel in a plurality of containers such as tanks.

Further, since the rice gel transfer unit 8 transfers the rice gel by a transfer pump 26 composed of a uniaxial eccentric screw pump capable of transferring a highly viscous fluid, the rice gel obtained in the crushing unit 7 has a high viscosity. However, the rice gel can be transferred to the gel container 9.

The detailed configuration of the crushing equipment 25 provided as the crushing unit 7 in the rice gel manufacturing system 1 will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the crushing equipment 25.
The crushing equipment 25 is configured to execute a crushing step of crushing the cooked rice R supplied from the loosening machine 24 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) to obtain a gel-like rice gel RG.

The crushing equipment 25 is configured as a two-stage crushing unit 7 in which a first crushing unit 100A in the front stage and a second crushing unit 100B in the rear stage are arranged in series.
The first crushing unit 100A executes a first crushing step of relatively coarsely crushing the cooked rice R supplied to the hopper 110 from the loosening machine 24 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) to obtain the first crushed rice Ra. It is configured as.
On the other hand, the second crushing unit 100B is configured to execute a second crushing step of crushing the first crushed rice Ra discharged from the first crushing unit 100A into smaller pieces than the first crushing unit 100A to obtain rice gel RG. Has been done. Then, the rice gel RG obtained in the second crushing section 100B is transferred to the gel containing section 9 (see FIGS. 1 and 2).

By crushing the cooked rice R in the two-stage crushing equipment 25 in this way, the crushing load in the crushing portions 100A and 100B, respectively, is reduced.
Therefore, the amount of processing is increased as compared with the case of crushing with a one-stage crushing facility. Further, while sufficiently crushing the rice gel RG in the second crushed portion 100B so as to reduce the graininess, the cooked rice R or the first crushed rice Ra, which are the objects to be crushed at the time of crushing in the respective crushed portions 100A and 100B, respectively. The frictional heat applied to the rice is reduced. As a result, discoloration of the rice gel RG due to the frictional heat is suppressed, and the rice gel RG having high quality and palatability is produced.

Each of the crushing portions 100A and 100B is configured as a known millstone type crushing device.
That is, in the crushing portions 100A and 100B, the lower surface of the upper mill portion 107 and the upper surface of the lower mill portion 108 are in a state where the disc-shaped upper mill portion 107 and the lower mill portion 108 arranged above and below are rotated relative to each other. By passing the crushed object R, Ra through the gap 103 formed between the crushed objects R, Ra, the crushed object R, Ra is configured to be crushed. Specifically, a rotary drive shaft 109 rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) is fixed to the central portion of the lower die portion 108, and the rotary drive shaft 109 is rotationally driven to be fixed in a stationary state. The lower mill portion 108 rotates relative to the upper mill portion 107.

Then, the pulverized objects R and Ra before the treatment are charged into the charging space 102 formed on the center side of the gap 103 through the charging port 101 formed in the central portion of the upper mill portion 107. The crushing objects R and Ra charged into the charging space 102 are pushed outward by the rotational drive of the lower sulcus portion 108 and pass through the gap 103. Then, the crushed objects R and Ra passing through the gap 103 are crushed by applying a shearing force due to the relative rotation of the lower mortar portion 108 with respect to the upper mortar portion 107, and fall from the outside of the gap 103, and are discharged from the discharge port 105. It is paid out to the outside through.

In the crushing equipment 25, in order to sequentially produce rice gel RG in the respective crushing units 100A and 100B, the first crushed rice Ra discharged from the discharge port 105 of the first crushing unit 100A is automatically used in the second crushing unit 100B. A first crushed rice transport section 111 is provided for transporting the rice to the charging port 101. The first crushed rice transport unit 111 is composed of, for example, a uniaxial eccentric screw pump called a mono pump.

In the grinding apparatus constituting these crushing portions 100A and 100B, the gap width, which is the width of the gap 103 formed between the lower surface of the upper mill portion 107 and the upper surface of the lower mill portion 108, is the width of the crushing object R, Ra. It is configured to be changeable as a parameter that determines the fineness of crushing. The gap width of the second crushing unit 100B is set to be smaller than the gap width of the first crushing unit 100A. Therefore, in the first crushed portion 100A, the cooked rice R having a relatively large particle size is passed through the gap 103 between the upper mill portion 107 and the lower mill portion 108 having a relatively wide particle size, and as much rice cooked rice R as possible is made relatively coarse. Can be crushed. On the other hand, in the second crushed portion 100B, the first crushed rice Ra having a relatively small particle size is passed through the gap 103 between the relatively narrow upper mill portion 107 and the lower mill portion 108, and the first crushed rice Ra is passed as much as possible. Finely ground to obtain a smoother, higher quality rice gel RG.

The productivity and quality of rice gel were evaluated for the examples according to the present invention and the comparative examples according to another invention. The contents will be described below.

(Example 1)
In Example 1, a crushing facility in which two grinders (mass colloider manufactured by Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd.) are installed in series is prepared, and a crushing experiment is conducted in a form in which cooked rice is sequentially crushed by a two-stage grinder. It was decided to carry out to obtain a rice gel. In Example 1, the first crushed rice crushed by the crushing device in the first stage was immediately put into the crushing device in the latter stage as an object to be processed.
Further, in the first embodiment, the gap width H of the front-stage grinding device as the first crushing unit is set to 260 μm, and the gap width H of the rear-stage grinding device as the second crushing unit is set to 210 μm.
In the table shown below, S2-1 and S2-2 are evaluations relating to the two-stage crushing equipment used in Example 1, and S2-1 is the evaluation of the previous stage pulverization used in Example 1. It is an evaluation about an apparatus, and S2-2 is an evaluation about a post-stage grinding apparatus used in Example 1.

(Comparative Example 1)
In Comparative Example 1, a crushing device similar to that in Example 1 was prepared, and a crushing experiment was carried out in a form of crushing cooked rice with a one-stage crushing device to obtain a rice gel.
Further, in Comparative Example 1, the gap width H of the grinding device was set to 220 μm.
In the table shown below, S1 is an evaluation of the grinding apparatus used in Comparative Example 1.

[Evaluation details and results]
The contents and results of the evaluations carried out for Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 will be described below.

