JPH0574254U - Viscous food cutting and transferring device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] Cutting viscous foods that can be reliably sent to the next process by preventing the cut viscous foods from sticking to each other during the transfer of viscous foods such as margarine. The purpose is to provide a transfer device. [Structure] A cutting means 2 for sequentially cutting and processing a viscous food a discharged from a nozzle 1, and a conveyor device 3 for transferring the cutting means 2.
With. An enclosure wall 33 is formed at least around the transfer surface of the conveyor device 3, and a fluid supply nozzle 4 for supplying a fluid such as alcohol is arranged in the enclosure. The fluid supplied from the fluid supply port 4 surrounds the wall 3
As the viscous food a is transferred in the stored fluid while being stored in the viscous food 3, the viscous food is immersed in the fluid, the fluid enters between the viscous foods, and re-adhesion between the viscous foods is prevented. To prevent.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to improvement of a device for cutting and processing viscous foods such as butter and margarine.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Generally, when cutting viscous foods such as butter and margarine, pre-processed viscous foods are continuously discharged from a nozzle or other discharge port, and the discharged viscous foods are sequentially cut, packaged, It is transferred to the next process such as packing. Conventionally, the shape of the discharge port such as a nozzle that discharges viscous food has a relatively simple shape such as a square shape, and the viscous food is discharged in one thick column. However, recently, consumers' tastes are diversified, and it is required that the cross section has a round shape, a triangular shape, a square shape, and a thin shape. It is easy to exhale and cut these thin stick-shaped viscous foods one by one, but it is inefficient. Therefore, it has been attempted to divide the nozzle outlets into a grid and simultaneously eject a large number of thin stick-shaped viscous foods from the divided outlets for cutting. However, there is a problem that viscous foods immediately after cutting tend to stick to each other and stick to each other during transportation of viscous foods, especially immediately after cutting.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 Therefore, the present invention can prevent viscous foods from sticking to each other when cutting and transferring viscous foods such as margarine, especially immediately after cutting, and reliably send them to the next process. An object is to provide a cutting and transferring device for viscous foods.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention solves the above problems by providing a cutting and transferring device for viscous foods having the following features. The viscous food cutting and conveying device of the present invention comprises a cutting means for sequentially cutting and processing the continuously supplied viscous food, and a conveyor device arranged below the cutting means. This conveyor device has a transfer surface on which the viscous food is placed and transferred in a predetermined direction. An enclosure is formed at least around the transfer surface of the conveyor device, and a fluid supply port for supplying a fluid such as alcohol is arranged in the enclosure so that the fluid supplied from the fluid supply port is in the enclosure. The viscous food is transported in the fluid stored in the fluid. In the present invention, cutting refers to processing a viscous food with a material harder than a viscous food.The viscous food is divided by a blade, a cut is made, and the viscous food is removed by a cutting die. It is also included.

[0005]

[Action]

 In the viscous food cutting and transferring device of the present invention, which is provided with the above means, the viscous food transferred by the conveyor device disposed below the cutting means is immersed in a fluid such as alcohol. Therefore, fluid enters between the viscous foods and prevents re-adhesion between the viscous foods.

[0006]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1A is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a plan view thereof.

The viscous food cutting and transferring apparatus of this embodiment has a nozzle 1 for continuously ejecting a viscous food a such as margarine, a cutting means 2 for cutting the ejected viscous food a, and a viscous food. And a conveyor device 3 for placing and transferring.

An extruder (not shown) for continuously extruding the viscous food a is connected to the nozzle 1 through an appropriate transfer path 5 such as a pipe. For this extruder, for example, an appropriate device for supplying the viscous food to the nozzle 1 such as a molding device described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-27571, which is the present invention, can be used. It should be noted that it is possible to freely change the viscous food a, instead of the extruder, as long as the viscous food a can be appropriately discharged.

The opening shape of the discharge port 11 at the tip of the nozzle 1 may be freely set. In this embodiment, since the viscous food is processed into a pencil shape, a large number of circular shapes as shown in FIG. 2 are used. A grid with openings is arranged and the viscous food is cut into a cylindrical shape and discharged. The shape of the discharge port 11 of the nozzle 1 can be freely changed, such as a quadrangular cross section, a triangular shape, and an ellipse, and can be changed appropriately. The nozzle 1 discharges the viscous food in the horizontal direction by bending it approximately 90 degrees from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction, but it transfers it from the beginning in the horizontal direction and discharges it in the horizontal direction. The overall shape can be changed as appropriate.

