JPH0684863B2 - Freezing device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[Industrial applications]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a rotary freezing device for rapidly cooling or freezing an object to be frozen such as foods from the entire surface thereof.

[Prior art]

FIG. 13 is a sectional view showing a conventional freezing device (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-60166), and FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a lower belt conveyor, which has a structure in which an endless steel belt 1c is wound between a drive pulley 1a and a tension pulley 1b. 2 is a brine tank arranged below the upper belt surface of the steel belt 1c, 2a is lower cold brine supplied in the brine tank 2, 3 is an upper belt conveyor arranged above the lower belt conveyor 1. The upper belt conveyor 3 has a structure in which an endless flexible seat belt 3c is wound between a drive pulley 3a and a tension pulley 3b. 3d is the above flexible seat belt
By 3c, a cold brine storage formed at the lower upper part thereof, 4 is an upper cold brine supplied to the cold brine storage 3d, and 5 is supplied between the steel belt 1c and the flexible seat belt 3c. The frozen object 6 is a heat insulating tunnel, and the steel belt 1c and the flexible seat belt 3c form a freezing zone 7 for allowing the frozen object 5 to linearly pass therethrough. Next, the operation will be described. When the lower belt conveyor 1 and the upper belt conveyor 3 are driven to rotate synchronously, when the frozen object 5 is supplied from the starting end side between the steel belt 1c and the flexible seat belt 3c, this frozen object is 5 is sandwiched between the steel belt 1c and the flexible seat belt 3c and conveyed linearly. By the flexible seat belt 3c, the lower surface of which is contact-cooled, and which has already been cooled by the upper cold brine 4 and has been deformed by conforming to the shape of the frozen object 5 and encapsulating the upper side of the frozen object 5. The surface side of the frozen object 5 is contact-cooled. Then, the frozen material 5 passes through the freezing zone 7 and is sent out from the end of conveyance by the steel belt 1c and the flexible seat belt 3c.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Since the conventional freezing device is configured as described above, the object to be frozen 5 can only be moved linearly by the belt conveyors 1 and 3.
In the case of a small amount of processing where the freezing zone 7 can not be carried and the freezing zone 7 is short, the space of the drive pulley 3a and the tension pulley 3b becomes relatively larger than that of the freezing zone 7, and the installation space can be made small for the processing amount. In addition, there is a problem in that the work 5 to be frozen and put in and out must be carried out at two separate locations. Moreover, the inside of the cold brine storage portion 3d of the brine tank 2 and the flexible seat belt 3c is merely a void portion, so that the flow velocity of the cold brine flowing through these inside becomes extremely slow or disturbed. Or
There is a problem in that the cooling efficiency is extremely deteriorated because the cold heat transfer to the belt surface by the cold brine becomes non-uniform due to the formation of cold brine retention portions. The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and while rotating and transferring an object to be frozen, the object to be frozen can be efficiently and continuously frozen from all surfaces, and the entire apparatus can be made compact. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a freezing device capable of uniformly and efficiently transferring heat to the entire cooling surface on which the frozen object is placed and smoothly and reliably rapid freezing the frozen object.

[Means for solving problems]

A freezing device according to the present invention is provided with a plurality of rectifying partition plates radially provided inside a hollow cooling rotator on which an object to be frozen is rotatably driven to form a cooling brine meandering flow path, and On the upper surface of the rotating body, a flexible sheet formed of an annular tube that encloses the frozen object and is driven to rotate in synchronization with the cooling rotating body is arranged in contact with the inside of the flexible sheet and the cold brine meandering. The cold brine is supplied from the cold brine supply means to the cold brine circulation path formed by connecting to the flow path.

