JPH0361406B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an apparatus for coating food products with granular or powdered material, which comprises a frame and a bunker (supported by the frame) for storing the granular and/or powdered material. The present invention relates to a device comprising a storage container) and means for transporting food along a path located below the outlet of the bunker.

Foods such as korotsuke and chicken leg meat are generally
When frying, it must be sprinkled with so-called breadcrumbs. Such sprinkling materials can be of various types in granular and/or powdered form. The sprinkle material is sprinkled on the food after it has been coated with an adhesive surface layer such as egg white. In many cases, so-called bread crumbs consist, at least in large part, of relatively friable coarse-grained material, but contain a certain amount of fine-grained components. In conventional devices, the fine components often first contact the surface of the food product and coat it, which may prevent coarse components from adhering to the food product.

The aim of the invention is to ensure good adhesion of coarse components to food products.

According to the invention, this purpose is achieved by arranging a sieve plate with a large number of holes under the outlet of the storage container, with a means for transporting the material flowing out of the bunker in a direction opposite to the direction of food transport. This is achieved by providing

When the present invention is applied, the fine particles pass through the holes in the sieve plate, while the coarse particles move along the sieve plate toward the food to be sprinkled, and come into contact with the food before the fine particles. . Therefore, at least a large part of the surface of the food is covered with coarse components, which can adhere well to the adhesive outer layer of the food, and then the gaps between the coarse components are It is filled with fine particles that have passed through the sieve plate.

It is desirable to ensure that the sprinkle material is handled carefully in order to avoid fragmentation of the coarse components of the sprinkle material as much as possible. According to the invention, an endless perforated belt is provided for this purpose, the food being transported by the upper run of the belt. At least a portion of the entire length of the upper running section and a portion of the lower running section of the belt extending below it is arranged to run along the imperforate plate. Near the end of the endless belt for feeding food, a chamber is provided below the belt, and a bladed rotor is disposed within the chamber. With this configuration, the sprinkle material falls from the upper run of the belt near the end of the imperforate plate located below the upper run of the belt, and is at least partially disposed of by the lower run of the belt. It is then transported and processed in the above room. the material is,
From this chamber it is thrown up onto the upper run of the belt by the blades of the rotor. In practice, it has been confirmed that by using this configuration, crushing of coarse particles can be avoided to a considerable extent.

According to a further feature of the invention, the crushing of the coarse components is more effectively prevented by dividing the reservoir into two compartments near its underside by a pivotable flap. I can do it. A stock of sprinkle material is stored in one compartment, and the sprinkle material used during operation is discharged through the other compartment.
When the material balance in one of the compartments discharging the material stream drops below a certain value, the pivotable flap is automatically opened by the weight of the material in the other compartment, and the material flow during operation is Supply is maintained automatically.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The sprinkling material coating device of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings consists of a frame 1 and an endless conveyor belt 3 supported on the frame. The conveyor belt 3 is of perforated or open construction, with a lattice-like or net-like opening (perforated) constituted by pivotally connected longitudinal and transverse strips.
Preferably, it is a belt. One end of the belt is supported by a drive shaft 4, and the other end is supported by a guide roller 5. A portion of the upper running portion of the conveyor belt 3 is slightly inclined upward from the drive shaft 4;
Next, it is extended along the upper surface of the non-perforated plate 33 having a horizontally extended portion. A portion of the upper running portion of the belt close to the guide roller 5 is supported by a grid member 6. The lower running portion of the conveyor belt is supported by a horizontal plate 7. The horizontal plate 7 is
It is connected to a downwardly inclined plate 8 at a certain distance from the shaft 4. The lower end of the inclined plate 8 is connected to an upwardly curved plate 9, the upper edge of the latter being located at a slight distance above the shaft 4. A portion of the upwardly inclined portion of the upper run of the conveyor belt 3 is covered by a horizontal plate 10 spaced apart above it.

In a chamber 11 enclosed by plates 8 and 9 on the underside of the lower running part of the belt 3 in the vicinity of the shaft 4,
A rotor is provided which consists of a shaft 12 extending parallel to the shaft 4 and a plurality of blades 13 made of a slightly elastic material and fixed to the shaft. axis 1
2 is rotated clockwise by suitable drive means (not shown). The drive shaft 4 of the belt 3 rotates to move the upper running portion of the belt in the direction indicated by arrow A.

