JPH0224505B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a novel tea manufacturing method and tea manufacturing equipment, and more specifically, the progress of rolling and drying of tea leaves during the first rough rolling process is determined by the stirring position of the tea leaves. Focusing on what is clearly expressed, we control the rotation speed of the main spindle so that the position changes according to a predetermined program, thereby smoothing the rolling and drying of tea leaves in the rough rolling process and achieving high quality. In addition, the present invention aims to provide a new tea manufacturing method and a tea manufacturing rough rolling device that make it possible to obtain a product (roughly rolled leaves) of uniform quality.

In the tea manufacturing and rough rolling process, the tea leaves steamed in the previous process are compressed and stirred in a rolling chamber until the residual water content in the tea leaves is reduced to approximately
The purpose of this method is to gradually dry the leaves with hot air until the leaf temperature reaches 50%.During the operation, it is important to maintain the leaf temperature at around 36 to 37 degrees Celsius, to avoid over-drying, and to achieve as constant drying as possible. These are important points, and if they are ignored, quality deterioration may occur, such as yellowing of the leaf color, fine powdering, grassy odor, or stuffy odor.

Therefore, in the past, a skilled technician called a tea master was always standing next to the rough rolling machine to monitor the progress of the rough rolling process, and to ensure that the rolling and drying of the tea leaves proceed smoothly during the process. The feel of the tea when you hold it, the wetness of the tea, the progress of rolling the tea, etc. are felt exclusively through your five senses, and based on that, you can determine each tea manufacturing element during the rough rolling process, for example, based on your experience and intuition. It controlled changes in the spindle rotation speed, hot air temperature, etc.

However, it is inherently difficult to accurately sense the wetness of tea leaves using human senses, and there are individual differences in how these sensations and how tea manufacturing elements are adjusted accordingly. If the worker is different, the result of rough rolling will be completely different.

Furthermore, even if the worker is the same, the way they feel and adjust their work will vary depending on external conditions such as the weather, temperature, and humidity, and their physical condition that day.
Even if the tea leaves have the same properties and the same workers, it is difficult to achieve the same results.

Furthermore, since they rely on experience and intuition, only skilled people can perform the operations, but skilled tea masters are not born overnight; The technique can be acquired through steady efforts,
Due to the recent trend toward instantization, the number of such skilled engineers is decreasing.
As a result, a skilled technician has to manage a large number of tea machines at the same time, and a single tea machine is only inspected when the technician visits the machine. This is not always possible, and the workers themselves are constantly under stress and forced to do extremely hard labor.

The inventors of the present application have conducted various experiments and studies to solve these problems, and have found that the degree of rolling and drying of tea leaves during the rough rolling process depends on the stirring position of the tea leaves. Based on this, the rotation speed of the spindle is controlled so that the position changes according to a predetermined program during the rough rolling process, and the rolling and twisting of tea leaves during the rough rolling process is controlled. The present inventors have devised a tea manufacturing method and a tea manufacturing method of the present invention in which drying proceeds smoothly.

The details of the present invention will be explained below based on illustrated embodiments.

First, the tea leaf stirring position transition target value program will be explained.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the program. In this program, the vertical axis indicates the stirring position. In Fig. 2 (schematic sectional view of the roughing machine main body 1 viewed from the left), the agitation positions are "A" at the upper and slightly rear side of the main shaft 2, and at the slightly lower and front side of the main shaft 2. This is expressed by dividing the space between ``g'' into 6 equal parts. It should be noted that the structure of the roughing machine body 1, etc. is already widely known to those skilled in the art, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.
(1955 Patent Application No. 148751, etc.) Also, the horizontal axis shows one rough rolling process divided into 40 parts, with step ``1'' indicating the start of the process and step ``40'' indicating the end of the process.
shall be. Therefore, if the rough kneading time is 40 minutes, one step will be one minute, and if the rough kneading time is 30 minutes, one step will be 45 seconds.

The examples shown in Table 1 were created by the inventors based on records from when they actually carried out the rough rolling process and were able to obtain good products.

