JPH05192255A - Food processing apparatus provided with gas composition adjusting mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a cutter from being oxidized due to processing of food, and to maintain a tasty state of food at the time of processing. CONSTITUTION:This apparatus is provided with a gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 formed by providing a compressor 11, a gas separating film module 12 for separating gas compressed by this compressor 11 into gas of a different composition, a supply duct line 20 for supplying the gas separated by this gas separating film module 12 to a prescribed part in a food processing apparatus 1, and an exhaust duct line 21 for exhausting unnecessary gas.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

[Object of the Invention]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to food processing equipment such as food processors, slicers, mixers, etc.,
In particular, the present invention relates to a food processing instrument equipped with a gas composition adjusting mechanism for maintaining the taste state of food during processing and preventing oxidation of the cutter.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Prior to cooking various foods such as vegetables, meat and fruits, these foods are cut into pieces of appropriate size and thinness, or several kinds of foods are kneaded and stirred recently. Food processing equipment is widely used. These food processing instruments have a basic configuration in which a motor rotates a cutter and the cutter processes food contained in a container. And the direction of development seen in this kind of food processing equipment is focused on providing versatile equipment by increasing the types of food that can be processed, and there are multiple cutters prepared according to the type of food. Attempts have been made to select one of them and replace it, or to adjust the number of rotations of the motor.

On the other hand, it is premised that the cutter is replaced when the cutter becomes poor in sharpness, and the sharpness of the cutter becomes poor during the processing of the food, and the cutter rusted by oxidation becomes the taste state of the food. There is no food processing equipment that takes particular account of the adverse effects. Also, little has been done to maintain the sharpness of the cutter itself and extend its life.

[0004]

[Technical Items Attempted to Develop] The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and a gas composition adjusting mechanism is provided inside a food processing instrument, and the composition gas generated thereby is used for processing. This is an attempt to develop a new food processing device that maintains the taste state and prevents the cutter from oxidizing.

[0005]

[Constitution of Invention]

[Means for Achieving the Object] A food processing instrument equipped with a gas composition adjusting mechanism according to the first invention of the present application comprises a compressor,
A gas separation membrane module that separates the gas compressed by this compressor into gases of different compositions, and a supply pipeline that supplies the gas separated by this gas separation membrane module to a predetermined site in the food processing instrument, as well as this An exhaust pipe line for exhausting the gas separated by the gas separation membrane module to the outside of the food processing instrument.

In addition to the above requirements, a food processing instrument equipped with a gas composition adjusting mechanism according to a second invention of the present application separates a gas separation membrane module in the middle of the supply line and the exhaust line. Appropriately select the direction of gas supply,
The present invention is characterized in that a valve mechanism for switching connection and disconnection of the pipeline is provided.

Furthermore, in addition to the above requirements, a food processing instrument equipped with a gas composition adjusting mechanism according to the third invention of the present application,
The supply pipeline is extended near the cutter that directly processes food, and the extended pipeline is supplied with carbon dioxide gas, nitrogen gas or oxygen-poor gas separated by the gas separation membrane module. It is a feature. Then, these means are used to achieve the above object.

[0008]

The gas compressed by the compressor is supplied to the gas separation membrane module and separated into a permeable gas and a non-permeable gas according to the pressure of the gas separation membrane module. Then, the separated gas is guided to a supply or exhaust pipe line by a valve mechanism,
It reaches the air outlet at the tip of the supply pipeline or the exhaust outlet at the tip of the exhaust pipeline to replace the internal atmosphere of the food processing equipment or exhaust unnecessary gas.

Further, when the supply pipeline is extended to the vicinity of the cutter and carbon dioxide gas, nitrogen gas or oxygen-depleted gas is supplied to this supply pipeline, it helps prevent oxidation of foods and alleviates adverse effects on taste. Also, the sharpness of the cutter is maintained and the life of the cutter is extended.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A food processing instrument equipped with a gas composition adjusting mechanism of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. In the description, first, the structure of the food processing device of the present invention will be described focusing on the gas composition adjusting mechanism, which is one of the characteristic configurations of the present invention, and then various processes of food processing by the food processing device of the present invention will be performed. It will be explained together with the flow of gas. The reference numeral 1 in the drawings is a food processing instrument equipped with the gas composition adjusting mechanism of the present invention. In FIGS. 1 and 2, a food processor is taken as an example, and in FIG. 3, a mixer is taken as an example.

