Patent Description:
Pepper pungency degree is classified into mildly pungent, moderately pungent, highly pungent and very highly pungent according to human perception. Currently, our company produces different pepper powder products based on pepper raw materials of different pungency degrees. However, pepper purchased from various regions has differences in pungency degree, due to pepper's planting and growth climates. Even though the capsaicin contents of the same variety are different, degree of pungency varies. Thus, the produced pepper powder products have non-uniform pungency degree, and some pepper powders have different pungency degrees with the calibrated pungency degrees.

In order to solve the above problems, our company filed an invention patent of <CIT>, a pepper pretreatment equipment for reducing the pungency degree difference of the hotpot condiment is characterized in that different batches of pepper powders are uniformly mixed through a storage mechanism, a rotating mechanism and a stirring structure, so that the pungency degree difference is reduced.

However, in actual production process, the storage mechanism is annular, and if there are differences in the pepper powders fed to each portion of the discharge hopper, the stirring structure cannot homogenize the pepper powders at each portion of the discharge hopper, and thus there is still a small difference in the pungency degree of the pepper powders finally taken out by the take-out mechanism.

The present application aims to provide a homogenization apparatus for pepper raw materials with a specific pungency degree, which solves the problem in the prior art that there is still a small difference in the pungency degree of the pepper powders.

The basic technical solutions are as follows: a homogenization apparatus for pepper raw materials, including a base, and an annular storage tank and a stirring barrel which are coaxially arranged with the base and respectively fixed to the base, the stirring barrel is positioned under the storage tank, the bottom center of the stirring barrel is fixedly connected to a rotating shaft, the stirring barrel is rotationally drivable to rotate together with the rotating shaft about the axis of the rotating shaft, the rotating shaft extends upward into the storage tank, a sleeve is provided on an outer side of the rotating shaft, the sleeve is rotatably connected to the rotating shaft, so that the stirring barrel rotates relative to the storage tank; a portion of the sleeve accommodated in the stirring barrel is fixedly connected with a stirring part, an upper end of the rotating shaft is fixedly connected with a connecting plate, one end of the connecting plate away from the rotating shaft extends into the storage tank and is connected with a rotatable stirring shaft, and a plurality of stirring blades are fixed to the stirring shaft; an inner wall of the storage tank is provided with a plurality of discharge chutes leading to the stirring tank, and the stirring shaft and the rotating shaft are connected via a transmission assembly.

The advantageous effects: after laying the pepper powders layer by layer in the storage tank, as long as the stirring barrel and the storage tank are relatively rotated under a power device, that is, the rotating shaft is made to rotate with respect to the sleeve, and then the stirring shaft and the stirring blades are made to move along the annular storage tank, during the movement, the transmission assembly enables the stirring shaft and the stirring blades to rotate, so that the pepper powders can be uniformly mixed in the storage tank. During the stirring process, the pepper powders at each portion of the storage tank falls from the discharge chute into the stirring barrel due to the stirring action, and the relative movement of the stirring part and the stirring barrel achieves remixing of the pepper powders. Compared with the prior art, this solution reduces the cost, while further reducing the difference in the pungency degree of the pepper powders.

Further, the transmission assembly includes a primary bevel gear fixed to the sleeve and a secondary bevel gear which is arranged on the connecting plate and meshed with the primary bevel gear.

Compared with other transmission structures, the bevel gear is large in transmission torque and convenient for power steering.

Further, the transmission assembly further includes a transmission pulley fixedly connected to the secondary bevel gear and the stirring shaft respectively, a transmission part is connected between the transmission pulleys, and the transmission part includes a belt or a chain.

The belt and the chain can change the path according to the shape of the connecting plate, for example, at a bend, the steering pulley can be used for steering conveniently. Since the transmission part will follow the movement of the connecting plate, after the belt or the chain changes the path along with the connecting plate, the chain or the connecting plate is less affected by the outside, and the stability is guaranteed.

Further, the connecting plate is fixedly connected to a right-angled plate, and the secondary bevel gear is arranged on the right-angled plate and rotatably connected to the right-angled plate.

When compared to the case that the secondary bevel gear is directly rotatably connected to the connecting plate, the secondary bevel gear is disposed on the right-angled plate, which can reduce a lot of steering transmission parts, thereby minimizing the transmission energy loss.

Further, a housing is fixedly connected to the connecting plate at a position corresponding to the transmission pulley on the stirring shaft.

The house can prevent the pepper powders from entering between the transmission part and the transmission pulley, thereby affecting the stability of the transmission.

Further, the stirring barrel is rotatably connected to the base, the stirring barrel is connected to a driving means, the base is fixed with a rack, and the storage tank is fixedly connected to the rack. In this way, the driving means can drive the stirring barrel to rotate relative to the storage tank.

