JPH02124078A - Thawing device and thawing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent overhumidifying and drying on the surface of material to be thawed without causing thawing variability by connecting a steam supply pipe to a circulating passageway at a suction passageway part from a thawing chamber of a circulating fan device. CONSTITUTION:In a thawing device equipped with a circulating passageway 8 having a circulating fan device 9 to circulate air in a thawing chamber 1 and a steam supply pipe 11 to feed steam to the circulating passageway 8, the supply pipe 11 is connected to the circulating passageway 8 at a suction passageway part 8b from the thawing chamber 1 to the circulating fan device 9 to give the aimed device. In thawing, temperature of a material to be thawed is detected, an amount of steam supplied is regulated and air temperature in the thawing chamber is preferably maintained approximately constant.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thawing apparatus and a thawing method that use a mixed fluid of air and steam to thaw, for example, frozen foods.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, this type of thawing device has been equipped with a circulation passageway equipped with a circulation fan device for circulating air in a thawing chamber, and a steam supply pipe is connected to the circulation passageway on the discharge side of the circulation fan device. , a device configured to appropriately mix steam with circulating air is known.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The thawing device having the above configuration has the advantage that the thawing time is short and the thawed food does not dry out. However, on the other hand, the mixing of steam and air and the heat exchange are not completely performed, resulting in temperature unevenness. When air containing a certain amount of supersaturated steam passes through the thawing chamber,
In particular, at the final stage of thawing, when the surface temperature of thawed food is above the freezing point, uneven thawing occurs on the surface of the food and steam condensates, which dissolves water-soluble substances in the food and causes a large amount of dripping. became. For this reason, there is a problem in that foods that do not take measures such as wrapping the food in a film to reduce dripping are considered unsuitable.

Means for Solving the Problems The inventor investigated the cause of the above-mentioned point U, that is, why the mixing of steam and air and the heat exchange are incomplete, and as a result, the steam supply pipe was connected to the discharge part of the circulation fan device. connected to the side,
the distance from when the steam mixes with the air until it reaches the thawing chamber,
In other words, while the length of the heat exchange path between steam and air is insufficient, the stirring action of the circulation fan device is not fully utilized, resulting in uneven temperature and humidity in the mixed air flow of air and steam, or even an increase in the amount of steam. We confirmed that this was caused by the lack of appropriate controls.

Therefore, in the thawing device of the present invention, in the circulation passage of a certain length, the heat exchange passage for steam and air is set long, and
In order to mix steam and air at a uniform temperature and humidity and to perform sufficient heat exchange, there is a circulation passage with a circulation fan device that circulates the air in the thawing chamber, and a steam supply that supplies steam into this wJrMf circuit. In the thawing apparatus, the steam supply pipe is connected to the circulation passage at a suction passage from the thawing chamber to the circulation fan device, and the thawing method of the present invention includes the above-mentioned When thawing an object using a thawing device, the temperature of the object is detected and the amount of steam supplied is adjusted to keep the air temperature in the thawing chamber almost constant.

Operation In the above configuration, air in the thawing chamber is circulated through the circulation passage by driving the circulation fan device and mixed with steam from the steam supply pipe. In this case, the steam supply pipe is connected to the circulation passage at the suction passage from the thawing chamber to the circulation fan device, so the heat exchange passage from when the steam mixes with the air until it reaches the thawing chamber is conventional. It is longer than in the case of . Furthermore, since the steam from the steam supply pipe passes through the circulation fan device together with the air, the stirring action of the circulation fan device is sufficient to mix the steam and air at a uniform temperature and humidity.

In addition, when thawing an item using this thawing device, the humidity inside the thawing chamber is kept almost constant by detecting the temperature of the object and adjusting the supply steam plate to keep the air temperature in the thawing chamber almost constant. The temperature is maintained at 100%, there is no uneven thawing, and excessive humidification and drying of the surface of the object to be thawed is prevented.

Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional side view of a thawing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a thawing chamber, in which there are multiple shelves 3 on which objects to be thawed (food) 2 are placed.
are arranged, and a pair of opposing side walls 4 of the thawing chamber 1
．． A large number of ventilation holes 6 and 7 are formed in each of the holes 5 . Reference numeral 8 denotes a circulation passage, one end of which is connected to the thawing chamber 1 through a ventilation port 6 and the other end through a ventilation lower. Reference numeral 9 denotes a circulation fan device, and by installing this circulation fan device 9 approximately in the middle of the circulation passage 8, a discharge passage section 8a leading from the circulation fan device 9 to the thawing chamber 1 and a circulation fan from the thawing chamber 1 are connected. A suction passage section 8b leading to the device 9 is formed, and a thawing chamber 1 within the suction passage section 8b is formed.
The portion facing the is bent into a U-shape by the baffle plate 10 and is elongated. A steam supply pipe 11 extends from the steam generator 12, and its tip end 11a is connected to the circulation passage 8 on the upstream side of the suction passage 8b. 13 is a refrigerator, and its cooling pipe 13a is arranged on the suction part side of the circulation fan device 9. 14 is a control panel, which controls the steam generator 12 and the circulation fan device 9 based on a temperature sensor 15 that detects the surface temperature of the object 2 to be thawed and a temperature sensor 16 that detects the air temperature in the ventilation lower.
It also controls the refrigeration unit 513, etc. 17
is a drain pipe, which is provided at the bottom of the thawing chamber 1 and the suction passage section 8b.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained. Unzipped! The circulation fan device 9 is driven to defrost m2. As a result, the air in the thawing chamber 1 is drawn from the suction passage section 8b to the circulation fan device 9, and from there flows into the thawing chamber 1 again through the discharge passage section 8a. That is, the air in the thawing chamber 1 is circulated through the circulation path 8 by the circulation fan device 9. On the other hand, in response to the above air flow, steam is supplied from the steam supply pipe 11 into the circulation passage 8, and the mixed air flow of air and steam passes through the thawing chamber 1, thereby thawing the object 2. .

