JPH06186016A - Measuring-analyzing device for expansive force of bread dough - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To noncontactingly measure the expansion height of bread dough by attaching an ultrasonic (distance) sensor to the upper part of a sample vessel, and electronically processing and recording a signal sent from the sensor. CONSTITUTION:On the volumetric variation of a test piece (bread dough) 2 put in a sample vessel 1, a distance up to the top of the test piece 2 is measured by an ultrasonic sensor 4 installed on the upper part of the vessel 1 and converted into an electric signal, which is converted into a numerical electric signal in an electronic circuit 5 and transmitted to an information processing device (microcomputer or the like) as information. The information on an experiment is recorded with time according to a software. Necessary computation is simultaneously carried out, and arranged and displayed in the form of a chart. Environment in a test room and the elements of experimental conditions can be added to the computation. Since the obtained information is wholly stored in a memory, each of data can be easily referred. The vessel 3 for the sensor 4 may be provided with a closing mechanism and a small hole for taking out gas generated by the fermentation of the test piece 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention is mainly used for expanding force test of bread dough, and from the volume change of the test, the fermenting power of bread yeast,
The present invention relates to a device intended to automatically obtain a large amount of information such as the shape retaining power of a cloth.

[0002]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for reducing the labor required for the conventional test of the expansion force of a cloth by a cylinder and eliminating the individual differences among the experimenters.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A cylinder dough expansion force test is widely used as one of the methods for evaluating the dough in a bread making test. The Yeast Industry Association of Japan also defines the bread dough expansion force test method using a cylinder as one of the yeast quality tests and is widely used. In this method, a certain amount of bread dough is put in a glass cylinder and maintained at a constant temperature, and the degree of expansion is read at a constant time interval by a scale attached to the cylinder and recorded. Then, the height value is calculated and the volume change of the sample is calculated and arranged as a function of time. As a technique for achieving this method, there is Japanese Patent Application No. 63-179496. In this measuring method, a dropping lid is used on the upper part of the cloth to measure the height of the cloth in the cylinder, and the displacement is measured by a mechanical method. Is converted into an electric signal. However, this technique has the following drawbacks.

[0004]

According to the cylinder method defined by the Japan Yeast Industry Association, when measuring the height of the cloth, the tip of the cloth top is measured and the volume is calculated. Due to the nature of bread dough, the surface of the bread dough often has a spherical shape during expansion, and in this conventional method using a drop lid, the convex portion is forcibly flattened, which causes an error in the measurement of the height. The bread dough is quite soft in its nature, and at the same time, its density changes as it expands, so the amount of displacement when subjected to physical stress is extremely different depending on the properties of the dough. That is, when the drop lid is brought into contact with the drop lid, an uncorrectable error occurs due to the pressure. Depending on the fabric, the gas holding capacity becomes the limit at the end of expansion, and the lid may fall from rising to falling. At this time, a part of the dough is bitten between the cylinder-tube wall and the drop lid, and the drop lid may not fall down, so that the volume of the dough may not be accurately measured. At the time of measurement, it is necessary to drop the lid and the mechanical member, which is the connecting portion, inside the cylinder, resulting in poor operability.
In particular, when the dough is removed, the dough having a strong stickiness may adhere, which causes a problem in handling and maintenance. Since a mechanical connection is required at the upper part of the cylinder, it is difficult to seal this part when collecting and analyzing the gas generated in the cylinder, resulting in a large size.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks all at once, such as infrared rays, lasers, electromagnetic waves, ultrasonic waves, etc., which can measure the distance to the surface of an object to be measured without contact. It is conceivable that the above-mentioned cylinder-method can be applied to the above-mentioned cylinder-method by equipping the upper part of the cylinder with the above sensor and electronically processing and recording the signal from the sensor. Considering the conditions, namely temperature, humidity, steam filling, and long measurement time,
An ultrasonic sensor is used. Due to this, the electric circuit is
It is simpler than other methods, such as the other methods, and by increasing the frequency, highly accurate measurement is possible, physical and scientific changes are not applied to the measured object, and the sensor itself is small and lightweight It is easy to use, can adopt a closed structure, has great environmental resistance, and smoke that cannot be measured by optical distance measurement,
It became possible to measure in steam.

[0006]

The function of the present invention is to measure the height of expansion of the bread dough without contacting the surface of the bread dough with a non-contact method and electronically process the measured value to retrieve, compare and examine the data.