[Work]

In the freezing device according to the present invention, when the cold brine supply means is operated, the cold brine is supplied to the cold brine circulation path, and the cold brine that has flowed into the cooling rotor is radially accelerated in flow velocity by the rectifying partition plate to meander the cold brine. By smoothly flowing through the flow path, cold heat is smoothly transferred to the entire upper surface of the cooling rotator, which serves as a surface to be cooled for frozen objects, with little unevenness.
Therefore, the entire upper surface of the cooling rotator is cooled to a substantially uniform cold heat temperature. Therefore, when the object to be frozen is placed on the cooling rotator in a state where the cooling rotator and the flexible sheet are synchronously rotated, the flexible sheet conforms and deforms according to the shape of the object to be frozen. By wrapping the frozen object with the cooling rotary body, the lower surface of the frozen object is cooled by the cooling rotary body, and the side surface and the upper surface of the frozen object are simultaneously cooled by the flexible sheet. Therefore, the object to be frozen can be efficiently cooled from the entire surface, and by performing the cooling process in the rotary transfer process, the freezing device can be made compact and the installation space can be small.

【Example】

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First
FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view of the freezing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a front view in which a part of the device is cut away.
The figure is a partially cutaway plan view of the apparatus, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a cooling rotor of the apparatus, and FIGS. 6 to 8 are enlarged views showing different embodiments of the section A of FIG. Sectional view, FIG. 9 is a plan view of the rotary drive shaft of the apparatus, and FIG. 10 is XX of FIG.
11 is a sectional view taken along line XI-XI in FIG. In the figure, 10 is a freezer stand, 11 is a horizontal frame-shaped upper floor material that divides the inside of the stand 10 into upper and lower device storage chambers, 12 is the lower floor material of the stand 10, and 13 is the lower floor. Flooring 12
A brine tank installed above, 14 is a brine outlet of the brine tank 13, 16 is a pump whose suction side is connected to the brine outlet 14 through a brine suction pipe 15, 17 is a motor for driving the pump 16, and 18 is A brine discharge pipe whose one end is connected to the discharge side of the pump 16, 19 is a brine cooler whose suction side is connected to the other end of the brine discharge pipe 18, and 20 is connected to the discharge side of the brine cooler 19. Cold brine supply pipe. In this embodiment, each of the brine tank 13, the brine suction pipe 15, the pump 16, the motor 17, the brine discharge pipe 18, the brine cooler 19 and the cold brine supply pipe 20 constitutes a cold brine supply means 21. . Reference numeral 22 denotes a cooling rotator, 23 denotes a brine tank of the cooling rotator 22, and in this embodiment, it is a flat tank having an open upper surface. Reference numeral 24 is a cooling rotary plate in which the upper open end of the rotary brine tank 23 is sealed. Therefore, the cooling rotary plate 24 and the rotary brine tank 23 integrally form the cooling rotary body 22 in a hollow ring shape. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 220 denotes a plurality of partition plates that divide the inside of the cooling rotator 22 into a plurality of sections. In the illustrated example, the inside of the cooling rotator 22 is divided into four equal parts. Reference numerals 221 and 222 denote inward and outward rectifying partition plates radially arranged at a predetermined interval in the cooling rotator 22, and the inward rectifying partition plates 221 are provided on the outer peripheral wall portion 22a of the cooling rotator 22. The outward rectifying partition plate 222 that is integrally connected is the inner peripheral wall portion 22b of the cooling rotator 22.
Is integrally connected to. In this embodiment, the inward rectifying partition plates 221 and the outward rectifying partition plates 222 are arranged alternately between the partition plates 220. Reference numeral 223 denotes the inner peripheral wall portion 22b and the inward flow regulating partition plate 22.
1 is an inner communication portion formed between the outer peripheral wall portion 22a and the outer end of the outward rectifying partition plate 222, and 225 is the partition plate 220. And the cold brine meandering flow paths formed by each of the straightening partition plates 221, 222, 226 and 227 are provided in the vicinity of the inner peripheral wall portion 22b between both sides of the partition plate 220 and the inward straightening partition plate 221. Cold brine inlet and outlet, 228
