JP2010023916A - Beverage dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a beverage dispenser capable of switching cooling to cooling with ice at the time of failure or the like. <P>SOLUTION: As the beverage dispenser, a means is adopted which is equipped with a dispenser body in which a cooling room is composed of a box body with an opened upper face composed of a heat insulating material, a cold plate installed in the cooling room and for cooling the beverage fed from a beverage tank, a base plate for closing the upper face opening of the cooling room, a cooling unit arranged on the upper face of the base plate, a coolant coil arranged on the undersurface of the base plate by being connected with the cooling unit and immersed into cooling water stored in the cooling room at a hang-down state, and a spouting cock for spouting the beverage cooled by the cold plate, and in which the base plate integrally arranged with the cooling unit and the coolant coil is made to be freely removable to the cooling room. At the time of a failure, the base plate is removed from the opening of the cooling room, and ice blocks are fed on the cold plate, and the opening of the cooling room is closed by a lid plate. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a beverage dispenser that supplies a beverage such as draft beer while rapidly cooling it, and in particular, to provide a dispenser whose cooling means can be changed as necessary.

  Conventionally, as a drink dispenser, the thing of the composition indicated by patent documents 1 is known, for example. The basic configuration includes a cooling water tank for storing cooling water, a beverage cooling coil connected to a beverage conduit from the beverage tank, an evaporation coil for circulating a refrigerant by a cooling unit, and the like. The cooling coil and the evaporation coil are immersed to cool the beverage flowing through the beverage cooling coil. In addition, the cooling unit sends the gas refrigerant compressed by the compressor to the evaporation coil by cooling it with a condenser by heat exchange and sends it to the evaporation coil, and the evaporation coil reaches the surrounding area by the evaporation heat when the liquid refrigerant evaporates. The temperature of the cooling water is maintained at approximately 0 ° C. by heat exchange with the ice block, and the beverage is circulated through the beverage cooling coil and cooled by heat exchange with the cooling water and supplied from the dispensing nozzle. .

  Moreover, what is cooled by ice as disclosed in, for example, Patent Document 2 is also known as a simpler configuration. The cooling pipe is wound in the shape of a coil in the cooling chamber, the cooling coil having the overall shape formed in a cage shape is disposed, and ice is crushed inside the cooling coil of the cage shape to form the cooling pipe. And the beverage passing through the cooling pipe is cooled.

JP 2008-1391 A JP 2002-255287 A

  However, in the conventional beverage dispenser as described in Patent Document 1 described above, a relatively heavy cooling unit is provided at the lower stage of the apparatus in order to lower the center of gravity at the time of installation and to adjust the appearance. It was arranged in a predetermined pipe. As a result, the piping is complicated and the manufacturing cost is high. Also, if the piping is clogged or the compressor breaks down, it is necessary to stop the operation of the entire device for repair. If it is used in a store, etc., there is a risk that it will hinder sales. is there.

  On the other hand, since the beverage dispenser as described in Patent Document 2 is cooled by ice, it has a simple structure and can be manufactured at low cost with few failures. However, due to the structure, the contact area between the cooling pipe and ice is small, and the cooling efficiency is poor. Therefore, there is a possibility that the beverage flowing through the cooling pipe is not sufficiently cooled.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and is mainly a cooling by a conventional cooling unit, and can be easily switched to cooling by ice in the event of a failure or the like. The object is to provide a dispenser.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention cools a beverage dispenser body configured as a beverage dispenser in which a cooling chamber is constituted by a housing having an open top surface made of a heat insulating material and the beverage supplied from the beverage tank. A cold plate, a base that closes the upper surface opening of the cooling chamber, a cooling unit that is disposed on the upper surface of the base, and a lower surface of the base that is connected to the cooling unit and is stored in the cooling chamber. A cooling tub that is immersed in cooling water in a suspended state; and a pouring cock that pours the beverage cooled by the cold plate; Adopting a means to make it detachable.

  Moreover, the means of providing a protective plate below or / and on the side of the refrigerant snake tube was employed.

  Furthermore, a means of providing a handle on the base was adopted.

  Separately, a means was adopted in which the base on which the cooling unit and the refrigerant serpentine tube were integrally disposed was removed from the cooling chamber opening, an ice block was introduced onto the cold plate, and the cooling chamber opening was closed with a lid.

  The beverage dispenser according to the present invention having the above configuration circulates the refrigerant cooled through the cooling unit through the refrigerant serpentine tube during normal use, cools the cooling water to approximately 0 ° C., and quenches the beverage by heat exchange with the cold plate. It can be done. Therefore, it is possible to always provide a drink with an appropriate temperature.

