JP2000057432A - Raw material cooling device in vending machine for cup type beverage - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce cost by skillfully utilizing an ice machine loaded in an automatic vending machine and effectively cooling raw material stored in respective raw material boxes. SOLUTION: In the cup type beverage automatic vending machine including plural raw material boxes 2 storing raw materials for various beverages, an ice machine 6 and a wafer reservoir 7 in its machine body, these boxes 2 are stored in a cooling chamber 8 partitioned on the upper part in the machine body, an air blowing fan 10 and a heat exchange 11 for cooling air are arranged on a cooling air blowing pipe 9 drawn out from the chamber 8, the melted water of ice generated in an ice stocker 6b of the ice machine 6 is allowed to flow into the heat exchange 11 through a drain pipe 6e, and cooling air obtained by heat exchange is sent to the chamber 8 by the fan 10 through the pipe 9 to cool the raw material stored in respective boxes 2. Consequently raw materials can be prevented from being deteriorated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cup-type beverage vending machine for producing various kinds of hot beverages or cold beverages in the machine and selling the beverages, and supplies coffee or other raw materials contained in a raw material box in the machine. The present invention relates to a raw material cooling device that is kept cool to prevent deterioration of the raw material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a raw material cooling device of a cup-type beverage vending machine described above, a heat insulation structure in which a raw material box called a canister containing raw materials of various beverages (coffee beans, coffee powder, etc.) is defined in the machine. 2. Description of the Related Art There has been conventionally known an apparatus in which a raw material is housed in a room and cooled by feeding cold air from the outside into the cool room to prevent the raw material from being deteriorated during storage.

As means for obtaining the cool air for cooling the raw materials, a cooling water tank (a syrup tank for cold beverages, a carbonator (carbonated water producing apparatus), and a water for dilution of beverages) installed at the bottom of the machine is cooled and cooled. Cooling water stored in the cooling water tank or cold drinking water cooled by the cooling water is passed through a heat exchanger for cold air, and the low-temperature cold air exchanged with the heat exchanger is blown by a fan. A device designed to be fed into a cool room is proposed and known as Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 7-10451 by the same applicant as the present invention.

[0004]

However, the conventional raw material cooling apparatus described above has the following problems. That is, in the cup-type beverage vending machine, the beverages are supplied from the raw material box (for example, coffee is supplied to a coffee mill, a coffee extractor, or a mixing ball in a self-weight falling manner to produce a beverage. The cooling water tank is arranged on the bottom side of the refrigerator to pump the liquid while the cooling water tank is arranged on the upper side of the container. The piping route of the cold water conduit or cold air duct that is piped between the stored cold storage room and the cooling water tank becomes longer, resulting in increased heat loss along the piping route, reducing the cooling effect of the raw materials, and reducing the piping. In addition, more insulation is required to cover the duct, which increases costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to effectively keep cold the raw materials stored in a raw material box by skillfully utilizing an ice making machine installed in the machine. An object of the present invention is to provide a raw material cooling device for a cup-type beverage vending machine.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a cold beverage containing a raw material box containing various beverage raw materials therein, an ice maker, and a water reservoir is provided.
In a cup-type beverage vending machine for selling hot beverages, (1) a cold storage chamber is defined in an upper portion of the machine, the raw material box is accommodated therein, and a blower fan is provided in an air duct drawn out of the cold storage chamber, and A heat exchanger for cold air is provided, and the molten water of the ice generated in the ice stocker of the ice making machine is passed through the heat exchanger so that cold air is sent into the cold storage room (claim 1).

