JPH0223149B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a novel tea manufacturing and rolling method and tea manufacturing and rolling apparatus. The purpose of this system is to eliminate the need for the operator to monitor the atmospheric humidity in the tea milling room and to control the tea milling process while exchanging the atmosphere in the milling room with outside air. The aim is to dry the tea leaves in the rolling process more uniformly to obtain finely rolled leaves of good quality.To this end, the rolling chamber is kept almost airtight, and during normal times, the exchange of the atmosphere in the rolling chamber is stopped, and the atmosphere in the rolling chamber is Replacement of the atmosphere in the rubbing room with outside air using a so-called microcomputer that stores a target value program indicating the transition state of humidity that should be controlled, a target value program indicating the transition state of tea leaf temperature that should be controlled, or both. It is possible to control the. By the way, conventionally, many of the rolling pots of the rolling equipment used in the tea manufacturing process have been open at the top. As a result, the tea leaves inside the pot tend to dry out and transpiration from the leaf surface is suppressed.
There were problems in that the leaf temperature rose too much, resulting in a decrease in quality, and the shape became flat, resulting in so-called rough skin and powdered tea, resulting in a marked deterioration in the quality of tea production. Also, the kettle is heated from below by a burner, but due to the structure of the kneading device, heating is limited to a local area at the bottom of the kettle, so the kneading pot is heated from below. When tea leaves are swirled with a broom or a broom, they are heated significantly more intensely than tea leaves in other locations as they pass through the heated area, raising the leaf temperature and causing variations in drying speed, resulting in uniform quality. Another drawback was that it was difficult to obtain. In addition, there have been some kettles in the past where the top surface was closed, such as by providing a lid on the top surface, but in such cases, when and how to replace the atmosphere inside the kneading chamber with outside air. A new problem has arisen that is extremely difficult to determine. In view of the current situation, the present invention forms a massaging chamber so that a substantially closed space is created inside the massaging chamber, and then uses a microcomputer in which a predetermined target value program is stored to control the atmospheric humidity in the massaging chamber or the massaging chamber. The temperature of the tea leaves, or both, can be actively controlled, thereby making it possible to manage the fine rolling process while exchanging the atmosphere inside the rolling chamber with the outside air. By adopting such a method, it is possible to equalize the drying rate, prevent overdrying, prevent destruction of the shape, and maintain constant drying rate as much as possible. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The details of the present invention will be explained below with reference to an example of implementation shown in the accompanying drawings. In the figure, 1 is a tea processing device, 2 is a rolling pot, and a rolling board 4 made of a large number of oak trees 3, 3... is installed on the upper surface of the tea rolling machine. A gas burner 6 for heating the rolling pot is provided. 7,7,
are gutters arranged at the front and rear sides of the kneading pot 2, and are provided so as to be able to reciprocate from side to side, respectively. Reference numerals 8 and 8 designate circuit brooms that sweep out the tea leaves on the gutters 7 and 7 onto the rolling board 4 at appropriate timing. A kneading horse 9 is fixed to a main shaft 10, and is configured to reciprocate above the kneading plate 4 at regular intervals, and has leaf scrapers 11, 11 attached to both ends of the kneading horse. The leaf scrapers 11, 11 operate to scrape the tea leaves swept onto the rolling board 4 to the center bottom of the rolling board 4. Reference numeral 12 denotes a kneading hand disposed below the center of the kneading horse 9, which is connected to the kneading horse 9 through a link 13 and reciprocates with the horse 9 at a constant cycle. Numeral 14 is a weight for pressurizing the tea leaves through the kneading hands 12, and is movably provided on the weight rail 15. The weight rail 15 is rotatably supported at its intermediate portion, and the kneading hand 12 is connected to a portion appropriately spaced apart from the supported portion via kneading pressure rods 16, 16. Thus, the kneading hands 12 reciprocate while receiving a load from the weight 14, thereby compressing and shaping the tea leaves sandwiched between the kneading hands 12 and the kneading plate 4. Reference numeral 17 denotes a canopy provided above the kneading plate 4 and the gutters 7, 7, and the kneading chamber 18 having an internal space sealed from the outside is formed by the canopy 17, the kneading plate 4, and the kneading pot 2. Reference numeral 19 denotes a tea leaf input door provided on the canopy 17, which can be opened and closed by rotating around a hinge 20 as a fulcrum. 21 is a viewing window provided in the door 19. Reference numeral 22 indicates a feed cylinder provided on the side of the canopy 17, 23 a shutter provided within the feed cylinder 22, and 24 a fan for supplying outside air into the massaging chamber 18. The shutter 23 normally remains closed, and when the fan 24 rotates, it receives wind pressure from the fan 4 and opens. Further, 25 is an exhaust pipe provided at the top of the canopy 17, and a damper 2 is installed inside the exhaust pipe 25.
