WO2018110506A1

WO2018110506A1 - Production device and production method for flake ice

Info

Publication number: WO2018110506A1
Application number: PCT/JP2017/044389
Authority: WO
Inventors: 美雄廣兼
Original assignee: ブランテック株式会社
Priority date: 2016-12-12
Filing date: 2017-12-11
Publication date: 2018-06-21
Also published as: JP2018096599A

Abstract

Provided is a means for easily producing a plurality of types of flake ice having different freezing points and roughly uniform solute concentration.　In this flake ice production device 1, a drum 11 includes an inner cylinder 22, an outer cylinder 21 surrounding the inner cylinder 22, and a clearance 23 formed between the inner cylinder 22 and the outer cylinder 21, and a refrigerant supplying unit 31 supplies a refrigerant to the clearance 23. A spraying unit 13 sprays brine toward the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22. A scraping unit 14 scrapes off flake ice that is generated as a result of brine sprayed from the spraying unit 13 becoming adhered to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22, which has been cooled by the refrigerant supplied to the clearance 23. A drive shaft 16 drives the scraping unit 14 along the internal peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 in the axial direction of the inner cylinder 22.

Description

Flake ice manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method

The present invention relates to a flake ice manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method.

Conventionally, in order to maintain the freshness and quality of fresh seafood, a method of cooling fresh seafood with ice has been used. For example, when a fishing boat goes fishing, a large amount of ice is loaded onto the fishing boat and the captured fish is transported in a container filled with water ice (a mixture of ice and seawater).
However, in the case of ice made from fresh water, when the ice melts, the solute concentration of seawater used for maintaining freshness decreases. As a result, there is a problem that due to the osmotic pressure, water enters the body of the fish immersed in water ice, and the freshness and taste of the fish deteriorate.
Therefore, in Patent Document 1, salt-containing ice obtained by freezing salt-containing water having a solute concentration of about 0.5 to 2.5% is formed into a slurry to be used for maintaining the freshness of fresh food. In the salt-containing water ice making method, salt water is prepared by adjusting the salinity of raw water such as filtered and sterilized seawater, and the salt-containing water is rapidly cooled. A method for producing slurry-like salt-containing ice having a freezing point temperature of −5 to −1 ° C. corresponding to the solute concentration is disclosed.

JP 2002-115945 A

However, in the conventional techniques including Patent Document 1, water in fresh seafood crystallizes when frozen, but since ice crystals in fresh seafood become large, the cellular structure of fresh seafood is destroyed, and freshness and taste are reduced. There is a problem that it cannot be maintained. Further, in the case of the conventional method described in Patent Document 1, since the freezing point temperature of the slurry-like salt-containing ice and the water temperature of the immersion liquid are not so low, the freshness of the fresh seafood can be maintained only for a short period of time, It cannot cope with the cold temperature required for the
In addition, ice frozen in salt water begins to freeze from the fresh water portion with a high freezing point, and a portion where a small amount of salt water has frozen or salt deposited around the ice adheres to the portion that will eventually freeze. As a result, the solute concentration of ice becomes uneven. At the time of thawing, the part that was finally frozen thaws first, and high-concentration salt water comes out, so that the solute concentration in the melted water changes significantly during the melting process, or the temperature goes to 0 ° C. There was a technical problem of rising.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to easily produce flake ice having a substantially uniform solute concentration.

In order to achieve the above object, a flake ice manufacturing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes:
A drum including an inner cylinder, an outer cylinder surrounding the inner cylinder, and a clearance formed between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder;
A refrigerant supply unit for supplying a refrigerant to the clearance;
An injection unit that injects brine toward the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder;
The brine jetted from the jetting unit adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder cooled by the refrigerant supplied to the clearance, and scraping unit scraping off the resulting flake ice,
A drive unit that drives the scraping unit along the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder in the axial direction of the inner cylinder;
Is provided.

Further, the injection unit may further include an injection control unit that variably controls the pressure when the brine is injected.

Further, the outer peripheral portion of the scraping portion in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder may be a replaceable blade.

The flake ice manufacturing method of one aspect of the present invention is a manufacturing method corresponding to the above-described flake ice manufacturing apparatus of one aspect of the present invention.

According to the present invention, flake ice having a substantially uniform solute concentration can be easily produced.

It is an image figure containing the fragmentary sectional perspective view which shows the outline | summary of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, Comprising: It is a figure which shows the state in which the scraping part is located in the upper end of an inner cylinder. It is an image figure containing the fragmentary sectional perspective view which shows the outline | summary of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, Comprising: It is a figure which shows the state in which the scraping part is located in the lower end of an inner cylinder. It is an image figure containing the fragmentary sectional perspective view which shows the outline | summary of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus which concerns on other embodiment of this invention, Comprising: It is a figure which shows the state in which the scraping part is located in the upper end of an inner cylinder. It is an image figure containing the fragmentary sectional perspective view which shows the outline | summary of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus which concerns on other embodiment of this invention, Comprising: It is a figure which shows the state in which the scraping part is located in the lower end of an inner cylinder. It is an image figure which shows the outline | summary of the flake ice manufacturing system containing the flake ice manufacturing apparatus shown to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B.

