JPS5925591B2 - Konjac production method - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a method for producing konnyaku.

Examples of means for automatically producing konnyaku using conventional equipment include 1, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 45-39029 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 45-39029;
As disclosed in Publication No. 9-39832, etc., a process section for kneading konjac raw materials into a raw paste state under the best conditions and a process section for mixing lime water, which is a coagulant, are provided separately. Furthermore, all of these steps are performed in a sealed state.

When the raw material kneading process and the coagulant mixing process are performed in separate locations, the apparatus becomes complicated and inevitably becomes larger.

In addition, a particular disadvantage of this type of method is that each of the above-mentioned steps is carried out in a closed air condition, so there is almost no tactile effect, and therefore it is harsh on the konjac raw material, which is said to have a respiratory effect. Because konnyaku is processed under such harsh conditions, it is inferior to handmade konnyaku in all aspects of konnyaku, including its elasticity, richness, and texture.

This has been clarified by comparing machine-made products and hand-made products made using the same raw materials.

The present invention was made in view of these circumstances.

By using simple equipment and rational means, we are able to automatically and continuously produce delicious konnyaku that incorporates the advantages of conventional machine-making and hand-made products, and we also plan to simplify the equipment and mass-produce high-quality products. It is intended to be

Next, an apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Reference numeral 1 is a cylindrical tank with an open top and a funnel-shaped bottom. A rotating shaft 2, which has a transmission part and whose lower end is placed close to the tank bottom so as not to come into contact with it, is installed in such a way that it can be moved in and out. Wing 3 and
Frame-shaped blades 6 are provided, which are comprised of oblique blades 4 that are close to the inclined inner wall surface of the tank, and horizontal blades 5 that connect the upper ends of the vertical blades 3 and the rotating shaft 2.

As shown in Fig. 3, this vertical blade 3 is installed obliquely so that the outer edge of the blade faces backward with respect to the direction of rotation shown by the arrow, and faces the tank wall surface at a receding angle. It has the function of stirring and kneading raw materials.

Further, the oblique blade 4 is also provided with a swept angle as shown in FIG.
Like the vertical blades 3, they have the function of stirring and kneading the raw materials, and in addition, they also have the function of guiding the raw materials in the direction of the pump, which will be described later.

Further, as is clear from FIG. 4, the horizontal blade 5 also has a receding angle like the blades 3 and 4, and in addition to stirring and kneading the raw materials, it also induces downward convection of the raw material in the upper layer. It has an effect.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a screw blade that is vertically and rotatably mounted between the intermediate portions of the horizontal blade 5 and the oblique blade 4 that constitute the frame-shaped blade 6, and the screw blade 7 is a screw blade that is formed by twisting a plate material once. The pitch is large.

When the upper shaft 8 provided on the screw blade 7 is extended upward and a pinion 9 is provided at its upper end, the pinion 9 is connected to a gear 10 with a large diameter whose center part is loosely fitted to the rotating shaft 2. Tighten the mesh.

The screw blades 7 are given automatic motion by the revolution caused by the rotation of the rotary shaft 2 and the rotation of the shaft 8 by the gear 10 and pinion 9, and furthermore, the rotation of the screw blades 7 causes the raw material to be stirred and convected without the blade side.

Although not particularly shown in the drawings, the same effect can be obtained even if a ring-shaped internal gear is used in place of the gear 10, so the present invention is not limited to the embodiment.

Further, a pump 12 such as a gear pump is connected to the lower end of the tank 1 via a vibrator 11.

A vibrator 13 is connected to the discharge end of the pump 12 for continuously circulating and injecting the raw material into the upper part of the tank 1 while aerating an amount of raw material corresponding to about 30% of the content in the tank.

A vibrator 15 that supplies raw materials to a horizontal portion of the vibrator 13 through a switching valve 14 to a hopper of a quantitative filling machine, which will be described later.
The vibration section between this switching valve 14 and the vertical lower end of the circulation vibe 13 is bent into a U-shape, and a valve 16 is provided at the lowest end of the bent section, and the vibration section is connected to the hopper. Vibrator 1 that supplies the raw material inside 13 in a flowing manner
7 is a provision.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a generally used quantitative filling machine, which includes a hopper 19. It is composed of two cylinders 20.21, one of which discharges raw material when the other sucks a fixed amount of raw material, and a nozzle vibrator 22 that communicates the two ridges of both cylinders 20.21 with each other. .

In the figure, reference numeral 23 denotes a transporting body such as a conveyor that transports a rectangular container 24 for shaping and packaging konjac.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a pressing member for compressing and shaping the bulge-shaped raw material filled in the container; 26 is supported by the pressing member 25 in a pinched manner between the raw material and the container 24 and the pressing member 25 are moved to form a fixed length; A coiled film that is pulled out,
The film is used as a lid.

Further, 27 is a heater that moves together with the pressing body 25 and moves up and down to integrally fuse the film 26 to the peripheral flange of the container 24 and heat-cut it.

Instead of heat cutting, the film may be cut by the cooperative action of the cutter 28.

The pressing body 25 and the heater 27 are designed to perform alternating and continuous reciprocating motion in the horizontal direction and vertical motion, that is, rectangular motion, as explained below.

A boiling device for coagulating the konnyaku raw material is continuously connected to this quantitative filling machine and packaging machine.
This device is omitted because any suitable device can be used.

In the figure, 29 is a sensor equipped with three legs 30, 31, 32 of large, medium and small sizes, and when the raw material leaves the intermediate leg 31, the circuit closes and the pump 12 is driven to supply the raw material to the hopper 19, The drive of the pump 12 is stopped when the raw material level touches the shortest leg 32, so that the required amount of raw material is always supplied and stored in the hopper.

