A production device and method for preparing a flavor powder using toast edges

Abstract

This invention relates to the field of food processing, specifically to a production apparatus and method for preparing flavor powder using bread crusts. The apparatus includes a vertically arranged electric heating drying cylinder, inside which, from top to bottom, are arranged a coarse crushing chamber, a dehydration chamber, and a fine crushing chamber. A stirring unit is installed in the dehydration chamber, and a crushing unit is installed in the fine crushing chamber. A nitrogen storage device is located beside the electric heating drying cylinder, connected to the lower part of the fine crushing chamber via an air inlet pipe, for injecting nitrogen into the cylinder to isolate oxygen and carry water vapor and aroma upwards. A condenser is connected to the upper part of the dehydration chamber via a pump pipe, for condensing the aroma-carrying water vapor into a liquid flavoring liquid. A proportioning tank and an electrostatic spray nozzle are located beside the condenser for evenly spraying the flavoring liquid into the fine crushing chamber. This invention solves the technical problems of severe aroma loss, fragmented processes, easy oxidation of materials, and inability to reuse aroma in existing bread crust processing devices, achieving efficient dehydration and flavor preservation of bread crusts.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of food processing, specifically to a production apparatus and method for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts. Background Technology

[0002] In the baking and food processing industry, a large amount of toast scraps are generated during the slicing process. These scraps are usually irregular in appearance and hard in texture, making them difficult to sell directly as finished products. Currently, the handling of toast scraps is rather crude; some are sold at low prices as animal feed or industrial raw materials, while others are directly disposed of as waste, resulting in significant resource waste. With the increasing awareness of comprehensive utilization of by-products in the food industry, some technologies have begun to explore drying and pulverizing toast scraps into breadcrumbs or flavor powders to realize their reuse value. However, existing toast scrap processing equipment has significant shortcomings in both flavor preservation and pulverization processes, hindering the improvement of the final product quality.

[0003] Firstly, as a baked product, toast crusts contain abundant baking aroma components and natural flavor substances, which are core factors determining the market acceptance of the final product. However, in existing processing methods, toast crusts need to be further pulverized into powder after drying. Because toast crusts are porous and loose after drying, a large amount of their internal flavor substances are exposed to the air during pulverization due to the mechanical damage to cell walls and microstructure. Oxygen reacts with these flavor substances, and the localized high temperatures generated by the pulverizing equipment exacerbate the volatilization and dissipation of low-boiling-point flavor components, resulting in a significantly weakened flavor in the final product, far removed from the aroma characteristics of fresh toast crusts. Furthermore, some existing processes use high-speed impact pulverizers to pursue pulverization efficiency. The intense mechanical force not only accelerates flavor loss but also causes a scorching reaction on the material surface due to frictional overheating, further deteriorating the product's flavor quality.

[0004] Secondly, untreated bread crusts possess a certain degree of flexibility and a high initial moisture content. If these moist and resilient crusts are directly fed into the grinding equipment, they are prone to clumping together due to compression and shearing within the grinding chamber, clogging the screen and discharge channel. Furthermore, their high elasticity makes them difficult to break effectively, resulting in low grinding efficiency and extremely uneven particle size distribution. To address this issue, existing processes typically employ a drying-then-grinding process. This involves placing whole or large pieces of bread crusts in a drying device to fully dehydrate and soften them before transferring them to the grinding equipment. However, large bread crusts experience long internal moisture migration paths and low heat and mass transfer efficiency during drying, leading to time and energy consumption. This also results in uneven drying, with some crusts remaining dry on the outside but moist on the inside. Furthermore, some thoroughly dried crusts may reabsorb moisture and regain their toughness during subsequent grinding, continuously impacting the grinding effect and the quality of the finished product. In summary, existing toast crust processing devices cannot simultaneously ensure flavor preservation and uniform grinding. Therefore, we need to develop a processing device for preparing flavor powder from toast crusts that can overcome the aforementioned technological bottlenecks. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Therefore, it is necessary to provide a production apparatus and method for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts, addressing the existing technical problems.

[0006] To solve the problems of the prior art, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows:

[0007] An apparatus for preparing flavor powder using bread crusts, comprising:

[0008] The electric heating drying cylinder is arranged in a vertical position. Inside the electric heating drying cylinder, from top to bottom, there are a coarse crushing chamber for the first crushing of the toast edges, a dehydration chamber for dehydrating the crushed toast edges, and a fine crushing chamber for pulverizing the dehydrated toast edges. The dehydration chamber and the fine crushing chamber are respectively provided with feeding ports on the side.

[0009] The dehydration chamber is equipped with a stirring unit that agitates the crushed bread edges to accelerate the dehydration efficiency, and the fine crushing chamber is equipped with a crushing unit that crushes the dehydrated crushed bread edges.

[0010] A nitrogen storage device is installed next to the electric heating drying cylinder. An air inlet pipe is installed at the output end of the nitrogen storage device, and the outlet end of the air inlet pipe is connected to the lower part of the fine crushing chamber.

