JP2001155239A - Powder material feeding device for automatic dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly feed material to a screw feeder by eliminating sticking and accumulating of the powder material replenished to a material box to a wall surface. SOLUTION: In this powder material feeding device where the screw feeder 2 is installed on the side of the bottom of the hopper-shaped material box 1, a worm wheel 5 driver by the rotation of the feeder 2 and stirring wheels 6 and 7, which are arranged on an upper side than this wheel 5 and driver by the rotation of the wheel 5 to stir the material in the material box, are provided in the material box.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a powdery raw material supply apparatus for a cup-type beverage vending machine which sells beverages produced in the machine using powders such as coffee and cocoa as raw materials.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A vending machine for cup beverages is equipped with a raw material box called a canister containing powdered raw materials in the machine, and hot water is added to powdered raw materials such as coffee taken out of the raw material box by a fixed amount based on a sales order. After making the beverage,
The thing which supplies this drink to a cup and sells it is implemented.

Here, as a means for unloading the powdery raw material from the raw material box by a fixed amount, a screw feeder having a screw tip directed to a raw material discharge port is attached to the bottom side of the hopper type raw material box in a usual configuration. Through the screw feeder (a drive motor is controlled to be energized for a fixed time by a timer for each selling operation), the powder raw material contained in the raw material box is cut out and transported by a fixed amount.

[0004] Incidentally, the above-mentioned powder raw material tends to be apt to be humid. If the powder raw material is contained in the raw material box and contains moisture, the powder raw material is solidified and a cavity is formed in the raw material box, so that the raw material can be smoothly fed into the screw feeder. I will not be. Especially in the case of a hopper-shaped material box where the lower wall surface of the box is inclined toward the screw feeder, the powder material has a higher fluidity in the central part than the peripheral area in the box, so the wall surface of the material box is An undesired situation occurs such that the powdered material adheres and deposits, and the old material remains forever in this portion.

Therefore, as a countermeasure against the above problem, a raw material stirring mechanism is incorporated in the raw material box so that the powder raw material is agitated every time the product is sold and the powder raw material is sent to the screw feeder smoothly. It is proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Here, a specific configuration of the stirring mechanism proposed above is provided with a worm wheel driven by rotation of a screw feeder in a raw material box, and a stirring piece that moves up and down following the rotation of the worm wheel. The powder raw material contained in the raw material box is agitated for each operation, and the agitating piece hits the raw material box to give vibration to the wall surface, and this vibration knocks down the raw material attached to the wall surface. .

[0006]

However, it is practically difficult for the proposed structure to exhibit sufficient results in terms of the effect of stirring the powder raw material. That is, (1) Even if the stirring piece is vibrated in the powder raw material, the vibration is immediately absorbed by the powder and attenuated, so that the powder raw material adhering to the peripheral wall of the raw material box is actively broken. As a result, the powder raw material that has stayed near the wall surface accumulates and solidifies on the wall surface due to moisture and remains forever, which causes the quality of the raw material to deteriorate. .

(2) Further, since the vibration is propagated to the screw feeder by moving the stirring mechanism built in the raw material box up and down as described above, the raw material discharge port is simply opened toward the front. In this case, the powdered raw material accumulated at the raw material outlet end collapses after the screw feeder stops, and is excessively transported out. As a result, the taste of the finished beverage becomes thicker or thinner, and the quality of the beverage sold becomes uneven.

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 eliminate the sticking and stagnation of the powder raw material supplied to the raw material box to the wall surface and to feed the raw material first and first. It is an object of the present invention to provide a powder material supply device of a vending machine which can smoothly feed out a raw material to a screw feeder while ensuring stable feeding of the powdered raw material in every sales operation.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the above object can be attained by configuring a powder raw material supply apparatus as follows. (1) A vending machine that has a screw feeder having a screw tip disposed at the bottom side of a hopper-type raw material box containing powdered raw materials with a screw tip directed toward a raw material discharge port, and discharges the powdered raw materials by a fixed amount based on a sales order. In the powder raw material supply device,
In the raw material box, there is provided a worm wheel driven by the rotation of the screw feeder, and a stirring wheel disposed above the worm wheel and rotated by the rotation of the worm wheel to stir the raw material in the raw material box. Shall be.

(2) In the above item (1), a base is provided at a material outlet opening at the tip of the screw feeder, and the tangent between the depth and height of the opening surface of the base is set to be smaller than the angle of repose of the powder material. Shall be.

According to the configuration of the above item (1), the powder raw material in the raw material box prevents the raw material from solidifying and generating cavities due to the stirring effect of the stirring wheel itself, and the powder raw material adheres and stays on the wall surface of the raw material box. It is possible to prevent the raw material from remaining forever, and to smoothly feed the raw material to the screw feeder. In addition, the agitating wheel rotates without contact with the material box, so that unnecessary vibration is not applied.Therefore, the powder material deposited at the material outlet of the screw feeder is not unnecessarily broken down, and as a result, a constant amount of material can be unloaded. The properties are further improved.