(Productivity evaluation)
For each of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, a crushing experiment of crushing a predetermined weight (11.25 kg) of cooked rice was carried out twice. Further, a cooling time for cooling the grinding device was provided between the first crushing experiment and the second crushing experiment.
The results of this experiment are shown in Table 1 below.

The meanings of the quantity symbols shown in Table 1 above are as follows.
θ: Core temperature (° C) of the object to be crushed during crushing
T ₁ : Processing time (sec) from the addition of the object to be crushed to the completion of discharge of rice gel in the first crushing experiment.
T ₂ : Processing time (sec) from the addition of the object to be crushed to the completion of discharge of rice gel in the second crushing experiment.
T _ave : Mean value of processing time (sec) in each of the first and second crushing experiments
_TC : Cooling time (sec) for cooling the grinding device provided between the first crushing experiment and the second crushing experiment.
_TA : Total processing time (sec), which is the sum of the average processing time _Tave and the cooling time _TC .
AT: Ratio of processing capacity when the processing capacity of Comparative Example 1 (the reciprocal of the total processing time _TA ) is 1.

As can be seen from Table 1 above, in Comparative Example 1 (S1) in which cooked rice is crushed by a one _- stage grinder, the average value Table of the first and second processing times is 77 sec, and the cooling time _TC is set to 77 sec. The total processing time _TA added was 180 sec.
On the other hand, in Example 1 in which the cooked rice is crushed by a two-stage grinder, for example, the average processing time _Tave of the pre-stage grinder (S2-1) is 44.6 sec, and the post-stage grinder (S2). The average value _Tave of the processing time in -2) is 55.4 sec, and it can be seen that the processing time in each of the pre-stage and the post-stage grinders is shorter than that in Comparative Example 1 (S1). Further, it can be seen that the core temperature θ of the object to be crushed during pulverization by the pulverizers in the first and second stages is suppressed to less than the limit temperature (for example, 110 ° C.) that causes discoloration due to the Maillard reaction. Therefore, assuming that the cooling times _TC of the front-stage and rear-stage grinders are 15 sec and 10 sec, the total processing time _TA of the pre-stage grinder (S2-1) is 59.6 sec, and the post-stage grind device. The total processing time _TA in (S2-2) is 65.4 sec. Then, the total processing time TA in the subsequent grinding device (S2-2) becomes a rate _- determining (bottleneck), and the object to be processed can be charged for each processing time _TA . Therefore, Example 1 The total processing time _TA of is 65.4 sec.
Therefore, in Example 1, the total processing time _TA of Comparative Example 1 is 180 sec, whereas the total processing time _TA of Example 1 is 65.4 sec. Therefore, the processing capacity AT of Example 1 Can be said to be 2.75 times that of Comparative Example 1.

Further, in Example 1 of this time, when the crushing experiment is carried out by changing the gap width H of the grinding device in the subsequent stage to 200 μm, the core temperature of the crushed object at the time of crushing reaches near the limit temperature which causes discoloration due to the Maillard reaction. Rose. From this, it is considered that the lower limit value of the gap width H of the subsequent grinding device in Example 1 is about 200 μm, and the optimum value of the gap width H of the subsequent grinding device is about 210 μm. I can judge.
On the other hand, in Example 1 of this time, the gap width of the grinding device in the previous stage was set to 260 μm, but the gap width was reduced to about 240 μm, and the cooked rice was finely crushed in the grinding device in the previous stage. Therefore, the crushing load of the subsequent crushing device can be reduced.

Further, in this experiment, the input weight of the cooked rice at one time was set to 11.25 kg, but in the above-mentioned Example 1, since there is a margin in the core temperature at the time of crushing, this input weight is increased to, for example, about 15 kg. It is thought that it can be made to.

(Viscosity evaluation)
The viscosity of the rice gel obtained in the above-mentioned two crushing experiments was evaluated for each of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1. The evaluation results are shown in Table 2 below.

The meanings of the quantity symbols shown in Table 2 above are as follows.
μ ₁ : Viscosity of rice gel obtained in the first crushing experiment (Pa · s)
μ ₂ : Viscosity (Pa · s) of rice gel obtained in the second crushing experiment
μ _ave : Mean value of viscosity of rice gel obtained in each of the first and second crushing experiments (Pa · s)
t ₁ : The temperature (° C.) of the rice gel whose viscosity μ1 was measured.
t ₂ : Temperature (° C) of rice gel with viscosity μ2 measured
t _ave : Mean value (° C.) of temperature T1 and temperature T2 of rice gel

As can be seen from Table 2 above, the average value μ- _ave of the viscosity of the rice gel obtained in Comparative Example 1 was 179.5 Pa · s. On the other hand, the average value μ _ave of the viscosity of the rice gel obtained by the grinding apparatus (S2-2) in the latter stage of Example 1 was 175.5 Pa · s, which was almost the same viscosity as that of Comparative Example 1. ..
From this, it can be said that Example 1 can achieve a level substantially equivalent to that of Comparative Example 1 in terms of the quality of the rice gel in terms of viscosity.

(Evaluation of water content)
The water content of the rice gel obtained in the above-mentioned two crushing experiments was evaluated for each of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1. The evaluation results are shown in Table 3 below.

The meanings of the quantity symbols shown in Table 3 above are as follows.
u: Moisture content (%) of rice gel obtained in the crushing experiment

As can be seen from Table 3 above, the water content u of the rice gel obtained in Comparative Example 1 was 71.30%. On the other hand, the water content u of the rice gel obtained by the grinding apparatus (S2-2) in the latter stage of Example 1 was 66.3%, which was almost the same as that of Comparative Example 1.
From this, it can be said that Example 1 can achieve a level substantially equivalent to that of Comparative Example 1 in terms of the quality of the rice gel with respect to the water content.

(Evaluation of sensuality)
For each of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, the appearance, color, flavor, texture, and other sensualities of the rice gel obtained in the above-mentioned two crushing experiments were actually eaten and evaluated by a plurality of evaluators. did.
As a result of the evaluation, it was obtained that there was almost no difference in appearance, color and flavor between the rice gel obtained in Example 1 and the rice gel obtained in Comparative Example 1. On the other hand, regarding the texture, the rice gel obtained in Example 1 was clearly smoother than that of Comparative Example 1.