In other words, the period from the start of the rough rolling process to about 8 steps (8 to 10 minutes) is the so-called leaf pounding process, in which the leaves adhere to each other due to steam heat rather than rolling and form into large and small nodules. Emphasis is placed on loosening the leaves and promoting the evaporation of water on their surface. Therefore, in this leaf beating process, the agitation position is set near "A", and the tea leaves that were previously raked up by the picker 3 fly wide in the rubbing chamber 4, and the main shaft 2
so that it passes over the top and falls to the rear side (on the left side in Fig. 2) of the massage chamber 4. As a result, the tea leaves are well exposed to the hot air supplied into the kneading chamber 4 from the hot air supply port 5, and the drying of moisture on the surface of the tea leaves is promoted. As a result of the reduction in the bulk that is sandwiched between the
The degree of compression is small.

Then, after the so-called leaf pounding process has passed and the large and small clumps are loosened and broken up, and the moisture on the surface of the tea leaves decreases and the tea leaves start to wilt, we gradually start to focus more on the pressure on the tea leaves than on the agitation of the tea leaves. is transferred, promoting the exudation of the internal moisture of the tea leaves to the surface and progressing the twisting of the tea leaves.

Shifting the emphasis to the pressure applied to the tea leaves means that more of the tea leaves scraped up by the picker 3 will fall in front of the main shaft 2 (to the right in Figure 2). be. As can be understood from the above, the tea leaf agitation position is changed from position "A" to "B" in Figure 2.
As you move from "Ha" to "T", the time the tea leaves are exposed to the hot air decreases, and the dispersion of the tea leaves at the kneading base 6 decreases, causing the tea leaves to be sandwiched between the kneading hands 7 and the kneading base 6. This is because the volume of the tea leaves that are contained increases, the tea leaves are crushed, internal moisture oozes out to the surface, and the degree of twisting increases.

Therefore, in the example shown in Fig. 1, as the process progresses (steps progress), the target value of the agitation position is changed to "B", "C", etc. toward the front and lower part of the main shaft 2. This promotes the exudation of the internal moisture of the tea leaves to the surface, which is then dried with hot air and the tea leaves are strained so that the rough rolling operation proceeds smoothly.

The example shown in Figure 1 is when the rough rolling process was actually carried out as described above and a good product was obtained, that is, coarsely rolled leaves with good shape, dryness, aroma, etc. It was created based on the records of

For example, if there is not much difference in the shape, thickness, hardness, etc. of fresh leaves depending on the picking time, production area, tea variety, etc., the agitation position target value program should be set as one standard fixed value and the book should be used. Although it is possible to implement the invention, in order to be able to respond to changes in the properties of tea leaves introduced into the process, multiple target value programs as described above are set. One of them may be selected and used depending on the properties of the tea leaves.

Next, a means for detecting the stirring position of tea leaves in the rubbing chamber 4 will be explained.

FIG. 3 shows a first example. The parts explained in FIG. 2 are designated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In the figure, 8 is a rod-shaped support, and in the center of the massaging chamber 4, one end 9 of it is located at the upper rear side.
Further, the other ends 10 are respectively attached to the lower front side.
11A, 11B, . . . 11F are pressure sensitive elements, which are arranged on the support 8 at appropriate intervals. There are various types of pressure-sensitive elements, including those that utilize piezoelectric effects such as Rothsiel's salt and barium titanate, semiconductor elements such as pressure-sensitive diodes and pressure-sensitive transistors, and mechanical elements such as so-called push buttons. It does not matter if it is in any format, such as one that uses contact.

In this example, the tea leaves scraped upward by the picker 3 touch these pressure sensitive elements 11.
The agitation position of the tea leaves during the process is determined by detecting whether the tea leaves have collided with any of A, 11B, . . . 11G.

FIG. 4 shows a second example of means for detecting the stirring position of tea leaves in the rubbing chamber 4. As shown in FIG. This example uses a photoelectric element to optically detect the scattering position. Note that the same reference numerals are given to the parts that have already been explained, and the explanation will be omitted. 12 in the diagram
A, 12B, ... 12T are light emitting elements, which are arranged at appropriate intervals from the upper rear side to the lower front side on the left side wall 13 of the roughing machine body 1, and emit sharply directional light parallel to the main shaft 2. The light is emitted toward the right side wall 14. There are various types of light emitting elements, but they can be of any type, such as those that use an incandescent light bulb as a light source and focus the light with a lens to give the emitted light directionality, or those that use laser light. do not have. 15i, 1
5 B, .
They are arranged at regular intervals from the upper rear side to the lower front side so as to correspond to 2A, 12B, . . . 12G, respectively.

