CN106819757A - Can content dispersal device and sterilization of canned food system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a canned content dispersing device and a canned food sterilizing system. The canned content dispersing device includes a conveyor belt mechanism, and a rotating member and a clamping member respectively arranged on two sides of the conveying belt; wherein, the rotating member Driven by the motor, it rotates so that the cans sandwiched between the rotating member and the opposing clamping member are rotated in the same direction as they advance along the conveyor belt. The rotation of the cans generates centrifugal force, so that the contents of the cans are mixed evenly. The can sterilizing system of the present invention utilizes the can content dispersing device to disperse the can content evenly before sterilization, and eliminates or reduces the temperature difference between the contents in different areas above and below the can, thereby significantly improving the sterilizing effect.

Description

Dispersion device for canned food and canned food sterilization system

technical field

The invention relates to a can content dispersing device and a can sterilization system comprising the content dispersing device; wherein, the content dispersing device is suitable for dispersing the contents of cans with circular can storage containers, especially fruit cans.

Background technique

After the raw materials of canned food are pretreated, filled and sealed, they must be sterilized by heat. Taking the preparation of canned fruit as an example, it usually first fills the fruit pieces/grains at room temperature into a circular canning container such as a glass jar, and then injects soup (usually sugar solution, soup, etc.) into the canning container. Temperature is generally ≥ 82 ℃), sterilized after exhausting and sealing.

Usually, the distribution of fruit pieces/grains in the canning container after soup injection is not uniform, and more fruit pieces/grains will be distributed in the lower part of the container. As a result, there may be large temperature differences between the contents of different regions of the container. For example, the temperature of soup and fruit pieces/grains on the top of the can may reach 50-70°C, while the temperature of the fruit pieces/grains deposited on the bottom of the can may only be 18-32°C, which is not conducive to the uniform heat conduction of subsequent sterilization. In addition, in order to ensure the sterilization effect, the required sterilization time and/or sterilization temperature are usually calculated based on the minimum temperature of the can contents, which will easily cause excessive sterilization on the upper part of the can, which will not only affect the flavor of the product, but also cause the product to have a poor taste and hardness. one.

Chinese patent document CN201020563209.6 discloses a uniform temperature device used for high-temperature sterilization of cans, which includes a high-temperature tank for sterilization using high-temperature steam. Several rotating shafts are installed in the high-temperature tank, and a conveyor belt is arranged below the rotating shaft. Compress the conveyor belt, the conveyor belt drives the rotating shaft to rotate, and the rotation of the rotating shaft drives the cans placed between the two rotating shafts to turn over, so that all surfaces of the cans are heated evenly.

Chinese patent document CN201420777538.9 discloses a sterilizing device for canned oranges, which includes a sterilizer, a hot water tank, a condensed water tank, a heating pipe, a pushing device and a temperature alarm device. The water pipe is connected to the top of the sterilizer, and the heating pipe is coiled on the inner wall of the sterilizer. The pushing device connected with the motor is installed at the bottom of the sterilizing kettle. The canned oranges are turned over in the water body, so that the canned oranges are heated evenly to improve the sterilization effect.

However, in the above technical solutions, a corresponding mechanism is provided inside the sterilizing device, so that the cans are turned over during the sterilizing process. The disadvantages of this are: firstly, at the initial stage of sterilization, there will still be a problem of large temperature difference between the contents of different areas in the can; The actual temperature of the object is difficult to determine, resulting in the need to calculate the required sterilization time and/or temperature according to the lowest temperature of the canned contents before sterilization; moreover, because the corresponding mechanism is in a high-temperature and high-pressure environment, the material and manufacturing The requirements are very high, and there are defects that are difficult to maintain later.

In addition, cans using glass bottles and high-barrier plastic cups as canning containers are currently pasteurized by chain-plate continuous static sterilization devices, and the above-mentioned technical solutions cannot be applied to this static sterilization device.

In fact, what the above-mentioned patents are trying to solve is the problem of uniform heating of the can during the sterilization process, and it does not realize a series of defects caused by the temperature difference and uneven dispersion of the contents in different areas of the can before sterilization.

Contents of the invention

Aiming at the deficiencies of the prior art, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide a can content dispersing device, which is suitable for dispersing the content of cans with circular canning containers, especially fruit cans.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a can sterilization system that eliminates or reduces the temperature difference between the contents in different areas of the can and improves the uniformity of dispersion of the contents before sterilization.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned main purpose, the present invention provides a canned content dispersing device, including a conveyor belt mechanism, and a rotating member and a clamping member that are respectively arranged on both sides of the conveying belt; Driven to rotate, so that the cans clamped between the rotating member and the opposing clamping member rotate while advancing along the conveyor belt.

