JP3384142B2 - Vending machine beverage cooking equipment - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention is based on a sales order,
The present invention relates to a beverage cooking device of a vending machine that mixes powdered raw material and hot water to produce regular coffee or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a beverage cooking apparatus of this type is known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-30188. The beverage cooking device is a so-called mixing ball, and includes a fixed lid, a ball body detachably attached to the fixed lid, and a stirring mechanism having a stirring blade. The fixed lid has a raw material inlet for introducing the powder raw material,
A hot water supply port for introducing hot water is formed, and a steam discharge port for discharging hot water and overflowing hot water at the time of rinsing is formed in the ball body.

When cooking a beverage, hot water is poured into the bowl body from the hot water supply port, the powder raw material is introduced from the raw material introduction port, and these are stirred by a stirring mechanism. On the other hand, when performing rinsing (auto-rinse), hot water that overflows from the steam vent is poured from the hot pouring port, and this is stirred by the stirring mechanism. In this case, the stirring blade of the stirring mechanism is located near the bottom of the ball body so that the powder raw material and the hot water can be appropriately stirred in a short time and foaming during stirring can be minimized. It is arranged.

[0004]

In such a conventional beverage cooking apparatus, when rinsing with a large amount of hot water, the stirring blade rotates at a position considerably deep with respect to the liquid surface, and at the upper part of the ball body. There was a problem that the water force of the vortex became weak and the rinse of the ball body became insufficient as it went to the upper part.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and does not hinder the preparation of beverages,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a beverage cooking device for an automatic vending machine, which is capable of rinsing the inside of the stirring container evenly and satisfactorily.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 uses a cooking liquid level that fills an agitating container up to an intermediate portion when cooking a beverage, and agitates when rinsing the agitating container. In a beverage cooking device of a vending machine that has a rinse liquid level that fills the container to the upper part, a stirring blade for cooking is arranged at a position lower than the cooking liquid level, and rinse is performed at a position higher than the cooking liquid level and lower than the rinse liquid level. A stirring blade for use is provided.

In this case, it is preferable that the stirring blade for cooking and the stirring blade for rinsing are attached to the same rotary shaft.

Further, in the invention of claim 3, when the beverage is cooked, the stirring liquid level is such that the stirring container is filled up to the middle portion, and when the stirring container is rinsed, the rinsing liquid level filling up the stirring container to the upper part. In a beverage cooking device of a vending machine in which a stirring blade is arranged in a stirring container, the stirring blade is moved to a position lower than the cooking liquid level during cooking, and is moved from the cooking liquid level during rinsing. It is characterized in that a blade moving means for moving the blade to a position higher than and lower than the rinse liquid level is provided.

[0009]

According to the beverage cooking apparatus of the first aspect, the stirring blade for cooking is arranged at a position lower than the cooking liquid level, and the stirring blade for rinse is arranged at a position higher than the cooking liquid level and lower than the rinse liquid level. By providing the stirring blade, stirring is performed by the stirring blade for cooking during cooking, and stirring is performed by the stirring blade for cooking and the stirring blade for rinse during rinsing. As a result, during rinsing, the water pressure at the upper part of the stirring container can be strengthened, and the stirring blade for cooking can be arranged at a sufficiently deep position with respect to the cooking liquid level in consideration of foaming.

According to the beverage cooking apparatus of the second aspect, the structure can be simplified by attaching the stirring blade for cooking and the stirring blade for rinsing to the same rotary shaft.

