JPH0464670B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an improvement in a humidifying and tempering device for sake-brewed rice that humidifies and tempers sake-brewed rice to a predetermined moisture content.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in the polishing action of rice polishing equipment, the polishing chamber is
With each pass, the grain temperature rises several degrees and the rice grains dry out.

In particular, when polishing sake-brewing rice, circulation polishing is repeated until the yield rate is extremely low.
A lot of heat is generated, and the rice grains become extremely dry, which reduces the efficiency of the milling process.
The rice was broken frequently due to changes in the load, and the ``mustard'' process after rice milling required a long time to prevent cracks in the water during soaking.

By the way, in order to safely humidify rice grains, 14.5%
In principle, if the rice grain is less than
By continuously humidifying at a rate of 0.2%/hour,
It is known that rice grain cracking can be prevented by adding water at a minimum instantaneous addition rate.

Conventionally, in order to ensure safety against rice grain cracking, water was added to the rice grains at a fixed ratio of the safe amount of water added throughout the entire humidification process, regardless of the water addition limit rate, so that the rice grains were consistently and slowly humidified from beginning to end. There was a defect that the total humidification time became longer.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In view of the above points, the present invention provides ultrasonic vibration that operates according to the progress of the grain moisture increase rate measured in the process of humidifying low-water sake brewed rice and adjusting the moisture content to an arbitrary predetermined grain moisture content. By humidifying by changing the number or amplitude of the elements, a humidifying and conditioning effect is performed at a low humidification rate on low-moisture brewed rice, and then gradually switched to a humidification and conditioning effect at a high humidification rate. It is a technical object to provide a humidifying and conditioning apparatus for sake brewed rice that can be continuously carried out and can shorten the above-mentioned humidification and conditioning time as much as possible.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained based on embodiment figures. Grain tank 1
A large number of mountain-shaped vein umbrellas 2, 3... are installed in parallel between both side walls 4, 5, and one side wall 4 is provided with a large number of holes 6..., and an air supply path is provided inside. A striated umbrella 2
are connected to each other, and a ventilation chamber 7 facing the ventilation holes 6 is provided on the outside. In addition, the other side wall 5 is provided with a large number of through holes 8, and the veined umbrella 3 forming an air exhaust path is connected to the inside, and an air exhaust path 9 facing the air holes 8 is provided on the outside. and forming the grain layer 1 in the humidification chamber 10,
A plurality of discharge ports 11 in the lower part of the humidifying chamber 10 are provided with rotor-type discharge valves 12 horizontally in parallel with the vein umbrellas 2 and 3, respectively. As a result, grains flowing down from the discharge port 11 to the flowing grain tank 13 are supplied to the grain feeding section 16 at the upper part of the grain tank 1 by the grain lifting machine 15 via the screw conveyor 14, forming a humidifying and conditioning device. do. Reference numeral 17 denotes a scatterer for uniformly dispersing the grains provided at the top of the grain tank, 18 an air exhaust port provided in the air exhaust chamber, and 19 an air supply port provided in the air supply chamber.

Next, the wet air generating device 20 of this embodiment includes a fog generator 2 comprising a plurality of ultrasonic vibration elements 21...
2. It is composed of a blower device 23 consisting of an air blower, a humidification water content control adjustment section 24, etc., and the control adjustment section 24 is a variable resistor that adjusts the amplitude of the vibration element 21 or a variable resistor that adjusts the number of vibration elements 21. It is equipped with an electromagnetic contactor for adjustment, and the ultrafine fog generated by the fog generator 22 is turned into moist air by the blower 23 and supplied to the air supply chamber 7 of the humidification adjustment device via the blower pipe 25. Form it like this. Additionally, a moisture meter 26 is installed on the wall of the grain tank 1 to measure the moisture content of the rice grains inside.
The moisture meter 26 and the humid air generator 20 are electrically connected via a control circuit 27.
Further, the control circuit 27 (see FIG. 3) amplifies the measurement signal from the moisture meter 26 using an amplifier 28 and inputs the amplified signal to an arithmetic/comparison circuit 29. humidification amount control circuit 3 which calculates the input signal of and compares it with the setting signal from the program setting 30, and inputs the matching signal and the end signal of the set time from the timer circuit 31.
A variable resistor or an electromagnetic contactor provided in the control adjustment section 24 of the humid air generator 20 is appropriately controlled by the control signal from the humid air generator 20, and the amplitude or number of the vibrating elements 21 is changed to adjust the amount of humidified moisture. The humidification rate is increased and the humidification rate is adjusted each time.

