JP3609270B2 - Granular rolling device and sterilization method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rolling device that accommodates a granular material in a container and rolls the granular material itself by a rotating arm, and a method for sterilizing the granular material using the rolling device.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Bactericidal treatment using germicidal light by electron beam etc. is known to prolong the quality retention period of flour products such as noodles, etc., but if the electron beam etc. is directly irradiated to the flour, the starch quality etc. due to the effect of irradiation May change the properties of wheat flour, such as viscosity, and therefore, an attempt has been made to irradiate an electron beam at the stage of wheat grains. As the electron beam, an energy amount of 300 keV or less, which has a weak penetration power into the wheat grain, was appropriate. At this level, the impact on the inside of the wheat is small, there is little alteration to the flour, and most of the fungi are attached to the surface of the wheat, so if the surface is irradiated with an electron beam etc., it will be sufficiently sterilized be able to.
[0003]
However, such an electron beam or the like has a strong straightness, and for example, when irradiated to granular wheat etc. from above, the electron beam does not reach the lower part of the wheat grain, that is, the shadowed part, and the bacteria attached to the back side are removed. It could not be sterilized. Therefore, in the case of sterilization by irradiation with an electron beam or the like, it has been necessary to roll the grains themselves such as wheat and turn them upside down to irradiate the entire surface of the granules with an electron beam.
[0004]
Then, the method of stirring the wheat grain thrown in in the container with a rotary blade and disinfecting the whole wheat grain can be considered.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, irradiating an electron beam while arranging one grain of wheat in a container and rolling it with a rotary blade or the like has a problem that the processing capacity per time is low and it is troublesome and impractical.
[0006]
In other words, when irradiating an electron beam, it is necessary to place a lead plate or the like around the electron beam generator to shield it from leaking outside so that the human body is not directly irradiated with the electron beam. In order to irradiate the object to be irradiated with a sufficient electron beam, it is necessary to keep the distance from the object to be several cm.
[0007]
Therefore, when performing sterilization using an electron beam, a shielding device made of lead or the like that does not transmit an electron beam is provided around it, an electron beam generator is installed in the shielding device, and a container containing particles is provided. Put in the shielding device and sterilize by irradiating with electron beam, take out the sterilized particles together with the container from the shielding device, newly put the particles in the container and put in the shielding device again When the processing is performed and the wheat grains are put into the container one by one, there is a problem that the number of exchange operations for taking in and out of the container is increased, which is very troublesome.
[0008]
An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a rolling device that efficiently rolls particles and a method for sterilizing particles using the rolling device.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention has constituted a granular rolling device and a sterilization method as follows. That is, a circular accommodating portion that accommodates particles in multiple layers, a rotating shaft installed perpendicular to the center of the accommodating portion, and a radial shaft attached to the rotating shaft and moving along the bottom of the accommodating portion by rotation of the rotating shaft The rolling device of the granule was comprised from the arm part.
[0010]
The said accommodating part is a shallow container with a shallow bottom, and shall have the depth which can accommodate a wheat grain in the thickness of at least 2-3 cm. The rotation shaft is installed perpendicularly to the center of the container and is arbitrarily stopped by a drive mechanism. The rotation speed of the rotation shaft may be changed as appropriate.
[0011]
The four arm portions are evenly attached to the rotation shaft, and are curved toward the rear in the rotation direction. The arm portion is flexible and rotates along the bottom of the container. Note that the number, shape, properties, etc. of the arm portions are not limited thereto.
[0012]
Further, an openable / closable discharge port may be provided at the bottom of the container to discharge the particles.
[0013]
As a sterilization method, the rolling device can be moved forward and backward on the traveling device, an electron beam irradiation device is installed on one of the traveling devices, a predetermined amount of particles are placed in the rolling device, and the rolling device is accommodated in the irradiation device. The electron beam was irradiated while rotating the arm portion of the apparatus.
[0014]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, an embodiment of a granular rolling device and a sterilization method using the same according to the present invention will be described.
[0015]
FIG. 1 shows the entire sterilizer 1. The sterilizing apparatus 1 includes a rolling device 2 for putting particles, an electron beam irradiation device 40 for irradiating the particles with an electron beam, a traveling platform 60 for moving the rolling device 2 into the electron beam irradiation device 40, and the like. Has been.
