JP3812453B2 - Powder raw material canister - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a powder raw material canister that is mounted on a beverage supply device such as a cup-type vending machine, a beverage dispenser, or an automatic tea dispenser and supplies a powder raw material to a beverage production unit in a fixed amount.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As is well known, the beverage supply device described above is equipped with a powder raw material canister in the machine and stores powder raw materials such as coffee, cocoa, tea, etc. Beverages prepared by supplying hot water supplied from a hot water tank to a manufacturing department (mixing bowl, tea bowl, etc.) are supplied to a cup placed on a bend stage.
[0003]
Further, as the powder raw material canister, as shown in FIG. 3, the powder raw material is accommodated in an inverted conical raw material case, and the raw material is discharged from the tip of the case by a feed operation of a screw incorporated therein. An axial canister has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-93316 prior to the same applicant as the present invention. The vertical canister includes a case 1 serving as an inverted conical container having a downward raw material discharge port opened on the front end side, a raw material discharge head 2 attached to the raw material discharge port, and an upper lid covering the upper surface of the case 1 3, a rotating shaft 4 incorporated in the center of the case 1, a screw 5 formed on the rotating shaft 4, and a stirring rod 6 connected to the rotating shaft 4 so as to rotate along the inner wall surface of the case 1. The rotary shaft 4 is connected to a drive motor (bend motor) (not shown) via a yoke shaft joint 7. Reference numeral 2a denotes an open / close lid for material supply provided on the upper lid 2.
[0004]
With this configuration, the raw material case 1 contains a powder raw material (a relatively coarse granular powder raw material like instant coffee, or a fine powdery powder raw material called “powder tea”) 8 in accordance with the directive. When the drive motor is started and the rotary shaft 4 is rotationally driven, the powder raw material 8 is discharged and supplied to the beverage production section (not shown) through the raw material discharge head 2 by the feed operation of the screw 3. Further, the stirring rod 6 interlocked with the rotating shaft 4 is rotated to scrape the powder raw material 8 so that the powder raw material accumulated in the upper layer portion in the case flows smoothly toward the screw 3.
[0005]
In this powder raw material supply operation, a fixed amount of powder raw material is dispensed from the canister by constant control of the rotation time of the drive motor.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the powder raw material canister of the said structure may produce the following malfunctions during use.
That is, when the powder raw material 8 staying in the upper layer portion of the raw material case 1 moves downward as the powder raw material is discharged by the rotational feeding operation of the clew 5, the fluidity of the powder raw material 8 is the central portion of the raw material case 1. It is the highest and decreases as it approaches the inner peripheral wall surface of the raw material case 1. Therefore, in the conventional canister, as shown in the figure, a stirring bar 6 is attached to crush the powder raw material deposited near the case wall surface to improve the fluidity. When the contained powder raw material is in a wet state, a phenomenon is observed in which the powder raw material accumulated in the peripheral area of the stirring rod 6 is not crushed and is fed together with the stirring rod 6. Moreover, if this state continues, the powdered raw material will solidify in the form of a conglomerate and will remain in the raw material container forever without being discharged from the canister, and the quality of the raw material will deteriorate.
[0007]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to make the stirring function of the stirring rod always effective for the powder raw material stored in the raw material case for the above-described vertical canister. An object of the present invention is to provide a powder raw material canister improved so that the powder raw material can be discharged smoothly.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-described object, according to the present invention, a raw material case that becomes an inverted conical container having a downward raw material discharge port opened at the tip, a rotating shaft with a screw incorporated in the axial center of the raw material case, A powder raw material canister comprising a stirring rod facing the inner peripheral wall surface of the case and connected to the rotating shaft, wherein the powder raw material accommodated in the raw material case is discharged through the raw material discharge port by the rotational feed operation of the screw. One or more extending along the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the circumferential direction on the inner peripheral wall surface of the raw material case against the stirring rod so that the powder raw material in the inner peripheral wall peripheral region of the raw material case can be stirred Rib-shaped protrusions or grooves on the strip are formed.
[0009]
According to the above configuration, the protrusions and concave grooves formed on the inner wall surface of the raw material case serve as a circumferential resistance, and the powder raw material deposited in the vicinity of the case wall surface is rotated together with the rotating stirring rod. Suppresses traveling in the direction. Thereby, the stirring function of the stirring rod works effectively, and the powder raw material staying in the peripheral region is effectively scraped. As a result, the powder raw material does not solidify into a nodule shape, and can be smoothly fed toward the screw while maintaining high fluidity.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the examples shown in FIGS. In the drawings of the respective embodiments, members corresponding to those in FIG.
