KR20090042382A - Food waste dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

A food waste dryer is provided to improve drying capability and deodorization capacity of food waste adamantly. A food waste dryer(10) includes a main body(30), a container(40), a heater(60) and a deodorization unit. The main body includes a cover(20). The container is settled inside main body. The heating unit heats and dries food waste in the container. Air current of the container is sent to the deodorization unit by an exhaust pipe(68). An agitating vane(42) driven by a motor(50) is attached on a lower part of the container. A plurality of grooves is formed in a body of the agitating vane. The deodorization unit includes a deodorizing unit(86) in which activated charcoal is filled. A photocatalytic filter(80) is arranged on an upper part of the deodorization unit.

Description

Food waste dryer

The present invention relates to a food waste drying apparatus, and more particularly, to a food waste drying apparatus that greatly improves the ability to dry food waste and a deodorizing ability to remove odor generated during drying.

Various kinds of food waste are generated in homes and restaurants, and when it is incinerated or landfilled, environmental pollution problems occur. Also, the collection of food waste is not easy. In particular, in Korea, food waste mainly contains soup and stew, so that the food waste contains a lot of water, which makes the collection and disposal more inconvenient.

Various types of food waste drying devices have been developed at home and abroad for the convenience and efficiency of the collection and disposal of such food waste. For example, JP 2005

-218974, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-238133, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0706919, Korean Publication 2006-

0004601.

The food waste drying apparatus typically includes a heating device such as a main body of a lid-opening structure, a storage container seated in the main body and containing food waste, and a heater for drying food waste in the storage container.

Food waste drying apparatus having the above configuration is currently sold some products, but each product includes any one or more of the following problems.

When the amount of food waste is large because the amount of food waste is large, such as when the food waste drying apparatus is for a restaurant, a stirring blade for stirring the food is attached to the lower portion of the container for efficient drying by a motor. The stirring blade is generally composed of a transverse body having several bent portions.

Such a stirring blade in the related art has a function of efficiently mixing food waste in a very simple manner. However, food waste often sticks to the stirring blades during actual use, which prevents efficient stirring. Decreasing the efficiency of agitation increases the drying time, which leads to a decrease in energy efficiency of the food waste drying apparatus.

In addition, the airflow generated when the food waste is dried includes odors. In the related art, the airflow is condensed to remove condensate by means of removing the odor, or a deodorizing device is attached to remove the odor.

As an example of the deodorizing device, Patent No. 10-0706919 discloses a technique related to the deodorizing device 1 as shown in FIG. The deodorizer 1 comprises an annular tube 5 having an inlet 7 and an outlet 9, a rod-shaped heater 2 positioned across the center of the annular tube and acting to heat the catalyst, and the surface The catalyst layer is coated with a zeolite or alumina carrier and a metal catalyst and consists of a deodorizing plate 3 arranged in a spiral form around the heater. The malodorous component of the air stream becomes a non-odorous component by an oxidation reaction with the aid of a catalyst on the deodorizing plate. The arrangement of the deodorizing plate in a spiral form is intended to increase the residence time of the air stream so that all of the odor components of the air stream are oxidized and removed as much as possible. Deodorizer 1 is attached with a temperature sensor 6 for controlling the temperature inside the annular tube to be maintained at about 350 ℃ for the activation of the catalyst, and the heat insulating material 8 for heat insulation is coated on the outside of the annular tube.

Such a deodorizing device can achieve deodorization at a relatively low cost, but there is a problem in that it does not adsorb and remove all of the various odorous components generated from the actual food waste. Therefore, when using the food waste drying apparatus indoors, due to the undeodorized odor component is connected to a separate discharge pipe is the situation to discharge to the outdoors.

In addition, in the conventional food waste drying apparatus, the main body of the lid opening and closing structure is usually attached to the packing at a predetermined position of the lid and the packing part is in close contact with the main body to maintain airtightness.

However, such a conventional airtightness maintaining method is not enough airtight. If the lid is not sufficiently airtight the body in which the food waste container is located, some odorous components leak to the outside of the body, causing problems, as well as problems in the thermal efficiency of the drying apparatus itself. In addition, the configuration of the device is complicated, and it is complicated to use care so that foreign matter is not inserted into the packing part.