(2) A cool room is defined in the upper part of the machine, the raw material box is accommodated in the cool room, and a blowing fan and a heat exchanger for cool air are arranged in a wind guide path leading to the cool room. Cooling air is sent to the heat exchanger through the cooling pipe provided inside the ice stocker of the ice making machine, through which the stored water of the water reservoir flows (Claim 2). An ice machine that manufactures and stores ice to be added to beverages when selling cold beverages by installing a cup-type beverage vending machine is designed to supply the ice dispensed from the ice stocker to the bend stage by its own weight drop method. The ice reservoir is installed on the upper side of the machine in the same way as the powder material box, and a water reservoir for supplying ice making water to the ice making section of the ice machine is installed at the upper part of the machine according to the same level as the ice making section of the ice machine. I have.

Therefore, the distance between the ice box and the cold storage room of the raw material boxes arranged side by side on the upper side of the machine is far greater than the distance between the cooling water tank and the cold storage room arranged on the bottom side of the refrigerator. The length of the chilled water is short, so that the length of the ice stocker of the ice maker and the length of the cold water pipe for passing the cold water to the heat exchanger disposed in the cold storage room and the heat exchanger disposed in the cold air duct are short. The ice stocker that stores the ice made by the ice maker is always kept at a low temperature, and the ice melt generated here is also low-temperature water close to the ice temperature.

Therefore, as described above, the heat exchanger provided in the air guide passage leading to the cold storage room is provided with a cooling coil provided in the ice stocker of the ice making machine or a cooling coil provided inside the ice stocker of the ice making machine. By flowing the stored water of the water reservoir through the fin, the heat loss in the piping route can be suppressed low, and the raw material stored in the raw material box can be effectively kept cool.
Moreover, since the air guide path and the cold water pipe path can be shortened,
The amount of heat insulating material to be wound around the air guide duct and the cold water pipe is small, and the cost can be reduced.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. [Embodiment 1] FIG. 1 shows an embodiment corresponding to claim 1 of the present invention, taking a regular coffee vending machine as an example. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a vending machine cabinet (ceiling panel); Is a raw material box (canister) containing various raw materials (coffee beans) and installed at the top of the machine, 3 is a raw material shooter, 4 is a coffee mill, 5 is a coffee extractor, and 6 is approximately the same height as the raw material box 2. An ice maker (auger type ice maker) arranged side by side in the upper part of the machine, and a water reservoir 7 for supplying ice making water to the ice maker 6. In the drawings, a mixing ball for adding sugar, milk, etc. to a beverage (coffee or the like), a hot water tank for a hot beverage, a cooling water tank, a cup supply mechanism, a bend stage, and the like are not shown.

At the upper part of the machine surrounding the raw material box 2, there is provided a cooling room 8 of a heat insulating casing, and an inlet of an air guide tube 9 drawn out from the cooling room 8 to the ice maker 6. A blower fan 10 and a heat exchanger (fin-tube type heat exchanger) 11 for cold air are incorporated at the side end. on the other hand,
As is well known, the ice making machine 6 includes an ice making section 6a containing an auger, an ice stocker 6b containing an agitator,
It is composed of an assembly of an ice supply door mechanism 6c and a drive mechanism 6d, and supplies ice-making water from the water reservoir 7 to the ice making section 6a to make ice (chip ice) 12 by an auger to use a stocker 6 with an auger.
b to store ice, pay out a fixed amount of ice based on the command, and supply it to the cup carried out to the bend stage. In addition, a drain pipe 6e is drawn out from the bottom of the ice stocker 6b to discharge the melted ice generated in the ice storage.

In the illustrated embodiment, the drain pipe 6e of the ice maker 6 is connected to the inlet of the heat exchanger 11, and the outlet of the heat exchanger 11 and the water reservoir 7 are connected by a return pipe. ing. In such a configuration, during operation of the vending machine, molten water (low-temperature water close to ice temperature) of the storage ice 12 generated in the room of the ice stocker 6b of the ice machine 6 is supplied to the heat exchanger 11 through the drain pipe 6e. The flow cools the air passing around it. Thereby, the cool air cooled by the heat exchange with the heat exchanger 11 is sent to the cool room 8 through the air guide tube 9 by the blower fan 10 to cool the raw material stored in the raw material box 2 stored in the cool room. . Note that the molten water that has flowed out of the heat exchanger 11 returns to the water reservoir 7 through the reflux pipe, and is used again as ice making water.

