Underwater ultrasonic thawing apparatus

Abstract

An underwater ultrasonic thawing apparatus includes a thawing treatment tank where thawing treatment water; an underwater ultrasonic vibrator configured to be fixed to an inner face of the thawing treatment tank and to emit ultrasound; a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the thawing treatment tank; a temperature adjuster configured to adjust the thawing treatment water to a predetermined temperature; a controller configured to control the underwater ultrasonic vibrator; and a separation and hold means configured to separate and hold a stuff to be thawed which is thrown in the thawing treatment tank and the underwater ultrasonic vibrator.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to an underwater ultrasonic thawing apparatus with respect to an already frozen stuff in all fields such as a frozen food and a frozen anatomy regarding medical clinical at present when the frozen stuff is distributed, wherein the underwater ultrasonic thawing apparatus emits a plurality of frequency bands of ultrasound to the frozen stuff at an ice temperature, enables an outer hull and core thereof to be simultaneously thawed, and reproduces freshness of the frozen stuff as when it was completely frozen.[0003]Furthermore, the underwater ultrasonic thawing apparatus of the invention is able to wash an outer surface of a thrown-in stuff and sterilize the stuff, not limited to a thawed stuff (which means “stuff to be thawed”), and to freeze the stuff as it is after washed.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]With respect to a current freezing technology, if an ambient environment of ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0030]According to the present invention there exists the following effect.

[0033]Consequently, according to the present invention, by delaying the thawing speed of the outer surface of the thawed stuff with the thawing treatment water of a temperature of approximately −5 degrees Celsius around the stuff, it is intended to prevent not only the freshness of the stuff from being degraded due to the outer surface being overheated, but also the thawing speed of the core portion from being delayed.

[0034]Furthermore, although thawing is conventionally in the air which is a heat transfer medium, in the present invention the thawing is adapted to be in the water where a heat transfer coefficient is higher than in the air. Thus it is possible to perform short-time thawing of the thawed stuff without using the natural thawing in the air that needs a longer time in thawing the stuff, and thus, it is not necessary to thawing the stuff in advance.

Problems solved by technology

On one hand, there exists a cause of a freshness degradation of a food in a bad environment until the food is frozen.

Or else, there exist various causes of the freshness degradation of a food from when the food is stored for a long time in the air of a warehouse of a low temperature to when the food is frozen, for example, due to a time elapse until the packing work of sorting the food and packing it in a box.

Furthermore, in thawing the thawed stuff, although the stuff is exposed in the atmospheric air for a long time, moisture is vaporized from the surface of the stuff due to humidity in the atmospheric air.

Then when the moisture is vaporized, the texture of the thawed stuff is destroyed and a drip flows out of the destroyed texture.

With respect to this point, it is also a problem to reduce the drip.

Furthermore, so called rapid thawing by a plasma charge radiation or an ultrasound radiation in the air is hardly different from thawing by a microwave and is not suitable for thawing fresh fishes and shells.

Then although it is known that the length of a required thawing time in the above thawing technology is not only a mere cause of a quality degradation due to the freshness degradation, but also additionally causes heavy tangible and intangible losses, the thawing technology has not progressed at all.

Furthermore, in any freezing technology described above, a person other than in charge cannot know a freezing process after a food is frozen; a consumer and a distributor perform thawing after the purchase of an already frozen stuff, and can firstly know its quality badness after they thaw the stuff.

Furthermore, in using a food the next day, even in a case of thawing the food from the previous day, there exists the food that cannot be refrozen after it is thawed; in this case there is no way other than putting the food on the shelf.

Furthermore, with respect to the temperature-difference thawing where an already frozen stuff is just like being left in the air over a long time, miscellaneous bacteria and pathogenic bacteria adhered to the frozen stuff also propagate, and therefore, the temperature-difference thawing is dangerous.

In a distribution firm and a food industry, thawing is performed from the previous day, taking a long time, in prospect of a sale scheduled amount of the next day.

On one hand, with respect to the surplus of already thawed stuffs, there exist many foods that cannot be refrozen, and in this case there exists no way other than putting the stuffs on the shelf; on the other hand, with respect to instantaneous refreezing, there is no facility thereof in a general household, a shop, and the like, and there exists no way other than throwing the stuffs in a refrigerator and freezing them over ten and some hours, and therefore, a value as a food is entirely damaged.

However, according to the above invention, there exists a problem that the thawed stuff thrown in contacts an ultrasonic vibrator for emitting ultrasound.

Therefore, there exists a problem that the ultrasound does not reach whole water, and that the thawed stuff is partial thawed.

Furthermore, even with respect to the natural thawing in the air, the thawed stuff is gradually thawed from the outer surface of the stuff toward the center, the core thereof; therefore, in order to early thaw the center portion may also be thought a method of leaving the stuff in the air where a temperature is higher; however, according to this method, the surface temperature of the stuff becomes higher and the freshness degradation occurs.

That is, according to the conventional thawing methods, although it is possible to perform thawing, there exists no way of enabling the center portion and outside of the thawed stuff to be simultaneously thawed.

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