JPH0350677B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field This invention is a method for cutting special confectionery using ultrasonic waves, and is particularly suitable for cutting special confectionery in which hard solids such as almonds and red beans are mixed into soft cakes such as castella cakes. This is a method of cutting smoothly using a cutting tool that vibrates vertically with ultrasonic waves at an angle.

Conventional technology Conventionally, when mass producing special confectionery such as castella-like soft cakes mixed with hard solids such as almonds and red beans, a machine was used above a dozen or so kitchen knives lined up at appropriate intervals. A method has been proposed in which the cake is cut by running it between comb-like blades that move up and down using mechanical processing means, but if hard objects are mixed in with the soft objects, the blade If you try to cut the cake with a knife, the hard objects inside the cake will often come into contact with the blade and peel off, or the corners will be chipped, causing the cake to lose its shape because the blade touches the soft and hard objects differently. be. Therefore, if things continue as they are, it will be extremely difficult to increase production by increasing the traveling speed.

On the other hand, a rod-shaped or plate-shaped tool that vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency is crimped onto a workpiece with appropriate pressure and a jet of machining fluid, and the ultrasonic vibration is used to drill or cut a hole. It is used for polishing, and its use is particularly prominent in processing ultra-hard objects such as diamonds and ceramics.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The present inventor has focused on the fact that hard objects can be easily processed by such ultrasonic action, and has attempted to process hard objects such as almonds and red beans into soft cakes like castella as required by the present invention. For special sweets that are a mixture of ingredients,
When I tried cutting using a cutting tool that vibrates vertically with ultrasonic waves, I found that even though adzuki beans and almonds were harder than cake, there was no problem compared to the hardness of diamonds and ceramics, and I found that there was a difference in hardness between cake, adzuki beans, and almonds. was found to be negligible against ultrasonic vibrations.

Therefore, there is no need to worry about the hard part being thrown off from the soft part and damaging the corners or the entire shape of the cake, and the cutting speed of the tool is increased. was very clean and warm. Furthermore, as a result of various prototypes and experiments conducted by the inventor, it was found that the vibrations of ultrasonic waves concentrate at the tip edge of a cutting tool, especially at both corners, and it was found that the vibrations of ultrasonic waves concentrate at both corners of the cutting tool. It was effective. It has also been found that when cutting into a spongy object such as a cake by applying the cutting edge to the entire surface at the same time, the dent becomes large and the cut end is damaged due to rebound.

Means for Solving the Problems This invention uses ultrasonic longitudinal vibration to easily cut hard almonds, etc. by utilizing the fact that the ultrasonic longitudinal vibration concentrates particularly at the tip corner and exerts a strong cutting force. However, if you cut into a soft sponge-like object such as a soft cake all over the entire surface at the same time, the indentation becomes large and the cut end is likely to be damaged due to rebound, making it unusable as a product. Also, at the end of the cut, the effect of the strength of the vibration of the corner becomes noticeable. Therefore, there is the idea of powerfully vibrating the entire tool, but since ultrasonic waves have a large destructive impact force, thin tool blades often break even though they are made from durable special metal materials. . In extreme cases, the thick horn may break off from the base. Also, emitting powerful vibrations means that the amplifier for high-frequency input to the vibrator windings also becomes larger and more expensive, so it is important to generate the necessary amount of vibration in the necessary places as much as possible for efficient operation. is a good idea. For this reason, in the present invention, the ultrasonic cutting tool uses at least a pair of tools adjacent to each other with an appropriate width between them at an angle α of approximately 90 degrees in the upward and downward directions from diagonally horizontally to the special confectionery. By making the angles close to each other, the pair of ultrasonic cutting tools can be used to suppress the special confectionery when it is likely to vibrate due to vertical ultrasonic vibration. To explain the details of concentrating ultrasonic longitudinal vibrations, when vibration is applied to the cutter 4 in the direction of the arrow as shown in Fig. 4A, the vibration is longitudinal vibration and expansion and contraction occurs in the direction of the arrow. It will be done. Therefore, the amplitude and direction of expansion and contraction of each part of the expansion and contraction are as shown in Figure 4B, and the leading edge is the concentration of vibration, that is, the maximum amplitude, and the dotted line is the resonance point (vibrator 1, horn 3, and tool). Since the output (amplitude) is deviated from the maximum output (amplitude) when the solid body of the cutter 4 is viewed as one, the amplitude falls as shown in the center of the distribution curve a in FIG.

