JPS6022891B2 - Rapid cooling method for seafood - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a novel method for storing seafood that preserves its freshness by rapidly cooling the seafood without freezing it.

In general, when seafood is frozen, its color, taste, and other qualities are inferior to fresh fish, and ``autolysis occurs during thawing, making it more susceptible to spoilage.

In addition, since fish farms and markets are close to each other, fish caught in coastal waters are usually not frozen but only ice-cooled. However, with this method, only the parts of the seafood that are in contact with the ice are cooled, and they quickly spoil. Furthermore, high-quality seafood is not suitable for freezing. Moreover, when these seafoods are cooled in a refrigerator, etc., it takes a long time for the temperature of the seafood to reach the desired low temperature, and during that time, autolysis occurs, resulting in a decline in quality and the promotion of spoilage. cause a phenomenon. Furthermore, the heat brought in by these seafood causes the temperature inside the refrigerator to rise, resulting in a large loss of energy. Therefore, we investigated this point and found that once the temperature inside the refrigerator rises due to the heat brought in by the seafood, a considerable amount of energy is required to lower it to the initial temperature. We also obtained new knowledge that the amount of heat that seafood brings in is far greater than expected.

Based on the above findings, we have conducted intensive research and found that in order to efficiently cool and store seafood, it is necessary to pre-process it before storing it in the refrigerator. It has been found that the method best suits the efficiency, special refrigerators as described below, and ordinary refrigerators, as well as various other requirements, and based on this, the present invention has been completed.

In other words, the present invention provides, prior to full-scale cooling in the refrigerator,
We have adopted a new configuration for pre-treatment, and we have also adopted a completely new requirement for the pre-treatment of directly exposing the seafood to the cooling liquid, thereby rapidly cooling the seafood and reducing the internal The most important feature is that seafood can be cooled extremely quickly and efficiently without causing temperature rises and/or temperature changes, thereby preventing deterioration in the freshness, quality, and flavor of seafood. It is.

- The present invention also includes a method in which seafood is subjected to the above-described pretreatment and then cooled and stored in a refrigerator.

Refrigerators to be used include ordinary refrigerators using Freon gas, refrigerators of a type that cools by circulating cooling liquid such as cooling water in pipes, and refrigerators of a type that cools by directly circulating temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled gas. Examples include such new refrigerators and others. In particular, when using the above-mentioned new refrigerator, the liquid cooled inside the refrigerator can be directly sprayed onto seafood, which not only provides efficient cooling, but also reduces drying of stored products, which is a decisive disadvantage of conventional refrigerators. The chopsticks have the advantage of being able to store seafood for a long period of time while preserving its freshness without causing any freezing.

As a production and circulation system for the temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled gas supplied to this type of refrigerator, it is optimal to use a cyclone-type mist cooler. The pretreatment, that is, preliminary cooling, which is an important feature of the present invention, is carried out by bringing the cooled liquid and the seafood directly overboard.

In this case, the fish and shellfish may be placed directly on a suitable transport means such as a net conveyor, or placed in a suitable container and then immersed in the cooled liquid, or the cooled liquid may be poured upwardly or downwardly in the form of a shower. , and/or spraying from the side may be employed as appropriate. It is of course possible to use a batch method instead of this continuous method. The cooling liquid may be used that has been cooled to a predetermined temperature from the beginning, or the degree of cooling may be changed in stages and the liquid may be sequentially applied to the seafood. The appropriate cooling temperature in preliminary cooling is around 5°C, preferably around 0°C. Even seafood that has been exposed to the outside air will drop to this temperature in a relatively short period of time, and if you lower the temperature of seafood to this temperature, you can prevent the temperature inside the refrigerator from rising. was set as the optimal one. Of course, water can be used as the cooling liquid, but an aqueous salt solution can also be used. In addition to common salt, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, etc. can be used as appropriate as salts.
An aqueous salt solution is advantageous because not only can the cooling temperature be varied over a wide range depending on its concentration, but it can also be lowered to below 0°C. Next, the method of the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to an example apparatus for carrying out the method.