Further, the rotating shaft is further fixedly connected with a straight flat plate, and the straight flat plate is rotatably connected with a feed pipe. When the stirring barrel rotates relative to the storage tank, the feed pipe moves along the storage tank, thereby laying the pepper powders layer by layer in the storage tank.

Further, the stirring barrel is fixedly connected to the base, the base is fixed with a rack, the storage tank is rotatably connected to the rack, and the storage tank is connected to a driving means. In this way, the driving means drives the storage tank to rotate relative to the stirring barrel.

Further, a discharge gap is provided between the sleeve and the rotating shaft, and the sleeve is communicated with a discharge pipe. The discharge pipe is connected to a negative pressure pump, and the pepper powders can be sucked out from the stirring barrel, thereby realizing discharge.

Further, the stirring part includes a spiral blade. Compared with a traditional straight stirring rod, the spiral blade can circumferentially stir the pepper powders, and meanwhile, the pepper powders can be vertically raised and flipped, thereby improving the stirring effect.

Hereinafter, the present application is further illustrated in detail in combination with the specific embodiment.

Reference numerals in the drawings: <NUM>-base; <NUM>-storage tank; <NUM>-feed pipe; <NUM>-discharge chute; <NUM>-connecting rod; <NUM>-sleeve; <NUM>-primary bevel gear; <NUM>-straight flat plate; <NUM>-stirring barrel; <NUM>-rotating shaft; <NUM>-connecting plate; <NUM>-stirring shaft; <NUM>-spiral blade; <NUM>-discharge pipe; <NUM>-secondary bevel gear; <NUM>-belt pulley; <NUM>-right-angled plate; <NUM>-belt; <NUM>-motor.

As shown in <FIG>, disclosed is a homogenization apparatus for pepper raw materials with a specific pungency degree, in which a base <NUM> is included, a stirring barrel <NUM> and a storage tank <NUM> are arranged on the base <NUM>, the storage tank <NUM> is positioned over the stirring barrel <NUM>, the storage tank <NUM> and the stirring barrel <NUM> are coaxially arranged, and the storage tank <NUM> and the base <NUM> are fixed via a rack. The storage tank <NUM> is annular, the inner wall of the storage tank <NUM> is lower than the outer wall thereof, and a plurality of discharge chutes <NUM> are formed in the inner wall of the storage tank <NUM>.

The center of the storage tank <NUM> is a through hole, the through hole is provided with a sleeve <NUM>, the sleeve <NUM> and the storage tank <NUM> are coaxially arranged, and a plurality of connecting rods <NUM> are welded on the outer wall of the sleeve <NUM>, and the connecting rods <NUM> are all welded and fixed to the inner wall of the storage tank <NUM>. The lower end of the sleeve <NUM> extends into the stirring barrel <NUM> and is fixedly connected with a spiral blade <NUM>.

The lower end of the stirring barrel <NUM> is rotatably connected to the base <NUM> via a rotating shaft and a bearing, an annular rack is fixed on the outer circumferential wall of the stirring barrel <NUM>, the rack is meshed with an intermediate gear, the intermediate gear is rotatably connected to the base <NUM>, the intermediate gear is meshed with a power gear, and the power gear is connected with a motor <NUM> fixed to the rack.

A rotating shaft <NUM> is fixedly connected in the stirring barrel <NUM>, the rotating shaft <NUM> is coaxial with the sleeve <NUM>, and a discharge gap with the width of about <NUM> is provided between the rotating shaft <NUM> and the inner wall of the sleeve <NUM>. The middle of the sleeve <NUM> is communicated with a discharge pipe <NUM>, the discharge pipe <NUM> extends through a gap between the upper end of the stirring barrel <NUM> and the lower end of the storage tank <NUM>, and the discharge pipe is connected to a negative pressure pump after extending out.

The rotating shaft <NUM> is rotatably connected to the upper end of the sleeve <NUM> through a bearing. An upper end of the rotating shaft <NUM> is welded with a connecting plate <NUM>, and one end of the connecting plate <NUM> away from the rotating shaft <NUM> is vertically bent and extends into the storage tank <NUM>. A stirring shaft <NUM> is rotatably connected to one end of the connecting plate <NUM> in the storage tank <NUM>, and a plurality of stirring blades are fixed on the stirring shaft <NUM>. The upper end of the rotating shaft <NUM> is further fixedly connected with a straight flat plate <NUM>, one end of the straight flat plate <NUM> away from the rotating shaft <NUM> is provided with a vertical through hole, and a feed pipe <NUM> is rotatably connected in the vertical through hole, and the feed pipe <NUM> is a flexible hose.

