JP6723968B2 - Frozen material manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a frozen material manufacturing apparatus.

Frozen products are manufactured by freezing raw material liquids in the industrial fields such as food and pharmaceuticals. As a technique for rapidly freezing a raw material liquid to produce a frozen product, there is known a technique for producing ice particles by dropping a liquid substance into a low temperature liquefied gas channel in which a liquid refrigerant flows (Patent Document 1).

JP-A-7-23757

However, in the freezing device described in Patent Document 1, when the frozen material flows down through the low-temperature liquefied gas channel, the frozen object is fixedly deposited in the middle of the low-temperature liquefied gas channel, or frozen objects collide with each other to freeze the frozen object. In order to prevent the size from increasing, the low temperature liquefied gas channel requires a certain inclination. Therefore, in order to produce a good quality frozen product while ensuring the freezing time of the liquid product, it is necessary to lengthen the flow path length of the low temperature liquefied gas flow path inclined downward.

Further, since the freezing device described in Patent Document 1 freezes a liquid material with the liquid refrigerant flowing through the low temperature liquefied gas flow path, a liquid level of the low temperature liquefied gas flow path that allows the liquid material and the liquid refrigerant to make sufficient contact is required. And However, in the freezing device described in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to supply a large amount of liquid refrigerant to the low temperature liquefied gas passage in order to secure the liquid level in the inclined low temperature liquefied gas passage. Therefore, in the freezing device described in Patent Document 1, since a large amount of liquid refrigerant must be used, it is difficult to reduce the production cost of frozen products.

Further, the freezing device described in Patent Document 1 separates the frozen material from the liquid refrigerant, and then re-supplies the liquid refrigerant upstream of the low-temperature liquefied gas flow path inclined downward to circulate the liquid refrigerant. Therefore, it is necessary to pump up the liquid refrigerant to the height on the upstream side of the low temperature liquefied gas flow channel that is inclined downward, and a certain height is required in the vertical direction. In addition, the operating cost of the device increases.
Further, if the low temperature liquefied gas flow path requires a certain length of flow path from the viewpoint of securing the freezing time, the device further requires a width in the horizontal direction, resulting in an increase in size.
As described above, it is difficult to reduce the size of the freezing device described in Patent Document 1.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a frozen material manufacturing apparatus that can reduce the amount of liquid refrigerant used and can downsize the apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following configurations.
[1] A frozen product manufacturing apparatus in which a flow path of a liquid refrigerant for freezing an object to be frozen is spirally formed on a flat surface.
[2] A bottomed cylindrical freezing tank that freezes a raw material liquid with a liquid refrigerant, a liquid refrigerant supply mechanism that supplies the liquid refrigerant to the freezing tank, and a raw material liquid supply mechanism that supplies the raw material liquid to the freezing tank, The frozen product manufacturing apparatus according to [1], wherein the bottom surface of the freezing tank is the flat surface.
[3] The bottom surface has a through hole that discharges a frozen substance in the freezing tank together with a liquid refrigerant to the outside of the freezing tank, and a partition member that forms a spiral flow path centered on the through hole. The frozen product manufacturing apparatus of [2].
[4] The frozen matter manufacturing apparatus according to [3], which includes a separating mechanism that vertically separates the frozen matter and the liquid refrigerant from each other vertically below the through hole.
[5] The frozen material manufacturing device according to any one of [2] to [4], wherein the liquid refrigerant supply mechanism supplies the liquid refrigerant to the flow path from the outer peripheral side of the freezing tank.
[6] The frozen material manufacturing apparatus according to any one of [2] to [5], wherein the raw material liquid supply mechanism supplies the raw material liquid to the flow path on the outer peripheral side of the freezing tank.
[7] The frozen material manufacturing apparatus according to any one of [2] to [6], which accommodates the freezing tank and includes a storage chamber that stores a liquid refrigerant.
[8] The frozen product manufacturing apparatus according to [7], which includes a pressure adjusting mechanism for adjusting the pressure of the gas phase in the storage chamber to atmospheric pressure or higher.
[9] The frozen matter manufacturing apparatus according to [7] or [8], wherein the liquid refrigerant supply mechanism supplies the liquid refrigerant stored in the storage chamber to the freezing tank.

