JPS6141863A - Freezer for food - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a food freezing device that freezes food by immersing the food before freezing in a brine tank using a food transport conveyor when storing the food in a frozen state.

"Prior Art and its Problems" Known methods for freezing foods include storing them in a freezer, spraying them with cooled liquefied gas or brine, and immersing them in brine. Among these methods, the method of immersing in brine has advantages such as rapid freezing and no brine dissipation. However, if a food conveyor is installed in a brine to continuously freeze food, the portion of the rotating part of the conveyor exposed from the brine will freeze due to the cold heat of the brine, making continuous operation difficult. There was a problem. For this reason, conventionally,
Attempts have been made to heat the rotating part of the food conveyor that is exposed from the brine, or to provide a heat insulating layer (member) between the rotating part and the part immersed in the brine, but heating with a heater is expensive due to equipment costs. Therefore, it is difficult to completely prevent the exposed rotating parts from freezing by providing a heat insulating layer.

``Object of the Invention'' The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional device, that is, the problem of freezing of the rotating part of the food conveyor exposed from the brine.

"Summary of the Invention" The present invention was completed by taking a hint from the fact that among food conveyors disposed in a brine tank, the rotating parts immersed in the brine do not freeze, and are exposed from the brine. The present invention is characterized in that it is equipped with a brine injection device that injects brine toward the rotating part. When cold brine is actively injected into the rotating parts in this way, the rotating parts are equivalent to being immersed in liquid brine.
Therefore, it will not freeze.

"Embodiments of the Invention" The present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. This embodiment is suitable for freezing a food to be frozen F in which a food S is sealed together with a small amount of air in a sealed bag H as shown in FIG.

In Figure t51, a main conveyor 10, and an inlet auxiliary conveyor 20 and an outlet auxiliary conveyor 30 provided on the inlet and outlet sides of the main conveyor lO are disposed in the brine tank 11, respectively. Main conveyor 1
0 is constructed by stretching a net belt 15 between the main drum 12 and the sub-drums 13 and 14, and the net belt 15 extends at least from the main drum 12 to the sub-drum 13.
It is immersed in brine in the lower running section up to.

Arrow A indicates the direction of movement of this net belt 15.

The entrance side auxiliary conveyor 20 is made up of a net belt 25 stretched between guide rollers 21 to 24 located on the side and bottom of the main drum 12. The belt 25 comes into elastic contact with the net belt 15 around the main drum 1z, and is driven in the same direction and at substantially the same speed as the net belt 15. 26 is a tension adjustment roller of the net belt 25.

At the upper part of this entrance side auxiliary conveyor 20, there is a
A supply conveyor 27 is provided, and the food to be frozen F conveyed by this conveyor passes through the inlet opening 1 of the brine tank 11.
6 to fall onto the auxiliary conveyor 20.

The exit side auxiliary conveyor 30 includes guide rollers 31.32 provided along the extending direction of the sub-drums 13.14, and a net belt 3 stretched between the guide rollers 31.32.
It is composed of 3.

The guide roller 32 is located above the sub-drum 14 and outside the outlet opening 17 of the brine tank 11, while the guide roller 31 is located below the sub-drum 13. The net belt 33 is a frozen food Ft-
In the state where it is not conveyed, it comes into elastic contact with the net belt 15 like the net belt 25 of the entrance side auxiliary conveyor 20, or
It is configured to maintain a slight gap from this and move in the same direction as the net bell (15) at approximately the same speed. Note that the "net" in the net belt of each conveyor means that each belt is made of a material such as a net material through which brine can pass.

A submerged brine ejection device 40 is provided below the main conveyor 10 in the brine tank 11 . This submerged brine jetting device 40 has brine jetting nozzles 4 at three locations: the inlet side, the outlet side, and the intermediate part of the brine tank 11.
1, with jet nozzles 41' on the inlet side and outlet side.
For example, the jet nozzle 41 in the center jets out brine at a temperature of -35°C to -40°C. The circulation port 42 opens, and this shield ring port 42
A part of the brine taken out from the brine is injected directly to the central jet nozzle 41 by the pump 43, and the rest passes through the cooling device 44 and then is sent to the inlet and outlet jet nozzles 41 via the pump 45. supplied to In other words, the jet nozzles 41 on the inlet side and the outlet side are equipped with a cooling device 44.
Brine cooled to 35 to -40°C is supplied, and the brine heated by heat exchange with the food F in the brine tank 11 is directly supplied to the central jet nozzle 41, so the central jet From the nozzle 41, -20°C to -25°C
The brine before and after is supplied.

