A molecular structure-destructive ultrafine pulverization process for traditional Chinese medicine and an airflow generation device

Abstract

This invention relates to a molecular structure-preserving ultrafine pulverization process and airflow generating device for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), belonging to the field of TCM grinding technology. The process includes selecting and classifying the medicinal materials to be crushed; washing and filtering the classified materials and drying them in a high-pressure chamber; coarsely pulverizing a portion of the selected materials according to their material properties; selecting different mechanical grinding modes in conjunction with constant-temperature airflow sieving; and then performing secondary grinding of different types of primary fine materials through airflow pulverization. The ultrafine powder of TCM produced by this invention exhibits good nutritional stability. The intermittent high-pressure and stable-pressure airflow generated by the airflow generating device ensures the entire process is carried out in a low-temperature environment, preserving the efficacy of the medicine and effectively preventing the volatilization or oxidation of components during processing, thus ensuring the preservation of medicinal properties. This also accelerates the absorption of TCM materials and medicinal diets by the human body, improving the utilization rate of the effective components of the medicine.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of traditional Chinese medicine pulverization technology, and in particular to a process for ultra-micro pulverization of traditional Chinese medicine without damaging its molecular structure and an airflow generating device. Background Technology

[0002] A healthy lifestyle and comprehensive nutrition management have become new life themes. The health awareness of the Chinese population is rapidly increasing, and nutritional health needs are becoming more diversified and personalized. At the same time, with rapid economic development and continuous improvement in living standards, the demand for nutritional and health foods is growing, especially health foods made from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) herbs, which are very popular among consumers. Currently, ultrafine active powder products made from TCM herbs are mainly in capsule and powder form. Studies have found that the absorption rates of these two types of products are 10% and 6%, respectively. Furthermore, capsule products contain enzymes, which may adversely affect the TCM dietary powder during storage. Powder products have a loose structure, no fixed shape, and are inconvenient to take, with a short sublingual time (approximately 5-10 minutes). The release of active ingredients is uneven, and existing products containing powdered or processed herbs often have excessive residue, resulting in uneven release of active ingredients and low utilization rates. This makes it difficult to meet the needs of modern people's fast-paced lifestyles. The main reason for this situation is that existing Chinese herbal medicine grinding technology cannot achieve the required fine particle size. In the past, Chinese medicine practitioners mainly used stone crushers and stone mills to grind and process Chinese herbs, which was laborious, risky, and dangerous. Later, a medicine grinder was developed, but its efficiency was too low. Due to the development of the Industrial Revolution and the large-scale popularization of machinery, mechanized pulverizers have been widely used in the grinding and pulverizing of Chinese herbs. The fineness of existing universal pulverizers is generally 40-120 mesh, with a temperature rise of over 80℃. The finer the pulverization, the higher the temperature rise. However, the volatile or heat-sensitive components in the medicinal ingredients will inevitably lead to the destruction of the molecular structure of the medicinal materials as the temperature rises, affecting their performance. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This invention provides a molecular structure-preserving ultrafine grinding process and airflow generating device for traditional Chinese medicine. Its main objective is to develop a green, environmentally friendly, and simple traditional Chinese medicine dietary grinding technology by researching and integrating various technical aspects such as dry ultrafine grinding, heavy-pressure grinding, vibration grinding, and airflow grinding + classification. This results in a novel traditional Chinese medicine dietary grinding technology and airflow generating device that preserves the molecular structure, making it easy and simple to operate, suitable for a wide range of feed particle sizes, with minimal wear on parts, and without generating excessive heat.

[0004] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides a molecular structure-free ultrafine pulverization process for traditional Chinese medicine, comprising:

[0005] Step S1: Select the medicinal materials to be crushed and classify them. After cleaning and filtering the classified medicinal materials, dry them in a high-pressure chamber.

