JP2018029787A - Soft iced drink production device and liquid feeding mechanism used for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a soft iced drink production device which quickly performs liquid feeding of a drinking raw material to a cup, easily controls the liquid feeding and has no risk of damaging a drinking raw material storage tank, and a liquid feeding mechanism used for the same.SOLUTION: A soft iced drink production device includes: a cup holder 17 for placing a cup 15 with ice blocks included; liquid feeding mechanism (45, 47, 49, 51a to 51d, 53a to 53d, 55a to 55d, 57a to 57d) for feeding a drinking raw material into the cup 15; a cap 43 for closing an opening of the cup 15; a rotary shaft 21 which passes through the cap 43 and having a rotary blade 23 below the cap 43; and a rotation mechanism for rotating the rotary shaft 21. The liquid feeding mechanism includes; an air pump 45; a regulator 49 for adjusting pressure from the air pump; bottles 51a to 51d; liquid feeding pipes 53a to 53d for feeding a drinking raw material in the bottles into the cup 15; and electromagnetic valves 55a to 55d for opening and closing the flow channels of the liquid feeding pipes.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus capable of automatically making a soft ice drink simply by placing a beverage container containing ice blocks on a mounting table, and a liquid feeding mechanism used therefor.

  Conventionally, beverages such as water, liqueurs, syrups and concentrated juices and solid beverages such as ice, vegetables and fruits are placed in a cup, placed on a cup holder, and then rotated with a cap on. A soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus is known that can produce soft ice drinks that are mixed with a beverage liquid by mixing and crushing with a cutting blade to produce a soft texture by crushing ice and solids ( For example, Patent Document 1). In this type of soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus, since a beverage is manufactured in a cup without using a special container, there is an advantage that the cup can be removed from the cup holder after manufacturing and used for drinking as it is.

  By the way, in the said soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus, it is necessary to supply drinking raw materials, such as a liqueur and concentrated juice, to the cup mounted on the cup holder. As a method for this purpose, a stock solution tank for storing drinkable ingredients is installed at a position higher than the cup, and the drinkable ingredients are allowed to flow naturally from the stock solution tank. In addition, when a beer server is provided, a carbon dioxide gas cylinder for the beer server is used, and the raw material tank is pressurized by the pressure from the carbon dioxide gas cylinder to supply a drinking raw material into the cup. .

JP 2003-240396 A

However, the conventional soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus has the following problems when supplying drinking ingredients.
In the case of supplying the raw material for drinking from the stock solution tank, the position of the stock solution tank must be higher than the position of the cup, which imposes design restrictions. In addition, it is not only difficult to control the flow rate under natural flow, but it takes time to provide a soft iced drink because a sufficient flow rate cannot be obtained.
On the other hand, when using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder for a beer server for feeding drinkable ingredients in a soft ice drink production device, the gas pressure for supplying beer is set to be considerably higher than the gas pressure for feeding drinkable ingredients. This complicates the gas pressure control mechanism. In addition, if a high gas pressure for a beer server is applied to the stock solution tank by mistake, the stock solution tank may be damaged.

  The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is easy to control the feeding of drinking ingredients to the cup and is easy to control, and there is no risk of damage to the drinking ingredient storage tank. It is an object to be solved to provide a device and a liquid feeding mechanism used therefor.

The soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of the present invention comprises a mounting table for placing a beverage container containing ice blocks, a liquid feeding mechanism for feeding a drinking raw material by a predetermined amount into the beverage container placed on the mounting table, Soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus comprising a cap capable of closing an opening of a beverage container, a rotating shaft that passes through the cap and has a rotary blade below the cap, and a rotating mechanism for rotating the rotating shaft Because
The liquid feeding mechanism includes an air pump, a regulator that adjusts the pressure of air supplied from the air pump to a predetermined pressure, a stock solution tank that stores the potable material connected to the regulator, and the stock solution tank in the stock solution tank. It is characterized by comprising a liquid feeding pipe for sending drinking ingredients into the beverage container, and a control valve for opening and closing the flow path of the liquid feeding pipe.

