JPH05103655A - Steamed rice container for malted rice production - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the title container so designed as to improve the ventilation between its bottom plate and heaped steamed rice. CONSTITUTION:A bottom plate 2c is set on the frame 2a of a container 2, and unevennesses (a) are provided on the inner surface of the bottom plate 2c so as to maintain ventilation without steamed rice 24 sticking to the surface of the bottom plate 2c.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a steamed rice container for koji making.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the brewing of high-quality sake, in order to obtain high-quality koji called smashed-out koji, steamed rice is traditionally stored in many book-making boxes (koji lids). A koji lid method in which the positions of koji lids are manually replaced so as to maintain the same environment in the environment room is adopted, but as a mechanical koji making method and device relatively close to this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-269482 The method shown in is known. The above device is a thin box-shaped container that holds steamed rice and is hung with a chain so as to be stacked,
In order to make the environmental conditions uniform in the environment room, it is moved up and down and to the left and right. These transshipment devices (circulation mechanism) use sprockets and chains inside the environment room, and thus do not contain impurities against steamed rice. However, it is difficult to maintain the device, and it is difficult to measure the product temperature as a standard for environmental control. On the other hand, the applicant of the present invention stacks a large number of containers containing steamed rice in an environmental chamber to make an ascending row (line) and a descending row (line).
It proposes a circulation mechanism that forms a container and moves the containers between each row so that the containers can be transferred while being stacked.

However, the steamed rice containers used in the above method are all wooden boxes (koji lid) similar to the traditional koji lid method containers.
The inner surface thereof, particularly the inner bottom surface with which steamed rice comes into direct contact, has a hygroscopic property, a moisturizing property, a heat insulating property and the like suitable for koji making, but the surface of the plate material is smoothly finished. As a result, steamed rice adheres well after pouring and has poor air permeability, making it difficult for environmental changes during heating and cooling to be transmitted to the bottom.In addition, moisture does not evaporate well, causing dew condensation on the bottom of steamed rice during cooling, resulting in poor quality or surface layer. There was a problem that the quality of the koji-making of steamed rice in the upper layer and the bottom portion was uneven.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention eliminates the defective ventilation of the bottom portion of the steamed rice that has been laid out as described above, and the applied environmental conditions of heating and cooling are evenly distributed over the entire portion including the bottom portion of the steamed rice and The purpose of the present invention is to provide a steamed rice container for preventing dew condensation in the above.

[0005]

The steamed rice container of the present invention for solving the above problems is a frame 2 forming a peripheral wall.
a and a bottom plate 2c which is attached to the frame 2a and forms a bottom, and which has a box shape, wherein the inner surface of the bottom plate 2c is provided with irregularities a and the bottom plate surface has a corrugated cross section. It is what

[0006]

When the steamed rice 24 is placed in the container 2, the bottom plate 2
Due to the unevenness a on the surface of c, the steamed rice 24 does not adhere to the surface of the bottom plate 2c, and it is possible to ventilate between the two through the space formed in the uneven recesses, which is a given environmental condition of warm air. It is easy for the cold air to spread, and condensation is prevented during cooling.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The drawings show the outline of a koji making device for circulating box-shaped containers (koji lid) in a stacked state, and FIG. 1 is a front view of a koji making device 5 housed in an environment-controlled koji making chamber 1. Is. In the present embodiment, the koji making device 5 is a box-shaped wooden box (koji lid) 2 which is a container for storing steamed rice, and a sizing device 3 for slicing steamed rice mixed with seed koji and a sizing device after the sizing. A circulation mechanism 4 for carrying in and stacking a large number of koji lids 2, and for raising and lowering and transferring circulation (rotation) of each koji lid 2 in the stacked state in order to uniformly give koji making conditions such as temperature, humidity and CO ₂ concentration,
On the circulation mechanism 4, it is configured with a stirring device 6 for changing the filling shape as necessary and for making the fermentation conditions in each koji lid 1 uniform. Hereinafter, each of these devices and mechanisms and their respective operations will be described in detail.

A. Koji-making room The koji-making room 1 has an entrance / exit 8 having a door 7 on the side wall 1a, a space for accommodating the koji-making device 5 therein, and an environment room isolated from the external environment. , Side wall 1
a to 1c and the ceiling 1d are made of a non-water-containing and heat-insulating material, the outside air is purified by the air conditioner 10 installed outdoors, and the temperature, humidity and air volume through the hood 11 and oxygen as necessary. It has a function to adjust the concentration, carbon dioxide concentration, etc. Further, the koji making room 1 is connected to an external controller 12 to measure and control the internal environment as described above, such as a thermometer, a hygrometer, and a densitometer for sampling and measuring carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ). (Not shown) is attached.

