JP3366384B2 - Tea raw material steaming equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tea raw material steaming apparatus for steaming tea raw materials such as dokudami leaves to make the tea raw materials steamed. [0002] Tea is used all over the world for edible, medicinal, drinking purposes and the like. Typical examples thereof include green tea (unfermented tea) and black tea (fermented tea) due to differences in processing methods. ), Oolong tea (semi-fermented tea) and the like. Recently, the role of tea as a functional beverage has been reviewed in response to the health boom,
Various types of tea beverages have been developed with the aim of diversifying tastes and improving functional components. [0003] Among such tea drinks, "dokudami tea", which is made from the medicinal herb dokudami, is particularly attracting attention as a promising health drink because of its refreshing taste and effectiveness of functional components. By the way, since dokudami has a kind of peculiar odor and bitterness, it is necessary to extract the active ingredients contained in leaves and stems while removing this peculiar smell and bitterness when producing dokudami tea. It was not easy to remove the bitter ingredients. [0004] Accordingly, among the currently available dokudami tea, roasted roasted tea is obtained by cutting the raw material of dokudami tea appropriately and roasting it, or by drying the raw leaves and stems of the dokudami. Many of them were just dried or simply dried dokudami tea ingredients, which made drinking difficult. In addition, there are many blends of other teas such as barley tea and brown rice tea. However, in this case, the taste and smell are relatively hard to be sensed, and have not been a fundamental solution. [0005] Therefore, in order to remove the odor and bitter component peculiar to Dokudami, the Dodami leaf and stem are mixed at a predetermined ratio to produce a Dodami tea raw material, and the Dodami tea raw material is cut into a predetermined fineness. Dokudami tea raw material is immersed in hot water at a predetermined temperature to add a certain amount of moisture to the Dokudami tea raw material. In addition, a method for producing dokudami tea has been proposed in which roasted heat-dried dokudami tea raw material is produced to produce dokudami tea. [0006] In this method of producing dokudami tea, a prescribed moisture is contained in the dokudami tea raw material by immersing the cut dokudami tea raw material in hot water at a predetermined temperature. [0007] However, there is a problem that when tea materials such as Dokudami tea are immersed in hot water, a part of the active ingredient may leak from the tea materials. Was. An object of the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and to prevent leakage of an active ingredient when water is contained in a tea raw material, and to more effectively extract an active ingredient contained in the tea raw material. It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for steaming tea raw materials. [0008] The object of the present invention is to provide a mesh-shaped mounting surface on which a tea material is mounted, and to transfer the tea material on the mounting surface by moving the mounting surface. And a predetermined gap is formed between the transfer means and the placing surface, and a predetermined gap is formed between the transferring means and the placing surface, and the tea raw material on the placing surface is passed through the predetermined gap. Leveling means, having a mesh-like facing surface that is spaced apart from and parallel to the placing surface, and the tea raw material that has passed through the leveling means is sandwiched between the placing surface and the facing surface. A holding unit that moves in the same direction as the placement surface, and the supplied steam is jetted toward the tea raw material sandwiched between the placement surface and the facing surface, and the steam is used as the tea raw material. Steam jetting means for putting the steam into a steaming state, and installed below the placing surface, wherein the steam drops from the bathed tea raw material. And a storage means for storing excess water. According to the present invention, the tea raw material placed and transferred on the mesh-like placing surface by the transfer means is placed close to and between the placing surface and the placing surface. The leveling means is passed through leveling means to form a predetermined gap, the leveled tea raw material, the mounting surface and the opposing surface by a holding means having a mesh-shaped opposing surface separated from the mounting surface and fed in parallel Moved in the same direction as the placement surface between the placement surface and the steam supply means, and further ejects the steam supplied by the steam ejection means toward the tea raw material sandwiched between the placement surface and the opposite surface,
Steam steamed tea ingredients to make them steamed. [0010] The excess water falling from the steamed tea raw material is accommodated by accommodating means provided below the mounting surface. An apparatus for steaming tea raw materials according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. A tea raw material steaming apparatus 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a belt conveyor (transfer means) 11 which is composed of leaves and stems and transfers tea raw materials S which are various tea raw materials, and a leveling roller for leveling the tea raw materials S. (Leveling means) 12 and tea raw material S
Belt (holding means) 13 for holding and moving the steam, a steam jetting device (steam jetting means) 14 for pouring steam on the tea raw material S to make it in a steaming state, and suction for containing excess water falling from the tea raw material S Device (accommodating means) 15. The belt conveyor 11 has an annular belt 18 stretched between both belt wheels 17a and 17b disposed at both ends of a support base 16, and has a belt upper surface (mounting surface) 1
A tea raw material S is placed on 8a. The belt 18 is made of a mesh net (for example, No. 60) on which the tea raw material S can be placed without dropping from the mesh (see FIG. 2).
