JPS6141528B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Fresh leaves harvested from tea plantations (tea leaves before tea processing) are transported to a tea factory and temporarily stored until processing. It is active in tea leaves and easily deteriorates, especially if they are piled up and left, the heat of breathing of the fresh leaves gets trapped between the leaves, creating a high temperature condition that accelerates the progress of deterioration.In severe cases, the deterioration becomes blackish brown and the so-called raw leaves are burned. It turns out.

It is said that the best way to maintain the freshness of fresh leaves is to store them at around 5°C, but it is extremely expensive to cool and maintain a large amount of fresh leaves to around 5°C by storing them in a refrigerator. This is not generally done because it requires a cooling device, but the current method is to use a blower to blow room-temperature air between the fresh leaves to remove the respiratory heat trapped between the fresh leaves to prevent the fresh leaves from burning. ing.

However, because ventilation with a blower only lowers the temperature by about 10 degrees Celsius at most, the deterioration of fresh leaves continues to progress over time, causing a decline in the quality of tea.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a fresh leaf storage device that can rapidly and efficiently cool and store fresh leaves to nearly 5°C, thereby preventing deterioration of fresh leaves and improving the quality of tea.

An embodiment of this invention will be described based on the drawings.
a is a box whose upper and lower surfaces and four side walls are made up of heat-insulating chambers 1; b is a breathable endless transport zone provided at the bottom of box a; b ₁ and b ₂ are the endless transport section b, respectively. Up,
The lower belt, 2 is the drive roller of the non-transport zone b, 3 is the space between the upper and lower belts b ₁ and ₂ of the endless transport zone b, in the direction of movement, ventilation sections C _{1 -} o and non-ventilation sections d _{1 - o} Partition plates 4 and 5, which sequentially separate a plurality of groups into groups ₁ and 1, are input and output ports for fresh leaves, respectively, which are bored in the box a section above the starting end or below the terminal end of the endless transport belt b. Reference numerals 6 and 7 respectively block the input port 4 and the output port 5 when stopped, and when activated, diffuse the fresh leaves while spreading them through. 8 indicates the ventilation section c ₂ next to the ventilation section c 1 corresponding to the input port ₄ . A damper 9, which is an exhaust port formed on the upper surface of the upper box body a, and can be opened and closed freely, is attached. Reference numeral 10 denotes a scraping device disposed vertically on the terminal end of the endless transport belt b, which blocks fresh leaves reaching the terminal end when the fresh leaves are stopped, such as during storage;
During operation, the stored fresh leaves are broken up and dropped onto the transporter 11 through the outlet 5. 1
Reference numerals 2 and 13 indicate phototubes for checking fresh leaves g _{1 to g} o, which are attached to the upper side wall of the box a in correspondence with the ventilation sections c ₁ and c ₂ . Divider cloths 14 and 15 are hung on the upper surface of the box a in correspondence with the ventilation-blocking sections d ₁ and d ₂ , respectively. 16 is a blower that supplies a large amount of normal temperature air to the ventilation section c ₁ ; 17 is a cold air generator that supplies a relatively large amount of cooling air to the ventilation section c ₂ ; 18 is a ventilation section c
This is a cold air generator that supplies cold air in small amounts to _3~o .

First, when the spreading blade 6 of the input port 4 is rotated to supply fresh leaves from the input conveyor 19, the fresh leaves are
When the electric pipes 12 are diffused by the diffusion vanes 6, fall evenly on the ventilation section _c1 , and are deposited, and reach a predetermined height of about 1 m, the feeding conveyor 19 is stopped and the blower 16 is activated. A large amount of wind generated (for example, wind of about 6 m ³ /min per 100 kg of fresh leaves)
The air is permeated through the upper zone b ₁ of the endless transport zone b through the ventilation section c ₁ and is vented between the fresh leaves g ₁ , rapidly taking away the respiratory heat hidden between the fresh leaves and exhausting it from the inlet 4 .

Next, the blower 16 is stopped, the endless transport belt b is moved by one pitch, that is, the width of the ventilation section c ₁ and the closed section d ₁ , and the input conveyor 19 is operated again. When the first fresh leaf g ₁ moves to the ventilation section c ₂ and is confirmed by the phototube 13, the cold air generator 17 generates cold air at around 5°C (the air volume is, for example, 4°C per 100 kg of fresh leaves).
m ³ /min) is supplied to the fresh leaves g 1 through the upper zone b ₁ through the ventilation section c ₂ , and the fresh leaves are vented to every corner of the fresh leaves _{g 1 to} rapidly cool them before opening. Exhaust air from the exhaust port 8. On the other hand, fresh leaves are again supplied and deposited on the ventilation section _c1 , and when fresh leaves _g2 are confirmed by the phototube 12, the input conveyor 19 is stopped and the blower 6 is activated to remove the respiratory heat hidden between the fresh leaves _g2 . remove. The endless transport belt b is moved by one pitch again.

