CN110811333A

CN110811333A - Beverage supply device

Info

Publication number: CN110811333A
Application number: CN201910700406.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 西川洋平
Original assignee: Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-08-09
Filing date: 2019-07-31
Publication date: 2020-02-21
Anticipated expiration: 2039-07-31
Also published as: JP7155732B2; JP2020026272A; CN110811333B

Abstract

The present invention relates to a beverage supply device. The beverage supply device can perform a replenishing operation, a disposal operation, and the like. The beverage supply device includes: a device body having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, having an opening on a front surface of a front wall portion, and having a beverage producing portion for producing a beverage provided therein; and a front door swingably provided at one side edge portion of the front opening of the apparatus main body for opening and closing the front opening, the beverage supply apparatus supplying the beverage produced in the beverage production unit to the cup through a beverage supply unit provided so as to protrude upward from a top wall portion of the apparatus main body, wherein the beverage production unit includes: an extraction unit disposed in the vicinity of the front surface opening, for extracting a beverage from a beverage material and hot water; a hot water tank disposed behind the extraction unit, and configured to generate and store hot water supplied to the extraction unit; and a water tank disposed at a side of the extraction unit and storing water supplied to the hot water tank.

Description

Beverage supply device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a beverage supply device.

Background

Conventionally, there is known a beverage supply device such as a coffee maker that generates coffee as a beverage by performing extraction processing or the like on, for example, coffee bean powder and dropping liquid (japanese: ドリッピング) and supplies the coffee to a cup as a container.

In this beverage supply device, a beverage is generated in a beverage generation portion inside a rectangular parallelepiped device main body, and the beverage is supplied to a cup through a beverage supply portion provided so as to protrude upward from a top wall portion of the device main body (see, for example, patent document 1).

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 8-308737

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In such a beverage supply device, it is necessary to perform a replenishing operation of a beverage raw material such as coffee beans, a replenishing operation of water and the like, a discarding operation of extracted dregs, and the like, and efficiency of these operations is required.

In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a beverage supply device capable of performing a replenishing operation, a disposal operation, and the like in a satisfactory manner.

Means for solving the problems

In order to achieve the above object, a beverage supply device according to the present invention includes: a device body having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, having an opening on a front surface of a front wall portion, and having a beverage producing portion for producing a beverage provided therein; and a front door swingably provided at one side edge portion of the front opening of the apparatus main body for opening and closing the front opening, wherein the beverage supply apparatus supplies the beverage generated in the beverage generation unit to the container through a beverage supply unit provided so as to protrude upward from a top wall portion of the apparatus main body, the beverage generation unit including: an extraction unit disposed in the vicinity of the front surface opening and extracting a beverage from a beverage material and hot water; a hot water tank disposed behind the extraction unit, the hot water tank generating and storing hot water to be supplied to the extraction unit; and a water tank disposed at a side of the extraction unit and storing water supplied to the hot water tank.

In the beverage supplying device, the water tank is disposed on one side edge of the front opening, and the extracting means is disposed on the other side edge of the front opening.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that, in the beverage supply device, the beverage supply device includes an extraction unit support member that supports the extraction unit such that the extraction unit is slidable in the front-rear direction through the front surface opening.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that, in the above beverage supply device, the beverage supply device includes a tank support member that supports the tank so that the tank can slide in the front-rear direction through the front surface opening.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the present invention, since the extraction means for extracting a beverage from a beverage raw material and hot water is disposed in the vicinity of the front surface opening, the hot water tank for generating and storing the hot water supplied to the extraction means is disposed behind the extraction means, and the water tank for storing the water supplied to the hot water tank is disposed on the side of the extraction means, the extraction means and the water tank are disposed on the front side inside the apparatus main body, the beverage raw material and the water can be easily replenished, and the extraction residue can be easily discarded. Therefore, the effect of enabling the replenishing operation, the discarding operation, and the like to be performed satisfactorily is obtained.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a beverage supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a control system characteristic of the beverage supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a beverage supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the device body shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the apparatus main body shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the apparatus main body shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a state where the tank supporting member and the extraction unit supporting member shown in fig. 5 and 6 are slid forward.

