JP4389416B2 - Carbonated beverage supply circuit for beverage dispensers - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a carbonated beverage supply circuit of a beverage dispenser that supplies various syrup beverages as “strong carbonated beverage”, “weak carbonated beverage”, and “non-carbonated beverage”.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Beverage dispensers that are installed in restaurants, fast food stores, etc. and sell various syrup beverages are well known, and a conventional carbonated beverage supply circuit equipped in the beverage dispenser is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 4, the beverage dispenser 1 has a bend stage 1a formed in the lower front portion of the main body cabinet, and a refrigerator unit 2 and a cooling water tank 3 are mounted inside the cabinet. Multiple (No1 to No3) spout nozzles (beverage dispensing nozzles that mix syrup and diluting water (carbonated water, cold water)) 4 that are individually associated with beverages are intensively arranged in parallel and arranged in front of the cabinet The operation panel 5 includes selection buttons 6 corresponding to various syrup drinks.
[0003]
Further, a syrup line 7, a cold water line 8, and a carbonated water line 9 leading to each of the spout nozzles 4 are piped inside the main body cabinet, and the syrup line 7 accommodates concentrated syrup at the start thereof. Connected to the syrup container 10, a cooling coil 11 immersed in the water of the cooling water tank 3 and a syrup valve (electromagnetic valve) 12 are connected in the middle of the line. Further, the cold water line 8 connected to the water supply has a water pump 13, a cooling coil 14 immersed in the cooling water tank 3, a blend regulator 15 for mixing weak carbonated water with strong carbonated water and cold water, and a dilution water valve (electromagnetic valve). 16 is connected. Further, the carbonated water line 9 is drawn from the carbonator 17 immersed in the cooling water tank 3 and is connected between the blend regulator 15 and the dilution water valve 16 (strong carbonated beverage circuit). In addition, 18 is a carbon dioxide gas cylinder that pressurizes carbon dioxide gas to each syrup tank 10 and carbonator 17, 19 is a cup set on the bend stage 1a, 20 is a flow regulator connected to the syrup line and dilution water line of each beverage system ( Flow rate adjusting valve).
[0004]
With the above configuration, when the cup 19 is set on the bend stage 1a and a desired beverage is designated by the selection button 6, the syrup valve 12 and the diluting water valve 16 of the selected beverage circuit are simultaneously opened to receive carbon dioxide pressure. The concentrated syrup fed from the syrup container 10 and the diluted water (carbonated water) mixed by the blend regulator 15 are fed to the spout nozzle 4 in a fixed amount, and the syrup and the diluted water are mixed in the nozzle and discharged to the cup 19. As is well known. The time chart of the beverage supply operation is as shown in FIG. 3. When a sales command is given, the syrup valve 12, the dilution water valve 16 and the water pump 13 are simultaneously turned ON at the start of sales (T1), and the sales operation is completed. It is controlled to turn off at (T2).
[0005]
In the illustrated beverage dispenser, the No1 and No2 systems are “weak carbonated drinks”, No3 is “strong carbonated drinks”, and the “weak carbonated drinks” beverage supply circuit (No1, No2) has a carbonated water line 9 The carbonated water supplied from the carbonator 17 and the cold water pumped through the cold water line 8 are mixed by the blend regulator 15 to form weak carbonated water, which is supplied as dilution water to the spout nozzle 4 and concentrated syrup. Try to mix. On the other hand, in the “strong carbonated beverage” circuit (No. 3), the blend regulator 15 is not provided, and the strong carbonated water having a high gas volume produced by the carbonator 17 is supplied to the spout nozzle 4 without being diluted with cold water. Yes. The flow rate is adjusted by the flow regulator 20 of the syrup line and dilution water line for each beverage system.
