Stirring apparatus for foods

1 . A stirring apparatus for foods comprising:

an endless conveyer which has a conveying surface circulating in an endless manner and is arranged so that a longitudinal direction of the endless conveyer is inclined at a predetermined inclination angle with respect to a horizontal direction;

a plurality of cups each having a bottom plate, a side plate surrounding a peripheral edge of the bottom plate, and an opening formed at an upper end of the side plate, wherein a main ingredient which is a food is fed into the cup; and

a rotation mechanism which rotates each cup around a center line passing through a center of the bottom plate and a center of the opening of the cup at rotational positions,

wherein the plurality of cups is provided along the longitudinal direction and a lateral direction of the endless conveyer and is attached to the endless conveyer to be perpendicular to the conveying surface, and

the rotation mechanism comprises:

a plurality of driven elements moving along the longitudinal direction of the endless conveyer; and

a plurality of driving elements fixed on the rotational positions along the longitudinal direction of the endless conveyer, each of the plurality of driving elements is configured to drive the plurality of driven elements moving thereabove, and

each of the plurality of driven elements comprises:

a rotation shaft having one end fixed to the bottom plate of one of the plurality of cups; and

a driven magnet being a permanent magnet provided at the other end of the rotation shaft and

each of the plurality of driving elements comprises:

a driving magnet being a permanent magnet configured to face the driven magnet positioned above the driving magnet at a predetermined interval; and

a rotation driving device having an actuator configured to rotate the driving magnet, and

wherein a plurality of rotation driving devices and a plurality of driving magnets are disposed at a plurality of positions on an inner side of the endless conveyer opposite to the conveying surface for rotating the plurality of cups,

the plurality of rotation driving devices and the plurality of driving magnets have a one-to-one relationship such that a number of the plurality of rotation driving devices is identical to a number of the plurality of driving magnets, and

the number of the plurality of rotation driving devices and the number of the plurality of driving magnets are configured to be increased as a number of the plurality of cups in the lateral direction of the endless conveyer is increased.

2 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined inclination angle is 45° or more and 70° or less.

3 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 1 , wherein the endless conveyer comprises:

a pair of lower sprockets;

a pair of upper sprockets provided higher than the pair of lower sprockets;

a pair of chains respectively wound around the pair of lower sprockets and the pair of upper sprockets; and

a plurality of mounting plates installed on the pair of chains, wherein the cup, the rotation shaft, and the driven magnet are fixed to the mounting plate.

4 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a feeding chute provided above one end side of the endless conveyer and guiding the main ingredient to each cup; and

a discharge chute provided below the other end side of the endless conveyer and guiding the main ingredient discharged from the cup.

5 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 4 , further comprising:

an inlet shutter provided above, below, or inside the feeding chute and configured to be openable and closable; and

an outlet shutter provided above, below, or inside the discharge chute and configured to be openable and closable.

6 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 1 , further comprising a cleaning nozzle which ejects a cleaning liquid to each cup to clean the cup.

7 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 6 , further comprising a drying nozzle which ejects gas to each cup to dry the cup.

8 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 1 , further comprising a cleaning device which is provided below the endless conveyer and comprises a cleaning tank configured to be capable of storing a cleaning liquid up to a water level at which at least one of the plurality of cups conveyed by the endless conveyer is immersed.

9 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 1 , further comprising a heater which heats the plurality of cups.

10 . The stirring apparatus for foods according to claim 1 , wherein the main ingredient is boiled noodles.