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the beverage supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional view of an upper structural element of the apparatus main body shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the beverage supplying part shown in fig. 8 and 9.

Fig. 11 is an exploded perspective view of the nozzle portion shown in fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a sectional view of the nozzle shown in fig. 10 and 11.

Fig. 13 is a sectional view of the nozzle shown in fig. 10 and 11.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the beverage supply process performed by the control unit shown in fig. 2.

Description of the reference numerals

1. A beverage supply device; 10. a device main body; 11. a front wall portion; 11a, front surface opening; 14. a top wall portion; 14a, a top surface; 14b, edge end; 15. a placement part; 16. a window portion; 20. a front surface door; 30. a beverage generating part; 31. a water tank; 32. a hot water tank; 33. an extraction unit; 331. a raw material storage part; 332. a grinder; 333. an extraction vessel; 334. a chaff bucket; 41. a tank support member; 42. an extraction unit support member; 50. a beverage supply section; 51. a beverage supply main body part; 52. a nozzle portion; 53. a diffuser; 60. an operation input unit; 61. a capacitance type switch; 62. an LED; 70. a control unit; C. a cup.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments of the beverage supply device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 and 2 show a beverage supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively, fig. 1 being a perspective view, and fig. 2 being a block diagram schematically showing a characteristic control system.

The beverage supply device 1 illustrated here is a coffee machine that performs extraction processing on, for example, coffee bean powder and dropping liquid and supplies a beverage such as coffee to a cup C as a container. The beverage supply device 1 includes a device body 10 and a front door 20.

As shown in fig. 3, the device body 10 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a front surface opening 11a in the front wall portion 11. The front door 20 is provided at a right side edge portion of the front opening 11a which is a front side edge portion of the apparatus main body 10, and is swingable about a central axis of a shaft portion, not shown, extending in the vertical direction, and is swingable in the front-rear direction, thereby opening and closing the front opening 11a of the apparatus main body 10. The front door 20 is normally held in a state where the front opening 11a is closed by a lock mechanism not shown.

Fig. 4 to 6 show the apparatus main body 10 shown in fig. 1, fig. 4 is a front view of the apparatus main body 10, and fig. 5 and 6 are perspective views showing an internal structure of the apparatus main body 10. As shown in fig. 4 to 6, a beverage producing unit 30 is provided inside the apparatus main body 10.

The beverage generator 30 is a member for generating a beverage (e.g., coffee), and as shown in fig. 2, includes a water tank 31, a hot water tank 32, and an extraction unit 33.

A plurality of (two in the illustrated example) water tanks 31 are provided, and each water tank stores water. The hot water tank 32 is connected to the water tank 31 through a water supply line, not shown, and the hot water tank 32 is a member that heats water supplied from the water tank 31 to generate and store hot water.

The extraction unit 33 is a member that extracts coffee as a beverage. The extraction unit 33 is configured such that the raw material storage 331, the grinder 332, and the extraction container 333 are arranged in this order from above in the raw material storage 331, the grinder 332, and the extraction container 333, and a dross bucket 334 is provided below the extraction container 333.

The material storage portion 331 is a member that stores coffee beans as a beverage material. The grinder 332 is a member that grinds a predetermined amount of coffee beans supplied from the raw material container 331 to produce coffee bean powder. The extraction container 333 is called an extraction unit (japanese: ブリュア), and the extraction container 333 extracts coffee by stirring and mixing hot water supplied from the hot water tank 32 through a hot water supply line (not shown) and coffee bean powder supplied from the grinder 332 with pressurized air supplied from the air pump 34 through an air supply line (not shown). The dregs bucket 334 is a member that receives extracted dregs generated after coffee is extracted in the extraction container 333.

The arrangement of the respective portions constituting the beverage producing unit 30 will be described. The tank 31 is disposed near the front opening 11a and on the upper surface of the tank support member 41 on the right edge side of the front opening 11 a.

