JP7784137B2 - Method and device for separating boiled noodles into individual servings - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method and device for dividing boiled noodles into individual portions after they have been boiled in a large pot. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and device for dividing boiled noodles into individual portions, which allows for the dispensing of a fixed amount of noodles without cutting the noodle strands.

Noodles are typically boiled in a large pot, cooled, and then separated into individual servings using a ball-separating device, which then places them in buckets at the downstream stage and sends them to the packaging process. The ball-separating device typically uses a volumetric measuring system, which ensures a certain volume (weight) by leveling off the top of a full weighing basket. With this leveling method, noodles that spill over the weighing basket are cut off, meaning that short noodles inevitably remain in the finished product. Hard noodles, such as Japanese soba noodles, are particularly prone to breaking, resulting in a high incidence of short noodles, which reduces their commercial value. Therefore, currently, they are rarely produced on lines with a ball-separating device.

In order to prevent the occurrence of short noodles resulting from the above-mentioned level measurement, it is necessary to supply noodle strands in small amounts from the noodle supply tank. This method, based on the findings of the discovery, discloses an automatic method for measuring boiled noodles (JP 2012-50425). This method coordinates the water flow with the rotating drum to create a flow that rotates up and down, preventing the boiled noodles stored in the water in the noodle supply tank from becoming crowded due to settling or being scraped together by stirring in the reciprocating orbit, thereby enabling the noodles to be supplied in small amounts.

However, with this configuration, while the occurrence of broken noodles can be reduced, the problem of not being able to completely eliminate them remains. Furthermore, while dispensing noodles in small amounts prevents clogging at the outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank, there is still the possibility that some noodles may not meet the allowable weight, resulting in the need for time-consuming re-weighing. To solve this problem, a level-measurement method has been proposed that reduces the occurrence of broken noodles when measuring noodles level with a ball-removing machine, and rather than simply aiming to improve measuring accuracy by reducing the standard deviation, increases the probability that the weight will fall within the allowable range (correct weight passing rate), increases the correct weight passing rate when measuring 0.5 servings to make one serving, and further increases the correct weight passing rate when measuring 0.5 servings to make one serving without reducing the processing efficiency of the ball-removing machine (JP 2021-32874 A).

JP 2012-50425 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2021-32874

As mentioned above, the invention of Patent Document 1 has the problem of not being able to sufficiently prevent the occurrence of short noodles when leveling, while the invention of Patent Document 2 has the problem of the time-consuming task of measuring out half servings and the resulting complexity of the system. Therefore, the objective of this invention is to provide a method and device for dividing boiled noodles into individual servings that also uses a volumetric measuring method but separates the noodles into individual servings using a new method that does not rely on the leveling method, thereby preventing the occurrence of short noodles.

As a result of extensive research into solving the above problems, the inventor came up with the idea of using the same volumetric measuring method, but instead of dividing the noodles into portions by leveling them off, by placing a very low-pressure pinch valve on top of the measuring basket and tightening the knob to create divisions with a very low pressure that would not break the noodles, thereby making it possible to measure the noodles, and thus developed the present invention.

During the research and development process, it was discovered that the number and length of noodles held by the pinch valve varied depending on the diameter of the tube used to hold them, resulting in a large variation in the volume of noodles entering the weighing basket at the bottom, resulting in weight discrepancies for each serving. Therefore, attempts were made to reduce this variation by narrowing the diameter of the passage tube, but this resulted in clogging of the noodles and longer weighing and insertion times, reducing the amount of noodles that could be processed. Following these findings, further research was conducted, and it was concluded that the most effective way to solve this problem was to use a water ejector in combination with the tube, as this would minimize the diameter of the removal tube and shorten the removal time, leading to the completion of this invention.

That is, the invention described in claim 1 for solving the above problem is a method for dividing boiled noodles into individual portions, which is carried out using a boiled noodle dividing device having a configuration in which a pinch tube extending toward a measuring basket via an ejector nozzle for removing noodle strings is disposed at the bottom of a noodle supply tank,
supplying noodle strings from the noodle supply tank to the pinching tube through the noodle string removal ejector nozzle ;
a step of restricting the amount of the noodle strings falling into the weighing basket by intermittently stopping the falling of the noodle strings through the pinch tube by pinching the middle portion of the pinch tube with a pressure that can suppress the falling of the noodle strings without cutting the noodle strings ;
The method for dividing boiled noodles into individual portions is characterized by comprising the steps of:

