JP6963861B1 - Wind sorter and tea processing machine equipped with the wind sorter, tea wind sorting method and tea processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wind power sorter and a wind power sorter capable of sorting mesophyll from coarsely crushed mesophyll, veins and stems and preventing dust generated in a sorting step from being scattered in a room. We provide a equipped tea processing machine. A wind power sorter M includes an airtight housing 1 and a wind power sorter 2. The wind power sorting unit 2 is airtightly connected to the supply unit 20 arranged in the housing 1, the cylinder 21 having the intake port 21b in the housing 1 and arranged in the housing 1, and the cylinder 21. It has a chamber 23, a cyclone 25 airtightly connected to the chamber 23, and an intake / exhaust unit 26 airtightly connected to the cyclone 25. By taking in air from the intake port 21b, the intake / exhaust unit 26 generates an air flow in the cylinder 21, the chamber 23, and the cyclone 25, and exhausts the air into the housing 1. The mesophyll L, the powder P, and the stem and the leaf vein F supplied to the cylinder 21 are conveyed in an airtight space, and the mesophyll L and the powder P are wind-sorted. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a wind sorting machine and a tea processing machine used for tea finishing processing, and a tea wind sorting method and a tea processing method.

Matcha is produced by processing Tencha, and Tencha is produced by processing rough tea. Rough tea is produced by drying tea leaves in a tencha furnace or dryer. Aracha contains leaf veins and stems in addition to mesophyll, but leaf veins and stems are not required to produce good quality matcha. Therefore, Tencha is made by roughly crushing rough tea with a cutter, sorting it with a wind power sorter, and extracting mesophyll from the rough tea. The process of producing this tencha is called the tencha finishing process. In the tea making process such as gyokuro and sencha, the tea leaves are dried while being kneaded to separate and generate fiber streaks, stem bark, etc. from the tea leaves. In the tencha processing step, there is no kneading step in the rough tea processing step. Therefore, in the Tencha finishing process, it is necessary to coarsely crush the rough tea with a cutter and separate the tea leaves from the veins and stems.

By the way, in the Tencha finishing process, there is a problem that dust including tea dust is generated during wind power sorting, the tea dust flies, and the room used for the finishing process is covered with tea dust. For example, there is a wind power sorter disclosed in Patent Document 1 as a wind power sorter used in a tea making process, but this wind power sorter does not consider tea dust.

On the other hand, the wind power sorter disclosed in Patent Document 2 employs a method that does not involve exhaust in order to prevent fine dust and dust of tea after sorting from being discharged as dust. Specifically, the wind power sorter disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a horizontal cylinder separating portion, a hollow housing portion, an exhaust cylinder, and forced air supply / exhaust means. A cylindrical body is arranged sideways in the horizontal cylinder separating portion, and the hollow housing portion has a ventilation path for allowing air to flow tangentially from below into the horizontal cylinder separating portion, and an open intake port. ing. The forced exhaust means is provided between the exhaust pipe and the intake port, and circulates the air flow from the air supply port through the ventilation path of the hollow housing portion and returns from the exhaust pipe to the air supply port again, and separates the horizontal cylinder by the ventilation. A swirling airflow is generated in the part. Further, the hollow housing portion is provided with a tea discharge port from which the selected tea is discharged, and the horizontal cylinder separation portion is provided with a tea discharge port that is centrifuged and discharged by a swirling air flow. There is. Further, the horizontal cylinder separating portion is provided with an intake port for guiding the swirling airflow to the exhaust pipe. As a result, the wind power sorter disclosed in Patent Document 2 does not exhaust the air to the outside of the wind power sorter by circulating the air used for the wind power sorter inside the wind power sorter. Therefore, the wind power sorter disclosed in Patent Document 2 does not discharge dust to the outside of the wind power sorter.

However, the sorter disclosed in Patent Document 2 cannot be a wind sorter related to the Tencha finishing process. Specifically, in order to sort wind power having a small weight difference such as mesophyll and leaf vein, it is necessary to reduce the wind power used for sorting to a predetermined wind power or less. However, the sorting machine disclosed in Patent Document 2 sucks. Since the method is to discharge the produced tea beyond the upper surface of the cylindrical body, the minimum wind power of the forced air supply / exhaust means is specified, and this minimum wind power cannot be set to the above-mentioned predetermined wind power or less. Moreover, in this sorter, when the suction force is weakened, the items to be taken out cannot be taken out to the light side, and when the suction force is increased, the items to be discharged continue to circulate. Therefore, this sorter requires fine adjustment of the suction force, but such fine adjustment is difficult. From the above, the sorting machine disclosed in Patent Document 2 cannot be used as a wind power sorting machine related to the Tencha finishing process.

Jitsukaisho 61-159080 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-102383

Therefore, an object of the present invention is wind power that can sort mesophyll from coarsely crushed mesophyll, veins, and stems, and can prevent dust generated in the sorting step from being scattered in a room. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sorter, a tea processing machine equipped with the wind sorter, a tea wind sorter, and a tea finishing method.

In order to solve the above problems, the wind power sorter according to the present invention
With an airtight housing
Equipped with the first wind power sorting unit
The first wind sorting department
The supply unit located inside the housing and
A cylinder that has an intake port inside the housing and is arranged inside the housing,
A chamber that has a first rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the cylinder,
A cyclone that has a second rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the chamber,
It has an intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone, generates an air flow in the cylinder, the chamber, and the cyclone by sucking air from the intake port, and exhausts the sucked gas into the housing.
The supply unit supplies tea to the cylinder and
The cylinder transports the lighter of the supplied tea to the chamber by airflow, and discharges the heavier of the supplied tea from the lower end by gravity.
The chamber transports the lighter of the conveyed tea to the cyclone by airflow, and discharges the heavier of the supplied tea from the lower end by the first rotary valve.
The cyclone is characterized in that the conveyed tea is separated from the gas and discharged from the lower end by a second rotary valve.