[0011] The upper part of the dehydration chamber is connected to a pump pipe that extracts the water vapor separated in the dehydration chamber. A condenser is installed at the output end of the pump pipe. A proportioning tank is installed next to the condenser. An electrostatic nozzle is installed next to the proportioning tank to spray the condensed fragrance liquid into the fine crushing chamber.

[0012] Furthermore, two sealing slide plates are symmetrically arranged at the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder. The sealing slide plates are slidably arranged at the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder, and when the two sealing slide plates are close together, they seal the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder.

[0013] Furthermore, two symmetrically arranged inclined plates are provided at the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder to guide the edges of the toast. Two crushing rollers are rotatably arranged on the side of the lower end of the two inclined plates that are close to each other, and the teeth of the two crushing rollers interlock.

[0014] Furthermore, the stirring unit includes a dewatering disc fixed to the inner wall of the dewatering chamber, and the dewatering disc has discharge holes arranged in an equal angle along the circumferential direction.

[0015] Furthermore, the stirring unit also includes a coaxial reversing mechanism located at the lower end of the electric heating drying cylinder. The two output ends of the coaxial reversing mechanism are respectively coaxially fixed to a hollow cone seat and a hollow cone top. The lower end of the hollow cone seat is rotatably connected to the upper end of the dehydration disc, and the upper end of the hollow cone seat is rotatably connected to the lower end of the hollow cone top.

[0016] A stirring ruler for stirring and breaking up the edges of toast is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the hollow cone base and the outer wall of the hollow cone top at equal angles along the circumference.

[0017] Furthermore, the stirring rod is set at an angle, with the stirring rod at the outer wall of the hollow cone seat and the stirring rod at the outer wall of the top of the hollow cone tilting at opposite angles.

[0018] Furthermore, a sealing ring is fitted around the upper end of the hollow cone seat along the circumferential direction, and the sealing ring abuts against the outside of the top of the hollow cone.

[0019] Furthermore, the crushing unit includes an electric rotating shaft arranged coaxially with the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism, and blades are fixedly connected to the outer wall of the electric rotating shaft at equal angles along the circumferential direction.

[0020] Furthermore, a guide sleeve is coaxially fixed to the lower end of the dehydration disc, the inner wall of the guide sleeve is rotatably connected to the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism, and the lower end of the guide sleeve is fixedly connected to the frame of the coaxial reversing mechanism.

[0021] The outer wall of the guide sleeve is rotatably connected to the inner wall of the electric rotating shaft.

[0022] A method for preparing flavor powder using bread crusts further includes the following production steps:

[0023] S1: The bread crust ingredients are fed into the coarse crushing chamber from the top of the electric heating drying cylinder, where they are mechanically crushed for the first time by the crushing components;

[0024] S2: The broken toast edges fall into the dehydration chamber, where the stirring unit tumbles and disperses them. The nitrogen storage device injects nitrogen into the cylinder through the air inlet pipe. The nitrogen carries water vapor and volatile aroma components upward through the dehydration chamber, allowing the pieces to dry. At the same time, the pump pipe extracts the hot and humid mixed airflow rich in water vapor and aroma from the dehydration chamber and sends it to the condenser, where it is condensed into liquid aroma liquid.

[0025] S3: The dried toast crusts fall into the crushing chamber, where the crushing unit pulverizes them into powder matrix. At the same time, the fragrance liquid output from the condenser is adjusted by the proportioning tank and then transported to the electrostatic nozzle, where it is atomized into charged droplets and sprayed into the crushing chamber, allowing the fragrance liquid to be adsorbed onto the surface of the powder matrix.

[0026] S4: The mechanical friction heat generated by the operation of the crushing unit and the heat of the electric drying cylinder itself cause the excess water in the fragrance liquid to evaporate a second time, and the aromatic substances are concentrated and fixed on the powder particles to form flavor powder.

[0027] The beneficial effects of this invention compared to the prior art are:

[0028] Firstly, this invention integrates the coarse crushing chamber, dehydration chamber, and fine crushing chamber sequentially from top to bottom into the same vertical electric heating drying cylinder, allowing the toast crusts to complete the entire process of coarse crushing, dehydration, and fine crushing under the action of gravity. The toast crusts first enter the coarse crushing chamber for initial mechanical crushing, breaking them into smaller pieces. This significantly increases the specific surface area of ​​the material and greatly shortens the migration path of internal moisture. As a result, the pieces can achieve rapid and uniform dehydration in the subsequent dehydration chamber, effectively avoiding the drawbacks of existing technologies where large-volume toast crusts are dried on the outside but wet on the inside, and the drying is uneven. After being fully dehydrated and brittled, the pieces then enter the fine crushing chamber for secondary pulverization. Because the material is already brittle and small in size, it is less likely to stick and block the discharge channel. The pulverization efficiency is high and the finished product has a uniform particle size. Furthermore, the fine crushing chamber can complete the pulverization of the dried and brittle material in a very short time, greatly reducing the thermal degradation of flavor substances caused by mechanical friction and local overheating during the pulverization process. This effectively slows down the volatilization and oxidation loss of flavor components from the source.

