JP7141912B2 - Device for cutting out noodle strings, device for producing noodles, and method for producing noodles and instant noodles - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a noodle string cutting device, a noodle manufacturing device including the noodle string cutting device, and a method for manufacturing noodles and instant noodles using the noodle string cutting device.

Machine-made noodles such as Chinese noodles, udon noodles, and pasta are made by kneading the main raw materials such as wheat flour and starch with auxiliary raw materials such as water, salt, and brine (also known as dough). ) is passed through rolling rolls to form a sheet-like coarse noodle strip, two coarse noodle strips are stacked by a multifunction machine, and passed through the next rolling roll to thin to a predetermined thickness. The method includes cutting and separating the strip into a plurality of noodle strings using a noodle band cutting device having a pair of cutting blade rolls having a plurality of annular grooves. The noodle strip is fed between a pair of cutting blade rolls and cut into a plurality of noodle strings by a plurality of annular grooves. After cutting, the noodle strings in the annular grooves are removed from the annular grooves of the respective cutting blade rolls by a scraper having a plurality of protrusions that engage the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting blade rolls. The removed noodle strings form a bundle of noodle strings removed from one (for example, the upper) cutting blade roll and a bundle of noodle strings removed from the other (for example, the lower) cutting blade roll. The noodle strings of the two bundles of noodle strings either drop directly onto a conveyor arranged directly below the noodle band cutting device, or are once received by a guide, crimped in the vertical direction while passing through the guide, and then cut into the guide. It is transferred on the conveyor from the exit. Thereafter, the noodle strings are made into noodle products through processes such as steaming, cutting into serving units, and drying.

By crimping the noodle strings inside the guide, gaps are created between the noodle strings to reduce the contact area between the noodle strings of one (for example, the upper) noodle string bundle and the noodle strings of the other (for example, the lower) noodle string bundle. are known to reduce or prevent the noodle strings from sticking together, which can adversely affect subsequent cooking and handling. Attempts have also been made to reduce or prevent adhesion of adjacent noodle strings in the same bundle of noodle strings.

Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-210924) discloses that "two cylindrical cutting edge rolls having a plurality of cutting edges formed in the circumferential direction in the longitudinal direction are engaged with each other. In a noodle cutting roll that is provided parallel to a table and cuts a belt-shaped noodle dough into noodle strings, a scraper that comes into contact with the grooves formed between the cutting blades and scrapes out the noodle strings from the grooves contacts the cutting blade roll. A scraper for a noodle cutting roll characterized by having an angle in the range of 10° to 50°”.

Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-187623) discloses that "a first cutting edge roll 210a, a second cutting edge roll arranged so as to mesh at an engagement position 10, and a plurality of first tooth tips 234a each having a first A first scraper 230a and a plurality of second tooth tips 243a arranged at a position of 5° to 90° in the first rotation direction R1 from the meshing position 10 about the first rotation axis C1 are respectively centered on the first rotation axis C1. A second scraper 240a arranged at a position of 120° to 210° in the first rotation direction R1 from the meshing position 10, and a plurality of third tooth tips 234b each move from the meshing position 10 to the third tooth about the second rotation axis C2. The third scraper 230b arranged at a position of 5° to 90° in the two-rotation direction R2 and the plurality of second tooth tips 243b rotate 120 in the second rotation direction R2 from the meshing position 10 about the second rotation axis C2. and a fourth scraper 240b arranged at a position of 210° to 210°.

Patent Document 3 (International Publication No. 2010/041477) describes a device for cutting out noodle strings, in which a plurality of annular grooves having two or more depths and arranged alternately or sequentially are provided. It is composed of a pair of cutting blade rolls for cutting the noodle strip into a large number of noodle strings, and a plate body having a bent portion extending along the longitudinal direction. a noodle strip stripping plate having comb-shaped stripping teeth that engage with each of a plurality of annular grooves; and the plurality of noodles placed below the noodle strip stripping plate and separated from the cutting blade roll and hung down. a guide section for transporting the lines, and a conveyer installed below the guide section for conveying the plurality of noodle strings, wherein each of the plurality of peeling teeth has a tip portion, and a plurality of teeth According to the depth of the annular groove with which the peeling teeth are engaged, the tip is engaged with the plurality of annular grooves at the front position and the rear position in the circumferential direction of the cutting edge roll. Characteristic noodle string cutting device” is described.

JP-A-10-210924 JP 2010-187623 A WO2010/041477

For some noodles such as udon and pasta, wide noodle strings may be desired. When forming wide noodle strings using a noodle string cutting device, a cutting edge roll having a wide annular groove is usually used. When the wide noodle strings taken out from the annular groove portion of the cutting blade roll are crimped in the vertical direction inside the guide, the noodle strings of one bundle of noodle strings and the other bundle of noodle strings are separated due to the wide width of the noodle strings. The contact area of the noodle strips is still large, and in the same noodle strip, the contact area between the wide parts before and after the curly portion is larger than in the case of narrow noodle strips. In-line sticking cannot be sufficiently reduced or prevented. This is even more pronounced when the wide noodle strings are dropped directly onto the conveyor without being crimped inside the guide. The sticking of the noodle strings to each other may cause insufficient gelatinization of the noodle strings during steaming, poor loosening of the noodle strings during eating, and the like, and may have a significant adverse effect on the quality of the product.

The present disclosure provides a noodle strip cutting device and a noodle manufacturing device capable of reducing or preventing sticking between noodle strips, particularly between wide noodle strips.

