JP2011178447A - Attachment for dispense head in container for beer server cleaning - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dispense head that allows gas pressure to be reduced to a predetermined scheduled level of pressure so as for gas to be led into a liquid container even when a gas delivery pressure on the gas source side is higher than as scheduled. <P>SOLUTION: An attachment is used for mounting a dispense head onto a container for cleaning storing cleaning liquid for a beer server, the dispense head being capable of sending the cleaning liquid into the beer server via a liquid port, as a pressurized gas being introduced thereinto via a gas port. The attachment includes: at its lower part, with a removable section to the mouthpiece of the container for cleaning; at its upper part, with a removable section to the dispensing head; and at its side part, with a pressure regulating valve. A primary side gas flow passage is formed that is in communication with a gas port, extended in the direction of the pressure regulating valve from the removable section to the dispensing head at the upper part of the attachment, while a secondary side gas flow passage is shaped that is in communication with the interior of the container for cleaning, extended in the direction of the removable section to the mouthpiece of the container for cleaning at the lower part of the attachment from the pressure regulating valve. The pressure regulating valve uses, for its valve opening, a side opening of either the primary side or secondary side gas flow passage, while it is so constituted as to be able to adjust the degree of opening of the valve opening so as for the gas pressure of the primary side gas flow passage to be reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an attachment for attaching a dispense head attached to a base of a beer server washing container having pressure resistance containing a cleaning liquid, and more specifically, a gas pressure from a gas source introduced into the dispense head is higher than expected. The present invention relates to a configuration having a pressure adjusting function capable of reducing the gas pressure to a predetermined pressure and introducing the gas pressure into a cleaning container even when the pressure is high.

  The dispensing head is attached to a relatively wide-mouthed base of a pressure-resistant beer barrel, connected to a gas source such as compressed carbon dioxide gas, and the plunger (probe) is moved up and down by raising and lowering the lever, and the beer delivery path and gas It has a mechanism to open and close the pressure introduction path at the same time, and it is possible to send out an amount of beverage by pushing down the liquid level in the barrel by the introduced gas pressure. Generally, the beverage is delivered by setting the lever to the lowered position. On the other hand, at the raised position, each path is closed to stop sending (see Patent Document 1). And since this dispense head can be used not only for the delivery of beverages but also for the delivery of cleaning liquids, after the restaurant operation is over, the dispensing head is filled with a cleaning liquid (usually water) from a beer barrel. The beer dispenser is cleaned daily.

  When the dispensing head is replaced with the beer barrel after the cleaning operation is completed, it is necessary to first close the main plug of the gas source with the lever of the dispensing head in the raised position. However, at this stage, since the high-pressure gas still remains in the cleaning container, if the dispensing head is removed as it is, the cleaning liquid in the cleaning container is ejected violently due to the residual pressure. Since there is a risk of causing an accident such as the dispensing head being blown away, it is necessary to release the residual pressure in the cleaning container after the above-described closing operation of the main plug. Therefore, conventionally, when the cock is opened or a safety valve (relief valve) is provided, the residual pressure in the cleaning container is released by opening the safety valve.

  On the other hand, Patent Document 2 discloses a dispensing head in which a normal pressure and two gas flow paths having a pressure lower than the normal pressure can be switched. That is, according to this dispensing head, the main gas flow path is opened at the time of beer distribution, and beer is sent out at a normal pressure of about 0.2 to 0.3 Mpa, while the remaining amount of beer in the beer barrel becomes the lower limit. At the time of the cleaning operation after the end of business, the gas flow path is switched to the low pressure side, and the beer remaining in the beer tube connecting the dispense head and the dispenser can be discharged with a low pressure of about 0.05 Mpa. After the beer remaining in the tube is discharged, the dispense head is replaced with a new beer barrel or washing container.

JP 2002-80092 A JP 2008-50051 A

  However, all of the above-described conventional techniques require the operator to lower the lever or switch to the low-pressure flow path at the final stage in order to eliminate the high-pressure atmosphere in the liquid container. In that case, it was impossible to avoid accidents, so further safety measures were desired.