The wind power sorter is preferably
Further equipped with an exhaust deceleration section that reduces the speed of airflow,
The intake / exhaust section exhausts air into the housing via the exhaust deceleration section.

The wind power sorter is preferably
The exhaust deceleration part has a mesh part and
Exhaust from the intake / exhaust section is decelerated by passing through the mesh section.

The wind power sorter is preferably
The housing has a dust receiving portion at the lower part that receives dust contained in the gas exhausted from the intake / exhaust portion.

In order to solve the above problems, the tea processing machine according to the present invention is
With any of the above wind sorters,
It is equipped with a crusher, which is installed inside the housing and crushes tea.
The feeding unit is characterized in that the crushed tea is supplied to the cylinder.

The tea processing machine is preferably
It is further provided with a separating portion provided in the housing to further separate the tea discharged from the cylinder into mesophyll, stem, and vein.

The tea processing machine is preferably
Further equipped with a second wind power sorting unit located downstream of the first wind power sorting unit,
The second wind sorting department
Supply department and
With the cylinder
With a cyclone
Has an intake and exhaust section,
The separation unit discharges the separated tea to the supply unit of the second wind power sorting unit.

The tea processing machine is preferably
A foliage conveyor is further provided to convey the tea discharged from the cylinder of the first wind power sorting unit and the tea discharged from the cylinder of the second wind power sorting unit to the outside of the housing.

Equipped with a first wind power sorting unit
The crusher discharges the crushed tea to the supply section of the first wind sorting section on the upstream side.
The chamber of the first wind sorting section on the upstream side discharges the heavier one of the supplied teas to the supply section of the first wind sorting section on the downstream side.

The tea processing machine is preferably
Belt conveyor and
Further equipped with a product collection unit provided at the outlet of the belt conveyor,
Multiple cyclones are arranged side by side,
A belt conveyor extends below the plurality of cyclones in the alignment direction of the plurality of cyclones, and conveys tea discharged from the lower ends of the plurality of cyclones to the product collection unit.

The tea processing machine is preferably
A plurality of cyclones, a belt conveyor, and a product collection unit are arranged outside the housing.

In order to solve the above problems, the tea wind sorting method according to the present invention is used.
With an airtight housing
Prepare with the wind power sorting department,
The wind power sorting department
The supply unit located inside the housing and
A cylinder that has an intake port inside the housing and is arranged inside the housing,
A chamber that has a first rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the cylinder,
A cyclone that has a second rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the chamber,
It has an intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone, generates an air flow in the cylinder, chamber, and cyclone by taking in air from the intake port, and exhausts the inhaled gas into the housing.
The tea is supplied to the cylinder by the supply unit,
The cylinder conveys the lighter wind-sorted tea of the supplied tea to the chamber by airflow, and ejects the heavier wind-sorted tea of the supplied tea from the lower end by gravity.
The lighter wind-sorted teas transported by the chamber are transported to the cyclone by airflow, and the heavier wind-sorted teas supplied are discharged from the lower end by the first rotary valve.
It is characterized in that the conveyed tea is separated from the gas by a cyclone and discharged from the lower end by a second rotary valve.

In order to solve the above problems, the tea processing method according to the present invention is used.
With an airtight housing
The crusher installed in the housing and
The separation part provided in the housing and
1st wind sorting department and
Prepare the second wind power sorting unit located downstream of the first wind power sorting unit.
The first wind sorting department
The supply unit located inside the housing and
A cylinder that has an intake port inside the housing and is arranged inside the housing,
A chamber that has a first rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the cylinder,
A cyclone that has a second rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the chamber,
It has an intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone, generates an air flow in the cylinder, the chamber, and the cyclone by sucking air from the intake port, and exhausts the sucked gas into the housing.
The second wind sorting department
The supply unit located inside the housing and
A cylinder that has an intake port inside the housing and is arranged inside the housing,
A cyclone that has a third rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the cylinder,
It has an intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone, generates an air flow in the cylinder and the cyclone by sucking air from the intake port, and exhausts the sucked gas into the housing.
Crush the tea with a crusher
The crushed tea is supplied to the cylinder by the supply unit of the first wind power sorting unit.
By the cylinder of the first wind sorting unit, the lighter one of the supplied teas that has been wind-sorted is conveyed to the chamber of the first wind-sorting unit by the air flow, and the heavier one of the supplied teas that has been wind-sorted is transported. Eject from the lower end by gravity
By the chamber, the lighter wind-sorted tea is transported to the cyclone of the first wind-sorting unit by the air flow, and the heavier wind-sorted tea is transported from the lower end by the first rotary valve. Discharge,
The cyclone of the first wind sorting unit separates the tea conveyed from the chamber from the gas and discharges it from the lower end by the second rotary valve.
The separating section further separates the tea discharged from the cylinder of the first wind sorting section into mesophyll, stem, and vein, and discharges the separated tea to the supply section of the second wind sorting section.
The cylinder of the second wind sorting unit conveys the lighter one of the teas supplied from the supply section to the chamber on the downstream side by the air flow, and the tea supplied from the supply section is wind-sorted. The heavier one is ejected from the lower end by gravity,
The cyclone of the second wind power sorting unit separates the tea conveyed from the chamber on the downstream side from the gas, and the third rotary valve discharges the tea from the lower end.

