JP4614573B2 - Beverage dispenser - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a beverage dispenser that automatically dispenses a cooled sparkling beverage such as beer, and more particularly to a beverage dispenser that always keeps the amount of liquid and foam dispensed at a desired amount.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, this type of beverage dispenser has a dispensing cock that can dispense a cooled sparkling beverage and an electric control circuit that controls the dispensing cock so as to dispense the beverage for a set time in response to a switch operation. And a desired amount of beverage is automatically poured into the mug when the switch is operated.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in the conventional beverage dispenser, since the dispensing time of the beverage is always constant based on the initial setting, the liquid beverage is foamed in the mug when dispensing depending on the temperature of the dispensing cock. the amount is changed to, the amount of liquid and foam Note out drinking there is a problem that will change. In particular, when a beverage is poured out after a long time has passed since the previous dispensing of the beverage and the dispensing cock is heated by the atmosphere, the liquid beverage is foamed in the mug. Since the amount to be changed increases, the foamed beverage sometimes overflows from the mug. On the other hand, if an attempt is made to directly detect the temperature of the pouring cock in order to avoid this, a temperature sensor or the like is required and the cost increases. In addition, if an attempt is made to directly detect the amount of beverage in the mug by detecting the liquid level or the foam level, an optical sensor or the like is required, resulting in an increase in cost.
[0004]
Summary of the Invention
The present invention relates to a beverage dispenser. A beverage dispenser to which the present invention is applied includes a dispensing cock capable of selectively dispensing a cooled sparkling beverage into a liquid pouring state and a foam pouring state, and pouring the sparkling beverage from the pouring cock. It is a beverage dispenser of a type provided with an electric control circuit that sequentially switches and controls a dispensing state from a liquid dispensing state to a foam dispensing state in response to a switch operation . An object of the present invention is to provide a beverage dispenser of this type, which is a beverage dispenser that always keeps the amount of liquid and foam dispensed in a desired amount with a simple and inexpensive configuration.
[0005]
Thus, in the beverage dispenser according to the present invention, the electric control circuit should set the dispensing time of the foam dispensing state based on the elapsed time from the previous dispensing of the sparkling beverage when the switch is operated. When the foaming time is less than the first predetermined time (T1) that is shorter than the previous time when the foamed beverage is poured, the foaming state is set to the longest time set in advance. And set to gradually decrease as the elapsed time exceeds the predetermined time (T1), and is set to zero when the elapsed time exceeds the long second predetermined time (T2). Then, the dispensing time in the bubble dispensing state is controlled based on the set time.
[0006]
In the beverage dispenser according to the present invention configured as described above, at the time of the switch operation, the elapsed time from the previous dispensing of the beverage, that is, the length of time heated by the atmosphere after the dispensing cock is cooled by the beverage. Based on this, the drink dispensing time is set. Therefore, it is possible to set the dispensing time of the beverage without directly detecting the temperature of the dispensing cock, and the amount of the beverage liquid and foam dispensed without directly detecting the amount of the beverage can always be set. The desired amount can be maintained. In particular, when a beverage is poured out after a long time has passed since the previous dispensing of the beverage and the dispensing cock is warmed by the atmosphere, the liquid beverage is foamed in the mug at the time of dispensing. Even when the amount to be added increases, the foaming time is finely shortened or controlled to zero, so that it is possible to avoid the foamy beverage from overflowing from the mug.
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The beverage dispenser shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes two dispensing units 11 on the front surface inside the main body 10. Each pouring unit 11 includes a pouring cock 20, a switching mechanism 30, a mug base 40, an elevating mechanism 50, and an operation panel 60.
[0008]
The dispensing cock 20 is configured to incorporate a valve mechanism (not shown), and can be switched between a liquid dispensing state, a bubble dispensing state, and a neutral state according to the tilting operation of the lever 21. In the liquid pouring state, beer (sparkling beverage) in the beverage container 12 accommodated in the main body 10 is poured out from the liquid nozzle 22 in a liquid state. In the foam pouring state, the beer is poured out from the foam nozzle 23 in the foam state. In the neutral state, the flow path of the beer is closed. Note that the beer in the beverage container 12 is cooled by a cooling mechanism (not shown) and is always kept at a predetermined low temperature. The switching mechanism 30 is disposed above the pouring cock 20 and is assembled to the lever 21. The lever 21 is tilted by driving the pouring cock motor 31 (shown only in FIG. 3), and the pouring cock 20. The state of is switched. The switching mechanism 30 also includes a dispensing cock sensor 32 that detects the state of the dispensing cock 20 by detecting the rotation angle of the dispensing cock motor 31.
[0009]
The mug stand 40 is disposed below the pouring cock 20 and is for placing a beer mug (not shown). The mug base 40 is assembled to the main body 10 at the upper end portion of the back plate 41 so as to be tiltable about an axis in the width direction. The elevating mechanism 50 tilts the mug table 40 by raising and lowering the lower part of the mug table 40 by driving a mug table motor 51 (shown only in FIG. 3). The elevating mechanism 50 also includes a mug table sensor 52 that detects the position of the lower portion of the mug table 40. The operation panel 60 includes a pour button 61 for instructing pour of beer.
[0010]
As shown in FIG. 3, an electric control circuit 70 is connected to each of the motors 31 and 51, the sensors 32 and 52, and the button 61. The electric control circuit 70 is constituted by a microcomputer, and controls the operation of the dispensing cock motor 31 and the mug stand motor 51 by executing a program corresponding to the flowchart shown in FIG. Moreover, the electric control circuit 70 has a built-in timer 71 for measuring the elapsed time after beer pouring.
[0011]