  On the other hand, if a cooling unit or the like breaks down, removing the base with the cooling unit and the refrigerant serpentine tube integrally installed from the opening of the cooling chamber, and adding ice blocks onto the cold plate, heat exchange between the ice blocks and the cold plate Thus, it is possible to cool the beverage as well. For this reason, the operation of the apparatus is not interrupted during repair, and business operations are not hindered.

  In addition, since the cooling unit and the refrigerant snake tube are integrally disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the base, the piping of each other can be shortened, the manufacturing cost of the entire apparatus can be reduced, and maintenance is easy.

  By providing the handle on the base, the entire base can be easily removed, and a protective plate is provided around the refrigerant snake tube, so that the refrigerant snake tube is not damaged when the base is removed.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a beverage dispenser according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the structure of a beverage dispenser of the present invention, and shows a case where draft beer is cooled and supplied. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a case where the usage mode is changed.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a dispenser main body, which is constituted by a housing whose whole is watertight with a heat insulating material or the like and whose upper surface is opened, and the inside of which is a cooling chamber 2. Reference numeral 3 denotes a cold plate installed on the floor of the cooling chamber 2, which introduces draft beer into the internal pipe line and cools it. That is, the cold plate 3 is formed, for example, by forming a disk-like block 3a from a metal material having good thermal conductivity such as an aluminum alloy, and embedding a cooling serpentine tube 3b through which a beverage is circulated. It is configured and is conventionally known. Moreover, the surface is formed in a waveform and the surface area is increased to increase the efficiency of heat exchange. 4 is a pouring cock, which is connected to the outlet side of the cooling serpentine tube 3b of the cold plate 3 to pour the cooled draft beer into a mug.

  Next, 5 is a cooling unit, which is composed of a compressor 6, a radiator 7 that radiates the refrigerant compressed thereby, a cooling fan 8 that supplies the outside air to the radiator 7 as cooling air, and the like. The basic configuration is conventional. The cooling unit 5 is disposed on a base 9 that is placed in the opening of the cooling chamber 2 of the casing of the dispenser body 1 and closes it. A power supply device and a control device for operating the cooling unit 5 are not shown. Further, 10 is a refrigerant serpentine tube connected to the compressor 6 and the radiator 7, and is arranged on the lower surface of the base 9, for example, in a spiral tube shape, circulating the refrigerant cooled by the radiator 7, It is immersed in the cooling water 11 stored in the cooling chamber 2 in a suspended state to exchange heat therewith. That is, the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 6 is supplied to the radiator 7 to dissipate and cool, and is supplied into the refrigerant serpentine tube 10, where it evaporates and cools the refrigerant serpentine tube 10 with its heat of evaporation, and the surroundings. Ice is generated in the cooling water 11, and the vaporized refrigerant returns to the compressor 6 and is circulated so as to be compressed again and supplied to the radiator 7. Thereby, the cooling water 11 stored in the cooling chamber 2 can be cooled to around 0 ° C. Since the cold plate 3 is installed on the floor surface of the cooling chamber 2, the draft beer that exchanges heat between the cooled cooling water 11 and the cold plate 3 and flows through the cooling serpentine tube 3 b in the cold plate 3. Is cooled.

  The cooling unit 5 and the refrigerant serpentine tube 10 are integrally disposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the base 9, respectively. The base 9 is detachable from the opening surface of the cooling chamber 2 of the dispenser body 1. is there. Therefore, the cooling unit 5 and the refrigerant serpentine tube 10 are connected by the shortest pipe. Reference numerals 9a and 9a are handles for carrying the entire base 9.

  Reference numeral 12 denotes a stirring fan for stirring the cooling water 11 to keep the temperature of the cooling water uniform. Reference numeral 13 denotes a protective plate made of, for example, punching metal or the like, which is attached to the lower side of the refrigerant serpentine tube 10 via holding rods 14, 14,. 10 is prevented from being damaged. In addition to the lower part of the refrigerant | coolant snake tube 10, this protective plate 13 may be provided in the four-side surface further as needed.

  In addition, 15 is a draft beer tank, 16 is a carbon dioxide gas cylinder, and supplies draft beer to the beverage dispenser of the said structure by a conventionally well-known means. Moreover, although the example applied to supply of draft beer is shown in this embodiment, it is not limited to this and it is clear that it can apply to various drinks.

