JP2002319068A - Beverage extracting device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a beverage extracting device for an automatic vending machine wherein a raw material or a beverage is not leaked out from a space between an extracting cylinder and a filter even when an extracting pressure is high. SOLUTION: A lower piston 30 and the filter 2 are inserted together in the extracting cylinder 10 so as to extract the beverage. Even when the beverage pressure is high, the raw material 1 or the beverage is not leaked out from the space between the extracting cylinder 10 and the filter 2 and beverage extracting operation can be always performed suitably.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage extracting device of a vending machine for extracting a beverage from a raw material such as coffee powder and injecting the beverage into a cup for sale.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of beverage brewing apparatus, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-155871, a brewing cylinder having upper and lower ends opened, and a piston inserted into the brewing cylinder from above are described. With a sheet-shaped filter placed at the lower end of the extraction cylinder, the raw material is put into the extraction cylinder, and hot water is discharged from the piston inserted into the extraction cylinder, so that the beverage is extracted through the filter. Is known.

[0003]

In the beverage brewing apparatus, the lower end of the brewing cylinder and the filter are pressed by an elastic force such as a spring when brewing the beverage, but when the brewing pressure is high, the brewing cylinder is pressed. There is a possibility that the raw material and the beverage leak from between the filter and the filter.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending machine in which raw materials and beverages do not leak from between the extraction cylinder and the filter even when the extraction pressure is high. The present invention is to provide a beverage brewing device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an extraction cylinder having upper and lower ends opened, and an upper piston inserted into the extraction cylinder from above, A sheet-shaped filter is arranged at the lower end side of the extraction cylinder, and raw materials are charged into the extraction cylinder, and hot water is discharged from an upper piston inserted into the extraction cylinder, thereby extracting a beverage through the filter. In a beverage brewing apparatus for a vending machine, a lower piston is inserted into the brewing cylinder together with a filter from below.

[0006] With this, the filter disposed at the lower end side of the extraction cylinder is inserted into the extraction cylinder together with the lower piston. Beverage does not leak.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a beverage extracting device for a vending machine according to the first aspect, wherein a filter transport means for feeding a continuous filter by a predetermined amount in a predetermined direction for each beverage extraction, and a filter transport path. When a lower piston is not inserted at least by a length that is moved toward the extraction cylinder by inserting the lower piston into the extraction cylinder, a part of the filter within the predetermined range is deviated in a predetermined direction from the predetermined position of the filter transport path. And a filter deviation means for shifting the position.

Accordingly, in addition to the function of claim 1, when the lower piston is inserted into the extraction cylinder, the filter is moved to the extraction cylinder side by inserting at least the lower piston into a predetermined range of the filter conveying path. Although a length is required, the filter for that length is secured by deviating in a predetermined direction from a predetermined position of the filter conveyance path when the lower piston is not inserted, so that the filter conveyance path The length of the filter within the predetermined range does not change due to the insertion operation of the lower piston.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the beverage brewing apparatus for a vending machine according to the second aspect, the filter deviation means is moved by at least one movable member which moves in a predetermined direction in accordance with an insertion operation of a lower piston. Make up.

According to this, in addition to the function of claim 2, the movable member moves in a predetermined direction in response to the insertion operation of the lower piston, so that the filter is displaced in the predetermined direction when the lower piston is not inserted. Moves to the extraction cylinder side.

[0011]

1 to 10 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a beverage extracting device,
2 is a side sectional view thereof, FIG. 3 is a partial side sectional view thereof, FIG. 4 is a plan sectional view thereof, FIG. 5 is a schematic view taken in the direction of arrows AA in FIG. 2, and FIG. FIG. 7 to FIG. 10 are schematic diagrams illustrating the operation of the beverage extraction device in the direction of the arrow B.

This beverage extracting device is for extracting a beverage from a raw material 1 such as coffee powder through a filter 2 in the form of a sheet.
An upper piston 20 inserted into the extraction cylinder 10 from above, a lower piston 30 inserted into the extraction cylinder 10 from below, a piston drive mechanism 40 for vertically moving each of the pistons 20, 30, and a single beverage A filter transport mechanism 5 for sending out a continuous filter 2 in a predetermined direction for each extraction
0, a mill 60 that grinds coffee beans to produce coffee powder that becomes raw material 1, and a pump 7 that supplies hot water for raw material extraction
0.