  When a soft ice drink is to be manufactured by the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, first, a beverage container containing ice blocks is placed on a mounting table. And by driving an air pump, the air made into the predetermined pressure by the regulator is sent in a stock solution tank. Then, by opening the control valve for a certain period of time, the drinking raw material in the stock solution tank flows through the liquid feed pipe at a flow rate corresponding to a predetermined air pressure, and is sent into the beverage container by a predetermined amount. After that, the opening of the beverage container is closed with a cap, and the rotating mechanism is driven to rotate with the rotation of the rotation shaft, and the ice block in the beverage container is crushed into a sherbet shape and mixed with the drinking ingredients. It becomes a soft ice drink. Then, the rotation mechanism is stopped, the cap is opened, and the beverage container containing the soft ice drink is taken out.

  In the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, the air supplied from the air pump is supplied into the stock solution tank, so that the pressure in the stock solution tank is increased, and the drinking raw material in the stock solution tank is fed into the beverage container via the feed pipe. To be supplied. The primary air pressure supplied from the air pump is adjusted by the regulator so as to be a predetermined secondary air pressure, and the pressure in the beverage container is adjusted via the control valve. For this reason, it is easier to control the flow velocity than when supplying by natural fall. Moreover, since sufficient flow rate can be ensured, the time until soft ice drink is provided can be shortened.

  In addition, when using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder for a beer server in combination with a liquid feed for drinking ingredients in a soft ice drink production device, the gas pressure is adjusted to a higher pressure for the beer server, or a drinking ingredient for soft ice drink production. There is no need to use a low pressure for supply. For this reason, the control of the gas pressure is simplified, and the control mechanism can be simplified. In addition, since a high gas pressure is not used, a high pressure is not applied to the drinking raw material tank due to an erroneous operation or the like, and the drinking raw material tank is not damaged.

  In the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, it is preferable that a control unit that can arbitrarily set the opening / closing time of the control valve is provided. If it is this, the quantity of the drinking raw material supplied to a drink container can be set to a desired quantity. In this case, it is desirable that the opening / closing time of the control valve is controlled according to the set pressure of the regulator. In this case, the flow rate of the potable ingredient supplied to the beverage container can be increased or decreased by increasing or decreasing the set pressure of the regulator. For this reason, it is possible to continuously supply the same amount of drinking ingredients into the beverage container simply by lengthening or shortening the opening / closing time of the control valve according to the set pressure of the regulator. For this reason, the control mechanism of the supply of drinking ingredients can be simplified.

  Moreover, it is preferable that at least one of the rotation time, the rotation speed, and the rotation position of the rotary blade can be changed. This makes it possible to appropriately control the texture and taste of the soft ice drink.

Further, it is also preferable that one end of the liquid feeding pipe on the side of the stock solution tank is disposed at the lowermost end of the stock solution tank and a notch is provided. If this is the case, a gap is formed between the one end of the liquid feeding pipe on the side of the raw liquid tank and the raw liquid tank, so that there is no risk of poor supply of drinking ingredients due to blockage of the liquid feeding pipe.

It is a perspective view of the drink manufacturing part 1 in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1. FIG. It is a perspective view of the stock solution supply part 50 in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing of the drink manufacturing part 1 in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1. FIG. It is a perspective view of the rubber stopper 59 with a clip. It is a perspective view of the front-end | tip part of the suction pipe 59e. It is a front view of the stock solution supply part 50 in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1. FIG. It is a piping system diagram for supplying the drinking raw material in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1. It is sectional drawing in the state by which the cup 15 was obstruct | occluded with the cap 43 in the drink manufacturing part 1 in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1. FIG.

Hereinafter, the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus which actualized this invention is explained in full detail, referring drawings.
Example 1
The soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1 is installed in a pub or the like, and is intended to provide a soft ice drink containing a favorite liqueur according to an order. The ice block and liqueur contained in the cup 15 are crushed and mixed. Thus, the drink manufacturing unit 1 (see FIG. 1) to be a soft ice drink and the stock solution supply unit 50 (see FIG. 2) for supplying liqueur to the drink manufacturing unit 1 are provided.

