JPH0471454A - Apparatus for producing jelly ball - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the deterioration or fluctuation of the product quality by filling a liquid raw material into a forming mold with a raw material filling means, cooling the mold with an air cooling means and then with water in a water tank, releasing the formed jelly ball from the mold and delivering the ball with a transfer means. CONSTITUTION:A liquid raw material is filled through a filling nozzle 35 into a forming mold attached to a chain 10. The part near the injection port of the forming mold is cooled with an air-cooling unit 41 and the mold is cooled with water in a water tank 18. The jelly ball Z gelatinized in the cavity is released from the mold by a water-jet unit 45 for releasing. The jelly balls Z precipitated on a slant bottom face 18a are delivered with a bucket conveyor 8.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a method of mixing a liquid raw material heated to an appropriate temperature, particularly citrus fruit juice applied to dessert foods and confectionery, into a mold. The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing jelly balls obtained by cooling and gelling the jelly balls.

[Conventional technology]

Jelly balls containing citrus juice or concentrated fruit juice such as oranges and tangerines and used as desserts and confectionery are made by heating a mixture of polysaccharides such as carrageenan, agar, and pectin, water, and sugar. to sol,
In addition to the liquid raw material with fruit juice added thereto, which is cooled in a mold to gel, the applicant of the present application previously filed Japanese Patent Application No. 1-228
As proposed in the specification of No. 267, a polysaccharide produced by microorganisms is added as a gelling agent to a mixture of sugar, liquid sugar, and water and heated, and citrus fruit juice is added to the mixture and heated. There are products in which a liquid raw material to which an alkaline earth metal salt has been added is cooled in a mold and gelled.

Such jelly balls can be commercialized, for example, by bottling them with syrup and deaerating and sterilizing them, or by mixing the jelly balls themselves into mitsumame or anmitsu beans.

In producing the above-mentioned jelly balls, usually a liquid raw material heated to an appropriate temperature (about 70 to 90°C) is injected into a mold having a cavity corresponding to the shape of the jelly ball to be produced. The jelly balls are then filled, cooled from the outside to gel, and then the mold is opened to take out the gelled liquid raw material (jelly balls) and bottled or otherwise made into a product. Ru.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

When constructing an apparatus for producing jelly balls by cooling liquid raw materials in a mold as described above, it is necessary to pay attention to the following matters.

1. When cooling and gelling the liquid raw material in the mold, make sure that impurities such as water are not mixed into the liquid raw material in the mold. In other words, this type of mold is equipped with an injection port for injecting liquid raw materials, and water is normally used to cool the mold. Unless some measure is taken to close the inlet, cooling water will enter the liquid raw material through the inlet, leading to deterioration and variations in product quality. Therefore, it is conceivable to close the injection port with a plug, lid, etc. after filling the liquid raw material into the mold, but if this is done, a special mechanism is required to attach and remove the plug, lid, etc. is necessary, which inevitably leads to complication of the device, increase in device cost, etc.

2. Great care must be taken when removing the jelly balls obtained in the mold. That is, since the jelly balls obtained here are flexible and easily damaged, it is necessary to avoid grasping or clamping them by mechanical means, or directly dropping them from the mold.

3. In order to reduce manufacturing costs, it is necessary to adopt a form suitable for automation and mass production.

However, as a prior art, no jelly ball manufacturing apparatus has been found that takes into account or eliminates the above-mentioned problems.

In view of this, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing jelly balls that can be automated and mass-produced rationally while minimizing equipment complexity and equipment costs without causing product deterioration or variation. The purpose is to provide equipment.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention includes a mold having a cavity corresponding to the shape of the jelly ball to be manufactured and an injection port for filling the cavity with a liquid raw material; a raw material filling means for filling a liquid raw material into the cavity through the injection port; an air cooling means for cooling the vicinity of the injection port of the mold with air to gel the liquid raw material near the injection port; A water tank for cooling the mold with liquid raw material gelatinized near the inlet to gel the liquid raw material in the cavity, and opening the mold in the water tank to gel the liquid raw material in the cavity. The mold opening device includes a mold opening means for releasing jelly balls made of the liquefied raw material into the water tank, and a carrying-out means for carrying out the jelly balls released into the water tank from the water tank.

