JP7408899B2 - Continuous coagulation equipment for tofu materials - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a continuous coagulation apparatus for tofu materials useful for continuously manufacturing tofu products such as firm tofu and silken tofu.

When producing tofu products continuously, a continuous coagulation device is required to continuously coagulate the tofu material by mixing soymilk and a coagulant.

A conventional continuous coagulation device continuously feeds tofu material onto a conveyor belt at the upstream end of a conveyor, and coagulates the tofu material while horizontally conveying it (for example, Patent Document 1). In this case, the conveyor belt is equipped with a weir plate at the upstream end in order to load and solidify the liquid tofu material to a predetermined thickness, and a guide member with a concave cross section is installed below the conveying surface. The side edge of the guide member is folded upward along the guide member and the guide member is run. By deforming the conveyor belt so as to spread it out into a flat shape on the front and rear rollers, the conveyor belt can be smoothly wound around the rollers and run.

Furthermore, a type in which a pair of guide belts are disposed facing each other on the left and right sides of a conveyor belt of a conveyor has been known for a long time (for example, Patent Document 2). Each guide belt forms a trough-like coagulation chamber on the conveyor belt by running in synchronization with the conveyor belt while standing vertically along the side edge of the conveyor belt.

Patent No. 4613252 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-116903

When using such conventional technology, the conveyor for the continuous solidification device needs to be a large piece of equipment with a total length of over 10 meters in order to achieve the specified production capacity and ensure the necessary solidification time. The problem was that a large factory building was essential, and the overall investment amount tended to be excessive.

Therefore, in view of the problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention is to reduce the size of the entire structure by combining a cutter, a discharge conveyor, and a transfer conveyor with a rectangular cylindrical body into which tofu material is injected and solidified. It is an object of the present invention to provide a continuous coagulation device for tofu materials that can solve the problem of a factory building and the associated investment amount.

The structure of the present invention to achieve such an object includes a vertically elongated cylinder with a rectangular cross section for injecting tofu material and coagulating it into tofu tissue, a nozzle disposed at the upper part of the cylinder, and a static cylinder on the upstream side of the nozzle. It is equipped with a mixer, a cutter installed at the bottom of the cylindrical body, a discharge conveyor installed under the cylindrical body so as to be able to rise and fall freely, and a transfer conveyor disposed downstream of the discharge conveyor. The liquid tofu material from the static mixer is injected from above through a nozzle, and the cutter, discharge conveyor, and transfer conveyor move the sheet-like product of a predetermined thickness into a cylinder. The gist is to sequentially cut out the pieces from the bottom and discharge them onto a transfer conveyor.

Note that the cutter can move horizontally into the cylinder to cut the tofu material inside the cylinder and close the lower part of the cylinder, and retreat outside the cylinder to open the lower part of the cylinder.

Further, the discharge conveyor may form a horizontal conveying surface that matches the cross-sectional shape of the cylinder, and the conveying surface extends from an elevated position directly below the cutter to an intermediate position below the cutter by a predetermined thickness of the product. Then, it may be moved up and down until it reaches a lowered position at the same level as the conveyance surface of the transfer conveyor.

Further, the transfer conveyor can discharge the product from the discharge conveyor and transfer it onto the transfer conveyor for the next process.

According to the structure of the invention, the vertically long cylinder with a rectangular cross section is heated to a predetermined thickness by being injected from above with a tofu material in which soymilk and a coagulant are mixed at a predetermined ratio, through a cutter, a discharge conveyor, and a transfer conveyor. By sequentially cutting out and discharging the finished product from the bottom, it is possible to substantially continuously supply the solidified product to the next process downstream of the transfer conveyor. However, in order to achieve the target production capacity of tofu products and to ensure the coagulation time required for the liquid tofu material to coagulate into a homogeneous tofu structure, the necessary amount of tofu material is always kept inside the cylinder. It shall operate while being stored. Therefore, the cylindrical body can solidify the tofu material and continuously supply it to the next process without any substantial horizontal movement of the tofu material, reducing the floor space required for installation and the investment required. The amount can be reduced.