The wind power sorter according to the present invention, a tea processing machine equipped with the wind power sorter, and a tea wind power sorting method and a tea finishing method can sort tea leaves from coarsely crushed tea leaves, leaf veins, and stems, and sort the tea leaves. It is possible to prevent the dust generated in the process from being scattered in the room.

It is the schematic which shows the inside of the wind power sorter which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flow of each structure of the wind power sorting part shown in FIG. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the tea processing machine which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic left side view of the tea processing machine shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of the tea processing machine shown in FIG. It is a schematic plan view of the tea processing machine shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of each structure of the wind power sorting part shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of each structure of another wind power sorting part shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. It is a figure which shows the flow of each structure of the still another wind power sorting part shown by FIG. 3 and FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a wind power sorter according to the present invention, a tea processing machine provided with the wind power sorter, a tea wind power sorting method, and a tea processing method will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the figure, the X-axis shows the left-right direction, the Y-axis shows the front-back direction, and the Z-axis shows the up-down direction. Moreover, each axis is orthogonal to each other.

<First Embodiment>
First, the wind power sorter M and the tea wind power sorting method according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the present specification, a wind power sorter and a tea processing machine for producing tencha will be described, but the wind power sorting machine and the tea processing machine according to the present invention are not limited to the wind power sorting machine and the tea processing machine for tencha. No.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the inside of the wind power sorter M. As shown in FIG. 1, the wind power sorter M includes a housing 1, a wind power sorting unit 2, a foliage vein collecting unit 3, and a product collecting unit 4.

The housing 1 includes a housing body 10, a hopper 11, a dust receiving portion 12, and an exhaust deceleration portion 13. The bottom surface of the housing body 10 is inclined, and the lower end of the housing body 10 is airtightly connected to the dust receiving portion 12. The hopper 11 is airtightly connected to the housing body 10, and the inside of the hopper 11 and the inside of the housing body 10 are spatially separated. The exhaust deceleration unit 13 is composed of a box body provided in the housing and having a mesh-like wall. The hopper 11 is charged with crushed tea (rough tea). This ground tea contains mesophyll L, veins and stems F, and mesophyll L powder P.

The wind power sorting unit 2 includes a supply unit 20, a cylinder 21, a chamber 23, a cyclone 25, an intake / exhaust unit 26, a heavy material discharge unit 22, and a lightweight material discharge unit 24. The wind power sorting unit 2 corresponds to the "first wind power sorting unit" of the present invention. The supply unit 20, the tubular body 21, and the chamber 23 are arranged in the housing body 10, and have a space between the supply unit 20, the cylinder 21, and the chamber 23 in the front-rear direction. The cylinder 21, the chamber 23, the cyclone 25, and the intake / exhaust unit 26 are airtightly connected in this order, and the intake / exhaust unit 26 generates an air flow that flows in the cylinder 21, the chamber 23, and the cyclone 25 in order by intake air. (See S20 in FIG. 2). The direction of the arrow of the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1 indicates the direction of the air flow in the wind power sorter M.

The supply unit 20 is a vibration feeder and is arranged in the housing body 10. The supply unit 20 supplies a predetermined amount of tea to the cylinder 21 while vibrating the tea charged into the hopper 11 (see S21 in FIG. 2).

The tubular body 21 extends in the vertical direction and is arranged in the housing body 10. In the present embodiment, the tubular body 21 extends in the substantially vertical direction, but is merely an example, and may be inclined with respect to the vertical direction. The tubular body 21 has a tea supply port 21a and an intake port 21b provided below the tea supply port 21a. The tip of the supply unit 20 is inserted into the cylinder 21 via the tea supply port 21a, whereby tea is appropriately supplied into the cylinder 21. In the cylinder 21, an updraft flowing from the intake port 21b toward the upper end of the cylinder 21 is generated by the intake air of the intake / exhaust unit 26, and the tea supplied in the cylinder 21 is selected by wind force. The lighter one (Yes in S22 of FIG. 2) is conveyed to the chamber 23 by this updraft. Of the tea supplied into the cylinder 21, the heavier one (No of S22) selected by wind power is discharged from the lower end of the cylinder 21 to the heavy object discharging portion 22 against the updraft due to its own weight. In this way, the tea supplied to the wind power sorter M is sorted into a lighter side and a heavier side by the wind power in the cylinder 21. The lighter tea contains mesophyll L and mesophyll powder P, and the heavier tea contains veins and stem F.

In the present embodiment, the heavy object discharging unit 22 is formed in a cylindrical shape extending vertically, the upper end thereof is connected to the cylindrical body 21, and the lower end thereof is arranged outside the housing 1. Although the heavy object discharging portion 22 is integrally formed with the tubular body 21, it is merely an example and may be formed individually. Of the tea supplied to the cylinder 21, the heavier one (No of S22) is discharged by the heavy object discharging unit 22 to the foliage vein collecting unit 3 arranged outside the housing 1 (see S23 in FIG. 2). ..