(Grade feeling evaluation)
For each of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, the graininess of the rice gel obtained in the above-mentioned two crushing experiments was evaluated. The evaluation results are shown in Table 3 below.

The meanings of the quantity symbols shown in Table 4 above are as follows.
n _L : Number of fine rice grains remaining in the rice gel measured by observing the feeling of laminated grains (pieces / laminate)
g: Weight of rice gel used for observing the feeling of laminated grain (g)
n ₁₀ : Number of fine rice grains remaining in 10 g of rice gel (pieces / 10 g)
The laminated grain texture observation is a method of grain texture observation in which the number of residual rice grains is counted in a state where the rice gel obtained in the crushing experiment is thinly spread on a laminate of a predetermined size.

As can be seen from Table 4 above, the number n ₁₀ of fine rice grains remaining in 10 g of the rice gel obtained in Comparative Example 1 was 13.55 / 10 g. On the other hand, the number n ₁₀ of fine rice grains remaining in the rice gel obtained by the grinding apparatus (S2-2) in the latter stage of Example 1 was 2.90 / 10 g, which was significantly reduced as compared with Comparative Example 1. It had been.
From this, it can be said that Example 1 can obtain a rice gel that is significantly smoother than Comparative Example 1 in terms of the quality of the rice gel in terms of graininess.

[Other embodiments]
FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of another embodiment of the rice gel production system. The rice gel production system 1 of this embodiment includes a raw rice processing unit 38 that damages the raw rice. In this embodiment, the raw rice processing section 38 is provided between the rice storage section 2 and the rice washing section 3. The raw rice processing unit 38 includes a crushing device 37 that performs damage processing such as scratching or cracking the surface of rice grains of raw rice. A predetermined amount of raw rice is transferred from the rice storage section 2 to the raw rice processing section 38, and the raw rice damaged by the raw rice processing section 38 is passed through the rice washing machine 16 of the rice washing section 3 to the immersion tank of the dipping section 4. Transferred to 18. By damaging the raw rice before the dipping treatment, the surface area of the raw rice in contact with the soaking water is increased, so that the dipping time can be shortened. The position of the raw rice processing section 38 may be any position as long as it can be damaged before the raw rice is immersed, and may be, for example, between the rice delivery hopper 12 and the rice storage 14 of the rice storage section 2. ..

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the raw rice is washed with water in the rice washing section 3 and the dipping process is performed in the dipping tank 18 of the dipping section 4. , The washing treatment and the dipping treatment may be performed in the rice cooker A. Further, the rice washing unit 3 may wash the raw material rice with water, and then the rice washing and the soaking water may be stored in the rice cooking pot A and the soaking treatment may be performed in the rice cooking pot A.

Next, still another embodiment of the rice gel production system will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10. In the rice gel production system 1 of this embodiment, the rice cooking unit 5 is provided with a steam-type continuous rice cooking device 43, and the rice cooking rice transport unit 6 is provided with a main conveyor 46 and a plurality of feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d. The crushing unit 7 includes crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e as a plurality of crushing equipment 25 arranged in a parallel state.

The raw rice is put into the rice delivery hopper 12 by the rice storage unit 2, transported by the rice delivery elevator 13, and stored in the rice delivery storage 14. A predetermined amount of raw rice discharged from the rice storage 14 is sent to the rice washing machine 16 of the rice washing unit 3 by the raw rice carrier 15. The rice washing obtained by the rice washing machine 16 is sent to the immersion tank 18 of the immersion unit 4 via the rice feeder 41 and the rice washing transfer pipe 17, and is immersed in the immersion tank 18.

The soaked rice in the dipping tank 18 is supplied to the transport upstream end side of the drainer conveyor 42 having a mesh belt or the like, is drained while being transported by the drainer conveyor 42, and is supplied to the continuous rice cooking device 43. The continuous rice cooker 43 heats the cooked rice R with steam and boiling water while transporting the soaked rice with a conveyor (not shown) without using, for example, the rice cooker A (see FIG. 1 and the like). 9 and FIG. 10) are discharged by the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44. The temperature of the cooked rice R discharged from the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 is 95 degrees or higher.

The cooked rice R discharged from the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 of the continuous rice cooker 43 is conveyed to the crushing section 7 via the conveyor 45 of the cooked rice transport section 6, the main conveyor 46, and the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d. Will be done. The cooked rice transport unit 6 distributes and supplies the cooked rice R inherited from the continuous rice cooker 43 to a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e of the crushing unit 7. The temperature of the cooked rice R supplied to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e is 85 degrees or higher.

As shown in FIG. 7, the rice-cooking rice transport unit 6 is connected to the main conveyor 46 connected to the rice-cooking rice discharge conveyor 44 of the continuous rice cooking device 43 via the conveyor 45, and is connected to the main conveyor 46 and connected in series. A plurality of loading conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d are provided. The first charging conveyor 47a, the second charging conveyor 47b, and the third charging conveyor 47c are arranged so that the transport direction is inclined. An intermediate portion of the first-stage first loading conveyor 47a is arranged below the transport downstream end of the main conveyor 46. The first crushing equipment 25a is arranged below one end (lower end) of the first loading conveyor 47a, and the middle portion of the second loading conveyor 47b on the rear stage side is arranged below the other end (upper end). The second crushing equipment 25b is arranged below one end (lower end) of the second loading conveyor 47b, and the middle portion of the third loading conveyor 47c on the rear stage side is arranged below the other end (upper end). The third crushing equipment 25c is arranged below one end (lower end) of the third loading conveyor 47c, and the middle portion of the fourth loading conveyor 47d on the rear stage side is arranged below the other end (upper end). The fourth loading conveyor 47d is horizontally arranged, the fourth crushing equipment 25d is arranged below one end, and the fifth crushing equipment 25e is arranged below the other end.

The cooked rice transport unit 6 supplies the cooked rice R to any of the crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e by switching the transport direction of the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d, or the rear stage side. Is supplied to the loading conveyors 47b, 47c, 47d. As a result, the cooked rice transport unit 6 distributes and supplies the cooked rice R to the plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e. The crushing processing capacity of each crushing facility 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e is the same here. The sorting operation of the cooked rice transport unit 6 will be described later.

