JP2010069040A - Beverage extraction apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a user-friendly beverage extraction apparatus easily extracting components of beverage raw material despite their types and extracting beverage of a concentration according to the preference. <P>SOLUTION: This beverage extraction apparatus 1 includes a canister 10 for storing beverage raw materials, a hot water tank 8 storing hot water, an extraction container 5 storing the beverage raw materials inserted from the canister 10 and the hot water supplied from the hot water tank 8, an agitation means 6 agitating and mixing the beverage raw materials and the hot water in the extraction container 5, a filter section 22 filtering the beverage mixing liquid in the extraction container 5 and extracting the beverage, a disposal means 27 disposing the beverage raw material residues after extracting the beverage, and an extraction control means for controlling them. The extraction control means replaces the beverage raw materials for every predetermined number of beverage extracting operations and a predetermined lapsed time, and whenever extracting the beverage after the replacement of the beverage raw materials, supplies a predetermined amount of beverage raw materials according to the amount of hot water supplied from the water tank 8 and extracting the beverage. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a beverage extraction apparatus that is applied to a tea dispenser, a beverage dispenser, and the like and that automatically extracts a beverage from beverage ingredients and hot water.

  As a conventional beverage extraction device of this type, a device as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-141668 (Patent Document 1) that has been previously published is known. The beverage extraction apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is a new hot water supply mechanism that supplies a predetermined amount of hot water to tea strainers to which tea leaves are supplied to extract tea, and discards tea leaves from tea strainers. A tea leaf exchange mechanism for supplying tea leaves, each time a tea extraction operation is performed a predetermined number of times, the tea leaf exchange mechanism performs tea leaf replacement, and at the time of one extraction operation, It is possible to execute intermittent mode in which hot water supply by the hot water supply mechanism is divided into multiple times intermittently, and the pause time between each hot water supply in that intermittent mode is set to a time when tea pouring from the tea strainer is not interrupted It is what has been.

According to this, since the time for steaming the tea leaves and opening the tea leaves is ensured by hot water supply in the intermittent mode at the time of tea extraction, the extracted tea can be concentrated. Also, since the pause time between each hot water supply by the hot water supply mechanism is set to a time during which the tea pouring from the tea strainer is not interrupted, it is possible to prevent the mispourant from being taken out accidentally during the pouring. Is.
JP 2004-141668 A

  By the way, in the tea dispenser described in Patent Document 1, during one extraction operation, the hot water supply by the hot water supply mechanism is divided into a plurality of times to make a tea strainer to thicken the extracted tea. Since the tea leaves contained in the tea strainer are not immersed in hot water, it is difficult to extract the components efficiently and extract a darker tea. Further, since tea leaves of tea strainers are exchanged at a predetermined time, it is necessary to be able to be easily separated from tea strainers and disposed of, and to maintain a certain level of water retention. Then, there are many cases where the types of tea leaves useful for such a device are limited, and there is a problem that the usability is not good.

  In order to cope with such a problem, the present invention is an easy-to-use beverage that can easily extract the ingredients of beverage ingredients such as tea leaves regardless of the type, and dispense a beverage having a concentration according to taste. An object of the present invention is to provide an extraction device.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 stores a canister for storing beverage ingredients, a hot water tank for storing hot water, a beverage raw material charged from the canister, and hot water supplied from the hot water tank. , An agitating means for agitating and mixing the beverage raw material and hot water in the extraction container, a filter unit for filtering out the beverage mixture in the extraction container and pouring the beverage, and a beverage after extracting the beverage In the beverage extraction apparatus comprising a discarding unit for discarding the raw material cake and an extraction control unit for controlling them, the extraction control unit replaces the beverage material every predetermined number of beverage extraction operations and every predetermined elapsed time. The beverage is extracted by supplying a predetermined amount of beverage material according to the amount of hot water supplied from the hot water tank every time the beverage is extracted after the beverage material is replaced.

