KR102018027B1 - Apparatus for printing of beverage art - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a beverage art printing apparatus and, more specifically, to a beverage art printing apparatus capable of printing various shapes of images on beverage such as latte and the like at high resolution. According to the present invention, the beverage art printing apparatus for printing various shapes of images on the surface of beverage comprises: a printer body (100) having a tray (110) for holding a beverage cup on one side thereof, and having a printer head (120) for spraying edible ink through a nozzle; a camera (200) installed on one side of the printer head (120), and photographing beverage received in a beverage cup at a predetermined height; a cup height sensing unit (300) installed inside the printer body (100), and sensing the height of the beverage cup held in the tray (110); an elevation driving unit (400) installed inside the printer body (100), and elevating the tray (110) so that the printer head (120) is located close to the beverage surface; a printer head driving unit (500) installed inside the printer body (100) to move the printer head (120) in X and Y axis directions; and a control unit (600) for recognizing the liquid surface level of beverage foam by receiving a beverage image photographed by the camera (200), and controlling operation of the elevation driving unit (400) and the printer head driving unit (500) to correspond to the recognition.

Description

Apparatus for printing of beverage art}

The present invention relates to a beverage art printing apparatus, and more particularly, to a beverage art printing apparatus capable of printing images of various shapes on a beverage such as latte at high resolution.

In general, when making a latte drink, it displays not only the taste of the coffee drinker but also the visual enjoyment by expressing patterns, pictures, and letters on the milk foam.

Since the latte art is made only through the manual work of the barista, the type and quality of expressive patterns, pictures, and texts depend solely on the ability of the barista, and since the latte art is made by hand, it takes a lot of time.

In addition, there are many differences in the quality of the beverage foam according to the individual ability of the barista, especially when printing the image on the latte surface while the milk is heated to a high temperature and the foam particles are enlarged, the print quality is greatly reduced. .

An example of a technique for solving such a problem is disclosed in Documents 1 to 2 below.

Patent document 1 is a raw material container formed with an inlet and outlet; An opening and closing unit configured to discharge the raw material of the raw material container downward through the discharge port according to an operator's operation; A glyph forming part which is coupled to an outlet side of the raw material container and has a perforated pattern of an intaglio or embossed shape so as to discharge the raw material injected when the opening / closing part is opened downward in a glyph or figure form; And a raw material dispersing unit disposed between the raw material container and the pattern forming unit to evenly disperse the raw material introduced into the pattern forming unit.

However, the prior art as described above has a problem in that it is not possible to express various patterns as it can be expressed only in a specific shape that is pre-drilled in the pattern forming unit.

Patent document 2 has a steam generator 100, a milk container 200 to which the steam generated by the steam generator 100 is supplied, and a 3D print 300 to which milk bubbles generated by milk and steam are supplied from the milk container 200. And a coffee cup 400 containing a coffee liquid in which a desired pattern is formed by a milk froth on the surface by the movement of the 3D print 300.

However, the prior art as described above has a problem in that print quality is reduced as printing is performed in consideration of the surface state of the milk bubble supplied to the coffee mug.

Accordingly, there is an urgent need for development of a technology capable of satisfying consumer's desires and of clearly printing an image.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-1446802 (registered on September 25, 2014) Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-1234041 (registered February 7, 2013)

The present invention has been made to solve the problems as described above, and after accurately grasping the liquid level position of the beverage foam, by adjusting the height of the tray on which the beverage cup is placed to maintain a constant distance between the printer head and the beverage surface It is an object of the present invention to provide a beverage art printing apparatus that can greatly improve the print quality of an image printed on a beverage surface.