FIG. 1 is an example of an apparatus for carrying out pre-treatment, ie, pre-drop cooling, according to the present invention. The rapid cooling section 62 that performs preliminary cooling consists of a cooling liquid tank 64 and a transfer means 63 such as a net conveyor.
Stretch it so that it runs across the inside of 4. Water cooled to 5°C is always stored in this tank 64, and the transfer means 6
3 in the direction of the arrow. On top of this, seafood containers 65a, 65b, etc. containing seafood are placed.Although the details are omitted in order to ensure efficient contact with the cooling water, the container walls and bottoms are perforate the hole and, if necessary, cover it with a perforated lid or a net lid. Furthermore, the entire container may have a stainless steel mesh structure, if necessary. These seafood containers 65a, 65
b...Put the seafood in the container, place it on the transfer means 63, move it in the direction of the arrow, pass through the cooling liquid, cool the seafood to a predetermined temperature, and then store it in the refrigerator. Then, it is fully refrigerated. Another embodiment of the pre-cooling method of the present invention is to spray cooling liquid directly onto the seafood.

Please refer to Figure 2. Tunnel-shaped rapid cooling section 6
2 is divided into zones 1, ro, m..., and pipes are installed in these areas, respectively, with pipes 1-60, ro 60, m-30, and appropriate jet ports 1-60, 0-61, m-1. 61 are provided in an appropriate number. A transport means 63 such as a net conveyor is installed so as to traverse this area. How to process seafood
First, the landed seafood is placed on a net conveyor and transported to the area. Then, 1500 ml of 4% saline solution is sprayed from the spout 1-61, and the temperature of the product drops to around 10 qo. There, they entered the area and were similarly sprayed with -3°C saline solution, causing the product temperature to further drop. Then, after entering zone m and being treated with -1°C salt water to reduce the temperature of the seafood to a desired temperature, the seafood is transported into refrigerator 1 with or without fresh water treatment and subjected to direct cooling with cold air. It is something. Of course, it is possible to perform water sprinkling treatment inside the refrigerator if necessary, and it is also possible to use fresh water instead of a salt solution, and furthermore, the cooling temperature in each of these areas can be changed as necessary. be able to. Even if the fish and shellfish pre-cooled in this way are stored in the refrigerator as is, the temperature inside the refrigerator will not rise or change excessively. Moreover,
The pre-cooling process cools the seafood extremely quickly, thereby significantly preventing loss of freshness. After the above-mentioned pre-treatment, the seafood is stored in a refrigerator for full-scale cooling.As mentioned above, in addition to the various types of refrigerators conventionally used, there are many types of refrigerators, including supercooling,
The refrigerator and cooling device according to the present invention can be used particularly suitable for fresh seafood that extremely dislikes drying and freezing.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a refrigerator according to the present invention, in which reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator, which has the following structure.

That is, inside the wall surface 12 constituting the lotus body 11 of the refrigerator, a pipe 13 through which cooling water flows is welded to the inner surface panel 14 of the wall surface 12 and is provided in the inner space of the wall surface 12 and the outer periphery of the inner surface panel 14. is filled with insulation material. Inside the cliff body 11, below the wall surface 12, there is a drain receiving groove 15.
, 16 are provided.

Note that the weight body 11 is provided with a door device for delivering or taking out stored items, a shelf for reloading stored items, etc., although not shown in the drawings, similar to the subordinate refrigerator. There is. ``It is also a good idea to install a sirocco fan above the entrance to create an air curtain when seafood and people enter and exit.
A cold air introduction port 17 is provided in the center of the ceiling plate 19, and a discharge port 18 is provided in the center of the bottom surface 20. The generated low-temperature air is introduced into the mahjong body 11. At the same time, cold water of a slightly lower temperature than that is passed through the pipe 13 buried in the wall surface 12. A large amount of cold water is placed in the cooling water tank 101. The cooling water is constantly cooled by a cooling device 102 to maintain a low temperature, and this cooling water is constantly sent by a pump 103 to keep the wall surface 12 at a low temperature.At this time, the cooling water is kept at a temperature below -2°C. However, since it is constantly circulating, it does not freeze.This piping 13 is not necessarily essential, and may not be provided if it is not needed. A cooling fluid spout is provided in the refrigerator weight body 11, and a cooling fluid such as water adjusted to an appropriate temperature, saline solution, or an aqueous solution of other salts such as calcium chloride, potassium chloride, or the like is sprayed into the refrigerator from this spout.