The inventor of the present invention found that by applying an external force in a predetermined direction to the noodle strings taken out from the annular groove of the cutting blade roll to change the orientation of the noodle strings, adhesion of the noodle strings to each other can be reduced or prevented. and completed the present invention.

The present invention includes the following embodiments [1] to [10].
[1]
a pair of cutting blade rolls having a plurality of annular grooves arranged in parallel so as to face and engage with each other;
A scraper having a plate-like portion extending along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, and a plurality of protrusions extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the long side of the plate-like portion, wherein the plurality of protrusions are provided. a scraper each configured to engage a corresponding one of the plurality of annular grooves of the blade roll to strip the noodle strings in the plurality of annular grooves from the blade roll;
A comb plate having a plurality of projections arranged along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, the plurality of projections being displaced from the centers of the plurality of annular grooves, wherein the plurality of projections are arranged such that the noodle strings are aligned with the cutting blade roll. and a comb plate configured to come into contact with the noodle strings at a position not in contact with the plurality of protrusions of the scraper.
[2]
The plurality of protrusions of the comb plate apply force to the noodle strings in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the noodle strings separated from the cutting blade roll and the scraper and the width direction of the noodle strings. The noodle string cutting device according to [1], which has a raised shape.
[3]
The comb plate has a plate-like portion extending along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, and a plurality of protrusions extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the long side of the plate-like portion. The device for cutting out noodle strings according to either [1] or [2], wherein the plate-like portion of the comb plate is placed on top of the plate-like portion of the scraper.
[4]
The noodle string cutting device according to any one of [1] to [3], wherein the plurality of protrusions of the comb plate are arranged alternately with respect to the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting blade roll. .
[5]
The noodle string cutting device according to any one of [1] to [4], wherein the width of the annular groove of the cutting blade roll is 2.0 mm or more.
[6]
The noodle string cutting device according to any one of [1] to [5], wherein the width of the plurality of protrusions of the comb plate is 50% or less of the width of the annular groove.
[7]
The noodle string cutting device according to any one of [1] to [6], further comprising a guide for receiving the cut out noodle strings.
[8]
An apparatus for producing noodles, including the apparatus for cutting out noodle strings according to any one of [1] to [7].
[9]
A method for producing noodles, comprising cutting a noodle band formed from dough into a plurality of noodle strings using the device for cutting out noodle strings according to any one of [1] to [7].
[10]
Cutting out a noodle strip formed from the dough into a plurality of noodle strips using the noodle strip cutting device according to any one of [1] to [7];
A method for producing instant noodles, comprising: steaming and pregelatinizing the plurality of cut noodle strings; and drying the pregelatinized noodle strings.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, adhesion of noodle strings can be reduced or prevented, and especially adhesion of wide noodle strings can be effectively reduced or prevented. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY According to the present invention, wide noodles such as udon and pasta and instant noodles can be produced with high quality and high efficiency.

The above description should not be considered to disclose all embodiments of the invention or all advantages associated with the invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the noodle strings cutting device of one embodiment, viewed from the axial direction of the cutting blade roll. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the positional relationship of the annular groove part of a cutting blade roll of one Embodiment, and the protrusion part of a comb plate. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the positional relationship between the annular groove of the cutting blade roll and the protrusion of the comb plate of another embodiment. FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the positional relationship between the annular groove of the cutting blade roll and the projection of the comb plate of another embodiment. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining how orientation of noodle strings separated from a cutting blade roll is changed by a comb plate. Fig. 2 is a schematic plan view of the noodle strip cutting device of the first embodiment viewed from the front on the side from which the noodle strips are taken out; 1 is a schematic perspective view of a comb plate and scraper of one embodiment; FIG. FIG. 10 is a schematic plan view of the noodle strip cutting device of the second embodiment as viewed from the front on the side from which the noodle strips are taken out. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view explaining the direction in which the noodle strings shrink when there is no comb plate. FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view explaining the direction in which the noodle strings whose orientation is changed by the comb plate are crimped. It is a schematic sectional drawing explaining the cutting-out process of the noodle strings using the noodle-string cutting-out apparatus of one Embodiment.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings for the purpose of illustrating representative embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. With respect to drawing reference numbers, like-numbered elements in different drawings indicate similar or corresponding elements.

“Noodles” in the present disclosure includes wheat flour, starch, rice flour, buckwheat flour, bean flour, etc. as main raw materials, is processed into a linear shape, boiled, simmered, fried, poured with hot water, or Means food that can be eaten by cooking, such as heating in a microwave oven. Examples of noodles include udon, kishimen, Chinese noodles, soba, and pasta. Examples of the state of noodles before cooking include raw noodles, dried noodles, steamed noodles, boiled noodles, frozen noodles, and instant noodles.

The term “instant noodles” in the present disclosure refers to raw noodles, steamed noodles, or boiled noodles among noodles that are heat-dried, and the moisture contained in the noodles is reduced to about 2 to 10% by mass in the case of fried tofu drying, and about 2 to 10% by mass in the case of hot air drying. It means a food that can be stored for a long time by removing it to about 6 to 14.5% by mass. "Dried noodles" are noodles that do not include a gelatinization step in the manufacturing process and are dried at room temperature or low temperature for a long time. In the present disclosure, dried noodles are distinguished from and excluded from instant noodles.