In order to achieve the above object, the beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention is a beverage art printing apparatus for printing images of various shapes on a beverage surface, the tray 110 for mounting a beverage cup on one side is provided, the nozzle A printer body 100 having a printer head 120 for ejecting edible ink therethrough; A camera 200 installed at one side of the printer head 120 and photographing a beverage contained in a beverage cup at a predetermined height; A cup height sensing unit 300 installed inside the printer body 100 and sensing a height of a beverage cup mounted on the tray 110; An elevating driving part 400 installed inside the printer main body 100 and elevating the tray 110 such that the printer head 120 is located close to the beverage surface; A print head driver 500 installed inside the printer body 100 to move the print head 120 in the X and Y axis directions; And a control unit 600 which receives the beverage image photographed through the camera 200 to determine the liquid level position of the beverage foam, and controls the operation of the lifting driver 400 and the printer head driver 500 in response thereto. The printer head 120 is provided as an inkjet cartridge to print images of various colors on the beverage foam liquid level, is installed inside the printer body 100, and measures the liquid level position of the beverage foam contained in the beverage cup. And a foam measuring unit 700, wherein the controller 600 maintains a constant distance between the printer head 120 and the beverage foam liquid level according to the beverage foam liquid position information detected by the foam measuring unit 700. And, it is installed on one side of the printer body 100, and includes a temperature control unit 800 for detecting and adjusting the temperature of the beverage contained in the beverage cup, the temperature controller 800 is fixed in the beverage cup Lee spaced apart characterized in that it comprises a temperature sensor 810 for detecting the temperature in a non-contact manner.

In addition, the lifting drive unit 400 is an LM column 410 is installed in the vertical direction inside the printer main body 100; An LM guide 420 installed on the front surface of the LM column 410 and provided with an LM rail 421; A timing belt 430 wound around a plurality of timing pulleys 431 connected to one side of the LM column 410; And a driving motor 440 installed at one side of the LM column 410 to drive the timing pulley 431.

In addition, the cup height detection unit 300 is composed of any one sensor of the infrared sensor, LED, laser sensor, so that two or more light receiving sensors / light emitting sensors are arranged at regular intervals on the side of the space in which the beverage cup is mounted. It is characterized by the implementation.

In addition, it is installed inside the printer main body 100, characterized in that it comprises a foam measuring unit 700 for measuring the liquid level position of the beverage foam contained in the beverage cup.

In addition, the bubble measuring unit 700 includes a laser generator 710 for irradiating a laser beam on the beverage foam; Illumination lamp 720 is installed on one side of the laser generator 710 to irradiate light to the beverage foam; And an imager 730 for capturing an image of the beverage bubble irradiated with the laser line and the light emitted by the laser generator 710 and the beverage bubble.

In addition, the control unit 600 includes an analysis unit 610 for acquiring and analyzing an image photographed by the camera 200 and the imager 730; A calculator 620 for calculating a liquid level position of the beverage foam; And a feedback unit 630 for generating an operation signal of the elevation driving unit 400 by reflecting the calculation result of the calculation unit 620.

In addition, the temperature control unit 800 is installed on one side of the printer body 100, characterized in that it further comprises a cooling means 820 for cooling the beverage contained in the beverage cup.

In addition, the cooling means 820 is characterized by consisting of a cooling fan for sucking the outside air to blow air into the interior space of the beverage cup.

As described above, the beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention can not only improve the position recognition accuracy by accurately measuring the liquid surface position of the beverage foam, but also adjust the height of the tray on which the beverage cup is placed, thereby adjusting the printer head. By maintaining a constant distance from the beverage surface, there is an effect of greatly improving the print quality of the image printed on the beverage surface.

In addition, while maintaining a constant distance between the print head and the surface of the beverage, it can additionally detect the temperature of the beverage contained in the beverage cup and adjust the beverage temperature to the optimum temperature for image printing. It works.

1 is a perspective view showing a beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing a beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention.
Figure 3 is a front view and a side view showing a tray and the lift drive of the beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention.
Figure 4 is a block diagram showing a printer head drive and control unit of the beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention.
Figure 5 is a block diagram showing a foam measuring unit of the beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention.
Figure 6 is a block diagram showing a temperature control unit of the beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention.
7 is a view showing the image printing results according to the difference in the beverage temperature.
8 is a view showing another embodiment of the beverage art printing apparatus according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, the most preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention.

1 and 2, the beverage art fritting apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a tray 110 for mounting a beverage cup on one side, the printer head 120 for ejecting edible ink through a nozzle Printer body 100 is provided; A camera 200 installed at one side of the printer head 120 and photographing a beverage contained in a beverage cup at a predetermined height; A cup height sensing unit 300 installed inside the printer body 100 and sensing a height of a beverage cup mounted on the tray 110; An elevating driving part 400 installed inside the printer main body 100 and elevating the tray 110 such that the printer head 120 is located close to the beverage surface; A print head driver 500 installed inside the printer body 100 to move the print head 120 in the X and Y axis directions; And a control unit 600 which receives the beverage image photographed through the camera 200 to determine the liquid level position of the beverage foam, and controls the operation of the lifting driver 400 and the printer head driver 500 in response thereto. It includes.