[0029] Secondly, this invention uses a nitrogen storage device to inject nitrogen into the cylinder via an air inlet pipe as a drying medium. The chemical inertness of nitrogen isolates oxygen at high temperatures, preventing oxidation of the oils and flavor components in the toast crust from the source, thus ensuring the product's color and flavor purity. Simultaneously, a pump pipe connected to the upper part of the dehydration chamber draws out the mixed airflow rich in moisture and aroma components and sends it to a condenser for forced cooling. This allows volatile aromatic substances to be captured and recovered in liquid form. The liquid is then evenly sprayed into the fine-crushing chamber via an electrostatic nozzle, where the heat generated from the secondary crushing process is used for secondary evaporation and concentration. This allows the aroma components to be fixed in situ onto the surface of the powder particles, ensuring that lost aroma is replenished into the product. This achieves in-situ enrichment of aroma components and flavor enhancement, resulting in a final product with a significantly higher flavor intensity than traditional processes that do not replenish aroma. Attached Figure Description

[0030] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of an embodiment;

[0031] Figure 2 This is a front view of an embodiment;

[0032] Figure 3 This is a three-dimensional structural schematic diagram from another angle of the embodiment;

[0033] Figure 4 This is a three-dimensional half-sectional view of the electric heating drying cylinder in the embodiment;

[0034] Figure 5 yes Figure 4 Enlarged view of the structure at point A in the middle;

[0035] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the planar structure of the electric heating drying cylinder in the embodiment;

[0036] Figure 7 yes Figure 6 Enlarged view of the structure at point B in the middle;

[0037] Figure 8 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of the hollow cone base and the hollow cone top in the embodiment.

[0038] The numbers on the map are:

[0039] 1. Sealed sliding plate; 2. Electric heating drying cylinder; 3. Coarse crushing chamber; 4. Dewatering chamber; 5. Fine crushing chamber; 6. Guide sleeve; 7. Inclined plate; 8. Crushing roller; 9. Mixing unit; 10. Dewatering disc; 11. Feed hole; 12. Coaxial reversing mechanism; 13. Hollow cone seat; 14. Hollow cone top; 15. Mixing scale; 16. Sealing ring; 17. Crushing unit; 18. Electric rotating shaft; 19. Blade; 20. Air inlet pipe; 21. Condenser; 22. Proportioning tank; 23. Electrostatic nozzle; 24. Pumping pipe; 25. Nitrogen storage device. Detailed Implementation

[0040] To further understand the features, technical means, and specific objectives and functions achieved by the present invention, the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0041] refer to Figures 1 to 8 A production apparatus for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts, comprising:

[0042] The electric heating drying cylinder 2 is arranged vertically. Inside the electric heating drying cylinder 2, from top to bottom, there are a coarse crushing chamber 3 for the first crushing of the toast edges, a dehydration chamber 4 for dehydrating the crushed toast edges, and a fine crushing chamber 5 for pulverizing the dehydrated toast edges. The dehydration chamber 4 and the fine crushing chamber 5 are respectively provided with feeding ports on the sides. The operator can collect toast edge particles of different sizes in the dehydration chamber 4 and the fine crushing chamber 5 by opening the feeding ports.

[0043] The dehydration chamber 4 is equipped with a stirring unit 9 to stir the broken toast edges to accelerate its dehydration efficiency. During the stirring process, the toast edges are dried and broken by the stirring unit 9 because they are too brittle, and then fall into the fine crushing chamber 5. The fine crushing chamber 5 is equipped with a crushing unit 17 to crush the dehydrated broken toast edges.

[0044] A nitrogen storage device 25 is provided on the side of the electric heating drying cylinder 2. An air inlet pipe 20 is provided at the output end of the nitrogen storage device 25. The air outlet end of the air inlet pipe 20 is connected to the lower part of the fine crushing chamber 5.

[0045] The upper part of the dehydration chamber 4 is connected to a pumping pipe 24 that extracts the water vapor separated in the dehydration chamber 4. A condenser 21 is provided at the output end of the pumping pipe 24. A proportioning tank 22 is provided next to the condenser 21. An electrostatic nozzle 23 is provided next to the proportioning tank 22 to spray the condensed fragrance liquid into the fine crushing chamber 5.

[0046] When this device is in operation, after the bread crusts are fed into the electric heating drying cylinder 2, they first enter the coarse crushing chamber 3. The crushing components inside the chamber mechanically crush the raw material, breaking it into smaller pieces. This significantly increases the specific surface area of ​​the material, creating favorable physical conditions for subsequent uniform dehydration. The crushed bread crust pieces then fall naturally into the dehydration chamber 4 under gravity. At this point, the stirring unit 9, located in the dehydration chamber 4, begins continuous operation, turning and dispersing the pieces. This prevents the pieces from sticking together and clumping, and forces the wet material to continuously expose fresh surfaces, thus greatly improving its contact efficiency with the thermal environment inside the chamber. Based on this structural configuration, the device can sequentially complete the pretreatment processes of crushing, stirring, and drying within the same vertical cylinder, avoiding the heat loss and operational complexity associated with traditional multi-device material transfer.

