JP2007229293A - Beverage feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an inexpensive beverage feeder having a low possibility of causing a trouble such as a failure. <P>SOLUTION: This beverage feeder 1 for feeding coffee drink, which is extracted by feeding hot water to ground coffee beans fed to an extractor 24, is provided with a vane pump 12 forcedly sending drinking water, an orifice 14 adjusting the drinking water forcedly sent by the vane pump 12 to a prescribed flow rate and sending it, a heat exchange pipe 15 passing and preheating the drinking water adjusted to the prescribed flow rate, a heating unit 16 heating the drinking water preheated by the heat exchange pipe 15 to hot water of a prescribed temperature, and a hot water supply valve 17 opening a valve and supplying the hot water heated to the prescribed temperature to the extractor 24. A pressure regulating valve 13 circulating the drinking water from the outlet 12b to the inlet 12a when the drinking water to be forcedly sent by the vane pump 12 increases more than the predetermined flow rate and enlarges a sending pressure, is provided between a drinking water outlet 12b and an inlet 12a of the vane pump 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a beverage supply device that is provided in a cup-type beverage vending machine, a beverage dispenser, and the like and supplies a coffee beverage extracted using ground coffee beans and hot water.

  Conventionally, the thing of patent document 1 with which the cup-type drink vending machine was equipped as this kind of drink supply apparatus is known. This beverage supply device is for extracting and supplying a coffee beverage by infiltrating compressed coffee ground beans with high-temperature and high-pressure hot water. An extractor for extracting coffee beverages and a predetermined amount of ground coffee beans to this extractor And a hot water supply unit for supplying high-temperature and high-pressure hot water. The extractor is provided with a cylinder having an opening in the upper part, a piston that is reciprocally slidable in the cylinder, a piston to which one end of the beverage pipe is connected, an upper opening of the cylinder, and one end of the hot water supply pipe. And a cap to which the part is connected. The hot water supply section passes hot water in a hot water tank (hot water temperature, approximately 80 to 85 ° C.) through a heat exchange coil so that the drinking water pumped by the pump is heated to approximately 74 ° C. Heat to 90 ° C. and feed to extractor.

  In this beverage supply apparatus, coffee beverage is extracted and supplied as follows. First, a predetermined amount of ground coffee beans is supplied from the ground bean supply unit to the cylinder of the extractor. Next, after closing the upper opening with a cap, the piston is moved to the cap side, and the ground coffee beans are compressed. Then, the drinking water pumped by driving the pump for a predetermined time is passed through the heat exchange coil and the boiler, heated to 89 to 90 ° C. and sent to the hot water supply pipe, and a predetermined amount of hot water is supplied to the cylinder at a predetermined high pressure. . In this way, by supplying high-temperature and high-pressure hot water to the ground coffee beans compressed in the cylinder, the coffee beverage in which the coffee components are dissolved in the hot water permeated into the ground coffee beans is extracted from the beverage piping. Supply to cup.

As described above, the coffee beverage is extracted by supplying a predetermined high temperature and high pressure hot water to the cylinder of the extractor and dissolving the coffee components in the hot water that has been infiltrated into the ground coffee beans. As a pump for supplying such high-pressure hot water, an electromagnetic pump having an intake valve and a discharge valve, and a piston that reciprocally slides with an electromagnetic plunger by the electromagnetic force of an electromagnetic coil is used.
JP 2000-348253 A

  However, since the electromagnetic pump performs a pump action by the electromagnetic plunger and the piston reciprocatingly sliding at a high speed, an overload is applied to the spring that supports the piston that reciprocally slides with the electromagnetic plunger, which may cause damage. When the spring breaks, high-pressure hot water cannot be supplied to the cylinder of the extractor, and as a result, the beverage supply device cannot extract and supply the coffee beverage. In addition, since the electromagnetic pump has a large number of components, the beverage supply device is expensive, and there is a risk that problems such as failure may occur.