The present invention relates to a beverage art printing apparatus capable of printing images of various shapes on a beverage such as latte at high resolution.

In order to implement this, the camera 200 acquires an image by capturing a beverage contained in the beverage cup mounted on the tray 110, and receives the beverage image from the controller 600 to determine the liquid surface position of the beverage foam. After grasping, the lifting drive unit 400 is operated to maintain a constant gap between the liquid level of the beverage foam and the printer head 120.

Conventionally, there is a problem that the print quality is reduced as printing is made in the state that does not consider the liquid level position of the beverage foam.

Accordingly, the present invention accurately grasps the liquid level of the beverage foam, and then adjusts the height of the tray where the beverage cup is placed to maintain a constant distance between the printer head and the beverage surface, thereby greatly improving the print quality of the image printed on the beverage surface. Has the purpose to improve. To this end, the present invention includes a printer body 100, the camera 200, the cup height detecting unit 300, the lifting drive unit 400, the printer head drive unit 500 and the control unit 600.

The printer main body 100 is formed in front of the lower portion is opened for the entrance of the beverage cup, the upper portion is provided with an operation button (not shown) associated with the control unit 600.

The printer body 100 may be formed in a 'c' shape, but is not limited thereto and may be formed in various forms.

The printer head 120 is provided with a conventional inkjet cartridge to print images of various colors on the beverage.

The camera 200 is installed at one side of the printer head 120 to capture an image of the beverage contained in the beverage cup to obtain an image, and provide the acquired image to the controller 600.

The camera 200 may be implemented as a visible light camera or a thermal imaging camera, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

The camera 200 is preferably installed at a predetermined distance away from the upper side of the beverage cup, which has the advantage of obtaining a clear image by preventing the camera lens from frost caused by water vapor generated in the beverage.

The cup height detection unit 300 serves to detect the height of the beverage cup mounted on the tray 110, and is composed of any one sensor of the infrared sensor, LED, laser sensor, the space where the beverage cup is mounted At least two light receiving sensors / light emitting sensors are disposed at regular intervals, and the signals of the sensors are preferably controlled by a separate multiplexer.

The cup height detecting unit 300 is preferably provided with a cover, which not only blocks the external light but also accurately detects the light emitting part and the light receiving part.

As shown in FIG. 3, the lift driver 400 lifts and drives the tray 110 so that the liquid level of the beverage placed on the tray 110 may be located close to the printer head 120.

To this end, the elevating drive unit 400 is an LM column 410 is installed in the vertical direction inside the printer body 100; An LM guide 420 installed on the front surface of the LM column 410 and provided with an LM rail 421; A timing belt 430 wound around a plurality of timing pulleys 431 connected to one side of the LM column 410; And a driving motor 440 installed at one side of the LM column 410 to drive the timing pulley 431. The tray 110 is raised or lowered in conjunction with the lifting driving unit 400.

In this case, when the liquid level of the beverage foam is high, the tray 110 is lifted and lowered to adjust the position of the beverage cup by the lifting and driving unit 400. When the liquid level of the beverage foam is low, the position of the beverage cup is raised. Adjust

As such, the high-quality image printing may be realized by adjusting the height of the tray on which the beverage cup is placed through the elevating driver 400 to maintain the distance between the printer head 120 and the beverage surface.

As shown in FIG. 4, the print head driving unit 500 drives the print head 120 to print various shapes of images on the surface of the beverage by a preset value.

To this end, the print head driver 500 includes an X axis driver 510 for moving the print head 120 in the X axis direction; A Y-axis driving motor 520 for moving the X-axis driving unit 510 in the Y-axis direction; And an injection driver 530 for driving the injection of the printer head nozzle.

Since the print head driver 500 corresponds to a configuration that is the same as or similar to a conventional printing apparatus, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The controller 600 receives the beverage image photographed through the camera 200 to determine the liquid level position of the beverage foam. Therefore, the bubble image is analyzed to calculate and reflect the liquid surface position of the bubble to control the operation of the lift driver 400 and the printer head driver 500.

As shown in FIG. 5, the present invention may include a foam measuring unit 700 installed inside the printer main body 100 to measure a liquid level of a beverage bubble contained in a beverage cup.

In order to maintain a constant distance between the printer head 120 and the beverage surface, first, it is necessary to accurately analyze the liquid level position of the foam contained in the beverage cup.

