JPH0581221B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a method for processing grains such as corn, millet, etc.
This relates to a device that converts

[Conventional technology and its problems]

Traditionally, grains such as corn and millet have been used as feed for livestock such as cows and pigs to help each livestock digest and improve their growth, as well as to save labor on the part of breeders when preparing feed. As a precaution, α
is being transformed.

This gelatinization is usually carried out by steaming, and conventional processing apparatuses are disclosed in JP-A-49-104488, JP-A-48-85794, and JP-B-Sho 57-8591.

The former two U.S. Pat.
The technique described in the 85794 publication involves steaming by sending pressurized steam into a processing tank. However, since the tank is not sealed, that is, the pressurized steam is circulating inside the tank.
There is a lot of wasted steam and the steaming efficiency is also poor.

On the other hand, the latter technique described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-8591 is for steaming in a sealed state, and as shown in Fig. 2, a grain inlet with a Rotzker valve V provided on one side of the upper surface of an oblong tank T is used. At the same time, a discharge port is formed with a Lotzkerbals V on the other side of the lower surface, and horizontal conveyors C are installed in several stages in the tank, and grain is input into the tank T from the input port and pressurized. Steam is sent in, and the grains are steamed and gelatinized while being conveyed on the conveyor C by the steam.

However, in this device, there is a problem that the conveyor C is installed in several stages, which increases the size.In addition, since the grain is stirred only by falling between the conveyors C, there is also the problem that uniform steaming is not achieved. .

The present invention takes the above points into consideration and aims to provide a compact gelatinization treatment apparatus that can perform uniform steaming.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a grain pregelatinization treatment device that sends pressurized steam into a sealed tank filled with grains, heats and humidifies the grains, and steams them. The lower part of the tank is shaped like an inverted truncated cone, and the upper part forms a grain inlet with a Rocker valve, and the lower part forms an outlet with a Rocker valve that can be fully opened. A vertical screw that can be reversed is installed with its lower end reaching near the discharge port, and the tank is sized so that the grain can flow up and down by the drive of the screw, and pressurized steam flows up and down the tank. The structure was created by forming an entrance.

The screw may be of a ribbon type.

[Effect]

The processing device according to the present invention configured as described above is
First, the required amount of grain is introduced into the tank through the input port through the upper rocker valve, and then the tank is sealed by the upper and lower rocker valves. In this sealed state, pressurized steam is sent in and the screw is driven to move the grains at the bottom of the tank upward.
That is, steaming is carried out by fluidizing the grain in a tank.

During this flow action, since the bottom of the tank is shaped like an inverted truncated cone, grains tend to collect at the bottom of the tank, and the screw moves the collected grains upwards.
The flow of grain will be large. Therefore, the pressure and temperature inside the tank are kept constant, and the steam and grains come into good contact with each other, resulting in uniform steaming (gelatinization). Furthermore, at this time, since the steam inlets are located above and below the tank, the pressure and temperature can be kept constant.

When steaming is complete, the upper Rocker valve is opened, the lower Rocker valve is fully opened, and the screw is reversed to move the grains in the tank downward and discharge them. At this time, by fully opening the lower rocker valve, the steam pressure in the tank quickly drops, preventing unnecessary steaming, and the inverted truncated conical shape at the bottom of the tank also allows for smooth discharge. Reversing the screw, creating an inverted truncated conical shape at the bottom of the tank, and discharging in a fully open state are effective because steamed (gelatinized) grains have viscosity. Furthermore, the discharge amount is adjusted by adjusting the rotational speed of the screw based on the viscosity.

During or after this discharge, steam is sent into the tank from its upper inlet to clean it. After washing,
The process moves on to the step of adding grains, and thereafter, the above-mentioned actions are repeated to perform batch-type steaming.

〔Example〕

As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment consists of two tanks 1, each having a lower part shaped like an inverted truncated cone and an upper part shaped like a cylinder.
1, which is supported by a weighing machine 2 and separated from an external frame (not shown). Inside the tank 1, there is provided a vertical screw 3 with a diameter that is approximately one-fourth of the diameter of the inverted truncated cone, and this screw 3 can be rotated in forward and reverse directions by a motor 4 on the top of the tank 1. There is. The screw 3 adopts a ribbon type to minimize grain adhesion.

A butterfly valve 7 is provided in each of the grain input tube 5 in the upper part of the tank 1 and the grain discharge tube 6 in the lower part,
This valve 7 keeps the inside of the tank 1 airtight and allows grain to be fed and discharged. In addition, pressurized steam feed pipes 8 are provided at the top and bottom of the tank 1, and pressurized steam is sent into the tank 1 from the pipes 8.

The upper butterfly valve 7 is connected to the two-pronged feeder pipe 10 via a flake 9, and the feeder pipe 10 and the valve 7 are separated from each other in terms of weight by the flake 9. Dampers 11 are interposed in both branch pipes of the feeder pipe 10, so that both branch pipes can be opened and closed individually. The feeder pipe 10 is connected to the raw material hopper 13 via the main damper 12, and by opening the main damper 12 and the damper 11, the raw material (grain) from the hopper 13 passes through the feeder pipe 10 and reaches the valve 7. Raw material is sent into the tank 1 by opening. In the figure, 14 is a drain port, 15 is an air vent, 16 is a tank internal temperature indicator, and 16' is a tank internal pressure indicator.