The tank support member 41 is provided to a mounting piece 12a provided on the bottom wall portion 12 of the apparatus main body 10 via the 1 st rail mechanism 41 a. The 1 st rail mechanism 41a is a conventionally known rail mechanism, and is configured such that one component is slidable in the front-rear direction with respect to the other component. Further, one component is provided to the tank supporting member 41, and the other component is provided to the mounting 12a, so that the tank supporting member 41 can slide in the front-rear direction with respect to the apparatus main body 10. That is, as shown in fig. 7, the water tank 31 is supported by the water tank supporting member 41 such that the water tank 31 can slide in the front-rear direction through the front surface opening 11 a.

The extraction unit 33 is disposed near the front opening 11a and on the left edge side which is the other edge of the front opening 11a, and is supported by the extraction unit support member 42. That is, the extraction unit 33 is disposed to be supported by the extraction unit support member 42 on the left (side) of the water tank 31. The extraction unit support member 42 is provided on the left side wall portion 13 of the apparatus main body 10 via the 2 nd rail mechanism 42 a. The 2 nd rail mechanism 42a is a conventionally known rail mechanism, and is configured such that one component is slidable in the front-rear direction with respect to the other component. Further, one component is disposed on the extraction unit support member 42, and the other component is disposed on the left side wall portion 13, whereby the extraction unit support member 42 can slide in the front-rear direction. That is, as shown in fig. 7, the extraction unit support member 42 supports the extraction unit 33 such that the extraction unit 33 can slide in the front-rear direction through the front surface opening 11 a. In addition, reference numeral 335 in fig. 3 and 4 is a blowing fan for discharging hot air generated by extraction of the beverage by the extraction unit 33 inside the apparatus main body 10 to the outside of the apparatus main body 10.

The hot water tank 32 is disposed on the rear side of the material storage portion 331 constituting the extraction unit 33, and the air pump 34 is disposed on the rear side of the extraction unit 33 and on the lower side of the hot water tank 32.

The apparatus body 10 is provided with a beverage supply unit 50, an operation input unit 60, and a control unit 70. As shown in fig. 8 and 9, the beverage supply unit 50 is provided so as to penetrate the top wall portion 14 of the apparatus body 10 and protrude upward from the top wall portion 14, and supplies the beverage generated in the beverage generation unit 30 to the cup C placed on the placement unit 15 provided on the top wall portion 14.

The beverage supply unit 50 includes a beverage supply body 51 and a nozzle 52. The beverage supply main body 51 is a tubular member that extends upward through the top wall 14 and then is bent downward toward the front side, and a conduit 511 through which beverage passes is formed inside the beverage supply main body 51.

As shown in fig. 10, the nozzle 52 is formed in a cylindrical shape having an outer diameter substantially equal to the outer diameter of the beverage supply body 51, and is attached to the tip portion of the beverage supply body 51. To describe in more detail, a locking projection 521 (see fig. 11 to 13) protruding inward is formed on an upper portion of an inner wall surface of the nozzle portion 52 constituting the hollow portion 52a, and the nozzle portion 52 is brought close to the beverage supply body portion 51 so that a locking piece 512 protruding from a tip end portion of the beverage supply body portion 51 enters the hollow portion 52a from an upper portion of the nozzle portion 52, and the nozzle portion 52 is rotated around the central axis, whereby the locking projection 521 enters a locking hole 512a formed in the locking piece 512 to lock and attach the nozzle portion 52 to the beverage supply body portion 51. Then, the nozzle portion 52 attached to the beverage supplying portion 50 in this manner is rotated about the central axis to disengage the locking projection 521 from the locking hole 512a, and the nozzle portion 52 is separated from the beverage supplying body portion 51, whereby the nozzle portion 52 can be detached from the beverage supplying body portion 51. That is, the nozzle portion 52 is detachably provided to the distal end portion of the beverage supply main body 51.

The nozzle portion 52 is provided with a diffuser 53. The diffuser 53 enters the hollow portion 52a from the upper portion of the nozzle portion 52, and the lower end edge portion thereof is brought into contact with a stopper protrusion 522 formed so as to protrude inward from the lower portion of the inner wall surface of the nozzle portion 52. That is, the diffuser 53 can be separated from the hollow portion 52a of the nozzle portion 52, and the nozzle portion 52 detachably holds the diffuser 53. As shown in fig. 12 and 13, the diffuser 53 causes the supplied beverage to collide with the inner wall surface, removes air and bubbles supplied together with the beverage, stores a certain amount of beverage in the lower portion, and discharges only the beverage from the discharge port 53 a.

