JPH067255A - Low-pressure fryer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve the effective continuous use of frying oil and to maintain the taste, aroma, and preservation of products produced in a low-pressure frying process by connecting an oil tank which communicates with a vacuum pump to a low-pressure frying chamber, via pressure shut-off valves. CONSTITUTION:An oil storage tank 604 communicates with an oil circulating path 600 via pressure shut-off valves 610 and 611. The tank 604 also communicates with a first vacuum pump 701. Thus, in the case of washing the inside of a low-pressure frying chamber 1 for example, the oxidation of stored oil is effectively prevented by closing the pressure shut-off valves 610 and 611 and sufficiently removing with the first vacuum pump 701 air remaining in the oil storage tank. In addition, since the frying chamber 1 has a vacuum unit 8, steam produced from air and materials are let out of the frying chamber 1 and the pressure in the low-pressure frying chamber 1 is maintained at the reduced pressure level required for low-pressure frying. The vacuum unit 8 basically comprises a cold trap 801 and a second vacuum pump 802.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vacuum fryer for frying raw materials under reduced pressure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a reduced pressure fryer, there is a method in which a raw material is fed into an oil by a screw, and a frying process is carried out while the raw material is transferred by a screw conveyor in the oil under reduced pressure, as disclosed in JP-A-62-262954. It is disclosed.

The applicant of the present invention is also concerned with the decompression fryer in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 1-188014 and 1-18801.
5, Japanese Patent Application No. 1-188016, Japanese Patent Application No. 1-2460
No. 09 patent application has been filed.

[0004]

By the way, when the frying process is performed by using the depressurization fryer, the oil used for the frying process is temporarily depressurized as in the case of cleaning the depressurization fry chamber. There are cases where it is necessary to store in a place other than the fry room. In such a case, it is conceivable to simply take out the frying oil from the reduced pressure frying chamber and store it in a storage tank in the atmosphere. However, in the storage tank, air is often present above the stored oil. If air remains in the storage tank,
Oil oxidizes during storage. Further, the reduced pressure fried product produced using such oil has not only a bad taste and aroma, but also a problem of poor storage stability.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems relating to the conventional vacuum fryer, and it is possible to prevent the oxidation of oil and effectively reduce the taste, aroma and storability of the resulting vacuum frying product. It is an object of the present invention to provide a decompression fryer that can be prevented.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a decompression fryer characterized in that an oil tank communicated with a vacuum pump is provided in communication with a decompression fly chamber via a pressure cutoff valve.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the frying oil when not in use can be stored in a place other than the reduced pressure frying chamber without being exposed to the air, that is, without being oxidized, and the frying oil can be effectively and continuously used. It has the effect of maintaining the taste, aroma and storability of the reduced pressure fried product.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the continuous depressurization fryer comprises a decompression fly chamber 1 and a decompression fly chamber 1 for decompression fly processing.
A raw material feeding device 2 connected to the raw material feeding device 2, a raw material feeding device 3 for feeding the raw material to the raw material feeding device 2, and a product cooling chamber 4 for cooling the reduced pressure fried product.

As shown in FIG. 2, the raw material supply device 3 has a raw material stock tank 31, and a conveyor 32 arranged below the raw material stock tank 31 for transferring the raw material. The raw material discharged from the lower end of the raw material stock tank 31 is transferred from the conveyor 32 to the terminal end portion 33, where the raw material is dropped and supplied to the raw material feeding device 2 below.

As shown in FIG. 2, the raw material feeding device 2 is further provided with a raw material hopper 21 provided below the terminal end portion 33 of the conveyor 32 for receiving the raw material, and a rotation provided below the raw material hopper 21. It has a valve 22 and a horizontal pipe portion 23 provided below the rotary valve 22 to receive the raw material supplied from the rotary valve 22.

The rotary valve 22 has a valve body 25. The valve body 25 is provided with recesses 24a and 24b that do not allow the upstream side (normal pressure state) and the downstream side (depressurized state) of the raw material charging device 2 to communicate with each other. . Recesses 24a, 2
In 4b, a certain amount of raw materials supplied in a connected manner by the conveyor 32 are collectively dropped onto the horizontal pipe portion 23.

