JPH05276890A - Method for fermenting food by alternately changing normal and reverse ventilating direction and its apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a method for maintaining the decree of progress in fermentation in a fermentation chamber for fermented soybeans uniform and its apparatus. CONSTITUTION:The objective apparatus is constructed so as to house shelves 22 carrying foods to be fermented in a fermentation chamber 10 and install a wind tunnel 46 (16a) provided with opened ends (17a) and (17b) and an air conditioning unit 11 for alternately ventilating the wind tunnel 16 in the normal and reverse directions. A rotation controller 27 for a blower 15 of the air conditioning unit 11 is provided so that the air conditioning unit 11 may alternately blast air in the normal direction and in reverse direction. Furthermore, flow rectifying plates 18 and flow rectifiers 26 are respectively installed in contact with the opened ends (17a) and (17b) of the wind tunnel 16 to prevent unevenness of fermentation from occurring.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a food fermentation room, and more particularly to a food fermentation room which controls the temperature of food during fermentation by controlling the temperature and air volume of conditioned air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional general food fermentation chamber, for example, a fermentation chamber for natto production, a system in which conditioned air in the fermentation chamber is simply agitated as shown in FIG. This is a cooler 101 and a heater 10 provided outside the fermentation chamber 100.
2. Air-conditioned air blown out from the air conditioning unit 104 including the blower 103 is supplied into the fermentation chamber 100 through the air supply port 105 provided in the ceiling of the fermentation chamber 100, and the fermentation chamber 10
From the exhaust port 109 provided at the bottom of the side wall of the fermentation chamber 1
Discharge to the outside of 00.

The discharged conditioned air is collected in a duct and again supplied to the fermentation chamber 100 as conditioned air having a predetermined temperature in the air conditioning unit 104.

In the fermentation chamber 100 constructed as described above, there is a tray 108 in which a container (corner) 107 having a ventilation hole is arranged, in which a natto container 106 containing a certain amount of boiled natto before fermentation is placed in an array. Accommodate. In this case, generally, the tray 10 is parallel to the side wall where the exhaust port 109 is opened.
8 are accommodated in 2 to 4 rows. In this manner, the conditioned air is circulated for a predetermined time to ferment the boiled beans in the natto container 106 to produce natto.

However, in such a manufacturing method, the shelf 1
Even if the amount of conditioned air blown out and supplied to the boiled beans in the natto container 106 stacked and accommodated in 08 is partially uneven, a temperature difference occurs depending on the placement position, and the fermentation progresses to a certain extent. There is a difference, and it is difficult to produce natto of uniform quality. To prevent this, the shelves 108
However, there is a problem that the manufacturing efficiency is poor because there is no choice but to make the depth shallow and arrange each row in one row or two rows, or to sandwich several empty containers 107 in the shelf 108.

As an improved type for solving this problem,
A fermentation apparatus as shown in FIG. 5 was proposed. This apparatus has a wind tunnel 212 in the fermentation chamber 200. This wind tunnel 212
Is covered with a sheet 211 on both upper and opposite sides, and one opening end of the other side is an inlet 21 for conditioned air.
2a is opened to the front chamber 207 in the fermentation chamber 200, and the other open end is opened to the side wall of the fermentation chamber 200 as an outlet 212b for conditioned air. This exhaust port 212
In b, there is a ventilation resistance plate 2 for preventing uneven ventilation in the wind tunnel 212.
13 and a rear chamber 214 for collecting the discharged conditioned air are provided.

An air conditioning unit 201 including a cooler 202, a heater 203, a humidity controller 204, and a blower 205 is provided outside the fermentation chamber 200. An air supply duct 206 is provided between the air conditioning unit 201 and an air supply port 216 provided on the ceiling of the fermentation chamber 200, and an exhaust duct 2 is provided between the rear chamber 214 and the air conditioning unit 201.
15 is provided and is configured so that the conditioned air circulates in the wind tunnel 212.