The “dough” in the present disclosure means a kneaded product of the main raw material and auxiliary raw materials such as water, salt and brine. A kneader, a planetary mixer, or the like can be used for kneading the main raw material and the auxiliary raw material. The shape of the dough is generally irregular, but it may be formed into a cylindrical shape, a square tube shape, or the like using an extruder or the like after kneading.

The “noodle strip” in the present disclosure means a dough processed into a sheet having a thickness suitable for cutting out noodle strings. As a method of processing, two or three rough noodle strips, which are intermediates formed during rolling, are piled up by a multifunction machine, and then further rolled by the next rolling roll. Another method of processing includes extruding the dough directly into a sheet through an extruder.

“Noodle strings” in the present disclosure mean noodles mechanically cut out from a noodle band by a noodle band cutting device. The cross-sectional shape of the noodle strings may be circular, elliptical, square, rectangular, a combination of some of these shapes, or a shape having an outline formed by a combination of the same shapes with different thicknesses, and the corners thereof are chamfered. may have been

A “bundle of noodle strings” in the present disclosure means a group of a plurality of noodle strings taken out from one cutting blade roll having a plurality of annular grooves arranged in parallel. When a noodle string cutting device having a pair of cutting blade rolls is used, a bundle of noodle strings is taken out from each of the cutting blade rolls. These two bundles of noodle strings are usually piled up and processed in subsequent steps.

The “orientation of noodle strings” in the present disclosure means the orientation of the noodle strings in the width direction. In the noodle strings before the orientation is changed by the comb plate and the noodle strings whose orientation is not changed, the orientation of the noodle strings substantially coincides with the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view seen from the axial direction of a cutting blade roll of a device for cutting out noodle strings according to one embodiment. The noodle string cutting device 100 includes a pair of cutting blade rolls 10a and 10b having a plurality of annular grooves 12a and 12b arranged in parallel so as to face and engage with each other, and a pair of cutting blade rolls 10a and 10b along the longitudinal direction. scrapers 20a and 20b having plate-shaped portions 24a and 24b extending along the length of the plate-shaped portions 24a and 24b, and a plurality of protrusions 22a and 22b extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the long sides of the plate-shaped portions 24a and 24b, The protrusions 22a and 22b are engaged with corresponding ones of the plurality of annular grooves 12a and 12b of the cutting blade rolls 10a and 10b, respectively, so that the noodle strings in the plurality of annular grooves 12a and 12b are removed from the cutting blade rolls 10a and 10b. Scrapers 20a, 20b configured to separate and a plurality of protrusions 32a, 32b arranged along the longitudinal direction of the plurality of annular grooves 12a, 12b offset from the center of the plurality of annular grooves 12a, 12b. The comb plates 30a and 30b have a plurality of projections 32a and 32b, and the noodle strings are positioned so that the noodle strings are not in contact with the plurality of projections 22a and 22b of the cutting blade rolls 10a and 10b and the scrapers 20a and 20b. Comb plates 30a, 30b configured to contact with.

The noodle strip cutting device may further include a guide for receiving the cut out noodle strips, if necessary. Guides are sometimes called conduits, guide tubes, or "waveboxes." The cutting blade rolls, scrapers, comb plates, and optional guides may be attached to a frame-shaped housing made of stainless steel, iron, or the like.

As a pair of cutting blade rolls, known rolls used in a device for cutting out noodle strings can be used. The pair of cutting blade rolls has a plurality of annular grooves arranged in parallel so as to face each other and engage with each other. Projections are present between the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting edge roll. Each cutting blade roll is connected to a driving device such as a motor through a gear, and the noodle strip is passed between the pair of cutting blade rolls while rotating the pair of cutting blade rolls in mutually opposite directions, so that the protrusion of one of the cutting blade rolls is formed. The noodle strip is cut into noodle strips by the annular groove of the part and the other cutting edge roll. The noodle strings formed by cutting the noodle strip enter the annular groove of the cutting blade roll.

Stainless steel, iron, or the like can be used as the material of the cutting edge roll.

In one embodiment, the pair of cutting blade rolls are arranged horizontally side by side, and the noodle strings separated by the scraper move (fall) in the vertical direction. In another embodiment, the pair of cutting blade rolls are arranged side by side in a direction forming an angle of more than 0 degrees and 90 degrees or less from the horizontal direction, and the noodle strings separated by the scraper fall while moving obliquely downward. do.

The cross-section of the annular groove may be semi-circular, semi-elliptical, square, rectangular, triangular, or a combination of some of these shapes, or a shape having an outline formed by a combination of identical shapes with different depths of the annular groove. may be chamfered. The protrusions between the annular grooves can be planar, curved, a combination of two or more planar surfaces, or a curved surface and one or more planar surfaces.

In one embodiment, the width of the annular groove is 2.0 mm or more, 2.3 mm or more, 2.6 mm or more, 3.2 mm or more, 3.5 mm or more, 3.8 mm or more, or 4.5 mm or more and 30 mm or less, 15 mm or less, or 10 mm or less. The width of the annular groove is preferably 2.3 mm or more, more preferably 3.2 mm or more, and even more preferably 3.5 mm or more. In one embodiment, the width of the annular groove is between 2.0 mm and 30 mm, between 2.3 mm and 15 mm, or between 3.2 mm and 10 mm. The present invention is more effective for wide noodle strings that are cut out from such an annular groove having a relatively large width. In the present disclosure, noodles formed from cutting edge rolls having an annular groove with a width of 2.0 mm or more are referred to as wide noodles. , specific local noodles such as Okinawa soba, kishimen, flat noodles, and the like. If the width of the annular groove is 30 mm or less, various wide noodles such as those described above can be produced in a normal production process.