Next, an embodiment of the method of the present invention will be described based on the above-mentioned apparatus.The switching valve 14 provided on the horizontal part of the vibrator 13 is operated to cut off the communication between the vibrator 13 and the quantitative filling machine.

In this state, a predetermined amount of water (20 to 25°C) is placed in the tank 1, and the rotating shaft 2 and pump 12 are driven to rotate at a relatively low speed.

Therefore, the water in the tank is agitated by the frame blades 6 provided on the rotating shaft 2 and the screw 7, and constantly circulated through the vibrator 13 by the action of the pump 12.

Next, a predetermined amount of water is added to this tank 1, that is, about 35 to 37
Add konjac raw material (mannan powder) equivalent to 1/2 and continue stirring and kneading.

The konjac raw material gradually swells and melts (gels), and further, due to the stirring and kneading action of the frame blades 6 and screw blades 7, the tactile action of the raw material, and the circulating tactile action of the vibrator 13, the konjac raw material gradually swells and melts (gels). After ~30 minutes, the best raw glue conditions (stickiness,
gloss, etc.).

In this way, when the raw material reaches the best raw glue condition, the rotation speed of the rotary shaft 2 is suddenly increased, and in this state, an appropriate amount of lime water (coagulation liquid) with a concentration of about 10% is simply added, or the frame is turned upside down. If the mixture is added to the raw seaweed while being followed by a stirring and kneading section using blades and screw blades and mixed evenly and quickly with the raw seaweed, the raw seaweed will turn pink in a short time of less than about 1 minute.

At this point, the rotation of the rotating shaft 2 is stopped, the switching valve 14 is switched to the quantitative filling machine side, and the valve 16 is opened, so that the raw material in the tank 1 is transferred into the hopper 19 of the quantitative filling machine 18 by the action of the pump 12. The raw materials that are supplied and can remain in the circulation vibrator 13 flow down under their own weight to the hopper 19.
be supplied internally.

When the required amount of raw material is supplied into the hopper 19, the two parallel cylinders 20 and 21 work alternately as described above, so that a constant amount of raw material is always discharged from the nozzle vibe 22.
A fixed amount is filled into the container 24 on the transfer body 23.

A container 24 filled with raw materials in a mounded shape
When the material is transferred by a certain distance by the movement of the transfer body 23, the press body 25 descends at this position, crushingly presses and shapes the bulge-shaped raw material through the film 26, and fills the container 24 evenly. .

Then, the container 24 is moved to the transfer body 2 with the film 26 sandwiched therebetween.
By movement 3, it moves further by a certain distance.

At this time, the pressing body 25 is also moved in the state 5, and then the heater 27 provided on the outer periphery of the pressing body 25 is lowered to heat-seal the film 26 and the flange of the container, and cut the film. 28, and the cutter is raised and retracted.

Note that it is also possible to heat cut without using a cutter.

When this operation is completed, the pressing body 25 and the heater 27 are raised and further moved in the direction opposite to the advancing direction of the conveying body 23, and the same action as described above is repeated again.

The container, which has been covered with a film, is sent to an arbitrary boiling device where it is heated and the raw material is solidified to become konnyaku.

In addition, raw materials are continuously filled and packaged.

For Kamoai, as shown in Fig. 5, a plurality of tanks are arranged in parallel, and by staggering the production time of each type of raw material in stages, the raw material made in tank 1a is supplied and filled, and then the valve 1 is opened.
4, the tank 1b is switched to the tank 1b, the above-mentioned raw material production is performed in the tank 1a while the tank 1b is being filled, and the switch is switched to the tank 1c when the tank 1b is finished filling with the raw material,
The raw material is constantly supplied to the quantitative filling machine 18.

In addition, the drive stop and switching valve 14 of the rotating shaft 2. valve 16
It is desirable that the opening/closing switching and the like be automatically performed by a control device, and these are all programmed based on the results of numerous experiments.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to produce raw materials that can be coagulated by stirring and kneading konnyaku raw materials in the same tank and mixing them with lime water.

This is possible because all of this work is done in an open, tactile state, and in addition, the raw materials in the tank are circulated and aerated via pumps and pipelines, so the tactile force of the raw materials is sufficiently dynamic. Therefore, the obtained konjac product has excellent features such as being able to mechanically and continuously obtain the same quality as a handmade product of the highest quality.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure shows the apparatus used in carrying out the method of the invention,
Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway front view, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of the main part of the above, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in Fig. 2. FIG. 5 is a plan view of the device in combination with an automatic continuous packaging device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1 (a) A rotary blade member is provided in a cylindrical funnel-shaped tank with an open top surface for stirring and kneading the konjac raw material (mannan powder) by a correlation with the inner wall surface of the tank, and the above-mentioned A device is used in which a pump is connected to the bottom of the tank, and a pipeline is connected to the pump and has an outlet open to the top of the tank, allowing the raw materials to circulate inside the tank while being aerated. (b) Pour a predetermined amount of water into the tank, then add a predetermined amount of konjac raw material into the tank for the required time. Based on the rotor member described above. Stirring, kneading, and circulating air using pumps and pipelines are carried out. (c) When the raw material is in the raw state under the best conditions,
The required amount of coagulant liquid (lime water, etc.) is added, and when this is mixed uniformly, the kneading action and circulation action are stopped, and the raw materials in the tank are transferred to another container and then heated and solidified. A method for producing konnyaku.