  In recent years, in order to make soda for whiskey and shochu, carbonated water generators that can easily generate carbonated water at home and small stores have been developed. The basic configuration is to introduce carbon dioxide under pressure into a pressure vessel containing water in a sealed state, but the gas source and the dispense head can be shared with those for beer distribution and cleaning liquid delivery. However, the required gas pressure differs between the delivery of beer and the like and the generation of carbonated water. That is, in beer distribution and cleaning operations, the gas pressure is set to about 0.2 to 0.3 Mpa as described above, but a gas pressure of 0.4 Mpa or more is required for the production of carbonated water. For this reason, when one gas source is shared by carbonated water generation and cleaning operations, it is necessary to change the gas delivery pressure of the gas source with a regulator attached to the cylinder. In other words, even if the dispensing head is correctly replaced, if the delivery pressure of the gas source is maintained at a high pressure of 0.4 Mpa or more, there is a risk that the dispensing head may explode during cleaning.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the gas pressure to a planned pressure even in a beer server system, even when the gas delivery pressure on the gas source side is higher than planned. It is another object of the present invention to provide an attachment for a dispense head that can be safely washed.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, in the present invention, a dispensing head that introduces a compressed gas into a cleaning container containing a cleaning liquid of a beer server through a gas port and can send the cleaning liquid to the beer server by a compressed gas pressure. Is attached to the cleaning container, the attachment part to the base of the cleaning container in the lower part, the attachment and detachment part of the dispense head in the upper part, the pressure regulating valve in the side part, one end of the upper part A primary side gas flow path and one end opened at the head attaching / detaching portion and communicating with the gas port and the pressure regulating valve are opened at the lower base mounting portion to communicate the pressure regulating valve and the inside of the cleaning container. The secondary gas flow path is formed, and the pressure regulating valve has a compressed gas pressure in the primary gas flow path with the other end opening of either the primary side or the secondary side opening at the side as a valve hole. It means that adjustably configure used. The pressure regulating valve adjusts the opening of the valve hole to be small, thereby reducing the delivery pressure (so-called primary pressure) from the gas source and introducing it into the cleaning container as a secondary pressure. . Further, the degree of pressure reduction, that is, the secondary pressure can be arbitrarily set. Therefore, if the secondary pressure is set to be 0.25 Mpa, even if the delivery pressure from the gas source is set to 0.4 Mpa for generating carbonated water, the pressure is always reduced to the set pressure. And beer and cleaning liquid can be sent out.

  The pressure regulating valve does not need to have a strict pressure regulation function as of the order of 0.01 Mpa, and it is sufficient if the primary pressure of 0.4 Mpa can be reduced to 0.2 to 0.3 Mpa on the secondary side. As the simplest configuration, a valve chamber formed around the valve hole, a valve body provided with a spring receiver at the rear end of the valve shaft whose tip is slidable in an airtight manner, and the valve body are opened. It is preferable to include a compression coil spring that biases in the valve direction and an adjustment knob that moves the valve body in the valve closing direction against the biasing force of the compression coil spring.

  Also, either one of the gas flow paths on the primary side or the secondary side is branched into a plurality, and the other end openings of the plurality of branched gas paths are arranged at equal intervals around the other end opening of the other gas flow path. By doing so, the secondary pressure can be stabilized.

  Furthermore, the valve body can be prevented from being damaged when the valve is completely closed (when the primary pressure is shut off) by providing a seating portion made of silicon rubber on the tip surface of the valve shaft.

  According to the present invention, since the pressure regulating valve is provided in the attachment of the dispense head, the cleaning liquid can be safely injected using the same gas source even when the delivery pressure on the gas source side is set to a high pressure for generating carbonated water. Can be issued.

Overall view of a cleaning system for a beer server to which the attachment of the present invention is applied Sectional drawing which shows the principal part of an attachment Same as above, enlarged sectional view showing the main part of the pressure regulating valve Schematic showing another embodiment of the pressure regulating valve

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an entire cleaning system of a beer server to which the attachment of the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, 1 is a compressed carbon dioxide gas cylinder as a gas source, and 2 is a pressure resistance containing a cleaning liquid (usually water). 3 is an attachment of the present invention attached to the cleaning container 2, 4 is a dispense head attached to the attachment 3, and 5 is a beer server to be cleaned, and is used for cleaning via the dispense head 4. Each device is connected so that the cleaning liquid delivered from the container 2 is delivered by operating the cock 5a or the like. That is, the dispensing head 4 is connected by the gas cylinder 1 and the beer dispenser 5 with the gas pipe 6 and the beer pipe 7, and such a connection mode and usage method itself are not different from the conventional server system.