Further, in the above configuration, the raw material box 2 and the ice making machine 6 are installed at the upper part of the machine side by side at substantially the same height, so that the air guide tube 9 and the drain pipe of the auger type ice making machine 6 are provided. The length of the chilled water pipe, which is connected from 6e to the water reservoir 7 via the heat exchanger 11, is short, the heat loss in the pipe route is small, and the raw material stored in the raw material box 2 is effectively kept cool. can do. In addition, the heat insulating material wound around the pipe can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

[Embodiment 2] FIG. 2 shows an applied embodiment corresponding to claim 2 of the present invention. In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the raw material box 2 is housed in the cool room 8 and the cold air guide tube 9 drawn out of the cool room 8 is provided.
Is equipped with a blower fan 10 and a heat exchanger 11. On the other hand, an ice stocker 6b of the ice making machine 6 is provided with a cooling pipe 6f in the inner peripheral area of the ice stocker 6b. The other end is connected to the inlet of the heat exchanger 11 described above.

In such a configuration, when the water pump 13 is operated by switching the three-way switching valve 14 to the cooling pipe side during the operation of the vending machine, the cooling water stored in the water reservoir 7 is connected to the ice stocker 6b of the ice making machine 6 by the cooling. In the process of flowing through the pipe 6f, it becomes low-temperature water and flows to the heat exchanger 11, and cools the air passing therearound. Thus, similarly to the first embodiment, the cool air cooled by the heat exchange with the heat exchanger 11 is sent to the cool room 8 through the air guide tube 9 by the blower fan 10, and the raw material box 2 stored in the cool room is provided. Keep the ingredients stored in the refrigerator. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned raw material cooling operation can be performed periodically in a predetermined cycle, or can be appropriately performed according to the temperature condition in the machine.

[0016]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, an ice making machine installed at the upper part of the machine is arranged at substantially the same height as the raw material box as a cold heat source of the cold air sent to the cold storage room containing the raw material box. The conventional configuration uses a cooling water tank located at the bottom of the machine as a cold heat source by using the ice melt generated in the ice stocker or low-temperature cold water supplied from a water reservoir through a cooling pipe piped inside the ice stocker. As compared with the above, the piping system of the raw material cooling device can be configured with a short distance, and thereby the heat loss and the production cost can be kept low, and the raw material can be effectively kept cool.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration and a piping system of a raw material cooling device corresponding to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration and a piping system of a raw material cooling device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Raw material box 6 Ice maker 6b Ice stocker 6e Drain pipe for molten water 6f Cooling pipe 7 Water reservoir 8 Cooling room 9 Cold air duct 10 Blower fan 11 Heat exchanger 12 Ice

Claims (2)

[Claims] A raw material box containing raw materials for various beverages in the machine;
In a cup-type beverage vending machine having a built-in ice maker and a water reservoir tank, the raw material box is housed in a cold storage room defined in the upper part of the machine, and a blower fan and a cool air blower are introduced into an air guide passage drawn out of the cold storage room. A cup-type beverage vending machine, characterized in that the heat exchanger of (1) is arranged, and the molten water of the ice generated in the ice stocker of the ice maker is passed through the heat exchanger to feed cold air into the cold storage room. Raw material cooling equipment. 2. A raw material box containing raw materials for various beverages in the machine,
In a cup-type beverage vending machine having a built-in ice maker and a water reservoir tank, the raw material box is accommodated in a cool room defined in an upper part of the machine, and a blowing fan and a cooling fan are provided in an air guide passage drawn out of the cool room. A heat exchanger is provided, and the cold air is sent to the cold storage chamber by flowing the stored water of the water reservoir through a cooling pipe piped in an ice stocker of the ice making machine to the heat exchanger. Chiller for cup-type beverage vending machines.