JPH0547A - Tea leaf water content measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To measure water content of raw tea leaves of raw material containing a large amount of water and tea leaves during a tea manufacturing process, which has been impossible to measure. CONSTITUTION:A tea leaf water content measuring device consists of a weight measuring device of tea leaves of sample, a device of bringing tea leaves into contact with a heating material under pressure and drying, a device of measuring weight of the dried tea leaves and a computer of taking in measured data and calculating water content. Operation of tea manufacture processing is made accurate and ready, qualities and productivities of the product are improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the water content of tea leaves being processed during the process of producing green tea leaves collected from a tea plantation and collected in a tea factory, and in a green tea manufacturing process.

2. Description of the Related Art An apparatus for automatically measuring the water content of green tea leaves before processing has not been available so far. As a moisture measuring device during the tea making process, a method of measuring the electric conductivity of tea leaves (Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-39041), a method of using a microwave (Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-39853), and a method of utilizing near infrared rays (Japanese Patent Publication No. 1)
-215241) and the like. Especially for those containing 100% or more of water (% of water in the text is based on dry weight), there is no moisture measuring device, so sample tea leaves should be collected by hand and left in a dryer for a long time. It is general that the water content is calculated by calculating the water content evaporated from the weight loss after evaporation by drying. This method is called absolutely dry method.

[0002]

Each of the above-mentioned devices has the following problems.
It can be measured when the water content of the tea leaves is 100% or less,
When it contains more water, it cannot be measured. Further, the above-mentioned absolute drying method requires a very long time and labor, and cannot be used for controlling tea processing. Tea leaves contain 400 to 500% of water in the state of raw leaves. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for measuring the water content of tea leaves from the state of raw leaves in which the tea leaves mainly contain 100% or more water content to the rough kneading step.

[0003]

According to the present invention, tea leaves are automatically collected, measured by a weight sensor, dried rapidly after the measurement, and the dried tea leaves are measured again by the weight sensor. A means for calculating the water content is used from the weight of the sample tea leaves and the weight after drying using a computer. As a means for rapidly drying the sample tea leaves, a means for squeezing the tea leaves with a high temperature object and instantaneously evaporating the water content of the tea leaves by the pressing force and conduction heat is used.

[0004]

When the tea leaf is pressed against a high temperature object, the conduction heat transfer directly heats the tea leaf to boil the water content in the cells, destroy the cells and dry them instantly. In the present invention, the weight of tea leaves before and after drying is measured, and the water content of the tea leaves is measured in a short time.

[0005]

[Embodiment 1] Reference numeral 1 is a sample tea leaf extracting device, which may be a belt conveyor, a vibration conveyor, or any other device as long as it can take out sample tea leaves from a tea making machine 2. Reference numeral 3 denotes a measuring device, which measures the weight W ₁ of the sample tea leaves by the load cell 4. After weighing, the upper plate of the weighing device 3 is inclined and the tea leaves are put into the drying device 5. Drum 6 is 10
These are a pair of rotating drums heated to about 0 ° C to 250 ° C, and the tea leaves dropped from the upper part are slowly sandwiched, and the tea leaves are dried instantaneously by the heat and pressing force of the drums. Reference numeral 7 is a scraper for oystering the dried tea leaves adhering to the drum 6. The dried tea leaves 8 are dropped onto the pan of the measuring device 9, and the weight W ₂ after drying is measured by the load cell 10. The dried tea leaves fall onto the conveyor 11 and the tea making machine 2
Return to inside. It may be stored in another container (not shown in the drawing) without returning to the tea making machine 2. The weight data W ₁ W ₂ measured by the load cells 4 and 10 is sent to a microcomputer (not shown in the drawing) and the following calculation is performed to calculate the water content H%. H% = {(W ₁ −W ₂ ) / W ₂ } × 100

[0006]

Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, a measuring device 3 for sample tea leaves before drying and a measuring device 9 for dried tea leaves are separately provided.
In the second embodiment, the dryer 5 is suspended from the load cell 12,
The dryer 5 and the sample tea leaves are measured together. While the heating drum 6 is stopped, the sample tea leaves are loaded onto the tea leaf receiver 14 by the sample tea leaf take-out device 1, and the weight W ₃ before drying is measured by the load cell 12 in this state. Then, the tea leaf receiver 14 is opened, the tea leaf is dropped onto the heating drum 6, and the heating drum 6 is rotated to dry the sample. The dried tea leaves collect on the bottom lid 13. In this state, the weight W ₄ after drying is similarly measured by the load cell 12. After measurement, the bottom lid 13 opens, and sample tea leaves are on the conveyor 1.
1 is discharged. The water content H% is calculated by the following calculation. _{H% = {(W 3 -W} 4) / (W 4 -W 5)} × 100 However, W ₅ is the weight of only dryer 5.

[0007]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, the water content of fresh tea leaves has not been measured, but it has been presumed that a large amount of water content is felt by touch, and the operating conditions for each process of tea production including steaming are determined. According to this invention,
By measuring the water content of fresh tea leaves, each tea making condition can be set accurately. Also, during each process of leaf-beating and rough kneading, the tea leaves being processed are sampled, the water content is measured, and whether the operating conditions such as air volume, temperature, and rotation speed are accurate, and the drying is done by design. You can know what. Further, it becomes possible to control the extraction timing of each process by the water content. It is very effective in efficiently producing high quality tea leaves.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 are block diagrams of the tea leaf moisture measuring apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a case where a weight sensor for sample tea leaves and a weight sensor for dried tea leaves are separately provided.
Shows the case where one weight sensor is used for both.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Sample tea leaf extractor 2 Tea making machine 3 Measuring instrument 4 Load cell 5 Dryer 6 Heating drum 7 Scraper 8 Dry tea leaf 9 Measuring instrument 10 Load cell 11 Conveyor 12 Load cell 13 Bottom lid 14 Tea leaf receiver

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. Fresh tea leaves, or a portion of tea leaves during tea making, collected, weighed, pressed against a heating object to evaporate water in a short time, and dried tea leaves. An apparatus for measuring water content in tea leaves, which comprises measuring the water content by measuring the weight of water. [0001]