A known scraper that is used in a noodle strip cutting device can be used as the scraper. The scraper has a plate-like portion extending along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, and a plurality of protrusions extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the long side of the plate-like portion. Each of the plurality of protrusions engages a corresponding one of the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting blade roll to separate the noodle strings in the plurality of annular grooves from the cutting blade roll. The noodle strings separated from one cutting blade roll form a bundle of noodle strings composed of a group of a plurality of noodle strings arranged along the axial direction of the cutting blade roll, and move vertically or obliquely downward. do. Therefore, two bundles of noodle strings are formed from a pair of cutting blade rolls. A scraper is sometimes called a scraper. In rare cases, the dregs of the noodle strings may remain on the cutting edge roll. In order to remove the dregs of the noodle strings from the cutting blade roll, the scraper may be provided with a plurality of projections that contact one of the projections between the corresponding plurality of annular grooves.

The plate-shaped portion of the scraper functions as a support member that holds the plurality of protrusions at predetermined positions, and can also absorb the stress applied to the plurality of protrusions. The plate-like portion of the scraper can be used to fix the scraper to the housing with bolts or the like.

The multiple projections of the scraper may be straight or may include bends or curves. Corners of the plurality of protrusions may be chamfered.

The scraper can be obtained by making comb-like cuts on one side of a single plate to form a plurality of protrusions. The plate may be bent to have one or more obtuse angles, the portion corresponding to the plurality of protrusions, the portion corresponding to the boundary between the plurality of protrusions and the plate-like portion, or both. may be bent or curved. Brass, phosphor bronze, stainless steel, etc. can be used as the material of the scraper. Brass and phosphor bronze are easy to process, and stainless steel is highly durable.

The comb plate has a plurality of protrusions that are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll and are displaced from the centers of the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting blade roll. The plurality of projections of the comb plate contact the noodle strings at positions where the noodle strings do not contact the plurality of projections of the cutting blade roll and the scraper. As a result, the orientation of the noodle strings while they are peeled off from the cutting blade roll and moving can be rotated on a plane perpendicular to the traveling direction of the noodle strings. As a result, the bundle of noodle strings is stacked so that the wide portion of the bundle of noodle strings formed from one cutting blade roll and the wide portion of the bundle of noodle strings formed from the other cutting blade roll do not come into contact with each other. It is possible to reduce or prevent adhesion of noodle strings to each other.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic cross-sectional view explaining how the orientation of the noodle strings separated from the cutting blade roll is changed by the comb plate. In FIG. 3, the noodle strings 52a in the annular groove 12a of one of the cutting blade rolls 10a are separated from the cutting blade roll by the protrusions 22a of the scraper 20a engaged with the annular groove 12a and move obliquely downward. The projections 32a of the comb plate 30a contact the noodle strings 52a at positions where the noodle strings 52a do not contact the cutting blade roll 10a and the projections 22a of the scraper 20a. Since the protruding portion 32a of the comb plate 30a is displaced from the center of the annular groove portion of the cutting blade roll 10a (arranged on the front side along the vertical direction of the paper surface in FIG. 3), the noodle strings 52a move One side of the width perpendicular to the direction (the front side along the vertical direction of the paper surface in FIG. 3) contacts the protrusion 32a and receives force in the direction perpendicular to the advancing direction and the width direction of the noodle strings 52a. As a result, the orientation of the noodle strings 52a peeled off from the cutting blade roll 10a and moving rotates on a plane perpendicular to the advancing direction of the noodle strings 52a.

The orientation of all the noodle strings included in one bundle of noodle strings may rotate on a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement thereof, and the orientation of some of the noodle strings included in one bundle of noodle strings is perpendicular to the direction of movement thereof. It rotates on the plane, but the orientation of the rest of the noodle strings does not have to rotate on the plane perpendicular to its direction of travel.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the protrusions of the comb plate are neither engaged nor inserted into the annular grooves of the cutting roll. Therefore, the comb plate does not have the function of peeling off the noodle strings in the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting blade roll.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic plan view of the noodle strip cutting device of the first embodiment as viewed from the front on the side from which the noodle strips are taken out. In FIG. 4, a plurality of protrusions 22a, 22b of the scraper are engaged with the plurality of annular grooves 12a, 12b of the cutting edge rolls 10a, 10b, respectively, and the plurality of annular grooves 12a, 12b of the cutting edge rolls 10a, 10b, A plurality of protrusions 32a, 32b of the comb plate are arranged for each of the comb plates 12b.

In FIG. 4, when viewed from the side of the plate-like portions 34a and 34b of the comb plate, the direction in which the plurality of projecting portions 22a and 22b of the scraper extend from the plate-like portions 24a and 24b of the scraper is the upward direction. All the projections 32a, 32b are shifted to the right from the center of the annular grooves 12a, 12b. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the noodle strings of the upper bundle of noodle strings cut out by the cutting blade roll 10a and the noodle strings of the lower noodle string bundle cut out by the cutting blade roll 10b are oriented on a plane perpendicular to the advancing direction of the noodle strings. in the same direction, i.e. clockwise on its plane. In other words, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the noodle strings of the upper bundle of noodle strings cut out by the cutting blade roll 10a have their left side in FIG. The noodle strips of the lower bundle of noodle strips cut out by the cutting blade roll 10b are brought into contact with the protrusion 32b of the comb plate on the right side in FIG. As a result, when viewed directly from above the conveyor, the upper bundle of noodle strings and the lower bundle of noodle strings are stacked with their orientations changed in opposite directions. In some other embodiments, all projections 32a are offset to the right of the center of annular groove 12a and all projections 32b are offset to the left of the center of annular groove 12b, or all projections 32a are annular. Either all of the projections 32b are shifted to the left from the center of the groove 12a and all the projections 32b are shifted to the right from the center of the annular groove 12b, or all of the projections 32a and 32b are shifted to the left from the center of the annular grooves 12a and 12b. there is

