JP2895466B1 - Beer foam detection alarm - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a beer foam detection / alarm device which consumes extremely little electric power, exchanges a power battery extremely little, and can be easily attached to an existing beer supply device at low cost. SOLUTION: A light emitting unit 7 and a light receiving unit 8 are arranged with a light transmitting portion of a beer supply path from a tank to a spout being interposed therebetween, and when the bubbles pass through the light transmitting portion, the bubbles are detected by a change in the amount of transmitted light. And a control unit 1 that issues an alarm based on a bubble detection signal from the bubble detection unit 2. The control unit 1 turns on the light emitting unit 7 for a short period of time at a fixed time interval.
While the light is on, the light receiving unit 8 receives the transmitted light in the light transmitting portion and detects bubbles by a change in the transmitted light amount. When the light-emitting unit 7 is turned on, the light-emitting amount is continuously increased, and depending on the time until the light-receiving amount of the light-receiving unit 8 reaches a predetermined value, whether beer is flowing through the beer supply path or whether bubbles are flowing. Is determined.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beer supply apparatus for supplying carbon dioxide gas or the like to a tank filled with beer, applying pressure to the tank, and discharging beer from a spout. The present invention relates to a beer foam detection / alarm which detects a bubble instead of beer in a beer supply path to detect the bubble and issues an alarm.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A beer supply apparatus for supplying carbon dioxide or the like into a tank filled with beer, applying pressure to the tank, and discharging beer from a spout is generally used as a supply apparatus for draft beer. According to this beer supply device, when the amount of beer in the tank becomes small, the foam under pressure is spouted vigorously from the spout. Therefore, while the beer is being discharged from the spout to the mug, the foam reaches the spout and spouts vigorously from the spout, and the beer poured into the mug can be scattered around by the pressure of the foam jet. is there.

[0003] In order to prevent such a situation, when bubbles pass through the beer supply path from the tank to the spout, this is detected and an alarm is issued, and the discharge of beer is stopped before the bubbles reach the spout. The beer foam detection and alarm device of the idea to be conceived is already known. The one described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 8-316 is an example.

[0004] A conventionally proposed beer foam detection / warning device comprises an infrared light emitting element or the like with a light transmitting portion of a beer supply path from a tank to a spout sandwiched therebetween, as disclosed in the above-mentioned publication. The light-emitting device includes a light-emitting unit and a light-receiving unit that detects light emitted from the light-emitting unit and transmitted through the light-transmitting portion. This utilizes the fact that the amount of light from the light-emitting portion to the light-receiving portion differs between when the beer passes through the light-transmitting portion and when the bubble passes, and the detection output of the light-receiving portion is monitored. This detects that the bubble has reached the light transmitting portion. Specifically, when the beer is passing, the amount of light received by the light receiving unit is large, and when the bubble is passing, the light is irregularly reflected by the bubble and the amount of light received by the light receiving unit is reduced. This is to detect that bubbles have reached the light transmitting portion due to the decrease in the amount of light. If a buzzer or LED is driven by this detection signal and an alarm is generated by sound or light, beer supply can be stopped before the foam reaches the spout, and beer in a mug or the like can be stopped. And bubbles can be prevented from scattering around.

[0005]

However, in the conventional beer foam detection / alarm apparatus, the light emitting section of the detecting section is continuously lit. Therefore, if you try to supply power from batteries,
There is a problem that the battery is quickly consumed and maintenance is troublesome. To solve such difficulties, it is sufficient to supply power from a commercial AC power supply. However, this type of device is often used around the water of a restaurant, and itself handles beer that passes electricity. Therefore, using a commercial AC power supply is likely to cause an electric shock, which is not desirable.

[0006] Also, since beer supply devices are already widely used everywhere, there is a need for a foam detection alarm device that can be easily attached to an existing beer supply device at low cost. However, it has not been considered that the conventional foam detection alarm device can be easily attached to an existing beer supply device at low cost. In particular, if a battery is used as a power source, the battery will be consumed in a short period of time, and it will be troublesome to replace the battery. It could lead to a situation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has been devised so that power consumption can be extremely reduced. However, it is possible to provide a beer foam detection / alarm device that can extremely reduce the frequency of battery replacement, facilitates battery replacement maintenance, and can be easily attached to an existing beer supply device at low cost. With the goal.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to provide a beer foam detection alarm device which can reduce the power consumed by the light emitting element even when the light emitting element is turned on by detecting the foam.