Function In summary, in this invention, at least a pair of ultrasonic cutting tools are installed with an appropriate width between each other, and this cutting tool is provided with at least one angular tip at one end of the cutting edge for concentrating ultrasonic vibrations. The angle α between at least one pair of vibrator blades with an appropriate width between them when cutting tools are diagonally spaced.
is set at an angle of almost 90 degrees, it is possible to smoothly cut several pieces of special confectionery at once, such as castella-like soft cakes mixed with hard solids such as almonds and red beans, and also to avoid peeling during cutting. There were no symptoms.

Example Next, embodiments of the present invention will be explained using figures.

Figure 1 is a front view of the ultrasonic transducer according to the present invention, Figures 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams showing the state of use, and Figure 4A is a cutting tool corresponding to Figure 1 for explanation. Schematic diagram, B is the amplitude waveform diagram, and Figure 5 is the second diagram.
An explanatory diagram of the figure viewed diagonally is shown. In the figure, 1 is a magnetostrictive, electrostrictive, etc. vibrator, 1a is an excitation wire ring, 2 is an excitation terminal,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a horn which is usually in an exponential shape, and 4 is a cutting tool which is welded or integrally attached to the horn 3, and a cutting edge 5 is attached to the tip of the cutting tool 4. In operation, magnetostrictive vibration is generated in the vibrator by applying excitation to the wire ring 1a through the excitation terminal 2 using a power supply unit for the ultrasonic longitudinal vibration generator (not shown), and the horn 3 is caused to be caused by the vibrator 1. The information is transmitted to the tool 4 via the Curve a is a vibration distribution curve when the cutting edge 5, which widens from the vibration receiving part to the tip, has a linear surface and forms corners at both ends, and as mentioned above, vibration is concentrated at the tips of both corners. , it tends to be a little weaker in the middle. Therefore, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the cake 7 traveling to the left is held at an appropriate angle and the corner part 6 where the vibration is strongest first bites into the corner 8 of the cake 7 by point contact. You can get into it easily. Also, when applying the cutting edge to a soft cake or a spongy object, good results can be obtained by tilting the cutting edge as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 so that it always touches the cake 7. Now, when actually cutting such a cake using ultrasonic longitudinal vibration, a large number of vibrators are arranged with their vibration directions aligned (the vibration direction is the longitudinal direction of the tool).
These are arranged as shown in Figures 2 and 5 (for this reason, there is a groove in the cake feeding belt for the tool to fit into, so there is no problem with the movement of the tool), and the cakes made in a wide range are moved vertically. When cutting, it is cut lengthwise to fit the shape. In addition, in Figures 2 and 5, two vibrators are placed at an appropriate width from each other, and the angle α with the adjacent vibrator blade in the upward and downward directions is approximately 90 degrees (45 degrees with respect to the cake, respectively). I tried setting it up so that it would be (degrees), and the results were very good. Furthermore, as a result of various studies, it was found that when cutting a cake, the vibration applied at one point tends to cause the cake to move away, so in the present invention, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5, a mechanism is used to suppress this movement. By applying vibration from another vibrator that is tilted at an angle, the movements are checked and suppressed each other, and smooth cutting is performed.

Effects of the Invention As mentioned above, when molding cakes and the like with almonds or other hard objects placed on the surface, it was impossible to cut them with an ordinary mechanical knife without causing the solid object to peel off. However, with this invention, it is possible to cut cleanly, and the cut edges can be neatly aligned.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an ultrasonic cutting tool of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic diagrams for explaining the use of the cutting tool of FIG. 1. 4A is a schematic diagram of a cutting tool corresponding to FIG. 1 for explanation, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of FIG. 2. In the figure, 1 is an ultrasonic vibrator, 3 is a horn, 4 is a cutting tool, 5 is the cutting edge of the tool, and 7 is a cake.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Soft sponge cake cake with almonds,
When cutting special confectionery mixed with hard solids such as red beans, the cutting tool is given the expansion and contraction of ultrasonic longitudinal vibrations, and the ultrasonic longitudinal vibrations are concentrated at one end of the cutting tool, i.e., at the maximum amplitude, in a ladder shape that widens at the end. The blade edges of at least a pair of cutting tools spaced apart from each other by an appropriate width are set at an angle α from the side diagonally with respect to the running direction of the special confectionery.
A method for cutting special confectionery using ultrasonic waves, characterized in that the angle is approximately 90 degrees.