JPH0560908B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

(Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a washing device for vegetables and fruits. (Prior art) Vegetables such as turnips, ginger, radish, burdock, and carrots are placed in a washing net and set in a cylindrical container, and a number of nozzles are connected to branch pipes installed inside the cylindrical container. Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-20308 is known as a device for washing the vegetables by rotating a rotary nozzle body mounted thereon. In addition, a washer that cleans vegetables and fruits such as lettuce, spinach, grapes, and strawberries by placing them in a basket and rotating a fan installed below the basket using a motor was developed in 1982. -10844 publication is known. (Problems to be Solved by the Invention) The method disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-20308 washes vegetables with pressure water ejected from a nozzle of a rotating nozzle body. ,
Although it can be used to wash so-called root vegetables such as burdock and carrots, using it on leafy vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, spinach, and cabbage will damage the leafy vegetables, and it is far from the rotating nozzle when washing both root and leafy vegetables. There is a problem in that items placed in the same position, especially items placed in the center of the cleaning net, are not sufficiently exposed to water from the nozzle, resulting in uneven cleaning and insufficient cleaning. Furthermore, the washer disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 10844/1984 is a device in which the washer is placed in water in a sink or washing tub, and the fan is turned to clean the product. Although it can be used to clean small amounts of leafy vegetables, it cannot be expected to clean large amounts of leafy and root vegetables due to its structure, and it is not sufficient for cleaning large amounts of leafy and root vegetables. There are problems such as the impossibility of cleaning. (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a suction side pipe line of a pump that circulates water in the washing tank main body.
A gas suction device having extremely small gas suction pores is provided, and an ozone generator is connected to the gas suction pores, and fine air bubbles are generated in the cleaning tank body by opening and closing the valve in the discharge side pipe of the pump. A micro-bubble discharge nozzle is equipped with _a safety pipe to maintain a constant water pressure until the micro-bubbles are about to eject. It sterilizes adhering bacteria and separates them from vegetables and fruits, floats them to the surface and washes them by overflowing,
If dirt is noticeable on vegetables, fruits, etc., a jet stream is injected into the washing tank body to perform primary cleaning and primary sterilization prior to cleaning using microbubbles, followed by secondary cleaning using microbubbles and ozone. It is constructed so that cleaning and sterilization can be carried out. (Function) Vegetables, fruits, etc. to be washed are placed in the mesh basket 16 and inserted into the washing tank main body 1, and water is poured from a water faucet (not shown) up to the top of the mesh basket 16. Turn on the omitted switch, drive the pump 2, and suck water from the suction port 3 of the washing tank body 1. The flow rate of the sucked water rapidly increases at the constriction part 4A, and while passing through the constriction part, the ozone mixture gas drawn by negative pressure from the ozone generator 22 connected to the gas suction pore 6 is pumped. After being dissolved in water that maintains a water pressure of 5 kg/cm ² or more after discharge from the pump, it is further mixed and dissolved in a gas-liquid mixer, and undissolved air is removed from the gas-liquid separation tank 10.
Micro bubble discharge nozzle 1 having a safety valve type valve that maintains the water pressure above a certain pressure until the water is discharged from the automatic exhaust valve 9 and is on the verge of discharging ozone-mixed micro bubbles.
2 is discharged into the washing tank body as fine ozone-mixed bubbles of 10 to 20 μm in size. If the microbubbles discharged into the washing tank body 1 attach to small insects or bacteria attached to the vegetables or fruits in the mesh basket 16, they are sterilized by ozone and the microbubbles become floating bladders that provide buoyancy. It rises to the surface of the water. The floating light small insects, bacteria, etc. move on the water surface by adding water to the tank and are discharged into the overflow space 14. Fresh water is introduced into the washing tank main body 1 from the tap in an amount corresponding to the amount of water being discharged, and the vegetables etc. in the tank are kept clean. If the vegetables or fruits to be washed are visibly dirty due to small particles adhering to them, first wash and sterilize them using the jet jet nozzle 13, then drain the waste water and inject fresh water to remove the fine air bubbles. Clean and sterilize. This jet flow injection and cleaning by fine bubbles are mutually changed by switching the valve 11. (Embodiment) To explain the drawings showing an embodiment of the present invention, 1 is a washing tank main body;
The water inside is sucked by a pump 2 from a suction port 3 provided at the bottom of the washing tank main body 1, passes through a pipe, and is discharged into the washing tank main body 1. Reference numeral 4 denotes a gas suction device provided in the suction side pipe line 5 leading to the pump 2;
The diameter of the throttle part 4A is set to about 4 to 8 mm, which is about 1/2 to 2/4 thinner than the diameter of the suction side pipe, and the passage of the throttle part is set to about 1/20 to 1/2 of the diameter of the passage 4A. An extremely small gas suction hole 6 with a diameter of about 0.4 to 0.8 mm is formed, and an ozone generator 22 is connected to the gas suction hole 6, so that the ozone mixture gas flows from the gas suction hole 6 to the constricted portion 4A. It is made up of things that are made to fit inside. Incidentally, the pump 2 has a suction pressure of -5 to -
At 15cmHg, the discharge pressure is 6 to 10Kg/cm ² and the discharge amount is approximately 10
It is set around /M. Reference numeral 7 denotes a discharge side pipe leading from the pump 2 to the discharge port of the cleaning tank main body 1, and the ozone mixture gas dissolved in the water sent out from the pump 2 is alternately supplied to the discharge side pipe 7. A gas-liquid mixer 8 has a function of finely mixing the gas through a spiral flow path in the opposite direction, a gas-liquid separation tank 10 with an automatic exhaust valve that discharges undissolved gas through an automatic exhaust valve 9, and a pump discharge pressure that is kept constant. Pressure (5~9Kg/
A micro-bubble discharge nozzle 12 that discharges micro-bubbles of 10 to 30 μm into the washing tank body 1 using a micro-bubble discharge nozzle that has a safety type valve that maintains the air flow at a temperature of 10 to 30 μm.
