JP7638838B2 - Granular quantitative supply device and granular quantitative supply method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a granular material quantitative supply device and a granular material quantitative supply method for supplying a fixed amount of granular material onto an object to be supplied.

Conventionally, there exists a sprinkling device for sprinkling furikake material from above onto food products such as rice balls that are continuously transported by a belt conveyor or the like (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this device, the furikake material is stored in a hopper, crushed by a crushing blade, and released by centrifugal force while being kneaded in a scraping section, and the furikake material is sprinkled onto the food products below.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 59-25652

In the above-mentioned spraying device, the sprinkling material is crushed with the crushing blade and then loosened in the scraping section before being sprayed. Depending on the contents being sprayed, the material may crumble into small pieces or oil may seep out, making it difficult to spray an even amount.

The objective of this invention is to supply a constant amount of granules onto a continuously transported object.

The granular material quantitative supply device of the present invention includes a granular material storage section having a granular material dispersing section at the bottom of which are formed a plurality of openings through which the granular material passes and which stores a predetermined amount of granular material; a replenishment granular material storage section provided at the top of the granular material storage section and having a replenishment amount control section at the bottom of the granular material storage section which stores the granular material and has a replenishment amount control section which controls the amount of granular material replenished to the granular material storage section; a granular material storage section vibration section which vibrates the granular material storage section; a granular material storage amount detection section which detects the amount of the granular material stored in the granular material storage section; and a control section which, when it is detected by the granular material storage amount detection section that the amount of the granular material stored in the granular material storage section has fallen below a predetermined first granular material storage amount, controls the replenishment amount control section so that the granular material storage amount detection section replenishes the granular material storage section with the granular material storage section until the amount of the granular material stored in the granular material storage section reaches a predetermined second granular material storage amount.

The granular material quantitative supply device of the present invention also has a built-in diffusion plate in the granular material storage section that is convex at the top and has a pyramidal shape.

In addition, in the granular quantitative supply device of the present invention, when the object to which the granular material is to be supplied is located below the granular material storage section, the control section vibrates the granular material storage section for a certain period of time using the granular material storage section vibration section, and the granular material is discharged from the opening.

In addition, in the particle quantitative supply device of the present invention, the particles are granules or at least partially contain granules.

In addition, in the granular material quantitative supply device of the present invention, the granular material is sesame salt.

The method for supplying a fixed amount of granules of the present invention includes a granule storage section vibration step of vibrating a granule storage section having a granule dispersing section at the bottom with a plurality of openings through which the granules pass, which stores a predetermined amount of granules, a granule storage amount detection step of detecting the amount of granules stored in the granule storage section, and a granule refilling step of controlling a refill amount control unit of a refill granule storage section that is provided above the granule storage section and stores the granules to be refilled into the granule storage section when the granule storage amount detection step detects that the amount of granules stored in the granule storage section has fallen below a predetermined first granule storage amount, thereby refilling the granules into the granule storage section until the amount of granules stored in the granule storage section by the granule storage amount detection step becomes a predetermined second granule storage amount.

In addition, in the method for supplying a fixed amount of granular material of the present invention, the granular material storage section vibration step involves, when the object to which the granular material is to be supplied is located below the granular material storage section, vibrating the granular material storage section for a certain period of time using the granular material storage section vibration section, thereby discharging the granular material from the opening.

In addition, in the method for quantitatively supplying particles of the present invention, the particles are granules or at least partially contain granules.

In addition, in the method for supplying a fixed amount of granules of the present invention, the granules are sesame salt.

This invention allows a constant amount of granules to be supplied onto a continuously transported object.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a granular material constant rate supplying device according to an embodiment; 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a granular quantitative supplying device according to an embodiment; 1 is a flowchart showing a method for supplying a fixed amount of sesame salt to a target object according to an embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing a method for maintaining a constant amount of sesame salt stored in a granular storage section according to an embodiment.

