JPH10151071A - Rice cooking processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a rice cooking processor with which boiled rice can be always uniformly loosened regardless of whether boiled rice to be led into an endless belt for conveyance is more or less. SOLUTION: 1st and 2nd loosening parts 3 and 4 are successively arranged along with a conveying direction E of endless belt 1, and runners 7 and 10 are respectively arranged at these 1st and 2nd loosening parts 3 and 4. The runners 7 and 10 are constituted in structure radially attaching plural loosening blades 6 and 9 to rotary shafts 5 and 8. The runner 7 of the 1st loosening part 3 is rotated so that a top end 6e of loosening blade can be moved reversely to the conveying direction E of endless belt 1, a shortest distance A between the top end 6e of loosening blade and the upper surface of endless belt 1 is set to 13-25mm, the runner 10 of 2nd loosening part 4 is rotated so that a top end 9e of loosening blade can be moved in the same direction as conveying direction E of endless belt 1, and a shortest distance B between the top end 9e of loosening blade and the upper surface of endless belt 1 is set to 3-10mm.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rice cooker, and more particularly, to a rice cooker for continuously unraveling cooked high-temperature cooked rice into a uniform coarse state in a short time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as pretreatment for cooling cooked high-temperature cooked rice or mixing vinegar, cooked rice is introduced into an endless belt while it is provided in multiple stages in the transport direction. There is known a processing apparatus in which the mixture is agitated and loosened by a blade (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-1740,
JP-A-61-199820).

[0003] However, in all of the above-mentioned conventional apparatuses, although the stirring blades are provided in multiple stages in the conveying direction of the endless belt, all of the multistage stirring blades are made to have the same structure.
In addition, the blade tips rotate in the same direction as the endless belt conveyance direction. That is, each of the multistage stirring blades is configured to rotate in the same direction so as to send the cooked rice downstream.

[0004] However, when the rice is unraveled as described above, the amount of cooked rice introduced into the cooked rice introduction section of the endless belt is not always constant, but changes over time. When the amount is small, it can be loosened to a uniform density by the stirring blade, but when it is introduced in a large amount at a time, it becomes difficult to uniformly loosen it. When a large amount of cooked rice is introduced at a time as described above, there have been problems such as the presence of lump rice in the cooked rice after the loosening treatment and the inability to uniformly perform the subsequent cooling treatment.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to always disperse the rice in a uniform and sparse state irrespective of the quantity of cooked rice introduced into the endless conveyor belt. It is an object of the present invention to provide a rice cooking apparatus that can perform the rice cooking.

[0006]

A rice cooking apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object comprises a first unraveling section along a transport direction above an endless belt for transporting rice cooked on a top surface. The two loosening parts are provided in order, and the first
An impeller in which a plurality of loosening blades are radially mounted on a rotating shaft provided laterally in the width direction at the loosening portion and the second loosening portion, respectively, wherein the first loosening portion has an endless end of the loosening blade. While rotating so as to move in the opposite direction to the belt conveyance direction, the shortest distance between the tip of the loosening blade and the upper surface of the endless belt is set to 13 to 25 mm, and the impeller of the second loosening unit is The blade tip rotates so as to move in the same direction as the endless belt conveyance direction, and the shortest distance between the loosening blade tip and the endless belt upper surface is set to 3 to 10 mm.

[0007] In order to rotate the impeller of the first loosening unit so that the tip of the loosening blade moves in the direction opposite to the direction of conveyance of the endless belt, the loosening blade of the rice cooked introduced upstream of the impeller is used. The cooked rice radially inward from the raised tip is scraped back to the upstream side, and only the cooked rice radially outward from the loosening blade tip is conveyed downstream. That is,
Regardless of the amount of cooked rice introduced into the introduction portion of the endless belt, only a fixed amount regulated to the shortest distance between the tip of the loosening blade and the upper surface of the endless belt is transported downstream of the first loosening portion.

