JP4054326B2 - Sterilizer for sterilizing solid food in a sterilization pot - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sterilization apparatus for sterilizing a solid food with a sterilization pot, and more particularly relates to a sterilization apparatus suitable for sterilizing a solid food typically contained in an aseptic filled food with a sterilization pot.

  As a method for sterilizing aseptically filled food, a direct heating method is known in which solid food is sterilized before being put into a product container. In this sterilization method, solid food is put in a sterilization container and sterilized by, for example, steam heating in a sterilization pot, the sterilized solid food is transferred from the sterilization container to the product container, and then the liquid component is converted into the product. After filling the container, the product container is sealed.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a batch-type continuous sterilization apparatus suitable for aseptic filling of solid foods, a tray applied thereto, and a bottomed cylindrical sterilization container. The sterilization apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a number of sterilization pots extending in the horizontal direction. The sterilization pots are arranged radially, and this sterilization pot group moves intermittently in one direction along a circular track on a horizontal plane. In the circular track, a tray loading station for loading a tray with a number of sterilization containers containing a small amount of solid food into the sterilization pot and a tray discharge station for extracting the tray from the sterilization pot are provided adjacent to each other. The tray discharge station is installed in a sterile area. In the tray discharge station, after the tray is discharged from the sterilization pot, the sterilization container is taken out from the tray, and the taken out sterilization container is conveyed to transfer the sterilized solid food to the product container.

In the process of the sterilization pot moving along the circular track and reaching the tray discharge station from the tray loading station, the deaeration process in which the inside of the sterilization pot is vacuum-sucked sequentially, and pressurized steam is introduced into the sterilization pot. A sterilization process for heat sterilization and a reduced pressure cooling process for cooling the sterilization pot after reducing the pressure are performed.
JP 2003-245060 A

  When solid food is sterilized by steam heating using a bottomed cylindrical sterilization container, drip liquid containing moisture and oil from the solid food accumulates at the bottom of the sterilization container. There is a problem that the part melts. In addition, the drip liquid accumulated in the sterilization container evaporates due to the reduced pressure in the above-described reduced-pressure cooling process, and there is a problem that the inside of the pressure cooker is contaminated. Furthermore, the drip liquid accumulated in the sterilization container has a problem that the drip liquid adheres to the product container and soils the product container when the solid food after sterilization is transferred from the sterilization container to the product container. As one method for solving such a problem, it is conceivable to provide a drain hole in the bottom wall of the sterilization container. According to this, the drip liquid generated in the sterilization process can flow out from the drain hole of the bottom wall of the sterilization container.

  However, if a large amount of drip liquid flowing out from many sterilization containers accumulates in the tray, the drip liquid collected in the tray evaporates and scatters when the sterilization pot is depressurized in the above-described decompression cooling process. New problems arise, such as sticking around the container, fouling the walls of the sterilization pot, or contaminating the sterile area of the tray discharge station.

  For example, even if the inside of the sterilization pot is cleaned for each cycle, the new problem is that even if the inside of the sterilization pot is cleaned every cycle, this can be done by reheating the sterilization pot that has become cold due to cleaning. For example, additional steam is required to increase the running cost of the sterilizer.

The object of the present invention is to sterilize a solid food contained in aseptic filled food by heating with steam, and the drip liquid generated thereby causes a problem that a part of the solid food is boiled, or the sterilization apparatus becomes dirty. It is to provide a sterilizing apparatus capable of resolving the problem.

According to the present invention, the above technical problem is
A plurality of sterilization containers containing solid food are placed on a single tray, and the single tray is placed in a batch-type horizontally extending sterilization pot to sterilize the solid food with steam. A sterilization apparatus , wherein the sterilization pot sequentially evacuates the inside of the sterilization pot, a sterilization process in which steam is introduced into the sterilization pot to heat sterilize the solid food, and the sterilization pot In a sterilization apparatus that performs a reduced pressure cooling process for reducing pressure and cooling,
The sterilization container has a drain hole formed in its bottom wall;
The tray has a container mounting plate on which a plurality of the sterilization containers are mounted and provided with a number of drain holes, and a guide plate disposed under the container mounting plate,
The guide plate has a guide portion inclined toward the lowest position, and a drain opening provided in the lowest position ,
This is achieved by providing a sterilizing apparatus characterized in that a steam discharge port is formed at a position facing the drain opening provided in the guide plate of the tray on the bottom wall of the sterilizing pot .

