JPH07117331B2 - Refrigeration equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial applications]

The present invention relates to a refrigerating device for fish, meat, etc., and more particularly to a refrigerating device capable of rapidly freezing an object to be frozen by using an antifreeze liquid.

[Prior art]

A conventional refrigerating device freezes fish, meat, etc. using air as a cooling medium, and has a problem that the freezing speed is slow. If the freezing rate is slow, water between cells such as fish and meat will crystallize, which will damage tissues such as cells, cell membranes, muscles, etc. in the process of acicular growth and be included in it. Bodily fluids will flow out of the tissue. When body fluids flow out from tissues such as cells in this way, the fish meat and the like may be dried during long-term freezing, and even if they are frozen for a short period of time, when thawing these fish, etc., the body fluids become so-called drip. There is a problem that it is leaked and the taste is damaged. On the other hand, the present applicant has previously used, as a method of freezing biological tissue, to instantaneously freeze biological tissue such as fish and meat using an ethylene glycol aqueous solution, an antifreeze such as ethyl alcohol, and Proposes a method of freezing biological tissue that crystallizes fish into granular crystals before they grow into acicular crystals to prevent tissue damage due to acicular crystals and to retain the freshness and umami of fish etc. for a long period of time. is doing.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

As described above, the process of freezing biological tissues such as fish with antifreeze liquid is different from the conventional freezing method using air as a cooling and heating medium, and there are various problems in putting in and taking out biological tissues into the antifreeze liquid. is there. That is, when a large fish or meat block, etc. is thrown into the antifreeze, the antifreeze bounces around and scatters around, or the fish etc. receive buoyancy in the antifreeze and their posture is not uniform, so continuous When a large number of fish and the like are frozen, they may collide with each other and be damaged, or they may come into contact with each other, resulting in insufficient freezing at the contacting points. There is also a problem that when a large fish or the like is taken out from the antifreeze liquid after freezing is completed, the posture is not uniform and the handling work becomes complicated. Furthermore, it is desirable to be able to convey frozen fish, meat, etc. without directly contacting them, but heretofore, such means has not been available. For example, in the case of large fish such as tuna, the hand hook is used. Since the fish were caught and transported, the damage to the fish body could become significant.

[Object of the Invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerating device which prevents the antifreeze liquid from scattering around when dipping meat, fish or the like in the antifreeze liquid and freezing them. Further, the present invention, when the fish, meat, etc. are continuously frozen by the antifreeze solution, they collide with each other in the antifreeze solution,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerating device that can be taken out of an antifreeze liquid in a uniform posture without coming into contact with it. Furthermore, the present invention, when continuously freezing fish or the like, makes the posture of many fish or the like uniform in the antifreeze liquid, and after freezing, transports the fish without direct contact with the fish body. It is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerating device capable of producing a liquid.

[Means for solving problems]

This invention is an antifreeze tank in which an antifreeze solution is stored, a cooling device for cooling the antifreeze solution, and an endless transfer device for circulating the inside and outside of the antifreeze tank and transferring an object to be frozen,
A guide for guiding the object when the object enters the antifreeze bath according to the circulation of the endless transfer device, and a part along the guide of the endless transfer device and a guide are provided. The refrigerating apparatus is configured to be inclined with respect to the liquid surface to achieve the above object. Further, the present invention, an antifreeze liquid tank in which an antifreeze liquid is stored, a cooling device for cooling the antifreeze liquid, an endless transfer device for circulating an object to be frozen while circulating inside and outside the antifreeze liquid tank, and the object, A guide that guides the object when entering the antifreeze bath according to the circulation of the endless transfer device, and a fastener attached to one end of the object and detachable from the endless transfer device. And a float attached to the other end of the object to give buoyancy so that the other end of the object is in the antifreeze and the other end of the object is upward. It achieves the purpose. Further, the float is provided with an identification mark display portion for identifying the object to achieve the above object. Further, the present invention is an antifreeze liquid tank in which antifreeze liquid is stored, a cooling device for cooling the antifreeze liquid, a long object arranged at the entrance side of the antifreeze liquid tank, the longitudinal direction of which is substantially the same as a transport line. They are placed so as to be orthogonal to each other, and in this state, the long object is circulated through an inlet-side transfer device that transfers the elongated object to the inlet of the antifreeze liquid tank, and a transfer line in the antifreeze liquid and at least along the input-side transfer device. And an endless transfer device capable of transferring a long object to be frozen, and a locking device for detachably attaching one end of the long object mounted on the inlet side transport device to the endless device. A refrigerating apparatus is configured to achieve the above object. Further, the above object is achieved by including a float which is attached to the other end of the elongated object and which gives a buoyancy so that the other end of the elongated object faces upward in the antifreeze liquid. Furthermore, when the long object is a large fish, the locking device is
A penetrating shaft that penetrates the skeleton of the large fish at its left and right orbital positions, and a left and right projecting end portions of the penetrating shaft from the skeleton, and is detachable from the endless transfer device. It is composed of joint parts and achieves the above-mentioned object.