By retreating outside the cylinder and opening the lower part of the cylinder, the cutter can lower all of the tofu material inside the cylinder in one piece, and by advancing horizontally into the cylinder, the cutter can solidify the tofu material. By cutting the finished lower end horizontally, a sheet having the same cross-sectional shape as the cylinder can be cut out as a product that can be discharged from the cylinder. Note that the lower part of the tofu material descending inside the cylinder has been solidified into tofu tissue, and the upper part is in an unsolidified liquid state.

The discharge conveyor, which has a conveying surface that matches the cross-sectional shape of the cylinder, stably supports and holds the lower end of the tofu material on the conveying surface when the cutter is retreated outside the cylinder and the tofu material inside the cylinder descends. I can do it.

When the discharge conveyor is in the raised position where the conveyance surface is directly below the cutter, the cutter can be retreated to the outside of the cylinder to smoothly transfer all of the tofu material inside the cylinder onto the conveyance surface, and then lowered to the intermediate position. As a result, all of the tofu material can be lowered by an amount equivalent to a predetermined thickness when discharging the product. Therefore, if the discharge conveyor is lowered to the intermediate position and the cutter is advanced horizontally into the cylinder, the product of a predetermined thickness can be cut into a sheet onto the discharge conveyor, and then the discharge conveyor is lowered to the lowered position. When the product is lowered to this level, the sheet-like products on the discharge conveyor can be brought to the same level as the transfer conveyor and smoothly discharged onto the transfer conveyor.

After the transfer conveyor discharges the sheet-like product on the discharge conveyor, it can subsequently transfer the product onto the conveyor for the next process. When discharging products from the discharging conveyor, the transfer conveyor minimizes discharging time by operating at high speed in synchronization with the discharging conveyor, and when transferring products to the conveying conveyor in the next process, the line speed of the conveyor It shall be synchronized and operated at low speed.

Overall configuration schematic side view A schematic front view corresponding to the X arrow in Figure 1 Operation flowchart Operation diagram (1) Operation diagram (2) Operation diagram (3) Operation diagram (4) Operation diagram (5) Operation diagram (6) Operation diagram (7) Operation diagram (8) Operation diagram (9) Operation diagram (10) Operation diagram (11) Operation diagram (12) Operation diagram (13) Operation diagram (14)

Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The continuous coagulation device for tofu material includes a vertically elongated cylinder 11 with a rectangular cross section, a cutter 12, a discharge conveyor 20, and a transfer conveyor 30 (FIGS. 1 and 2). However, in FIGS. 1 and 2, the discharge conveyor 20 is shown in a lowered position and a raised position, respectively. Further, in FIG. 2, the transfer conveyor 30 is not shown.

The cylindrical body 11 is formed into a rectangular cylindrical shape with an open top and bottom. A nozzle 13 for injecting the tofu material W3 is arranged downward at the upper part of the cylinder 11, and a static mixer 14 is connected to the upstream side of the nozzle 13. Soy milk W1 from the soy milk tank 15 and coagulant W2 from the coagulant tank 16 are supplied to the static mixer 14 via pumps P1 and P2, respectively. Therefore, the static mixer 14 uniformly mixes predetermined amounts of soymilk W1 and coagulant W2 from the pumps P1 and P2, and continuously injects the mixture into the cylinder 11 through the nozzle 13 as a liquid tofu material W3. can. The pumps P1 and P2 are each driven by a variable speed motor (not shown).

The cutter 12 is installed at the bottom of the cylindrical body 11. The cutter 12 is formed into a rectangular thin plate shape that is slightly larger than the cross-sectional shape of the cylindrical body 11. The cutter 12 can advance horizontally into the cylindrical body 11 to close the lower part of the cylindrical body 11 via a driving cylinder 12a, and can retreat to the outside of the cylindrical body 11 to close the entire lower part of the cylindrical body 11. can be opened up.