That is, the present invention is, assuming the sterilizing kettle extending in the horizontal direction with a steam outlet, characterized in that so as to discharge the drip liquid to the outside by utilizing the vapor exhaust outlet, also, sterilizing kettle The drip liquid is smoothly discharged to the outside in a single tray to be put into the tank and a combination of the tray and the steam discharge port of the sterilization pot . According to said structure, the drip liquid generate | occur | produced during steam sterilization can flow down from the drain hole of the bottom wall of the container for sterilization, and can flow down from the drain hole of the container mounting plate of a tray. The drip liquid is received by the guide plate of the tray and is guided to the drain opening by the inclined guide portion. The drip liquid flowing down from the drain opening enters the steam outlet of the steam pot and is discharged to the outside together with a part of the steam inside the steam pot.

Therefore, since the drip liquid generated during the steam sterilization does not stay in the sterilization container, it is possible to prevent a problem that a part of the solid food is dissolved during the sterilization. In addition, since the drain liquid does not stay in the tray, it is discharged to the outside through the steam outlet of the sterilization pot, so that the drip liquid does not remain in the tray when the steam sterilization is finished, thus eliminating the problem of contamination of the sterilizer. it can be.

  In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sterilization container has a cylindrical main body opened upward, an inner cylindrical body provided coaxially with the cylindrical main body, and a lower end portion of the cylindrical main body and the inner cylindrical body. A solid wall containing a solid wall containing the bottom wall connecting the two and a number of drain holes provided in the bottom wall is configured by a space sandwiched between the cylindrical main body and the inner cylinder. Moreover, the lower end of the inner cylinder is opened downward, and steam can enter the inner cylinder from the lower end opening.

  According to this sterilization container, since the solid food is heated by the heat transmitted from both sides of the cylindrical main body and the inner cylinder, the sterilization time can be shortened, thereby eliminating the problem of overheating. . The lower end of the sterilization container comes into contact with the transport surface for mounting the sterilization container on the tray, and also comes into contact with the container mounting plate of the tray. This not only has the advantage that the drip liquid generated during sterilization tends to flow down from the sterilization container to the tray, but also separates the sterilization container 7 from the transport surface for mounting the sterilization container on the tray and the tray 20. Thus, it is possible to prevent the dirt on the conveying surface for transfer to the filling machine from adhering to the bottom wall of the sterilizing container and the solid food. Further, since the bottom wall of the sterilization container can be separated from the container mounting plate (with drain hole) of the tray, the drip liquid can be smoothly discharged from the drain hole of the bottom wall of the sterilization container. Thus, it is possible to prevent the drip liquid remaining in the sterilization container from adhering to the product container and soiling the product container when the solid food is transferred from the sterilization container to the product container.

  The sterilization container according to a preferred embodiment has a circular inner cross-section and a tapered shape as it goes upward. According to this, since the solid food storage space has a contour shape expanded upward, when the solid food is put into the sterilization container, the sterilization container is turned upside down and the solid food is The solid food can be discharged well when transferred to the product container. In the sterilization container having such characteristics, at least the inner surface of the cylindrical main body, the upper surface of the bottom wall of the cylindrical main body, and the outer surface of the inner cylindrical body may be coated with a fluororesin. By the fluororesin coating, not only can the above-mentioned solid food be discharged more efficiently, but also drip liquid generated during sterilization can be quickly discharged from the sterilization container. The sterilization container of the preferred embodiment is typically used to sterilize solid material subdivided by product.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  For convenience of explanation, first, a sterilization container suitable for sterilizing a solid food contained in an aseptic filled food or the like in a sterilization pot will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a side view in which a part of a sterilization container is cut away, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the sterilization container. The sterilization container 1 has a cylindrical main body 2 having a circular cross section. A bottom wall 3 is provided at the lower end of the cylindrical main body 2, and a number of drain holes 3 a are formed in the bottom wall 3. Yes. The bottom wall 3 may be provided at the lower end of the cylindrical main body 2, but it is preferable that the bottom wall 3 is provided at a position slightly above the lower end of the cylindrical main body 2 and the leg 4 is constituted by the lower end of the cylindrical main body 2.

