JPH04139101A - Production of dry flower - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To produce a dry flower by embedding a cut flower in spherical particles of resin, ceramic, etc., filled in a vessel and drying the flower by heating with a drier containing a far-infrared radiating plane heater. CONSTITUTION:A cut flower 1 is embedded in spherical resin or ceramic particles 3 in a vessel 2, which is placed in a drier 4 containing a plane heater 5. The plane heater 5 is composed of an outer ceramic layer (e.g. alumina or silica alumina) and an inner carbonaceous layer (e.g. conductive carbon black or graphite powder). The carbonaceous layer is heated by the electric resistance heating to effect the emission of far-infrared radiation from the ceramic layer. The cut flower is dried by setting the temperature of the plane heater to 40-80 deg.C. A cut flower can be converted to a dry flower having the natural appearance independent of the kind and water-content of the cut flower without necessitating a large-scale apparatus.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a method for producing dried flowers that can efficiently dry cut flowers in a natural state without causing discoloration or deformation.

° [Prior Art] Conventionally, methods for naturally drying cut flowers or burying cut flowers in a desiccant have been known as methods for easily producing dried flowers for ornamental use. is also widely used. Of these, natural drying is the easiest method, but it takes a long time to dry.
It has drawbacks such as being affected by the weather and not being able to reproduce vivid flower colors. In addition, the desiccant method involves burying cut flowers in a powder such as silica gel for about a week, but the resulting dry flowers have the disadvantage of being insufficiently dried and turning four colors during storage. For this reason, often
It is kept for viewing in a bottle or other container. Moreover, there is also the problem that it takes time and effort to regenerate the desiccant after use.

Vacuum drying, freeze drying, high frequency drying, blow drying, and the like are known as more efficient drying methods, but these methods have the drawback of significantly increasing the size of the equipment.

In addition, as a dryer for dried flowers that uses far infrared rays, we have developed a structure that uses both blow drying and far infrared radiation.
3-199101), and a structure in which far-infrared radiators are installed on the bottom and side surfaces (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1272501) has also been proposed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The above-mentioned method that emits far-infrared rays has the advantage of being able to rapidly heat and dry the inside of the plant tissue and causing little discoloration. However, the device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-199101 is large in size, and has structural problems in that the air is returned and lowers the temperature of the cut flowers, reducing the efficiency of water evaporation. On the other hand, the dryer disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-272501 has a problem in that the radiation efficiency of far infrared rays is low because the heat generating element is installed only at the bottom.

For this reason, when dealing with flowers with relatively high water content, such as roses, for example, they cannot be dried efficiently and, moreover, may suffer from general shrinkage, a tendency towards darkening, and curling of the leaves. It was difficult to avoid such phenomena.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing dried flowers that can be efficiently dried while maintaining the natural state of fresh flowers even when cut flowers with a high water content are used. be.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A method for producing dried flowers according to the present invention to achieve the above object comprises filling cut flowers to be dried with spherical particles of resin or ceramics, or a mixture of these spherical particles. The structure is characterized in that the container is set in a state where it is buried in a container, and the container is heated and dried using a drying device in which a planar heating element is provided on the inner surface.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an apparatus showing the process of manufacturing dried flowers according to the present invention, in which 1 indicates cut flowers to be dried, 2
4 is a container filled with spherical resin or ceramic particles or a mixture 3 of these spherical particles, and 4 is a drying device in which a planar heating element 5 is provided on the inner surface.

A cut flower 1 is encapsulated in a container 2 made of hard resin or the like with spherical particles 3 of resin or ceramics, and is set so as to be completely buried therein.

The spherical resin particles are preferably made of a lightweight, water-insoluble resin material such as polyethylene, polystyrene, nylon, epoxy, or phenol, and are preferably used in the form of beads with a foam structure that facilitates the volatilization of water vapor. . In addition, as ceramic spherical particles,
Materials such as silica, alumina, and glassy carbon can be used, but in order to reduce weight, it is preferable to use a material formed in the form of a hollow balloon. These spherical particles preferably have a particle diameter of 50 to 5
If the particle diameter set in the fine grain range of 00μ- is less than 50μ-, it will turn into dust during handling and will easily adhere to the surface of the dry flower, while if it exceeds 500μ- steel, it will be compressed by the grain load when buried. This results in defects such as unevenness on the surface of the dried flower and poor appearance.

The container 2 in which the cut flowers are buried is stored inside a drying device 4 consisting of a bottomed container-like main body 6 and a top lid 9 with a ventilation hole 7 and a dehydrating agent layer 8 interposed therein as necessary. It is heated by applying electricity to the planar heating element 5 to generate resistance heat.