Is a bypass passage provided in the rectifying partition plate 221 at a connecting portion between the outer peripheral wall portion 22a and the inward rectifying partition plate 221. As shown in FIG. 6, the bypass passage 228 is provided with a void portion provided between the outer peripheral wall portion 22a and the inward rectifying partition plate 221, and as shown in FIG. 7, the inward rectifying member. A circular through hole provided on the outward end side of the partition plate 221 or, as shown in FIG. 8, on the outside of the straightening partition plate 221 at the connecting portion between the outer peripheral wall portion 22a and the inward straightening partition plate 221. It may be formed of a cutout, a cutout hole, or the like. In FIGS. 1 and 9 to 11, 25 is the cooling rotary plate.
24 is a hollow rotary drive shaft, 25a is an outward flange-shaped protruding rotary portion integrally formed on the upper end side of the rotary drive shaft 25, and 26 is an annular cold brine introduction formed on the outer periphery of the rotary drive shaft 25. Reference numeral 27 denotes a cold brine passage provided on the rotary drive shaft 25. The cold brine passage 27 is connected to the cold brine introducing passage 26 and is provided with a vertical supply passage 27a along the axial direction, and the protruding rotating portion 2
5a, a horizontal supply passage 27b that connects the vertical supply passage 27a to the inside of the cooling rotator 22 via the cold brine inlet 226, and to the protruding rotation portion 25a on the opposite side of the horizontal supply passage 27b. The horizontal circulation passage 27c is provided and is connected to the inside of the cooling rotator 22 through the cold brine outlet 227. Reference numeral 28 is a bearing attached to the upper floor material 11, and the rotary drive shaft 25 is provided through seal members 32 to 35 (see FIG. 10).
Is rotatably supported. 36 is a sprocket of a rotary drive system which is detachably tightened and fixed to the lower end surface of the rotary drive shaft 25 by means such as bolting, and the sprocket 36 is rotatively driven by a rotary drive means (not shown). There is. Reference numeral 37 denotes a cold brine introducing port provided on a side surface of the bearing 28. The cold brine introducing port 37 is connected to the cold brine supply pipe 20 and communicates with the cold brine introducing passage 26. Reference numeral 38 denotes a guide roller which is annularly arranged on the upper floor material 2 at regular intervals to rotatably support the lower portion on the peripheral edge side of the cooling rotator 22. The support members 40a are arranged at intervals of 40
A circular upper mounting plate integrally attached to the upper end of 9, a disc-shaped lower mounting plate 40b integrally attached to the lower end of the supporting member 39, 41 a cooling rotation of the cooling rotator 22 A flexible sheet arranged in contact with the plate 24. This flexible sheet 41 consists of an annular tube,
The upper inner peripheral edge is connected to the upper mounting plate 40a, and the lower inner peripheral edge is connected to the lower mounting plate 40b by a pressing member in a liquid-tight state. Here, in the cooling rotator 22, the placenta inner end side of the rotary brine tank 23 is on the protruding rotary portion 25a of the rotary drive shaft 25, and the lower mounting plate 40b is on the upper end surface of the rotary drive shaft 25, respectively. It is connected. Reference numeral 42 is a flexible deformable annular roller mounting frame mounted on the outer peripheral edge of the flexible sheet 41, 43 is a plurality of inner and outer rollers provided at fixed intervals on the roller mounting frame 42, and 44 is the mount 10 , An annular guide rail that is sandwiched between the inner and outer rollers 43 and rotatably supports the rollers 43, 45 is a lifter that lifts and holds the guide rail 44 at a predetermined position, and 46 is the guide rail. An article inlet / outlet consisting of an opening space formed between the cooling rotary plate 24 and the flexible sheet 41 at the lifting portion of 44, 47 is provided near the center of the cooling rotary plate 24, and the cold brine passage is provided. 27 horizontal circulation passages 7c and the flexible sheet 41
Is a cold brine supply pipe 47 that communicates with the inside of the flexible sheet 41. The cold brine supply pipe 47 is bent at an angle of 20 ° to 45 ° from the vicinity of the center of the flexible sheet 41 toward the outside thereof. There is. 48 is an overflow pipe which is arranged in the central portion of the cooling rotary plate 24 and communicates with the hollow portion of the rotary drive shaft 25 and the inside of the flexible sheet 41, and 49 is the overflow pipe provided in the seat mounting plate 40. It is a liquid level adjusting means for supporting the 48, and in this embodiment, it is a handle for moving the overflow pipe 48 up and down by a screw feeding means by a rotating operation. Reference numeral 50 denotes a cold brine outlet provided at the center of the cooling rotary plate 24 and formed