According to the beverage cooking apparatus of the third aspect, the stirring blade is moved to a position lower than the cooking liquid level during cooking,
In addition, since the blade moving means for moving to a position higher than the cooking liquid level and lower than the rinse liquid level at the time of rinsing has a simple structure, the upper part of the stirring container at the time of rinsing is similar to that of claim 1. Can strengthen the water pressure. In addition, at the time of rinsing, the rotating stirring blade may be moved up and down across the cooking liquid level.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A beverage cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This beverage cooking device cooks regular coffee and the like, and is mainly installed in a cup type vending machine. FIG. 1 is a cut side view of the beverage cooking device, and FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof. As shown in both figures, the beverage cooking device 1 is composed of a mixing ball 2 and a chute raising / lowering mechanism 3 arranged above the mixing ball 2. The mixing ball 2 includes a ball body 4 and a lid body 5 to which the ball body 4 is attached, and the lid body 5 supports the mixing ball 2 in the vending machine. The lid body 5 is composed of a lid body 6 and a base body 7 provided on the upper side of the lid body 6. After all, the mixing ball 2 has a three-part structure of the ball body 4, the lid body 6 and the base body 7. (See FIG. 3).

At the center of the base body 7, a stirring motor 8 is provided.
, And an exhaust elbow 9 connected to a fan (not shown) and a hot water supply elbow 10 connected to a hot water tank (not shown) are attached to the edges. Further, the chute raising / lowering mechanism 3 is provided with a raw material chute 11 for supplying a powdered raw material which is regular coffee ground beans into the mixing ball 2.

In response to a sales instruction, a predetermined amount of powder raw material is supplied to the ball body 4 from a raw material container (not shown) via the raw material chute 11, and at the same time, a predetermined amount of hot water is supplied from the hot water tank via the hot water supply elbow 10. Is supplied to stir the powder raw material and the hot water. Further, steam generated in the ball body 4 at that time is exhausted to the outside of the ball body 4 by the fan through the exhaust elbow 9. When the powder raw material and the hot water are stirred for a predetermined time in this way, the stirring is stopped, and regular coffee is supplied to the cup from the discharge port 12 of the ball body 4 through a filter (not shown). On the other hand, when the ball body 4 is automatically rinsed, the hot water is filled to the position where the lower surface of the lid body 6 is immersed (see FIG. 4), and the hot water is stirred.

The ball body 4 comprises a transparent resin container 13 and a stirring mechanism 14 housed in the resin container 13.
It is shaped like a modified funnel so that stirring can be performed efficiently. The upper end of the resin container 13 is wide open and is detachably attached so as to fit into the lid 5. The lower portion of the ball body 4 is formed by another member having the discharge port 12, whereby the axial end of the vertical shaft 22 described later is covered and the mixed liquid of the powder raw material and the hot water is guided to the filter side.

The stirring mechanism 14 has a vertical shaft (rotating shaft) 22 whose upper end is connected to the stirring motor 8 via a joint 21,
It is composed of a rinse stirring blade 23, a cooking stirring blade 24, and a valve blade 25, which are attached to the vertical shaft 22, respectively. The stirring blade 24 for cooking is arranged at a position where it is submerged in the mixed liquid, and the valve blade 25 is arranged at the lowermost portion of the vertical shaft 22. Stirring blade 24 and valve blade 25 for cooking
Has a function of a valve that prevents the mixed liquid from flowing down with rotation, and also has a function of mixing (cooking) the powder raw material and hot water. Further, the rinsing stirring blade 23 is arranged at a position higher than the liquid level of the mixed liquid and always idles, but when the resin container 13 is filled with rinsing hot water,
It is submerged in a rinse water and the inner surface of the resin container 13 is cleaned as it rotates.

The lid body 6 has a raw material inlet 31 facing the raw material chute 11 and a hot water supply port 3 connected to the hot water supply elbow 10.
6 (see FIG. 2) and the steam vent 3 connected to the exhaust elbow 9.
2 are formed. Further, on the outer peripheral surface of the lid body 6,
A hot water flow-down groove 33 is formed to connect to the hot water supply port 36,
An annular molten metal passage 34 is formed between the molten metal descent groove 33 and the inner peripheral surface of the upper end portion of the resin container 13. A large number of small holes 34a are formed in the hot water passage 34 in the circumferential direction.
The hot water flows down the inner peripheral surface of the resin container 13 and flows down. Further, a hot water outlet 35 connected to the hot water supply port 36 is formed on the peripheral surface of the steam outlet 32, and hot water flows down from this portion so as to wash the peripheral surface of the steam outlet 32. In addition, the lower part of the steam outlet 32 is extended downward, and the steam flow is greatly bent at this portion.
It is possible to prevent the powder raw material from being sucked into the steam vent 32 together with steam.

