JPH0446109B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hermetic crushing device for food and beverages such as fruits and vegetables.

Conventional technology In general, when producing fruit juices such as fruits and vegetables, especially fruit juices such as apples, antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C) are added to prevent oxidative discoloration due to the action of polyphenol oxidase contained in apples, etc. are doing. However, ascorbic acid is expensive, and there are problems such as the natural flavor is impaired due to the chemical reduction effect of ascorbic acid.

In addition, the method of manufacturing carrot vegetable juice involves peeling and cutting the carrots, then blanching them to prevent oxidative discoloration caused by the action of enzymes, then crushing and squeezing the juice. The quality of the vegetable juice deteriorates due to active ingredients such as sugar and natural flavor escaping into the hot water, and the three steps of cutting, blanching and crushing cause problems such as increased equipment and operating costs. Ta.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Therefore, the present invention aims to prevent oxidative discoloration due to the action of oxygen, etc., to prevent changes in natural flavor, and to simplify processes and equipment, reduce operating costs, etc. It is an object of the present invention to provide a hermetic crushing device for fruits, vegetables, etc., which has a simple and reliable structure.

Means for Solving the Problems That is, the closed crushing device according to the present invention includes a pre-stage valve device that transports fruits, vegetables, etc. while shutting them off from the outside air, a device that crushes the sent fruits, etc., and the crushing device. The apparatus is characterized by a configuration that includes a device that supplies a heating medium such as steam to the container, and a downstream valve device that transports crushed fruits and the like in a hermetically sealed manner.

Therefore, according to the configuration of the present invention, by supplying water vapor etc. into the crushing device which is sealed by the valve devices in the front and rear stages for transferring fruits, vegetables, etc., shutting off outside air, and heating. Enzymes are inactivated, oxidative discoloration is eliminated, and a stable color tone can be obtained, while natural flavor can be retained.

Embodiments The present invention will be described below based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

This embodiment is an apparatus for producing apple juice, and the first half of the process for producing apple juice is the hermetic crushing apparatus according to the present invention.

Conventionally, crushing is usually done using a crusher such as a hammer mill, but since the crushing is done at room temperature, about 1 kg of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is added per 1 ton of raw materials when adding the raw materials to prevent browning due to oxidative discoloration.
is injected as a 5-10% solution using a metering pump.

In the present invention, a closed rotary valve 2 is used as a pre-stage valve device under the raw material inputting chute 1, and before crushing the apples in the subsequent stage, steam is blown through the steam nozzle 3, and the raw material is heated at the same time as the outside air is cut off. , continuously fed into the crusher 4 without adding ascorbic acid.

Although the crusher 4 is not shown, the penetration part of the rotating shaft has a sealed structure with a special sealing mechanism, and the inside of the crusher 4 is filled with steam supplied through the steam nozzle 3, so that the fruits, etc. are heated during crushing. It is in a state of

The transport pump 5, which serves as a subsequent valve device, is a sanitary type monopump with a sealed structure having a special sealing mechanism, and has a structure suitable for solid-liquid transport and does not cause material adhesion. The crushed apples are transported by the transport pump 5 and reach the crusher 6.

Kutzker 6 is a double tube heat exchanger for viscous liquids.
Consisting of a heating section 7 and a quenching section 8, the heating section maintains a constant temperature of the crushed material, and the quenching section lowers the temperature within a short time to suit the performance of the juice extractor 9 in the subsequent process.
You can adjust the optimal temperature and time.

The heating section 7 is equipped with a static mixer inside, which has a simple structure and does not easily cause sticking or burning, so it can be easily cleaned and has excellent heat transfer performance. Note that this extractor 6 is not necessarily necessary, and the transport pump 5 can be directly connected to a juice extraction machine or the like.

More specifically, washed raw apples (in the case of a small-capacity device, are divided into 4 to 8 pieces by a separator).
is introduced through a chute 1 and forcibly sent to a crusher 4 by a closed rotary valve 2.

A steam nozzle 3 is provided below the rotary valve 2 to supply steam through an iron removal filter 10 in order to simultaneously heat the raw apples and cut off outside air. To maintain this, an automatic temperature control valve 11 is provided at the steam inlet.

A screw feeder 14 is provided at the entrance of the crusher 4 to smoothly feed heated raw apples.

Although the details of the crusher 4 are not shown, it is a rotating pin/disk type crusher (Sanitary 2S manufactured by Kitsukoman Co., Ltd.).
This type crusher has excellent performance in heating and crushing apples suitable for later processing, which is suitable for juicing, by preventing raw materials from adhering to each other, preventing leakage through a special sealing mechanism, and having a heat-resistant design.

The crushed apples coming out of the crusher 4 are sent to a sanitary type mono pump 5 (NEL-S type manufactured by Heishin Equipment Co., Ltd.)
After being pressurized and delivered by the heating cupper 7 and maintained at a predetermined temperature and time, the cupper's cooling section 8
The juice is rapidly cooled and sent to the juice extraction machine 9, which is a subsequent process.

The holding temperature of the heating section 7 of the heater 6 is controlled by the control valve 12.
The holding time can be adjusted by the number of heating tubes.

The cooling temperature of the cooling section 8 of the cooler 6 is controlled by the control valve 13.
The cooling time can be adjusted by the number of cooling pipes.

Optimum conditions can be selected by changing the rotation of the crusher in response to changes in crushability due to the variety of raw apples, ripeness, etc.

Effects of the Invention As can be seen from the above description, according to the configuration of the present invention, a valve device is provided before and after the crushing device, and water vapor or the like is supplied to the closed crushing device, so that the fruits, etc. to be crushed are exposed to the outside air. By blocking and heating, it is possible to deactivate enzymes, eliminate problems caused by oxidative discoloration, obtain a stable color tone, and at the same time retain the natural flavor, which not only reduces the production cost of liquid juice but also improves its quality. It can be improved and stabilized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawing is a perspective view of an apple juice manufacturing apparatus using a closed crushing apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. 2... sealed rotary valve, 3... steam nozzle, 4... crusher, 5... transport pump.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pre-stage valve device that transports fruits, vegetables, etc. in isolation from the outside air, a device that crushes the fruits, etc. sent, a device that supplies heating medium such as steam to the crushing device, and a device that supplies the crushed fruits, etc. to the crushing device. A closed crushing device characterized by comprising a second stage valve device for transferring in a sealed manner.