These jet nozzles 41 and the main conveyor 10
A temperature equalizing plate 46 made of a perforated plate is disposed between the net belt 15 and the brine ejected from the jet nozzle 41. The pressure of the jet is equalized and the temperature is also equalized. Further, this temperature and pressure equalization plate 46 is connected to the adjacent jet nozzles 4
If the temperature of the brine injected from 1 to 1 differs as described above, the temperature difference is maintained while the main conveyor lO
The net belt 15 has an effect on the lower running surface (net belt 15).

The brine used is one that can be cooled to the above-mentioned temperature and has a high specific gravity that can float the food F to be frozen. In other words, the food to be frozen F is made by sealing the food S together with air in a sealed bag H, and this device is capable of immersing the food to be frozen in brine, causing the food to be frozen to float up and attach to the net belt. Closely attached to the bottom surface of 15,
It is planned to proceed together with Net Belt 15. However, if sufficient buoyancy cannot be obtained, conveyance plates may be provided on the net belt 15 at appropriate intervals, and the food to be frozen F may be sandwiched between the conveyance plates and the temperature equalization plate 46 and conveyed. It is possible.

The above main conveyor 10, entrance side auxiliary conveyor 20,
Among the drums or rollers of the exit-side auxiliary conveyor 30, the main drum 12), the sub-drum 14, the guide roller 21.
22, 24, and the guide roller 32 are connected to the brine tank l.
1 exposed from the brine in the net belt 1
5.24.33, repeat immersion in brine and escape.

Since it comes into contact with these drums and rollers, there is a risk that their rotating parts may freeze. In addition, since the net belt moves along the guide rail R of the conveyor, there is a risk that the guide rail R may become frozen and become unable to be driven.
In order to avoid this fear of freezing, the present invention injects brine to these rotating parts or relatively moving parts of the net belt.

Taking the rotating shaft portion of the main drum 12 as an example, the rotating shaft 50 at the center of the main drum 12 is as shown in FIG.
A brine injection device 53 that is supported by a machine frame 51 in the brine tank 11 via a bearing 52 and injects brine toward the bearing 52 is provided. Brine is supplied to this brine injection device 53 by a circulation vibrator 54 communicating with the bottom of the brine ff1ll, and is injected from its injection nozzle 55 toward the bearing 52.

A brine cleaning device 60 is provided outside the brine tank 11 and at the outlet of the outlet side auxiliary conveyor 30.

This brine cleaning device 60 is configured such that a cleaning conveyor 61, one end of which is located below the outlet side auxiliary conveyor 30, passes through a cleaning water injection tank 62.

In this apparatus having the above configuration, the food to be frozen F supplied from the supply conveyor 27 falls from the inlet opening 16 of the brine tank 11 onto the upper surface of the nato belt 25 of the auxiliary conveyor 20 on the inlet side. This frozen food F is.

As the net belt 25 advances, the main conveyor 10
It moves downward around the main drum 12 while being sandwiched between the main drum 12 and the net belt 15, and is eventually immersed in the brine in the brine tank 11. Since the net belt 25 is driven in the same direction and at the same speed as the net belt 15, the food to be frozen F is smoothly sandwiched between the net belts 15 and 25 and can pass around the main drum 12. .

When the food to be frozen F reaches the lower side of the main drum 12, the food to be frozen F is released from the pinching force, and is brought into close contact with the lower surface of the net belt 15 due to the buoyant force acting on the food to be frozen.
5 and reaches the sub-drum 13.

In the freezing section from the green drum 12 to the sub-drum 13, the food to be frozen F is first cooled with brine at -35 to -40°C ejected from the ejection nozzle 41.
A glaze is rapidly formed on the outer periphery of the food S in the airtight bag H, and the interstitial water in the cells in the food S is fixed.1. 0th order passing through the maximum ice crystal formation zone in a supercooled state -20℃~-2
When the food S is cooled with brine at 5° C., the temperature difference between the outer circumference and the inner circumference of the food S is reduced, and the difference in osmotic pressure is eliminated. Furthermore, when it is subsequently cooled with brine at -35°C to -40°C, the whole is rapidly cooled and eventually freezes. The freezing time during this period is preferably set to 15 to 30 minutes depending on the nature and size of the food S.As mentioned above, the temperature and pressure equalizing plate 46 is effective in equalizing the temperature and pressure of the brine. This is effective in preventing the frozen food F from separating from the lower surface of the net belt 15 due to the influence of turbulence.

