JP4147338B2 - Cup-type beverage vending machine and cup capping device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a cup-type beverage vending machine that sells various beverages such as soft drinks and coffee produced in the machine in a cup, and a cup capping device mounted on the vending machine.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As a cup-type beverage vending machine, the cup supply mechanism, beverage canister, beverage extractor (brure), syrup tank, carbonated water carbonater, hot / cold water tank, ice maker, and cup transport Equipped with a mechanism, etc. In the course of transporting the cup unloaded from the cup supply mechanism at the time of beverage sales to the inside of the machine by the cup transport mechanism, the ingredients, hot water / cold water are sequentially put into the cup and stirred to produce the beverage, and then into the beverage A cup that is delivered to a product outlet is known.
[0003]
In addition, for such cup-type beverage vending machines, the upper surface of the cup is used as a capping means for covering the upper surface of the cup so as not to spill the beverage when the user carries the beverage-containing cup taken out from the product outlet. A capping device that covers the heat shrinkable film and heat-shrinks the periphery of the film to seal the opening surface of the cup is installed in the machine, and the upper surface of the beverage cup is covered with the film at the time of sale. The above-mentioned product sent out to the product outlet has been previously proposed as JP-A-11-39563 by the same applicant as the present invention.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the proposed conventional cup capping apparatus has the following problems in practical use. That is,
(1) It is difficult to completely seal between the cup and the film only by heat shrinking the periphery of the heat-shrinkable film placed on the upper surface of the cup. It is inevitable that a gap remains between the portion and the cup. For this reason, when a cup containing beverage taken out of a vending machine is carried, if the cup is shaken or tilted, the beverage spills through the gap, and especially when it is a hot beverage, a hot beverage spills on the hand holding the cup. There is a risk of burns.
[0005]
(2) In addition, in order to heat shrink the film placed on the cup, for example, it is necessary to blow hot air toward the periphery of the cup covered with the heat shrinkable film. It is equipped with an air heating unit that combines a wind guide block, heater, and fan that forms a passage and nozzle to cover the cup. To blow air heated to high temperatures for each vending machine sales operation, Since the heat capacity of the block is large, a large-capacity heater is required, and there is a problem that the power consumption increases and the running cost increases.
(3) In addition, if a cup-type beverage vending machine is additionally equipped with a cup capping device, the sales time will be prolonged by the time required for the capping operation, so the cup capping operation time and the in-flight via the cup capping device It is desirable to prevent the sales time from being shortened by reducing the cup transport route.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points. The object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and to provide a cup capping device with improved sealing performance and a capping function of the seal sheet, and the cup capping device mounted in the machine. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cup-type beverage vending machine that allows a beverage-containing cup to be delivered to a product outlet through the shortest route.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in a cup-type beverage vending machine that sells beverages produced in-machine in a cup,
A cup conveyance path in the machine leading to the product outlet is equipped with a thermo-compression type cup capping device that covers the upper surface of the beverage-containing cup with a film-like sealing sheet and is welded to the peripheral lip of the cup, and The cup capping device is arranged on the straight route from the front side of the product outlet to the cup capping device and the cooking part, and the cup containing the cooked beverage is passed from the cooking part to the product outlet through the cup capping device. The cup transporting can be performed with the shortest route and the shortest transport time.
[0008]
Further, the cup capping device mounted on the cup-type beverage vending machine includes a seal sheet supply mechanism, and a hot sheet with a heater that presses the seal sheet supplied from the mechanism against the upper surface of the cup and thermocompression-bonds it to the peripheral lip. A plate, a cutter that cuts the seal sheet along the contour of the cup, a lifting stage that moves up and down with the cup received from the cup transport mechanism, and waits for the cutter, hot plate, and lifting stage according to the capping process And a drive mechanism that moves up and down from the position to the capping position. When the cup containing beverage is transported to the cup capping device, the lifting stage receives the cup from the hand of the cup transport mechanism and rises from the standby position in the first half of the cup capping process. At the same time as the cutter and ho The top plate descends from the standby position, cuts the seal sheet, and performs thermocompression bonding. In the second half, the lift stage, cutter, and hot plate are simultaneously moved back toward the standby position, and then the cup transport mechanism removes the cup from the lift stage. The time required for the cup capping process is shortened by receiving and moving toward the product inlet, and the seal sheet supply mechanism feeds the seal sheet by one pitch (Claim 2). Each mechanism can be specifically configured in the following manner.