<Ice>
The ice of the present invention is ice (also referred to as flake ice) of an aqueous solution (also referred to as brine) containing a solute that satisfies the following conditions (a) and (b).
(A) The temperature at the completion of melting is less than 0 ° C. (b) The rate of change in the solute concentration of the aqueous solution generated from the ice during the melting process is within 30%. It means a low liquid heat medium. Specifically, for example, sodium chloride aqueous solution (brine), calcium chloride aqueous solution, magnesium chloride aqueous solution, ethylene glycol and the like are contained in the brine.
“Flake ice” means flake (flake) ice in which brine is frozen to a uniform concentration. Since flake ice has a large specific surface area, it is possible to quickly cool the object to be cooled. That is, flake ice in which brine is frozen can take away a large amount of latent heat from the surroundings when it is melted. During this time, the temperature does not increase. Therefore, it is possible to keep the object to be cooled for a long time.
The ice slurry includes a mixture of flake ice obtained by freezing brine and the brine, and includes sherbet-like ice. In addition, the ice slurry has features such that it can be easily filled into the gap 50 and cooling unevenness is less likely to occur than hard block-shaped ice.

It is known that when a solute is melted in water, a freezing point depression occurs in which the freezing point of the aqueous solution is lowered. The freezing point of an aqueous solution in which a solute such as sodium chloride has been melted due to the action of lowering the freezing point is lowered. That is, ice made of such an aqueous solution is ice that has solidified at a lower temperature than ice made of fresh water.
Here, the heat required when ice changes to water is referred to as “latent heat”, but this latent heat is not accompanied by a temperature change. Due to the effect of such latent heat, the ice having a reduced freezing point as described above continues to be stable at a temperature below the freezing point of fresh water when melted, so that the state where cold energy is stored continues.
Therefore, the cooling ability of the object to be cooled should be higher than that of ice made of fresh water. However, the present inventors have found that the ice produced by the conventional technique does not have sufficient ability to cool the object to be cooled, for example, the temperature of the ice itself increases rapidly with time. The present inventors examined the reason, and even if ice was produced from an aqueous solution containing a solute such as salt in the conventional technique, in practice, ice containing no solute was first produced before the aqueous solution was frozen. As a result, a mixture of ice and solute containing no solute is produced, or only a small amount of ice having a reduced freezing point is produced, so that ice with high cooling capacity is not produced. I found out.

However, the present inventors succeeded in producing an aqueous solution ice having a reduced freezing point by a predetermined method (details will be described later). Such ice of the present invention satisfies the above conditions (a) and (b). Hereinafter, the above conditions (a) and (b) will be described.

(Temperature at the completion of melting)
Regarding the above (a), since the ice of the present invention is an aqueous solution containing a solute, the temperature of the freezing point is lower than the freezing point of fresh water (water not containing a solute). Therefore, it has the characteristic that the temperature at the time of completion of melting is less than 0 ° C. “Tempering completion temperature” means that the ice of the present invention is placed in an environment above the melting point (for example, room temperature and atmospheric pressure) to start melting the ice, and all the ice melts to become water. It refers to the temperature of the water at the time.

The temperature at the completion of melting is not particularly limited as long as it is less than 0 ° C., and can be appropriately changed by adjusting the kind and concentration of the solute. The temperature at the completion of melting is preferably lower in terms of higher cooling ability, and specifically, -1 ° C or lower (-2 ° C or lower, -3 ° C or lower, -4 ° C or lower, -5 ° C or lower, -6 ° C or lower, -7 ° C or lower, -8 ° C or lower, -9 ° C or lower, -10 ° C or lower, -11 ° C or lower, -12 ° C or lower, -13 ° C or lower, -14 ° C or lower, -15 Or less, −16 ° C. or less, −17 ° C. or less, −18 ° C. or less, −19 ° C. or less, −20 ° C. or less, and the like. On the other hand, it may be preferable to bring the freezing point closer to the freezing point of the object to be cooled (for example, to prevent damage to fresh animals and plants). In such a case, it is preferable that the temperature at the completion of thawing is not too high. Preferably, for example, -21 ° C or higher (-20 ° C or higher, -19 ° C or higher, -18 ° C or higher, -17 ° C or higher, -16 ° C or higher, -15 ° C or higher, -14 ° C or higher, -13 ° C or higher,- 12 ° C or higher, -11 ° C or higher, -10 ° C or higher, -9 ° C or higher, -8 ° C or higher, -7 ° C or higher, -6 ° C or higher, -5 ° C or higher, -4 ° C or higher, -3 ° C or higher,- 2 ° C or higher, -1 ° C or higher, -0.5 ° C or higher, etc.).

