JP2006220399A - Ice dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ice dispenser capable of supplying ice and beverage without limiting an opening area of an ice discharge opening. <P>SOLUTION: In this ice dispenser comprising ice piece shooter 11, 12, for discharging ice through the ice discharge openings 11a, 12a, and a beverage pouring passage 13a for pouring beverage through a beverage pouring port 15, the beverage pouring portion 15 is formed on an inner wall face 14a of the ice piece shooter 12. Further at least a downstream end portion of the beverage pouring passage 13a is formed integrally with the ice piece shooter 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ice dispenser including an ice piece shooter that discharges ice through an ice discharge port and a beverage dispensing passage that dispenses a beverage through a beverage dispensing outlet.

  A conventional ice dispenser is provided with an auger type ice making machine and an ice piece shooter for guiding the ice made by the ice making machine to the outside. The ice piece shooter has an ice discharge port, and ice is discharged from the ice discharge port to the outside of the ice dispenser. Also, a beverage dispensing pipe separate from the ice piece shooter is provided in the vicinity of the ice piece shooter. The beverage dispensing pipe has an upstream portion connected to a beverage supply source such as a water pipe, and the beverage supplied from the beverage supply source is poured out from the beverage outlet at the downstream end.

  The ice outlet of the ice piece shooter and the beverage outlet of the beverage outlet pipe are arranged with their respective openings facing downward, and ice or ice from the ice outlet and the beverage outlet to the user's container. And beverages are supplied (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

JP 2000-18784 A JP 2001-263891 A

  By the way, it is preferable to secure the ice outlet of the ice piece shooter as large as possible in order to ensure the release of ice. However, in the ice dispenser in which the ice discharge port and the beverage spout are arranged side by side as described above, the opening area of the ice discharge port is limited. In other words, if the total opening area of the ice outlet of the ice piece shooter and the beverage outlet of the beverage outlet pipe is not smaller than the opening area of the container for receiving ice and beverage, It will spill outside.

  As a result, the opening area of the ice discharge port must be made smaller by the area occupied by the beverage spout, which may lead to problems such as a delay in the discharge of ice, for example.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said situation, and it aims at providing the ice dispenser which can supply ice and a drink, without restrict | limiting the opening area of an ice discharge port.

  In order to achieve the above object, an ice dispenser according to claim 1 of the present invention includes an ice piece shooter that discharges ice through an ice discharge port, and a beverage that discharges beverage through a beverage outlet. An ice dispenser comprising a dispensing passage is characterized in that the beverage pouring outlet is opened on the inner wall surface of the ice piece shooter.

  The ice dispenser according to claim 2 of the present invention is characterized in that, in the above-mentioned claim 1, at least the downstream end of the beverage dispensing passage is formed integrally with the ice piece shooter.

  The ice dispenser according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the second aspect, a flow rate adjusting means is provided in the beverage extraction passage for adjusting the amount of beverage dispensed.

  According to the ice dispenser of the first aspect of the present invention, since the beverage spout is opened on the inner wall surface of the ice piece shooter, the ice and the ice are discharged from the ice discharge port without restricting the ice discharge port. Beverage can be dispensed.

  Further, according to the ice dispenser of the present invention, since at least the downstream end of the beverage pouring passage is formed integrally with the ice piece shooter, if the ice piece shooter is removed during cleaning, the beverage dispenser The flow paths can be cleaned together. Thereby, cleaning work can be facilitated and the maintainability of the ice dispenser can be improved.

  Furthermore, according to the ice dispenser which concerns on Claim 3 of this invention, since the flow volume adjustment means for adjusting the extraction amount of a drink is provided in the drink extraction channel | path, adjusting the extraction amount of a drink can be performed. It becomes possible. Therefore, for example, even when there is a difference in water pressure depending on the installation environment of the ice dispenser or the area where the ice dispenser is installed, the amount of beverage dispensed per unit time can be kept constant.

