CN110393812B

CN110393812B - Sterilization device and vending machine

Info

Publication number: CN110393812B
Application number: CN201910776677.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周学强
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2019-08-22
Filing date: 2019-08-22
Publication date: 2021-01-12
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-22
Also published as: CN110393812A

Abstract

The application discloses sterilization apparatus reaches vending machine including this sterilization apparatus, and this sterilization apparatus includes: the sterilization device comprises a sterilization device body, a sterilization device body and a sterilization device, wherein the sterilization device body is provided with a containing cavity which is used for containing a tank to be sterilized; the heater and the refrigerator are both arranged on the sterilization device body and are respectively used for heating and refrigerating; the temperature sensor is arranged on the sterilization device body and used for detecting the temperature in the cavity; and the controller is respectively connected with the temperature sensor, the heater and the refrigerator so as to control the heater to heat or control the refrigerator to refrigerate according to a signal which is sent by the temperature sensor and represents the temperature value in the accommodating cavity. According to the technical scheme of this application, can make automatic vending machine have good drink health state.

Description

Sterilization device and vending machine

Technical Field

The application relates to the vending machine field, more specifically says, relates to vending machine and sterilization apparatus thereof.

Background

Vending machines are common devices for commercial automation that have walked into people's daily lives. In different situations, vending machines may sell different products depending on the merchant. In recent years, more and more vending machines have appeared for the sale of drinks, such as orange juice, milk, etc., according to the needs of the people.

For example, in an orange juice vending machine, fresh oranges are vended by on-site juicing. For another example, in the existing fresh milk vending machine, fresh milk is mostly put into the vending machine for sale after being sterilized, packaged, and transported in a factory. The existing beverage vending machine controls the transportation of beverages through a flow path comprising a liquid pump, an electromagnetic valve and a flow switch, and has serious potential food sanitation safety hazards because fresh beverages inevitably contact a plurality of flow path components and parts to generate sanitary dead angles and the vending machine cannot be cleaned in time.

Therefore, how to solve the food hygiene problem of vending machines (especially beverage vending machines) becomes a technical problem to be solved in the field.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present application proposes a sterilization device and a vending machine comprising such a sterilization device to solve, or at least partially solve, the food hygiene problems of vending machines, in particular beverage vending machines.

According to the present application, a sterilization apparatus is provided, comprising:

the sterilization device comprises a sterilization device body, a sterilization device body and a sterilization device, wherein the sterilization device body is provided with a containing cavity which is used for containing a tank to be sterilized;

the heater and the refrigerator are both arranged on the sterilization device body and are respectively used for heating and refrigerating;

the temperature sensor is arranged on the sterilization device body and used for detecting the temperature in the cavity; and

and the controller is respectively connected with the temperature sensor, the heater and the refrigerator so as to control the heater to heat or control the refrigerator to refrigerate according to a signal which is sent by the temperature sensor and represents the temperature value in the accommodating cavity.

Preferably, the cavity extends along the longitudinal direction of the sterilization device body and has an open end, and the cross section of the cavity is circular, oval, rectangular or square.

Preferably, the sterilization device body includes: an inner layer made of a thermally conductive material and defining the cavity; and the outer layer is used for coating the inner layer and is made of a heat-insulating material.

Preferably, the heat conducting material is at least one of steel, iron, copper, aluminum alloy, silver, graphite and rubber; and/or the heat-insulating material is at least one of polyurethane foam, polyphenyl, phenolic aldehyde, aerogel felt, glass wool, rock wool, expanded perlite and foamed cement.

Preferably, at least one of the heater, the refrigerator and the temperature sensor is disposed in-line with the sterilization device body and in direct contact with the inner layer.

Preferably, the heater and the refrigerator are located remotely from each other, and the temperature sensor is located in a region between the heater and the refrigerator.

Preferably, the heater is at least one of a resistance heater, a magnesium rod heater and a microwave heater; and/or the refrigerator is at least one of a semiconductor refrigerator, a water-cooled refrigerator, a variable frequency refrigerator and a compressor refrigerator.