Another reason to pressurize the tank filled with beer with gas is that by applying the proper pressure, the beer poured out of the spout will be delicious. However, when the pressure applied to the tank is improper and the pressure is insufficient, bubbles are generated even if a large amount of beer remains in the tank. Therefore, still another object of the present invention is to provide a beer foam detection and alarm device which can detect even when foam is generated due to insufficient tank pressure.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided a beer foam detection / alarm apparatus including a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion sandwiching a light transmitting portion of a beer supply path from a tank to a spout. A bubble detection unit that detects bubbles by a change in the amount of transmitted light when bubbles pass through, and a control unit that issues an alarm based on a bubble detection signal from the bubble detection unit, and the control unit includes:
That the light-receiving section detects bubbles by transmitted light by receiving a change in transmitted light amount of the light-transmitting portion during lit briefly the light emitting portion at predetermined time intervals, the light emitting portion is lit And the amount of light emitted when the light-emitting part is turned on
Continuously increases, and the amount of light received by the light receiving
Depending on the time it takes to reach the beer supply channel,
To determine whether the air is flowing or bubbles are passing
And wherein the Der Rukoto.

[0011]

Further, as in the second aspect of the present invention, a light emitting element is provided as an alarm output device, and the control unit blinks the light emitting element for a fixed period of time in a short cycle by a bubble detection signal.
After that, the light emitting element may be turned on and off at a longer cycle. The control unit according to the second aspect of the invention may control the light-emitting element to blink at a long cycle and to reduce the lighting time when bubbles are not detected, as in the third aspect of the invention. Further, the control unit may cause the light emitting element to blink for a predetermined period of time in a short cycle by the bubble detection signal, and then blink for a longer period and when no bubble is detected, as in the invention according to claim 4. It is more preferable to make the blinking cycle shorter than the cycle.

[0013] According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the power supply battery has a light emitting element as an alarm output device, and the control unit has a power supply voltage higher than a voltage at which the power supply becomes inoperative. The light emitting element may be turned off when the voltage drops to a high constant voltage.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a beer foam detection alarm according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, a tank 2 filled with beer
A gas cylinder 26 is connected to 5 so that a predetermined gas pressure is applied to the tank 25 by the carbon dioxide gas supplied from the gas cylinder 26. The tank 25 is connected to the cooling device 20 via a beer supply path 27.
The cooling device 20 has a cooling pipe connected to the beer supply path 27, and the other end of the cooling pipe is connected to the spout 21. Therefore, when the spout 21 is opened, the beer in the tank 25 is discharged from the spout 21 to the mug 22 or the like through the beer supply path 27 and the cooling device 20 by gas pressure. An apparatus including the tank 25, the cylinder 26, the beer supply path 27, the cooling device 20, and the like is the same as a conventional general beer supply apparatus. A foam detection alarm device having a control unit 1, a foam detection unit 2, and the like is added to this beer supply device.
The controller 1 and the bubble detector 2 are connected by a cable 12. The control unit 1 has a light emitting element 15 as an alarm output device. Hereinafter, a specific configuration example of the bubble detection alarm device will be described.

In FIG. 1, a block denoted by reference numeral 1 denotes the control unit, a block denoted by reference numeral 2 denotes the bubble detection unit, reference numeral 12 denotes the cable, and reference numeral 15 denotes the light emitting element. The control unit 1 has a microcomputer (hereinafter, referred to as “microcomputer”) 3 which is a center of a control function. It has a battery 4 as a power source, and the battery 4
And is connected to the control unit 1 via the. The battery 4 may be provided outside the control unit 1 or may be provided inside the control unit 1. The positive electrode of the battery 4 is connected to the power supply terminal Vcc, and the negative electrode of the battery 4 is connected to the ground. The VCC terminal of the microcomputer 3 is connected to the power supply terminal Vcc, and the GND terminal is connected to the ground. A crystal oscillator 6 is connected between the OSC1 and OSC2 terminals of the microcomputer 3. The crystal oscillator 6 is used for oscillation of a clock signal in the microcomputer 3. A series circuit of a buzzer 5 as an alarm output device and an electrolytic capacitor C3 is connected between the power supply terminal Vcc and the GP1 terminal of the microcomputer, and a backflow prevention diode D2 is connected in parallel with the buzzer 5.