7a, 17b, it is located on the upper surface of the support base 16, and
It is held in a freely circulating manner via both belt wheels 17 c and 17 d below the support base 16 and the transmission unit 19. The belt 18 moves on the support 16 from the belt wheel 17a toward the belt wheel 17b by transmitting the driving force of the drive motor 20 to the transmission portion 19 (see arrow p). The tea material S on the belt upper surface 18a is transferred to the steam ejection device 14 by the movement. The leveling rollers 12 are formed of cylindrical bodies that can rotate about the vertical axis, and are arranged in parallel with a slight distance from each other along the belt upper surface 18a. Further, it is arranged close to the belt upper surface 18a, and forms a gap (predetermined gap) d between the leveling roller 12 and the belt upper surface 18a. The gap d has a separation distance that can adjust the tea raw material S to a desired height (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Further, as shown in FIG.
On the outer peripheral surface 12a, five grooves 21 along the longitudinal axis are formed at substantially equal intervals. The groove 21 has a shape that expands from the center in the longitudinal direction of the leveling roller 12 toward the periphery such that both ends have the maximum width and the center has the minimum width. The groove 21 may not be provided depending on the state of the leveling target. The leveling roller 12 rotates around the vertical axis by transmitting the driving force of the driving motor 20 to the transmission section 19 (see the arrow), so that the leveling roller 12 is transferred to the belt 18 and passes through the gap d. The tea material S to be spread is spread and adjusted to a certain height, and is leveled on the belt upper surface 18a. The holding belt 13 is a pair of belt wheels 23 installed along the belt 18 and spaced apart upward.
a and 23b, which are formed by the same mesh mesh as the belt 18, and which are driven by both belt wheels 23a and 23b.
(See FIG. 1) via two belt wheels 23c and 23d arranged above the first wheel (see FIG. 1). A guide plate 24 is provided substantially parallel to the belt 18 between the belt wheels 23a and 23b, and the holding belt 13 is passed along the lower surface of the guide plate 24. The sandwiching belt 13 is arranged in the upper cover 25, and moves from the belt wheel 23 a to the belt wheel 23 b almost in parallel with the belt 18 by transmitting the driving force of the driving motor 20 to the transmission unit 19. (Arrow q
reference). Accordingly, the holding belt 13 is provided on the belt upper surface 1.
8a has a mesh-like facing surface 13a that is separated from and fed in parallel with the belt 8a.
, And moves in the same direction as the belt upper surface 18a. The steam ejection device 14 has a main pipe 26 along the traveling direction of the belt 18, and five sub pipes 27 which are connected to the main pipe 26 and are arranged side by side at right angles to the main pipe 26. 2
6 and the sub-pipe 27 are arranged in a storage case 28 above the guide plate 24 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The main pipe 26 has a steam inlet 26a.
Is provided, and steam is sent from a steam generator (not shown) through the steam inlet 26a. Each sub pipe 27 has a plurality of holes 2 facing the belt upper surface 18a.