Next, operation | movement of the said beer server comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated. Initially, when a power switch (not shown) is turned on, the cooling mechanism starts cooling the beer in the beverage container 12, and the electric control circuit 70 starts executing the program in step 100 of FIG. The determination process is repeatedly executed to start waiting for the turn-on operation of the dispensing button 61. At this time, when a beer mug is placed on the mug table 40 and the dispensing button 61 is turned on, the electric control circuit 70 advances the program to step 104 and the subsequent steps to start automatic dispensing of beer.
[0012]
First, the electric control circuit 70 drives and controls the mug table motor 51 based on the detection by the mug table sensor 52 in step 104 to tilt the mug table 40 and the beer mug, and in step 106, the dispensing cock sensor 32. On the basis of the detection, the driving of the dispensing cock motor 31 is controlled to operate the lever 21, and the dispensing cock 20 is held in the liquid dispensing state for a preset time. Thereby, a desired amount of liquid beer is poured into the beer mug in an inclined state. When the dispensing is completed, in step 108, the mug table motor 51 is driven again to return the mug table 40 and the beer mug to the upright state.
[0013]
After each of the above processes, in step 110, the electric control circuit 70 determines whether or not the beer pouring at that time is the first pouring after the power switch is turned on. At the time of the first beer dispensing, it is determined as “YES” here, and the automatic dispensing of beer is completed without separately dispensing foamy beer. In this case, the electric control circuit 70 starts the time measurement by the timer 71 for reference at the next beer pouring (step 116), and then returns the program to step 102 again. Then, the same step 102 is repeatedly executed to wait for the next ON operation of the dispensing button 61.
[0014]
When the beer mug is placed again on the mug table 40 and the dispensing button 61 is turned on during the repeated execution, the electric control circuit 70 executes the processing of the steps 104 to 108 to obtain the liquid beer. After dispensing, the program proceeds to step 112 and subsequent steps under the determination of “NO” in step 110.
[0015]
In this case, the electric control circuit 70 first sets a time for pouring foamy beer in step 112. Specifically, by referring to the time value of the timer 71, the elapsed time from when the previous dispensing button 61 was operated and the beer was dispensed is detected, and stored in advance based on the detected elapsed time. The extraction time is calculated and set with reference to the map shown in FIG. When not much time has passed since the previous pouring and the elapsed time is equal to or shorter than the predetermined time T1, the pouring time of the foamed beer is set to a preset longest time. On the other hand, when the predetermined time T1 or more has elapsed since the previous dispensing, the dispensing time is set so as to gradually decrease as the elapsed time increases. Furthermore, when the elapsed time exceeds the predetermined time T2, the extraction time is set to the value “0”.
[0016]
After setting the above-described dispensing time, the electric control circuit 70 controls the dispensing cock motor 31 based on the detection by the dispensing cock sensor 32 to operate the lever 21 in step 114, and only during the set time. The outlet cock 20 is held in the bubble pouring state. As a result, a desired amount of foamed beer is poured into the standing beer mug. In addition, when the predetermined time T2 or more has elapsed since the previous pouring and the pouring time is set to the value “0”, the pouring of the foamed beer is not executed.
[0017]
After each of the above processes, the electric control circuit 70 restarts the time counting by the timer 71 in step 116, completes the automatic dispensing of beer, and advances the program to step 102 again. Thereafter, the same processing is repeated.
[0018]
As described above, in the above embodiment, when the electric control circuit 70 turns on the dispensing button 61, the elapsed time from the previous dispensing of the beverage, that is, the atmosphere after the dispensing cock 20 is cooled by the beverage. The length of the warmed time is detected, and the dispensing time of the foamed beverage is set to be shorter as the detected elapsed time becomes longer. That is, since the beverage dispensing time is set taking into account the temperature of the dispensing cock 20 without being directly detected, the amount of beverage liquid and foam dispensed without directly detecting the amount of beverage is always determined. The desired amount can be maintained. In particular, when a long time has elapsed since the previous beverage is dispensed and the beverage is being dispensed in a state where the dispensing cock 20 is warmed by the atmosphere, the liquid beverage is foamed in the mug at the time of dispensing. Even if the amount to be increased is increased, the time to pour the foamed beverage is shortened and the amount of the beverage in the same foamed state is reduced, so the foamed beverage is prevented from overflowing from the mug. It has come to be.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a front view of a beverage dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the beverage dispenser.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electric control unit of the beverage dispenser.
4 is a flowchart corresponding to a program executed by the electric control circuit of FIG.
FIG. 5 is a map showing the dispensing time of a foamed beverage with respect to the elapsed time from the previous dispensing of the beverage stored in the electric control circuit of FIG. 3;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Main body, 20 ... Dispensing cock, 30 ... Switching mechanism, 40 ... Jug stand, 50 ... Lifting mechanism, 60 ... Operation panel, 61 ... Discharge button, 70 ... Electric control circuit, 71 ... Timer.

Claims (1)

A dispensing cock capable of selectively dispensing the cooled sparkling beverage into a liquid pouring state and a foam pouring state, and a pouring state of the sparkling beverage from the pouring cock in response to a switch operation. A beverage dispenser comprising an electrical control circuit that sequentially switches and controls from a dispensing state to a foam dispensing state , wherein the electrical control circuit is based on an elapsed time from the previous dispensing of the sparkling beverage when the switch is operated. It functions to set the dispensing time in the dispensing state, and the dispensing time in the foam dispensing state is equal to or shorter than the first predetermined time (T1) in which the elapsed time from the previous dispensing of the sparkling beverage is short. In this case, the preset maximum time is set, and the elapsed time is set to be gradually shortened as it exceeds the predetermined time (T1), and the second predetermined time (T2) having the long elapsed time is set. If it exceeds, set it to zero and Beverage dispenser, characterized in that the dispensing time of output state is controlled based on the set time.

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