First, the structure of a food processor as an example of the food processing device 1 shown in FIGS. The food processor, which is the food processing device 1 of the present invention, stores a food F in the center, provides a storage container 2 that serves as a processing chamber for the food F, and provides an upper lid 3 above the storage container 2 to prevent the food from scattering during processing. Further, below the storage container 2, there is provided a main body portion 6 including a drive mechanism 5 for transmitting rotation to the cutter S.

A cutter S that directly acts on the food F to process the food F is provided in the storage container 2 with respect to a rotary shaft 45 extending vertically in the center of the container. The rotating shaft 45 is a hollow cylindrical tubular member whose upper end is open, and the gas separated by the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 described later permeates through this opening, but the storage container 2
A moisture impermeable filter 46 that does not allow moisture to pass through is provided so as to cover the open portion. Further, a filter cap 47 covers the moisture impermeable filter 46 from above, passes through the inner space of the rotating shaft 45, and has a large number of blow-out ports 38 around it for injecting the separated gas passing through the moisture impermeable filter 46. It is provided.

Below these members, adjustment of the torque transmitted to the rotary shaft 45 by the drive mechanism 5, selection of the torque connector 48 and gas passage for controlling the transmission,
A passage connector 49 for communication is provided on the rotary shaft 45 similarly to the above-mentioned members. The torque connector 48 and the passage connector 49 may be separately formed as in the present embodiment, or may be integrated as a matter of course.

On the other hand, the upper lid 3 is provided with food F during processing.
The auxiliary intake port 3a is provided so that the supplementary charge can be supplemented. The pressing rod 4 is fitted into the auxiliary intake 3a,
The food F replenished from the auxiliary intake 3a by the pressing rod 4 is fed into the storage container 2, and the food F is sandwiched between the bottom surface of the storage container 2 and the pressing rod 4 to support the food F during processing. The pressing rod 4 also plays a role.

Further, the main body portion 6 is provided with a drive device 5, and the drive device 5 includes a drive motor M, a drive pulley 51 provided on an output shaft of the drive motor M, and below the passage connector 49. A driven pulley 52 located on the drive pulley 51, and a belt 53 suspended between the drive pulley 51 and the driven pulley 52. The main body 6 is provided with a gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 described below, and the drive device 5 and the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 are operated by operating an operation switch 8 provided on a front panel 7 of the main body 6. It is configured to work.

The gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 has a characteristic constitution of the present invention, and a compressor 11 that takes in air A from the outside of the food processing device 1, compresses the air A and sends it to the next step, and this compressor. The gas separation membrane module 12 takes in the air A pumped by 11 and adjusts the air A to another gas having a different composition and separates it.

The gas separation membrane module 12 is roughly classified into a flat membrane module 12a as shown in FIG. 4 and a tube type module 12b as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, these gas separation membrane modules 12 are formed by stacking a plurality of sheet materials 16 formed by laminating a gas separation membrane 13, a porous support membrane 14, and a membrane-reinforced nonwoven fabric 15. For example, in the case of the flat sheet membrane module 12a shown in FIG. 4, the sheet material 16 is formed in a planar shape and, for example, a plurality of sheet materials 16 are alternately stacked vertically. Then, when the air A compressed by the compressor 11 is supplied to the flat membrane module 12a configured in this way, as shown in FIG. 4, the permeating gas B that permeates the gas separation membrane 13 and the non-permeating gas C that does not permeate. And are separated into upper and lower parts.

In the case of the tube type module 12b, the flat sheet material 16 used in the flat membrane module 12a shown in FIG. 4 is wound in a spiral shape and housed in a tube. As shown in FIG. 3, there is one in which the sheet material 16 is formed into a hollow fiber shape and a large number of this material is housed in a tube. Of these, the spirally wound tube type module 12b has substantially the same principle as that of the flat sheet membrane module 12a shown in FIG. 4, and therefore the details are omitted, but the hollow fiber sheet material 16 shown in FIG. 5 is omitted. Tubular module 12 formed by forming
In the case of b, the air A taken into the tube is separated into a permeable gas B that enters from the side peripheral surface of the hollow fiber sheet material 16 and a non-permeable gas C that does not permeate. In selecting the flat membrane module 12a and the tube type module 12b, the size, shape, and internal space of the food processing device 1 are taken into consideration, and in this embodiment and the embodiment shown in FIG. The tube type module 12b was used as an example.