The extraction cylinder 10 is formed in a cylindrical shape extending in the vertical direction, and is disposed at a predetermined position in the vertical direction.

The upper piston 20 is supported by a piston body 21 so as to be vertically movable, and is urged downward by a spring 22. The upper piston 20 has a through hole 20a extending in the vertical direction, and the lower end side of the through hole 20a is branched into a lower end surface of the upper piston 20 to open. A flexible tube 23 communicating with the through hole 20 a is connected to an upper end of the upper piston 20, and an annular packing 24 is attached to a peripheral surface of the upper piston 20. Shafts 25 extending in the width direction are provided on the left and right sides on the upper part of the piston body 21, and rotatable rollers 25a are attached to the respective shafts 25. A total of two pins 26 are provided on the front end side and the rear end side of the piston body 21, respectively, protruding in the front-rear direction and spaced apart in the vertical direction.

The lower piston 30 has a vertically extending through-hole 30a, and the upper end of the through-hole 30a is branched into an upper end surface of the lower piston 30 to open. A flexible tube 31 communicating with the through hole 30 a is connected to a lower end of the lower piston 30, and an annular packing 32 is attached to a peripheral surface of the lower piston 30. Lower piston 30
Shafts 33 extending in the width direction are provided on the left and right sides at the lower part of the, and rollers 33a are rotatably attached to the shafts 33, respectively. Further, on the front end side and the rear end side of the lower piston 30, there are provided a total of two pins 34 projecting in the front-rear direction at intervals in the vertical direction.

The piston drive mechanism 40 includes a piston 2
A pair of front and rear support plates 41 for supporting the upper and lower movably 0, 30; a pair of left and right upper levers 42 connected to the upper piston 20; an upper link 43 connected to the upper lever 42; A pair of lower levers 44 connected to the left and right, a lower link 45 connected to the lower lever 44, a plate cam 46 connected to each link 43, 45, and a motor 47 for rotating the plate cam 46.
It is composed of

The support plates 41 face each other with the pistons 20 and 30 interposed therebetween, and the extraction cylinder 10 is fixed to the rear support plate 41 via the support portion 11. As shown in FIG. 6, on the opposing surface of each support plate 41, there is provided a linear motion groove 41a extending linearly in the vertical direction, and in each linear motion groove 41a, each pin 26, 34 of each piston 20, 30 is provided.
Are movably engaged in the vertical direction. Further, a tilt groove 41b extending rightward in the figure is provided at a predetermined position in the vertical direction of each linear motion groove 41a.

Each upper lever 42 extends in the front-rear direction, and its rear end is rotatably attached to a pair of left and right side plates 48 via a shaft 42a. The front end side of each upper lever 42 is adapted to be engaged with each roller 25a of the upper piston 20 from above, and is engaged only with the upper lever 42 on the right side in FIG.
b is provided. That is, the left upper lever 42 in FIG. 2 is not provided with a portion corresponding to the locking portion 42b as shown in FIG. A pair of rotatable left and right rollers 43a is attached to the upper end of the upper link 43, and each roller 43a is locked from above from approximately the center of each upper lever 42 in the front-rear direction. In this case, each upper lever 42
Locking portions 42c for locking the respective rollers 43a from below are provided. A rotatable roller 43b is attached to a lower end of the upper link 43.

Each lower lever 44 extends in the front-rear direction, and its rear end is rotatably attached to each side plate 48 via a shaft 44a. The front end of each lower lever 44 is adapted to be locked from below to each roller 33a of the lower piston 30, and the front end of each lower lever 44 has a roller 3a.
A locking portion 44b that locks from above is provided on 3a. A pair of rotatable left and right rollers 45a is attached to the lower end of the lower link 45, and each roller 45a is locked from below at substantially the center of each lower lever 44 in the front-rear direction. In this case, each lower lever 44 is provided with a locking portion 44c for locking each roller 45a from above. A rotatable roller 45b is provided on the upper end of the lower link 45.
Is installed.

