JPS63198942A - Method for washing granule such as rice grain and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effect the washing of granules in high efficiency, by mixing a washing liquid with granules to be washed and applying an impulse to the washing liquid in the mixed state, thereby generating ultrasonic vibration suitable for the washing of the granules by the generation and collapse of bubbles. CONSTITUTION:Granules 22 to be washed are mixed with a washing liquid and the mixture is ejected into a concave space 14 of an ultrasonic generation vessel 13. Bubbles are formed by impulse wave generated in the concave space 14 and the bubble is broken into a number of small bubbles by the collision of the following washing liquid. The energy of the ultrasonic vibration generated in the ultrasonic generation vessel 13 is amplified by the reverberation effect in the concave space 14.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a cleaning method and an apparatus for cleaning rice grains, beans, or other granular materials using the principle of ultrasonic generation.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, an example of a means for automatically washing rice, etc. is as follows.
For example, stirring blades are provided in a washing tank for storing granules such as rice and washing water, and the blades are rotated at high speed to stir the washing water and wash the granules. However, such a simple agitation cleaning operation has the disadvantage that the cleaning efficiency is low and it takes a long time.In addition, the grains to be cleaned, such as rice grains, come into contact with the blades rotating at high speed, causing the grains to be cleaned to be damaged. There were problems such as cracks occurring in the body itself.

Therefore, in recent years, a means as shown in FIG. 5 has been developed in an attempt to solve the above-mentioned difficulties.

That is, in this conventional means, a jet pump 43 and an air inlet 42 are provided in the middle of a water supply pipe 41 for supplying cleaning water into the cleaning tank 40, and air is supplied from the air inlet 42 by the principle of a so-called Venturi tube. By mixing air into running water to generate a jet bubbly water stream, the jet bubbly water stream is injected at high pressure onto the rice in the washing tank 40. Therefore, according to this method, ultrasonic vibration energy is generated due to impact destruction when air bubbles collide with rice, and a peeling phenomenon occurs on the surface of the rice grains, thereby making it possible to wash the rice.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned conventional means, although a stream of bubble water is injected onto the granules to be cleaned and ultrasonic vibrations are generated by the destruction of the bubbles, the bubble water is simply It is not possible to increase the amount of vibrational energy generated by simply spraying particles onto the particles to be cleaned, and the cleaning efficiency of ultrasonic vibrations has not yet been satisfactory.

In other words, in order to increase the ultrasonic vibration energy when performing cleaning work using the principle of ultrasonic generation by destroying bubbles, it is necessary to increase the amount of bubbles to be destroyed and to make the bubbles very small. As mentioned above, there is a certain limit to the amount of bubbles that can be mixed into the water flow in the means of generating bubble water using the suction principle of a venturi tube, etc., and the amount is small and the bubbles are coarse. Therefore, even if bubble water was jetted onto the granules to be cleaned as described above, no difference in the cleaning effect due to ultrasonic vibration was exhibited.

Therefore, in the past, when cleaning the granules to be cleaned, it still took a long time and required a large amount of cleaning liquid, which resulted in a big problem that the cost of the cleaning operation increased. be.

In addition, as a conventional means of improving cleaning efficiency, it is possible to make the injection pressure of the jet bubble water stream extremely high, but in this case, the granules to be cleaned, such as rice, are washed with coarse air bubbles. There was a fear that water hammer would cause cracks.

The present invention was invented in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to increase the amount of bubbles generated and the vibration energy when the bubbles are destroyed.
The purpose is to perform efficient cleaning work using ultrasonic vibration without causing any inconvenience such as cracking of the grains to be cleaned, such as rice.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention does not spray bubble water onto the granules to be cleaned as in the conventional method, but instead sprays the granules to be cleaned and the cleaning liquid in a mixed state. Bubbles are generated by applying shock to the liquid.
This device is designed to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems by causing bubble destruction and generating ultrasonic vibration suitable for cleaning the particles to be cleaned.

That is, the gist of the configuration of the cleaning method according to the present invention is that after the particles 22 to be cleaned are mixed with a cleaning liquid, the mixed liquid is injected into the concave space 14 of the ultrasonic generator 13. The point is that the mixed liquid collides with the bubbles generated in the concave space 14.