  By the way, when the dispensing head 4 is connected to the carbonated water generating device before the cleaning operation of the beer server 5, the delivery pressure of the compressed gas is set higher than the cleaning pressure by the regulator R on the cylinder 1 side. If the cleaning operation is performed with the high supply pressure maintained without adjusting the supply pressure on the gas source 1 side, an excessive pressure is applied to the cleaning container 2. On the other hand, the dispensing head 5 is attached to the attachment 3 so as to withstand a certain pressure by screwing or cam coupling. However, if this excessive pressure is applied, the airtightness cannot be maintained and gas leakage from the seal portion occurs. In the worst case, the dispensing head 5 may blow off. Therefore, the present invention provides a dispense head capable of performing a cleaning operation at a normal pressure even if the delivery pressure of the gas source 1 is set for generating carbonated water.

  FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the attachment of the present invention. In this figure, 10 is an attachment of the present invention that can be attached to and detached from a base 31 of a cleaning container 30, and 20 is a dispensing head that is detachably installed on the top of the attachment 10.

  The dispensing head 20 includes a plunger 22 that opens and closes the gas port 21 by vertical movement and a spear valve (not shown) that opens and closes the liquid port 23, and is configured to open and close these simultaneously by raising and lowering the lever 24. In addition, since the same mechanism as that of the conventional dispensing head can be employed, further detailed description is omitted.

  The attachment 10 of the present invention forms an attaching / detaching part 11 to which the dispensing head 20 can be attached and detached at the upper part, and an attaching / detaching part attached to the base 31 of the cleaning container 30 by screwing or the like at the lower part. . These detachable portions 11 and 12 have a structure in which the upper and lower surfaces of large and small cylindrical portions 13 and 14 integrally formed vertically are recessed in a circular shape, and cams 15 and screws 16 are provided on the inner peripheral surface thereof to dispense. An attachment portion with the head 20 and the cleaning container 30 is configured. The detachable portions 11 and 12 are vertically divided by a partition wall 19 having an insertion hole 18 with a siphon pipe 17 communicating with the liquid port 23 of the dispense head 10 at the center.

  In the attachment 10 having such a configuration, a pressure regulating valve 40 is provided on the side of the small cylindrical portion 13. In addition, with respect to the pressure regulating valve 40, a primary side gas flow path 41 and a second gas passage 41 that open from the upper and lower attaching / detaching portions 11 and 12 to the side surface of the small cylindrical portion 13 corresponding to the pressure regulating valve 40 are provided inside the partition wall 19. A secondary gas flow path 42 is formed. Reference numeral 50 is a relief valve provided on the side of the small cylindrical portion 13, which allows the pressure in the cleaning container 30 to be released to the atmosphere via a gas escape passage 51 that opens to the lower attaching / detaching portion 12. It is.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the details of the pressure regulating valve 40 and the gas flow paths 41 and 42 are as follows: a valve hole 43 communicating with the primary gas flow path 41 on the upper attaching / detaching portion 11 side; Two gas guide holes 44a and 44b branched so as to merge with the secondary gas flow path 42 on the side of the detachable part 12, and outward from the side surface of the small cylindrical part 13 with the valve hole 43 and the gas guide hole 44 as the inside A valve chamber wall 45 projecting from the valve seat 43, a valve seat 43a in which the opening of the valve hole 43 is slightly expanded in a mountain shape, and is slidable in the valve chamber wall 45 in the axial direction relative to the valve seat 43a. Between the cylindrical valve shaft 46 that moves, the outer side of the valve chamber wall 45, and a spring receiving portion 46 a that is provided on the rear end side of the valve shaft 46 in a diameter-expanded manner and the side surface of the small cylindrical portion 13 A coiled compression spring 47 that is interposed and biases the valve shaft 46 in the valve opening direction, and accommodates these valve members. A cylindrical casing 48 having an open end, and a pressure adjusting knob that is screwed into the opening of the casing 48 to move the valve shaft 46 in the valve closing direction against the elastic force of the compression spring 47. As a component. Further, a seal portion 46 b made of an O-ring or the like is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the front end side of the valve shaft 46, and the seal portion 46 b is in close contact with the inner surface of the valve chamber wall 45 to form an airtight valve chamber. Further, a seal portion 46c such as an O-ring that is in airtight contact with the inner surface of the casing 48 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the spring receiving portion 46b. In particular, in this embodiment, the valve body 46d made of silicon rubber is embedded in the front end surface of the valve shaft 46 to ensure seating.