(Change rate of solute concentration)
With regard to the above (b), the ice of the present invention has a change rate of the solute concentration of the aqueous solution generated from the ice during the melting process (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “change rate of the solute concentration” in this specification) of 30. %. Even in the method described in Patent Document 1, ice having a slightly reduced freezing point may be generated, but most of them are a mixture of water-free ice and solute crystals. Is not enough. When there is a large mixture of ice and solute crystals of water that does not contain solute in this way, when the ice is placed under melting conditions, the elution rate of the solute accompanying melting is unstable, The more the solute is eluted, the more the solute is eluted, the less the amount of the solute is eluted. On the other hand, since the ice of the present invention is made of ice in an aqueous solution containing a solute, it has a feature that there is little change in the elution rate of the solute during the melting process. Specifically, the change rate of the solute concentration of the aqueous solution generated from ice during the melting process is 30%. The “rate of change in the solute concentration of an aqueous solution generated from ice during the melting process” means the ratio of the concentration of the aqueous solution at the completion of melting to the solute concentration in the aqueous solution generated at an arbitrary point in the melting process. The “solute concentration” means the concentration of the mass of the solute in the aqueous solution.

The rate of change of the solute concentration in the ice of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is within 30%, but the smaller the rate of change, the higher the purity of the ice in the aqueous solution having a reduced freezing point, that is, higher cooling ability. Means. From this viewpoint, the change rate of solute concentration is within 25% (within 24%, within 23%, within 22%, within 21%, within 20%, within 19%, within 18%, within 17%, within 16%. Within 15%, within 14%, within 13%, within 12%, within 11%, within 10%, within 9%, within 8%, within 7%, within 6%, within 5%, within 4%, 3 %, Within 2%, within 1%, within 0.5%, etc.). On the other hand, the change rate of the solute concentration is 0.1% or more (0.5% or more, 1% or more, 2% or more, 3% or more, 4% or more, 5% or more, 6% or more, 7% or more, 8 % Or more, 9% or more, 10% or more, 11% or more, 12% or more, 13% or more, 14% or more, 15% or more, 16% or more, 17% or more, 18% or more, 19% or more, 20% or more Etc.).

(Solute)
The kind of solute contained in the ice of the present invention is not particularly limited as long as it is a solute when water is used as a solvent, and can be appropriately selected according to a desired freezing point, use of ice to be used, and the like. Examples of the solute include solid solutes and liquid solutes, and typical solid solutes include salts (inorganic salts, organic salts, etc.). Particularly, among salts, sodium chloride (NaCl) is preferable because it does not excessively reduce the temperature of the freezing point and is suitable for cooling fresh animals and plants or a part thereof. Moreover, since salt is contained in seawater, it is also preferable in terms of easy procurement. Moreover, ethylene glycol etc. are mentioned as a liquid solute. In addition, a solute may be contained individually by 1 type and may be contained 2 or more types.

The concentration of the solute contained in the ice of the present invention is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately selected according to the kind of solute, the desired freezing point, the use of the ice to be used, and the like. For example, when sodium chloride is used as the solute, the concentration of the sodium chloride is 0.5% (w / v) or more (1% (w / v) in that the freezing point of the aqueous solution can be further lowered to obtain a high cooling capacity. v) or more, 2% (w / v) or more, 3% (w / v) or more, 4% (w / v) or more, 5% (w / v) or more, 6% (w / v) or more, 7 % (W / v) or more, 8% (w / v) or more, 9% (w / v) or more, 10% (w / v) or more, 11% (w / v) or more, 12% (w / v) ), 13% (w / v) or more, 14% (w / v) or more, 15% (w / v) or more, 16% (w / v) or more, 17% (w / v) or more, 18% (W / v) or more, 19% (w / v) or more, 20% (w / v) or more, etc.). On the other hand, when the ice of the present invention is used for cooling fresh animals and plants or a part thereof, it is preferable not to excessively reduce the temperature of the freezing point. From this viewpoint, it is 23% (w / v) or less (20% (W / v) or less, 19% (w / v) or less, 18% (w / v) or less, 17% (w / v) or less, 16% (w / v) or less, 15% (w / v) 14% (w / v) or less, 13% (w / v) or less, 12% (w / v) or less, 11% (w / v) or less, 10% (w / v) or less, 9% ( w / v) or less, 8% (w / v) or less, 7% (w / v) or less, 6% (w / v) or less, 5% (w / v) or less, 4% (w / v) or less 3% (w / v) or less, 2% (w / v) or less, 1% (w / v) or less, etc.).

Since the ice of the present invention is excellent in cooling ability, it is suitable for use as a refrigerant for cooling an object to be cooled. Examples of the low-temperature refrigerant for cooling the object to be cooled include organic solvents used as an antifreeze liquid such as ethanol in addition to ice, but ice has higher thermal conductivity and higher specific heat than these antifreeze liquids. Therefore, ice having a low freezing point by dissolving a solute such as the ice of the present invention is also useful in that the cooling ability is superior to other refrigerants of less than 0 ° C. such as antifreeze.

The ice of the present invention may or may not contain components other than the above solutes.