The discharge tube 6 is connected to a screw type constant feeder 17 via a flake 9. This feeder 17 has a narrow screw pitch at the connecting part (supply part) of the discharge pipe 6 and widens the other parts, and discharges the same amount on average. A pressing roller 18 consisting of two rollers faces the discharge port of the feeder 17, and this roller 18 removes the water vapor emitted from the raw material sent from the feeder 17 by a blower (not shown), and then transfers the raw material to a subsequent stage. The compressed raw material is sent to a well-known dryer 19. A cooler 20 is provided downstream of the dryer 19, and the cooler 20 cools the steamed and dried raw material back to room temperature.

The embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation will be explained next.

First, the main damper 12 and one damper 11
is opened, a required weight of raw material is sent into one tank 1 through the butterfly valve 7, pressurized steam is sent in with the tank 1 air-locked by the upper and lower butterfly valves 7, and the screw 3 is rotated in the forward direction. The lower raw material is moved upward as shown by the arrow in the figure, and the raw material is flowed in the tank 1 to perform steaming. Due to this flow, the raw materials are smoothly stirred and uniformly steamed (gelatinized).

In this manner, after the raw material is pregelatinized by steaming for a required period of time, the screw 3 is reversed to move it downward, and the raw material is discharged downward to the feeder 17 via the butterfly valve 7. This discharge is performed smoothly because the butterfly valve 7 fully opens the discharge port. Further, during this discharge, pressurized steam is jetted into the tank 1 to perform steam cleaning, and after the cleaning is completed, the steam injection is stopped. The feeder 17 feeds the raw material in fixed quantities to the compression roller 18 for compression, and then the dryer 19
, then lowered to room temperature using a cooler 20.
end the process. It is preferable that rotary valves be provided at the entrances and exits of the dryer 19 and cooler 20 to provide an air lock.

During this operation, the weighing machine 2 measures the weight of the raw material before steaming and the weight of the raw material after steaming, thereby measuring the increased moisture content of the raw material. For example, raw materials usually have a moisture content of around 14%, and 250 kg of raw materials are steamed.
If it weighs 262.5 kg, the water content will increase by about 5% to around 19%. Therefore, based on the moisture content and the measured value from the temperature indicator 16, the conveyance amount of the feeder 17 and the operating time of the compression roller 18, dryer 19, and cooler 20 are proportionally controlled. That is, in the case of the dryer 19, if the water content is high, the residence time of the raw material in the dryer 19 is lengthened, and in the opposite case, it is shortened. This is done by controlling the conveying speed of a conveying means such as a conveyor in the dryer 19. cooler 20
Similarly, the residence time is controlled to correspond to the water content and temperature. The conveyance amount of the feeder 17 is also controlled in accordance with this residence time. Note that instead of proportional control of the operating time, it is also possible to increase the capacity.

On the other hand, in the middle of the above action, raw materials are similarly fed into the other tank 1 and steamed, and after the discharge of one tank 1 is completed, discharge is started. In this way, steaming and discharging are performed alternately in both tanks 1, 1, and the constant feeder 17 continuously feeds the steamed raw material to the compression roller 18, thereby continuously gelatinizing the raw material.

In this embodiment, two tanks 1 are provided, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied with one tank, or with three or more tanks.

〔Effect of the invention〕

This invention is constructed as described above, and steams the raw material (grain) by causing a large flow of raw material (grain) in a tank whose pressure and temperature are kept constant, and after steaming is finished, the steam pressure inside the tank is quickly lowered. Therefore, stirring of the raw material is performed smoothly and uniform gelatinization is performed.

Further, since the lower part of the tank is shaped like an inverted truncated cone and the discharge port is fully opened, and the screw is used for discharge, the discharge is performed smoothly and the amount of discharge can be adjusted.

Furthermore, since the steam inlet is formed in the upper part of the tank, the inside of the tank can be cleaned smoothly.

In addition, since the grain is moved upward from the bottom of the tank and the entire tank is used, the tank capacity corresponding to the amount of processing is also small, which has the effect of making it more compact.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a grain gelatinization apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an example of a conventional gelatinization apparatus. 1...tank, 2...weighing machine, 3...screw, 4...motor, 5...grain feeding tube, 6...discharge tube, 7...butterfly valve, 8...steam feed pipe, 9... ...Flake, 13...Raw material hopper.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. α of grains that is heated, humidified, and steamed by sending pressurized steam into a sealed tank 1 containing grains.
In the chemical processing apparatus, the tank 1 has a vertically elongated lower part shaped like an inverted truncated cone, and has a grain input port provided with a Rocker valve 7 at its upper part, and an outlet provided with a Rocker valve 7 that can be fully opened at its lower part. and an external motor 4 inside the tank 1.
A vertical screw 3 is provided with its lower end reaching near the discharge port, and the tank 1 is sized so that the grain can flow up and down by the drive of the screw 3. This is a grain gelatinization processing device that has an inlet for pressurized steam. 2. α of the grain according to claim 1, wherein the screw 3 is ribbon-shaped.
processing equipment.