  A circular opening 5 is formed at the center portion of the bottom wall 3 of the cylindrical main body 2 (FIG. 2), and an inner cylindrical body 6 having a circular cross section having a diameter corresponding to the circular opening 5 is vertically upward from the bottom wall 3. It extends to. The inner cylinder 6 is disposed coaxially with the cylindrical body 2. The inner cylinder 6 may have a cylindrical shape with the same diameter from the lower end to the upper end, but preferably has a tapered shape with a circular cross section that gradually decreases in diameter toward the upper end.

  The inner cylinder 6 has an upper end closed and a lower end opened downward through the circular opening 5. As will be described later, the circular opening 5 functions as an opening for introducing steam into the inner cylinder 6, and considering the ease of cleaning the inside of the inner cylinder 6. It is preferable that the circular opening 5 and the inner diameter of the lower end of the inner cylindrical body 6 coincide with each other. However, the bottom wall 3 is extended to the center portion to form a plurality of vapor passage holes instead of the circular opening 5. Alternatively, an opening having an arbitrary shape such as a rectangular opening smaller than the circular opening 5 may be provided.

  The upper end of the inner cylinder 6 is closed by a substantially hemispherical top surface 7, and a plurality of vapor passage holes 8 having a relatively large diameter are optionally formed on the substantially hemispherical top surface 7. As a modification, the upper end of the inner cylinder 6 may be closed with, for example, a flat top surface, or the upper end of the inner cylinder 6 may be formed with a small diameter and opened upward.

  The material of the sterilization container 1 including the inner cylinder 6 can be selected from any material such as iron, aluminum, and titanium alloy as long as it has excellent thermal conductivity. Incidentally, the sterilization container 1 of the embodiment is made of stainless steel.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the sterilization container 1 described above contains the solid food S subdivided by product in a space 10 sandwiched between the cylindrical body 2 and the inner cylinder 6. When introducing solid foods S sterilization vessel 1, since the inner barrel 6 of the sterilizing container 1 that has been closed by a substantially hemispherical top surface 7, the total amount of solid food receiving space of the input to the solid food S 10 can be guided. The solid food S after sterilization in the sterilization pot described later is discharged from the sterilization container 1 by turning the sterilization container 1 upside down as in the conventional case, and the solid food S discharged from the sterilization container 1 is a product container. (Not shown).

  In order to improve the discharge of the solid food S, the wall surface defining at least the solid food storage space 10 of the sterilization container 1, that is, the inner surface of the cylindrical main body 2, the outer surface of the inner cylindrical body 6, and the upper surface of the bottom wall 3 Is preferably coated with a fluororesin, and preferably all surfaces exposed to the outside are coated with a fluororesin. The sterilization container 1 coated with a fluororesin has the advantage that the solid food S is less likely to adhere to the wall surface, so that the solid food S can be discharged smoothly, is not easily soiled, and is easy to clean. .

  Sterilization of the solid food S using the sterilization container 1 described above is performed using, for example, a batch-type continuous sterilization apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1. As described above, the outline of the sterilization apparatus of Patent Document 1 is that a number of cylindrical sterilization pots 20 (FIG. 3) extending in the horizontal direction are arranged radially, and the sterilization pots are arranged along a circular orbit on a horizontal plane. The solid food S is sterilized with pressurized steam while moving intermittently in the direction.

