2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Challenge of Establishing a New Theory of Stirring and Mixing Operations by Introducing Human Motion Imitation

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	20K21110
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 27:Chemical engineering and related fields
Research Institution	Kobe University
Principal Investigator	Ohmura Naoto 神戸大学, 工学研究科, 教授 (50223954)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	白杉直子神戸大学, 工学研究科, 非常勤講師 (80243294) 本多佐知子神戸大学, 工学研究科, 非常勤講師 (60514916) 増田勇人大阪公立大学, 大学院工学研究科, 講師 (90781815) 祇園景子神戸大学, バリュースクール, 准教授 (70533404)
Project Period (FY)	2020-07-30 – 2023-03-31
Keywords	撹拌・混合操作 / 人間動作模倣 / 動作解析 / 撹拌動作 / 調理プロセス
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Focusing on the Urasenke's action of preparing matcha (powdered green tea), a motion analysis was conducted to extract the elements necessary for fine frothing. As an application to industrial processes, we evaluated the mixing performance of a swirling agitator blade that mimics human stirring motion. Focusing on ice cream freezing, we also tried to control the internal structure of ice cream by stirring and mixing. Through these studies, we found that a reciprocating motion that shears the surface of the liquid more is effective for the stirring motion aimed at creating foam, while a circular motion is effective for mixing the substance uniformly. We also found that changing the stirring speed in response to changes in the physical properties of the agitated object is important for controlling the physical properties of the product.
Free Research Field	移動現象論
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	従来、化学プロセスを設計・操作するための学問である化学工学における撹拌・混合の研究および、技術開発は、化学装置である撹拌槽と撹拌を行うための撹拌翼を起点としてなされており、学問の体系化もこれらをベースにしてなされてきたが、本研究において、人間の撹拌動作の基礎要素として往復運動、旋回運動に着目して、これらの運動が撹拌に性能に及ぼす効果を明らかにすることができた。これらの知見が今後の新規な混合方法の開発に繋がることが期待される。