The crushing unit 7 crushes the cooked rice with the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e to obtain a rice gel. The rice gel obtained by the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e is supplied to the transfer pump 26 via the rice gel hopper 48 of the rice gel transfer section 8, and the rice gel transfer pipe 27 is supplied by one transfer pump 26. It is transferred to the packaging machine 28 of the gel accommodating portion 9 via the above. The rice gel container P obtained by subdividing the rice gel in the packaging machine 28 is conveyed to the inspection unit 10 by the conveyor 30, inspected by the foreign matter detector 31 and the weight inspection machine 32, and then in the shipping unit 11. It is sequentially placed on the moving table 33. Further, the rice gel container P is sterilized by heating and cooled by the sterilizer 34, water is removed by the water remover 35, and then packed in a box so that it can be shipped.

As shown in FIG. 8, the rice gel manufacturing system 1 has a control for controlling the operation of the conveyor drive motors 56, 57a, 57b, 57c, 57d of the conveyors 46, 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d of the rice cooking rice transport unit 6. The device 58 is provided. The control device 58 controls the transport speed of the main conveyor 46, the transport direction and the transport speed of the loading conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d.

An example of the distribution operation of the cooked rice R in the cooked rice transport unit 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 9. In this distribution operation example, the steps (1) to (4) are repeated, and the cooked rice R is distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e. The steps (1) to (4) described below correspond to the parenthesized numbers (1) to (4) in FIG. The cooked rice R discharged from the continuous rice cooker 43 is conveyed to the first feeding conveyor 47a via the conveyor 45 (see FIG. 7) and the main conveyor 46.

Step (1): As shown in FIG. 9 (1), when the cooked rice R is supplied to the first crushing equipment 25a, the transport direction of the first feeding conveyor 47a is controlled to face the first crushing equipment 25a side. Then, a predetermined amount of the cooked rice R supplied from the main conveyor 46 is supplied to the first crushing facility 25a. Further, in the step (1), the cooked rice R to be conveyed to the fifth crushing equipment 25e, which will be described later, is conveyed on the feeding conveyors 47b, 47c, 47d, and a predetermined amount of the cooked rice R is transferred to the fifth crushing equipment 25e. Will be supplied.

Step (2): As shown in FIG. 9 (2), when the cooked rice R is supplied to the second crushing facility 25b, the transport direction of the first feeding conveyor 47a is changed from the operating state in the above step (1). Switch so that it faces the second loading conveyor 47b side. Further, the transport direction of the second loading conveyor 47b is controlled to face the second crushing equipment 25b side. The cooked rice R supplied from the main conveyor 46 is supplied to the second crushing facility 25b by a predetermined amount via the feeding conveyors 47a and 47b.

Step (3): As shown in FIG. 9 (3), when the cooked rice R is supplied to the third crushing facility 25c, the transport direction of the second feeding conveyor 47b is changed from the operating state in the above step (2). Switch so that it faces the third loading conveyor 47c side. Further, the transport direction of the third loading conveyor 47c is controlled to face the third crushing equipment 25c side. The cooked rice R supplied from the main conveyor 46 is supplied to the third crushing facility 25c in a predetermined amount via the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c.

Step (4): As shown in FIG. 9 (4), when the cooked rice R is supplied to the fourth crushing facility 25d, the transport direction of the third feeding conveyor 47c is changed from the operating state of the above step (3). 4 Switch so that it faces the loading conveyor 47d side. Further, the transport direction of the 4th loading conveyor 47d is controlled to face the 4th crushing equipment 25d side. The cooked rice R supplied from the main conveyor 46 is supplied to the fourth crushing facility 25d in a predetermined amount via the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d.

In the above step (4), after a predetermined amount of cooked rice R is supplied to the 4th crushing equipment 25d, the transport direction of the 4th feeding conveyor 47d is switched in the opposite direction so as to face the 5th crushing equipment 25e side. Control. As a result, the supply of cooked rice R to the fifth crushing facility 25e is started. When the sum of the amount of cooked rice R charged into the fifth crushing facility 25e and the amount of cooked rice R on the second to fourth feeding conveyors 47b, 47c, 47d reaches a predetermined amount, the first feeding conveyor The transport direction of 47a is reversed, and the rice cooked rice R is started to be charged into the first crushing facility 25a (see the above steps (1) and FIG. 9 (1)). The cooked rice R on the second to fourth charging conveyors 47b, 47c, 47d is conveyed to the fifth crushing facility 25e by driving the charging conveyors 47b, 47c, 47d. As a result, a predetermined amount of cooked rice R is supplied to the fifth crushing facility 25e.

By repeating the above steps (1) to (4), the cooked rice R is sequentially distributed and supplied to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e. The time for switching the transport directions of the loading conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, and 47d is determined by, for example, measuring the drive time of each conveyor. Further, a measuring instrument for measuring the amount of cooked rice R passing through the predetermined position on the main conveyor 46 is provided, and the rice is supplied to each crushing facility 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e based on the output of the measuring instrument. The transport directions of the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, and 47d may be switched so that the amount of cooked rice R becomes a predetermined amount. The transfer speed of the loading conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d is preferably the same as or higher than the transfer speed of the main conveyor 46, but may be lower than the transfer speed of the main conveyor 46. .. Further, the order in which the cooked rice R is supplied to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e is not particularly limited.

Next, another example of the distribution operation of the cooked rice R in the cooked rice transport unit 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 10. In this distribution operation example, the steps (1) to (3) are repeated, and the cooked rice R is distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e. The steps (1) to (3) described below correspond to the parenthesized numbers (1) to (3) in FIG.

Step (1): As shown in FIG. 10 (1), the transport direction of the first loading conveyor 47a is toward the second loading conveyor 47b, and the transport direction of the second loading conveyor 47b is the third loading conveyor. The feeding conveyor 47a faces the 47c side, the transport direction of the third loading conveyor 47c faces the fourth loading conveyor 47d side, and the transport direction of the fourth loading conveyor 47d faces the fourth crushing facility 25d side. , 47b, 47c, 47d are controlled. The lengths of the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c are almost the same, and the amount of the cooked rice R present on each of the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c during the transportation of the cooked rice R is approximately the same. become. By driving the fourth feeding conveyor 47d, approximately the same amount of cooked rice R as the amount of each cooked rice R on each of the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c is supplied.