On the other hand, according to the configuration described in the above item (2), the tangent between the depth and the height of the opening surface of the die provided at the raw material outlet end of the screw feeder is determined by the angle of repose (the raw material Is the inclination angle with respect to the bottom surface of the sediment in the stationary and stable state when freely piled up, and differs depending on the particle size and properties of the powder).
While the screw feeder is stopped, the powder raw material does not unduly collapse from the raw material outlet end, thereby making it possible to cut out and discharge the powder raw material by a predetermined amount without excess or deficiency while suppressing the variation in the discharge amount.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1A and 1B show an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a hopper-shaped raw material box having an inclined bottom wall, 2 denotes a screw feeder connected to the bottom of the raw material box 1, 3 denotes a base provided at a raw material outlet end of the screw feeder 2, and 4 denotes a screw feeder. 2 is a drive motor connected to the rear end via a joint. Also, with respect to the powder raw material supply device having such a configuration, inside the raw material box 1, there is provided a worm wheel 5 in which the teeth of the screw of the screw feeder 2 are meshed, and an upper side meshing with the worm wheel 5 in series and rotating. Equipped with a pair of left and right stirring wheels 6 and 7, and the stirring wheels 6 and 7 are set as shown by the arrows in the drawing, and the raw material accumulated near the peripheral wall of the raw material box is scraped out toward the screw feeder. The raw material stored in the center is returned upward.
Further, the worm wheel 5, and the stirring wheels 6, 7
Stirring pins 8 extending to the vicinity of the wall surface of the raw material box 1 are planted on both side surfaces of the tooth row.

In such a configuration, when the drive motor 4 drives the screw feeder 2 to rotate in accordance with the selling operation, the worm wheel 5, the stirring wheel 6, and the stirring wheel 6, 7 rotate in the directions of the arrows, respectively, following the rotation of the screw feeder 2. The powder raw material 9 accommodated in the raw material box 1 is stirred. Moreover,
Due to the rotation of the stirring wheels 6 and 7, the flow in the direction of the arrow A in the center of the raw material box 1 to push the powder raw material 9 upward against the flow caused by gravity is opposed to the stirring wheels 6 and 7. On the side of the wall of the raw material box 1, a flow in the direction of arrow B is generated in which the powder raw material 9 is scraped toward the screw feeder 2, whereby the raw material staying in the vicinity of the wall surface of the raw material box 1 is transferred to the screw feeder 2 first. Sent in. At the same time, the stirring pin 8 rotates to stir the powder raw material 9. The rotation direction of the worm wheel 5 coincides with the direction in which the screw feeder 2 assists in transporting the powdery raw material.

As a result, the powder raw material 9 does not stay and solidify and deposit near the wall surface of the raw material box 1 forever, and the raw material is uniformly and smoothly fed into the screw feeder 2.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show different embodiments of the present invention. The basic structure of this embodiment is the same as that of FIG.
7 is constituted by a small gear train, and the space occupied by these components in the raw material box 1 (the volume corresponding to the height a in the figure)
Is within 20% of the total volume of the raw material box 1.

According to this configuration, while the raw material box 1 is filled with the powdered raw material at the full level, the raw material is reduced to a lower level requiring the supply with the progress of sales.
The worm wheel 5 and the stirring wheels 6 and 7 stir the powder raw material every sales operation while always being buried in the powder raw material 9. Therefore, the load torque applied to the drive motor 4 is kept substantially constant, so that even if the rotation time of the drive motor during the selling operation is set to a fixed time control, the rotation angle of the screw feeder 2 for each sale is almost equal. Since it is constant, the powder raw material can be stably carried out in a constant quantity.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the first embodiment
(See FIG. 1)
Are tooth rows 5a (tooth row pitch P1) meshing with the screw feeder 2, and intermittent tooth rows 5b formed side by side.
(Tooth pitch P2), and the stirring wheel 6 is connected to the worm wheel 5 via the tooth row 5b. Here, if the pitch P2 of the intermittent tooth row 5b is set to, for example, twice the pitch P1 of the tooth row 5a (the ratio of the number of teeth between the tooth rows 5a and 5b is 1: 2), the screw feeder can be moved in the course of the raw material unloading operation. While the worm wheel 2 and the worm wheel 5 rotate continuously, the stirring wheels 6 and 7 are intermittently driven to rotate via the intermittent tooth row 5b, and the ratio of the rotation time is 1: 1/2.

As a result, the average value of the load torque applied to the drive motor in the process of unloading the raw material is smaller than that of the configuration in which the stirring wheels 6 and 7 are continuously rotated during the operation of the screw feeder 2 as shown in FIG. That is, the difference between the load torque applied to the drive motor 4 in the state where the remaining amount of the raw material in the raw material box 1 is large and the state where the remaining amount is small is reduced. As a result, it is possible to stably carry out constant-quantity unloading with a small variation in the unloading amount of the raw materials caused by the large or small amount of the remaining raw materials in the raw material box.