6 is provided, and the opening/closing degree of the exhaust pipe 25 can be controlled by driving the damper 26 by a damper motor (not shown). A bracket 2 is installed in the space above the massage chamber 18.
An atmospheric humidity detector 28 supported by the tea leaves 7 is disposed, and a tea leaf temperature detector 29 is disposed near the center of the bottom of the rolling plate 4. Next, the details of the method of tea manufacturing and rolling will be explained using the above-mentioned rolling apparatus 1 as an example. Approximately 10 minutes before adding the tea leaves, ignite the gas burner 6 and heat the tea leaves to 70°C on the tea tree 3 near the center bottom of the rolling board 44.
75℃, 160℃~170℃ on both groove bottom plates 30, 30
Preheat the entire kneading chamber until . In this case, the temperature should be lower for young shoots and higher for stiff leaves. When the specified temperature is reached, turn on the operation switch and start. The tea leaf inlet door 19 is opened by an automatic feeding device or by hand, and the tea leaves that have undergone the medium rolling process are gradually fed onto the gutters 7, 7. The gutters 7, 7 are in reciprocating motion, and when the gutters 7, 7 move to the center position, the tea leaves on the gutters 7, 7 are moved by the rolling brooms 8, 8 that have just been rotated to the rolling board 4. swept inside. The tea leaves swept onto the rolling board 4 are scraped toward the center bottom of the rolling board 4 by leaf sieves 11, 11 attached to both ends of the rolling horse 9, which reciprocates at a constant cycle. . The tea leaves collected at the center bottom of the rolling plate 4 reciprocate at regular intervals and are subjected to the load from the weight (the size changes according to the change in the position of the weight on the weight rail) between the rolling hand 12 and the rolling plate 4. It is pressed and shaped between the two. Then, it was massaged several times and the massaging board 4
The tea leaves that have fallen onto the groove bottom plates 30, 30 from the side edges of the groove are heated by the heat of the groove bottom plates 30, 30, and are swept down the gutter by a reciprocating broom (not shown) that moves back and forth within the groove bottom plates 30, 30. 7, 7 and then swept into the rubbing board 4 again by rotary brooms 8, 8. The kneading plate 4 is generally supported by a screw pin and is divided into two from the center and opened downward, and the above circulation is repeated to achieve a predetermined kneading pressure, drying, and drying.
The shaped tea leaves fall downward from the opening and are carried to the next drying process by a belt conveyor or air blower. By the way, in this method of tea manufacturing and rolling, the atmosphere in the rolling chamber 18, which has not been controlled at all during the above-mentioned tea rolling process and is left to be naturally dispersed from the upper opening of the rolling chamber. During normal times, the supply cylinder 22 and the cylinder 25 are closed and the tea leaves are allowed to remain in the rolling chamber 18 while the tea leaves are thoroughly rolled. Then, the temperature of the tea leaves during fine rolling detected by the tea leaf temperature detector 29 placed near the center of the bottom of the rolling plate 4 or the temperature of the tea leaves in the rolling chamber 18 is measured.
Massage room atmosphere humidity detector 28 placed in the upper space
Using one or both of the detected atmospheric humidity as a barometer, the fan 24 is rotated at appropriate times so that these values approach the desired values, and the damper 26 is opened to send outside air from the supply cylinder 22 into the rubbing chamber 18. Part or all of the atmosphere inside the massage chamber 18 is replaced with outside air. It is not possible to say with certainty what the management target values for tea leaf temperature and/or atmospheric humidity should be. This is because the quality of the tea leaves changes depending on the variety of the tea, the region of origin, the weather, the time of picking, and the quality of the previous rolling process, and there are many things that cannot be determined without considering the quality of the tea leaves. . Therefore, in the case of performing fine rolling on the first-stage tea buds, the control target values such as tea leaf temperature, etc., which the inventors have determined to be preferable, and their transition status will be explained here with reference to FIG. In other words, the water content in the fine rolling process is approximately 30% due to the medium rolling process.
The dried tea leaves are further pressed and dried to reduce their moisture content.