Further, the gist of the configuration of the cleaning device according to the present invention is that the storage tank 3 for storing the granules 22 to be cleaned, and the granules 22 to be cleaned discharged through the bottom opening 6 of the storage tank 3. (a pump 7 for discharging the cleaning liquid into the liquid feeding pipe 9 provided in communication with the bottom opening 6; and a pump 7 for discharging the cleaning liquid into the liquid feeding pipe 9, Ultrasonic generator 13 having a concave space 14 facing a discharge port 16
There is a point consisting of.

(Function) Therefore, in the granular material cleaning method characterized by the above-mentioned configuration, the granular material 22 to be cleaned and the cleaning liquid are injected into the concave space 14 of the ultrasonic generator 13 in a mixed state. As a result, a shock wave is generated within the concave space 14 and bubbles are generated, but these bubbles are bombarded with the cleaning liquid that is continuously sprayed, and the bubbles are destroyed to form a large number of minute bubbles. subdivided into As a result, ultrasonic vibrations are generated within the ultrasonic generator 13 due to the bubble breaking action. Also,
The output of the ultrasonic vibration is increased by the reverberation effect within the concave space 14.

Therefore, since the granules 22 to be cleaned are injected together with the cleaning liquid into the ultrasonic generator 13 in the ultrasonic vibration atmosphere as described above, the granules 22 to be cleaned are extremely numerous and have a large number of fine air bubbles. By repeating the collision, the surface is suitably cleaned by the action of ultrasonic vibration.

In addition, in the above-mentioned cleaning device, with the granules 22 to be cleaned stored in the storage tank 3, the pump 7 is operated to discharge and circulate the cleaning liquid into the liquid delivery pipe 9. The granules 22 to be cleaned in the storage tank 3 can be flowed out from the bottom opening 6 into the liquid feeding pipe 9 and transferred in a mixed state with the cleaning liquid, and after that, the particles 22 to be cleaned in the storage tank 3 can be transferred in a mixed state with the cleaning liquid. 16 into the concave space 14 of the ultrasonic generating device 13, a mixed liquid of the cleaning liquid and the particles to be cleaned 22 is injected,
The cleaning method according to the present invention described above can be suitably implemented.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, an embodiment of the apparatus according to the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, 1 indicates a cleaning tank whose top opening can be opened and closed by a lid 2, and 3 indicates a cleaning tank 1 inside the cleaning tank l. A hopper-shaped storage tank is shown, and a strainer 4 is provided at the upper peak of the storage tank 3. Reference numeral 5 indicates a U-shaped outflow pipe connected to the bottom opening 6 of the storage tank 3, and the tip of the outflow pipe 5 is formed to have a small diameter and is connected to the side wall of a liquid feeding pipe 9, which will be described later. is in a state of being 7 is the storage tank 3
An electric pressurizing pump is shown in which a suction side piping 8 is connected to the inner bottom of the cleaning tank 1 on the outside, and 9 is connected to the discharge side of the pump 7 and its tip extends to the upper position of the cleaning tank 1. The installed liquid delivery piping is shown.

In addition, if the configuration near the connection position between the liquid feeding pipe 9 and the tip of the outflow pipe 5 is explained in FIG. 2, IO is provided at a position before the connection position of the outflow pipe 5. 1 shows a nozzle portion formed to have an inner diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the liquid feeding pipe 9, and a small diameter air inflow hole 11 is provided in the upper front wall of the nozzle portion 10. . Reference numeral 12 indicates a stepped wall provided along the inner circumferential wall surface of the liquid feeding pipe 9 in front of the connection position of the outflow pipe 5.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 13 designates an ultrasonic generating device made of a hard member having a substantially cup-like shape and having a smoothly curved concave space 14 inside. The generator I3 is supported so as to be able to vibrate by a flexible thin metal piece 15.15, and the lid is attached so that its concave space 14 faces the discharge port 16 at the tip of the liquid delivery pipe 9. It is attached to the back side of 2.