[0006] Step S2: Based on the material properties of the selected medicinal materials, perform coarse processing and pulverization on a portion of the selected medicinal materials;

[0007] Step S3: Select different mechanical grinding and pulverizing modes for different categories of medicinal materials and use the constant temperature airflow generated by the airflow generating device to perform primary micro-pulverization on the selected categories of medicinal materials, and then perform cooling and sieving to obtain primary fine grinding material. The constant temperature airflow consists of atmospheric pressure constant temperature airflow and intermittent high pressure constant temperature airflow.

[0008] Step S4: Mix the different types of primary grinding materials using an air jet mill and perform secondary ultra-fine grinding to obtain the final product particles;

[0009] Step S5: Collect and package the final product particles that meet the particle size requirements through a grading mechanism.

[0010] Furthermore, the airflow generating device includes a flat-pressure temperature control box and a high-pressure temperature control box. The flat-pressure temperature control box is connected to the high-pressure temperature control box via an air compressor. The flat-pressure temperature control box is connected to an anti-backflow pipe via a wind pump. The end of the anti-backflow pipe is connected to an inclined air inlet pipe via a Venturi main pipe. A return valve is installed in the middle section of the Venturi main pipe. A Venturi branch pipe is installed on the return valve. A fan blade cavity is installed at the top of the Venturi branch pipe via a screening screen cylinder. An airflow cylinder is installed at the top opening of the fan blade cavity via a bent pipe. A mesh cover is provided on the outside of the screening screen cylinder. A particle discharge pipe is connected to and installed on the mesh cover. A fan blade shaft is rotatably installed inside the fan blade cavity via a shaft bracket. A fan blade is fixedly installed on the fan shaft inside the fan blade cavity. The bottom end of the fan shaft extends into the screening cylinder and is fixedly installed with several striking rods. Both the flat-pressure temperature control box and the high-pressure temperature control box are equipped with refrigerant transfer bends. The two ports of the refrigerant transfer bends are respectively connected to the refrigerant inlet pipe and the refrigerant outlet pipe. A flow control valve is installed on the refrigerant inlet pipe. A temperature sensor and a pressure sensor are installed in the high-pressure temperature control box. A high-pressure branch pipe is connected to the top of the high-pressure temperature control box through a pneumatic control valve. The end of the high-pressure branch pipe is installed on the inclined air inlet pipe. A one-way box air inlet pipe is installed on the flat-pressure temperature control box. A one-way valve is installed on the one-way box air inlet pipe. A check valve is installed on the anti-backflow pipe.

[0011] Furthermore, the air pressure inside the high-pressure chamber is 38-35 standard atmospheres.

[0012] Furthermore, the particle size of the primary grinding material is controlled between 70 and 120 mesh, and the constant temperature airflow adopts a dry airflow with its temperature controlled between 0 and 15°C.

[0013] Furthermore, the mechanical grinding and pulverizing mode can be any one of high-speed rotation pulverizing mode, heavy pressure grinding and pulverizing mode, or vibration grinding mode.

[0014] Furthermore, the particle size of the final product is controlled between 1900 and 2000 mesh.

[0015] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows:

[0016] The intermittent high-pressure airflow and stable airflow generated by the airflow generating device ensure that the entire process is carried out in a low-temperature environment, so that the efficacy of the medicine is not lost and it has good nutritional value. The crushing process is carried out in a relatively low-temperature environment, which turns tough Chinese medicinal materials into easily crushable brittle bodies, greatly improving the crushing efficiency and effectively preventing the volatilization or oxidation of components during processing, ensuring that the medicinal properties are not lost. At the same time, the intermittent high-pressure airflow vibration facilitates screening.

[0017] It has a good yield rate, accelerates the absorption of Chinese medicinal materials and Chinese medicinal diets by the human body, and improves the bioavailability of the effective components of drugs. Attached Figure Description

[0018] Figure 1 This is a diagram of a constant-temperature airflow sieving structure of a molecular structure-free ultra-micro pulverization process and airflow generating device for traditional Chinese medicine, as described in this invention.