[Action]

In the present invention, the object to be frozen fish, meat, etc.
When it is poured into the antifreeze liquid, it is sent by an endless moving device along a guide inclined with respect to the liquid surface of the antifreeze liquid. Therefore, the object gradually enters the antifreeze liquid, and the antifreeze liquid does not splash around. Further, in the present invention, one end of the object to be frozen is
It is attached to an endless transfer device that circulates in the antifreeze solution through a locking tool, and a float that gives buoyancy to the object is attached to the other end, so that the object is continuously put into the antifreeze solution to be frozen. Also in this case, these continuous objects do not collide with each other or come into contact with each other. Therefore, there is no damage to the object to be frozen or generation of an insufficiently frozen portion. Further, since these objects are continuously pulled up from the antifreeze in the same posture, they are convenient for handling after freezing. Further, in the present invention, when the frozen object is a large fish, the large fish is thrown sideways into the antifreeze solution, and in the antifreeze solution, the head is down and the tail is up, and the fish are mutually in a continuous uniform posture. It can be surely frozen without colliding with or coming into contact with. Furthermore, the locking tool that penetrates the head of the large fish keeps the large fish in a downward position when passing through the antifreeze liquid, and also carries and handles the frozen fish without directly contacting it after freezing. It is possible.

【Example】

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Refrigerating apparatus 10 according to this embodiment, an antifreezing liquid tank 14 in which the antifreezing liquid 12 is stored, a cooling device 16 for cooling the antifreezing liquid 12,
An endless transfer device 20 that circulates in and out of the antifreeze bath 14 and transfers an object 18 to be frozen, and the object 18 moves the object 18 when entering the antifreeze bath 14 according to the circulation of the endless transfer device 20. A guide 22 for guiding, and a portion of the endless transfer device 20 along the guide 22 and the guide 22.
However, the antifreeze liquid 12 is inclined with respect to the liquid surface. The endless transfer device 20 drives an endless chain 24, sprocket wheels 26A, 26B for winding the endless chain 24, a guide roller 28 for guiding the endless chain 24, a guide shoe 30, and a sprocket wheel 26A. And a motor 32 for. The antifreeze bath 14 is a closed type, and has an inlet 14A at one end of the endless chain 24 in the moving direction and an outlet 14B at the other end. Further, on the inlet 14A side of the antifreeze tank 14, the inlet side transport device 3
4, the inlet bed 36, the inlet bed 36, and the weighing bed 38 in order from the inlet 14A.
And the inspection bed 40 is arranged in this order. An inspection packing bed 42 is arranged adjacent to the outlet 14B of the antifreeze tank 14. The inlet bed 36 to the inspection packing bed 42 are arranged so as to be substantially flush with the liquid surface of the antifreeze liquid 12 in the antifreeze liquid tank 14. The entrance-side transfer device 34 is composed of a roller table arranged between the end of the measurement bed 38 on the inspection bed 40 side and the start end of the guide 22 of the antifreeze tank 14. Here, the sprocket wheel 26B in the endless transfer device 20 is located between the weighing bed 38 and the inlet bed 36, and the sprocket wheel 26A is the inspection packing bed 4
2, the endless chain 24 is wound around these sprocket wheels 26A and 26B, the upper surface of the inlet bed 36, the guide 22 of the antifreeze tank 14
From the bottom surface 14C, the outlet guide 23, the inspection packing bed 42 to one of the sprocket wheels 26A, and from here, the line that passes through above the antifreeze liquid 12 in the antifreeze liquid tank 14 and returns to the sprocket wheel 26B. Are circulated. Here, like the guide 22, the outlet side guide 23 is also inclined with respect to the liquid surface of the antifreeze liquid 12. As shown in FIG. 2, the inlet-side transfer device 34 is configured so that long lengths of the endless transfer device 20 can be placed in parallel in the direction orthogonal to the line direction and can be transferred to the antifreeze tank 14. Has been The positional relationship between the entrance side transport device 34 and the endless chain 24 in the endless transfer device 20 is such that the endless chain 24 is located near one end of the entrance side transport device 34 in the line width direction. Reference numeral 44 in the figure is an endless chain in the antifreeze tank 14.
24 shows an air shower provided on the ceiling portion 14D above.
This airshower 44 returns from sprocket wheel 26A to sprocket wheel 26B endless chain 24
Compressed air is blown onto the endless chain 24 from above.