  First, the structure of the drink manufacturing part 1 shown in FIG. 1 is demonstrated. The drink manufacturing unit 1 includes a housing 3 having a vertically long and substantially rectangular parallelepiped container shape, and an operation panel 5 is attached to the front surface of the housing 3. The operation panel 5 is provided with a start switch 7 and product selection switches 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d for selecting the type of soft iced drink. An opening 13 to which the opening door 11 is attached is provided below the operation panel 5, and a cup holder 17 for installing the cup 15 at a predetermined position is provided at the lower end of the opening 13. The cup holder 17 is a mounting table. A cup sensor 16 for detecting the cup 15 is provided on the side wall of the opening 13.

As shown in FIG. 3, the motor 19 is fixed to the mounting base 25 at the upper part in the housing 3, and the rotary blade 23 is attached to the lower end of the rotating shaft 21 of the motor 19. The mounting base 25 is slidably inserted into the fixed shaft 27 and screwed into the rotating shaft 29, and the mounting base 25 is moved up and down together with the motor 19 by the rotation of the rotating shaft 29. The rotating shaft 29 can be rotated by a motor 31 via a rotating belt 33. An encoder 30 is coaxially attached to the upper end of the rotary shaft 29, and the encoder 30 sends a signal related to the direction of rotation and the number of revolutions to the control circuit 4, thereby grasping the position of the mounting base 25. Is possible. The rotation time, rotation speed, and rotation position of the rotary blade 23 can be changed by the control circuit 4.
An air pump 45 is installed below the motor 31.

  A bottomless outer cylinder 37 is provided below the mounting base 25 so as to protrude downward, and bearings 35 a and 35 b of the rotary shaft 21 are inserted into the upper and lower ends of the outer cylinder 37. . A coil spring 39 is externally inserted on the outer side of the outer cylinder 37 so as to protrude below the outer cylinder 37. A substantially cylindrical protective cover 41 is fitted to the tip portion of the coil spring 39 so as to protrude below the coil spring 39. The lower half of the protective cover 41 is a detachable and colorless protective cylinder 41a. In addition, a rubber cap 43 for covering the cup 15 is fitted inside the protective cover 41, and the center of the cap 43 is slidably inserted into the rotary shaft 21. The rotary blade 23 protrudes downward.

Next, the configuration of the stock solution supply unit 50 shown in FIG. 2 will be described. In the stock solution supply unit 50, square-pillar container-shaped bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d made of PET resin are inclined obliquely with the openings facing up in the bottle receivers 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d, and one side down In other words, the bottle receivers 52a, 52b, 52c, and 52d are placed so that the bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, and 51d have a V-shaped cross section. The upper ends of the bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d are covered with a rubber stopper 59 with a clip shown in FIG. The rubber stopper with clip 59 includes a rubber lid portion 59a and a clip portion 59b. The clip portion 59b grips the mouth of the bottle by a biasing force of a coil spring (not shown). It is prevented from coming off by internal pressure. Further, a tubular air supply port 59c and a liquid supply port 59d are inserted into the lid portion 59a, and a rubber suction pipe 59e reaching the bottom of the bottle is connected to the liquid supply port 59d. As shown in FIG. 5, a rectangular column tube 59f having four notches 59g is fitted to the tip of the suction tube 59e. For this reason, a gap is formed by the notch 59g between the rectangular column tube 59f and the bottom of the bottle, and the drinking raw material is sucked up from this gap, so there is no possibility of supply failure due to blockage. Further, due to the dead weight of the square column tube 59f, the tip of the suction tube 59e can be surely positioned at the bottom of the bottle, and liquid residue can be prevented.
Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a regulator 49 for adjusting the pressure in the bottle is provided at the lowermost end of the stock solution supply unit 50.