Near the rear end of the plate 33 under the lower running part of the belt, viewed in the direction of movement A of the belt, the lower end is adjustably fixed to a shaft 15 extending transversely to the direction of movement of the belt. A flap 14 is provided.

A groove tank 17 is provided below the part of the horizontal bottom plate 7 located below the flap 14, and a worm wheel 1 is installed in this groove transversely to its longitudinal axis.
8 is arranged and rotated by suitable drive means (not shown). An inlet passage 16 to the groove tank 17 is provided in the portion of the horizontal plate 7 below the flapper 14.

As is clear from the figure, the bottom of the storage container 2 is
It has a funnel shape and an outlet 21 is defined by two downwardly inclined base plates 19 and 20 of the container towards each other. The degree of opening of this outlet can be set by adjusting the position of a sliding plate 21a pivotally mounted along the bottom plate 19.

A sieve plate 22 is arranged below the discharge port 21 and is inclined downward from one end near the discharge port in a direction opposite to the moving direction A of the upper running portion of the belt 3. The sieve plate 22 is arranged in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the belt.
It has several slotted holes 23 extending approximately parallel to the plane of the belt. Each hole 2 on the lower surface of the sieve plate 22
A guide strip 24 is integrally fixed to the front edge of the belt 3 and is inclined downwardly toward the rear (downstream direction) with respect to the moving direction A of the belt. Alternatively, the sieve plate 22 may be formed by a perforated plate having a large number of holes.

The sieve plate 22 is supported by a vibration device 25 connected to the frame 1 via an elastic suspension member 26.

The storage container 2 is divided into a first compartment 29 with a relatively small capacity and a second compartment with a relatively large capacity by a partition plate 27.
The compartment 28 is divided into two compartments.

A flap 30 made of a slightly elastic material is suspended from the lower edge of the partition plate 27. flap 3
0 hangs freely from the lower edge of the partition plate 27, and when in the normal position, that is, the vertical position as shown in the figure, the left edge of the discharge port 21, that is, the lower edge of the bottom plate 19. , and blocks the compartment 28 from the outlet 21.

The groove tank 17 communicates with the compartment 29 of the storage container 2 via a duct (not shown) provided with a conveying means.

In operation, the endless conveyor belt 3 is actuated so that its upper running portion moves in the direction of arrow A, the shaft 12 is rotated clockwise, and the sieve plate 22 is vibrated by the vibrator 25. The food to be processed, such as korotsuke, chicken leg meat, etc., which has been previously coated with an adhesive skin such as egg white, is transferred to a portion indicated by the reference numeral 31 using a suitable conveyance means (not shown). It is placed on top of the layer of crumbs 32 on the upper running part of the conveyor belt 3 and is transported together with the layer of crumbs in the direction of arrow A. The crumbs continuously flow out of the compartment 29 via the outlet 21 onto the vibrating sieve plate 22 . While the bread crumbs move along the sieve plate 22 in the direction opposite to the movement direction A of the food, the fine components of the bread crumbs fall through the holes 23 of the sieve plate, while the coarse components of the bread crumbs fall. , it moves beyond the lower edge of the sieve plate and falls. Therefore, the upper surface of the food transported by the conveyor belt 3 in the direction of arrow A is first contacted by the coarse components of the bread crumbs and then by the fine components of the bread crumbs falling through the holes 23 of the sieve plate 22. be contacted by someone. In this way, the coarse particles come into contact with the food to be coated first, so
It effectively adheres to the sticky outer layer of the food product (e.g. the white of an egg) and the voids left between the coarse components are filled by the fine components of the breadcrumbs that are subsequently contacted.

The food covered with breadcrumbs in this way is further moved along with the breadcrumbs in the direction of arrow A, and is moved to the non-perforated plate 3.
Leaving the rear end (downstream end) of 3, the crumbs fall through the open belt 3 and only the crumb-coated food is transferred by the belt 3 towards the roller 5, where it is Transferred to a packaging machine or other transfer means (not shown).

When the crumbs on the belt 3 pass the rear end of the non-perforated plate 33, they fall on the flap 14 as shown in the figure.
Pass through the passage 16 of the bottom plate 7 over the upper edge of the groove tank 1
The second flow is captured and guided by the upper surface of the flap 14 and returned onto the bottom plate 7 in front of the flap 14 when viewed in the direction of movement of the belt. Ru.

