JPH031062Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Industrial application field) This invention crushes the liquid component into fine particles by forcibly ejecting an emulsion or dispersion liquid (hereinafter simply referred to as liquid) from a valve part under high pressure. The present invention relates to a homogenizing valve and a homogenizing valve seat of a homogenizing device for homogenization and homogenization.

(Conventional technology) The main uses for homogenizing liquids using homogenizers are:
It is used to prevent or delay the formation of milk fat globules into floating creams, and is also used to treat dispersions containing pigments, chemicals, etc.

A commonly used method for homogenization is to use a high-pressure pump to apply a strong pressure of 100 to 210 kg/cm ² to the liquid, which is then ejected from the valve slit, and the ejected liquid is then made to collide with a wall surface. It was hot.

Although some aspects of the homogenization effect are theoretically unclear,
The strong shearing force that acts on the liquid components when the liquid passes through the valve slit, the sudden change that the liquid undergoes when it is suddenly injected into a wide area at the exit of the valve slit, that is, cavitation, and when it collides with the wall surface. It is thought that the liquid component is made finer and homogenized by the impact destruction of the liquid.

Conventional homogenizing devices stack a homogeneous valve seat with a circular end face and a homogeneous valve with their circular end faces touching each other, apply pressure using hydraulic pressure, etc., and press the end faces together to form a valve part. The high-pressure liquid sent from the liquid passage provided at the center of the valve slightly pushes the valve part open using liquid pressure, and the liquid jets out toward the outer circumference through the valve slit, which forms a collision wall formed on the outside of the valve part. In general, devices configured to collide with each other are commonly used.

The valve slit formed in this valve part is narrower and the longer the passage length, the greater the resistance but the higher the homogeneity effect.The higher the surface pressure of the valve part, the smaller the valve slit, but the longer the passage length. In order to increase the length, it is necessary to increase the diameter of the end face. If the diameter is increased, the entire device becomes larger and more expensive. Therefore, concentric peaks and troughs are continuously formed on both end faces that will become the valve part. The length of passage is increased by forming a liquid in a meandering manner over the peaks and valleys with the peaks and valleys of both end faces interlocking with each other.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) The conventional homogenizing device described above attempts to increase the homogenizing effect by lengthening the valve slit, but this increases the passage resistance and requires the liquid to be brought to a high pressure. However, there were problems such as the need for a large amount of power, and the problem that there remained a doubt as to whether a homogeneous effect could be obtained that would not cause this problem.

The object of this invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and provide a homogeneous valve and a homogeneous valve seat of a homogeneous device that can further enhance the homogeneous effect.

(Means for Solving the Problems) This invention for achieving the above purpose forms concentrically continuous peaks and valleys on both end faces of a homogeneous valve and a homogeneous valve seat, and A homogeneous device in which a valve portion is formed by interlocking the peaks and valleys of a surface, and a small gap is formed in all or part of the matching portion between the top of the peak and the bottom of the valley. homogeneous valve or homogeneous valve seat.

(Operation) When liquid flowing radially from the center of a homogeneous valve or homogeneous valve seat passes through the valve slit formed by pushing the valve part open with pressure, it encounters strong resistance and increases liquid pressure. A strong shearing force acts on the liquid component as it passes through the valve slit at high speed, decomposing the liquid component, and then cavitation occurs when it is ejected into the small gap provided in the middle of the valve part, causing the liquid component to overlap. When it is decomposed and ejected into this small gap, it collides with the wall of the valley that forms this small gap, causing impact destruction of the molecules, which is repeated as many times as there are small gaps, and finally it is ejected to the outer periphery of the valve part. During this period, shearing and cavitation were carried out several times.
By repeating the triple homogeneous action of impact fracture, the liquid component is broken down into extremely fine particles.
An excellent homogeneous effect can be obtained.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of this invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the essential parts of an example of the homogenization device of the present invention, in which 1 is a housing, the inside of which is hollowed out to form a homogenization chamber 2, a liquid inlet 3 communicating with this homogenization chamber 2 is provided below, and A plunger pump outlet 4 is connected to the liquid inlet 3.

The homogenization chamber 2 houses a cylindrical homogeneous tube 5 with a homogeneous valve seat 6 fitted at the bottom, and six cylindrical homogeneous valves 7 (a number other than six) are housed in the homogeneous tube 5. A liquid passage 8 is provided which is stacked in series on a homogeneous valve seat 6 and communicates with the liquid inlet 3 through the center of the homogeneous valve seat 6 and six homogeneous valves 7.

Further, inside the homogeneous cylinder 5, a cylindrical upper homogeneous valve 9 is installed so as to overlap the uppermost end of the homogeneous valve 7.

