Tea leaf compression molding mechanism

Abstract

A tea leaf pressing forming mechanism comprises a rack, a plurality of horizontally-arranged conveying belts are arranged on the rack in parallel at intervals, the belt faces of the conveying belts are located in the same horizontal plane, supporting plates used for supporting belt bodies of the conveying belts are arranged below the conveying belts, rolling units are arranged above the conveying belts, each rolling unit comprises a roller carrier, and the roller carriers are arranged on the supporting plates. The rolling wheel frame is vertically arranged on the side of the conveying belt and connected with the supporting plate, and a rolling wheel is rotationally connected to the rolling wheel frame through a bearing. And an elastic protective layer is arranged on the wheel circumferential surface of the rolling wheel. The protection layer is used for replacing the rigid circumferential surface of the rolling wheel, so that the situation that the consistency of tea forming cannot be guaranteed due to the over-pressure or under-pressure phenomenon caused by a rigid gap between the rigid circumferential surface of the rolling wheel and the conveying belt below when the tea is rolled is avoided, and the consistency of the pressing forming quality of the tea is guaranteed due to the arrangement of the elastic protection layer; and the phenomenon of leaf juice loss caused by overpressure is also avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to tea processing equipment, specifically to a tea pressing and forming mechanism. Background Technology

[0002] Taiping Houkui is one of China's traditional famous teas, characterized by its two leaves embracing a bud, which are flat and straight. Its main processing techniques include fixation (withering), pressing and shaping (commonly known as "tip pinching"), and drying. The traditional pinching process involves first placing each withered tea leaf at intervals on a leaf-leaf frame, then covering the leaves with cotton cloth, and finally rolling the cloth with rollers to flatten the leaves. This pressing and shaping process is the main reason limiting Taiping Houkui's production capacity. Currently, some mechanized pressing and shaping equipment exists in the Houkui forming industry to improve production capacity.

[0003] The patent document entitled "A Taiping Houkui Pressing and Forming Mechanism" (publication number CN117814328A) discloses a technical solution including a frame, a set of bottom support conveyor belts spaced apart on the frame, a left conveyor belt and a right conveyor belt above each bottom support conveyor belt, and a pressing and forming device for pressing the tea leaves on the path along which the bottom support conveyor belts drive the tea leaves; a conical feed trough is provided at the feed end of the bottom support conveyor belts, and a tea straightening machine is connected to the feed end of the conical feed trough.

[0004] The patent document entitled "A Rapid Forming Machine for Taiping Houkui Tea" (publication number CN117063984A) discloses a technical solution including a tea conveyor belt, a straightening mechanism arranged sequentially above the tea conveyor belt, a longitudinal forming mechanism for rolling the tea along the length of the tea, and a transverse forming mechanism for rolling the tea along the width of the tea. The straightening mechanism includes a swing frame, a set of straightening grooves arranged on the swing frame, the straightening grooves including a left half groove plate and a right half groove plate arranged symmetrically, and a flipping mechanism that drives the left half groove plate and the right half groove plate to flip and separate the bottom of the left half groove plate and the right half groove plate.

[0005] The patent document entitled "A Shaping Machine for Taiping Houkui Tea" (publication number CN115624074A) discloses a straightening mechanism for tightening and straightening tea leaves after processing, and a pressing and forming mechanism that connects with the straightening mechanism to press and form the tea leaves. The straightening mechanism includes an inclined swing frame and a set of straightening grooves arranged longitudinally on the swing frame. The pressing and forming mechanism includes a frame and a rotary conveyor belt arranged on the frame. The frame is provided with a set of fixed partition plates and a set of movable baffles. A pressing device is also provided on the rotary conveyor belt, and a support base plate that cooperates with the pressing device is provided below the rotary conveyor belt. The pressing device includes a longitudinal pressing device for pressing the tea leaves longitudinally and a transverse pressing device for pressing the tea leaves transversely.

[0006] In the above technical solutions, the tea pressing and forming methods all employ pressure rollers or rollers to roll and press the tea leaves. However, tea leaves are relatively soft and easily damaged. When pressure rollers or rollers roll and press the tea leaves, the hard circumferential surface of the rollers or rollers can easily damage the tea leaves, directly affecting the final pressing and forming quality. Summary of the Invention

[0007] This invention provides a tea pressing and forming mechanism, which provides a protective layer on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller used to press the tea leaves to prevent the tea leaves from being crushed.

