JPS5937423B2 - Vacuum cooling method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vacuum cooling method, and more particularly to a water-addition vacuum cooling method in which cooling is performed while adding water to an object to be cooled.

In the vacuum cooling method, the object to be cooled is stored in a vacuum container, and the pressure inside the vacuum container is reduced to approximately 5 mvtH, thereby evaporating the water attached to or contained in the object to be cooled. The object to be cooled is cooled by the latent heat of vaporization of the water.

Therefore, for bulk objects to be cooled, such as carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes, which have a small amount of water adhering to their surface and have hard skins that are difficult for water to permeate, simply reducing the pressure inside the vacuum container is sufficient because the amount of water that evaporates is small. cannot be cooled down.

Therefore, in order to vacuum-cool these bulk objects to be cooled, a so-called water-addition vacuum cooling method is employed in which water is sprinkled onto the surface of the object to be cooled and the water is evaporated in a vacuum.

However, objects to be cooled are generally distributed in cardboard boxes and the like.

Therefore, in the conventional water-added vacuum cooling method, a nozzle formed in a tube provided inside the vacuum container is used to cool the storage container of the object to be cooled, such as a cardboard box, placed inside the vacuum container. Water was being sprinkled from outside.

For this reason, it is not only difficult to uniformly sprinkle water over the entire object to be cooled, but also the sprinkled water instantly falls from the surface of the object to be cooled, resulting in little water addition effect and insufficient cooling. There were drawbacks.

Furthermore, when the chunky vegetables are cooled for a long period of time, a large amount of water inside the vegetables evaporates, impairing their taste.

The present invention was developed in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art, and is capable of uniformly sprinkling water for a certain period of time on a bulk object to be cooled stored in a storage container such as a cardboard box, thereby quickly and efficiently. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a vacuum cooling method that can perform sufficient cooling.

The present invention provides a vacuum cooling method in which an object to be cooled is stored in a container and the pressure inside the container is reduced to evaporate water adhering to the object to be cooled to cool the object. A water enclosure is placed over the object to be cooled stored in the container (water and air are sealed therein, and pores are formed to allow the water to flow out under reduced pressure), and the pressure inside the container is reduced. In this way, the water in the water enclosure is cooled while sprinkling water on the object to be cooled.

A preferred embodiment of the vacuum cooling method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a hydrostatic vacuum cooling method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. O, the vacuum container 10 is provided with a storage opening 11, and this storage opening 11 is designed to be sealed by an airtight door 12.

Further, an exhaust pipe 14 is attached to the vacuum container 10, and the exhaust pipe 14 is connected to a vacuum pump 20 through a cold trap 16 having a built-in cooling pipe 18. This is communicating.

Furthermore, inside the vacuum container 10, an object to be cooled 22 is stored through the storage opening 11, or is generally stored in a container such as a cardboard box 24.

This cardboard box 24 has a ventilation hole 26 at the upper side of the box.
A water enclosing body 28 is placed and housed on the object 22 to be cooled.

An example of this water enclosing body 28 is shown in FIG. 2G.

As shown in the figure, the Suifu human body 28 is shaped like a bag,
Its top and side surfaces are made of a soft material 30F, its downward part is made of a nonwoven fabric 32, and its interior is filled with water 34 and air 36.

The nonwoven fabric 32c has many pores formed therein.
When the water inclusion body 28 is placed under a predetermined reduced pressure, the water 3
4 or so is leaking out.

That is, when the water inclusion body 28 is placed under atmospheric pressure, the water 34 is received in the pores of the nonwoven fabric 32, but due to the surface tension O, it forms a liquid film and does not flow out to the outside. Water inclusion body 2
When 8 is placed under a predetermined reduced pressure, the liquid film is ruptured by the expansion pressure of air 36, and water 34 flows out from the pores of nonwoven fabric 32.

In the embodiment O constructed as described above, the object to be cooled is cooled as follows.

After storing the cardboard box 24 in which the object to be cooled 22 and the water inclusion body 28 are stored inside the vacuum container 10 through the storage opening 11 and closing the airtight door 12, the cardboard box 24 is inserted into the cooling pipe 18 in the cold trap 16. When the vacuum pump 20 is driven while circulating the refrigerant, the pressure inside the vacuum container 10 is reduced.

Therefore, the pressure inside the cardboard box 24 is also reduced through the vent 26, and the pressure inside the water enclosure 28 housed in the cardboard box 24 is relatively higher than that outside, and the enclosed air 36 is reduced. Expand.

As a result, when the pressure inside the vacuum container 10 is reduced to a predetermined pressure, the liquid film of water 34 formed in the pores of the nonwoven fabric 32 due to surface tension is ruptured by the expansion pressure of the air 36.
The water 34 flows out through the pores of the nonwoven fabric 32, and the object to be cooled 2
2. Water is sprinkled uniformly on the top.

Since the water 34 flows out from the pores of the nonwoven fabric 32 in this way, the water sprinkling on the object 22 to be cooled continues for a certain period of time, and the object 22 to be cooled continues to be wet during that period.

Therefore, the evaporation of the water 34 under reduced pressure
The object to be cooled 22 loses heat from the latent heat of vaporization O of the water 34, and a uniform Q
Moreover, it is rapidly cooled.

As mentioned above, with a simple structure in which the downward side of the water seal body 28 is made of the nonwoven fabric 32 in which pores are formed, water sprinkling can be continued for a certain period of time. As a matter of fact, the water spraying start pressure can be freely changed by changing the pore diameter.

Further, the amount of water sprinkled can be freely adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of water encapsulating bodies and by adjusting the amount of water to be encapsulated.

In the above embodiment, the lower surface of the water inclusion body 28 is covered with a nonwoven fabric O.
Although this configuration has been described above, it may also be configured using a semi-permeable membrane, waterproof paper, or the like.

Furthermore, in the embodiments described above, the upper and side surfaces of the water enclosing body 28 are made of a soft material, but they may be made of a hard material.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, it was explained that it was difficult to enclose water 34, but water mixed with alcohol for sterilizing the object to be cooled, and an interface for improving the adhesion of water to the object to be cooled, Water or the like mixed with an activator may be enclosed.

As described above, according to the present invention, water is continuously sprinkled onto the objects to be cooled from within the storage container of the objects for a certain period of time. Since even lumps of vegetables can be cooled easily, continuously, and sufficiently, the taste of the vegetables will not be impaired.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram of the water-addition vacuum cooling method as an example of the vacuum cooling method according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cardboard box placed inside the vacuum container in the water-addition vacuum cooling method of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a water enclosure housed with a coolant; 10... Vacuum container, 20... Vacuum pump, 22... Cooled object, 24... Cardboard box, 28... Water filled Body, 30...
・Soft material, 32...Nonwoven fabric, 34...
・Water, 36...Air.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In a vacuum cooling method in which an object to be cooled is stored in a container and the pressure inside the container is reduced to evaporate water adhering to the object to be cooled and cool the object to be cooled, The container is characterized by arranging a water encapsulation body in which water and air are sealed above the object to be cooled to be stored, and in which pores are formed to allow the water to flow out under reduced pressure, thereby reducing the pressure in the container. vacuum cooling method.