The antifreeze liquid adhering to the above is blown down into the antifreeze liquid tank 14 to prevent the antifreeze liquid from dropping onto the inlet side bed 36. Further, reference numeral 45 denotes a heat insulating material tank constituting the peripheral wall of the antifreeze tank 14. Here, a locking tool used when the object 18 is a large fish as shown in FIG. 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, this locking tool 46 has a penetrating shaft 48 that penetrates the skeleton 19A of the large fish 19 at the left and right orbital positions 19B and the head of the penetrating shaft 48. The left and right protruding ends of the body 19A are engaged with each other, and the endless chain 24 of the endless transfer device is engaged with and disengageable from the engaging part 50. The penetrating shaft 48 is inserted from the other side into the tubular portion 48A and the tubular portion 48A penetrating the skeleton 19A so as to project to the other end side of the tip claw tubular portion 48A and engage with this. Shank 48B
It consists of and. The end portion of the shaft portion 48B opposite to the tip claw portion 48C has a large-diameter collar portion.
48D is formed integrally. Further, a flange portion 48E is also formed at the end portion of the tubular portion 48A that engages with the tip claw portion 48C. The tubular portion 48A and the shaft portion 48B are formed of a hard synthetic resin such as 66 nylon (trademark). The engaging portion 50 is a tubular portion 48A in a state where the shaft portion 48B is inserted.
Of the Y, which is swingably engaged with the insides of the collar portions 48D and 48E.
It is composed of a letter-shaped member. An engaging hole 50A parallel to the through shaft 48 is formed at an end of the engaging portion 50 opposite to the through shaft 48. When engaging the engaging member 46 with the endless chain 24 of the endless transfer device 20, the catcher 51 shown in FIG. 4 is used. The catcher 51 is configured to include a ring 51B that can be rockably expanded by a pin 51A and a spherical portion 51C provided on the opposite side of the ring 51B with the pin 51A interposed therebetween. The ring 51B can be engaged with the locking tool 46 by being closed while being inserted into the engaging hole 50A of the locking tool 46. On the other hand, mounting brackets 52 are provided at appropriate intervals on the endless chain 24 side to which the carriage 51 is mounted. This mounting bracket 52 is a spherical portion 51C of the cache 51.
Is engaged so as to be swingable in two directions and detachable. Next, a float to be attached to the tail of the large fish 19
54 will be described. The float 54 is composed of a hollow member or a member such as a polystyrene foam to give buoyancy so that the large fish 19 is in antifreeze and the head is downward and the tail is upward. Here, since the large fish 19 are subjected to buoyancy by the antifreeze liquid 12, the size of the float 54 need only be small so that the tail portion is on the upper side. As shown in FIG. 3, the float 54 is provided with an identification mark display portion 54A so that the weight, the identification number, the date of freezing, the place of origin, etc. can be described and displayed. The attachment structure of the float 54 to the tail portion 19C of the large fish 19 is similar to that of the locking tool 46. That is, tail 19C
Of the through shaft 54B that penetrates the vicinity of the
And an engaging portion 54C that swingably engages with both ends protruding from C. The engagement portion 54C is continuously and integrally configured with the identification mark display portion 54A. The structure for attaching the float 54 to the tail 19C of the large fish 19 has two parallel thin through shafts 54D as shown in FIG. The structure may be such that it penetrates both sides of the spinal column 19D. In this case, the pair of penetrating 54D passes through both positions of the spinal column 19D, but at the caudal position of the spinal column 1D in the vertical direction from the spinal column 19D.
Since the through shaft 54D is caught on the 9E because the 9E is overhanging, the float 54 is hard to come off. Next, the process of freezing the large fish 19 using the apparatus of the above embodiment will be described. First, inspect the large fish 19 placed on the inspection bed 40,
After that, the weighing beds are set one by one by the inlet side transport device 34.
It is transported to 38, where it is weighed by the weighing device 39, and the necessary items are entered in the identification mark display portion 54A of the float 54,
Attach the float 54 to the tail 19C. Next, the locking device 46 is attached to the skeleton 19A of the large fish 19 while moving the antifreezing liquid tank 14 toward the antifreeze liquid tank 14 by the entrance-side carrier device 34 while moving the antifreeze liquid tank 14. The attached locking member 46 is engaged with the carrier 51 previously attached to the mounting bracket 52 of the endless chain 24 at the spherical portion 51C by passing the ring 51B through the engaging hole 50A. In this state, the large fish 19 is placed on the entrance-side carrier device 34 in a substantially horizontal direction with its longitudinal direction orthogonal to the line direction of the endless chain 24. Further, the large fish 19 is supplied to the entrance of the antifreeze tank 14 by the entrance side transport device 34 and the endless chain 24 which circulates in synchronization with the entrance side transport device 34.
It is transported to 14A once. Here, a guide 22 that is inclined with respect to the liquid surface of the antifreeze liquid 12 is formed at the inlet 14A of the antifreeze liquid tank 14,
Further, since the endless chain 24 is also inclinedly arranged along the guide 22, the large fish 19 is pulled by the endless chain 24 and guided from the entrance side transport device 34.
