JP3153964B2 - Tank equipment for processing soybeans - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tank apparatus for treating soybeans which can be suitably used, for example, when swelling a raw soybean by immersing it in water in a tofu production process.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When producing tofu, raw soybeans must first be immersed in water for several hours to swell, and then subjected to a series of steps such as mechanical grinding, boiling, filtration and coagulation. .

In the first swelling step, soybeans are put into a tank having a discharge valve at the bottom, and then water is added until the tank is almost full, and the soybeans are swelled until the volume of the soybeans becomes about 2.5 times. It is to let. The tank used at this time is a tank having a capacity of several hundred liters or more,
In order that the soybean after swelling can be easily discharged, the bottom portion is usually tapered loosely toward the central discharge valve.

[0004]

According to the prior art, it is possible to avoid the problem that the soybean after swelling causes a bridging phenomenon inside the tank and the soybean cannot be discharged at all even if the discharge valve is opened. Did not. Soybeans
This is because the swelling causes the solids to firmly adhere to each other, so that they behave as if they are an integral solid inside the tank. Also, soy swelling in this way is
Since a large internal pressure is applied to the peripheral wall of the tank, it is not rare that in the worst case, the peripheral wall of the tank is cracked and the tank is destroyed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a screw inside the tank in consideration of the problems of the prior art, so that the discharge of soybean after swelling is extremely smooth and the tank may be broken. An object of the present invention is to provide a tank device for treating soybeans and the like, which does not have any components.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a tank having a discharge valve and a water inlet at the bottom, and a screw rotatably erected at the center of the tank. The gist of the invention is to rotate the screw in a direction from the bottom to the top in the transport direction.

The tank may have a rectangular cross section.

[0008]

With this structure, the soybean can be swelled by closing the discharge valve, charging the soybean into the tank, and injecting water from the water injection port. Or, start the operation immediately after the completion of water injection. Here, since the rotation direction of the screw is a direction in which the conveyance direction is from bottom to top, the soybean is stirred so as to circulate from the bottom together with water and swells while constantly floating in water. Therefore, the occurrence of the bridge phenomenon can be effectively prevented. The water is
At the beginning of rotation, the screw only needs a very small rotational torque, since it acts to lift the soybeans up when the water is injected through the bottom water inlet. Further, even during the swelling, the water is continuously injected while being squeezed to an appropriate flow rate and overflowed from the upper portion, whereby garbage and the like separated from soybeans can be discharged to the outside. In addition, in this invention, "soybean etc." shall mean beans, such as a soybean.

If the tank has a rectangular cross section, a large number of the tanks can be closely attached and arranged side by side to eliminate an intermediate dead space when forming a large-capacity apparatus. Can be planned.

[0010]

Embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

A tank device for treating soybeans and the like is provided with a tank 10
A screw 20 is erected upright inside (FIG. 1).

The tank 10 is a tank having a circular cross section made of an arbitrary structural material such as metal or plastic, and has a bottom 10a formed in a funnel shape and a discharge port 1 in the center.
1 is formed. The discharge port 11 is provided with a discharge valve 11a that can be opened and closed from the outside.

A water inlet 12 is further formed at the bottom 10a of the tank 10 (FIGS. 1 and 2). The water inlet 12 is open to the bottom 10a via a box-shaped reservoir 12a, and the reservoir 12a is covered by a lightly curved mesh plate 12b so as to form substantially the same surface as the bottom 10a. Have been done.

An overflow outlet 13 with a mesh plate 13a is formed at the upper part of the tank 10, and an outward flange 14 is formed at the upper end edge of the tank 10.
Further, a pipe 15 having water jet holes 15a, 15a,... However, the pipe 15 is assumed to be connected to a water supply source (not shown).
a, 15a... are opened obliquely downward with respect to the pipe 15 at an angle of about 45 degrees.

The screw 20 has a fixed pitch torsion blade 22 mounted around a shaft 21, and both ends of the shaft 21 are rotatably supported via bearings 23, 23.