Preferably, the sterilization device has at least one of the following conditions: heating working conditions, wherein the controller controls the heater to heat according to a heating instruction until the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is not lower than a first preset value, and the first preset value is 65-135 ℃;

the controller controls the refrigerator to refrigerate until the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is not higher than a second preset value, wherein the second preset value is 5-6 ℃ according to a refrigerating instruction;

the controller controls the heater not to heat and controls the refrigerator not to refrigerate according to a heat preservation instruction, so that the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is between 37 and 65 ℃;

and the controller selectively controls the refrigerator to refrigerate according to a refrigeration instruction, so that the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is between 1 and 6 ℃.

Preferably, the sterilization device has the following working conditions: firstly, heating working conditions are carried out, so that the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is between 65 ℃ and 135 ℃; then carrying out heat preservation working condition; when the temperature value that temperature sensor detected is 37 degrees centigrade to 65 degrees centigrade, carry out the operating mode of refrigerating, until the cooling extremely the temperature value that temperature sensor detected is 1 degree centigrade to 6 degrees centigrade, get into cold-stored operating mode.

Preferably, the subject canister to be sterilized includes:

a tank having an opening communicating with the inner chamber;

a cover detachably sealingly mounted to the opening;

an air inlet pipe penetrating the cover from the outside into the inner cavity; and

a drain tube extending from within the interior cavity through the lid to the exterior.

Preferably, the opening of the liquid outlet pipe in the inner cavity is closer to the bottom of the tank body than the opening of the air inlet pipe in the inner cavity.

Preferably, the opening of the air inlet conduit within the internal cavity is adjacent the lid; and/or the opening of the liquid outlet pipe in the inner cavity is close to the bottom of the tank body.

Preferably, the tank body has an outline corresponding to the cavity, so that the tank body is placed in the cavity and then closely attached to the wall of the cavity.

In addition, this application still provides vending machine, and this vending machine includes above-mentioned sterilization apparatus, it has as the fresh drink including freshly squeezed fruit juice, fresh milk of waiting to sterilize the object to hold in the object jar to wait.

According to the technical scheme of this application, through proposing a sterilization apparatus and including this sterilization apparatus's vending machine, can solve or solve the food hygiene problem of vending machine (especially drink vending machine) at least partially.

Additional features and advantages of the present application will be described in detail in the detailed description which follows.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the invention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vending machine according to a preferred embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the vending machine of FIG. 1 with the hood open;

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a sterilization device according to a preferred embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the sterilization unit of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the sterilization apparatus in a state where the storage tank is installed;

fig. 6 and 7 are a perspective view and a sectional view of a storage tank according to a preferred embodiment of the present application, respectively.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments.

In the technical scheme of this application, provide a novel vending machine and around this vending machine a series of improvement scheme. The overall condition, the important components and the process of the vending machine will be described first in the following, in turn.

A,Automatic vending machine

The vending machine mainly realizes the vending process of users in an automatic mode under the unattended condition. The user can pay in cash or mobile payment mode on site, and can also input the identification code of the long-term user to make transaction. In the technical solutions of the present application, although the description is mainly given by taking "vending machine" as an example, it can be understood by those skilled in the art that the "vending machine" should be understood broadly in the present application, and for example, the meanings of "vending machine", "unmanned vending machine", and the like, which are often referred to in the market, are also included.

As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the vending machine of the present application may have an external shape similar to that of current conventional vending machines, but is not limited to the specific configuration shown in fig. 1. The vending machine comprises a cabinet (not numbered) forming the main structure and a hood 53 provided at the front side of the cabinet (the side facing the user in use). Therefore, a closed space is defined in the housing 53 for storing goods to be sold, particularly various liquid drinks and the like, such as freshly squeezed juice, fresh milk (such as fresh milk or fresh goat milk), and the like. Meanwhile, the enclosed space within the vending machine is also provided with various electromechanical control mechanisms to effect the movement of the goods, which will be described in detail below.

At the front side of the vending machine, the enclosure is provided with a selectively openable or closable access opening 54 to allow a user to access a drinking cup, such as a cup made of food grade material, containing a liquid drink, in order to facilitate user interaction. The position of the goods taking opening on the hood, the shape and the specific size of the goods taking opening can be selected and designed according to specific application working conditions.

In addition, a user interaction module can be arranged on the outer side of the machine cover so as to allow a user to realize interaction operations such as commodity selection and payment. At least a portion of the housing may be designed to be openable so that maintenance personnel can replenish or replace the merchandise within the vending machine or perform maintenance operations on the internal equipment. At the rear side of the vending machine, an openable door device may also be designed to enable operations such as maintenance of the vending machine.