This will reduce it to 10-13%. Therefore,
In order to dry the tea leaves to a moisture content of around 10 to 13% without over-drying them, it is preferable to maintain the atmospheric humidity in the rubbing chamber 18 by a predetermined value lower than the moisture content of the tea leaves. In FIG. 3, graph A, which descends in a stepwise manner, shows the transition of the target value. In addition, when using the tea leaf temperature as a barometer, it is preferable to use a temperature centered at 37°C as shown in graph B in Figure 3. In this case, the temperature of the tea leaves generally increases gradually for a while after rolling begins, then stabilizes.
Since the temperature of the tea leaves tends to start rising again near the end of the process, the target value should also be determined taking this into consideration. The above is an example of the implementation of the present tea rolling method,
Although we have explained the control target values for the atmospheric humidity in the rolling room and the tea leaf temperature, when implementing the tea rolling method of the present application, one of these should be used as a barometer to set the control target values for the rolling room 1.
It is also good to change the atmosphere inside 8. Alternatively, both may be used as barometers. That is, the atmospheric humidity inside the massaging chamber 18 is constantly detected by the atmospheric humidity detector 28, and when the humidity exceeds a predetermined target value (the target value also changes over time), the damper motor is driven to remove the damper. The fan 24 may be rotated at the same time as the fan 26 is opened to supply outside air into the massaging chamber 18, or
The tea leaf temperature may be monitored by a tea leaf temperature detector, and when the tea leaf temperature exceeds a predetermined value, a similar operation may be performed to replace the atmosphere inside the massaging chamber 18 with outside air. The above replacement may be performed by monitoring both humidity and tea leaf temperature and performing the same operation when either of them exceeds a predetermined value. In addition, when exchanging the atmosphere in the massage chamber 18 with outside air, it is not necessarily necessary to replace the entire atmosphere in the massage chamber 18, and the humidity in the massage chamber 18 reaches a predetermined target value. If it can be brought closer, it may be possible to replace part of it. Possible methods for partially replacing the fluid include, for example, limiting the time for the replacement operation, or limiting the opening degree of the damper 26 to lower the flow rate. Regarding the switching operation, that is, when the damper 26 is closed and at the same time the supply of outside air to the massaging chamber 18 by the fan 24 is stopped (thereby, the shutter 23 is also closed), the atmospheric humidity is detected. If the tea leaf temperature detector has good responsiveness and can sensitively detect changes in humidity and tea leaf temperature during the exchange of the atmosphere inside the rubbing chamber 18 with the outside air, the temperature sensor can be used when these values reach the target values. The damper 26 may be closed and the supply of outside air by the fan 24 may be stopped. However, these detectors 28,
If the response of the massage chamber 29 is poor, if the opening degree is replaced until the target value is reached, the atmosphere inside the massage chamber 18 will be replaced with the outside air more than necessary, and the atmospheric humidity will drop too much, resulting in a loss of energy. There will also be waste. Therefore, in such a case, the damper 26 is opened for a certain period of time using a timer or the like, and the massage chamber 18 is opened by rotating the fan 24, etc.
It is advisable to limit the amount of exchange between the internal atmosphere and outside air. By the way, this method is carried out using a so-called microcomputer. An example is shown below. In this example, both the atmospheric humidity and the tea leaf temperature were used as barometers, but it is believed that it is easy to understand from this example that one of them is used as a barometer. Figure 4 shows the block diaphragm. In the figure, HS is an atmospheric humidity detector in the rubbing room, and TS is a tea leaf temperature detector. These detectors HS and TS use either a type that outputs humidity and temperature as numerical values, or a type that makes and breaks contacts at a predetermined humidity or temperature. CPU is a central processing unit, ROM is read-only memory,
RAM is a random access memory, and ACF is a switching mechanism that drives the damper 26 and the fan 2.