On the other hand, the raw material chute 11 is provided on the base body 7.
The second steam outlet 41 is formed so as to face the lower end portion of the second steam outlet 41, and the second steam outlet 41 is provided via a sub exhaust passage 42 provided so as to bypass the joint 21 of the stirring motor 8.
It communicates with the exhaust elbow 9 (see FIG. 2). The second steam vent 41 is opened close to the raw material chute 11 and sucks (exhausts) air (steam) in the lower space of the raw material chute 11 which has moved upward as described later. In this case, the back plate 11a of the raw material chute 11 is attached to the second steam vent 41.
The second steam outlet 41 is closed when the raw material chute 11 is moved downward, and is opened when the raw material chute 11 is moved upward. More specifically, at the time of the rinse shown in FIG. 3, the liquid level of the hot water is the steam vent 3
2 and the raw material introduction port 31 are reached, it is impossible to remove steam from the raw material introduction port 31 side in the main exhaust passage 43 constituted by the exhaust elbow 9. Therefore, the second steam vent 4
With this auxiliary exhaust passage 42 connected to 1, the raw material inlet 31
The steam can be removed from the side.

On the other hand, the exhaust elbow 9 is bent at an angle smaller than 90 ° so that the fan side is directed obliquely downward, and the steam outlet 32 side is formed with a small diameter and the fan side is formed with a large diameter. ing. Therefore, the water droplets mixed with the powder raw material that are generated in the obliquely downward portion of the exhaust elbow 9 flow down to the fan side. Further, the water droplets generated in the curved portion also flow down to the boundary between the large diameter portion and the small diameter portion, and then flow down to the fan side along the boundary line (obliquely directed downward). As a result, water droplets mixed with the powder material generated on the inner surface of the exhaust elbow 9 can be made to flow to the fan side as much as possible without being retained in this portion.

Next, the chute lifting mechanism 3 will be described with reference to the side view of FIG. 5 and the front view of FIG. The chute raising / lowering mechanism 3 moves the raw material chute 11 upward so as to come off the raw material introducing port 31 at the time of rinsing, and prevents the tip of the raw material chute 11 from getting wet with the splashed water at the time of rinsing. The chute lifting mechanism 3
Holder 51 for holding raw material chute 11 and holder 51
Supporting rod 52, a crank mechanism 53 that moves the supporting rod 52 up and down, a gear motor 54 that operates the crank mechanism 53, and a frame 5 that supports the supporting rod 52, the crank mechanism 53, and the gear motor 54.
It is composed of 5 and 5.

The holder 51 is formed in a U-shaped cross section, and holds the raw material chute 11 so as to be held. An attachment fitting 56 for attaching the holder 51 to the support rod 52 is provided at the base of the holder 51, and a roller 57 is provided so as to project below the attachment fitting 56. The roller 57 is in rolling contact with the guide groove 55a of the frame 55, and the holder 51 moves up and down along the guide groove 55a as the support rod 52 moves up and down. As a result, the raw material chute 11 held by the holder 51 moves up and down between the lower position where the lower end of the raw material chute 11 faces the raw material inlet 31 and the upper position where the lower end of the raw material chute 11 moves upward from the raw material inlet 31.

The crank mechanism 53 has a crank disk 58 directly connected to the gear motor 54, a crank arm 59 engaged with the crank disk 58, and a crank arm 59 at an intermediate portion.
And a rotating arm 60 rotatably attached. The rotating arm 60 has one end rotatably attached to the support shaft 61, the support rod 52 fixed to the other end, and the crank arm 59 attached to the middle portion of the support arm 61. It is rotated vertically around the center. That is, the rotating arm 60 moves the support rod 52 up and down about the support shaft 61.