The stirring shaft <NUM> and the sleeve <NUM> are connected via a transmission assembly. The transmission assembly includes a primary bevel gear <NUM> fixed at an upper end of the sleeve <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, the connecting plate <NUM> is fixedly connected to a right-angled plate <NUM>, and the right-angled plate <NUM> is rotatably connected to the secondary bevel gear <NUM> which is meshed with the primary bevel gear <NUM>. The secondary bevel gear <NUM> is coaxially fixedly connected to a transmission pulley. The transmission pulley is a belt pulley <NUM>, and the stirring shaft <NUM> is also fixedly connected to the belt pulley <NUM>. A looped belt <NUM> is connected between the two belt pulleys <NUM>. A protective housing (as shown by dashed lines in <FIG>) is fixedly connected to the connecting plate <NUM> at a position corresponding to the belt pulley <NUM> on the stirring shaft <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, a steering pulley (not shown) is rotatably connected at a bending position of the connecting plate <NUM>, and the steering pulley can steer the belt <NUM>, so that the belt <NUM> extends from the primary bevel gear <NUM> to the stirring shaft <NUM> along the shape of the connecting plate <NUM>.

When in use, the pepper powder processed in the previous step is continuously fed into the storage tank <NUM> from the feed pipe <NUM>, and after the motor <NUM> is started, the motor <NUM> drives the stirring barrel <NUM> to rotate through the rack. When the stirring barrel <NUM> rotates, the rotating shaft <NUM> rotates with the stirring barrel <NUM>, the rotating shaft <NUM> drives the stirring shaft <NUM> and the feed pipe <NUM> to move circumferentially along the storage tank <NUM>, and when the feed pipe <NUM> moves circumferentially, pepper powders in different time periods can be laid in the storage tank <NUM> layer by layer. As shown in <FIG>, the stirring shaft <NUM> moves circumferentially in a counterclockwise direction relative to the center of the rotating shaft <NUM>. The secondary bevel gear <NUM> moves circumferentially relative to the primary bevel gear <NUM>, so as to enable the secondary bevel gear <NUM> to rotate relative to the right-angled plate <NUM>. The secondary bevel gear <NUM> rotates to drive the belt pulley <NUM> to rotate. Finally, the stirring shaft <NUM> and the stirring blade are driven by the belt <NUM> to rotate, so that the stirring shaft <NUM> and the stirring blade rotate counterclockwise as shown in <FIG>. Thus, the pepper powder in the storage tank <NUM> is stirred.

During the stirring process, if the stirring shaft <NUM> moves to the position of the discharge chute <NUM>, the stirring blade can push out part of the pepper powders at each portion of the storage tank <NUM> from the discharge chute <NUM>. The pushed-out pepper powder falls into the stirring barrel <NUM>. Since the stirring barrel <NUM> rotates continuously, while the sleeve <NUM> is fixed to the storage tank <NUM>, the stirring barrel <NUM> rotates relative to the spiral blade <NUM> on the sleeve <NUM>, and the stirring barrel <NUM> rotates relative to the spiral blade <NUM> with the pepper powder so as to realize the stirring of the pepper powder again.

During the stirring process of the spiral blade <NUM>, the negative pressure pump generates a negative pressure in the discharge pipe <NUM>, and the pepper powder in the stirring barrel <NUM> can be sucked out from the discharge gap between the sleeve <NUM> and the rotating shaft <NUM>, thereby realizing discharge.

Claim 1:
A homogenization apparatus for pepper raw materials, comprising a base (<NUM>), and an annular storage tank (<NUM>) and a stirring barrel (<NUM>) coaxially arranged with the base (<NUM>) and respectively fixed to the base (<NUM>), characterized in that, the stirring barrel (<NUM>) is positioned under the storage tank (<NUM>), the bottom center of the stirring barrel (<NUM>) is fixedly connected to a rotating shaft (<NUM>), the stirring barrel (<NUM>) is rotationally drivable to rotate together with the rotating shaft (<NUM>) about the axis of the rotating shaft (<NUM>), the rotating shaft (<NUM>) extends upward into the storage tank (<NUM>), a sleeve (<NUM>) is provided on an outer side of the rotating shaft (<NUM>), the rotating shaft (<NUM>) is coaxial with the sleeve (<NUM>), so that the stirring barrel (<NUM>) rotates relative to the storage tank (<NUM>); a portion of the sleeve (<NUM>) accommodated in the stirring barrel (<NUM>) is fixedly connected with a stirring part, an upper end of the rotating shaft (<NUM>) is fixedly connected with a connecting plate (<NUM>), one end of the connecting plate (<NUM>) away from the rotating shaft (<NUM>) extends into the storage tank (<NUM>) and is connected with a rotatable stirring shaft (<NUM>), and a plurality of stirring blades are fixed to the stirring shaft (<NUM>); an inner wall of the storage tank (<NUM>) is provided with a plurality of discharge chutes (<NUM>) leading to the stirring tank (<NUM>), and the stirring shaft (<NUM>) and the rotating shaft (<NUM>) are connected via a transmission assembly.