Camellia oleifera fruit and seed separation process and equipment

Abstract

The present invention relates to a separation process and equipment for oil-tea fruit and seeds. The process includes the following steps: screening and grading fresh oil-tea fruits by size; flowing the oil-tea fruits of the same grade through a channel with hot air in a co-current or counter-current manner to dehydrate, dry, and burst the fruits, so that the seeds are dissociated from the fruit husks; passing the dissociated mixture of fruit husks and seeds through a sieve mesh, with the seeds becoming the undersize material and the fruit husks becoming the oversize material, thus realizing the separation of the fruit husks and seeds. The hot air flow channel can be a heated sloping drum. The equipment includes a central shaft, an inner sieve cylinder, and an outer conical cylinder. Inside the inner sieve cylinder, there are connected spiral plates fixed on the central shaft and connected to the inner sieve cylinder as a whole. One end of the inner sieve cylinder has a feed inlet and the other end is open. The two ends of the outer conical cylinder are fixed on the inner sieve cylinder, and there are discharge holes around the large-end. The central shaft is installed on bearings and driven by a motor. At the discharge end of the inner sieve cylinder, there is a hot air hood connected to an exhaust fan. The present invention realizes the automatic separation of tea husks and tea seeds, avoids the mildew of tea fruits, and provides healthy and green raw materials for edible oil.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a processing technology of oil-tea camellia fruits, in particular to a process and equipment for separating the seeds from the husks of oil-tea camellia fruits. Background Art

[0002] Camellia oil, also known as camellia seed oil and tea oil, is a high-quality vegetable edible oil extracted from the seeds of camellia trees. It is natural and healthy, with a relatively high market price and occupies a large market share in the market. The peak period for picking oil-tea camellia fruits is from October to November every year. Since the weather is cold during this period, there are problems in the traditional processes of stacking and drying in a drying room for processing oil-tea camellia seeds, such as long drying time, uneven heating, resulting in high drying costs, poor quality, and high labor costs.

[0003] An oil-tea camellia fruit consists of an outer skin and the seeds inside the skin. The outer skin is also called tea husk, tea bag, etc. Generally, the outer skin of a mature oil-tea camellia fruit is yellowish-red. A dry tea bag will crack by itself, especially it will burst automatically during the drying process, which is commonly known as "bursting the husk". After bursting the husk, the seeds will fall off automatically, and there are 3 - 4 tea seeds in each tea bag. Each tea seed consists of a seed shell and a tea kernel, and the camellia oil is contained in the tea kernel. Camellia oil is obtained by pressing the tea seeds.

[0004] In the traditional method of extracting camellia oil by the folk, the first step is to separate the tea bags from the tea seeds. The picked oil-tea camellia fruits are spread out in places such as a drying yard for drying to remove the moisture in the tea bags. During the drying process, they need to be turned over from time to time to prevent them from piling up, otherwise mildew will occur. Mildewed oil-tea camellia fruits will produce aflatoxin, which is toxic and cannot be used for oil extraction, and can only be sorted out. If the mildewed oil-tea camellia fruits are not picked out in time, they will infect other normal oil-tea camellia fruits. Under normal circumstances, as the drying progresses, the tea bags will burst one after another, and then they are appropriately broken to make the tea bags crack fully, so that the tea seeds can be completely separated from the tea bags. After separation, the tea bags and tea seeds are still mixed together, and a large amount of manual labor is used by the folk for manual sorting to obtain pure tea seeds. It can be seen that obtaining pure tea seeds is a very time-consuming and laborious task, and the most troublesome thing is the separation of the husks from the seeds. It is precisely this separation that hinders the improvement of the output of camellia oil. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a process and equipment for separating the seeds from the husks of oil-tea camellia fruits, which can quickly and automatically separate the tea bags from the tea seeds, avoid mildew of the oil-tea camellia fruits, provide qualified tea seed raw materials for the pressing of camellia oil, and provide healthy and green edible oil for people, thus solving the deficiencies of the prior art.

[0006] The process for separating the seeds from the husks of oil-tea camellia fruits proposed by the present invention is characterized by the following steps:

[0007] (1) Screening and grading the fresh oil-tea camellia fruits according to their sizes;

[0008] (2)Flow the oil-tea fruits of the same level through a channel with hot air either in the downstream or upstream direction, so that the fruit grains are dehydrated, dried, and burst, and the seeds are dissociated from the fruit husks.

[0009] (3)Let the mixed material of husks and seeds after dissociation pass through a sieve mesh. The seeds become the material under the sieve, and the fruit husks are the material on the sieve, realizing the separation of the fruit husks and the seeds.