In a preferred embodiment, a plurality of molds filled with the liquid raw material are provided on an endless annular belt or chain at a predetermined pitch, and a conveyor is provided so that the molds are intermittently fed by l pitches. , by the operation of the conveyor, each of the above-mentioned molds is sequentially injected with the raw material injection means,
Examples include those that are transported to an air cooling means, a water tank, and a mold opening means and circulated therebetween.

[Effect]

In the jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above, the liquid raw material near the injection port of the mold is gelled by the air cooling means, so even if the mold is subsequently cooled in a water tank, Impurities such as water are not mixed into the liquid raw material inside the mold. Therefore, there is no need for a stopper, a lid, etc. to close the injection port of the mold, and there is no need to construct a special mechanism for attaching and detaching the plug.

In addition, the mold is opened in the water tank and the jelly balls made of the gelled liquid raw material are released from the mold into the water tank, so no mechanical means for taking out the jelly balls is required. Since the jelly balls do not fall rapidly in the water tank, damage to the jelly balls when taken out is effectively avoided.

Furthermore, automation and mass production can be rationalized by installing the mold on a belt conveyor or the like and sequentially conveying the mold to a raw material filling means, an air cooling means, a water tank, and a mold opening means.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 are a front view, a plan view, and a side view, respectively, showing the main parts of an embodiment of the jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the jelly ball manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment has a general configuration as shown in FIG. a chain conveyor 7 provided therein, a water tank 18 provided in the machine frame 5 into which the lower part of the chain conveyor 7 is placed, and a packet conveyor 8 arranged at one end of the water tank 18;
A water flow forming means consisting of a pump 25 and the like arranged below the water tank 18, a liquid filling unit 30 (see Fig. 3) for filling the mold with liquid raw material, and a water flow forming means arranged around the chain conveyor 7, which will be described later. Various equipment units 41, 43.
It consists of 45, 46, 47, 48 etc.

In the chain conveyor 7, a pair of endless annular chains 10 connected by connecting rods 11 are arranged on rails 15 arranged on both sides along the conveying direction indicated by the white arrow P, and arranged on both sides of the rails 15. The chain IO is intermittently advanced (rotated) by l pitches by an electric motor 16 via sprocket wheels 12 and 14 and a chain 17 wound between them.

The pair of chains lO arranged on both sides include a plurality of long link elements 10a and a short link element 10b connecting them.
The connecting rod 11 is fixed to the connecting portion between the long chain element 10a and the short chain element 10b with bolts. Then, two connecting rods 11 connected to both ends of one elongated link element 10a are considered as a pair, and each pair of connecting rods 11 has a
A mold l is provided as shown in detail in FIG.

The mold 1 is a leek-split mold and a two-cavity type, and consists of a fixed mold 1a fixed to the connecting rod 11 and an open mold 1b slidably arranged on the connecting rod 11. Two spherical cavities 2 filled with the liquid raw material are formed, and the liquid raw material is poured into each cavity 2.
Two injection ports 3 are provided for injecting into the liquid. Four molds having such a configuration are arranged on the pair of connecting rods 11 so as to be openable and closable.

The mold 1 is opened and closed by a mold opening/closing mechanism provided therein, a mold closing cam elevating mechanism 48 disposed on the upper side of the chain conveyor 7, and a chain, as schematically shown in FIG. This is performed using a mold opening cam elevating mechanism 43 disposed between the upper and lower surfaces of the conveyor 7. As shown in detail in FIGS. 4 to 6, the mold opening/closing mechanism is arranged between a pair of connecting rods 11, and is slidably inserted into the fixed mold 1a and the end plate 69. Opening type 1b
A mold opening/closing rod 67 which is fixed integrally with the mold opening/closing rod 67, and four coil springs 68 which are loaded on the outer periphery of the mold opening/closing rod 67 and compressed so as to bias each opening mold 1b toward each fixed mold la side. , a rod moving member 71 attached to one end of the mold opening/closing rod 67, a cam guide plate 73 fixed to an end plate 69 fixed to the connecting rod 11,
Rod moving member 71 attached to mold opening/closing rod 67
, a cam guide roller 74 attached to both ends of the rod moving member 71 , a kick lever 80 rotatably attached to the rod moving member 71 , and this kick lever 8
It consists of a locking member 78 that limits the zero rotation angle.

