Patent Application
20150047657
This is a US Non-Provisional Application which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201310357315.7 filed on Aug. 16, 2013, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to the field of tobacco electrical automatic control, particularly to a tobacco shred feeding treatment device and a method for improving the heat energy and feed liquid absorption efficiency of tobacco shred.
At present, during the manufacturing of tobacco shred making, there are two kinds of feeding treatment processes: tobacco flake feeding treatment process and tobacco shred feeding treatment process. The traditional shred making production lines all use tobacco flake feeding treatment process. In recent years, the tobacco shred feeding treatment process is increasingly applied in the cigarette production lines.
The tobacco shred feeding machine includes a roller 3′, a process warm-air pipe 4′, a power blower 5′, a heater 6′, a steam nozzle 7′, a feed liquid nozzle 8 and an air inlet 9′. The process warm-air A′ is blown by the power blower 5′, via the hot blast heater 6′ from the position above the central axis of the roller 3′, and flows into the roller 4′ in the same direction as the tobacco shred conveyed from the vibration groove 1′, and mixed with the tobacco shred. At the same time, the tunnel heating and humidifying equipment 2′ implements the heating and humidifying of tobacco shred, and the suitable temperature and humidity is advantageous to improve the feed liquid absorption rate of tobacco shred. The arrow direction B′ depicted in
The method of processing tobacco shred by the prior tobacco shred feeding treatment device has the following disadvantages:
1. The process warm-air A′ is blown into the roller 3′ at positions above the central axis of the roller 3′, only contacts with the tobacco shred falling down from above, has a small contact area with tobacco shred, cannot make sufficient heat exchange with the inner tobacco shred, which lead to the temperature and the moisture content of the tobacco shred cannot meet the process requirements. In order to ensure that the tobacco shred meet the process requirements of the temperature and the moisture content, it is necessary to increase the steam pressure to increase the steam injection amount and the speed of the process warm-air, so that the process warm-air with steam and feed liquid in the roller 3′ is directly blown to the end of the roller 3′ in the case of having not contacted with the tobacco shred and being absorbed sufficiently, and most of them are removed by the moisture removing blower 10′, easily to cause the phenomenon of tobacco shred moisture content and feed liquid absorption uneven and cause the waste of feed liquid and energy. At the same time, some of the feed liquid adhere onto the mesh belt of the moisture removing port C′, as time goes by, the feed liquid adhering onto the mesh belt will drop into the tobacco shred at the discharging port, easily to cause the appearance of macular tobacco.
2. The condensed water will be produced when the process warm-air A′ with steam come into contact with the low temperature process warm-air pipe, the condensed water goes into the feeding machine along with the process warm-air A′, and mixes directly with the tobacco shred, causing wet mass and water staining tobacco, which is disadvantageous for the manufacture of subsequent workstage and affects the quality of tobacco shred.
3. The tunnel heating and humidifying equipment 2′ need to be configured in the front end, and the equipment is easily to cause uneven tobacco shred moisture content, and the tobacco shred wet mass and scaling is easily to produce, which lead to the sensory quality reduction of tobacco shred. At the same time, the tunnel heating and humidifying equipment 2′ is a tobacco shred equipment having high energy consumption and serious environmental pollution problem, with high workload of daily cleaning and maintenance.
4. The steam nozzle 7′ is provided in the feeding end of the roller 3′, with the condensed water in the steam directly spraying onto the tobacco shred, causing tobacco shred wet mass and water staining tobacco. Internationally, there are some devices related to steam absorption efficiency of tobacco flake or tobacco shred, which adopt the way of steam nozzle directly injecting to the feed, easily to cause tobacco leaves or tobacco shred burnt, and more easily to cause obvious falling sensory quality reduction particularly for higher quality of flue-cured tobacco.
Here the accompany drawings forming part of the present application are shown to provide further understanding of the invention. The exemplary embodiments of the invention and the description thereof are used to explain the invention, and do not constitute the unsuitable limitation for the invention. In the accompany drawings:
Hereinafter, with reference to the accompany drawings and embodiments, the technical solution of the invention will be further described in detail.