[0016]
The rolling device 2 includes a circular container 4, a carriage unit 6 that supports the container 4, a drive mechanism 12, and the like. The rolling device 2 arbitrarily moves on the rail 62 of the traveling platform 60 by wheels 16 provided on the carriage unit 6. It is supposed to move. The container 4 is a stainless steel circular container having a diameter of about 50 cm and a depth of about 10 cm, for example, as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, and the surrounding side surface stands almost vertically and draws a curve from the side edge to the center. The slope is smooth and the bottom is almost horizontal.
[0017]
A rotation shaft 10 is provided at the center of the bottom of the container 4, is connected to a drive shaft of a drive mechanism 12 installed at the lower part of the container 4, and is rotated at an arbitrary speed by a motor (not shown) of the drive mechanism 12. To do. As shown in FIG. 4, four metal arm portions 14 having flexibility are attached to the rotary shaft 10. The arm portion 14 is curved backward with respect to the rotation traveling direction, contacts the container 4 without a gap, and rotates while closely contacting the bottom of the container 4.
[0018]
A discharge port 18 for discharge is provided on the side of the bottom of the container 4 and a lid 20 is attached. The lid 20 can be freely opened and closed and normally closes the discharge port 18.
[0019]
The drive mechanism 12 includes a motor, a transmission, and the like. The drive mechanism 12 can start and stop rotation, change the rotation speed, and the like by an operation switch (not shown), and rotates the rotary shaft 10 at an arbitrary speed.
[0020]
The carriage unit 6 includes wheels 16, and the wheels 4 support the container 4 so as to be movable back and forth along the rails 62. Moreover, you may attach a self-propelled mechanism.
[0021]
The electron beam irradiation device 40 is installed on one side of the traveling platform 60, has an electron beam generator (not shown) inside, and has a shielding structure in which a lead plate having a predetermined thickness is arranged around the electron beam generator. Yes. Further, the electron beam irradiation device 40 is connected with a decompression device 42 and a nitrogen supply device 44. The decompression device 42 decompresses the internal pressure to a predetermined pressure, and then fills the interior with a nitrogen gas to fill a nitrogen atmosphere. It is supposed to be. The output of the electron beam generator is about 200 keV.
[0022]
Next, the operation of the sterilizer 1 will be described.
[0023]
First, wheat grains are put into the container 4 of the rolling device 2 so that the thickness is about 30 mm. The container 4 containing the wheat grains is moved along the rail 62 and placed in the electron beam irradiation device 40. When the container 4 is moved to the inside of the electron beam irradiation device 40, the door of the electron beam irradiation device 40 is closed, the decompression device 42 is operated to decompress the inside, and nitrogen is supplied from the nitrogen supply device 44 and filled with nitrogen. .
[0024]
Then, the drive mechanism 12 is operated to rotate the rotary shaft 10 and the arm portion 14 is rotated at a rate of one rotation per second. Further, an electron beam is generated from the electron beam generator with a predetermined energy amount, and the wheat grains in the container 4 are irradiated with the electron beam.
[0025]
Then, since the arm part 14 rotates and moves along the bottom part of the container 4 containing the wheat grain, the wheat grain is agitated and rolled, and the wheat positioned in the uppermost layer in the container 4 by the movement of the arm part 14. The grains roll and the back side of the wheat grains is irradiated with an electron beam. Since the arm portion 14 has an appropriate flexibility, the wheat grains are rolled by rotational movement and move in close contact with the bottom portion of the container 4, so that the wheat is between the bottom portion. There is no such thing as sandwiching the grain and breaking or crushing the wheat grain.
[0026]
Further, the irradiated wheat grain in the uppermost layer is submerged in the wheat grain layer by the stirring action of the arm portion 14, and a new wheat grain appears in the uppermost layer from the inside, and an electron beam is formed on the surface of the wheat grain in the same manner as described above. An electron beam from the generator is irradiated. Thereby, an electron beam can be irradiated to the whole surface of the whole wheat grain accommodated in the container 4, and it can sterilize.
[0027]
(Experimental example)
Next, an operation experiment of the rolling device 2 will be described.
[0028]
The experiment was performed by judging how much the wheat grains were stirred by the rolling device 2. That is, wheat grains of each color, which are separately applied in three colors of blue, black, and white, are stored in a predetermined place in the container 4 and after the rolling device 2 is operated for a predetermined time, Grains were taken out and the proportion of each color contained in the taken wheat grains was examined.