And such a gas separation membrane module 1
The gas separation membrane 13 used for 2 is a membrane that separates and concentrates or separates and removes a specific molecule in the gas by utilizing the difference in the permeability of the molecule that passes through the polymer thin film. Various composition gases are adjusted according to changes in the pressure of the air A as the processing gas. Specifically, the gas separation membrane 13 is a membrane having a property that a specific gas can be separated by providing a pressure difference between the gases sandwiching the membrane and utilizing the fact that the membrane permeation rate varies depending on the type of gas. This is generally known as an oxygen-enriched film for enriching oxygen molecules in the air.

The gas separation membrane 13 used in this example has a permeation rate of H ₂ O> CO ₂ > O ₂ > CO ≧ N ₂ and the gas separation membrane 13 has such properties.
As an example, there is "HISEP" (registered trademark) manufactured by Asahi Glass Co., Ltd. By the way, the gas separation membrane 13 having such characteristics can separate the air A into oxygen gas and nitrogen gas when a relatively high pressure is applied to the gas separation membrane 13 as shown in FIG. 6 (a). Is. Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, at a medium pressure, the air A is changed to steam and carbon dioxide gas,
It is separated into oxygen gas and nitrogen gas, and as shown in FIG. 6C, the air A can be separated into water vapor and other gas components at a low pressure. The permeated gas B separated by the gas separation membrane 13
Further, when the non-permeable gas C is guided to the supply pipeline 20 and the exhaust pipeline 21, it is possible to separately provide a fan, a pump or the like as a transfer means for performing a suction or a feeding action at a mounting portion of these pipelines.

A supply pipe line 20 and an exhaust pipe line 21 are provided for the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 thus constructed. It is also possible to provide the valve mechanism 30 in the middle of the pipelines of the supply pipeline 20 and the exhaust pipeline 21, and as an example of the valve mechanism 30 provided in the pipeline, as shown in FIG. A mechanism can be adopted. That is, the valve mechanism 30 shown in FIG. 7 is composed of a total of four valves including the control valves 31, 32 and the exhaust valves 33, 34, and the gas separation membrane module 12
It is provided for a supply pipeline 20, a bypass pipeline 22, and an exhaust pipeline 21 branched from these pipelines. Incidentally, the exhaust pipe line 21 is connected to the gas separation membrane 13
It is for exhausting unnecessary gas among the gases separated by.

The bypass conduit 22 is for guiding the gas remaining on the upstream side of the gas separation membrane 13 to the supply conduit 20 because the gas permeation rate to the gas separation membrane 13 is slow. A control valve 31 is provided in the supply pipeline 20 downstream of the connection with the exhaust pipeline 21, and a control valve 32 is provided in the bypass pipeline 22 downstream of the connection with the exhaust pipeline 21. Further, exhaust valves 33 and 34 are provided in the exhaust pipe line 21.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 7, the control valve 31 and the exhaust valve 34 are opened when the gas separated by the gas separation membrane 13 is supplied to the downstream side of the gas separation membrane 13. When the gas on the upstream side of the separation membrane 13 is supplied, the valve is closed. Further, the control valve 32 and the exhaust valve 3
3 is in a closed state when supplying a gas downstream of the gas separation membrane 13 among the gases separated by the gas separation membrane 13 and in an open state when supplying gas upstream of the gas separation membrane 13. Becomes

The structure of the valve mechanism 30 and the respective pipelines is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the bypass pipeline 22 is omitted and the gas separation membrane module 12 is directly connected to the supply pipeline 20. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the exhaust pipe line 21 is pulled out.

In the case of such a construction, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the supply conduit 20 drawn out from the gas separation membrane module 12 starts with the driven pulley 52 and the cutter S in the drive mechanism 5. The exhaust pipe line 21 is guided to an exhaust port 39 provided on the bottom surface as an example of the main body portion 6. Regarding the supply pipeline 20, a connector 27 is provided on the way.
Is provided, and by disconnecting this connector 27, the supply pipeline 20 is divided / connected.