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention described in claim 2 provides a method for manufacturing a noodle feeder, comprising: arranging a pinch tube at the bottom of the noodle supply tank, the pinch tube extending toward the measuring basket via an ejector nozzle for removing noodle strings;
The ejector nozzle is equipped with a downward flow nozzle that sprays a downward water flow that acts to assist in drawing out the noodle strings from the noodle supply outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank , and the pinch tube is equipped with a pinch valve in the middle that intermittently clamps the pinch tube with a pressure that can suppress the fall of the noodle strings without cutting them , so that the fall of the noodle strings in the pinch tube is temporarily stopped when the pinch valve clamps the pinch tube.

In one embodiment , the ejector nozzle includes an upward flow nozzle that ejects an upward water flow that turns over the noodle strings near the noodle supply outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank to prevent noodle clogging.

In one embodiment, the downflow nozzle and the upflow nozzle are controlled to alternately spray high-pressure water.

In one embodiment, the pinch valve includes a pair of tube elements that clamp the pinch tube, and the pair of tube elements are depressed by vacuum operation after clamping is complete, helping the pinch tube return to its original position. In another embodiment, a measuring extension tube is disposed between the lower end of the pinch tube and the measuring basket.

As described above, the present invention uses a volumetric measuring system, but rather than using a leveling method to separate the noodles into individual servings, it uses a method in which slight pressure is applied to the middle section of the pinching tube, which is located between the noodle outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank and the measuring basket. This intermittently stops the noodles falling through the pinching tube, preventing the creation of short noodles while regulating the amount of noodles that fall into the measuring basket for measurement.

1 is a schematic diagram of a boiled noodle individual portioning device according to the present invention; 2A and 2B are a partial cross-sectional view and a cross-sectional view along line AA of an ejector nozzle in the boiled noodle individual portioning device according to the present invention. 1 is a front view and a cross-sectional view along line B-B of the pinch valve and pinch tube portion of the boiled noodle individual portioning ball-taking device of the present invention. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a pinch valve and a pinch tube portion of the boiled noodle individual portioning device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a pinch valve and a pinch tube portion of a boiled noodle individual portioning device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the operation of the pinch valve and pinch tube portion in the boiled noodle individual portioning device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the operation of the pinch valve and the pinch tube portion in the boiled noodle individual portioning device according to the present invention. FIG.

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The method for separating boiled noodles into individual servings according to the present invention is characterized by applying slight pressure to the middle section of the pinch tube, which forms the noodle passageway between the noodle outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank and the measuring basket, thereby intermittently stopping the falling of the noodle strings and regulating the amount of noodle strings falling into the measuring basket.

The individual boiled noodle stripping device of the present invention is used to carry out the above method, and multiple devices (usually 2 to 6) are arranged side by side at the bottom of the noodle supply tank 1, which is located at the top of the machine frame (not shown). Each stripping device consists of an ejector nozzle 2 for removing noodle strands that is fixed to the bottom of the noodle supply tank 1, a measuring unit attached to the ejector nozzle 2, and a measuring basket 3 located below the measuring unit. The measuring unit is composed of a pinch tube 4 and a pinch valve 5 that is located midway along the pinch tube 4 and intermittently clamps the pinch tube 4 (Figure 1).

The ejector nozzle 2 functions to assist in the withdrawal of noodle strings from the noodle supply outlet 1a at the bottom of the noodle supply tank 1, as well as to prevent the noodle supply outlet 1a from clogging with noodles. As will be described later, to perform these functions, the ejector nozzle 2 is equipped with multiple (e.g., six) centripetal-arranged downward flow nozzles 14 that spray a downward water flow for drawing in the noodle strings, and multiple upward flow nozzles 15 that spray an upward water flow for turning the noodle strings (Figure 2).

The ejector nozzle 2 consists of a resin nozzle body 11 and a metal cover 12 that surrounds the nozzle body 11. A noodle passage 13 is formed that penetrates the nozzle body 11 from top to bottom. The inner diameter of the noodle passage 13 is uniform from the top to bottom. Threaded cylinders 16 and 17 protrude laterally from the lower and upper halves of the ejector nozzle 2, respectively.