According to the present invention, the amount of liquid refrigerant used can be reduced and the device can be downsized.

It is a sectional view showing an example of composition of a frozen thing manufacturing device concerning one embodiment to which the present invention is applied. It is a top view of the freezing tank with which the frozen material manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1 is equipped.

A frozen material manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings used in the following description, in order to make the features easier to understand, there are cases where features are enlarged for the sake of convenience, and the dimensional ratios of the respective components are not necessarily the same as the actual ones. Absent.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the configuration of a frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a storage chamber 10, a pressure adjustment mechanism 15, a freezing tank 20, a liquid refrigerant supply mechanism 30, a raw material liquid supply mechanism 40, a separation mechanism 50, and a liquid surface. And a control mechanism 60. The frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1 is an apparatus for freezing a raw material liquid that is an object to be frozen.
Hereinafter, each component of the frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1 will be described in detail.

The storage chamber 10 is a cylindrical container that stores the freezing tank 20 in the inner space and stores the liquid refrigerant. In this embodiment, the support 13 provided on the bottom surface of the storage chamber 10 supports the freezing tank 20.
A liquid refrigerant separated by a separating mechanism 50 described later is stored in the bottom of the storage chamber 10. In FIG. 1, the liquid surface of the liquid refrigerant in the storage chamber 10 is horizontal. That is, the horizontal direction in FIG. 1 corresponds to the horizontal direction, and the vertical direction in FIG. 1 corresponds to the vertical direction.
Examples of the liquid coolant include liquid coolants such as liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, liquid argon, liquid helium, and liquid air.

In this embodiment, the storage chamber 10 preferably has a vacuum heat insulating structure. As a result, contact between the liquid refrigerant in the storage chamber 10 and the outside air can be reduced, so that the amount of loss due to evaporation of the liquid refrigerant can be reduced. In this embodiment, the storage chamber 10 has a cylindrical shape. If the storage chamber 10 has a cylindrical shape, it is easy to ensure strength, and thus the vacuum heat insulating structure can be easily manufactured.

The pressure adjusting mechanism 15 adjusts the pressure of the gas phase in the storage chamber 10 to atmospheric pressure or higher. The pressure adjusting mechanism 15 includes an exhaust port 11 and an opening/closing plate 12. Specifically, an exhaust port 11 is formed in the upper part of the storage chamber 10, and an opening/closing plate 12 that can adjust the opening degree of the exhaust port 11 is provided.

The opening/closing plate 12 increases the opening of the exhaust port 11 when the pressure in the storage chamber 10 is equal to or higher than a preset pressure, and increases the opening degree of the exhaust port 11 when the pressure in the storage chamber 10 is less than the preset pressure. Reduce the opening. Here, the preset pressure is a pressure equal to or higher than the atmospheric pressure. In this way, the opening/closing plate 12 adjusts the opening degree of the exhaust port 11, so that the pressure of the gas phase in the storage chamber 10 can be adjusted to the atmospheric pressure or higher.

A transfer port 16 is formed on the side surface of the storage chamber 10. As a result, the frozen substance is transferred from the inside of the storage chamber 10 to the outside of the storage chamber 10 via the conveyor 51, which will be described later, inserted into the storage chamber 10 from the transfer port 16.
Wheels 17 are provided at both ends of the outer bottom of the storage chamber 10. This facilitates the transportation of the frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1.
A drain pipe 18 is connected to the bottom of the storage chamber 10. A drain valve 19 is provided in the drain pipe 18. By opening the drain valve 19, the drain pipe 18 can discharge the liquid refrigerant in the storage chamber 10 and the residue of the frozen substance accumulated in the storage chamber 10.

