JP6543582B2 - Food carrier - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a food conveying apparatus having a function of aligning a plurality of foods such as instant noodles in a conveyance step by a conveyor.

  Instant noodles are excellent processed foods that can be stored for long periods at room temperature, are easy to cook, and are inexpensive. In particular, instant noodles in containers are used in various situations because they can be eaten simply by pouring hot water into the containers.

  In the cup-shaped container-containing instant noodles, the upper surface of the noodle mass is generally flat and dense, and the lower portion is in a sparse state (Patent Document 1). Therefore, after producing a noodle lump by a fly-drying process, the method of conveying a noodle lump with a flat upper surface by a conveyor is widely employ | adopted (patent document 2).

Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-38693 Unexamined-Japanese-Patent No. 3-176330

  After the frying process, a plurality of prepared noodle masses are conveyed by the conveyor toward the downstream process in a row, but if the noodle masses are not aligned in a downstream cooling process, the cooling conveyor At the starting point of descent, descent while turning from above, and the mass transfer bar guiding the mass can not contact with the mass at an appropriate position, for example, the mass transfer bar bites at the bottom of the mass facing upwards There was a problem in which the noodle mass was broken.

  Then, as a result of the inventors of the present invention earnestly examining a method of arranging a plurality of noodle masses arranged in the width direction of the conveyor in a row, the noodle masses are transported by a round belt conveyor, and By temporarily stopping conveyance of each noodle mass by making a stopper project, a method for aligning a plurality of noodle masses in the width direction of the conveyor in a short time has been found, and the present invention has been completed.

  That is, according to the first invention of the present application, there is provided a food conveying apparatus and a food conveying apparatus comprising: a plurality of belts for placing and conveying a plurality of foods; and a stopper which protrudes from between the belts and contacts and aligns each food. About.

  The second invention of the present application relates to the food conveying apparatus according to the first invention of the present invention, wherein the stopper is constituted by a plate-like metal member.

  In the third invention of the present application, the stopper includes flat front and back surfaces and a curved side surface, and the pair of stoppers contact each food by the curved side surface and temporarily stop conveyance The present invention relates to a food conveying apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, characterized in that

  A fourth invention of the present application relates to the food carrier according to any one of the first invention to the third invention of the present application, wherein the food is a noodle mass of instant noodles.

It is a conceptual diagram of the foodstuff conveyance device of the present invention. It is a top view which shows a mode that the noodles conveyed were made to stop temporarily with a noodle lump stopper. It is a perspective view which shows a mode that the noodle lump conveyed was stopped temporarily by the noodle lump stopper. It is a cross-sectional view of the stopper mechanism of this invention. It is a side view and a perspective view of a noodle mass stopper in the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the transfer device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

-overall structure-
FIG. 1 is a conceptual view of the food conveying apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a top view showing that the conveyed noodle mass is temporarily stopped by the noodle mass stopper, and FIG. 3 is the conveyed noodle mass It is a perspective view which shows a mode that it stopped temporarily by the noodle lump stopper.

  The food conveying apparatus of the present invention is mainly composed of a round belt conveyor 2 for conveying the noodle masses 3 and a stopper mechanism 1.

  The round belt conveyor 2 is composed of a plurality of round belts 20 as shown in FIG. 3 and is driven by a drive motor (not shown). The plurality of noodle masses 3 placed on the round belt 20 are transported in the lateral row and moved downstream, but the position of each noodle mass is displaced in the transport process etc., and the plurality of noodle masses are in the lateral row There are times when it does not line up.

  In the downstream cooling process, at the starting point of the cooling conveyor (not shown), the noodle mass conveying bar which descends while turning from above and guides the noodle mass conveyed by the cooling conveyor does not contact each noodle mass at an appropriate position. The lower part of the noodle mass facing upward may be bitten and breakage may occur.

