JP2003164706A - Deaerator - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a deaerator capable of degassing a raw water containing solid small particles and preventing a loss of an aromatic component of the raw water and further capable of suppressing the bubbling of a product after the deaeration. <P>SOLUTION: In the deaerator that removes bubbles in the raw water by jetting the raw water from the opening installed at the upper part of a vacuum vessel which is in vacuum and discharges the product collected at the bottom of the vacuum vessel in which bubbles have been removed, the deaerator is characterized by being provided with a cascade valve which is installed at the opening and the valve disc of which is in the form of a circular cone projecting upward to the opening and which jetts the raw water in thin film state toward the inner wall surface of the vacuum vessel. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a deaerator for removing dissolved gases such as gas and air from supplied raw water. 2. Description of the Related Art In order to remove (deaerate) a gas contained in raw water or a dissolved gas such as air, a deaerator is used. As a deaerator, a method is often employed in which raw water is atomized through a sprayer such as a spray nozzle and sprayed under a reduced-pressure atmosphere to deaerate. That is, raw water is injected from the upper part of a vertically long cylindrical decompression container (tank) in which the inside is decompressed by a vacuum pump, atomized (particulated) by a spray nozzle, and dispersed in the decompression container. Degas by evaporating gas or air. The degassed fine particles are dropped and accumulated in the lower part of the decompression container to be a product. The product is discharged from the decompression container by a product discharge pump and supplied to the next step, for example, a filling step of the container. [0003] However, the conventional degassing apparatus uses a spray nozzle as a sprayer, and if solid particles such as fruits, fibers and tea leaves are mixed in raw water, the spray nozzle may be clogged. Therefore, it is not possible to deaerate raw water containing these solid small particles. [0004] In addition, the moving speed of bubbles in the liquid decreases as the viscosity of the liquid increases, and in the conventional spray nozzle method, the particle diameter of atomized droplets increases as the viscosity of raw water increases. Bubbles are difficult to move to the surface and degassing performance is poor. Also, when the droplet becomes large, the droplet is destroyed,
Aroma components are separated. Since the fragrance component has a low evaporation point, it is evaporated and lost with degassing under reduced pressure. Furthermore, because a part of the fine particles that are atomized and floating in the decompression container are sucked by the vacuum pump and exhausted to the atmosphere,
Raw water (product) is discharged together with the aroma components originally possessed, resulting in a reduction in product value. [0005] Furthermore, the fine particles sprayed and degassed from the spray nozzle fall onto the product stored in the lower part of the decompression container, and at this time, when the product surface is wavy, the product is likely to foam. Generates many bubbles. This generated foam has many problems, such as obstructing the filling of the product into the container. The problem to be solved by the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and enables the degassing of raw water containing small solid particles and the aroma of raw water. It is an object of the present invention to provide a deaerator capable of preventing loss of components and suppressing foaming of a product after deaeration. [0007] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for spraying raw water from an opening provided at an upper portion of a depressurized container in a depressurized state, thereby forming bubbles and moisture in the raw water. In the deaerator for removing the air bubbles and water and removing the product accumulated in the lower part of the depressurized container, the degassing device is provided at the opening, and the valve body is a cone that is upwardly convex with respect to the opening. A cascade valve is formed, which has a shape and injects the raw water in a thin film toward the inner wall surface of the decompression container. Raw water is injected radially obliquely downward along the upper surface of the conical valve body of the cascade valve from the opening into the decompression vessel in a decompressed state, and decompresses in a thin film shape according to the opening of the cascade valve. It reaches the inner wall of the container. Since the cascade valve is opened with an annular gap between the valve element and the opening, the clogging can be prevented even when solid small particles such as small fibers and tea leaves are mixed in the raw water. Never wake up. This makes it possible to deaerate products and high-viscosity liquids containing small fibers, fruits, particles, solids and the like. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a deaerator according to the present invention. The deaerator 1 includes a vertically long cylindrical decompression container (tank) 2, a raw water supply passage 3 for supplying raw water into the decompression container 2, a raw water A cascade valve 4 provided at an opening of the supply passage 3 in the depressurized container 2, a vacuum pump 5 for sucking air in the depressurized container 2 and exhausting the air to the atmosphere to reduce the pressure in the depressurized container 2, a depressurized container 2 A product dispensing pump 6 for dispensing the product accumulated in the lower part of the fragrance component, a fragrance component recovery mechanism 7 for collecting the fragrance component evaporated from the raw water at the time of degassing and re-adding the fragrance component to the product,
And passages 8 to 12 connecting them. The degree of decompression (absolute pressure) in the decompression container can be appropriately selected from the range of usually 1,000 Pa or more and 10,000 Pa or less depending on the type of raw water, and 1,000 Pa or more for milk.
