JP3681035B2 - Tea machine - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a tea dispenser of a type that involves tea leaf replacement.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, the following are known as a tea dispenser using tea leaves. A tea leaf feeder is provided at the pouring position facing the hot water outlet so that a tea strainer for inserting tea leaves can be driven in reverse, and above this tea strainer, tea leaves can be stored and tea leaves can be supplied quantitatively. A tea can is provided by discharging a certain amount of hot water from the hot water outlet toward the tea strainer containing the tea leaves, and the tea strainer is inverted when the pouring is performed a predetermined number of times. Dispensing is resumed when the tea leaves are discarded and new tea leaves are placed in the tea strainer. Also, if the steam that rises when tea is poured into the canister causes tea leaves to damp, a steam venting fan is placed near the pouring position, and the rising steam is drawn to e.g. the ceiling surface of the main unit. It is trying to discharge outside.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
On the other hand, the tea leaf exchange is performed by opening the shutter provided in the tea leaf supply unit and dropping the tea leaf toward the tea strainer. At that time, there is a possibility that the fine powder of the tea leaf floats. Then, due to the function of the above-mentioned steam venting fan, the fine powder of tea leaves is drawn together with the air near the pouring position, and there is a possibility that it will enter the machine room equipped with the drive mechanism before being discharged to the outside. .
The present invention has been completed based on the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to prevent the fine powder of tea leaves from entering the drive mechanism portion and the like.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
As means for achieving the above object, the invention of claim 1 is characterized in that a hot water supply mechanism that pours tea by discharging hot water toward a tea strainer in which tea leaves are accommodated, and a tea cup of tea strainer are discarded. A tea leaf replacement mechanism that supplies new tea leaves from the tea leaf supply section, and after drawing the steam that has risen in the vicinity of the pouring position, it passes through the equipment position of the drive mechanism such as the tea leaf replacement mechanism in the machine room. In the tea dispenser provided with the steam venting fan to be discharged, fan driving control means is provided for stopping the driving of the steam venting fan when the tea leaf is supplied from the tea leaf supply unit to the tea strainer. It has the characteristics in the configuration.
[0005]
[Action and effect of the invention]
<Invention of Claim 1>
The steam venting fan is driven with the operation of the tea dispenser, but the steam venting fan is stopped when the tea leaves are replaced. For this reason, even if the fine powder of tea leaves floats in the vicinity of the pouring position with the supply of tea leaves, it is prevented from entering the machine equipped with a drive mechanism or the like.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a main body of a tea machine, which is formed in a vertically long box shape with the upper side protruding to the front surface, and is supported by legs 2 provided at the four corners of the bottom surface. A door 3 is attached to the opening through a hinge 4 so as to be opened and closed. In the main body 1, an L-shaped panel 5 is provided from the right front surface to the back surface. The inside (right side) of the panel 5 is a machine room 6 (FIG. 5), and water is supplied to the bottom of the outside. The cassette 7 can be accommodated. A hot water storage tank 9 for storing hot water with a heater is disposed in the upper part on the far side of the machine room 6, and water is supplied from the water supply cassette 7 through a pump (not shown). It has come to be.
[0007]
A canister 11 for storing tea leaves is provided at an upper position of the front surface portion 5 </ b> A of the panel 5. At the bottom of the canister 11, a tea leaf supply unit 13 having a fixed quantity drum that can be rolled up and dropped by a predetermined amount is provided, and a tea leaf supply port 14 at the lower end thereof is covered with a shutter 15 that can be opened and closed. . A hot water supply pipe 16 provided with a solenoid valve (not shown) is drawn out from the hot water storage tank 9 and protrudes from the front surface portion 5A of the panel 5, and a shower type hot water supply port 17 is attached to the protruding end of the hot water supply port. 14 are arranged side by side.
[0008]
Below the tea leaf supply port 14 and the hot water supply port 17 on the front surface portion 5A of the panel 5, a tea strainer 19 for accommodating tea leaves is attached to the funnel 20 and can be reversed to the left side of FIG. It is said that. A mounting table 22 on which a container A such as a cup is placed is attached below the funnel 20, and a tea discarding container 23 is provided on the front surface of the water supply cassette 7. A drive mechanism K for performing reverse driving of the funnel 20, rotational driving of the metering drum of the tea leaf supply unit 13, and opening / closing driving of the shutter 15 is provided at the front side position in the machine room 6. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the drive mechanism K includes a motor 30 that serves as a drive source, and is combined with a base plate 31 that is disposed at an interval on the back surface side of the front surface portion 5 </ b> A of the panel 5. Attached.
An auxiliary hot water supply pipe 27 for pouring white hot water drawn from the hot water storage tank 9 faces the side of the pouring outlet 20A of the funnel 20 and operates a hot water switch 26 provided on the front surface of the door 3. Thus, the electromagnetic valve interposed in the auxiliary hot water supply pipe 27 is opened, and a predetermined amount of white hot water can be poured directly into the container A.
[0009]
