JPH01134187A - Conveyor type refrigeration method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To equally perform the cooling of an object to be frozen so as to prevent the occurrence of unevenness in freezing, by letting equal low- temperature brine flow in contact with the bottom of a conveyor belt which travels, carrying the object to be frozen, so as to perform the cooling of the object to be frozen. CONSTITUTION: A brine vessel 4 is arranged, in contact with the bottom of a belt 3 and in the travel direction of the belt 3, under an endless steel belt 3 laid between the drive roller 1 and the driven roller 2 of a belt conveyor. This brine vessel 4 is provided with a plurality of partition plates 6 in roughly parallel with the travel direction of the belt 3 so as to form a plurality of brine passages 7, and brine is let flow equally to cool the belt 3 equally, and cool the object 16 put on the belt 3. Hereby, the object to be frozen can be cooled equally, so unevenness in freezing of the object to be frozen does not occur.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a conveyor-type freezing method in which a low-temperature brine is brought into contact with the lower surface of a conveyor belt to cool or freeze frozen foods or the like.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a conveyor belt is conveyed in and out of a freezing chamber, a brine tank is provided below the conveyor belt, and low-temperature brine is brought into contact with the r side of the belt.

A conveyor-type freezing method is known in which food to be frozen, etc., is rapidly cooled in a freezer compartment through an entrance outside the freezer compartment, and the cooled or frozen food is taken out from an exit outside the freezer compartment on the opposite side. .

In such conventional refrigeration methods, the lower surface of the conveyor belt is cooled by blowing low-temperature brine onto the r-side of the belt from a nozzle in a prine tank.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the freezing method described in LZ, it is difficult to uniformly inject low-temperature briquettes onto the bottom surface of the conveyor belt using a nozzle.
Since there is uneven cooling on the belt surface, there is a problem that the cooling or freezing of the food grains placed on the belt to be frozen becomes uneven, and the cooling or freezing speed is not uniform.

The present invention was developed in order to solve such conventional problems, and it is possible to uniformly freeze the frozen food items on the conveyor belt, and to avoid uneven cooling or freezing speed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a conveyor-type refrigeration method that does not require

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the conveyor type freezing method according to the present invention has the following features:
It is characterized by forming a uniform flow of low-temperature brine on the surface side, and bringing this uniform flow of low-temperature brine into contact with the lower surface of the conveyor belt to freeze the object.

[Operation] The conveyor belt is uniformly cooled by the uniform flow of low-temperature brine that contacts the bottom surface of the conveyor belt, so
There will be no uneven freezing of the items to be frozen.

[Example] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

The conveyor-type refrigeration method according to the present invention includes a brine tank in which a uniform brine flow is formed below the rotating conveyor belt, and almost the entire lower surface of the conveyor belt is brought into contact with the uniform brine flow. This is used to cool or freeze objects placed on a conveyor belt, such as foods to be frozen.

Next, a conveyor type freezing method to which the present invention is applied will be explained.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of this refrigeration system.

In the same figure, a driving roller 1 and a driven roller 2 of a belt conveyor are shown.
An endless steel belt 3 is passed between the rollers 1.2 and the rollers 1.2 are provided, for example, outside the freezer compartment.
The steel belt 3 is designed to transport the food inside and outside the freezer. Further, a cooler (not shown) disposed above the steel belt 3 blows cold air onto the belt 3.

A brine tank 4 is disposed below the steel bell l-3 in contact with the lower surface of the belt 3 in the running direction of the belt 3. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, this brine tank 4 with an open top is provided with a plurality of partition plates 8 substantially parallel to the running direction of the belt 3 on the formed plate 5 to form a plurality of brine passages 7. ing. The depth of these brine passages 7 is
For example, it is formed to have a thickness of about 5 to 15 m.

Also, is there a brine passageway on the left and right of Brine 4PJ4? When the steel belt 3, which is wider than the width between the edges of the side grooves 8.8, runs through the brine tank 4-A, the brine filled in these sides IJ18.8 is provided. acts to seal the gap between the lower surface of the belt and the upper edge of the brine tank.

Further, before and after the brine tank 4, a groove 9 is provided across the width at the front end of the belt 3 in the running direction, and a discharge groove I is provided at the rear end.
O is provided at the @ crossing. A discharge nozzle 11 stands up in the groove 8, and the number of discharge nozzles 11 is equal to the number of brine passages 7, for example.

Note that the discharge groove 10 is connected to the side groove 8.8.

The plurality of discharge nozzles 11 are respectively connected to discharge pipes 13 of the brine cooler 12. A liquid pump 14 is provided in the middle of the discharge pipe 13, and the other end of the suction pipe 15 of the brine cooler 12 is connected to the discharge groove IO.

As a result, the low-temperature brine cooled by the brine cooler 12 is sent out by the liquid feed pump 14 and blown out from the discharge hole 11, and a uniform flow of brine is created in the plurality of brine passages 7 in the opposite direction to the running direction of the belt 3. □ will be formed in the direction. This uniform flow of brine uniformly contacts the lower surface of the running steel belt 3 and cools the belt 3, thereby cooling or freezing the frozen object IB such as the frozen food placed on the belt 3-H. The brine discharged from the brine passage 7 to the discharge groove IO is returned to the brine cooler 12 through the suction pipe 15, cooled again, and circulated.

In this way, in the refrigeration equipment to which the conveyor type refrigeration method of the present invention is applied, the brine passage 7 is provided under the steel belt 3 to form a uniform flow of brine, and this uniform flow of brine is brought into contact with the lower surface of the belt 3. Therefore, the belt 3 can be cooled evenly.

Therefore, the object to be frozen 16 carried on the steel belt 3 can be uniformly cooled or frozen.
There is no unevenness in cooling or freezing speed.

In addition, in the brine passage 7 between the partition plates 6, 6, grooves made of fine irregularities may be formed in the longitudinal direction of the partition plates.

Furthermore, the flow direction of the low-temperature brine is not limited to the direction opposite to the belt 3, but may be in any other direction.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained below, according to the present invention, a uniform flow of low-temperature brine is formed on the lower surface side of the conveyor belt that conveys the frozen object, so that the brine comes into contact with Im below the belt. This allows the conveyor belt to cool evenly.

Therefore, the object to be frozen on the conhair belt can be uniformly cooled or frozen, and there is no unevenness in cooling or freezing rate as in the conventional method.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conveyor-type refrigeration system to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a brine tank used in the above-mentioned conveyor-type refrigeration system, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line m-■ in FIG. Fourth
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line ■--■ in FIG. 2. In the figure: 10 driving roller 21 driven roller 3 steel belt 5... flat plate 6 fist/partition plate 71 brine passage 8 m grooves

Claims (1)

[Claims] It is characterized by forming a uniform flow of low-temperature brine on the lower surface of a conveyor belt running with objects to be frozen, and bringing this uniform flow of low-temperature brine into contact with the lower surface of the conveyor belt to freeze the objects. A conveyor-type freezing method.