[0009]
(1) A hot plate is provided with a needle that pierces from above the seal sheet placed on the top surface of the cup in the cup capping process and punches a small hole for venting air, and the air pressure that has expanded in the cup with the cup containing hot beverage sealed This prevents the trouble that the seal sheet is peeled off or unexpectedly ruptured (claim 3).
[0010]
(2) A small hole for venting air is punched in advance on the raw roll of the seal sheet at regular intervals, and the air pressure expanded in the cup is released while the cup containing hot beverage is sealed as in the previous section (1). Like. (Claim 4).
(3) A recess is formed on the bottom surface of the hot plate with a tapered surface corresponding to the cup diameter, and the taper outer diameter and inner diameter of the recess are set according to the large and small cup sizes, respectively. In addition, it is possible to cope with large and small cups sold by vending machines.
[0011]
(4) A push cutter with an outer diameter corresponding to the cup diameter and a serrated cutting edge formed at the tip. The hot plate has multiple cutters corresponding to large and small cup sizes. It is made possible to cope with the cups of large and small sizes sold by the vending machine provided.
(5) The hot plate heater is energized to keep the hot plate between the upper limit temperature and the lower limit temperature according to the welding temperature of the seal sheet, ensuring a stable sealing function and suppressing unnecessary power consumption. Power saving is achieved (claim 7).
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) show a cup-type beverage vending machine equipped with the cup capping device of the present invention. The illustrated example shows a hot beverage vending machine using powder as a raw material. In the figure, 1 is a cup supply mechanism, 2 is a raw material canister, 3 is a hot water tank, 4 is a beverage cooking unit equipped with elevating stirring blades, and 5 is equipped with a cup hand 5a on an X, Y, Z axis moving mechanism. , A cup transport mechanism that moves along a predetermined path under the control of a stepping motor, 6 is a product take-out port, 7 is a cup, and 8 is a thermocompression-type cup capping device. The cup capping device 8 is a product input port It is installed in the intermediate position of the linear conveyance path | route which connects between 6 and the drink cooking part 4 arrange | positioned in the back.
[0013]
With this configuration, when a beverage sales command is given, the cup 7 is first unloaded from the cup supply mechanism 1 and transferred to the hand 5a of the cup transport mechanism 5 at the position I. Subsequently, the cup transport mechanism 5 moves along the path indicated by the chain line, and at the positions II and III along the horizontal transport path, the raw material canister 2 and the hot water tank 3 are introduced in order from the raw material canister 2 and the hot water tank 3. The agitating blade 4a is inserted into the cup 7 and the ingredients are stirred to prepare a beverage. Then, when the cup 7 containing the beverage reaches the position IV of the cup capping device 8 in the course of the moving path in which the cup transport mechanism 5 changes its direction and moves forward toward the product inlet 6, the details will be described later at this position. After covering the upper surface of the cup 7 with a resin film-like sealing sheet and thermocompression bonding, the cup 7 is finally sent to the position V of the product outlet 6 to complete a series of sales operations.
[0014]
Next, the structure of the cup capping device 8 is shown in FIG. That is, the cup capping device 8 includes a hot plate 11 with a seal cutter 9 and a heater 10, a drive mechanism 12 that raises and lowers the hot plate 11 by combining the seal cutter 9, a drive motor 12 a, and a crank mechanism 12 b, and the hot plate 11. A lifting stage 13 that is placed opposite to the sheet 13, a sheet guide 14 that guides the film-like seal sheet 15 fed from the raw roll 15 a to the upper surface of the cup 7, and a winding drum 16 for the seal sheet are combined. It becomes a composition. The heater 10 may be a well-known power heater posistor or a silicon rubber heater.