  Next, the piping system for supplying the drinking raw material in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 7, the air pump 45 in the drink manufacturing unit 1 (see FIG. 1) is connected to the primary pressure side of the regulator 49 in the stock solution supply unit 50 (see FIG. 2) via the air supply pipe 47. The secondary pressure side is connected so that compressed air is supplied to the space above the bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d storing various liqueurs. Liquid feeding pipes 53a, 53b, 53c, and 53d are attached to the lower ends of the bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, and 51d, and the opening portion 13 (via the electromagnetic valves 55a, 55b, 55c, and 55d in the drink manufacturing unit 1). It is connected to liquid feeding nozzles 57a, 57b, 57c and 57d attached above (see FIG. 1). The opening / closing time of the solenoid valves 55a, 55b, 55c, 55d is controlled by the control circuit 4 (see FIG. 3) so as to be shorter as the set pressure of the regulator 49 becomes higher. Is supplied to the cup 15.

<How to use>
The usage method of the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1 comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated.
The operator takes out the bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, and 51d shown in FIG. 2, puts four types of liqueurs in advance, and then places the tip of the suction pipe 59e of the rubber stopper 59 with a clip shown in FIG. After inserting into the bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d, the clip part 59b is spread by hand, the rubber stopper part 59a is fitted into the mouth of the bottle, and then the hand is released. Then, the bottles 51a, 51b, 51c, 51d containing four types of liqueurs are placed on the bottle receivers 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d shown in FIG.

  Then, the open / close door 11 shown in FIG. 1 is opened by hand, and after placing the cup 15 containing ice blocks on the cup holder 17, the open door 11 is closed. As a result, the cup sensor 16 detects the cup 15 and sends a cup detection signal to the control circuit 4 so that the air pump 45 shown in FIG. 7 operates for a certain period of time, and the pressure in the bottles 51a to 51d becomes a predetermined pressure by the regulator 49. . Then, the operator selects and presses the type of liqueur according to the order from the product selection switches 9a, 9b, 9c and 9d shown in FIG. 1, and then presses the start switch 7 (hereinafter, the product selection switch 9a is pressed). Suppose it was pressed). Thereby, the electromagnetic valve 55a shown in FIG. 7 opens. Here, since the pressure in the bottle 51a is constantly maintained by the action of the air pump 45 and the regulator 49, the liqueur in the bottle 51a connected to the electromagnetic valve 55a passes through the liquid feeding pipe 53a. The liquid is discharged from the liquid feeding nozzle 57a toward the cup 15 at a constant flow rate. Then, after the electromagnetic valve 55a is opened for a predetermined time, a valve stop signal is sent from the control circuit 4, the electromagnetic valve 55a is closed, and liquid feeding of liqueur is stopped.

  Then, the motor 31 shown in FIG. 3 is driven, the rotating shaft 29 rotates via the rotating belt 33, and the mounting base 25 screwed to the rotating shaft 29 is lowered. As a result, the motor 19 fixed to the mounting base 25 is lowered, and the rotary blade 23 attached to the tip of the rotary shaft 21 of the motor 19 and the rubber cap 43 inserted through the rotary shaft 21 are lowered. . Then, the lower end of the cap 43 is brought into close contact with the upper end of the cup 15, the opening of the cup 15 is closed, and the rotating shaft 21 rotates and descends while sliding the center of the cap 43, and the bottom of the cup 15. Stop shortly before you hit. Thus, the ice block in the cup 15 is crushed and becomes fine, and the liqueur and the crushed ice are mixed to form a soft ice drink. Then, when the rotation of the motor 19 is stopped, the rotation of the rotary shaft 21 and the rotary blade 23 is stopped, and when the motor 31 rotates in the reverse direction to the above, the mounting base 25 screwed to the rotary shaft 29 is raised. To do. As a result, the motor 19 fixed to the mounting base 25 is raised, and the rotary blade 23 attached to the tip of the rotary shaft 21 of the motor 19 and the rubber cap 43 inserted through the rotary shaft 21 are pulled up. After that, it stops at a predetermined position. These controls are performed by an encoder 30 that counts the rotation direction and the number of rotations of the motor 31 and a control circuit 4 that controls the motor 31 by a signal from the encoder 30.

  Finally, the operator opens the opening / closing door 11 and takes out the cup 15 containing the soft ice drink to complete the operation.