Here, in the mold opening/closing mechanism, the kick lever 80 is inserted between the cam guide plate 73 and the cam guide roller 74 against the elasticity of the coil spring 68 (the state shown in FIGS. 5 and 8). ), the mold opening/closing rod 67 and the opening mold 1b are moved to the right in the figure to open the mold 1, and on the contrary, the kick lever 80 is inserted between the cam guide plate 73 and the cam guide roller 74. In the state where the mold 1 is not closed (the state shown in FIGS. 6 and 7), the mold opening/closing rod 67 and the opening mold 1b are moved to the left in the figure, and the mold 1 is closed.

The mold closing cam elevating mechanism 48 includes a pair of plate-shaped cams having an inclined cam surface inserted between a cam guide plate 73 and a cam guide roller 74, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. 72, and this cam 72 is raised and lowered at predetermined timing by a drive mechanism (not shown).

Therefore, if the mold 1 is moved to a position below the cam elevating mechanism 48 and stopped in an open state, the cam elevating mechanism 48
8 is activated and the cam 72 is lowered, and as shown in FIG. The distance between the kick lever 80 and the cam guide roller 74 increases, and the kick lever 80 rotates counterclockwise due to gravity and is locked with the locking member 78. Therefore, the rod moving member 71. Mold opening/closing rod 67, opening mold 1b
is moved to the left side in the drawing by the biasing force of the coil spring 68, and the mold 1 is closed as shown in FIG.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, the link-type roller receiver that supports the cam guide roller 74 that receives the downward force of the cam 72 is connected to the mechanism 75, and the cam 72 is connected to the mechanism 75. Also shown is a cylinder 76 which provides an extension action as it descends (FIG. 5) and a retraction action as the cam 72 ascends (FIG. 6).

On the other hand, the mold opening cam lifting mechanism 43 also has a cam guide plate 73 and a cam guide roller 7 as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, similar to the mold closing cam lifting mechanism 48 described above.
A pair of plate-shaped cams 72 having an inclined cam surface are inserted between the cams 4 and 4, and the cams 72 are raised and lowered at predetermined timing by a drive mechanism (not shown).

Therefore, if the mold 1 is moved to a position below the cam elevating mechanism 43 and stopped while the mold 1 is closed, the cam elevating mechanism 43 will move as shown in FIG. is activated and the cam 72 descends,
As shown in FIG. 8, the rod moving member 71 and the mold opening/closing rod 67 are moved in the direction of opening the mold 1 by the cam 72, and the cam guide plate 73 and the cam guide roller 7 are moved in the direction of opening the mold 1.
In this state, the kick lever 80 mounted above the cam guide plate 73 rotates counterclockwise due to gravity, and the distance between the cam guide plate 73 and the cam guide roller 74 increases. inserted into. Therefore, the rod moving member 71. The mold opening/closing rod 67 holds the opening mold 1b moved to the right side in the figure against the biasing force of the coil spring 68, and as a result, the mold 1 is held in an open state.

The mold 1, which is opened and closed as described above, is intermittently conveyed by the chain conveyor 7 in l pitch increments. The liquid raw material is injected at a position (liquid raw material filling station) corresponding to the upper center portion of the chain conveyor 7, as shown in FIG.

The liquid filling unit 30 is configured, for example, by adding a polysaccharide produced by microorganisms as a gelling agent to a mixture of sugar, liquid sugar, and water as described above and heating the mixture, and adding citrus fruit juice to the mixture and heating the mixture. A liquid hopper 29 that stores a liquid raw material to which an alkaline earth metal salt has been added, an agitator 33 that stirs the liquid raw material stored therein, and a liquid hopper 29
a piston-type metering pump 31 that feeds liquid raw material in an amount corresponding to the volume of the cavity 2 of the mold 1 to a filling nozzle 35 through a supply tube 32;
1, and a pump drive mechanism 34 for operating the filling nozzle 35. Metering pump 31. Supply tube 32
etc. are provided for the number of cavities 2 of the mold 1 existing on the pair of connecting rods 11, that is, eight cavities. The filling nozzles 35 are attached to the portal frame 36 in two rows of four so that they can move up and down, and when the mold 1 stops at the lower position, they move down and fill the inside of the injection port 3. At that time, the cavity 2 is filled with the liquid raw material fed from the metering pump 31. At that time, the liquid raw material is raised so as to follow the liquid level so as not to mix air into the liquid raw material. It is desirable to

