Digester

Abstract

The utility model relates to a cooking equipment technical field, concretely is a kind of cooking machine.The cooking machine includes body, conveying mesh belt, steam inlet and exhaust port.Wherein, the both ends of body length direction are equipped with inlet and outlet respectively;Conveying mesh belt is set in the inside of body and extends along the length direction of body, and material is conveyed from inlet to outlet;Steam inlet is set below conveying mesh belt;Exhaust port is set in the side wall of body, and setting position is higher than conveying mesh belt.By setting exhaust port in the side wall of body, the sundry in material can be discharged from body by exhaust port along with the steam that is completed cooking, thereby effectively reducing the condensate formed in the top of body by steam, and further better solve the problem that the condensate in the top of body is reflowed to cooking material after absorbing sundry, and the cooking effect of material is poor.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the technical field of cooking equipment, specifically a cooking machine. Background Technology

[0002] In food processing, brewing, and other fields, steaming is a widely used and crucial step. Its main purpose is to use high-temperature steam to cook materials, remove impurities, or volatilize and separate specific components. For example, in the steaming of rice husks, steam is used to evaporate furfural and other off-flavor substances contained in the husks. In the mixed steaming process of grains and distiller's grains, steam helps to remove volatile components such as acidic substances from the distiller's grains, which is an important operation to improve the quality of subsequent processed products.

[0003] Existing cooking equipment typically includes an exhaust system to promptly remove steam and volatiles containing off-flavors, acidic substances, and other impurities generated during the cooking process, thus ensuring cooking effectiveness. However, in actual production, as steam and volatiles flow inside the equipment and exhaust ducts, they condense upon contact with the relatively low temperatures of the equipment top and exhaust duct walls, forming a large amount of condensate. Even with a sloped or curved top to guide the water flow, it is difficult to completely prevent water droplets from falling back into the cooking material below, causing impurities to re-mix into the material and affecting the stability of subsequent fermentation or processing stages. Utility Model Content

[0004] To address the above problems, this utility model provides a cooking machine that can effectively prevent the steam that has absorbed impurities from condensing and flowing back into the cooking material, thus avoiding poor cooking results.

[0005] This utility model provides a cooking machine, including a machine body, a conveyor belt, a steam inlet, and an exhaust outlet. The machine body has a feed inlet and a discharge outlet at its two ends along its length. The conveyor belt is located inside the machine body and extends along its length, transporting material from the feed inlet to the discharge outlet. The steam inlet is located below the conveyor belt. The exhaust outlet is located on the side wall of the machine body, and its position is higher than that of the conveyor belt.

[0006] Optionally, the steamer also includes an exhaust hood located on the top of the machine body, with an inner layer containing a coil.

[0007] Optionally, the cooking machine also includes an air distribution duct and an exhaust duct. The multiple air inlets of the air distribution duct are connected to multiple air outlets on the side wall of the machine body; the exhaust duct is connected to the air outlet of the air distribution duct.

[0008] Optionally, the length of the air duct extends horizontally from the exhaust port to the outside of the unit or extends downward at an angle.

[0009] Optionally, the exhaust duct extends upward from the outlet of the air distribution duct, and an induced draft fan installed inside the exhaust duct draws the steam in the air distribution duct upward; a drain pipe is provided at the bottom of the air distribution duct located below the exhaust duct.

[0010] Optionally, a drive roller matching the conveyor belt is provided on the side of the conveyor belt near the discharge port; and a driven roller matching the conveyor belt is provided on the side of the conveyor belt near the feed port.

[0011] Alternatively, the conveyor belt may be made of perforated steel plate, perforated chain plate or stainless steel wire mesh.

[0012] Optionally, steam or hot water can be introduced into the coil.

[0013] Optionally, the steam inlet includes multiple steam chambers and multiple steam pipes. The multiple steam chambers are arranged sequentially along the length of the conveyor belt; external steam is introduced into each steam chamber through multiple steam pipes.

[0014] Optionally, a steam valve is installed on the steam pipe located outside the machine body, and the steam valve controls the independent operation of each steam chamber.