The horizontal pipe portion 23 communicates with the depressurized fly chamber 1. A loading bar 26 that reciprocates inside the horizontal pipe portion 23 is incorporated in the horizontal pipe portion 23. Further, the charging bar 26 is attached to a hydraulic cylinder 27 which is a drive source thereof, and a pushing surface 28 at a tip portion is located by the hydraulic cylinder 27 in front of a position where the raw material is dropped from the rotary valve 22 (the hydraulic cylinder 27 side). Is reciprocated until it reaches the charging port 10 of the decompression fly chamber.

The raw material supplied through the hopper 21 has a recess 24a or 24 provided in the valve body 25.
It is thrown into b. Then, the valve body 25 is turned over and the raw material in the recess 24a or 24b is dropped inside the horizontal pipe portion 23. In this case, since the recesses 24a and 24b do not connect the upstream side, that is, the hopper side (normal pressure state) and the downstream side, that is, the horizontal pipe portion side (depressurized state) of the raw material charging device 2, the downstream side The raw material can be supplied while maintaining the reduced pressure state.

Subsequently, the charging bar 2 is moved to a position where the pushing surface 28 of the tip portion reaches the charging port 10 of the depressurization frying chamber 1.
6 is moved and the raw material is put into the reduced pressure fry chamber 1.

The number of recesses provided in the valve body 25 can be three or more by reducing the angular dimensions of the hopper 21 and the inlet (falling port) with respect to the rotational direction of the valve body 25. .

The depressurized fry chamber 1 has a net conveyor 42 for conveying raw materials and a leak valve 41. The net conveyor 42, as shown in FIG.
0 is provided with a plurality of partition nets 52 extending substantially outward. The width of the decompression fly chamber 1 in the direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the net conveyor 42 is substantially equal to the width of the endless belt 50 and the partition net 52. Therefore, the net conveyor 42 is formed with a plurality of compartments 54 that are open to the outside, and the raw materials are charged therein. The inclination angle of the partition net 52 with respect to the endless belt 50 will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 4, the net conveyor 42 is guided by three guide pulleys 60, 61 and 62, and is intermittently driven by a drive pulley 64.
The conveying path of the net conveyor 42 has a substantially parallelogram shape when viewed from the side, and the portion corresponding to the bottom surface thereof is in oil, and the raw material fed from the raw material feeding device 2 is fried here. . The net conveyor 42 is, for example, 10
It moves intermittently at a rate of once per second to 10 minutes by the width of the compartment 54 in the transport direction of the net conveyor 42.

In the net conveyor 42, as shown in FIG.
It is preferable that it is configured so as to substantially coincide with the extrusion surface 28 of No. 6. As a result, the tip portion of the partition net 52 after the raw material is fed can scrape off the pushing surface 28 of the feeding bar 26 described above, and the raw material can be effectively prevented from adhering to the pushing surface 28.

As a material adhesion preventing means near the charging port, an oil supply port 502 for pouring oil in the shape of a shower can be arranged in the depressurization fry chamber 1 near the pushing surface 28. Further, by providing the oil supply port 504 for flowing oil on the wall portion above the charging port 10 of the depressurization fry chamber 1, the raw material attached near the charging port 10 can be flowed off.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the endless belt 50 of the net conveyor 42 is 40 to 6 with respect to the horizontal above the discharge slope 106 of the decompression fly chamber 1.
Tilted at 0 ° and run parallel to this.

In this state, the partition net 52 is fixed to the endless belt 50 by the fixing member 108 so that the angle formed with respect to the horizontal line H, that is, the discharge inclination angle α of the partition net is 40 to 100 °, preferably 80 to 90 °. Mounted on.

The first half of the raw material conveying path of the reduced pressure frying chamber 1,
That is, above the raw material feeding side of the bottom portion of the parallelogram-shaped conveying path of the net conveyor 42, as shown in FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 3, a large number of oil supply units 500 that supply oil at a predetermined temperature in a shower form are arranged.

As a result, a predetermined amount of oil having a sufficient amount of heat for the raw material can be supplied to the raw material in the initial stage of the reduced pressure frying process. Further, the raw material attached to the endless belt 50 can be removed in the initial stage of the reduced pressure frying process.

Further, each oil supply section 500 has an oil amount adjusting valve (not shown), and the raw material compartment 54
Of the raw material transport path in the transport direction, that is, the raw material compartment 5
It is configured so that the amount of oil supply per hour can be controlled in accordance with the pressure reduction frying processing time of the raw material in 4. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently supply a desired amount of heat to the raw material in the raw material compartment 54 according to the reduced pressure frying processing time.