The chamber 23 has a chamber body 23a, a rotary valve 23b, and an inclined plate 23c. The chamber body 23a is adjacent to the tubular body 21 and is airtightly connected to the upper end of the tubular body 21. Further, the chamber body 23a is formed in a funnel shape in front view, and the rotary valve 23b is airtightly connected to the lower end of the chamber body 23a. The rotary valve 23b corresponds to the "first rotary valve" of the present invention. The inclined plate 23c is provided so as to be inclined in the chamber main body 23a. On the right side of the front view chamber body 23a, a brown path wider than the tubular body 21 is formed by the inclined plate 23c and the slope of the chamber body 23a, and further, on the left side of the front view of the chamber body 23a, the inclined plate is formed. The 23c and the slope of the chamber body 23a form a frontal funnel-shaped space wider than the brown path on the right side. As a result, the velocity of the air flow in the chamber body 23a becomes slower than that in the cylinder 21, so that the heavier one of the teas introduced into the chamber body 23a from the entrance of the chamber body 23a is selected by wind power (S24 in FIG. 2). Yes) is further separated from the gas and discharged to the lightweight material discharge unit 24 via the rotary valve 23b. This heavier tea contains mesophyll L. Of the teas introduced into the chamber body 23a, the lighter tea selected by wind power (No in S24) is conveyed to the cyclone 25 by the air flow. This lighter tea contains tea powder P.

In the present embodiment, the lightweight material discharging portion 24 is formed in a cylindrical shape extending vertically, the upper end thereof is airtightly connected to the rotary valve 23b, and the lower end thereof is arranged outside the housing 1. .. The lightweight material discharging unit 24 discharges the tea discharged from the rotary valve 23b to the product collecting unit 4 arranged outside the housing body 10 (see S25 in FIG. 2). The configuration of the lightweight material discharge unit 24 is merely an example and is not limited thereto.

The cyclone 25 has a cyclone main body 25a, an intake duct 25b, an exhaust duct 25c, and a rotary valve 25d. The intake duct 25b is airtightly connected to the outlet of the chamber body 23a and is airtightly connected to the inlet of the upper part of the cyclone body 25a from the tangential direction of the cyclone body 25a. Further, the rotary valve 25d is airtightly connected to the lower end of the cyclone main body 25a. The rotary valve 25d corresponds to the "second rotary valve" of the present invention. The exhaust duct 25c extends from the center of the cyclone main body 25a toward the upper side of the cyclone 25 and is airtightly connected to the inlet of the intake / exhaust portion 26. Although the cyclone main body 25a is arranged outside the housing main body 10, it is merely an example and may be arranged inside the housing main body 10.

The airflow in the cyclone body 25a becomes a swirling airflow depending on the shape of the cyclone body 25a and the direction of the gas introduced from the circumferential direction, and the object contained in the gas is centrifuged. As a result, the wind-sorted heavier tea powder P contained in the gas (No in S26 in FIG. 2) is centrifuged by the swirling airflow, and the product outside the cyclone 25 is separated via the rotary valve 25d. It is discharged to the collection unit 4 (see S25 in FIG. 2). Since the tea dust D generated by the steps so far is the lighter one (Yes in S26 of FIG. 2) that has been wind-sorted, it is conveyed to the intake / exhaust section 26 via the exhaust duct 25c by the air flow.

The intake / exhaust unit 26 is composed of a centrifugal blower, and takes in air from a central portion and exhausts air in the centrifugal direction. The intake / exhaust unit 26 has an exhaust duct 26a and is arranged outside the housing body 10, and is airtightly connected to the housing body 10 via the exhaust duct 26a. Further, the tip of the exhaust duct 26a is introduced into the exhaust deceleration unit 13. The intake / exhaust unit 26 may be arranged in the housing body 10. The intake / exhaust unit 26 introduces the gas and the tea dust contained in the gas into the intake / exhaust unit 26 by the intake air, and also introduces the introduced gas and the tea dust contained in the gas into the exhaust deceleration unit 13. The gas is exhausted into the housing body 10 via the above (see S27 in FIG. 2). The exhaust gas from the intake / exhaust unit 26 is diffused into the housing body 10 while passing through the mesh portion of the exhaust deceleration unit 13, so that the flow velocity thereof can be reduced. As a result, the tea dust contained in the exhaust gas is separated from the gas, descends the slope of the lower surface of the housing body 10 while being attracted downward by gravity, and is collected by the dust receiving portion 12 (see S28 in FIG. 2). .. Further, the exhaust gas of the intake / exhaust unit 26 is decelerated by the exhaust deceleration unit 13 to prevent adverse effects on other components in the housing body 10.

The wind power sorting unit 2 sorts the tea by using the gas taken in from the housing body 10 while airtightly surrounding the tea, and discharges all the gas used for the wind power sorting into the housing body 10. Further, since the housing body 10 is airtight, the brown dust contained in the gas discharged into the housing 1 is not discharged to the outside of the housing body 10. Therefore, the wind power sorter M can sort the powder P of the mesophyll L and the mesophyll L from the coarsely crushed mesophyll L, the veins and the stem F, and scatters the dust D generated in the sorting step into the room. Can be prevented. Further, since the bottom portion of the housing body 10 is inclined and the dust receiving portion 12 is provided at the lower end of the housing body 10, dust in the dust receiving portion 12 can be easily collected.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, the tea processing machine E and the tea processing method according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 9. Note that the same reference numerals as those already described may be added and detailed description thereof may be omitted. The two-dot chain arrow in the figure indicates the transport direction of the mesophyll, stem, and vein.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the tea processing machine E includes a housing 1, a crusher 5, three wind power sorting units 2, 8 and 9, a foliage vein collecting unit 3, and a separating unit 6. It includes a product belt conveyor 7 and a product collection unit 4.

