JPH08238A - Retort sterilizing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve the uniform inner temperature distribution in a retort pot of a retort sterilizing apparatus and enable the uniform microbicidal treatment on a material to be sterilized in the retort sterilizing apparatus for sterilizing a pouch food, etc. CONSTITUTION:A deflector 60 with curved guiding boards 61, 61 is fixed at the upper part of the inside of a retort pot 10 so that a heating medium hits the inside of the curved surface of the guiding board 61, 61. The heating medium is ejected from below trays 20 where materials to be sterilized are placed and hits the guiding boards 61, 61 after it passes through slits 28, 28 of the trays 20. Then, the heating medium changes the flowing direction downward. Thus, the inner atmosphere of the retort pot 10 circulates, the temperature distribution becomes homogeneous and accordingly the materials to be sterilized are uniformly treated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a retort sterilizer for heating and sterilizing pouch foods, canned foods, and other items to be sterilized, and more particularly to uniforming the ambient temperature inside the retort kettle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Pouch foods and canned foods are sterilized for a certain period of time using a heating medium such as steam or hot water.

[0003] Conventionally, as such an apparatus, a retort kettle for accommodating an object to be sterilized and a retort kettle that is introduced into the retort kettle in a multi-layered state and has a plurality of slits on its bottom surface are provided. There is known a retort sterilization device including a tray for disposing sterilizing substances and a tube body including a jet nozzle for jetting a heating medium from below the tray toward the slit.

[0004]

However, according to the above-mentioned conventional retort sterilization apparatus, the heating medium blown up toward the slit of the tray collides with the upper surface of the retort kettle after passing through the slit and is dispersed. As a result, the atmosphere becomes turbulent in the retort kettle, so that the internal temperature is non-uniform and the object to be sterilized cannot be uniformly treated.

In particular, since the heating medium is not sufficiently distributed in the lower part of the retort kettle, and the temperature difference between the upper and lower parts becomes extremely large, the sterilized objects in the upper and lower stages are greatly different in the degree of treatment.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention introduces a retort kettle in which a substance to be sterilized is accommodated into the retort kettle in a state of being stacked in a multi-stage manner, and is provided on the bottom surface of the retort kettle. A retort sterilization apparatus comprising: a tray for arranging the sterilized object provided with a linear slit; and a tube body including an injection nozzle for injecting a heating medium from below the tray toward the slit. A retort sterilizer is characterized in that a deflector having a curved guide plate is fixedly provided above the inside of the retort kettle, and the heating medium that has come out of the slit hits the inner curved surface of the guide plate. It is provided.

[0007]

According to the retort sterilization apparatus of the present invention, when the heating medium is jetted from below toward the slit of the tray, the heating medium passes through the trays stacked in multiple stages,
It comes out from the slit of the uppermost tray and collides with the inner curved surface of the guide plate.

After that, the heating medium turns along the guide plate and flows downward in the retort kettle.

The air flow thus generated circulates the atmosphere in the retort kettle, thus making the atmosphere temperature uniform.

[0010]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a retort sterilizer of the present invention.
0 indicates a retort kettle.

The retort kettle 10 is a cylindrical can made of a stainless steel plate having excellent strength and corrosion resistance as a coating material for the inner and outer walls, one end of which is sealed and the other end of which is opened and closed by a pressure lid (not shown). It is free.

On the other hand, reference numeral 20 in the drawing is a tray, and as shown in the drawing, the tray 20 is introduced into the retort kettle 10 in a state of being stacked on the carriage D in multiple stages.

As means for introducing the rails, rails E, E are laid below the inside of the retort kettle 10.
The carriage D can be introduced into the retort kettle 10 along the line E.

Each tray 20 has slits 28, ...
.. are provided, and each slit 2 in the laminated state
8 ... communicates in series.

By the way, a predetermined number of articles to be sterilized, especially pouch foods, are arranged in each tray 20, and the sterilized treatment is carried out in the retort kettle 10.

In the figure, reference numerals 30 and 40 denote pipes for injecting a heating medium used for sterilizing an object to be sterilized.
0 and 40 are inside the retort kettle 10 as shown,
In particular, they are laid in parallel below the slits 28 of the tray 20.

In particular, pipes 30 and 30 are connected to a pipe through a valve V2, a pump P2, and a valve V3. By opening the valves V2 and V3 and operating the pump P2, the retort kettle 10 can be operated. The hot water stored in the bottom portion is jetted toward the slits 28 from the jet nozzle mounted on the pipe body 30.

Further, pipes are connected to the pipes 40, 40 via a valve V5, and by opening the valve V5, steam from the boiler is injected from the injection nozzle mounted on the pipe 40 into the slit. It is designed to be injected toward 28, 28.

By the way, hot water as a heating medium is supplied to the retort kettle 10 through the pump P1 and the valve V1 to such an extent that the substance to be sterilized does not enter, and then the water is supplied to the valve V2, the pump P2, and the valve V4. It is obtained by introducing steam into the retort kettle 10 to preheat the water at the same time as circulating through the path.

The heating tube 5 serves to preheat the water.
No. 0, this is laid under the inside of the retort kettle 10, especially at a position below the supplied water surface.

The heating pipe body 50 is a perforated pipe formed by opening a large number of discharge ports in a steel pipe, which is connected and communicated with a boiler or the like by a pipe via a valve V6.
By opening 6, steam is ejected from the discharge port.

On the other hand, reference numeral 60 in the drawing denotes a deflector which is an essential part of the present invention, and is fixed above the inside of the retort kettle 10 as shown.

In particular, the deflector 60 has curved guide plates 61, 61, and the guide plates 61, 61 are provided.
The heating medium that has come out of the slits 28, 28 is installed so as to hit the inner curved surface of the.

FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross section of the deflector 60. As can be seen in this figure, the deflector 60
Is composed of guide plates 61, 61 having an inverted U-shaped cross section and a holding plate 62 having a concave cross section.

The guide plates 61, 61 are fixed to both ends of the holding plate 62 with bolts, and the holding plate 62 is fixed to the upper part of the inside of the retort kettle by using projecting pieces 63 having both ends bent at right angles. It

The curvature of the guide plates 61, 61 is preferably the same as or smaller than the curvature of the inner wall surface of the retort kettle.

The width of the holding plate 62 is optimally set so that the heating medium hits the base end portions of the inner curved surfaces 61a, 61a of the guide plates 61, 61. By doing so, the heating medium is guided by the guide plate 61. , 61 inner curved surface 61
Since the a and 61a come into sharp contact with the a and 61a, the heating medium turns more smoothly along the guide plates 61 and 61.

Next, FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the tubular body 30, and 31, ... Indicate the above-mentioned injection nozzles. The injection nozzles 31, ... Are fixed to the upper surface of the tubular body 30 and arranged at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the tubular body 30. Since the tubular body 40 has the same configuration, detailed drawings are omitted.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the tray 20,
Further, FIG. 5 shows a cross section taken along line XX in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the tray 20 is composed of a bottom surface 22 having a rectangular shape and peripheral walls 24, ... Standing around the bottom surface 22. The receiving bases 26, ... For supporting the upper tray are fixed.

The bottom surface 22 has a large number of small holes 29, 2
.. are opened, and four slits 28, ..

As is apparent from FIG. 5, the slit 2
.. are formed by folding a part of the bottom surface 22 upward, and the side plates 28a, 28a facing each other have a V shape.

For this reason, the heating medium passing through the slits 28, 28 is accelerated, and the vicinity thereof is in a depressurized state, so that the atmosphere of the retort kettle 10 is directed to the depressurized portion, that is, the inside of the stacked trays 20, and is sterilized. Things will be heated more effectively.

As is clear from FIG. 6, the sterilized object r,
Are arranged in the tray 20 between the slits 28 ,.

Further, as is apparent from this figure, the tray 2
0 also has small holes 29, ... Opened in the peripheral walls 24, .. 0 so that the heated atmosphere can be sufficiently spread over the objects to be sterilized r ,. There is.

By the way, in the retort sterilizing apparatus constructed as described above, the sterilization of the sterilized object is performed as follows (see FIG. 1).

First, the valve V1 is opened and the pump P1 is operated, so that water is supplied from a water storage tank or the like to the extent that the substance to be sterilized does not enter the bottom of the retort kettle 10.

The upper limit of the water level at this time is the pipe body 3.
This is the position immediately before the injection nozzles provided at 0 and 40 are flooded.

Next, the valves V2 and V4 are opened and the pump P
2 is operated to circulate the supplied water. At the same time, the valve V6 is opened to inject steam from the heating pipe 40 in the flooded state to preheat the water.

Then, when the water becomes hot water of about 80 ° C., the valve V4 is closed, while the valve V3 is opened to send hot water as a heating medium to the pipe body 30 and the valve V4.
5 is opened and steam as a heating medium is sent to the pipe 40,
Hot water and steam are jetted from both jet nozzles toward the slits.

Then, the hot water jetted from the pipe body 30 and the steam jetted from the pipe body 40 are mixed at the time of jetting,
This comes to be blown up toward the slits 28, 28.

Then, after that, the hot water and steam as the heating medium pass through the slits 28, 28, and are thus diverted by the deflector 60.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, as another embodiment, an in-line heater is installed in a pipe (a route passing through the valve V2, the pump P2 and the valve V3) connected to the pipe 30 for hot water injection. There is also a method of injecting steam through the injection nozzle of the pipe body 30 to inject a mixture of hot water and steam.

[0044]

The retort sterilization apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a retort kettle for accommodating an object to be sterilized, a multi-tiered state where the retort kettle is introduced into the retort kettle and several slits are provided on the bottom surface. In the retort sterilizer, the retort sterilization apparatus comprises: a tray for arranging the sterilized object; and a tube body including a jet nozzle for jetting a heating medium from below the tray toward the slit. The deflector having a curved guide plate is fixed above, and the heating medium ejected from the lower side of the sterilized object is caused by hitting the inside curved surface of the guide plate with the heating medium coming out of the slit. It smoothly turns along the guide plate of the deflector and the atmosphere in the retort kettle is circulated well, so that the atmosphere temperature in the retort kettle becomes uniform and the sterilization object is treated. An excellent effect that it becomes to be made as.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a retort sterilizer showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a deflector installed in the retort sterilizer.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a part of a tubular body equipped in the retort sterilizer.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a tray equipped in the retort sterilizer.

5 is a sectional view taken along line XX in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 r Sterilized substance 10 Retort kettle 20 Tray 22 Bottom surface 28 Slit 30, 40 Tube body 31 Injection nozzle 50 Heating tube body 60 Deflector 61 Guide plate 61a Inner curved surface 62 Holding plate

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A retort kettle for accommodating an object to be sterilized, and a tray for arranging the object to be sterilized, which is introduced into the retort kettle in a multi-layered state and has a plurality of slits on the bottom surface. In the retort sterilization apparatus, which comprises a pipe body including an injection nozzle that injects a heating medium from below the tray toward the slit, a curved guide plate is provided above the inside of the retort kettle. A retort sterilization device, wherein a deflector having the same is fixedly provided, and a heating medium that has come out from the slits hits an inner curved surface of a guide plate of the deflector.