There are also various types of photoelectric elements, including Cds
It may be of any type, such as a photoconductive element such as, a photovoltaic cell such as a so-called solar cell, or a phototube.

In this example, a large number of detection axes 16a and 16a parallel to the main axis 2 are created in the massaging chamber 4 by a pair of light emitting elements and photoelectric elements, for example 12a and 15a.
b,...16g are formed, and the tea leaves scraped up by the picker 3 are detected along these detection axes 16i, 1.
The stirring position of the tea leaves during the rough rolling process is determined by detecting which of the 6 lines, .

In addition, in this example, in addition to the tea leaves, the arm 17 of the kneading hand 7 attached to the main shaft 2 and the arm 18 of the scraping hand 3 are
The detection axes also cross each of the detection axes 16a, 16ro, . . . 16g. Although omitted in FIG. 4, the kneading hands 7 and the cleaning hands 3 are oriented 180
They are also attached in opposite directions. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5A, even when the tea leaves do not cross the detection axis 16, the pulse Sc when the arm 17 of the kneading hands 7 crosses twice every rotation of the main shaft 2. , the pulse Sd when the arm 18 of the snatcher 3 crosses appears.

On the other hand, when tea leaves are moving along the axis 16, in addition to these pulses Sc and Sd, the pulses shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a signal wave S1 caused by the tea leaves crossing the axis 16 appears twice every time the main shaft 2 rotates once.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, the output of each photoelectric element 15, 15, .
If the tea leaves are amplified by . . . and integrated by the integrating circuits 20, 20, . , 15, . . . is higher than the output of the integrating circuits 20, 20, .

Therefore, even by means such as this second example, it is possible to know the stirring position of the tea leaves during the rough rolling process.

Next, the present invention detects the stirring position of the tea leaves during the rough rolling process by the means described above, and adjusts the rotation speed of the main shaft 2 so that the stirring position during the process changes according to the program as described above. It is an attempt to control the

Next, a spindle rotational speed operating section for controlling the rotational speed of the spindle 2 will be explained.

It goes without saying that many electrical and mechanical means are known as means for manipulating the rotational speed. Here, an example using a variable diameter pulley which is in practical use at the applicant's company will be explained.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the main shaft drive section 21 including the operating section. In the figure, 22 is a frame of the main shaft drive unit 21. A reducer 23 is mounted on the frame 22, and its output shaft (not shown) connects to the main shaft 2 directly or via a universal joint or the like. Concatenated. A reduction gear pulley 24 is fixed to an input shaft 25 of the reduction gear 23. Reference numeral 26 denotes a speed change base, which is rotatably supported on the frame 22 by a fulcrum 27, and a main shaft drive motor 28 is mounted on the speed change base 26.
A variable diameter pulley 29 is attached to the output shaft of the motor, and a V-belt 30 is installed between the variable diameter pulley 29 and the reduction gear pulley 24. This variable diameter pulley 29 is formed by two members whose grooves for suspending the belt are joined by elastic pressure means, and when the speed change base 26 rotates in the direction of the solid line arrow, the pulley 29 is connected to the mating pulley 24. When you get far away from
The pressing force from the V-belt 30 acts between the two members forming the groove to widen the gap between them. As a result, the diameter of the groove in which the belt is placed is substantially reduced. Furthermore, when the speed change base 26 rotates in the direction of the dotted arrow, the two members forming the groove move toward each other by the elastic pressure means, and as a result, the diameter of the groove increases. 31 is a speed change rod, and the intermediate fulcrum 3
2, it is rotatably supported by a frame 22.
A sliding pin 33 is provided at one swinging end of the speed change rod 31.
is provided, and this sliding pin 33 is connected to an elongated sliding hole 3 provided at the free end of the speed change base 26.
4 in a slidable manner. The free end of the transmission base 26 is constantly pulled in the direction of the dashed line arrow by a spring 35. Shift rod 31
An elongated sliding hole 36 is formed at the other swing end. A control motor 37 is fixed on the frame 22 and swings the control rod 40 via a rotation transmission system 38 and a control reducer 39. A roller 4 is provided at the swing end of the control rod 40.
1 is rotatably provided, and this roller 41 is slidably engaged with the sliding hole 36 of the speed change rod 31.