The lower half of the nozzle body 11 is narrowed to form an annular water channel 18 on its circumferential surface, and the screw cylinder 16 is installed so that it opens toward the annular water channel 18. Multiple downward flow nozzles 14 are drilled diagonally downward from the annular water channel 18 toward the noodle passage 13. Additionally, an annular water channel 19 is formed on the circumferential surface of the upper half of the nozzle body 11, and the screw cylinder 17 is installed so that it opens toward the annular water channel 19. Multiple upward flow nozzles 15 are drilled diagonally upward from the annular water channel 19 toward the noodle passage 13.

A hose joint 21 for supplying high-pressure water for drawing out the noodle strings is screwed onto the screw cylinder 16, and a hose joint 22 for supplying high-pressure water for turning the noodle strings is screwed onto the screw cylinder 17. A high-pressure water supply mechanism that alternately supplies high-pressure water intermittently is connected to the hose joints 21 and 22.

As shown in Figure 1, the high-pressure water supply mechanism includes a three-way water solenoid valve 23 that receives high-pressure water supplied from a pressure storage tank, and flow control valves 24 and 25 connected to the three-way solenoid valve 23. One flow control valve 24 is connected to a hose joint 22 via a high-pressure water supply hose 27, and the other flow control valve 25 is connected to a hose joint 21 via a high-pressure water supply hose 28. The three-way solenoid valve 23 and flow control valves 24 and 25 are provided for each ball removal device.

As shown in Figures 3 to 5 in particular, the metering section connected to the lower side of the ejector nozzle 2 is composed of a pinch tube 4 and a pinch valve 5 that is positioned midway along the pinch tube 4 and intermittently clamps the pinch tube 4. The pinch tube 4 is fitted into the inlet piping ferrule 31, the upper part of which is connected to the bottom of the ejector nozzle 2, and secured with a hose band; alternatively, as described below, it is secured by inserting a rubber ring when attaching the connecting blocks 6, 6a to the inlet piping ferrule 31.

As shown in Figure 4, the pinch valve 5 consists of a pair of connecting blocks 6, 6a and a pair of valve bodies 36, 36a supported between the connecting blocks 6, 6a. The connecting blocks 6, 6a are connected by fastening the upper and lower parts with screws 7 while supporting the valve bodies 36, 36a and sandwiching the pinch tube 4. At this time, the pinch valve 5 is fixed to the inlet piping ferrule 31 by applying strong pressure from the upper part of the connecting blocks 6, 6a to the lower part of the inlet piping ferrule 31 on which the pinch tube 4 is fitted. Furthermore, the outlet piping ferrule 32 is fixed to the pinch valve 5 by applying strong pressure from the lower part of the connecting blocks 6, 6a to the upper part of the outlet piping ferrule 32 on which the pinch tube 4 is inserted.

Support holes 8, 8a are provided side by side on the connecting blocks 6, 6a, respectively, for inserting and supporting the ends of the valve bodies 36, 36a. Furthermore, a low-pressure air supply hole 9 is formed in one of the connecting blocks, 6a.

The valve body 36, 36a of the pinch valve 5 consists of a semicircular case 37, a core 38 with a semicircular cross section housed within the case 37, and a thin-walled rubber tube element 39 airtightly fitted around the core 38. The core 38 has an air inlet/outlet port 40 with a closed end that communicates with the low-pressure air supply port 9 of the connecting block 6a (see Figure 6 in particular). The air inlet/outlet port 40 receives extremely low-pressure compressed air for operation from a pinch valve vacuum mechanism, and also receives air from the air inlet/outlet port 40. Both ends of the tube element 39 are pressed against the core 38 by retaining ferrules 39a to maintain an airtight seal, and pressurization cushion rubber packings 39b are positioned on the outside of the retaining ferrules 39a (see Figure 6).

As shown in Figure 1, the pinch valve vacuum mechanism consists of a regulator 42 that reduces the pressure of high-pressure air (0.5 MPa) that has passed through a filter 41, a micro-pressure regulator 43 that further reduces the pressure, a vacuum ejector 44, and a three-port direct-acting solenoid valve 45 for low-pressure air. A three-port direct-acting solenoid valve 45 is provided for each ball-removing device, while the vacuum ejector 44 is common to all ball-removing devices. The operation timing of the three-port direct-acting solenoid valve 45 and the three-way solenoid valve 23 is controlled via a timer 24. The pinch valve 5 clamps the group of noodle strings M falling through the pinch tube 4 without cutting them, creating a measuring interval. To avoid cutting soft noodle strings, the pinch pressure must be kept extremely low, i.e., approximately 0.01 to 0.05 MPa, depending on the tube diameter.