A resistor R4 and a light emitting element 1 as an alarm output device are provided between the GP0 terminal of the microcomputer 3 and the ground.
5 series circuits are connected. Although an LED is used as the light emitting element 15 in this embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and another appropriate light emitting body may be used. Power supply terminal Vcc
The reset IC 9 is connected between the reset IC 9 and the ground, and the output terminal of the reset IC 9 is connected between the resistor R 4 and the light emitting element 15. The reset IC 9 is for turning off the light emitting element 15 when the voltage of the battery 4 drops to a certain voltage to prompt the replacement of the battery, and its operation will be described later in detail.

The bubble detecting section 2 has a light emitting section 7 and a light receiving section 8. The light emitting unit 7 and the light receiving unit 8 are arranged to face each other with a light transmitting portion of the beer supply path 27 extending from the tank 25 to the spout 21 interposed therebetween. Therefore, the light emitted from the light emitting unit passes through the light transmitting portion of the beer supply path 27 and reaches the light receiving unit 8, and when the beer passes through the light transmitting portion and when the bubble passes. The detection output of the light receiving section 8 changes depending on the difference in the amount of transmitted light in the above. In this embodiment, an LED that emits infrared light is used as the light emitting unit 7, and a phototransistor is used as the light receiving unit 8.

The bubble detecting unit 2 and the control unit 1 are connected to the cable 1
2 via connectors 11 and 13 as follows. The cathode of the LED as the light emitting unit 7 is connected to the power supply terminal Vcc, and the cathode is connected to the G of the microcomputer 3 via the resistor R3.
It is connected to the P2 terminal and to the ground via the electrolytic capacitor C4. As the light receiving section 8, the emitter side of the phototransistor is connected to the power supply terminal Vcc, the collector side is connected to the CLR terminal of the microcomputer 3 via the resistor R1, and to the ground via the resistor R2.
1 and a capacitor C1.

The operation of the embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The light emitting unit 2 is energized under the control of the microcomputer 3 and the light emitting unit 2 is turned on.
Here, instead of lighting continuously, the microcomputer 3 controls the level of the GP2 terminal at fixed time intervals, so that light is turned on for a short time at fixed time intervals. In this example, as shown in FIG. 3, control is performed so as to be turned on at 200 ms intervals within a very short time range of 2 ms. In addition, the current supplied to the light emitting unit 7 does not rise sharply, but the current supplied to the light emitting unit 7 is also gradually increased so that the light emission amount of the light emitting unit 7 gradually increases with time. Therefore, the amount of light received by the light receiving section 8 also gradually increases. Then, when the current supplied to the light emitting unit 7 reaches a certain amount, the amount of light emission can be detected by the light receiving unit 8 by an amount T.
When the value reaches h, the power supply to the light emitting unit 7 is turned off to stop the light emission.

If it is assumed that beer is passing through the beer supply path 27, the time required from the start of light emission of the light emitting unit 7 at every 200 mS interval until the light receiving unit 8 outputs a detection signal is short, and Almost constant. On the other hand, when the bubbles pass through the beer supply path 27, the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 8 decreases, so that the current supplied to the light emitting unit 7 increases with time, and even if the predetermined time elapses, Light receiving section 8
Does not reach the predetermined level, and the light receiving unit 8 cannot output a detection signal. Therefore, in this case, it is determined that bubbles are passing through the beer supply path 27, and an alarm is issued by the buzzer 5 and the light emitting element 15, and the spout 21
Is closed, and the exchange of the tank 25 is urged.

FIG. 4 shows the above operation specifically.
Here, the light emitting unit is shown as emitting infrared light. First, energization of the light emitting unit 7 is started, and the amount of infrared light is increased by increasing the current with time. The time counter of the microcomputer 3 counts until the light receiving unit 8 receives the transmitted light of the beer supply path 27 and outputs a detection signal. When the light receiving unit 8 outputs the detection signal, the light emitting unit 7 is energized. And turn off the infrared emission. The count value of the time counter at this time is set as the current count value t1 and is stored. Next, the difference between this count value t1 and the previous count value t2, t1-t2 = α, is calculated, and then this α is 100 μS or less or 100 μS or less.
Judge whether it exceeds μS. At the beginning of use, an appropriate value according to the detection condition is used as the value of t2 by the microcomputer 3.
Is stored within. If the beer is passing through the beer supply path 27, α, which is the difference between t1 and t2, is close to 0 and should be determined to be 100 μS or less. In this case, an alarm should be output. Instead, t2 is replaced with t1, and the process proceeds to the next 200 ms time-up determination step. On the other hand, when the foam reaches the beer supply path 27,
Since the difference between t1 and t2 increases rapidly and α exceeds 100 μS, an alarm is output. Details of the alarm operation based on the alarm output will be described later. After the alarm is output, the process proceeds to the above-described 200 ms time-up judgment step.
Returning by the 0 mS time-up, the series of operations described above is repeated.