The discharge conveyor 20 is installed under the cylindrical body 11 so as to be movable up and down. The endless conveyor belt 21 of the discharge conveyor 20 is formed to have a wide width equivalent to the long side of the cylinder 11, and includes a drive roller 22 at the bottom, a guide plate 23 at the top, guide rollers 24, 24 at the middle, and a tension roller 24a. A horizontal conveyance surface matching the cross-sectional shape of the cylindrical body 11 is formed at the upper end via a guide plate 23. The discharge conveyor 20 is assembled as a whole into an elevating frame 25, and the elevating frame 25 is mounted on a fixed frame 25a via linear actuators 26, 26 and guide rods 26a, 26a so as to be able to move up and down. The discharge conveyor 20 is driven by a variable speed motor (not shown).

The discharge conveyor 20 can raise and lower the elevating frame 25 via the linear actuators 26, 26 between the lowered position in FIG. 1 and the raised position in FIG. 2. Note that the horizontal conveyance surface of the discharge conveyor 20 substantially coincides with the lower end of the cylinder 11 in the lowered position, and is located directly below the cutter 12 in the cylinder 11 in the raised position. However, at the lower end of the cylindrical body 11, an opening 11a that opens at the bottom is formed on one long side corresponding to the downstream side of the discharge conveyor 20.

The transfer conveyor 30 is arranged downstream of the discharge conveyor 20. The endless conveyor belt 31 of the transfer conveyor 30 is formed to have the same effective width as the conveyor belt 21 of the discharge conveyor 20, and is wrapped around a lower drive roller 32, an upper guide plate 33, and intermediate guide rollers 34, 34. A horizontal conveyance surface is formed at the upper end via the guide plate 33. The transfer conveyor 30 is assembled to a fixed frame 35, and the conveyance surface of the transfer conveyor 30 is at the same level as the conveyance surface of the discharge conveyor 20 in the lowered position. The transfer conveyor 30 is driven by a variable speed motor (not shown).

On the downstream side of the transfer conveyor 30, a transfer conveyor 41 for the next process is arranged. The conveyor 41 is formed to have the same effective width as the discharge conveyor 20 and the transfer conveyor 30. However, the illustrated transport conveyor 41 exemplifies the breaking process for making firm tofu, and is provided with a breaking device 42 for continuously breaking the coagulated tofu material W3 on the transport conveyor 41. The conveyor 41 is driven at a predetermined line speed by a variable speed motor (not shown).

The operation of such a continuous coagulation apparatus for tofu material is as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, for example. However, in the flowchart of FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. Meanwhile, soy milk W1 and coagulant W2 are prepared in the soy milk tank 15 and coagulant tank 16, respectively, and an auxiliary pipe 13a that almost reaches the cutter 12 is attached to the outlet side of the nozzle 13 for tofu material W3. (Fig. 4) and starts when preparation is complete.

Therefore, first, pumps P1 and P2 are operated to supply soymilk W1 and coagulant W2 in fixed quantities, and tofu material W3 is injected all at once to the vicinity of the upper end of cylinder 11 via static mixer 14, nozzle 13, and auxiliary pipe 13a. (Step (1) in FIG. 3, hereinafter simply referred to as (1), indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 4). At this time, the auxiliary pipe 13a prevents harmful air bubbles from being generated in the tofu material W3 injected into the cylinder 11. Further, the mixing ratio of soy milk W1 and coagulant W2 in the tofu material W3 can be set by adjusting the discharge ratio of the pumps P1 and P2. Next, wait for the solidification time of the tofu material W3 in the cylinder 11 to elapse (2), remove the auxiliary pipe 13a in the cylinder 11, and proceed to the subsequent actual work. However, the auxiliary pipe 13a may be removed before the solidification time elapses.

