JPH03215401A - Production of dry flower and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain dry flower by using a device consisting of a sealed container equipped with an infrared irradiation device and a vacuum pump capable of making the sealed container in vacuous putting a natural flower in the container, evacuating the container and irradiating the live fresh flower with infrared rays. CONSTITUTION:A device consisting of a sealed container 1 equipped with an infrared heater 3, a vacuum pump 6 and a change valve 4 and a vacuum tank 5 which are laid between the container and the pump is used, a natural flower 2 is put in the container, which is rapidly made in vacuum and the natural flower is irradiated with infrared rays while maintaining the container in a high vacuum to give a uniform dry flower in a short time without damaging shape and color. When pressure in the container is reduced to about 0.01 atmospheric pressure within 1 second, water on the surface of the natural flower is evaporated, latent heat of evaporation is removed from water in the interior by evaporation of water on the surface, the temperature of the flower is reduced and water becomes ice. When the flower is irradiated with infrared rays in this state, frozen water in the flower is sublimated as it is and removed and the flower will not change its dimension.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to the improvement of a dry flower manufacturing method and its equipment, and provides a φ method and means that are faster than conventional methods and do not cause discoloration or wilting. This is what we intend to provide.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, the most familiar methods for producing dried flowers include hanging flowers, gypsophila, etc. upside down and drying them in the shade, and heating and drying them using infrared rays.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, with the above-mentioned natural drying method, it is not possible to obtain a homogeneous product due to the drying conditions, and it takes a long time.

Further, even the method of drying using infrared rays requires a considerable amount of drying time, and during the drying process, liquid water is removed, causing problems such as shrinkage and deformation of fresh flowers.

[Failure to solve the problem]

Therefore, this invention utilizes sublimation of water. In other words, the transformation of normal water is as shown in Figure 1, and the water in fresh flowers is rapidly removed by applying the properties of this transformation.The gist of this is that fresh flowers are placed in a sealed container. After charging the container, the inside of the sealed container is rapidly brought to a high vacuum, and
The fresh flowers are irradiated with infrared rays while maintaining a high vacuum inside the sealed container. Note that the term "fresh flowers" as used herein refers to so-called fresh flowers that are cut from growing flowers.

#How to remove water from fresh flowers mentioned above! To explain this in relation to the transformation diagram of water in Figure 1, the water + is point A in Figure 1.
When a fresh flower in the state of Water on the surface evaporates.

At this time, the water inside the fresh flower cannot diffuse to the surface and evaporate because the diffusion rate inside the flower is slow, and most of it remains inside the flower. Then, the latent heat of evaporation of the moisture inside the flower is removed by the evaporation of the surface water, so the temperature of the flower decreases and the water inside turns into ice (freezes). That is, in FIG. 1, the moisture inside the flower is from point A to point D.

Next, when a flower with moisture in this state is irradiated and heated with infrared rays while the pressure is lowered, the frozen moisture inside the flower sublimates and becomes water vapor without turning into liquid and is separated. That is, the moisture is in the state shown at point B in FIG.

According to the method of the present invention, the water inside the fresh flower is removed by the above-mentioned action, and in particular, after the internal water is frozen, it is sublimated all at once, thereby reducing the volume of the flower when it existed inside the flower. Gasify while keeping the shape of the flower. At this time, infrared rays are radiation that propagate in a vacuum and can rapidly heat fresh flowers, so they are most effective for rapidly evaporating moisture.

〔Example〕

A flow sheet as shown in FIG. 2 is shown as an example of an apparatus for manufacturing the above-described dried flowers. In Figure 2, 1
2 is a sealed container, 2 is a fresh flower, 3 is an infrared heater, 4 is a valve, 5 is a vacuum tank, and 6 is a vacuum pump.

In the above flow sheet, fresh flowers placed in a sealed container can be dried uniformly by placing them on a rotating table 7 and irradiating them with infrared rays while rotating, and a vacuum tank 5 is used to quickly reduce the pressure inside the sealed container. , is determined by taking into consideration the capacity of the sealed container 1 and the reduced pressure.

In the device configured in this way, fresh flowers 2 are placed in a sealed container 1.
and rotate. Next, open the valve 4 to rapidly (approximately 1 second) reduce the pressure in the sealed container 1 to 0.0 IJcy/d.
) When the flowers are dried, the surface water of the fresh flowers evaporates first. At the same time, the water inside the fresh flower freezes due to the reduced pressure. Next, when this internal moisture is irradiated with infrared rays to the frozen fresh flower, this frozen moisture evaporates all at once because it is in a vacuum, is sucked by the continuously operating vacuum pump, and is discharged and separated from the stem. be done. In other words, the internal moisture of fresh flowers evaporates all at once from the frozen state, so that fresh flowers can be dried without losing their shape and color. The drying time is about 1 second, depending on the type and size of fresh flowers, and the pressure is about α01 atmospheres.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, dried flowers can be produced in a short time without impairing the shape and color of fresh flowers, and dried flowers of uniform quality can be produced. This product solves all the problems of conventional dried flower production, such as long time, changes in shape, color, and uniformity.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram of the transformation of ordinary water, and FIG. 2 is a production flow sheet of dried flowers according to the present invention.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A fresh flower 2 is placed in a sealed container 1, the inside of the sealed container is rapidly brought to a high vacuum, and the fresh flower is irradiated with infrared rays while maintaining the high vacuum in the sealed container. A method of manufacturing dried flowers. (2) A sealed container 1 equipped with an infrared ray irradiation device 3 for fresh flowers 2, a vacuum pump 6 capable of sucking the inside air of this sealed container 1, and a vacuum pump 6 provided between this vacuum pump 6 and the sealed container 1. This dried flower manufacturing device is characterized by comprising a switching valve 4 and a vacuum tank 5, and rapidly creating a high vacuum inside the sealed container.