In the step after obtaining α, which is the difference between t1 and t2, it is determined whether the limit value of α is less than or greater than 100 μS. How to set the limit value of α is arbitrary. If this is set to a small value, the sensitivity of bubble detection becomes sharp, but an alarm may be issued even when a small amount of bubbles is generated without any problem. If the limit value of α is set to a relatively large value, the sensitivity becomes low. In consideration of these circumstances, in the above embodiment, the limit value of α is set to 100 μS.

FIG. 5 shows details of the alarm operation. When an alarm is output, the microcomputer 3 sets the level of the terminal GP1 to "L", causes a current to flow from the power supply Vcc to the buzzer 5, and causes the buzzer 5 to sound. At the same time, the level of the terminal GP0 is switched to “H” or “L” at intervals of, for example, 30 ms, and the light emitting element 15 made of an LED is flashed at a high speed at intervals of 30 ms to inform that the bubbles have reached the beer supply path 27 and supply of beer is started. Prompt to stop. Note that when the light emitting element 15 is turned on and off at the intervals of 30 ms, it is preferable that the lighting time be shorter than the lighting time in order to reduce the consumption of the battery 4. When three seconds have elapsed, the buzzer 5 is stopped from sounding in order to reduce the consumption of the battery 4, while the light emitting element 15 is turned on and off at a medium speed, for example, at 200 mS intervals, and bubbles reach the beer supply path 27. Inform that you are. Even in the blinking of the light emitting element 15 at the interval of 200 mS, in order to reduce the consumption of the battery 4, the lighting time may be shortened, for example, to 2 mS. The flashing at the medium speed is performed for 5 seconds, and thereafter, the alarm operation is stopped.

As described above, when the foam reaches the beer supply path 27, the foam detecting section 2 detects the foam, the control section 1 sounds the buzzer 5, and the light emitting section 15 blinks at a high speed or at a medium speed. To issue the alarm, the user of the beer supply device can immediately stop the supply of beer, thereby preventing the foam of the pressurized beer from being vigorously discharged from the spout 21 and preventing the beer or the beer from being discharged. Bubbles can be prevented from scattering around. Since the above-mentioned alarm is also an alarm notifying that the tank 25 has run out of beer, the tank 25 is replaced when the alarm is issued. In addition, since the above-mentioned alarm can also detect bubbles generated when the pressure is insufficient even if there is beer in the tank 25, if the alarm is issued, whether the beer is gone or the pressure is insufficient. Check if the pressure is insufficient, and if the pressure is insufficient, apply a predetermined pressure.

If this type of beer foam detection / alarm apparatus is in operation, it is desirable to display in some form that the apparatus is in operation even when foam is not detected. Generally, a light emitting element such as an LED is normally turned on. However, in an apparatus using a battery as a power source, LE
Even if a light emitting element such as D is continuously turned on, the battery is quickly consumed. Therefore, in the above embodiment of the present invention, the power consumption of the power supply battery is saved by devising the operation display. FIG. 6 illustrates this operation.
In a normal state where no alarm is output, that is, when bubbles are not detected, the light emitting element 15 alternately turns on for 10 mS and turns off for 2 S (seconds). This operation can be referred to as low-speed blinking in contrast to the above-described high-speed blinking and medium-speed blinking, and is performed by the microcomputer 3 controlling the level of the GP0 terminal. As described above, by making the lighting time extremely shorter than the light-off time of the light emitting element 15,
Power battery consumption can be reduced by a factor of 200. Even if the lighting cycle is set to 2 seconds as described above, this kind of beer foam detection alarm is attached near the beer spout 21 and is discharged from the spout 21 to the mug 22 or the like. Since it is sufficient that the operation can be confirmed, the function can be sufficiently exhibited even if the lighting cycle of the light emitting device 15 for the operation confirmation is set to 2 seconds.