The enclosure may be designed to be opaque, may be designed to be at least partially transparent, or may be fully transparent. This can be selected according to different working condition requirements. In the case where at least a portion of the housing is designed to be transparent, the user may view the contents of the vending machine as well as the operating conditions of the interior, thereby increasing the transparency of the vending process.

In this application, since the vending machine mainly sells liquid food, in order to obtain a desired degree of hygiene, it is preferable that, as shown in fig. 2, in the closed space within the vending machine, an environment control unit for controlling the temperature and/or humidity within the closed space is provided; also preferably, a disinfection device, which may be an ozone generator 55 or an ultraviolet lamp, may be provided in the enclosed space.

Through above-mentioned environmental control unit and/or degassing unit, can keep the environment of the inside relative inhibition bacterial growing of vending machine according to different external environment, for example keep relatively low temperature etc..

From the point of view of functional implementation, the vending machine comprises: a liquid storage device for storing a liquid to be supplied; a drinking cup transfer device for transferring a drinking cup to transfer the drinking cup from a standby position to a receiving position for receiving a predetermined amount of liquid from the liquid storage device and to place the drinking cup containing the liquid at an extraction position for extraction by a user; and the interactive control device is used for interactive operation of a user and sending a control command to the liquid storage device and the drinking cup conveying device according to the operation information of the user.

Liquid storage devices are used to store the liquid to be supplied, but how to ensure the hygienic safety of liquid drinks has been a problem that cannot be solved by conventional vending machines, especially for fresh liquid drinks.

On the one hand, it is necessary to ensure that the liquid drink stored in the liquid storage device is kept in a good hygienic state, and preferably, the liquid drink is kept in a good hygienic state for a certain period of time. On the other hand, there is a need to ensure that the liquid drink is not contaminated throughout the transfer of the liquid drink, especially from the liquid storage device to the drinking cup of the serving consumer.

In traditional vending machine, often adopt the form of the bag or the bottle of packing in advance to sell to liquid drink, its nutrient composition is destroyed more, and the nutritional level is not high. For fresh liquid drinks (such as freshly squeezed juice or fresh milk), it is difficult to ensure the quality requirement and hygiene condition during storage, and because the liquid drinks are generally delivered by a pump device, such as pumping from the liquid storage device to a paper cup, the liquid drinks inevitably pass through the pump device and a pipeline during pumping, and therefore the liquid drinks are easily polluted, which leads to food safety problems.

For both of the above-mentioned aspects of the problem, the present application proposes a practical and effective solution, which will be described hereinafter.

The drinking cup transporting device is used for transporting drinking cups (such as paper cups or plastic cups). Specifically, a drinking cup storage device 50 is typically provided within the vending machine, as shown in FIG. 2. There may be a plurality of drinking cups positioned within the drinking cup storage device 50 to be in a standby position or condition. When receiving the control command, the drinking cup transfer device may approach the drinking cup storage device 50 and carry at least one drinking cup, and then move the at least one drinking cup to a corresponding liquid storage device (the position is a receiving position), so as to receive a predetermined amount of liquid from the liquid storage device, and then transfer the drinking cup to an extraction position for a user to extract (such as the inner side of the above-mentioned access opening 54).

Preferably, the vending machine includes a seal cap mounting device 51 for mounting a seal cap to the drinking cup after the drinking cup has received a predetermined amount of liquid and before reaching the extraction location. An ingredient supply means 52 may also be included for adding an ingredient including sugar to the drinking cup after it has received a predetermined amount of liquid and before the sealing lid is installed, the ingredient not being limited to sugar, other food ingredients, such as food additives, may also be added, which may be adapted differently depending on the choice of the user.

In order to achieve the movement of the drinking cup, the drinking cup transfer device includes a drinking cup holder 30 having a degree of freedom of moving up and down in a vertical direction and moving back and forth and left and right in a horizontal direction, as shown in fig. 2, for carrying a drinking cup including a cup. The vertical direction is a height direction perpendicular to the ground, the front and rear directions are front and rear directions of the vending machine, and the left and right directions are left and right directions of the vending machine. The drinking cup transfer device may be capable of transferring drinking cups to desired positions in three-dimensional space within the vending machine using the drinking cup carrier 30 with translational freedom in three directions.

