JPS5857146B2 - Continuous high temperature treatment method and device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to high-temperature processing such as retort sterilization of foods, and in particular, to heat processing of a processed material and subsequent temperature-lowering processing with a time difference using a plurality of high-temperature processing tanks. The present invention relates to a method for carrying out the method and an apparatus used in the method.

Generally, what is called high-temperature processing is carried out under high pressure and at a temperature of 100°C or higher, such as retort sterilization. In addition, there is a risk of deformation or destruction of the container, etc., so it is common practice to introduce cold water at the high pressure into the tank and cool the material to a certain extent before transporting it out of the tank. be.

Taking the example of retort sterilization, the heat treatment temperature is approximately 12
At 0°C, the discharge temperature after treatment is below 90°C.

However, when this heating treatment and cooling temperature lowering treatment are attempted to be performed continuously, the loss of thermal energy due to the repetition of heating and cooling is enormous.

This invention was proposed in an attempt to utilize thermal energy as effectively as possible for this type of continuous high-temperature treatment in which heating and cooling are repeated.

The present inventor focused on the fact that this type of high-temperature treatment is performed using hot water, and using a plurality of high-temperature treatment tanks, after the heat treatment process of the first tank is completed, a part of the high-temperature water in the tank is transferred to the second tank. By transferring the high-temperature water to the second tank and performing the heat treatment process in the second tank using this high-temperature water, the thermal energy required for the heat treatment in the second tank can be greatly reduced, and the remaining water in the first tank can be removed. The inventors have discovered that if the heated water is used for temperature-lowering treatment in the first tank, the heat radiation energy of the hot water is small, and the temperature-lowering treatment itself can be carried out effectively and efficiently.

That is, the first invention in this specification is a method in which a plurality of high-temperature treatment tanks are used to continuously perform a heat treatment of a workpiece and a subsequent temperature-lowering treatment in each tank with a time difference. After the heat treatment process of the tank (2) is completed, a part of the high temperature water in the tank is transferred to a second tank, and in the second tank, the heat treatment process is performed using the high temperature water, and at the same time, the heat treatment process is performed using the high temperature water. This continuous high-temperature treatment method is characterized in that the remaining hot water is used in the tank to carry out a temperature-lowering treatment step.

The second invention also relates to an apparatus for practically carrying out the method of the first invention, and particularly relates to a communication conduit for transferring hot water between each tank, a heating process for the object to be treated in each tank, and a heat dissipation process. It is equipped with a special circuit device to perform the temperature-lowering process continuously.

That is, the second invention consists of a plurality of high-temperature treatment tanks each equipped with a communication conduit for transferring hot water between the tanks, and each high-temperature treatment tank is heated by a hot water storage section and a water sprinkling section in each tank. They are connected by a temperature increasing circuit and a heat dissipation temperature decreasing circuit, respectively, and the heating temperature increasing circuit is equipped with a heating device to heat and raise the temperature of the hot water in the water storage section during heating treatment and circulate it to the water sprinkling section as high-temperature water. On the other hand, the heat radiation cooling circuit is equipped with a heat exchanger, and is configured to radiate heat and lower the temperature of the hot water in the water storage section during temperature cooling processing, and recirculate and send the hot water to the water sprinkling section as low-temperature water. This is a continuous high-temperature treatment equipment characterized by:

A detailed description of the invention will be given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is an overall system diagram of a food retort processing apparatus showing an embodiment of the method and apparatus of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a system diagram showing the operation of its main parts, and Fig. 3 is a system diagram showing hot water between two tanks. FIG. 4, which is an explanatory diagram showing the movement in order, is a graph of temperature over one hour showing changes in each process in both tanks as the hot water moves.

In the figure, the high-temperature treatment tanks are indicated by numerals 10A and 10B. Each tank has almost the same structure, and 11, indicated by the common numerals, is a water storage section, and 12 is a water sprinkling section.

Thirteen heating temperature conduits and fourteen heating devices form a heating temperature raising circuit, while 15 heat dissipating cooling conduits and sixteen heat exchangers form a heat dissipating high temperature circuit.

Reference numeral 20 is the tank 10A. 10B is a communication conduit for hot water transfer.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a preheating device for a workpiece to be retorted, and is heated by hot water absorbed by the steam pipe 31 and the heat exchanger 16VC of the heat radiation cooling circuit.

32 is a water sprinkler section, and 33 is an endothermic conduit.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a cooling device, in which the retorted articles are cooled to approximately room temperature.

This cooling device 40 is configured to circulate water cooled by a heat pump 50 into the device from a water discharge section 42.

Note that I represents pulp, 9 represents a pump, 52 represents a cooling tower, S represents steam, and W represents hot water from a high temperature treatment tank.

Next, the main parts of the present invention will be explained according to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 shows a case where the heat treatment process of the first tank 10A is completed and the heat treatment process of the second tank 10B is performed. ing.