  An object of this invention is to provide the drink supply apparatus with low possibility that malfunctions, such as a failure, arise at low cost in view of the said situation.

In order to achieve the above object, a beverage supply apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention supplies hot water having a predetermined temperature obtained by heating drinking water to ground coffee beans supplied to an extractor from a ground bean supply unit. A beverage supply device for supplying coffee beverages,
A pump for pumping the drinking water, a flow regulator for adjusting and feeding the drinking water pumped by the pump to a predetermined flow rate, and a preheating means through which the drinking water adjusted to the predetermined flow rate flows and is preheated Heating means for heating the drinking water preheated by the preheating means to the hot water having the predetermined temperature; and a hot water supply valve for opening the valve and supplying the hot water heated to the predetermined temperature to the extractor. It is characterized by having.

  Moreover, the drink supply apparatus which concerns on Claim 2 of this invention is the above-mentioned Claim 1, Between the drinking water outflow port of the said pump, and an inflow port, the drinking water which a pump pumps is from the predetermined flow volume. A pressure adjusting valve is provided for circulating the drinking water from the outlet to the inlet when the delivery pressure increases.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a pump having a simple structure and a low cost is adopted as a pump for pumping drinking water so that high-temperature and high-pressure hot water can be supplied to the extractor. It is possible to realize a beverage supply device that has a low possibility of occurrence.

  Moreover, according to invention of Claim 2, the overload driving | operation of the pump which is pumping drinking water can be prevented.

  Exemplary embodiments of a beverage supply device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a beverage supply apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in the beverage supply device 1, when a water inlet valve (electromagnetic valve) 3 is opened, drinking water is supplied from a water intake pipe 2 to a water reservoir 4. The water reservoir 4 is provided with a float switch 5 that detects the water level and outputs a water level signal to a control unit (not shown). When the water reservoir 4 reaches the lower limit water level, the water inlet valve 3 is opened to supply water. When the upper limit water level is reached, the water inlet valve 3 is closed to stop water supply, and a predetermined amount (for example, 800 cc) of drinking water is stored. The hot water tank 8 is provided with a float switch 9 that detects the water level and outputs a water level signal to the control unit. When the hot water in the hot water tank 8 reaches the lower limit water level, the water supply valve (solenoid valve) 6 is opened to open the water reservoir. The drinking water stored in 4 is supplied from the pipe 7, and when the upper limit water level is reached, the water supply valve 6 is closed to stop the water supply. The drinking water supplied to the hot water tank 8 is stored as hot water heated by the heater 10 (for example, 95 ° C.).

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 10 of Patent Document 1, the extractor 24 is provided so as to be slidable in a reciprocating manner in the cylinder having an upper opening, and at one end of the beverage pipe 25. And a cap connected to one end of the hot water supply pipe 18, and the coffee beans supplied from the bean storage container 21 are ground by a coffee mill 22. When ground coffee is supplied to the cylinder from the ground bean supply section constituted by the chute 23 for charging the ground beans, the upper opening of the cylinder is closed with a cap, and then the piston is lifted to compress the ground coffee beans. The supplied high-temperature and high-pressure hot water is permeated into the compressed ground coffee beans to extract a coffee beverage in which the coffee components are dissolved, Pour in-flops C.