According to this, the beverage material can be reused and saved, and the beverage material and hot water replenished according to the amount of hot water can be stirred and mixed in the beverage dispensing container to extract the beverage. Regardless of the type of raw material, it is possible to easily extract a beverage having a desired concentration.
Further, the invention according to claim 2 is the beverage extraction apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extraction control means is an intermediate beverage during the initial and final beverage extraction operations after replacement of beverage ingredients. The stirring time is set longer than that during the extraction operation.

  According to this, at the time of the initial beverage extraction operation when the beverage raw material is not sufficiently immersed in hot water and its components are difficult to extract, and at the end of the beverage extraction operation where the components of the beverage raw material are less likely to be extracted, By setting the stirring time longer than that in the middle period, the concentration of the beverage to be extracted can be averaged over the period.

  As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the beverage raw material is saved, and the beverage raw material and hot water replenished according to the amount of hot water are stirred and mixed in the beverage dispensing container to extract the beverage. As a result, a beverage having a desired concentration can be easily extracted regardless of the type of beverage raw material, and thus a highly versatile beverage extraction device that is cost-effective and easy to use can be provided.

  Moreover, according to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, in the drink extraction operation | movement after replacement | exchange of a drink raw material, in the initial stage and the drink extraction operation | movement of the last stage where the ingredient of a drink raw material is hard to be extracted, the stirring time is set with that of a middle period. By setting the length longer, the concentration of the beverage to be extracted can be averaged over the entire period, so that it is possible to provide a beverage extraction device with good quality with little variation in taste.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram schematically illustrating a beverage extraction device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control block diagram illustrating a control configuration of the beverage extraction device 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, a beverage extraction device (beverage dispenser, tea dispenser, etc.) 1 according to the present invention supplies hot water supply device 7 including a hot water tank 8 and the like, and hot water from the hot water supply device 7 to a beverage extraction unit 2 described later. A hot water supply pipe 21, a canister unit (canister) 10 for storing beverage ingredients, a material chute 11 for guiding the beverage ingredients supplied from the canister unit 10 to the beverage extraction unit 2, and hot water to the beverage ingredients supplied from the canister unit 10 Beverage extraction unit 2 for pouring hot water from apparatus 7 to cook and extract beverages, nozzle unit 25 for pouring beverages extracted by beverage extraction unit 2 into containers 26 such as cups, and beverages discharged from beverage extraction unit 2 It includes a waste tray 23 for collecting raw material slag and waste water, an extraction button 36 that is operated when extracting beverages, and a control means (extraction control means) 35 having a microcomputer for controlling the operation of each device. That.

  In addition, the beverage extraction unit 2 supplies a beverage raw material and hot water to extract a beverage (cylinder 5), and sends air into the cylinder 5 to stir the internal beverage raw material and hot water with air bubbles. An air pump (stirring means) 6 for mixing, transport pipes 16, 17, 18, 19 for transporting beverages and air during beverage extraction, and on-off valves 12, 13, 14, 15 for opening and closing a plurality of predetermined locations And. More specifically, the transport pipes 16, 17, 18, and 19 communicate with the first air transport pipe 16 that connects between the air pump 6 and the cylinder head 9 that opens and closes the upper end opening of the cylinder 5, and the air pump 6 and the cylinder 5. The second air transport pipe 17 connecting between the joint pipes 20 to be performed, the beverage discharge pipe 18 and the waste liquid pipe 19 respectively connected to the joint pipe 20. On-off valves 12, 13, 14, 15 are a first air on-off valve 12, a second air on-off valve 13, a beverage discharge valve 14, and a beverage disposal valve 15 provided in the middle of the transport pipe. It is configured. In addition, the air pump 6 pressurizes the inside of the cylinder 5 when the beverage is extracted by controlling the opening / closing valves 12, 13, 14, and 15 arranged in this way by the control means 35, and is arranged below the cylinder 5 The beverage extracted through the filter block (filter unit) 22 is sent to the nozzle unit 25.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the beverage extraction unit 2 constituting the beverage extraction device 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the beverage extraction unit 2 includes an extraction unit 3 for extracting a beverage and a drive unit 4 that drives the extraction unit 3.
The extraction unit 3 is composed of a cylinder 5 for supplying beverage ingredients and hot water, and for extracting beverages therein, and a cylinder holder 28 for detachably storing the cylinder 5. The cylinder 5 is made of a transparent plastic material, and is formed in a cylindrical shape that extends vertically and has an upper surface and a lower surface that are open. In addition, the cylinder holder 28 is provided at the lower part thereof so as to be movable up and down, and is provided with a filter block 22 for conveying the beverage in the cylinder 5 to the outside while filtering, and at the lower part thereof slidable in the front-rear direction. A scraper (disposal means) 27 for removing the beverage raw material residue remaining in the container is provided.