  With reference to FIG. 3, the sterilization pot 20 is closed at the left end and sealed by the lid 21 at the right end. Inside the sterilization pot 20, a steam discharge pipe 22 is disposed at the lower part thereof. The pressurized steam supplied to the steam discharge pipe 22 through the steam supply tube 24 having the opening / closing valve 23 is discharged into the sterilization pot 20 through the numerous steam discharge holes 22 a of the steam discharge pipe 22. The sterilization pot 20 is connected to a deaeration tube 26 having an open / close valve 25, and vacuuming is possible through the deaeration tube 26.

  The sterilization pot 20 is loaded with a predetermined number of sterilization containers 1 in a state of being placed on the tray 30. The tray 30 has a rectangular shape in plan view, and includes a pair of side walls 31 and a pair of end walls 32 (FIG. 4). The tray 30 also has a bottom plate 33 and a container mounting plate 34 thereon (FIGS. 3 and 5). A number of drain holes 34 a are formed in the container mounting plate 24 (FIG. 3), and a predetermined number of sterilization containers 1 are mounted on the container mounting plate 24 in an aligned state.

  A guide plate 35 is provided between the bottom plate 33 and the container mounting plate 34. The guide plate 35 has a guide portion 35a composed of a plurality of mortar-shaped or inclined surfaces, and a drain opening 35b provided at the lowest position of the guide portion 35a. The drain opening 35b It opens to the opening 33a provided near one end of the plate 33 (FIG. 6).

  The installation position of the drain opening 35b of the tray 30 is set so as to be positioned facing the steam discharge port 20a on the bottom wall of the sterilization pot 20. In order to ensure the positioning of the tray 30 inserted into the sterilization pot 20, a stopper for stopping the tray 30 at a predetermined position may be provided inside the sterilization pot 20. During the sterilization with pressurized steam, the steam discharge port 20a of the sterilization pot 20 discharges an appropriate amount of steam inside the sterilization pot 20 to the outside through the steam discharge port 20a via a throttle valve (not shown).

  Drip liquid generated during the sterilization of the solid food S in the sterilization pot 20 passes through the drain hole 3a formed in the bottom wall 3 of the sterilization container 1 and the drain hole 34a of the container mounting plate 34 of the tray 30. It falls downward and is received by the guide plate 35. The drip liquid flows down along the inclination of the guide portion 35a of the guide plate 35 and falls from the tray 30 through the drain opening 35b. The inclination angle of the guide portion 35a of the guide plate 35 is preferably 1 degree or more. If the inclination angle is smaller than 1 degree, the drip liquid is difficult to flow smoothly and may accumulate in the middle of the guide portion 35a.

  The drip liquid dropped from the tray 30 enters the steam and drain discharge port 20a located immediately below, and is discharged to the outside of the sterilization pot 20 together with the steam through the discharge port 20a. The drain opening 35b of the tray 30 is designed to have a diameter smaller than the diameter of the steam outlet 20a and to be positioned on the same axis so that the drip liquid dropped from the tray 30 enters the steam outlet 20a. Is desirable.

  Even if a slight amount of drip liquid remains around the drain opening of the guide plate 35 of the tray 30 when the steam sterilization process by the sterilization pot 20 is completed, The drip liquid evaporates due to residual heat and dries.

  Therefore, when the sterilization is completed and the tray 30 is taken out from the sterilization pot 20, the tray 30 is in a dry state. It is possible to prevent the aseptic area from being contaminated by the drip liquid in the process of taking out the tray 30 from the sterilization pot 20 at the tray discharge station installed in the aseptic area. Of course, since the drip liquid in the sterilization container 1 is quickly discharged from the sterilization container 1, there is no possibility that a part of the solid food S is boiled by the drip liquid.

  In order to ensure the evaporating of the drip liquid due to the residual heat and the drying of the tray 30 as described above, a pipe 36 having a relatively large heat capacity is provided in the drain opening 35b of the guide plate 35 as illustrated in FIG. You may do it. As a modified example, the wall thickness around the drain opening 35b where the drip liquid is likely to remain may be increased, thereby locally increasing the heat capacity of the drain opening 35b.