When the solidification time of the tofu material W3 in the cylinder 11 has elapsed (2), the discharge conveyor 20 is raised to a raised position directly below the cutter 12 via the linear actuators 26, 26 (FIG. 5). In addition, soymilk W1 and coagulant W2 are supplied via pumps P1 and P2, and the constant injection of tofu material W3 is started and continued continuously (3). A cutting step is carried out to cut out the tofu material W3 (4).

That is, when the cutter 12 is retreated to the outside of the cylinder 11 via the cylinder 12a (FIG. 6), all of the tofu material W3 inside the cylinder 11 is transferred onto the conveyance surface of the discharge conveyor 20. Therefore, when the discharge conveyor 20 is lowered to an intermediate position via the linear actuators 26, 26 (FIG. 7), the tofu material W3 in the cylinder 11 descends together with the discharge conveyor 20, so that the The cutter 12 is advanced into the cylindrical body 11 via the cutter 12a (FIG. 8), and the solidified lower end of the tofu material W3 is cut to a predetermined thickness, and is placed on the conveyance surface of the discharge conveyor 20 as a sheet-like product W4. It can be cut out. That is, the intermediate position of the discharge conveyor 20 is set below the cutter 12 by a distance corresponding to the predetermined thickness of the product W4.

Thereafter, when the discharge conveyor 20 is lowered to the lowered position (FIG. 9), the products W4 on the discharge conveyor 20 are lowered to the same level as the transfer conveyor 30. Therefore, when the discharge conveyor 20 and the transfer conveyor 30 are synchronized and operated at high speed, the product W4 on the discharge conveyor 20 can be quickly discharged onto the transfer conveyor 30 through the opening 11a at the lower end of the cylinder 11. ((5), Figure 10).

When the product W4 on the discharge conveyor 20 is discharged onto the transfer conveyor 30 ((6), FIG. 11), the speed of the transfer conveyor 30 is reduced to match the line speed of the transfer conveyor 41 for the next process, and the transfer conveyor 41 is is operated at line speed, and a transfer operation is started to transfer the product W4 on the transfer conveyor 30 onto the transfer conveyor 41 (7). Note that the conveyor 41 continues to operate at the line speed thereafter. Further, the discharge conveyor 20 is stopped and raised to the raised position.

Thereafter, the process moves to the next cutting process of the tofu material W3 (8). That is, the cutter 12 is retreated to the outside of the cylinder 11 (FIG. 12), and the tofu material W3 inside the cylinder 11 is transferred onto the discharge conveyor 20 in the raised position. At the same time, while continuing to transfer the product W4 from the transfer conveyor 30 onto the transfer conveyor 41, the discharge conveyor 20 is lowered to the intermediate position (FIG. 13), the cutter 12 is advanced into the cylinder 11, and the next step is carried out. A sheet-like product W4 is cut out onto the discharge conveyor 20 (FIG. 14). Thereafter, the discharge conveyor 20 is lowered to the lowered position (FIG. 15), and the next product W4 on the discharge conveyor 20 is placed on standby at the same level as the transfer conveyor 30, and the preceding product W4 on the transfer conveyor 30 is placed in the next process. It waits for it to be transferred onto the transport conveyor 41 (9).

When the rear end of the preceding product W4 passes through the transition area between the transfer conveyor 30 and the transfer conveyor 41 (9), the discharge conveyor 20 and the transfer conveyor 30 are synchronously operated at high speed, and the product W4 on the discharge conveyor 20 is transferred to the transfer conveyor. 30 ((10), Figure 16). Therefore, when the front end of the following product W4 discharged onto the transfer conveyor 30 contacts the rear end of the preceding product W4 on the transfer conveyor 41 ((11), FIG. 17), the speed of the transfer conveyor 30 is changed to The line speed is reduced to 41, and the transfer of the following product W4 is started while continuing the previous and subsequent products W4 and W4 together (12), and at the same time, the discharge conveyor 20 is stopped and raised to the ascending position. Thereafter, it is sufficient to return to step (8), the operation of FIG. 12, and repeat the operations of steps (8) to (12).