To this end, the foam measuring unit 700 includes a laser generator 710 for irradiating a laser beam on the beverage foam; Illumination lamp 720 is installed on one side of the laser generator 710 to irradiate light to the beverage foam; And an imager 730 for capturing an image of the beverage line irradiated with the laser line and the light emitted from the beverage bubble by the laser generator 710 to obtain an image.

That is, when the laser generator 710 irradiates the laser beam to the beverage bubble, the imager 730 photographs the beverage bubble irradiated with the laser. The image obtained through the photographing is processed by the controller 600, and the controller 600 analyzes the laser line formed on the beverage bubble. Therefore, by detecting the beverage bubbles (protrusions) existing on the top of the laser line, the foam liquid surface position can be accurately measured.

On the other hand, the present invention can detect the foam liquid level position through the cup height detection unit 300 and the camera 200, but more accurately detect the foam liquid level position of the beverage through the foam measurement unit 700. have.

The bubble level information detected by the bubble measuring unit 700 plays a very important role in maintaining a constant distance from the print head 120.

The control unit 600 includes an analysis unit 610 for acquiring and analyzing an image photographed by the imager 730; A calculator 620 for calculating a liquid level position of the beverage foam; And a feedback unit 630 which generates an operation signal of the elevation driving unit 400 by reflecting the calculation result of the calculation unit 620.

The analyzer 610 analyzes the laser line formed on the beverage bubble through the image photographed by the imager 730.

The calculation unit 620 calculates the liquid surface position of the beverage bubble which cannot be visually determined by considering both the laser line and the image by light.

The feedback unit 630 generates an operation signal of the lift driver 400 to narrow the interval when the interval between the liquid level of the beverage bubble and the printer head 120 is outside the set value as a result of the analysis through the calculator 620. This will feed back a high-resolution image of the beverage.

As shown in Figure 6 and 7, the present invention is installed on one side of the printer body 100, and includes a temperature control unit 800 for sensing and adjusting the temperature of the beverage contained in the beverage cup.

In general, to make latte drinks, steam the milk. Milk steaming means rotating milk in one direction due to air injection and heating the milk through steam. In this case, when the milk is heated to a high temperature, the foam particles are large, the printing quality is greatly reduced when printing the image on the latte surface in the state of the foam particles large.

In order to solve this problem, the present invention maintains a constant distance between the printer head 120 and the surface of the beverage in accordance with the liquid level of the beverage foam as mentioned above, and the image in the state where the temperature of the beverage is 55 ~ 60 ℃ Printing provides optimum output state.

For example, in the case of making latte drinks using steamed milk, when the image is printed out of the temperature range, the latte beverage is quickly inflated and bubbles are easily turned off, thereby causing the printer head 120 ), The print quality is greatly reduced as the distance from the?

In the present invention, the camera 200, the bubble measuring unit 700, the elevating drive unit 400 and the control unit 600 in the state of maintaining a constant distance between the printer head 120 and the beverage surface, additionally By adjusting the temperature of the beverage to the optimum temperature of the image printing by the temperature control unit 800 can be printed in a high resolution image.

The temperature control unit 800 is installed on one side of the printer main body 100, the temperature sensor 810 for detecting the temperature in a non-contact manner spaced apart from a predetermined distance from the beverage cup; And cooling means 820 installed on one side of the printer body 100 to cool the beverage contained in the beverage cup.

The cooling means 820 is composed of a cooling fan that sucks the outside air and blows air into the inner space of the beverage cup.

Therefore, when the latte beverage is out of the appropriate temperature range, the heat is discharged to the outside by the cooling means 820, so that image printing may be performed at the optimum temperature.

As shown in FIG. 8, the present invention is coupled to an ink supply pipe 940 connected between the printer head 120 and the ink chamber 930 to adjust the temperature of the edible ink transferred through the ink supply pipe 940. It may include a cold temperature control unit 900.

 The cold temperature control unit 900 is coupled to one side of the outer circumferential surface of the ink supply pipe 940, the heater 910 of the heating wire form for heating the ink supply pipe 940; And a cooler 920 coupled to the other outer circumferential surface of the ink supply pipe 940 to cool the ink supply pipe 940. In particular, one side of the ink supply pipe 940 may be further provided with a temperature sensor (not shown) for measuring the temperature of the ink supply pipe 940, the heater 910 automatically according to the value measured by the temperature sensor Alternatively, the operation of the cooler 920 may be adjusted.