[0029]
As a first experiment, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), the inside of the container 4 is divided into a concentric circle of a central part, an intermediate part, and an outer peripheral part, and 300g of blue wheat grains are centered and white wheat is centered. 400g of grains and 300g of black wheat grains were placed on the outer periphery. And after operating the rolling device 2 for 2 minutes, 50g of wheat grains were picked out from arbitrary 4 places, and the mixing ratio of the wheat grains of each color in each position was investigated.
[0030]
The results are shown in FIG. From the table, at any position of (1), (2), (3), and (4), the ratio of each color of the extracted wheat grains is close to the ratio of the input, and by the operation of the rolling device 2, It was confirmed that the wheat grains were well stirred in the radial direction.
[0031]
Next, as shown in FIG. 6A, the container 4 was divided into 120 degrees as viewed from above, and 333 g of wheat grains of each color were accommodated in each portion, and an experiment was similarly performed. The results are shown in FIG. Also by this, the ratio of the wheat grain in each position was close to the ratio of the input, and it was found that the rolling apparatus 2 well agitated the wheat grain in the circumferential direction.
[0032]
Further, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), 500 g of white wheat grains were arranged in the upper layer, and 250 g of blue and black wheat grains were divided into the left and right layers and arranged in the lower layer. The experiment was conducted in the same manner, and the ratios at the four positions were examined. The results are shown in FIG. As a result, it was confirmed that the wheat grains were well agitated in the vertical direction by the rolling device 2 with good mixing.
[0033]
As described above, the rolling device 2 stirs the wheat grains very well in the container 4, so that even when the electron beam is irradiated from above, the electron beams are uniformly distributed around the wheat grains in the container 4. It can be guessed that it is irradiated.
[0034]
Therefore, according to the sterilizer 1, a predetermined amount of wheat grains are collectively stored in the rolling device 2, and the wheat grains are placed in the electron beam irradiation device 40 so that the entire surface of the wheat grains is uniformly irradiated with the electron beams. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently carry out the sterilization work of the wheat grains without performing the replacement work of the wheat grains many times, the time for the sterilization treatment can be omitted, and the consumption of nitrogen gas can be reduced. it can.
[0035]
Irradiation is not limited to electron beams, but may be heat rays, ultraviolet rays, or other sterilizing light.
[0036]
The pasteurization is not limited to wheat grains, and other grains and the like may be used.
[0037]
【The invention's effect】
According to the rolling device of the present invention, a rotating shaft is provided at the center of a container that accommodates grains such as wheat grains in a predetermined thickness, and an arm that rotates along the bottom of the container is attached to the rotating shaft. By rotating the arm part, the wheat grains can be efficiently and reliably rolled, and by irradiating the electron beam, the entire surface of the grain body such as the wheat grain is uniformly irradiated with the electron beam. Sterilization can be performed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a side view showing an embodiment of a sterilization apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a front view showing an embodiment of a rolling device according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side view showing an embodiment of a rolling device according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a rolling device according to the present invention.
FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an experiment, and FIG. 5B is a table showing an experiment result.
6A is a diagram showing an experiment, and FIG. 6B is a table showing an experimental result.
7A is a diagram showing an experiment, and FIG. 7B is a table showing an experimental result.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sterilizer 2 Rolling device 4 Container 6 Carriage part 10 Rotating shaft 12 Drive mechanism 14 Arm part 16 Wheel 18 Discharge port 20 Lid 40 Electron beam irradiation apparatus 42 Decompression apparatus 44 Nitrogen supply apparatus 60 Traveling part 62 Rail

Claims (4)

The concave-shaped storage part opened above to receive the granular material and the concave-shaped storage part have a substantially vertical side surface at the peripheral end, and smoothly incline in a curved line toward the central part following the vertical part. the bottom of the center has become almost horizontal, provided with a rotary shaft provided perpendicularly at the center of the receiving portion, an arm portion extending radially from said rotary shaft,
A rolling device for a granular material, wherein the arm portion is rotated along the bottom of the accommodating portion to cause the granular material to roll within the accommodating portion. The rolling device according to claim 1, wherein the arm portion is curved backward with respect to the traveling direction. An electron beam irradiation device is disposed above the rolling device according to claim 1, and the particles in the rolling device are irradiated with an electron beam to sterilize the particles. How to sterilize granules. The said accommodating part is provided on the traveling mechanism which can move back and forth, The said accommodating part which accommodated the granule is moved in an electron beam irradiation apparatus, and the sterilization process by an electron beam is performed. How to sterilize granules.

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