4 is rotated to exchange the atmosphere of the massage chamber 18 with outside air. Therefore, the ROM contains a target value program that shows the transition state of the tea leaf temperature that should be managed as shown in graph A of Figure 3, and a target value program that shows the transition state of the tea leaf temperature that should be managed as shown in graph B of the same figure. A target value program and the following operation program are written, and thereby the atmosphere inside the rubbing room and the outside air are replaced. (B) Read the humidity and tea leaf temperature in the rolling chamber to RAM (B) Read the target value of humidity in the rolling chamber and the target value of tea leaf temperature at the relevant time from ROM (C) Transfer the humidity and temperature in (B) to (B). Compare with the respective target values (d) If both the humidity and temperature in (a) are lower than the respective target values, return to step (a) (e) The humidity or temperature in (a) is the respective target value If the temperature is higher than that, issue an operation command to the ACF mechanism for exchanging the atmosphere in the rubbing room with the outside air (f) Load the atmospheric humidity in the rubbing room and tea leaf temperature into RAM (g) (b) Compare with each target value. (H) If the humidity or temperature in (F) is higher than the respective target values, return to step (F). Issue an operation cancellation command to the mechanism ACF (J) Return to step (A) Finally, an example of a control circuit provided in a tea processing device that performs such tea processing and processing will be described. FIG. 5 shows the circuit. In the figure, Ch is a contact of the atmospheric humidity detector placed in the upper part of the massage chamber 18 in Fig. 2. When the atmospheric humidity is lower than a predetermined value, the contact Ch is set to "permissible" contact, and when it is high, the contact is set to "permissible". The contact Ch touches the contact "limit". Similarly, Ct is a contact of the tea leaf temperature detector 29 placed at the center of the bottom of the rolling plate 4, and when the tea leaf temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature, the contact
Ct touches the contact point ``tolerance'' and, when the tea leaf temperature is higher than a predetermined value, the contact point ``limit''. _X1
is the first relay, and the atmospheric humidity detector 2
It is connected to contact point 8 "Limit". Similarly, the second
_{relay _}
and the fourth relay X ₄ is connected to the contact "Allow" of the tea leaf temperature sensor 29, respectively. X ₄ a is the make contact of the fourth relay X ₄ ,
X ₃ b is the break contact of the third relay X ₃ , X ₂ a is the make contact of the second relay X ₂ , X ₃ a is the third relay
X ₃ is the make contact, X ₄ b is the break contact of the fourth relay X ₄ , and X ₁ a is the make contact of the first relay X ₁ . 31 is the damper 2 in the exhaust pipe 25
6 is a damper motor that opens and closes, 24 is a supply cylinder 22
I'm an inner fan. Contacts X ₃ b and X ₂ a are connected in series, and contact X ₄ a is connected in parallel to this, and these are connected to the damper 26 of the damper motor 31.
It is connected to the terminal "reverse" on the side that rotates in the closing direction and to the fan 24. Further, contact ₄ b and X ₁ a are connected in series, and contact X ₃ a is connected in parallel to this, and these are connected to damper 2 of damper motor 31.
6 is connected to the "positive" terminal on the side that rotates in the opening direction. The operation of this circuit is shown in the table below.

【table】

[Table] For example, as shown in condition B, if the tea leaf temperature exceeds the limit and the atmospheric humidity in the rubbing room does not exceed the limit, the _first relay
X ₂ ON, 3rd relay X ₃ ON, 4th relay
X ₄ OFF, therefore the contact X ₃ a closes, the damper motor 31 rotates in the direction to open the damper 26, the damper 26 opens, the fan 24 rotates at the same time, and the shutter receives wind pressure from the fan 24. 23 (see FIG. 1) is also in an open state. Although it is not preferable for the tea leaf temperature to exceed a predetermined limit value, even if the atmospheric humidity slightly exceeds the limit value, this does not necessarily have a direct negative effect on the quality of the tea. Therefore, in the above control circuit, as shown in conditions B and C in the above table, when the tea leaf temperature exceeds the limit, the damper 26 is always opened and the fan 24 is turned so that the atmosphere inside the rubbing chamber 18 and the outside air are changed. However, as long as the temperature of the tea leaves does not exceed the limit value, the atmosphere in the rubbing chamber 18 will not be replaced even if the humidity in the rubbing chamber atmosphere exceeds the limit value, thereby further saving energy. . For example, a damper 26 may be provided in place of the fan 24 and the shutter 23 in the supply cylinder 22, and this may be linked with the damper 26 in the exhaust pipe 25, so that the atmosphere inside the massaging chamber 18 and the outside air can be exchanged through natural ventilation. Various methods can be considered for the replacement, such as replacing the . As explained above, in the tea milling method and tea milling apparatus of the present invention, the inside of the rolling chamber is kept in a substantially sealed state, and exchange of the atmosphere in the rolling chamber is stopped during normal times, and the transition state of the atmospheric humidity in the rolling chamber is to be controlled. By controlling the replacement of the atmosphere in the rubbing room with outside air using a so-called microcomputer that stores a target value program indicating the tea leaf temperature, a target value program indicating the transition state of the tea leaf temperature to be controlled, or both, All or part of the indoor atmosphere is replaced with outside air to perform thorough rolling while adjusting the indoor atmospheric humidity or tea leaf temperature, or both, to predetermined target values. Therefore,