In the wind tunnel 212 constructed in this manner, there is accommodated a shelf 210 in which a container (corner) 209 having a ventilation hole, in which a natto container 208 containing a certain amount of boiled natto before fermentation of natto has been arranged, is stacked. I'll do it.

When the air conditioning unit 201 is operated in this state, the conditioned air flows through the wind tunnel 212 in the fermentation chamber 200 from the front chamber 207 to the rear chamber 214 in one direction, so that the conventional fermentation chamber shown in FIG. Vent unevenness does not occur as in the natto container 106 in 100.

[0010]

However, even in the above-described improved fermentation chamber 200, since the air is blown in one direction in the wind tunnel 212, the fermentation heat accompanying the fermentation of boiled beans causes the front chamber 207 side and the rear chamber 214. There is a difference in product temperature between the rear chamber 214 and the rear chamber, and the rear chamber 214 side has a high temperature. As a result, the rate of fermentation differs between the upstream side and the downstream side of ventilation, and it is difficult to produce natto with a constant quality.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a fermentation method in which the fermentation of each part in the fermentation chamber maintains a constant progress, and a fermentation apparatus therefor.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the food to be fermented is housed in a dedicated container, and the ventilated containers in which the dedicated containers are aligned are stacked and housed to supply conditioned air. In the fermentation method, the ventilation direction of the conditioned air is repeatedly reversed according to a predetermined program.

Further, the air flow rate of the conditioned air is automatically adjusted in accordance with an increase in fermentation heat accompanying the fermentation of food.

As an apparatus for carrying out the above-mentioned method, the food to be fermented is stored in a dedicated container (natto container) 20, and the ventilated containers 21 in which the dedicated containers 20 are aligned are stacked and accommodated to supply conditioned air. In food fermentation equipment,
A wind tunnel 16 having open ends 17a and 17b at both ends for accommodating a shelf 22 in which the containers 21 are stacked and arranged in the fermentation chamber 10, and a blower for alternately passing the wind tunnel 16 in forward and reverse directions. 15 rotation control devices 27 are provided.

The open ends 17 on both sides of the wind tunnel 16
A rectifying plate 18 is provided in contact with a and 17b to make the air volume uniform over the entire surfaces of the opening ends 17a and 17b.

Further, the open ends 17 on both sides of the wind tunnel 16 are provided.
The space portion (chamber) 19 of the fermentation chamber 10 in contact with a and 17b has the same shape.

The current plate 1 is provided outside the current plate 18.
8 is provided with a rectifier 26 for making the flow direction of the conditioned air supplied to the air conditioner 8 constant.

Further, the rotation control device 27 of the blower 15
Is configured to detect the temperature of the conditioned air at both open ends 17a and 17b of the wind tunnel 16 by a room temperature detector 28 and a product temperature detector 29, and control the rotation speed of the blower 15 based on the temperature difference. It is a thing.

[0019]

1 is a sectional view of the fermentation apparatus of the present invention taken along the flow direction of conditioned air, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view perpendicular to FIG. A schematic structure of this fermentation apparatus is a wind tunnel 16 provided inside the fermentation chamber 10, an air conditioning unit 11 for supplying conditioned air to the wind tunnel 16 in either forward or reverse directions, and the fermentation chamber 10.
The inner wall of the fermentation chamber 10 and the outside of the wind tunnel 16 are partitioned from each other in the central part of the inside, and the partition wall 25 divides the inside of the fermentation chamber 10 into two parts.

On the partition wall 25 inside the fermentation chamber 10, a cooler 12, a heater 13, and a humidity controller 1 are provided above the wind tunnel 16.
4, the air conditioning unit 11 including the blower 15 is a partition wall 25
Is provided so as to pass through.