The cooling fluid jet ports 61 are normally provided in appropriate numbers 61a, 61b, 61c, etc. in the pipe 601 provided inside the warehouse.
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a pipe 60 having a cooling fluid outlet 61 is installed on the ceiling plate 19 and side wall surface of the shading body 11, but it is also possible to provide two pipes on the bottom surface. This tube 60 is connected to a cooling fluid tank equipped with a suitable cooling device (not shown) to transfer the fluid while controlling the temperature and concentration to be appropriate. Of course, when water is used as the cooling fluid, the cooling water tank 101 for wall cooling can also be used as the cooling fluid tank. The jet nozzle 61 may be designed to have a fixed or variable angle, and may also have an oscillating structure like a sprinkler. By adopting such a structure, the cooling fluid is uniformly distributed over the seafood. If necessary, it is also possible to provide a protruding pipe 60 and spray water from its tip, or to install a sprinkler. The cold air introduced into the weight body 11 from the cold air introduction opening 17 passes through the central part of the negative body 11 and the wall surface 12 to lower the temperature inside the refrigerator. The air is sent to the exhaust outlet 18 while adjusting the humidity and removing dust, and is then exhausted to a cooling air device to be described later.

Although condensation may occur on the wall surface 12, the condensed water falls into the grooves 15 and 16 and is discharged from the crab body.

The cooling fluid ejected from the ejection port 61 is also discharged in the same manner. In the above embodiment, the cold air is introduced from the direction of the sparrow body 11 and discharged from below, but it may also be introduced from below and discharged from above.

It is also possible to cool the inside of the refrigerator using only cold air without applying cooling fluid. Next, a cold air device that supplies temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled cold air to the above-mentioned refrigerator will be described. FIG. 4 is an example of this. In FIG. 4, 1 is a refrigerator, and in this case, the refrigerator 1 is shown in a cross-sectional shape different from that in FIG. 3. In addition, in FIG. 4, illustrations of the cooling fluid outlet 61, the pipe 60, and the cooling fluid tank are omitted, and the same reference numerals are given to the same materials as in FIG. 3.
Detailed explanation has been omitted. 30 is an air fan, and its discharged air is blown into the first cyclone 34.

A steam pipe 35 is attached to the cyclone 34, which separates solid matter such as garbage entrained from the refrigerator 1 and also sterilizes the air by ejecting steam as necessary. However, for convenience, this first cyclone 3
4 can be omitted and the tube can be directly passed through the pipe 33'. At this time, the steam pipe may be directly closed to the pipe 33' or the spray cooler 36. Removal of dust and the like is performed by a floor mist cooler 36. Due to cyclone 34,
The air from which dust and the like have been removed is sent to a mist cooler 36 via a conduit 33.

The mist cooler 36 closes the air conduit 33 connected to the cyclone 34 on the side, fixes a reflux pipe 37 above, and connects a cold water pipe 38 around the reflux pipe 37 inside the mist cooler 36.
, and branched out to create a large number of fake ports 39a, 39b.
... into the spray cooler 36, and the cold water pipe 38 is connected to the cold water tank 10. A large amount of cold water that is constantly cooled to a predetermined temperature is stored in the cold water tank 10.
The cold water is supplied to the mound ports 39a, 39b through the pump 29.
. . . becomes smaller droplets and is ejected into the mist cooler 36. Therefore, the air entering the spray cooler 36 is transferred to the ejection pipe 39
a, 39b... Contact with water droplets, exchanging heat quickly and efficiently, excess water due to cooling is condensed, and insufficient water is humidified, saturated at a temperature approximately equal to the cold water temperature. Then, it exits from the reflux tube 37. On the other hand, the heated water dissolves or suspends odors, dust particles, etc. in the refrigerator, and is not suitable for repeated use, so it is passed through a conduit 41 to a furnace 42, passed through a furnace, and passed through a conduit 41'. Through cold water tank 1
Return 01. For this reason, the furnace filtration device 42 is preferably a normal furnace filtration device with an adsorbent material such as activated carbon, citrate, acid clay, or ion exchange resin applied to the surface of the furnace. Fake fog cooler 3
The cooling air leaving the air 6 still contains some droplets and is moist, so it is completely dehydrated by the second cyclone 43. Therefore, only the dehydrated and saturated humid air returns to the refrigerator 1 via the reflux pipe 47. At this time, if it is desired to obtain a constant humidity (for example, 60% humidity) instead of a saturated humidity, a constant amount of overflow dry air may be sent and mixed through the air supply pipe 44. A bypass pipe 48 is provided between the suction pipe 25 and the return pipe 47 of the fan 30, and an air flow rate control device 49 such as an L damper is provided on the bypass pipe 48.