According to the above embodiment, the light emitting unit 7 is not continuously energized, but is energized for 2 mS at intervals of 200 mS. During this energization, bubbles in the beer supply path are detected. The consumed power can be saved to 1/100, and the replacement frequency of the power supply battery 4 can be extremely reduced. In addition, the lighting of the light emitting element 15 for displaying the normal operation is also intermittent and the lighting time is shorter than the lighting time, so that the consumption of the power supply battery 4 can be reduced from this point as well. The frequency of replacement of the battery 4 can be extremely reduced. Also, the bubble detector 2
The signal introduced into the control unit 1 is first converted into a digital signal by a time counter, and then the digital signal is processed. Therefore, the control unit is digitized to measure the simplification of the circuit and the simplification of the processing. Can be.

Focusing only on saving the power consumption of the power supply battery 4, a power switch is provided and operated so that the foam detection alarm according to the above-described embodiment is operated only when the beer supply device is used. It is effective to turn on the power switch, but if a power switch is provided, it is troublesome to turn it on. In some cases, the power switch is used without being turned off, and there is no point in installing a bubble detection alarm. On the other hand, according to the bubble detector / alarm according to the above-described embodiment, since the power consumption of the power supply battery 4 is extremely small, the frequency of replacement of the power supply battery 4 is extremely low even when the power supply is always on. The function as a bubble detection alarm can be fully exhibited by setting it in a state.

During use of the beer supply device and the beer foam detector / alarm, the transparency of the light transmitting portion of the beer supply path 27 changes, and the light emitting portion 7 deteriorates.
Generally, the amount of light received by the light receiving unit 8 decreases. The change in the amount of received light is a gradual change, whereas the change in the amount of received light when a bubble comes is a sudden change. Therefore, even if the bubble and the change of the light emitting unit 7 with the passage of time are ignored, the bubble can be detected. However,
In order to improve the reliability of bubble detection, it is desirable to correct a change over time. According to the above embodiment, the current count value t1 of the time counter and the previous count value t2
Is stored, and the difference α between t1 and t2 is 10% of the limit value.
In the case of 0 μS or less, that is, when no bubble is detected, the present count value t1 is replaced with the previous count value t2. As long as the change is a natural change over time, the criterion for bubble detection is automatically corrected to the previous count value t2, and it is possible to prevent a decrease in detection accuracy over time.

According to the above-described embodiment, although the frequency of replacement of the power supply battery 4 is extremely low, the power supply voltage is eventually reduced due to power consumption. In FIG. 1, the reset IC 9 monitors the power supply voltage, and when the power supply voltage decreases to a voltage close to the level at which bubble detection is impossible, the level of its output terminal is set to "L" to stop energizing the light emitting element 15. The lighting of the light emitting element 15 is stopped at all.
Since the user can know that the power supply battery 4 has been exhausted by the light emitting element 15 not being turned on, the user replaces the power supply battery 4. Even if the light emitting element 15 does not turn on, it is not possible to immediately detect the bubbles, but it is possible to detect more than ten times (more than ten tanks). In the embodiment, the rated voltage of the power supply 4 is set to 3.2 V, the minimum operating voltage of the bubble detection alarm is set to 2.1 V, and the power supply voltage at which the reset IC 9 stops energizing the light emitting element 15 is set to 2.5 V.

In the above embodiment, only one light emitting element is used as the alarm output device, and this one light emitting element is given a meaning by blinking at high speed, medium speed, blinking at low speed and turning off the light. Therefore, power consumption can be suppressed as compared with the case where various displays are performed using a plurality of light-emitting elements, and the battery life can be prolonged from this point as well.

