JPH10318641A - Cooler for container packed fluid body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify the mechanism of a device for cooling cylindrical containers packed with pasty food while rotating the containers thus enabling a low cost production of the device. SOLUTION: Cylindrical containers 7 are transferred by means of a belt conveyor 11 for transfer use. The transfer of the cylindrical containers 7 are temporarily prevented by lowering of vertical shutters 17. By elevating and lowering respective vertical shutters 17 one after another in sequence starting from the frontmost vertical shutter 7 in terms of their transfer direction, respective cylindrical containers 7 are moved forward one after another in sequence to enable the transfer of cylindrical containers 7. So long as the transfer of the cylindrical container 7 is prevented, the cylindrical container 7 receives a friction in a transfer direction so that the cylindrical container 7 is rotated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling system having a structure in which a cylindrical container packed with a viscous fluid, such as a pasty food, is conveyed while rotating to improve cooling efficiency. Related to the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When cooling a viscous fluid such as a pasty food packed in a container, the viscous fluid flows slowly inside the container, so that the cooling efficiency is very poor. Therefore, at a high temperature immediately after cooking, there is a problem that for foods accompanied by protein denaturation, a long time is required for cooling and the quality deteriorates.

If the temperature of the cooling medium is lowered to shorten the cooling time, the outer periphery of the viscous fluid which is in contact with the container is solidified to form a heat insulating layer, and it is difficult to perform uniform cooling by preventing heat release from the inside. It is also difficult to prevent deterioration of quality. Therefore, there has been a demand for a cooling device capable of continuously and rapidly cooling a viscous fluid within a time period in which quality deterioration does not occur.

[0004] Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-144451 discloses an apparatus which rotates a cylindrical container filled with pasty food or the like to cool the container, thereby enabling rapid cooling. In this apparatus, a rotating bar for placing a cylindrical container is provided on a chain conveyor for conveying the cylindrical container. The rotation of the rotary bar is such that a drive chain is meshed with a chain wheel provided at an end of the rotary bar, a driving force is transmitted through the drive chain, the rotary bar is rotated, and the cylindrical container is rotated.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, both the chain conveyor and the drive chain are liable to swing in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, and the rotating bar and the chain provided on the swinging chain conveyor are provided. The car also oscillates, and the drive chain that must mesh with the oscillating chain wheel also oscillates.

Although there are various causes of the swing, the chain conveyor and the drive chain swing due to different swing causes, and the magnitude and timing of the swing are different. Therefore, the chain wheel and the drive chain, which must be engaged, also swing at different timings and sizes.

[0007] In order to always reliably maintain this meshing regardless of swinging, considerable contrivance and improvement are required. Otherwise, meshing may be incomplete and rotation may not be performed properly. Special modifications can make the device complex and expensive.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device for a container-packed fluid which can be manufactured at a lower cost with a simpler mechanism.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a transport conveyor for transporting a cylindrical container filled with a fluid, and a method for transporting a cylindrical container along a longitudinal direction of the transport conveyor above the transport conveyor. A plurality of upper and lower shutters are provided, each of which can move up and down toward the transport conveyor, and temporarily prevents the transport of the cylindrical container in a lowered state, and a front shutter in a state in which the plurality of upper and lower shutters are lowered. A vertically moving mechanism for vertically moving the cylindrical container one by one in order from the rear to the rear, thereby allowing a cylindrical container to be conveyed.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in the overall view of FIG.
A sprinkling pipe 1 for spraying a cooling medium such as water or brine is provided above the cooling device, and a plurality of sprinkling nozzles 3 are provided downward in the sprinkling pipe 1. 5 are sprayed. To receive the cooling medium 5 after cooling the cylindrical container 7, a drain receiver 9 is provided below the apparatus.

A transport conveyor 11 for transporting the cylindrical container 7 is provided at the vertical center of the apparatus. The conveyor 11 is an endless belt conveyor, and is operated by driving wheels 13 and driven wheels 15. The cylindrical container 7 placed on the upper part of the belt conveyor has a cylindrical axis oriented sideways in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction, and the conveying conveyor 11 has a number of holes for allowing cold water to pass therethrough. It is open.