[0015] Considering that steam cools and condenses upon contact with the top of the machine, and that this condensate absorbs impurities discharged from the material, if the condensate falls into the material below under gravity, these impurities will re-enter the cooked material, ultimately leading to poor cooking results. Therefore, the cooking machine provided by this invention, by placing the exhaust vent on the side wall of the machine body, higher than the conveyor belt, allows the steam from the cooked material, along with the impurities discharged from the material, to be directly discharged through the exhaust vent on the side wall, thereby reducing the possibility of steam cooling and condensing upon contact with the top of the machine body. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a front view of the structure of a cooking machine provided in an embodiment of this utility model.

[0017] Figure 2 This is a side view of the structure of a cooking machine provided in an embodiment of this utility model.

[0018] Figure 3 This is a top view of a steaming machine provided in an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Attached reference numerals: 100-cooker, 1-machine body, 11-feed inlet, 12-discharge outlet, 13-exhaust vent, 2-conveyor belt, 21-drive drum, 22-driven drum, 3-air distribution duct, 31-drain pipe, 4-exhaust duct, 5-steam chamber, 51-steam pipe, 52-steam valve, 6-exhaust hood. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The technical solutions of the present utility model will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present utility model, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present utility model, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the protection scope of the present utility model.

[0021] In food processing, brewing, and other fields, high-temperature steam is typically used to cook materials to achieve maturation, impurity removal, or the volatilization and separation of specific components. This allows impurities in the materials to be absorbed by the steam and separated from the materials as the steam is released. To further enhance the cooking effect of the cooking equipment, this embodiment provides a cooking machine 100. (Reference) Figure 1 and Figure 2 The cooking machine 100 includes a machine body 1, a conveyor belt 2, a steam inlet, and an exhaust outlet 13. The machine body 1 has a feed inlet 11 and a discharge outlet 12 at its two ends along its length. The conveyor belt 2 is located inside the machine body 1 and extends along its length, conveying material from the feed inlet 11 to the discharge outlet 12. The steam inlet is located below the conveyor belt 2. The exhaust outlet 13 is located on the side wall of the machine body 1, and its position is higher than that of the conveyor belt 2.

[0022] The specific operating process of the cooking machine 100 provided in this embodiment is as follows:

[0023] When the cooking machine 100 starts running, the material to be cooked is first fed into the upper surface of the conveyor belt 2 inside the machine body 1 through the feed port 11 at one end of the machine body 1. In this embodiment, a drive roller 21 matching the conveyor belt 2 is provided on the side of the conveyor belt 2 near the discharge port 12; a driven roller 22 matching the conveyor belt 2 is provided on the side of the conveyor belt 2 near the feed port 11. As the drive roller 21 starts to rotate, the conveyor belt 2 transports the material entering the machine body 1 from the feed port 11 to the discharge port 12. Through the continuous operation of the conveyor belt 2, the material to be cooked can be continuously fed into the cooking machine through the feed port 11, and the cooked material can be discharged from the discharge port 12 in a timely manner to the next process.

[0024] During the transfer of material on the conveyor belt 2 from the inlet 11 to the outlet 12, high-temperature steam is continuously introduced into the machine body 1 through the steam inlet below the conveyor belt 2. Because the surface of the conveyor belt 2 is provided with mesh holes, the high-temperature steam, as it rises, passes through the mesh holes and comes into contact with the material above the conveyor belt 2, thus completing the cooking of the material. In this embodiment, on the one hand, to ensure that the conveyor belt 2 has sufficient strength to support the material being cooked and prevent it from easily leaking out of the mesh holes; on the other hand, to allow the high-temperature steam introduced through the steam inlet below the conveyor belt 2 to pass through the mesh holes to a large extent, thereby contacting the material above the conveyor belt 2 with a large contact area, and thus completing the uniform heating and cooking of the material. The conveyor belt 2 selected in this embodiment is a perforated steel plate, perforated chain plate, or stainless steel wire mesh, with evenly distributed mesh holes of suitable diameter on its surface. In other embodiments, other types of conveyor belts 2 can be selected according to the material state and cooking objectives; no specific limitations are made here.