In the first embodiment, each of the plurality of protrusions of the comb plate may be displaced from the center of the annular groove on a different side from the neighboring protrusions along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll. For example, when the noodle strip cutting device is viewed from the front on the side from which the noodle strips are taken out, with the direction in which the plurality of protrusions of the scraper extend from the plate-shaped portion of the scraper as the upward direction, one protrusion of the comb plate is circular. If offset to the right of the center of the groove, one or two protrusions next along the length of the cutting roll may be offset to the left of the center of the annular groove, and vice versa. .

In the first embodiment, each of the plurality of protrusions of the comb plate may be displaced from the center of the corresponding annular groove of the plurality of annular grooves to the irregular side, or may be displaced by an irregular distance, Or it may be shifted by a combination of these.

Examples of comb plate protrusions that are offset from the center of the annular groove of the cutting roll are shown in FIGS. 2A-2C. In FIG. 2A , the centerline A of the annular groove 12 of the cutting blade roll 10 does not match the centerline B of the protrusion 32 of the comb plate 30 . In FIG. 2B , the protrusion 32 of the comb plate 30 does not exist on the center line A of the annular groove 12 of the cutting blade roll 10 . In FIG. 2C , one side surface of the protrusion of the comb plate 30 coincides with the centerline A of the annular groove 12 of the cutting blade roll 10 .

In one embodiment, as shown in a schematic perspective view of FIG. 5 , the comb plate 30 includes a plate-like portion 34 extending along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, and the long sides of the plate-like portion 34 . The comb plate 30 has a plurality of projecting portions 32 extending in substantially orthogonal directions. The plate-like portion of the comb plate and the plate-like portion of the scraper may be overlapped, and the comb plate and the scraper may be fixed together to the housing with bolts or the like.

The plurality of protrusions of the comb plate may be straight or may include bends or curves. Corners of the plurality of protrusions may be chamfered.

The comb plate can be obtained by making comb-teeth-like cuts on one side of a single plate to form a plurality of protrusions. The plate may be bent at one or more obtuse angles, and the portion corresponding to the boundary between the plurality of protrusions and the plate-like portion may be bent or curved. Comb plates can also be formed using resin molding techniques such as compression molding, injection molding, and cast molding. Although the comb plate is composed of one piece in FIG. 3, the comb plate may be constructed by stacking two or more members having protrusions.

Materials for the comb plate include, for example, metal materials such as brass, phosphor bronze and stainless steel, rubber such as natural rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber (SBS) and silicone rubber, and thermoplastic resin such as acrylic resin. Brass, phosphor bronze, rubber, and plastic are easy to process, and stainless steel is highly durable. The surfaces of the plurality of protrusions may be plated with nickel or the like or coated with fluororesin or the like.

In one embodiment, the plurality of projections of the comb plate has a raised shape that applies force to the noodle strings in a direction perpendicular to the advancing direction and the width direction of the noodle strings separated from the cutting blade roll and separated from the scraper. . Examples of the cross section of the protruding portion along the advancing direction of the noodle strings include a hook-shaped bent shape, a semi-circular or arcuate shape, a triangular shape, a trapezoidal shape, and the like. FIGS. 1, 3 and 5 show protrusions 32, 32a, and 32b having hook-shaped cross sections along the advancing direction of the noodle strings.

In one embodiment, the width of the protrusions of the comb plate is 50% or less of the width of the annular groove of the cutting roll. FIGS. 2A to 2C show a mode in which the width W2 of the plurality of projections of the comb plate is 50% or less of the width W1 of the annular groove of the cutting edge roll. The width W2 of the plurality of projections of the comb plate is less than 50% of the width W1 of the annular groove of the cutting roll in FIGS. 2A and 2B, and is 50% of the width W1 of the annular groove of the cutting roll in FIG. 2C. be. The width of the plurality of projections of the comb plate may be 45% or less, 40% or less, or 33% or less, 5% or more, 15% or more, or 30% or more of the width of the annular groove of the cutting blade roll. . In one embodiment, the width of the protrusions of the comb plate is 5% to 45%, 15% to 40%, or 30% to 33% of the width of the annular groove of the cutting roll.

In the second embodiment, the plurality of projections of the comb plate are arranged alternately with respect to the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting edge roll. FIG. 6 shows a schematic plan view of the noodle strip cutting device of this embodiment as viewed from the front on the side from which the noodle strips are taken out. In FIG. 6, a plurality of projections 22a, 22b of the scraper are engaged with the plurality of annular grooves 12a, 12b of the cutting edge rolls 10a, 10b, respectively, and the plurality of annular grooves 12a, 12b of the cutting edge rolls 10a, 10b, A plurality of protrusions 32a and 32b of the comb plate are arranged alternately with respect to 12b. In this embodiment, the noodle strings in one bundle of noodle strings come into contact with the protrusions of the comb plate to change their orientation, but the adjacent noodle strings of the same bundle of noodle strings contact the protrusions of the comb plate. It does not touch and its orientation is not changed. Therefore, the noodle strip and the wide portions of the adjacent noodle strips do not come into contact with each other. As a result, it is possible to reduce or prevent adhesion of the noodle strings of two bundles of noodle strings, and reduce or prevent adhesion of adjacent noodle strings included in one bundle of noodle strings.