In the above technical solution, the cans advance along the conveying direction of the conveyor belt, and when they advance between the rotating member and the elastic member, they are clamped by the two, and the rotating member rotates under the drive of the motor, so that the rotating member and the clamping member are respectively Apply corresponding friction force to the can to drive it to rotate quickly, and the rotation of the can generates centrifugal force, which causes the contents of the can to swirl to drive the contents of different regions to mix with each other, so that the contents are evenly dispersed. Moreover, when there is a temperature difference between the contents of different areas of the can (such as a can that is to be sterilized after being ventilated and sealed), the swirling flow of the can contents will also eliminate or reduce the temperature difference between the contents of different areas of the can, making the contents of the can The minimum temperature of the product increases, thereby shortening the sterilization time and/or lowering the sterilization temperature, so as to avoid the deterioration of the product flavor and the hardness of the taste due to excessive sterilization.

In the above technical solution, due to the swirling flow of the contents of the can, the fruit pieces/grains have a more uniform degree of dispersion in the can, so there is no need for manual shaking before packaging. In contrast, if manual shaking is used to disperse the fruit pieces/grains evenly before packaging, at least 4 people are needed for each production line, and 40 people are needed per day based on 100 tons of products per day. It can be seen that adopting the solution of the present invention can save this part of manpower input, thereby significantly reducing production costs.

According to a specific embodiment of the present invention, the clamping member is configured to apply elastic pressure to the can. The elastic pressure applied to the can by the clamping member can buffer the impact between it and the can, and is more conducive to providing an appropriate friction force to the can, so that the can can maintain a smooth movement and avoid container fragmentation caused by rigid impact.

Wherein, the elastic pressure of the clamping member can come from the clamping member itself, for example, the clamping member itself or a part thereof is made of elastic material; or, an elastic member matched with the clamping member can be provided, and the elastic The deformation of the member provides elastic pressure to the clip member.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the clamping member includes a rigid body and an elastic pad disposed on a side of the rigid body close to the rotating member.

As another preferred embodiment of the present invention, one or more elastic buffer members are provided on the side of the clamping member away from the rotating member; wherein, the elastic buffer members may be, for example, springs.

In the above-mentioned technical solution, on the one hand, the elastic buffer member can better buffer the impact between the clip member and the can, and on the other hand, the compression degree of the elastic buffer member can be increased or reduced accordingly to The distance between the clamping member and the rotating member makes the can content dispersing device applicable to more cans with different external dimensions, so as to improve its versatility.

In the present invention, as an optional embodiment, the cans can be sandwiched by the rotating member and the conveyor belt mechanism relative to the side wall of the rotating member, so that the cans sandwiched between the rotating member and the side wall can be The rotation occurs under the drive of the friction force exerted by the two. Wherein, an elastic pad can also be provided on the side of the side wall close to the rotating member. That is to say, in the present invention, the clamping member may be the side wall of the conveyor belt mechanism relative to the rotating member.

According to another specific embodiment of the present invention, the rotating member is a rotating belt sheathed on a pair of rotating pulleys. This not only has the advantage of simple structure, but also can continuously apply frictional force to the can, so that the contents of the can can be better mixed and dispersed.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a transmission belt sleeved on a pair of transmission pulleys is set between the rotating belt and the motor; On the transmission shaft, and the diameter of the driven pulley of the transmission belt is smaller than the diameter of the driving pulley of the rotating belt, for example, the ratio of the diameter of the driven pulley of the driving belt to the diameter of the driving pulley of the rotating belt can be set to 1:2-5 . The advantage of this is that the linear speed of the rotating belt can be increased, thereby increasing the friction force applied to the can by the rotating belt, so that the can can be driven to rotate at an appropriate speed more easily.

As another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the moving direction of the rotating belt on the side contacting the cans is opposite to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt. In this way, the conveying speed of the cans clamped between the rotating belt and the opposing members will be reduced, so that the cans will be rotated more times when being conveyed between the rotating belt and the opposing members, so as to further improve the dispersion of the contents of the cans Effect.

In the present invention, the rotating belt can adopt various mechanical belts that can play a transmission role and apply friction to the cans such as V-belts, flat belts, synchronous belts, V-belts, parallel belts or ring-type plate belts. Wherein, both the rotating belt and the clamping member may have a certain width (for example, 2 cm to 10 cm), so as to form a larger contact surface with the can, thereby increasing the frictional force applied to the can. Wherein, the widths of the rotating belt and the clamping member may be the same or different.