An object of the present invention is to provide a food waste drying apparatus that solves the above problems in the food waste drying apparatus attached to the stirring blade.

That is, the first object of the present invention is to provide a stirring blade that is prevented from being attached to food waste in the food waste drying apparatus.

It is a second object of the present invention to provide a deodorizing apparatus capable of effectively removing all offensive constituents generated from food waste in a food waste drying apparatus.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a food waste drying apparatus having a structure capable of sufficiently maintaining the airtightness of the main body.

The present invention is a main body of the structure of opening and closing the lid, the food waste is placed in the main body is contained in the storage container is attached to the lower portion of the stirring wing driven by the motor, the heating device for heating and drying the food waste in the storage container, and smell Applied to food waste drying apparatus consisting of a deodorizer for removal.

First, in order to achieve the first object, the present invention is to improve the stirring blade of the conventional configuration to form a plurality of grooves in the stirring blade body.

According to the observation of the formation of deposits on the stirring blade through actual use

In the case of large amounts of food waste, such as in the early stages of addition of water, or when steaming, the food waste remains coagulated in a relatively large mass, and the relatively small mass tends to stick to the stirring blades. . It was also observed to maintain a lumpy state, such as porridge, which may have been somewhat dry.

The present invention is based on the above observation. In the case of forming a groove in the stirring blade, it has been shown that the food waste in the lump state substantially reduces the adhesion of the food waste to the stirring wing, and allows air to pass through the portion, thereby greatly reducing the attachment of the food waste. It was found that it is more preferable to form the grooves in a relatively large size than in the plurality of grooves. Furthermore, it appeared that it is desirable to form a blade part in any one side, preferably both sides of a stirring blade simultaneously. This blade is used to cut and crush food waste during rotation, especially for cutting food waste such as chives, cabbage leaves, fish bones, or lumped food waste such as porridge. Cutting and crushing food waste not only helps prevent sticking to the stirring blades, but also contributes to shortening the drying time of food waste.

In addition, the present invention provides a deodorizing device composed of a deodorizing unit filled with activated carbon therein to achieve the second object to remove the odor generated during the drying of food waste. This deodorizing unit is for absorbing and removing the malodorous components of the air stream. The air flow of the food waste drying apparatus necessarily contains water, and activated carbon is known to be capable of adsorbing odorous substances even when water is present. The deodorizing unit therefore deodorizes the air stream containing the malodorous component very effectively.

Preferably, a photocatalyst filter is provided upstream of the deodorizing unit.

Photocatalyst filters produce active radicals, which are known to be converted into highly reactive compounds OH radicals (0H *) by air or moisture, and OH * is known to react with harmful gases and reduce them to water and carbon dioxide, and also to stench. It is also known to have a deodorizing function by reacting with components. Therefore, when the photocatalyst filter is provided upstream of the deodorizer, the amount of the odor component to be adsorbed in the deodorizer is reduced by removing the odor component by the oxidation reaction in the discharged air stream. Therefore, it is possible to effectively use the life and deodorization capacity of the deodorizer.

Odors from food waste include hydrogen sulfide with egg rotting, mercaptans with vegetable rotting, for example methyl mercaptan (CH ₃ SH), and amines similar to fish odors. Generates. In general, the airflow of the food waste drying apparatus is a case where the above malodorous components are mixed gas, and almost all of the malodorous components are removed while passing through the drying unit according to the present invention. That is, there is a sensory test method that can be easily carried out as a measuring method for measuring the odor, the sensory test method according to the present invention did not occur to the extent that can be detected in the air flow discharged from the deodorizer according to the present invention.

Deodorizer according to the present invention can be prepared in the form of a kit. In other words, the unit is configured to connect activated carbon-filled units and photocatalyst filters to the downstream side of the food waste drying apparatus, and wires are arranged to operate the photocatalyst filters. Is connected to a power source so that the deodorizer can operate. When configured in this way, it is easy to manage the food waste drying apparatus because only need to replace and repair the deodorizer.