  Exemplary embodiments of an ice dispenser according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a front view showing an ice dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view thereof. The ice dispenser exemplified here supplies a user with any one of chip ice, slice ice, and a mixture of chip ice and beverage. In the following, chip ice refers to granular ice, and sliced ice refers to fine-grained ice such as shaved ice cut from chip ice. In addition, the above-mentioned beverages refer to drinks such as water, soft drinks, and juices.

  The ice dispenser 1 includes a main body housing 2 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and an open / close door 3 attached to the upper front portion of the main body housing 2. Below the open / close door 3, as shown in FIG. 2, an ice supply unit 4 is configured in such a manner that the open / close door 3 is slightly recessed rearward from the front surface position.

  Two ice piece shooters 11 and 12 are provided above the ice supply unit 4 and covered by the door 3. The ice piece shooters 11 and 12 are arranged such that the respective ice discharge ports 11b and 12b are spaced from each other as viewed from the front of the ice dispenser 1. Ice supply levers 7 are provided at positions below the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12 in the ice supply unit 4, respectively. As shown in FIG. 5, these ice supply levers 7 have a rotation shaft at the upper end portion of the ice supply lever 7 when the user of the ice dispenser 1 presses the container 24 against the lower end portion 7 b of the ice supply lever 7. 7a is assembled so as to turn to the rear side of the main body housing 2 around the center 7a. Further, an ice receiving portion 8 for receiving ice spilled from the container 24 is provided below the ice supply portion 4.

  FIG. 3 is a front view showing the inside of the main body housing 2 with the open / close door 3 of FIG. 1 removed. FIG. 4 is a front view of the auger type ice making machine 20 provided inside the main body housing 2. The auger type ice making machine 20 is attached to the main body housing 2 and includes a standard ice making cylinder portion 21 for generating chip ice and an ice stocker 22 attached to the upper portion of the ice making cylinder portion 21. It is a thing. A discharge port 23 for discharging ice to each of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12 is individually provided on the side wall front portion of the ice stocker 22.

  The ice stocker 22 is provided with a solenoid device 9 in the vicinity of the discharge port 23. The solenoid device 9 receives a detection signal detected by the movement of the ice supply lever 7 and opens and closes a door (not shown) provided at the discharge port 23. That is, the door of the discharge port 23 is kept closed when the ice supply lever 7 is not rotated to the rear side of the main body housing 2. On the other hand, in a state where the ice supply lever 7 is rotated to the rear side of the main body housing 2, the door is opened by the solenoid device 9, and the chip ice in the ice stocker 22 corresponds to the ice piece shooters 11, 12 corresponding from the discharge port 23. Will be discharged.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the ice piece shooter 11 located on the right side of the front is provided with a cutting machine 10 that cuts chip ice to generate slice ice. FIG. 6 shows a state where the ice piece shooter 11 is attached to the cutting machine 10. The ice piece shooter 11 is formed in a hollow cylindrical shape having both ends opened, and the ice insertion port 11 a is attached to the slice ice discharge port of the cutting machine 10. The ice piece shooter 11 extends from the cutting machine 10 so as to be gradually inclined downward toward the front. As described above, the ice discharge port 11b is located above the ice supply unit 4 and the back side of the open / close door 3. It is arranged in the vicinity. As is clear from FIG. 1, the ice discharge port 11 b of the ice piece shooter 11 opens toward the front obliquely lower side with respect to the main body housing 2.

  On the other hand, below the discharge port 23 on the ice discharge port 12b side, the ice piece shooter 12 is provided without a cutting machine. The ice piece shooter 12 has an upstream portion extending in the vertical direction, and an ice insertion port 12 a is attached to the discharge port 23. Further, the downstream portion of the ice piece shooter 12 extends so as to gradually incline downward toward the front, and the ice discharge port 12b is located above the ice supply unit 4 as described above, and the door 3 is open. It is arranged in the vicinity of the back side. As is clear from FIG. 5, the ice discharge port 12 b of the ice piece shooter 12 opens toward the front lower side with respect to the main body housing 2.