The housing 1 includes a housing main body 10, a hopper 11, two dust receiving portions 12, a sending portion 14, and an exhaust deceleration portion 13 (not shown). The housing body 10 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and as shown in FIG. 4, the bottom portion of the housing body 10 is inclined toward the dust receiving portion 12 and is airtightly connected to the dust receiving portion 12. There is.

The hopper 11 is connected to the delivery unit 14, and moves the charged tea (rough tea) to the transmission unit 14 by a predetermined amount. The delivery unit 14 has a delivery duct 14a and a known air transfer unit (not shown). The air transport unit conveys the tea moved from the hopper 11 to the supply unit 20 via the delivery duct 14a. Since the delivery duct 14a is airtightly connected to the housing body 10, the delivery unit 14 can throw tea into the housing body 10 without leaking it to the outside of the tea processing machine E.

The wind power sorting unit 2 includes a supply unit 20, a cylinder 21, a heavy object discharging unit 22, a chamber 23, a cyclone 25, and an intake / exhaust unit 26. The tea processing machine E according to the present embodiment has three wind power sorting units, but this is merely an example, and the tea processing machine E may have only one wind power sorting unit or four or more wind power sorting units. The cylinder 21, the chamber 23, the cyclone 25, and the intake / exhaust unit 26 are airtightly connected in this order, and the intake / exhaust unit 26 generates an air flow that flows in the cylinder 21, the chamber 23, and the cyclone 25 in order by intake air. (See S70 in FIG. 7).

As shown in FIG. 5, the crusher 5 is arranged in the housing body 10. The crusher 5 is airtightly connected to the delivery duct 14a, and tea is charged from the delivery duct 14a. The crusher 5 has a cutter (not shown), and the cutter roughly crushes the tea to separate the tea into mesophyll, veins, and stems. The crusher 5 puts the coarsely crushed tea into the supply unit 20.

The supply unit 20 is a vibration feeder similar to that of the first embodiment, and supplies a predetermined amount of the charged tea into the cylinder 21 while vibrating it (see S71 in FIG. 7). The tea supplied into the cylinder 21 is wind-sorted into a heavier one and a lighter one by the updraft in the cylinder 21 (see S72 in FIG. 7). The heavier tea (No. in S72) selected by wind power is discharged from the lower end of the cylinder 21 to the heavy object discharging section 22. This heavier tea contains stems and veins. The lighter (Yes) tea selected by wind power is conveyed to the chamber 23 by the updraft in the cylinder 21.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the heavy object discharge unit 22 has a discharge duct 22a and a foliage vein conveyor 22b. The stems and leaf veins discharged from the lower end of the tubular body 21 are discharged onto the foliage vein conveyor 22b via the discharge duct 22a. The foliage vein conveyor 22b is a belt conveyor and extends from the inside of the housing 1 to the outside of the housing 1 in the front-rear direction. A foliage vein discharge section is provided at the outlet of the foliage vein conveyor 22b, and the foliage vein conveyor 22b conveys the stems and leaf veins discharged on the foliage vein conveyor 22b to the foliage vein collection section 3 (FIG. 7). See S73). The stem and leaf vein collecting unit 3 collects the transported stems and leaf veins. As a result, the user can collect the stems and veins without opening and closing the housing body 10.

The chamber 23 is the same chamber 23 as in the first embodiment, and has a rotary valve 23b. Of the tea introduced into the chamber 23 from the entrance of the chamber 23, the heavier one (Yes in S74 of FIG. 7) that has been wind-sorted is further separated from the gas and discharged to the supply section 80 of the wind-sorting section 8 (Yes). See S75 in FIG. 7). In addition to the mesophyll of the product, this heavier tea contains mesophyll that is not separated from the veins and stems. The lighter tea (No in S74) of the tea introduced into the chamber 23 is conveyed to the cyclone 25 by the air flow. This lighter tea contains mesophyll and mesophyll powder.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cyclone 25 is the same cyclone as in the first embodiment, and has an intake duct 25b and a rotary valve 25d. The cyclone 25 is arranged outside the housing body 10. Further, above the cyclone 25, an intake / exhaust unit 26 similar to that of the first embodiment is arranged. Of the tea conveyed from the chamber 23 to the cyclone 25 via the intake duct 25b, the heavier tea powder (Yes in S76 in FIG. 7), which is the heavier one (Yes in S76 in FIG. 7), is centrifuged by the swirling airflow and the rotary valve 25d. It is discharged onto the product belt conveyor 7 via.

The product belt conveyor 7 is a conveyor for transporting tea to be produced, and as shown in FIG. 3, extends in the left-right direction along the front wall of the housing 1 below the cyclone 25. .. A product recovery unit 4 is arranged at the outlet of the product belt conveyor 7, and the product belt conveyor 7 collects tea powder discharged from the cyclone 25 (that is, Yes in S76 of FIG. 7) in the product collection unit 4. (See S77 in FIG. 7). The product collection unit 4 is formed in a box shape and collects tea conveyed from the product belt conveyor 7. Since the product collection unit 4 is provided outside the housing body 10, the user can collect the selected tea, that is, the "product" without opening and closing the housing body 10. Since the product belt conveyor 7 is provided outside the housing body 10, it can be easily cleaned without opening and closing the housing body 10.

