Bean processing device and a method for using the same

Abstract

The present invention is to provide a bean processing device comprising: a first processing tank, which comprises a first pulverizer, the first processing tank is for loading the beans for soaking, cooking and crushing; a second pulverizer, which is applied as a holding tank for the fine crushing of the primary crushed beans from the first processing tank; a second processing tank, which is connected with the second pulverizer, and applied for holding the bean products; and a conjunction pipe, which is applied for connecting the first processing tank and the second pulverizer to form a airtight automatic processing system.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is the structure of the bean-processing device of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a bean processing device that employs the simple steps of soaking, cooking and crushing under atmospheric pressure to produce bean product containing single cells without the use of any enzyme or chemical reagent, and the present invention further provides the method to the manufacture of whole bean soymilk.

With reference to FIG. 1, there is shown the structure of the bean processing device of the present invention. The present invention relates to a bean processing device 100 comprising: a first processing tank 1, which comprises a first pulverizer 11, the first processing tank 1 is for loading the beans for soaking, cooking and crushing the beans; a second pulverizer 2, which is applied for fine crushing of the crushed beans in the first processing tank 1; a second processing tank 3, which is connected with the second pulverizer 2, and applied as a holding tank to receive the bean products of the fine crushed beans from the second pulverizer; and a conjunction pipe 4, which is applied for connecting the first processing tank 1 and the second pulverizer 2 to form a airtight automatic processing system.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bean processing device 100 of the present invention further comprises a hot water tank 5 for preheating the water in the hot water tank 5 to 90° C. then delivers the water into the first processing tank 1 to shorten the time in softening the cell tissue of beans and maintains the temperature of the first processing tank 1 and the second processing tank 3. Adding water up to 1500 L when cooks the beans in the first processing tank 1; and then the outside of the first processing tank 1 is equipped with a jacketed heating plate 6 for heating the beans in the first processing tank 1. keep heating for 30 minutes at 80° C., it is able to reduce the activities of trypsin inhibitor, lipoxygenase, soybean agglutinin and phytic acid and separate the soy single cells easily; the bottom of the first processing tank 1 further connects to a pump 7, the pump 7 circulates the beans from the bottom of the first processing tank 1 up to the top of tank.

The mentioned first processing tank 1 is equipped with an agitator 10; the agitator 10 is used for stirring at the rotating speed of 65 rpm while the beans are cooking homogeneously in the first processing tank. The first pulverizer is mounted at the bottom of the first processing tank 1 for the primary crushing the cooked beans into the slurry. The second processing tank 3 further equips with an agitator 10 and clip heating plate 6, the agitator 10 is used for stirring the beans inside the second processing tank 3 and the jacketed heating plate 6 is used for maintaining a proper temperature of the beans inside the second processing tank 3.

The bean processing device 100 of the present invention further comprises a spraying device 8, which is mounted inside the first processing tank 1 and the second processing tank 3 performing a CIP step immediately after completion of the producing process by adding a cleaning and sterilizing reagent into the hot water tank 5 and pumping the reagent solution into the spraying device 8 for spraying the inside of first processing tank 1 and second processing tank 3 to achieve the function of cleaning and sterilizing. Any cleaning and sterilizing reagents known in the art are able to apply in the present invention but not in limitation.

The first processing tank 1, the second processing tank 3 and the hot water tank 5 further mounted with a heat insulation device (not shown). The heat insulation device is a heat conservative material for keeping the temperature in the first processing tank 1, the second processing tank 3 and the hot water tank 5.

In the present example, the bean of the present invention is soybean. During the bean process by utilizing the bean processing device 100 of the present invention, first, put 330 kg of soybean into a washer (not shown), and spray clean it with 40 L of cold water to remove impurities. Take water from the hot water tank 5 and preheat to 90° C. and then deliver the water to the first processing tank 1. Feed the washed soybean into the first processing tank 1 with a screw conveyor (not shown). Adding the water and then heat to 97° C. Cook the soybean at 95° C. for 3 hours under atmospheric pressure and stirring it with an agitator at the speed of 65 rpm to ensure homogeneity. After the soybean tissues are softened to a certain extent, use a 3000 l/hr pump to circulate the soybean from the bottom of tank to the top and then convey the cooked soybean to the first pulverizer 11 (Tyler No. 6 mesh) and crush the soybean into a slurry at 2400 rpm. Then use a jacketed heating plate 6 to continue heating the slurry at 80° C. for 30 minutes to greatly reduce the activities of trypsin inhibitor, lipoxygenase, soybean agglutinin and phytic acid and separate the soy single cells easily. Next, after circulating the slurry with a 3000 l/hr pump, use the second pulverizer 2 (Tyler No. 48 mesh, 3600 rpm) to pulverize all constituents in soybean, including hull, hilum, hypocotyls, and cotyledon into granules of predetermined sizes. Subsequently maintain the temperature of the smashed soybean slurry in the second processing tank 3 at 70-80° C. to wait for spray drying. Use an spray dryer (not shown) to dry the soybean slurry at the evaporation rate of 440 kg/hr into powder weighing 283 kg. The finished product still contains 2-3% moisture. Finally cool the powder under 27° C. and pack the powder into aluminum bags at 20 pounds per bag. After bean process, transfer the water in the hot water tank 5, which comprises with the function of cleaning and sterilizing, into the spraying device 8 for spraying the inside of first processing tank 1 and second processing tank 3 to cleaning and sterilizing the tanks.