The cutting means 2 has a blade 21 for vertically cutting the viscous food a, and an air cylinder 22 for sliding the blade. In this embodiment, a Piano wire is used as the blade 21, and the piano wire is slid up and down immediately before the discharge port 11 to cut the discharged viscous food. This piano wire can be heated at room temperature, but can also be heated. In addition to the piano wire, a plate-shaped blade made of an appropriate material such as metal or ceramic may be used. Further, as the cutting means, other cutting means such as an ultrasonic cutting device other than a blade may be used.

In this embodiment, the conveyor device 3 includes a first conveyor 31 arranged below the nozzle 1 as shown in FIG. 1, and a second conveyor 32 continuing to the rear side of the first conveyor 31. It consists of two conveyors.

The first conveyor 31 transfers the viscous food a discharged from the discharge port of the nozzle 1 and cut by the cutting means 2 in a substantially horizontal direction, and uses a belt conveyor having a belt as a transfer surface 31 a. The viscous food a is placed on the transfer surface 31a and transferred at a constant speed (preferably a speed substantially equal to or slightly higher than the discharge speed of the nozzle 1). The form of the transfer surface, such as a plate, may be changed as appropriate in place of the belt.

Next, the second conveyer 32 is arranged at the end of the first conveyer 31 and carries the cut viscous food a and transfers it to the next step such as packaging. In this embodiment, The belt is used as the transfer surface 32a, and is set to be higher as it goes to the rear side. The transfer speed of the second conveyor 32 is preferably approximately equal to or slightly higher than the transfer speed of the first conveyor 31.

An enclosing wall 33 is provided from the end of the first conveyor to the start of the second conveyor. The surrounding wall 33 is composed of a base wall 33a arranged so as to cross the vicinity of the base of the nozzle 1, and side walls 33b and 33b extending from both sides of the base wall 33a toward the terminal end. These side walls 33b and 33b are extended to the vicinity of the start end of the third conveyor 32, and the lower ends thereof are inclined according to the inclination of the second conveyor 32. The surrounding wall 33 is arranged on the transfer surfaces of the conveyors 31 and 32 while being supported by the frame 34. It is preferable that the lower end of the surrounding wall 33 and the transfer surfaces of the conveyors 31 and 32 are in contact with each other, but it is necessary that the transfer of these conveyors is not hindered. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a flexible fold at the lower end of the surrounding wall 33 so as to achieve both the above contact and smoothness of transfer. If this contact is difficult and difficult, it is preferable to make the distance between the lower end of the surrounding wall 33 and the transfer surfaces of both conveyors 31 and 32 small.

Next, the fluid supply nozzle 4 is arranged above the enclosure wall 33, and alcohol is injected from the fluid supply nozzle 4 so that the interior of the enclosure wall 33 is filled with alcohol. ing. The fluid supply nozzle 4 is connected to an alcohol storage tank (not shown) via a pump (not shown) for feeding alcohol under pressure. A fluid recovery tank 6 is provided below both conveyors 31 and 32, and is connected to a storage tank (not shown). Therefore, the discharged alcohol is collected by the fluid recovery tank 6 and is circulated from the storage tank via the pump to the fluid supply nozzle 4. The alcohol is preferably cooled to a low temperature (room temperature or lower, about 0 ° C. in this embodiment), but may be room temperature. As the fluid to be supplied, in addition to alcohol, disinfectant or water can be adopted. However, when alcohol is used, disinfection of the transfer surface can be performed at the same time as cooling, and it does not solidify even at 0 ° C or below It has good cooling properties and is advantageous.