The freezing tank 20 is a bottomed cylindrical tank that freezes the raw material liquid with a liquid refrigerant. As shown in FIG. 1, the freezing tank 20 temporarily stores a liquid refrigerant for freezing the raw material liquid.
The bottom surface 26 of the freezing tank 20 is a flat surface. When the bottom surface 26 of the freezing tank 20 is a flat surface, it is easy to secure the liquid level of the liquid refrigerant in the freezing tank 20. As a result, it is possible to reduce the amount of liquid refrigerant required to freeze the raw material liquid while ensuring the liquid level in the freezing tank 20.

A through hole 21 is formed in the central portion of the bottom surface 26 of the freezing tank 20. The frozen substance in the freezing tank 20 is discharged to the outside of the freezing tank 20 through the through hole 21 together with the liquid refrigerant. In this embodiment, the through hole 21 is connected to the discharge pipe 22. As a result, the freezing tank 20 freezes the raw material liquid with the liquid refrigerant into a frozen product, and the frozen product can be discharged from the through hole 21 through the discharge pipe 22 to the outside of the freezing tank 20 together with the liquid refrigerant. The central portion of the bottom surface 26 of the freezing tank 20 refers to a bottom area including the center of the circular bottom surface 26 of the freezing tank 20.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the freezing tank 20 included in the frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the freezing tank 20 has a cylindrical shape, and the bottom surface 26 has a circular shape. A partition member 25 is provided on the bottom surface 26 in the freezing tank 20. The partition member 25 is provided in a spiral shape around the through hole 21. The first end of the partition member 25 is provided on the outer peripheral side of the bottom surface 26 of the freezing tank 20, and the second end of the partition member 25 is provided in the center of the bottom surface 26 near the through hole 21. .. The partition member 25 and the bottom surface 26 define a flow path 25A for the liquid refrigerant, and the flow path 25A is formed in a spiral shape.
The size, material, and shape of the partition member 25 are not particularly limited as long as they can form a spiral flow path. The height of the partition member 25 can be appropriately set in consideration of the height of the freezing tank 20, the supply amount of the liquid refrigerant into the freezing tank 20 and the storage amount of the liquid refrigerant in the freezing tank 20.

In the present embodiment, the upper end portion of the liquid coolant supply mechanism 30 is located near the first end of the partition member 25. Therefore, the liquid coolant supply mechanism 30 can supply the liquid coolant to the start end of the flow path 25A. As a result, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 2, the liquid refrigerant flows in the flow path 25A in a spiral shape. Thereby, the freezing tank 20 can freeze the raw material liquid while swirling the raw material liquid from the outer peripheral side of the freezing tank 20 toward the center. By swirling the raw material liquid in the freezing tank 20, it is possible to prevent the frozen material of the raw material liquid from immediately settling in the freezing tank 20 due to the action of gravity, and it is possible to sufficiently freeze the raw material liquid. Can be secured.

The first end of the partition member 25 is preferably provided near the outer circumference of the freezing tank 20. Thereby, the ratio of the flow path length of the flow path 25A to the area of the bottom surface 26 of the freezing tank 20 can be increased, and it becomes easy to secure the freezing time of the raw material liquid.

The number of turns of the spiral flow path formed by the partition member 25 can be appropriately set in consideration of the type of the raw material liquid to be frozen and the freezing time of the raw material liquid. For example, when the raw material liquid is a substance that is difficult to freeze or when it is desired to set the freezing time longer, the number of windings may be increased and the flow path length may be increased.

The liquid refrigerant supply mechanism 30 (see FIG. 1) supplies the liquid refrigerant stored in the bottom of the storage chamber 10 to the freezing tank 20. The liquid refrigerant supply mechanism 30 includes an outer cylinder 31, a motor 32, a supply port 33, and a screw pump 34. The liquid refrigerant supply mechanism 30 rotates the screw pump 34 with the motor 32 to generate a vortex in the gap between the outer cylinder 31 and the screw pump 34 to pump and supply the liquid refrigerant stored in the bottom of the storage chamber 10. A liquid refrigerant can be sent from the port 33 to the freezing tank 20 to be supplied.