FIGS. 4A to 4D show an embodiment of the base 3 attached to the material outlet of the screw feeder 2 of the present invention. That is, when the rotation of the screw feeder 2 is stopped after one raw material unloading is completed, the powder raw material 9 sent to the raw material unloading port also stops while being deposited on the spot. The surface of the powder material at the material outlet differs depending on the direction in which the material stops on the circumference, so if the material outlet of the screw feeder is simply open forward, the amount of material discharged will vary and quantification will occur. Sex is impaired.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a base 3 is attached to the material outlet of the screw feeder 2, and the base 3 is used to fix the collapsed surface of the powder material 9 reaching the end of the material outlet when the screw feeder 2 is stopped. Is to keep it in a state. For this purpose, the opening 3a of the base 3 is set depending on the angle of repose θ inherent to the powder raw material 9 (the deposition gradient angle in a stationary and stable state when the powder raw materials 9 are freely stacked).

That is, in the examples of FIGS.
The opening 3a of the base 3 faces upward and opens at the end face of the base, where the tangent given by the depth dimension d and the height h satisfies the relationship of tan-1h / d≤θ. It is set in such a shape. (A) is a standard example, (b) is an example in which the position of the opening 3a is slightly lower than that in (a), and (c) is an opening with the base 3 in an elbow shape. An example in which 3a is opened on the upper surface is shown. FIG. 4 (d)
In the example, the opening 3a of the base 3 is divided into a plurality of upper and lower stages by a horizontal partition wall 3b. Here, the distance d between the depth dimension d of the partition wall 3b and the height h of the opening portion 3a of each stage is described above. As in the case of, it is set so as to satisfy the relationship of tan-1h / d ≦ θ.

By attaching the base 3 having such a configuration to the raw material outlet of the screw feeder 2, the collapse surface of the powder raw material 9 which has reached the base 3 in the stationary state is always constant depending on the angle of repose θ of the powder raw material 9. Is held in the state. Therefore, immediately after the screw feeder 2 is stopped, excessive carry-out due to the collapse of the raw material does not occur, and the carry-out effect of the base 3 quantifies the carry-out amount of the powder raw material 9.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a screw feeder in which the tip of a screw is arranged at the bottom side of a hopper-shaped raw material box containing powdered raw material, with the screw tip facing the raw material outlet. In a powder raw material supply device of a vending machine that unloads a powder raw material by a fixed amount based on a worm wheel driven by the rotation of the screw feeder in a raw material box, disposed above the worm wheel,
And by having a stirring wheel that rotates following the rotation of the worm wheel and stirs the ingredients in the ingredient box,
The problem that the raw material stays near the wall surface of the raw material box forever and absorbs moisture and accumulates and solidifies on the wall surface is reliably avoided, and the powder raw material supplied to the raw material box is smoothly sent out to the screw feeder, It is possible to prevent the deterioration of the quality of the powder raw material due to the long-term residual in the inside. In addition, since the stirring wheel rotates without contact with the material box, unnecessary vibration is not applied, and therefore, the powder material deposited at the material outlet of the screw feeder is not unnecessarily broken down, and thereby the fixed amount of the material is unloaded. The properties are further improved.

Also, a base is provided at a material outlet opening at the tip of the screw feeder, and the tangent between the depth and height of the opening surface of the base is set to be smaller than the angle of repose of the powder raw material. The powder raw material can be quantified and stably cut out through the die.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a powder raw material supply device of the present invention,
(A) is a vertical side view, and (b) is a vertical front view.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a different powder raw material supply device of the present invention, wherein (a) is a longitudinal side view and (b) is a longitudinal front view.

3A and 3B are configuration diagrams of a powder material supply apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 3A is a vertical front view, and FIG. 3B is a tooth row development view between a worm wheel and a stirring wheel.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a screw feeder base of the present invention, wherein (a) to (d) are configuration cross-sectional views of different embodiments.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 raw material box 2 screw feeder 3 base 3a opening 3b partition wall 4 drive motor 5 worm wheel 6,7 stirring wheel 9 powder raw material

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Fumihiro Morishita 1-1, Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tsutomu Murakami 1-1, Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Fuji Inside Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Katsuharu Yokoyama 1-1-1, Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Takashi Tsukahara 1-1-1, Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic vending machine which has a screw feeder having a screw tip arranged at a bottom side of a hopper-shaped raw material box containing powdered raw materials with a screw tip directed toward a raw material outlet, and carries out a fixed amount of powdered raw materials based on a sales order. In the raw material supply device of the machine, in the raw material box, a worm wheel driven by the rotation of the screw feeder, and disposed above the worm wheel, and rotated by the rotation of the worm wheel to rotate the raw material in the raw material box. A powder feeder for a vending machine, comprising: a stirring wheel for stirring the powder. 2. A powder feeder for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a base is provided at a raw material outlet opening at an end of the screw feeder, and a tangent between a depth and a height of an opening surface of the base is determined by the powder. A powder feeder for a vending machine, wherein the feed angle is set to be less than the angle of repose of the raw material.