[0047] During the dehydration stage, the nitrogen storage device 25 continuously injects room temperature or heated nitrogen into the lower part of the crushing chamber 5 via the air inlet pipe 20. As a drying medium, nitrogen, due to its chemical inertness, will not oxidize with the oils and flavor components in the toast crust at high temperatures, thus ensuring the purity of the product's color and flavor from the source. The nitrogen injected into the cylinder flows upward through the crushing chamber 5 and the dehydration chamber 4 under the drive of pressure difference, and finally migrates upward to the top of the electric heating drying cylinder 2. During this upward process, the nitrogen flow carries a large amount of water vapor and volatile aroma components stripped off by the stirring unit 9, enabling the wet material in the dehydration chamber 4 to be quickly dehumidified. At the same time, the pump pipe 24 connected to the upper part of the dehydration chamber 4, with the assistance of an external negative pressure source, actively draws the hot and humid mixed airflow rich in water vapor and aroma components out of the cylinder and sends it to the condenser 21 for forced cooling. The mixed gas flow is rapidly cooled in condenser 21, where condensable water vapor and aromatic volatiles are liquefied into liquid flavoring, while non-condensable nitrogen is separated and discharged. Through the above gas circulation design, the device achieves efficient physical dehydration while also capturing and recovering flavoring substances that would otherwise escape with the exhaust gas in liquid form. Therefore, it not only achieves the drying goal but also preserves the inherent aroma of the toast crust.

[0048] After the bread crust crumbs in the dehydration chamber 4 dry, they become brittle and are further broken down by the stirring unit 9 during the stirring process. The broken bread crust crumbs continue to fall into the fine crushing chamber 5. The crushing unit 17 inside this chamber performs a secondary high-speed, high-intensity crushing of the dehydrated brittle material, grinding it into a fine powder matrix. At the same time, the mixing tank 22 connected to the output of the condenser 21 temporarily stores the flavoring liquid obtained after condensation and collection, and adjusts its flow rate and concentration according to preset process parameters. Then, the flavoring liquid is sprayed into the fine crushing chamber 5 in the form of droplets through the electrostatic nozzle 23. Since the electrostatic nozzle 23 imparts a charge to the droplets, the droplets can actively adhere to the surface of the constantly tumbling powder particles under the action of the electric field, thus achieving a uniform and firm bond between the flavoring liquid and the bread powder. Next, the mechanical frictional heat generated by the high-speed operation of the crushing unit 17, combined with the ambient temperature maintained by the electric heating drying cylinder 2, causes the excess moisture in the flavor liquid adhering to the powder surface to evaporate rapidly for a second time. Meanwhile, the aromatic substances with higher boiling points are concentrated and fixed in situ onto the powder particles. Finally, the flavor liquid droplets that are not completely absorbed by the powder in the fine crushing chamber 5 are carried upward by the rising nitrogen gas and enter the dehydration chamber 4, where they adhere to the surface of the large toast crust particles trapped in the dehydration chamber 4, thus replenishing the aroma of these large particles as well. Finally, the flavor powder product discharged from the fine crushing chamber 5 and the large toast crust particles that have been fully dehydrated and coated with flavor liquid in the dehydration chamber 4 together constitute the entire output of the device. The mixture of the two products results in a flavor powder product that has a rich original aroma and meets the required moisture content.

[0049] To seal the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder 2 and prevent the aroma from escaping from the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder 2, the following features are specifically provided:

[0050] like Figure 1 As shown, when feeding is required, the two sealing slide plates 1 slide back to back, opening the upper port for the toast crust to be fed in; after feeding is complete, the two sealing slide plates 1 slide towards each other until they approach and contact each other, at which point the two sealing slide plates 1 together completely seal the upper port of the electric heating drying cylinder 2. The opposing end faces of the two sealing slide plates 1 can be fitted with mutually cooperating sealing strips or gaskets to ensure airtightness after sealing. This allows the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder 2 to be quickly sealed after feeding, preventing aroma components and heat from escaping from the upper end, and ensuring that the nitrogen flow can only be discharged directionally through the preset exhaust channel.

[0051] In order to bite and break down the bread edges in the coarse crushing chamber 3, the following features are specifically designed:

[0052] like Figure 4 and Figure 6 As shown, the axes of the two crushing rollers 8 are parallel to each other and arranged horizontally. The roller surfaces of each crushing roller 8 are respectively provided with axially extending teeth, and the teeth of the two crushing rollers 8 are interlocked in the meshing area. The two crushing rollers 8 are driven by independent drive motors or the same drive mechanism via gear transmission to rotate in opposite directions. When the bread crust falls between the two crushing rollers 8, the two counter-rotating crushing rollers 8 exert a squeezing and shearing action on the bread crust through the interlocking teeth, tearing it into smaller fragments. The tooth shape, tooth pitch, and meshing gap of the teeth can be optimized according to the material characteristics of the bread crust to ensure that the fragments are uniform in size, neither too large to affect subsequent dewatering efficiency, nor too fine to cause powder blockage. The inclined plate 7 allows the bread crust raw material to be accurately guided to the meshing area of ​​the crushing rollers 8, avoiding accumulation or segregation of raw material at the end, and ensuring the continuity and uniformity of the crushing process.

