Functional features and uses of the artificial shrimp meat forming machine

In recent years, surimi products (fish balls, fish cakes, fish sausages, fish rolls, fish patties, etc.) have become one of the most popular aquatic foods on the dining tables of families, hotels and restaurants. With the continuous expansion of the surimi product consumer market, the production of surimi products has gradually moved from family workshop style to factory production, and processing different products requires different forming machines. This article introduces an artificial shrimp meat forming machine that turns low-value surimi into shrimp meat. The designed production capacity of the machine is 30-40kg/h, the individual weight of the product shrimp meat is 16g, and the shape is realistic. This article explains the main structure, principle and technical keys of the machine.

1. Principle and technical keys of the artificial shrimp meat forming machine 1.1 Overall structure principle The shrimp meat forming machine developed here is composed of a surimi metering pump, a pouring mechanism, a coloring mechanism, a conveying device, a heating furnace, shrimp meat molds and an opening and closing mechanism, a transmission system, a frame, etc. The shrimp meat forming mold is a rotating open-close two-half forming mold, installed on the conveyor chain. The electromagnetic speed-regulating motor drives the driving sprocket, conveyor chain and driven sprocket through the speed change mechanism and the Geneva mechanism to move intermittently, thereby making the shrimp meat forming mold move intermittently. When the shrimp meat forming mold stops moving and enters the right-angle groove of the mold opening cam, the pouring mechanism moves down, the colorant spray head on it is inserted into the shrimp-shaped cavity inlet of the shrimp meat forming mold, the surimi pouring head on it presses the shrimp meat forming mold tightly, and the clamping mechanism clamps it. The coloring metering pump mixes the colorant (edible red pigment) with air and sprays it into the inner cavity of the shrimp meat forming mold. At the same time, the surimi metering pump pours the prepared surimi raw material through the screw feeder into the inner cavity of the shrimp meat forming mold. The pouring mechanism moves up and leaves the shrimp meat forming mold, and the clamping mechanism is released. Then the conveyor chain brings the shrimp meat forming mold into the heating electric furnace, and after heating for a certain time, the surimi in the shrimp meat forming mold is gelled and formed. When the shrimp meat forming mold moves to the lower left of the conveyor chain, under the action of the mold opening cam, the shrimp meat forming mold is opened, and the artificial shrimp meat in the mold cavity falls out of the mold onto the finished product conveyor belt and is sent to the finished product packaging area. After the shrimp meat forming mold leaves the mold opening cam, the shrimp meat forming mold closes, completing one working cycle. The key and difficult points of the design include: surimi metering, the mold and mold opening and closing, and the action sequence, etc.

1.2 Structural principle of the surimi metering pump The surimi metering pump is mainly composed of a valve body, eight plungers arranged in parallel, and a valve core, etc. Under the action of the driving mechanism, the plungers perform reciprocating intermittent movements of sucking material, stopping, pushing material, and stopping, while the valve core rotates at a constant speed to cooperate with the movement of the plungers, sucking the surimi through the hopper (connected to the feed connecting plate) into the plunger cylinders, and after a short stay, pressing it from the discharge port (connected to the discharge connecting plate 6) through the pipeline into the mold cavity, and after another stay, entering the next cycle. The valve core of this structure is a cylinder milled with eight ring-shaped grooves with a central angle of 2700, cooperating with eight plungers. The characteristics of this structure are: the valve core completes the opening and closing of the valve during constant-speed rotation, greatly simplifying the corresponding movement mechanism; the eight plungers are driven by the same driving mechanism, and the phases of the multiple pumps are consistent.

1.3 Structural principle of the forming mold The shrimp meat forming mold is composed of two half forming molds, a hinge shaft, springs, rollers, etc. The two half forming molds are composed of left and right half molds, connected by the hinge shaft, and the two half molds can rotate relative to each other around the hinge shaft to complete opening and closing. The half molds are designed with eight half shrimp-shaped cavities, which form a complete shrimp-shaped cavity after closing. The function of the springs in the structure is to make the opening and closing reset of the mold reliable. The rollers are provided to reduce movement resistance when the mold opens and closes. This structure is ingeniously designed, greatly simplifying the mold opening and closing mechanism.

1.4 Principle of the mold opening and closing mechanism The shrimp meat mold opening and closing mechanism is composed of a conveyor chain with bent plate attachments, a hanging plate, mold opening rollers, a fixed mold opening cam, etc. The mold opening rollers are fixedly connected to the hanging plate, which has an elongated slot, and the mold rollers move up and down in the slot. The mold has an open state and a closed state. The mold works in the closed state for most of the time. During this stage, the mold does not contact the mold opening cam and is closed under the action of the mold springs, as shown in the figure. When the mold rollers contact the mold opening cam, the mold rollers move downward along the slot of the hanging plate, and the mold opening rollers push the mold open, separating the two half molds, which is the mold open state.

2. Trial production of the artificial shrimp meat forming machine and its impact Most enterprises in our country mostly produce low-value surimi raw materials, and most of the raw materials are sold to Japan and the United States; the equipment for producing high-value-added surimi products also relies on imports from abroad, and there is very little equipment designed and manufactured domestically in China. Developing processing equipment for high-value-added products in our country has great market potential. The successful trial production of the artificial shrimp meat forming machine has opened up another direction for the deep processing of low-value surimi, reversing the previous situation in which most of our country's surimi processing industry exported low-value-added surimi raw materials, and strongly promoting the development of the surimi processing industry in the direction of producing high-value-added surimi products.