Note that when one or both of the soymilk W1 in the soymilk tank 15 and the coagulant W2 in the coagulant tank 16 are exhausted, the pumps P1 and P2 are stopped, and the quantitative injection of the tofu material W3 started in step (3) is completed. . Further, after the quantitative injection of the tofu material W3 is finished, when all of the tofu material W3 in the cylinder 11 is discharged as products W4, W4, etc., the repetitive operation of steps (8) to (12) in FIG. 3 is finished. However, when the last product W4 passes through the entire line on the downstream side of the conveyor 41, the operation of the entire line is terminated. Note that the constant injection of the tofu material W3 by the pumps P1 and P2 is performed during one cycle of cutting and discharging the product W4 by the cutter 12, the discharge conveyor 20, and the transfer conveyor 30. It is preferable to set the variation so that it is equal to or less than a predetermined thickness of the product W4. However, the tofu material W3 may be injected intermittently into the cylinder 11 instead of continuously, as long as the range of variation in the liquid level within the cylinder 11 can be appropriately controlled.

An example of the specifications of a continuous solidification device is as follows. That is, when assuming a continuous production line with a production capacity of 3000 pieces/hour of cotton tofu with a dehydration rate of 60% and a line speed of 450 mm/min, the length and width of the cylinder 11 are 300 mm in length, width, and height. x 1000 x 1500 mm, length and width thickness of product W4: 300 x 1000 x 75 mm, weight: 22.5 kg (equivalent to 33 blocks of firm tofu), coagulation time of tofu material W3 in cylinder 11: 12 minutes, storage amount: 18 of product W4 The cutting and discharging cycle time for product W4 is 40 seconds/sheet.

The present invention can be widely and suitably applied to continuous production of any tofu products such as firm tofu, soft tofu, silken tofu, and stuffed tofu, and secondary processed products thereof.

W3...Tofu material W4...Product 11...Cylinder 12...Cutter 20...Discharge conveyor 30...Transfer conveyor 41...Transport conveyor

Patent applicant: International Frozen Tofu Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

A vertically long cylinder with a rectangular cross section for injecting tofu material and coagulating it into tofu tissue, a nozzle disposed at the top of the cylinder, a static mixer on the upstream side of the nozzle, and a static mixer installed at the bottom of the cylinder. It comprises a cutter, a discharge conveyor installed under the cylindrical body so as to be vertically movable, and a transfer conveyor disposed downstream of the discharge conveyor, and the cylindrical body has a cross-sectional shape equivalent to a plurality of tofu products. The liquid tofu material from the static mixer is injected from above through the nozzle, and the cutter, discharge conveyor, and transfer conveyor inject a sheet-like product of a predetermined thickness from the bottom of the cylinder. A continuous coagulation apparatus for tofu material, characterized in that the tofu material is sequentially cut and discharged onto the transfer conveyor. The cutter is characterized in that the cutter moves horizontally into the cylinder to cut the tofu material inside the cylinder and closes a lower part of the cylinder, and retreats outside the cylinder to open the lower part of the cylinder. An apparatus for continuously coagulating tofu material according to claim 1. 3. The continuous solidification apparatus for tofu material according to claim 1, wherein the discharge conveyor forms a horizontal conveying surface that matches the cross-sectional shape of the cylinder. The discharge conveyor is configured such that the conveying surface moves from an elevated position directly below the cutter, through an intermediate position below the cutter by a predetermined thickness of the product, to a lowered position at the same level as the conveying surface of the transfer conveyor. 4. The continuous coagulation device for tofu material according to claim 3, wherein the device moves up and down between the tofu materials. 5. The continuous coagulation apparatus for tofu material according to claim 1, wherein the transfer conveyor discharges the product from the discharge conveyor and transfers the product onto a conveyor for a next process.

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