7a is opened, and steam sent into the main pipe 26 is blown out from the hole 27a to the belt upper surface 18a. The holes 27a are staggered so as not to be at the same position in adjacent subpipes 27 but to be alternated (see FIG. 2). The main pipe 26 and each sub pipe 2
The communicating portion 7 is provided with a cock 29 for allowing or preventing the inflow of steam from the main pipe 26 to each sub pipe 27. By arbitrarily selecting and opening and closing each cock 29, the number of the sub-pipe 27 for ejecting steam can be adjusted, and the amount of steam applied to the tea raw material S can be freely adjusted. Accordingly, steam is ejected by the steam ejection device 14 toward the tea raw material S sandwiched between the belt upper surface 18a and the facing surface 13a, and the tea raw material S is exposed to steam and steamed. State. The suction device 15 includes a water storage unit (storage unit) 30, a suction blower 31, and a communication pipe 3 that connects the water storage unit 30 to the suction blower 31.
2 (see FIG. 1). The water storage section 30 is installed below the belt 18 in correspondence with the steam jetting device 14, and is formed in a mortar shape having an opening covering the jetting range of the steam jetted from the sub-pipe 27. . One end of a communication pipe 32 communicates with the bottom of the water storage unit 30, and the other end of the communication pipe 32 communicates with the suction blower 31. Therefore, by the operation of the suction blower 31, the excess water falling from the tea raw material S in which the steam has been bathed is stored in the water storage unit 30 and is sucked by the suction blower 31 through the communication pipe 32, and the suction blower 31 is discharged. It is discharged from the outlet 31a. The transmission section 19 has a plurality of transmission means 19a, 19b, 19c, and 19d having different diameters, and a transmission belt 33a is stretched over the transmission means 19a and a drive shaft 20a of the drive motor 20 to drive the drive motor. 20 is transmitted to the transmission section 19 via the transmission means 19a (FIG. 1).
reference). The driving force transmitted to the transmission unit 19 is transmitted to the transmission unit 1.
The transmission belt 19b is transmitted to the belt 18 via the transmission means 19c and the transmission means 19c and the belt wheel 23a.
When the transmission belt 33c is stretched over the transmission means 19d and the leveling roller 12, the transmission belt 33c is transmitted to the leveling roller 12 via the transmission means 19d, and the belt 18, the belt wheel 23a, and the leveling roller 12 move or rotate, respectively ( The arrow in FIG. 1). A mortar-shaped receiving portion 34 is attached to the lower portion of the support base 16 over substantially the entire area of the support base 16, and water and dust falling from the tea raw material S placed on the belt upper surface 18a. Are discharged from a drain 34a provided at the bottom of the receiving portion 34 (see FIG. 1). In the vicinity of the belt wheel 17b at the tip of the support base 16, a belt upper surface 18a
A blow-out pipe 35 having a blow-out port 35a that opens in a slit shape toward the belt 18 and that is orthogonal to the traveling direction of the belt 18 is installed (see FIG. 2). The blow-out pipe 35 is connected to a blow-out blower 37 via a communication pipe 36 (see FIG. 1). Therefore, by the operation of the blower blower 37, air can be blown out from the blower outlet 35a and blown to the belt 18, and the tea raw material S containing water and closely adhered to the belt upper surface 18a can be blown off and peeled off from the belt upper surface 18a. In addition, the tea raw material steaming apparatus 10 includes a leg 38a and a bar 38.
The frame 38 has a frame body 38 formed of “b”, and the above-described components are incorporated in the frame body 38. Next, the operation of the tea raw material steaming apparatus will be described. First, for example, a tea raw material S composed of, for example, dokudami leaves and dokudami stalks is fed onto the belt 18 from the belt wheel 17a side of the activated tea raw material steaming apparatus 10, and the belt upper surface 18
a (see FIG. 1). The tea raw material S placed on the belt upper surface 18a enters the gap d formed by the leveling roller 12 by the movement of the belt 18 (see the arrow p), and the gap d
Is spread out evenly by passing through and adjusted to a certain height. The passing tea raw material S is evenly spread by the grooves 21 and is effectively leveled. Subsequently, the leveled tea raw material S is supplied to the belt 18.
Is held between the holding belt 13 and the belt upper surface 18a which moves in the same direction (see arrow q), and passes below the steam ejection device 14. When passing, the belt upper surface 18a
To the tea material S placed on the surface 13 of the holding belt 13
The steam spouting from the sub pipe 27 via a
The tea raw material S is in a steamed state. At this time, excess water is removed from the belt upper surface 18a.