When using the food processing apparatus 1 having the gas composition adjusting mechanism of the present invention thus configured, first, like the ordinary food processor, the upper lid 3 is first removed to process the food in a predetermined amount. F is put in the storage container 2, various seasonings, water, etc. are put in if necessary, the upper lid 3 is closed, and the operation switch 8 provided in the main body 6 is turned on.

When the operation switch 8 is turned on, the driving device 5 starts to operate, and the rotation of the driving motor M is transmitted to the rotary shaft 45 via the belt 53, and the cutter S provided on the rotary shaft 45 causes the food F to move. It comes to act on food processing. At the same time, the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10
The compressor 11 in 2 starts to operate, and the compressed air A is supplied to the gas separation membrane module 12.

The air A supplied to the gas separation membrane module 12 is separated by the gas separation membrane 13 into a permeable gas B and a non-permeable gas C. For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, if a gas separation membrane 13 having a relatively high pressure is adopted, the oxygen gas separated as the permeated gas B is guided to the exhaust pipe line 21 and the exhaust port 39. The nitrogen gas which is exhausted from the outside to the outside and is separated as the non-permeable gas C is the supply line 2
It is guided to 0, passes through the internal space of the rotating shaft 45, and reaches the air outlet 38 in the filter cap 47 attached to the tip thereof.

Similarly, when it is desired to supply water vapor or carbon dioxide gas into the storage container 2, according to FIG. 6 (b), and when only water vapor is to be supplied into the storage container 2, gas separation is performed according to FIG. 6 (c). The pressure applied to the membrane 13 is adjusted. At this time, if a gas of another composition separated at the same time is not required, the valve mechanism 30 is appropriately operated and the exhaust port 39 is passed through the exhaust pipe 21.
From the outside.

Further, if the processing is once started but the food F is to be replenished on the way, as described above, the pressing rod 4 is pulled out from the auxiliary inlet 3a, and the food F is further added to the auxiliary inlet 3a. Insert the push rod 4 again into the auxiliary intake 3a
The food F, which is inserted into the storage container 2 and replenished in the storage container 2, is dropped. Then, when a predetermined processing time elapses, the driving of the drive device 5 is stopped automatically or by operating the operation switch 8 to end the series of processing.

Next, another embodiment of the food processing device 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. That is, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a mixer is taken as an example of the food processing tool 1. Since the basic structure of the mixer is the same as that of a general mixer that stirs food, the description thereof will be omitted here, and the description will focus on the pipe structure necessary for providing the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10.

One of the gases separated by the gas separation membrane module 12 has a communication port 40 provided at a base portion above the handle 55 of the mixer which is the food processing device 1 and a main body portion for accommodating the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10. 6 passes through a relay hose 57 connected to a connector 56 provided on the upper surface, passes through a connecting passage 58 formed by hollowing out the inside of the handle 55 of the mixer, and is accommodated from the outlet 38 at the end thereof. It is configured to reach the inside of the container 2.

When using such a mixer as the food processing tool 1, the upper lid 3 is first removed,
The food F and, if necessary, water and various seasonings are put in the storage container 2. Then, the upper lid 3 is covered again, the relay hose 57 is connected between the communication port 40 and the connector 56, and the operation switch 8 provided on the front panel 7 of the main body 6 is turned on.

When the operation switch 8 is turned on, the drive mechanism 5 in the main body 6 (not shown) starts to operate, and the stirring blade 59 facing the lower part of the storage container 2 is rotated, whereby the storage container 2 is rotated.
The food F inside is stirred. At the same time, the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 also starts to operate. For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, if a gas separation membrane 13 with relatively high pressure is used, it is separated as the permeated gas B. The oxygen gas is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust port 39, while the nitrogen gas separated as the non-permeable gas C reaches the communication path 58 through the supply pipeline 20 and the relay hose 57 connected to the supply pipeline 20 and the outlet. It is fed from 38 into the storage container 2.

After the predetermined processing is completed, the operation switch 8 is automatically turned off, and the operation of the drive device 5 and the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 is stopped by manually turning off the operation switch 8, and further the relay hose 57 is used. And remove the storage container 2 from the main body 6 by holding the handle,
The processed food F is separately used for cooking.

