JPH05227928A - Vacuum heat treatment unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the subject treatment unit capable of steam heating at any temperature below 100 deg.C followed by being a so capable of cooling in high efficiency using a simple device. CONSTITUTION:The lower parts of a heat treatment chamber 1 are provided with leg-like spaces 6,7 and also an inlet 8 and outlet 9. These inlet 8 and outlet 9 are situated below the liquid levels of reservoirs 11 and 12, respectively. A cooling liquid feed line 4 is connected, via valves 30, 31, to the reservoir 12. An endless conveyor belt 2 is equipped so as to start at the inlet 8, through the heat treatment chamber 1, reach the outlet 9, and return to the inlet 8 again. An object to be heat treated is loaded on the conveyor belt 2. The inside of the heat treatment chamber 1 is connected to a combination pump 5 and also to a steam feed line 3. Thus, the object to be heat treated on the conveyor belt 2 is put to vacuum heat treatment in the chamber 1 and then cooled in the reservoir 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat treatment apparatus for heat-treating an object to be heat-treated with a heating fluid supplied under reduced pressure. Specifically, the present invention relates to a reduced pressure heat treatment apparatus for performing heat sterilization, sterilization, cooling, coagulation and thawing of various foods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional food heat treatment apparatus, for example, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-56855 is used. This is a conveyor that conveys the object to be heat-treated is placed in a steam tunnel equipped with an air discharge duct that communicates with the atmosphere, a steam outlet pipe is installed under the conveyor, and this pipe is equipped with a temperature control valve, etc. A constant temperature controller set is communicated with, and an automatic steam separator set and an automatic pressure reducing valve set are installed at required locations in the steam pipe. Steam reduced to a relatively low pressure with an automatic pressure reducing valve set,
By supplying steam into the steam tunnel from the steam outlet pipe through the automatic constant temperature controller set, the temperature will change from 87 ° C to 9 ° C.
The heat treatment can be performed at a steam temperature of about 8 ° C.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional heat treatment apparatus, there is a problem that the cooling efficiency is poor because the cooling after heating the object to be heat treated is done by natural heat radiation. Further, in order to perform cooling with cooling water, a separate cooling water tank is required, and there is a problem that a large installation space is required and equipment costs increase. Many foods must be cooled after the heat treatment in order to quickly move to the next step.

In the above conventional heat treatment apparatus, 90 ° C.
There was a problem that the heat treatment could not be performed accurately at a low temperature of low temperature steam. This is because the inside of the steam tunnel is under atmospheric pressure, and the pressure and temperature of steam are uniquely determined, and under atmospheric pressure, the temperature is almost 100 ° C. and cannot be low-temperature steam. Depending on the type of food, if it is not lower than 90 ° C., it may cause charring or heat damage, and the conventional heat treatment apparatus cannot be used for such food.

Therefore, a technical object of the present invention is to make it possible to perform heat treatment by steam up to a low temperature of 90 ° C. or less, and also to efficiently cool it with a simple facility after heating.

[0006]

The structure of the reduced pressure heat treatment apparatus of the present invention is as follows. A heat treatment chamber having an inlet and an outlet of the heat treatment object is formed, a conveying means for conveying the heat treatment object is arranged in the heat treatment chamber, a fluid supply passage for supplying a fluid for heat treatment is connected, and a decompression pump is provided. Connected, the inlet and the outlet are continuously connected in a leg shape having a desired height, a liquid reservoir is provided in the lower part of the leg-shaped continuous portion, and the object to be heat treated is at least in the liquid reservoir on the outlet side of the liquid reservoir. A cooling liquid supply passage for cooling the liquid is provided.

[0007]

[Operation] By depressurizing the heat treatment chamber with the depressurizing pump by providing the inlet and the outlet in a leg shape and providing the liquid reservoir in the lower portion,
Depending on the degree of pressure reduction, a liquid column is generated in the leg portion, and the heat treatment chamber is brought into a predetermined pressure reduction state. The object to be heat-treated is conveyed from the liquid reservoir on the inlet side through the inlet into the heat treatment chamber by the conveying means. In this case, when the heating fluid, such as steam, is supplied from the fluid supply passage into the heat treatment chamber, the object to be heat treated is heated. When low-temperature steam or low-pressure steam below atmospheric pressure is supplied as the heating fluid, the heat treatment chamber has a depressurized state, so that the steam temperature corresponds to the depressurized value, and steam heating can be performed at any temperature of 90 ° C. or less. The object to be heat-treated, which has been heat-treated in the heat-treatment chamber, is carried out to the outside through the liquid reservoir on the outlet side and the outlet by the conveying means. Since the cooling liquid supply passage is provided in the liquid reservoir on the outlet side, the cooling liquid is stored in the liquid reservoir, and the object to be heat-treated is cooled by being deprived of heat by the cooling liquid.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The illustrated embodiment will be described in detail. In FIG. 1, a box-shaped heat treatment chamber 1, an endless conveyor 2 as a transfer means, a heating steam supply passage 3, a cooling liquid supply passage 4,
A decompression heat treatment apparatus is configured with the combination pump 5 as a decompression pump.

In the heat treatment chamber 1, leg-shaped spaces 6 and 7 having a desired height are formed at the left and right ends, only the lower ends of the spaces 6 and 7 are opened, and the lower ends of the spaces 6 and 7 are heat-treated. There are an inlet 8 and an outlet 9 of the chamber 1. The lower part 10 of the heat treatment chamber 1 has an inlet 8
The lower the slope, the lower the slope. Inlet 8 and outlet 9 are liquid container 1
The liquids 13 and 14 stored in the liquids 1 and 12 are arranged. The cooling liquid supply passage 4 is connected to the liquid reservoir 12 on the outlet 9 side via valves 30 and 31. When water is used as the liquids 13 and 14, the height of the spaces 6 and 7 is set to 10 meters or less.
Each of the endless conveyors 2 is provided so as to be held or movable by a roller 15, and an object to be heat-treated is arranged on the conveyor 2 though not shown.