  According to the embodiment of the present invention, the steam and drain discharge port 20a provided on the bottom wall of the sterilization pot 20 extending in the horizontal direction is used to allow the drip liquid to fall into the discharge port 20a. Since the drain opening 35b is provided, the drip liquid generated during the sterilization of the solid food S can be quickly discharged to the outside. Therefore, it is not necessary to wash the sterilization pot 20 for each cycle, and the problem of boiling the solid food S associated with the drip liquid being stored in the sterilization container 1 does not occur.

  According to the sterilization container 1 with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the solid food S in the sterilization container 1 is not only due to heat transmitted from the side wall of the cylindrical main body 2 but also from heat transmitted from the side wall of the inner cylindrical body 6. Heated. Thereby, the solid food S is heated by heat transmitted from both the outer side and the inner side, and a desired sterilization value can be obtained even if the sterilization time is shortened by shortening the heat transfer distance.

  If the outer shape is cylindrical like the sterilization container 1, when the sterilization container 1 is transported, mounted on the tray 30, and when the sterilization container 1 is taken out from the tray 30, workability is improved. In addition, the sterilization container 1 is reversed, the solid food S is discharged, and the operability when the solid food S is transferred to the product container is good.

  Regarding the discharge of the solid food S, when the steam passage hole is not provided like the cylindrical main body 2 and the inner cylindrical body 6 of the sterilization container 1 described above, the solid food S is caught in the steam passage hole and the solid food S is discharged. There is no possibility of causing the problem that S is not discharged well. Moreover, if it is the cylindrical main body 2 and inner side cylinder 6 without a vapor | steam passage hole like the container 1 for sterilization, the solid food S will not contact a vapor | steam passage hole and a trace will not remain in a solid foodstuff. Of course, if the target is the solid food S that does not cause such a problem, the cylindrical main body 2 and / or the inner cylinder 6 may be provided with a steam passage hole.

  Moreover, since the bottom wall 3 is separated from the container mounting plate 34 by the legs 4 as in the sterilization container 1 mounted on the tray 30, the drip liquid in the sterilization container 1 is smoothly discharged from the drain hole 3a. be able to.

  When the inner cylinder 6 of the sterilization container 1 is tapered upward, the solid food storage space 41 formed between the tapered inner cylinder 6 and the cylindrical main body 2 is formed. Since the width increases toward the upper side, there is an advantage that when the solid food S is discharged from the sterilization container 40, the solid food S can easily come out of the sterilization container 40. In order to obtain such advantages in actual work, it is preferable to set the inclination angle of the outer surface of the tapered inner cylindrical body 6 to 0.5 degrees or more, or 1 degree or more.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the bottom plate 33 is not necessarily required as the structure of the tray 30 and may be omitted. However, the bottom plate 33 is a guide when the tray 30 is taken in and out of the sterilization pot 20. Since the surface is configured, the bottom plate 33 may be replaced by a plurality of bars extending in the longitudinal direction of the tray 30.

  Further, the tray 30 may be reduced in weight by making an appropriate lightweight hole in the bottom plate 33 to improve the operability of the tray 30. Conversely, the bottom plate 33 and the guide plate 35 form a sealed space, heat is stored during sterilization by the air confined in the sealed space, the drip liquid evaporates due to the residual heat and the tray 30 is dried. May be promoted.

  In order to discharge the drip liquid generated in the sterilization container 1 during sterilization to the outside using the tray 30 having the drain opening 35b facing the steam discharge port 20a of the sterilization pot 20, the sterilization container 1 described above is used. It is not limited. Needless to say, the present invention can be applied to any sterilization container that can accommodate a small portion of solid food S and has a drain hole in the bottom wall.

  The drain hole 3a formed in the bottom wall 3 like the sterilization container 1 described above is preferably about 2 to 4 mm in diameter. If the diameter of the drain hole 3a is too small, it becomes difficult for water to fall downward through the drain hole 3a due to surface tension. On the contrary, if the diameter of the drain hole 3a is too large, the fine solid food falls down through the drain hole 3a. The total area of the drain holes 3a is preferably 10% or more with respect to the area of the bottom wall 3, more preferably 20% or more.