On the other hand, in the impeller of the second loosening section, the shortest distance between the tip of the loosening blade and the upper surface of the endless belt is set smaller than that of the first loosening section, and the tip is in the same direction as the conveying direction of the endless belt. In order to rotate so as to move the rice, the cooked rice conveyed from the first unraveling unit is scraped and sent to the downstream side so that the rice has a substantially uniform density.

As described above, the first loosening unit and the second loosening unit cooperate with each other, so that the sparsely cooked rice having a uniform density is always obtained irrespective of the amount of rice introduced into the endless belt. Can be obtained.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The endless belt used in the present invention is not particularly limited as long as cooked rice can be conveyed on the upper surface. Preferably, a porous belt is used. For example, a mesh conveyor belt made of wire mesh, a conveyor belt made of perforated metal, a mesh cloth belt made of synthetic fiber, or the like is desirably used.

The endless belt is suspended by a driving roller and a plurality of guide rollers, and is configured to form a conveying surface that rotates continuously and endlessly. Each unit has a rice cooker.
A first loosening section and a second loosening section are arranged in this order along the transport direction between the cooked rice introduction section and the cooked rice lead-out section above the endless belt. Further, a cooling section and / or a vinegar mixing section are provided downstream of the second unraveling section, depending on the purpose of the treatment.

The cooling section and the vinegar mixing section are not particularly limited, and any of known structures can be employed. For example, in the case of the cooling unit, a compressed air supply port is arranged on the upper surface side or the back surface side of the endless belt, and a suction port is arranged on the opposite side, and the compressed air from the compressed air supply port passes through a mesh or a punch hole of the endless belt. To cool the rice cooked to a low density on the upper surface of the endless belt.

In the case of the vinegar spraying section, for example, a vinegar spray shower is arranged above the endless belt so that the vinegar is sprayed according to the amount of the cooked rice, and then the vinegar is sprayed.
It is configured to be mixed by the same impeller as the loosening unit. An impeller is provided in the first loosening section, and the impeller is configured such that a rotating shaft is provided laterally in the width direction of the endless belt, and a plurality of loosening blades are radially attached to the rotating shaft. In addition, the impeller in the first loosening unit rotates so that the front end of the loosening blade moves in the direction opposite to the direction in which the endless belt is conveyed. By rotating the impeller in the direction opposite to the transport direction in this way, of the cooked rice supplied to the cooked rice introduction unit, the half of the radially inner portion from the tip of the unraveling blade is returned to the upstream side so as to be unraveled. The cooked rice in the radially outer portion from the tip of the blade is carried out to the downstream side.

The shortest distance between the tip of the loosening blade and the upper surface of the endless belt is 13 to 25 mm.
Therefore, cooked rice regulated to a thickness corresponding to the shortest distance is transported to the downstream side. If the shortest distance of the first unraveling unit by the impeller is smaller than 13 mm, the amount of cooked rice per unit time conveyed to the downstream side is reduced. Since the phenomenon of scraping back to the upstream side occurs many times, the shape of the rice grains may be lost,
In addition, the surface of the rice grains changes to a paste-like state, and the phenomenon of accumulation in a lump with the rice grains as a nucleus tends to appear, resulting in quality deterioration.

If the shortest distance is larger than 25 mm, the transported amount of cooked rice per unit time to the downstream side increases, so that when the cooling process is performed after the loosening process in the second loosening section, the upper portion of the cooked rice layer is removed. A difference in cooling rate occurs between the lower layer and the lower layer. In an extreme case, only the upper layer is cooled and the lower layer is hardly cooled. In such a case, the conveying speed of the endless belt must be reduced, but as a result, the productivity is reduced. In addition, after the loosening process in the second loosening unit, the rice in the upper layer presses the rice in the lower layer by its own weight, so that it is difficult to maintain the sparse density state obtained by the loosening process.