(Refrigerant for cooling the object to be cooled (also called ice slurry))
This invention includes the refrigerant | coolant which cools to-be-cooled material containing said ice. As described above, since the ice of the present invention is excellent in cooling ability, it is suitable as a refrigerant for cooling an object to be cooled.
In order to prevent confusion between the refrigerant for cooling the object to be cooled and the refrigerant for cooling the inner cylinder 22 (see FIG. 3), the refrigerant for cooling the object to be cooled is hereinafter referred to as “ice slurry”. Call it.

The ice slurry of the present invention may contain other components of the above-mentioned ice. For example, the ice slurry may contain water in addition to the above-mentioned ice, thereby constituting a mixture of ice and water. For example, when it further contains water containing the same solute as that contained in ice, the solute concentration in ice and the solute concentration in water are preferably close. The reason is as follows.

When the solute concentration of ice is higher than the solute concentration of water, the temperature of the ice is lower than the saturation freezing point of water, so that water freezes immediately after mixing water with a low solute concentration. On the other hand, when the solute concentration of ice is lower than the solute concentration of water, the saturated freeze point of water is lower than the saturated freeze point of ice, so the ice melts and the temperature of the ice slurry consisting of a mixture of ice and water decreases. To do. That is, in order not to change the state of the mixture of ice and water (the state of the ice slurry), it is preferable that the solute concentrations of the ice and water to be mixed are approximately the same as described above. In the case of a mixture of ice and water, the water may be one obtained by melting the ice, or one prepared separately, but one obtained by melting the ice. It is preferable that

Specifically, when the ice slurry of the present invention is composed of a mixture of ice and water, the ratio of the solute concentration in ice to the solute concentration in water is 75:25 to 20:80. More preferably, it is 70:30 to 30:70, still more preferably 60:40 to 40:60, still more preferably 55:45 to 45:55, and 52:48. Particularly preferred is ˜48: 52, and most preferred is 50:50. In particular, when salt is used as the solute, the ratio of the solute concentration in ice to the solute concentration in water is preferably within the above range.

The water that is the raw material for the ice of the present invention is not particularly limited, but when salt is used as the solute, it is preferably ice of seawater, seawater-added salt, or seawater-diluted water. Seawater, water obtained by adding salt to seawater, or seawater-diluted water can be easily procured, thereby reducing costs.

The ice slurry of the present invention may or may not contain a solid having a higher thermal conductivity than the ice of the present invention, but is preferably contained. When trying to cool an object to be cooled in a short time, it can be achieved by using a solid with high thermal conductivity, but in this case, the solid itself also loses cold energy in a short time and the temperature tends to rise. Not suitable for long-time cooling. On the other hand, although not using a solid with high thermal conductivity is suitable for long-time cooling, it is not suitable for cooling an object to be cooled in a short time. However, since the ice of the present invention has a high cooling capacity as described above, it is useful in that it can be cooled for a long time while obtaining a cooling capacity for a short time with a solid having high thermal conductivity. Examples of solids having higher thermal conductivity than ice of the present invention include metals (aluminum, silver, copper, gold, duralumin, antimony, cadmium, zinc, tin, bismuth, tungsten, titanium, iron, lead, nickel, platinum). , Magnesium, molybdenum, zirconium, beryllium, indium, niobium, chromium, cobalt, iridium, palladium), alloys (steel (carbon steel, chromium steel, nickel steel, chromium nickel steel, silicon steel, tungsten steel, manganese steel, etc.), Nickel-chromium alloy, aluminum bronze, gunmetal, brass, manganin, silver, constantan, solder, alumel, chromel, monel metal, platinum iridium, etc.), silicon, carbon, ceramics (alumina ceramics, forsterite ceramics, steatite ceramics, etc.), marble Brick (magnesia bricks, Coll Hult bricks, etc.) a like, include those having a higher thermal conductivity than the ice of the present invention. In addition, a solid having a higher thermal conductivity than ice of the present invention is a solid having a thermal conductivity of 2.3 W / m K or higher (3 W / m K or higher, 5 W / m K or higher, 8 W / m K or higher, etc.). It is preferably a solid having a thermal conductivity of 10 W / m K or higher (20 W / m K or higher, 30 W / m K or higher, 40 W / m K or higher, etc.), and a thermal conductivity of 50 W / m or higher. More preferably, the solid is K or higher (60 W / m K or higher, 75 W / m K or higher, 90 W / m K or higher, etc.), and the thermal conductivity is 100 W / m K or higher (125 W / m K or higher, 150 W / m or higher). K or more, 175 W / m K or more) is more preferable, and the thermal conductivity is 200 W / m K or more (250 W / m K or more, 300 W / m K or more, 350 W / m K or more, etc.). Be solid Incidentally Preferably, it still preferably the thermal conductivity of 200 W / m K or more solid, it is particularly preferred thermal conductivity of solid or 400W / m K (410W / m K or more, etc.).