The above is the basic embodiment of the food processing device 1 equipped with the gas composition adjusting mechanism of the present invention, but the food processing device 1 of the present invention can also be provided with the following functions. is there. For example, when it is desired to increase the gas concentration of the composition gas separated by the gas separation membrane 13, the gas separation membrane module is provided by using a separately provided circulation pipeline without letting out all the gas from the outlet 38. It is also possible to connect this conduit to the input side of 12 and utilize the residual gas that does not flow out to increase the gas concentration. Also outlet 3
The composition gas flowing out from the container 8 into the storage container 2 may be sucked, sent to the input side of the gas separation membrane module 12, and circulated and concentrated.

Further, the pressure applied to the gas separation membrane 13 can be appropriately changed according to the stage of processing and the state of food during processing, and the kind of gas supplied to the supply pipeline 20 can be made different. Also, the valve mechanism 30 is removed, the pressure of the compressor 11 is made constant, the pipe paths of the supply pipe line 20 and the exhaust pipe line 21 are fixed, and only one kind of preset gas separation is performed. The processing tool 1 can also be used.

Further, an appropriate filter is provided at the front stage of the suction port 36 of the compressor 11 and the supply port 37 of the gas separation membrane module 12 in the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 and the like, so that dust, dust, etc. can be provided before reaching the gas separation membrane 13. It is also possible to prevent the entry of foreign matter in advance.

[0039]

The present invention has the above-mentioned structure and exhibits the following effects. That is, in the food processing device 1 of the present invention, the gas composition adjusting mechanism 10 having the gas separation membrane 13 as a main member is provided, so that the air A outside the food processing device 1 is used to change the gas composition. By separating the gas into a plurality of gases, the atmosphere in the storage container 2 can be replaced, and unnecessary gas is exhausted to the outside to prevent the food from being oxidized by the processing and adversely affect the taste state of the food by the processing. It can be prevented as much as possible. Further, by preventing the cutter S from being oxidized, the life of the cutter S can be extended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a food processing device 1 including a gas composition adjusting mechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the same.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a stacked state of flat membrane modules.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged vertical side view showing the structure of the tube type module.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing skeletonically that the composition of the separated gas changes depending on the magnitude of the gas pressure applied to the gas separation membrane.

FIG. 7 is a skeletal explanatory view showing a state in which the flow of the separated composition gas is changed by the operation of the valve mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Food Processing Equipment 2 Storage Container 3 Upper Lid 3a Auxiliary Inlet 4 Push Rod 5 Drive Mechanism 6 Main Body 7 Front Panel 8 Operation Switch 10 Gas Composition Adjusting Mechanism 11 Compressor 12 Gas Separation Membrane Module 12a Flat Membrane Module 12b Tube Module 13 Gas Separation Membrane 14 Porous Supporting Membrane 15 Membrane Reinforced Nonwoven Fabric 16 Sheet Material 20 Supply Pipeline 21 Exhaust Pipeline 22 Bypass Pipeline 27 Connector 30 Valve Mechanism 31 Control Valve 32 Control Valve 33 Exhaust Valve 34 Exhaust Valve 36 Suction Port 37 Supply Port 38 Air outlet 39 Exhaust port 40 Communication port 45 Rotating shaft 46 Water impermeable filter 47 Filter cap 48 Torque connector 49 Passage connector 51 Drive pulley 52 Driven pulley 53 Belt 55 Handle 56 Connector 57 Relay hose 58 Connection path 59 Stirring blade A Air B Transmission Scan C non-permeate gas F Food M drive motor S cutter

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A compressor, a gas separation membrane module for separating a gas compressed by the compressor into gases having different compositions, and the gas separated by the gas separation membrane module is supplied to a predetermined portion in a food processing instrument. And a gas exhaust line for exhausting the gas separated by the gas separation membrane module to the outside of the food processing instrument. 2. A valve mechanism is provided in the middle of the supply pipeline and the exhaust pipeline to appropriately select the supply direction of the gas separated by the gas separation membrane module and switch the connection and disconnection of the pipeline. A food processing instrument comprising the gas composition adjusting mechanism according to claim 1. 3. The supply pipeline is extended in the vicinity of a cutter for directly processing food, and the extended pipeline contains carbon dioxide gas, nitrogen gas or oxygen-depleted gas separated by a gas separation membrane module. It is supplied, The food processing instrument provided with the gas composition adjustment mechanism of Claim 1 or 2 characterized by the above-mentioned.