The drinking cup conveying device can be realized in various ways, for example, the drinking cup conveying device can be realized by utilizing a translation mechanism in three directions, and the translation mechanism can comprise a thread transmission mechanism, a lead screw transmission mechanism, a gear and rack transmission mechanism and the like; preferably, the method can be performed by a robot.

The amount of liquid received by the drinking cup from the liquid reservoir is predetermined, either as a function of the preset settings of the controller or as a function of data entered by the user via the user interaction module. In order to accurately determine the amount of liquid (which may be weight or volume) that is poured into the drinking cup, the drinking cup holder is preferably provided with a weight detector 40, as shown in fig. 2, for detecting the weight of liquid received by the drinking cup and for sending information on the detected weight of liquid to the interactive control means. And when the controller of the interactive control device judges that the weight of the liquid received by the drinking cup sent by the weight detector is larger than the preset value, stopping injecting the liquid into the drinking cup under the control of the controller of the interactive control device. The weight detector may be various types of weight sensors.

Thus, from a vending process perspective, the vending machine of the present application may refer to the vending process of a conventional vending machine. Briefly, when a user comes to the vending machine to purchase or extract a required liquid beverage commodity, information such as the type, weight or capacity of the liquid beverage, whether to add ingredients, temperature and the like can be input through a user interaction module in the interaction control device, after payment is finished by the user through a settlement module of the interaction control device, the drinking cup transfer device is driven by the controller to carry the drinking cup, and after a preset amount of liquid beverage is received from the liquid storage device, the drinking cup filled with the liquid beverage required by the customer can be transferred to an extraction position for the user to extract through operations of adding ingredients, adding a sealing cover and the like.

The interaction control device can be a local computing control device arranged on the vending machine, and can also be a cloud computing control device utilizing a network.

In the technical solution of the present application, as described above, two problems are solved: the first aspect is how to maintain the quality and safety and hygiene of liquid drinks (especially fresh drinks) stored in a liquid storage device; a second aspect is how to avoid contamination due to hygiene issues during the process of pouring the liquid drink in the liquid storage device into the drinking cup. The following description will focus on the technical solutions for these two aspects.

Second, sterilization device

The application provides a technical scheme of sterilization apparatus, and this technical scheme is applicable to the sterilization to liquid drink, can also keep its higher quality and good health condition as far as possible simultaneously. The solution is therefore not limited to the working applications of vending machines, but can also be applied in other similar fields, such as the sterilization of fresh milk.

As shown in fig. 3 to 5, the sterilization apparatus includes: a sterilization device body 10 having a cavity 101 for receiving an object to be sterilized, such as a liquid drink comprising freshly extracted juice or fresh milk; or preferably the cavity is used for accommodating a tank to be sterilized, such as a liquid drink tank containing freshly squeezed juice or fresh milk.

The sterilization device also comprises a heater 11 and a refrigerator 12, wherein the heater and the refrigerator are both arranged on the sterilization device body 10 and are respectively used for heating and refrigerating; the temperature sensor 13 is arranged on the sterilization device body and used for detecting the temperature in the accommodating cavity 101; and the controller is respectively connected with the temperature sensor, the heater and the refrigerator so as to control the heater to heat or control the refrigerator to refrigerate according to a signal which is sent by the temperature sensor and represents the temperature value in the accommodating cavity.

The sterilization device mainly utilizes the control of temperature, thereby achieving the purpose of sterilization. Specifically, after the object to be sterilized is injected into the cavity 101, or after the tank storing the object to be sterilized is placed in the cavity 101, the controller may control the heater to heat based on the heating instruction, so as to increase the temperature of the object to be sterilized or the object to be sterilized contained in the tank until the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is not lower than a first predetermined value, which may reach, for example, 65-135 degrees celsius (preferably, 78-85 degrees celsius), and then, preferably, the temperature may be maintained for a period of time, such as, for example, 5-30 minutes, so as to achieve the sterilization function. This condition may be referred to as a heating condition. The heating instruction may be, for example, an interactive operation instruction of a user, or may be based on an internal preset program.

In addition, the sterilization device can have a refrigeration working condition, wherein according to a refrigeration instruction, the controller controls the refrigerator to refrigerate until the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is not higher than a second preset value, and the second preset value is 5-6 ℃. Therefore, the temperature of the object to be sterilized or the object to be sterilized contained in the tank can be rapidly or slowly reduced until reaching a low temperature state which is not higher than 5 ℃ to 6 ℃. Then, the low temperature state can be maintained. The working condition can be called as a refrigeration working condition, wherein the refrigeration command can be sent out based on a user interactive operation command according to the refrigeration command or when the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is in a temperature range beneficial to bacterial reproduction so as to start the refrigeration working condition.