[0053] To supplement the detailed structure of the stirring unit 9, the following features are also provided:

[0054] like Figure 4 and Figure 8 As shown, the stirring unit 9 includes a dehydration disc 10 fixedly connected to the inner wall of the dehydration chamber 4. The dehydration disc 10 has discharge holes 11 arranged at equal angles along the circumferential direction.

[0055] After being crushed in the coarse crushing chamber 3, the bread crust fragments fall into the receiving area in the middle of the dehydration disc 10 under the action of gravity. The dehydration disc 10 has multiple discharge holes 11 arranged at equal angles along the circumference. These discharge holes 11 penetrate the upper and lower end faces of the dehydration disc 10 and are the only channel for the material to fall from the dehydration chamber 4 to the fine crushing chamber 5. This ensures that some small pieces of bread crust fragments pass through the dehydration disc 10 in advance and move downward. The small particles that fall into the fine crushing chamber 5 in advance are still in the continuously upward flowing hot nitrogen atmosphere and have not escaped the surrounding of the drying medium. They will continue to be blown and dehydrated by hot nitrogen in the fine crushing chamber 5 until they are discharged from the cylinder.

[0056] In the dehydration chamber 4, the moisture evaporation rate of small particles is much faster than that of large particles. If all particles are forced to remain in the same place for the same period of time before being released, the small particles will have already been over-dried and may even have broken into fine powder due to prolonged stirring. Allowing the fast-drying small particles to enter the fine crushing chamber 5 through the discharge hole 11 of the dehydration disc 10 is to achieve natural particle size classification based on the degree of drying, so that small particles dry first and leave first, and large particles dry later and leave later. This avoids over-crushing of small particles and energy waste, and also realizes dynamic residence time adjustment in continuous production, which greatly improves the overall processing efficiency.

[0057] To facilitate the material in the dewatering chamber 4 to fall along the discharge hole 11, the following features are specifically provided:

[0058] like Figure 4 , Figure 6 and Figure 8 The stirring unit 9 also includes a coaxial reversing mechanism 12 disposed at the lower end of the electric heating drying cylinder 2. The two output ends of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12 are respectively coaxially fixed to a hollow cone seat 13 and a hollow cone top 14. The lower end of the hollow cone seat 13 is rotatably connected to the upper end of the dehydration disc 10, and the upper end of the hollow cone seat 13 is rotatably connected to the lower end of the hollow cone top 14.

[0059] A stirring ruler 15 for stirring and breaking the edges of toast is fixedly connected to the outer wall of the hollow cone base 13 and the outer wall of the hollow cone top 14 at equal angles along the circumference.

[0060] Under the action of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12, the hollow cone seat 13 and the hollow cone top 14 can rotate independently around the same vertical axis. Multiple stirring rods 15 are fixedly connected to the outer walls of the hollow cone seat 13 and the hollow cone top 14 at equal angles along the circumference. As these stirring rods 15 rotate with the hollow cone seat 13 or the hollow cone top 14, they tumble, scatter, and disperse the toast crust fragments falling onto the dehydration tray 10. Since the hollow cone seat 13 and the hollow cone top 14 rotate in opposite directions, the stirring rods 15 fixed to their outer walls also rotate in opposite directions, ensuring that the material in the dehydration chamber 4 is stirred by two different rotational directions. This effectively prevents fragments from accumulating or clumping on the dehydration tray 10, significantly improving the contact efficiency between the material and the hot nitrogen gas and the uniformity of dehydration.

[0061] To enhance the mixing capacity of the stirring scale 15 at the hollow cone base 13 and the hollow cone top 14, the following features are specifically provided:

[0062] like Figure 8 As shown, the stirring rod 15 is set in an inclined state, with the stirring rod 15 on the outer wall of the hollow cone seat 13 and the stirring rod 15 on the outer wall of the hollow cone top 14 having opposite inclination angles. When the hollow cone seat 13 and the hollow cone top 14 rotate in opposite directions, the stirring rods 15 with opposite inclination angles apply axial force in opposite directions to the material, thereby causing the material particles to form a three-dimensional tumbling path in the dewatering chamber 4, effectively avoiding local accumulation and dead zone formation of the material on the dewatering disc 10.

[0063] To prevent crumbs from the bread crust from getting stuck at the junction of the hollow cone base 13 and the hollow cone top 14, the following features are specifically provided:

[0064] like Figure 8 As shown, the sealing ring 16 forms a dynamic sealing barrier between the hollow cone seat 13 and the hollow cone top 14. It can rotate with the hollow cone seat 13 while maintaining sliding contact with the outer wall of the hollow cone top 14, effectively preventing material powder from entering the rotational gap between them. Simultaneously, the elastic material of the sealing ring 16 can accommodate slight axial movement and radial wobble between them, ensuring a good sealing effect throughout long-term operation.

