Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Application of a gas – mist – smoke or vapor to a food...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-12
2004-10-12
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Application of a gas, mist, smoke or vapor to a food...
C099S451000, C099S477000, C426S315000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06803065
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus therefor for adhering smoke to farm products, marine products and livestock products or processed foods thereof and for infiltrating the smoke into them, to thereby manufacture smoked foods. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus therefor for adhering smoke to the aforementioned farm products and the like and for infiltrating the smoke into them, by utilizing a Coulomb force between the farm products and the like and the smoke electrified within an electric field.
BACKGROUND ART
There has been known a conventional electrical smoking method in which a pair of electric wires mutually separated by a predetermined distance are arranged within a chamber, works such as fish and meat are hung from the electric wires, a direct current or alternating current of a higher voltage (10 kV to 20 kV) is applied across the electric wires to thereby generate corona discharge, and furthermore, smoke is generated from a fire grate at the bottom of the chamber.
There has been known another conventional electrical smoking method in which a pair of mutually opposed electrodes are arranged within a chamber, food products such as fish and meat are arranged between the pair of electrodes, a higher voltage (such as 40 kV) is applied across the electrodes, and smoke generated by smoke generating means is introduced into the chamber.
In each of the aforementioned electrical smoking method, the smoke generated by the fire grate or the smoke generating means is supplied with ions thanks to the corona discharge, so that the thus electrified smoke is attracted to the food product acting as an electrode. This results in rapid adherence and infiltration of the smoke to and into the food product, to thereby provide a smoked food having a superior storage characteristic.
However, the aforementioned electrical smoking methods utilize an electric field within a corona discharged area, thereby causing a problem of an extremely large amount of electric power consumption and an enlarged size of the apparatus.
Further, in each of the aforementioned electrical smoking methods, since the corona discharge is conducted between the electrodes and the food product, the smoke ununiformly adheres to and infiltrates into the food product, thereby causing a problem of a deteriorated quality of the smoked food.
It is therefore a first object of the present invention to provide a smoking method and an apparatus therefor capable of reducing the amount of electric power consumption and of downsizing the apparatus.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a smoking method and an apparatus therefor capable of uniformly adhering and infiltrating smoke to and into a food product such as a farm product to thereby improve the quality of the smoked food.
It is a third object of the present invention to provide a smoking method and an apparatus therefor capable of improving an efficiency of adherence and infiltration of smoke to and into a food product, to thereby effectively utilize the smoke and finish the food product into a delicious smoked food.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
There will be described the constitution of the present invention for achieving the above objects.
The invention, as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 3
, is a smoking method comprising the steps of: transporting grounded food products
19
at a predetermined speed into a chamber
11
by transporting means
12
, the food products
19
comprising farm products, marine products and livestock products or processed foods thereof, and applying a DC voltage or AC voltage of 7 kV to 15 kV between a pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
disposed along the transporting means
12
within the chamber
11
so as to interpose the food product
19
between the pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
, so as not to start discharge.
According to the smoking method, application of the voltage between the pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
leads to generation of an electric field incapable of initiating discharge between the pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
to thereby electrify the smoke, and the thus electrified smoke adheres to and infiltrates into food products
19
by a Coulomb force based on the electric potential difference between the pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
. Further, since no discharge such as corona discharge is initiated between the electrode plates
13
,
14
and food products
19
, the electrified smoke uniformly adheres to and infiltrates into the food products
19
.
The invention, as shown in
FIGS. 9 and 10
or in
FIG. 11
, is a smoking method comprising the steps of: introducing smoke into a chamber
71
containing therein food products
19
and electrode plates
73
,
74
alternately arranged with each other at predetermined intervals, and applying a DC voltage or AC voltage of 7 kV to 15 kV between the electrode plates
73
,
74
or between the food products
19
, so as not to start discharge.
According to the smoking method application of the voltage between the electrode plates
73
,
74
or between food products
19
leads to generation of an electric field incapable of initiating discharge between the electrode plates
73
,
74
or between food products
19
to thereby electrify the smoke, and the thus electrified smoke adheres to and infiltrates into food products
19
by a Coulomb force based on the electric potential difference between the electrode plates
73
,
74
or between food products
19
.
The invention, as shown in
FIGS. 12 and 14
, is a smoking method comprising the steps of: introducing smoke into a chamber
91
containing therein first and second electrodes
111
,
112
arranged at predetermined intervals, and electrically connecting first and second food products
101
,
102
to the first and second electrodes
111
,
112
, respectively, and applying a DC voltage or AC voltage of 7 kV to 15 kV between the first and second electrodes
111
,
112
so as not to start discharge.
According to the smoking method, application of the voltage between the first and second electrodes
111
,
112
leads to generation of an electric field incapable of initiating discharge between the first and second food products
101
,
102
to thereby electrify the smoke, and the thus electrified smoke adheres to and infiltrates into first and second food products
101
,
102
by a Coulomb force based on the electric potential difference between the first and second food products
101
,
102
.
The invention is a smoking method of characterized in that the distance between the adjacent electrode plate and food product or between adjacent food products is 20 mm to 100 mm.
According to the smoking method there can be more assuredly prevented initiation of discharge such as corona discharge or streamer discharge between the adjacent electrode plate and food product or between the adjacent food products.
The invention as shown in
FIGS. 1 and 3
, is a smoking apparatus comprising: a chamber
11
having opposite ends thereof formed with an inlet
11
a
and an exit
11
b
, respectively, transporting means
12
moved into the chamber
11
from the inlet
11
a
toward the exit
11
b
, and adapted to transport a plurality of food products
19
spaced at predetermined intervals, the food products
19
comprising farm products, marine products and livestock products or processed foods thereof, a pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
disposed within the chamber
11
at predetermined distances from the food products
19
, respectively, along the longitudinal direction of the transporting means
12
so as to interpose the food products
19
between the pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
, smoke generating means
16
for generating smoke to be adhered to and infiltrated into the food products
19
, and for introducing the smoke into the chamber
11
, and a high voltage generating circuit
17
adapted to apply a DC voltage or AC voltage of 7 kV to 15 kV between the pair of electrode plates
13
,
14
so as not to start discharge, and adapted to ground the food produc
Higuchi Masao
Hoshino Hiroshi
Maruyama Toshihiko
Miyamori Mamoru
Saito Hiroshi
Unirex Co., Ltd.
Yeung George C.
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