JPH0558703B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a liquid injection device for a food extrusion molding machine, and particularly to a liquid injection device that enables continuous and uniform injection of liquid.

For example, in a food extrusion molding machine for making sweets, etc., generally one or more shafts with screws fitted into the barrel are arranged and these shafts are rotated. In the case of multiple shafts, the screws are engaged or disengaged to rotate while maintaining a small gap between them and the inner wall of the barrel. In such a structure, starches such as corn starch and wheat, or food materials such as meat and fish are introduced into the barrel, crushed or crushed into fine pieces, and then crushed into granules or powder by pressurization and heating, and then refined. This was then extruded through small holes to form foods.

In this case, the screw used is a combination of shapes for different purposes, such as a screw shape mainly for the purpose of transportation and compression, a screw shape for the purpose of kneading, and a screw shape for promoting crushing. The ingredients are strongly pressed between the screws and the inner wall of the barrel, as well as between the screws of multiple shafts, and are then kneaded, crushed, heated and pressurized, and then subjected to gelatinization processes such as cooking or steaming. It will be done. Important factors for promoting gelatinization of foodstuffs include the addition of water and heating to the foodstuffs.

When water is supplied to foodstuffs, the viscosity increases, and as the viscosity increases, the pressure increases, and in the case of heating, the temperature is expected to rise. In other words, when food is heated under pressure, the boiling point temperature rises by approximately 10°C for every atmospheric pressure, and it becomes possible to heat foods that normally boil at 100°C to over 100°C, and water acts as a heat transfer medium between the foods. You can expect better heating effects over time.

Pregelatinized starch (α-starch) has a stronger ability to expand with water than natural starch (β-starch) and is more susceptible to the action of digestive oxygen, giving it a so-called umami flavor. If this α-starch is rapidly dehydrated and dried at high temperatures to a moisture content of 15% or less, it will not become β-starch. Since such α-starch can be eaten immediately without heating by simply adding water or hot water, it is widely used in dried rice, instant rice cakes, foods for infants, and the like. As described above, hydration is an important element in processing foodstuffs, that is, in promoting gelatinization of starch.

When producing dried α-starch as described above, unnecessary water is added to the ingredients, and excess water must be dehydrated.
Extra ingredients needed to be heated and dried, increasing costs. Therefore, the liquid injection device of the food extrusion molding machine needs to have a function to control the amount of water added to the food material. Furthermore, when processing foodstuffs using a food extrusion molding machine, it is necessary to control the most suitable temperature, pressure, and moisture content. The liquid device also needs a high-pressure water addition function.

[Prior art]

Here, an example of a food extrusion molding machine equipped with a conventional liquid injection device will be described with reference to FIG. First, the food extrusion molding machine 11 has a plurality of barrels 13A, 1 on the base 12.
3B, 13C...13N are integrally attached, and inside the base 12, various operations such as transfer or kneading are carried out on the outer periphery of a shaft 14 that is rotated by a drive unit (not shown) provided on the right side of the base 12. A plurality of screws 15 intended for this purpose are fitted together in a combination. A hopper 16 is provided at the top of the right barrel 13A, into which food (not shown) is introduced, and the hopper 16 is adapted to be supplied with a fixed amount of food from a feeder 17. Furthermore, barrel 1
3B, 13C...13N have pressure resistance.

A plurality of heat exchangers 18B, 18C...18N are attached to the outer periphery of the barrel after the second barrel 13B from the right to cool or heat it.
The temperature of each barrel is determined by the temperature sensor 1 installed in each barrel.
9B, 19C...19N and an automatic temperature controller (not shown) can be used to arbitrarily control the temperature. A die 21 having a small hole 20 is fixed to the end face of the barrel 13N at the tip.

A tank 32 serving as a water injection device 31 is opened at the top and stores water inside, and an on-off valve 33, a metering pump 34, and a check valve 35 are connected in series from the bottom to a hole 22 opened in the flange of the barrel 13A. ing.

To form food in such a mechanism,
The drive unit rotates the screw 15 via the shaft 14 and also rotates the screw 15 from the feeder 17 to the hopper 16.
The food material is introduced into the barrel 13A through the barrel 13A. The introduced ingredients are transferred to the barrels 13A, 13 while being transferred, kneaded, crushed under pressure, and heated by the screw 15.
B, 13C... 13N move to the left, during which α processing is performed and extruded from the small hole 20 of the die 21.
While the food is moving through the barrel 13A, etc., water in the tank 32 is pressurized by the metering pump 34 and injected through the hole 22 of the barrel 13A.

As metering pumps, gear pumps and piston pumps are usually used because the pressure inside the barrel is high depending on the water injection location, and as is well known, when these pumps inject water under pressure, the discharge pressure and discharge water volume are Fluctuations, or pulsating flow phenomena, occur. Particularly when pouring a small amount of water, the water is poured intermittently, making it impossible to uniformly pour water into the food over time. For example, when extruding food at 20 kg per hour and adding 10% water, the amount of water injected is 2 kg per hour, and the specific gravity of the water is 1.
This means that the amount of water injected is 2 per hour, or a minute 0.56 cc per second, and it was impossible to inject water uniformly with a conventional gear pump or the like.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks and to provide a water injection device for a food extrusion molding machine that does not cause pulsation and can uniformly inject even a small amount of water under high pressure. .

