RU2073473C1 - Root shelling method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: food-processing industry. SUBSTANCE: method involves high rate supplying of steam under pressure to roots, with steam being supplied in the form of jets to provide for uniform shelling combined with continuous mixing of roots. It is recommended that steam supplying be periodically interrupted and roots washed with cold water jets supplied under pressure. Apparatus has charging vessel formed as rotatable netted drum, cylindrical chamber composed of outer and inner shells. Inner shell has jet nozzles and steam and water supplying branch pipes. Charging vessel is positioned in axially aligned relation to shells and may be extracted in axial direction. Apparatus is free of complicated mechanical device for removal of shell and buds, since steam and water jets effectuate simultaneously cooking and removal of shell and buds. EFFECT: increased efficiency, wider operational capabilities, simplified construction and enhanced reliability in operation. 3 cl, 6 dwg

Description

 The invention relates to the field of processing agricultural products and can be used in the cleaning of root crops, in particular potatoes, in the food industry and public catering.

A known method of cleaning root crops from the peel, providing for their grinding, cooking until tender, freezing, dehydration and subsequent separation of dry peel and eyes [1]
The method is complex, as it is carried out in several stages and requires high energy consumption.

Known methods for cleaning root crops from the peel, according to which root crops and potatoes are frozen and the surface layer is removed by spalling [2] or pre-cooked, then frozen and the peel is removed mechanically [3]
The same drawbacks are inherent in these methods, since they are carried out in several stages, and in addition, peeling with mechanical devices and chipping is technically difficult to implement and low in quality of cleaning, since they do not allow removing the deep-seated “eye”.

Closest to the described method is a method of cleaning root crops, providing a high-speed supply of steam under pressure under them [4]
When implementing this method, the steam leaving the nozzle at high speed, scalds the peel of the raw material and blows it off the fruit.

 However, with the diverse and geometrically complex shape of the tuber, it is difficult to obtain a high quality of cleaning.

A device for cleaning root crops from the peel, consisting of a rotatable drum, an unloading hopper, an unloading estrus, and a shaft located inside the drum, to which flexible carriers are attached with cleaning elements in the form of plates with notches that form a grating surface [5]
This device has a complex design.

Closest to the described device is a device for cleaning root crops from the peel, containing a discharge tank, a chamber made of a cylindrical and consisting of outer and inner shells and pipes for supplying steam and cold water [6]
This device allows the combined cleaning of potatoes and vegetables by thermal, mechanical and hydraulic methods, and cleaning in it also proceeds in several stages: initially, the raw materials are treated with steam, and then transferred to the thermal and hydraulic cleaning section, where they are exposed to rasp cuts and jets of water .

 The device also has a complex design and its operation is associated with significant energy costs, since the movement of raw materials from section to section is carried out using a screw.

 The described method and device are aimed at achieving such a technical result as improving the quality of peeling of root crops of any configuration and any size and with any shape of the eyes.

 To do this, in the method of cleaning root crops from the peel by high-speed supply of steam to them under pressure, steam is supplied in the form of jets.

 It is advisable to supply steam periodically, and in the interval between the supply of steam root crops to process with jets of cold water supplied under pressure.

 In the device for cleaning root crops from the peel containing a loading container, a chamber made of a cylindrical one and consisting of an outer and inner shells, and nozzles for supplying steam and cold water, jet nozzles are arranged on the inner shell, and the loading container is made in the form of a mesh rotatable drum and set concentrically to the shell with the possibility of axial extension.

 In FIG. 1 shows a device for implementing the proposed method, General view; in FIG. 2 shows the assembly B in FIG. one; in FIG. 3, view A in FIG. one; in FIG. 4-6 are diagrams of the device at different stages of operation.

 The device comprises a cylindrical chamber 1, consisting of an outer shell 2 and an inner shell 3. The outer shell is equipped with a pipe 4 for supplying steam and a pipe 5 for supplying cold water. On the inner shell on its entire surface, jet nozzles 6 are installed, the axes of which are directed along the radius of the shell to its center (to the axis XX). The shells 2 and 3 form a cavity 7. In the lower part of the chamber there is a drain hole 8. In the chamber there is a loading tank 9, which is a drum equipped with a mesh 10 and an axis 11 connected to a rotation drive (not shown in the drawing).

 The method is as follows.