  A vane pump 12 for pumping drinking water stored in the water reservoir 4 is connected to the water reservoir 4 by a pipe 11 in order to supply predetermined high-temperature and high-pressure hot water to the extractor 24, and at the same time the vane pump 12 is driven. When the hot water supply valve (solenoid valve) 17 is opened, the drinking water flowing in from the inflow port 12a and pumped from the outflow port 12b is adjusted to a predetermined flow rate through the orifice (flow rate regulator) 14, and the hot water tank The heat exchange pipe (preheating means) 15 immersed in the 8 hot water is passed through to become preheated hot water (drinking water supplied at 10 ° C. becomes 84 ° C. hot water), and further a heating unit (heating means) 16 is heated to 95 ° C., passes through the hot water supply valve 17, and is supplied from the hot water supply pipe 18 to the extractor 24. Further, a pressure regulating valve 13 is disposed between the outlet 12b and the inlet 12a of the vane pump 12. The pressure regulating valve 13 lowers the pressure by circulating the drinking water on the outlet 12b side toward the inlet 12a when drinking water pumped by the vane pump 12 increases from a predetermined flow rate to increase the delivery pressure. The valve is normally closed, and also functions as a check valve that prevents the flow of drinking water from the inlet 12a side to the outlet 12b side.

  The hot water tank 8 is a pipe that supplies hot water to a mixing bowl 35 that is stored in a powder raw material canister 33 and is stirred and mixed with sugar or cream introduced from a chute 34 and poured into a cup C from a pipe 36. 32 is connected via a molten metal valve (solenoid valve) 31. Further, a pipe 38 for supplying hot water for adjusting the concentration of the coffee beverage is connected to the hot water tank 8 via a hot water valve 37.

  FIG. 2 shows a side sectional view of the pressure regulating valve 13. FIG. 2A shows a state in which the valve of the pressure regulating valve 13 is closed. The connecting portion 13a is provided with a valve seat 13c in an inflow hole 13b into which drinking water flows, and the connecting portion 13d has drinking water. Outflow hole 13e is provided, and the connecting portion 13a and the connecting portion 13d are fixed by a screw portion 13f. Further, the valve body 13g is normally pressed against the valve seat 13c by the pressurizing spring 13h to prevent drinking water from flowing from the inlet 12a side to the outlet 12b side.

  When the vane pump 12 is driven and the hot water supply valve 17 is opened at the same time, the drinking water stored in the water reservoir 4 is pumped and flows through the orifice 14 to be adjusted to a predetermined flow rate and supplied to the heat exchange pipe 15. However, when the delivery amount increases beyond a predetermined flow rate due to fluctuations in the drive voltage of the vane pump 12 and the delivery pressure increases, the pressure in the inflow hole 13b communicating with the outlet 12b increases, and the valve body When 13g is pressed by pressure to compress the pressure spring 13h and move to the position shown in FIG. 2 (b), a gap 13i is formed between the valve seat 13c and the valve body 13g, and the drinking water is on the outlet 12b side. Flows to the inflow port 12a communicating with the outflow hole 13e, and the pressure on the outflow port 12b decreases. In this way, when the drinking water pumped by the vane pump 12 increases from the predetermined flow rate between the drinking water outlet 12b and the inlet 12a of the vane pump 12, the drinking water is discharged to the outlet. Since the pressure adjustment valve 13 for circulating from the inlet 12a to the inlet 12a is provided to reduce the pressure, the overload operation of the vane pump 12 that is feeding the drinking water can be prevented.

  FIG. 3 shows a side sectional view of the orifice 14. The orifice 14 has a resistance hole 14b that serves as a resistance of the water flow that flows in from the water flow inlet 14a and flows out of the water flow outlet 14c. When the drinking water pumped by the vane pump 12 flows through the resistance hole 14b, the flow rate is adjusted to a predetermined flow rate. The

  FIG. 4 shows a side sectional view of the heating unit 16. The heating unit 16 has a hot water inlet 16b on one side of a main body 16a made of metal such as stainless steel, a hot water outlet 16d on the opposite side, and a spiral groove therebetween. A heater 16e for heating the main body 16a is attached with a screw 16f, and the periphery thereof is covered with a heat insulating material (not shown). When the hot water flowing in from the hot water inlet 16b flows through the through hole 16c and flows out of the hot water outlet 16d, the hot water flows along the inner surface of the spiral groove of the through hole 16c heated by the heater 16e, and the hot water becomes a wide heat source. Turbulent flow occurs in the flowing hot water and the efficiency of heat exchange increases, and the temperature of the hot water can be increased from 84 ° C. to 95 ° C. by efficient heating.