In addition, it is preferable that an auxiliary deodorizing unit filled with a sheet-like carbon filter having activated carbon attached to a surface of the activated carbon deodorizing unit upstream or downstream is disposed. These auxiliary units themselves have an auxiliary deodorizing effect and serve to remove fine dust that may be included in the apparatus or discharge airflow downstream of the auxiliary unit.

The size of the activated carbon filled in the deodorizing unit is preferably in the range of 1 to 10 mm.

As such, when all of the odor components of the exhaust are removed by the deodorizing unit, not only a separate discharge pipe connected to the sewer is required to discharge the odor components to the outside as in the prior art, but also it can be located anywhere in the room. Its use is very convenient.

In addition, according to the present invention for the third purpose provides a food waste drying apparatus is attached to the annular seal extending to the upper portion of the container to the lid of the main body. This annular seal may be provided with conventional sealing means in which a packing is attached to the lid. The annular seal is formed of a silicone material that withstands high temperatures.

The annular seal serves to increase the thermal efficiency of the device by shielding the upper portion of the container in which the food waste is contained, not only preventing the odor component from leaking into the gap between the main body and the lid, but also preventing heat radiation. It can also refine the design of the device.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the food waste drying apparatus according to the present invention and Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the drying apparatus shown in FIG.

Food waste drying apparatus 10 according to the present invention is composed of a main body 30 constituting the lower portion of the device and a lid 20 coupled to the main body in a hinge 28 manner. The upper part of the lid 20 is arranged with a control unit 22 for the operation of the device 10, one side is arranged a case opening device 24 for opening or closing the lid. Ventilation holes 26 and 32 are formed outside the body of the lid 20 and the main body 20 so that fresh air can enter the body of the lid 20 and the main body 20.

An accommodating part 41 is formed inside the main body 30, and an accommodating container 40 in which food waste is contained is located in the accommodating part 41. A stirring blade 42 for agitating food waste is attached to the lower portion of the storage container, and the stirring blade is attached to the shaft 48 to which the driving force of the motor (worm motor) 50 is transmitted to perform a rotational movement.

In addition, the deodorizing device 86 according to the present invention is arranged on one side inside the main body 10, the discharge pipe 92 is open to the outside of the main body 10 downstream of the deodorizing device and the motor 90 in the discharge pipe 92 Exhaust fan 88 driven by the () is attached to forcibly suck the air flow and discharge it to the outside of the discharge pipe (92). The deodorizer will be described later in more detail.

The lid 20 is attached with an annular sealing portion 52 extending from the lower side of the lid to cover the upper portion of the storage container 40. Inside the annular seal 52, a guard net 56, in which a plurality of holes are formed, is also attached to extend from the lower side of the lid, and a heater 60 is positioned inside the guard net 56. In the embodiment shown, the heater is an annular heater.

Inside the lid 20, an inlet pipe 62 for supplying fresh air into the annular seal portion 52 and an exhaust pipe 68 for discharging the air flow in the upper portion of the storage container 40 are located. An intake fan 66 driven by a motor 64 is attached to the inlet pipe 62 so that fresh air supplied into the lid through the ventilation hole 26 formed on the outer side of the body of the lid 20 is inlet pipe 62. It is supplied to the upper portion through the receiving container 40). The exhaust pipe 68 has its downstream side connected to the upstream side of the deodorizer 80, 86. The exhaust pipe 68 is typically formed of a suitable metal material, but some of the exhaust pipes, especially the portion of the exhaust pipe 68 'passing through the boundary between the lid 20 and the main body 30, are formed of a silicone material that can withstand high temperatures and is flexible. Opening the lid does not interfere with the airflow at all.

4 is a perspective view of the stirring blade according to the present invention.

The stirring blade 42 is comprised by the transverse body which has several bending parts. Forming the bent portion is to increase the stirring efficiency of the stirring blade. The stirring blade 42 which concerns on this invention is provided with the some groove 44 in the trunk | drum. In addition, blades 45 are formed on both sides of the body. The through hole 46 is inserted into the shaft 48 for transmitting the driving force of the motor (50).