When the ice slurry of the present invention contains a solid having a higher thermal conductivity than the above-described ice of the present invention, as described above, it is suitable for cooling for a long time even if it contains many solids. The mass of the solid having a higher thermal conductivity than ice / the mass of the ice of the present invention contained in the ice slurry (or the total mass of the ice and the aqueous solution of the present invention contained in the ice slurry) is 1 / 100,000 or more (1 / 50000 or more, 1 / 10,000 or more, 1/5000 or more, 1/1000 or more, 1/500 or more, 1/100 or more, 1/50 or more, 1/10 or more, 1/5 or more, 1/4 or more, 1 / 3 or more, 1/2 or more, etc.).

The solid in the present invention may have any shape, but is preferably particulate. In addition, the solid may be included in a form included in the ice of the present invention, may be included in a form included outside the ice, but is included in a form included outside the ice. Since it is easier to directly contact the object to be cooled, the cooling ability is increased. For this reason, it is preferable to be included in a form included outside the ice. In addition, when the ice slurry of the present invention contains the solid, it may be mixed with the solid after the ice is produced by the method for producing ice of the present invention described later, or mixed with water as a raw material in advance. And ice may be produced.

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

[Flake ice production equipment]

Even if the aqueous solution stored in the container is cooled from the outside, the ice of the present invention cannot be produced. This is considered to be due to the insufficient cooling rate. However, according to the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 that is an embodiment of the present invention, the aqueous solution that is atomized by injecting an aqueous solution containing a solute directly contacts the wall surface maintained at a temperature below the freezing point. This enables rapid cooling that was not possible in the past. Thereby, it is thought that the ice with high cooling ability which satisfy | fills the conditions of said (a) and (b) can be produced | generated.

The wall surface is, for example, the inner wall of a cylindrical structure such as the drum 11 in FIGS. 1A and 1B described later, but is not particularly limited as long as it can be maintained at a temperature below the freezing point of the aqueous solution. The temperature of the wall surface is not particularly limited as long as it is maintained at a temperature lower than or equal to the freezing point of the aqueous solution. 1 ° C or more lower temperature (2 ° C or more lower temperature, 3 ° C or more lower temperature, 4 ° C or more lower temperature, 5 ° C or more lower temperature, 6 ° C or more lower temperature, 7 ° C or more lower temperature, 8 ° C or more lower temperature, 9 ° C Lower temperature, lower than 10 ° C, lower than 11 ° C, lower than 12 ° C, lower than 13 ° C, lower than 14 ° C, lower than 14 ° C, lower than 15 ° C, lower than 16 ° C, lower than 17 ° C Temperature, temperature lower than 18 ° C, temperature lower than 19 ° C, temperature lower than 20 ° C, temperature lower than 21 ° C, temperature lower than 22 ° C, temperature lower than 23 ° C, temperature lower than 24 ° C, temperature lower than 25 ° C, etc. Preferred to be retained) Arbitrariness.

Although the injection method is not particularly limited, for example, the injection can be performed by an injection unit such as an injection unit 13 in FIGS. 1A and 1B described later. In this case, the pressure at the time of injection is, for example, 0.001 MPa or more (0.002 MPa or more, 0.005 MPa or more, 0.01 MPa or more, 0.05 MPa or more, 0.1 MPa or more, 0.2 MPa or more, etc.). 1 MPa or less (0.8 MPa or less, 0.7 MPa or less, 0.6 MPa or less, 0.5 MPa or less, 0.3 MPa or less, 0.1 MPa or less, 0.05 MPa or less, 0.01 MPa or less, etc.) There may be. Further, the pressure at the time of injection may be variably controlled.

(Recovery process)
This invention has the process of collect | recovering the ice which arose on the wall surface after the above-mentioned ice production | generation process.

The method of collecting is not particularly limited. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B described later, the ice on the wall surface may be scraped by means such as a blade 15 and the dropped ice may be collected.

Also, when ice is generated, ice making heat is generated, but this ice making heat may affect the actual melting completion temperature. Thus, it is considered that the melting completion temperature is affected not only by the type and concentration of the solute but also by the ice making heat. Therefore, the actual melting completion temperature can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of ice making heat remaining in the ice. In order to adjust the ice making heat, it can be performed by adjusting the holding time of the ice on the wall surface in the recovery step of the present invention.

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are image diagrams including a partial cross-sectional perspective view showing an outline of a flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a state in which a scraping portion 14 described later is located at the upper end of the inner cylinder 22.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a drum 11, a heat protection cover 12, an injection unit 13, a scraping unit 14, a blade 15, a drive shaft 16, an upper member 17, and flakes. The ice discharge port 18, the injection control unit 19, the drive control unit 20, the refrigerant supply unit 31, and the refrigerant pipe 37 are provided.
The drum 11 includes an inner cylinder 22, an outer cylinder 21 surrounding the inner cylinder 22, and a refrigerant clearance 23 formed between the outer cylinder 21 and the inner cylinder 22. Further, the outer peripheral surface of the drum 11 is covered with a cylindrical heat-resistant protective cover 12. The material of the outer cylinder 21 and the inner cylinder 22 is not particularly limited. In the present embodiment, steel is used for the outer cylinder 21 and stainless steel is used for the inner cylinder 22.
Refrigerant is supplied to the refrigerant clearance 23 from the refrigerant supply unit 31 via the refrigerant pipe 37. Thereby, the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is cooled.

