JP2002087498A - Beverage dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide beverage dispensers 10 and 10A which can not only cool and pour out a beverage but also can control freshness of a beverage container 14. SOLUTION: The beverage dispensers 10 and 10A cool water 11 by heat exchange between a coolant flowing in a coolant feed pipe 16 and water 11 in a tank 12 and feed a beverage from the beverage container 14 to a beverage feed pipe 17 for cooling. A housing 15 for receiving the beverage container 14 is provided and in addition thereto a heat exchanger 25 is placed in the housing 15. The cold water 11 is circulated between the tank 12 and the heat exchanger 25 to exchange heat between the cold water 11 and air in the housing 15, thereby cooling the beverage container to control freshness.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage dispenser for cooling a beverage such as draft beer from a beverage container such as a beer barrel and pouring the beverage into a mug or glass.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As one type of this type of dispenser,
Piping the coil tube for the refrigerant and the coil tube for the beverage in the tank, the coil tube for the refrigerant and the compressor, condenser,
The refrigerant is circulated through a cooling circuit constituted by an expansion valve, ice is formed by heat exchange between the refrigerant flowing through the coil tube for refrigerant and water in the tank, and the ice is used to cool the water in the tank, Carbon dioxide gas is injected into a beer barrel installed outside and pressurized, draft beer is sent from the beer barrel to the coil tube for beverages, and cooled by heat exchange with cold water in the tank when passing through the coil tube for beverages. An ice-bank type beverage dispenser configured to be poured into, for example, is put to practical use.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional beverage dispenser, it is common to store a beer barrel next to the beverage dispenser in the store. Room temperature is low and barrel temperature does not increase. However, since the air conditioning is turned off after the business closes, the room temperature rises and the barrel temperature rises accordingly,
Beer barrel freshness management is neglected. In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a beverage dispenser that not only cools and pours out the beverage but also controls the freshness of the beverage container.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a refrigerant supply pipe and a beverage supply pipe are piped in a tank, and the refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant supply pipe and the refrigerant in the tank. Forming ice by heat exchange with the water and cooling the water, and feeding the beverage from the beverage container placed outside the tank to the beverage supply pipe, the cold water in the tank and the beverage supply pipe In a beverage dispenser that cools the beverage by heat exchange between the beverage and a flowing beverage, a storage for storing the beverage container is provided and a heat exchanger is arranged in the storage, and the tank and the heat exchanger The cold water is circulated between the two. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the beverage dispenser according to the first aspect, a sensor for detecting a temperature inside the storage is arranged inside the storage,
The cooling water circulation is started or stopped based on an output signal of the sensor. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the beverage dispenser according to the first or second aspect, the tank is placed in the storage.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
Since the beverage sent from the beverage container to the beverage supply pipe can be cooled with the cold water, and the beverage container in the storage can be cooled using the cold water, the freshness of the beverage container can be managed. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the circulation of the cold water is started or stopped according to the temperature in the refrigerator, freshness management of the beverage container can be appropriately performed. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the tank and the storage are vertically arranged integrally, the operation of discharging the beverage from the tank and the operation of taking the beverage container into and out of the storage can be performed in the same place. The performance is improved. Further, the space required for installing the dispenser can be saved.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a beverage dispenser 10 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The beverage dispenser 10
Comprises a tank 12 for storing cold water 11, a compressor 13 forming a well-known cooling circuit, and a storage 15 for a beverage container 14.

A supply pipe 16 for refrigerant is provided inside the tank 12, and is connected to a compressor 13 installed below the tank 12. A supply pipe 17 for beverage is provided inside the supply pipe 16 for refrigerant. A motor 20 for driving a stirring blade 19 for stirring the water 11 in the tank 12 is attached to an upper surface of the lid 18 of the tank 12.

[0008] One end of the beverage supply pipe 17 is connected to a cock 21 provided above the tank 12, and the other end is connected to a beverage container 14 installed outside the tank 12 via a beverage hose 22. The beverage container 14 is stored in a storage 15 and connected to a carbon dioxide gas cylinder 24 via a hose 23.

The storage 15 is constructed by assembling a door (not shown) at the front opening of the heat-insulating box, and a heat exchange pipe 25 is bent and piped to the inner surface of the rear wall. One end of the heat exchange pipe 25 is connected to a cold water introduction pipe 26, and the other end is connected to a cold water outlet pipe 27. The cold water introduction pipe 26 communicates with an opening on the bottom surface of the tank 12, and the cold water outlet pipe 27 is arranged so as to reach the inside of the tank 12 from above the tank 12.