[0008] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted is as follows: a tea pressing and forming mechanism, including a frame, on which several horizontally placed conveyor belts are arranged at parallel intervals, and the belt surfaces of each conveyor belt are all located in the same horizontal plane. A support plate for supporting the belt body is provided below the conveyor belt. A rolling unit is arranged above each conveyor belt. The rolling unit includes a roller frame, which is placed upright beside the conveyor belt and connected to the support plate. A rolling roller is rotatably connected to the roller frame through a bearing. The axis of the rolling roller is located in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt. Two conveyor belts are arranged in parallel intervals on the belt surface of the conveyor belt. The belt surfaces of the two conveyor belts are located in the vertical direction and their conveying direction is consistent with the conveying direction of the conveyor belt. The lower end of the rolling roller is located between the opposite belt surfaces of the two conveyor belts. The circumferential surface of the rolling roller, the belt surface of the conveyor belt, and the opposite belt surfaces of the two conveyor belts form a slit-like passage for the tea to pass through and be flattened. An elastic protective layer is provided on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller.

[0009] Compared with the prior art, the technical effect of this utility model is as follows: by setting an elastic protective layer on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller, when the tea leaves pass through the flattening passage below the rolling roller, the protective layer replaces the rigid circumferential surface of the rolling roller, avoiding the phenomenon of over-pressure or under-pressure caused by the rigid gap between the rigid circumferential surface of the roller and the conveyor belt below, which would lead to inconsistent tea leaf forming. The setting of the elastic protective layer ensures the consistency of the tea leaf pressing quality and also avoids the loss of leaf juice due to over-pressure. Attached Figure Description

[0010] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional appearance schematic diagram of the present utility model;

[0011] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram showing the assembly of the rolling unit, conveyor belt, and transmission belt.

[0012] Figure 3 for Figure 2 The K-direction view in the middle;

[0013] Figure 4aThis is a schematic diagram of the first embodiment of the annular limiting groove;

[0014] Figure 4b This is a schematic diagram of the second embodiment of the annular limiting groove;

[0015] Figure 4c This is a schematic diagram of a second embodiment of the protective layer. Detailed Implementation

[0016] The following is in conjunction with the appendix Figure 1-4c The present invention will be further described in detail below, including related content:

[0017] A tea pressing and forming mechanism includes a frame 10, on which several horizontally placed conveyor belts 20 are arranged at parallel intervals, with the belt surfaces of each conveyor belt 20 located in the same horizontal plane. A support plate 30 is provided below each conveyor belt 20 to support its belt body. A rolling unit 40 is arranged above each conveyor belt 20. The rolling unit 40 includes a roller frame 41, which is erected beside the conveyor belt 20 and connected to the support plate 30. A rolling roller 42 is rotatably connected to the roller frame 41 via bearings. The axle axis of the rolling roller 42 is oriented vertically. In the horizontal direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 20, there are two parallel conveyor belts 43 arranged at intervals on the belt surface of the conveyor belt 20. The belt surfaces of the two conveyor belts 43 are located in the vertical direction and their conveying direction is consistent with the conveying direction of the conveyor belt 20. The lower end of the roller 42 is located between the opposite side belt surfaces of the two conveyor belts 43. The circumferential surface of the roller 42, the belt surface of the conveyor belt 20, and the opposite side belt surfaces of the two conveyor belts 43 form a slit-like passage A for tea leaves to pass through and flatten. An elastic protective layer 421 is provided on the circumferential surface of the roller 42.

[0018] The process of flattening tea leaves is as follows: Figure 1 As shown, a single tea leaf is guided to the upstream surface of conveyor belt 20 in the direction indicated by arrow a. With the transport of the conveyor belt 20 and the conveyor belt 43, the tea leaf is conveyed into a slit-like passage A formed by the circumference of the roller 42, the surface of the conveyor belt 20, and the opposite sides of the two conveyor belts 43. When the tea leaf passes under the roller 42, the circumference of the roller 42 rolls the tea leaf on the conveyor belt 20, flattening it. The flattened tea leaf continues to be transported downstream with the conveyor belt 20 for further processing. The arrangement of the two opposite conveyor belts 43 above the surface of the conveyor belt 20 prevents the tea leaf from shifting in the width direction of the conveyor belt 20 when passing under the roller 42, ensuring that the tea leaf is accurately positioned below the circumference of the roller 42 for flattening.