Further, on the bottom surface of the depressurized frying chamber 1, an oil outlet 107 composed of a large number of small holes is provided at a position substantially below each of the oil supply portions 500. As a result, the oil poured in a shower shape from above flows substantially vertically from the oil surface toward the bottom surface of the depressurized frying chamber 1. As a result, most of the oil comes into contact with the raw material that has diffused almost all over the oil surface, and frying unevenness can be effectively prevented, and the heat quantity of the oil is supplied to the raw material without waste. The heat quantity supply efficiency, that is, the reduced pressure frying processing efficiency is improved.

As shown in FIG. 1, the oil that has flowed out from the oil take-out portion 107 is a first oil lubrication pump 601, a strainer 602, and a centrifugal separator 60 that removes water from the oil.
3, the oil storage tank 604, and the oil circulation path 600 including the second oil circulation pump 605, and the oil is again sent to the oil supply unit 500.

In the oil circulation path 600, first, the strainer 602 removes raw material debris from the oil. Next, the oil is sent to a centrifugal separator 603 that removes water in the oil and is subjected to centrifugal separation processing. As a result, the oil and the water scattered in the oil are separated into the oil layer and the water layer, respectively, the water layer portion is discharged, and the water scattered in the oil is sufficiently removed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the oil storage tank 604 has an oil circulation path 600 via pressure cutoff valves 610 and 611.
Is in communication with. The oil storage tank 604 communicates with the first vacuum pump 701. Thereby, for example, when cleaning the depressurization fly chamber 1, the pressure cutoff valves 610, 61
It is possible to close 1 and sufficiently remove the air remaining in the oil storage tank by the first vacuum pump 701 to effectively prevent oxidation of the stored oil.

A jacket 711 and a sheath heater 712 are provided inside the wall of the oil storage tank 604 to heat the oil to a required temperature. Further, the oil storage tank 604 is provided with a stirrer 713 to make the temperature of the oil uniform.

A plurality of the oil storage tanks 604 are provided as shown in FIG. As a result, the oil in the reduced pressure frying chamber 1 can be easily changed depending on the type of the raw material, and the odor of the raw material can be effectively prevented from transferring to the oil and transferring the odor to another raw material.

Next, the depressurized fly chamber 1 has a vacuum unit 8 which exhausts air and water vapor generated from the raw material from the depressurized fly chamber 1 to reduce the pressure in the depressurized fly chamber 1. Maintain the reduced pressure required for frying.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vacuum unit 8 is basically composed of a cold trap 801 and a second vacuum pump 802.

The cold trap 801 for contacting gas with the bottom warm wall surface to condense and remove water in the gas is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, the water storage tank 820 is provided, and the drainage pipe 813 is provided with the pressure cutoff valves 811 and 812 on the upstream side and the downstream side of the water storage tank 820, respectively. The temperature of the trap surface 830 is maintained at -20 to 20 ° C, preferably 0 to 10 ° C by circulating a refrigerant having a constant temperature inside. Further, it is desirable that the water storage tank 820 be provided with a pressure adjusting pipe (not shown) that communicates with the outside through a leak valve and a pressure cutoff valve, in order to smoothly discharge water. Further, it is desirable that the water storage tank 820 be kept at a predetermined temperature or lower by covering it with a heat insulating material or providing a pipe for circulating a refrigerant. Accordingly, it is possible to effectively prevent the water accumulated in the water storage tank 820 from being heated and becoming steam again.

According to the cold trap 801, the pressure cutoff valve 811 provided on the upstream side of the water storage tank 820.
Open the pressure shutoff valve 8 downstream of the water tank.
Close 12 As a result, a large amount of water vapor generated in the depressurization fry chamber 1 is trapped in a water state (liquid state) on the trap surface 830 and passes through the upstream side of the drainage pipe 813 to accumulate in the water storage tank 820. After a predetermined time, after closing the pressure cutoff valve 811, the pressure cutoff valve of the pressure adjusting pipe is opened to return the inside of the water storage tank to normal pressure, and then the pressure cutoff valve 812 on the downstream side of the water storage tank is opened.
The water stored in the water storage tank 820 is discharged through the drainage pipe 813. When discharging the water, the depressurization fry chamber 1
Since there is no communication between the outside and the outside, it is possible to continuously remove water vapor while keeping the inside of the reduced pressure fly chamber 1 in a reduced pressure state.