  According to the pressure regulating valve 40 of this configuration, by adjusting the tightening of the pressure regulating knob 49, the amount of compression of the compression spring 47 changes, and the distance between the valve body 46d and the valve seat 43a, that is, the opening degree of the valve hole 43 is changed. Can be adjusted. When the gas flow rate is constant, by tightening the pressure adjusting knob 49, the opening degree of the valve hole 43 is reduced and the pressure reducing action is performed. Therefore, if the initial pressure is set to about 0.2 Mpa, even if a high gas pressure of 0.4 Mpa or more is introduced from the gas source 1, the pressure can be reduced to a desired gas pressure by the pressure regulating valve 40. . Therefore, if the attachment of the present invention is permanently installed in the cleaning container, the operator can safely proceed with the cleaning operation without worrying about the gas source delivery pressure.

  In addition, the gas pressure required for the cleaning operation may be set to about 0.2 to 0.3 MPa, and it is not necessary to specify a numerical value strictly like a chemical plant. Therefore, the pressure regulating valve 40 according to the present invention only needs to be able to depress a gas pressure that is clearly higher than the gas pressure required for the cleaning operation, and in that sense, the pressure regulating valve 40 does not require much pressure regulation accuracy. For this reason, it is possible to adopt a pressure-regulating valve based on a relatively simple principle that the opening of the valve hole is adjusted by the distance between the valve body and the valve seat, and the gas flow path is also a conventional dispense head (attachment). Can be formed by perforating, and the manufacturing cost can be kept low.

  And this invention is not limited to the structure of the said embodiment, For example, about the structure of a valve seat or a valve body, as shown in FIG. It can change into what formed the convex valve body 62. FIG. Further, the seating object of the valve body is not limited to the primary side gas flow path, and may be a secondary side gas flow path. Further, in the above embodiment, the secondary side gas flow path is bifurcated. However, one or more than three may be used, and this is the same for the gas passage on the primary side. Further, the opening position of these gas flow paths and the position of the pressure regulating valve corresponding thereto can be easily added with the pressure regulating function based on the conventional structure as long as it is a side surface of the attachment, but it is not necessary to limit to this.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gas source 2 Cleaning container 3 * 10 Attachment 4 * 20 Dispense head 11 Upper attachment / detachment part 12 Lower attachment / detachment part 40 Pressure regulation valve 41 Primary side gas flow path 42 Secondary side gas flow path

Claims (4)

An attachment for attaching to the cleaning container a dispensing head that introduces compressed gas into a cleaning container containing a cleaning liquid of a beer server through a gas port and enables the cleaning liquid to be sent to the beer server by compressed gas pressure. The lower portion is attached to the base of the cleaning container, the upper portion is provided with a dispensing head attaching / detaching portion, and the side portion is provided with a pressure regulating valve. One end is opened at the upper head attaching / detaching portion, and the gas port A primary side gas flow path communicating with the pressure regulating valve and one end opened at the lower base mounting portion to form a secondary side gas flow path communicating the pressure regulating valve and the inside of the cleaning container; and The pressure regulating valve is configured to be able to adjust the compressed gas pressure of the primary side gas flow path with the other end opening of either the primary side or the secondary side opening at the side as a valve hole. Attachment of the dispensing head in the server cleaning container. The pressure regulating valve includes a valve chamber formed around the valve hole, a valve body provided with a spring receiver at the rear end of the valve shaft, the tip of which is slidable in an airtight manner in the valve chamber, and the valve body in the valve opening direction. The attachment of the dispensing head in the container for beer server washing | cleaning of Claim 1 provided with the compression coil spring to urge, and the adjustment knob which moves the said valve body to a valve closing direction against the urging | biasing force of the said compression coil spring. Any one of the gas flow paths on the primary side or the secondary side is branched into a plurality, and the other end openings of the plurality of branched gas flow paths are arranged at equal intervals around the other end opening of the other gas flow path. Item 3. An attachment of a dispense head in the beer server cleaning container according to Item 1 or 2. The attachment of the dispensing head in the container for beer server washing | cleaning of Claim 1, 2 or 3 in which a valve body provides the seat part which consists of silicone rubber in the front end surface of a valve shaft.

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