The intake / exhaust unit 26 has an exhaust duct 26a similar to that of the first embodiment, and the tip of the exhaust duct 26a is introduced into the exhaust deceleration unit in the housing body 10 as in the first embodiment. As a result, the brown dust contained in the exhaust of the intake / exhaust unit 26 (that is, the lighter one selected by wind power, No. of S76) is discharged into the housing body 10 as in the first embodiment (FIG. 7), collected by the dust receiving unit 12 (see S79 in FIG. 7).

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the wind power sorting unit 8 is a wind power sorting unit similar to the wind power sorting unit 2, and is arranged downstream of the wind power sorting unit 2. The wind power sorting unit 8 includes a supply unit 80, a cylinder 81, a chamber 83, a cyclone 85, and an intake / exhaust unit 86. The intake / exhaust unit 86 generates airflow in the cylinder 81, the chamber 83, and the cyclone 85 by sucking air from the intake port 81b (see S80 in FIG. 8).

The supply unit 80 is a vibration feeder similar to the supply unit 20, and supplies a predetermined amount of tea discharged from the chamber 23 into the cylinder 81 while vibrating (see S81 in FIG. 8). The tea supplied into the cylinder 81 is wind-sorted into a heavier one and a lighter one by the updraft generated by the intake / exhaust unit 86 (see S82 in FIG. 8), and the heavier one (see S82 in FIG. 8). The tea of No) is discharged from the lower end of the cylinder 21 to the separation portion 6, and the lighter tea (Yes of S82) selected by wind power is conveyed to the cyclone 25 by the updraft.

As shown in FIG. 5, the separation unit 6 is a roll crusher and includes a supply duct 60 and a pair of left and right rubber rollers 61 extending in the front-rear direction. The supply duct 60 extends in the vertical direction and is arranged below the tubular body 81. The tea discharged from the lower end of the cylinder 81 is supplied between the pair of left and right rubber rollers 61 via the supply duct 60. The pair of left and right rubber rollers 61 rotate in opposite directions at different peripheral velocities and separate the tea passing between the rubber rollers 61 into mesophyll, stem, and vein by friction (see S83 in FIG. 8). As a result, in the crusher 5, the tea that has not been completely separated is separated again. Moreover, the tea processing machine E can prevent the tea having only mesophyll, which does not need to be separated, from being damaged by the separating unit 6 by separating the tea again by the separating unit 6 after performing the wind power sorting once. can. The separation unit 6 supplies the separated tea to the wind power sorting unit 9 (see S84 in FIG. 8).

The chamber 83 is arranged in front of the housing body 10, and has a chamber body 83a, a rotary valve 83b, an inclined plate 83c, and an intake duct 83d. The chamber body 83a is different in shape from another chamber body 23a, but is merely an example, and may have the same shape. The intake duct 83d airtightly connects the tubular body 81 arranged inside the housing body 10 and the chamber body 83a arranged outside the housing body 10. Then, similarly to the other chambers 23, the heavier wind-sorted tea (Yes in S85 of FIG. 8) among the teas conveyed from the entrance of the chamber body 83a into the chamber body 83a is further separated from the gas, and the rotary is further separated. It is discharged to the product collection unit 4 via the valve 83b (see S86 in FIG. 8). The lighter tea (No of S85) among the teas introduced into the chamber body 83a is conveyed to the cyclone 85 by the air flow. This lighter tea contains tea powder.

The cyclone 85 is a cyclone similar to the cyclone 25, and has an intake duct 85b and a rotary valve 85d. Further, above the cyclone 85, an intake / exhaust unit 86 similar to the intake / exhaust unit 26 is arranged. The wind-sorted heavier (No. in S87 in FIG. 8) brown powder conveyed from the chamber body 83a into the cyclone 85 via the intake duct 85b is centrifuged by the swirling airflow and passed through the rotary valve 85d. Is discharged onto the product belt conveyor 7. The tea powder discharged on the product conveyor belt is collected by the product collection unit 4 via the product belt conveyor 7 (see S86 in FIG. 8).

The intake / exhaust unit 86 has an exhaust duct 86a. The tip of the exhaust duct 86a is introduced into the exhaust deceleration section in the housing body 10 as in the wind power sorting section 2, and the lighter wind-sorted lighter included in the exhaust of the intake / exhaust section 86 (S87 in FIG. 8). Yes) tea dust is discharged into the housing body 10 (see S88 in FIG. 8) and collected by the dust receiving unit 12 (see S89 in FIG. 8).

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the wind power sorting unit 9 is arranged downstream of the wind power sorting unit 8. The wind power sorting unit 9 includes a supply unit 90, a cylinder 91, a cyclone 95, and an intake / exhaust unit 96. The wind power sorting unit 9 comes up with the "second wind power sorting unit" of the present invention. The supply unit 90 and the cylinder 91 are arranged in the housing body 10, and the cyclone 95 and the intake / exhaust unit 96 are aligned with the other cyclones 25 and 85 in front of the housing 1 and above the product belt conveyor 7. It is arranged. The supply unit 80, the cylinder 81, the cyclone 85, and the intake / exhaust unit 86 have the same configurations as the supply unit 20, the cylinder 21, the cyclone 25, and the intake / exhaust unit 26 of the wind power sorting unit 2, respectively. Then, the intake / exhaust unit 96 takes in air from the intake port 91b and generates an air flow in the cylinder 91 and the cyclone 95 (see S90 in FIG. 9).