A pedestal 27 on which the beverage container 14 is placed is provided on the bottom surface of the storage case 15.
A pump 28 for circulating the cold water 11 between the pump and the heat exchange pipe 25 is provided. A temperature sensor 29 is fixed to a side wall of the storage 15, and a control device 30 for controlling the operation of the pump 28 based on an output signal of the sensor 29 is attached to the pump 28.

The configuration of the beverage dispenser 10 according to the present embodiment is as described above, and a method of using the same will now be described. The compressor 13 is driven to compress the refrigerant, and is sent to the refrigerant supply pipe 16 to circulate through the refrigerant.
Drives the stirring blade 19 to stir the water 11 in the tank 12. As a result, the water 11 in the tank 12 is
Is uniformly cooled by the refrigerant flowing through the In addition, ice 31 is generated on the surface of the refrigerant supply pipe 16, and cold storage is performed.

The cock of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 24 is opened, carbon dioxide gas is fed into the beverage container 14, and the container 1
The beverage of No. 4 is fed into the beverage supply pipe 17. Tube 1
The beverage sent to 7 is cooled by heat exchange with the cold water 11 in the tank 12, and when the cock 21 is opened, the cooled beverage is poured into a mug or the like.

On the other hand, the driving of the pump 28
Of cold water 11 is sent to the heat exchange pipe 25 of the storage 15 through the cold water introduction pipe 26,
5 is returned to the tank 12 through the cold water outlet pipe 27. Thus, the cold water 11 is supplied to the tank 12 and the heat exchange pipe 25.
Circulating through the heat exchange pipe 25 when the storage 1
Heat exchange is performed between the air in the refrigerator 5 and the inside air is cooled. Based on the output signal of the temperature sensor 29, the pump 28 is driven when the internal temperature is higher than a predetermined high temperature, and is stopped when the internal temperature is lower than a predetermined low temperature.
Controls its operation. As a result, the internal temperature is kept in a predetermined range.

As described above, according to the beverage dispenser 10 of the present embodiment, the inside of the storage 15 is cooled by using the cold water 11 of the tank 12 for cooling the beverage. The freshness of the beverage container 14 stored in the container can be kept good. In particular, in the beverage dispenser 10 according to the present embodiment, the pump 2
Since the operation of 8 is controlled to start or stop the circulation of the cold water 11, the temperature in the refrigerator can be kept within a predetermined range, and the freshness of the beverage container 14 can be appropriately managed. In addition, if the inside of a storage | chamber 15 is provided with the stirring blade | wing which stirs the inside of a storage | storage and the inside of a storage | storage can be cooled uniformly, freshness management of the drink container 14 will be possible more efficiently.

Next, a beverage dispenser 10A according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. The beverage dispenser 1
At 0A, the tank 12 is placed on the storage 15. The beverage dispenser 10 according to the present embodiment
Other configurations of A are the same as those of the beverage dispenser 10 shown in FIG. 1, and therefore, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted.

A beverage dispenser 10A according to the present embodiment.
According to the method, the tank 12 and the storage 15 are arranged vertically integrally, so that the operation of discharging the beverage from the tank 15 and the storage 15 are performed.
The drink container 14 can be taken in and out of the same place, and workability is improved. Further, the space required for installing the dispenser 10A can be saved. In the beverage dispensers 10 and 10A described as the embodiments of the present invention, the air in the storage 15 is cooled by using the cold water 11 in the tank 12, but the cold water 11 is introduced into the storage 15 to supply the beverage. It is also possible to directly cool the container 14 with the cold water 11.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a beverage dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a beverage dispenser according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10, 10A: beverage dispenser, 11: cold water, 12:
Tank, 14: beverage container, 15: storage, 16: supply pipe for refrigerant, 17: supply pipe for beverage, 25: heat exchange pipe, 2
8 pump, 29 temperature sensor, 30 control device, 31
…ice.

Claims (3)

[Claims] A refrigerant supply pipe and a beverage supply pipe are piped in a tank, ice is formed by heat exchange between a refrigerant flowing in the refrigerant supply pipe and water in the tank, and the water is cooled, And a beverage dispenser that feeds a beverage from the beverage container placed outside the tank to the beverage supply pipe, and cools the beverage by heat exchange between cold water in the tank and the beverage flowing through the beverage supply pipe. A beverage dispenser comprising: a storage for storing the beverage container; a heat exchanger disposed in the storage; and circulating the cold water between the tank and the heat exchanger. 2. A refrigeration system according to claim 2, wherein a sensor for detecting a temperature inside the storage is arranged inside the storage, and circulation of the cold water is started or stopped based on an output signal of the sensor. 2. The beverage dispenser according to 1. 3. The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the tank is placed in the storage.