In addition, the sterilization device can have a heat preservation working condition, and based on a heat preservation instruction, the controller controls the heater not to heat and controls the refrigerator not to refrigerate, so that the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is between 37 and 65 ℃. The heat preservation instruction may be based on a user interaction instruction, or may be issued when the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is within a temperature range that is not conducive to bacterial growth.

In addition, the sterilization device can have a refrigeration working condition, wherein according to a refrigeration instruction, the controller can selectively control the refrigerator to refrigerate, so that the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is between 1 and 6 ℃. The refrigeration instruction can be based on an interactive operation instruction of a user, and can also be sent out when the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is in a low-temperature state.

The working conditions can be independently carried out, and can also be carried out in a matched mode according to requirements. For example, the above-mentioned heating condition and the high temperature maintaining process thereof can play a sterilization effect, and a better sterilization effect can be obtained in addition to rapid refrigeration under the preferable condition. According to different liquid drinks and/or different bacterium types, only the heating working condition and the high temperature can be kept, only the refrigerating working condition and the low temperature can be kept, and the heating working condition and the refrigerating working condition can be carried out firstly and then rapidly. Due to the fact that the technical scheme of the application has the working conditions, cold drinks, hot drinks and warm drinks can be provided according to the needs of users respectively, and different user requirements are met.

Preferably, the sterilization device has the following working conditions: firstly, heating working conditions are carried out, so that the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is between 78 ℃ and 85 ℃; then carrying out heat preservation working condition; temperature can slowly descend gradually under the operating mode of keeping warm, and when the temperature value that temperature sensor detected was 40 degrees centigrade to 50 degrees centigrade, the operating mode of refrigerating until the cooling extremely the temperature value that temperature sensor detected is 1 degree centigrade to 6 degrees centigrade, gets into cold-stored operating mode. Therefore, the bacteria can be quickly killed under the heating working condition, and the relatively high temperature can be kept for a period of time under the heat preservation working condition, so that the sanitary state is maintained. When the temperature is reduced to or is reduced to a temperature range favorable for bacterial reproduction, the refrigeration working condition is started, and the relatively low temperature is entered for refrigeration.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the cavity 101 extends along the longitudinal direction of the sterilization device body 10 and has an open end, and the cross-sectional shape of the cavity 101 is circular (the shape shown in the drawings), oval, rectangular, or square. Although the external shape of the sterilization apparatus main body 10 is illustrated as a rectangular parallelepiped, the present invention is not limited thereto, and may be a cylindrical shape, an elliptic cylindrical shape, or the like.

Preferably, the sterilization device body 10 is made of a heat conducting material so as to facilitate the transfer of heat under the heating working condition and the refrigeration working condition. However, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, the sterilization device body 10 preferably includes: an inner layer 102 made of a heat conductive material and defining said cavity 101; an outer layer 103, which covers the inner layer and is made of a heat insulating material. The heat conduction material can be at least one of steel, iron, copper, aluminum alloy, silver, graphite and rubber, and the heat insulation material can be at least one of polyurethane foam, polyphenyl, phenolic aldehyde, aerogel felt, glass wool, rock wool, expanded perlite and foamed cement.

Therefore, through the design of the inner layer of the heat conduction material and the outer layer of the heat insulation material, the inner layer of the heat conduction material can be utilized to realize good heat transfer, so that the temperature rise or the temperature reduction of the liquid drink is ensured, the outer layer of the heat insulation material can be utilized to realize the accumulation of heat, and the heat insulation working condition is facilitated. It should be noted that the outer layer 103 may cover the entire outer surface of the inner layer 102 or only a portion thereof, depending on the need for thermal insulation.

As shown in fig. 5, at least one of the heater 11, the refrigerator 12 and the temperature sensor 13 is preferably embedded in the sterilization apparatus body 10 and directly contacts with the inner layer 102, so as to directly utilize the inner layer of the heat conductive material to realize heat transfer, thereby obtaining higher efficiency. Preferably, the heater 11, the refrigerator 12 and the temperature sensor 13 are detachably embedded in the inner layer 102.

