JPH0325596Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a continuous sterilization device used for sterilizing foods, particularly food packaged in bags, cans, or bottles.

[Conventional technology and its problems]

In this type of device, a spiral trough is installed in a closed container filled with high-temperature steam, and while the material to be sterilized on the trough is transferred by applying vibration force to the spiral trough, the material is sterilized by heating the steam. Continuous sterilizers are known that sterilize objects to be sterilized.

Although it is possible to constantly inject high-temperature steam into the airtight container or to provide some kind of heat retention means within the airtight container, there is still a need for rapid sterilization of food.

[Purpose of invention]

The present invention was made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a continuous sterilization device that can be expected to sterilize food products more quickly than before.

[Structure of the idea]

According to the present invention, the above object is achieved by a continuous sterilizer having the above structure, characterized in that a heating means is disposed at or close to the bottom wall of the trough.

〔Example〕

1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the continuous sterilizer of this embodiment is indicated as a whole by 1, and a hollow cylindrical body 3 is disposed inside a closed container 2. A trough 4 is spirally wound around this peripheral wall. A mounting frame 5 is fixed to the lower end of the hollow cylindrical body 3, and a pair of vibration electric motors 6 are attached to this. The other vibrating motor 6 on the back side with respect to the paper surface of FIG. 1 is installed so as to be inclined in the opposite direction to the vibrating motor 6 on the front side. A plurality of rods 7 are integrally fixed radially to the mounting frame 5 and are supported on a foundation 9 via springs 8. That is, the hollow cylindrical body 3, the trough 4, the vibrating electric motor 6, etc. constitute a so-called vibrating spiral elevator, which is supported on the foundation 9 so as to be able to torsionally vibrate around the vertical central axis of the hollow cylindrical body 3.

The airtight container 2 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and its internal space is a sterilization space 1 with the lower end of the trough 4 as its boundary.
4 and a pneumatic space 15. A mounting ring 12 is fixed to the inner wall surface of the closed container 2 at this boundary, and a bellows-shaped flexible seal 13 is stretched between the mounting ring 12 and the mounting frame 5.

Furthermore, inspection windows 10 and 11 are formed in the closed container 2, and are normally closed with a lid. especially,
The upper inspection window 10 is hermetically closed. The inside of the sterilization space 14 of the closed container 2 is filled with high temperature and high pressure steam. This pressure is, for example, gauge pressure.
Although the water vapor is about 1.2 to 3 kg/cm ² and the temperature is 100° C. or higher, an injection port for supplying such water vapor into the sterilization space 14 is provided at an appropriate location in the airtight container 2 even though it is not shown in the figure. do. Alternatively, the inspection window 10 may be used in combination with this injection port.

Furthermore, compressed air having approximately the same pressure as the water vapor in the sterilization space 14 is supplied into the lower pneumatic space 15 within the closed container 2 . It is assumed that this supply port is provided at a suitable location in the closed container 2 even though it is not shown in the drawings. Alternatively, the inspection window 11 may be used together with this supply port.

A part of a sterilized material supply device 16 is airtightly inserted near the upper end of the closed container 2, and a sterilized material discharge device 17 is located near the lower end of the trough 4.
A part of it is inserted hermetically. Since the supply device 16 and the discharge device 17 have the same configuration, only one of the supply devices 16 will be described in detail later.

The supply device 16 is disposed on a pedestal 18 and supplies the pouches sent by a belt conveyor 19 to the trough 4 inside the closed container 2. Furthermore, the pouches discharged from the lower end of the trough 4 are discharged to the outside by a discharge device 17 and sent to a required location by a belt conveyor 20. The ejection device 17 is arranged on the foundation 9.

Next, details of the sterilized material supply device 16 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5.

The main body 21 has a substantially rectangular shape and has a closed structure, and is arranged to be inclined downward toward the closed container 2. Two pairs of semi-cylindrical protrusions 22a, 22b, 23a, 23b are formed on the upper and lower walls, and two pairs of rollers 2 are in sliding contact with these inner wall surfaces.
4 and 25 are arranged. One pair of rollers 24 consists of rollers 24a and 24b that are in sliding contact with each other, and the other pair of rollers 25 is similarly composed of rollers 25a and 25b.
It consists of Rollers 24a, 24 of main body 21
b, inner wall surfaces 26, 27 in sliding contact with 25a, 25b
has been given a mirror finish. These rollers seal the spaces 47, 48, 49 on either side of each other.

A pouch P as an object to be sterilized is supplied from a chute 28 to one roller pair 24, and the roller 24
an intermediate chute 30 sandwiched between the rollers a and 24b and disposed within the sealed space 48 between the pair of rollers 24 and 25;
It is conveyed upward and supplied to the other pair of rollers 25. The pouch P is conveyed to the chute 31 while being held between the rollers 25a and 25b. The chute 28 on the inlet side is inserted through the center hole of a lid 29 airtightly attached to the opening of the main body 21. The chute 31 on the exit side is also connected to the main body 2 in a similar manner.
It is attached to 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, a hole 51 is formed in the main body 21, and compressed air is supplied into the space 48 through a pipe 50 (partially shown) connected thereto. The pressure of this compressed air is approximately the same as the pressure of water vapor within the closed container 2. A space 47 on the right side of one pair of rollers 24 communicates with the atmosphere,
Further, the space 49 on the left side of the other pair of rollers 25 communicates with the sterilization space 14 inside the closed container 2.