Therefore, the control rod 4 is controlled by the control motor 37.
0 is swung, the speed change rod 31 is also swung, and as a result, the speed change base 26 is swung, and the groove diameter of the variable diameter pulley 29 is increased in accordance with that direction.
Alternatively, the rotational speed of the main shaft 2 is changed by reducing the rotational speed transmitted to the input shaft 25 of the reducer 23 via the pulley 24, and thus changing the rotational speed of the main shaft 2.

Next, an example of a block configuration for carrying out the present invention is shown in FIG. In the figure, 42 is a central processing unit;
Reference numeral 3 denotes an erasable and writable read-only memory, into which the aforesaid agitation position transition target value program and execution program are written. 44 is a random access memory, 45 is an input/output port, and 46 is a gate/latch control circuit, and the control circuit 46 controls the operation of each gate circuit 47, 47, . . . , latch circuit 48, 48. A program selection switch 49 is connected to the input/output port 45 via a gate circuit 47. Note that the switch 49 is not necessary when the present invention is implemented using only one agitation position target value program. 50 is a rough kneading time setting device, 51 is an input command switch, and 52 is the above-mentioned agitation position detection means, which are connected to the input/output port 45 via gate circuits 47, 47, and 47, respectively. 53 is the spindle rotation speed, which is connected to the input/output port 45 via the gate 47. The sensor 53 is connected to the output shaft (not shown) of the reducer 23 of the main shaft drive section 21 shown in FIG. 7, and detects the rotation speed of the main shaft 2. 37 is the aforementioned main shaft rotation speed control motor;
It is connected to the input/output port 45 via a rotation direction switching relay 54 and a latch circuit 48. Reference numeral 55 denotes a mechanism for taking out the tea leaves that have been roughened, such as by opening and closing a takeout door (not shown) of the roughening machine main body 1.

With such a configuration, the present invention can be carried out, for example, according to the procedure shown in FIG.

First, the rough kneading time setting device 50 is used to set the time for one rough kneading step to, for example, "40 minutes."
This determines the time per step of the tea leaf agitation position target value program as shown in FIG. For example, as mentioned above, if ``40 minutes'' is set, one step will be 1 minute, and if ``30 minutes'' is set, one step will be 45 seconds.

Next, the program selection switch 49 selects one of the tea leaf stirring position transition target value programs written in the erasable and writable read-only memory 43 according to the properties of the tea leaves to be introduced into the rough rolling process. Select a program. Note that this operation is not necessary if only one target value program is used as described above.

Next, the rotational speed of the main shaft 2 is set to a predetermined value, and the tea processing machine main body 1 is started. In the present invention, since the number of revolutions of the spindle 2 is controlled so that the tea leaf agitation position changes according to the program shown in FIG. Although the rotational speed of the main shaft 2 can be set to any extreme value, the rotational speed of the main shaft 2 is approximately 42 rpm in order for the tea leaf agitation position to be at "A" at the start of the process. This has been revealed through experiments conducted by the inventors. Therefore, in the example of the procedure shown in Figure 9, by setting the rotation speed of the spindle 2 to such a predetermined value, the correction of the rotation speed of the spindle 2 at the start of the process is minimized. The agitation position quickly reaches the target position "A".

After setting the rotation speed of the main shaft 2 to a predetermined initial value and starting the tea processing machine main body 1, the input command switch 5 is activated.
Press 1 to open the bottom door of the tea leaf pool (not shown) located at the top of the coarsening machine body 1, and put a predetermined amount of steamed leaves stored in the pool into the massaging chamber 4. Start massaging. (It may also be added manually by the worker.)

Then, when a predetermined check time is reached, the current value Pn of the tea leaf stirring position at the time measured by the stirring position detecting means 52 is read into the random access memory 44. The number of seconds the check time should be set is a matter of design, but for example, if the rough kneading time is set to 30 minutes at the minimum, one step should be 45 seconds.
seconds. Therefore, it is necessary to set the check time to a shorter time, such as 20 seconds. However, if it is too short, the next check time will arrive while the rotation speed of the main shaft 2 is being adjusted, so it cannot be made extremely short.

Next, the tea leaf stirring position target value Pt at the check time is read out from the selected target value program. As in the previous example, if the rough kneading time is set to 40 minutes, the time for one step will be 1 minute, so if the check time is 20 seconds, the target value will change every three times the check time arrives. Pt
is for the next step.