The top surface 14a of the top wall portion 14 of the apparatus main body 10 is formed flat by a single glass or resin plate-like body except for the beverage supply portion 50 and the placement portion 15. As shown in fig. 9, the edge end portion 14b surrounding the top surface 14a is configured to protrude upward from the top surface 14 a.

As shown in fig. 8, the operation input unit 60 is provided on the top wall portion 14 of the apparatus body 10 at a position forward of the placement portion 15. The operation input unit 60 is a part for a user to perform an input operation, and includes a capacitance switch 61 disposed below the top surface 14a and an LED62 as a light source. The capacitance switch 61 is a member that transmits an operation signal to the control unit 70 when a change in capacitance is detected by a finger of a user touching the operation area. The LED62 is turned on in response to a command from the control unit 70, and in the present embodiment, the LED62 is turned on constantly or in a blinking manner. The LED62 is normally turned on all the time.

A window portion 16 is formed in the vicinity of the operation input portion 60. The window portion 16 is provided so as to penetrate the top wall portion 14, and is covered with a plate-like body constituting the top surface 14 a. The window 16 is provided at a position above the material storage 331 when the extraction unit 33 is stored in the apparatus main body 10 by sliding rearward, and the window 16 is used to visually recognize the amount of coffee beans stored in the material storage 331.

The control unit 70 is electrically connected to the beverage producing unit 30 and the operation input unit 60, and comprehensively controls the operations of the respective parts according to programs and data stored in the storage unit 71 which is electrically connected to the control unit 70 in the same manner. The control unit 70 may be configured to cause a Processing device such as a cpu (central Processing unit) to execute a program, that is, to realize control by software, may be configured to realize control by hardware such as an ic (integrated circuit), or may realize control by both software and hardware.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing the processing content of the beverage supply process performed by the control unit 70 shown in fig. 2. The operation of the beverage supply device 1 will be described while describing the processing content of the beverage supply process.

In this beverage supply process, the control unit 70 determines whether or not an operation signal is input from the capacitance type switch 61 constituting the operation input unit 60 (step S101). When determining that the operation signal is input (yes in step S101), the control unit 70 blinks and lights the LED62 (step S102). On the other hand, when determining that the operation signal is not input (no in step S101), the control unit 70 repeats the determination process of step S101.

The control unit 70, which blinks and lights the LED62, causes the beverage generation unit 30 to generate a beverage and supplies the beverage through the beverage supply unit 50 (step S103). After that, the control section 70 determines whether or not the beverage supply is finished (step S104). If it is determined that the beverage supply is not completed (no in step S104), the control unit 70 returns to step S103 to continue the process of generating and supplying the beverage. On the other hand, when determining that the beverage supply has been completed (yes in step S104), the control unit 70 turns on the LED62 all the time (step S105), and then returns the program to end the present beverage supply process.

Thus, the user can recognize that the beverage is being produced and supplied by blinking and lighting the LED62, and can recognize that the supply of the beverage has been completed by constantly lighting the LED 62.

As described above, in the beverage supply device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the extraction means 33 for extracting a beverage from a beverage raw material and hot water is disposed in the vicinity of the front surface opening 11a, the hot water tank 32 for generating and storing the hot water supplied to the extraction means 33 is disposed behind the extraction means 33, and the water tank 31 for storing the water supplied to the hot water tank 32 is disposed in the vicinity of the front surface opening 11a and on the side (right side) of the extraction means 33, and therefore, the extraction means 33 and the water tank 31 are disposed on the front side inside the device main body 10, and it is possible to easily replenish coffee beans as a beverage raw material and the water for generating the hot water, and to easily discard the extracted dregs. Therefore, according to the beverage supply device 1, the replenishing operation, the disposal operation, and the like can be performed satisfactorily.

Further, since the tank 31 is disposed on the upper surface of the tank support member 41 on the right edge side of the front surface opening 11a, and the tank support member 41 supports the tank 31 such that the tank 3 can slide in the front-rear direction through the front surface opening 11a, the tank 31 can be slid forward through the front surface opening 11a at the time of replenishing water, and the replenishing operation can be performed more satisfactorily.