The fluid supply nozzle 4 may be arranged so as to discharge the fluid evenly over the entire transfer surfaces of the conveyors 31 and 32 in the enclosure wall 33, but the fluid supply nozzle 4 discharges from only one location. You can just let them do it. Even if it is provided evenly, it is not limited to be arranged along the transfer direction of the transfer surface, and for example, a plurality of widths approximately equal to the width of the transfer surface may be provided in the front-rear direction so as to cross the transfer direction. Alternatively, the discharge may be concentrated at the discharge port of the nozzle 1, that is, at the position where the cutting by the cutting means 2 is carried out. This makes it possible to prevent sticking of viscous foods more reliably during cutting. It is also preferable to use

The cutting and transferring method of the viscous food by this apparatus will be described first. First, the fluid supply nozzle 4 is provided in the transfer surfaces of both conveyors 31 and 32 surrounded by the enclosure wall 33. Alcohol is discharged from the container, and the alcohol fills the surrounding wall 33. At this time, since the second conveyor 32 is inclined upward, alcohol does not flow out even if the surrounding wall 33 is not arranged so as to cross the second conveyor 32. In this state, the viscous food a is discharged from the nozzle 1. At this time, in this embodiment, since the opening of the discharge port 11 has a lattice shape having a large number of circular openings as shown in FIG. 3, the viscous food is cut into a large number of columnar shapes and discharged. To be done. Then, the cutting means 2 cuts these many cylindrical viscous foods into an appropriate length. Then, the cut viscous food is transferred by both conveyors 31 and 32 and sent to the next step. Since both the cutting and the transfer are performed within the enclosure wall 33 filled with alcohol, it is possible to prevent alcohol from entering between viscous foods and sticking the cut viscous foods to each other. By cooling the alcohol, the viscous food is also cooled, and its viscosity is lowered, so that the sticking can be prevented more reliably. The enclosure wall can also prevent the cut viscous food from rolling off the transfer surface. The side wall 33b of the surrounding wall may be constituted by a belt conveyor, and the side wall 33b may be sent at substantially the same transfer speed as the conveyors 31 and 32.

Although the alcohol fills the inside of the enclosure wall 33 as described above, the alcohol gradually flows out from the gap between the enclosure wall and the belts of the conveyors 31 and 32 and the gap between the conveyors 31 and 32. Alternatively, it overflows from the upper end of the surrounding wall 33, flows downward, is collected in the fluid recovery tank 6, and is circulated and used.

As shown in FIG. 3, the transfer surface near the end of the first conveyor 31 may be curved upward so that the fluid is stored only in the first conveyor 31. In this way, the fluid does not leak from the gap between the conveyors 31 and 32, and the structure of the second conveyor 32 can be freely set. Specifically, the conveyor belt of the second conveyor 32 can be replaced with a net, which allows alcohol to be cut off during the transfer of the second conveyor 32. By doing so, the alcohol of the viscous food a transferred from the first conveyor 31 in a state where alcohol is adhered thereto can be dropped when transferred by the second conveyor 32. Furthermore, when the second conveyor 32 is a net conveyor, an air nozzle may be arranged between the forward path and the return path of the net. If the air nozzle is directed downward, the alcohol attached to the net can be blown away in the return path, and if the air nozzle is directed upward, the alcohol attached to the net and the viscous food can be blown away in the outward path. Alcohol dropped from the net conveyor should be collected in the fluid collection tank. It is possible to freely design the second conveyor 32, change the form of the transfer surface such as a net, a plate or the like in place of a net, or change to another conveyor type such as a bucket conveyor. May be. Further, regarding the nozzle, the nozzle 1 may be rotatable up and down so that the angle can be adjusted from the horizontal state to the inclined state. Further, although not shown, the nozzle may be vertically arranged so that the viscous food cut from above is dropped downward.

Further, at the end of the second conveyor 32, a wrapping conveyor (not shown) following the next process such as wrapping may be connected. Then, it is possible to arrange the end of the second conveyor 32 and the packaging conveyor with a step, and at this step, the viscous foods a cut into pencils can be finally separated separately. Further, the viscous food a transferred by the second conveyor 32 may be appropriately refrigerated or frozen by providing a refrigerating or freezing means on the packaging conveyor or the like following the next step.

Although illustration is omitted, a cooling device may be arranged after the second conveyor 32 or in the first conveyor 31 if necessary. This cooling device is provided with a casing having a large number of transfer surfaces and a device for cooling the inside of the casing 41 to cool the viscous food product and further bring it into a frozen state. The configuration of this cooling device is arbitrary, and cold air sent from the refrigerator by a fan may be guided to the side of the transfer surface and sucked from the other side to the suction port and circulated. Alternatively, liquefied nitrogen or the like may be used for rapid cooling to an extremely low temperature. A second conveyor equipped with a multi-stage conveyor was adopted, and these were arranged in the casing of the cooling device to reduce the installation area of the device and to secure a sufficient distance for cooling. Good. In addition, a plurality of conveyor devices may be arranged in the lateral direction, or may have a spiral transfer path, and the type and arrangement thereof can be appropriately changed.