In this way, the cold temperature control unit 900 can greatly improve the image printing quality by maintaining the edible ink supplied to the printer head 120 at a temperature suitable for image printing.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many various obvious modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention from this description. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be construed by the claims described to include examples of many such variations.

100: printer body 110: tray
120: print head 200: camera
300: cup height detection unit 400: elevating drive unit
410: LM column 420: LM guide
421: LM rail 430: timing belt
431: timing pulley 440: driving motor
500: print head drive unit 510: X axis drive unit
520: Y-axis drive motor 530: injection drive unit
600: control unit 610: analysis unit
620: calculator 630: feedback unit
700: bubble measuring unit 710: laser generator
720: lighting 730: video camera
800: temperature control unit 810: temperature sensor
820: cooling means 900: cold temperature control unit
910: heater 920: cooler
930: ink chamber 940: ink supply pipe

Claims (9)

In the beverage art printing apparatus for printing images of various shapes on the beverage surface,
A printer body (100) having a tray (110) for mounting a beverage cup on one side and having a printer head (120) for ejecting edible ink through a nozzle;
A camera 200 installed at one side of the printer head 120 and photographing a beverage contained in a beverage cup at a predetermined height;
A cup height sensing unit 300 installed inside the printer body 100 and sensing a height of a beverage cup mounted on the tray 110;
An elevating driving part 400 installed inside the printer main body 100 and elevating the tray 110 such that the printer head 120 is located close to the beverage surface;
A print head driver 500 installed inside the printer body 100 to move the print head 120 in the X and Y axis directions; And
Receiving a beverage image photographed through the camera 200 to determine the liquid level position of the beverage bubbles, and correspondingly, the control unit 600 for controlling the operation of the elevating drive unit 400 and the printer head drive unit 500; Include,
The printer head 120 is provided as an inkjet cartridge to print images of various colors on the beverage bubble liquid level,
It is installed inside the printer main body 100, and includes a bubble measuring unit 700 for measuring the liquid level position of the beverage foam contained in the beverage cup,
The controller 600 maintains a constant distance between the printer head 120 and the beverage foam liquid level according to the beverage foam liquid position information detected by the foam measurement unit 700,
Is installed on one side of the printer body 100, includes a temperature control unit 800 for sensing and adjusting the temperature of the beverage contained in the beverage cup,
The temperature control unit 800 is a beverage art printing device, characterized in that it comprises a temperature sensor 810 for detecting a temperature in a non-contact manner spaced apart from the beverage cup.
The method according to claim 1,
The lifting drive unit 400 is an LM column 410 is installed in the vertical direction inside the printer main body 100;
An LM guide 420 installed on the front surface of the LM column 410 and provided with an LM rail 421;
A timing belt 430 wound around a plurality of timing pulleys 431 connected to one side of the LM column 410; And
And a drive motor (440) installed at one side of the LM column (410) to drive the timing pulley (431).
The method according to claim 1,
The cup height detection unit 300 is composed of any one sensor of the infrared sensor, LED, laser sensor, to implement so that two or more light receiving sensors / light emitting sensors are arranged at regular intervals on the side of the space in which the beverage cup is mounted Beverage art printing device, characterized in that.
delete The method according to claim 1,
The foam measuring unit 700 includes a laser generator 710 for irradiating a laser beam on the beverage foam;
Illumination lamp 720 is installed on one side of the laser generator 710 to irradiate light to the beverage foam; And
And an image photographing unit (730) for capturing an image of the beverage line irradiated with the laser line and the light emitted by the laser generator (710) and the beverage bubble irradiated with the light.
The method according to claim 1,
The control unit 600 includes an analysis unit 610 for acquiring and analyzing images captured by the camera 200 and the image photographing apparatus 730;
A calculator 620 for calculating a liquid level position of the beverage foam; And
And a feedback unit (630) for generating an operation signal of the elevating driving unit (400) by reflecting the result of the calculation by the calculating unit (620).
delete The method according to claim 1,
The temperature control unit 800 is installed on one side of the tray 110, beverage art printing apparatus further comprises a cooling means (820) for cooling the beverage contained in the beverage cup.
The method according to claim 8,
The cooling means (820) is a beverage art printing device, characterized in that consisting of a cooling fan to suck the outside air and blow air into the inner space of the beverage cup.

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