The plate cam 46 is formed in a disk shape and has a rotating shaft 47b extending from a gear unit 47a of the motor 47.
Mounted on A first cam groove 46a for movably engaging the roller 43b of the upper link 43 is provided on the back surface of the plate cam 46, and the lower link 45 is provided on the front surface thereof.
Cam groove 46 for movably engaging the roller 45b
b is provided. Each of the cam grooves 46a and 46b is formed as shown in FIG.
The links 43 and 45 are guided by the cam grooves 46a and 46b to move up and down, respectively, when the plate cam 46 rotates, as shown in FIG. Although each of the cam grooves 46a and 46b is shown in a circular shape in FIG. 5, this is a simplified illustration. Are formed in a predetermined shape, respectively. In addition, such each cam groove 46a,
The shape of 46b can be appropriately determined at the time of design.

The filter transport mechanism 50 includes a plurality of guide rollers 51 for supporting the filter 2, a pair of drive rollers 52 for feeding out the filter 2 in a predetermined direction, and an extraction cylinder 1.
It comprises a filter base 53 that pushes up the filter 2 located below 0, and a movable link 54 that movably supports some guide rollers 51. In FIG. 2, the illustration of the filter base 53 is omitted.

A roll-wound filter 2 is arranged below the filter base 53, and the filter 2 pulled out from the roll portion is hung by each guide roller 51, passes between the filter base 53 and the extraction cylinder 10, and It is sent downward from the side of the filter base 53.

Each drive roller 52 sandwiches the filter 2 extending downward from the side of the filter base 53, and is rotated by a motor (not shown) to send the filter 2 downward.

The filter base 53 is supported by the lower piston 30, and moves up and down integrally with the lower piston 30. The lower piston 30 is disposed substantially at the center of the filter base 53, and is provided to be vertically movable with respect to the filter base 53. In this case, the lower piston 30 is urged downward by the spring 53a, and is held such that the upper end surface of the lower piston 30 and the upper surface of the filter base 53 coincide with each other in height. When the lower piston 30 moves upward against the spring 53a,
It protrudes upward from the upper surface of the filter base 53. The filter base 53 has a side wall 53b on the rear side.
And a guide roller 51 is attached to one end of the side wall 53b. When the filter base 53 is at the lower position, the guide roller 51 is displaced downward by a distance L1 from other adjacent guide rollers 51. A first elongated hole 53c extending in the horizontal direction is provided on the other end of the side wall 53b.

The movable link 54 is disposed between the filter base 53 and the drive roller 52, and guide rollers 51 are attached to both ends thereof. Movable link 54
Of the filter base 53 via a pin (not shown) coaxial with one of the guide rollers 51.
c and movably engaged with a second long hole 54a extending obliquely upward from one end of the first long hole 53c. The other end of the movable link 54 is movably engaged with a third elongated hole 54b extending obliquely upward through a pin (not shown) coaxial with the other guide roller 51. That is, when the filter base 53 is at the lower position, the guide roller 5 at one end of the movable link
Reference numeral 1 denotes one end of the first long hole 53c (the left side in FIG. 1) and the second
The guide roller 51 at the other end of the movable link 54 is located at the lower end of the third elongated hole 54b. In this case, the guide roller 51 at the other end of the movable link 54 is deviated laterally by a distance L2 from each drive roller 52. The second and third slots 54a and 54b are provided in the support plate 41 on the back side, not shown in FIG.

The mill 60 is designed to pulverize coffee beans fed from an upper inlet 61 and discharge the ground coffee from a lower outlet 62, which is well known in structure. The lower end side of the discharge port 62 is the piston body 21 of the upper piston 20.
The raw material chute 63 is inserted into the upper end of the raw material chute 63 attached to the side surface of the upper piston 20, and the lower end of the raw material chute 63 is arranged close to the lower end of the upper piston 20.

The pump 70 has a well-known structure such as an electromagnetic pump.
It is connected to the. That is, the pump 70 is connected to the upper container 71.
After storing hot water supplied from a hot water supply device (not shown),
The hot water in the container 71 is discharged to the tube 23 side.

The beverage brewing operation of the beverage brewing apparatus configured as described above is performed as follows. First, the lower piston 30 is raised by the piston drive mechanism 40 together with the filter 2 and the filter base 53, and when the filter base 53 abuts on the lower end of the extraction cylinder 10, the lower piston 30 is moved as shown in FIG. Is inserted together with the filter 2. In synchronization with this operation, the upper piston 20 is tilted to one side by the piston drive mechanism 40, and after the lower end of the raw material chute 63 moves above the extraction cylinder 10, a predetermined amount of the raw material 1 discharged from the mill 60 is discharged. The raw material chute 63 is fed into the extraction cylinder 10.

Here, the tilting of the upper piston 20 is as follows.
This is performed as shown in FIG. That is, the upper piston 2
0 rises along the linear motion groove 41a, and when the upper pin 26 of the upper piston 20 abuts on the upper end of the linear motion groove 41a as shown in FIG. Located on the side. At this time, since only the locking portion 42b of the upper lever 42 on the right side in the drawing is locked from below on the upper piston 20, the upper piston 20 is rotated about the upper pin 26 by the pushing force of the upper lever 42. Move, Figure 6
The upper piston 20 tilts by a predetermined angle as shown in FIG. At this time, the lower pin 26 enters the tilt groove 41b, and the tilt of the upper piston 20 stops at the position where the pin 26 contacts the tip of the tilt groove 41b. Also, upper lever 4
When the front end side of 2 is lowered, the upper piston 20 returns to the original position.

When the filter base 53 rises,
The guide roller 51 at one end of the filter base 53 moves upward to the position of the guide roller 51 adjacent thereto, and the guide roller 51 at one end of the movable link 54 is moved.
Moves to the other end of the first elongated hole 53c and the upper end of the second elongated hole 54a, and the guide roller 51 at the other end of the movable link 54 moves to the upper end of the third elongated hole 54b. It is located substantially above each drive roller 52. Thereby, the guide roller 51 on one end side of the filter base 53 and the movable link 54
The distances L1 and L2 generated by the guide rollers 51 at the other end of the above are eliminated. On the other hand, the length of the filter 2 is required by the amount by which the filter base 53 is raised and by the amount by which the lower piston 30 is inserted into the extraction cylinder 10. Equivalent to the secured filter 2 length,
The corresponding filter 2 moves to the extraction cylinder 10 side.
Therefore, each of the drive rollers 52 starts from the roll portion of the filter 2.
The length of the extraction cylinder 1 by the lower piston 30 does not change due to the elevation of the filter base 53.
The insertion position of the filter 2 at 0 does not shift.

Next, when the charging of the raw material 1 is completed, the upper piston 20 returns to above the extraction cylinder 10 by the piston drive mechanism 40, and moves downward as shown in FIG. The interior of the extraction cylinder 10 is sealed by the pistons 20 and 30. At this time, the upper piston 2 inserted into the extraction cylinder 10
0 presses the raw material 1 by the urging force of the spring 22. Next, hot water is supplied to the upper piston 20 by the pump 70, and the hot water is discharged from the lower end of the upper piston 20 to the raw material 1 through the through hole 20a. As a result, the beverage extracted through the filter 2 is injected into a cup (not shown) through the through hole 30a of the lower piston 30 and the tube 31.

When the extraction of the beverage is completed, the lower piston 3
0 moves below the extraction cylinder 10 and FIG.
As shown in FIG. At this time, the guide roller 51 at one end of the filter base 53 moves to a position below the guide roller 51 adjacent thereto by a distance L1 and the guide roller 51 at one end of the movable link 54 is connected to the first elongated hole. The guide roller 51 at the other end of the movable link 54 moves toward the lower end of the third long hole 54b, and moves from the driving roller 52 to a distance L2. Just move to the side away position. On the other hand, the upper piston 20 moves to the lower end side in the extraction cylinder 10, and the beverage-extracted raw material 1 is pushed downward from the extraction cylinder 10 by the upper piston 20.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10, the upper piston 20 rises and moves to the standby position above the extraction cylinder 10, and at the same time, each drive roller 52 of the filter transport mechanism 50 rotates, and the filter 2 is moved to a predetermined length. Only sent out. Thereby, the raw material 1 from which the beverage has been extracted moves on the movable link 54 together with the filter 2 and is discharged to a container (not shown). At this time, since the movable link 54 is inclined downward toward the sending direction of the filter 2, the raw material 1 easily slides down from the filter 2 on the movable link 54.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the lower piston 30 is inserted into the extraction cylinder 10 together with the filter 2 to extract the beverage, even if the extraction pressure is high, the extraction cylinder The raw material 1 and the beverage do not leak out from between the filter 10 and the filter 2, and the beverage extracting operation can always be performed well.

