JPH0779622B2 - Continuous tea leaf dryer - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an apparatus for drying and processing tea leaves after steaming in a tea making operation.

Conventional technology As a tea leaf drying device for conventional tea making operations, A. A device that allows tea leaves to pass directly through a metal rotary kiln that is heated from the outside.

B. A device in which tea leaves are placed on a metal net conveyor and passed through a high-temperature furnace.

C. Roasting, that is, one that puts tea leaves in a box-shaped container with a shallow bottom made of Japanese paper and heats it by carbonization from below.

and so on.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Although the conventional devices A and B have very good drying efficiency, they have the drawback that the dried tea leaves are significantly inferior in terms of aroma as compared with the device C.

In addition, the inner surface of the metal rotary kiln and the metal parts such as the metal net of the metal net conveyor continue to receive heat and become extremely hot, causing burns on the tea leaves that directly touch those high temperature parts and the quality There was a demerit. In the device C, the drying efficiency and the working efficiency are very poor because the tea leaves contained in the container are dried while stirring by hand for a long time at a temperature at which Japanese paper does not burn. Compared with the device by B, it had a remarkably good fragrance, and there was an advantage that absolutely stable product was obtained without burning.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a tea leaf drying device for continuously drying tea leaves while ensuring a constant drying efficiency while obtaining a tea leaf that has a good scent and does not cause burns. It is in.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a belt conveyor, a tea leaf supply device and a heated ball supply device for separately supplying tea leaves and heated balls to a traveling start end portion of the belt conveyor. And a device for separating tea leaves and heated balls on the trailing end side of the belt conveyor, for continuously drying tea leaves.

Action The continuous tea leaf drying device configured as described above is such that the tea leaves and the balls heated to a predetermined temperature are separately supplied from the tea leaf supply device and the heated ball supply device to the traveling start end portion of the belt conveyor. Then, both of them are mixed on the belt conveyor and placed in a layered state on the belt conveyor.

The layer in which the tea leaves and the heated balls are mixed is set to a suitable thickness selected from a wide range of several mm to several tens of cm based on the properties of the tea leaves to be treated.

In this way, while the tea leaves and the heated balls are mixed in a layered state on the belt conveyor, a large number of tea leaves are mixed in the tea leaves group during the transition from the traveling start end to the traveling end of the belt conveyor. The entire heat of the tea leaves is uniformly heated by the conductive heat and the radiant heat of the heated balls, and the tea leaves are evenly dried.

If necessary, two or more belt conveyors are prepared, and a belt conveyor device in which each of these belt conveyors is connected in a stepwise manner is used to ensure a long heating and drying time.

The thus dried tea leaves fall from the traveling end of the belt conveyor together with the heated balls and are separated by the separating device.

Example An example will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the heating ball supply device will be described.

There is a ball 7 in the ball hopper 3, and the ball 7
Is a material having a larger specific gravity and a larger specific heat than the tea leaves to be treated, and is selected appropriately from those having a diameter in the range of 1 mm to several cm depending on the size of the tea leaves to be dried. used. Such a ball 7 is a hollow rotary pipe type heating device 4 whose tip is inclined downward.
While being fed in a fixed amount by the electromagnetic feeder 15 and passing through the heating device 4, the whole is heated uniformly by the rotating action of the hollow pipe. The temperature of the heating device 4 is detected by a temperature sensor 16 and a heating source of gas or electricity is controlled to heat the balls 7 to a predetermined temperature at which tea leaves will not burn. The balls 7 heated in this way fall from the end of the heating device 4 and are supplied in a fixed amount to the running start end of the belt conveyor 1.

Next, the tea leaf supply device will be described.

There is a tea leaf 8 in the tea leaf hopper 5, and the tea leaf 8 is supplied to the traveling start end portion of the belt conveyor 1 in a fixed amount by the electromagnetic feeder 6 like the heated ball 7.

Explaining the belt conveyor 1 here, it is made of a heat resistant material, and its traveling speed is set to be relatively slow. On both sides of the upper running portion of the belt, guides 14 are provided over the entire length of the belt conveyor, and an upper cover 18 is attached to the guides 14.

Finally, the sorting device will be described.

This device is provided on the traveling end side of the belt conveyor 1, has an exhaust hole 10 in the upper part of the air separation tank 9, and internal air is exhausted from the exhaust hole 10 by a blower 19. At the lower part, there is a rotary valve 12 for discharging tea leaves. A duct 13 is vertically attached to the side wall of the air separation tank 9, and the tea leaves 8 and the balls 7 sent from an electromagnetic feeder 20 for delivery provided under the traveling end of the belt conveyor 1 are attached to the duct 13. There is a receiving port 21 that accepts and, and this receiving port
A connection port 22 for connecting the duct 13 and the air separation tank 9 is provided at a position slightly higher than 21, and a lower portion of the duct 13 is opened to form an intake hole 23. When the dried tea leaves 8 and the heated balls 7 fall from the traveling end of the belt conveyor 1 and are fed into the duct 13 from the receiving port 21 by the electromagnetic feeder 20 for delivery, the tea leaves 8 are blown by the separating device. The airflow that flows upward into the duct 13 and flows into the air separation tank 9 that is generated by the action of 19 enters the air separation tank 9 through the connection port 22, and the flow speed of the airflow increases as the flow path of the airflow increases. When it is lost, it sinks downward and is discharged from the rotary valve 12 to the outside.

On the other hand, since the balls 7 have a larger specific gravity than the tea leaves 8, they fall in the duct 13 as they are due to their own weight, and are discharged to the outside from the intake holes 23. The discharged balls 7 are transferred by a transfer means such as a bucket elevator 17 or the like. It can be returned to the hopper 3 for reuse and reused.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the effects described below.

While the tea leaves and the heated balls are in a layered mixed state while moving from the traveling start end of the belt conveyor to the traveling end end, the heating effect of the heated balls is fully exerted and the entire tea leaves are Evenly heated and evenly dried, the heated balls are separated from the heating device after being heated to a predetermined temperature at which the tea leaves will not burn, so never give the tea leaves a temperature at which the tea leaves burn. In addition, it is possible to realize indirect heating by a heat medium such as a heated ball like the heating of a conventional roasting furnace, and since a belt conveyor is used, it is possible to continuously perform a drying process.

Therefore, it is possible to obtain the complete drying of the tea leaves with a good scent and without the occurrence of burning, while ensuring a constant drying efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a side view of a belt conveyor section. 1 ... Belt conveyor, 2 ... Roller pulley, 3 ...
… Ball hopper, 4… Hollow rotating pipe type heating device, 5… Tea leaf hopper, 6… Electromagnetic feeder, 7
…… Ball, 8 …… Tea leaf, 9 …… Air separation tank, 10…
… Exhaust hole, 13 …… Duct, 14 …… Guide, 15 …… Electromagnetic feeder, 17 …… Bucket elevator, 18 …… Cover, 19 …… Blower, 20 …… Electromagnetic feeder, 21 …… Receiving port, 22… … Connection port, 23… Intake port

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A belt conveyor 1 and tea leaf supply devices 5 and 6 and heated ball supply devices 3 and 15 for separately supplying tea leaves 8 and heated balls 7 to a running start end of the belt conveyor 1.
4. A continuous drying apparatus for tea leaves, characterized in that it has 4 and is provided with sorting devices 9 and 13 for sorting the tea leaves 8 and the heated balls 7 on the traveling end side of the belt conveyor 1. 2. The continuous tea leaf drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there are two or more belt conveyors 1, and each of the belt conveyors 1 is sequentially connected in stages.