[0065] To supplement the detailed structure of the crushing unit 17, the following features are also provided:

[0066] like Figure 4 , Figure 6 and Figure 8 As shown, after the bread crust crumbs are dehydrated in the dehydration chamber 4, they fall into the fine crushing chamber 5 through the feeding hole 11 on the dehydration disc 10. Under the action of gravity, they pass through the area of ​​the blades 19 on the outer wall of the electric rotating shaft 18. The high-speed rotating blades 19 cut, impact, and shear the brittle dehydrated bread crust crumbs, crushing them into fine powder. The number, shape, installation angle, and rotation speed of the blades 19 can all be adjusted according to the particle size requirements of the target powder. By rationally designing the arrangement of the blades 19, the material can undergo multiple cutting actions in the fine crushing chamber 5 until the particle size is reduced to meet the production standards of flavor powder, thereby ensuring the uniformity and fineness of the final product.

[0067] To prevent interference between the output ends of the electric rotating shaft 18 and the coaxial reversing mechanism 12, the following features are specifically provided:

[0068] like Figure 5 and Figure 7As shown, a guide sleeve 6 is coaxially fixed to the lower end of the dehydration disc 10. The inner wall of the guide sleeve 6 is rotatably connected to the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12, and the lower end of the guide sleeve 6 is fixed to the frame of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12.

[0069] The outer wall of the guide sleeve 6 is rotatably connected to the inner wall of the electric rotating shaft 18.

[0070] The inner wall of the guide sleeve 6 is rotatably connected to the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12 via a bearing, allowing the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12 to rotate freely inside the guide sleeve 6 without frictional interference with the guide sleeve 6. The lower end of the guide sleeve 6 is fixedly connected to the frame of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12, thereby providing stable support and positioning for the coaxial reversing mechanism 12.

[0071] Meanwhile, the outer wall of the guide sleeve 6 is rotatably connected to the inner wall of the electric rotating shaft 18 via bearings, allowing the electric rotating shaft 18 to be fitted onto the outside of the guide sleeve 6 and rotate freely around it. Through the nested structure design of the guide sleeve 6, the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism 12 and the electric rotating shaft 18 can rotate independently on the same axis without interfering with each other.

[0072] A method for preparing flavor powder using bread crusts further includes the following production steps:

[0073] S1: The bread crust ingredients are fed into the coarse crushing chamber 3 from the top of the electric heating drying cylinder 2, and are mechanically crushed for the first time by the crushing component;

[0074] S2: The broken toast edges fall into the dehydration chamber 4, and the stirring unit 9 tumbles and disperses them. The nitrogen storage device 25 injects nitrogen into the cylinder through the air inlet pipe 20. The nitrogen passes through the dehydration chamber 4 from bottom to top, carrying water vapor and volatile aroma components upwards, so that the pieces can be dried. At the same time, the pump pipe 24 extracts the hot and humid mixed airflow rich in water vapor and aroma in the dehydration chamber 4 and sends it to the condenser 21, where it is condensed into liquid aroma liquid.

[0075] S3: The dried toast edges fall into the fine crushing chamber 5, and the crushing unit 17 crushes them into powder matrix. At the same time, the fragrance liquid output from the condenser 21 is adjusted by the proportioning tank 22 and then transported to the electrostatic nozzle 23, atomized into charged droplets and sprayed into the fine crushing chamber 5, so that the fragrance liquid is adsorbed on the surface of the powder matrix.

[0076] S4: The mechanical friction heat generated by the operation of the crushing unit 17 and the heat of the electric drying cylinder 2 itself cause the excess water in the fragrance liquid to evaporate a second time, and the aromatic substances are concentrated and fixed on the powder particles to form flavor powder.

[0077] The detailed working principle of this device is as follows:

[0078] This production device for preparing flavor powder using bread crusts is based on a vertically arranged electric heating drying cylinder 2. It achieves integrated continuous processing of the bread crust raw material through a coarse crushing chamber 3, a dehydration chamber 4, and a fine crushing chamber 5, integrated from top to bottom. When the bread crusts are fed into the electric heating drying cylinder 2 from the top, they first enter the coarse crushing chamber 3. Two counter-rotating crushing rollers 8 squeeze and shear the raw material through their interlocking teeth, tearing it into smaller pieces. This significantly increases the specific surface area of ​​the material, creating favorable physical conditions for subsequent uniform dehydration. The crushed bread crust pieces fall naturally into the dehydration chamber 4 under gravity, landing on the dehydration tray 10. At this time, the coaxial reversing mechanism 12 arranged in the dehydration chamber 4 drives the hollow cone seat 13 and the hollow cone top 14 to rotate in opposite directions. The stirring scale 15, fixed to the outer walls of both, rotates accordingly, turning and dispersing the pieces. Because the stirring scales 15 on the outer walls of the hollow cone base 13 and the hollow cone top 14 are inclined at opposite angles, the material undergoes both horizontal rotation and vertical convective circulation while being horizontally rotated and stirred, forming a three-dimensional tumbling path. This prevents fragments from sticking together and clumping, and forces the wet material to continuously expose fresh surfaces, thereby significantly improving its contact efficiency with the internal thermal environment. Based on the above structural configuration, the device can sequentially complete the pretreatment processes of crushing, stirring, and drying within the same vertical cylinder, avoiding the heat loss and operational complexity caused by traditional material transfer between multiple devices. Therefore, the entire pretreatment process exhibits a high degree of compactness and continuity.