[0007]

EXAMPLE In the example of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the volume change of the sample 2 contained in the sample container 1 is measured by the distance measuring sensor-4 installed on the upper part of the sample container to measure the distance to the sample top.
Convert to electrical signal. This signal is converted into a numerical electric signal by the electronic circuit 5 and transmitted to the information processing device 6 as information. As the sample container 1, it is convenient to use a cylinder for the Japan Yeast Industry Association method. By using this, the conventional expansive force test by hand can be directly replaced by the measuring method according to the present invention, which is very useful, but not limited to this. The distance measuring sensor-container 3 is usually used by mounting it on the upper part of the sample container, but in consideration of the case where another experiment for collecting and analyzing gas generated by fermentation is conducted, this mounting part is provided with a sealing mechanism. A small hole for taking out the gas may be provided so that the gas can be led out from the small hole. The distance measuring sensor-4 can accurately measure the distance to the surface of the bread dough as a sample in a short time by a non-contact method.
(Approximately 200,000 HZ) Ultrasonic waves are used.
Further, these sensors are required to have a structure capable of withstanding carbon dioxide gas, alcohol, water vapor, etc. generated from the sample. A distance signal from the upper end of the sample container to the sample surface measured by this sensor is input to the electronic circuit 5 and converted into a numerical electric signal. Also, this electronic circuit 5
Also has a function of supplying a power source, an electric signal and the like necessary for driving the sensor-4. The numerical electric signal generated by the electronic circuit 5 is input to the information processing device 6 such as a computer,
Experimental information is recorded over time according to the software. At the same time, make necessary calculations and organize them in the form of charts, etc.
Is displayed. In addition, factors such as the environment in the laboratory and the experimental conditions can be added to the calculation at this time, and all the work manually performed conventionally can be labor-saving. It goes without saying that the information thus obtained is all recorded in the storage device, so that the operations such as searching, comparing, and examining individual data can be performed very easily.

[0008]

The results obtained according to the present invention are the same as the results obtained in the dough expansion test by the cylinder method which has been used for such a purpose, and has extremely high reproducibility.

The present invention also provides a measuring device that holds a plurality of different dough samples at a controlled temperature environment at a time and continuously records the expansion process caused by fermentation.
Moreover, since the information obtained by the experiment is recorded by the information processing device, the information required by the experimenter can be immediately and easily taken out without touching the device body.
In the apparatus of the present invention, the distance measuring sensor mounted on the upper part of the sample container outputs as an electric signal according to the volume change of the sample in the sample container, but the sensor always measures the apex of the sample surface. The same result as the conventional method of visual observation can be obtained. Further, since the signal from the sensor can be continuously recorded, the information of a plurality of samples can be simultaneously measured at any time. The output signal is converted into a digital signal by an electronic circuit and processed by an information processing device such as a microcomputer to obtain various kinds of data. In this device, the amount of height change that has occurred in the bread dough is input as numerical information to the information processing device that is attached to it as expansion amount information, and a large number of information processes can be performed immediately and automatically. A device that is labor-saving and economically excellent is provided.

Further, the result obtained by the present apparatus is exactly the same as the result obtained by the conventional visual cylinder method and is compatible, and can be used for comparison with the information accumulated up to now. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of sign]

 1: Sample container 2: Bread dough sample 3: Distance measuring sensor-Container 4: Distance measuring sensor-5: Electronic circuit 6: Information processing device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A device for continuously analyzing and recording bread dough expansion force, comprising: (A) a container for inserting a bread dough sample and performing an expansion force test of the bread dough; An ultrasonic sensor for measuring the distance to the upper surface, (C) an electronic circuit for converting an electric signal from the sensor into a numerical electric signal, (D) a signal output from the electronic circuit is input and calculation processing is performed. An apparatus for measuring and analyzing bread dough expansion force, comprising: an information processing device for post-output and its software program. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a thermostatic device for maintaining the sample container at a preset temperature. 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising an airtight lid which is installed at an opening of a sample container and catches gas generated from the sample.
The described device. 4. An apparatus capable of measuring a plurality of different samples at an arbitrary timing by combining a plurality of the apparatuses according to claim 1. 5. A cylinder used for an expansion force test according to the Japan Yeast Industry Association method is used as the sample container.
The described device.