The raw material liquid supply mechanism 40 is not particularly limited as long as it can supply the raw material liquid that is a frozen object into the freezing tank 20. In the present embodiment, the raw material liquid supply mechanism 40 drops and supplies the liquid droplets of the raw material liquid into the freezing tank 20.
As the raw material liquid supply mechanism 40, a raw material tank (not shown) for storing the raw material liquid, a first end portion thereof is connected to the raw material tank, and a second end portion thereof opens vertically above the freezing tank 20. An apparatus having a raw material supply pipe 41 and a droplet forming means (not shown) provided in the raw material supply pipe is exemplified. In such an apparatus, the raw material liquid stored in the raw material tank is dripped into the liquid refrigerant in the freezing tank 20 from the second end of the raw material supply pipe via the droplet forming means.

As shown in FIG. 2, the raw material liquid supply mechanism 40 is arranged at a position where the raw material liquid can be dropped and supplied to the flow path 25A on the outer peripheral side of the freezing tank 20. More specifically, the raw material liquid supply mechanism 40 is arranged near the starting end of the flow path 25A. As a result, the flow path length along which the liquid droplets of the raw material liquid flow along the flow path 25A can be set long. Examples of the raw material liquid include liquids and aqueous solutions of substances to be frozen in the fields of food and medicine.

The separation mechanism 50 separates the frozen material of the liquid droplets from the liquid refrigerant (see FIG. 1). The frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a separating mechanism 50 vertically below the through hole 21.
In the present embodiment, the separation mechanism 50 includes a mesh-shaped or mesh-shaped conveyor 51, a first roller 52 provided at the first end of the conveyor 51, and a second roller 52 provided at the second end of the conveyor 51. And a roller 53.
The conveyor 51 is arranged over the inside of the storage chamber 10 and the outside of the storage chamber 10 via the transfer port 16. The vicinity of the first end of the conveyor 51 is arranged inside the storage chamber 10 and vertically below the discharge pipe 22. As a result, the mesh-shaped conveyor 51 can separate the frozen material and the liquid refrigerant that fall from vertically below the discharge pipe 22. The second end of the conveyor 51 is arranged outside the storage chamber 10.

The first roller 52 is a rotating body that fixes the first end of the conveyor 51, and the second roller 53 is a rotating body that fixes the second end of the conveyor 51. By rotating the first roller 52 and the second roller 53 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 1, the conveyor 51 can convey the frozen substance from the inside of the storage chamber 10 to the outside of the storage chamber 10.
The liquid refrigerant separated by the conveyor 51 is stored in the bottom of the storage chamber 10.

The liquid level control mechanism 60 is not particularly limited as long as it can control the liquid level of the liquid refrigerant in the storage chamber 10.
In the present embodiment, the liquid level control mechanism 60 includes a liquid refrigerant tank (not shown) that stores a replenishing liquid refrigerant, and a liquid refrigerant supply pipe (not shown) that supplies the liquid refrigerant from the liquid refrigerant tank to the storage chamber 10. An on-off valve (not shown) provided in the liquid refrigerant supply pipe, a liquid level gauge (not shown) for measuring the liquid level height of the liquid refrigerant stored in the storage chamber 10, and a liquid level measured by the liquid level gauge. And a control unit 61 that controls opening/closing of the opening/closing valve based on the height.

In the liquid level control mechanism 60, when the liquid refrigerant is vaporized in the storage chamber 10 and the liquid level is lowered, the control unit 61 opens the open/close valve. Thereby, when the amount of the liquid refrigerant stored in the storage chamber 10 is vaporized and reduced, the liquid refrigerant can be supplied from the liquid refrigerant tank to replenish the storage chamber 10 with the liquid refrigerant.