between the outer periphery of the lower portion of the overflow pipe 48, and 51 denotes a lower end portion of the rotary drive shaft 25 and its hollow portion and the brine. A cold brine return pipe communicating with the inside of the tank 13 and a reference numeral 52 are frozen objects placed on the cooling rotary plate 24. Next, the operation will be described. When the pump 16 is started, the cold brine in the brine tank 13 is sucked by the brine suction pipe 15, and the cold brine is cooled by the brine cooler 19 through the brine cooler 19 in the brine discharge pipe 18. It is supplied from the cold brine supply pipe 20 into the cold brine introducing path 26 via the cold brine introducing port 37. The cold brine supplied into the cold brine introducing passage 26 is
It is supplied from the cold brine inlet 226 into the cooling rotator 22 through the vertical supply passage 27a and the horizontal supply passage 27b of the cold brine passage 27. The cold brine supplied into the cooling rotator 22 flows through the cooling brine meandering flow path 225 in the cooling rotator 22 and, at the same time, passes through the bypass passage 228 in the direction of the flow, whereby the cooling rotation is performed. The cold brine does not settle at the corners of the outer peripheral wall portion 22a of the body 22 and the inward flow regulating partition plate 221. Therefore, the cold brine smoothly flows through the cold brine meandering flow path 225 at a high speed, and flows from the cold brine outlet 227 to the horizontal circulation passage 7c, so that the cold heat transfer to the upper surface of the cooling rotary plate 24 is substantially uniform. Is done. And
The cold brine flowing into the horizontal circulation passage 7c flows into the flexible sheet 41 from the cold brine supply pipe 47. In the flexible sheet 41, a constant set liquid level is maintained by the overflow pipe 48. With the liquid level maintained, a part of the cold brine in the flexible sheet 41 flows down from the cold brine outlet 50 into the hollow portion of the rotary drive shaft 25, and the cold brine flowing down and the cold brine flowing into the overflow pipe 48. The overflow liquid of brine joins and is returned to the brine tank 13 from the cold brine return pipe 51. In this way, the cold brine from the brine tank 13 circulates in the cooling rotator 22 and the flexible sheet 41, whereby the cooling rotary plate 24 of the cooling rotator 22 is circulated.
And the flexible sheet 41 is cooled. In this state, the cooling rotator 22 is driven to rotate, and in synchronization with this, the flexible sheet 41 is rotated by the frictional force with the cooling rotator 24, and at this time, the rollers 43 of the flexible sheet 41 are guided by the guide rails 44. When the guide rail 44 is rolled, the peripheral portion of the flexible sheet 41 is also lifted by rolling. Therefore, when the frozen object 52 is placed on the cooling rotary plate 24 from the article inlet / outlet port 46, the frozen object 52 is cooled by the cooling rotary plate 24.
It is rotatably transferred by 24 and is wrapped with the flexible sheet 41 which is in contact with the cooling rotary plate 24, so that the lower surface of the frozen object 52 is the cooling rotary plate 24 and the side surface of the frozen object 52. And the upper surface is the flexible sheet 41
At the same time, they are contact cooled simultaneously. Then, by being rotatably transferred to the article entrance / exit 46, the article entrance / exit 46 is taken out. Further, when the operation of the freezing device is stopped, the residual cold brine in the cooling rotator 22 and the flexible sheet 41 flows back and naturally flows down into the brine tank 13 to be collected. Therefore, the cold brine does not remain in the flexible sheet 41, the cooling rotator 22, the cold brine passage 27, the rotary drive shaft 25, etc., and it is possible to prevent them from freezing. FIG. 12 shows another embodiment of the cooling rotator 22. In this embodiment, the partition plate 220 shown in FIG. 5 is eliminated, and inward rectifying partition plates 221 and outward rectifying partition plates 222 are alternately arranged in the entire interior of the cooling rotator 22 to provide a cold brine meandering flow. It forms the path 225. Further, on the inward end side of the inward flow regulating partition plate 221, the flow regulating partition plate 221 and the cooling rotator 22 are provided.
A cold brine inflow port 226 and a cold brine outflow port 227 are provided on the line connecting with the axis of the. Therefore, the cold brine flowing from the cold brine inlet 226 is substantially evenly divided on both sides of the inward flow rectifying partition 221 near the cold brine inlet 226, and the cold brine meanders toward the cold brine outlet 227. By flowing through the flow path 225, substantially the same heat transfer is performed on the upper surface of the cooling rotary plate 24 of the cooling rotary body 22 as in the case of the previous embodiment.