Step (2): As shown in FIG. 10 (2), the transport direction of the fourth feeding conveyor 47d is switched and directed to the fifth crushing equipment 25e side, and the cooked rice R to the fifth crushing equipment 25e is used. Supply will start. The total of the amount of cooked rice R charged into the fifth crushing facility 25e and the amount of cooked rice R on the fourth loading conveyor 47d is the amount of each cooked rice R on each of the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c. The supply of cooked rice R to the fifth crushing facility 25e will be continued until the amount is approximately the same as that of the fifth crushing facility 25e.

Step (3): The total of the amount of rice cooked rice R charged into the fifth crushing facility 25e and the amount of rice cooked rice R on the fourth feeding conveyor 47d is the sum of the amounts of the rice cooked rice R on the feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, respectively. When the amount is approximately the same as the amount of rice cooked R, as shown in FIG. 10 (3), the transport directions of the charging conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c are switched in the opposite directions, and the charging conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c are placed on the charging conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c. The cooked rice R is supplied to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c. Here, the transport speed of the first feeding conveyor 47a is higher than the transport speed of the main conveyor 46 in order to reduce the drop of the cooked rice R from the main conveyor 46 when the rice cooked rice R is supplied to the crushing equipment 25a. Is preferable. As a result, in steps (1) to (3), substantially the same amount of cooked rice R is supplied to the crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e.

By repeating the above steps (1) to (3), the cooked rice R is sequentially distributed and supplied to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e. The time for switching the transport directions of the loading conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, and 47d may be, for example, by measuring the drive time of each conveyor in the same manner as in the configuration described in the embodiment of FIG. Then, it may be performed based on the output of the measuring instrument that measures the amount of cooked rice R passing through the predetermined position on the main conveyor 46.
Further, the transport speeds of the loading conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d in the steps (1) and (2) may be the same as or higher than the transport speed of the main conveyor 46. However, it may be smaller than that. Further, the transfer speeds of the loading conveyors 47b, 47c, 47d in the above step (3) are also the same.

In the rice gel production system 1 of the embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 10, the crushing unit 7 is provided with crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e as a plurality of crushing equipment 25 arranged in a parallel state. , The rice cooker transport unit 6 distributes and supplies the rice cooker R inherited from the rice cooker 5 to a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e, so that the rice cooker R from the rice cooker 5 is crushed into a plurality of crushers. Since rice gel can be produced by crushing in parallel with the equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e, it becomes possible to introduce a steam-type continuous rice cooker 43 (rice cooker 5) having a higher rice-cooking rice production capacity. The rice gel production capacity can be further improved.

Further, the rice-cooking rice transport unit 6 includes a main conveyor 46 connected to the rice-cooking unit 5, and a plurality of feeding conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d connected to the main conveyor 46 and connected in series. The middle part of the first loading conveyor 47a of the first stage is arranged below the transport downstream end of the main conveyor 46, and the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c is located below both ends of the loading conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d. , 25d, 25e or the middle part of the loading conveyors 47b, 47c, 47d on the rear stage side is arranged. Then, by switching the transport direction of the charging conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d, the cooked rice R is supplied to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e, or the charging conveyors 47b, 47c, on the rear stage side. It is supplied to 47d, and the cooked rice R is distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e. As a result, the cooked rice R can be distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e with a simple configuration.

Further, since the rice cooker 5 is composed of a continuous rice cooker 43 that steams and steams the soaked rice (raw rice) while being conveyed by the conveyor, for example, the continuous rice cooker 21 that cooks rice in a plurality of rice cookers A conveyed by the conveyor. Compared with (see FIG. 1 and the like), the production capacity of cooked rice R can be improved, and the rice gel production capacity can be further improved.

Next, still another embodiment of the rice gel production system will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. In the rice gel manufacturing system of this embodiment, the rice cooking unit 5 is provided with a continuous rice cooking device 43, the rice cooking rice transport unit 6 is provided with a plurality of feeding conveyors 61, and the crushing unit 7 is a plurality of crushing equipment arranged in a parallel state. 25 is provided. Other configurations are the same as those of the rice gel production system 1 of the above-described embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5 and the like.

In the rice gel manufacturing system of this embodiment, each transport upstream end of the plurality of feeding conveyors 61 arranged in parallel is arranged below the transport downstream end of the rice cooking rice discharge conveyor 44 of the continuous rice cooking device 43. In this embodiment, five loading conveyors 61 are provided. The cooked rice R discharged from the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 is distributed substantially evenly between the downstream end of the rice cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 and the upstream end of the rice cooked rice discharge conveyor 61. A plurality of distribution members 62 are arranged.

The sorting member 62 is provided with a plate-shaped protrusion that protrudes toward the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44, and is a conveyor for feeding rice when the cooked rice R existing in the entire width direction of the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 falls from the downstream end of the transport. The cooked rice R is divided so as to be placed on 61. The crushing equipment 25 is arranged below the transport downstream end of each loading conveyor 61. In this embodiment, five crushing facilities 25 are arranged in parallel. Further, the crushing processing capacity of each crushing facility 25 is the same.

The cooked rice R cooked by the continuous rice cooker 43 is discharged from the transport downstream end of the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 and falls toward the input conveyor 61. The temperature of the discharged rice cooked rice R is about 95 degrees. The cooked rice R that falls from the transport downstream end of the cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 is divided by the sorting member 62 arranged between the adjacent feeding conveyors 61, and is distributed and supplied to each feeding conveyor 61.

The cooked rice R supplied to the charging conveyor 61 is conveyed to each charging conveyor 61 and supplied to each crushing facility 25. The temperature of the cooked rice R supplied to the crushing facility 25 is higher than the aging temperature, and is about 85 degrees here. Each crushing facility 25 crushes the cooked rice R into rice gel, and supplies the rice gel to the rice gel hopper 48. The rice gel supplied to the rice gel hopper 48 is transferred to the gel accommodating portion 9 (see FIG. 5 and the like) via the rice gel transfer pipe 27 by the transfer pump 26.

In the rice gel production system of this embodiment, the crushing unit 7 is provided with five (plural) crushing facilities 25 arranged in parallel, and the rice cooker transport unit 6 uses the rice cooker R inherited from the rice cooker unit 5. Since the rice is distributed and supplied to the rice cooker 25, the rice cooker R from the rice cooker 5 can be crushed in parallel by the five rice cookers 25 to produce rice gel, and the steam type has a higher rice cooking capacity. The continuous rice cooker 43 (rice cooker 5) can be introduced, and the rice gel production capacity can be further improved.