  7 is a front view of the single piece of ice piece shooter 12, FIG. 8 is a left side view of FIG. 7, and FIG. 9 is a view of the single piece of ice piece shooter 12 as viewed obliquely from the lower left. The ice piece shooter 12 is integrally formed by resin molding and has a square hollow cylindrical shape with both ends opened, and is bent into a substantially “<” shape as shown in FIG. 7. Has been. Inside the ice piece shooter 12, a guide hole 14 is formed from the ice insertion port 12a to the ice discharge port 12b. The chip ice discharged from the discharge port 23 of the ice stocker 22 is guided to the ice discharge port 12 b through the inner wall surface of the guide hole 14 and supplied from the ice supply unit 4.

  The ice piece shooter 12 is integrally formed with a beverage dispensing passage 13a as shown in FIG. The beverage dispensing passage 13 a is for dispensing beverage through the ice discharge port 12 b of the ice piece shooter 12, and the beverage dispensing port 15 is opened on the upper inner wall surface 14 a of the guide hole 14. As shown in FIG. 7, the beverage inlet 13 of the beverage dispensing passage 13 a is provided on the end surface of the portion protruding from the left side surface portion 12 c of the ice piece shooter 12.

  A beverage pipe (not shown) provided on the main body housing 2 side is connected to a portion protruding from the left side surface of the ice piece shooter 12 in the beverage dispensing passage 13a. Beverages are supplied from the beverage pipe, and the beverages are supplied to the beverage outlet 15 through the beverage extraction passage 13a.

  As shown in FIG. 10, when the beverage is discharged from the beverage spout 15 in a state where the ice piece shooter 12 is assembled to the main body housing 2, the beverage spout 15 is a beverage that drops vertically. The twelve guide holes 14 are not contacted with each other, and are arranged at positions where they are directly poured into the container 24.

  As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, a flow rate regulator 26 is attached to the ice piece shooter 12. Although not shown in the figure, the flow regulator 26 is used to adjust the flow rate using a needle valve, and is attached to the flow regulator insertion hole 25 formed in the upper portion 12d of the ice piece shooter 12. ing. The flow regulator insertion hole 25 is formed so as to intersect with a part of the beverage dispensing passage 13a. Therefore, the needle valve can be operated by manually turning the knob portion 26a to adjust the flow area of the beverage dispensing passage 13a.

  An attachment claw portion 16 for fixing the lower part of the ice piece shooter 12 to the main body housing 2 is provided on the lower side surface portion 12e (see FIG. 8) of the end of the ice piece shooter 12 on the ice discharge port 12b side. ing. The mounting claw portion 16 is formed with two claws protruding rearward from the lower side surface portion 12e.

  FIG. 13 is a front view of the door 3, and FIG. 14 is a right side view of the door 3. The open / close door 3 is provided with a panel 17 so as to cover the front sides of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12. The panel 17 is provided so as to slightly protrude forward from the surface of the open / close door 3 in accordance with the shape of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12.

  A notch portion 17a is provided in each portion of the panel 17 facing the opening portions of the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b. The cutout portion 17a is cut out in a substantially square shape upward from the lower end portion of the panel 17, and the opening / closing door 3 is attached to the main housing 2 as shown in FIGS. In this state, the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b are formed so as to be visible through the notch 17a from the user of the ice dispenser.

  The length 18a (see FIG. 13) in the width direction of the notch 17a is longer than the length in the width direction of the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12, as shown in FIG. Is formed. Further, the vertical length 18b (see FIGS. 5 and 14) of the notch portion 17a is vertical from the lower end portion of the panel 17 to the upper end portions of the openings of the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b, as shown in FIG. It is formed to be longer than the length 19 in the direction.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 14, each of the cutout portions 17 a is inclined from the upper surface portion 17 b of the cutout portion 17 a toward the lower rear side of the panel 17 from the surface portion 17 b of the panel 17. An inclined portion 17c is formed.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the positional relationship between the notch 17a of the panel 17 and the ice outlet 12b is such that the ice outlet 12b is disposed in the vicinity of the notch 17a of the panel 17, and the opening of the ice outlet 12b is the panel. 17 is directed to the front diagonally lower side. 5 shows the left side surface of the ice piece shooter 12, and the position of the ice discharge port 12b is shown. The ice discharge port 11b of the ice piece shooter 11 is also arranged in the same positional relationship. .