Further, the left and right chambers 19 and 19 which are partitioned by a partition wall 25 from the wind tunnel 16 in the fermentation chamber 10 have the same shape, and a damper 24 is provided at the ceiling portion of the fermentation chamber 10 for ventilation. The mouth 23 is provided, and the open ends 17a and 17b of the wind tunnel 16 are provided in the vertical portion of the chamber 19.
The opening ends 17a and 17b are in contact with (a surface that serves as a ventilation port).
The straightening vanes 18 and 18 that provide a uniform air flow distribution and the straightening devices 26 and 26 that supply the conditioned air in a vertical direction to the straightening vanes 18 are provided.

Further, room temperature and article temperature detectors 28 and 29 are provided in the vertical portions of the left and right chambers 19 and 19, respectively.
The rotation control device 27 is configured to control the rotation of the blower 15 based on this detection output.

The upper surface of the wind tunnel 16 is partitioned from the chamber 19 by a ceiling plate 16a, and the side surface is configured to be partitioned from the chamber 19 by attaching a side plate 16b. In this wind tunnel 16, as shown in (a) a cross-sectional view in the flow direction of the conditioned air in FIG. A shelf 22 in which containers (corner monkeys) 21 having ventilation holes, in which the natto containers 20 weighed are aligned and arranged, are stacked are stored.

Next, a fermentation process using the fermentation chamber 10 will be described. After accommodating the above-mentioned shelf 22 in the wind tunnel 16, the side plates 16b, 16b of the wind tunnel 16 are attached so that ventilation is possible only in the forward or reverse direction.

After that, the air conditioning unit 11 is operated to circulate conditioned air having a predetermined temperature and a predetermined humidity in the fermentation chamber 10. In this case, since the inside of the fermentation chamber 10 is divided into two by the partition wall 25, the flow of the conditioned air is, for example, the white arrow a in FIG.
In the case of, the flow path parallel to the flow direction resistance of the flow straightening plate 18 is received by the flow straightener 26 from the upper chamber 19 through the vertical chamber 19, and after passing through the straightening plate 18, the air flow amount on the entire surface is uniformized and the wind tunnel. Since it passes through between the natto containers 20 in 16 and the predetermined temperature and the predetermined humidity are maintained, the fermentation of boiled beans is promoted and changed to natto.

In this case, the damper 24 of the ventilation port 23 on the suction side indicated by the white arrow a is opened and closed as necessary to discharge the carbon dioxide gas and steam generated by the fermentation and to suck the necessary outside air.

As fermentation progresses, fermentation heat is generated,
The temperature of the air discharged from the open end 17b becomes higher than the temperature of the conditioned air entering from the open end 17a (in the case of the white arrow a) of the wind tunnel 16, and a temperature gradient of the product temperature is generated in the wind tunnel 16 to cause fermentation. Progress is not uniform.

Then, after a lapse of a predetermined time, the rotation control device 27
When the blower 15 is reversely rotated by the built-in forward / reverse rotation program to reverse the blowing direction as shown by the black arrow b, the above-mentioned product temperature gradient is reversed, and the product temperature distribution is kept uniform on average. You can In the case of this reverse rotation, it goes without saying that the air inflow direction from the damper 24 of the ventilation port 23 is also reversed.

Further, the rotation control device 27 causes the rotation control device 27 of the blower 15 according to the progress of fermentation due to the temperature difference between the air that enters and is discharged from the open ends 17a and 17b of the wind tunnel 16 by the detection outputs of the room temperature detector 28 and the product temperature detector 29. The rotation speed is adjusted to control the air flow rate.

Next, the results of fermentation by the above-mentioned forward and reverse ventilation will be described. The conventional fermentation chamber of FIG. 4 is A, the one-way ventilation fermentation chamber of FIG. 5 is B, and the fermentation chamber of the present application of FIG. 1 is C.
The dimensions of the fermentation chamber are 2.9 m wide, 3.2 m deep and 1.8 m high. In addition, in each temperature control, A is product temperature control, and B and C are room temperature control.

