JPS59109158A - Apparatus for continuous drying of food - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the rate of drying in a continuous drying apparatus for undried noodles, etc., by circulating retainers filled with the food to be dried, and drying the food in the heating tank first with superheated steam blasted from below. CONSTITUTION:Steam is supplied to the heating chambers 9a-9h through the line 14, and circulated through the heaters 12 to obtain superheated steam. The retainer 5 is delivered intermittently with the delivery device 16 on the conveyor 1, stopped with the stopper 24, filled with a required amount of food 4, and sent to the heating tank 3 by the conveyors 25, 25'. The food 4 is first blasted with superheated steam from below in the heating chamber 9a. The blasting rate of steam is selected to raise the food a little. The food 4 is then blasted with superheated steam from above, and thereafter, the downward and upward blastings are repeated to effect the nearly uniform heating of the whole food and the uniform and rapid drying of the food. After drying, the retainer 5 is turned upside-down by the guide rail 26 to drop the food 4 on the chute 21, and returned to the starting position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for drying foods such as raw noodles, suitably sliced fish cakes, carrots, onions, other legumes, and grains.
This method is characterized in that a fixed amount of the material to be dried is placed in a metal or retainer, and hot air is applied to the material. Foods such as raw noodles, potatoes or beans are kept at 120-300℃.
It is known that dried products with good flavor can be obtained by rapidly drying them with hot air. This is because rapid drying does not destroy the composition of the food and preserves its freshness and flavor. For example, if you blow hot air at 120 to 300 degrees Celsius onto raw noodles and dry them in a short period of time, the noodles will swell and most of the beta starch in the noodles will turn into gelatinized, making them easier to rehydrate and resulting in excellent flavor. (%Koshō No. 56-26382)0 However, when trying to dry the above-mentioned food using a conventional hot air dryer and applying hot air to it, only the surface layer of the food dried and solidified. A problem occurs in which the surface that is directly exposed to heat or the surface that comes into contact with the retainer gets burnt.

In view of the above-mentioned points, the present invention is to uniformly and rapidly heat the food to the inside and dry it, and uses superheated steam, high humidity hot air, low humidity hot air, etc. as the heating medium, and
A fixed amount of food is placed in a full-mesh retainer, which is then covered with a wire-mesh lid and superheated steam is blown onto it.
Especially when superheated steam is used as the heating medium in the present invention,
When this steam comes into contact with food, the material to be dried, the moisture in the steam condenses and adheres to the surface of the food. Therefore, preferential drying of only the surface layer of the food is suppressed, and the entire food is heated almost uniformly, and when the water content reaches the evaporation temperature, it dries rapidly. By blowing up superheated steam, etc., certain parts of the food are preferentially exposed to the hot air and do not come into contact with the retainer, and the whole food is heated evenly, eliminating the risk of burning. 0 The present invention will be specifically described below based on fully illustrated embodiments. First, this device completely heats the food, supplies new food as a phase material to be dried to the part to be dried, that is, the main body of the drying device, takes out all the dried food, and then circulates the retainer. It consists of the genus part of the phrase.

In the figure, numeral 1 is a feed conveyor, 2 is a presser conveyor, and 3 is a heating tank. These are the main constituent parts of the main body part, and the feed conveyor l is for passing through the heating tank 3 at a constant speed 5 retainers each containing 4 times a certain amount of food.
As will be described later, an air-permeable conveyor is used because the heating medium is vented to the retainer 5 from all directions above and below. The figure shows an example in which a chain conveyor is used, and in particular, this chain is shown in which six rollers are attached to a connecting bin. On the other hand, the retainer 5 is formed using a wire mesh, and several pieces thereof are attached to the retainer frame 7. This improves work efficiency by integrating several retainers 5, and also makes handling operations easier.A retainer frame 7 has contact plates 8 attached to both ends, which are connected to the conveyor conveyor. It is formed so as to rest on the roller 6 of ■. The heating tank 3 is divided into several heating chambers 9a to 9h along the traveling direction of the υ conveyor 1, and a heating medium is supplied to each heating chamber independently. In the figure, as an example, the heating chambers 98 to 9h are arranged alternately as a chamber in which the heating medium rises and a chamber in which it falls; The inlet pipe lO is installed and the discharge pipe 1 is installed on the upper part.
1 is attached to the heating chambers 9b, .

The exhaust gas discharged from heating chamber 9 is that! One method is to release the exhaust gas into the atmosphere, but from the point of view of reducing fuel consumption, it is preferable to reheat and recycle the exhaust gas.The figure is an example of this. Then, the discharge pipe 11 and the inlet pipe IO
A heater 12 and a blower 13 are interposed in this yarn path to adjust the temperature of the entire exhaust gas to an appropriate temperature and supply it again to the heating chamber 9 as a new heating medium. Reference numeral 14 denotes a heating medium supply pipe which communicates with a heating device (not shown) and which supplies the heating medium to the heating chamber 9 mainly at the start of work. The figure shows an example in which superheated steam is used as the heating medium. Therefore, a boiler is used as the heating device described above. Reference numeral 15 is a drain pipe for discharging excess water discharged together with the exhaust to the outside of the system.

The presser conveyor 2 prevents the food filled in the retainer from being blown out by the superheated steam blown up from below the retainer 5 in the heating chamber 9, and is a lid for the retainer. It is provided at a position substantially touching the upper surface of 5. Of course, this is a belt conveyor with ventilation. -As an example, since a wire mesh is used in this one, υ rotates at the same speed as the feed p conveyor l.

To explain the outline of drying food here, first, the retainer 5 is placed on the starting end of the feed conveyor, and then a certain amount of food is loaded into the retainer 5 and passed through the entire inside of the p-heat tank 3.
The dried food is taken out from the retainer at the tip of the conveyor 1, and the empty retainer 5 is returned to the starting end of the conveyor.