In the case of the individual serving noodle dispenser of the present invention, batches of boiled noodles are loaded into the noodle supply tank 1 in 5-10 kg increments. To dispense small amounts of noodles from a mass of noodle strands M, the noodle strands must be broken up to a certain extent so that their concentration with the water remains constant. Otherwise, the time required for metering will be unstable. Therefore, in the present invention, a loosening mechanism is provided within the noodle supply tank 1 to turn the noodle strands M near the noodle delivery outlet 1a at the bottom to prevent clogging. Any of a variety of commonly used loosening mechanisms with different configurations can be used as the loosening mechanism. Cooperation between this loosening mechanism and the upward flow nozzle 15, which sprays the upward water flow for turning the noodle strands, prevents clogging of the noodle delivery outlet 1a.

A metering extension tube 33 is connected to the outlet piping ferrule 32, extending to the weighing basket 3. The metering extension tube 33 is installed to prevent the noodle strings M from spilling out from the top of the weighing basket 3. In other words, in this invention, volumetric metering is performed, but if the weighing basket 3 becomes full of noodles and the noodles reach the outlet piping ferrule 32, the auxiliary water flow from the downward flow nozzle 14 also becomes blocked, reducing the flow rate and stopping the noodle strings M from flowing down from the noodle delivery outlet 1a. The metering extension tube 33 is installed to avoid this situation and is, for example, approximately 100 mm long.

The weighing basket 3 has punched holes on its periphery and an open bottom, which opens and closes in response to the operation of an opening/closing plate 47 located below it. The opening/closing plate 47 is pivotally supported so that it can rotate downward from a horizontal position. When in a horizontal position, it closes the bottom opening of the weighing basket 3 to store the noodle strings M, and when it rotates downward, it opens the bottom opening, allowing the accumulated noodle blocks to fall under their own weight into a bucket that rotates below and is then sent to the next packaging process. The opening/closing plate 47 opens and closes driven by an air cylinder 49 that operates intermittently under the control of a timer 48 linked to the timer 24. It is preferable that the weighing basket 3 has a sliding cylinder 3a attached to the bottom of the main body that slides up and down relative to the main body, and that the capacity can be adjusted by moving this cylinder up and down.

In the boiled noodle individual portioning device according to the present invention, configured as described above, batch-boiled noodle blocks are added in 5-10 kg increments to the noodle supply tank 1, which contains water. The added noodle blocks are turned over and loosened by the action of the loosening mechanism installed in the noodle supply tank 1, and are further loosened by the upward water flow from the upward flow nozzle 15, so that noodle strands M do not accumulate near the noodle delivery outlet 1a and cause noodle clogging.

High-pressure water is intermittently and alternately supplied to the upward flow nozzle 15 and downward flow nozzle 14 by the action of the three-way solenoid valve 23. While an upward flow is being sprayed from the upward flow nozzle 15, the noodle strings M stop falling into the ejector nozzle 2, and while a downward flow is being sprayed from the downward flow nozzle 14, the noodle strings M are drawn into the ejector nozzle 2. That is, the noodle strings M that have fallen into the ejector nozzle 2 are urged downward by the action of the downward flow nozzle 14, which sprays a downward water flow for drawing in the noodle strings, and fall from the noodle passage 13 into the pinch tube 4, and then pass through the metering extension tube 33 and accumulate in the weighing basket 3.

After a predetermined time has elapsed, a predetermined amount of low-pressure air is sent to the low-pressure air supply hole 9 of the connecting block 6a. The low-pressure air is introduced into the air inlet/outlet holes 40 of the valve bodies 36, 36a, which face each other across the pinch tube 4, and acts to horizontally expand the tube element 39 at the air inlet/outlet hole 40. As a result, the pinch tube 4 is compressed and crushed, and the falling noodle strings M are held down (Figure 7), separating them from the noodle strings M that fell earlier. In other words, one serving's worth is measured out.