[0006]
Here, in order to change the finished beverage from “weak carbonated beverage” to “strong carbonated beverage” or “non-carbonated beverage” in the beverage systems No. 1 and No. 2 in FIG. 4, the setting is switched by the blend regulator 15. Next, the assembly structure of the blend regulator 15 is shown in FIG. 5 (a) and 5 (b), 15a is a bifurcated regulator body having two valve chambers of cold water and carbonated water, 15b is a nozzle, 15c and 15d are balls and springs constituting a check valve, 15e. Is an inlet joint, 15f and 15g are connection joints corresponding to cold water and carbonated water coupled to the inlet joint 15e, 15h is an adjustment orifice pin inserted from the side into the flow path of each connection joint, and 15i is an outlet for dilution water A joint 15j is a mounting metal, and large-diameter and small-diameter orifice holes 15h-1 and 15h-2 are opened on the axis of the orifice pin 15h.
[0007]
With such a configuration, when the orifice pins 15h inserted into the joints 15f and 15g are turned to the positions of strong carbonic acid and weak carbonic acid using a screwdriver or the like, the orifice holes 15h-1 and 15h-2 are switched and the outlet joints 15i are switched. Dilution water (carbonated water) that comes out switches to strong carbonated water and weak carbonated water. When the orifice pin 15f on the cold water side is switched to the closed position, the dilution water becomes strong carbonated water without being supplied and blended with the cold water.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, the above-described conventional beverage supply circuit has the following problems in terms of structure and management. That is,
(1) In order to set beverages manufactured in each beverage system to “strong carbonated beverages”, “weak carbonated beverages”, and “non-carbonated beverages”, it is necessary to provide a blend regulator 15 for each beverage system. If you try to sell “weak carbonated beverage” with the system No. 3 (set as “strong carbonated beverage”) with 4 beverage dispensers, you must install the carbonated water and cold water line blend regulator, the beverage circuit The cost is increased in terms of equipment, such as requiring significant changes.
[0009]
(2) Also, in terms of management, when changing the sales beverage to “strong carbonated beverage”, “weak carbonated beverage”, or “non-carbonated beverage” at the location of the beverage dispenser, the above-mentioned for each beverage system In this way, the orifice pin 15h of the blend regulator 15 is switched, and the dip switch for setting the carbon dioxide volume is switched on the control panel of the controller provided in the beverage dispenser, and the flow rate of the dilution water is adjusted accordingly. Troublesome settings are required.
[0010]
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, omitting the blend regulator incorporated in the conventional beverage supply circuit, and simply setting the beverage manufactured by each beverage system on the keyboard of the controller. It is an object of the present invention to provide a carbonated beverage supply circuit for a beverage dispenser with improved circuit management and functionality so that it can be changed to “carbonated beverage”, “weakly carbonated beverage”, and “non-carbonated beverage”.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a syrup line connected to a syrup container of each beverage, a carbonated water line connected to a carbonator, a cold water line connected to a water supply, and a bend stage for each beverage. In a carbonated beverage supply circuit of a beverage dispenser equipped with a spout nozzle, supplying concentrated syrup extracted from a syrup container based on a sales order, carbonated water, cold water at a predetermined mixing ratio and pouring into a cup through the spout nozzle,
For each beverage system, a flow regulator and a syrup valve are respectively connected to a syrup line piped between the syrup container and the spout nozzle, and a flow regulator, an open / close valve and a check valve are respectively connected to the carbonated water line and the cold water line. After the connection, the carbonated water line and the cold water line are merged and branched downstream from the merged point, and a branch line is piped between each spout nozzle via a dilution water valve. 1) shall be
The beverage supply circuit is controlled by opening the syrup valve and dilution water valve of the beverage specified based on the sales directive, and at the same time, the carbonated water valve and chilled water valve as open / close valves connected to the carbonated water line and chilled water line Is controlled to open and close in accordance with the volume level of carbon dioxide corresponding to the selection of “strong carbonated drink”, “weak carbonated drink”, and “non-carbonated drink” (specifically, claim 2). The connected carbonated water valve and the chilled water valve connected to the chilled water line are controlled to be opened and closed at different timings.
[0012]
In the above beverage supply circuit, when selling “strong carbonated beverage”, the syrup valve and dilution water valve corresponding to the selected syrup beverage are opened, the carbonated water valve connected to the carbonated water line is opened, and the cold water valve is opened. Keep closed. Thereby, in parallel with the supply of the concentrated syrup, strong carbonated water (diluted water) with a high carbon dioxide volume is supplied to the spout nozzle and sold as a “strong carbonated beverage”.