The material of the storage chamber 10, the support body 13, the freezing tank 20, the partition member 25, the outer cylinder 31, the conveyor 51, and the components other than these that can come into contact with the liquid refrigerant are brittle fracture due to contact with the liquid refrigerant. It is not particularly limited as long as it is hard to do and is hard to corrode. Examples of these materials include austenitic steel, aluminum alloys, polytetrafluoroethylene and the like.

An example of the method of using the frozen material manufacturing apparatus described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

First, the liquid coolant is supplied from the supply port 33 provided in the liquid coolant supply mechanism 30 in the tangential direction of the flow path 25A. Here, the supply amount of the liquid refrigerant in the freezing tank 20 is preferably set to the minimum amount necessary to secure the liquid level in the flow path 25A. This can further reduce the amount of liquid refrigerant used in the entire device. The supply amount of the liquid refrigerant can be finely adjusted by adjusting the pumping amount of the liquid refrigerant by the motor 32.
The flow velocity of the liquid refrigerant flowing through the flow path 25A can be appropriately set in consideration of the time required for freezing the droplets. In order to adjust the flow velocity of the liquid refrigerant, the supply amount of the liquid refrigerant supplied from the supply port 33 and the vertical position of the supply port 33 may be adjusted.

Next, a droplet of the raw material liquid is dropped and supplied from the raw material liquid supply mechanism 40 in the vicinity of the start end of the flow path 25A in the freezing tank 20. As shown in FIG. 2, since the liquid refrigerant swirls in the freezing tank 20 in the direction of the arrow, the supplied droplets also swirl in the flow path 25A. In addition, the supply amount of the liquid droplets can be appropriately set in consideration of the production amount of frozen material, production efficiency, and production cost. Further, the particle size of the liquid droplets to be supplied can be appropriately set in consideration of the particle size of the desired frozen product.

When the droplets of the raw material liquid flow in the flow path 25A in a spiral shape, the freezing starts from the surface of the droplets. Frozen matter having a higher density than the liquid refrigerant has a strong tendency to be collected in the central portion of the freezing tank 20, so that the trajectory when flowing through the flow path 25A becomes shorter than that before freezing. As a result, excessive freezing of the frozen product can be reduced.

On the other hand, the unfrozen liquid droplets float between the liquid refrigerant and the surface of the liquid refrigerant due to the buoyancy of the bubbles of the liquid refrigerant that vaporizes, and are subjected to the centrifugal force of the liquid refrigerant that flows in a spiral shape to flow. It is brought closer to the outer peripheral side of the passage 25A, that is, the inner wall side of the freezing tank 20. As a result, the trajectory of the unfrozen droplets when flowing in the flow path 25A becomes longer than that after freezing, and the time for sufficiently freezing the unfrozen droplets is secured.

The frozen matter drops vertically downward from the freezing tank 20 through the through hole 21 and the discharge pipe 22 in this order together with the liquid refrigerant. Then, the frozen material separated from the liquid refrigerant by the separation mechanism 50 is transported to the outside of the storage chamber 10.

The liquid refrigerant separated by the separation mechanism 50 is stored in the bottom of the storage chamber 10. The storage amount of the liquid refrigerant in the storage chamber 10 can be appropriately set in consideration of the production amount of frozen products, production efficiency, production cost, and the like.

(Action effect)
According to the frozen matter manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment having the configuration described above, since the flow path of the liquid refrigerant that freezes the raw material liquid that is the object to be frozen is formed in a spiral shape on the flat surface, a large amount of Even if the liquid refrigerant is not supplied, it is possible to secure the time for freezing the raw material liquid along the flow path while ensuring the liquid level of the liquid refrigerant in the freezing tank. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the amount of liquid refrigerant used can be reduced.

Further, in order to further set the freezing time in the frozen material manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment, the number of turns of the spiral flow passage formed by the partition member is increased to increase the flow passage length of the spiral flow passage. do it. As described above, the frozen material manufacturing apparatus according to the present embodiment can use the internal space of the freezing tank without waste, so that the apparatus itself can be downsized.