In this way, seven valve portions 1 are formed on the mutually opposing end surfaces of the upper end surface of the homogeneous valve seat 6, the upper and lower end surfaces of the homogeneous valve 7, and the lower end surface of the upper homogeneous valve 9.
0 is formed, and as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, concentric peaks 11 and troughs 12 are continuously provided on both end faces forming this valve portion 10, and the peaks 11 on both end faces are continuously provided. and Tanibe 12 are 1/2 pitch apart,
The peaks 11 on one end surface are formed to match the valleys 12 on the other end surface so that the peaks 11 and troughs 12 mesh with each other, and the vicinity of the peaks of the peaks 11 on both end surfaces is shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a small V-shaped gap 13 is formed between the oblique side and the valley 12, and this small gap 13 is formed on the upstream side of the two sides of the V-shape. For example, one side is the gap T1
= 0.01~0.025mm, length L1 = 0.4~0.6mm narrow gap 1
3a, and one side on the downstream side is, for example, a gap T2=
Wide gap part 13 of 0.025 to 0.1 mm, length L2 = 0.4 to 0.6 mm
It is listed as b.

Here, FIGS. 6 and 7 are two enlarged views showing examples of the valve part 10. In FIG. 6, the tops of all the peaks 11 on both opposing end surfaces have been shaved off, resulting in a total of 12 small parts. In Fig. 7, the top of only the crest 11 on one of the opposing end faces is shaved off, and a total of six small gaps 13 are provided. The one shown in FIG. 6, which has a larger number, has a better homogeneity effect.

Additionally, circumferential grooves 7a and 9a are provided on the outer peripheries of the homogeneous valve 7 and the upper homogeneous valve 9, respectively, and vertical grooves 7b and 9b, which communicate with the circumferential grooves 7a and 9a from one end surface, extend equally around the circumference. They are provided at four divided locations (the number may be other than four locations) parallel to the axis and with an appropriate width, and further on the inner peripheral surface of the homogeneous cylinder 5 corresponding to the circumferential grooves 7a and 9a. An inner circumferential groove 5a is provided, and the inner circumferential groove 5a and the circumferential grooves 7a and 9a coincide with each other to form a liquid passage, and the outer circumference of the homogeneous cylinder 5 is shaved off except for the upper and lower ends to form a housing. A cylindrical liquid collecting chamber 14 formed between the inner wall of 1
In addition, liquid passage holes 5b are bored from the inner circumferential groove 5a through the homogeneous cylinder 5 at four locations (the number may be other than four locations) equally dividing the circumference.

15 is a housing closing lid that closes the homogenizing chamber 2 at the upper part of the housing 1;
A pressurizing cylinder 16 is attached to the upper side, and a piston 17 pressurizes the upper end of the upper homogeneous valve 9. By adjusting this pressurizing force, the surface pressure of the valve part 10 is adjusted, and the pressure is increased or decreased by hydraulic pressure. The size of the valve slit that is forced open is adjusted.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a take-out port, which is attached to the housing 1 and communicates with the liquid collecting chamber 14 to take out the homogeneous product liquid.

Because high-pressure liquid flows through this homogenizer, O-ring gaskets 19 are placed in areas where there is a risk of liquid leakage.
is provided.

The case where the homogenizing device according to the invention having the above configuration is used for homogenizing milk will be explained.

Homogenization of milk is the process of destroying and subdividing the fat globules contained in milk.Most of these fat globules are in the range of 1 to 16μ in diameter, and because these fat globules have a low specific gravity, STOKES According to the law, fat globules float to the surface at a speed proportional to their size, forming a cream layer on the surface of the milk.If the fat globules are less than 2μ, viscous friction becomes stronger than buoyancy. This makes it difficult for fat globules to float to the surface.

Therefore, the purpose of homogenizing milk is to reduce fat globules to 2μ
The purpose is to break it as finely as possible to prevent the formation of a cream layer on the surface.

In FIG. 1, milk sent from a plunger pump (not shown) enters the liquid passage 8 from the plunger pump outlet 4 through the liquid inlet 3, and is pushed against the pressing force of the piston 17 due to hydraulic pressure. , the valve slits 10a are formed by slightly pushing open the valve portions 10 at seven locations, and the valve slits 10a are formed while meandering through the valve slits 10a in the radial direction through the peaks and valleys.
At step a, the flow rate is increased to shear and destroy the liquid component, and cavitation and impact destruction are repeated in multiple small gaps 13 provided in the valve part 10.
It makes fat globules more fine.

The action in this small gap 13 is the valve gap 10a.
It first ejects into the narrow gap 13a, causes slight cavitation, breaks down the fat globules, spreads out a little, collides with the wall on the trough 12 side, and spreads out into the wide gap 13b.
The fat globules are further destroyed by impact by scattering them inside the body.

