JPS6341574B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a coffee maker which starts producing coffee after a time set by a timer element.

This type of coffee maker operates a grinding mechanism that grinds coffee beans housed in a case by rotating a cutter with a motor after a time set by a timer element, and then heats hot water with an electric heater. The system operates a hot water supply mechanism that generates hot water and supplies the hot water into the case to extract coffee liquid.For example, by storing coffee beans in the case at bedtime and setting a timer element, coffee beans can be freshly made the next morning. It was designed to produce the same amount of coffee as possible. However, if the user forgets to store coffee beans in the case, the user will not notice this.
Needless to say, coffee liquid is not extracted, and even in this case, the crushing mechanism and the hot water supply mechanism operate, resulting in a problem of wasted power consumption.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a coffee maker that can notify you by an alarm when the grinding mechanism starts operating if you forget to store coffee beans in the case. It is on offer.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

First, the overall structure of the coffee maker will be described with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a container body, which includes a mill mechanism 2 for crushing coffee beans, a drip mechanism 3 that is a hot water supply mechanism for dripping hot water into the crushed coffee powder to generate coffee liquid, and a container for storing the generated coffee liquid. For example, it has a cup 4, and these will be described in detail below.That is, a motor storage part 5 and a cup mounting part 6 are formed on both left and right sides of the lower half of the container 1, and furthermore, a motor storage part 5 and a cup mounting part 6 are formed in the upper half. A case mounting portion 7 and a water storage tank 8 are formed on the left and right sides of the case, respectively. Reference numeral 9 denotes a heating plate disposed in close contact with the lower surface of the cup placing portion 6, on which an electric heater such as a sheathed heater 10 and a heating pipe 11 are placed.
One end of this heating pipe 11 is extended upward and connected to a water outlet (not shown) of the water storage tank 8 to form a water supply pipe 12, and the other end is extended to the upper part of the case mounting part 7. A hot water supply pipe 13 is used. Reference numeral 14 denotes a case attached to the case attachment part 7, which is common to both the mill mechanism 2 and the drip mechanism 3 described above;
A drive shaft 16 is rotatably and watertightly inserted into a shaft cylinder portion 15 formed at the center of the bottom wall 14a of the drive shaft 4. A cutter 17 for crushing coffee beans is attached to the upper end of the drive shaft 16, and a joint 1 is attached to the lower end.
8 is attached, and this joint 18 is connected to a joint 20 of a motor 19 disposed within the motor storage portion 5. Reference numeral 21 denotes a filter for filtration that is mounted below the cutter 17 by a frame-shaped filter support 22 and a watertight member 23 in the case 14, so that it receives the coffee powder crushed by the cutter 17. It's getting old. 24 is the bottom wall 1 of the case 14
A brewing port 4a is formed so as to face the upper opening of the cup 4 removably placed on the cup mounting portion 6 from above. Reference numeral 25 denotes a lid detachably attached to the opening on the upper surface of the case 14, and has an annular wall 25a standing approximately in the center thereof, and a pouring hole 25b located inside the wall 25a. is formed. The hot water supply port 13a, which is the tip of the hot water pipe 13, is arranged to face the inside of the wall portion 25a from above. 26 is a lid that forms part of the vessel body 1;
This is detachably attached to the upper opening of the water storage tank 8.

Now, the electrical configuration will be described according to FIG. 27 and 28 are AC power supply terminals, and a normally open contact 29 of a motor relay 29 is connected between these terminals.
a, a series circuit of the motor 19 and the current transformer 30 serving as a detection unit, and a normally open contact 31 of the heater relay 31;
a and the series circuit of the sheathed heater 10 are connected. 32 is a control device consisting of a DC power supply circuit, a microcomputer, a drive circuit, etc., and its input terminal Ia is given a start signal from a start switch 33, and its input terminal Ib is given a timer set signal from a timer set switch 34. The input terminal Ic is supplied with a reset signal from a reset switch 35, and the input terminal Id is supplied with an output signal from an analog-to-digital conversion circuit (hereinafter referred to as AD converter) 36, which is a detection section. The output terminal Oa is connected to the exciting coil 29b of the motor relay 29, and the output terminal Oa is connected to the excitation coil 29b of the motor relay 29.
Ob is the excitation coil 31 of the heater relay 31
b, and the output terminal Oc is connected to an alarm 38 via a buzzer drive circuit 37 serving as a detection section. The output current of the current transformer 30 is applied to the input terminal of the AD converter 36. The control device 32 has a timer element, the operation of which will be described later, and this timer element is activated by a timer set switch 34.
The time can be set as desired.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

