TW202209982A - System for plant milk production - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a system for plant milk production, which comprises: a grinding module, a formulating module, a conveying module, and a monitoring module. In which, the grinding module is used for feeding and grinding plant materials. The formulating module is used for mixing and homogenizing the ground plant materials and food additives. The conveying module is used for conveying the ground plant material to the grinding module or the formulating module. The monitoring module is used for detecting the grinding effect of plant materials and adjusting the operating conditions for feeding and/or grinding accordingly. Compared to the conventional plant milk production system, the production system of the present invention may greatly enhance the grinding performance, save the time and equipment cost consumed by batch grinding, and also solve the problem of uneven mixing of food additives and plant materials.

Description

Plant milk preparation system

The present invention relates to a preparation system of vegetable milk. In particular a system for grinding, mixing and homogenizing a vegetable material to prepare it into a vegetable milk.

Plant milk (also known as plant-based milk) is a non-dairy beverages prepared by grinding water and plant material. In addition to being a vegan food, plant milk is similar in appearance and taste to cow's milk, so it is often used to replace dairy products produced by mammals. From a nutritional point of view, plant milk is rich in fiber, low in cholesterol and saturated fatty acids, and free of lactose and other dairy allergens, so it also attracts many people with lactose in addition to vegetarian consumers. Intolerance, allergies to dairy products, or consumers who pay attention to healthy diets; on the other hand, in recent years, the rise of moral awareness such as animal welfare, ecological conservation, and environmental protection has also simultaneously promoted the market for plant milk to grow considerably growth.

Among the common plant milks, in addition to soy milk and rice milk, which first began to circulate and spread in Asia, almond milk and peanut milk have gradually emerged in Europe and the United States in recent years. ), coconut milk, oat milk, and cashew milk.

However, in the manufacture and processing of vegetable milk, the particle size of the milled plant material and the degree of dispersion and suspension of oil and fat components in the plant material and other food additives may affect the stability of vegetable milk. It is common that vegetable milk is prone to protein denaturation due to high-temperature sterilization treatment or mixing with high-temperature beverages such as hot coffee, resulting in stratification, flocculation, precipitation or curdling and other phenomena. It affects the shelf life of the product and the appearance and taste when drinking. In order to solve this problem, in the current plant milk production process, most of the plant materials must be subjected to pretreatment such as pulverization, thermal gelatinization, etc., and then multiple grinding equipment and homogenizers are connected in series for multiple grinding and homogenization. At the same time, product quality must be checked at all stages of production; on the other hand, the stability of vegetable milks must be increased by adding more emulsifiers or thickeners.

However, the multiple grinding and homogenizing treatments in these processes not only require complicated operation steps, but also consume a lot of time and equipment costs; Additives may also reduce consumers' willingness to buy.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a vegetable milk preparation system that can monitor and control the grinding efficiency in real time, avoid product stratification, uneven mixing and other problems, and further improve the stability of the obtained vegetable milk.

Therefore, the plant milk preparation system of the present invention includes a grinding module, a blending module, a conveying module, and a monitoring module.

The grinding module includes a feeding unit for feeding a plant material to be ground, and a grinding unit for grinding the plant material to be ground.

The compounding module includes a mixing device for mixing the ground plant material with a food additive, and a homogenizing device for homogenizing the plant material mixed with the food additive to produce a homogeneous product.

The conveying module is used to convey the ground plant material back to the grinding unit or to the mixing device.