[0010] The hot air flow channel described in step (2) can be a heated drum. The drum has a slope so that the fruit grains can automatically flow out from the high end to the low end.

[0011] The drum can be fired under the barrel body or placed in a plastic greenhouse under the sun.

[0012] Steel balls, stone balls or wooden balls are added into the drum as the medium for bursting the husks.

[0013] The grading in step (1) is carried out on a multi-layer sieve. The larger tea fruits are separated on the upper sieve, and the smallest tea fruits are obtained on the bottom sieve. The tea fruits of each particle size class flow into the corresponding hot air channel respectively for bursting dissociation and the separation of husks and seeds.

[0014] For the fruit husks separated at each level, they are returned to the drum with medium for crushing, and a second grading is carried out with a screening machine to separate the remaining unburst tea grains.

[0015] The unburst fruit grains obtained are returned to step (2) for reheating and bursting again.

[0016] The tea husks obtained by screening at each level are concentrated for crushing and used for making organic fertilizers.

[0017] The oil-tea fruit husk-seed separation equipment proposed by the present invention has a central shaft, an inner sieve cylinder and an outer conical cylinder. It is characterized in that there are connected spiral plates in the inner sieve cylinder fixed on the central shaft and connected with the inner sieve cylinder as a whole. One end of the inner sieve cylinder has a feed inlet for the oil-tea fruits to enter the cylinder and flow, and the other end is open for the fruit husks to discharge. The outer conical cylinder is fixed at both ends on the inner sieve cylinder. There are discharge holes around the large head end for the seeds to discharge. The central shaft is installed on bearings and driven by a motor. There is a hot air hood connected to a suction fan at the discharge end of the inner sieve cylinder to discharge the moisture in the cylinder.

[0018] The spiral plates in the inner sieve cylinder can be replaced by radial bars, and the radial bars are connected to the central shaft and the inner sieve cylinder.

[0019] The inner sieve cylinder is a straight cylinder or a conical cylinder. The conical cylinder helps the fruit grains to automatically flow towards the discharge end and discharge during tumbling.

[0020] There are partition plates at the discharge ports of the inner sieve cylinder and the outer conical cylinder to prevent the fruit husks and the seeds from being re-mixed.

[0021] A feed hopper is arranged at the feed inlet of the inner sieve cylinder to allow the oil-tea fruits to automatically flow into the cylinder.

[0022] The hot air duct is introduced from the feed inlet so that the hot air flow is in the same direction as the tea fruit flow, or the hot air is introduced from the outlet of the inner sieve cylinder, and the suction fan is connected to the feed inlet so that the hot air flow and the tea fruit flow flow reversely.

[0023] The inner sieve cylinder is formed by welding steel bars in a crisscross pattern, or is formed by rolling a steel plate with circular sieve holes into a cylinder or a conical cylinder.

[0024] This equipment of the present invention is used as follows:

[0025] First, according to the situation of tea fruit grading, multiple sets of equipment with inner sieve cylinders of different sieve hole sizes are made to deal with different grades of oil tea fruits respectively, so as to avoid the situation that small tea fruits are mixed in large seeds.

[0026] Hot air is generated by an oil heating or electric heating device and blown into the inner sieve cylinder. A wind hood is arranged at the outlet end of the inner sieve cylinder, and the gap between the wind hood and the cylinder body is made as small as possible to avoid cold air from entering as much as possible and affecting the popping effect.

[0027] The driving motor adopts a stepless speed regulation motor so as to adjust the rotation speed of the sieve cylinder according to needs. After the machine is started, the inner sieve cylinder and the outer conical cylinder rotate. The oil tea fruits are poured into the feed hopper, and the oil tea fruits will automatically flow into the inner sieve cylinder and mix with the hot air. With the rotation of the sieve cylinder and the action of the spiral plate, the tea fruits will be pushed forward to flow and be heated by the hot air. The moisture in the fruits escapes, the tea fruits gradually dry and pop, the seeds are separated, and with further flow, the fruit grains are squeezed and ground against each other, and the fruit packages are further separated and broken. Among them, the seeds are further dissociated and pass through the sieve holes to fall onto the outer conical cylinder. While rolling on its inner surface, the seeds gradually flow towards the large mouth end and finally fall from the discharge hole to be separated from the fruit packages, while the fruit package scraps fall from the outlet end of the inner sieve cylinder. Thus, the separation of the tea fruit packages and the seeds is realized.

