JPH0325139B2 - - 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 simply expressed, the rotation of the main shaft is performed so that the position changes along one program selected from among a plurality of predetermined programs according to the properties of the tea leaves introduced into the process. A new tea manufacturing method and tea manufacturing method that makes it possible to control the number of tea leaves, smoothly roll and dry the tea leaves in the rough rolling process, and obtain a product of high and uniform quality (roughly rolled leaves). The purpose is to provide a kneading device.

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 is to gradually dry the leaves with hot air until the leaf temperature reaches 50%.During the operation, the leaf temperature should be kept around 36 to 37℃, without over-drying, and as constant drying as possible. This is an important point, and if you make a mistake in these points, yellowing of the leaf color, fine powdering,
This results in quality deterioration such as generation of grassy smell or stuffy aroma.

Therefore, in the past, a skilled technician called a tea master was always at the side of the rough rolling machine to monitor the progress of the rough rolling process and to ensure that the rolling and drying of tea leaves proceed smoothly during the process. The feel of the tea when you hold it, the degree of wetness, the progress of rolling the tea, etc. are felt exclusively through your five senses, and based on that, each element of tea manufacturing during the rough rolling process is determined solely based on that experience and intuition. For example, it controlled changes in 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, skilled technicians have to manage many tea machines at the same time, and each tea machine is only inspected when the technician visits the machine. Moreover, the workers themselves are constantly under stress during the work and are 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 and roughing device according to the present invention, which allow drying to proceed 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 are brought into close contact with each other by steam heat and formed into large and small nodules rather than rolling. 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, pass over the main shaft 2, and enter the rolling chamber 4. Make sure that it falls on the inner rear side (left side in Figure 2). 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 of the bulk sandwiched between the and the rubbing sole 6,
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). . 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 tea leaves are less dispersed at the rolling base 6 and are caught between the rolling hands 7 and the rolling base 6. This is because the bulk of the tea leaves increases, the tea leaves are crushed, internal moisture oozes out to the surface, and the degree of twist increases.

Therefore, in the example shown in Fig. 1, as the process progresses (steps progress), the target value of the agitation position is shifted to the front and lower part of the main shaft 2 as "B", "C", etc. This promotes the internal moisture of the tea leaves to seep out to the surface, which is then dried with hot air, and the tea leaves are stretched 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

By the way, for example, the shape, thickness, hardness, etc. of fresh leaves vary depending on the time of picking, the place of production, the variety of tea, etc. Therefore, in order to be able to respond to the varied properties of tea leaves introduced into the process,
A plurality of target value programs as described above are set, and one of them is 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 same reference numerals are given to the parts explained in FIG. 2, and the explanation thereof will be omitted. 8 in the figure is a rod-shaped support body, and the massaging chamber 4
One end 9 is attached to the upper rear side and the other end 10 is attached to the lower front side at the center of the holder. 11
A, 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 titanium hydrochloride, 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 can be determined by detecting which of A, 11B, . . . 11G the tea leaves have collided with.

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, ...12G 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 to the right side. The light is emitted toward the wall 14.
There are various types of light emitting elements, including those that use an incandescent light bulb as a light source and use a lens to focus the light and give the emitted light directionality, and those that use laser light.
It doesn't matter which format. 15i, 15
B,...15G are photoelectric elements, and light emitting elements 12 on the left side wall 13 are mounted on the right side wall 14 of the roughing machine main body 1.
In order to correspond to each of A, 12 B, ...12 G,
They are arranged at regular intervals from the upper rear side to the lower front side.

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 by these detection axes 16a, 16b,...
By detecting which of the 16 tones the tea leaves are being crossed over, the position at which the tea leaves are stirred during the rough rolling process can be determined.

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, if 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, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, if the output of each photoelectric element 15, 15,... is amplified by the amplifier circuit 19, 19, and integrated by the integrating circuit 20, 20,..., the tea leaves are Integrating circuit 2 connected to photoelectric element 15 crossing axis 16
The output of 0 becomes higher than the output of the integrating circuits 20, 20, . . . connected to the other elements 15, 15, .

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 above-mentioned means, and adjusts the rotation speed of the main shaft 2 so that the stirring position during the process changes according to the above-mentioned program. 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, reference numeral 22 denotes a frame of the main shaft drive section 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 variable base 26 rotates in the direction of the solid arrow, the pulley 29 moves toward the other pulley. When you get far away from 24,
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 pulley 29 is increased or decreased depending on the direction, and the groove diameter of the pulley 29 is increased or decreased. The rotational speed transmitted to the input shaft 25 of the reducer 23 is changed, and therefore the rotational speed of the main shaft 2 is changed.

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, which controls the operation of each gate circuit 47, 47, . . . and latch circuit 48, 48. A program selection switch 49 is connected to the input/output port 45 via a gate circuit 47. 50 is a rough kneading time setting device, 51 is a closing command switch, 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 a spindle rotation speed sensor;
It 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 rotation speed control motor, which is connected to the input/output port 4 via the rotation direction switching relay 54 and the latch circuit 48.
5. 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 1 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 program corresponding to the properties of the tea leaves to be introduced into the coarse rolling process from among the plurality of tea leaf stirring position target value programs written in the erasable and writable read-only memory 43. Select.

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 value 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 rough rolling machine main body 1, and put a predetermined amount of tea leaves stored in the pool into the rolling chamber 4 for coarse rolling. Start. (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 detection 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 minimum rough kneading time is 30 minutes, one step will take 45 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 rotation 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 position "C" and the current value is position "2", the relay is set so that the control motor 37 rotates in the direction of increasing the rotation speed of the main shaft 2. 54 is operated,
While the control motor 37 is rotating in that direction, the rotation speed of the main shaft 2 increases. and the motor 3
7 is rotating, the stirring position of the tea leaves 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. Keep numbers.

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 is issued when the current value (Pn) of the tea leaf stirring position reaches the final target value (Pte) (position "T" in this example). It's good as well.

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 rotational speed of the spindle is controlled so that the position changes according to one program selected from a plurality of predetermined programs according to the properties of tea leaves introduced into the process.

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 the drawing]

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 plurality of tea leaf stirring position transition target value programs indicating the transition state to be managed of the tea leaf stirring position during one rough rolling process are determined in advance, and the tea leaf stirring position introduced into the process is One program is selected from among the plurality of programs according to the tea properties, and one coarse rolling is performed while controlling the spindle rotation speed so that the stirring position of the tea leaves changes according to the selected program during the process. A tea processing method characterized by carrying out the steps. 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 plurality of tea leaf agitation position transition target value programs indicating the desired transition state are stored, and the control unit detects the tea leaf agitation position using the tea leaf agitation position detection means during the process, and detects the tea leaf agitation position introduced into the process. A tea processing and roughening device, characterized in that the spindle rotational speed control unit is controlled so that the position changes according to one program selected from the plurality of programs according to the tea properties. .