The heater and the refrigerator can be selected from various suitable types, such as a water heater and a water refrigerator using water as a heat transfer medium, and an electric heater and a semiconductor refrigerator using electric energy as a basis, and the like. In the sterilization apparatus body 10, in order to alleviate the conflict of heating and cooling, it is preferable that the heater 11 and the cooler 12 are disposed away from each other, and the temperature sensor 13 is located in a region between the heater 11 and the cooler 12. Therefore, excessive influence on the refrigerator can be avoided when heating is performed, and excessive influence on the heater can be avoided also when cooling is performed. In addition, the heater may be at least one of a resistance heater, a magnesium rod heater, and a microwave heater; the refrigerator is at least one of a semiconductor refrigerator, a water-cooling refrigerator, a variable frequency refrigerator and a compressor refrigerator.

As shown in fig. 5, it is preferable that a tank to be sterilized or a liquid storage tank is placed in the cavity, so that the liquid drink in the tank is temperature-controlled using a heater and a refrigerator of the sterilization apparatus. By utilizing the technical scheme of the sterilization device, the quality and good sanitary state of the liquid beverage can be kept within a period of time, and the temperature can not exceed 100 ℃ during heating, so that the nutrition of the beverage can be more fully reserved. The solution of the sterilization device is particularly suitable for the vending machine of fresh beverages of freshly squeezed fruit juice and fresh milk. Therefore, this application has also proposed a vending machine, and this vending machine includes above-mentioned sterilization apparatus, it has including the fresh drink of freshly squeezed fruit juice, fresh milk as waiting to sterilize the target jar to hold in.

Liquid storage device and liquid driving device

In conventional solutions, the liquid beverage in the liquid storage device is pumped, mostly by means of a pump, into a cup, such as a paper cup. Since the liquid beverage directly flows through the pumping flow path, the pumping flow path needs to be cleaned frequently by manual intervention, so as to ensure the sanitation and safety of the liquid beverage. Otherwise, even if the liquid drink in the liquid storage device is safe and sanitary, the liquid drink is polluted when passing through the pumping flow path, and the liquid drink is no longer safe and sanitary. However, in the field of vending machines, it is difficult to regularly clean the pumping flow path in consideration of labor, cost, and the like, and it is difficult to achieve good hygienic quality particularly when vending fresh beverages.

In the present application, the above-mentioned problems can be completely avoided by the unique design of the liquid storage device and the liquid drive device.

The liquid storage device described in the present application for storing a liquid beverage to be served may comprise a tank of the object to be sterilized referred to above or a flexible storage bag or a flexible storage bottle referred to below. The liquid storage device can be arranged in the cavity of the sterilization device so as to realize sterilization treatment on the liquid beverage in the sterilization device by using the sterilization device and keep the liquid beverage for a period of time.

The liquid actuating device is used for driving a preset amount of liquid to be delivered from the liquid storage device to the drinking cup positioned at the receiving position, and any parts of the liquid actuating device are not in direct contact with the liquid. Because any part of the liquid driving device is not in direct contact with the liquid beverage, the liquid beverage in the liquid storage device can be ensured to have good safety and sanitation quality (realized by the sterilizing device), and the problem of secondary pollution can not be caused in the process of transferring the liquid beverage from the liquid storage device to the drinking cup.

This can be achieved in at least two ways.

The first mode is as follows: the liquid storage device comprises a flexible storage bag or a flexible storage bottle or other storage container with a flexible portion. For such a liquid storage device, the liquid drive means may be a squeezing means to squeeze a predetermined amount of liquid out of the flexible storage bag by squeezing the flexible storage bag.

In the squeezing process, a flexible storage container is arranged between the squeezing device and the liquid beverage, so that the squeezing device and the liquid beverage can not be in direct contact with each other.

The second mode is as follows: the liquid storage device is a rigid container, and liquid drinks in the liquid storage device are pressed out in an air pressure mode.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 5, 6 and 7, the liquid storage tank as the liquid storage device includes: a can 20, the can 20 having an opening 202 communicating with the cavity 201; a cover 21, the cover 21 being detachably and sealingly mounted to the opening 202; an air inlet pipe 22, the air inlet pipe 22 penetrates the cover 21 from the outside to enter the inner cavity 201; and a liquid outlet pipe 23, wherein the liquid outlet pipe 23 extends from the inner cavity 201 to the outside through the cover 21.