  The drive unit 4 includes a case 30 that forms the outline of the drive unit 4, and a cylinder head cover 31 that is provided on the front upper portion of the case 30 so as to protrude forward. The cylinder head cover 31 is formed in a case shape with an open bottom surface, and at a predetermined position on the top surface, a raw material charging port 31a, a hot water supply port 31b, and a steam venting duct 31c penetrating in the vertical direction and projecting upward are provided. Is provided. A cylinder head 9 that opens and closes the upper surface of the cylinder 5 is provided in the cylinder head cover 31 so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction (see FIGS. 1, 4, and 5). As shown in FIG. 1, the cylinder head 9 is connected to a conveyance pipe (first air conveyance pipe 16) that passes through the cylinder head 9 from the outside and supplies air to the lower side thereof. Further, in the case 30 of the drive unit 4, a scraper 27, a filter block 22, a filter / cylinder drive mechanism 37 (see FIG. 2) for driving the cylinder head 9, and the transport pipes 16, 17, 18, 19 are provided. A plurality of on-off valves 12, 13, 14, 15 and an air pump 6 provided in the middle are incorporated.

  Operation | movement of the drink extraction part 2 comprised in this way is demonstrated referring the figure which shows a series of operation | movement. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing in sequence the beverage extraction operation of the beverage extraction unit 2 constituting the beverage extraction device 1 of the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a beverage extraction constituting the beverage extraction device 1 of the embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drink raw material koji discharge | emission operation | movement of the part 2 in order. Fig.4 (a) has shown the standby state before drink extraction. In this standby state, the filter block 22, the scraper 27, and the cylinder head 9 are respectively positioned at the standby positions, and the upper surface and the lower surface of the cylinder 5 are all open. Further, in this standby state, the on-off valves 12, 13, 14, 15 provided at a plurality of predetermined locations of the transport pipes 16, 17, 18, 19 for transporting beverages and air are all open.

  From this standby state, when the extraction button 36 is operated and the filter / cylinder drive mechanism 37 of the drive unit 4 is activated, the filter block 22 moves up through the inside of the scraper 27. Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, the filter block 22 is sealed in a state where the filter block 22 is in contact with the lower surface of the cylinder 5. Next, in this state, a predetermined amount (for example, 7 g) of beverage ingredients is supplied from the canister unit 10 into the cylinder 5 through the ingredient inlet 31 a of the cylinder head cover 31. After the beverage raw material is charged, the second air on / off valve 13 is maintained in an open state, and the other first air on / off valves 12, the beverage discharge valve 14, and the beverage disposal valve 15 are all changed to a closed state. Then, a predetermined amount (for example, 90 cc) of hot water is supplied from the hot water tank 8 of the hot water supply device 7 into the cylinder 5 through the hot water supply port 31b of the cylinder head cover 31, and then the air pump 6 operates for a predetermined time (several seconds). Thus, the air is sent to the filter block 22 via the second air carrying pipe 17 and the joint pipe 20. Then, this air passes through a filter (not shown) of the filter block 22 and is blown out into the cylinder 5 from the bottom in the form of bubbles to stir the beverage ingredients and hot water therein. At this time, steam generated in the cylinder 5 is exhausted to the outside through the steam vent duct 31c of the cylinder head cover 31.