B. Arrangement device In the arrangement device 3, a hopper 18 for charging steamed rice is attached on the frame 16, and below the hopper 18, a carry-in line 19 composed of a belt conveyor for placing the koji lid 2 on standby is provided. It is installed in the direction. The carry-in line 19 is connected to a lower transfer line 27a described later. Further, the coating device 3 is detachably attached to the circulation device 4. On the koji lid 2, steamed rice mixed with a predetermined amount of seed koji is discharged from the discharge port 21 of the hopper 18 and is deposited. At this time, the damper 22 is opened and closed to adjust the amount of steamed rice supplied. It is set to always be constant. In the arranging device 3, the steamed rice is laid in a mountain shape as an initial shape, and in the koji lid 2 after arranging, it is sent into the circulation mechanism 4 on the left side in FIG.

C. Circulation Mechanism (a) Lower Transfer Line Below the frame 26 of the circulation mechanism 4, a lower transfer line 27a connected to the conveyor of the carry-in line 19 is inserted in the left-right direction, and the two front and rear endless belts 28 are , The pulley 29 at the right end of the arranging device 3 and the circulation mechanism 4
A large number of guide pulleys 33, which are wound around a drive pulley 32 with a motor 31 at the left end of the belt 28 and support the belt 28 and the koji lid 2, are pivotally supported at appropriate pitches below the upper side of the belt 28.

(B) Ascending / descending line In the frame 26, there are a large number of koji (in the example shown, at least one empty space is provided in each row for rotating the koji lid 2). Lid 2
Is formed in the frame along a guide 34a provided in the up-down direction, and an ascending line 36a and a descending line 36b are formed so as to be adjacent to each other in two rows and to be stacked in parallel. Between the belts 28, 28 below the elevating lines 36a, 36b, actuators 38a, 38b, which are air cylinders with receiving plates for receiving the lowermost koji lid 2 from below or lifting and elevating the koji lid 2, are installed upward.

The ascending line 36a is the lower transfer line 27a.
The koji lid 2 sent by the actuator 38a
Is a mechanism for intermittently ascending upward by one step at regular time intervals. When the koji lid 2 is transferred to the uppermost stage by the upper transfer line 27b, which will be described later, the descending line 36b is operated by the actuator 38b. It is a mechanism that lowers the gears one step at a time according to the ascending interval. For these operations, the actuators 38a, 38
In addition to b, stopper mechanisms 39, 39, 35 (described later) provided at upper and lower positions before and after each line are interlocked.

(C) Structure of Koji Lid The koji lid 2 is, for example, 500 × 700 × 1 as shown in FIG.
A frame 2a which is composed of a box-shaped wooden tray of 20 (mm) and constitutes a peripheral wall, and a partition plate 2 which divides the inner center into front and rear.
b, and a bottom plate 2c forming a bottom portion. Bottom plate 2c
As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the surface is provided with streaky irregularities a, and the steamed rice 24 and the bottom plate 2c surface are not in close contact with each other and the structure is such that ventilation is possible along the streaky irregularities a. Is becoming The frame 2a may be made of synthetic resin material such as ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene in order to reduce weight, wear resistance, durability and the like. The streaky irregularities a can be applied by mechanical processing regardless of whether the bottom plate 2c is made of wood or another synthetic resin material, but as shown in FIG. the inner surface of the bottom plate 2c consisting of straight grain plate or the like by brushing with a metal brush or the like abrading the portions of the spring member portion a ₁ of the soft and the valley shape and a mountain shape leaving autumn material portion a ₂ of the hard It is also possible to form irregularities a by making use of the natural annual ring cross section for durability, and to maintain irregularities of a certain depth or more at all times by brushing after use. There is an advantage that

Trapezoidal or inverted trapezoidal notches 40a, 40b are formed on the upper and lower ends of the front and rear faces of the frame 2a of the koji lid 2 at regular intervals, and the lower notch 40a is a normal one. It becomes a handle part (handle) when carrying, and when the koji lid 2 is overlapped, both notches 40a and 40b are overlapped,
It can be used as a see-through window for visually confirming the steamed rice 24 inside the substantially hexagonal ventilation window, and also has a cutout 40a at the bottom.
Is also used as an engaging / disengaging insertion port for the hook 79 in the stopper mechanisms 39, 35 described below.

A transparent card pocket 23 having an open upper side is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the frame 2a on the front side. The card pocket 23 has an identification code 25a for each koji lid 2 from above.
And a storage unit 25b including a bar code or a magnetic storage unit
A management card 25 made up of is inserted and can be used for operation control such as product temperature measurement, environmental control or rotation. The management card 25 may be an IC card.