Further, the length of the filter 2 required by raising the filter base 53 and inserting the lower piston 30 into the extraction cylinder 10 is adjusted by displacing some of the guide rollers 51 by predetermined distances L1 and L2. Since the length is secured, the length from the roll portion of the filter 2 to each drive roller 52 does not change due to the elevation of the filter base 53, and a new filter 2 is unnecessarily pulled out from the roll portion. Alternatively, it is possible to reliably prevent a problem that the used filter 2 to which the raw material residue adheres is pulled back. As a result, it is predicted that the used filter 2 is pulled back, and
Need not be sent out excessively, and the amount of use of the filter 2 can be saved.

The guide roller 51 at the other end of the filter base 53 is attached to the movable link 54, and the movable link 5
4 is inserted into each of the long holes 53 according to the insertion operation of the lower piston 30.
Since the filter 2 is moved along c, 54a and 54b, a part of the filter 2 which has been deviated can be reliably moved to the extraction cylinder 10 side. In this case, since the movable link 54 is operated below the filter base 53, the filter 2 on the movable link 54 side does not protrude upward even if the filter base 53 moves to the lower position. , The raw material 1 from which the beverage has been extracted can be discharged without any trouble.

[0037]

As described above, according to the beverage brewing apparatus of the first aspect, even when the brewing pressure is high, the raw material and the beverage do not leak out from between the brewing cylinder and the filter. The beverage extraction operation can always be performed well.

According to the beverage extracting apparatus of the second aspect,
In addition to the effect of claim 1, the length of the filter within a predetermined range of the filter transport path does not change due to the insertion operation of the lower piston, so that a new filter is unnecessarily pulled out or the raw material residue adheres. It is possible to reliably prevent a problem that the used filter is returned to the extraction cylinder side. As a result, it is not necessary to predict that the used filter will be pulled back and to send out an extra filter, and it is possible to save the amount of filter used.

According to the beverage extracting device of the third aspect,
In addition to the effect of the second aspect, a part of the filter that has been deviated when the lower piston is not inserted can be reliably moved to the extraction cylinder side in accordance with the insertion operation of the lower piston.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of a beverage brewing apparatus showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the beverage extraction device.

FIG. 3 is a partial side sectional view of the beverage brewing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view of the beverage extraction device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view taken in the direction of arrows AA in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view taken in the direction of arrows BB in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the beverage extraction device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the beverage extraction device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the beverage extraction device.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the beverage extraction device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Raw material, 2 ... Filter, 10 ... Extraction cylinder, 20 ...
Upper piston, 30 Lower piston, 40 Piston drive mechanism, 42 Upper lever, 43 Upper link, 44
Lower lever, 45 ... lower link, 46 ... plate cam,
47: motor, 50: filter transport mechanism, 54: movable link, 63: raw material chute.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) B67D 1/07 B67D 1/08 Z 1/12 A23L 2/00 X

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An extraction cylinder having an open upper end and a lower end, and an upper piston inserted into the extraction cylinder from above, and a sheet-like filter is disposed at a lower end side of the extraction cylinder to supply raw materials into the extraction cylinder. As well as
In a beverage extraction device of a vending machine configured to extract a beverage through a filter by discharging hot water from an upper piston inserted into an extraction cylinder, a lower piston inserted into the extraction cylinder together with a filter from below. A beverage extraction device for a vending machine, comprising: 2. A filter conveying means for feeding a continuous filter by a predetermined amount in a predetermined direction each time a beverage is extracted, and transferring a part of the filter within a predetermined range of the filter conveying path to at least a lower cylinder extraction cylinder. And a filter displacement means for displacing the lower piston in a predetermined direction from a predetermined position of the filter conveyance path when the lower piston is not inserted by a length moved to the extraction cylinder side by insertion. A beverage extraction device for a vending machine according to claim 1. 3. The beverage brewing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said filter deflecting means is constituted by at least one movable member which moves in a predetermined direction in accordance with an insertion operation of a lower piston. .