Next, I will explain the introductory part. Reference numeral 16 is a delivery device using an air cylinder. In this system, the retainer 5 is lifted up to a certain height by a lift conveyor 17, and is pushed onto a multi-feed conveyor l by a cylinder rod to the position shown at 5b at a certain interval. Although not shown in the figure, a food loading device is provided at the top, and a predetermined amount of food is poured into this loading device.Of course, in this case, the retainer 5b is fixed at a fixed position. is desirable, for example retainer 5
When the retainer 5b reaches the stop position, the air stop collar 24' is prepared for the stop position of the retainer 5b, and the air stop collar 24' is actuated by a photoelectric tube or the like to detect that the retainer 5b has reached the stop position, thereby completely stopping the retainer. The retainer 5 filled with four food items is then sent out by a forced conveyor section.

Of course, in this case, the air stopper 24 is disengaged before the protrusion provided on the forced conveyor 25 engages with the retainer 5a. The retainer 5 is then conveyed by a forced conveyor 25.2. The forced feed conveyor 25 is slightly faster than the feed conveyor 1, and is adapted to pull out the retainer 5 with its projections. 25
' rotates at the same speed as the conveyor l, and the retainer 5 is carried by the conveyor l.
The forced feed conveyors 25, 25' are provided with protrusions that project at regular intervals, thereby pushing the retainer 5. A guide rail 26 is provided at the tip of the feed conveyor l along the chain. This guide rail 26 is used to turn the retainer 5 that has passed through the heating tank 3 upside down and take out the food content 4, and the guide rail 26 is used to take out the food contents 4, and is attached to the chain of the conveyor 1 until the angle of inclination 1 reaches 60 degrees. It curves along the line, and after that it slides down, and after that it turns into a sheet and heads towards the posture return device I8.

In addition, a cover 19 is attached between both guide rails to prevent the food contents 4 from spilling out as necessary until the retainer 5 assumes the inverted position, and a hammer is used to ensure that all the food contents are dropped. Equipment additions are installed. A hopper or cine 21 is provided at the position where the food contents fall to receive them. Posture return device 1
The retainer 5 that has proceeded to B is corrected in its posture completely upward, is softened by the return conveyor 22, and is returned to the conveyor 1 for conveyance again via the waiting conveyor 17.

To dry food using the drying apparatus configured as described above, first, all steam is sent to each heating chamber 9 & ~9h through the steam supply pipe 14, and then this is passed between the heating chamber 9 and the heater 12. It is heated while being circulated to produce superheated steam of 120 to 300°C. Next, the feed conveyor 1 to the presser conveyor 2 and others are activated, and the feed device 16 feeds the retainer 5 onto the feed conveyor l. The retainer 5, which is intermittently pushed by the cylinder rod of the delivery device 16, is stopped and fixed by the stopper at the position shown in 5b, and a predetermined amount of the food 4 is filled therein. Then, this retainer 5 is pushed out from the rear by the feeding device 16 with the retainer fully valved, and is further fed into the heating tank 3 by a forced feeding conveyor, and then inside each heating chamber 98 to 9h. ) during which the food is exposed to superheated steam and dried. In this case, the food 4 is blown with superheated steam from below in the first heating chamber 9b, and from above in the next heating chamber 9b,
Thereafter, spraying from below and blowing down from above are repeated in sequence.

A feature of the embodiment of the present invention is that superheated steam is blown onto the food 4, especially when hot air is blown up from below.
The strength is such that the food 4 is slightly lifted up within the retainer 5. That is, in this way, the 5 foods 4 become suspended in the retainer 5, which eliminates the risk of the portions that come into contact with the retainer 5 getting scorched.Furthermore, the entire food is heated almost uniformly and dried quickly and evenly. That's what I do. After passing through the heating tank 3, the retainer 5 reaches the tip of the transfer conveyor l, slides along the guide rail 26, and is completely turned upside down.

Then, food 4 will fall out, so transfer it to sheet 21.
On the other hand, the empty retainer 5 is returned to its original vertical position and placed on the conveyor 22, and then transferred to the standby conveyor and then to the lift conveyor 17%! 'Output device 1
After 6 i, the food is returned to the conveyor l.As described above, in the present invention, the food 4 is dried by blowing superheated steam onto it, and the retainer 5 is used for circulation. Therefore, the entire food 4 is heated almost uniformly, so the drying speed is extremely fast, and since the food 4 is first blown with superheated steam from below in the heating tank 3, it has stickiness similar to raw noodles, for example. Food can also be dried.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view schematically showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view showing the main parts, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same. l; Feeding conveyor 2; Outlet pipe 12; Heater 13 i Blower 14; Supply pipe 15 i Drain pipe
16; Feeding device 17; Lift conveyor 18
Posture return device 19; Cover 20; Hammer device 21; Chute 22; Return conveyor 2a; Standby conveyor separate; Air stopper 25; Forced feed conveyor 26; Guide rail (12) 1 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a continuous drying device consisting of a feed conveyor, a presser conveyor, a main body part which serves as the main component of heating, and an accessory part whose main purpose is to circulate the retainer, the feed conveyor is provided through the heating tank and The net surface of the holding conveyor is provided at a position that is almost in contact with the upper surface of the retainer transferred by the feed conveyor, and the heating tank is divided into several heating chambers along the traveling direction of the multi-feed conveyor. The conveyor is equipped with a heater, and a circulation path for the heating medium is formed through the heater.A guide rail and a posture return device are provided at the tip of the feed conveyor, and a return conveyor and a standby conveyor are also provided. , a lift conveyor, and a feeding device are provided, and the retainer that has passed through the heating tank is returned to the starting end of the gauze feeding conveyor.