For such a rigid container, the liquid driving device may be a pneumatic driving device, which is communicated with the air inlet pipe 22 and can inject pressure gas into the inner cavity 201 of the tank 20, so that the liquid in the tank 20 flows out from the liquid outlet pipe 23.

In particular, the pneumatic drive may comprise an air pump, which may be connected to the controller. When the air pump is started by receiving a signal from the controller, the air pump can deliver pressurized air to the air inlet pipe 22 through the air passage, and then the pressurized air enters the inner cavity 201 of the tank 20 through the air inlet pipe 22. In this case, the liquid beverage originally in the bottom of the can body 20 will rise to the outside through the outlet pipe 23 and can be poured into a drinking cup such as a cup. When the liquid in the cup reaches a preset amount, the controller can send a signal for stopping operation to the air pump, and further pressure air cannot be continuously pumped into the tank body. In this process, any parts of the pneumatic drive do not come into direct contact with the liquid beverage.

Preferably, in order to facilitate the pressing out of the liquid under the pressure of the gas, as shown in fig. 6 and 7, the opening of the liquid outlet pipe 23 in the inner cavity 201 is closer to the bottom of the tank 20 than the opening of the gas inlet pipe 22 in the inner cavity 201. Thus, as liquid moves upward under the influence of the pressurized gas, it will first contact the opening of effluent tube 23 within interior chamber 201, thereby facilitating drainage. Further preferably, the opening of the air inlet pipe 22 in the inner cavity 201 is adjacent to the cover 21; and/or the opening of the outlet pipe 23 in the inner cavity 201 is adjacent to the bottom of the tank 20.

As mentioned above, since the storage tank needs to be placed in the cavity of the sterilization apparatus, it is preferable that the tank 20 has an outline corresponding to the cavity 101, so that the tank 20 is closely attached to the cavity wall after being placed in the cavity 101, thereby facilitating the direct transfer of heat between the tank 20 and the cavity wall, as shown in fig. 5.

In the solution of the present application, as shown in fig. 2, there are a plurality of storage tanks, and the plurality of storage tanks are arranged in at least one row, and the liquid outlet of the liquid outlet pipe 23 of each storage tank is arranged forward obliquely upward, horizontally or obliquely downward. Preferably, the storage tank is provided with a plurality of rows. The orientation of the outlet pipe 23 may have different design choices according to different working conditions. In addition, the storage tank may be vertically disposed; or the storage tank is disposed to be inclined as shown in fig. 2 and the opening of the tank 20 is biased to the front.

In the case of a plurality of liquid storage tanks, it is preferred that a plurality of sterilization devices are also designed, so that each liquid storage tank is placed in the cavity of a corresponding one of the sterilization devices, thereby controlling the hygiene and quality of the liquid drink in the liquid storage tank by using the sterilization device.

Through the above description of the first mode and the second mode, in any mode, any part of the liquid driving device cannot be in direct contact with the liquid beverage, so that the hygienic dead angle in the traditional scheme is avoided. In the technical scheme of this application, make the liquid drink that stores among the liquid storage device have good sanitary quality through sterilization apparatus, and then avoid the liquid drink to transmit the pollution problem of in-process from liquid storage device to drinking the cup through liquid drive arrangement.

According to the vending machine provided by the application, particularly the vending machine for fresh beverages (such as fresh milk), the operator is not required to send the milk intensively when people drink the milk, the vending machine can be replenished at any time, and the working intensity of workers is reduced; in the whole process of storage, sterilization and milk discharge, the fresh milk only contacts the storage tank, and the storage tank has no sanitary cleaning dead angle; when a plurality of sterilizing devices are installed, the fresh milk in the storage tank can be sterilized in sequence through the control device, and hot fresh milk can be guaranteed to be sold at any time; has the functions of providing hot fresh milk, warming fresh milk and freezing fresh milk for sale at the same time; the sterilized fresh milk can be refrigerated and stored, and can be recovered during replenishment to prevent deterioration of fresh milk.

The preferred embodiments of the present application have been described in detail above, but the present application is not limited to the specific details of the above embodiments, and various simple modifications can be made to the technical solution of the present application within the technical idea of the present application, and these simple modifications all belong to the protection scope of the present application.