[0019] In the above technical solution, by setting an elastic protective layer 421 on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42, when the tea leaves pass through the flattening passage A below the rolling roller, the protective layer 421 replaces the rigid circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42 to make rolling contact with the tea leaves. This avoids the phenomenon of over-pressure or under-pressure caused by the rigid gap between the rigid circumferential surface of the roller and the conveyor belt 20 below. The setting of the elastic protective layer 421 ensures the consistency of the pressing and forming quality of the tea leaves and also avoids the phenomenon of leaf juice loss due to over-pressure.

[0020] As a preferred option, the protective layer 421 is made of food-grade rubber material.

[0021] Combination Figure 3 and Figure 4a As shown, the protective layer 421 is a ring-shaped structure that can be pre-manufactured and assembled with the rolling roller 42. To ensure the positional stability of the protective layer 421 on the rolling roller 42, an annular limiting groove 422 is formed on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42. The annular limiting groove 422 is arranged concentrically with the rolling roller 42, and the ring formed by the protective layer 421 is embedded in the annular limiting groove 422, with the groove wall of the annular limiting groove 422 restricting the displacement of the protective layer 421 in the axial direction of the rolling roller 42. Using the annular limiting groove 422 on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42 to accommodate the ring-shaped protective layer 421 facilitates the assembly between the protective layer 421 and the rolling roller 42, while preventing the protective layer 421 from shifting and falling off in the axial direction of the rolling roller 42. In this design, the annular limiting groove 422 can be directly machined on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42 by a machine tool.

[0022] It should be noted that the elastic protective layer 421 needs to have a certain tension on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42 to prevent the protective layer 421 from moving freely circumferentially on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42.

[0023] Furthermore, the depth of the annular limiting groove 422 is less than or equal to the thickness of the protective layer 421. This ensures that the protective layer 421 applies rolling pressure to the tea leaves, preventing the tea leaves from being cut by the rollers due to the rolling pressure applied by the groove edge of the annular limiting groove 422.

[0024] Furthermore, in this application, since the protective layer 421 needs to be tensioned on the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42, the radially protruding groove wall of the annular limiting groove 422 may cause inconvenience in assembling the protective layer 421. In order to facilitate the fitting of the annular protective layer 421 onto the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42, another method of forming the annular limiting groove 422 is provided, namely, annular retaining rings 44 are detachably connected to the opposite end faces of the rolling roller 42. The retaining rings 44 are arranged concentrically with the rolling roller 42, and the outer diameter of the retaining rings 44 is larger than the diameter of the rolling roller 42. The opposite end faces of the two retaining rings 44 and the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42 enclose an annular limiting groove 422 for accommodating the protective layer 421. The retaining rings 44 restrict the displacement of the protective layer 421 in the axial direction of the rolling roller 42.

[0025] In this design, the annular limiting groove 422 is not directly machined onto the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42 by a machine tool. Instead, it is formed by a detachable retaining ring 44 on the opposite end face of the rolling roller 42, which surrounds the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42. This allows for easier assembly of the annular protective layer 421. First, the protective layer 421 is fitted onto the circumferential surface of the rolling roller 42, and then the retaining ring 44, which restricts the axial displacement of the protective layer 421, is installed onto the end face of the rolling roller 42. This ensures that the fitting of the protective layer 42 is not obstructed by the groove wall of the annular limiting groove 422, facilitating the overall assembly process. Subsequent replacement of the protective layer 421 is also more convenient.

[0026] Furthermore, the baffle ring 44 is a flat annular piece, which reduces the area that its outer peripheral surface may come into contact with the tea leaves, ensuring that its hard outer peripheral surface will not crush the tea leaves over a large area.

[0027] As a preferred solution, combined with Figure 4cAs shown, the protective layer 421 includes an inner ring body 4211, and an outer ring body 4212 is disposed on the outer circumferential surface of the inner ring body 4211. The two are arranged concentrically and are connected as one unit. The inner ring body 4211 is embedded in the cavity of the annular limiting groove 422, and the outer ring body 4212 is located outside the cavity of the annular limiting groove 422. The end face of the outer ring body 4212 is flush with the outer end face of the groove wall of the annular limiting groove 422 in the groove width direction. In this scheme, the inner ring body 4211 of the protective layer 421 is embedded in the annular limiting groove 422, so that the relative position between the protective layer 421 as a whole and the rolling wheel 42 is stable, while the outer ring body 4212 serves as the component that contacts the tea leaves during rolling. Since the end face of the outer ring body 4212 is flush with the outer end face of the groove wall of the annular limiting groove 422 in the groove width direction, in the axial direction of the rolling roller 42, the part of the outer ring body 4212 that protrudes relative to the inner ring body 4211 effectively covers the gap between the annular limiting groove 422 and the inner ring body 4211, while also making the entire outer peripheral surface of the rolling roller 42 (including the outer peripheral surface of the retaining ring 44) covered by the protective layer 421. This design ensures that when rolling tea leaves, only the outer ring 4212 of the protective layer 421 contacts the tea leaves on the rolling roller 42, preventing other hard outer surfaces from contacting the tea leaves. This effectively avoids the possibility of hard outer surfaces on the rolling roller 42 contacting the tea leaves. It also prevents parts of the tea leaves from being pressed into the gap between the wall of the annular limiting groove 422 and the inner ring 4211 during rolling, which could cause the tea leaves to be trapped and unable to be transported normally (this situation is more likely to occur when there is no outer ring 4212 and the gap between the inner ring 4211 and the wall of the annular limiting groove 422 is large).