On the other hand, the refrigerator is provided with internal temperature detection devices A, A2 and internal humidity detection devices B, B2. Actuator 70 that operates a cooling fluid ejection mechanism (not shown)
are respectively provided, and when the temperature inside the refrigerator changes due to the coming in and out of seafood or people, etc., the ventilation amount control device 49 is activated to control the amount of air bypassed from the recirculation pipe 47 to the suction pipe 25. And/or by jetting fluid from the cooling fluid spout 61, a large amount of temperature-controlled and humidity-controlled air and/or fluid is temporarily circulated to control the temperature and humidity inside the refrigerator.

In the figure, 44 is an air supply pipe, the end of which is connected to a cyclone 43.
and supply dry air for humidity control as necessary.
It is also possible to inject steam to heat the circulating air and sterilize the refrigerator 1 and piping via the reflux pipe 47. Further, 5 is a cold soot compressor of the cooling water cooling system, 6 is a condenser for the refrigerant gas discharged from the compressor 5, and 7 is a conduit that connects to the evaporator 8 in the cold water tank 10. Also C
is a temperature detector in the cooling water tank 10, temperature detector C, .A2 is electrically coupled to the unillustrated power of the fan 30, and temperature detector C is electrically coupled to the compressor 5.

The reflux pipe 47 and the suction pipe 25 are connected to a cold air conduit 23 that communicates with the entrances 17 and 18 of the refrigerator 1 via the four-way switching valve 22.
, 24 is suitable for lotus.

In the drawing, the reflux pipe 47 is connected to the opening 17 on the ceiling plate 19 of the refrigerator.
The suction pipe 25 is shown passing through the conduit 23 which extends to the entrance 18 of the bottom plate 20 of the refrigerator. At this time, cold air flows into the refrigerator from above. Then, it is discharged from below. Four-way switching valve 22 to 9
It will be obvious that when the refrigerator is rotated to 0°, the above-mentioned lotus communication relationship is reversed, and the cold air is switched to flow in from the bottom of the refrigerator and exit from the top. When operating the above device, first the compressor 5 is activated to lower the water in the cold water tank 10 to a predetermined temperature. When the temperature drops to a predetermined temperature, the switch of the compressor 5 is activated by a command from the temperature detector C, and the compressor 5 is stopped.
When the temperature rises, it closes and operates to perform ON/OFF control. When the fan 30 and the pump 29 are operated, the air inside the refrigerator 1 is transferred to the first cyclone 34, the mist cooler 36,
It passes through the second cyclone 43, is purified and cooled, and then flows back into the refrigerator 1.

When the temperature inside the refrigerator 1 falls to a predetermined temperature, the temperature detector A,
, detects this and rotates the air flow control device 49 through the actuating section 5, so that the air in the recirculation pipe 47 is transferred to the bypass pipe 4.
8. It circulates through the suction pipe 25, the fan 30, the first cyclone 34, the mist cooler 36, and the second cyclone 43, and enters the refrigerator 1 at all or only in a limited amount.
Also, when the temperature inside the refrigerator 1 suddenly rises, the ventilation amount control device 4
9 stops, returns to the previous state, and circulates only into the refrigerator 1. By doing this, a constant temperature is maintained inside the refrigerator, but by adjusting the temperature of the cooling pipe 13, the humidity inside the refrigerator is also adjusted. Therefore, when the humidity detectors B, & are adjusted to a predetermined humidity scale and the temperature of the cooling pipe 13 is adjusted, the relative humidity inside the refrigerator will fluctuate, and the humidity detectors B, && will detect this fluctuation and operate it. Since the section 25 is activated, the humidity inside the refrigerator can be controlled for the same reason as described above.
In addition to regular control of temperature and humidity inside the warehouse, fresh seafood must be cooled as quickly as possible after being brought into the warehouse to maintain its freshness.

Therefore, it becomes essential to perform the water sprinkling operation, which is one of the greatest features of the present invention, inside the refrigerator simultaneously or separately from the above operations. First, the landed seafood is transported into the rapid cooling section 62 shown in FIG.
Cooled to 5℃, sent to pipe 1-6 river, spout 1-6
Water the fresh fish thoroughly from zero to cool it rapidly.