The lower end of the crank arm 59 is engaged with the pin 62 of the crank disk 58 through a long hole 59a formed in the crank arm 59. When the crank disk 58 starts rotating from the state shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 1, the pin 62 initially moves in the long hole 59a, but when it reaches the vicinity of the top dead center, the pin 62 moves to the upper end of the long hole 59a. Then, the crank arm 59 is pushed up (see FIG. 4). On the other hand, when the pin 62 passes through the top dead center, the crank arm 5
9 is moved down to the position where it abuts against the stopper 63 due to the weight of the rotating arm 60 side. After that, the crank disk 58 is
The pin 62 rotates until it reaches the bottom dead center.

The rotation of the crank disk 58 is controlled by a micro switch 64 provided adjacent to the crank disk 58. The switch ends of the micro switch 64 are respectively depressed into two cam grooves 58a, 58a formed at two locations on the outer peripheral surface of the crank disk 58 to turn the micro switch 64 on and off. 2 cam grooves 5
8a and 58a are arranged with their phases shifted by 180 degrees from each other, and when the crank disk 58 starts rotating and the pin 62 reaches the top dead center position from the state shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. The switch end falls into one of the cam grooves 58a, and the micro switch 64 is turned on (or off),
The gear motor 54 stops (state of FIG. 4). Next, FIG.
From this state, the crank disk 58 starts to rotate again, and when the pin 62 reaches the bottom dead center position, the switch end falls into the other cam groove 58a and the gear motor 54 stops (state in FIG. 1). That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the state in which the pin 62 reaches the top dead center position and stops corresponds to the upper moving position of the raw material chute 11, and the state in which the pin 62 reaches the bottom dead center position and stops is the raw material. It corresponds to the lower position of the chute 11.

The selling operation (cooking operation) will be described with reference to FIG. 1, and the rinsing operation will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, in response to a sales instruction, the stirring motor 8 first starts to drive, and at the same time, the hot water and the powder raw material are introduced into the ball body 4, and the steam exhaust operation is performed in tandem with these. Is started. Hot water is supplied to wash the inner surface of the ball body 4 from a hot water passage 34 formed in an annular shape, and is also supplied to wash the steam vent 32 from the hot water outlet 35. On the other hand, the powder raw material is dropped from the raw material chute 11 in the lower position via the raw material introduction port 31. Further, the steam is exhausted by sucking the outside air from the raw material inlet 31 and exhausting it from the steam outlet 32. Then, when a predetermined amount of hot water and powdered raw material are supplied and the mixture of these liquids is stirred by the cooking stirring blade 24 and the valve blade 25 for a predetermined time, the stirring motor 8
Is stopped, and the mixed liquid automatically flows down from the discharge port 12.
In this way, the selling operation is repeated, but the selling operation is performed a predetermined number of times, or the rinsing inside the ball body 4 is periodically performed by the switch operation of the operator.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the apparatus shifts to the rinse mode, the stirring motor 8 starts to drive, and at the same time, the hot water is supplied into the ball body 4 and the steam exhaust operation is started. Further, the raw material chute 11 is moved to the upper moving position prior to the supply of hot water. In this case, the hot water is the raw material inlet 3
1 and the water level (liquid level) reaching the steam vent 32 are filled in the ball body 4, and the shallow part of the hot water is rinsed with the stirring blade 23, and the deep part is rinsed with the cooking blade 24 and the valve blade 25. Stirring is performed. On the other hand, as for steam, while the steam outlet 32 is filled (closed) with hot water, the second steam outlet 4 is moved along with the upward movement of the raw material chute 11.
1 is opened, so that the steam in the space below the raw material chute 11, that is, the raw material inlet 31 does not rise toward the raw material chute 11, the second steam vent 41 is formed.
Exhausted from.