[0015]
Here, the sheet cutter 9 is a ring-shaped push cutter having an outer diameter corresponding to the cup diameter of the cup 7 as shown in FIG. When the cutter 9 is stroked from above with the seal sheet 15 fed from the original roll 15a placed on the upper surface of the cup 7, the seal sheet 15 is cut along the contour of the cup 7 and cut to the upper surface of the cup 7. The circular cup seal 15b is left. Further, the portion of the seal sheet 15 after the cup seal 15 b is cut is taken up by the sheet take-up drum 16.
[0016]
On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), the hot plate 11 is a metal disk having an outer diameter slightly larger than that of the cup 7, and a recess 11a corresponding to the cup diameter is formed on the lower surface thereof. In addition, the peripheral surface of the recess 11a is formed with a tapered surface 11b that is inclined so as to spread outward, and the seal sheet does not touch the hot plate 11 and adhere to the lower surface of the plate including the recess 11a. Teflon 11c is preferably deposited. As shown in FIG. 4 (b), the recess 11a and the tapered surface 11b sandwich the seal sheet 15 between the cup 7 and the lip 7a with the hot plate 11 pressed against the upper surface of the cup 7. In the inner peripheral area, a gap Δd is secured between the seal sheet and the bottom surface of the recess so as not to apply excessive heat to the central surface area of the sheet.
[0017]
Next, the capping operation of the cup capping device 8 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. That is, the cup capping device 8 incorporated in the cup-type beverage vending machine shown in FIG. 1 has the sheet guide 14 moved up by the seal sheet 15 fed out from the raw roll 15a as shown in FIG. Then, it is stretched between the winding drum 16. Here, when the cup 7 containing the prepared beverage is transported to the position IV of the cup capping device 8 based on the sales command, the cup transport mechanism 5 is temporarily stopped, and the elevating stage 13 is lifted from the standby position at this position. Then, the cup 7 gripped by the hand 5a of the cup transport mechanism 5 is placed and pushed up, and at the same time, the drive motor 12a of the drive mechanism 12 is started, and the cutter 9 and the hot plate 11 are lowered to lower the position shown in FIG. ) State.
[0018]
As a result, the cutter 9 cuts the seal sheet 15 in accordance with the contour of the cup 7 as described in FIG. 3, and the hot plate 11 is subsequently cut between the peripheral lip 7a of the cup 7 and the cup seal 15b. And the cup seal 15b is thermocompression-bonded to the lip portion 7a at the periphery of the cup by heating from the hot plate 11 heated by the heater 10 for a certain period of time. As a result, the cup seal 15 b is welded to the lip portion 7 a of the cup 7 under the pressure bonding of the hot plate 11. In this case, the central surface area of the seal sheet 15b covering the inner peripheral surface area of the cup 7 remains directly between the hot plate 11 and the gap Δd (see FIG. 4) corresponding to the recess 11a. There is no contact with the hot plate 11, so that the sealing sheet itself does not shrink due to heat shrinkage.
[0019]
When this thermocompression bonding operation is completed, as shown in FIG. 5C, the drive mechanism 12 moves up to the standby position, and the elevating stage 13 also moves down to the standby position. In this process, the cup 7 is moved to the cup transport mechanism 5. To the hand 5a. Further, the winding drum 16 of the seal sheet supply mechanism is started to feed and wind the seal sheet 15 by one pitch, and the cup transport mechanism 5 receives the capped drink-containing cup 7 and then the sealed cup 7. Is sent to the product outlet 6 shown in FIG. 1 to complete a series of sales operations. After the cup 7 is taken out, the cup transport mechanism 5 returns to the home position and returns to the sales standby state.
[0020]
Next, several application examples based on the cup capping device 8 having the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, in the application example shown in FIG. 7, a needle 17 protruding downward is provided at the center of the lower surface of the hot plate 11. The needle 17 has a small air vent hole in the center of the cup seal 15b placed on the upper surface of the cup 7 containing the beverage in the cup capping process, and the following effects can be obtained.