The groove 44 serves to allow airflow to pass through this, and prevents food waste having a high viscosity from sticking to the stirring blade, and the blade portion 45 cuts the food waste, in particular, a lump state during rotation, to finely cut it. Collateral plays a role. The blade 45 is preferably formed so that the tip of the blade 45 is not too sharp for safety during use. The stirring blade 58 having such a structure shortens the stirring and drying time of the food waste by cutting the food waste during rotation while preventing food waste from sticking to the stirring wing.

Deodorizer according to the present invention, as shown in Figure 3, is composed of a deodorizing unit 86 filled with activated carbon therein and a photocatalyst filter 80 arranged upstream. Preferably the deodorizer is configured in the form of a kit. In this kit, a wire for supplying power to the photocatalyst filter 80 is separately connected. Therefore, if the kit is connected downstream of the exhaust stream and the wires are connected to a power source (preferably a separate power source is installed inside the food waste drying apparatus), the deodorizer will operate simply.

The deodorizing unit 86 adsorbs and removes the malodorous components of the air stream. The size of the activated carbon to be filled may range from 1 to 10 mm, but in the illustrated embodiment, 3 mm of activated carbon was used. The airflow discharged from the lower portion of the deodorizing unit 86 flows to the discharge pipe 92 to which the exhaust fan 88 driven by the motor 90 is attached.

5 is a partial cutaway perspective view of the food waste drying apparatus lid 20 according to the present invention, which is viewed from the bottom view in a state where the lid is opened.

 As described above, the underside of the lid 20 is attached with an annular seal 52 extending therefrom. The annular sealing portion 52 is preferably formed of a silicon material that withstands high temperature and has a suitable strength. A guard net 56 is also formed inside the annular seal 52 so as to extend from the bottom of the lid, and a plurality of through holes 58 are formed in the guard net 56. The guard net 56 is for preventing food waste from sticking to the top while being agitated by the stirring blade 42 to be attached to the heater 60 or to enter the exhaust pipe 68.

The annular seal 52 serves to increase the thermal efficiency of the device by preventing the leakage of odor components by preventing the leakage of odor components by shielding the upper portion of the storage container 40 in which food waste is contained. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the lower end of the annular seal 52 is formed on the bottom surface of the lid 20 in a position and length that can be in close contact with the outer side of the upper container 40, but the annular seal 52 is formed. ) The lower end may be formed on the bottom of the lid 20 in a position and length such that the lower end extends into the inner container 40 so that the outer surface of the annular sealing portion 52 is in close contact with the inner surface of the outer container 40.

Operation of the food waste drying apparatus 10 according to the present invention is as follows.

First, the lid 20 is opened using the opening and closing device 24 and the food waste is put into the storage container 40 and the apparatus 10 is operated by the controller 22 while the lid 20 is covered again. In the operation of the device, the food waste in the receiving container 40 is agitated by the agitator blades 42 driven by the motor 50 to mix the food waste, and at the same time supplied through the inlet pipe 62 by the intake fan 66 The air is supplied to the upper portion of the storage container 40 while being heated by the heater 60. The heater 60 not only heats the introduced air but also heats the upper portion of the storage container 40. Food waste is dried by the heater 60 while stirring. The air stream containing the moisture according to the drying of the food waste (see arrow in FIG. 2) is deodorized while passing through the deodorizing apparatus 80 and 86 through the exhaust pipe 68, and then outside the apparatus 10 through the discharge pipe 92. To be discharged. The exhaust fan 88 attached to the discharge pipe 92 forcibly sucks the airflow so as to be discharged to the outside of the discharge pipe 92. The vent hole 26 formed in the lid 2 supplies fresh air to the inlet pipe 62, and the device 10 itself is caused by external air flowing into the vent holes 24 and 32 formed in the lid and the main body. Is cooled. Finally, when the food waste is sufficiently dried (a warning sound is generated or indicated on the indicator of the controller), the lid 20 is opened again and the dried food waste is discharged.