As shown in FIG. 5, the supply unit 90 supplies the tea discharged from the separation unit 6 to the cylinder 91 while vibrating (see S91 in FIG. 9), and the cylinder 91 sends the supplied tea to the updraft. The lighter one (Yes in S92 in FIG. 9) and the heavier one (No in S92) selected by wind power are separated. The heavier tea is discharged from the lower end of the tubular body 91 onto the foliage vein conveyor 22b, transported to the foliage vein collecting section 3 by the foliage vein conveyor 22b, and collected by the foliage vein collecting section 3 (see S93 in FIG. 9). ..

The cyclone 95 has a rotary valve 95d and an intake duct 95b. The rotary valve 95d corresponds to the "third rotary valve" of the present invention. The intake duct 95b airtightly connects the tubular body 91 arranged inside the housing body 10 and the cyclone 95 arranged outside the housing body 10. The wind-sorted lighter tea (Yes in S92 in FIG. 9) separated in the cylinder 91 was transported into the cyclone 95 via the intake duct 95b, and was wind-sorted contained in the transported gas. The heavier (Yes in S94 of FIG. 9) brown powder is centrifuged by the swirling airflow and discharged onto the product belt conveyor 7 via the rotary valve 95d. The tea powder discharged on the product conveyor belt is conveyed to the product collection unit 4 by the product conveyor belt (see S95 in FIG. 9). Since the tea processing machine E is provided with three wind power sorting units, tea can be appropriately sorted.

The intake / exhaust unit 96 has an exhaust duct 96a, and the tip of the exhaust duct 96a is introduced into the exhaust deceleration unit in the housing body 10 like the other exhaust ducts 26a and 86a, and the intake / exhaust unit 96. The lighter (No. in S94) of the wind-sorted exhaust gas contained in the exhaust gas is discharged into the housing body 10 (see S96 in FIG. 9) and collected in the dust receiving unit 12 (FIG. 9). 9).

As described above, the tea processing machine E performs each tea sorting process in an airtight space and exhausts the exhaust of the cyclone 25 into the housing 1, so that the gas containing tea dust is discharged to the outside of the housing 1. Can be prevented. As a result, it is possible to prevent the dust generated in the sorting process from being scattered in the room.

Further, the tea processing machine E is configured by integrating the constituent equipment related to the conventional tea finishing processing process. As a result, the tea processing machine E saves space and facilitates the installation work as compared with the conventional tea processing system in which a plurality of devices are connected by a transport device. Moreover, the cost of the tea processing machine E has been reduced as the transfer device is no longer required. Further, the tea processing machine E significantly increases the yield related to tencha processing by transporting the tea powder discharged from the cyclone 25 and the mesophyll separated by the separating unit 6 to the product collecting unit 4 by a belt conveyor. It was improved to.

Although the embodiments of the wind power sorter M and the tea processing machine E according to the present invention have been described above, the wind power sorting machine and the tea processing machine according to the present invention are not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the wind power sorter and the tea processing machine according to the present invention may be carried out according to the following modifications.

-Any or all of the cyclone 25, the intake duct 25b, the exhaust duct 26a, and the product belt conveyor 7 in the tea processing machine E may be arranged in the housing 1.

-The cylinder 21 in the tea processing machine E may be inclined as described in the wind power sorter M.

A plurality of chambers 23 may be provided for one cylinder 21. Further, a plurality of cyclones 25 may be provided for one cylinder 21.

M Wind sorting machine F Leaf vein and stem L Meat P Powder D Tea dust E Tea processing machine 1 Housing 10 Housing body 11 Hopper 12 Dust receiving part 13 Exhaust deceleration part 14 Sending part 14a Sending duct 2 Wind sorting part 20 Supply Part 21 Cylinder 21a Tea supply port 21b Intake port 22 Heavy duty discharge part 22a Discharge duct 22b Stem leaf vein conveyor 23 Chamber 23a Chamber body 23b Rotary valve 23c Inclined plate 24 Lightweight material discharge part 25 Cyclone 25a Cyclone body 25b Intake duct 25c Exhaust duct 25d Rotary valve 26 Intake and exhaust section 26a Exhaust duct 3 Stem and leaf vein recovery section 4 Product recovery section 5 Crusher 6 Separation section 60 Supply duct 61 Rubber roller 7 Product belt conveyor 8 Wind force sorting section 80 Supply section 81 Cylinder 81b Intake port 83 Chamber 83a Chamber body 83b Rotary valve 83c Inclined plate 83d Intake duct 85 Cyclone 85b Intake duct 85d Rotary valve 86 Intake / exhaust part 86a Exhaust duct 9 Wind force sorting part 90 Supply part 91 Cylinder 91b Intake port 95 Cyclone 95b Intake duct 95d Rotary valve 96 Intake / exhaust Part 96a Exhaust duct

Claims (13)