It should be noted that, in the foregoing embodiments, various features described in the above embodiments may be combined in any suitable manner, and in order to avoid unnecessary repetition, various possible combinations are not described in the present application.

In addition, any combination of the various embodiments of the present application can be made, and the same should be considered as the disclosure of the present invention as long as the combination does not depart from the spirit of the present application.

Claims

1. A sterilization apparatus, comprising:

the sterilization device comprises a sterilization device body (10) which is provided with a cavity (101) for accommodating a tank to be sterilized;

the sterilization device comprises a heater (11) and a refrigerator (12), wherein the heater and the refrigerator are arranged on the sterilization device body (10) and are used for heating and refrigerating respectively;

the temperature sensor (13) is arranged on the sterilization device body (10) and is used for detecting the temperature in the cavity (101); and

the controller is respectively connected with the temperature sensor, the heater and the refrigerator so as to control the heater to heat or control the refrigerator to refrigerate according to the signal which is sent by the temperature sensor and represents the temperature value in the accommodating cavity,

the sterilization device has at least one of the following working conditions:

heating working conditions, wherein the controller controls the heater to heat according to a heating instruction until the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is not lower than a first preset value, and the first preset value is 65-135 ℃;

2. Sterilisation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cavity (101) extends in a longitudinal direction of the sterilisation apparatus body (10) and has an open end, the cavity (101) having a cross-sectional shape which is circular, oval, rectangular or square.

3. The sterilization device according to claim 1, wherein the sterilization device body (10) comprises:

an inner layer (102) made of a heat-conductive material and defining said cavity (101);

an outer layer (103) which covers the inner layer and is made of a heat insulating material.

4. The sterilization apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the heat conductive material is at least one of steel, iron, copper, aluminum alloy, silver, graphite, rubber; and/or the heat-insulating material is at least one of polyurethane foam, polyphenyl, phenolic aldehyde, aerogel felt, glass wool, rock wool, expanded perlite and foamed cement.

5. Sterilisation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein at least one of the heater (11), the refrigerator (12) and the temperature sensor (13) is provided embedded in the sterilisation apparatus body (10) and in direct contact with the inner layer (102).

6. Sterilisation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heater (11) and the refrigerator (12) are located remotely from each other, the temperature sensor (13) being located in a region between the heater (11) and the refrigerator (12); and/or

The heater is at least one of a resistance heater, a magnesium rod heater and a microwave heater; and/or

The refrigerator is at least one of a semiconductor refrigerator, a water-cooling refrigerator, a variable frequency refrigerator and a compressor refrigerator.

7. The sterilization apparatus according to claim 1,

the sterilization device has the following working conditions:

firstly, heating working conditions are carried out, so that the temperature value detected by the temperature sensor is between 65 ℃ and 135 ℃;

then carrying out heat preservation working condition;

when the temperature value that temperature sensor detected is 37 degrees centigrade to 65 degrees centigrade, carry out the operating mode of refrigerating, until the cooling extremely the temperature value that temperature sensor detected is 1 degree centigrade to 6 degrees centigrade, get into cold-stored operating mode.

8. The sterilization apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the subject canister to be sterilized includes:

a tank (20), the tank (20) having an opening communicating with the inner chamber (201);

a cover (21), the cover (21) being detachably and hermetically mounted to the opening;

an air inlet pipe (22), wherein the air inlet pipe (22) penetrates through the cover (21) from the outside to enter the inner cavity (201); and

a liquid outlet pipe (23), wherein the liquid outlet pipe (23) penetrates through the cover (21) from the inner cavity (201) to the outside.

9. Sterilisation apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the outlet duct (23) opens in the inner chamber (201) closer to the bottom of the tank (20) than the inlet duct (22) opens in the inner chamber (201).

10. Sterilization apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the opening of said air inlet duct (22) within said inner chamber (201) is adjacent to said cover (21); and/or the opening of the liquid outlet pipe (23) in the inner cavity (201) is adjacent to the bottom of the tank body (20).

11. The sterilization apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the tank (20) has a contour corresponding to the cavity (101) so that the tank (20) fits closely to the cavity wall after being placed in the cavity (101).

12. Vending machine comprising at least one sterilization device according to any one of claims 8 to 11, said tank to be sterilized containing, as an object to be sterilized, a fresh drink comprising freshly extracted fruit juice, fresh milk.