[0025] During the process of cooking materials by contacting them with high-temperature steam, impurities in the materials (such as furfural and other off-flavor substances, and acidic substances in the distiller's grains) separate from the materials. As the steam that has finished cooking the materials continues to escape upwards from the gaps between the materials, the impurities in the materials are mixed into the steam and carried away with it.

[0026] As the steam flows within the machine body 1, its temperature gradually decreases due to continuous heat exchange with the air and materials. When the steam comes into contact with the cooler side walls or top of the machine body 1, as well as the inner wall of the exhaust duct at the top of traditional cooking equipment, the steam easily liquefies to form condensate, which contains dissolved impurities. This condensate, especially the condensate formed on the inner wall of the exhaust duct at the top of traditional cooking equipment, drips down into the cooking material below under gravity, causing impurities to flow back into the material with the condensate, making it difficult to control the cooking effect.

[0027] Therefore, in this embodiment, an exhaust vent 13 is provided on the side wall of the machine body 1, and the exhaust vent 13 is positioned higher than the conveyor belt 2. The steam generated during material cooking directly enters the exhaust vent 13 on the side wall and is discharged to the outside of the machine body 1. To ensure that the steam generated during material cooking can be discharged from the machine body 1 in a timely manner, reference is made to... Figure 1 and Figure 3Multiple exhaust vents 13 are sequentially arranged on one side wall along the length of the machine body 1. On the side of the exhaust vents 13 of the machine body 1, the steamer 100 is also equipped with a distribution duct 3 and an exhaust duct 4. The distribution duct 3 has multiple air inlets and one air outlet. The multiple air inlets are connected one-to-one with the multiple exhaust vents 13 on the side wall of the machine body 1, and the exhaust duct 4 is connected to the air outlet of the distribution duct 3. Steam inside the machine body 1 is collected from the multiple exhaust vents 13 to the single air outlet in the distribution duct 3, and then discharged to the outside or other equipment through the exhaust duct 4 connected to the distribution duct 3.

[0028] To prevent condensate from forming inside the steam distribution duct 3 after cooling, and then flowing back to the exhaust port 13 along the inner wall of the duct 3 and into the cooked material, in this embodiment, the length of the distribution duct 3 extends horizontally from the exhaust port 13 towards the outside of the machine body 1, and the length of the exhaust duct 4 extends upward from the outlet of the distribution duct 3. To ensure that the steam and any mixed gases from the cooked material can be smoothly discharged from the outlet of the exhaust duct 4, an induced draft fan is also installed inside the exhaust duct 4 to guide the steam and mixed substances entering the distribution duct 3 into the exhaust duct 4, and finally discharge them to the outside or other equipment from the outlet of the exhaust duct 4.

[0029] refer to Figure 2 A drain pipe 31 is provided at the bottom of the air distribution pipe 3 located below the exhaust pipe 4. During the process of steam passing through the air distribution pipe 3 and rising along the length of the exhaust pipe 4, some of the condensate formed by the cooling of the steam flows along the pipe walls of the exhaust pipe 4 and the air distribution pipe 3 to the drain pipe 31 and is discharged to the outside. The remaining uncondensed steam and the impurities discharged during the cooking of materials enter the air distribution pipe 3 through the exhaust port 13, then collect in the exhaust pipe 4, and finally are discharged to the outside or other equipment through the exhaust port of the exhaust pipe 4. To further prevent condensate from flowing back into the machine body 1 along the inner wall of the air distribution pipe 3, in other embodiments, the length of the air distribution pipe 3 extends downward at an angle from the exhaust port 13 to the outside of the machine body 1, so that the condensate in the air distribution pipe 3 flows towards the drain pipe 31 at an accelerated rate under the action of gravity.