[0019] Figure 2 This is a diagram of the internal structure of the sieve cylinder of the ultra-micro pulverization process and airflow generating device for traditional Chinese medicine that does not damage the molecular structure, as described in this invention.

[0020] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the interior of the high-pressure temperature control box of the ultra-micro pulverization process and airflow generation device for traditional Chinese medicine that avoids damage to the molecular structure described in this invention.

[0021] The annotations in the attached figures are explained as follows:

[0022] 1. Flat-pressure temperature control box; 2. High-pressure temperature control box; 3. Air compressor; 4. Air pump; 5. Anti-backflow pipe; 6. Venturi main pipe; 7. Angled air inlet pipe; 8. High-pressure branch pipe; 9. Flow control valve; 10. Pneumatic control valve; 11. One-way box air inlet pipe; 12. One-way valve; 13. Check valve; 14. Mesh sleeve cover; 15. Fan blade cavity component; 16. Venturi branch pipe; 17. Return valve; 18. Bend; 19. Airflow tube; 20. Screening mesh tube; 21. Particle discharge pipe; 22. Beating rod; 23. Fan blade shaft; 24. Airflow fan blade; 25. Shaft bracket; 26. Refrigerant transfer bend; 27. Temperature sensor; 28. Air pressure sensor. Detailed Implementation

[0023] It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

[0024] A molecular structure-preserving ultrafine pulverization process for traditional Chinese medicine and an airflow generating device, wherein the ultrafine pulverization process specifically includes:

[0025] Step S1: Select the medicinal materials to be crushed and classify them. After cleaning and filtering the classified medicinal materials, dry them in a high-pressure chamber. The pressure in the high-pressure chamber is 38-35 standard atmospheres.

[0026] Step S2: Based on the material properties of the selected medicinal materials, a portion of the selected medicinal materials are coarsely processed and pulverized. Different Chinese medicinal materials, such as gastrodia elata, chicken gizzard lining, notoginseng, kudzu root, wheat ear, medicated leaven, hawthorn, and rehmannia root, are pulverized individually or in mixtures of different varieties to form their own grinding patterns. When gastrodia elata, cinnabar, notoginseng, and kudzu root are pulverized separately, it is found that individual medicinal materials are easy to pulverize and the pulverization effect is good. The pulverization requirement can be met in 15 minutes. When wheat ear, medicated leaven, and hawthorn are mixed and directly processed and pulverized for 30 minutes, the medicinal materials have not undergone coarse processing. Hawthorn is more difficult to pulverize, so it needs to be coarsely pulverized before being mixed and pulverized with the medicinal materials required by the relevant formula. The pulverization time is increased to achieve the expected effect.

[0027] Step S3: Select different mechanical grinding and pulverizing modes for different categories of medicinal materials, and use the constant temperature airflow generated by the airflow generator to perform primary micro-pulverization on the selected categories of medicinal materials, followed by cooling and sieving to obtain primary grinding fines. The particle size of the primary grinding fines is controlled between 70-120 mesh. The constant temperature airflow is a dry airflow with a temperature controlled between 0-15℃ and a moisture content of no more than 0.7%. The constant temperature airflow consists of atmospheric pressure constant temperature airflow and intermittent high pressure constant temperature airflow.

[0028] The airflow generating device includes a flat-pressure temperature control box 1 and a high-pressure temperature control box 2. The high-pressure temperature control box 2 is used to store high-pressure gas, and it can be controlled by a valve body to generate intermittent airflow, thereby accelerating the vibration of powder particles in the mechanical grinding and pulverizing equipment.

[0029] The flat pressure temperature control box 1 is connected to the high pressure temperature control box 2 via the air compressor 3. The flat pressure temperature control box 1 is connected to the anti-backflow pipe 5 via the air pump 4. The end of the anti-backflow pipe 5 is connected to the inclined air inlet pipe 7 via the Venturi main pipe 5. The inclined air inlet pipe 7 is used to be installed on the mechanical grinding and pulverizing equipment.

[0030] The middle section of the Venturi main pipe 6 is relatively thin. A return valve 17 is installed in the middle section of the Venturi main pipe 6. A Venturi branch pipe 16 is installed on the return valve 17. The top of the Venturi branch pipe 16 is connected to a fan blade cavity 15 through a screening screen cylinder 20. The top cavity of the fan blade cavity 15 is connected to an airflow cylinder 19 through a bent pipe 18. The airflow cylinder 19 is installed and connected to the top of the mechanical grinding and pulverizing equipment.

[0031] The outer side of the screening cylinder 20 is covered with a mesh cover 14, and a particle discharge pipe 21 is connected and installed on the mesh cover 14, which is mainly used to transport the screened particles together with the airflow to the next stage.

[0032] A fan blade shaft 23 is rotatably mounted inside the fan blade cavity 15 via a shaft bracket 25. An airflow fan blade 24 is fixedly mounted on the fan blade shaft 23 inside the fan blade cavity 15. The airflow fan blade 24 rotates under the action of airflow. The bottom end of the fan blade shaft 23 extends into the screening cylinder 20 and is fixedly mounted with several striking rods 22. The end of the striking rods 22 is a spherical structure, which strikes the screening cylinder 20 to shake off large particles and reduce the risk of blockage.

[0033] Both the flat-pressure temperature control box 1 and the high-pressure temperature control box 2 are equipped with refrigerant transfer bends 26. The two ports of the refrigerant transfer bends 26 are connected to the refrigerant inlet pipe and the refrigerant outlet pipe, respectively, for connecting to the refrigerant generating equipment to achieve gas cooling inside the box. A flow control valve 9 is installed on the refrigerant inlet pipe to control the refrigerant flow. A temperature sensor 27 and a pressure sensor 28 are installed inside the high-pressure temperature control box 2. The gas pressure inside the high-pressure temperature control box 2 is maintained at about five atmospheres. It is transmitted to the inclined air inlet pipe 7 through the air control valve 10 at the top and the high-pressure branch pipe 8 installed on the air control valve 10, instantly generating a high-pressure airflow that enters the mechanical grinding and pulverizing equipment. Then, the air control valve 10 on the tank wall generates an indirect high-pressure airflow, increasing the particle vibration inside the mechanical grinding and pulverizing equipment.

[0034] The flat pressure temperature control box 1 is equipped with a one-way box inlet pipe 11, which mainly allows the dried gas to enter. A one-way valve 12 is installed on the one-way box inlet pipe 11, and a check valve 13 is installed on the anti-backflow pipe 5 to prevent high-pressure gas from entering.

[0035] The constant temperature airflow mainly consists of two airflows, which are stored in the flat pressure temperature control box 1 and the high pressure temperature control box 2 respectively. The air pressure in the high pressure temperature control box 2 is controlled at about 5 atmospheres. As the intermittent airflow is generated, the air pressure drops rapidly, absorbing the surrounding heat and reducing the air temperature inside the mechanical grinding and pulverizing equipment. Vibration is strengthened, and the particles are guided into the screening screen cylinder 20 through the airflow tube 19 along the bend pipe 18 and the fan blade cavity 15. The blocked particles accumulate in the venturi branch pipe 16, and the return valve 17 is indirectly opened to reintroduce the material into the mechanical grinding and pulverizing equipment.

[0036] The mechanical grinding and pulverizing mode is mainly carried out through three types of modes, including:

[0037] High-speed rotational pulverization mode is carried out through high-speed pulverization equipment. At present, there are many types of equipment used for dry ultra-fine pulverization of Chinese medicinal materials. Most of them are based on high-speed mechanical pulverization plus classification. Although the powder can be accurately and timely separated and collected after pulverization, pollution and dust will be generated during the pulverization process. At the same time, the rise in temperature will affect the chemical and physical properties of the medicine. For high-speed mechanical pulverization + classification, the main method is to apply external forces such as impact and shearing to the raw medicinal material powder through the high-speed movement of mechanical parts or media to achieve pulverization. Then, the ultra-fine pulverization purpose is achieved by circulating through an appropriate classification mechanism. The characteristics of mechanical ultra-fine pulverization equipment are simplicity and convenience, and a wide range of applicable feed particle sizes. In this process, the medicinal materials are relatively easy to be subjected to force after high-pressure drying and are relatively easy to pulverize. The temperature will rise during the material pulverization process. The temperature of the constant temperature airflow is controlled between 0-15℃ to avoid the high temperature caused by the impact force of the high speed of mechanical pulverization, which leads to the failure of most active ingredients in Chinese medicinal materials. It can reduce the heat in the chamber and improve the cell wall breaking effect.

[0038] The heavy-pressure grinding and pulverizing mode is mainly carried out by a heavy-pressure grinding pulverizer. The pulverizing chamber consists of two or more pressure rollers and grinding tanks. When the material is drawn into the pulverizing chamber by the air force of the fan, under the action of the rotating pressure of the pressure rollers, the material collides, impacts and grinds between the pressure rollers and the grinding tanks. Under the action of the centrifugal force of the material and the rotational force field of the pressure rollers, the material repeatedly enters between the pressure rollers and the grinding tanks and is repeatedly squeezed and ground. At this time, 90% of the powder has reached the ultrafine index. The constant temperature airflow screening can not only cool down the powder so that the high temperature in the grinding tank will not damage the molecular structure, but also realize the screening and inspection of the powder. Due to the external powder separation and dust collection mechanism, the powder that has reached the fineness can be separated from here by the action of wind power.

[0039] Vibratory grinding mainly produces fine powder through mechanical grinding equipment. There are three structural types: single-cylinder, double-cylinder, and triple-cylinder. Vibratory grinding utilizes the high-frequency vibration of a cylinder. The cylinder is filled with grinding media such as steel balls or steel rods and the material to be ground. The steel balls or steel rods in the cylinder rely on inertial force to impact the material and crush it. It has outstanding advantages such as compact structure, small size, light weight, low energy consumption, concentrated grinding particle size, high production efficiency, low wear of liner media, and no dust spillage.

[0040] Step S4: Mix the different types of primary grinding materials through an air jet mill and perform secondary ultra-fine grinding to obtain the final product particles. The particle size of the final product particles is controlled between 1900-2000 mesh. It has high grinding force, high fineness, no pollution and minimal wear, and is suitable for ultra-fine grinding of Chinese medicinal materials with high purity, high hardness and certain viscosity. At the same time, the medicinal powder is ground under airflow expansion, which will not raise the temperature and is not easy to change the chemical properties of the medicine itself.

[0041] Step S5: Collect and package the final product particles that meet the particle size requirements through the grading mechanism. In this process, after the final product particles pass through the grading structure, those that meet the particle size requirements are discharged, and those that do not meet the particle size requirements are re-entered into the airflow pulverizer for pulverization.

[0042] The above embodiments are applicable to a wide range of feed particle sizes, with minimal wear on parts and no significant heat generation. They possess the collision and impact mechanisms of other types of ultrafine pulverizers, as well as the mechanism of repeated extrusion and grinding. They are suitable for fibrous materials, and their constant-temperature airflow eliminates the need for circulating pulverization, requiring only a single screening. This removes frictional heat, reducing wear, and prevents damage to molecular structures and reduced efficacy from heat generated by mechanical wear and collisions. The ultrafine pulverized Chinese herbal powder, due to its easy absorption, rapid onset of action, small quantity, and convenient carrying and administration, can disrupt the cell wall structure of tissues, achieving the desired material characteristics. The increased surface area and porosity resulting from particle miniaturization and cell wall disruption endow ultrafine powders with unique physicochemical properties, such as good absorbency, adsorption, solubility, chemical activity, and biological activity. This improves the bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients, accelerates the absorption of Chinese medicinal materials and dietary supplements by the human body, and enables targeted absorption and precise dietary therapy. Like ordinary nutritional supplements, Chinese herbal dietary supplements are concentrated, small in quantity, high in purity, and convenient to carry and administer.

[0043] The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any equivalent structural or procedural transformations made using the present invention’s specification and content, or direct or indirect applications in other related technical fields, are similarly included within the patent protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A molecular structure-preserving ultrafine pulverization process for traditional Chinese medicine, characterized in that... Specifically, it includes: Step S1: Select the medicinal materials to be crushed and classify them. After cleaning and filtering the classified medicinal materials, dry them in a high-pressure chamber. Step S2: Based on the material properties of the selected medicinal materials, perform coarse processing and pulverization on a portion of the selected medicinal materials; Step S3: Different mechanical grinding and pulverizing modes are selected for different categories of medicinal materials. Combined with a constant-temperature airflow generated by an airflow generator, the selected medicinal materials undergo primary micro-pulverization, followed by cooling and sieving to obtain primary fine ground material. The constant-temperature airflow consists of atmospheric pressure constant-temperature airflow and intermittent high-pressure constant-temperature airflow. The airflow generating device includes a flat-pressure temperature control box and a high-pressure temperature control box. The flat-pressure temperature control box is connected to the high-pressure temperature control box via an air compressor. The flat-pressure temperature control box is connected to an anti-backflow pipe via a wind pump. The end of the anti-backflow pipe is connected to an inclined air inlet pipe via a Venturi main pipe. A return valve is installed in the middle section of the Venturi main pipe. A Venturi branch pipe is installed on the return valve. A fan blade cavity is installed at the top of the Venturi branch pipe via a screening screen cylinder. An airflow tube is installed at the top opening of the fan blade cavity via a bent pipe. A mesh cover is provided on the outside of the screening screen cylinder. A particle discharge pipe is connected to the mesh cover. A fan blade shaft is rotatably installed inside the fan blade cavity via a shaft bracket. A fan blade is fixedly installed on the fan shaft inside the blade cavity. The bottom end of the fan shaft extends into the screening cylinder and is fixedly installed with several striking rods. Both the flat-pressure temperature control box and the high-pressure temperature control box are equipped with refrigerant transfer bends. The two ports of the refrigerant transfer bends are respectively connected to the refrigerant inlet pipe and the refrigerant outlet pipe. A flow control valve is installed on the refrigerant inlet pipe. A temperature sensor and a pressure sensor are installed in the high-pressure temperature control box. A high-pressure branch pipe is connected to the top of the high-pressure temperature control box through a pneumatic control valve. The end of the high-pressure branch pipe is installed on the inclined air inlet pipe. A one-way box air inlet pipe is installed on the flat-pressure temperature control box. A one-way valve is installed on the one-way box air inlet pipe. A check valve is installed on the anti-backflow pipe. Step S4: Mix the different types of primary grinding materials using an air jet mill and perform secondary ultra-fine grinding to obtain the final product particles; Step S5: Collect and package the final product particles that meet the particle size requirements through a grading mechanism.

2. The molecular structure-preserving ultrafine pulverization process for traditional Chinese medicine as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The high-pressure chamber has an internal pressure of 38-35 standard atmospheres, the particle size of the primary grinding material is controlled between 70-120 mesh, and the constant-temperature airflow is a dry airflow with a temperature controlled between 0-15℃.

3. The molecular structure-preserving ultrafine pulverization process for traditional Chinese medicine as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The mechanical grinding and pulverizing mode can be any one of high-speed rotation pulverizing mode, heavy pressure grinding and pulverizing mode, or vibration grinding mode.

4. The molecular structure-preserving ultrafine pulverization process for traditional Chinese medicine as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The particle size of the final product is controlled between 1900 and 2000 mesh.

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