With an airtight housing
Equipped with the first wind power sorting unit
The first wind power sorting unit
The supply unit arranged in the housing and
A cylinder having an intake port in the housing and arranged in the housing,
A chamber having a first rotary valve and airtightly connected to the cylinder,
A cyclone having a second rotary valve and airtightly connected to the chamber,
An intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone and that inhales air from the intake port to generate an air flow in the cylinder, the chamber, and the cyclone, and exhausts the inhaled gas into the housing. Have and
The supply unit supplies tea to the cylinder and
In the cylinder, the lighter one of the supplied tea is conveyed to the chamber by the air flow, and the heavier one of the supplied tea is discharged from the lower end by gravity.
In the chamber, the lighter one of the conveyed tea is conveyed to the cyclone by the air flow, and the heavier one of the supplied tea is discharged from the lower end by the first rotary valve.
The cyclone is a wind power sorter characterized in that the conveyed tea is separated from a gas and discharged from the lower end by the second rotary valve. Further equipped with an exhaust deceleration section that reduces the speed of airflow,
The wind power sorter according to claim 1, wherein the intake / exhaust unit exhausts air into the housing via the exhaust deceleration unit. The exhaust deceleration portion has a mesh portion and has a mesh portion.
The wind power sorter according to claim 2, wherein the exhaust gas from the intake / exhaust unit is decelerated by passing through the mesh unit. The wind power sorter according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the housing has a dust receiving portion that receives dust contained in the gas exhausted from the intake / exhaust portion at the lower portion. The wind power sorter according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A crusher provided in the housing for crushing tea is provided.
The supply unit is a tea processing machine characterized in that the crushed tea is supplied to the cylinder. The tea processing machine according to claim 5, further comprising a separating portion provided in the housing and further separating the tea discharged from the cylinder into mesophyll, stem, and vein. A second wind power sorting unit arranged downstream of the first wind power sorting unit is further provided.
The second wind power sorting unit
With the supply unit
With the cylinder
With the cyclone
It has the intake / exhaust unit and
The tea processing machine according to claim 6, wherein the separated unit discharges the separated tea to the supply unit of the second wind power sorting unit. The tea is further provided with a foliar vein conveyor that conveys the tea discharged from the cylinder of the first wind power sorting unit and the tea discharged from the cylinder of the second wind power sorting unit to the outside of the housing. The tea processing machine according to claim 7. Further equipped with the first wind power sorting unit
The crusher discharges the crushed tea to the supply unit of the first wind power sorting unit on the upstream side.
Claims 5 to 8 are characterized in that the chamber of the first wind power sorting unit on the upstream side discharges the heavier one of the supplied teas to the supply unit of the first wind power sorting unit on the downstream side. The tea processing machine according to any one of the above. Belt conveyor and
A product collection unit provided at the outlet of the belt conveyor is further provided.
The plurality of the cyclones are arranged in an aligned manner.
The belt conveyor extends below the plurality of cyclones in the alignment direction of the plurality of cyclones, and transports tea discharged from the lower ends of the plurality of cyclones to a product collection unit. The tea processing machine according to 8 or 9. The tea processing machine according to claim 10, wherein the plurality of cyclones, the belt conveyor, and the product collection unit are arranged outside the housing. With an airtight housing
Prepare with the wind power sorting department,
The wind power sorting department
The supply unit located inside the housing and
A cylinder that has an intake port inside the housing and is arranged inside the housing,
A chamber that has a first rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the cylinder,
A cyclone that has a second rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the chamber,
It has an intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone, generates an air flow in the cylinder, chamber, and cyclone by taking in air from the intake port, and exhausts the inhaled gas into the housing.
The tea is supplied to the cylinder by the supply unit,
The cylinder conveys the lighter wind-sorted tea of the supplied tea to the chamber by airflow, and ejects the heavier wind-sorted tea of the supplied tea from the lower end by gravity.
The lighter wind-sorted teas transported by the chamber are transported to the cyclone by airflow, and the heavier wind-sorted teas supplied are discharged from the lower end by the first rotary valve.
A tea wind sorting method characterized by separating the conveyed tea from a gas by a cyclone and discharging it from the lower end by a second rotary valve. With an airtight housing
The crusher installed in the housing and
The separation part provided in the housing and
1st wind sorting department and
Prepare the second wind power sorting unit located downstream of the first wind power sorting unit.
The first wind sorting department
The supply unit located inside the housing and
A cylinder that has an intake port inside the housing and is arranged inside the housing,
A chamber that has a first rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the cylinder,
A cyclone that has a second rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the chamber,
It has an intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone, generates an air flow in the cylinder, the chamber, and the cyclone by sucking air from the intake port, and exhausts the sucked gas into the housing.
The second wind sorting department
The supply unit located inside the housing and
A cylinder that has an intake port inside the housing and is arranged inside the housing,
A cyclone that has a third rotary valve and is airtightly connected to the cylinder,
It has an intake / exhaust unit that is airtightly connected to the cyclone, generates an air flow in the cylinder and the cyclone by sucking air from the intake port, and exhausts the sucked gas into the housing.
Crush the tea with a crusher
The crushed tea is supplied to the cylinder by the supply unit of the first wind power sorting unit.
The cylinder of the first wind sorting unit transports the lighter one of the supplied teas that has been wind-sorted to the chamber of the first wind-sorting unit by airflow, and the heavier one of the supplied teas that has been wind-sorted. Eject from the lower end by gravity
By the chamber, the lighter wind-sorted tea is transported to the cyclone of the first wind-sorting unit by the air flow, and the heavier wind-sorted tea is transported from the lower end by the first rotary valve. Discharge,
The cyclone of the first wind sorting unit separates the tea conveyed from the chamber from the gas and discharges it from the lower end by the second rotary valve.
The separating section further separates the tea discharged from the cylinder of the first wind sorting section into mesophyll, stem, and vein, and discharges the separated tea to the supply section of the second wind sorting section.
The cylinder of the second wind sorting unit conveys the lighter one of the teas supplied from the supply section to the chamber on the downstream side by the air flow, and the tea supplied from the supply section is wind-sorted. The heavier one is ejected from the lower end by gravity,
A tea processing method characterized by separating tea conveyed from a chamber on the downstream side from a gas by a cyclone of a second wind power sorting unit and discharging it from the lower end by a third rotary valve.

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