In the present invention, as an optional embodiment, the rotating member may be one or more friction rollers, and the friction rollers may be arranged perpendicular to the conveyor belt so as to apply frictional force to the cans to drive the cans to rotate.

In order to achieve another object of the present invention, the present invention also provides a canned food sterilization system, which includes a sterilizing device, a canned food conveying device, and any of the above-mentioned canned content dispersing devices; wherein, the canned food conveying device is used for The canned food is transported from the canned content dispersing device to the sterilization device.

In the above technical solution, the sterilization device may be a pasteurization device, which is suitable for the sterilization of most canned fruits. In addition, other sterilizers such as high-pressure sterilizers may also be used depending on the applied sterilizer.

In the sterilizing system of the present invention, dispersing the contents of the can before sterilization can eliminate or reduce the temperature difference between the contents in different areas above and below the can, and make the contents of the can evenly dispersed, thereby shortening the sterilization time and/or reducing the Sterilization temperature, so as to avoid the deterioration of product flavor, loss of nutrients and different hardness of taste caused by over-sterilization.

In order to more clearly illustrate the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the structural representation of the preferred embodiment of canned food sterilization system of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the structure of the can contents dispersing device 30 in the can sterilization system of Fig. 1;

FIG. 3 is another structural perspective view of the can content dispersing device 30 in the can sterilization system of FIG. 1 .

detailed description

As shown in FIGS. 1-3 , the can sterilization system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a pasteurization device 10 , a can delivery device 20 and a can content dispersion device 30 . Wherein, the can conveying device 20 uses a conveyor belt to convey the cans C, and is connected to the sterilizing device 10 and the can content dispersing device 30 respectively, so as to convey the cans C to be sterilized to the sterilizing device 10 . in:

2 and 3 are perspective views of the structure of the can contents dispersing device 30 . Referring to Figures 2 and 3, the canned content dispersing device 30 includes a conveyor belt mechanism 32 supported by a support foot 31, the conveyor belt mechanism 32 includes a conveyor belt 321 and a first side wall 322 and a second wall respectively arranged on both sides of the conveyor belt 321. Two side walls 323 . It is easy to understand that the first side wall 322 and/or the second side wall 323 may extend to a position higher than the conveyor belt 321 . The canned content dispersing device 30 also includes a motor 34 fixed on the mounting plate 33, a transmission belt 353 sleeved on the first driving pulley 351 and the first driven pulley 352, and a transmission belt 353 sleeved on the second driving pulley 361. And the rotating belt 363 on the second driven pulley 362. In this embodiment, the rotating belt 363 is a synchronous belt or an endless belt.

Wherein, the mounting plate 33 is fixed on the first side wall 322 by the support frame 37; the first driving pulley 351 is arranged on the output shaft of the motor 38, and the first driven pulley 352 and the second driving pulley 361 are coaxially It is arranged on the first rotating shaft 371, and the second driven pulley 362 is arranged on the second rotating shaft 372; the first rotating shaft 371 and the second rotating shaft 372 are rotatably installed on the bearing blocks 331 and 332 of the mounting plate 33 superior. The rotating belt 363 is positioned at the first side wall 322 side of the conveyor belt 321, and is arranged parallel to the conveyor belt 321; the diameter of the first driven pulley 352 is less than the diameter of the second driving pulley 361, and the ratio of the two Roughly 1:2 to increase the linear velocity of the rotating belt 363 .

The side of the second side wall 323 of the conveyor belt 321 is opposite to the rotating belt 363 and is provided with a pressure guardrail 39 as a clamping member; the pressure guardrail 39 and the rotating belt 363 are arranged parallel to each other. Wherein, the pressure guardrail 39 is rigid substantially (that is, deformation does not occur substantially or its deformation can be ignored in the present invention), and the side of the pressure guardrail 39 near the rotating belt 363 has a silicone pad as an elastic pad The plate 391 is provided with a plurality of buffer springs 392 that can provide elastic pressure and buffer force to the pressure guardrail 39 on the side of the pressure guardrail 39 away from the rotating belt 363 . The compression degree of the buffer spring 392 is adjustable, so as to realize the adjustment of the distance between the pressure guardrail 39 and the rotating belt 363 .

When the can C is conveyed between the rotating belt 363 and the pressure guardrail 39, it is sandwiched by the rotating belt 363 and the pressure guardrail 39. Wherein, the rotating belt 363 rotates under the drive of the motor 38, and the moving direction of the rotating belt 343 on the side contacting the cans C is opposite to that of the conveyor belt 321, and the rotating belt 343 and the pressure guardrail 39 apply direction opposite to the cans C respectively. The frictional force drives the can C to rotate rapidly while advancing along the conveyer belt 321 .