2,000Pa, 10,000Pa-5 for fruit juice
000Pa, 25,000Pa-8 for tea
10,000 Pa for 10,000 Pa and soft drinks
60,000 Pa is preferred. The raw water supply passage 3 has one side 3a bent substantially L-shaped, penetrates the center of the upper surface of the decompression vessel 2 in a liquid-tight manner, protrudes into the decompression vessel 2 and is opened downward, and the other side is not opened. It is connected to the raw water supply tank shown. The cascade valve 4 is for injecting raw water into the decompression vessel 2 in a thin film form, and a conical valve body 15 is provided in the opening 3b of the raw water supply passage 3 as shown in FIG. The valve element 15 has a larger apex angle, an outer diameter larger than the opening 3b, a conical valve surface 15a protruding (upwardly projecting) toward the opening 3b, and a top having an opening 3b. It is located at the center of. The valve shaft 16 passes through the center of one side 3 a of the raw water supply passage 3, one end is fixed to the top of the valve body 15, and the other end is
It protrudes outside so as to be slidable in a liquid-tight and axial direction from the bent portion a and is connected to a valve control device, for example, a solenoid 17. [0010] The solenoid 17 is connected to the valve body 1 in accordance with the amount of electricity.
5 to control the valve opening. That is, the solenoid 17
When the power is not supplied, the valve body 15 is pressed against the opening 3b and closed by the spring force of the built-in spring.
When energized, the valve body 15 is pushed out and opened according to the energized amount against the spring force of the spring. The intake passage 8 is disposed vertically along the decompression container 2, the upper portion is bent horizontally, and the lower portion is bent vertically downward to open and communicate with the upper surface of the decompression container 2. I have. One end (upper end) of the intake passage 9 is connected to a lower portion of the vertical portion 8 a of the intake passage 8, and the other end is connected to an intake port of the vacuum pump 5. One end of the product discharge passage 10 is connected to the depressurized container 2 so as to be open at the center of the bottom of the vacuum container 2, and the other end is connected to a suction port of the product discharge pump 6. Product supply passage 11
Has one end connected to the discharge port of the product discharge pump 6,
The other end is connected to, for example, a filling device (not shown) in the next step. The fragrance component recovery mechanism 7 includes a fragrance component recovery passage 12 and a cooler 13. The aroma component recovery passage 12
One end (upper end) is the lower end 8b of the vertical portion 8a of the intake passage 8,
The other end (lower end) is connected in communication with the product discharge passage 10 at a position lower than the connection portion with the intake passage 9. The cooler 13 has a double cylindrical shape and is concentrically and liquid-tightly mounted outside the lower portion of the vertical portion 8a of the intake passage 8, and has a cooling water inlet 13a at a lower end and a cooling water outlet 1 at an upper end.
3b is provided. The cooler 13 cools the lower part of the vertical portion 8 a of the intake passage 8 by introducing cooling water, and
The fragrance component is liquefied from a mixture of the air sucked into the intake passage 8 from the air and the fragrance component evaporated from the raw water, separated from the air, and collected. The collected fragrance component is re-added to the product in the product discharge passage 10 through the fragrance component collection passage 12. The operation will be described below. As shown in FIG. 1, the pressure inside the decompression container 2 is reduced by the vacuum pump 5 sucking the air inside, the cascade valve 4 is controlled to a predetermined valve opening position, and the valve body 15 is slightly moved from the opening 3b. Separated. The raw water 20 supplied to the raw water supply passage 3 is
As shown by arrows in FIG. 2 and FIG.