The upper bearing 23 is attached to a support member 24 which crosses the tank 10 (FIGS. 1 and 3). The support member 24 is screwed to the flange 14 of the tank 10 via brackets 24a, 24a,.
The lower bearing 23 is fixed directly above the discharge port 11 via legs 23a, 23a... (FIGS. 1 and 4). However,
The lower bearing 23 has the rotor 2 inside the bearing case 23b.
3c is fitted from above to assemble the rotor 2
3c is fixed to the lower end of the shaft 21 of the screw 20. The rotor 23c can slide and rotate inside the bearing case 23b.

A drive motor 25 with a speed reducer 25a is mounted on the support member 24 (FIGS. 1 and 3).
5 is connected to the shaft 21 of the screw 20 via a sprocket 25b, a chain 25c, and a sprocket 21a.

In this apparatus, first, the discharge valve 11a is closed, and the raw material soybean is put into the tank 10 to about a little less than half, and then water is injected through the water injection port 12. Water shall be filled until the tank 10 is full, and after that,
Spillage water is caused to flow out of the overflow outlet 13 while injecting an appropriate flow rate by a flow control valve (not shown).

After the water is injected, the drive motor 25 is started, and the screw 20 is moved so that the transport direction is from bottom to top.
(In the direction of arrow K in FIG. 4), the screw 20
Can stir the soybeans in the tank 10 together with water from the bottom up, so that the soybeans are left for a predetermined time. Soybeans swell with water and have a volume of about 2.
Although it is five times as large, during this time, since the water is circulated so as to float in the tank 10 with a large amount of water at all times, there is no possibility of exhibiting a bridge phenomenon. Then, after a lapse of a predetermined time, the water is discharged through the water inlet 12, and then the discharge valve 11a is opened, soybean can be discharged smoothly. At this time, if water is jetted from the water jet holes 15a, 15a,.
The soybeans adhering to the inside of 0 can also be discharged in such a way as to be washed out neatly.

The tank 10 has an inner diameter of 1340 m.
m, height of cylindrical part 1650mm, height of bottom 10a 265m
m, when using a circular tank with an internal volume of about 2400 liters, the screw 20
mm, the pitch is 80 mm, and when operating at about 8.5 rpm,
The best results were obtained. If the rotation of the screw 20 is too low, a bridging phenomenon may occur. On the other hand, if the rotation is too high, not only will the soybeans be damaged, but also the required power will be large, which is uneconomical. Generally, the taper of the bottom portion 10a is preferably about 20 degrees with respect to the horizontal.

[0021]

[Other Embodiments] The tank 10 has a rectangular cross section (FIG. 5).
The bottom is four triangular flat plates 10a1, 10a1 ...
And four connecting plates 10a2, 10a2 curved inward.
(FIGS. 6 and 7). When the water or the soybeans in the tank 10 are stirred by the screw 20, the possibility that a blind spot in which the soybeans do not flow can be effectively eliminated.

Further, a plurality of tanks 10 can be arranged in close contact with a suitable base (FIG. 5).
The side walls of adjacent tanks 10, 10 can be shared. Since there is no dead space between the tanks 10 and 10, a large-capacity processing apparatus can be easily constructed with a minimum installation floor area.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, by disposing a screw in a tank and rotating the screw so that the transport direction is from bottom to top,
Since soybeans and the like put into the tank circulate up and down together with water and swell while floating in the water, it is possible to effectively prevent a bridge phenomenon from occurring in the tank,
Therefore, there is an excellent effect that it is possible to completely eliminate a possibility that an accident such as discharge of soybeans or the like becomes impossible or a tank is broken. There is also a practical effect that the swelling of soybeans can be made extremely uniform.

[0024]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 Overall configuration diagram

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view corresponding to the view taken along line XX of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged explanatory view of a main part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory plan view showing another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line YY of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Tank 10a ... Bottom part 11a ... Discharge valve 12 ... Water inlet 20 ... Screw

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A tank having a discharge valve and a water inlet at a bottom portion, and a screw rotatably erected at a central portion of the tank, wherein the screw is arranged so that a conveying direction is from bottom to top. A tank device for treating soybeans or the like, which is rotated. 2. The tank device for treating soybeans or the like according to claim 1, wherein the tank has a rectangular cross section.