The amount of hot water required for rinsing is defined by the opening time of the solenoid valve 15 provided on the outlet side of the hot water tank shown in FIG. In this case, if the opening time of the solenoid valve 15 is uniformly set (stored in the control unit 16) at the factory stage, the amount of hot water may be insufficient or the hot water may overflow from the ball body 4 due to variations in the solenoid valve 15. Therefore, the control unit 1
The opening time (amount of hot water) of the solenoid valve 15 in 6 is set on the basis of the amount of hot water during cooking. That is, since the amount of hot water for cooking influences the taste of the beverage sold, fine adjustment is performed for each vending machine when installed.
For this reason, the variation in the amount of hot water used for cooking as the product of the solenoid valve 15 is sufficiently taken into consideration, and the hot water for rinsing based on this data is quantitatively supplied with high accuracy.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in addition to the stirring blade 24 for cooking in the ball body 4, the stirring blade 2 for rinsing is used.
Since 3 is provided, the upper part of the hot water filled for rinsing can be stirred with a strong water force, and the inside of the ball body 4 can be
It is possible to clean evenly the lower surface of the lid body 6.
Further, the attachment position of the stirring blade 24 for cooking does not need to consider rinsing, and can be set in consideration of prevention of foaming and good stirring. Furthermore, the stirring blade for rinsing 2
Since 3 is located above the liquid level of the mixed solution during cooking,
It will not spin and will not affect cooking.

Since the rinse stirring blade 23 is attached to the vertical shaft 22 of the cooking stirring blade 24 in the above-described embodiment, a desired rinse effect can be obtained only by adding the rinse stirring blade 23. be able to. But,
On the other hand, by moving the stirring blades 24 for cooking upward during rinsing, the stirring blades 24 for cooking can also serve as the stirring blades 23 for rinsing. For example, when a spiral groove is formed on the surface of the vertical shaft 22 between the cooking position and the rinse position, the stirring blade 24 for cooking is engaged with this, and the vertical shaft 22 is normally rotated, the spiral groove is formed. By the action, the stirring blade for cooking 24 is held at the cooking position, and when it is rotated in the reverse direction, the stirring blade for cooking 24 is raised by the action of the spiral groove and held at the rinse position.

In this embodiment, the stirring blade for cooking and the stirring blade for rinsing are attached to the same rotating shaft and are operated by the same stirring motor. However, the stirring blade for rinsing is a dedicated rotating shaft. Alternatively, the rotary shaft and the agitating motor may be dedicated to rotate the agitating blade for rinsing.

[0032]

As described above, according to the beverage cooking apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the stirring blade for cooking, the stirring blade for rinsing is provided at a position higher than the liquid level for cooking and lower than the liquid level for rinse. Therefore, during rinsing, the water pressure on the upper part of the stirring container can be strengthened, and the inside of the stirring container can be washed satisfactorily without causing any trouble in cooking the beverage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cut side view of a beverage cooking device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the beverage cooking device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cut side view showing a disassembled state of the mixing ball of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cutting side view showing a rinsing operation of the beverage cooking apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the chute lifting mechanism of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the chute raising / lowering mechanism of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Beverage cooking equipment 2 mixing balls 4 ball body 14 Stirring mechanism 22 Vertical axis 23 Rinse stirring blades 24 Stirring blade for cooking

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. Vending machine beverage cooking wherein a cooking liquid level that fills an agitating container to an intermediate portion when cooking a beverage, and a rinse liquid level that fills the agitating container to an upper portion when rinsing the stirring container In the apparatus, the stirring blade for cooking is arranged at a position lower than the cooking liquid level, and the stirring blade for rinse is arranged at a position higher than the cooking liquid level and lower than the rinse liquid level. Beverage cooking equipment for vending machines. 2. The beverage cooking apparatus for a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the stirring blade for cooking and the stirring blade for rinsing are attached to the same rotary shaft. 3. When the beverage is cooked, the stirring container is set to a cooking liquid level that fills the middle portion, and when the stirring container is rinsed, the stirring liquid is filled to the upper portion, and the inside of the stirring container is set. In a beverage cooking device of a vending machine having an agitating blade disposed in, the agitating blade is moved to a position lower than the cooking liquid level during cooking, and higher than the cooking liquid level during rinsing. A beverage cooking device for a vending machine, comprising a blade moving means for moving to a position lower than the rinse liquid level.