(D) Stopper mechanism As shown in FIGS. 4 to 5, the lower stopper mechanism 39 is horizontally fixed to the front and rear positions of the lower ends of the elevating lines 36a and 36b on the frame 26 side through a mounting plate 78. A hook plate 81 having two hooks 79 projecting from the left and right ends inserted into and removed from the notches 40a of the koji lid 2 is mounted on the mounting plate 78 so as to be slidable back and forth. A drive portion 82 formed of an air cylinder that drives the hook plate 81 back and forth is attached to the attachment plate 78 between them. By the operation of the drive unit 82, the hooks 79, 79 are appropriately inserted into and removed from the notches 40a of the koji lid 2 having the stereotactic value, and support and release the koji lid 2 on the upper portion thereof. Reference numeral 83 is a mounting guide that slidably mounts the hooks 79, 79 on the mounting plate 78.

6 and 7 show the upper stopper mechanism 35, in which a slide guide 86 is provided at a front and rear position above the frame 26 along an upper transfer line 27b which will be described later.
A slider 87 is slidably mounted on each slide guide 86, and the slider 87
Above the mounting plate 7 has a length corresponding to the width of the koji lid 2.
8 is fixed. The hooks 79, 7 are provided on the mounting plate 78 as in the case of the lower mounting plate 39 described above.
9, a hook plate 81, a drive portion 82 for sliding the hook plate 81, and an attachment guide 83 are attached, respectively, to provide a mechanism for engaging and disengaging the koji lid 2. The upper stopper mechanism 35 constitutes a part of the upper transfer line 27a described below.

(E) Upper transfer line On the elevating lines 36a and 36b, the frame 26 is provided with an upper transfer line 27b for horizontally transferring the koji lid 2 at the uppermost position of each line from left to right. The line 27b includes a sprocket 57 pivotally supported on the front and rear ends of the left and right side surfaces of the frame 26, two chains 58 wound around the sprocket 57 in the left and right directions, and a motor 56 for driving the sprocket 57 and the chain 58. A transfer drive unit is provided. Both ends of the chains 58, 58 are connected to both ends of the slider 87 of the upper stopper mechanism 35 described above, and the stopper mechanism 35 is horizontally moved in parallel with its driving. Then, with the koji lid 2 rising to the uppermost position on the ascending line 36a and the uppermost position of the descending line 36b being an empty space, the koji lid 2 is placed above the descending line 36b from above the ascending line 36a. It is slid horizontally while being supported by.

D. Stirrer The stirrer 6 changes the shape of the steamed rice placed by the placing device 3 according to the progress of the koji making 2 so that the entire koji in the koji lid 2 is under uniform conditions. In order to ferment, it is carried out after every rotation or at several rotation intervals. The stirring device 6
Is a bracket 63 protrudingly provided on the ascending line 36a, a swing arm 64 including front and rear parallel links that pivotally support a base end portion or a bending point of the bracket 63, and two front and rear units are attached to the tip of the swing arm 64. It is composed of a radial claw-shaped stirring section 67 with a motor 66 and an air cylinder 68 (elevating drive section) attached to the frame 26 side so as to vertically swing the right end of the swing arm 64.

In the stirring section 67, the koji lid 2 is moved up the line 36a.
When the transfer is started from above to the descending line 36b, it descends from above and continues reverse rotation interlocking alternately, and is rocked upward by the cylinder 68 before the peripheral wall abuts the stirring section 67 by the transfer of the koji lid 2. And is stored in the standby position for the next stirring operation. By this operation, the koji in the koji lid 2 is stirred over the entire width. However, in order to obtain a desired heap shape, the speed of the upper transfer line 27b may be changed or the shaking of the stirring section 67 may be repeated as necessary. is there. The agitation and change of the heap shape are performed through rotation after the first heaping and transshipping (rotation), and during the work such as middle work, sushi work, and malt koji, and each work has a different fermentation stage. , Different agitation and shape changes are made to change transpiration, etc., and other environmental control is also adapted to each stage.

E. Arrangement and Setting of Koji Lid Next, the first setting method of the koji lid 2 in the circulation mechanism 4 will be described. First, the lowermost stage of the ascending line 36a and the uppermost and lowermost stages of the descending line 36b are set as empty spaces, respectively. As described above, the koji lids are stacked and set on each line, and the koji lids are set under the hopper 18. At this time, the guide 34b on the right side of the ascending line 36a has a mechanism that can be opened and closed like a door, and the koji lid 2 can be taken in and out with the guide 34b open. Further, the koji lids 2 inserted and stacked in the ascending line 36a can be sequentially re-loaded in the descending line 36b by reversing the rotation operation described below.