The combination pump 5 as a decompression pump is a combination of an ejector 16, a pump 17 and a tank 18,
The pump 17 has a suction side connected to the tank 18 and a discharge side connected to the ejector 16, and the diffuser 19 of the ejector 16 is connected.
Is connected to the upper space of the tank 18, and the ejector 16 and the inside of the heat treatment chamber 1 are connected via a valve 20. The combination pump 5 supplies the water in the tank 18 to the ejector 16 by the operation of the pump 17, and causes the ejector 16 part to suck and return it to the tank 18. The tank 18 can be replenished with the cooling water from the cooling liquid supply passage 4 through the valve 26 so that the suction force generated in the ejector 16 can be controlled. Also,
An excess water discharge passage 22 is connected to a part of the circulation passage of the combination pump 5 via a valve 21.

Heating steam supply passage 3 as a fluid supply passage
An on-off valve 23 is provided and a pressure reducing valve 25 for steam is attached thereto. The pressure reducing valve 25, as shown in FIG.
The inlet 50 and the outlet 51 can be disconnected by the valve body 54, and the diaphragm 52 which receives the pressure on the outlet 51 side on the lower surface by the communication hole 53 with the outlet 51 part is pulled upward by the coil spring 56 of the pulling action via the spring receiver 55. It is urged to. Therefore, the pressure on the outlet 51 side is the coil spring 56.
When the pressure is lower than the pressure corresponding to the tensile load, the diaphragm 52 is displaced downward, and the valve body 54 is opened at the same time, so that the steam on the inlet 50 side is replenished to the outlet 51 side and the tensile load on the coil spring 56 is increased. When the pressure corresponding to the pressure is recovered, the diaphragm 52 is displaced upward and returns to its original position, and at the same time, the valve body 54 is closed, so that the supply of steam is stopped. The tensile load of the coil spring 56 can be adjusted by moving the connecting shaft 58 up and down by the electric motor 57. In the present embodiment, the pressure reducing valve 25 is a self-reducing pressure reducing valve as shown in FIG.

A part of the cooling liquid may be supplied into the heat treatment chamber 1 from the cooling liquid supply passage 4 through the valve 24. By doing so, when the temperature in the heat treatment chamber 1 rises above a predetermined temperature, the cooling liquid can be supplied to lower the temperature.

When heating the object to be heat-treated on the conveyor 2, the valve 23 of the steam supply passage 3 is opened, and the tension load of the coil spring 56 of the pressure reducing valve 25 is set to the required pressure, and the heat treatment chamber 1 Low-pressure steam is supplied inside. The inside of the heat treatment chamber 1 is decompressed by the combination pump 5, and a desired decompression state is created by producing liquid columns in the spaces 6 and 7 according to the degree of decompression. Then, the object to be heat treated is heated. The heating temperature in this case can be arbitrarily set by adjusting the set pressure of the pressure reducing valve 25 and the degree of pressure reduction of the combination pump 5. For example, by maintaining the inside of the heat treatment chamber 1 at a reduced pressure state of 235 mmHg by the combination pump 5 and supplying the vapor of approximately the same pressure from the pressure reducing valve 25, the vapor temperature becomes about 70.
It can be C. The steam from which the heat is removed by heating the object to be heat-treated condenses and becomes condensed water, and the lower part 1 of the heat-treatment chamber 1
It flows down along the gradient of 0 into the liquid reservoir 11 on the inlet 8 side.

The heated object to be heat-treated is carried out by the conveyor 2 to the outside through the space 7 and the outlet 9 and the liquid reservoir 12. The liquid reservoir 12 is supplied with the cooling liquid from the cooling liquid supply passage 4 via the valves 30 and 31, and the heat-treating object passing therethrough is deprived of heat and cooled. Liquid container 12
Excess liquid accumulated inside is removed from the system through the valve 32 or 33.

In this embodiment, the combination pump 5 is used as the decompression pump, but of course, other conventionally known vacuum pumps can be used.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the object to be heat treated can be vapor-heated under a reduced pressure below atmospheric pressure, and the heating temperature can be set arbitrarily by adjusting the degree of reduced pressure. Therefore,
Steam heating can be performed even at a low temperature of 90 ° C. or lower, and the heat treatment target can be efficiently cooled with simple equipment by the liquid reservoir provided with the cooling liquid supply passage of the leg-shaped outlet.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a reduced pressure heat treatment apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the pressure reducing valve for steam of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Heat Treatment Room 2 Conveyor 3 Steam Supply Passage 4 Coolant Supply Passage 5 Combination Pump 6,7 Leg Space 8 Inlet 9 Outlet 11,12 Liquid Reservoir 16 Ejector 17 Pump 18 Tank 25 Steam Pressure Reducing Valve

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heat treatment chamber having an inlet and an outlet of a heat treatment object is formed, and a conveying means for conveying the heat treatment object is arranged in the heat treatment chamber to connect a fluid supply passage for supplying a fluid for heat treatment. In addition, a decompression pump is connected, the inlet and the outlet are continuously connected in a leg shape having a desired height, and a liquid reservoir is provided at the lower part of the leg-shaped connecting portion, and at least the outlet side liquid of the liquid reservoir is provided. A decompression heat treatment apparatus having a reservoir provided with a cooling liquid supply passage for cooling an object to be heat treated.