 Washed root crops 12 are placed in the loading tank 9 (Fig. 4, the loading and unloading hatch is not shown in the drawing). Then the container 9 is installed in the chamber 1 (Fig. 5) and is rotated. The pipe 4 serves steam under pressure. The steam enters the cavity 7 and through the nozzles 6 in the form of many thin jets rushes into the chamber 1. The temperature in the chamber rises sharply, the process of surface cooking of root crops begins. Since the container 9 rotates, the root and tubers are continuously mixed, therefore, each root and tubers are in practically the same conditions in terms of temperature and surface cooking.

 At the same time, steam jets act on the surface of root crops and since steam is supplied to the chamber 1 under pressure and with high temperature, since each jet, striking with force into the surface of the root crop, cooks the root crop at the point of contact and at the same time knocks down the peel and that small part of the thickness of the root crop, which is welded and therefore softer than the rest of the root crop.

 Thus, steam in the form of jets under pressure is not only a tool for surface cooking of root crops, but also a tool for peeling.

 Considering that root and tubers are continuously mixed, each root and tubular crops and its surface are also practically in the same conditions and from the point of view of the action of steam jets, therefore, they are cleaned uniformly and equally, and the tuber configuration and eye depth do not matter for the steam jet, since the jet penetrates easily into any eye and knocks out the peel from there and easily processes very complex geometric surfaces.

 On this, the peeling of the root crops from the peel practically ends, it remains to add that the excess steam pressure from the chamber 1 is discharged through the hole 8.

 However, it should be borne in mind that root tubers can be not only different in shape and depth of ocelli (which, as mentioned above, steam jets can easily cope with), but they can also be different in size of the tuber. Tubers of different sizes naturally warm up differently. If, for example, a large tuber was cooked only from the surface and did not have time to warm up to a great depth during cleaning, then a small tuber will warm up completely during the same time. Such heating is undesirable because at elevated temperatures starch is released from the tubers and its intense oxidation. In addition, the peel and eyes knocked down from the tubers, while in the chamber 1, gradually begin to impede the access of the steam jets to the surfaces of the tubers, thereby reducing the cleaning intensity. Therefore, it is advisable to periodically stop the steam supply and to supply cold water under pressure through the pipe 5.

 When this water from the cavity 7 through the nozzle 6 in the form of thin jets enters the chamber 1. The temperature in the chamber decreases, the cooling of tubers begins. At the same time, water jets striking the tubers knock off the welded (soft) surface layer and peel from them, i.e. continue the process of cleaning the tubers. In addition, water flushes all the cleaning products from the tubers and removes them from the chamber through the drain hole 8 (for briquetting).

 Thus, jets of cold water under pressure not only cool the tubers, but also peel, wash the tubers and remove the cleaning products.

 If necessary, the steam and cold water supply cycles are repeated several times. After cleaning, the rotation of the tank 9 is stopped, it is removed from the chamber 1 (Fig. 6), then the cleaned, washed and cooled root crops 12 are unloaded.

 Thus, in the proposed method and device, peeling of root crops from the peel is combined with their surface cooking, while steam in the form of jets is both a cooking tool and a tool (tool) for removing peel and eyes, replacing energy-intensive and complex mechanical devices.

 In addition, cold water in the form of jets also simultaneously carries out cooling of tubers, washing, and cleaning, which, in aggregate, increases the efficiency of the method by reducing energy consumption and provides cleaning of root crops of any size, configuration, and any shape of the eyes.

Sources of information
1. Su A.S. N 680716 A 23 N 7/02, 1979.

 2. Su A.S. N 929046, A 23 N 7/02, 1982.

 3. Su A.S. N 11724160, A 23 N 7302, 1992.

 4. Su A.S. N 449709, A 23 N 7300, 1974 the closest analogue.

 5. Su A.S. N 902710, A 23 N 7/02, 1979.

 6. Su A.S. N 824959, N A 23 N 7/02, 1981, the closest analogue.

Claims (3)

 1. The method of cleaning root crops from the peel by high-speed supply of steam to them under pressure, characterized in that the steam is supplied in the form of jets.  2. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the steam is supplied periodically, and in the interval between the supply of steam, the root crops are treated with jets of cold water supplied under pressure.  3. A device for cleaning root crops from the peel, containing a loading container, a chamber made of a cylindrical and consisting of external and internal shells, and nozzles for supplying steam and water, characterized in that the inner shell has jet nozzles, and the loading tank is driven by rotation of a mesh drum mounted concentrically to the shells with the possibility of axial extension.

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