The frozen food F, which has been completely frozen, is sandwiched between the net belt 15 and the net belt 33 of the outlet side auxiliary conveyor 30 and is conveyed to the outside from the outlet opening 17 of the brine tank 11.
When it reaches the guide roller 32, it falls onto the cleaning conveyor 61 of the brine cleaning device g160. Exit side auxiliary conveyor 3
0 guide roller 31 is located below the sub-drum 13, and the net belt 33 is located below the net belt 15.
Since they are driven in the same direction and at the same speed, the net belt 15 and the net belt 33 are driven from the bottom surface of the net belt 15.
The food to be frozen F is smoothly transferred between the two.

The frozen food F that has fallen into the cleaning conveyor 61 is
It passes through the cleaning water spray tank 62 and is cleaned, and the brine adhering to the outer periphery of the sealed bag H is removed. Cleaning water injection tank 62
For example, the temperature is 18-23℃, the ejection pressure is 1-2
kg/cm' c7) Wash the frozen food F for 1 to 3 seconds with washing water.
By spraying the brine, the attached brine can be completely removed. During this time, the temperature rise of the frozen food F is 2~
There are no problems with the freezing effect at 3°C.

Further, in the present invention, in the above food freezing process, since the brine injection device 53 injects brine from the brine of the conveyor in the brine 4e11 to the exposed rotating parts, these rotating parts do not freeze. According to the example of FIG.
brine is injected. Brine is also continuously supplied to the contact areas between each net belt and the guide rail R where there is a risk of freezing. The brine itself is at an ultra-low temperature as described above, but since it remains liquid, by sufficiently spraying this low-temperature brine onto the bearing 52, the rotating parts will have the same effect as if they were immersed in brine. Therefore, it will not freeze even after long hours of operation.

The brine temperature values explained in the above actual t1M example are for illustration only, and the apparatus of the present invention can use brine at an appropriate temperature depending on the nature of the food to be frozen. It is also possible to make the temperature distribution of the brine uniform in the brine layer 11. In this case, all of the brine recovered from the circulation port 42 is transferred to the cooling device 44.
After being passed through, it is supplied to each jet nozzle 41.

"Effects of the Invention" As described above, in the food freezing apparatus of the present invention, when at least a part of the rotating part of the food conveyor disposed in the brine tank is exposed above the brine, the exposed rotating part is Since a brine injection device is provided that injects brine toward the target, no matter how low the temperature of the brine is, it is possible to prevent the rotating parts from freezing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an embodiment of the food freezing device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of essential parts showing an example of the brine injection device of the present invention, and FIG. It is a sectional view showing an example of frozen food to be frozen. 10... Main conveyor, 11... Pline tank
12...Main drum, 13.14...Sub drum, 1
5゜24.33... Net belt, 16... Inlet opening, 17... Outlet opening, 20... Entrance side auxiliary conveyor, 21.22.23.24... Guide roller, 30
...Exit side auxiliary conveyor, 31.32...Guide roller, 40...Brine liquid ejection device, 41...Ejection nozzle, 43.45...Pump, 44...Cooling device, 46 ... Temperature and pressure equalization plate, 52 ... Bearing, 52 ...
・Pline injection device, 55... Injection nozzle, 60...
・Brine cleaning device, 61...Cleaning conveyor, 62・
・Cleaning water injection tank.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a food freezing device in which a conveyor for transporting food to be frozen is disposed in a brine tank, and at least a part of the rotating part of the food transport conveyor is exposed above the brine, the food is exposed above the brine. A food freezing device characterized by being provided with a brine injection device that injects brine toward a rotating part of a food conveyor. (2) In claim 1, the food conveyor includes a main conveyor whose lower running surface is immersed in brine, and a food to be frozen on the entrance side of the main conveyor. an inlet-side auxiliary conveyor for conveying the food into the brine by sandwiching it therebetween; and an outlet-side auxiliary conveyor for sandwiching the food to be frozen between the main conveyor and the main conveyor and taking it out from the brine at the outlet side of the main conveyor. A food freezing apparatus comprising: a rotating part exposed above the brine of each of the conveyors, and a brine injection device for injecting brine toward the rotating part. (3) In claim 2, a submerged brine ejection device is further provided below the lower running surface of the main conveyor, and a perforated plate is provided between the submerged brine ejection device and the main conveyor. A food freezing device equipped with a temperature equalizing plate. (4) In any one of claims 1 to 3, the brine tank is provided with a brine cleaning device that cleans the frozen food taken out from the brine tank to remove adhering brine. Food freezing equipment.