An impeller is also provided on the second unraveling section, and a rotating shaft is provided in the width direction of the endless belt similarly to the first loosening section, and a plurality of loosening blades are radially mounted on the rotating shaft. It has become. However, the impeller of the second loosening section is different from the impeller of the first loosening section in that the tip of the loosening blade rotates so as to move in the same direction as the endless belt conveyance direction. By rotating the impeller in the same direction as the conveying direction of the endless belt in this manner, the rice rice having a constant thickness in the first loosening unit is scraped to the downstream side,
The density is set to be approximately uniform and sparse.

The impeller of the second loosening section is set such that the shortest distance between the tip of the loosening blade and the upper surface of the endless belt is in the range of 3 to 10 mm. If the shortest distance is smaller than 3 mm, the cooked rice may be crushed between the tip of the unraveling blade and the upper surface of the endless belt, which may cause a deterioration in quality. Also,
Since the crushed cooked rice is difficult to separate easily by sticking to the endless belt, maintenance such as cleaning and removing becomes difficult.

On the other hand, if the shortest distance is larger than 10 mm, the loosening action of the impeller becomes difficult to exert on the entire cooked rice layer, and the lowermost layer portion is not loosened and transported downstream, so that the density of cooked rice is reduced. It will not be possible to achieve a uniform sparse state. In the present invention, the distance between the first loosening unit and the second loosening unit on the endless belt is not particularly limited, but the distance between the first loosening unit and the second loosening unit depends on the type of rice and processing conditions. What is necessary is just to set suitably within the range of the shortest distance set to two loosening parts.

The conveying speed of the endless belt is preferably in the range of 0.38 to 2.3 m / min. When the transport speed is lower than 0.38 m / min, sufficient productivity cannot be increased because the transported amount of cooked rice per unit time is low. When the transport speed is higher than 2.3 m / min, when the cooling process is performed after the unraveling process, the cooked rice layer may be discharged to the cooked rice output section without performing stable cooling of the whole cooked rice layer. Further, increasing the transport speed increases the cooling zone, and requires a large amount of cold air, thereby increasing the cost of supplying cold air.

In the first loosening section, the peripheral speed at the tip of the loosening blade of the impeller is set in the range of 2.8 to 5.8 m / min, and in the second loosening section, the peripheral speed at the tip of the loosening blade of the impeller is adjusted to the second speed. It is preferable that the speed is slower than one loosening portion and the range is 2.1 to 4.4 m / min. If the peripheral speed of the impeller in the first loosening section is lower than 2.8 m / min, the cooked rice passes through the gap between the loosening blades, and the thickness of the cooked rice layer to be transported downstream is regulated to the shortest distance. It is difficult to form the film to a constant thickness. In addition, the peripheral speed of the impeller of the second loosening section is 2.
If the speed is lower than 1 m / min, it will be difficult to scrape the whole cooked rice layer, and as a result, it will be difficult to obtain a sparse state having a substantially uniform density.

If the peripheral speed of the impeller of the first loosening section is higher than 5.8 m / min, or if the peripheral speed of the impeller of the second loosening section is higher than 4.4 m / min, Will scratch rice cooker more strongly than necessary, resulting in damage to the rice grains and lower quality. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a main part of a rice cooking apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are views taken along arrows ab and cd in FIG. 1, respectively. Endless belt 1
Is wound around a drive roller and a guide roller (not shown), and rice is put on the endless transport surface and is continuously transported in the direction of arrow E. Side walls 11 and 12 are arranged on both left and right sides of the transport surface of the endless belt 1 to prevent the rice rice H being transported from dropping to the side.

Along the transport direction E of the endless belt 1, a rice introduction section 2 for supplying cooked rice is provided at a front end of the transport surface, and a rice lead-out section is provided at a rear end (not shown). . Between the cooked rice introduction section 2 and the cooked rice deriving section, a first unraveling section 3 and a second unraveling section 4 are provided in order following the cooked rice introduction section 2 on the front end side. Second loosening unit 4
Although not shown, a cooling unit and / or a vinegar mixing unit for cooling the cooked rice that has been loosened by the first unraveling unit 3 and the second unraveling unit 4 are provided on the downstream side. As the cooling unit and the vinegar mixing unit, any known equipment can be adopted.