Then, the tea leaf stirring position value Pn and the target value Pt at the check time are compared, and if the two are equal, the rotational speed of the main shaft 2 is maintained at the same value.

On the other hand, if the two are compared and there is a difference, the control motor 37 is commanded to start operating.
For example, if the target value Pt at that point in time is at position “Ha”,
On the other hand, if the current value is position "N", the relay 54 is operated so that the control motor 37 rotates in a direction that increases the rotation speed of the main shaft 2, and the control motor 37 rotates in that direction. While there, spindle 2
The number of revolutions increases. While the motor 37 is rotating, the tea leaf stirring position is successively read, and when the position Pn becomes equal to the target value Pt, the control motor 37 is commanded to stop, and the main shaft 2 is rotated at the rotation speed. keep it.

Such operations are repeated until the rough kneading time ends.

Then, when the time for the first rough-kneading process set by the rough-kneading time setting device 50 ends, the question ``Is the rough-kneading time over?'' is displayed.
becomes "yes", and the take-out mechanism 55 is commanded to take out the tea leaves, which fall from the opened take-out door to the bottom of the rough rolling machine body 1 and are sent to the next rolling process by a vibrating conveyor or the like.

In addition, as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 9, the take-out command may be issued when the current value Pn of the tea leaf stirring position reaches the final target value Pte (position "T" in this embodiment).

Alternatively, a buzzer or the like may be used to notify the operator of the completion of rough rubbing, and the operator may then take out the material by hand.

As explained above, in the tea rolling method and tea rolling apparatus of the present invention, we focus on the fact that the progress of rolling and drying of tea leaves during the first rough rolling process is clearly expressed by the stirring position of tea leaves. , the rotation speed of the main shaft is controlled so that the position changes according to a predetermined program.

As a result, compared to conventional methods that relied solely on the experience and intuition of the tea master, the rolling and drying progress of the tea leaves during the rough rolling process can be controlled accurately, resulting in a product of high and uniform quality. You will be able to obtain crushed leaves.

In addition, in today's world where the number of skilled technicians is decreasing, as a result of automating only the control of the spindle rotation speed, the burden on skilled technicians has been lightened and they have been able to manage the entire tea manufacturing process. can be poured.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a program for changing the agitation positions to be managed, Fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view as seen from the left side of the roughing machine body showing each agitation position corresponding to Fig. 1; 3 and 4 are transparent perspective views showing the outline of the roughing machine main body, respectively. FIG. 3 shows the one provided with the first example of the agitation position detection means, and FIG. 4 shows the same with the second example. Fig. 5 shows an example of the output signal of each photoelectric element in the example shown in Fig. 4, where A is the output signal when the tea leaves do not cross the detection axis, and B is the output signal when the tea leaves Output signal when crossing the detection axis, Fig. 6 is a circuit diagram showing an example of circuit connection in the second example of the agitation position detection means, Fig. 7 is a main shaft drive including an example of the main shaft rotation speed operation section FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example of a block configuration for carrying out the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an example of a procedure for carrying out the present invention. Explanation of the symbols, 1...Tea processing machine main body, 2...Main shaft, 11...Tea leaf stirring position detection means (first example),
12, 15, 19, 20...Tea leaf stirring position detection means (second example), 26, 29, 31, 37-40...
...Spindle rotation speed operation unit, 43...Memory, 42~
45...Control unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A tea leaf agitation position transition target value program indicating the transition state to be managed of the tea leaf agitation position during the rough rolling process is predetermined, and the tea leaf agitation position is controlled during the process. A method for rough rolling tea, characterized in that one rough rolling step is executed while controlling the rotational speed of the main shaft so as to change according to the program. 2. It is equipped with a tea processing machine main body, a tea leaf stirring position detection means, a spindle rotation speed operating section, a memory, and a control section, and the memory is used to manage the tea leaf stirring position during the first rough rolling process. A tea leaf agitation position transition target value program indicating the desired transition state is stored, and the control unit detects the tea leaf agitation position using the tea leaf agitation position detection means during the progress of the process, and the position changes according to the above program. 1. A tea processing and roughening device, characterized in that the spindle rotation speed control unit is controlled so as to perform the following operations.