  When the mixing and stirring of the beverage ingredients and hot water by the air pump 6 is completed, the filter / cylinder driving mechanism 37 of the drive unit 4 is operated, and the cylinder head 9 in the standby state moves forward and is further pushed down. As shown in (c), this is sealed in contact with the upper surface of the cylinder 5. In this state, the first air on-off valve 12 and the beverage discharge valve 14 are opened, while the second air on-off valve 13 is closed. Next, the air pump 6 operates for a predetermined time (several seconds), and the air is pumped into the cylinder 5 through the first air transfer pipe 16 and the cylinder head 9. Thereby, the inside of the cylinder 5 is pressurized, and the extracted beverage is supplied to the container 26 such as a cup through the filter block 22, the joint pipe 20, the beverage discharge pipe 18, and the nozzle portion 25.

As described above, after the beverage is supplied to the container 26 such as a cup, the filter / cylinder driving mechanism 37 of the drive unit 4 is further driven, and the cylinder head 9 and the filter block as shown in FIG. 22 returns to the standby position. And all the on-off valves 12, 13, 14, and 15 are opened.
By the way, in the beverage extraction apparatus 1 of this embodiment, when a predetermined time (for example, 2 hours) has not elapsed since the beverage raw material was first introduced into the cylinder 5 and the beverage was extracted, the beverage raw material The beverage can be extracted a predetermined number of times (for example, up to 6 times). That is, as shown in FIG. 5A, the beverage ingredients remaining on the cylinder block 22 can be reused to repeatedly extract the beverage.

In this case, when the extraction button 36 is operated, the filter block 22 is again raised from the state shown in FIG. 5A and brought into contact with the lower surface of the cylinder 5 as shown in FIG. Then, a predetermined amount (for example, 0.5 g) of beverage ingredients is replenished into the cylinder 5 from the canister unit 10, and the first air on-off valve 12, the beverage discharge valve 14, and the beverage disposal valve 15 are Both are closed, and a predetermined amount (90 cc) of hot water is supplied from the hot water tank 8 of the hot water supply device 7 into the cylinder, and the air pump 6 is operated for a predetermined time to stir the beverage ingredients and hot water in the cylinder 5. Extract the beverage. Here, the amount of the beverage ingredient to be replenished is desirably replenished according to the amount of hot water supplied to the cylinder 5. That is, when the amount of hot water supplied to the cylinder 5 is large, the replenishment amount of the beverage raw material is increased, and when the amount of hot water is small, the replenishment amount is decreased. (For example, if the standard replenishment amount of beverage ingredients with respect to 90 cc of hot water is 0.5 g, and the amount of hot water is 70 cc, the replenishment amount of raw materials is approximately 0.4 g from the formula of 0.5 g × (70 cc) / (90 cc). Is good)
The stirring time of the beverage raw material and hot water by the air pump 6 is between the initial (first and second times) when the number of beverage extractions is small and the final (for example, the fifth and sixth times) beverage extraction operations during which the number of extractions overlaps. It is desirable to set the time longer than during the beverage extraction operation in the middle period (for example, the third and fourth times). That is, in the previous period when the beverage ingredients are not sufficiently immersed in hot water and the ingredients are difficult to extract, and in the final period when the ingredients of the beverage ingredients are less likely to be extracted, it is possible to set the stirring time longer than the middle period. Over the full year, the concentration of the extracted beverage can be averaged. (For example, the initial stirring time may be 2 seconds, the middle stirring time may be 1 second, and the final stirring time may be 3 seconds.)
Also, when a predetermined time has passed since the beverage material was first introduced into the cylinder 5 and the beverage was extracted, or when the beverage was extracted a predetermined number of times by reusing the beverage material The filter / cylinder driving mechanism 37 of the drive unit 4 is further driven from the state shown in FIG. 5A in which the cylinder head 9 and the filter block 22 are in the standby position, and the scraper 27 moves backward from the standby position. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5B, the beverage raw material residue remaining on the filter block 22 is scraped off by the scraper 27, discharged backward, and discarded to the waste tray 23 and the like. Thereafter, the scraper 27 moves forward and returns to the original standby position as shown in FIG. In addition, you may make it perform the discharge operation | movement of the above-mentioned drink raw material koji by the scraper 27 repeatedly in multiple times. In this case, the beverage ingredient koji on the filter block 22 is reliably scraped off, and the filter block 22 can be maintained more cleanly.