  As mentioned above, in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus of Example 1, since the pressure is controlled using the air pump 45 and the regulator 49 as a pressure source, the flow rate can be controlled more easily than when supplying by natural fall. is there. In addition, since a sufficient flow rate can be secured, the time until the soft ice drink is provided can be shortened. Furthermore, the air pump 45 is driven only when the cup 15 is placed on the cup holder 17 and is not always operated, so that power consumption can be reduced.

  In addition, compared with the case where the carbon dioxide gas cylinder for beer supply is shared with the feeding of the drinkable raw material of the soft ice drink production device, the gas pressure is adjusted to a higher pressure for beer supply, or the drinkable raw material for soft ice drink production It is not necessary to use a low pressure for supply, the gas pressure can be easily controlled, and the control mechanism can be simplified. Furthermore, since a high gas pressure is not used, there is no possibility of damaging the potable material tank.

Further, the opening / closing time of the electromagnetic valves 55a, 55b, 55c, and 55d can be continuously supplied to the beverage container by the same amount only by lengthening or shortening the opening / closing time according to the set pressure of the regulator 49. . For this reason, the control mechanism of the supply of drinking ingredients can be simplified.
Moreover, since the rotation time, rotation speed, and rotation position of the rotary blade 23 can be changed by the control circuit 4, the texture and taste of the soft ice drink can be appropriately controlled.

(Modification of Example 1)
In the first embodiment, the drink production unit 1 (see FIG. 1) and the stock solution supply unit 50 (see FIG. 2) are separated, but they may be integrated into a single housing. Thereby, a soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus can be made further compact.

  The present invention is not limited to the description of the embodiment of the invention. Various modifications may be included in the present invention as long as those skilled in the art can easily conceive without departing from the description of the scope of claims.

1,50 ... Soft ice drink production equipment (1 ... Drink production department, 50 ... Stock solution supply department)
15 ... Cup (beverage container)
17 ... Cup holder (mounting table)
45, 47, 49, 51a-51d, 53a-53d, 55a-55d, 57a-57d ... liquid feeding mechanism (45 ... air pump, 47 ... air supply pipe, 49 ... regulator, 51a-51d ... bottle (stock solution tank), 53a-53d ... liquid feeding pipe, 55a-55d ... solenoid valve (control valve), 57a-57d ... liquid feeding nozzle)
4. Control circuit (control unit)
43 ... Cap 23 ... Rotating blade 21 ... Rotating shaft 19 ... Motor (rotating mechanism)

Claims (6)

A mounting table for placing a beverage container containing ice blocks, a liquid feeding mechanism for sending a predetermined amount of a drinking raw material into the beverage container mounted on the mounting table, and an opening of the beverage container can be closed A soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus comprising a cap, a rotating shaft that passes through the cap and has a rotary blade below the cap, and a rotating mechanism for rotating the rotating shaft,
The liquid feeding mechanism includes an air pump, a regulator that adjusts the pressure of air supplied from the air pump to a predetermined pressure, a stock solution tank that stores the potable material connected to the regulator, and the stock solution tank in the stock solution tank. An apparatus for producing a soft ice drink, comprising: a liquid feeding pipe for sending drinking ingredients into the beverage container; and a control valve for opening and closing a flow path of the liquid feeding pipe.   The soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that can arbitrarily set an opening / closing time of the control valve.   The soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls an opening / closing time of the control valve according to a set pressure of the regulator.   The soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of a rotation time, a rotation speed, and a rotation position of the rotary blade is changeable.   The soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein one end of the liquid supply pipe on the side of the stock solution tank is disposed at a lowermost end of the stock solution tank, and is provided with a notch. . A liquid feeding mechanism used in the soft ice drink manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An air pump, a regulator that adjusts the pressure of air supplied from the air pump to a predetermined pressure, a stock solution tank that stores the potable material connected to the regulator, and the potable material in the stock solution tank that is used as the beverage container A liquid feed mechanism comprising: a liquid feed pipe for feeding into the inside; and a control valve for opening and closing a flow path of the liquid feed pipe.

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