The form of the beer foam detection alarm according to the present invention is arbitrary, and examples thereof are shown in FIGS. The example shown in FIG. 7 has a configuration similar to the example shown in FIG. 2, in which the control unit 1 and the bubble detection unit 2 are separate bodies, and these are connected by a cable 12. The control unit 1 has a box-shaped main body 30 and a lid 31. Inside the main body 30, an arrangement part 32 for the buzzer 5 and an arrangement part 38 for the light emitting element 15 are provided.
And the arrangement portions 32 and 38 include a circuit board 33
Is covered and fixed. Most of the blocks indicated by reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 are mounted on the circuit board 33. A storage room for the battery 4 is provided adjacent to the mounting portion of the circuit board 33. One side of the main body 30 of the control unit 1 has two concave locking portions 34,
An engagement hole 35 is formed on another side opposite to this one side. Protrusions 36, 36 protruding from one side of the lid 31 are fitted into the locking portions 34, 34, and the engagement holes 3
5 has an elastic engagement projection 37 protruding from another side of the lid 31.
The lid 31 is put on the main body 30 by the engagement.

The bubble detector 2 has a gate-shaped case 40 and a lid 43 placed on the case 40. The case 40 includes a light-emitting unit 7 and a light-receiving unit 8 which are attached to portions corresponding to both legs of the gate, and the light-emitting unit 7.
And holes 41 and 42 for inserting the light receiving unit 8,
The lid 43 covers these holes 41 and 42 from above. The foam detection unit 2 is installed such that portions corresponding to both legs of the gate sandwich the light transmitting portion of the beer supply path 27,
As described above, the light from the light emitting unit 7 that has passed through the light transmitting portion of the beer supply path 27 can be received by the light receiving unit 8.

The example shown in FIG. 8 is an example in which the control unit and the bubble detection unit are integrated. The foam detection alarm device body 50 is provided with a lid 5 rotatably connected by a hinge at one side edge thereof.
One. The body 50 has a semi-cylindrical groove 52 across its center in the width direction. The lid 51 also has partially cylindrical pressing members 53, 53 that overlap with the grooves 52 when the lid 51 is rotated by hinges to cover the main body 50, and the beer supply path 27 is formed by the grooves 52 and the pressing members 53, 53. A bubble detection alarm including a bubble detection alarm main body 50 and a lid 51 is provided so as to sandwich the light transmitting portion of the bubble detection alarm. Although not shown, a bubble detection unit in which a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit are arranged to face each other is disposed on both sides of the groove 52. The battery 4 is housed in the bubble detection alarm device main body 50, and the light emitting element 15 as an alarm output device is attached. The lid 51 has an elastic engagement piece 55
The engagement of the main body 5 with the engagement recess 54
0.

Since the beer supply path 27 of the beer supply apparatus is not always made of a material that transmits light, a part of the beer supply path 27 must be partially illuminated in order to install the foam detection and alarm device according to the present invention. It is necessary to make the light-emitting part and the light-receiving part with a material that transmits light. 9 and 10 show examples of repeaters effective in that case. This example
Box halves 61 and 62 in which a rectangular box 60 is divided into two.
When these are joined to the box halves 61 and 62 to form a box 60, a semicircular notch 63, 64 is formed. These notches 6
Box halves 61, 6 with pipe 65 sandwiched between 3, 64
2 by bonding etc. to form a box 60,
The light emitting unit 7 and the light receiving unit 8
Are arranged facing each other. Since both ends of the pipe 65 protrude from both end faces of the box 60, the ends of the beer supply paths 27 are connected to both ends of the pipe 65 to relay the beer supply paths 27, 27.

This kind of foam detection alarm is required to be easily attached to an existing beer supply device at low cost, but according to the embodiment of the present invention described so far, the control unit 1 The circuit configuration of the bubble detector 2 and the structure of the bubble detector 2 are simple and can be made compact. In the type in which the control unit 1 and the bubble detector 2 are separated, the bubble detector 2 sandwiches the light transmitting portion of the beer supply path 27. And the control unit 1 may be mounted at an arbitrary position of the beer supply device, and the integrated type of the control unit 1 and the foam detection unit 2 may be mounted only on the light transmitting portion of the beer supply path 27. It can be easily attached to existing beer supply equipment at low cost.

Note that the time and other numerical values shown in the embodiment are shown as an example, and can be changed to appropriate values.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the light emitting portion and the light receiving portion are arranged with the light transmitting portion of the beer supply path from the tank to the spout interposed therebetween, and the amount of light transmitted through the light transmitting portion changes. In a beer foam detection alarm having a foam detection unit for detecting a beer and a control unit for issuing an alarm based on a foam detection signal from the foam detection unit, the control unit controls the light emitting unit to emit light for a short time at a fixed time interval. Lighting, while the light emitting unit is lit, the light receiving unit receives the transmitted light of the light transmitting part and detects bubbles by a change in the amount of transmitted light. Even if a battery is used as the power source, the life of the battery can be extended, and the trouble of frequently replacing the battery can be eliminated. Further, by using a battery, electric shock can be eliminated.