The material (crumbs) falling into the trench trough 17 is conveyed by the worm wheel 18 to the downstream end of the trench and from there is returned to the top of the compartment 29 of the storage container 2 through a transfer duct (not shown).

On the other hand, the crumbs that have fallen onto the bottom plate 7 are carried by the lower running part of the belt 3 moving along the bottom plate 7 to the chamber 11 located below the front end of the lower running part, and from the chamber it is rotated. It is thrown up along the curved guide plate 9 by the blade 13 and guided to the end of the upper run of the belt, forming a layer of crumbs. From there, the layer of crumbs is conveyed by the upper run of the belt. The crumbs are introduced into the chamber 11 at a distance upstream (to the right in the figure) from the transition point from the lower belt running section to the upper running section, and are then thrown up by the blade 13, so that the transfer of the crumbs is prevented. is carried out gradually, and therefore the crushing of the coarse components of the bread crumbs is suppressed to a minimum.

The material returned from the groove tank 17 to the first compartment 29 is
It flows out again through the outlet 21. 1st painting room 29
When the level of material in the second compartment 28 falls below a certain value, the flap 30 is caused to flex slightly by the weight of the material in the second compartment 28 and the material flows out of the second compartment 28 through the outlet 21. Correspondingly, the amount of outflow from the first compartment 29 is reduced, and on the other hand, the material is circulated back to the first compartment from the groove tank 17, so the level of material in the first compartment increases and the flap 30
is returned to its original vertical position. In this way, only a relatively small amount of material in the storage container 2 is constantly circulated, so that an excessive decrease in circulating material is prevented.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The accompanying figure is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of the device of the invention. 1: frame, 2: storage container, 3: conveyor belt, 21: discharge port, 22: sieve plate, 23: sieve hole.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A material coating device for coating food with granular or powdery material, comprising: a frame; a storage container for the granular or powdery material supported by the frame; A sieve plate having a plurality of sieve holes is disposed below the outlet, and a sieve plate having a plurality of sieve holes is disposed below the outlet, and the material flowing out from the storage container is processed into food. A material coating device characterized in that it is provided with means for moving in a direction opposite to the direction of conveyance of the material. 2. The material coating device according to claim 1, further comprising a vibration means for vibrating the sieve plate. 3. The material coating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sieve plate is inclined downward in a direction opposite to the food transfer direction from a portion near the outlet of the storage container. 4. According to any one of claims 1 to 3, the sieve holes of the sieve plate are a plurality of elongated holes provided at intervals in the front-back direction and extending in a direction transverse to the food transport direction. Material coating equipment as described. 5. The material coating device according to claim 4, wherein a strip is provided on the lower surface of the sieve plate adjacent to the edge of each elongated hole and inclined downwardly toward the rear when viewed in the food transport direction. 6. The conveying means is constituted by an upper running section of an endless belt having an open structure, and at least a part of the upper running section of the endless belt and a small portion of the lower running section of the belt extending below the upper running section. A rotor is provided with a chamber in the lower side of the endless belt near the end of the endless belt on which the food is placed, and a rotor having a plurality of blades in the chamber. A material coating device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the material coating device is provided with: 7. The front wall of the chamber housing the rotor is constituted by a curved plate extending upward from the lower running portion of the endless belt to beyond the upper running portion near the front end of the endless belt. The material coating device according to item 6. 8 Near the rear end of the non-perforated plate supporting the upper running section of the endless belt and below the upper running section of the belt, two streams of material carried by the upper running section are arranged. A flap is arranged to divide the belt into sections, whereby one flow section is directed onto said imperforate plate supporting the lower run of the belt and the other flow section is directed onto said imperforate plate supporting the lower run of the belt. The material coating device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the material coating device is guided to a groove tank provided below the non-perforated plate. 9. The storage container according to claims 1 to 8, wherein the storage container is divided into two compartments, which compartments are separated from each other by a deflectable flap arranged near the bottom of the storage container. Any material coating device. 10 The deflectable flap consists of a flexible plate depending from the lower edge of a partition plate dividing the storage container into two compartments, the free lower end of the flexible plate being
In a normal state, one of the compartments having a relatively small capacity is placed in the vicinity of the discharge port in such a manner that one compartment is communicated with the discharge port and the other compartment is blocked from the discharge port. Material coating equipment as described in Section. 11. The material coating device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the groove tank communicates with the smaller capacity compartment of the storage container via a member provided with material conveyance means.