[Example 1]
FIGS. 1A and 1B show an embodiment corresponding to claim 2 of the present invention. In this embodiment, a rib-like protrusion 1 a extending along a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the circumferential direction is formed on the inner peripheral wall surface of the raw material case 1. In the illustrated example, two protrusions are formed to be distributed to the left and right. Further, the protruding height of the protruding portion 1a is determined so as not to interfere with the stirring rod 6 rotating on the inner peripheral side of the case 1.
[0011]
With the above configuration, when the stirring rod 6 is rotated together with the rotating shaft 4 in a state where the powder raw material is accommodated in the raw material case 1, the stirring rod 6 scrapes the powder raw material deposited in the peripheral area as described in FIG. It breaks down to improve liquidity.
In this case, even if the powder raw material having some moisture adheres to the stirring rod 6 and is about to be supplied, the powder raw material deposited on the inner wall surface of the raw material case 1 due to the above-described protrusion 1a becomes a resistance. Around the stirring bar 6 is suppressed. Thereby, the stirring function of the stirring bar 6 works effectively, the powder raw material is surely scraped, and smoothly flows toward the screw 5 below.
[0012]
As a result, it is possible to prevent such a problem that the powder raw material solidifies in the form of a nodule while the rotation with the stirring bar 6 continues and is left in the case forever.
In addition, the stirring effect of the powder raw material by providing the said protrusion part 1b is proved also from the actual machine test which the inventor performed.
[Example 2]
FIG. 2 shows an application embodiment corresponding to claim 3 of the present invention. In this embodiment, concave groove portions 1b extending along the longitudinal direction are formed on the inner peripheral wall surface of the raw material case 1 in a dispersed manner.
[0013]
With this configuration, in a state where the powder raw material is housed in the raw material case 1, the powder raw material enters the concave groove portion 1b, and the powder raw material accumulated in the peripheral region of the case wall surface due to the anchoring effect is We will prevent you from going around the case wall together in the circumferential direction. As a result, the same high stirring effect as in Example 1 is obtained.
[0014]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a raw material case that becomes an inverted conical container having a downward raw material discharge port opened at the tip, a rotating shaft with a screw incorporated in the axial center of the raw material case, It comprises a stirring rod connected to the rotating shaft so as to rotate along the inner peripheral wall surface, and the beverage powder ingredient accommodated in the ingredient case is dispensed to the beverage production section through the ingredient discharge port by the rotational feed operation of the screw. In the powder raw material canister, the axial direction of the raw material case is used as a resistance means for preventing the powder raw material staying in the inner peripheral wall surface of the raw material case from circulating in the circumferential direction together with the stirring rod. Along the inner wall of the case, one or more protrusions or grooves are formed,
The powder raw material accommodated in the canister is prevented from being rotated around the stirring rod that rotates inside the raw material case due to the resistance of the protrusion or the groove. Therefore, the stirring function of the stirring rod works effectively, and the powder raw material can be effectively scraped, so that the powder raw material is solidified into a nodule in the case and left in the case until it is not discharged. There is no problem, and it can be smoothly discharged from the canister while maintaining high fluidity.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a powder raw material canister corresponding to Example 1 of the present invention, where (a) is an external view of the entire canister, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of (a). 3 is a cross-sectional view of a powder canister corresponding to Example 2 of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a conventional configuration diagram of a vertical canister that is an object of the present invention, and (a) is a vertical side view of the entire canister showing its internal structure. Figure, (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of (a) [Explanation of symbols]
1 Raw material case 1a Protruding part (resistance part)
1b Groove (resistor)
4 Rotating shaft 5 Screw 6 Stirring rod

Claims (1)

A powder raw material canister that stores powder raw materials for beverages and supplies the powder raw materials to a beverage production unit based on a command, and a raw material case that is an inverted conical container having a downward raw material discharge opening at the tip, and the raw materials It consists of a rotating shaft with a screw built in the shaft center of the case and a stirring rod connected to the rotating shaft so as to face the inner peripheral wall surface of the raw material case. In what is to be dispensed through the raw material outlet,
One or a plurality of strips extending along a longitudinal direction perpendicular to the circumferential direction on the inner peripheral wall surface of the raw material case so as to be capable of stirring the powder raw material around the inner peripheral wall of the raw material case. A powder raw material canister characterized by forming a rib-like protrusion or a concave groove .

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