[Table 1]

[Table 2]

As shown in Table 1, in A, the maximum product temperature difference is 4.1 ° C., and because five empty containers are inserted in each shelf, ventilation is relatively good and the quality is generally good. However, the production rate is poor. Further, as shown in Table 2, when the number of natto stored increased, the maximum product temperature difference became 7.2 ° C, and some excessive fermentation was observed.

In B, as shown in Table 1, the maximum product temperature difference is 6.0.
The temperature gradient was high, and there was a large temperature gradient before, during, and after the wind tunnel, and overfermentation was observed in part of the natto.

In C, as shown in Tables 1 and 2, in front of the wind tunnel,
The product temperature gradient after and inside is extremely small, and the heat transfer between natto and air is performed regularly and precisely. Therefore, quality uniformity and production rate are superior to A and B.

[0034]

As described above, when the fermentation chamber 10 of the present invention is used, the conditioned air supplied into the fermentation chamber 10 is the wind tunnel 1
Ventilation is alternately changed from the open ends 17a, 17b on both sides of 6 every predetermined time, so that the temperature gradient of the product temperature in the wind tunnel 16 due to the heat of fermentation can be averaged, and excessive fermentation or insufficient fermentation can be prevented.

Uniform conditioned air can be supplied to all natto from the beginning of fermentation, and as a result, heat exchange between natto and conditioned air, and steam and carbon dioxide can be regularly and precisely controlled according to the fermentation process. .. As a result, it is possible to make the quality uniform and significantly improve the productivity.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a fermentation apparatus of the present invention taken along the flow direction of conditioned air.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view in a direction perpendicular to FIG.

3A and 3B are explanatory views of a loading state of the container, FIG. 3A is a cross-sectional view taken along the flow direction of the conditioned air, and FIG. 3B is a side view seen from the end face of the wind tunnel.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a conventional air agitation type fermentation chamber.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional improved one-way ventilation type fermentation chamber.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Fermentation Room 11 Air Conditioning Unit 15 Blower 16 Wind Tunnel 17a, 17b Opening End 18 Rectifier Plate 19 Chamber 26 Rectifier 27 Rotation Control Device 28 Temperature Detector

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshio Fukushi 55-1 Hatada, Minamimachi, Sannohe-gun, Aomori

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A food fermentation method in which food to be fermented is housed in a dedicated container, and air-permeable air is supplied by stacking and accommodating ventilated containers in which the dedicated containers are aligned and arranged, and a ventilation direction of the conditioned air is set to a predetermined value. A method for fermenting a food product by reversing the direction of ventilation according to a program. 2. The fermentation of the food by the forward and reverse rotation of the ventilation direction according to claim 1, wherein the air flow rate of the conditioned air is automatically adjusted in accordance with an increase in the fermentation heat accompanying the fermentation of the food. Method. 3. A food fermentation apparatus for accommodating food to be fermented in a special container, and accommodating ventilated containers in which the special containers are arranged in an array to supply conditioned air, wherein the containers are arranged in a fermentation chamber. Forward and reverse of the ventilation direction, characterized in that a wind tunnel having open ends at both ends for accommodating the shelves and a rotation control device of a blower for alternately passing the wind tunnel in the forward and reverse directions are provided. Fermentation equipment for food by. 4. The apparatus for fermenting food by normal and reverse rotation of the ventilation direction according to claim 3, further comprising a rectifying plate which is in contact with the opening ends on both sides of the wind tunnel and makes the air volume uniform over the entire surface of the opening ends. .. 5. The apparatus for fermenting food according to claim 3, wherein the space portions of the fermentation chamber in contact with the open ends on both sides of the wind tunnel have the same shape. 6. The food product according to claim 1, wherein a rectifier is provided outside the rectifying plate for rectifying the flow direction of the conditioned air supplied to the rectifying plate. Fermentation equipment. 7. The rotation control device of the blower is configured to detect the temperature and the product temperature of the conditioned air at both open ends of the wind tunnel, and control the rotation speed of the blower based on the temperature difference. The fermentation apparatus for foodstuffs according to claim 3, wherein the ventilation direction is normal and reverse.