Moreover, the above-mentioned liquid hopper 29. Filling nozzle 35. The supply tube 32 and the like are provided with liquid raw material heat retention means,
The temperature of the liquid raw material is approximately 80° C. when it is injected from the filling nozzle 35 into the cavity 2 of the mold l.

After the liquid filling unit 30 fills the cavity 2 of the mold 1 with the liquid raw material, when the mold 1 moves forward two pitches, the station and the next station are filled with the following:
An air cooling unit 41 having eight nozzle groups is provided corresponding to the injection port 3 of the mold 1.

This air cooling unit 41 injects air cooled by a known cooling device into the vicinity of the injection port 3 through a nozzle, and gels the liquid raw material filled in the mold l near the injection port 3. It is something. In addition, this air cooling unit 4
The cooling air injection time according to No. 1 is about 4 seconds for 2 cycles.

The mold 1 with the liquid raw material gelled around the injection port 3 by the air cooling unit 41 is put into the water tank 18 through the sprocket wheel 12, and is transported while the entire mold is cooled by the water in the water tank 18. Ru. Then, while being transported in the water tank 18, the entire liquid raw material in the mold 1, which has been gelled near the injection port 3, is cooled and gelled, and a jelly made of the gelled liquid raw material is placed in the mold l. You get the ball. In this case, when the entire mold l is water-cooled, the liquid raw material near the injection port 3 is turned into a gel and blocks the injection port 3, thereby preventing water from getting mixed into the liquid raw material. be done.

After the entire liquid raw material in the mold 1 has been gelled in this way, the mold 1 is conveyed to the station located below the cam lifting mechanism 43 and stopped, and the cam lifting mechanism 43 is activated as described above. The mold 1 is opened and the jelly ball Z is released into the water.

Note that when the mold 1 is opened, the jelly balls are normally released directly into the water, but in some cases, the jelly balls may adhere to either the fixed mold 1a or the open mold lb and may not be released. Therefore, in this embodiment, the mold 1 is placed at the next station where it is opened and at the station after that, toward each cavity 2 of the fixed mold 1a and the open mold lb which are in the open state in the water. A separating water injection unit 45 that sprays water is provided. Therefore, this separation water injection unit 45
This ensures that the jelly balls in the mold 1 are released from the mold 1 within the water tank 18.

The jelly balls thus released into the water from the mold 1 sink to the inclined bottom surface of the water tank 18 while floating. Here, the water in the water tank 18 is returned from near the left bottom to the right end in FIG. In the water tank 18, water flows from the right side to the left side in the figure, so that the jelly balls released from the mold l into the water and the inclined bottom surface 18a
The jelly balls that have sunk are swept toward the packet conveyor 8 by the water flow in the water tank 18. In this case, the jelly ball does not fall suddenly and is hardly subjected to mechanical stress, so that damage to the jelly ball can be reliably avoided.

The packet conveyor 8 collects and lifts the jelly balls from the water tank 18 by a collection packet 55 wound between sprocket wheels 53 and 54 driven by an electric motor 51 via a belt, and transports the jelly balls to the outside via a chute 56. For example, it serves to transport jelly balls to a bottling machine or the like.

On the other hand, the mold l that has released the jelly balls into the water tank 18 is conveyed to the outside via the sprocket wheel 14 from the water tank 18, and is transported to the outside through the sprocket wheel 14, and is placed in a stay where a water injection unit 46 for cleaning and an air injection unit 47 for water removal are arranged. The materials are transported sequentially to the various sections.

The water injection unit 46 removes and cleans the jelly balls adhering to the cavity 2 of the mold l, and is designed to inject water toward the cavity 2 of the mold l. . Further, the air injection unit 47 serves to blow away water adhering to the mold 1 with air so that no water remains inside the mold 1.