The first loosening unit 3 is provided with an impeller 7. The impeller 7 has a configuration in which a rotating shaft 5 is provided laterally in the width direction of the endless belt 1, and a plurality of blades 6 are radially attached to the rotating shaft 5. Although the shape of the blade 6 is not particularly limited, in this embodiment, a rod portion 6a extending in the radial direction from the rotating shaft 5 and a tip 6e of the rod portion 6a are rotated as a structure for obtaining a good loosening effect. And a paddle portion 6p extending in the horizontal direction parallel to the shaft 5 (see FIG. 2).

The impeller 7 is adapted to be driven to rotate about the rotating shaft 5 in the direction of arrow F. That is, the impeller 7
Rotates so that the tip 6e of the loosening blade 6 moves in the direction opposite to the transport direction E of the endless belt 1. By the rotation of the impeller 7 in the reverse direction, the cooked rice H supplied to the cooked rice introduction section 2 is scraped back to the upstream side by the unraveling blades 6 while the boiled rice in the lower layer is loosened by the unraveling blades. At 6, it is carried out downstream without being scraped back.

The impeller 7 is provided with the loosening blade 6 as described above.
Since the shortest distance A between the tip 6e of the endless belt 1 and the upper surface of the endless belt 1 is set in the range of 13 to 25 mm, the impeller 7
In the reverse direction, only the rice B on the lower side of the thickness A corresponding to the shortest distance is transported to the second unraveling unit 4,
The cooked rice H on the upper layer side in the radial direction from the tip 6e scraped up by the loosening blade 6 is returned to the upstream side again. Therefore, regardless of the amount of cooked rice supplied to the cooked rice introduction unit 2, the cooked rice H carried out from the first unraveling unit 3 to the second unraveling unit 4 is always regulated to a fixed amount.

Second unraveling unit 4 into which a fixed amount of cooked rice H is carried in
Is provided with an impeller 10. This impeller 10
Has a configuration in which a plurality of loosening blades 9 are radially attached to a rotating shaft 8 provided horizontally in the width direction of the endless belt 1 like the first loosening portion 3. Although the shape of the loosening blade 9 is not particularly limited, in the embodiment, in order to obtain a good loosening effect, the rod 9a extending in the radial direction from the rotating shaft 8 and the tip 9e of the rod 9a are rotated. And a paddle portion 9p extending in the lateral direction parallel to the axis 8 (see FIG. 3).

The direction of rotation of the impeller 10 is opposite to the direction of the impeller 7 of the first loosening unit 3 (in the direction of arrow G). That is, the tip 9e of the loosening blade 9 is the endless belt 1
To move in the same direction as the transport direction E. The shortest distance B between the tip 9e of the loosening blade 9 and the upper surface of the endless belt 1 is set in a range of 3 to 10 mm. Therefore, by the rotation of the impeller 10 in the same direction as the transport direction, the cooked rice H having the thickness A defined by the first unraveling unit 3.
Is scraped off to the downstream side, so that the density is substantially constant and sparse on the downstream side.

[0029] As described above, the rice cooking apparatus comprises:
The rotation of the unraveling section 3 in the direction opposite to the transport direction of the impeller 7 regulates the cooked rice H to have a substantially constant thickness A, and the rice having the constant thickness A is the same as the transport direction of the impeller 10 of the second unraveling section 4. By the rotation in the direction, the density is loosened to the downstream side so that the density becomes substantially constant, so that the cooperation of the first loosening part 3 and the second loosening part 4 supplies the cooked rice to the cooked rice introduction part. Irrespective of the quantity, it is possible to always obtain sparsely cooked rice with a substantially uniform density.