As shown in
What's same with prior art is that: the tobacco shred feeding machine mainly comprises a roller 3, a process warm-air pipe 4, a power blower 5, a steam nozzle 6, a heater 7, a feed liquid nozzle 8 and an air inlet pipe 11. The process warm-air A is blown by the power blower 5, via the heater 7, from the air inlet pipe 11 into the roller 3, and mixed with the tobacco shred.
What's different from prior art is that: the air inlet pipe 11 is provided directly under the central axis of the roller 3, the opening of the air inlet pipe 11 faces up obliquely. As can be seen from
On the basis of the structure of prior tobacco shred feeding treatment device, the tunnel heating and humidifying equipment 2′ is omitted in the present invention, the original fixed air inlet pipe is changed into an angle-adjustable air inlet pipe, depending on the difference of the feed flow and the speed of the roller, by adjusting the suitable angle of air inlet pipe 11, the process warm-air A is ensured to contact with tobacco shred sufficiently, and the heat exchange and the feed liquid absorption are made uniformly, reducing the phenomenon of tobacco shred adhering onto the roller significantly, and reducing the waste of feed liquid and energy. The process warm-air speed within the roller 3 is adjusted to be 1.0 to 2.0 times of the travelling speed of tobacco shred in the roller 3 by adjusting the frequency of the power blower 5, further ensuring the time of the heat energy and feed liquid absorption of tobacco shred, reducing the wastage of process warm-air A with feed liquid due to being discharged by the moisture removing system.
A universal joint 10 is also provided, and it can be achieved that the opening of the air inlet pipe 11 may adjust its opening direction into any position within the roller according the requirements, with the universal joint as its center. The air inlet pipe 11 is in communication with the air outlet of the process warm-air pipe 4 via the universal joint 10. In this embodiment, the universal joint 10 is made of a food grade soft material having high temperature resistance, moisture resistance and good toughness, which can be directly available from the market.
In the above mentioned embodiment, as shown in
In the above-mentioned embodiment, the process warm-air pipe 4 is tilting upward in the upper portion of the roller 3 in relation to the direction of process warm-air, the steam nozzle 6 is installed between the power blower 5 and the heater 7, and at the same time injects the steam perpendicular to the process warm-air pipe 4, so that the condensed water carried in the steam can be discharged from the lowest point of the process warm-air pipe 4, avoiding to go into the heater 7 that cause the heater 7 bear heat-expansion and cold-contraction frequently to affect its service life; avoiding the high temperature steam to have an impact on the performance of power blower 5; solving the tobacco shred's burn caused by the high temperature steam injecting directly onto the tobacco shred to increase the temperature, especially avoiding the sensory quality reduction for higher quality of flue-cured tobacco; the injecting steam and the process warm-air are sufficiently mixed before go into the roller 3, with the uniformity of tobacco shred heat absorption improved.
In the above mentioned embodiments, the present invention may also include the condensed water collecting pipe 9, and the condensed water collecting pipe 9 is in communication with the air outlet of the process warm-air pipe 4, and the opening of the condensed water collecting pipe 9 faces downward, by providing the condensed water collecting pipe in the air outlet of the process warm-air pipe 4, the condensed water is completely prevented to go into the roller 3 with the process warm-air, the production of tobacco shred wet mass of and water staining tobacco is reduced, and the tobacco shred feeding effectiveness and the quality stability are improved.
In the above mentioned embodiments, the bottom surface of the condensed water collecting pipe 9 is provided with a device such as a spring sheet which airflow cannot go through but a preset amount of condensed water can go through due to gravity (not shown in the drawings), the area of the spring sheet is enough to completely cover the bottom opening of the condensed water collecting pipe 9, and one end of the spring sheet is fixedly connected to the bottom of the condensed water collecting pipe 9, while the other end is in suspension. Therefore, when the weight of condensed water on the spring sheet is not enough to push the spring sheet away, the suspension end of the spring sheet is affixed to the bottom surface of the condensed water collecting pipe 9, making the airflow cannot to go through.