The monitoring module includes a sensing element group disposed on the conveying module and used for sensing a physicochemical parameter of the ground plant material, and a sensor element group simultaneously connected to the sensing element group, the grinding module and the conveying The controller of the electrical connection of the module, the controller is used for: a) Receive the detection value of the physical and chemical parameters obtained by the sensing element group; b) comparing the detected value with a predetermined value; and c) control the conveying module and the grinding module according to the comparison result, Wherein, when the detected value of the physical and chemical parameter meets the corresponding preset value, the grinding unit of the grinding module is controlled to stop grinding, and the conveying module is controlled to convey the ground plant material to the blending module ;as well as When the detected value of the materialized parameter does not conform to the corresponding preset value, perform at least one of the following operations: i) controlling the conveying module to convey the ground plant material back to the grinding unit for further grinding; ii) calculating a feed setting value according to the comparison result, feeding the feed setting value back to the grinding module and controlling the feeding unit of the grinding module to perform further feeding with the set value; and iii) calculating a grinding set value according to the comparison result, feeding the grinding set value back to the grinding module, and controlling the grinding unit of the grinding module to perform grinding with the set value.

The effect of the plant milk preparation system of the present invention is: through the electrical connection of the grinding module, the conveying module and the monitoring module, the grinding effect of the plant material can be sensed in real time, and the grinding and/or processing can be adjusted accordingly. The operating conditions of the raw materials are improved, the overall grinding performance is improved, and the time and equipment cost for batch grinding are reduced. In addition, the addition, mixing and homogenization of food additives can be carried out through the mixing module, which can avoid the problem of uneven mixing. , especially as a result of the delamination of oil-phase food additives and milled plant material.

1 and 2, the plant milk preparation system of the present invention includes a grinding module 1, a dispensing module 2, a conveying module 3, a monitoring module 4, a sterilization module 5, and a packaging module 6.

The grinding module 1 includes a feeding unit 11 for feeding a plant material to be ground, and a grinding unit 12 for grinding the plant material to be ground. The feeding unit 11 has a feeding chute 111 for accommodating the plant material to be ground and in close communication with the grinding unit 12 , and a feeding chute 111 for conveying the plant material to be ground to the feeding chute 111 The conveyor (conveyer) 112.

Plant materials suitable for use in the present invention may be those conventionally used by those skilled in the art to prepare plant milk, including, but not limited to: cereals [including rice and oat], pseudocereals ) [including quinoa], legumes [including soybeans, peanuts, peas, and chickpeas], nuts [including apricot kernels, almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts and coconuts], seeds [including sesame and sunflower seeds], and their combination. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plant material is almonds.

According to the present invention, food materials other than the plant material can also be fed by the feeding unit 11 , for example, additionally charged into the feeding tank 111 . In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the feeding tank 111 is pre-filled with soft water.

The conveyor 112 suitable for the present invention includes, but is not limited to, a belt conveyor, a chain conveyor, a helical conveyor, and combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the conveyor 112 is a screw conveyor.

According to the invention, the milling unit 12 has a mill selected from the group consisting of: ball mill, rod mill, colloidal mill, and their combinations. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the grinding unit 12 has a colloid grinder.

The compounding module 2 includes a mixing device 21 for mixing the ground plant material with an additional food additive, a homogenization of the plant material mixed with the food additive to produce a A homogenizing device 22 for homogenized product, and a constant temperature device 23 for regulating the temperature of the plant material mixed with food additives at different stages. The constant temperature device 23 has a plurality of thermometers 232 and a plurality of heaters 231 respectively disposed on the conveying module 3 , the mixing device 21 and the homogenizing device 22 . The temperature of the plant material mixed with the food additive is instantly detected and controlled and maintained at a desired temperature so that the food additive can be completely dissolved.

The conveying module 3 communicates with the grinding unit 12 of the grinding module 1 and the mixing device 21 of the mixing module 2 , and is provided with a plurality of conveying pumps 31 and switching valves 32 . The conveying module 3 can selectively convey the milled plant material back to the mill by the drive of the conveying pumps 31 and the function of adjusting the flow rate, and by the switching valves 32 to change the conveying direction. unit 12, or to the mixing device 21.

According to the present invention, the delivery pumps 31 may be selected from the group consisting of screw pumps, rotary pumps, centrifugal pumps, and combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the delivery pumps 31 are centrifugal pumps.

The monitoring module 4 includes a sensing element group 41 and a controller 42 .