[0021]
That is, when the upper surface of the cup 7 is sealed with the cup seal 15b at the time of selling hot beverage, if there is no air vent hole, the cup seal 15b is caused by the pressure of the air thermally expanded in the cup as shown in FIG. There is a possibility that the thermocompression bonding portion of the seal may be peeled off due to abnormal swelling, or the seal sheet may be unexpectedly ruptured and the beverage may spill out. In this respect, when the air vent hole 15c is opened in the cup seal 15b as shown in FIG. 8 (b), since the air pressure in the cup is released through the hole 15c, it is possible to prevent unexpected troubles such as peeling and tearing of the seal. In addition, the air vent hole 15c is a small hole and there is no possibility that a drink will spill from here.
[0022]
In addition, the air vent holes may be formed with small holes at regular intervals in advance with respect to the raw roll 15a shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, instead of providing the needle 17 on the hot plate 11 as shown in FIG. Similar effects can be obtained.
In the application example shown in FIG. 9, the tapered surface 11b of the recess formed on the lower surface side of the hot plate 11 is set as follows in order to correspond to the large and small cups sold by the vending machine. ing. That is, the inner diameter φA of the tapered surface 11b is set according to the cup diameter φS of the minimum size cup 7S, and the outer diameter φB is set according to the cup diameter φL of the maximum size cup 7L.
[0023]
Thereby, in any of the large and small cups 7L and 7S, the taper surface 11b of the hot plate 11 is pressed against the lip portion of the opening surface, so that the seal can be properly performed.
Next, in the application example of FIG. 10, in addition to the structure of the hot plate 11 shown in FIG. 9, as a cutter for cutting the seal sheet, two sets of cutters 9L corresponding to the cups 7L and 7S of large and small sizes individually. , 9S. As the cutters 9L and 9S, push-cut cutters similar to those described in FIG. 3 are employed.
[0024]
11 (a) and 11 (b), a thermostat 18 is connected to the power supply circuit of the heater 10 provided on the hot plate 11, and the plate temperature of the hot plate 11 detected by the temperature detecting element 18a is determined. Based on the energization control of the heater 10, the plate temperature of the hot plate 11 is maintained between the upper limit temperature t1 and the lower limit temperature t2 as shown in FIG. Here, the upper limit temperature t1 is an upper limit value for thermocompression bonding of the seal sheet, and if the temperature is further increased, the seal sheet is melted. The lower limit temperature t2 is a lower limit value at which thermocompression bonding is possible, and thermocompression bonding becomes impossible when the temperature falls below this value.
Thereby, it is possible to perform thermocompression bonding of a stable seal sheet while suppressing power consumption by suppressing unnecessary power consumption.
[0025]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the thermocompression-type cup capping device having the configuration of the present invention and the cup-type beverage vending machine equipped with the cup capping device, the user can take out the beverage-containing cup from the product outlet. The beverage can be surely prevented from spilling out of the cup when carrying the product, and the serviceability can be improved. According to the structure of claim 1, the cup containing the cooked beverage is passed through the cup capping device from the cooking unit. The cup transporting to the take-out port can be performed with the shortest route and the shortest transport time, and the sales time can be prevented from increasing with the addition of the cup capping device.
[0026]
Moreover, about a cup capping apparatus, according to Claim 2, a series of capping operation | movement from acceptance of a cup containing a drink to cup sending to a product outlet can be performed efficiently.
Further, according to the third and fourth aspects, it is possible to prevent troubles that the cup seal is unexpectedly peeled off due to air expansion in the cup at the time of selling the hot beverage, or that the beverage spills due to rupture.