[Key points of the invention]

The liquid injection device of the food extrusion molding machine in the present invention includes:
A pressurized source such as air or nitrogen gas, a pressure regulator that adjusts the gas pressure of the pressurized source, and a sealed container that stores a liquid such as water inside and receives the gas pressure adjusted by the pressure regulator on the top of the liquid. Consisting of a tank, an on-off valve that opens and closes the discharge of liquid from the closed tank, and a water injection pipe with one end connected downstream of the on-off valve, so that liquid can be injected into the food extrusion molding machine from the other end of the water injection pipe. It is characterized by

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below with reference to FIG. 1 showing one embodiment. Note that the food extrusion molding machine 11 has already been explained in FIG. 3, which is a conventional example, so a new explanation will be omitted. As a liquid injection device 51, a closed tank 52 that stores water or the like inside has a pressure regulator 5 that adjusts the gas pressure of a pressurization source 53 such as air or nitrogen gas.
4 and a shutoff valve 55 on its upper surface. From the bottom of the sealed tank 52, an on-off valve 56 with a throttling function for opening and closing the release of internal water, etc., a water injection pipe 57 with a pressure reducing function, and a check valve 58 are connected in series to the hole 22 of the barrel 13A. . Note that 59 is a water tap, and 60 is a gas relief valve.

Next, the operation of the embodiment described above will be explained. When extruding food, water is first stored in a sealed tank 52. This is done by closing the shutoff valve 55 and the on-off valve 56, opening the gas relief valve 60 to release the gas inside the sealed tank 52, and opening the water tap 59 to receive water from a water source (not shown) into the sealed tank 52. Fill with water. After filling with water, the water tap 59 and gas relief valve 60 are closed, and the pressure regulator 54 adjusts the gas pressure to the required pressure.

Subsequently, by operating the food extrusion molding machine 11 and opening the on-off valve 56, the water in the sealed tank 52 passes through the pouring pipe 57 and the check valve 58 to the barrel 1.
Water is injected into the barrel 13A from the hole 22 at 3A.
The amount of water injected at this time may be adjusted by adjusting the gas pressure acting on the water surface in the closed tank 52 using the pressure regulator 54, or by adjusting the opening degree of the on-off valve 56, or by using a thin water injection pipe 57. It is also possible to provide an aperture function and replace this. Note that the check valve 58 is not necessary if there is no risk of backflow, but is necessary if the pressure inside the barrel 13A or the like is high.

FIG. 2 shows the main parts of another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, a plurality of water injection pipes with different diameters, for example, three pipes 57A to 57C are provided, and on-off valves 71A to 71C are connected in series to each pipe. To adjust the amount of water injected, use water inlet pipe 57A or 5.
Select one or more of 7C and open/close valves 71A to 7 connected to the selected water injection pipe.
One of 1C is opened and the others are closed.

In the above description, water was added to the barrel 13A, etc., but it goes without saying that syrups and other flavored liquids can also be added to season the food.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the liquid injection device for a food extrusion molding machine according to the present invention injects water into the barrel of the food extrusion molding machine by applying gas pressure to a closed tank, so it does not require a pump like a conventional gear pump. There was no flow phenomenon and it became possible to inject water uniformly and stably over time. Further, the amount of water injected can be adjusted over a wide range by adjusting the gas pressure, adjusting the opening of the on-off valve, adjusting the throttle of the water inlet pipe, etc. in any combination. Furthermore, even if the pressure inside the barrel of the food extrusion molding machine is high, since gas pressure is used, water can be injected at any high pressure.

In this way, water can be poured uniformly and stably into the food, so there is no uneven hydration of the food, and the structure, specific gravity, hardness, degree of expansion, and color of the product extruded using the food extrusion molding machine are uniform. It has the advantage of being easy to process with high quality. Furthermore, since the amount of water to be poured can be accurately controlled, unnecessary costs such as dehydration due to excessive moisture content of foodstuffs are eliminated, and the present invention has many advantages, such as being highly economical.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional side view of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partially sectional side view showing the main parts of another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a partially sectional side view of a conventional example. FIG. 3 is a partially sectional side view. 11...Food extrusion molding machine, 13A, 13B, 1
3C to 13N... Barrel, 52... Sealed tank, 53... Pressure source, 54... Pressure regulator, 56
...Opening/closing valve, 57...Water injection pipe.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pressurizing source such as air or nitrogen gas, a pressure regulator that adjusts the gas pressure of the pressurizing source, and a liquid such as water stored inside and the pressure regulator above the liquid. It consists of a closed tank that receives the gas pressure adjusted by the closed tank, an on-off valve that opens and closes the discharge of the liquid from the closed tank, and a water injection pipe that has one end connected downstream of the on-off valve, and the other end of the water injection pipe. A liquid injection device for a food extrusion molding machine, characterized in that liquid can be poured into the food extrusion molding machine from the inside. 2. The liquid injection device for a food extrusion molding machine according to claim 1, wherein the on-off valve has a variable throttle function. 3. The liquid injection device for a food extrusion molding machine according to claim 1, wherein the water injection pipe is a thin tube having a throttling function.