[0013]
On the other hand, when selling “weak carbonated drinks”, the carbonated water valve and the cold water valve are controlled to open and close in accordance with the mixing ratio of carbonated water and cold water corresponding to the carbon dioxide volume level of the weak carbonated water. For example, in parallel with the supply of syrup, the carbonated water valve is opened in the first half of the sales operation to supply a predetermined amount of strong carbonated water, and in the latter half, the cold water valve is switched to supply cold water. As a result, carbonated water and cold water are added as dilution water to the concentrated syrup, so that a “weak carbonated beverage” having a desired carbon dioxide volume level is obtained. In this case, the degree of carbonation of the “weakly carbonated beverage” can be variously changed by changing the ratio of the time for opening the carbonated water valve and the cold water valve. Moreover, you may reverse the supply order of carbonated water and cold water.
[0014]
When selling “no carbonated beverages”, the carbonated water valve is closed and the cold water valve is opened, contrary to the “strong carbonated beverage”. Thereby, only cold water is supplied as dilution water, and it becomes "a non-carbonated drink."
The selection of “strong carbonated drink”, “weak carbonated drink”, “non-carbonated drink” and the opening / closing control of the carbonated water valve and the cold water valve can be easily set by inputting from the keyboard of the controller, for example.
[0015]
Thereby, the blend regulator in the conventional circuit of FIG. 4 becomes unnecessary. In addition, the beverage supply circuit is greatly simplified because the flow regulator, open / close valve, and check valve provided in the carbonated water line and the cold water line can be shared for a plurality of beverage systems provided in the beverage dispenser. Become.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the examples shown in FIGS. In addition, in the figure of an Example, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the member corresponding to FIG. 4, and description is abbreviate | omitted.
That is, in the illustrated embodiment, first, the syrup line 7 is piped between the syrup container 10 and the spout nozzle 4 in the same manner as in FIG. 4, and the syrup line 7 has a flow regulator 20 and a syrup valve 12 for each system. Is connected. On the other hand, the blend regulator 15 shown in FIG. 4 is not provided in the cold water line 8 and the carbonated water line 9, and instead, the flow regulator 20, carbonated water valve 21, and check valve are provided in the carbonated water line 9 drawn from the carbonator 17. The valve 23 is connected in series, and the flow regulator 20, the cold water valve 22, and the check valve 23 are connected to the cold water line 8, and then the pipes of both lines are connected to the three-way joint 24 and merged. Further, a branch line 26 is branched from the three-way joint 24 to each spout nozzle 4 via a manifold 25, and a dilution water valve 16 is connected to each branch line 26.
[0017]
With the above configuration, the beverage sales operation is performed as follows. First, when selling a “weak carbonated beverage” by selecting the No1 beverage system, as shown in the time chart of FIG. 2, the syrup valve 12 and the diluting water valve 16 are opened at the start of sales (T1). At the same time, the carbonated water valve 21 is opened, and carbonated water is supplied to the spout nozzle 4 through the branch line 26 in parallel with the supply of the concentrated syrup. In this state, there is no possibility that the carbonated water is blocked by the check valve 23 of the cold water line 8 and flows back to the cold water line. When a predetermined amount of carbonated water is supplied, the carbonated water valve 21 is closed at time T3, and at the same time, the water pump 13 is started and the cold water valve 22 is opened to supply cold water, and the fixed amount of syrup supply is completed (T2). At the same time, the cold water valve 22 is closed and the water pump 13 is stopped. As a result, the beverage poured into the cup 19 through the spout nozzle 4 is finished into a “weak carbonated beverage”. In contrast to the time chart of FIG. 2, cold water may be supplied in the first half of the sales operation and carbonated water may be supplied in the second half. In addition, when the “No2, No3” system is selected and “weak carbonated drink” is sold, the time chart of the drink supply operation is the same as in FIG. Furthermore, even when the same “weak carbonated drink” is selected, it is possible to change the volume level of carbon dioxide gas and change the effect of carbon dioxide in various ways by changing the valve switching timing (T3) in FIG. .