It drops into the antifreeze liquid 14 along the line 22. Since the guide 22 is inclined with respect to the liquid surface of the antifreeze liquid 12, the large fish 19 will be slowly thrown into the antifreeze liquid 12 along the guide 22, and the antifreeze liquid will bounce back due to the throwing. Never. As the endless chain 24 enters the antifreeze 12, the large fish 19 is also buoyant and is also buoyant from the float 54, and is connected to the endless chain 24 by the fastener 46 in its skull 19A. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the large fish 19 is vertically downward and is placed in the antifreeze tank.
Proceed in antifreeze 12 in 14. Large fish 19 is antifreeze liquid 12 that has been cooled to -10 ℃ to 79 ℃ in advance.
It is rapidly frozen by being soaked in, is instantaneously passed through the maximum ice crystal growth temperature zone, and is cooled to -10 ° C or lower. The maximum ice crystallinity temperature zone is usually a temperature zone of −2 ° C. to −7 ° C., and in this temperature zone, when water in biological tissue becomes ice crystals and the needle-like crystals are formed. Furthermore, tissues such as cells and cell membranes are damaged, and body fluid called so-called umami leaks out. However, as described above, when frozen by immersing the large fish 19 in the antifreeze liquid 12, its cooling rate is about 20 times faster than when air is used as the cooling medium, so ice crystals grow. There is no time to do so, and the water in the biological tissue freezes in granular form. In this way, the large fish 19 that has been cooled by passing through the maximum ice crystal growth temperature zone is pulled up from the antifreeze liquid 12 along the outlet guide 23 according to the movement of the endless chain 24,
It will be transported onto the inspection packing bed 42. In this case, the large fish 19 travel vertically in parallel in the antifreeze liquid 12 as shown in FIG. 2, so that the large fish 19 collide with each other and are damaged or come into contact with each other, resulting in insufficient freezing. There is no such a place. Further, in this way, even when pulled up along the outlet guide 23 to advance in the antifreeze liquid 12 in an aligned state,
Each large fish 19 has the same orientation, and the inspection packing bed
At 42, they are aligned in the same direction, which facilitates inspection and packing work. Removal of the large fish 19 from the endless chain 24 after completion of freezing is performed by opening the ring 51B of the catcher 51. Although the large fish 19 after freezing still has the locking tool 46,
By having the engaging portion 50 in the locking tool 46, the large fish 19 can be inspected and transported without directly contacting the fish body of the large fish 19. Further, since the float 54 is provided with the identification mark display portion 54A, not only the posture of the large fish 19 is adjusted in the antifreeze liquid 12,
Convenient for handling cargo after freezing. Further, since the penetrating shaft 48 of the locking device 46 penetrates the skeleton 19A of the large fish 19 at the position of the orbit 19B, even if the large fish 19 is lifted by the engaging portion 50, Large fish in part 19
The fish body is not damaged. Further, when the penetrating shaft 54D of the float 54 is constructed so as to penetrate both sides of the spinal column 19D in the tail portion 19C of the large fish 19, the float 54 does not come off easily, and therefore its handling is convenient. Although the above example is for freezing the large fish 19, the present invention is not limited to this, other biological tissues, such as meat blocks, fruit vegetables, medium-sized fish, small fish and shellfish,
It is also applied to freezing such as. Further, in the above embodiment, the large fish 19 is directly immersed in the antifreeze liquid 12 without any packaging, and the frozen product is frozen, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 8, the large fish 19 may be previously packaged by a pack 56 such as a synthetic resin film and then frozen. In this case, the locking tool 46 and the float 54 penetrate the pack 56 from the outside and are locked to the large fish 19. Further, when the large fish 19 is packed in the pack 56 and frozen, the air inside is naturally removed. Further, a glycerin aqueous solution or a glycerin salt aqueous solution having a concentration of about 2 to 20% may be injected into the pack 56. By doing so, since the solution enters the fish body of the large fish 19 and suppresses the generation of air bubbles, the freezing of the large fish 19 in the pack 56 can also be performed quickly. . Furthermore, since the glycerin solution has a function of protecting the tissue of the fish body, the freshness of the large fish 19 can be reliably maintained for a longer period of time. In addition, as for the freezing of small fish, small vegetables, sliced meat, etc., as shown in FIG. 9, they are frozen in a sealed pack 58. In this case, a hole 58B for penetrating the ring 51B in the cache 51 is formed in the edge portion 58A of the sealing pack 58 in advance, and the ring 50B is locked in the hole 58B to be immersed in the antifreeze liquid 12. It should be noted that the glycerin aqueous solution or the glycerin salt aqueous solution may be injected into the sealed pack 58 of the small fish or the like in the same manner as described above.