  Next, the operation of the ice dispenser according to the present invention will be described. When the user of the ice dispenser wants sliced ice, he takes the container to the position of the ice discharge port 11b on the right side of the front (see FIG. 1) and presses the container against the lower end 7b of the ice supply lever 7. Similarly, when chip ice or chip ice and a drink are desired, the container is brought to the position of the ice discharge port 12b on the left side of the front, and the container is pressed against the lower end portion 7b of the ice supply lever 7.

  Here, according to the ice dispenser, each of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12 extends so as to be gradually inclined downward toward the front side of the main body housing 2, and the cutout portion 17 a of the panel 17 is interposed. Since the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12 can be visually recognized, the opening position of the container 24 can be easily and accurately positioned with respect to the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b.

  From this state, when the ice supply lever 7 is rotated by pushing the lower end portion 7b of the ice supply lever 7 to the rear side of the ice dispenser 1 through the container, the chip ice in the ice stocker 22 is discharged from the discharge port 23. .

  The chip ice discharged from the discharge port 23 on the ice discharge port 11 b side is sliced by the cutting machine 10, processed into sliced ice, and supplied to the container 24 from the ice discharge port 11 b through the ice piece shooter 11. On the other hand, the chip ice discharged from the discharge port 23 on the ice discharge port 12 b side is supplied from the ice discharge port 12 b to the container 24 through the guide hole 14 inside the ice piece shooter 12. On the ice discharge port 12b side, when the mixing of the chip ice and the beverage is selected by the selection switch, the beverage is supplied from the beverage spout 15 together with the chip ice.

  The amount of beverage dispensed is kept constant by the flow rate regulator 26, and the supply ratio with the chip ice is always constant. If it is desired to change this ratio, the knob portion 16a of the flow regulator 26 may be manually rotated and set to an appropriate ratio.

  Even during the supply of the chip ice or the like, the user can visually check the state in which the chip ice or the like is being supplied from the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b through the notch 17a of the panel 17. is there. Accordingly, if the container is separated from the ice supply lever 7 at an appropriate timing, a desired amount of ice can be obtained.

  As described above, in the ice dispenser according to the embodiment of the present invention, each of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12 extends so as to be gradually inclined downward toward the front side of the main body housing 2, and the panel 17 is cut. Since the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b of the ice piece shooters 11 and 12 can be visually recognized through the notch 17a, the user can accurately grasp the set position of the container 24. Moreover, the user can grasp | ascertain the quantity of the ice supplied in the container 24 exactly by checking the supply state of ice visually.

  Further, an inclined portion 17c is formed on the surface portion 17b of the panel 17 so as to be inclined obliquely downward from the surface portion 17b of the panel 17 toward the rear side of the panel 17 from the upper end portion to the lower end portion of the notch portion 17a. Therefore, the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b can be easily visually confirmed. Furthermore, since the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b are disposed in the vicinity of the panel 17, and the openings of the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b are directed diagonally forward and downward with respect to the main body housing 2, the ice discharge ports from the user The discharge ports 11b and 12b are easily visible.

  On the other hand, since the beverage pouring passage 13a is integrally provided in the ice piece shooter 12, when cleaning, the ice piece shooter 12 is removed and the ice piece shooter 12 and the beverage pouring passage 13a are cleaned together. can do. Thereby, the maintainability of the ice dispenser 1 can be improved.

  Also, a beverage outlet 15 is provided on the inner wall surface 14a of the guide hole 14 of the ice piece shooter 12, and the beverage is poured out from the beverage inlet 13 through the beverage outlet passage 13a. Therefore, ice and beverage can be supplied from the ice discharge port 12b of the ice piece shooter 12 without any limitation on the ice discharge port 12b of the ice piece shooter 12. Thereby, the opening area of the ice discharge port 12b in the ice piece shooter 12 can be increased as much as possible, and there is no possibility of causing a situation where ice stagnates in the middle.