According to the present invention, there is no need for the operator to monitor the atmospheric humidity in the rubbing room, etc., and the fine rolling process can be managed while exchanging the atmosphere in the rubbing room with outside air. It becomes like this. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the tea leaves from being excessively dried and cause overdrying, and it is possible to obtain higher quality tea. In addition, since the atmosphere inside the rolling chamber remains stagnant during normal times, the temperature difference between the tea leaves passing through the heated part of the rolling pot and the tea leaves in other positions can be made significantly smaller than in the past. This reduces the variation in drying speed and makes the quality of tea uniform. Furthermore, according to the present invention,
Unlike traditional rolling, the heated air in the rolling chamber is released upwards without being retained, so the amount of heat used to heat the rolling pot is not used effectively for drying the tea leaves, resulting in a large waste of energy. This problem can be avoided.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main part showing an example of the implementation of the tea processing device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the main part to explain the flow of tea leaves, and Fig. 3 is the atmospheric humidity in the tea processing process. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a block configuration for carrying out the tea manufacturing and rolling method of the present invention using a so-called microcomputer, and FIG. It is a circuit diagram showing an example of implementation of a control circuit provided in a tea processing device. Explanation of symbols, 1... fine massaging device, 18... massaging room,
22... Air supply port, 23, 26... Opening/closing means, 25
...Exhaust port, 28...Atmosphere humidity detector, 29...
...Tea leaf temperature detector, ACF...Mechanism for exchanging the atmosphere in the kneading room with outside air, X ₁ to X ₄ ...
1st to 4th relays.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The massaging chamber should be formed so that a substantially closed space is formed therein, and the atmosphere in the massaging chamber should be kept stagnant by stopping exchange of the massaging chamber during normal times, and the atmospheric humidity in the massaging chamber should be controlled. Store the target value program that shows the transition state and/or the target value program that shows the transition state of tea leaf temperature to be controlled in advance in the computer, and replace the atmosphere in the rubbing room with outside air using the following steps. A tea manufacturing method characterized by performing fine rolling while adjusting atmospheric humidity and/or tea leaf temperature to predetermined target values. (b) Read the atmospheric humidity and/or tea leaf temperature in the rolling room (b) Read the target value and/or the atmospheric humidity in the rolling room at the relevant time
Or read out the target value of tea leaf temperature (c) Compare the humidity and/or temperature in (a) with each target value in (b) (d) If the humidity and/or temperature in (a) are lower than each target value If it is low, return to step (a) (e) If the humidity and/or temperature in (a) are higher than the respective target values, issue an operation command to the mechanism for exchanging the atmosphere in the rubbing room with outside air. (f) Read the atmospheric humidity and/or tea leaf temperature in the rolling room (g) Compare the humidity and/or temperature in (f) with the respective target values in (b) (ch) Humidity and/or temperature in (f) If the humidity and/or temperature in (F) is lower than each target value, return to step (F). Mechanism for exchanging the atmosphere in the rubbing room with outside air Issue an operation cancellation command to (N) Return to step (B) 2 An atmospheric humidity detector placed in the upper space of the rubbing chamber, a tea leaf temperature detector placed at the bottom of the rubbing chamber, and four relays. , in a tea leaf rolling device equipped with an exchange mechanism for replacing the atmosphere in the rolling room with outside air, the atmospheric humidity detector and the tea leaf temperature detector each have a contact configuration that switches at a predetermined humidity or temperature, A first relay is connected to a contact of the atmospheric humidity detector that closes when the humidity is higher than a predetermined humidity, and a second relay is connected to a contact that closes when the humidity is lower than a predetermined humidity. A third relay is connected to a contact point of the temperature detector that is closed when the temperature is higher than a predetermined temperature, and a fourth relay is connected to a contact point that is closed when the temperature is lower than a predetermined temperature. Among the terminals of the switching mechanism, the terminal on which the mechanism operates in the direction of stopping switching has a break contact of the third relay connected in series with a make contact of the second relay, and a make contact of the fourth relay. A parallel connection of contacts is connected, and the break contact of the fourth relay and the make contact of the first relay are connected to the terminal of the switching mechanism that operates in the direction of switching. A tea processing apparatus characterized in that a control circuit is provided in which a make contact of a third relay is connected in parallel to a control circuit in which a make contact of a third relay is connected in series with a make contact of a third relay.