The injection unit 13 is composed of a plurality of pipes having an injection hole 13 a at the tip part for injecting brine toward the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22. The injection unit 13 is installed coaxially with the drive shaft 16, and can move in the inner cylinder 22 in the axial direction in accordance with the movement of the drive shaft 16.
The brine injected from the injection hole 13a adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 cooled by the refrigerant, and freezes rapidly without giving time for separation.
The plurality of pipes constituting the injection unit 13 extend radially from the drive shaft 16 in the radial direction of the drum 11. Note that a spray nozzle or the like may be employed instead of the pipe.
Moreover, the injection unit 13 can be provided with a rotating means for rotating and spraying so that ice can be made uniformly, and can perform continuous injection such as performing injection while rotating a plurality of pipes.

In addition, the place where the injection unit 13 is installed is not particularly limited. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B and FIGS. 2A and 2B to be described later, it is installed below the scraping portion 14. Thereby, since the injection part 13 can inject a brine, moving downward with the scraping part 14, it can scrape off the ice adhering to the internal peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 immediately. Thereby, it becomes possible to manufacture many flake ices in a short time.

The scraping portion 14 is composed of a disk-shaped member that is slidably fitted on the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22, and a blade 15 that scrapes off ice adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is attached to the outer peripheral portion. To do. The scraping portion 14 can move from the upper end to the lower end and from the lower end to the upper end of the inner cylinder 22.
As described above, FIG. 1A shows a state in which the scraping portion 14 is located at the upper end of the inner cylinder 22. On the other hand, FIG. 1B shows a state in which the scraping portion 14 is located at the lower end of the inner cylinder 22.
The scraping unit 14 scrapes off the ice attached to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 while moving from the upper end to the lower end of the inner cylinder 22. Thereafter, the scraping unit 14 is returned from the lower end to the upper end position of the inner cylinder 22 by the scraping control unit 20. That is, FIG. 1A shows a state before the ice adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is scraped off by the scraping portion 14, and FIG. 1B shows that the ice adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is scraped off. The state after scraping by the part 14 is shown.
The size, material, and attachment method of the blade 15 attached to the outer peripheral portion of the scraping portion 14 to the scraping portion 14 are not particularly limited as long as the frozen brine can be scraped efficiently. . The blade 15 in this embodiment is formed of a stainless steel ring having an outer diameter slightly larger than that of the scraping portion 14, and is fitted and fixed to a groove portion provided in the outer peripheral portion of the scraping portion 14.

When the ice in which the brine is frozen is scraped off by the blade 15, it becomes flake ice, and the flake ice falls from the flake ice discharge port 18. The flake ice that has fallen from the flake ice discharge port 18 is stored in a flake ice storage tank 36 (FIG. 3) disposed immediately below the flake ice production apparatus 1.

The drive shaft 16 is a shaft for slidably moving the injection unit 13 and the scraping unit 14 in the axial direction of the inner tube 22 within the inner tube 22, and the end of the drive shaft 16 is a scraping unit. 14 is pivotally supported on the bottom surface. The drive shaft 16 is constituted by a mechanism (not shown) such as a motor and a rack and pinion, and moves the scraping portion 14 in the axial direction of the inner cylinder 22.

The upper member 17 has a shape in which the pan is inverted, and seals the upper surface of the drum 11. Since there is no obstacle under the drum 11 when the flake ice scraped by the blade 15 falls, the lower surface of the drum 11 serves as a flake ice discharge port 18 for discharging the flake ice.

The injection control unit 19 performs variable control of the pressure at which the injection unit 13 injects brine. By making the pressure for injecting the brine variable, the volume of the brine adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 can be controlled. That is, the volume of the brine adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is larger when the brine is jetted at a weak pressure than when the brine is jetted at a strong pressure. For this reason, the ice produced | generated by injecting a brine with a weak pressure becomes difficult to receive to the influence of the temperature in the air in the drum 11 higher than the temperature of the internal peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22. FIG. Thereby, the ice produced | generated by injecting a brine with a weak pressure turns into an ice which is hard to melt | dissolve than the ice produced | generated by injecting a brine with a strong pressure.

The drive control unit 20 controls the movement speed of the injection unit 13 and the scraping unit 14. In addition, the method in which the drive control part 20 controls the moving speed of the injection part 13 and the scraping part 14 is not specifically limited. Specifically, for example, a method of adjusting the rotation speed of a motor that becomes power when the injection unit 13 and the scraping unit 14 are moved by an inverter may be employed.
The refrigerant supply unit 31 supplies a refrigerant for cooling the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 to the refrigerant clearance 23 via the refrigerant pipe 37. In addition, the refrigerant | coolant supplied by the refrigerant | coolant supply part 31 is not specifically limited, What is necessary is just to cool the internal peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22. FIG. Specifically, for example, LNG (Liquid Natural Gas / liquefied natural gas) can be employed as the refrigerant.
The refrigerant supplied to the refrigerant clearance 23 can be circulated through the refrigerant pipe 37 between the refrigerant clearance 23 and the refrigerant supply unit 31. Thereby, the refrigerant | coolant currently supplied to the refrigerant | coolant clearance 23 can be maintained in a state with a high cooling function.