First, coffee beans for the desired number of people are stored in the case 14, and a corresponding amount of water is poured into the water storage tank 8, and then the timer set switch 34 is operated to set the timer element of the control device 32 to the desired value. Once the time is set, the timer element begins timing the set time. When the timer element completes its timekeeping operation, the control device 32 is activated, and the excitation coil 29b of the motor relay 29 is energized to close the normally open contact 29a, so that the motor 19 is energized. The cutter 17 is now driven to rotate, and the coffee beans in the case 14 are ground (milled). In this case, when the motor 19 is energized and coffee beans are housed as a load in the case 14, the current flowing through the motor 19 is initially large and gradually decreases, as shown in FIG. However, when no coffee beans are housed in the case 14, the current flowing through the motor 19 becomes less than the initial starting current, as shown in FIG. The no-load current pattern is not large, but gradually decreases thereafter to a constant no-load current smaller than the load current. and,
A storage unit forming a part of the detection unit of the control device 32 stores the load current pattern (normal current pattern) and the no-load current pattern (abnormal current pattern) shown in FIG. 3 as digital signals,
The control device 32 samples the detected current digital signal applied to the input terminal Id, and when the sampled current pattern matches the normal current pattern, continues to energize the excitation coil 29b of the motor relay 29, and When the sampling current pattern matches the abnormal current pattern, the excitation coil 29b of the motor relay 29 is cut off, and the buzzer 38 is energized via the buzzer drive circuit 37. On the other hand, the current flowing through the motor 19 is detected by the current transformer 30 and given to the AD converter 36 as an output current, and the AD converter 36 converts the output current into a digital signal and controls the detected current as a digital signal. It comes to be applied to the input terminal Id of the device 32. Therefore, as mentioned above, case 14
When coffee beans are stored in the motor relay 29, the control device 32 detects that the sampling current pattern matches the normal current pattern and activates the motor relay 29.
The excitation coil 29b continues to be energized, and the motor 19 continues to be energized to rotate the cutter 17. Thereafter, when the coffee beans have been ground for a predetermined period of time, the control device 32 turns off the excitation coil 29b of the motor relay 29 and instead energizes the excitation coil 31b of the heater relay 31, so that the power is turned off at all times. The open contact 31a is closed and the sheathed heater 10 is energized. As a result, water supplied from the water storage tank 8 to the heating pipe 11 via the water supply pipe 12 is heated by the heat of the sheathed heater 10 via the heating plate 9 and the heating pipe 11 to become hot water, and its boiling pressure is used to supply hot water. pipe 13
The coffee liquid rises and is supplied into the case 14 through the hot water supply port 13a and the hot water pouring hole 25b, and is extracted as coffee liquid through the coffee powder and filter 21, and the extracted coffee liquid flows from the extraction port 24 into the cup 4. It flows out and is stored. Thereafter, when all the water in the water storage tank 8 is consumed, extraction of the coffee liquid is completed.

On the other hand, if the coffee beans are forgotten to be stored in the case 14, the timer element of the control device 32 ends the timing operation and the excitation coil 29 of the motor relay 29 is turned off.
When b is energized and the motor 19 is energized, the sampling current pattern based on the detection current digital signal given to the input terminal Id of the control device 32 matches the abnormal current pattern, so that the control device 32
The excitation coil 29b of the motor relay 29 is de-energized to de-energize the motor 19, and instead, the buzzer 38 is energized via the buzzer drive circuit 37 to ring.
This notifies the user that he/she has forgotten to store coffee beans in the case 14. As a result, when the user knows that he has forgotten to store coffee beans in the case 14 and operates the reset switch 35, the buzzer 38 is cut off and stops ringing. And case 14
When the start switch 33 is operated with coffee beans stored inside the machine, the control device 32 causes the coffee beans to be ground and the coffee liquid to be extracted in the same manner as described above.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the normal current pattern and the abnormal current pattern are stored in the control device 32, and the current flowing through the motor 19 is detected via the current transformer 30 and the AD converter 36, which are detection units, and its sampling is performed. Whether the current pattern matches either a normal current pattern or an abnormal current pattern, that is, a state change of the mill mechanism 2 according to the presence or absence of coffee beans in the case 14 is detected, and the sampling current pattern matches the abnormal current pattern. Sometimes motor 1
Since the buzzer 38 is turned off at the same time as the buzzer 38 is turned off, the user is not unaware that the coffee liquid will not be extracted, and the motor 19 and the sheathed heater 10 are unnecessarily energized and power is wasted. There's nothing to do.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same parts as in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and only the different parts will be described below. 39 is a normally open contact 39
This is a relay for a detection section having an excitation coil 39b and an excitation coil 39b, and the excitation coil 39b is connected to the output terminal Oc of the control device 32. In this case, the excitation coil 39b of the detection relay 39 is energized from the output terminal Oc of the control device 32 in synchronization with the excitation coil 29b of the motor relay 29. 40 is a dry battery serving as a DC power source, the positive electrode of which is connected to the bus bar 41 via a normally open contact 39a.
The negative electrode is connected to the bus bar 42.
The case 14 is located between the busbars 41 and 42.
The coffee beans inside are Katsuta 17 (see Figure 1 for both)
an amplifier circuit 46 consisting of a PNP transistor 44 and a resistor 45 that amplifies the sensed output signal of the microphone 43;
A detection circuit 50 consisting of a transformer 47, a diode 48, and a capacitor 49 detects the amplified output signal from the PNP, which is turned on and off by the detection output signal of the detection circuit 50 to control the conduction and disconnection of the excitation coil 51a of the output relay 51. type transistor 5
A detecting section 54 including a drive circuit 53 consisting of two components is connected to each other. A buzzer 38 and a normally closed contact 5 of the output relay 51 are connected between the bus bars 41 and 42.
A series circuit with 1b is connected.