In the above embodiments, the invention also comprises a temperature detection mechanism 2, the temperature detection portion of said temperature detection mechanism 2 is located inside the return air portion of said process warm-air pipe 4; the temperature display portion of said temperature detection mechanism 2 is located outside of said process warm-air pipe 4, and the temperature of the return air portion in said process warm-air pipe 4 can be detected with said temperature detection mechanism 2. By slightly adjusting the frequency of the power blower 5 and the steam injection amount of the steam nozzle 6, the difference value between the temperature of the return air part in the process warm-air pipe and the tobacco shred temperature at the discharging port 12 of the roller is within 1° C., and the temperature of the tobacco at the exit 9 of the roller is ensured to meet the process requirements. Therefore, the effectiveness and uniformity of heat energy and the feed liquid absorption of tobacco shred are further ensured.
The invention also provides a tobacco shred feeding treatment method using the tobacco shred feeding treatment device mentioned in the above embodiments, including the following steps:
1) Parameter design. When the controlling belt weigher in the front section workstage of the feeding machine sends out the feed presence signal, starting the steam nozzle (6) of tobacco shred feeding machine after a period of time to inject steam into the process warm-air (A) for heating the tobacco shred; opening the feeding nozzle (8) after another period of time to feed the heated tobacco shred;
2) Starting the production line, preheating the equipment, and making the physical tests after the completion of preheating;
3) Observing the throwing trajectory and throwed state of the tobacco shred after being delivered into the tobacco shred feeding machine under the action of rake nail, and in the case of continuous production, finding out an area which is most loose and in which the feed layer throwing surface is the largest during the tobacco shred throwing course at the feeding end in the roller 3;
4) Adjusting the orientation of the air inlet pipe 11, turning the opening direction of the air inlet pipe 11 directly opposite to the area which is most loose and in which the feed layer throwing surface is the largest during the tobacco shred throwing course selected from step 3);
5) Adjusting the steam injection amount of the steam nozzle 6 applied to the process warm-air pipe 4, and adjusting the temperature of the tobacco shred after being treated by the roller 3, such that the process requirements is fulfilled;
6) Adjusting the frequency of the power blower 5, such that the process warm-air speed within the roller 3 is adjusted to be 1.0 to 2.0 times of the travelling speed of tobacco shred in the roller 3 (the air speed in the roller 2 is generally designed to be 8-10 times of the flow rate of tobacco shred in the device manufactory), preferably making the steam inside the roller 3 just not to overflow;
7) Slightly adjusting the frequency of the process warm-air power blower 5 and the steam injection amount of steam nozzle 6:
Detecting the tobacco shred temperature in the discharging port 12 of the roller 3, and comparing it with the temperature detected by the temperature detection mechanism 2. When the temperature difference between them is greater than 1° C., reducing the frequency of the power blower 5 gradually, until the temperature difference between them is within 1° C.
Compare the temperature collected by the temperature detection mechanism 2 with the set value of the process requirements. When the collected temperature is higher than the process requirements, the steam injection amount of the steam nozzle 6 will be gradually reduced; when the collected temperature is lower than the process requirements, the steam injection amount of the steam nozzle 6 will be gradually increased, until the collected temperature conforms to the process requirements.
In the above method, the method of the present invention may also include the step of slightly adjusting the frequency of the power blower 5 and the steam injection amount of the steam nozzle 6, at the same time comparing the tobacco shred temperature in the discharging port 12 of the roller 3 with the temperature detected by the temperature detection mechanism 2, until the temperature difference between them being within 1° C. Therefore, the heat energy and feed liquid absorption efficiency and uniformity of tobacco shred is further ensured.
In the above method, the method of the present invention may also include the step of collecting condensed water generated in the process warm-air pipe 4 with the condensed water collecting pipe 9. The original fixed air inlet is changed into an angle-adjustable air inlet in the method of the present invention, at the same time, the condensed water collecting pipe 9 is provided in the air outlet of the process warm-air pipe 4, and the condensed water is completely prevented to go into the feeding roller 3 with the process warm-air.