The sensing element group 41 is disposed on the conveying module 3 and is used for sensing a physicochemical parameter of the ground plant material, and returning the detected value of the physicochemical parameter to the controller 42 . The sensing element group 41 may have a plurality of sensing elements 411 for sensing the same or different physical and chemical parameters.

The controller 42 is electrically connected to the sensing element group 41, the grinding module 1 and the conveying module 3 at the same time, and is used for: a) Receive the detection value of the physical and chemical parameters obtained by the sensing element group 41; b) comparing the detected value with a predetermined value; and c) control the conveying module 3 and the grinding module 1 according to the comparison result, Wherein, when the detected value of the physical and chemical parameter meets the corresponding preset value, the grinding unit 12 of the grinding module 1 is controlled to stop grinding, and the conveying module 3 is controlled to transport the ground plant material to the Provisioning Module 2; and When the detected value of the materialized parameter does not conform to the corresponding preset value, perform at least one of the following operations: i) controlling the conveying module 3 to convey the ground plant material back to the grinding unit 12 for further grinding; ii) Calculate a feed setting value according to the comparison result, and feed the feed setting value back to the grinding module 1 and control the feeding unit 11 of the grinding module 1 to perform further feeding with this set value ;as well as iii) Calculate a grinding set value according to the comparison result, feed the grinding set value to the grinding module 1 and control the grinding unit 12 of the grinding module 1 to perform grinding with the set value.

According to the present invention, the physicochemical parameter is selected from the group consisting of: temperature, flow rate, pressure, particle size, and combinations thereof.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the physicochemical parameter is particle size, and a sensing element 411 of the sensing element group 41 is a particle size sensing element 411 . The controller 42 compares the particle size detection value of the ground plant material sensed by the particle size sensing element 411 with a predetermined particle size value, and when the particle size detection value does not match the particle size When the diameter preset value is reached, the controller 42 controls the conveying module 3 to convey the ground plant material back to the grinding unit 12; The grinding set value is fed back to the grinding module 1 and the grinding unit 12 of the grinding module 1 is controlled to perform grinding with the grinding set value, so as to further reduce the particle size of the ground plant material. Until the particle size detection value meets the particle size preset value, the controller 42 controls the grinding unit 12 to stop grinding, and controls the conveying module 3 to convey the ground plant material to the dispensing mold Group 2.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the physicochemical parameter is flow, and a sensing element 411 of the sensing element group 41 is a flow sensing element 411 . The controller 42 compares the detected flow rate of the milled plant material sensed by the flow sensing element 411 with a predetermined flow rate value, and when the detected flow rate value does not meet the predetermined flow rate value When , the controller 42 controls the conveying pumps 31 in the conveying module 3 to adjust the flow rate of the ground plant material; The feeding set value is fed back to the grinding module 1 and the conveyor 112 of the feeding unit 11 of the grinding module 1 is controlled to carry out the conveying of plant materials with this feeding set value, so that the plants in the grinding unit 12 can be transported. The ratio of material and water is maintained at a constant value, so that the grinding efficiency of the grinding unit 12 can be maintained.

The mixing device 21 has a mixing tank 211 , a first mixer 212 disposed in the mixing tank 211 , and a centrifugal pump 213 disposed between the mixing tank 211 and the homogenizing device 22 . The mixing tank 211 is used for containing the ground plant material and the additionally added food additives, and the first mixer 212 is used for stirring and mixing the above two. The centrifugal pump 213 is used to transport the plant material mixed with food additives to the homogenizing device 22, and at the same time, by regulating the rotational speed of the centrifugal pump 213, the plant material mixed with food additives can generate a vortex. , to avoid the oil phase components in the food additive floating up to cause stratification, thus ensuring that the degree of mixing will not be affected in the subsequent conveying process.