Further, in the rice gel manufacturing system of this embodiment, the rice-cooking rice transport section 6 is provided with five (plural) loading conveyors 61 connected to the rice-cooking section 5 and arranged in parallel, and the crushing section 7 is a plurality. The crushing equipment 25 is provided, and the crushing equipment 25 is arranged below the transport downstream end of each input conveyor 61. As a result, the cooked rice R can be distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25 with a simple configuration, and rice gel can be produced in parallel by the plurality of crushing facilities 25.

In the above embodiment, the cooked rice R discharged from the continuous rice cooker 43 is conveyed by a conveyor, but for example, the cooked rice R may be transferred by a uniaxial eccentric screw pump (mono pump). In this case, the rice cooked rice R is transferred to a plurality of crushing facilities 25 via a transfer pipe by a uniaxial eccentric screw pump, and a switching valve and a branching transfer pipe are provided in the middle of the transfer pipe to provide the switching valve. By switching between, the cooked rice R is distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25. Here, the transfer pipe is made of, for example, a stainless steel pipe, and the temperature drop of the cooked rice when the cooked rice is transferred is suppressed. As a result, the rice cooked rice having a temperature higher than the aging temperature (for example, 85 degrees or more) is supplied to each crushing facility 25, and the increase in the load of the crushing facility 25 due to the aging of the rice cooked rice is suppressed.

In a configuration in which the crushing unit 7 is provided with a plurality of crushing equipment 25, the rice gel produced by the crushing equipment 25 may be transferred to the gel storage unit 9 by a plurality of transfer pumps 26. Further, the transfer device for transferring the rice gel in the transfer unit 8 is not limited to the transfer pump 26 composed of the uniaxial eccentric screw pump, and may be any transfer device capable of transferring the rice gel, for example, a centrifugal pump or the like. May be. Further, the method of transferring the rice gel by the transfer unit 8 is not limited to the transfer method using a pump, and the transfer unit 8 may have a configuration in which the rice gel can be transferred from the crushing unit 7 to the gel storage unit 9. For example, the transfer unit 8 may be configured to transfer the rice gel from the crushing unit 7 to the gel storage unit 9 by a transfer device such as a conveyor.

Next, still another embodiment of the rice gel production system will be described with reference to FIG. In the rice gel production system of this embodiment, the rice cooking unit 5 is provided with a continuous rice cooking device 43, and the rice cooking rice transport unit 6 is provided with conveyors 45, 71, 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d, 72e and sorting members 73a, 73b, 73c, A 73d and a control device 74 are provided, and a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e are provided in the crushing unit 7. Other configurations are the same as those of the rice gel production system 1 of the above-described embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5 and the like.

In the rice gel production system of this embodiment, a conveyor 45 that inherits the cooked rice is arranged below the transport downstream end of the rice-cooking rice discharge conveyor 44 of the continuous rice-cooking device 43, and the main conveyor 71 is transported at the transport downstream end of the conveyor 45. The upstream part is connected. The transport upstream ends of the first to fourth loading conveyors 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d are arranged on the side of the transport intermediate portion of the main conveyor 71, and the fifth loading conveyor 72e is arranged at the transport downstream end of the main conveyor 71. The upstream part of the conveyor is connected. Below the transport downstream ends of the loading conveyors 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d, 72e, the first to fifth crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e of the crushing section 7 are arranged.

In the rice-cooking rice transport unit 6, the first to fourth sorting members 73a, 73b for dropping the cooked rice conveyed on the main conveyor 71 to the first to fourth feeding conveyors 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d side. , 73c, 73d are provided. Each of the distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d has a shielding position (two-dot chain line position) arranged on the rice-cooked rice transport path on the main conveyor 71 and a retracted position (solid line position) deviated from the rice-cooked rice transport path. ), Each is provided so as to be movable. The distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d are moved between the shielded position and the retracted position by the operation of the distribution member moving mechanism (not shown) whose operation is controlled by the control device 74. The distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d are arranged so as to be inclined with respect to the transport direction of the main conveyor 71 at the shielding position.

The cooked rice cooked by the continuous rice cooking device 43 is discharged from the transport downstream end of the rice cooked rice discharge conveyor 44, falls on the conveyor 45 of the rice cooked rice transport section 6, and is moved to the transport upstream portion of the main conveyor 71 by the conveyor 45. Be transported. The main conveyor 71 sequentially conveys the cooked rice inherited from the conveyor 45 toward the downstream side of the conveyor.

The cooked rice transport unit 6 distributes and supplies the cooked rice conveyed by the main conveyor 71 to the feeding conveyors 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d, 72e, and eventually distributes the rice to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e. And supply. When the cooked rice is supplied to the first feeding conveyor 72a, the first sorting member 73a is arranged at a shielding position on the main conveyor 71 under the control of the control device 74. The cooked rice transported on the main conveyor 71 comes into contact with the first distribution member 73a which is inclined with respect to the transport direction, and is conveyed on the main conveyor 71 for the first feeding along the first distribution member 73a. It moves to the conveyor 72a side and falls on the transport upstream portion of the first loading conveyor 72a. The cooked rice inherited by the first feeding conveyor 72a is supplied to the first crushing facility 25a by the operation of the first feeding conveyor 72a.

When a predetermined amount of cooked rice is supplied to the first feeding conveyor 72a, the control device 74 moves the first sorting member 73a to the retracted position and arranges the second sorting member 73b at the shielding position on the main conveyor 71. do. The cooked rice that has reached the second sorting member 73b by the transport of the main conveyor 71 moves to the second feeding conveyor 72b side along the second sorting member 73b while being conveyed on the main conveyor 71, and is moved to the second feeding conveyor 72b side. It falls on the transport upstream part of 72b. The cooked rice inherited by the second feeding conveyor 72b is supplied to the second crushing facility 25b by the operation of the second feeding conveyor 72b.