Both ends of the rotating shafts 41a, 41b, 42a, 42b of each roller 24a, 24b, 25a, 25b are provided with a bearing member 32a, as shown in FIGS.
32b, 33a, 33b, 52a, 52b, 53
It is supported by a and 53b. It is assumed that these bearing members are attached to the main body 21 in an airtight manner. The roller pairs 24, 25 are driven by gears 35, 36, 37 and pulley 3 by an externally disposed electric motor 34.
9, 40, and a belt 38, each of which is rotationally driven in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG.

Although the rollers 24a, 24b, 25a, and 25b have the same configuration, the details of one roller 24a will be explained with reference to FIG. 5.

The roller 24a has a sponge 4 attached to a cylindrical body 43 made of steel.
4, and rubber rings 45, 46 are attached to both ends of the rubber rings 45, 46.
It is made by fitting. The sponge 44 is made of a material whose trade name is "Dyuraboa", and when it contains moisture, its porosity decreases and it becomes slightly hard, but it is suitable for this embodiment. Also, rubber rings 45, 4 at both ends
At 6, the roller 24b receives a thrust load against the inner wall of the main body 21, and the roller 24a slides thereon.
The structure is such that it can be stably rotated with the same.

FIG. 6 shows details of the trough 4 according to the present invention located inside the closed container 2 in FIG.
is buried. The pouches P transferred on the transfer bed 80 are heated by steam from above, but are also configured to be heated by electric heat from below.

The embodiment of the present invention is configured as described above,
Next, this effect will be explained.

When the vibration electric motor 6 is powered on, the trough 4 performs torsional vibration around the central axis of the hollow cylindrical body 3. When the electric motor 34 is powered on, each roller 24a, 24b, 25a,
25b rotates in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. Similarly, in the sterilized material discharging device 17, when the electric motor for this device is powered on, each roller rotates, but the direction of rotation is the direction in which the material to be sterilized is discharged from the closed container 2 to the outside.

One pouch P is sent from belt 19, chute 2
8 into the feeding device 16. The pouch P is connected to rollers 24a and 24b in the roller pair 24.
The roller pair 2 is held between the rollers 24a and 24b while deforming the outer peripheral wall (sponge) of the roller pair 2.
4 and 25 into a closed space 48. At this time, some of the compressed air filling this space 48 is released into the atmosphere through the gap widened by the pouch P between the rollers 24a and 24b, but there is no pipe 50 in the space 48. Since compressed air from a compressor or a compressed air tank is supplied through the compressor, a substantially predetermined pressure is maintained.

The pouch P slides on the intermediate chute 30 and reaches the other pair of rollers 25, and the rollers 25a, 25
These rollers 2 are deformed while deforming the outer peripheral wall of b.
The space 4 on the closed container 2 side is sandwiched between 4a and 24b.
Moved to 9. The pouch P slides through the chute 31 and is guided to the upper end of the trough 4 inside the closed container 2.

The pouch P is conveyed downward along the trough 4 by the torsional vibration of the trough 4. During this process, the food in the pouch P (for example, curry) is heated by high-temperature, high-pressure steam and is further heated by electric heat from the electric heater 80, and is thoroughly sterilized. It is discharged to the outside and sent to a required location by the belt conveyor 20.

In addition, in the feeding device 16, when the pouch P is held and transferred by the pair of rollers 25, a gap is created between the rollers 25a and 25b, and the high-pressure water vapor inside the closed container 2 tends to leak into the space 48. Since the space 48 is filled with compressed air at approximately the same pressure, there is almost no leakage into the space 48. The same applies to the lower discharge device 17. Therefore, in this embodiment, the water vapor in the closed container 2 hardly leaks from the devices 16 and 17 into the atmosphere.

In addition, in this embodiment, the pouch P has rollers 24a, 24b, 25a, 25 whose outer peripheral wall portions are elastically deformable.
Since it was designed to be transferred while being held between
Unlike conventional rotary valve mechanisms, the pouch P can be supplied into and discharged from the closed container 2 without being damaged.

Note that the pouch P is efficiently sterilized by the electric heater 80 in the trough 4, but it also functions to keep the water vapor warm.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is of course not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiments, pouches have been described as the objects to be sterilized, but flat canned or bottled objects to be sterilized can also be applied to the supply device and the discharge device.

In addition, in the above example, the hot pouches are cooled by filling the airtight container with water to a certain level, or by blowing out water (shower) at the bottom of the airtight container, and then discharging it from the airtight container. You may also do so.

In addition, in the above example, the temperature of water vapor is 100℃.
Although the pressure was set above normal pressure, the temperature may be 100°C or lower as long as it has a sterilizing effect, and the pressure may also be normal pressure.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, the electric heater is buried in the bottom wall of the trough, but instead of this, a far-infrared radiator may be placed in the bottom wall or in the vicinity thereof. . Alternatively, a high-frequency alternating current may be passed through the coil, thereby causing an induced current to flow through the bottom wall portion, and heating may be caused by heat generation due to the current loss. Alternatively, it may be heated by dielectric loss using microwaves.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to the continuous sterilizer of the present invention, food can be sterilized more quickly than before while keeping the water vapor in the closed container warm.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway elevation view of a continuous sterilizer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. The figure is a front view of the same, FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing details of the roller used in the device, and FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of the main part. In the figure, 1... continuous sterilizer, 2...
Airtight container, 4... spiral trough, 6... vibrating electric motor, 81... electric heater.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A spiral trough is provided in a closed container filled with high-temperature steam, and while the object to be sterilized on the trough is transferred by applying vibration force to the trough, the object to be sterilized is sterilized by heating the steam. A continuous sterilizer as described above, characterized in that a heating means is disposed at or near the bottom wall of the trough.