2A and 2B are image diagrams including a partial cross-sectional perspective view showing an outline of a flake ice manufacturing apparatus 2 according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a state in which the scraping portion 14 is located at the upper end of the inner cylinder 22.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 2 has basically the same configuration as the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1A, but the direction of the drive shaft 16 that pivotally supports the scraping portion 14. Is different. That is, the end of the drive shaft 16 of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 in FIG. 1A is pivotally supported by the bottom surface of the scraping unit 14, whereas the end of the drive shaft 16 of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 2 in FIG. The shaft is pivotally supported on the upper surface of the injection unit 13 so as to penetrate the scraping unit 14. For this reason, the upper member 17 of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 2 has a shape in which the central portion is penetrated by the drive shaft 16.

The scraping unit 14 of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 2 can scrape the ice adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 from the flake ice discharge port 18 by moving from the upper end to the lower end of the inner cylinder 22.
As described above, FIG. 2A shows a state in which the scraping portion 14 is located at the upper end of the inner cylinder 22. On the other hand, FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating a state in which the scraping portion 14 is located at the lower end of the inner cylinder 22.
The scraping unit 14 scrapes off the ice attached to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 while moving from the upper end to the lower end of the inner cylinder 22. Thereafter, the scraping unit 14 is returned from the lower end to the upper end position of the inner cylinder 22 by the scraping control unit 20. That is, FIG. 2A shows a state before the ice adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is scraped by the scraping portion 14, and FIG. 2B shows that the ice adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is scraped off. The state after being scraped by the part 14 is shown.

[Flake ice production system]
FIG. 3 is an image diagram showing an overview of the entire flake ice production system S including the flake ice production apparatus 1 of FIGS. 1A and 1B.

The flake ice production system S includes a flake ice production apparatus 1, a brine storage tank 32, a pump 33, a brine pipe 34, a brine tank 35, a flake ice storage tank 36, a refrigerant pipe 37, and a freezing point adjustment unit. 38.
The brine storage tank 32 stores brine as a raw material for flake ice. The brine stored in the brine storage tank 32 is supplied to the injection unit 13 via the brine pipe 34 by operating the pump 33. The brine supplied to the injection unit 13 is a raw material for generating flake ice.

The brine tank 35 supplies brine to the brine storage tank 32 when the brine in the brine storage tank 32 is reduced.
The brine that has flowed down without freezing on the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is stored in the brine storage tank 32 and is supplied again to the injection unit 13 via the brine pipe 34 by operating the pump 33.
The flake ice storage tank 36 is disposed immediately below the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 and stores the flake ice that has fallen from the flake ice discharge port 18 of the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1.

The freezing point adjustment unit 38 adjusts the freezing point of the brine supplied to the brine storage tank 32 by the brine tank 35. For example, when the brine is salt water, the freezing point of the salt water varies depending on the concentration, so the freezing point adjustment unit 38 adjusts the concentration of the salt water stored in the brine storage tank 32.
The method for adjusting the freezing point of the brine is not particularly limited to this. For example, the following method can also be employed.
That is, a plurality of brine storage tanks 32 are provided, and a plurality of types of brines having different freezing points are stored in each of several brine storage tanks 32. Then, the freezing point adjustment unit 38 selects a predetermined type of brine based on the required temperature of the flake ice (for example, the required cool temperature for the conveyed product conveyed by the flake ice), Supplied to the ice making device 1.
Thus, the temperature of the flake ice produced can be adjusted by adjusting the freezing point of the brine.

Next, operation | movement of the flake ice manufacturing system S containing the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 which has the said structure is demonstrated on the assumption that a brine is salt water.
First, the refrigerant supply unit 31 supplies refrigerant to the refrigerant clearance 23 and sets the temperature of the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 to be about −10 ° C. lower than the freezing point of salt water. Thereby, the salt water adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 can be frozen.
When the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is cooled, the pump 33 supplies brine, which is brine, from the brine storage tank 32 to the injection unit 13.
When salt water is supplied to the injection unit 13, the injection unit 13 injects salt water toward the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22. When the salt water sprayed from the spray unit 13 comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22, it instantly freezes and becomes ice.
The ice generated on the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is scraped off by the scraping unit 14 that descends in the inner cylinder 22. The ice scraped off by the scraping unit 14 falls from the discharge port 18 as flake ice. The flake ice that has fallen from the discharge port 18 is stored in a flake ice storage tank 36 disposed immediately below the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1.
As described above, the salt water that does not become ice but flows down the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is stored in the brine storage tank 32 and is supplied again to the injection unit 13 through the brine pipe 34 by operating the pump 33. Is done. In addition, when the salt water in the brine storage tank 32 decreases, the brine tank 35 supplies the brine stored in itself to the brine storage tank 32.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the above-described embodiments, and is considered within the scope of the matters described in the claims. Other embodiments and modifications are also included. Further, various modifications and combinations of the above embodiments may be made within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, the brine is salt water (aqueous sodium chloride solution) in the above-described embodiment, but is not particularly limited. Specifically, for example, an aqueous calcium chloride solution, an aqueous magnesium chloride solution, ethylene glycol, or the like can be employed. Thereby, a plurality of types of brines having different freezing points according to differences in solute or concentration can be prepared.