[0079] During the dehydration stage, nitrogen storage device 25 continuously injects room temperature or heated nitrogen into the lower part of the crushing chamber 5 via air inlet pipe 20 as a drying medium. Due to its chemical inertness, nitrogen will not react with the oil and flavor components in the toast crust at high temperatures, thus ensuring the purity of the product's color and flavor from the source. The nitrogen injected into the cylinder flows upward from bottom to top through the crushing chamber 5 and dehydration chamber 4 under pressure difference, and finally migrates to the top of the electric heating drying cylinder 2. During this upward process, the nitrogen flow carries a large amount of water vapor and volatile aroma components stripped off by the stirring unit 9, allowing the wet material in the dehydration chamber 4 to be quickly dehumidified. At the same time, two sealing slide plates 1 slide towards each other after feeding to seal the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder 2, preventing aroma and heat from escaping from the top. With the assistance of an external negative pressure source, the pump pipe 24 connected to the upper part of the dehydration chamber 4 actively draws the humid and hot mixed airflow rich in water vapor and aroma components away from the cylinder and sends it to the condenser 21 for forced cooling. The mixed gas flow is rapidly cooled in condenser 21, where condensable water vapor and aromatic volatiles are liquefied into liquid flavoring, while non-condensable nitrogen is separated and discharged. Through the above gas circulation design, the device achieves efficient physical dehydration while cleverly capturing and recovering flavoring substances that would otherwise escape with the exhaust gas in liquid form. Therefore, it not only achieves the drying goal but also preserves the inherent aroma of the toast crust.

[0080] Once the bread crumbs in the dehydration chamber 4 reach the predetermined moisture content, they continue to fall into the fine crushing chamber 5 through the feed holes 11 arranged in an equal-angle array on the dehydration disc 10. The electric rotating shaft 18 built into this chamber drives the blades 19, which are fixed to its outer wall in an equal-angle array, to rotate at a high speed, performing a secondary, powerful crushing of the dehydrated, brittle material, grinding it into a fine powder matrix. Simultaneously, the mixing tank 22 connected to the output of the condenser 21 temporarily stores the flavoring liquid obtained after condensation and collection, adjusting its flow rate and concentration according to preset process parameters. Then, the flavoring liquid is sprayed into the fine crushing chamber 5 in the form of micron-sized droplets through the electrostatic nozzle 23. Because the electrostatic nozzle 23 imparts a charge to the droplets, the droplets can actively adhere to the surface of the constantly tumbling powder particles under the action of an electric field, thus achieving a uniform and firm bond between the flavoring liquid and the bread powder. Next, the mechanical frictional heat generated by the high-speed operation of the crushing unit 17, combined with the ambient temperature maintained by the electric heating drying cylinder 2, causes the excess moisture in the flavor liquid adhering to the powder surface to evaporate rapidly for a second time. Meanwhile, the aromatic substances with higher boiling points are concentrated and fixed in situ onto the powder particles. Finally, the flavor liquid droplets that are not completely absorbed by the powder in the fine crushing chamber 5 are carried upward by the rising nitrogen gas and enter the dehydration chamber 4, where they adhere to the surface of the large toast crust particles trapped in the dehydration chamber 4, thus replenishing the aroma of these large particles as well. Finally, the flavor powder product discharged from the fine crushing chamber 5 and the large toast crust particles that have been fully dehydrated and coated with flavor liquid in the dehydration chamber 4 together constitute the entire output of the device. The mixture of the two products results in a flavor powder product that has a rich original aroma and meets the required moisture content.

[0081] The above embodiments only illustrate one or more implementations of the present invention, and their descriptions are relatively specific and detailed, but they should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of the present invention, and these all fall within the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of this patent should be determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A production apparatus for preparing a flavor powder using a toast edge, characterized by, include: The electric heating drying cylinder (2) is set in a vertical position. The electric heating drying cylinder (2) has a coarse crushing chamber (3) for crushing the bread edges for the first time, a dehydration chamber (4) for dehydrating the crushed bread edges, and a fine crushing chamber (5) for pulverizing the dehydrated bread edges, arranged from top to bottom. The dehydration chamber (4) is equipped with a stirring unit (9) to stir the broken toast edges to accelerate its dehydration efficiency, and the fine crushing chamber (5) is equipped with a crushing unit (17) to crush the broken toast edges after dehydration. A nitrogen storage device (25) is provided on the side of the electric heating drying cylinder (2). An air inlet pipe (20) is provided at the output end of the nitrogen storage device (25). The air outlet of the air inlet pipe (20) is connected to the lower part of the fine crushing chamber (5). The upper part of the dehydration chamber (4) is connected to a pump pipe (24) for extracting the water vapor separated in the dehydration chamber (4). A condenser (21) is provided at the output end of the pump pipe (24). A mixing tank (22) is provided next to the condenser (21). An electrostatic nozzle (23) is provided next to the mixing tank (22) to spray the condensed fragrance liquid into the fine crushing chamber (5).