Is sucked into the suction blower 31 through the moisture storage unit 30 from the suction port. Therefore, the tea raw material S can be returned to the state of soft fresh leaves by making the tea raw material S into a steamed state by steam and including a predetermined moisture content in the tea raw material S, thereby softening the tea raw material S. In addition, by adjusting the amount of steam ejected from the sub-pipe 27 by opening and closing the cock 29, the amount of water to be contained can be freely adjusted. For example, it is possible to shorten the drying time in the subsequent drying step. Economic efficiency can be improved. Further, since the tea raw material S is made into a steamed state and a predetermined moisture is contained in the tea raw material S, leakage of a part of the active ingredient from the tea raw material S can be prevented as much as possible.
The leakage of the active ingredient can be further reduced as compared with the case where it is immersed in hot water to contain water. Then, the steamed tea raw material S is transferred to the belt wheel 17b by the movement of the belt 18, and is peeled off from the belt upper surface 18a near the belt wheel 17b by the air blown from the outlet 35a to the belt 18. It is. The tea raw material S peeled off from the belt upper surface 18a easily falls from the belt upper surface 18a as the belt 18 moves downward through the belt wheel 17b.
It is sent to the next step located at the next stage of the tea raw material steaming apparatus 10. Thus, since the tea raw material S is steamed by being steamed, the leakage of the active ingredient is prevented, and the effective ingredient can be effectively extracted. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, the number of leveling rollers may be one, two, or even four or more depending on the situation, and the number of grooves is not limited to five but may be any number. Further, the number of subpipes is not limited to five, and may be increased or decreased according to, for example, an object to be humidified. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the leakage of active ingredients when water is added to tea ingredients, and to extract the effective ingredients contained in tea ingredients more effectively. Can be.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a tea raw material steaming apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a tea raw material steaming apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the leveling roller shown in FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10: Tea raw material steaming device 11: Belt conveyor (transporting means) 12: Leveling roller (Leveling means) 13: Nipping belt (Nipping means) 13a: Opposing surface 14: Steam jetting device (Steam jetting device) 15: suction device (storage means) 16: support base 17a ... belt wheel 17b ... belt wheel 17c ... belt wheel 17d ... belt wheel 18 ... belt 18a ... belt upper surface (mounting surface) 19 ... transmission section 19a ... transmission means 19b ... Transmission means 19c ... Transmission means 19d ... Transmission means 20 ... Drive motor 20a ... Drive shaft 21 ... Groove 23a ... Belt wheel 23b ... Belt wheel 23c ... Belt wheel 23d ... Belt wheel 24 ... Guide plate 25 ... Top cover 26 ... Main pipe 26a Steam inlet 27 Sub-pipe 27a Hole 28 Storage case 29 Cock 30 Moisture storage unit (storage unit) 31 Suction blower 31a Outlet 32 ... Communication pipe 33a ... Transmission belt 33b ... Transmission belt 33c ... Transmission belt 34 ... Receiving part 34a ... Drain 35 ... Blow-out pipe 35a ... Blow-out pipe 36 ... Communication pipe 37 ... Blow-out blower 38 ... Frame 38a ... Leg 38b ... S: tea raw material d: gap (predetermined gap) p: arrow q: arrow

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A23F 3/06

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims 1] A transfer having a mesh-shaped mounting surface on which a tea material is mounted, and transferring the tea material on the mounting surface by moving the mounting surface. Means, and a predetermined gap is formed between the placing surface and the placing surface, wherein the tea material on the placing surface is leveled by passing the predetermined gap. Means, having a mesh-shaped facing surface that is separated from and parallel to the placing surface, and wherein the tea raw material that has passed through the leveling means is sandwiched between the placing surface and the facing surface. Sandwiching means that moves in the same direction as the placing surface, and the supplied steam is jetted toward the tea raw material sandwiched between the placing surface and the facing surface, and the steam is bathed on the tea raw material. A steam jetting means for putting the steam into a steaming state, and containing an excess water which is installed below the placing surface and falls from the tea raw material in which the steam is bathed. A steaming device for tea raw material, comprising: