A controllable flow field spreading withering device
By using a controllable flow field spreading withering device, the problems of unstable tea quality and manual turning in traditional withering methods have been solved, achieving uniformity and high-efficiency production in the tea withering process.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- INST OF FRUIT & TEA HUBEI ACAD OF AGRI SCI
- Filing Date
- 2026-02-27
- Publication Date
- 2026-05-26
AI Technical Summary
Traditional withering methods are easily affected by the natural environment, resulting in unstable tea quality. Manual turning causes mechanical damage and is costly. Existing withering troughs have uneven airflow distribution, requiring frequent manual adjustments.
A controllable flow field spreading withering device is adopted, including a frame, fan, temperature and humidity sensor, heating tube and controller. The uniform distribution of air volume and temperature and humidity is achieved through flow guiding components and intelligent control system, and the withering process parameters are optimized by combining neural network.
This process achieves uniformity and quality stability in the tea withering process, reduces labor costs, minimizes mechanical damage, and improves production efficiency and tea quality consistency.
Smart Images
Figure CN122074567A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention relates to a tea withering device, and more specifically to a controllable flow field spreading withering device, belonging to the field of tea processing technology. Background Technology
[0002] Withering is a crucial initial processing step in the processing of teas such as black tea and white tea. Traditional withering methods typically involve spreading the tea leaves on shade nets, requiring additional heating when temperatures are low. This method has several limitations: poor process controllability, susceptibility to natural environmental factors (temperature, humidity, wind speed); resulting in low process completion and inconsistent tea quality; furthermore, the spreading operation relies heavily on racks, bamboo mats, and other tools, leading to irregular spreading, cumbersome loading, and high labor costs.
[0003] Currently, most existing withering troughs use a fixed inclined plate structure to regulate airflow distribution. This structure easily leads to uneven airflow intensity in different areas within the trough, resulting in significant differences in the degree of withering of fresh leaves. Therefore, during production, operators need to manually turn the fresh leaves periodically to alleviate the problem of uneven withering. However, tea withering is mostly carried out at night, which not only results in high labor costs and high labor intensity, but also frequent turning can easily cause mechanical damage to the fresh leaves, exacerbating problems such as reddening and broken leaves, significantly reducing the appearance and internal quality of the finished tea, and affecting the grade of commercial tea and economic benefits. Summary of the Invention
[0004] The purpose of this invention is to provide a controllable flow field spreading and withering device to address the aforementioned problems in the prior art.
[0005] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution of the present invention is: a controllable flow field spreading and withering device, comprising a frame, a fan, a temperature and humidity sensor, a heating pipe, and a controller. A perforated plate is laid in the frame to form a trough. A flow guiding assembly is provided on the bottom plate of the frame. The flow guiding assembly includes a flow guiding plate, an elastic curtain, a mounting base, and an electric push rod. The drive end of the electric push rod is connected to the mounting base, the mounting base is connected to the flow guiding plate, and the flow guiding plate is connected to the elastic curtain. The fan is speed-adjustable and has a bidirectional rotation function, blowing air towards the trough. The heating pipe is used to heat the trough. The temperature and humidity sensor is used to measure the temperature during tea withering. The fan, temperature and humidity sensor, heating pipe, and electric push rod are all connected to the controller.
[0006] The controller is equipped with a touch screen.
[0007] The frame is equipped with casters at the bottom.
[0008] The flow guiding components are in multiple sets, arranged sequentially on the base plate of the frame.
[0009] The flow guiding components consist of three sets, with a spacing of (800–1200) mm between adjacent flow guiding components.
[0010] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are:
[0011] 1. This invention helps to achieve more uniform ventilation and temperature and humidity distribution, thereby reducing quality fluctuations, reducing dependence on the natural environment, and saving labor costs.
[0012] 2. The ventilation flow field at the bottom of the tank of the present invention is controllable, which can make the air volume at all positions of the tank consistent and uniform. Attached Figure Description
[0013] Figure 1 This invention is an isometric Figure 1 .
[0014] Figure 2 This invention is an isometric Figure 2 .
[0015] Figure 3 This invention is an isometric Figure 3 .
[0016] Figure 4 This is a front view of the present invention.
[0017] Figure 5 This is a top view of the present invention.
[0018] Figure 6 This is the left view of the present invention.
[0019] In the diagram, 1 is the frame, 2 is the casters, 3 is the fan, 4 is the temperature and humidity sensor, 5 is the heating element, 6 is the controller, 7 is the touch screen, 8 is the perforated plate, 9 is the base plate, 10 is the discharge port, 11 is the guide plate, 12 is the elastic curtain, 13 is the mounting base, and 14 is the electric push rod. Detailed Implementation
[0020] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
[0021] See Figures 1 to 6A controllable flow field spreading and withering device is disclosed, featuring a standardized spreading trough design. The device includes a frame 1, a fan 3, a heating pipe 5, and a controller 6. A perforated plate 8 is laid within the frame 1 to form a trough. The trough width is set at 850-950 mm, a size range that balances operational convenience and space efficiency, facilitating manual or simple mechanical spreading, turning, and unloading operations. A flow guiding assembly is installed on the base plate 9 of the frame 1. This assembly includes a flow guiding plate 11, an elastic curtain 12, a mounting base 13, and an electric push rod 14. The drive end of the electric push rod 14 is connected to the mounting base 13, the mounting base 13 is connected to the flow guiding plate 11, and the flow guiding plate 11 is connected to the elastic curtain 12. The adjustable-speed fan 2 has a bidirectional rotation function, blowing air towards the trough. The adjustable-speed fan 2 has two directions: forward and reverse. At the same frequency, the forward airflow is 1.5 times that of the reverse airflow, which can heat the airflow. The reverse direction uses natural airflow, mainly to remove the heat generated by the tea leaves themselves. The heating element 5 is used to heat the trough, and the temperature and humidity sensor 4 is used to measure the temperature during tea withering. The fan 3, temperature and humidity sensor 4, heating tube 5, and electric push rod 14 are all connected to the controller 6. The control box 5 synchronously collects key data such as the frequency of the fan 3, the opening of the guide plate 11, the temperature of the temperature and humidity sensor 4, time, and withering effect. A three-layer neural network is used for model training to establish a precise mapping relationship between process parameters and withering quality, and intelligent optimization is performed to obtain the best withering process parameters. The control box 5 sends control commands to the fan 3, heating tube 5, and electric push rod 14 to control the heating, blowing, and electric push rod 14 actions, ultimately realizing automatic adaptation and self-adjustment of the entire withering process according to the factory production schedule.
[0022] See Figures 1 to 6 The controller 6 is equipped with a touch screen 7.
[0023] See Figures 1 to 6 The bottom of the frame 1 is equipped with casters 2.
[0024] See Figures 1 to 6 The flow guiding components are in multiple sets and are arranged sequentially on the base plate 9 of the frame 1.
[0025] See Figures 1 to 6 The flow guiding components consist of three sets, with a spacing of (800–1200) mm between adjacent flow guiding components; this ensures uniform and stable airflow intensity in each region of the perforated plate 8.
[0026] See Figures 1 to 6This device can controllably improve the quality of tea during the production process. The controller 6 controls the height combination of the guide plate 11, the frequency of the fan 3, the operation time, the forward and reverse rotation of the fan 3, the airflow temperature of the fan 3, and the ambient temperature. The guide component establishes a mapping relationship with the withering result and withering time, thereby realizing intelligent withering control that adaptively adjusts the flow field. During operation, fresh tea leaves are spread onto the perforated plate 8. The controller 6 sends control commands to the fan 3, heating tube 5, and electric push rod 14 based on the information returned by the temperature and humidity sensor 4, thereby controlling the heating, air blowing, and the operation of the electric push rod 14. When the drive end of the electric push rod 14 extends upward, it drives the elastic curtain 12 to rise; when the drive end of the electric push rod 14 retracts, it drives the elastic curtain 12 to fall. This allows for controllable ventilation flow in the lower part of the spreading tank, ensuring consistent airflow at all locations within the tank. This contributes to more uniform ventilation and temperature and humidity distribution, reducing fluctuations in tea quality and significantly improving withering consistency. Therefore, this device can achieve intelligent and precise control of the water loss rate of fresh tea leaves per unit time. By scientifically managing the water loss rate, it accurately controls the completion time of the withering process, ensuring it strictly conforms to the factory's preset production schedule. Meanwhile, this device reduces dependence on the natural environment, completely eliminates nighttime operations (night shift tea making), effectively reduces the nighttime workload of operators, avoids manpower waste and operational inconvenience caused by nighttime operations; it eliminates the need for turning over, saves labor costs, and significantly improves employee work comfort and job satisfaction; it can also be used for stand-alone production or line production, providing a guarantee for standardized and efficient production in the factory.
[0027] The above description, in conjunction with specific preferred embodiments, provides a further detailed explanation of the present invention. It should not be construed that the specific implementation of the present invention is limited to these descriptions. For those skilled in the art, several simple deductions or substitutions can be made without departing from the concept of the present invention, and all such structures should be considered within the protection scope of the present invention.
Claims
1. A controllable flow field spreading withering device, characterized in that: Including frame (1), fan (3), temperature and humidity sensor (4), heating pipe (5), controller (6), the frame (1) is placed with mesh plate (8) and forms groove body, the bottom plate (9) of frame (1) is provided with flow guide assembly, the flow guide assembly includes flow guide plate (11), elastic curtain (12), mounting seat (13), electric push rod (14), the electric push rod (14) drive end is connected with mounting seat (13), the mounting seat (13) is connected with flow guide plate (11), the flow guide plate (11) is connected with elastic curtain (12), the fan (2) can be adjusted speed and has bidirectional rotation function, fan (2) is towards the blowing of groove body, the heating pipe (5) is used to heat the groove body, the temperature and humidity sensor (4) is used to measure tea wilting, the fan (3), temperature and humidity sensor (4), heating pipe (5), electric push rod (14) are all connected with controller (6).
2. A controllable flow field spreading withering device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The controller (6) is provided with touch screen (7).
3. A controllable flow field spreading withering device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bottom of frame (1) is provided with trundle (2).
4. A controllable flow field spreading withering device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flow guide assembly is multiple, and is sequentially arranged on the bottom plate (9) of frame (1).
5. A controllable flow field spreading withering device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The flow guide assembly is three groups, and the spacing between adjacent flow guide assemblies is (800-1200) mm.