Reference numeral 17 indicates an on-off valve for taking out particles to be cleaned, which is provided in the middle of the liquid delivery pipe 9; 1B is an overflow drain port provided with a strainer 19 provided at the top of the cleaning tank 1; and 20 is a water supply hose 21. A water supply port for supplying cleaning water into the cleaning tank 1 through the is shown.

The washing apparatus according to this embodiment has the above-mentioned configuration, and next, a washing method using the apparatus will be explained using rice washing work as an example.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, while water for washing is supplied through the water supply hose 21 into the washing tank 1 and the storage tank 3, rice 22, which is the granules to be cleaned, is stored in the storage tank 3. However, a portion of the rice 22 sinks into the outflow pipe 5 through the bottom opening 6 of the hopper-shaped storage tank 3 due to its own weight.

Next, in this state, the pump 7 is operated to discharge the cleaning water in the storage tank 3 to the liquid delivery pipe 9. At this time, the cleaning water is discharged from the small diameter nozzle part 10 as shown in FIG. It is injected at high pressure and collides with the side surface of the step wall 12, thereby generating a shock wave and generating a large amount of coarse bubbles. Further, since the cleaning water continuously injected from the nozzle part 10 collides with the coarse bubbles, these coarse bubbles are ruptured and sent to the front side of the step wall 12 in a finely divided state. However, due to the outflow phenomenon of air bubbles and the outflow phenomenon of cleaning water from the nozzle section 10 at this time, a negative pressure is generated in the chamber between the nozzle section IO and the step wall 12, and as a result, the inside of the outflow pipe 5 is The rice 22 is sucked into the liquid-feeding pipe 9, mixed with washing water, and transferred along the liquid-feeding pipe 9. At the same time, atmospheric air is naturally replenished into the liquid feeding pipe 9 from the air inflow hole 11, and the above-mentioned bubble generation phenomenon is continuously maintained. Therefore,
In the liquid feeding pipe 9, the rice 22 is forced to be fed together with the cleaning water mixed with air bubbles.

Thereafter, the mixed liquid of the rice 22 obtained as described above and the cleaning water mixed with air bubbles is passed through the discharge port 16 of the liquid delivery pipe 9 to the concave space 14 of the ultrasonic generator 13 as shown in FIG. At this time, first, when the cleaning water of the mixed liquid collides with the inner wall surface of the ultrasonic generator 13, coarse bubbles are generated to generate a shock wave, and at the same time, the cleaning water The air bubbles mixed in the water are destroyed and the concave space 1
Ultrasonic vibrations are generated within 4. Furthermore, since the mixed liquid jetted from the liquid feeding pipe 9 side collides with the rice 22 and the washing water once collided with the inner wall of the ultrasonic generator 13, the inner wall of the ultrasonic generator 13 is Inside, the air bubbles generated by the shock wave and the air bubbles mixed in the washing water repeatedly collide with the rice 22 and the washing water and are broken into extremely fine bubbles, resulting in ultrasonic bubble water that turns the washing water cloudy. The state will be as follows.

Therefore, under these conditions, countless air bubbles collide with the surface of the rice 22 and generate ultrasonic vibrations, thereby causing the rice 22 to generate ultrasonic vibrations.
A strong peeling phenomenon is caused on the surface of the rice 22, and a strong cleaning effect is exerted on the rice 22.

Moreover, since the ultrasonic generating device 13 is supported by a highly flexible metal thin piece 15.15, the ultrasonic generating device 13 vibrates in resonance with the ultrasonic vibrations generated inside the ultrasonic generating device 13. As a result, the internal vibration phenomenon is amplified, and the cleaning action of the rice 22 by the ultrasonic vibration becomes even more excellent.

In addition, the rice 22 is bombarded with cleaning water jetted from the liquid feeding pipe 9 side, so that the jetting pressure of the cleaning water is approximately twice that of the jetting pressure of the cleaning water from the liquid transporting pipe 9. The conditions are approximately the same as those under which the rice 22 is washed, and therefore, it is appropriate to set the injection pressure to a considerably low level so that the rice 22 does not crack when it collides with the ultrasonic generator 13. This allows the rice washing work to be carried out.