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of vertical steam vent holes 33 are opened at a position between the canister 11 and the funnel 20 on the front surface portion 5 </ b> A of the panel 5. A steam release fan 34 is provided on the back side. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the steam release fan 34 is attached to a bracket 35 formed by cutting and raising from the base plate 31 with screws 36. On the other hand, an exhaust hole 39 is formed on the back edge side of the top plate 38 of the main body 1.
Therefore, when the steam release fan 34 is driven, the steam that rises in the vicinity of the upper portion of the tea strainer 19 is drawn through the steam release hole 33 and rises in the circulation space 40 between the front surface portion 5A of the panel 5 and the base plate 31. Then, after reaching the ceiling portion in the main body 1, it is discharged from the exhaust hole 39 to the outside of the machine.
[0010]
Now, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the control means 41 which controls the drive of the above-mentioned steam release fan 34 is equipped. On the input side of the control means 41 is connected a number-of-pour-out detection means 42 for detecting the number of times tea is poured out from the operation of the tea switch 25, while the fan motor 34A of the steam release fan 34 is connected on the output side. Are connected, and a program as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8 is executed as will be described later.
[0011]
The present embodiment has the structure as described above, and the operation thereof will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
When the tea machine is turned on, the fan motor 34A of the steam release fan 34 is started together with the heater of the hot water storage tank 9 and the like. When pouring tea, after placing the container A on the placing table 22 and operating the tea switch 25 provided on the front surface of the door 3, the pouring operation shown in step S1 of FIG. A predetermined amount of hot water is discharged from the hot water supply port 17 toward the tea strainer 19 containing the tea, and tea is poured out into the container A. At this time, when hot water is discharged from the hot water supply port 17, steam rises in the upper part of the tea strainer 19. This steam is discharged from the steam vent hole 33 by the steam venting fan 34 to the front portion 5 </ b> A of the panel 5. After being drawn to the back surface side, it flows to the ceiling through the circulation space 40 between the base plate 31 and is discharged to the outside through the exhaust hole 39 of the top plate 38.
[0012]
When tea is dispensed a predetermined number of times (five times) and detected by the number-of-pour-out detection means 42 (YES in step S2), the function of the control means 41, as shown in step S3 The fan motor 34A is stopped, and thereafter, tea leaves are exchanged as shown in step S4. In this tea leaf exchange, first, the funnel 20, that is, the tea strainer 19 is reversely driven to the tea discarding container 23 side, and the tea leaves are discarded in the tea discarding container 23 (two-dot chain line in FIG. 3). Subsequently, while the tea strainer 19 returns to the original position, the tea strainer 19 stops in a slanting position immediately below the tea leaf supply port 14 (one-dot chain line in the figure), and a predetermined amount of new tea leaves is obtained by opening the shutter 15. It is supplied into the tea strainer 19. After that, the tea strainer 19 returns to the original position, so that the next tea can be poured out.
[0013]
When the tea leaves are replaced, especially when the shutter 15 is opened and the tea leaves are dropped from the tea leaf supply port 14 toward the tea strainer 19, the fine powder of the tea leaves may float near the pouring position. Since the driving of the steam release fan 34 is stopped, the fine powder of the floating tea leaves is not pulled to the drive mechanism K side.
When the tea leaf replacement is completed, the counter of the extraction number detecting means 42 is reset, the fan motor 34A of the steam release fan 34 is also restarted, and the above-described extraction routine is executed again.
[0014]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the tea leaves are exchanged, the steam venting fan 34 is stopped, so that the tea powder fine powder is brought near the dispensing position as the tea leaves are supplied. Even if it floats, it is prevented from entering the aircraft equipped with the drive mechanism K.
In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment described with the said description and drawing, A various change can be implemented in the range which does not deviate from the summary.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tea dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view with a door opened. FIG. 3 is a front view with a door removed. FIG. 4 is a side view with a side plate removed. FIG. 5 is a side view showing an arrangement portion of a drive mechanism. FIG. 6 is a front view of a base plate to which a steam release fan is attached. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a control mechanism of the steam release fan. Control flow chart [Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Tea machine main body 5 ... Panel 5A ... Front part 11 ... Canister 13 ... Tea leaf supply part 14 ... Tea leaf supply port 15 ... Shutter 17 ... Hot water supply port 19 ... Tea strainer 23 ... Tea disposal container 31 ... Base plate 33 ... Vapor removal Hole 34 ... Vapor venting fan 34A ... Fan motor 38 ... Top plate 39 ... Exhaust hole 40 ... Distribution space 41 ... Control means 42 ... Pouring number detection means K ... Drive mechanism

Claims (1)

A hot water supply mechanism that pours tea by discharging hot water toward a tea strainer that contains tea leaves, and a tea leaf replacement mechanism that discards tea leaves from the tea strainer and supplies new tea leaves from the tea leaf supply section In a tea dispenser provided with a steam vent fan that draws steam that rises near the pouring position and then discharges it outside through the equipment position of the drive mechanism such as the tea leaf exchange mechanism in the machine room ,
When the tea leaves are supplied from the tea leaf supply unit to the tea strainer, fan driving control means for stopping the driving of the steam release fan is provided.

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