[0030] Because the steam inside the machine body 1 may not be able to escape to the outside in time through the vent 13 on the side wall, some steam continues to rise until it comes into contact with the top of the machine body 1 and cools down to form condensate. As the condensate continues to accumulate, under the action of gravity, some of the condensate will drip from the top of the machine body 1 into the cooking material below, which will cause some of the impurities absorbed by the condensate to re-enter the cooking material, affecting the final cooking effect of the material inside the cooker.

[0031] To minimize the aforementioned problems, in this embodiment, an exhaust hood 6 is also provided on the top of the body 1 of the cooking machine 100. The exhaust hood 6 has an internal jacket (not shown in the figure), within which a coil (not shown in the figure) is laid. By introducing high-temperature steam or hot water into the coil, the coil is heated, thereby ensuring that the surface of the exhaust hood 6 facing the interior of the body 1 maintains a high temperature, thus preventing condensation from forming after steam comes into contact with the exhaust hood 6. In other embodiments, other heating media may be introduced into the coil, or other heating methods may be used to maintain a certain temperature on the surface of the exhaust hood 6 facing the interior of the body 1 to prevent steam condensation; no specific limitations are imposed here.

[0032] In this embodiment, to ensure that the material above the conveyor belt 2 can fully contact the high-temperature steam introduced from the steam inlet to complete the material cooking, refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 The steam inlet includes multiple steam chambers 5 and multiple steam pipes 51. The steam chambers 5 are located below the conveyor belt 2 and are arranged sequentially along the length of the conveyor belt 2. Each steam chamber 5 has an independent steam pipe 51 connected to its bottom for introducing steam from external steam equipment into the steam chamber 5. (Reference) Figure 2 A steam valve 52 is installed on the steam pipe 51 located outside the machine body 1. By adjusting the opening and closing of all or individual steam valves 52, the steam flow rate and velocity entering the steam chamber 5 can be controlled as a whole or independently, thereby enabling each steam chamber 5 to operate independently and supply steam to the material above the conveyor belt 2 to meet the cooking requirements.

[0033] The above are merely preferred embodiments of the present utility model and are not intended to limit the present utility model. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present utility model should be included within the protection scope of the present utility model.

Claims

1. A cooking machine, characterized in that, include: The machine body has an inlet and an outlet at both ends along its length. A conveyor belt, installed inside the machine body and extending along the length of the machine body, transports materials from the inlet to the outlet. A steam inlet is located below the conveyor belt; The exhaust vent is located on the side wall of the machine body and is positioned higher than the conveyor belt.

2. The cooking machine as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: An exhaust hood is installed on the top of the machine body. The exhaust hood has an internal interlayer, and a coil is laid inside the interlayer.

3. The cooking machine as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: A distribution duct, wherein multiple air inlets of the distribution duct are respectively connected to multiple air outlets on the side wall of the machine body; An exhaust duct is connected to the air outlet of the air distribution duct.

4. The cooking machine as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The length of the air distribution duct extends horizontally or inclined downwards from the exhaust port toward the outside of the machine body.

5. The cooking machine as described in claim 4, characterized in that, The exhaust duct extends upward from the air outlet of the air distribution duct, and an exhaust fan installed inside the exhaust duct draws the steam inside the air distribution duct upward. A drain pipe is provided at the bottom of the air distribution pipe located below the exhaust pipe.

6. The cooking machine as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The conveyor belt is provided with a drive roller that matches the conveyor belt on the side near the discharge port; The conveyor belt is provided with a driven roller that matches the conveyor belt on the side near the feed inlet.

7. The cooking machine as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The conveyor belt is made of perforated steel plate, perforated chain plate or stainless steel wire mesh.

8. The cooking machine as described in claim 2, characterized in that, Steam or hot water is introduced into the coil.

9. The cooking machine as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The steam inlet includes: Multiple steam chambers are arranged sequentially along the length of the conveyor belt; Multiple steam pipes allow external steam to be introduced into each of the steam chambers.

10. The cooking machine as described in claim 9, characterized in that, Steam valves are installed on the steam pipes located outside the machine body, and the independent operation of each steam chamber is controlled by the steam valves.

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