[0028] Furthermore, the outer ring 4212 prevents the juice extracted from the tea leaves from directly entering the gap between the inner ring 4211 and the annular limiting groove 422, thus avoiding affecting subsequent inspection and maintenance operations.

Claims

1. A tea leaf pressing forming mechanism, comprising a frame (10), a plurality of horizontal conveying belts (20) are arranged in parallel on the frame (10) and the belt surfaces of the conveying belts (20) are in the same horizontal plane, a support plate (30) for supporting the belt bodies of the conveying belts (20) is arranged below the conveying belts (20), a rolling unit (40) is arranged above each conveying belt (20), the rolling unit (40) comprises a roller frame (41) which is arranged vertically beside the conveying belt (20) and is connected with the support plate (30), a rolling wheel (42) is rotatably connected with the roller frame (41) through a bearing, the axis core direction of the rolling wheel (42) is in the horizontal direction which is perpendicular to the conveying direction of the conveying belt (20), two conveying belts (43) are arranged in parallel on the belt surface of the conveying belt (20), the belt surfaces of the two conveying belts (43) are in the plumb direction and the conveying direction of the two conveying belts (43) is consistent with the conveying direction of the conveying belt (20), the lower end wheel body part of the rolling wheel (42) is located between the opposite belt surfaces of the two conveying belts (43), the peripheral surface of the rolling wheel (42), the belt surface of the conveying belt (20) and the opposite belt surfaces of the two conveying belts (43) enclose a gap-shaped passage (A) for tea leaves to pass through and to be pressed, characterized in that: The wheel circumference surface of the rolling wheel (42) is provided with an elastic protective layer (421).

2. The tea leaf press forming mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: The protective layer (421) is composed of a food-grade rubber material.

3. The tea leaf press forming mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: The wheel circumference surface of the rolling wheel (42) is provided with an annular limiting groove (422), the annular limiting groove (422) is arranged with the same core as the rolling wheel (42), the annular ring composed of the protective layer (421) is embedded in the annular limiting groove (422), and the groove wall of the annular limiting groove (422) limits the displacement of the protective layer (421) in the axial direction of the rolling wheel (42).

4. The tea leaf press forming mechanism according to claim 3, wherein: The groove depth of the annular limiting groove (422) is less than or equal to the thickness of the protective layer (421).

5. The tea leaf press forming mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: The opposite side end surfaces of the rolling wheel (42) are detachably connected with annular retaining rings (44), the retaining rings (44) are arranged with the same core as the rolling wheel (42), the outer diameter of the retaining ring (44) is greater than the diameter of the rolling wheel (42), and the opposite side end surfaces of the two retaining rings (44) and the wheel circumference surface of the rolling wheel (42) form an annular limiting groove (422) for accommodating the protective layer (421), and the retaining ring (44) limits the displacement of the protective layer (421) in the axial direction of the rolling wheel (42).

6. The tea leaf press forming mechanism according to claim 5, wherein: The retaining ring (44) is a flat annular sheet.

7. The tea leaf press forming mechanism according to claim 3 or 5, wherein: The protective layer (421) includes an inner ring body (4211), and an outer ring body (4212) is arranged on the outer circumference surface of the inner ring body (4211) and is integrally connected with the same core, the inner ring body (4211) is embedded in the inner ring body (4211) of the annular limiting groove (422) cavity, the outer ring body (4212) is located outside the cavity of the annular limiting groove (422), and the end surface of the outer ring body (4212) is flush with the outer side end surface of the annular limiting groove (422) in the direction of the groove width.

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