5 is radially sprayed obliquely downward along a valve surface (upper surface) 15a forming a conical surface as a waterfall, and has a thickness d according to the valve opening amount.
(Hereinafter referred to as “thin film raw water 21”) and reaches the vertical inner wall surface 2 a of the decompression container 2. Since the cascade valve 4 is opened with a slight annular gap between the valve body 15 and the opening end 3b, solid small particles 22 such as small fibers and tea leaves are mixed into the raw water 20. Clogging does not occur. This makes it possible to deaerate products and high-viscosity liquids containing small fibers, fruits, particles, solids and the like. Further, since the raw water 20 is sprayed in the form of a thin film into the depressurized container 2, the destruction of particles as in a conventional spray nozzle is prevented, and the emission of aroma components is greatly reduced.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the scent component from entraining on the suction side. Further, since the raw water 20 is sprayed as the raw water 21 in the form of a thin film, as shown in FIG. 3, the distance over which the internal bubbles 23 move to the surface is shortened, and the deaeration is greatly improved. The aroma component contained in the raw water 20 is as follows:
Since the evaporation point is low, it is easy to evaporate, and a part of it evaporates and floats in the decompression container 2. The floating aroma components are sucked into the intake passage 8 together with the air degassed by the vacuum pump 5, and move downward in the vertical portion 8a. The lower portion of the vertical portion 8a is cooled by the cooler 13, so that the vaporized fragrance component is liquefied again and separated from the air, dropped and collected in the fragrance component collection passage 12, and only the air is sucked. The air is exhausted to the atmosphere through the passage 9. The product sprayed and deaerated in the form of a thin film flows down the inner wall surface 2a of the depressurized container 2 and accumulates in the lower part. Then, since the degassed product is poured along the inner wall surface 2a to the degassed product stored in the lower portion of the decompression container 2, even the foaming product does not foam. This makes it possible to fill the container with the product in the filling device. The product stored in the lower part of the decompression container 2 is discharged by the product discharge pump 6 through the product discharge passage 10, and the fragrance component separated and recovered is added in the middle of the product discharge passage 10. Thereby, the fragrance component of the product is secured, and the quality of the product is secured. As a result, products containing small fibers such as fruit juice, tea products, coffee products and dairy products, fruits, particles, solids, etc., which were practically impossible with conventional deaerators, ketchup, etc. Of the highly viscous liquid can be degassed. As described above, according to the present invention,
Raw water is sprayed from an opening provided at the upper part of the depressurized container in a depressurized state to remove bubbles and moisture in the raw water, and the products from which the bubbles and moisture are removed and accumulated in the lower part of the depressurized container are removed. In the outgassing device, by providing a cascade valve for injecting the raw water in a thin film toward the inner wall surface of the decompression vessel in the opening, small fibers and small solid particles such as tea leaves are provided in the raw water. Even if mixed, it does not cause clogging, and degassing of products containing small fibers such as fruit juice, tea products, coffee products, dairy products, fruits, particles, solids, and highly viscous liquids. It becomes possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing one embodiment of a deaerator according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the cascade valve shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of bubbles in raw water injected in a thin film form from the cascade valve shown in FIG. 1; [Description of Signs] 1 Deaerator 2 Decompression vessel 3 Raw water supply passage 4 Cascade valve 5 Vacuum pump 6 Product delivery pump 7 Aroma component recovery mechanism 8, 9 Intake passage 10 Product delivery passage 11 Product supply passage 12 Aroma component recovery passage 13 Cooler 15 Cascade valve valve element 16 Valve shaft 17 Solenoid (valve control device) 20 Raw water 21 Thin raw water 22 Solid small particles 23 Bubbles

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A raw water is jetted from an opening provided at an upper part of a depressurized container in a depressurized state to remove bubbles in the raw water, and the air bubbles are removed to reduce the pressure of the depressurized container. In the degassing device for discharging the product accumulated in the lower part, provided in the opening, the valve body has a conical shape that is upwardly convex with respect to the opening, and directs the raw water toward the inner wall surface of the decompression container. A degassing device comprising a cascade valve for spraying a thin film.