Next, in the process of humidifying and tempering low-moisture sake-brewed rice to an arbitrary predetermined grain moisture content, the sake-brewed rice humidification conditioning device of this embodiment adjusts the humidification rate according to the changing state of grain moisture. For example, when low-moisture brewed rice with a moisture content of about 10% is humidified and tempered to a moisture content of 20%, the above-mentioned sake-brewed rice absorbs moisture. The moisture content should be 10% in multiple moisture areas, for example, moisture content (%) 10.9% or less,
11.0 to 11.5, 11.6 to 2.0...16.5 or higher, etc.), and in each moisture area, the amount of moisture that can be efficiently humidified without causing cracks in the rice grains, for example, moisture content (%) 10.9 or less. Then, the weight ratio is 0.01%/H, etc. Also, as the water content of the rice grains increases, the water amount is gradually increased from 0.01 to 0.07 to 0.12.
and 6.0H, so that the increase change to ~0.2% etc.
Each experimental value is measured at the required humidification time of 3.5H, 2.0H, etc., and each measurement value is sent to the control circuit 27.
Each required humidification time is set in the timer circuit 31 in the program setting device 30. Then, the grain moisture measured by the moisture meter 26 and the moisture value set in the setting device 30 are compared to match, and the vibrating element is activated by the end signal of the required humidification time from the timer circuit 31. The number of grains or the amplitude is changed to increase the amount of humidified moisture as appropriate, and the humidification rate is changed stepwise each time to continuously perform the specified humidification effect in each moisture area to produce sake-brewed rice with an arbitrary predetermined grain moisture content. It is something that is refined.

In addition, the above-mentioned humidification conditioning device is a means for changing the humidification rate in stages using a timer signal based on experimental values. There is a means for measuring the moisture content of the rice grains, confirming that the moisture content of the rice grains has reached the equilibrium moisture content, and then switching to the next stage of humidification. In other words, when the sake brewing rice is humidified, when humid air containing each amount of moisture is supplied to achieve each of the above-mentioned humidification rates, the rice grains gradually absorb the moisture and the water absorption rate increases. Since it has a moisture absorption history phenomenon consisting of a humidification period and a constant rate humidification period in which the water absorption rate stagnates after reaching an equilibrium moisture content corresponding to the temperature and humidity of the humid air, a moisture meter can detect moisture changes during the history phenomenon. By measuring the constant rate humidification interval in which the equilibrium moisture content has been reached and then switching the next step of humidification, it is possible to efficiently and stepwise switch the humidification rate during the humidification and tempering process of sake-brewing rice. It can be performed automatically. Further, a cooling device may be installed in conjunction with the moist air generating device to simultaneously cool the grain temperature.

With the above-described configuration, the sake-brewing rice fried into the grain tank 1 by the grain raising machine 15 flows down from the upper grain feeding section 16 into the humidifying chamber 10 in a dispersed manner. The mist-like moist air generated via the air blower 23 is sent from the air supply chamber 7 to each striated umbrella 2..., 3...
It is sent into the humidifying chamber 10 through the grain layer 1, contacts and humidifies the circulating brewed rice, and the brewed rice is circulated multiple times within the device to be humidified and conditioned to a predetermined level of water. and removed from the aircraft.

The control circuit 27 of the humid air generator 20 in this embodiment sets each moisture amount and each required humidification time corresponding to each moisture area in the program setting device 30, and measures the moisture content with the moisture meter 26. At each stage, hot and humid air is generated to match the moisture content of the rice grains with the predetermined moisture value in each moisture area set in the program setting device 30, and the air is regulated for each required humidification time to produce sake brewing in the grain tank 1. In addition, the humidification rate is adjusted by changing the number or amplitude of ultrasonic vibration elements according to the changing state of rice grain moisture, and the humidification conditioning effect is performed stepwise and continuously by the humidification rate. Therefore, the brewed rice is moisturized and tempered in the shortest possible time without causing cracks in the rice grains, and is high quality rice with a predetermined moisture content.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In this way, the sake brewing rice humidification conditioning device of the present invention,
In the process of humidifying low-moisture brewed rice to a predetermined grain moisture content, the number or amplitude of ultrasonic vibration elements is appropriately controlled according to the progress of the rice grain moisture increase rate, and the humidification rate is adjusted in stages. Since the water absorption amount of sake brewed rice is increased rationally, the humidification time can be shortened and work efficiency can be greatly improved. Moreover, the structure of the device can be simplified, and the humidification rate can be changed easily. Operation automation can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings are illustrations of embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of this device, FIG. 2 is a front sectional view thereof, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the fog generator, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram of its control circuit. 1... grain tank, 2... veined umbrella, 3... veined umbrella, 4
... Side wall, 5... Side wall, 6... Ventilation hole, 7... Air supply chamber, 8... Ventilation hole, 9... Ventilation chamber, 10... Humidification chamber, 11... Exhaust port, 12... Discharge valve, 13...
Grain tank, 14... Screw conveyor, 15...
Grain lifting machine, 16...Grain feeding section, 17...Scatterer, 18
...Exhaust port, 19...Air supply port, 20...Damp air generator, 21...Ultrasonic vibration element, 22...Mist generator, 23...Blower device, 24...Control adjustment unit, 2
5... Air pipe, 26... Moisture meter, 27... Control circuit, 28... Amplifier, 29... Arithmetic comparison circuit, 3
0...Program setting device, 31...Timer circuit, 32...Humidification amount control circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A humidifying and tempering device for sake-brewing rice, which is equipped with a humid air generator, a control circuit, and a moisture meter, and the humid air generator is equipped with a plurality of ultrasonic vibration elements for generating a mist made of ultrafine water particles. and is electrically connected to a control circuit equipped with a moisture meter, and the control circuit controls the amplitude of the ultrasonic vibrating element or The humidification conditioning device described above is characterized in that it determines the number of ultrasonic vibration elements to be activated.