Thus homogeneous valve 7 and upper homogeneous valve 9
The milk that has reached the outer periphery of the cylinder 5 squirts into the vertical grooves 7b and 9b, becomes low pressure, causes full-fledged cavitation to break down the fat globules, and then collides with the inner wall of the homogeneous cylinder 5 with force, destroying the last fat globules. After the destruction, the milk becomes homogeneous and flows out into the liquid circulation path consisting of the circumferential grooves 7a and 9a and the inner circumferential groove 5a, and then flows into the homogenization chamber 2 through the liquid passage hole 5b.
It is then taken out of the machine from the take-out port 18.

In the flow of milk mentioned above, the flow velocity from the liquid passage 8 to the valve part 10 in the radial direction is, if the entire outer periphery is open, the circumference length becomes longer toward the outer periphery, so the flow velocity is will decrease.

This decrease in flow rate means that the valve slit 10a
As the resistance through the fat globules decreases, the shearing effect of the fat globules also decreases, and the cavitation effect and impact breaking effect when ejected into the small gaps 13 and the outer periphery also decrease, making it impossible to obtain a satisfactory homogeneous effect.

Therefore, in order to prevent the flow rate from decreasing as it approaches the outer periphery of the valve portion 10, vertical grooves 7b and 9b are provided at four locations on the outer periphery of the homogeneous valve 7 and the upper homogeneous valve 9. The other circumferential portion is tightly closed to the inner peripheral surface of the homogeneous cylinder 5 to prevent it from flowing out, and the outlet at the outer periphery is narrowed to maintain the required flow velocity and maintain a good homogeneous effect. It is something to tighten.

FIG. 9 is a graph comparing the performance of the device of the present invention and the conventional device in terms of the average diameter of fat globules, where A shows the test results of the device of the present invention and B shows the test results of the conventional device.

The device of the present invention used in this test has the structure shown in Fig. 1, the valve part 10 has the structure shown in Fig. 6, and has 12 small gaps 13 in the radial direction, and the dimensions of these small gaps are shown in Fig. 8. At T1=0.025mm, T2=0.075
mm, L1=L2=0.5mm, homogeneous valve diameter 60
mm, processing capacity 20,000/H, and one conventional device has a valve part shown in Fig. 10, with four matching parts of peaks and valleys in the radial direction, and the diameter of the homogeneous valve is 50 mm. , a processing capacity of 10000/H was used.

In the graph of Figure 9, in the device A of the present invention, the average diameter of the fat globules is 1μ at a homogeneous liquid pressure of 80 kg/ ^cm2 , and as the homogeneous liquid pressure increases, the fat globules become further fragmented.
When the weight exceeds 160 kg/cm ² , the average fat globule becomes 0.6 to 0.7 μ, and there is almost no change.

On the other hand, in B of the conventional device, the higher the homogeneous liquid pressure, the smaller the fat globules become, but it does not become less than 2μ unless it becomes 180Kg/cm ² or more. It is known that it has a much superior homogeneous ability compared to other devices.

Therefore, according to the device of the present invention, high-quality long-life milk with extremely small fat globules can be obtained at a homogeneous liquid pressure of 140 Kg/cm ² or higher, and regular milk can be obtained at a homogeneous liquid pressure of 140 Kg/cm ² or lower. .

(Effect of the invention) According to the homogeneous valve and homogeneous valve seat of the homogeneous device according to the invention described above, a small gap is provided at the meeting point of the peak and the valley in the middle of the flow in the radial direction of the valve part. As a result, the liquid components are subjected to cavitation and impact fracture in these small voids, and the liquid components are made fine by the number of small voids, resulting in an excellent homogenizing effect. However, a homogeneous device with suitable performance can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a main part showing an example of a homogeneous device incorporating the homogeneous valve and homogeneous valve seat of this invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway side view of the homogeneous valve, FIG. 5 is a view of FIG. 4 viewed in the direction of arrow Q, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are views of section A in FIG. 1. FIGS. 6 and 7 are enlarged detailed views of the valve part, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are views showing different configurations, and FIG.
Figure B is an enlarged detailed view of part B, Figure 9 is a graph showing the performance comparison test results of the homogenizer according to this invention and the conventional homogenizer, and Figure 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the valve part of the conventional homogenizer. be. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Housing, 2...Homogeneous chamber, 3...Liquid inlet, 4...Plunger pump outlet, 5...Homogeneous cylinder, 6...Homogeneous valve seat, 7...Homogeneous valve, 8...Liquid passage, 9 ...Upper homogeneous valve, 1
0... Valve part, 11... Mountain part, 12... Valley part, 13
...Small gap.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Alternate concentric peaks and troughs are formed on opposite end surfaces of the homogeneous valve and the homogeneous valve seat, and the crests and troughs on both end surfaces are engaged with each other to form a valve portion. A homogeneous valve or a homogeneous valve seat for a homogeneous device, characterized in that a small gap is formed in all or part of the matching portion between the top of the mountain and the bottom of the valley.