In order to further improve the operation of the rice cooking apparatus, in the above-mentioned impellers 7 and 10, between the tips 6a and 9e of the loosening blades 6 and 9 located on the outermost side in the width direction and the side walls 11 and 12. Distances W1 and W2 are 3 to 1 respectively.
It is preferable to set the range to 0 mm. When the distances W1 and W2 are 3 mm or more, the cooked rice is not caught between the tips 6a and 9e of the loosening blades 6 and 9 and the side walls 11 and 12, and is 10 mm or less. In addition, it is possible to prevent a thick layer of cooked rice H from being formed in the side area.

It is preferable that the conveying speed of the endless belt 1 and the rotation speed of the impellers 7, 10 are variably adjusted by a speed adjusting mechanism. As described above, the conveying speed of the endless belt 1 is preferably in the range of 0.38 to 2.3 m / min. Under the condition of the conveying speed, the circumferential speed of the tip 6e of the loosening blade 6 of the rotary blade 7 is 2.8-
It is preferable that the peripheral speed of the tip 9e of the loosening blade 9 of the rotating blade 10 is set in the range of 2.1 to 4.4 m / min.

In the illustrated embodiment, an example in which one endless belt is used has been described. However, the number of endless belts for conveyance may be divided into a plurality of endless belts according to the conditions of the installation location. For example, the first corresponding to the first loosening section
Endless belt may be installed, and another second endless belt may be installed corresponding to the second unraveling section. Further, the second unraveling section is not necessarily limited to only one place, and may be provided at a plurality of places depending on conditions.

[0033]

As described above, according to the rice cooking apparatus of the present invention, by rotating the impeller of the first unraveling section in the direction opposite to the transport direction, the cooked rice carried to the second unraveling section is substantially constant. The thickness of the cooked rice is regulated to a certain thickness, and the cooked rice of a certain thickness is loosened so that the density is almost constant and sparse on the downstream side by rotation in the same direction as the conveying direction of the impeller of the second loosening unit. Regardless of the supply amount of cooked rice to the cooked rice introduction section, it is possible to always obtain sparse cooked rice having a substantially uniform density.

Further, the cooked rice which has been processed in the first unraveling unit and the second unraveling unit does not crush or deform the rice grains, and thus does not form a lump having the crushed rice grains as a core. You can get high quality cooked rice. Therefore, high-quality cooked rice can be obtained even after the cooling treatment or the mixing of vinegar.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a main part of a rice cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrows ab in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of arrows cd in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endless belt 3 1st loosening part 4 2nd loosening part 5,8 Rotating shaft 6,9 Loosening blade 6a, 9a Rod part 6p, 9p Paddle part 6e, 9e Tip 7, 10 Impeller

Claims (4)

[Claims] A first loosening section and a second loosening section are provided in order along a transport direction above an endless belt for carrying cooked rice on an upper surface thereof and transporting the cooked rice, and the first loosening section and the second loosening section are provided. An impeller in which a plurality of loosening blades are radially mounted on a rotating shaft laterally provided in the width direction on the loosening portion, respectively, and the impeller of the first loosening portion has a loosening blade tip in a conveying direction of the endless belt. And the shortest distance between the tip of the loosening blade and the upper surface of the endless belt is set to 13 to 25 mm, and the blade of the second loosening unit has the tip of the loosening blade having an endless belt. A rice cooking apparatus which rotates so as to move in the same direction with respect to the transport direction and sets the shortest distance between the tip of the loosening blade and the upper surface of the endless belt to 3 to 10 mm. 2. The conveyance speed of the endless belt is from 0.38 to
The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the cooking speed is 2.3 m / min. 3. A peripheral speed of a tip of a loosening blade of an impeller of the first loosening part is 2.8 to 5.8 m / min,
The peripheral speed of the tip of the loosening blade of the loosening impeller is 2.1 to
The rice cooker according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the rice cooking rate is 4.4 m / min. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said loosening blade is formed of a rod portion radially extending from said rotation axis and a paddle portion extending from a tip of said rod portion in parallel to said rotation axis. The cooked rice processing apparatus according to the above.