That is, the hot water W during the heating process of the first tank 10A is high-temperature water of 120° C. or higher, and a portion (one-half or two-thirds) of this high-temperature water passes through the connecting conduit 20 to the second tank. It is transferred to tank 10B and subjected to a heating process in second tank 10B.

One-half to one-third of the volume of hot water remains in the water storage section 11 of the second tank IOH (in the continuous process, this hot water is low-temperature water used for temperature-lowering treatment).
, and is mixed with high-temperature water transferred from the first tank 10A.

And the heating temperature raising conduit 13 in the second tank 10B
is opened and the hot water heated by the direction device 14 is discharged into the tank from the water sprinkling section 12 and heats the object to be treated.

On the other hand, at this time, in the first tank 10A, the temperature of the object to be treated is lowered using the remaining hot water.

After this temperature-lowering process, as shown in the circuit by the solid line on the left side of FIG. This is done by circulating and releasing the

When the heat treatment in the second tank 10B is completed, the high-temperature water is transferred again to the first tank IOA, and the first tank IOA undergoes the heat treatment while the second tank 10B undergoes the temperature lowering treatment.

When there are two tanks, the heating treatment and the cooling treatment are alternately repeated at approximately the same time.

Note that if it is desired to extend the time for the temperature-lowering process, three tanks (not shown) may be used for the process.

FIG. 3 shows the alternate transfer of hot water and the processes in each tank in the order of a, b, c, and d when there are two tanks.

In the figure, the symbol H inside the tank indicates a heating process, the symbol C indicates a temperature cooling process, the symbol HW in the water sprinkling section indicates high temperature water, and CW indicates low temperature water.

FIG. 4 shows the temperature curves of each tank 10A and IOB,
The solid line indicates the temperature of the object to be treated, and the broken line indicates the temperature of the hot water in the tank.

The object to be treated in this figure has been preheated and pretreated by the preheating device shown in FIG. 1, so its temperature at the time of transport into the tank is approximately 70°C.

In the heat treatment step, the hot water is heated to around 130° C. 1, and the object to be treated is kept at 120° C. for about 5 minutes, before entering the temperature lowering treatment step.

At this time, a portion of the heated high-temperature water in the tank is transferred to another tank, and the temperature is lowered by the remaining hot water, and the absolute heat amount of the hot water is reduced, so the temperature drop curve becomes steeper.

When the temperature of the object to be processed reaches approximately 90 to 95° C., it is taken out of the tank and sent to the next cooling step.

Incidentally, the heating or cooling treatment process in this invention is carried out by showering with hot water, and such a watering method is extremely advantageous because it can effectively transfer heat to the object to be treated. be.

As explained above, according to the present invention, a portion of the high-temperature water heated in the heating step of the first tank is transferred to the second tank and used in the heating step in the second tank.

At the same time, the remaining hot water is used in the first tank to perform a temperature lowering process, but since the absolute amount of hot water in the tank is reduced, the temperature of the hot water in the heat radiation cooling circuit is also efficiently lowered.

By sequentially alternating this between multiple tanks, the thermal energy lost is significantly reduced and more efficient energy can be used.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall system diagram of a food retort processing apparatus showing an embodiment of the method and apparatus of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a system diagram showing the operation of its main parts, and Fig. 3 is a system diagram showing hot water between two tanks. FIG. 4, which is an explanatory diagram showing the movement in order, is a graph of temperature over one hour showing changes in each process in both tanks as the hot water moves. 10A, 10B... High temperature treatment tank, 11...
...Water storage section, 12...Water sprinkling section, 14...
... Heating device, 16 ... Heat exchanger, 20 ...
...Connecting conduit, 30...Preheating device, 40.
...Cooling device, 50...Scale pump, H
... Heating process, C... Temperature cooling process, W.
・・・・・・Warm water.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A method in which a plurality of high-temperature treatment tanks are used to continuously perform a heat treatment of the object to be treated and a subsequent temperature-lowering treatment in each tank with a time difference, wherein the heating in the first tank After the treatment process is completed, a portion of the high temperature water in the tank is transferred to a second tank, and the high temperature water is used in the second tank to perform the heat treatment process, while the remaining water is removed in the first tank. 1. A continuous high-temperature treatment method characterized in that a temperature-lowering treatment step is performed using hot water. 2 Consists of multiple high-temperature treatment tanks equipped with communication conduits for transferring hot water between each tank, and each high-temperature treatment tank has a hot water storage section and a water sprinkling section in each tank that are connected to a heating temperature increase circuit button and a heat dissipation temperature decrease system. The heating and temperature raising circuit is equipped with a heating device to heat and raise the temperature of the hot water in the water storage section during heating treatment, and circulates and feeds the hot water into the water sprinkling section as high-temperature water. The heat radiation cooling circuit is equipped with a heat exchanger, and is configured to radiate heat and lower the temperature of the hot water in the water storage section during temperature cooling processing, and to circulate and send the hot water in the water sprinkling section as low-temperature water. Continuous high temperature processing equipment.