Immediately above the conveyor 11, a plurality of upper and lower shutters 17 are provided. The upper and lower shutters 17 are arranged at regular intervals along the longitudinal direction of the conveyor 11, and the arrangement interval is larger than the diameter of the cylindrical container 7 and corresponds to the diameter of all the cylindrical containers to be cooled. Spacing is made as large as possible. Each of the upper and lower shutters 17 is plate-shaped, and the surface of the plate is orthogonal to the transport direction, and can move forward and backward, that is, can move up and down toward the transport conveyor 11.

In the raised state, the cylindrical container 7 is in a position where it can be transported without contact, and in the lowered state, it is in a position where it comes into contact with the front side surface of the cylindrical container 7 and temporarily stops the transportation. Each of the upper and lower shutters 17 is coated with a resin so that the upper and lower shutters 17 are not damaged when the cylindrical container 7 is pressed.

The plurality of vertical shutters 17 are vertically moved by a vertical movement mechanism. This up-down movement is to move up and down one by one from the front one in the transport direction to the rear one in the state in which all the upper and lower shutters 17 are lowered. The vertical movement timing includes a time longer than the time required for the cylindrical conveyor 7 to be conveyed by the conveyor 11 between the adjacent upper and lower shutters 17.

Various types of the vertical movement mechanism can be considered. For example, each of the upper and lower shutters 17 may be provided with an independent individual driving device such as an air cylinder, and each of the driving devices may be sequentially activated and moved up and down by control means for performing electrical control. This control means may be provided with a function of learning up-down movement timing and the like by, for example, learning driving. In this case, the driver once moves each up-down movement shutter 17 from the front one to the rear one. Then, the control device learns the sample operation by moving the sample up and down sequentially, and then moves up and down at the learned timing and the like.

(Operation of the Embodiment) According to the above-described embodiment, the cylindrical container 7 is placed in the horizontal position and the conveyor 1
1 is carried into the left end in the figure. This loading is performed with the upper and lower shutters 17 at the rearmost position in the transport direction being raised. When the upper and lower shutters 17 are raised, the space between the upper and lower shutters 17 is open, and the carried cylindrical container 7 is received. Thereafter, the rear upper and lower shutters 17 are lowered.

Next, the upper and lower shutters 1 at the forefront in the transport direction
7 moves up and down, and one of the foremost cylindrical containers 7 is unloaded,
Next, the second upper / lower shutter 17 from the forefront moves up and down, and the second cylindrical container 7 is sent forward. Similarly, the third vertical shutter 17 moves up and down, and the third cylindrical container 7 is sent forward. Similarly, the fourth, fifth, sixth,... Cylindrical containers 7 are sent forward. Then, the entire conveyance is performed. At this time, paying attention to the space where the cylindrical container is not contained, this space is sequentially sent backward.

During this time, the transport of the other cylindrical container 7 which is not performing the feeding operation is temporarily blocked by the upper and lower shutters 17. In this hindered state, the lower surface of the laterally cylindrical container 7 receives a frictional force in the transport direction by the transport conveyor 11. A rotational moment is given by this frictional force, and each cylindrical container 7 rotates counterclockwise in the figure. The rotation of the cylindrical container 7 is about 5 to 20 rpm.

As described above, while each cylindrical container 7 rotates,
Cooling is performed by a cooling medium sprayed from the watering nozzle 3. The cooling medium whose temperature has risen after cooling is received by the drain receiver 9, sent to a heat exchanger by a pump (not shown), cooled again, and then returned to the watering nozzle 3. Since the cooling is performed while the cylindrical container 7 is rotated as described above, the fluid packed in the container 7 is uniformly and rapidly cooled.

(Effects of Embodiment) As described above, in the cooling apparatus of this embodiment, the upper and lower shutters 17 provided for rotating the cylindrical container 7 filled with the fluid are provided by the transport conveyor 11. The mechanism for rotating the cylindrical container 7 has a simpler structure than that of the related art, since it is provided separately from the conventional technology. That is, it is not necessary to employ a mechanism for engaging members that swing together as in the related art in order to transmit the rotational force, and it is possible to perform reliable rotation.