After a predetermined time has passed, the low-pressure air inside the air inlet/outlet hole 40 is sucked out and the pinch valve 5 opens, causing the crushed pinch tube 4 to return to its original circular cross-section due to its elasticity, releasing the group of noodle strings M that were being held and allowing them to fall under their own weight. However, since the pinch tube 4 may not be able to completely return to its original shape within a short period of time, the present invention provides a function to restore the pinch tube 4 by vacuum operation so that it can completely return to its original shape when the pinch valve 5 is opened, ensuring a noodle passage and allowing the group of noodle strings M to fall smoothly. In other words, a negative pressure is created inside the air inlet/outlet hole 40, causing the tube element 39 to collapse along the air inlet/outlet hole 40 (see Figures 6 and 7).

In the present invention, in order to achieve accurate weighing, the pinch tube 4, which serves as the passage for the noodle strands M, is narrowed to reduce the number of noodle strands passing through. However, to prevent this from slowing down the weighing speed, an auxiliary water flow (ejector water flow) is sent from the downward flow nozzle 14 to increase the falling speed of the noodle strands M being weighed.

After the metering operation is completed, a reverse flow (upward flow) is sent from the upward flow nozzle 15 to the noodle delivery outlet 1a at the bottom of the noodle supply tank 1 to prevent it from becoming clogged with noodle blocks. Furthermore, when the metering operation is completed, the pinch valve 5 closes and a group of noodle strands M is clamped within the pinch tube 4, blocking this area. Therefore, if the upward flow nozzle 15 is angled slightly upward, the water sprayed from the upward flow nozzle 15 will be reliably directed toward the noodle delivery outlet 1a.

The noodle block for one serving that has been weighed and stored in the weighing basket 3 as described above falls under its own weight into the bucket that rotates below it when the opening/closing plate 47 attached to the underside of the bottom opening of the weighing basket 3 is driven open by the air cylinder 49, and is then sent to the next process, the packaging process.

As described above, the present invention uses a volumetric measuring system, but rather than using a leveling method to separate the noodles into individual servings, it uses a method in which slight pressure is applied to the middle section of the pinch tube, which is located between the noodle outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank and the measuring basket, to intermittently stop the noodles falling through the pinch tube. This effectively prevents the creation of short noodles while regulating the amount of noodles that fall into the measuring basket for measurement, and has great industrial applicability.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 noodle supply tank 2 ejector nozzle 3 measuring basket 4 pinch tube 5 pinch valve 14 downflow nozzle 15 upflow nozzle 31 inlet piping ferrule 32 outlet piping ferrule 33 metering extension tube 36, 36a valve body 39 tube element 40 air inlet/outlet hole 47 opening/closing plate

Claims (6)

A method for separating boiled noodles into individual portions using a boiled noodle separating device having a configuration in which a pinch tube extending toward a measuring basket via an ejector nozzle for removing noodle strings is disposed at the bottom of a noodle supply tank,
supplying noodle strings from the noodle supply tank to the pinching tube through the noodle string removal ejector nozzle ;
a step of restricting the amount of the noodle strings falling into the weighing basket by intermittently stopping the falling of the noodle strings through the pinch tube by pinching the middle portion of the pinch tube with a pressure that can suppress the falling of the noodle strings without cutting the noodle strings ;
A method for dividing boiled noodles into individual servings , comprising : A pinch tube is disposed at the bottom of the noodle supply tank, and extends toward the measuring basket via an ejector nozzle for removing the noodle strings.
The ejector nozzle is equipped with a downward flow nozzle that sprays a downward water flow that acts to assist in drawing out the noodle strings from the noodle supply outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank , and the pinch tube is equipped with a pinch valve in the middle that intermittently pinches the pinch tube with a pressure that can suppress the fall of the noodle strings without cutting them , so that the fall of the noodle strings in the pinch tube is temporarily stopped when the pinch valve pinches the pinch tube. The boiled noodle individual portioning device according to claim 2, wherein the ejector nozzle is equipped with an upward flow nozzle that ejects an upward water flow that turns over noodle strands near the noodle outlet at the bottom of the noodle supply tank to prevent noodle clogging. The boiled noodle individual portioning device according to claim 3, wherein the downward flow nozzle and the upward flow nozzle are controlled to alternately spray high-pressure water. The boiled noodle individual portioning and ball-removing device according to claim 2, wherein the pinch valve includes a pair of tube elements that pressurize the pinching tube, and the pair of tube elements are depressed by a vacuum operation after the pinching is completed, thereby assisting the pinching tube in restoring its original shape. The boiled noodle dispenser for individual servings according to claim 2, wherein a measuring extension tube is disposed between the lower end of the pinching tube and the measuring basket.