Further, in the second embodiment, between the noodle strings that are in contact with the protrusions of the comb plate and the noodle strings that are not in contact with each other, the direction in which the noodle strings advance (immediately before the noodle strings contact the protrusions of the comb plate and in contact with the protrusions of the comb plate). A shift occurs in the direction of the velocity vector of the noodle strings immediately after the noodle strips are pulled, or in the crimp period or phase. Specifically, when the noodle strings come into contact with the projections of the comb plate, the direction of movement of the noodle strings may be changed, and the progression of the noodle strings is delayed, thereby changing the cycle or phase of the crimping of the noodle strings. In some cases. Therefore, it is possible to make the noodle strip mass per unit length of the noodle strip bundle more uniform by eliminating the regularity of the movement direction of the noodle strips included in one noodle strip bundle or the cycle or phase of the crimp. Generally, in the production of noodle products, in the process of cutting the noodle strings into individual serving units, in consideration of manufacturing errors, etc., the mass of the noodle strings should not fall below the serving size. The noodle strings are cut with 105% of the target value. By making the mass of the noodle strings per unit length of the bundle of noodle strings more uniform, manufacturing errors to be considered in the process of cutting the noodle strings into individual serving units can be reduced. As a result, the noodle strings can be cut at a target value closer to the amount of one meal, that is, at a target value closer to 100%, and the manufacturing cost of noodle products can be effectively reduced.

The effect of making the noodle strip mass per unit length of the bundle of noodle strips more uniform can be obtained not only for wide noodles but also for narrower noodle strips. With narrow noodle strings, the effect of reducing or preventing the adhesion of noodle strings due to the change in the orientation of the noodle strings is considered to be small or substantially non-existent. The direction of travel or crimp period or phase shift occurs in the same way as with wide noodles. Therefore, even in a noodle product including narrow noodle strings, the noodle strings can be cut at a target value closer to the amount of one meal, that is, a target value closer to 100%, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost of the noodle product. be able to. In the second embodiment, the width of the annular groove may be 0.75 mm or more, 1.0 mm or more, or 1.25 mm or more and 30 mm or less, 15 mm or less, or 10 mm or less. For example, the width of the annular groove can be 0.75 mm to 30 mm, 1.0 mm to 15 mm, or 1.25 mm to 10 mm.

In FIG. 6, when viewed from the side of the plate-like portions 34a and 34b of the comb plate, the direction in which the plurality of projecting portions 22a and 22b of the scraper extend from the plate-like portions 24a and 24b of the scraper is the upward direction. All the projections 32a, 32b are shifted to the right from the center of the annular grooves 12a, 12b. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the noodle strings of the upper bundle of noodle strings cut out by the cutting blade roll 10a and the noodle strings of the lower noodle string bundle cut out by the cutting blade roll 10b come into contact with the protrusions 32a and 32b of the comb plate. The noodle strings are oriented in the same direction on a plane perpendicular to the advancing direction of the noodle strings, that is, rotate clockwise on the plane. In other words, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the orientation of some of the noodle strings of the upper bundle of noodle strings cut out by the cutting blade roll 10a is changed by contacting the protrusion 32a of the comb plate on the left side thereof in FIG. On the other hand, a part of the noodle strings of the lower noodle string bundle cut out by the cutting blade roll 10b contacts the projection 32b of the comb plate on the right side in FIG. 6, and its orientation is changed. As a result, when viewed directly from above the conveyor, the upper bundle of noodle strings and the lower bundle of noodle strings are stacked with their orientations changed in opposite directions. In some other embodiments, all projections 32a are offset to the right of the center of annular groove 12a and all projections 32b are offset to the left of the center of annular groove 12b, or all projections 32a are annular. Either all of the projections 32b are shifted to the left from the center of the groove 12a and all the projections 32b are shifted to the right from the center of the annular groove 12b, or all of the projections 32a and 32b are shifted to the left from the center of the annular grooves 12a and 12b. there is

In the second embodiment, each of the plurality of protrusions of the comb plate may be displaced from the center of the annular groove on a different side from the neighboring protrusions along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll. For example, when the noodle strip cutting device is viewed from the front on the side from which the noodle strips are taken out, with the direction in which the plurality of protrusions of the scraper extend from the plate-shaped portion of the scraper as the upward direction, one protrusion of the comb plate is circular. If offset to the right of the center of the groove, one or two protrusions next along the length of the cutting roll may be offset to the left of the center of the annular groove, and vice versa. .

In the second embodiment, each of the plurality of protrusions of the comb plate may be displaced from the center of the corresponding annular groove of the plurality of annular grooves to the irregular side, or may be displaced by an irregular distance, Or it may be shifted by a combination of these.

In one embodiment, the device for cutting out noodle strings further includes a guide that receives the cut out noodle strings. As the guide, a known guide used in a noodle strip cutting device having a function of once receiving the noodle strips separated from the cutting blade roll by a scraper and then guiding the noodle strips onto a conveyor can be used. . The guide may further include a partition plate arranged along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll for dividing the bundle of noodle strings. Generally, the guide is directly below or obliquely below the pair of cutting blade rolls and is placed between the pair of cutting blade rolls and the conveyor so that the noodle strings move in the vertical direction. Placed at an angle so that the lines move.