In this way, the endless transport belt b, the blower 16, the cold air generators 17 and 18, etc. are sequentially activated and stopped until the first fresh leaf g ₁ reaches the ventilation section c _o at the end of the endless transport belt b (operation order (see Figure 3).

When storing the fresh leaves g1 _-o , the diffusion vanes 6, 7 and the damper 9 stop with the input ports 4, 5 and the exhaust port 8 closed, respectively, and the box a is maintained in a substantially airtight state. When the blower 16 and the cold air generator 17 are stopped and only the cold air generator 18 is operated, the cold air is slowly ventilated between the fresh leaves g _{1 and o-2} on the ventilation section c _{3 to o} , and then passes through the partition cloth. Through the actions of 14 and 15, air is vented from the fresh leaves go _-1 to _go , and the air is exhausted from the inlet 4, which is not well-sealed. Therefore, the cold air spreads to every corner of box a.

When taking out fresh leaves, the transporter 11, the spreading blade 7, and the scraping device 10 are operated, and the endless transport belt b is operated slowly or in small steps to transport the fresh leaves depending on the amount of scraping of the fresh leaves. .

Since this invention is constructed as described above, even on hot summer days when the respiration effect of fresh leaves is at its peak,
By removing the heat of respiration from fresh leaves, it is possible to efficiently cool and store fresh leaves to an ideal temperature of around 5°C using a smaller amount of cold air.

That is, before cooling the fresh leaves, the fresh leaves introduced from the input conveyor 19 are first diffused by the spreading blades 6, and even after they are piled up, a large amount of room temperature air is ventilated between the fresh leaves on the ventilation section _c1 , so that the fresh leaves are cooled. The heat of respiration hidden between fresh leaves is reliably removed, and the burden on the next cooling operation is extremely small. On the next ventilation section _c2 , a relatively large amount of cooling air is ventilated through the fresh leaves, so that the cold air is reliably distributed to every corner of the fresh leaves. Since the fresh leaves are reliably cooled on the ventilation section c ₂ , and once fresh leaves have been cooled, it is difficult for them to breathe again, so the ventilation section is highly airtight and surrounded by the heat insulating wall 1. On c _{3 to o} , a very small amount of cold air (for example, about 1 m ³ /min of cold air per 100 kg of fresh leaves) is sufficient to maintain the low temperature state of the fresh leaves.

In addition, the fresh leaves dropped into the box a are moved and cooled one pitch at a time, but non-ventilated sections d1 _to o-1 are provided between each ventilation section c1 _{to o-1.} Therefore, it is difficult for room temperature or cooling air to escape through the cuts in fresh leaves g ₁ , g ₂ , ......, g′ _o . Since the outlet 5 is also provided with a diffusion blade 7, the cooled fresh leaves are first diffused and easily restored to room temperature when used for tea processing, and there is almost no adverse effect during steaming in the steamer.

As described above, the present invention provides a fresh leaf storage device that can rapidly and efficiently cool and store fresh leaves, thereby preventing deterioration of fresh leaves and improving the quality of tea.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are front cutaway views and plan view cutaway views showing an embodiment of the present invention, respectively, and FIG. 3 shows the operating order of the endless transport belt b, the blower 6, the cold air generators 17 and 18, etc. be. a...Box body, b...Endless transport belt, 1...Insulating wall, 3...Partition plate, 4...Input port, 5...Output port, 6...Diffusion vane, 7...Diffusion vane, b ₁ , _b2 ...
... Upper zone and lower zone of endless transport belt b, c _{1 - o} ... ventilation section, d _{1 - o-1} ... non-ventilation section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ventilated endless transport belt extending in the longitudinal direction is provided at the bottom of an elongated box whose upper and lower surfaces and four side walls are heat insulating walls, and a box above the starting end and below the terminal end of the endless transport belt is provided. Each of the body parts is provided with an inlet and an outlet for fresh leaves, and each of the inlet and the outlet is equipped with a diffusion member that closes both openings when the machine is stopped and spreads and passes the fresh leaves when it is loaded or taken out. In the space between the upper and lower zones of the endless transport belt, multiple sets of ventilation sections and non-ventilation sections are provided alternately in the direction of movement of the endless transport belt, and a large number of ventilation sections are provided at the beginning of the endless transport belt. A conveyor-type fresh leaf cooling storage device is equipped with a blower that supplies normal temperature air, and a cold air generator that supplies cooling air in subsequent ventilation sections.