When a predetermined amount of cooked rice is supplied to the second feeding conveyor 72b, the control device 74 moves the second sorting member 73b to the retracted position and arranges the third sorting member 73c at the shielding position on the main conveyor 71. do. At this time, the first distribution member 73a is arranged at the retracted position. The cooked rice that has reached the third distribution member 73c by the transfer of the main conveyor 71 moves to the third input conveyor 72c side along the third distribution member 73c while being conveyed on the main conveyor 71, and moves to the third input conveyor 72c side. It falls on the upstream part of the conveyor of 72c. The cooked rice inherited by the third feeding conveyor 72c is supplied to the third crushing facility 25c by the operation of the third feeding conveyor 72c.

When a predetermined amount of cooked rice is supplied to the third feeding conveyor 72c, the control device 74 moves the third sorting member 73c to the retracted position and arranges the fourth sorting member 73d at the shielding position on the main conveyor 71. do. At this time, the first and second distribution members 73a and 73b are arranged at the retracted positions. The cooked rice that has reached the 4th distribution member 73d by the transfer of the main conveyor 71 moves to the 4th input conveyor 72d side along the 4th distribution member 73d while being conveyed on the main conveyor 71, and moves to the 4th input conveyor 72d side. It falls on the upstream part of the conveyor of 72d. The cooked rice inherited by the fourth feeding conveyor 72d is supplied to the fourth crushing facility 25d by the operation of the fourth feeding conveyor 72d.

When a predetermined amount of cooked rice is supplied to the fourth feeding conveyor 72d, the control device 74 moves the fourth sorting member 73d to the retracted position, and the first to fourth sorting members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d. Is placed in the retracted position. The cooked rice conveyed by the main conveyor 71 falls from the downstream end of the main conveyor 71 onto the upstream portion of the fifth feeding conveyor 72e. The cooked rice inherited by the fifth feeding conveyor 72e is supplied to the fifth crushing facility 25e by the operation of the fifth feeding conveyor 72e. When the sum of the amount of cooked rice supplied to the fifth feeding conveyor 72e and the amount of cooked rice placed on the main conveyor 71 on the downstream side of the shielding position of the first sorting member 73a reaches a predetermined amount, the control device. 74 arranges the first sorting member 73a at a shielded position, and starts supplying cooked rice to the first feeding conveyor 72a.

The movement timing of the distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d is determined by, for example, measuring the drive time of the main conveyor 71. Further, a measuring instrument for measuring the amount of cooked rice passing through the upstream side of the transport on the main conveyor 71 is provided, and the movement timing of the distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d is controlled based on the output of the measuring instrument. May be good.

In this way, the cooked rice is distributed and supplied by the cooked rice transport unit 6 to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e of the crushing unit 7. Here, the temperature of the cooked rice supplied to the crushing equipment 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e is higher than the aging temperature, and is about 85 degrees here.

In the rice gel production system of this embodiment, the rice-cooking rice transport unit 6 includes a main conveyor 71, five (plural) charging conveyors 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d, 72e, and rice-cooking rice conveyed by the main conveyor 71. A distribution mechanism (distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d) for distributing rice to the charging conveyors 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d, 72e is provided, and the crushing unit 7 is a charging conveyor 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d, 72e. It is equipped with five crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e connected to the downstream end of the conveyor. As a result, rice cooked rice can be distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25 with a simple configuration, and rice gel can be produced in parallel by a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e, and the rice gel production capacity can be achieved. Can be improved.

In the cooked rice transport unit 6 of this embodiment, the order in which the cooked rice is distributed and supplied to the feeding conveyors 72a, 72b, 72c, 72d, 72e is not particularly limited. Further, the configuration of the distribution mechanism in the cooked rice transport unit 6 shown in FIG. 13 is an example, and the moving direction and arrangement of the distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d are not particularly limited. For example, the distribution members 73a, 73b, 73c, 73d may be provided so as to be movable in the vertical direction and may be configured to move between the shielding position and the retracting position above the main conveyor 71, or may be in the horizontal direction. It may be configured to be rotatably provided and move between a shielding position on the main conveyor 71 and a retracting position off the main conveyor 71.

Further, in the configuration in which the crushing unit 7 includes a plurality of crushing equipment 25, the configuration in which the cooked rice transport unit 6 distributes the cooked rice to the plurality of crushing equipment 25 is shown in the configuration shown in FIG. 7 and in FIGS. 11 and 12. The configuration is not limited to the above configuration and the configuration shown in FIG. 13, and any configuration may be used as long as the cooked rice inherited from the rice cooking unit 5 can be distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25. Further, the number of input conveyors and the number of crushing equipment arranged in parallel are not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the rice cooking capacity of the rice cooking unit 5 and the crushing process of the crushing equipment 25 in the crushing unit 7 are performed. It can be changed as appropriate according to the ability.

Further, in a configuration including a rice cooking unit 5 for continuously cooking rice using a plurality of rice cooking pots A, a plurality of crushing facilities 25 are provided, and the cooked rice taken out from the rice cooking pot A is distributed and supplied to the plurality of crushing facilities 25. The cooked rice transport unit 6 may be provided. For example, a main conveyor 46 (see FIGS. 5 to 10) is placed below the rice cooker 24 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) to loosen the cooked rice taken out from the rice cooker A in place of the crushing equipment 25. The cooked rice supplied from A via the loosening machine 24 may be distributed and supplied to a plurality of crushing facilities 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d, 25e by a plurality of input conveyors 47a, 47b, 47c, 47d. Here, it is possible to reduce the number of feeding conveyors and the number of crushing facilities according to the amount of cooked rice in the rice cooker A.

Next, still another embodiment of the rice gel production system will be described with reference to FIGS. 14 and 15. In the rice gel manufacturing system 1 of this embodiment, the rice cooking unit 5 is provided with a continuous rice cooking device 43, the rice cooking rice transport unit 6 is provided with a conveyor 45 and a feeding conveyor 81, and the crushing unit 7 is provided with one crushing facility 82. .. Other configurations are the same as those of the rice gel production system 1 of the above-described embodiment described with reference to FIG. 5 and the like.

In the rice gel manufacturing system 1 of this embodiment, a conveyor 45 that inherits the cooked rice is arranged below the transport downstream end of the rice cooked rice discharge conveyor 44 of the continuous rice cooker 43, and a feeding conveyor 81 is arranged at the transport downstream end of the conveyor 45. The upstream part of the conveyor is connected. The cooked rice transport unit 6 inherits the cooked rice discharged from the continuous rice cooker 43 of the rice cooker 5, and transports the cooked rice to the large crushing facility 82 by the operation of the conveyors 45 and 81.