【The invention's effect】

Since the present invention is configured as described above, when the object to be frozen is put into the antifreeze solution, it has an excellent effect of preventing the antifreeze solution from scattering around. Further, there is an excellent effect that the frozen objects can be aligned and refrigerated by preventing the frozen objects from colliding with each other in the antifreeze. Furthermore, the locking tool used during freezing has an excellent effect that the frozen object can be easily transported without directly contacting it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a refrigerating apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a relationship between an endless chain, a fastener and a float in the same embodiment. Fig. 4 is a front view, Fig. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which the locking device in the embodiment is engaged with a fish body, Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the locking device, and Fig. 6 is a modification of the float. FIG. 7 is a perspective view, FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the same modified float attached to the tail of a large fish, FIG. 8 is a front view showing a state in which an object to be frozen is put in a pack, and FIG. 9 is It is a top view which shows the state which put the small object which should be frozen into the sealing pack. 10 ... Refrigerator, 12 ... Antifreeze, 14 ... Antifreeze layer, 14A ... Inlet, 16 ... Cooling device, 18 ... Object, 19 ... Large fish, 19A ... Skull, 19B ... Orbit, 19C ... Tail, 20 ... Endless transfer device, 22 ... Guide, 24 ... Endless chain, 34 ... Inlet side transfer device, 46 ... Locking tool, 48 ... Penetrating shaft, 50 ... Engaging part , 50 …… Catcher, 54 …… Float, 54A …… Identification mark display section.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An antifreeze bath in which antifreeze is stored, a cooling device for cooling the antifreeze bath, and an endless transfer device for circulating the inside and outside of the antifreeze bath and transferring an object to be frozen.
A guide for guiding the object when the object enters the antifreeze bath according to the circulation of the endless transfer device, and a portion along the guide of the endless transfer device and the guide are A refrigeration device that is inclined with respect to the liquid surface. 2. An antifreeze bath in which antifreeze is stored, a cooling device for cooling the antifreeze bath, and an endless transfer device for circulating the inside and outside of the antifreeze bath and transferring an object to be frozen.
A guide that guides the object when the object enters the antifreeze bath according to the circulation of the endless transfer device, and is attached to one end of the object and is detachable from the endless transfer device. And a float attached to the other end of the object to give buoyancy to the other end of the object in the antifreeze so that the other end faces upward. apparatus. 3. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the float includes an identification mark display portion for identifying the object. 4. An antifreeze liquid tank in which an antifreeze liquid is stored, a cooling device for cooling the antifreeze liquid, a long object to be frozen, which is arranged at the inlet side of the antifreeze liquid tank, and the longitudinal direction of which is substantially orthogonal to a transport line. And, in this state, the long object is transferred to the inlet of the antifreeze bath, and an inlet side transfer device, and a transfer line in the antifreeze liquid and at least along the inlet side transfer device are circulated. An endless transfer device capable of transferring a long object to be frozen, and a locking device for detachably attaching one end of the long object placed on the entrance side transfer device to the endless device. Refrigeration equipment. 5. A float attached to the other end of the elongated object, wherein the elongated object contains buoyancy in the antifreeze so that the other end of the elongated object faces upward. The refrigeration apparatus according to item 4. 6. When the elongated object is a large fish, the locking device includes a penetrating shaft that penetrates the skeleton of the large fish at the left and right orbital positions, and the penetrating shafts on the left and right of the skeleton. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the refrigerating apparatus is formed of an engaging portion that is engaged with the protruding end portion and that is engageable with and disengageable from the endless transfer device.