Therefore, the excitation coil 29 of the motor relay 29
When the motor 19 is energized by energizing B and its normally open contact 29a is closed, the excitation coil 39b of the detection relay 39 is energized and its normally open contact 39a is also closed. Become. When the motor 19 is energized to rotate the cutter 17 and coffee beans are housed in the case 14, the microphone 43 detects the grinding sound of the coffee beans being crushed by the cutter 17 and outputs a sensing output. A signal is generated, which is amplified by the amplifier circuit 46, detected by the detection circuit 50, and turns on the transistor 52, which in turn turns on the excitation coil 51a of the output relay 51.
is energized to open its normally closed contact 51b, and the buzzer 38 is cut off and does not ring.
On the other hand, when the coffee beans are forgotten to be stored in the case 14, there is no sound of the coffee beans being crushed by the cutter 17, so the microphone 43 does not generate a sensing output signal.
Therefore, the excitation coil 51a of the output relay 51 remains de-energized, its normally closed contact 51b is closed, and the buzzer 38 is energized to generate a notification sound.

As a result, even in this embodiment, case 14
By detecting the change in the state of the mill mechanism 2, such as the presence or absence of grinding noise, depending on the presence or absence of coffee beans in the mill mechanism, the same effects as in the previous embodiment can be achieved.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, but can of course be implemented with appropriate modifications within the scope of the gist.

As explained above, the present invention is a device for grinding coffee beans with a cutter after a time set in a timer element has elapsed, and then supplying hot water to extract coffee liquid. Since the system is configured to detect a change in the state of the grinding mechanism and activate the alarm when there are no coffee beans, if you forget to store coffee beans in the case, the alarm will notify you when the grinding mechanism starts operating. is possible,
Therefore, users may not know about coffee liquid extraction,
This provides excellent effects such as preventing wasteful consumption of power.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view, Figure 2 is an electrical configuration diagram, and Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view.
4 and 4 are motor current characteristic diagrams for explaining the operation, and FIG. 5 is an electrical configuration diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, 2 is a mill mechanism (grinding mechanism), 3 is a drip mechanism (water supply mechanism), 10 is a sheathed heater (electric heater), 14 is a case, 17 is a cutter, 19
is a motor, 30 is a current transformer (detection unit), 32 is a control device, 36 is an analog-to-digital conversion circuit (detection unit), 37 is a buzzer drive circuit (detection unit), 38 is a buzzer (notifier), 43 is Microphone, 54
indicates the detection part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A crushing mechanism that rotates a cutter using a motor to crush coffee beans in a case, and a hot water supply mechanism that supplies hot water to the coffee powder pulverized by this crushing mechanism to extract coffee liquid. and a control device that has a timer element and operates the grinding mechanism for a predetermined time after the time set in the timer element has elapsed, and then operates the hot water supply mechanism, depending on the presence or absence of coffee beans when the cutter is rotated. A coffee maker characterized by being provided with a detection section that detects a change in the state of a grinding mechanism and activates an alarm when there are no coffee beans. 2. The coffee maker according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit is configured to stop the grinding mechanism when there are no coffee beans.