The rice 22 washed in the above manner is sequentially discharged from the ultrasonic generating device 13 and falls back into the storage tank 3. After that, the same washing operation as described above is repeated as necessary. The cleaning work as described above can be performed continuously as long as the pump 7 is in operation. Therefore, after stopping the water supply from the water supply hose 21 and performing the washing operation repeatedly with the washing water stored in the washing tank 1, water is removed from the water supply hose 21 when the rice has been properly washed. If the waste water is discharged from the drain port 2o by supplying additional water, there is no need to constantly supply water into the cleaning tank l, and water can be saved. Further, after the cleaning operation is completed, the open/close valve 17 is opened while the pump 7 is kept in operation, and the rice 22 can be taken out from the valve 17 together with the cleaning water.

In the above embodiments, the cleaning work of rice is explained as an example, but the cleaning apparatus according to the present invention is by no means limited to this, and can be used for cleaning other grains, beans, etc., for example. There are also products that can be applied to various granular materials other than food, such as synthetic resin granular materials, and the type of cleaning liquid is by no means limited to water, and various solvents may be used as necessary. be. It has been confirmed through experiments that even when a solvent such as toluene or xylene is used, bubbles are generated by the shock waves generated when the solvent is injected into the ultrasonic generator 13, and the object of the present invention is achieved. ing.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the cleaning work of the particles 22 to be cleaned stored in the storage tank 3 is carried out by repeatedly circulating them.
The specific device configuration and cleaning method according to the present invention are by no means limited to the above-mentioned embodiments.
Any means as shown in the figure may be used.

That is, the apparatus shown in the figure is equipped with a plurality of ultrasonic generators in a multi-stage manner. The -th cleaning process is performed by spraying the mixture with cleaning water from the discharge port 16 of the liquid delivery pipe 9 to the ultrasonic generating device 13. The body 22 is housed in a water-permeable hopper 24 provided below the ultrasonic generator 13. Further, the particles 22 to be cleaned stored in the pumper 24 are mixed with the cleaning water in the branched liquid feeding pipe 9a and are jetted to the second ultrasonic generator 13a for second cleaning. will be held. Furthermore, in the same manner, the particles 22 to be cleaned are mixed with the cleaning water in the liquid feeding pipe 9b connected to the pump 7a and sprayed from the bottom of the hopper 24a to the third ultrasonic generator 13b. After a final cleaning operation is performed, it is taken out through a chute 25 into a predetermined container 26. Therefore, this cleaning means has the advantage that the particles 22 to be cleaned that have been cleaned can be successively taken out one after another.

In addition, in the above-mentioned cleaning means, by dividing the inside of the storage tank 23 into chambers 27.27a by the partition wall 26, the cleaning operation using the third ultrasonic generator 13b can be carried out from water supply, etc. The supplied clean water for cleaning in the chamber 27 is used, and for the cleaning operation using the first and second ultrasonic generators 13.13a, water is passed from the chamber 27 over the partition wall 26 to the chamber 27a. If the overflowing washing water is utilized, the washing water can be used efficiently.

As described above, the present invention does not have any problem even if a plurality of ultrasonic generators 13 are provided and the cleaning work is performed sequentially, and the specific number of cleaning process steps using the ultrasonic generators 13 is as follows. is not a question.

In addition, in the above embodiment, since the air inflow hole 11 is provided in the liquid delivery pipe 9 to mix air bubbles into the cleaning liquid, when the ultrasonic wave generating device 13 is injected, Although it has the advantage of increasing the amount of bubbles and the ultrasonic vibration energy to further enhance the cleaning effect of the particles to be cleaned, the present invention does not require such means. This is because the cleaning liquid is injected and collides with the particles, thereby generating bubbles and ultrasonic waves sufficient for cleaning the particles 22 to be cleaned.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the ultrasonic generating device 13 is supported so that it can vibrate by the flexible member 15, 15, and the ultrasonic generating device 13 resonates with the ultrasonic vibration and absorbs the vibration energy. However, in the present invention, it is not an essential requirement to vibrate the ultrasonic generator 13 itself in this way.