According to the present invention, the food additive can be selected from the group consisting of: antioxidants [eg, L-ascorbic acid (L-ascorbic acid), butylated hydroxyl-anisole (BHA)] , nutritional additives (eg, mineral salts and vitamins, such as calcium carbonate and vitamin A), flavoring agents (eg, citric acid and malic acid) ], thickeners [for example, gellan gum, sodium alginate, and xanthan gum], other food raw materials [for example, sucrose, glucose ) and lecithin, etc.], and combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the food additive is a combination of lecithin, gellan gum, sucrose, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, and calcium carbonate.

The homogenizing device 22 has a stirring and homogenizing unit 221 and a high-pressure homogenizing unit 225 which are connected in sequence.

The stirring and homogenizing unit 221 has a stirring and homogenizing tank 222 , a second stirring machine 223 , and a homogenizer 224 . The stirring and homogenizing tank 222 is used for containing the plant material mixed with food additives. The second mixer 223 is disposed in the lower part of the mixing and homogenizing tank 222 for continuously stirring and mixing the plant material mixed with food additives to prevent it from being layered again. The homogenizer 224 is arranged in the upper part of the stirring and homogenizing tank 222, and is used for homogenizing the liquid surface of the plant material mixed with food additives, so as to further reduce the oil droplets floating on the liquid surface.

According to the present invention, the mixers 212, 223 may be selected from the group consisting of paddle mixers, turbo mixers, magnetic mixers, and their combination. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first mixer 212 is a turbo mixer, and the second mixer 223 is a paddle mixer.

According to the present invention, the homogenizer 224 may be selected from the group consisting of: a high-shear homogenizer, an in-line homogenizer, and combinations thereof. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the homogenizer 224 is a high shear homogenizer.

The high pressure homogenizing unit 225 has a balance tank 226 , a heater 227 and a high pressure homogenizer 228 connected in sequence. The balance tank 226 is used to temporarily store the crude product obtained by the stirring and homogenizing unit 221 to buffer and adjust the conveying flow between the stirring and homogenizing unit 221 and the high pressure homogenizer 228 . The heater 227 is used to heat the crude product to reduce its liquid viscosity, so as to improve the homogenization effect of the subsequent high pressure homogenizer 228, and the high pressure homogenizer 228 is used to perform high pressure homogenization, so that The fat globule in the crude product is further miniaturized to achieve the effect of emulsification, whereby the obtained homogenized product has further improved stability, while reducing subsequent high-temperature sterilization treatment or normal temperature Stratification, flocculation, precipitation, curdling, demulsification and other phenomena may be caused by standing storage. Therefore, the amount of food additives such as thickeners and emulsifiers added to improve the stability of the beverage can also be reduced.

The sterilization module 5 communicates with the preparation module 2 for sterilization of the homogeneous product.

According to the present invention, the sterilization treatment can be selected from the group consisting of: pasteurization, high-pressure steam sterilization, ultra-high-temperature (UHT) sterilization , and their combinations. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sterilization module 5 is a UHT sterilizer for performing UHT sterilization on the homogeneous product.

The packaging module 6 communicates with the sterilization module 5 for filling and packaging the sterilized homogeneous product. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the packaging module 6 is an aseptic filling and packaging machine.

Alternatively, the packaging module 6 can be communicated with the dispensing module 2 first for filling and packaging the homogeneous product, and the sterilization module 5 is communicated with the packaging module 6 for further Sterilize. In a preferred embodiment of this case, the packaging module 6 is a food can filling and packaging machine, and the sterilization module 5 is a high-pressure steam sterilizer (not shown).

To sum up, through the setting of the grinding module 1, the conveying module 3 and the monitoring module 4, the plant milk preparation system of the present invention can sense the physical and chemical parameters of the ground plant material in real time, and according to the The detection value of physical and chemical parameters can be used to adjust and control parameters such as feed setting, grinding setting, grinding time, etc. without manual detection operation, which can not only effectively improve grinding efficiency, but also save time, labor and equipment costs for batch grinding. In addition, the present invention also continuously adds food additives through the deployment module 2, and continuously stirs and homogenizes, so as to avoid the occurrence of stratification, oil slick or uneven mixing between the food additives and the ground plant material phenomenon, so it can indeed achieve the purpose of the present invention.