Further, when the above-described ice slurry of the present invention contains a solid having a higher thermal conductivity than ice, in the cooling step, the thermal conductivity higher than that of ice is between the ice contained in the ice slurry and the object to be cooled. It is preferable to perform cooling so that a solid having s is present. Thereby, it is possible to cool for a long time while obtaining a cooling capability for a short time by a solid having high thermal conductivity. In such a case, another object may be interposed between ice, a solid having a higher thermal conductivity than ice, and an object to be cooled, depending on the purpose. For example, it is not preferable to directly contact the object to be cooled in the ice slurry (for example, solid (metal etc.) having a higher thermal conductivity than ice, which is not preferable to contact the object to be cooled from the viewpoint of safety) If the ice slurry is contained, either the ice slurry or the object to be cooled may be accommodated in the bag, and the ice slurry and the object to be cooled may be cooled so as not to be in direct contact with each other.

Moreover, the injection part 13 can also be made to adhere by making natural brine flow down to the internal peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22, without employ | adopting the method by the above injection. In this case, the volume of the brine adhering to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22 is increased by injecting the brine as compared with the case where the brine is adhered to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22. For this reason, the ice generated by the natural flow of the brine is less susceptible to the temperature in the air inside the drum 11 that is higher than the temperature of the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 22. Thereby, it is possible to generate ice that is harder to melt than ice generated by the injection of brine.

In summary, the flake ice manufacturing apparatus to which the present invention is applied only needs to have the following configuration, and can take various embodiments.
That is, the flake ice manufacturing apparatus to which the present invention is applied (for example, the flake ice manufacturing apparatus 1 in FIG. 1A)
An inner cylinder (for example, the inner cylinder 22 in FIG. 1A), an outer cylinder (for example, the outer cylinder 21 in FIG. 1A) surrounding the inner cylinder, and a clearance formed between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder (for example, FIG. 1A refrigerant clearance 23) (e.g., drum 11 of FIG. 1A),
A refrigerant supply unit (for example, the refrigerant supply unit 31 of FIG. 1A) for supplying a refrigerant (for example, LNG) to the clearance;
An injection part (for example, the injection part 13 in FIG. 1A) that is installed coaxially with the central axis of the drum and injects brine toward the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder;
The brine jetted from the jetting unit adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder cooled by the refrigerant supplied to the clearance and scrapes off the resulting flake ice (for example, Scraping part 14) of FIG. 1A;
A drive unit (for example, the drive shaft 16 in FIG. 1A) that drives the scraping unit in the axial direction of the inner cylinder along the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder;
Is provided.
Thereby, the flake ice which frozen the brine can be manufactured easily.

In addition, the injection unit
The pressure at the time of injecting the brine can be variably controlled.
Thereby, it is possible to generate ice that is more difficult to melt.

Further, the outer peripheral portion of the scraping portion in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder can be a replaceable blade (for example, the blade 15 in FIG. 1A).

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1: Flakes ice production apparatus, 11: Drum, 12: Thermal protection cover, 13: Injection part, 13a: Injection hole, 14: Scraping part, 15: Blade, 16: Drive shaft, 17: Upper member, 18: Flakes Ice discharge port, 19: injection control unit, 20: drive control unit, 21: outer cylinder, 22: inner cylinder, 23: refrigerant clearance, 31: refrigerant supply unit, 32: brine storage tank, 33: pump, 34: brine Piping, 35: Brine tank, 36: Flake ice storage tank, 37: Refrigerant piping, 38: Freezing point adjustment unit, S: Flake ice production system

Claims

A drum including an inner cylinder, an outer cylinder surrounding the inner cylinder, and a clearance formed between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder;
A refrigerant supply unit for supplying a refrigerant to the clearance;
An injection unit that injects brine toward the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder;
The brine jetted from the jetting unit adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder cooled by the refrigerant supplied to the clearance, and scraping unit scraping off the resulting flake ice,
A drive unit that drives the scraping unit along the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder in the axial direction of the inner cylinder;
A flake ice making apparatus.
The injection unit further includes an injection control unit that variably controls a pressure when the brine is injected.
The flake ice manufacturing apparatus of Claim 1.
The outer peripheral part of the scraping part in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder is a replaceable blade,
The flake ice manufacturing apparatus of Claim 1 or 2.
A flake ice manufacturing method using the flake ice manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.