The guide is generally gutter-shaped, plate-shaped, or tubular, and can be formed using materials such as stainless steel and plastic. The upper side of the guide may be open, and a lid that can be opened and closed and whose height is adjustable may be used on the upper side of the guide. The lid may be attached to the guide, integral with the guide, or attached to a separate part from the guide, for example, the housing to which the cutting blade roll is mounted. The guide and lid may be made of the same material or of different materials. For example, when the guide is made of stainless steel, the lid may be a soft plastic or silicone rubber sheet.

A conveyor can be arranged directly below the cutting edge roll or below the outlet of the guide. The conveyor is not particularly limited, and may be a wire mesh conveyor, a net conveyor, a belt conveyor, or the like. The cut noodle strings are transported directly onto the conveyor or through guides. Two bundles of noodle strings formed from a pair of cutting blade rolls are vertically stacked on a conveyor or a guide and transported to a post-process for processing.

The conveying speed of the conveyor arranged directly below the noodle strip cutting device is generally set lower than the rotating speed of the cutting blade roll, that is, the cutting speed of the noodle strips. The noodle strings peeled from the cutting blade roll by the scraper and changed in orientation by the comb plate, or noodle strings whose orientation was not changed, when transferred onto the conveyor or while moving on the guide, The resistance caused by the difference between the conveying speed of the conveyor and the cutting speed of the noodle strings causes them to shrink. Such curly noodle strings are sometimes referred to as "waves" due to their shape. When the noodle strings are guided onto the conveyor through a guide with a lid on the upper side, the noodle strings crimp in a more constrained space defined by the guide and the lid, so the degree of crimping of the noodle strings, i.e., the size of the "waves." can be made more uniform. If a guide with a lid on the upper side is not used, it is desirable to arrange the conveyor directly below the cutting edge roll in order to form crimps on the noodle strings. If the distance between the cutting blade roll and the conveyor is long, the noodle strings may not be crimped. The distance between the cutting blade roll and the conveyor at which crimps are formed in the noodle strings varies depending on the raw materials of the noodle strings, the manufacturing conditions, etc. Therefore, the conveyor should set the cutting blade rolls to such an extent that the noodle strings are crimped. It should be "directly below". In the case of crimping the noodle strings using a guide with a lid on the upper side, there are no restrictions on the placement of the conveyor and the distance between the cutting blade roll and the conveyor.

The difference in how the noodle strings curl depending on the presence or absence of the comb plate will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. FIG. 7A is a schematic perspective view explaining the direction in which the noodle strings curl when there is no comb plate, and FIG. 7B is a schematic perspective view explaining the direction in which the noodle strings curl after the orientation is changed by the comb plate.

In FIG. 7A, the noodle strip traveling in the direction of the arrow along the z-direction does not change its orientation at the origin O, that is, it does not rotate on the plane (xy plane) perpendicular to the traveling direction of the noodle strip. This is indicated in FIG. 7A by the double arrows indicating the orientation of the noodle strings sandwiched between the two leader lines pointing in the same direction at both the negative and positive z-axis positions. there is Since the noodle strips are crimped in the y direction, when two noodle strip bundles are stacked in the vertical direction (y direction), the contact area between the wide part of the noodle strip bundle on the upper side and the wide part of the noodle strip bundle on the lower side is Due to their large size, these noodle strings tend to adhere to each other.

In FIG. 7B, the noodle strings traveling in the direction of the arrow along the z direction are oriented on the plane (xy plane) perpendicular to the traveling direction of the noodle strings due to the projections of the comb plate arranged at the origin O. to rotate from the x-axis to the y-axis. This means that in FIG. 7B, the two-headed arrow indicating the orientation of the noodle strings sandwiched between the two lead lines has a negative z-axis position (before the noodle strings come into contact with the protrusions of the comb plate) and a positive z-axis position. position (after the noodle strings come into contact with the protrusions of the comb plate) and are oriented in different directions. This rotation causes the noodle strings twisted at the origin O to be crimped in the x-direction. Since there is no contact with the noodle strings of the bundle of noodle strings, adhesion of these noodle strings can be effectively reduced or prevented.