The following describes a granular material supplying device and a granular material supplying method according to an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the granular material supplying device will be described as an example of a device that sprinkles a fixed amount of sesame salt on the top surface of a molded rice ball.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a granular material quantitative supplying device according to an embodiment. The granular material quantitative supplying device 2 has a cylindrical granular material storage section 10 that stores a predetermined amount of sesame salt, which is a granular material. Here, sesame salt is a mixture of sesame and granular salt in a certain ratio. The granular material storage section 10 has a granular material dispersing section 12 in which a plurality of openings are formed at the bottom through which the sesame salt passes. Here, the openings have a diameter through which one grain of sesame and one grain of granular salt can pass, and more specifically, have a diameter larger than the smallest diameter among the diameters of one grain of sesame and one grain of granulated granular salt measured from multiple directions. The granular material storage section 10 also has a built-in diffusion plate 14 that is cone-shaped with a convex upper portion. The diffusion plate 14 can be cone-shaped, but it may also be pyramidal or have curved sides in accordance with the shape of the granular material storage section 10 and the shape of the granular material dispersing section 12.

A granular storage section vibration section 16 that vibrates the granular storage section 10 in the vertical direction is provided in a position close to the granular storage section 10, and a level sensor 18 that is a granular storage amount detection section that detects the height of the sesame salt, which is the amount of sesame salt stored in the granular storage section 10, is also provided.

At the top of the granular storage section 10, there is a replenishment granular storage section 20, which has a cylindrical shape and a narrower diameter at the bottom, and which stores the sesame salt to be replenished to the granular storage section 10. At the bottom of the replenishment granular storage section 20, there is a valve body 22, which is a replenishment amount control section that controls the amount of sesame salt that is replenished to the granular storage section 10 passing through.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing the system configuration of a granular quantitative supply device according to an embodiment. The granular quantitative supply device 2 is equipped with a control unit 30 that controls the entire device. Connected to the control unit 30 are a granular storage vibration unit 16, a level sensor 18, a valve body drive unit 22a that opens and closes the valve body 22, and a position sensor 32 that detects when a rice ball (not shown), which is the object to which sesame salt is to be supplied, is positioned below the granular storage unit 10.

Figure 3 is a flow chart showing a method for supplying a fixed amount of sesame salt to the top surface of a rice ball according to an embodiment. The control unit 30 acquires position information from the position sensor 32 of the rice ball, which is the object to which the sesame salt is to be supplied, being transported by a conveyor, turntable, or the like (step S10). If the acquired position information is the lower part of the granular storage unit 10, i.e., the position where vibration of the granular storage unit 10 starts (step S11), the control unit 30 controls the granular storage unit vibration unit 16 to vibrate the granular storage unit 10 in the vertical direction for a fixed period of time, thereby discharging the sesame salt from the opening of the granular scattering unit 12 (step S12).

As described below, the sesame salt is always stored in the granular storage section 10 at a height of 1.0 to 0.5 mm, so when the granular storage section vibration section 16 is controlled to vibrate the granular storage section 10 vertically for a certain period of time, a constant amount of sesame salt can always be scattered on the top surface of the rice ball.

Figure 4 is a flow chart showing a method for maintaining a constant amount of sesame salt stored in the granular storage unit according to the embodiment. The control unit 30 detects the height of sesame salt, which is the amount of sesame salt stored in the granular storage unit 10, using the level sensor 18 (step S20). When the detected height of sesame salt falls below a predetermined first height (first granular storage amount), for example 0.5 mm (step S21), the control unit 30 controls the valve body drive unit 22a to open the valve body 22 to allow an appropriate amount of sesame salt to pass through (step S22). As a result, the sesame salt passes through the opened valve body 22 and is replenished to the granular storage unit 10. In this case, the sesame salt that passes through the valve body 22 falls onto the diffusion plate 14, is diffused in the granular storage unit 10, and is stored in the granular storage unit 10 with the upper surface being approximately horizontal.

The control unit 30 detects the height of the sesame salt, which is the amount of sesame salt stored in the granular storage unit 10, using the level sensor 18 (step S23), and if the detected height of the sesame salt exceeds a predetermined second height (second granular storage amount), for example 1.0 mm (step S24), it controls the valve body drive unit 22a to close the valve body 22 (step S25).