[0028] By adjusting the rotation speed of the inner sieve cylinder, the time of the tea fruits in the cylinder can be adjusted to allow the tea fruits to fully pop and crack to release the seeds. If there are a few tea fruits that do not pop, a small amount of media such as steel balls and stone balls can be mixed into the tea fruits, and the tea fruits will be broken by these media during the flowing process to promote cracking and popping. After the fruit package scraps leave the cylinder, the steel balls are sucked out by a magnetic separator and returned for reuse. If they are stone balls, they are picked out manually and reused.

[0029] This equipment of the present invention can continuously process fresh tea fruits into pure seeds and fruit package scraps, and at the same time heat and roast the kernels to create favorable conditions for the next step of oil pressing. It is processed in time to avoid the problem of mildew and deterioration due to rain and moisture, laying a guarantee for high-quality tea oil products.

[0030] Therefore, the present invention realizes the separation of tea packages and tea seeds quickly and automatically, avoids the mildew of tea fruits, provides qualified tea seed raw materials for the pressing of tea oil, and achieves the purpose of providing healthy and green edible oil for people. Description of the Drawings

[0031] Figure 1 is the front view (front cross-section) of the device of the present invention.

[0032] Figure 2 is the top view (partially omitted).

[0033] Figure 3 is the sectional view along A-A.

[0034] Figure 4 is the sectional view along B-B (partially omitted).

[0035] Figures 1-4 In, the reference numerals of each component are as follows:

[0036] 1 - Bearing; 2 - Feed hopper; 3 - Hot air pipe; 4 - Feed inlet; 5 - Outer conical cylinder; 6 - Inner sieve cylinder; 7 - Central shaft; 8 - Spiral plate; 9 - Wind hood; 10 - Wet air pipe; 11 - Large pulley; 12 - Belt; 13 - Small pulley; 14 - Motor; 15 - Seed outlet; 16 - Partition plate; 17 - Chip outlet.

[0037] Figures 1-4 In, the bearing with the reference numeral 1 includes accessories such as a bearing seat, the inner sieve cylinder with the reference numeral 6 is called a sieve cylinder, and the outer conical cylinder with the reference numeral 5 is simply called an outer cylinder, which is synonymous with its original name when it appears in the text. Specific embodiments

[0038] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and examples.

[0039] As Figures 1-4 shown, for the oil-tea fruit seed and husk separation device of the present invention, the outer conical cylinder 5 is made of steel plate. The feed end of the outer conical cylinder is small and the discharge end is large. Both the feed end and the discharge end are welded to the inner sieve cylinder 6 as a whole. There is a gap between the barrel body of the inner sieve cylinder and the outer cylinder. Many seed outlets 15 are opened on the barrel body at the discharge end of the outer cylinder for the separated tea seeds to automatically fall out of the cylinder.

[0040] The inner sieve cylinder is made of steel bars or steel plates. When made of steel bars, it is welded into a grid sieve cylinder in a crisscross manner. When made of steel plates, round sieve holes are opened on the barrel body. The number of turns of the spiral plate 8 is determined according to the process requirements. The more turns of the spiral, the longer the spiral plate, the longer the residence time of the tea fruits in the cylinder, the longer the time for heat and moisture removal, drying and popping, and the more sufficient the dissociation of the fruit husks and seeds. The spiral plate is welded and fixed on the central shaft 7 and welded to the inner sieve cylinder at the periphery. Generally, the size of the dissociated tea fruit husks is larger than that of the tea seeds. Therefore, when passing through the sieve cylinder, the tea seeds can pass through the sieve holes and become the undersize material, which is discharged through the seed outlet 15, while the fruit husks cannot pass through the sieve holes and become the oversize material, which is discharged through the chip outlet 17 of the sieve cylinder.

[0041] As described above, the inner sieve cylinder can be a straight cylinder or a conical cylinder, and there is a feed inlet 4 at the left end.

[0042] The spiral plate can be replaced by welding radiation bars between the central shaft and the sieve cylinder.

[0043] In order to form an air flow inside the cylinder, a wind hood 9 needs to be set at the chip outlet of the sieve cylinder. The wind hood is a circular hood, with its center passing through the central shaft. There is an opening at the lower part for discharging fruit chips, and the rest generally contacts the outer cylinder tightly to minimize air leakage and the entry of cold air as much as possible to ensure the thermal efficiency. At the same time, the humid air is discharged in time. A wet air pipe 10 is connected to the wind hood and communicated with the exhaust fan.

[0044] Both ends of the central shaft are supported on bearings 1. A large pulley 11 is installed at its right end and is connected and driven by a belt 12 to a small pulley on the shaft of the motor 14. As described above, a speed-regulating motor is selected for the motor, and the rotation speed of the sieve cylinder can be adjusted at any time according to the technological requirements.