  Next, a method of using the beverage (draft beer) dispenser having the above configuration will be described. A tank 15 of draft beer stored at room temperature (20 ° C. to 30 ° C.) is connected to the supply port of the dispenser body 1. A carbon dioxide cylinder 16 is connected. When a high-pressure carbon dioxide gas is supplied to the tank 15 and the cock of the tank 15 is operated, draft beer in the tank 15 is pushed out by the gas pressure and flows into the cooling serpentine tube 3 b of the cold plate 3 installed in the dispenser body 1. Since the cold plate 3 is immersed in the cooling water 11 cooled to approximately 0 ° C., the draft beer flowing through the cooling serpentine tube 3b is rapidly cooled to around 0 ° C. by the heat exchange action. At this time, it is only necessary to operate the pouring cock 4 to pour draft beer into the mug. In this case, the cold plate 3 is always immersed in the cooling water 11, and the cooling water 11 is always cooled via the cooling unit 5. Therefore, even when a large amount of draft beer is poured out, the cooling efficiency does not decrease, so the draft beer poured out from the dispensing cock 4 can always be supplied at a constant low temperature.

  Next, FIG. 2 will be described. In the beverage dispenser having the above-described configuration, piping may be clogged due to some factors during operation, or the compressor 6 may fail. In such a case, the base 9 on which the cooling unit 5 and the refrigerant serpentine tube 10 are integrally disposed is detachable with respect to the dispenser body 1, so that the base 9 can be removed and repaired. At this time, the cooling water 11 is discharged from the discharge port 17 provided on the side surface of the cooling chamber 2, and a large amount of ice blocks 18, 18. If it does so, the draft beer which distribute | circulates the cooling snake tube 3b with the heat of fusion of the ice lump 18 will be rapidly cooled to around 0 degreeC by heat exchange effect | action. Then, by replenishing the ice block 18 as needed, the beverage dispenser can be operated without interruption even during repairs.

  In this case, when the cold plate 3 is immersed in the water in which the ice block 18 is melted, the cooling efficiency is lowered. Therefore, the water in which the ice block 18 is melted is always discharged from the drain port 17 and the ice block 18 is replenished as needed. It is preferable to do so. Thereby, since the cold plate 3 always contacts only the ice block 18, a constant cooling efficiency can be maintained. Further, if the opening of the cooling chamber 2 is closed by an appropriate lid 19, it is possible to prevent the temperature in the cooling chamber 2 from rising due to the inflow of outside air, and to prevent the cooling efficiency from being lowered.

  As described above, in the beverage dispenser according to the present invention, the cooling unit 5 is disposed on the upper surface of the base 9 that closes the cooling chamber 2, and the refrigerant serpentine tube 10 connected thereto is disposed on the lower surface of the base 9. These are integrated with each other so as to be detachable from the cooling chamber 2. During normal use, the cooling water 11 is stored in the cooling chamber 2, and the refrigerant serpentine tube 10 is immersed and cooled by the cooling unit 5, and the beverage is similarly supplied through the cold plate 3 immersed in the cooling water 11. It was made to cool. Further, when a failure occurs in the cooling unit 5 or the like, the base 9 is removed and repaired. During this time, the cooling water 11 is discharged from the cooling chamber 2 and a large amount of ice lump 18 is put on the cold plate 3. Thereby, a drink can be cooled via the cold plate 3 with the heat of fusion of the ice block 18. That is, as necessary, the cooling by the cooling unit 5 and the cooling by the ice block 18 can be switched and used, so that the operation is not interrupted.

It is sectional drawing which shows typically the structure of the drink dispenser which concerns on this invention. It is a schematic cross section which shows the case where a use aspect is changed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dispenser main body 2 Cooling chamber 3 Cold plate 3b Cooling serpentine 4 Outlet cock 5 Cooling unit 6 Compressor 7 Radiator 8 Cooling fan 9 Base 9a Handle 10 Refrigerant serpentine 11 Cooling water 12 Stirring fan 13 Protection plate 14 Holding rod 15 Tank 16 Carbonic acid Gas cylinder 17 outlet 18 ice block 19 lid

Claims (4)

  A dispenser body comprising a cooling chamber with a housing having an open top surface made of a heat insulating material; a cold plate that is installed in the cooling chamber and cools a beverage supplied from a beverage tank; and a base that closes the top opening of the cooling chamber; A cooling unit disposed on the upper surface of the base, a refrigerant serpentine tube connected to the cooling unit on the lower surface of the base and immersed in a cooling water stored in the cooling chamber, and the cold plate A beverage dispenser comprising: a dispensing cock that dispenses the beverage cooled in step 1; and the base on which the cooling unit and the refrigerant snake tube are integrally disposed is detachable from the cooling chamber.   The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein a protective plate is provided below or / and on a side surface of the refrigerant snake tube.   The beverage dispenser according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a handle is provided on the base.   The beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the base on which the cooling unit and the refrigerant serpentine tube are integrally disposed is removed from the opening of the cooling chamber, an ice block is introduced onto the cold plate, and the cooling chamber opening is closed with a lid.

Images