【The invention's effect】

As described above, according to the present invention, the flow velocity of the cold brine supplied to the cooling rotator is increased by the rectifying partition plates in the radial arrangement in the cooling rotator, and the cold brine formed by these rectifying partition plates is increased. By smoothly flowing in the meandering flow path, cold heat is smoothly transferred to the entire upper surface of the cooling rotator, which serves as a surface to be cooled for frozen objects, with little unevenness. Therefore, the entire upper surface of the cooling rotator is cooled to a substantially uniform cold heat temperature. Then, in the rotational speed transfer process of the frozen object due to the synchronous rotation of the cooling rotator and the flexible sheet, the frozen object placed on the cooling rotator is wrapped in the flexible sheet, and as described above, By the cooling rotator and the flexible sheet which are kept at a substantially uniform temperature, the entire surface of the frozen object is contact-cooled at the same time,
There is an effect that the object to be frozen can be efficiently cooled from the entire surface. Further, the rotary freezing device as described above can be installed in a small space because the entire device is made compact, and there is an effect that the work to be frozen can be put in and taken out at one place.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a freezing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same, and FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view of the same.
FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view of the device, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a cooling rotor of the device, and FIGS. 6 to 8 are different embodiments of part A of FIG. Enlarged sectional view showing the ninth
Fig. 10 is a plan view of the rotary drive shaft of the device, and Fig. 10 is X in Fig. 9.
-X line sectional view, FIG. 11 is a XI-XI line sectional view of FIG.
FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the cooling rotator, FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional freezing device, and FIG. 14 is AA of FIG.
It is a line sectional view. In the figure, 21 is a cold brine supply means, 22 is a cooling rotator, 41 is a flexible sheet, 52 is a frozen object, 221,222
Is a straightening partition plate, and 225 is a meandering flow path for cold brine.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A hollow cooling rotator on which an object to be frozen is rotatably driven, and a plurality of rectifying partition plates radially arranged inside the cooling rotator to form a meandering passage of cold brine. A flexible sheet formed of an annular tube that is disposed in contact with the upper surface of the cooling rotator, encloses the frozen object, and is rotationally driven in synchronization with the cooling rotator,
A freezing device comprising: a cold brine circulation path formed by connecting the inside of the flexible sheet and the cold brine meandering flow path; and means for supplying cold brine to the cold brine circulation path. 2. A cooling brine inflow port and a cooling brine outflow port are provided in an inner diameter end side bottom wall portion inside the cooling rotator. The described freezing device. 3. The cold brine inlet is on the inward end side of the rectifying partition plate facing inward in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall of the cooling rotator, and the rectifying partition plate and the cooling rotator shaft center. The freezing device according to claim 2, wherein the freezing device is provided on a line connecting the two and divides the cold brine into both sides of the straightening partition plate. 4. The freezing device according to claim 2, wherein the cold brine inflow port and the cold brine outflow port are provided on both sides of a partition plate partitioning them. 5. A bypass passage is provided in the rectifying partition plate at a portion where the rectifying partition plate is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall of the cooling rotator. The described freezing device.