[0045] To prevent the separated tea seeds from being mixed with the fruit packages again, a partition plate 16 is set at the seed outlet 15 of the outer cylinder and the chip outlet 17 of the inner sieve cylinder.

[0046] The remaining parts and labels not mentioned are as described above.

[0047] Fresh tea fruits should be processed in time and not piled up for a long time to avoid mildew and deterioration.

[0048] The processing technological method is as described above. That is, first conduct screening and grading to avoid mixing of different sizes. After grading, the tea fruits of the same level enter the separation equipment of the corresponding sieve cylinder for processing. Adjust the rotation speed of the sieve cylinder and the amount of tea fruits entering the cylinder to allow the tea fruits to fully contact with the hot air, quickly dry and burst the husks, so as to obtain a sufficient dissociation degree of the tea packages and tea seeds. Let the tea seeds leak from the sieve cylinder, and the package chips are discharged from the outlet of the sieve cylinder.

[0049] If there are still some residual unburst tea fruits mixed in the tea package chips, they can be appropriately returned to the sieve cylinder and appropriate media such as steel balls are added to participate in grinding and cracking to obtain a sufficient recovery rate and pure tea seeds.

[0050] The remaining processing is as described above.

Claims

1. A separation process for oil-tea fruit and seeds, characterized in that it has the following steps: (1) Screen and classify fresh oil-tea fruits according to size; (2) Let the oil-tea fruits of the same level flow through a channel with hot air either in the same direction or in the opposite direction, so that the fruit grains are dehydrated, dried, and burst, and the seeds are dissociated from the fruit envelopes; the hot air channel is a heated inner sieve cylinder with a slope, and there is a coaxial outer cone cylinder outside the inner sieve cylinder; (3) Let the dissociated mixture of fruit envelopes and seeds pass through the sieve holes of the inner sieve cylinder, and the seeds become the undersize material and enter the outer cone cylinder, while the fruit envelopes are the oversize material, realizing the separation of the fruit envelopes and the seeds.

2. The separation process for oil-tea fruit and seeds according to claim 1, characterized in that steel balls, stone balls or wooden balls are added to the inner sieve cylinder as the medium for bursting the fruit envelopes.

3. The separation process for oil-tea fruit and seeds according to claim 1, characterized in that The classification in step (1) is carried out on a multi-layer sieve. The larger oil-tea fruits are screened out on the upper layer sieve, and the smallest oil-tea fruits are obtained on the bottom layer sieve. The oil-tea fruits of each size grade flow into the corresponding hot air channel for bursting and dissociation respectively. For the fruit envelopes separated at each grade, they are returned to a roller with medium for crushing, and then a second classification is carried out with a screening machine to separate the remaining un-burst oil-tea grains.

4. The separation process for oil-tea fruit and seeds according to claim 1, characterized in that The un-burst fruit grains are returned to step (2) for re-heating and bursting. The tea envelopes obtained by screening at each grade are concentrated for crushing and used for making organic fertilizer.

5. An oil-tea fruit and seed separation device, which has a central shaft, an inner sieve cylinder and an outer cone cylinder, characterized in that There is a connected spiral plate in the inner sieve cylinder fixed on the central shaft and connected to the inner sieve cylinder as a whole. One end of the inner sieve cylinder has a feed inlet for the oil-tea fruits to enter the cylinder and flow, and the other end is open for the fruit envelopes to be discharged. The two ends of the outer cone cylinder are fixed on the inner sieve cylinder. There are discharge holes around the large end for the seeds to be discharged. The central shaft is installed on bearings and driven by a motor. There is a hot air hood connected to an exhaust fan at the discharge end of the inner sieve cylinder to discharge the moisture in the cylinder.

6. The oil-tea fruit and seed separation device according to claim 5, characterized in that The spiral plate in the inner sieve cylinder is replaced by radial bars, and the radial bars are connected to the central shaft and the inner sieve cylinder.

7. The oil-tea fruit and seed separation device according to claim 5, characterized in that The inner sieve cylinder is a cone cylinder.

8. The oil-tea fruit and seed separation device according to claim 5, characterized in that There are partition plates at the discharge ports of the inner sieve cylinder and the outer cone cylinder, and a feed hopper is arranged at the feed inlet of the inner sieve cylinder to allow the oil-tea fruits to flow into the cylinder automatically.

9. The oil-tea fruit and seed separation device according to claim 5, characterized in that The hot air pipe is introduced from the feed inlet so that the hot air flow is in the same direction as the tea fruit flow, or the hot air is introduced from the outlet of the inner sieve cylinder, and the exhaust fan is connected to the feed inlet so that the hot air flow is in the opposite direction to the tea fruit flow.

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