In the present embodiment, since the storage chamber has the vacuum heat insulating structure, the places where heat exchange occurs between the outside air and the liquid refrigerant are limited to the exhaust port and the transfer port. Therefore, the amount of the liquid refrigerant vaporized and flowing out to the outside air can be reduced. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the amount of loss due to vaporization of the liquid refrigerant can be reduced, so that the liquid refrigerant can be used without waste, and the usage amount of the liquid refrigerant can be further reduced.

Since the frozen material manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the liquid refrigerant supply mechanism and the separation mechanism, the liquid refrigerant can be circulated between the bottom of the storage chamber and the freezing tank. Therefore, it is possible to store the minimum amount of the liquid refrigerant required for freezing the raw material liquid in the storage chamber and to manufacture the frozen product. Therefore, according to this embodiment, the amount of liquid refrigerant used can be further reduced.

Further, the frozen material manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment includes the pressure adjusting mechanism, and the liquid refrigerant is vaporized in the storage chamber, so that the storage chamber can be maintained at the atmospheric pressure or higher. As a result, moisture in the air is expelled from the inside of the storage chamber 10, air is less likely to enter through the transfer port, and icing in the storage chamber can be reduced. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the burden of the work for maintaining the equipment such as cleaning the inside of the accreted storage chamber.

Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these specific embodiments. In addition, the present invention may have additions, omissions, substitutions, and other modifications of the configuration within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims.
For example, the raw material liquid supply mechanism 40 may be in the form of spraying the raw material liquid.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Frozen thing manufacturing apparatus, 10... Storage chamber, 11... Exhaust port, 12... Open/close plate, 13... Support body, 15... Pressure adjusting mechanism, 16... Conveyor port, 17... Wheel, 18... Drain piping, 19... Drain Valve, 20... Freezing tank, 21... Through hole, 22... Discharge pipe, 25... Partition member, 25A... Flow path, 26... Bottom surface, 30... Liquid refrigerant supply mechanism, 31... Outer cylinder, 32... Motor, 33... Supply Mouth, 40... Raw material liquid supply mechanism, 50... Separation mechanism, 51... Conveyor, 52, 53... Roller, 60... Liquid level control mechanism, 61... Control unit

Claims (8)

Equipped with a bottomed cylindrical freezing tank that freezes the raw material liquid with a liquid refrigerant,
The flow path of the liquid body refrigerant is formed in a spiral shape on a horizontal bottom surface of said freezing chamber,
A through hole for discharging the frozen material in the freezing tank to the outside of the freezing tank together with a liquid refrigerant is formed in the central portion of the horizontal bottom surface of the freezing tank,
The frozen material manufacturing apparatus in which the flow path centered on the through hole is formed by being partitioned by the partition member provided on the horizontal bottom surface of the freezing tank and the horizontal bottom surface of the freezing tank . A liquid coolant supply mechanism supplies the liquid refrigerant before Symbol freezing tank,
A raw material liquid supply mechanism for supplying a raw material liquid to the freezing tank,
Further Ru comprising a frozen product manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1. The frozen material manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a separating mechanism that vertically separates the frozen material and the liquid refrigerant from each other. It said liquid coolant supply mechanism supplies the liquid refrigerant to the flow path from the outer peripheral side of the freezing chamber, frozen product manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3. The raw material liquid supply mechanism supplies the raw material liquid to the flow path of the outer peripheral side of the freezing chamber, frozen product manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 2-4. It accommodates the freezing chamber, further comprising a storage chamber for storing the liquid refrigerant, frozen product manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 2-5. The frozen material manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6 , further comprising a pressure adjusting mechanism that adjusts the pressure of the gas phase in the storage chamber to atmospheric pressure or higher. It said liquid coolant supply mechanism supplies the liquid refrigerant to be stored in the storage chamber to the freezing chamber, frozen product manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6 or 7.

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