In this embodiment of the granular material supply device, the sesame salt is always stored in the granular material storage section 10 at a height of 1.0 to 0.5 mm. Therefore, even when the granular material storage section vibration section 16 is controlled to vibrate the granular material storage section 10 vertically for a certain period of time, the sesame and salt are not unevenly distributed and a constant amount of sesame salt can always be scattered on the top surface of the rice ball.

In the above embodiment, the granular material supplying device 2 is described as a device that sprinkles a fixed amount of sesame salt on the top surface of a molded rice ball, but the granular material is not limited to sesame salt, and may be granular or at least partially contain granules. Examples include crushed perilla, furikake, white sesame seeds, granular spices such as pepper, crushed seaweed such as green laver, powdered cheese, and granular or minced tsukudani.

The object to which the granules are supplied is not limited to molded rice balls, but may be any food to which a certain amount of granules are to be shaken. Examples include sushi in containers (inari sushi, chirashi sushi), side dishes in containers, bento boxes, noodles in containers, and sushi with toppings.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the valve body 22 is used as the replenishment amount control unit, but a screw feeder, a vibrating feeder, or a slide gate may be used instead.

2...Granular mass supply device, 10...Granular mass storage section, 12...Granular mass dispersing section, 14...Diffusion plate, 16...Granular mass storage section vibration section, 18...Level sensor, 20...Replenishment granular mass storage section, 22...Valve body, 22a...Valve body drive section, 30...Control section, 32...Position sensor

Claims (8)

A granular storage section having a granular dispersion section at the bottom with a plurality of openings through which the granular material passes and a cone-shaped diffusion plate with a convex upper portion built in above the granular dispersion section, for storing a predetermined amount of granular material;
a refill particle storage section provided at an upper portion of the particle storage section and storing the particles, the refill amount control section being provided at a bottom portion of the particle storage section and controlling the amount of the particles refilled into the particle storage section;
A particle storage section vibration section that vibrates the particle storage section for a certain period of time;
a particle storage amount detection unit that detects the amount of the particles stored in the particle storage unit;
a control unit that controls the replenishment amount control unit to replenish the particles to the particle storage unit until the amount of the particles stored in the particle storage unit by the particle storage amount detection unit becomes a predetermined second particle storage amount when the particle storage amount detection unit detects that the amount of the particles stored in the particle storage unit falls below a predetermined first particle storage amount;
A granular quantitative supply device comprising: The control unit of the device for quantitatively supplying granular material as described in claim 1 is configured to vibrate the granular material storage section using the granular material storage section vibration unit when the object to which the granular material is to be supplied is located below the granular material storage section, thereby discharging the granular material from the opening. 3. The device for quantitatively supplying granular material according to claim 1 , wherein the granular material is granular material or at least partially contains granular material. The granular material quantitative supplying device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the granular material is sesame salt. a particle storage section vibration step of vibrating the particle storage section for a fixed period of time, the particle storage section having a particle distribution section at the bottom with a plurality of openings through which the particles pass and a cone-shaped diffusion plate with a convex upper portion built in above the particle distribution section, the particle storage section storing a predetermined amount of particles;
a particle storage amount detection step of detecting an amount of particles stored in the particle storage section;
a particle replenishing step of controlling a replenishing amount control unit of a replenishing particle storage unit that is provided above the particle storage unit and stores the particles to be replenished to the particle storage unit, when the particle storage amount detection step detects that the amount of the particles stored in the particle storage unit has fallen below a predetermined first particle storage amount, to replenish the particles to the particle storage unit until the amount of the particles stored in the particle storage unit by the particle storage amount detection step becomes a predetermined second particle storage amount;
A method for quantitatively supplying granular material comprising the steps of: The method for quantitatively supplying granular material as described in claim 5, wherein the granular material storage section vibration process comprises, when the object to which the granular material is to be supplied is located below the granular material storage section , vibrating the granular material storage section using a granular material storage section vibration section, thereby discharging the granular material from the opening. 7. The method for quantitatively supplying granular material according to claim 5 , wherein the granular material is granular or at least partially contains granular material. The method for quantitatively supplying granular material according to any one of claims 5 to 7 , wherein the granular material is sesame salt.

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