Further, it is preferable to provide a flow control valve 840 between the cold trap 8 and the depressurized fly chamber 1.
This is because when the amount of water vapor generated in the reduced pressure fly chamber 1 is small, as in the case of processing a small amount of raw material due to variations in the input amount, the degree of pressure reduction inside the reduced pressure fly chamber 1 becomes too good. This lowers the freezing point of water,
As a result, water vapor may not be trapped in the water state. In order to prevent this, it is useful to prevent the inside of the decompression fly chamber 1 from becoming less than a predetermined decompression degree, and the use of the flow control valve 840 is the simplest and desirable as means for that purpose.

The unloading slope 106 of the decompression fly chamber 1
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, a discharge port 110 is provided at the upper end portion of the. The outlet 110 communicates with the product cooling chamber 4 via a shutoff valve 900. After the depressurization frying process is completed, the depressurization frying product transferred to the upper portion of the unloading slope 106 by the partition net 52 falls from the discharge port 110. When the reduced pressure frying product is accumulated in a predetermined amount or more, the shutoff valve 900 is opened, and the product cooling chamber 4 is charged.

The product cooling chamber 4 is provided with a cooling mechanism 401, and after closing the shutoff valve 900, the charged reduced pressure frying product is cooled to a predetermined temperature.

Below the product cooling chamber 4, a pressure cutoff valve 4 is provided.
A product stock tank 5 is provided via 20.
The product stock tank 5 has a carry-out port 501,
The discharge port 501 is composed of a pressure cutoff valve.

Further, the product stock tank 5 is connected to the first vacuum pump 701. Then, the depressurized product cooled to the predetermined temperature in the product cooling chamber 4 is dropped into the stock tank 5 by opening the pressure cutoff valve 420.

Next, after closing the pressure cutoff valve 420, the discharge port 501 is opened and the reduced pressure fried product is taken out. After taking out, the discharge port 501 is closed, and then the pressure of the product stock tank 5 is again reduced to the same degree of reduced pressure as the reduced pressure fly chamber 1 by the first vacuum pump 701.

In another embodiment, in addition to the structure of the above embodiment, a retainer having a measuring device is provided between the end of the conveyor of the raw material supplying device and the hopper of the raw material feeding device, and the above measuring device is used. Based on the measured value, the means for calculating the amount of oil supply to each oil supply unit in accordance with the position of the raw material conveying path of the measured raw material, that is, the reduced pressure frying processing time of the measured raw material, and the calculated oil It is a continuous decompression fryer provided with means for controlling the amount of oil supplied to each oil supply unit based on the amount supplied.

According to this continuous depressurization fryer, even if the amount of raw material input is not constant, the heat quantity required for frying can always be supplied without excess or deficiency, and a sufficient frying product can be obtained. it can.

In yet another embodiment, instead of the rotary valve of the above embodiment, an airtight valve and a pressure cutoff valve arranged in the conveying path of the pushing device are provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall explanatory view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a raw material supply device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a net conveyor.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view of a decompression fly chamber.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged explanatory view of the vicinity of the discharge port of the decompression fry chamber.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view in which an oil storage tank is partially cut away.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a cold trap.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Decompression Fry Chamber 2 Raw Material Feeding Device 3 Raw Material Supplying Device 4 Product Cooling Room 10 Feeding Port 21 Raw Material Hopper 22 Rotary Valve 24a, 24b Recess 26 Filling Bar 28 Extrusion Surface 31 Raw Material Stock Tank 32 Conveyor 42 Net Conveyor 52 Partition Net 107 Oil Flow Outlet 400 Cooling mechanism 500 Oil supply unit 600 Oil circulation path 604 Oil storage tank 801 Cold trap 820 Water storage tank

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A decompression fryer, wherein an oil tank communicated with a vacuum pump is provided in communication with a decompression fly chamber via a pressure cutoff valve. 2. The reduced pressure fryer according to claim 1, wherein the reduced pressure frying chamber continuously feeds a raw material for frying. 3. The reduced pressure fryer according to claim 1, wherein the reduced pressure frying chamber feeds the raw materials in a batch manner to perform frying treatment.