JPH0111033Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an apparatus for defrosting frozen foods.

(Prior art) In recent years, various foods have become widely used because they can be frozen and stored for long periods of time without using preservatives, and furthermore, improvements in the functionality of refrigerators have made rapid freezing possible without losing the unique flavor of the food. has been done. Another advantage of frozen food is that it can be used by thawing only the required amount, so there is no waste.

By the way, such frozen foods are eaten after being thawed as mentioned above, and thawing methods include simply leaving them in the open air, or heating them for forced thawing. Depending on the food, there are cases where such thawing methods cannot be used. Frozen confectionery can be cited as a typical example of such foods. Therefore, freezing of confectionery is only applied to a very limited number of foods, and the thawing method is generally to leave it in the open air or to leave it in the open air. , methods using steam heating or microwave ovens have been adopted. However, there are only a limited number of sweets that can be forced to defrost, such as Japanese sweets, which cannot be forcibly defrosted in a short period of time and must be left exposed to the outside air.
When a confectionery that has been frozen at a temperature of about 0.degree. C. is left in the open air, water vapor in the air condenses and adheres to the outer surface of the confectionery. In other words, it causes condensation,
Confectionery that causes problems due to water droplets adhering to the outer surface of the confectionery due to the dew condensation phenomenon cannot be stored frozen.

(Problem to be solved by the present invention) As described above, when frozen confectionery is left in the outside air to thaw, there is a large difference between the outside temperature and the water vapor in the air that condenses. This causes condensation that adheres to the outer surface of confectionery, and thawed confectionery becomes sticky and contains moisture, reducing the taste and cannot be returned to its original state before freezing. This means that it was limited. By the way, the present invention was devised for the purpose of solving these problems, and provides a thawing device that does not cause dew condensation due to thawing and can freeze confectionery and general foods that were conventionally impossible to freeze. It is something to do.

(Means for solving the problem) To thaw frozen confectionery and other general frozen foods, simply raising the outside temperature will cause condensation as described above, so it is necessary to raise the temperature and at the same time remove moisture. It is necessary to remove it. Therefore, the thawing device according to the present invention is equipped with a device that simultaneously increases the temperature inside the refrigerator and dehumidifies the refrigerator, and the temperature management is performed by program control. Generally, temperature control detects and controls the deviation from the measured temperature for a set constant temperature value, but the program control described above changes the set temperature range over time, and The temperature change range and time can be set arbitrarily in advance.

Therefore, the device controls the heater and the dehumidifying cooler by a control device composed of a temperature measurement circuit, a temperature setting circuit, a digital-analog multiplier, a time counter, a sequencer, and a comparison output circuit. .

The above-mentioned temperature measurement circuit requires the highest accuracy and is adjusted so that the error is minimized within a certain temperature range, and the measurement method uses a resistance thermometer using a three-wire bridge circuit.

The temperature setting circuit is a circuit that predetermines the thawing start temperature and thawing completion temperature in the thawing chamber, and displays the upper and lower limit temperatures respectively. This is the input on the analog side of the digital-to-analog multiplier.

The digital-analog multiplier is a voltage generation circuit that serves as the reference temperature for temperature adjustment under program control, and is a high-precision multiplier that multiplies both the difference voltage between the upper and lower limits mentioned above and the digital output indicating the passage of time from the time counter. Using integrated circuits, it is possible to create a curve with temperature increase steps that divide the upper and lower temperature differences into smaller pieces.

Therefore, by setting the temperature difference and time above,
Generates a reference voltage whose temperature increases per unit time.

A time counter is a circuit that sets the time from the lower limit temperature to the upper limit temperature, and is composed of an oscillator, a frequency divider, and a counter.