2. The production apparatus for preparing a flavor powder using toast edges according to claim 1, characterized in that, Two sealing slide plates (1) are symmetrically arranged at the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder (2). The sealing slide plates (1) are slidably arranged at the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder (2). When the two sealing slide plates (1) are close to each other, they seal the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder (2).

3. A device for producing a flavouring powder using toastings according to claim 2, characterised in that, Two inclined plates (7) are symmetrically arranged at the upper end of the electric heating drying cylinder (2) to guide the edges of the toast. Two crushing rollers (8) are rotatably arranged on the side of the lower end of the two inclined plates (7) that are close to each other. The teeth of the two crushing rollers (8) are interlocked.

4. The production apparatus for preparing a flavor powder using toast edges according to claim 1, wherein The stirring unit (9) includes a dewatering disc (10) fixed to the inner wall of the dewatering chamber (4), and the dewatering disc (10) is provided with feeding holes (11) arranged at equal angles along the circumferential direction.

5. The production apparatus for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts according to claim 4, characterized in that, The stirring unit (9) also includes a coaxial reversing mechanism (12) set at the lower end of the electric heating drying cylinder (2). The two output ends of the coaxial reversing mechanism (12) are respectively coaxially fixed with a hollow cone seat (13) and a hollow cone top (14). The lower end of the hollow cone seat (13) is rotatably connected to the upper end of the dehydration disc (10), and the upper end of the hollow cone seat (13) is rotatably connected to the lower end of the hollow cone top (14). The outer wall of the hollow cone base (13) and the outer wall of the hollow cone top (14) are fixedly connected at equal angles along the circumferential direction to a stirring ruler (15) for stirring and breaking the edges of the toast.

6. The production apparatus for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts according to claim 5, characterized in that, The stirring rod (15) is set in an inclined state, and the stirring rod (15) on the outer wall of the hollow cone seat (13) and the stirring rod (15) on the outer wall of the hollow cone top (14) have opposite inclination angles.

7. The production apparatus for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts according to claim 6, characterized in that, A sealing ring (16) is fitted around the upper end of the hollow cone seat (13) along the circumferential direction, and the sealing ring (16) abuts against the outside of the hollow cone top (14).

8. The production apparatus for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts according to claim 5, characterized in that, The crushing unit (17) includes an electric rotating shaft (18) coaxially arranged with the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism (12), and blades (19) are fixedly connected to the outer wall of the electric rotating shaft (18) at equal angles along the circumferential direction.

9. The production apparatus for preparing flavor powder using toast crusts according to claim 8, characterized in that, A guide sleeve (6) is coaxially fixed to the lower end of the dehydration disc (10). The inner wall of the guide sleeve (6) is rotatably connected to the output end of the coaxial reversing mechanism (12). The lower end of the guide sleeve (6) is fixed to the frame of the coaxial reversing mechanism (12). The outer wall of the guide sleeve (6) is rotatably connected to the inner wall of the electric rotating shaft (18).

10. A method for preparing flavor powder using bread crusts, comprising the production apparatus for preparing flavor powder using bread crusts as described in claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes the following production steps: S1: The bread crust ingredients are fed into the coarse crushing chamber (3) from the top of the electric heating drying cylinder (2), and are mechanically crushed for the first time by the crushing component; S2: The broken toast edges fall into the dehydration chamber (4), and the stirring unit (9) stirs and disperses them. The nitrogen storage device (25) injects nitrogen into the cylinder through the air inlet pipe (20). The nitrogen passes through the dehydration chamber (4) from bottom to top, carrying water vapor and volatile aroma components upwards, so that the pieces can be dried. At the same time, the pump pipe (24) extracts the hot and humid mixed airflow rich in water vapor and aroma in the dehydration chamber (4) and sends it to the condenser (21) to condense into liquid aroma liquid. S3: The dried toast edge falls into the crushing chamber (5), and the crushing unit (17) crushes it into powder matrix. At the same time, the fragrance liquid output by the condenser (21) is adjusted by the proportioning tank (22) and transported to the electrostatic nozzle (23), atomized into charged droplets and sprayed into the crushing chamber (5), so that the fragrance liquid is adsorbed on the surface of the powder matrix. S4: The mechanical friction heat generated by the operation of the crushing unit (17) and the heat of the electric drying cylinder (2) itself cause the excess water in the fragrance liquid to evaporate a second time, and the aromatic substances are concentrated and fixed on the powder particles to form flavor powder.

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