Although there are no particular restrictions on the type of sheet heating element 5, for the purpose of the present invention, a far infrared emitting sheet heating element consisting of a ceramic outer layer and a carbonaceous inner layer is used.
It is preferable to use a structure in which it extends over the entire inner surface. As shown in FIG. 2, the far-infrared emitting sheet heating element is formed as a laminated sheet of a carbonaceous layer 12 that generates resistance heat when energized and a ceramic layer 13 that emits far-infrared rays using the heat source, and the whole is heat-resistant. It has a structure in which it is covered with a thin resin film 14, and the ceramic layer 13 is spread as an outer layer so as to face the container 2. A preferred material combination is a configuration in which the ceramic outer layer is made of alumina or silica alumina, and the carbonaceous inner layer is made of conductive carbon black, graphite powder, or a mixed powder thereof. An example of this type of far-infrared radiating planar heating element is "Monahito (trade name)" manufactured by Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd.

The temperature of the planar heating element in the heat drying process is approximately 40 to
It is preferable to set the temperature to 80°C, and the drying process is performed while varying the temperature within the above temperature range depending on the type of cut flowers to be treated.

[For production]

According to the method for producing dried flowers according to the present invention, cut flowers are embedded in spherical particles of resin or ceramics, or a mixture of these spherical particles, and are loosely fixed, and the entire body is covered by heat conduction of the encapsulated particles. heated evenly.

This action, combined with low-temperature drying operations of 40 to 80°C, effectively suppresses the shrinkage of cut flowers that occurs when water evaporates, and at the same time reduces the fA1i! Alternatively, it functions to prevent fading. Moreover, the packed bed of spherical particles is
Since it forms a porous structure suitable for efficiently capturing evaporated water and evaporating it to the outside, the drying process proceeds quickly and is converted to a completely dry state with good storage stability.

The above-mentioned function is that when a thin far-infrared emitting structure with a small heat capacity as shown in Figure 2 is used as a planar heating element, the temperature rapidly rises due to resistance heat generation due to energization.
The amount of far-infrared radiation increases and heating progresses effectively. Therefore, regardless of the type of cut flowers, it is possible to always produce high-quality dried flowers without discoloration or deformation within a short time.

〔Example〕

Next, examples of the present invention will be explained in comparison with comparative examples.

Example Cut rose flowers with pale pink petals were prepared using a particle size of 2.
It was set to be buried in a polypropylene container filled with 00μ of polystyrene spherical particles. This container was housed and installed in a drying device in the form shown in Fig. 1, which had a far-infrared radiating sheet heating element (manufactured by Tokai Carbon ■ [Monahito J]) with the structure shown in Fig. 2 on the inside of the main body, and 42
The planar heating element was heated by resistance so that the temperature reached °C and was maintained for 3 days.

The condition of the dried flowers obtained (color tone change, shape change,
The results are shown in Table 1.

Comparative Example 1 The same cut rose flowers as in Example were placed in a well-ventilated room and allowed to air dry for three weeks.

The condition of the obtained dried flowers was observed, and the results are also listed in Table 1.

Comparative Example 2 The same cut rose flowers as in Example were buried in silica gel as a desiccant and left to stand for 7 days to perform adsorption drying.

The condition of the obtained dried flowers was observed, and the results are also listed in Table 1.

Comparative Example 3 The same cut rose flowers as in Example were hung from the top of the drying device (Fig. 1) without being buried in the spherical particles, and the temperature was set at 70°.
A heat drying treatment was performed at a temperature of C for 2 days.

The condition of the obtained dried flowers was observed, and the results are also listed in Table 1.

As shown in Table 1, any state change was observed in the dried flowers according to Comparative Examples 1 to 3, but no change in color tone or shape was observed in the dried flowers obtained in Examples.
Preservability was also good.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to dry flowers in the same natural state as before drying, regardless of the type of cut flowers or the water content. Moreover, since efficient drying operation is performed without the need for large-scale equipment, it can be applied in a wide range of applications from industrial to general household use.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an apparatus showing the manufacturing state of dried flowers according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a far-infrared emitting sheet heating element installed in the drying apparatus. l... Cut flowers 2... Container 3... Spherical particles (mixture) 4... Drying device 5... Planar heating element
6...Main body 7...Vent hole 8...
・Dehydrating agent layer 9...Top lid IO...Power cord +1...Insulating layer 12...Carbon layer 13...Ceramics layer 14...Thin film of heat-resistant resin

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Cut flowers to be dried are set to be buried in a container filled with spherical particles of resin or ceramics, or a mixture of these spherical particles, and a planar heating element is provided on the inner surface of the container. A method for producing dried flowers characterized by heating and drying using an installed drying device. 2. The method for producing dried flowers according to claim 1, wherein a drying device is used, which comprises a bottomed container in which a far-infrared emitting planar heating element consisting of a ceramic outer layer and a carbonaceous inner layer is spread on the inner surface via a heat insulating material.