The crushing equipment 82 has a high crushing processing speed (crushing capacity), and has a crushing processing speed capable of producing rice gel by crushing the cooked rice discharged from the continuous rice cooking device 43 without retaining the rice. In other words, the amount of cooked rice that can be crushed by the crushing equipment 82 per unit time is larger than the amount of cooked rice discharged from the rice cooking unit 5 (continuous rice cooking device 43) per unit time. The rice gel obtained in the crushing facility 82 is supplied to the transfer pump 26 via the rice gel hopper 48 of the rice gel transfer section 8, and is transferred to the gel storage section 9 by the transfer pump 26 via the rice gel transfer pipe 27. ..

As described above, in the rice gel production system 1 of this embodiment, since the crushing unit 7 crushes the cooked rice with one crushing facility 82 to obtain the rice gel, a plurality of crushing devices are installed in the crushing unit 7. Compared with the case, the configuration of the rice cooking rice transport unit 6 and the crushing unit 7 can be simplified and the installation space for them can be reduced. In this embodiment, if the crushing equipment 82 is arranged below the downstream end of the conveyor 45 and the feeding conveyor 81 is omitted, the configuration of the rice cooking rice transport unit 6 can be simplified.

Although the embodiments have been described above, the present invention can be embodied in various embodiments without being limited to the above-described embodiments. The configuration of each part is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, and various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the rice cooker 5 is composed of a continuous rice cooker 21 or a continuous rice cooker 43, but in the rice gel production system 1, the rice cooker 5 cooks or steams raw rice to cook rice. Any structure may be used as long as it can be obtained, and for example, a continuous rice cooker may be used in which the soaked rice (raw rice) is steamed while being conveyed by a conveyor to obtain steamed rice.

Further, the raw material rice used in the rice gel production system of the embodiment may be so-called scrap rice such as chipped rice or cracked rice. If inexpensive waste rice is used as the raw material rice, the production cost of rice gel can be reduced. In the rice gel production system of the embodiment, the cooked rice obtained by cooking the raw rice is not shipped as it is, but is crushed in the crushing section to make a rice gel, so that the raw rice is scrap rice. There is no problem even if there is.

In the above embodiment, the crushing equipment 25 is configured in a two-stage system having a first crushing section 100A in the front stage and a second crushing section 100B in the rear stage, but further crushing sections are connected in series with the crushing sections before and after these. It may be arranged in 3 or more stages.

In the above embodiment, each of the first crushing section 100A in the front stage and the second crushing section 100B in the rear stage constituting the crushing facility 25 is configured by a stone mill type crushing device, but crushing of other types other than the crushing device. It may be configured by a device.
Further, regarding the first crushing portion 100A in the previous stage, the annular accommodating portion having the annular recess accommodating the object to be crushed is rotated around the central axis thereof, and around the axis along the annular circumferential direction in the annular recess. It can also be configured by a silent cutter that crushes the cooked rice in the form of rotating the cutter. By adopting such a relatively inexpensive silent cutter for the first crushing section, the equipment cost can be kept low. Furthermore, the silent cutter adopted in the first crushing unit can stably crush a relatively large amount of cooked rice while sequentially cutting it.

1 Rice gel manufacturing system 4 Immersion part 5 Rice cooking part 6 Rice cooking rice transfer part 7 Crushing part 8 Rice gel transfer part 9 Gel storage part 21 Continuous rice cooker 25 Crushing equipment (crushing part)
25a 1st crushing equipment (crushing part)
25b 2nd crushing equipment (crushing part)
25c 3rd crushing equipment (crushing part)
25d 4th crushing equipment (crushing part)
25e 5th crushing equipment (crushing part)
26 Transfer pump (uniaxial eccentric screw pump)
38 Raw rice processing section 43 Steam-type continuous rice cooker 46 Main conveyor 47a 1st loading conveyor 47b 2nd loading conveyor 47c 3rd loading conveyor 47d 4th loading conveyor 82 Crushing equipment 100A 1st crushing section 100B 2nd crushing Part R Rice Cooked Rice Ra 1st Crushed Rice RG Rice Gel

Claims (5)

A rice gel manufacturing system that manufactures gel-like rice gel.
A rice cooker that cooks or steams raw rice to obtain cooked rice,
The cooked rice transport unit that transports the cooked rice,
A crushing section for crushing the cooked rice inherited from the cooked rice transport section to obtain the rice gel is provided.
As the crushing part,
The first crushing section for crushing the cooked rice to obtain the first crushed rice,
A second crushed portion for obtaining the rice gel by crushing the first crushed rice discharged from the first crushed portion more finely than the first crushed portion is provided .
At least one of the first crushed portion and the second crushed portion is a stone mill type that crushes the crushed object in a form in which the crushed object is passed through the gap between the upper and lower mortar portions that rotate relative to each other. A rice gel manufacturing system consisting of a crusher . The rice gel production system according to claim 1, further comprising a first crushed rice transport section for transporting the first crushed rice discharged from the first crushed section to the second crushed section. The rice gel production system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second crushing unit comprises the stone mill type crushing device for crushing the first crushed rice as the crushing object . The first crushing unit is composed of the stone mill type crushing device that crushes the cooked rice as the crushing object .
The rice gel production according to claim 3, wherein the gap width, which is the width of the gap between the upper and lower mortar portions in the second crushing portion, is set to be smaller than the gap width in the first crushing portion. system. It is a rice gel manufacturing method for producing gel-like rice gel.
It is equipped with a crushing process to obtain a gel-like rice gel by crushing cooked rice obtained by cooking or steaming raw rice.
As the crushing step,
In the first crushing step of crushing the cooked rice to obtain the first crushed rice,
A second crushing step of crushing the first crushed rice obtained in the first crushing step into smaller pieces than the first crushing step to obtain the rice gel is provided .
At least one of the first crushed portion and the second crushed portion is a stone mill type that crushes the crushed object in a form in which the crushed object is passed through the gap between the upper and lower mortar portions that rotate relative to each other. A rice gel manufacturing method consisting of a grinding device .

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