  As described above, according to the beverage extraction device 1 of the present embodiment, the beverage raw material and hot water replenished according to the amount of hot water are stored in the cylinder while the beverage raw material extracted from the beverage is reused to save the beverage raw material. 5, the beverage having a desired concentration can be easily extracted regardless of the type of the beverage raw material. Therefore, it is possible to provide a beverage extraction device that is cost-effective, easy to use, and highly versatile.

  In addition, in the beverage extraction operation over a plurality of times after the beverage material is first put into the cylinder 5 (that is, after the beverage material is replaced), the first several times (initial) in which the ingredients of the beverage material are difficult to be extracted, and By setting the stirring time longer in the last several times (final period) than in the middle several times (medium period), the concentration of the beverage extracted over the whole period can be averaged. That is, it is possible to provide a high quality beverage extraction apparatus with little variation in taste.

  Needless to say, the present invention is not limited to the apparatus shown in this embodiment mode, and application changes can be made within the scope of the spirit of the present invention. For example, the configuration of the beverage extraction unit 2, the method for stirring the beverage raw material and hot water during beverage extraction, the stirring time, the method for setting the replenishment amount of the beverage raw material, and the like are not limited to this embodiment.

It is a schematic structure figure showing typically a beverage extraction device of an embodiment of the present invention. It is a control block diagram which shows the control structure of the beverage extraction apparatus of this embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of the drink extraction part which comprises the drink extraction apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the drink extraction operation | movement of the drink extraction part which comprises the drink extraction apparatus of embodiment of this invention in order. It is explanatory drawing which shows in order the drink raw material koji discharge | emission operation | movement of the drink extraction part which comprises the drink extraction apparatus of embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Beverage extraction apparatus 2 Beverage extraction part 5 Cylinder (extraction container)
6 Air pump (stirring means)
8 Hot water tank 9 Cylinder head 10 Canister (canister)
22 Filter block (filter part)
27 Scraper (Disposal means)
35 Control means (extraction control means)
36 Filter and cylinder drive mechanism

Claims (2)

  A canister for storing beverage ingredients, a hot water tank for storing hot water, a beverage raw material charged from the canister, an extraction container for storing hot water supplied from the hot water tank, and a beverage raw material and hot water in the extraction container Agitation means for agitation and mixing; a filter unit for filtering out the beverage mixture in the extraction container to pour out the beverage; a discarding means for discarding the beverage raw material after extraction of the beverage; and extraction for controlling these In the beverage extraction apparatus provided with the control means, the extraction control means is for exchanging beverage ingredients every predetermined number of beverage extraction operations and every predetermined elapsed time, and the beverage extraction operation after the beverage ingredients are exchanged Each time, each beverage is extracted by supplying a predetermined amount of beverage ingredients according to the amount of hot water supplied from the hot water tank. The said extraction control means sets the stirring time longer in the initial and final beverage extraction operations after replacement of beverage ingredients than in the middle beverage extraction operation during that time. Beverage extraction equipment.

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