Further, according to the first aspect of the invention, the control unit, the light emission amount when lighting the light-emitting portion is continuously increased, the time until the amount of light received by the light receiving section reaches a predetermined value, To determine whether beer or foam is passing through the beer supply path, the signal taken into the control unit from the foam detection unit is first converted to a digital signal by the time counter, and thereafter the digital signal And the control unit is digitized, thereby simplifying the circuit and facilitating the processing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the light emitting element is used as the alarm output device, and the control unit blinks the light emitting element for a fixed period of time in a short cycle by the bubble detection signal, and thereafter emits light in a longer cycle. Since the element is made to blink, power consumption at the time of alarm output is also suppressed, and the life of the battery can be further extended.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes:
When the bubble is not detected, the light emitting element is blinked in a long cycle and the lighting time is controlled to be short. Therefore, power consumption when the bubble is not detected is suppressed, and the life of the battery can be further extended.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the control unit includes:
After the light emitting element blinks for a certain period of time in a short cycle by the bubble detection signal, it blinks in a longer cycle and shorter than the blink cycle when no bubble is detected, so the power at the time of alarm output The consumption is further suppressed, and the life of the battery can be further prolonged.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the control unit has a power supply battery and a light emitting element as an alarm output device, and the control unit detects when the power supply voltage drops to a certain voltage higher than the inoperable voltage. Since the light emitting element is turned off, it is understood that it is time to replace the battery by turning off the light emitting element. Further, even if the light emitting element is turned off, the bubble detection / alarm operation does not stop immediately, so that the bubble detection / alarm can be used, and the battery may be replaced within a predetermined period.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a beer foam detection alarm according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing an example of a usage form of the beer foam detection alarm according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a timing chart showing a detection operation according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detection operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an alarm operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a normal display operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing an appearance of a beer foam detection alarm according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the appearance of another embodiment of the beer foam detection alarm according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of a repeater in a beer supply path applicable to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing the repeater main body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control part 2 Bubble detection part 4 Power supply battery 7 Light emitting part 8 Light receiving part 15 Light emitting element 21 Spout 25 Tank 27 Beer supply path

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-10-54796 (JP, A) JP-A-3-133492 (JP, A) JP-A-4-23699 (JP, U) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B67D 1/07 B67D 1/12

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A beer foam detection alarm provided in a beer supply device for applying pressure to a tank filled with beer and discharging beer from a spout, comprising: a beer supply passage extending from the tank to the spout. A light emitting unit and a light receiving unit are arranged with the light transmitting portion interposed therebetween, and when a bubble passes through the light transmitting portion, a bubble detecting unit that detects a bubble by a change in the amount of transmitted light; and an alarm is generated by a bubble detection signal from the bubble detecting unit. The control unit emits light for a short time at a fixed time interval, and the light receiving unit emits light transmitted through the light transmitting portion while the light emitting unit is on. Light is detected and bubbles are detected based on changes in the amount of transmitted light.
The light emission amount is continuously increased when
Depending on the time it takes for the volume to reach the predetermined value, the beer supply
Whether beer or foam is passing through the street
Bubble detector alarm beer characterized by der Rukoto which determine. 2. An alarm output device comprising a light emitting element,
The control unit keeps the light emitting element in a short cycle by the bubble detection signal
Flashes for a period of time, after which the light emitting element
Bubble detector alarm beer according to claim 1, wherein Ru is flashing. 3. The control section controls the light emitting element to be longer when no bubble is detected.
Flashing at a short cycle and shortening the lighting time
The beer foam detection alarm according to claim 2 . 4. The light emitting device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured to control the light emitting device based on the bubble detection signal.
Flashes for a fixed period of time in a short cycle, and then
Period and shorter than the blinking period when bubbles are not detected.
The beer foam detection alarm according to claim 3, which blinks . 5. An alarm output device having a power supply battery.
The control unit has a power supply voltage inoperable
Above when the voltage drops to a certain voltage higher than
The beer foam detection alarm according to claim 1, wherein the light emitting element is turned off .