Further, since the extraction unit 33 is disposed to be supported by the extraction unit support member 42 on the left edge portion side of the front surface opening 11a, and the extraction unit 33 is supported by the extraction unit support member 42 such that the extraction unit 33 can slide in the front-rear direction through the front surface opening 11a, when the coffee beans are replenished and the extracted dregs are discarded, the extraction unit 33 only has to slide forward through the front surface opening 11a, and the replenishing operation, the discarding operation, and the like can be performed more favorably.

Further, according to the beverage supply device 1, the beverage supply unit 50 that supplies the beverage generated in the beverage generation unit 30 to the cup C includes: a beverage supply body 51 that penetrates the top wall 14, extends upward, and is then bent downward toward the front side; and a nozzle portion 52 that is detachably provided to a distal end portion of the beverage supply main body portion 51 and discharges the beverage delivered through the beverage supply main body portion 51 to the cup C, wherein the nozzle portion 52 includes a diffuser 53 that removes air and foam delivered together with the beverage, and therefore, the nozzle portion 52 can be periodically cleaned easily by detaching the nozzle portion 52 from the beverage supply main body portion 51, and thus, a cleaning operation can be performed satisfactorily.

In particular, since the nozzle portion 52 holds the diffuser 53 in a manner that the diffuser 53 is detachable, the nozzle portion 52 and the diffuser 53 can be more easily cleaned by detaching the diffuser 53 from the nozzle portion 52, and a cleaning operation can be performed more satisfactorily.

Further, according to the beverage supply device 1, the top surface 14a of the top wall portion 14 of the device main body 10 is formed flat by forming a single glass or resin plate-like body in the region excluding the beverage supply portion 50 and the placement portion 15, and therefore, the cleaning operation of the top surface 14a can be easily performed.

Further, since the edge end portion 14b surrounding the top surface 14a is configured to protrude upward from the top surface 14a, the beverage overflowing the top surface 14a can be prevented from dripping downward from the top surface 14 a.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made.

In the above-described embodiment, the water tank 31 and the extraction unit 33 constituting the beverage producing unit 30 are supported by the water tank support member 41 and the extraction unit support member 42, respectively, but in the present invention, the water tank and the extraction unit may be disposed in the vicinity of the front surface opening, and need not be supported by the water tank support member and the extraction unit support member.

In the above-described embodiment, the nozzle portion 52 is a member that detachably holds the diffuser 53, but in the present invention, the nozzle portion may be a member that includes a diffuser integrally formed with the diffuser.

In the above-described embodiment, the LED62 is constantly turned on in a normal state, the LED62 is turned on in a blinking manner while the beverage producing unit 30 produces a beverage and supplies the beverage to the cup C by operating the operation input unit 60, and the LED62 is constantly turned on after the supply of the beverage is completed.

Claims

1. A beverage supply device, comprising:

a device body having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, having an opening on a front surface of a front wall portion, and having a beverage producing portion for producing a beverage provided therein; and

a front door swingably provided at one side edge portion of the front opening of the apparatus main body, for opening and closing the front opening,

the beverage supply device supplies the beverage generated in the beverage generation part to the container through a beverage supply part which is provided in a mode of protruding upwards from the top wall part of the device main body,

the beverage generation part includes:

an extraction unit disposed in the vicinity of the front surface opening and extracting a beverage from a beverage material and hot water;

a hot water tank disposed behind the extraction unit, the hot water tank generating and storing hot water to be supplied to the extraction unit; and

and a water tank disposed at a side of the extraction unit and storing water supplied to the hot water tank.

2. The beverage supplying apparatus according to claim 1,

the water tank is disposed on one side edge portion side of the front surface opening, and the extraction unit is disposed on the other side edge portion side of the front surface opening.

3. The beverage supplying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,

the beverage supply device includes an extraction unit support member that supports the extraction unit such that the extraction unit is slidable in the front-rear direction through the front surface opening.

4. The beverage supply apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the beverage supplying apparatus includes a tank supporting member supporting the water tank such that the water tank can slide in a front-rear direction through the front surface opening.