  Furthermore, since the beverage poured out from the beverage outlet 15 does not hit the surface of the guide hole 14, the guide hole 14 is not soiled with the beverage. Thereby, the effort of cleaning the ice piece shooter 12 can be reduced and the maintainability can be improved.

  Furthermore, since the flow rate regulator 26 is provided in the beverage pipe, it is always possible to supply ice and beverage without being affected by the water pressure caused by the difference in the installation environment of the ice dispenser 1 or the area where the ice dispenser 1 is installed. The ratio can be kept constant. In particular, when the beverage is a juice made by mixing a plurality of liquids, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the mixing ratio is constant and the taste varies.

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration, and various modifications and changes can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention. For example, the notch 17a may be an opening in the panel 17, and the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b may be exposed from the opening.

  In FIG. 5, the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b are arranged on the inner side of the main body 2 from the surface portion 17c of the panel 17, but the ice discharge ports 11b and 12b protrude outward from the surface portion 17c. You may arrange | position so. Further, in FIGS. 5 to 12, the ice discharge ports 11 b and 12 b are formed on a plane perpendicular to the extending direction of the ice shooters 11 and 12, but are perpendicular so that the user can easily see the discharge ports. The ice discharge ports 11b and 12b may be formed on a surface other than the flat surface.

  Furthermore, the flow rate regulator 26 can be attached with a flow rate that can be automatically adjusted. For example, a flow regulator that automatically adjusts the water pressure using a spring force can be used.

  As described above, the ice dispenser according to the present invention is installed in a kitchen of a restaurant or a free drink corner, and is useful for a service for supplying ice appropriately.

It is a front view of the ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a right view of the ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is an ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention, Comprising: It is a front view which shows the state remove | excluding the opening / closing door from the state of FIG. It is an external view of the auger type ice making machine used for the ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is an ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention, Comprising: It is left sectional drawing which expands and shows the part of an ice supply part. FIG. 4 is a front view of the ice dispenser according to the embodiment of the present invention in a state where the cutting machine and the ice piece shooter shown in FIG. 3 are assembled. It is a front view of the state of the single item of the ice piece shooter used for the ice dispenser concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a left view of the ice piece shooter shown in FIG. It is the perspective view of the state which looked at the ice piece shooter shown in FIG. 7 from the diagonally lower left side. It is the schematic which showed the drink supply channel | path of the ice piece shooter used for the ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a whole perspective view which shows the state which attached the flow volume regulator to the ice piece shooter used for the ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the state which attached the flow regulator to the ice piece shooter used for the ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a front view of the opening-and-closing door used for the ice dispenser concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a right view of the opening / closing door used for the ice dispenser which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ice dispenser 2 Main body housing 3 Opening / closing door 4 Ice supply part 7 Ice supply lever 7a Rotating shaft 7b Lower end part 8 Ice receiving part 9 Solenoid device 10 Cutting machine 11 Ice piece shooter 11a Ice insertion port 11b Ice discharge port 12 Ice piece shooter 12a Ice insertion port 12b Ice discharge port 12c Left side surface portion 12d Upper side portion 12e Lower surface portion 13 Beverage inlet 13a Beverage outlet passage 14 Guide hole 14a Upper side surface of guide hole 15 Beverage outlet 16 Mounting claw portion 17 Panel 17a Notch portion 17b Surface portion 17c Inclined portion 18a Width length of notch portion 18b Vertical length of notch portion 19 Vertical length 20 Auger type ice making machine 21 Ice making cylinder portion 22 Ice stocker 23 Discharge port 24 Container 25 Flow rate adjuster Insertion hole 26 Flow regulator 26a Knob part

Claims (3)

In an ice dispenser comprising an ice piece shooter that discharges ice through an ice discharge port, and a beverage dispensing passage that dispenses beverage through a beverage dispensing port,
An ice dispenser, wherein the beverage spout is opened in an inner wall surface of the ice piece shooter.   The ice dispenser according to claim 1, wherein at least a downstream end portion of the beverage pouring passage is formed integrally with the ice piece shooter.   The ice dispenser according to claim 2, wherein a flow rate adjusting means for adjusting the amount of beverage dispensed is provided in the beverage dispensing passage.

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