Now the invention will be described in an example of a tobacco shred feeding machine of 3000 kg/h, in combination with the accompany drawings and the embodiments.
1) Parameter Design
The speed of the roller 3 is set to 10 RPM;
The rotation direction of the roller: in clockwise direction as seen from the feed direction;
The pressure of the steam nozzle 6 is set to 1.6 bar;
The frequency of the power blower 5 is set to 6 Hz;
The frequency of the moisture removing blower 1 is set to 6 Hz;
The process return air temperature 2 is set to 50° C.;
The pilot injection pressure of the feeding nozzle 8 is set to 0.8 bar.
Settings of the preheating mode: starting the roller 3, the heater 7, the power blower 5 simultaneously, turning off the moisture removing blower 1, the preheating will be completed when the process warm-air is preheated to 70° C. (collected by the temperature detection mechanism 2), and waiting for the feed.
Settings of the production mode: When the controlling belt weigher in the front section workstage of the feeding machine sends out the feed presence signal, starting the steam nozzle 6 of tobacco shred feeding machine after a delay of 25 seconds to inject steam into the process warm-air A, and heating the tobacco shred going into the roller 3, opening the feeding nozzle 8 after another delay of 15 seconds to feed the heated tobacco shred, at the same time starting the moisture removing blower 1, then the normal production starts.
2) Starting the production line, making physical test according to the process parameters set in step 1).
3) Observing the throwing trajectory and throwed state of the tobacco shred after being delivered into the tobacco shred feeding machine under the action of rake nail, and finding out an area which is most loose and in which the feed layer throwing surface is the largest during the tobacco shred throwing course at the feeding end in the roller 3.
4) Adjusting the orientation of the air inlet pipe 11, turning the opening direction of the air inlet pipe 11 directly opposite to the area which is most loose and in which the feed layer throwing surface is the largest during the tobacco shred throwing course selected from step 3). At this time the air inlet pipe 11 is inclined upward at an elevation angle of 45°, as shown in
5) Slightly adjusting the steam injection amount of steam nozzle 4 and the frequency of the power blower 3:
The temperature collected by the temperature detection mechanism 2 is automatically compared with the return air temperature in the process requirements (the set value is 50° C.), the automatic control system automatically adjusts the steam injection amount of the steam nozzle 6.
Detecting the tobacco shred temperature in the discharging port 12 of the roller 3, and comparing it with the temperature detected by the temperature detection mechanism 2 in the return air portion of the process warm-air pipe 4, the temperature difference between them is merely 0.6° C., and conform to the requirements of the above method. Therefore, it is not necessary to adjust the frequency of the power blower 5.
Through the above adjustment, the heat energy of the process warm-air and the feed liquid are sufficiently absorbed by the tobacco shred, the moisture removing air flow is reduced from 2650 m3/h to 318 m3/h, greatly reducing the wastage of the energy and the feed liquid. The condensed water collecting pipe is provided in the air outlet to eliminate the event of the condensed water going into the feed roller with the process warm-air, no wet mass and water staining tobacco is found, with the amount of tobacco shred affixing the roller being significantly reduced. The moisture content standard deviation of the outlet tobacco shred is only 0.10, and the outlet temperature standard deviation is only 0.15, improving the effectiveness and uniformity of the heat energy and the feed liquid absorption of tobacco shred significantly. At the same time, the tobacco shred wet mass and scaling is solved, and greatly improving the sensory quality of tobacco shred.
Finally, it should be understood that, the above mentioned embodiments are disclosed only for illustrative purposes and not limitative. Although the invention is described in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that modifications could be made for the specific implementation or equivalent substitution could be made for part of technical features without departing from spirit of the technical solution of the invention, all of which should be included in the scope of the claimed technical solution of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201310357315.7 | Aug 2013 | CN | national |