Then, the product temperature drops from 20qo to 10qo. Therefore, the seafood is sent to the area. Here, the temperature of the salt water is -3
℃, and control the temperature of the brine using appropriate temperature control means, being careful not to freeze the fresh fish.
Alternatively, prepare separate salt water tanks that are controlled at various temperatures and bring them to temperatures as low as -1°C and 1°C. Correspondingly, the temperature of seafood will drop from 5°C to 3°C to 1°C. Here, the seafood is sent to the area melon, and the salt water is -1 to 0.
Switching to cooling water at ℃, the temperature of fresh fish is uniformly -1 to 0℃
When the cooling water is fixed nearby, the spouting of the cooling water is stopped, and after the cooling water is carried into the above-mentioned refrigeration device, an aqueous salt solution that has been cooled to a predetermined temperature from the beginning is sprinkled from the spout 61, or while changing the salt aqueous solution as appropriate, the water is poured into the spout. Sprinkle water from 61 and cool and store seafood. The aqueous salt solution may be sprayed continuously or intermittently, or the intended purpose can be achieved by simply circulating cold air without spraying the salt solution at all. In this way, depending on the seafood to be stored, optimal
It is to be stored at -3°C, preferably -1 to 1°C.
Salt water and other salt aqueous solutions can be cooled to below 0°C, so they are particularly suitable for rapid cooling of fresh fish, and can also be subjected to salting treatment by changing the concentration of salt.

Furthermore, by sprinkling water, operations such as refining and removing salt from fresh fish can be carried out at the same time. In addition to table salt, the salts used in both the above-mentioned water sprinkling treatment and rapid cooling treatment include calcium chloride,
Potassium chloride and the like can be used as appropriate, and the concentration used can be changed as necessary.

However, the most suitable solution for processing seafood is one that is close to seawater, that is, 3% saline. If the seafood to be stored is freshwater, it is better to further reduce the salt concentration or use fresh water. The aforementioned rapid cooling section 6
2 (not shown), the cooling fluid jetting operation can be automated via the humidity detecting devices B, & and the actuating section 70.

When no fluid ejection operation is performed inside the warehouse, the detection device B,
．． B2 is connected to the operating section 50 to perform normal cold air circulation operation. In this case, as the cold air to be circulated, in addition to air, carbon dioxide gas, nitrogen gas, and other inert gases can be used as appropriate, and a mixed gas of oxygen and these gases can also be used. And the temperature can also vary widely according to the type of seafood or other requirements. According to the method of the present invention, as detailed above, a large amount of seafood can be uniformly cooled to the target temperature in an extremely short time compared to conventional dry refrigeration methods, and there is no freezing or dehydration. The chopstick effect of maintaining extremely high quality can be obtained, and the present invention can also be applied to extremely large-capacity refrigerated warehouses.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure shows an embodiment of the apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention, and FIG. , FIG. 2 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the rapid cooling unit, FIG. 3 is a sectional side view of the refrigerator, and FIG. 4 is a layout of the entire cooling device. 1... Refrigerator, 5... Compressor, 6...
... Condenser L8 ... Evaporator, 10 ... Cold water tank, 11 ... Crab body, 13 ... Cold water distribution pipe,
16, 16...Drain drain, 17...Closed, 18...Closed, 20...Bottom plate, 19...
...Ceiling board, 22... Four-way sliding sliding door valve, 25...
Suction pipe, 29...pump, 30...fan, 34...
...Cyclone, 35...Steam pipe, 36
・・・・・・Spray cooler, 37... Reflux pipe " 38
...Cold water pipe, 39...Spray nozzle, 42...
・Furnace filtration machine, 43...Second cyclone, 44...
... Air supply pipe, 40 ... Reflux pipe, 48 ... Bypass pipe, 49 ... Ventilation volume control device, 50, 70 ...
... Actuating part, 60... Pipe, 61...' Cooling fluid jet port, 62... Rapid cooling part, 63...
... Transfer means, 64... Cooling liquid tank, 65a,
65b...Seafood container, 101...Cooling water tank. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. After bringing the seafood into direct contact with the cooling liquid outside the refrigerator to lower its temperature to below 5°C, preferably to around 0°C, store it in the refrigerator and cool it using a cyclone spray cooler. A method for rapidly cooling fish and shellfish, characterized in that a gas whose temperature and humidity are controlled to -2 to 3°C, preferably -1 to 0°C, is directly ventilated and circulated in a refrigerator.