[0018]
On the other hand, when changing the beverage to “strong carbonated beverage”, during the sales operation, in parallel with the syrup supply, only the carbonated water valve 21 is opened while the cold water valve 22 is closed, and the spout nozzle is used with the strong carbonated water as dilution water. 4 is supplied. Further, when changing to “no carbonated beverage”, contrary to the above, only the cold water valve 22 is opened and the carbonated water valve 21 is closed during the selling operation. As a result, cold water is supplied as a dilution water of the concentrated syrup to produce a “non-carbonated beverage”.
[0019]
The opening / closing control of the carbonated water valve 21 and the cold water valve 22 corresponding to the sales of the above-mentioned “strong carbonated drinks”, “weak carbonated drinks”, and “non-carbonated drinks” is easy on the keyboard of the controller equipped in the drink dispenser. Can be set to In addition, the selection can be made with a dip switch provided on the operation panel of the beverage dispenser, so that “every carbonated beverage”, “weakly carbonated beverage”, “none” can be selected according to customer preference for each beverage sale. It is also possible to provide a selection function for designating “soda drink”.
[0020]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the blended regulator provided in the conventional circuit of FIG. 4 and the adjustment operation of the orifice pin thereof are unnecessary, and the beverage to be sold can be “strongly carbonated beverage” only by a simple setting performed with the keyboard of the controller. ”,“ Weak carbonated drink ”, and“ non-carbonated drink ”. In addition, the flow regulator, open / close valve, and check valve provided in the carbonated water line and chilled water line can be shared for multiple beverage systems provided in the beverage dispenser, which greatly simplifies the beverage supply circuit. It is possible to provide a beverage dispenser with excellent functionality such as cost reduction.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a system diagram of a beverage supply circuit of a beverage dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a time chart of a beverage sales operation corresponding to the beverage supply circuit of FIG. FIG. 4 is a system diagram of a beverage supply circuit in a conventional beverage dispenser. FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of a blend regulator incorporated in the circuit of FIG. Longitudinal section, (b) is an exploded perspective view 【Explanation of symbols】
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Beverage dispenser 1a Bend stage 4 Spout nozzle 7 Syrup line 8 Cold water line 9 Carbonated water line 10 Syrup container 12 Syrup valve 16 Dilution water valve 17 Carbonator 19 Cup 20 Flow regulator 21 Carbonated water valve 22 Check valve 23 Branch line

Claims (3)

Equipped with a syrup line connected to the syrup container of each beverage, a carbonated water line connected to the carbonator, a cold water line connected to the water supply, and a spout nozzle placed on the bend stage for each beverage, and extracted from the syrup container based on the supply command In the carbonated beverage supply circuit of the beverage dispenser, the concentrated syrup, carbonated water, and cold water are supplied at a predetermined mixing ratio and poured into the cup through the spout nozzle.
A flow regulator and a syrup valve are respectively connected to a syrup line piped between the syrup container and the spout nozzle for each beverage system, and a flow regulator, an on-off valve and a check valve are respectively connected to the carbonated water line and the cold water line. After connecting the carbonated water line and the cold water line, and branching downstream from the merge point to the spout nozzle, the branch line is connected to each spout nozzle via a dilution water valve. A carbonated beverage supply circuit for a beverage dispenser. The carbonated beverage supply circuit according to claim 1, wherein the beverage syrup valve and dilution water valve specified based on the sales order are opened, and the carbonated water valve as an open / close valve connected to the carbonated water line and the cold water line in parallel therewith. , Carbonated beverage of beverage dispenser characterized in that the cold water valve is controlled to open and close according to the volume level of carbon dioxide gas corresponding to the selection of “strong carbonated beverage”, “weak carbonated beverage”, “non-carbonated beverage” Supply circuit. 3. The carbonated beverage supply circuit according to claim 2, wherein the carbonated water supply circuit connected to the carbonated water line and the cold water valve connected to the cold water line are controlled to be opened / closed at different timings.

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