The sequencer is a part that determines the control order in advance, and in this device, it is a circuit that is programmed to control the rise and fall of temperature in a fixed order by pressing the operation button. Furthermore, since the comparison output circuit raises and lowers the temperature according to the control commanded by the above sequencer,
When the temperature rises, the program temperature is compared with the temperature inside the refrigerator, and when the temperature inside the refrigerator is low, a contact output is generated. The contact output is transmitted to external equipment.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of these circuit configurations.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the defrosting device according to the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

(Example) Figures 2 to 5 show specific examples of the thawing device according to the present invention, in which a main body case 1 is separated into a thawing chamber 2 and a machine room 3 via a partition 4. The defrosting chamber 2 can be accessed by opening and closing an entrance door 5, and the machine room 3 can be accessed by opening and closing a door 6. A control box 7 is installed near the entrance door 5, and is connected to the machine room 3.
It controls the operation of a heater 8, a cooler 9, and a refrigerator 10 installed in the refrigerator. The heater 8
is connected to a heat storage tank 11 and circulates hot water stored in the heat storage tank 11 by utilizing exhaust heat from a boiler to the heater 8, while the cooler 9 is connected to a refrigerator 10. In conjunction with this, moisture within the thawing chamber 2 is removed.

Of course, the heater 8 may use other heating means without using the hot water from the heat storage tank 11, and the dehumidifying means does not necessarily require the above-mentioned cooler. .

In short, the thawing device according to the present invention dehumidifies while heating gradually, and is characterized in that temperature management by heating is controlled by a program.

For example, if the setting time required for defrosting is 1 hour,
If the upper temperature limit is 30°C and the lower temperature limit is 0°C, and the temperature difference between the upper and lower limits is divided into 256 equal parts, the temperature will rise gradually over time.
The unit time Δt is 14.06 seconds, and the temperature change per unit time is about 0.117°C. These upper temperature limits,
The lower limit temperature and thawing time vary depending on the type of frozen confectionery, but by presetting the optimal thawing conditions for the frozen confectionery on the operation panel of the control box and operating it, the rest will be done automatically according to instructions from the control device. Unzip the file automatically.

The hot air from the heater 8 is sent into the thawing chamber 2 from the hot air outlet 12 and circulated by being drawn into the hot air suction port 13 installed below, while the cold air from the cooler 9 is circulated. The cold air leaves the discharge port 14 and is sucked into the cold air suction port 15 .

As described above, the thawing device according to the present invention operates the heater 8 and the cooler 9 under program control by setting the upper and lower temperature limits and the thawing time as input, thereby gradually increasing the temperature of the thawing chamber 2. In addition to raising the temperature over time, the thawing chamber 2 is also dehumidified at the same time, and the following effects can be obtained by using the thawing device.

(Effects) (1) The thawing device of the present invention can easily thaw not only frozen confectionery but also general frozen foods, and by dehumidifying at the same time as heating, it is possible to eliminate the phenomenon of condensation that occurs on the outside surface of the food. By using this thawing device, condensation can be prevented and most foods can now be stored frozen, which conventionally could not be stored frozen due to dew condensation during thawing.

(2) Eliminating the phenomenon of condensation during thawing not only expands the types of confectionery and general foods that can be frozen as described above, but also allows confections to be thawed to the same state as before freezing without any stickiness on the outer surface. This also makes it possible to prevent mold from forming.

(3) In this way, being able to store frozen products means that a single product can be manufactured in large quantities, improving production efficiency, and by using the thawing equipment, it is possible to improve production efficiency while meeting consumer preferences. This makes it possible to cope with the diversification of the world.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the defrosting device according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 5 are specific examples of the defrosting device, with FIG. 2 being a plan view of the inside, and FIG. 4 shows a side view, and FIG. 5 shows a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 2. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Main body case, 2... Defrosting chamber, 3... Machine room, 4... Partition, 5... Entrance door, 6... Door, 7... Control box, 8... Heater, 9...
Cooler, 10... Freezer, 11... Heat storage tank, 12
...Hot air outlet, 13...Hot air suction port, 14...
Cold air discharge port, 15...Cold air suction port.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] It is equipped with a heater and a cooler that acts as a dehumidifier, and has a control device consisting of a temperature measurement circuit, a temperature setting circuit, a digital-analog multiplier, a time counter, a sequencer, and a comparison output circuit, and has a A thawing device for frozen food, comprising a control box for presetting a thawing time, and controlling the operation of the heater and the cooler by the control device to gradually heat a thawing chamber and dehumidify it at the same time.