Here, the tip end 11a of the steam supply 'l' 11 is connected to the circulation passage 8 through a suction passage 8b from the thawing chamber 1 to the circulation fan device 9, and the suction passage 8b is folded into a U-shape. Since the tip opening 11a is connected at the upstream side of the bend, the tip opening 11a is connected to the circulation fan device 9.
Compared to the conventional configuration in which the discharge passage section 8affll "C" is connected, in the case of this embodiment, the distance from when steam is mixed with air until it reaches the thawing chamber 1, that is, the length of the heat exchange passage between steam and air. is long enough to correspond to almost the entire length of the circulation passage 8. That is, to summarize this, in the case of this embodiment, the length of the heat exchange passage between steam and air can be set longer than in the conventional case in the circulation passage 8 having a constant length.

In addition, in the case of this embodiment, the steam from the steam supply pipe 11 is
Since the steam passes through the circulation fan device 9 together with the air, the stirring action of the circulation fan device 9 works sufficiently to mix the steam and air at a uniform temperature and humidity.

In the end, according to this embodiment, the heat exchange road between steam and air becomes longer as described above, and the mixture of steam and air has a uniform temperature and humidity, so that heat exchange between the two is sufficiently performed. This prevents uneven thawing and drips on the surface of the object 2 to be thawed.

Furthermore, in the above configuration, in addition to the length of the heat exchange passage between steam and air, the suction passage section 8b is curved in a U-shape, so that the condensed water is efficiently drained. Excessive humidification and dripping on the surface of the object 2 are prevented as much as possible.

Next, a method of controlling the amount of supplied steam will be explained. First, the temperature sensor 15 detects the surface temperature of the object 2 to be thawed, and the temperature sensor 16 detects the temperature of the air blown into the thawing chamber 1 from the circulation fan device 9. and,
Based on the detection results of both temperature sensors 15 and 16, the total amount of steam required for heating and humidifying the air is calculated by the control panel 14, and the amount of steam supplied from the steam generator 12 to the steam supply pipe 11 is calculated. Set.

Here, when the amount of steam supplied from the steam supply '1f11 to the circulation passage 8 is larger than the required amount of heat for thawing the object 2 to be thawed, the amount of steam is reduced to match the air temperature.

That is, the air temperature is a certain constant temperature, for example 15°C.
If supersaturated steam is included in this air, the air temperature will rise, so a control is activated to reduce the amount of supplied steam, and the relative humidity (hereinafter referred to as R-H) of the steam and air will be approximately the same. 100% supersaturated vapor-free air is obtained.

Moreover, when the amount of supplied steam is smaller than the required amount of heat for defrosting, the amount of supplied steam is increased so that the air temperature becomes constant.

In this case, the air temperature after heating will be lower than the required value and the thawing time will be a little longer, but if the steam i is controlled based on the air temperature, the R-L[ of the air will be maintained at almost 100%. , the resulting thawed product (food) is not dried.

Further, according to the present device, temperature control of the object 2 to be thawed is performed as follows.

First, based on the surface temperature of the object 2 to be thawed detected by the temperature sensor 15, the control panel 14 controls so that the highest value of the surface temperature of the object 2 to be thawed remains in the freezing temperature range in the final step of thawing and temperature raising. The refrigerator 13 is operated and controlled through.

That is, when the surface temperature of the item 2 to be thawed is higher than 0°C, condensed water generated by air cooling may adhere to the surface of the item 2 to be thawed, causing excessive humidification or dripping, and If the surface temperature is below 0°C, it may cause insufficient thawing, so in order to prevent these causes and minimize the amount of dripping, the surface temperature of the food should be controlled to stay within the freezing range as described above. It will be done.

As described in detail, according to the thawing device and thawing method of the present invention, the steam supply pipe is connected to the circulation passage at the suction passage from the thawing chamber to the circulation fan device, so that the steam supply pipe has a certain length. In the circulation passage, the heat exchange passage between the steam and air is set long, and the stirring action of the circulation fan works sufficiently, so that the steam and air are mixed at a uniform temperature and humidity, and the heat exchange between the two is sufficient. This is effective in preventing uneven thawing and preventing excessive humidification and drying of the surface of the object to be thawed by appropriately controlling the amount of steam supplied.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional side view of a thawing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Thawing chamber, 2... Object to be thawed, 8... Circulation passage, 8b... Suction passage section, 9... Wi-ring rough fan device 11... Steam supply pipe. Agent: Yoshihiro Morimoto

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A thawing device comprising a circulation path equipped with a circulation fan device that circulates air in a thawing chamber, and a steam supply pipe that supplies steam into the circulation path, in which the steam supply pipe is connected to the circulation path. A thawing device, characterized in that the thawing chamber is connected to the passage by a suction passage portion from the thawing chamber to the circulation fan device. 2. A circulation passageway equipped with a circulation fan device that circulates air in the thawing chamber, and a steam supply pipe that supplies steam into the circulation passageway, the steam supply pipe being connected to the circulation passageway;
When thawing an object using a thawing device connected to the suction passage from the thawing chamber to the circulation fan device, the temperature of the object is detected and the amount of steam supplied is adjusted to maintain the temperature of the air inside the thawing chamber. A thawing method that is characterized by keeping the temperature almost constant.