is installed. Furthermore, in the one shown in FIG. 2, a nozzle is selectively installed in the discharge side conduit 7 by operating the valve 11 so that jet flow injection in addition to the fine bubbles can be selectively obtained by switching the valve 11. A nozzle 12 for ejecting fine bubbles and a nozzle 13 for ejecting a jet stream, which are opened and closed, are installed. 14 is an overflow space formed by erecting a partition wall 15 from one side wall of the washing tank body 1, and 16 is a mesh basket with a lid made of plastic, metal, etc. to prevent vegetables, etc. from flowing out. The position of the basket lid is lower than the top of the partition wall of the overflow space. For example, vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and fruits such as grapes, which have been peeled off one by one, are placed in this mesh basket 16 and washed. 1
Reference numeral 7 denotes a drain provided at the bottom of the washing tank body 1, which is opened and closed by a pot 18 and drained to the outside through a drain pipe 19. Reference numeral 20 indicates a drain port provided at the bottom of the overflow space 14, and reference numeral 21 indicates a drain pipe. As shown in FIG. 5, the fine bubble ejection nozzle 12 is
Since it has a relief valve shape that maintains a constant pressure, a constant high pressure (5 to 9
Kg/cm ² ) is maintained, so some of the gases that cannot be dissolved in the liquid are discharged to the outside through the gas-liquid separation tank and automatic exhaust valve, but the liquid in which most of the gases have been dissolved is It is ejected from the ejection nozzle. At that time, when the pressure is released and the pressure drops to a low level, the gas dissolved in the liquid becomes fine bubbles with a diameter of 10 to 30 μm and diffuses into the tank, filling it. The fact that this dissolved gas changes into fine bubbles when the pressure changes from high to low in a liquid is based on Henry's law. Regarding the dissolution of air into water according to Henry's law, Henry's law generally holds true for gases that are relatively difficult to dissolve. This is the case when air is dissolved in water. Henry's law is expressed as follows. P=Ex where, X: molar fraction of solute gas in the liquid phase mol air/
mol of water P: Pressure of the gas phase in equilibrium with this liquid, atm E: Henry's constant atm/mole fraction According to the Henry-Dalton law, the air contained in water is Absorbs a certain volume of the gas it comes into contact with.

[Table] Therefore, water always contains a constant volume of air at a constant temperature. And if the temperature differs, the volume of air included will also differ as shown in the table above.
However, if the pressure changes, the volume of air changes inversely. Therefore, if the volume of air absorbed by water is constant, the weight of air absorbed will be different. For this reason, when water moves from a high pressure area to a low pressure area, some of the air is liberated from the water and diffuses into the water as microbubbles with a diameter of 10 to 30 μm. (Effects of the Invention) In the present invention, when a mesh basket containing vegetables, fruits, etc. to be washed is submerged in a washing tank body containing water and fine air bubbles are discharged, they adhere to the vegetables, fruits, etc. Ozone sterilizes bacteria, etc. that are present, and the microbubbles serve as floating bladders, causing the bacteria, etc. to float to the surface. The microbubbles in the water hit vegetables, fruits, etc. softly and do not damage the products. Therefore, it is suitable for washing leafy vegetables such as Chinese cabbage, spinach, and cabbage, and fruits such as grapes.
In addition, microbubbles can enter even the smallest gaps, so even if Chinese cabbage, cabbage, etc. are stacked on top of each other in water, they can enter through the slightest gaps, sterilize them, and bring them to the surface, making them effective in sterilizing and removing bacteria. is excellent. In addition, when vegetables and fruits are noticeably soiled, by switching the valve, you can perform primary cleaning and primary sterilization using the jet stream, and then perform cleaning and sterilization using microbubbles.
It is also convenient for washing root vegetables such as potatoes and fruits such as apples. Further, this device can be widely used as a device used for the purpose of removing bacteria, such as for washing vegetables, fruits, etc. in this embodiment, as well as for washing fresh fish.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another example, and FIG. 3 is a cleaning version of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the gas suction device, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged schematic view of the main part of a fine bubble discharge nozzle having a constant pressure maintenance valve. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Washing tank main body, 2...Pump, 4...Gas suction device, 4A...Aperture part, 5...Suction side pipe line, 6...Gas suction pore, 7...Discharge side pipe line, 8... Gas-liquid mixer, 1
0... Gas-liquid separation tank, 11... Valve, 12... Fine bubble discharge nozzle, 13... Jet flow jetting nozzle, 22
…Ozone mixer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A gas suction device having extremely small gas suction pores in the constriction part is provided in the suction side pipe line of the pump that circulates water in the washing tank main body, and ozone is generated in the gas suction pores. 1. A cleaning device for vegetables, fruits, etc., characterized in that a fine bubble discharge nozzle having a constant pressure holding valve for discharging fine bubbles into a washing tank body is provided in a discharge side conduit of a pump. 2. A gas suction device having extremely small gas suction pores in the constriction part is installed in the suction side pipe of the pump that circulates water in the washing tank main body, and an ozone generator is connected to the gas suction pore, and the pump A fine bubble discharge nozzle and a jet flow injection nozzle each have a constant pressure maintenance valve that selectively discharges fine bubbles and a jet flow jet into the washing tank main body by opening and closing the valve in the discharge side pipe. Vegetables, characterized by being provided with
Equipment for washing fruits, etc.