It is easy to understand that in other embodiments of the present invention not shown in the figures, the moving direction of the rotating belt 343 on the side contacting the cans C can also be the same as the moving direction of the conveyor belt 321, but its linear speed is faster than that of the conveyor belt 321. speed. In addition, in other embodiments of the present invention not shown, the second side wall 323 can extend to a position higher than the conveyor belt 321, and at this time, the rotating belt 363 and the second side wall 323 can be used to realize the clamping of the cans C .

Take the canned oranges in syrup in a 256g heavy glass bottle as an example (wherein, by weight, syrup accounts for 30%, and orange fruit slices account for 70%). The exhaust is sealed, and then the sterilizing system of the present invention and the common sterilizing system as a comparative example are used to sterilize. Wherein, the common sterilizing system as a comparative example is the same as the sterilizing system of the present invention except that the canned contents dispersing device of the present invention is not included. The two kinds of sterilization systems adopt the existing continuous chain-plate water-bath sterilizer, and the discharge and operation modes of the cans in the continuous-chain-plate water-bath sterilizer are both upright and static.

Table 1 below shows the temperature distribution of the content of the cans in the above two sterilization systems before entering the sterilization machine and after the sterilization is completed, and gives the sensory quality of the orange fruit slices after sterilization. In Table 1, the upper temperature of the tank contents is the content temperature randomly measured in the uppermost 1/3 area of the tank, and the lower temperature of the tank content is the content randomly measured in the lowermost 1/3 area of the tank temperature. In fact, due to the high degree of packing of orange fruit pieces in the can, the lower contents of the can are essentially orange fruit pieces.

Table 1: the comparison of test results of bactericidal system of the present invention and common bactericidal system

It can be seen from the above table 1 that when using a common sterilization system, in most cases, the temperature of the upper content of the tank before sterilization is higher, while the temperature of the lower content is lower, the temperature difference between the two is large, and after sterilization, the two The temperature difference between them is still relatively high, which leads to the need to sterilize at a higher temperature of 92°C, and the upper fruit slices are soft due to over-sterilization. In addition, there was poor consistency in sensory quality of fruit slices between different cans.

In contrast, with the sterilization system of the present invention, the temperature consistency of the contents in the tank before and after sterilization is very high, and sterilization can be performed at a lower temperature of 90°C. The sterilized fruit slices not only have hardness, but also have consistent taste. In addition, the consistency of organoleptic quality of the fruit slices between different cans was very good.

It should be noted that although the sterilization temperature of the two sterilization systems seems to differ only by 2°C, since the orange fruit slices are very soft, a temperature difference of 2°C is enough to have a very large impact on the firmness of the fruit slices.

Although the present invention has been described above through preferred embodiments, it should be understood that, within the scope of the present invention, those of ordinary skill in the art, all equivalent improvements made according to the present invention should be covered by the protection scope of the present invention .

Claims (10)

1. A device for distributing canned food content, comprising a conveyor belt mechanism, and a rotating member and a clamping member respectively arranged on both sides of the conveying belt; wherein, the rotating member rotates under the drive of a motor to The pair of cans clamped between the rotating member and the opposing member is rotated while advancing along the conveyor belt. 2. The can contents dispersing device according to claim 1, wherein the clamping member is configured to apply elastic pressure to the can. 3. The device for distributing canned contents according to claim 2, wherein the clamping member comprises a rigid body and an elastic pad disposed on a side of the rigid body close to the rotating member. 4. The device for distributing canned contents according to claim 2, wherein one or more elastic buffer members are provided on a side of the clamping member away from the rotating member. 5. The device for distributing canned contents according to claim 4, wherein the elastic buffer member is a spring. 6. The canned contents dispersing device according to claim 1, wherein the rotating member is a rotating belt sheathed on a pair of rotating pulleys. 7. The device for distributing canned food contents as claimed in claim 6, wherein a transmission belt sleeved on a pair of transmission pulleys is provided between the rotating belt and the motor; the driven pulley of the transmission belt It is coaxially arranged on the same transmission shaft as the driving pulley of the rotating belt, and the diameter of the driven pulley of the driving belt is smaller than that of the driving pulley of the rotating belt. 8. The device for distributing canned contents as claimed in claim 6, wherein the moving direction of the rotating belt on the side contacting the cans is opposite to the conveying direction of the conveying belt. 9. A can sterilizing system, comprising a sterilizing device, a can conveying device and a can content dispersing device according to any one of claims 1 to 8; wherein, the can conveying device is used to transfer the cans to be sterilized from the The can contents dispersing unit is delivered to the sterilizing unit. 10. The canned food sterilization system according to claim 9, wherein said sterilization device is a pasteurization device.