After the mold 1 has been cleaned and water has been removed in this manner, when the mold 1 is positioned below the cam lifting mechanism 48, the cam lifting mechanism 48 is activated, and as shown in FIG. - The mold 1 is closed as shown in FIG. 5, and then the liquid filling unit 30 fills the mold with liquid raw material, and the same cycle as described above is repeated.

As described above, in this embodiment, the mold is provided on the chain conveyor 7, and the mold is filled with the raw material filling means (30).

Air cooling means (41), water tank (18), mold opening means (43)
By sequentially transporting the jelly balls, automation and mass production of jelly balls can be rationally achieved.

Note that it is not necessary to make the shape of the jelly ball spherical as in the above-mentioned embodiments, and it is of course possible to manufacture various jelly balls by changing the shape of the cavity 2 of the mold 1.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above explanation, in the jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the liquid raw material near the injection port of the mold is gelled before the mold is cooled in the water tank, so The liquid raw material does not contain impurities such as water,
Therefore, there is no deterioration or variation in product quality, and there is no need for plugs, lids, etc. to block the injection port of the mold, and a special mechanism is required to attach and detach them. Since it is not necessary, the equipment becomes complicated,
High costs can also be avoided.

In addition, the mold is opened in the water tank and the jelly balls made of the gelled liquid raw material are released from the mold into the water tank, so no mechanical means for taking out the jelly balls is required. Since the jelly balls do not fall rapidly in the aquarium, damage to the jelly balls when taken out can be effectively avoided.

Further, automation and mass production can be rationalized by installing the mold on a belt conveyor or the like and sequentially conveying the mold to a raw material filling means, an air cooling means, a water tank, and a mold opening means.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1, 2, and 3 are a front view, a plan view, and a side view showing the main parts of an embodiment of the jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 4 to 8 are FIG. 1. ~ FIG. 4 is a diagram used to explain the configuration and operation of the opening/closing means of the mold shown in FIG. 3; In the figure, l is a mold, 2 is a cavity, 3 is an injection port, 7 is a chain conveyor, 8 is a packet conveyor, 18
is a water tank, 24 is a reflux pipe, 30 is a liquid filling unit, 3
1 is a metering pump, 35 is a filling nozzle, 41 is an air cooling unit, 43, 48 is a cam lifting mechanism, 45 is a discharge water injection unit, 46 is a cleaning water injection unit, 47 is an air injection unit, 67 is a mold opening/closing rod, 72 is a cam, and 80 is a kick lever.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mold having a cavity corresponding to the shape of the jelly ball to be manufactured and an injection port for filling the cavity with a liquid raw material; a raw material filling means for filling the liquid raw material; an air cooling means for cooling the vicinity of the injection port of the mold with air to gel the liquid raw material near the injection port; and a liquid raw material in which the vicinity of the injection port has been gelled by the air cooling means. a water tank for cooling the mold with water to gel the liquid raw material in the cavity, and opening the mold in the water tank to form a jelly ball made of the gelled liquid raw material in the cavity. A jelly ball manufacturing apparatus comprising: a mold opening means for releasing the jelly balls into the water tank; and a transport means for transporting the jelly balls released into the water tank from the water tank. 2. A conveyor is provided in which a plurality of molds to be filled with liquid raw materials are placed on an endless annular belt or chain at predetermined pitches and are fed intermittently one pitch at a time, and the conveyor is moved intermittently by the operation of the conveyor. The jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the molds is sequentially conveyed to a raw material injection means, an air cooling means, a water tank, and a mold opening means and circulated among them. . 3. The jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a water stream is formed in the water tank, and the jelly ball released from the mold is guided to a delivery means by the water stream. 4. Claims 1 to 3 further include means for forcibly separating jelly balls that are not released from the mold after the mold is opened by the mold opening means. The jelly ball manufacturing device described. 5. A means for cleaning the mold by spraying and supplying cleaning water into the cavity after the mold is opened by the mold opening means and before the mold is closed; The jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising means for removing washing water. 6. Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the raw material filling means is provided with a heat retaining means for keeping the liquid raw material at an appropriate temperature.
The jelly ball manufacturing device described in . 7. The jelly ball manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the raw material filling means is configured to simultaneously fill a plurality of cavities with liquid raw materials.