  In application of the present invention, a sterilization container in which the inner cylinder 6 is omitted from the sterilization container 1 described above may be used. Further, the sterilization pot 20 is a pressure pot and can sterilize the solid food S at, for example, 130 ° C., but the present invention can be similarly applied to a normal pressure sterilization pot.

  Moreover, although the solid food S divided | segmented into the product unit was injected | thrown-in with respect to the container 1 for sterilization mentioned above, the container for sterilization provided with the drain hole at least in the bottom wall is prepared, and this is made into several product units. The solid food S that is subdivided may be accommodated and distributed to a plurality of product containers after sterilization, or the solid foods classified by type when manufacturing a product containing a plurality of types of solid food. S may be put in another sterilization container and sterilized, and mixed in the stage of putting in the product container.

It is a partially cutaway side view of the sterilization container applicable to the present invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the container for sterilization of FIG. Schematic showing the structure of a sterilization pot in which a large number of sterilization containers are placed on a tray in a horizontally extending cylindrical sterilization pot and the solid food in the sterilization container is sterilized with pressurized steam. FIG. It is a top view of the tray which can mount many sterilization containers. FIG. 5 is a front view of the tray illustrated in FIG. 4. It is the fragmentary sectional view of the tray which extracted the part of the drain opening which discharges the drip liquid which generate | occur | produces during disinfection from a tray. It is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 6 which shows the modification of the part of the drain opening which discharges the drip liquid which generate | occur | produces during disinfection from a tray.

Explanation of symbols

S Subdivided solid food 1 Sterilization container 2 Cylindrical main body 3 Bottom wall 3a Bottom wall drain hole 4 Leg 6 Inner cylinder 7 Almost hemispherical top surface of inner cylinder 10 Solid food storage space 20 Sterilization pot 20a Steam, Drain outlet 30 Tray 34 Container mounting plate 34a Drain hole of container mounting plate 35 Guide plate 35a Guide portion of guide plate 35b Drain opening of guide plate

Claims (6)

A plurality of sterilization containers containing solid food are placed on a single tray, and the single tray is placed in a batch-type horizontally extending sterilization pot to sterilize the solid food with steam. A sterilization apparatus , wherein the sterilization pot sequentially evacuates the inside of the sterilization pot, a sterilization process in which steam is introduced into the sterilization pot to heat sterilize the solid food, and the sterilization pot In a sterilization apparatus that performs a reduced pressure cooling process for reducing pressure and cooling,
The sterilization container has a drain hole formed in its bottom wall;
The tray has a container mounting plate on which a plurality of the sterilization containers are mounted and provided with a number of drain holes, and a guide plate disposed under the container mounting plate,
The guide plate has a guide portion inclined toward the lowest position, and a drain opening provided in the lowest position ,
Wherein the bottom wall of the sterilization kettle, sterilizer, characterized in that the steam outlet is formed at a position facing the drain opening provided in the guide plate of the tray. The sterilizer is a batch type in which a large number of cylindrical batch-type sterilization pots extending in the horizontal direction are arranged radially, and these sterilization pots are sterilized while moving intermittently in one direction along a circular track on a horizontal plane. sterilizer according to claim 1, characterized in that a continuous sterilizer. The sterilization apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sterilization container has a cylindrical outer contour. The sterilization container is connected to a cylindrical main body opened upward, an inner cylinder provided coaxially with the cylindrical main body and opened downward, and the lower end of the cylindrical main body. A plurality of drain holes provided in the bottom wall,
Sterilizer according to claim 3, characterized in that solid food receiving space for accommodating said solid foods is constituted in a space sandwiched by the inner tubular body and the cylindrical body. 5. The inner cylinder is circular in cross section and has a tapered shape as it goes upward, and the upper end of the inner cylinder is formed by a substantially hemispherical top surface. Sterilization equipment . At least the inner surface of the cylindrical body, sterilizing apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5 the upper surface and an outer surface of said inner cylinder of said bottom wall, characterized in that it is coated with a fluorine resin.

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