As described above, the cleaning method according to the present invention can be changed arbitrarily, and the point is that after the particles 22 to be cleaned are mixed with a cleaning liquid, the mixed liquid is mixed into the concave space of the ultrasonic generator 13. What is necessary is to include a step of injecting the mixed liquid into the concave space 14 and causing the mixed liquid to collide with the bubbles generated within the concave space 14. Therefore, when carrying out the cleaning method according to the present invention, it is not necessarily necessary to use the apparatus according to the present invention.

In addition, the specific configuration of the cleaning device according to the present invention is by no means limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and the storage tank 3,
The specific shape, material, mounting manner, etc. of each part, such as the liquid delivery piping 9, the pump 7, and the ultrasonic generator 13, can all be changed in design within the scope of the present invention.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, the present invention applies an impact to the cleaning liquid by jetting the mixture of the granules to be cleaned and the cleaning liquid into the concave space of the two ultrasonic generators. The ultrasonic generator uses the conventional Venturi tube principle inside the ultrasonic generating device to generate air bubbles, and to collide the air bubbles with a cleaning liquid or the like to destroy and subdivide the air bubbles. Not only can a large amount of bubbles be generated which is incomparable to the amount of bubbles mixed into the cleaning liquid using Therefore, the ultrasonic vibration energy obtained by the collision between these large and fine bubbles and the particles to be cleaned is extremely large, and moreover, the vibration energy is generated within the concave space. This is increased by the reverberation effect, resulting in a special effect in that the cleaning efficiency of the particles to be cleaned is significantly improved compared to the conventional method.

Therefore, in the present invention, by improving the cleaning efficiency,
This has resulted in great practical benefits in that the granules to be cleaned can be cleaned in a good condition, the time required for cleaning work can be shortened, and the amount of cleaning liquid can be saved.

Furthermore, as described above, since the present invention makes it possible to clean particles to be cleaned by using ultrasonic vibrations with high efficiency, particles to be cleaned and cleaning liquid are injected into the ultrasonic generator. The pressure applied is low enough not to cause cracks in the granules to be cleaned, and sufficient cleaning can be performed, and the granules to be cleaned can be suitably prevented from being damaged, which has also resulted in the remarkable effect of being able to prevent damage to the granules to be cleaned.

In addition, the apparatus according to the present invention has the great practical benefit of being able to automatically perform the above-mentioned cleaning work simply by operating the pump, contributing to improving the efficiency of the cleaning work.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the cleaning device according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic front sectional view of the whole, and FIG. 2 shows a portion where the granules to be cleaned and the cleaning liquid are mixed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part showing a state of cleaning in the ultrasonic generator. FIG. 4 is a schematic front sectional view showing another embodiment. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example. 3... Storage tank 6... Bottom opening 7.
...Pump 9...Liquid delivery piping 13...
・Ultrasonic generator 14...concave space 22...
・Particles to be cleaned

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. After mixing the granules to be cleaned 22 with a cleaning liquid, the mixed liquid is injected into the concave space 14 of the ultrasonic generator 13 to generate electricity in the concave space 14. A method for cleaning granular materials such as rice, which is characterized by colliding a mixed liquid with air bubbles. 2. The method for cleaning granular materials such as rice according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning liquid of the mixed liquid injected into the ultrasonic generator 13 is a bubble liquid containing air bubbles. 3 A storage tank 3 for accommodating the granules 22 to be cleaned, and the granules 2 to be cleaned discharged through the bottom opening 6 of the storage tank 3
a pump 7 for discharging the cleaning liquid into a liquid feeding pipe 9 provided in communication with the bottom opening 6 in order to mix and transfer the liquid into the cleaning liquid; and the liquid feeding pipe 9. An apparatus for cleaning granular materials such as rice, comprising: an ultrasonic generator 13 having a concave space 14 facing a discharge port 16 of the apparatus. 4. The apparatus for cleaning granular materials such as rice according to claim 3, wherein the ultrasonic generator 13 is supported so as to vibrate by a flexible metal thin piece 15.