  Therefore, in the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the noodle block stopper 10 is raised from the air cylinder 13 by a predetermined length (ST in FIG. 1: stroke) from between the plurality of round belts 20. A piece of noodle mass conveyed by mass stopper 10 is temporarily stopped.

  The distance between the pair of stoppers is 40% to 60% with respect to the diameter of the noodle mass in order to stably stop the conveyance of the noodle mass stably, and the stopper is from the bottom surface with respect to the height of the noodle mass It is desirable to contact noodle masses in the range of 30% to 80%. The contact time with the noodle mass is preferably about 0.5 seconds to 1 second. The stroke length in FIG. 1 is determined by the height and contact position of the noodle mass.

  Further, the round belt 20 is desirably made of a flexible resinous round belt, and for example, a round belt having a diameter of 10 mm can be used.

-Stopper mechanism-
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the stopper mechanism of the present invention. The stopper mechanism 1 includes a plurality of noodle block stoppers 10, a beam member 11 in which the noodle block stoppers are arranged, a column 12 for supporting the beam member 11, and an air cylinder 13 for enabling the beam member 11 to move up and down. Ru.

  The beam member 11 is raised by the air cylinder 13 at the timing when the noodle masses are conveyed, and as shown in FIG. 3, each noodle mass being conveyed is temporarily stopped by the pair of noodle mass stoppers. This makes it possible to reliably align a plurality of noodle masses in a horizontal row.

  After the plurality of noodle masses are aligned in a horizontal row, the beam member 11 is lowered by the air cylinder 13, and the plurality of noodle masses aligned in a horizontal row are conveyed downstream by the round belt conveyor 2 again.

—Stopper shape—
FIG. 5 is a side view and a perspective view of the noodle mass stopper 10 in the present invention. The noodle block stopper 10 is composed of a plate-like member having a thumb-like shape as shown in FIG. 5 and contacts the side surface of the noodle block at the belly-shaped portion (the curved side of the stopper upper portion) of the thumb shape The noodle mass on the round belt 20 is stopped.

  The noodle masses stored in the cup container generally have a tapered shape, but when the stopper is constituted by a mere round bar, for example, the edge portion (bottom end) 30 of the noodle mass contacts the stopper and the noodle mass There is a problem that the edge part of is missing. Since the noodle mass stopper 10 in the present invention has the above-mentioned "thumb shape", it does not contact the edge portion 30 of the noodle mass but contacts the side surface of the noodle mass which is less likely to be broken compared to the edge portion. It becomes possible. As a material of the noodle block stopper 10, for example, it is desirable to use stainless steel as a material.

  When the number of noodle block stoppers 10 installed on the beam member 11 increases, it is preferable to provide a plurality of holes in each stopper as shown in FIG. 5 in order to reduce the load.

  Thus, the noodle mass stopper 10 in the present invention has flat front and back surfaces, and since the upper side surface of the stopper has a vertically curved shape, it does not contact the edge portion of the noodle mass. , It becomes possible to contact with the side of the noodle mass which is hard to break. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the reduction in productivity due to the breakage of noodle masses in machine production.

  In the above embodiment, although the case where the food is a noodle mass has been described, the present invention is applicable to any food other than noodle mass, as long as the food has a certain shape, and in particular, it is possible to It is suitable for food having the characteristic of being easily damaged.

Reference Signs List 1 stopper mechanism 10 stopper 11 beam member 12 post 13 air cylinder 2 round belt conveyor 20 round belt 3 noodle block 30 edge portion

Claims (4)

Multiple belts for placing and transporting multiple food products
A stopper having flat front and back surfaces and a curved side surface, which protrudes from between the belts and is brought into contact with each food by the curved side surface and aligned;
Equipped with
The stopper does not contact the bottom end of the food,
Food conveying apparatus characterized in that.   The said stopper is comprised with a plate-shaped metal member, The food conveying apparatus of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. The stopper of a pair is in contact with the food product by the curved side portions, temporarily stopping the conveyance,
The food conveying device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The food conveying apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the food is a noodle mass of instant noodles.

Images