(Cooling Experiment Results) The results of a cooling experiment using this embodiment are shown in FIG. This figure compares the cooling time when the cylindrical container filled with the fluid is cooled in a stationary state and the case where the cylindrical container is cooled while rotating according to this embodiment. 3.3 Miso in a fluid state as a fluid
kg, using + 3 ± 1 ° C cold water as the cooling medium,
Cooling from 80 ° C. to + 40 ° C. was performed.

As can be seen, it took 12.9 minutes for the cooling according to this embodiment to cool to reach a temperature of 40 ° C., while it took 122.9 minutes for the cooling in the stationary state.
Minutes, and the time was 1/10 or less, and it was confirmed that a good cooling effect was obtained. In this example, a viscous fluid having a viscosity of 10 to 80 P at 40 ° C. was used as the fluid.

(Other Embodiments) In the above embodiments, the cylindrical container 7 is cooled by spraying a cooling medium. In other embodiments, the cooling chamber is formed in a chamber formed of a heat insulating material. Cooling air may be introduced to cool the cylindrical container conveyed through the chamber.

In another embodiment, cold water is stored in a cooling tank, and the conveyer 11 is stored in the cold water.
Alternatively, the cooling device including the upper and lower shutters 17 may be sunk, and the cylindrical container 7 may be immersed in cold water to perform cooling. In this case, FIG.
On the middle left side, a carry-in conveyor for carrying in is provided diagonally from upper left to lower right and connected, and a cylindrical container is placed on the conveyor 11 from this carry-in conveyor. At the right end of the conveyor 11 in FIG. 1, an unloading conveyor is provided diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, and receives the cylindrical container 7 from the conveyor 11 and unloads it outside the cooling tank.

In the above embodiment, the cooling is performed by sprinkling cold water. However, in another embodiment, a liquid cooling medium other than cold water, for example, a brine such as a solution in which calcium chloride or the like is dissolved is used. It is possible to cool by spraying. Further, the cooling may be performed by immersing the cylindrical container in the brine.

In the above embodiment, miso in a fluid state is used as a fluid, but in other embodiments, it is used for other pasty foods such as meat sauces and various foods other than foods requiring cooling. On the other hand, the present invention can be implemented.

In the above embodiment, each of the upper and lower shutters 17 has an independent driving device and is electrically controlled by one control means.
In another embodiment, the drive mechanism for driving each of the upper and lower shutters 17 is mechanically integrated, and can be driven by one drive device, for example, an electric motor. .

For example, upper and lower shutters 1 that can move up and down
Rotating cams are provided so as to come into contact with a part of the rotary cam 7, and the rotation of each of the rotating cams raises and lowers the up-and-down moving shutter 17, so that it can be lowered. In this case, the rotating cams can be of the same shape and are mounted with a slight phase shift, and each rotating cam is connected to a gear or a drive chain with a sprocket, etc., and is driven by one electric motor. It is possible to

[0029]

As described above, according to the container-filled fluid cooling apparatus of the present invention, the transport of the cylindrical container transported by the transport conveyor is temporarily prevented by the lowered upper and lower shutters. , Rotated by the frictional force with the conveyor moving in the transport direction. In addition, by moving the plurality of upper and lower shutters up and down one by one in order from the front one in the transport direction to the rear one, the cylindrical containers are sent one by one forward in order, and the transport is performed by repeating this.

Since the transport conveyor and the vertical mechanism for vertically moving the upper and lower shutters are separate, a conventional wheel and drive chain are not required, and the wheel and drive chain are engaged regardless of swinging. Therefore, no special improvement is required, the mechanism of the apparatus can be simplified, and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a result of a cooling experiment according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sprinkler tube 3 Sprinkler nozzle 7 Cylindrical container 9 Drain receiver 11 Conveyor 13 Drive wheel 15 Follower wheel 17 Upper and lower shutter

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transport conveyor for transporting a cylindrical container filled with a fluid, and a plurality of transport conveyors are provided above the transport conveyor along the longitudinal direction of the transport conveyor, each of which is vertically movable toward the transport conveyor. There is an upper and lower shutter that temporarily prevents the transport of the cylindrical container in a lowered state, and a cylindrical container in which the plurality of upper and lower shutters are vertically moved one by one from a front one to a rear one in a lowered state. And a vertically moving mechanism for allowing the transport of the fluid.