Next, a further embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In the device of this embodiment, the transfer surface near the end of the first conveyor 31 is curved upward, and Substantially the entire first conveyor 31 is arranged in an enclosure tank 7 having a bottom surface and front, rear, left and right walls. Then, alcohol is made to flow out from the fluid supply nozzle 4 to fill the vicinity of the upper end of the enclosure 7 with the fluid, and is discharged by overflow from the discharge pipe 8 so that the amount of alcohol in the enclosure 7 is kept constant. Although not shown, the discharged alcohol is circulated by a pump as in the previous embodiment and returned from the fluid supply nozzle 4 into the enclosure tank 7. If necessary, an alcohol cooling device may be arranged in this circulation path.

The nozzle 1 of the viscous food is vertically arranged and discharges the viscous food downward. The cutting means 2 has a blade 21 for cutting viscous food and an air cylinder 22 for sliding the blade. In this embodiment, a piano wire is used as the blade 21, and the piano wire is cut by sliding it back and forth immediately below the discharge port 11. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, a frame 23 supports three blades 21 in parallel. Then, by sliding the frame 23 with an air cylinder (not shown in FIG. 5), the three blades 21 are simultaneously slid. This sliding width is equal to two circular openings serving as the discharge ports 11 of the nozzle 1, and one blade 21 discharges from the two circular openings by one slide. The viscous food to be cut is cut, and the three blades 21 simultaneously cut the viscous food to be discharged from the circular openings having a total of 6 steps. Reference numeral 24 in the figure denotes a stopper for preventing excessive movement of the blade 21, and this stopper 24 is formed so as to project from the end surface of the nozzle 1 and comes into contact with the blade 21 when the blade 21 moves excessively. This is to stop this.

Further, in this embodiment, since almost the entire first conveyor 31 is arranged in the enclosing tank 7, it is not necessary to make the conveyor belt impermeable as in the previous embodiment. , Can be implemented as a net conveyor. This net can be stretched freely, but for example, the net may be stretched between two chains on the left and right. By using such a net conveyor, the alcohol adhering to the viscous food can be quickly dropped when it comes out above the enclosure 7.

In addition to the above embodiments, the present invention can be modified as appropriate. For example, the nozzle 1 and the cutting device 2 are arranged above the enclosure wall to enclose the viscous food after completion of the cutting. You may make it fall in the fluid of a wall and may be made to transfer in the fluid. Further, a plurality of cutting blades of the cutting device 2 may be arranged along the transfer direction to cut the discharged viscous food into a plurality of pieces in the longitudinal direction.

[0026]

As described above, the present invention can prevent sticky foods immediately after cutting from sticking to each other when cutting and transferring viscous foods such as margarine, thereby ensuring the next process. It was possible to provide a cutting and transferring device for viscous foods that can be sent to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention,
(B) is the same top view.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a discharge port of the nozzle of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view of still another embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a discharge port of the nozzle of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Nozzle, 2 ... Cutting means, 3 ... Conveyor apparatus, 4 ... Fluid supply nozzle, 6 ... Fluid recovery tank, 7 ... Enclosure tank, 31 ... 1st conveyor, 32 ... 2nd conveyor, 33 ... Enclosure wall, a ...
Viscous food.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A conveyor device (3) provided with a cutting means (2) for sequentially cutting and processing a continuously supplied viscous food (a), and a conveyor device (3) arranged below the cutting means. (3) has a transfer surface (31a) (31b) on which the viscous food is placed and transferred in a predetermined direction, and at least around the transfer surface (31a) (31b) of the conveyor device (3). As the enclosure (7) (33) is formed, this enclosure (7)
(33) Fluid supply port for supplying fluid such as alcohol to the inside (4)
The fluid supplied from the fluid supply port (4) is stored in the enclosure (7) (33), and the viscous food (a) is transferred in the stored fluid. Viscous food cutting and transferring device.