However, the above are only examples of the present invention, and should not limit the scope of the present invention. Any simple equivalent changes and modifications made according to the scope of the application for patent of the present invention and the content of the patent specification are still within the scope of the present invention. within the scope of the invention patent.

1: Grinding module 11: Feeding unit 111: Feed chute 112: Conveyor 12: Grinding unit 2: Deploy the module 21: Mixing device 211: Mixing tank 212: First Blender 213: Centrifugal Pumps 22: Homogenizer 221: stirring and homogenizing unit 222: stirring and homogenizing tank 223: Second Blender 224: Homogenizer 225: High pressure homogenizer unit 226: Balance slot 227: Heater 228: High pressure homogenizer 23: Thermostat 231: Heater 232: Thermometer 3: Conveying module 31: Transfer Pump 32: switch valve 4: Monitoring module 41: Sensing element group 411: Sensing element 42: Controller 5: Sterilization module 6: Packaging module

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent with reference to the following detailed description and preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings, wherein: 1 is a block diagram illustrating a feeding unit of a grinding module and a sensing element group of a grinding unit, a conveying module and a monitoring module in an embodiment of a plant milk preparation system of the present invention an electrical connection to a controller; and FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of the embodiment.

1: Grinding module

11: Feeding unit

12: Grinding unit

3: Conveying module

4: Monitoring module

41: Sensing element group

42: Controller

Claims (7)

A preparation system for vegetable milk, comprising: a grinding module, comprising a feeding unit for feeding a plant material to be ground, and a grinding unit for grinding the plant material to be ground; a compounding module including a mixing device for mixing the ground plant material with a food additive, and a homogenizing device for homogenizing the plant material mixed with the food additive to produce a homogeneous product; a conveying module for conveying the ground plant material back to the grinding unit or to the mixing device; and A monitoring module includes a sensing element group disposed on the conveying module and used for sensing a physicochemical parameter of the ground plant material, and a sensor element group simultaneously connected to the sensing element group, the grinding module and the The controller for the electrical connection of the conveying module, the controller is used for: a) Receive the detection value of the physical and chemical parameters obtained by the sensing element group; b) comparing the detected value with a predetermined value; and c) control the conveying module and the grinding module according to the comparison result, Wherein, when the detected value of the physicochemical parameter meets the corresponding preset value, the grinding unit of the grinding module is controlled to stop grinding, and the conveying module is controlled to convey the ground plant material to the blending module ;as well as When the detected value of the materialized parameter does not conform to the corresponding preset value, perform at least one of the following operations: i) controlling the conveying module to convey the ground plant material back to the grinding unit for further grinding; ii) calculating a feed setting value according to the comparison result, feeding the feed setting value back to the grinding module and controlling the feeding unit of the grinding module to perform further feeding with the set value; and iii) calculating a grinding set value according to the comparison result, feeding back the grinding set value to the grinding module, and controlling the grinding unit of the grinding module to perform further grinding with the set value. The preparation system of claim 1, wherein the milling unit has a colloid mill. The preparation system of claim 1, wherein the mixing device has a centrifugal pump for conveying the plant material mixed with food additives to the homogenizing device, and can generate a vortex by adjusting the rotation speed to maintain the mixed food The mixed state of the plant material for the additive. The preparation system of claim 1, wherein the homogenizing device has a stirring and homogenizing unit and a high-pressure homogenizing unit. The preparation system of claim 1, wherein the physicochemical parameter is selected from the group consisting of: temperature, flow rate, pressure, particle size, and combinations thereof. The preparation system of claim 1, further comprising a sterilization module for sterilizing the homogeneous product. The preparation system of claim 1, further comprising a packaging module for filling and packaging the homogeneous product.

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