The present invention also provides a bean processing method, which is applied with the bean processing device 100, comprising: (a) loading beans into a first processing tank; (b) adding the proper amount of the water (preferably, the weight of water is about 3.5-6.0 times of the weight of the bean) into the tank to perform the beans soaking, cooking and crushing process; (c) pumping the primary crushed beans into a second pulverizer for a fine crushing by a conjunction pipe; and (d) conducting the fine crushed beans into the second processing tank for stirring and a bean product with a integrated single cell wall is obtained.

The crushing process in the step (b) is performed by the first pulverizer inside the first processing tank and the cooking process in the step (b) is performed at a temperature of 70-100° C. for 3-6 hours. The bean product in the step (d) comprises an integrated single cell wall.

The bean processing of the present invention further comprises a spray-dried step for drying a liquid bean product into a powder product. The first processing tank and the second processing tank are equipped with an agitator, the agitator is used for stirring the bean in the tank.

The bean processing method of the present invention further comprises a CIP step, which is applied immediately after completion of the producing process by adding a cleaning and sterilizing reagent in the hot water tank 5, and pumping the reagent solution into the spraying device for spraying the inside of the first processing tank 1 and the second processing tank 3 for the purpose of cleaning and sterilizing.

The present invention utilizes the three-in-one functional tank to carry out soaking, cooking and crushing. Hot water soaking can help to eliminate the beany flavor of soy, and even if soluble proteins, isoflavone and other nutrients are released in water during soaking, they will not be lost or dissipated in the subsequent cooking step since the processing is carried out in the same tank, hence achieving the purposes of retaining the food nutrition intact and resources fully utilized. At the same time, small and simplified soymilk machine according to the processing method disclosed allows ready to supply of fresh soymilk in local, which could increase the consumption of whole bean soymilk significantly, thereby boosting public health.

Although the present invention has been explained in relation to its preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other possible modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter claimed.

Claims

1. A device for bean processing comprising: a first processing tank, which comprises a first pulverizer, said first processing tank is for loading beans and for soaking, cooking and crushing said beans;a second pulverizer, which is applied for fine crushing of said beans, crushed in said first processing tank;a second processing tank, which is connected with said second pulverizer, and applied as a holding tank to receive bean products of said crushed beans from said second pulverizer; anda conjunction pipe, which is applied for connecting said first processing tank and said second pulverizer to form a airtight automatic processing system.

2. The device of claim 1, further comprises a hot water tank for preheating the water and then delivering said water into said first processing tank to shorten the time in softening the cell tissue of beans and maintains the temperature of said first processing tank and said second processing tank.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein said hot water tank further comprises a cleaning and sterilizing reagent, which is applied after completion of the producing process, to spray at said first processing tank and said second processing tank by a spraying device mounted inside said first processing tank and said second processing tank for the purpose of the cleaning and sterilizing.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein said first processing tank is equipped with a jacketed heating plate for heating said beans in said first processing tank.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the bottom of said first processing tank further equipped with a pump, said pump circulates the beans from the bottom of said first processing tank up to said the top of tank.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein said first processing tank is equipped with an agitator, said agitator is used for stirring while said beans are cooking in said first processing tank.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein said first pulverizer is mounted at the bottom of said first processing tank for the primary crushing the cooked beans into the slurry.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein said second processing tank further comprises an agitator for stirring said beans inside said second processing tank and a jacketed heating plate for maintaining a proper temperature of said beans inside said second processing tank.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein said beans are soybeans.

10. A bean processing method, which is applied with the device of claim 1, comprising: (a) loading beans into a first processing tank;(b) adding the proper amount of the water into said first processing tank to proceed the bean soaking, cooking and primary crushing process;(c) transferring said primary crushed beans into a second pulverizer for fine crushing through a conjunction pipe; and(d) conducting said fine crushed beans into a second processing tank for stirring and a bean product with a integrated single cell wall of bean is obtained.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said crushing process in said step (b) is performed by said first pulverizer of said first processing tank.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said cooking process in said step (b) is performed at a temperature of 70-100° C. for 3-6 hours.

13. The method of claim 10, which further comprises a spray-dried step for drying a liquid bean product into a powder product.

14. The method of claim 10, which further comprises a CIP step, which is applied after completion of the producing process of bean products, to spray said hot water contained with the cleaning and sterilizing reagent to said first processing tank and said second processing tank for the purpose of cleaning and sterilizing.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said first processing tank and said second processing tank are equipped with an agitator, said agitator is used for stirring said beans in said tank.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein said bean product in said step (d) comprises a integrated single cell wall of bean.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein said beans are soybeans.