[0027]
Furthermore, by adopting the constitutions of claims 5 and 6, it is possible to cope with large and small cups sold by a vending machine with one cup capping device, and according to claim 7, a stable thermocompression bonding of a seal sheet and In addition, effects such as power saving can be obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a cup-type beverage vending machine equipped with a cup capping device according to an embodiment of the present invention, where (a) is a front view and (b) is a plan view. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the main part in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of the structure of the hot plate in FIG. 2 and the thermocompression bonding operation of the cup seal. FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway perspective view of a hot plate, and FIG. 5B is a sectional view showing a state in which a cup seal is thermocompression bonded to the upper surface of the cup. Fig. 6 is a state diagram in which a cup containing beverage is received by the capping device, Fig. 6 (b) is a state diagram of the sealing process for thermo-compression of the seal sheet, and Fig. 6 (c) is a state diagram of the latter half process after sealing. Flow chart of [Fig.7] Hot play FIG. 8 is a supplementary explanatory view of the embodiment of the present invention in which a needle for air vent hole is provided on the cup. FIG. 8 is a supplementary explanatory view of FIG. Fig. 9 is a diagram showing the state of a cup seal when there is no needle hole and there is a needle hole. Fig. 9 is a sectional view of the structure of an application example of the present invention of a hot plate that can accommodate cups of various sizes FIG. 11 is a structural cross-sectional view of an application embodiment of the present invention in which cutters that can handle cups of various sizes are combined. FIG. Control circuit diagram, (b) is a flowchart showing the thermo-control operation [Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cup supply mechanism 2 Raw material canister 3 Hot water tank 4 Cooking part 5 Cup conveyance mechanism 6 Product outlet 7 Cup 8 Cup capping device 9 Seal sheet cutter 10 Heater 11 Hot plate 11a Recessed portion 11b Tapered surface 12 Cutter and hot plate lift drive Mechanism 13 Lifting stage 15 Seal sheet 15a Raw sheet roll 15b of seal sheet Cup seal 16 Winding drum 17 of seal sheet Needle 18 for punching air vent hole Thermostat for heater energization control

Claims (7)

Equipped with a cup supply mechanism, raw material supply unit, cooking unit, cup transport mechanism, and thermocompression-type cup capping device that covers a cup containing beverage with a film-like sealing sheet and welds it to the periphery of the cup. In the process of transporting the unloaded cup into the machine by the cup transport mechanism, raw materials, hot water or cold water are sequentially fed into the cup and stirred to cook the beverage, then the upper surface of the cup is sealed and sent to the product outlet for sale. In a cup mixing type cup-type beverage vending machine, the cooking unit and the cup capping device are arranged on a linear route in the order of the cup capping device and the cooking unit from the front side with respect to the product outlet. Cup-type beverage vending machine. A cup capping device mounted on a cup-type beverage vending machine according to claim 1 includes a seal sheet supply mechanism, and a heater that presses the seal sheet supplied from the mechanism against the upper surface of the cup and thermocompresses the peripheral lip portion thereof. A hot plate, a cutter that cuts the seal sheet along the contour of the cup, an elevating stage that moves up and down with the cup received from the cup transport mechanism, and the cutter, hot plate, and elevating stage according to the capping process. It consists of a drive mechanism that moves up and down from the standby position to the capping position. When the cup with beverage is transferred to the cup capping device, the lifting stage receives the cup from the hand of the cup transfer mechanism in the first half of the cup capping process, and from the standby position. At the same time as the cutter and The plate moves down from the standby position, cuts the seal sheet, and performs thermocompression bonding. In the second half, the lift stage, cutter, and hot plate are simultaneously moved back toward the standby position, and the cup transport mechanism receives the cup from the lift stage. The cup capping device is characterized in that the seal sheet supply mechanism feeds the seal sheet by one pitch while moving toward the product inlet. 3. The cup capping device according to claim 2, wherein the hot plate is provided with a needle for punching a small hole for venting air by projecting from above the seal sheet placed on the upper surface of the cup in the cup capping step. . 3. The cup capping device according to claim 2, wherein small holes for venting air are punched in advance at regular intervals on the raw roll of the seal sheet. 3. The cup capping device according to claim 2, wherein a concave portion whose outer peripheral area is a tapered surface corresponding to the cup diameter is formed on the bottom surface of the hot plate, and the outer diameter and inner diameter of the tapered portion of the concave portion are increased and decreased, respectively. A cup capping device, which is set according to the cup size. 3. The cup capping device according to claim 2, wherein the cutter has an outer diameter corresponding to the cup diameter and is formed with a serrated incision at the tip, and the hot plate has large and small cup sizes. A cup capping device comprising a plurality of cutters corresponding to the above. 3. The cup capping device according to claim 2, wherein the hot plate heater is energized and controlled so as to maintain the hot plate between an upper limit temperature and a lower limit temperature in accordance with a welding temperature of the seal sheet.

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