The internal temperature of the storage container 40 is controlled to about 150 ℃. Attaching a separate sensor, controlling the rotational speed of the motor (64, 90) for driving the intake fan 66 and exhaust fan 88, and at the same time by controlling the amount of heat generated by the heater inside the housing 40 without a separate temperature sensor The temperature can be controlled at about 150 ° C. Each of the motors 50, 64, 90 and the heaters 60, 82 is automatically controlled by the controller 22 in which the control program is embedded.

The food waste drying apparatus 10 equipped with the stirring blade 42 and the annular sealing portion 52 according to the present invention, when drying the same amount of food waste, compared with the conventional apparatus without such a device It has been shown that the drying time is shortened up to 1/2. That is, in the conventional apparatus, when drying the same amount of food waste under the same conditions, it took about 2 hours to be in a state suitable for discharge treatment, and the odor was soaked in the discharged airflow, but in the drying apparatus according to the present invention, The time ranged from 1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes, and the odor could not be detected even in the discharged airflow. In particular, the conventional device was able to detect the odor even when a small amount of food waste treatment, and when the amount is increased, the odor was too hard to endure, but in the case of the device according to the present invention even if a large amount of food waste treatment It was found that no airflow was detected.

On the other hand, since the inner temperature of the storage container is about 150 ℃ about accidentally opening the lid of the device may cause a safety accident. Therefore, the opening and closing device of the lid 24 is a double locking device, it is preferable to prevent the safety accident so that the lid can be opened only when the double locking device is released.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but those skilled in the art can devise various modifications.

For example, the deodorizing device, the stirring blade, the annular seal according to the present invention can be implemented through each or various combinations.

In addition, the illustrated embodiment relates to a food waste drying apparatus of a non-circulating piping method in which the air flow in the upper part of the storage container is not recycled but is simply sent to a deodorizing device, but is described in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0706919 and Korean Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-0004601. As described above, the circulation pipe for reheating the discharge air stream by the heating device and resupplying it to the upper part of the storage container is connected, and the bypass pipe is connected to the circulation pipe to send a part of the air stream to the deodorizing device. The invention can be applied as it is.

As described above, the present invention can be applied to a food waste drying apparatus having any structure including a main body, a storage container in which food waste is contained, a heating device for drying food waste in the storage container, and a deodorizer for removing odor.

1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional deodorizer.

2 is a perspective view of a food waste drying apparatus according to the present invention.

3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a food waste drying apparatus according to the present invention.

4 is a perspective view of the stirring blade used in the present invention.

5 is a partial cutaway perspective view of a lid with an annular seal according to the present invention.

Claims (11)

It consists of a main body of the lid opening and closing structure, a storage container which is placed in the main body and contains food waste, a heating device for heating and drying the food waste in the storage container, and a deodorizing device for removing odor. The air flow in the storage container is sent to the deodorizer by the exhaust pipe, and is deodorized and discharged to the outside of the main body.The food waste drying unit is equipped with a stirring blade driven by a motor at the lower part of the storage container to stir and mix the food waste in the storage container. In the apparatus, Food waste drying apparatus, characterized in that a plurality of grooves are formed in the body of the stirring blade. According to claim 1, Food waste drying apparatus, characterized in that the blade is formed on both sides or one side of the fuselage. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the deodorizing device comprises a deodorizing unit filled with activated carbon therein. 4. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a photocatalyst filter is disposed upstream of the deodorizing unit. 5. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 3 or 4, wherein an auxiliary deodorizing unit filled with a sheet-like carbon filter having activated carbon attached to a surface thereof is disposed upstream or downstream of the deodorizing unit filled with activated carbon. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the size of activated carbon filled in the deodorizing unit is in the range of 1 to 10 mm. 5. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the deodorizing unit and the photocatalyst filter comprise a kit type deodorizing device. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an annular seal extending to an upper portion of the container is attached to the bottom of the lid. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the annular sealing portion is formed of a silicon material which withstands high temperature. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the deodorizing device comprises a deodorizing unit filled with activated carbon therein. The food waste drying apparatus according to claim 10, wherein a photocatalyst filter is disposed upstream of the deodorizing unit.

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