  In this beverage supply device 1, coffee beverage is extracted and supplied as follows. First, after the coffee beans supplied from the bean storage container 21 are ground by the coffee mill 22, the ground coffee beans are supplied from the chute 23 to the cylinder of the extractor 24, and then the upper opening of the cylinder is closed with a cap, and then the piston is raised. Compress the ground coffee beans. Next, when the vane pump 12 is driven and the hot water supply valve 17 is opened at the same time, the drinking water stored in the water reservoir 4 is pumped and flows through the orifice 14 to be adjusted to a predetermined flow rate and supplied to the heat exchange pipe 15. The hot water sent and preheated to 84 ° C. is heated to 95 ° C. by the heating unit 16, passes through the hot water supply valve 17, and is supplied from the hot water supply pipe 18 to the extractor 24. In this way, by supplying high-temperature and high-pressure hot water to the ground coffee beans compressed in the cylinder, a coffee beverage in which the coffee components are dissolved in the hot water permeated into the ground coffee beans is extracted, and the beverage piping 25 Pour into cup C.

  As described above, a beverage is supplied to the beverage supply device 1 for supplying coffee beverage extracted by supplying hot water of a predetermined temperature obtained by heating drinking water to the ground coffee beans supplied to the extractor 24 from the ground bean supply unit. A vane pump 12 having a simple structure and a low cost is adopted as a pump for pumping water, an orifice 14 for adjusting and feeding the drinking water pumped by the vane pump 12 to a predetermined flow rate, and drinking water adjusted to a predetermined flow rate The heat exchange pipe 15 that is preheated by flowing through, the heating unit 16 that heats the drinking water preheated by the heat exchange pipe 15 to hot water of a predetermined temperature, and the hot water heated to the predetermined temperature by opening the valve Since the hot water supply valve 17 supplied to the extractor 24 is provided, it is possible to provide the beverage supply device 1 that is less likely to cause a malfunction such as a failure at a low cost. Further, when the drinking water pumped by the vane pump 12 is increased from a predetermined flow rate between the drinking water outlet 12b and the inlet 12a of the vane pump 12, the drinking water is discharged from the outlet 12b. Since the pressure regulating valve 13 for circulating to the inflow port 12a is provided, it is possible to prevent the overload operation of the vane pump 12 that is pumping drinking water.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the drink supply apparatus by embodiment of this invention. It is a sectional side view of the pressure control valve shown in FIG. It is a sectional side view of the flow regulator shown in FIG. It is a sectional side view of the heating means shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Beverage supply apparatus 4 Water reservoir 8 Hot water tank 12 Vane pump 13 Pressure control valve 14 Orifice 15 Heat exchange pipe 16 Heating unit 17 Hot water supply valve 21 Bean storage container 22 Coffee mill 24 Extractor C Cup

Claims (2)

A beverage supply device for supplying coffee beverage extracted by supplying hot water of a predetermined temperature obtained by heating drinking water to ground coffee beans supplied to an extractor from a ground bean supply unit,
A pump for pumping the drinking water, a flow regulator for adjusting and feeding the drinking water pumped by the pump to a predetermined flow rate, and a preheating means through which the drinking water adjusted to the predetermined flow rate flows and is preheated Heating means for heating the drinking water preheated by the preheating means to the hot water having the predetermined temperature; and a hot water supply valve for opening the valve and supplying the hot water heated to the predetermined temperature to the extractor. A beverage supply device comprising the beverage supply device.   Between the drinking water outlet and the inlet of the pump, when the drinking water pumped by the pump increases from a predetermined flow rate and the delivery pressure increases, the drinking water is circulated from the outlet to the inlet. The beverage supply device according to claim 1, further comprising a pressure regulating valve that allows the beverage to be fed.

Images