Patent Publication Number: US-11378334-B2

Title: Spray drum system

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 109205933, filed May 14, 2020 which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Field of Invention 
     The present disclosure relates to a spray drum system for manufacturing a dry food. 
     Description of Related Art 
     Most food products such as baby rice malt extract contain powders of consistent color. Because the color of the various raw materials of the product and the natural solid particle materials after a long time of mixing, stirring and heating, the color of the solid particle materials would have disappeared eventually, and the nutrients in the solid particles cannot be completely preserved. Therefore, suppliers of related products need to develop an innovative spray drum system to solve the above-mentioned problems. 
     SUMMARY 
     In one or more embodiments, a spray drum system includes a drum drying device and a spray device. The spray device is configured to spray solid particles on the drum drying device. The spray device includes a feeding hopper, a vibrator, a pneumatic conveyor and a high-pressure air source. The feeding hopper is configured to accommodate the solid particles. The vibrator is connected with an output port of the feeding hopper and configured to vibrate the feeding hopper and output the solid particles and control an output rate of the solid particles. The pneumatic conveyor is configured to receive the solid particles output from the vibrator and spray over the drum drying device. The high-pressure air source is connected with the pneumatic conveyor and configured to supply a gas driving force required to transport and spray the solid particles. 
     In one or more embodiments, the spray device further includes a solenoid valve connected between the high-pressure air source and the pneumatic conveyor and configured to control a timing to pass or pause airflows from the high-pressure air source. 
     In one or more embodiments, the spray device further includes a filter pressure regulation and lubrication control valve connected between the high-pressure air source and the solenoid valve to separate moisture and impurities in the airflows, control an air pressure, and supply lubrication oil. 
     In one or more embodiments, the pneumatic conveyor further includes a receiving hopper configured to receive the solid particles output from the vibrator. 
     In one or more embodiments, the vibrator further includes a feeding tray located below the output port of the feeding hopper, and configured to vibrate and feed the solid particles to the receiving hopper. 
     In one or more embodiments, the pneumatic conveyor further includes a hose configured to convey the solid particles to the drum drying device. 
     In one or more embodiments, the drum drying device includes two drums. 
     In sum, the spray drum system disclosed herein includes a drum drying device and a spray device. The spray device is used to spray the solid particles with natural color directly onto the food slurry on the drum such that the drum drying device presses the solid particles and the food slurry together into flakes and dries and sterilizes them, which not only keep the solid particles with natural color in the finished product but also provide consumers with richer nutrition and better food safety. If the color food chips are mixed by a dry mixing process, there is a risk of contamination, and the purchased color chips (vegetable chips or fruit chips) are not subjected to high heat treatment. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a spray drum system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 1 , which illustrates a spray drum system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. A spray drum system  100  includes a drum drying device  140  and a spray device. The spray device is used to spray solid particles of food over the drum drying device. The drum drying device  140  includes two drums  142  and a pouring device  144  etc. The pouring device  144  is used to inject a properly-formulated food slurry (such as starch slurry, etc.) on the two drums  142 . When the heated drums  142  rolls, the food slurry adhered to a surface of each drum  142  may be heated and dried. After heating for a proper time, dried flakes of the food slurry may be scraped off the surface of the drums  142 , and then the subsequent process can be continued. The drum drying device  140  shown in the FIGURE is just an example. The size of the two drums may be different (for example, a large drum with a small drum). The two drums are not limited to horizontal arrangement (for example, a small drum may be located above a large drum). The rolling directions of the two drums are not limited to the directions shown in the FIGURE (for example, the two drums may roll in directions opposite to the directions in the FIGURE). 
     The spray device includes a feeding hopper  102 , a vibrator  104 , a pneumatic conveyor  130 , a high-pressure air source  120 , and so on. The feeding hopper  102  is used to accommodate the solid particles of food to be sprayed. The feeding hopper  102  includes a cone-shaped part to control an output rate of the solid particles. A bottom end of the cone-shaped part is an output port  102   a . The support frame  103  is used to fix the feeding hopper  102  above the vibrator  104 . 
     The vibrator  104  has an L-shaped connection arm  105  coupled to the output port  102   a  of the feeding hopper  102 . When the vibrator  104  operates, it can drive the feeding hopper  102  to vibrate synchronously, and then output the solid particles through the output port  102   a . The vibrator  104  also includes a feeding tray  106  below the output port  102   a  of the feeding hopper  102 . When the vibrator  104  operates, the synchronously vibrating feeding tray  106  receives the solid particles from the output port  102   a , and controls a vibration frequency to regulate a feed rate of the solid particles to a receiving hopper  134 . 
     The pneumatic conveyor  130  is used to receive the solid particles output by the vibrator  104 , and conveys and sprays the solid particles to the drum drying device  140 . A left end of the pneumatic conveyor  130  is provided with a receiving hopper  134  for receiving the solid particles output by the feeding tray  106  of the vibrator  104 . A right part of the pneumatic conveyor  130  is a hose  132  for conveying the solid particles to the drum drying device  140 . A spray end of the hose  132  may be fixed to a spray rack (not shown in the FIGURE) to spray solid particles onto the drum drying device  140 . 
     The high-pressure air source  120  is connected to the pneumatic conveyor  130  to provide the gas driving force required to transport the solid particles. The system may be equipped with a solenoid valve  124 , which is connected between the high-pressure air source  120  and the pneumatic conveyor  130  to control a timing to pass or pause airflows from the high-pressure air source so as to control a spraying rate of the solid particles. The system may be additionally equipped with a filter pressure regulation and lubrication control valve  122 , which is connected between the high-pressure air source  120  and the solenoid valve  124 . The filter pressure regulation and lubrication control valve  122  has the function of separating moisture and impurities in the airflows output by the high-pressure air source  120  and supplying lubrication oil to the solenoid valve  124 . It can also control the air pressure entering the pneumatic conveyor  130  to control the spraying rate of the solid particles. 
     The above spray device is used to spray natural colored solid particles of food onto the undried food slurry adhered to the drums  142  of the drum drying device  140 . The solid particles are heated by the drums  142  and rolled into thin slices and heated for an appropriate time. Therefore, the food slurry and solid particles are thermally treated with high temperatures, which can effectively kill the harmful bacteria in the product, and ensure food safety of infants, and keep the natural color and nutrients of the solid particles in the finished product. 
     In summary, the spray drum system disclosed herein includes a drum drying device and a spray device. The spray device is used to spray the solid particles with natural color directly onto the food slurry on the drum such that the drum drying device presses the solid particles and the food slurry together into flakes and dries and sterilizes them, which not only keep the solid particles with natural color in the finished product but also provide consumers with richer nutrition and better food safety. If the color food chips are mixed by a dry mixing process, there is a risk of contamination, and the purchased color chips (vegetable chips or fruit chips) are not subjected to a proper heat treatment. 
     Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.