Next, the damper 22 is opened by the drive unit 23 to discharge a predetermined amount of steamed rice into the koji lid 2 and put it in the initial shape, and the carrying-in line 19 and the lower transfer line 27b are used to set the lowermost stage of the ascending line 36a. The koji lid 2 is pushed up one stage by the actuator 38a of the ascending line 36a to be set, and the descending line 36
The koji lid on the descending line side is lowered by one stage by the actuator 38b of b to support the second or more stages, and the uppermost koji lid 2 of the ascending line 36a is lowered by the upper transfer line 27b.
Transfer to the empty space at the top. The koji lid 2 descended on the belt 28 is transferred to the lower side of the hopper 18, and the same operation is repeated by the number of koji lids 2 to complete the automatic assembling work, and the rotation of the next koji lid 2 is carried out. Transferred to koji making work.

F. Rotation In order to perform the rotation operation from the state of FIG. 1, as shown in FIG. 8, the upper and lower koji lids 2 of the elevating lines 36a and 36b are simultaneously horizontally moved by the vertical transfer lines 27a and 27b, respectively, to mutually move. Transfer to another line. In the ascending line 36a, first, the actuator 38a is slowly raised to support the load of all the koji lids 2 stacked on the ascending line 36a, and the lower hook 79 is pulled out from the lower portion of the koji lid 2 to release the support.

Next, after the actuator 38a is raised to the upper limit position, the upper hook 79 is inserted into the bottom of the uppermost koji lid 2 and the actuator 38a is slightly lowered to remove the second and subsequent upper koji lids 2. Actuator 38
a is supported. Then, the lower hook 79 is inserted to lower the actuator 38a slightly,
While supporting all the koji lids 2 except the top one, it waits for the next koji lid 2 to be fed into the empty space at the bottom. At this time, a slight transfer gap is formed between the uppermost koji lid 2 of the ascending line 36a and the adjacent lower koji lid 2 so that the two do not come into contact with each other, and the actuator 38a also moves to the next koji lid 2. It has descended to the lower limit position that does not hinder the entrance, and a slight transfer gap is formed between the next koji lid 2 and the second-stage koji lid 2 that enter from the descending line 36b.

On the other hand, in the descending line 36b, the receiving plate 37 of the actuator 39b passes through the empty space in the lowermost stage and is supported above it, and the koji lid 2 in the second stage from below.
The actuator 38b is moved up to the upper limit position at high speed so as to contact the bottom surface of the above and support these loads, and the upper and lower hooks 79 are both pulled out to release the support. Then, after lowering the actuator 38b, the lower hook 79
Then, the actuator 38b is lowered to the lower limit position, and the koji lid 2 at the lowermost stage is waiting for the lower transfer line 27a to transfer it to the ascending line 36a side. Even in the descending line 36b, when the koji lid is supported by the upper and lower hooks 79, the upper and lower koji lids 2 and the other koji lids 2 to be overlapped are slightly so as not to come into contact with each other. Various transfer gaps are formed.

G. Kojiko work When the finishing work and the subsequent koji making work are completed from the setting of the mechanism 2 to the circulation mechanism 4 as described above, the final stirring and cooling (cooling) of the steamed rice is performed as the koji making preparation work, After the koji is completed, the koji lid 2 is taken out of the koji making chamber 1. At this time, the koji lid 2 is taken out sequentially from the left side surface of the circulation mechanism 4,
It is carried out from the koji making room 1. In addition, the removal from the circulation mechanism 4 is completed by performing the rotation operation described above and sequentially moving the koji lid 2 of the descending line 36b to the ascending line 36a side. It should be noted that, although the above-mentioned embodiment describes only the mechanical koji making method, it goes without saying that the container of the present invention can also be used for the conventional manual koji making operation, for example, the koji making method.

[0027]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the container of the present invention constructed as described above, since the streak-like irregularities are formed on the bottom plate surface inside the container, the air permeability in the vicinity of the lower layer of the steamed rice during koji making is enhanced. As a result, the heating and cooling actions by the environmental control are transmitted quickly and reliably, and the evaporation of water from the bottom of the steamed rice is promoted, and the disadvantages such as the condensation of water between the bottom plate surface and the steamed rice are eliminated. And the above improvement of ventilation reduces the difference in the environment between the surface and bottom of the steamed rice and the inside of the steamed rice, and the whole is bathed in a homogeneous environment according to the optimal environmental conditions of control, so that it is of good quality and homogeneity. There is an advantage that you can get the koji.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall front view of a koji making device within a cross section of a koji making chamber.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a steamed rice container for koji making.

3 (A) and 3 (B) are enlarged cross-sectional views of a bottom plate of a steamed rice container.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a lower stopper mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a side view of a lower stopper mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an upper stopper mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a side view of an upper stopper mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Koji-making room 2 Container (koji lid) 2a Frame 2c Bottom plate a Concavity and convexity

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A frame body (2a) forming a peripheral wall and a bottom plate (2) attached to the frame body (2a) to form a bottom portion.
A box-shaped steamed rice container for koji making which has a corrugated cross section on the inner surface of the bottom plate (2c) and has a corrugated cross section.