When steaming the noodle strings, a conveyor that conveys the bundle of noodle strings at a slightly higher speed than the conveyor may be arranged immediately after or in a post-process of the conveyor. During steaming, if the density of crimping is too high, the noodle strings may stick to each other due to the gelatinization of the surface of the noodle strings. However, even if an attempt is made to achieve a bundle of noodle strings with a sparse crimp density to the extent that it is possible to prevent the noodle strings from sticking to each other only with the cutting speed of the cutting blade roll and the conveying speed of the conveyor, the crimp of a suitable shape cannot be achieved. It can be difficult to come by. Therefore, on the conveyor immediately after the noodle strip cutting device, a tightly crimped bundle of noodle strings is produced, and then transferred to a conveyor that conveys the bundle of noodle strings at a slightly higher speed before steaming, so that the noodle strings do not stick together during steaming. The density of creases can be relaxed to some extent. The slightly higher conveyor speed also makes it possible to increase the production efficiency of the post-process. ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION Compared with a prior art, this invention can reduce the binding of noodle strings which arises when a conveyor passes through the inside of a steamer.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic cross-sectional view for explaining the step of cutting out noodle strings using the noodle band cutting device 100 of one embodiment. The noodle strip 50 passes between a pair of cutting edge rolls 10a and 10b rotating in opposite directions. The cutting blade rolls 10a and 10b respectively cut the noodle strip 50 into a plurality of noodle strings 52a and 52b. The noodle strings 52a, 52b that have entered the annular grooves 12a, 12b of the cutting blade rolls 10a, 10b are separated from the cutting blade rolls 10a, 10b by projections (not shown) of the scrapers 20a, 20b to form upper noodle string bundles 54a and The lower bundles of noodle strings 54b are respectively formed and advanced obliquely downward. After that, the noodle strings 52a and 52b come into contact with the projections (not shown) of the comb plates 30a and 30b, and the orientation of the noodle strings 52a and 52b rotates on a plane perpendicular to the traveling direction of the noodle strings 52a and 52b. do. A guide 40 and a lid 42 are arranged obliquely below the cutting edge rolls 10a, 10b and between the cutting edge rolls 10a, 10b and the conveyor 44. As shown in FIG. While the noodle strings 52a and 52b pass through the constrained space defined by the guide 40 and the lid 42, the difference between the conveying speed of the conveyor 44 and the rotation speed of the cutting blade rolls 10a and 10b, i.e., the cutting speed of the noodle strings. shrinks due to In FIG. 8, for convenience of explanation, the crimping direction of the noodle strings 52a and 52b is the vertical direction. Note that it is crimped. Inside or at the exit of the guide 40, the upper bundle of noodle strings 54a containing the noodle strings 52a and the lower bundle of noodle strings 54b containing the noodle strings 52b are superimposed and transported by the conveyor 44 to a post-process such as steaming.

A noodle manufacturing apparatus of one embodiment includes the noodle string cutting apparatus. Noodle manufacturing equipment consists of supply equipment such as hoppers for supplying main raw materials and auxiliary raw materials, kneaders for kneading the main raw materials and auxiliary raw materials, mixing equipment such as planetary mixers, extruders, rolling rolls for forming noodle strips from dough, and composite equipment. machine, conveyer for transporting bundles of noodle strings, steaming machine for gelatinizing the starch contained in noodle strings, cutting machine for cutting noodle bundles to the length of one serving, frying machine or hot air dryer, packaging machine, etc. It's okay.

A method for producing noodles according to one embodiment includes cutting a noodle band formed from dough into a plurality of noodle strings using the noodle band cutting apparatus.

A method for producing instant noodles according to one embodiment includes cutting a noodle strip formed from dough into a plurality of noodle strings using the noodle string cutting apparatus, and steaming and gelatinizing the plurality of cut noodle strings. and drying the gelatinized noodle strings. The instant noodles may be fried noodles or hot-air dried noodles.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications, additions of components, or improvements are possible within the scope of the spirit of the present invention.

100 Noodle string cutting device 10, 10a, 10b Cutting edge roll 12, 12a, 12b Annular groove 20, 20a, 20b Scraper 22, 22a, 22b Scraper protrusion 24, 24a, 24b Scraper plate-shaped part 30, 30a, 30b Comb plate 32, 32a, 32b Protrusion of comb plate 34, 34a, 34b Plate-shaped portion of comb plate 40 Guide 42 Lid 44 Conveyor 50 Noodle belt 52a, 52b Noodle strings 54a Upper side bundle of noodle strings 54b Lower side bundle of noodle strings

Claims (10)

a pair of cutting blade rolls having a plurality of annular grooves arranged in parallel so as to face and engage with each other;
A scraper having a plate-like portion extending along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, and a plurality of protrusions extending in a direction substantially orthogonal to the long side of the plate-like portion, wherein the plurality of protrusions are provided. a scraper each configured to engage a corresponding one of the plurality of annular grooves of the blade roll to strip the noodle strings in the plurality of annular grooves from the blade roll;
A comb plate having a plurality of projections arranged along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, the plurality of projections being displaced from the centers of the plurality of annular grooves, wherein the plurality of projections are arranged such that the noodle strings are aligned with the cutting blade roll. and a comb plate configured to come into contact with the noodle strings at a position not in contact with the plurality of protrusions of the scraper. The plurality of protrusions of the comb plate apply force to the noodle strings in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the noodle strings separated from the cutting blade roll and the scraper and the width direction of the noodle strings. The noodle string cutting device according to claim 1, having a raised shape. The comb plate has a plate-like portion extending along the longitudinal direction of the cutting blade roll, and a plurality of protrusions extending in a direction substantially perpendicular to the long side of the plate-like portion. 3. The device for cutting out noodle strings according to claim 1, wherein said plate-like portion of said comb plate is arranged on top of said plate-like portion of said scraper. The noodle string cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the plurality of projections of the comb plate are arranged alternately with respect to the plurality of annular grooves of the cutting blade roll. . The noodle string cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the width of the annular groove of the cutting blade roll is 2.0 mm or more. The noodle string cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the width of the plurality of protrusions of the comb plate is 50% or less of the width of the annular groove. The noodle string cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a guide for receiving the cut out noodle strings. A noodle manufacturing apparatus comprising the noodle string cutting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7. A method for producing noodles, comprising cutting a noodle band formed from dough into a plurality of noodle strings using the noodle band cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 7. Cutting out a noodle band formed from dough into a plurality of noodle strings using the noodle band cutting device according to any one of claims 1 to 7;
A method for producing instant noodles, comprising: steaming and pregelatinizing the plurality of cut noodle strings; and drying the pregelatinized noodle strings.

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