JP4701519B2 - Cup vending machine beverage cooking equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a beverage cooking device for a cup-type vending machine, and in particular, to a beverage in a cup, for example, a powdery or granular food material such as cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, chocolate chip or almond chip (hereinafter referred to as the present specification). In particular, the present invention relates to a beverage cooking apparatus that cooks a beverage sold topped with a topping material).
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a beverage cooking apparatus for a cup-type vending machine that cooks a beverage (for example, cappuccino) topped with whipped cream on a beverage such as coffee is disclosed in JP-A-7-21460. This beverage cooking apparatus is selected from a canister for storing various powder ingredients (coffee powder, cream powder, sugar, cocoa powder, whipped cream powder, etc.) for each type, and a hot water tank for heating and storing water. Depending on the product, a predetermined amount of powder raw material is supplied from the canister, and a mixing bowl for stirring it with hot water from a hot water tank and a beverage produced by stirring and connected to the bottom of the mixing bowl , Equipped with a beverage tube leading to the cup of the sales outlet. The mixing bowl is composed of a plurality of mixing bowls. Specifically, in addition to the mixing bowl for stirring coffee powder together with cream powder and sugar, other powder raw materials such as cocoa powder and whipped cream powder are used. Are each composed of a mixing bowl for stirring together with warm water. In addition, the beverage pipes connected to the respective mixing bowls are piped so that their downstream ends gather at the top of the sales outlet.
[0003]
In the beverage cooking apparatus configured as described above, the cappuccino obtained by topping the coffee beverage with whipped cream is cooked as follows. First, a coffee beverage produced by stirring coffee powder and hot water in a mixing bowl is poured into a cup at a sales outlet through a beverage tube. And the whipped cream produced | generated by stirring whipped cream powder with a mixing bowl is topped with the coffee drink in a cup through a drink pipe. This completes the cooking of cappuccino.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-mentioned beverage cooking apparatus, the powder raw material is always stirred together with warm water in a mixing bowl, and the liquid product thereby is supplied to the cup via the beverage pipe. That is, the liquid product produced in the mixing bowl reaches the sales outlet by flowing in the beverage tube and is poured into the cup. Therefore, in this beverage cooking apparatus, liquid whipped cream can be topped on the coffee beverage in the cup, but powdered or granular topping material cannot be topped on the coffee beverage.
[0005]
The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and can be used to topp a powdered or granular topping material on a beverage in a cup. It aims at providing the drink cooking device of the cup type vending machine which can be provided to a person.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The beverage cooking device of the cup type vending machine according to the present invention has a state in which the topping material is scattered on the liquid surface of the beverage by topping the powdered or granular topping material on the beverage in the cup at the time of sale . A beverage cooking device of a cup-type vending machine that cooks beverages for sale, a beverage supply device that supplies a cup with a plurality of types of ingredients constituting a beverage or beverage according to a selected product, and this beverage supply device A topping material supply device for supplying the topping material to the beverage in the supplied cup so as to be scattered , and the beverage supply device is different from the cup transport device for transporting the cup along the transport path. And granular raw material and liquid raw material are respectively accommodated and arranged along the upper portion of the conveying path along with the cup conveying device. A plurality of powder raw material supply devices and liquid raw material supply devices for sequentially supplying the powder raw material and liquid raw material necessary for cooking the beverage to be supplied to the cup in the state of transporting the cup to the cup. The material supply device is configured as at least one of a plurality of powder raw material supply devices .
[0007]
According to this configuration, at the time of sale, a beverage according to a selected product or a plurality of types of raw materials (powdered or granular raw materials and liquid raw materials) constituting the beverage are first cupped by the beverage supply device. To supply. Next, the topping material supply device supplies the beverage in the cup so that the powdery or granular topping material is scattered . As this topping material, for example, cocoa powder, cinnamon powder, chocolate chips or almond chips can be used to cook sales beverages topped with such topping materials, thereby purchasing a variety of sales beverages Can be provided.
[0009]
Moreover, according to said structure, the granular raw material and liquid which are required in order to cook the drink which should be supplied to the cup currently conveyed along a conveyance path | route with a several granular raw material supply apparatus and a liquid raw material supply apparatus. The beverage is supplied into the cup by sequentially supplying the raw materials. Next, the topping material is supplied to the beverage in the cup by at least one powder raw material supply device having a function as a topping material supply device. Thus, a drink cooking apparatus can be manufactured at low cost by utilizing at least one of the existing plurality of powder raw material supply apparatuses as a topping material supply apparatus.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the inside of a vending machine to which a beverage cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in the figure, the vending machine conveys the cup along the conveyance path, and sequentially supplies powdered or granular raw material and hot water to the cup at a predetermined supply position on the conveyance path. Further, the beverage in the cup is topped with a powdery or granular topping material to prepare a beverage for sale, which is conveyed to a sales outlet and provided to the purchaser. As shown in the figure, the vending machine includes a cup dispenser 1 and a beverage cooking device 2 for cooking a beverage for sale while supplying raw materials, hot water and a topping material to a cup C received from the cup dispenser 1, A control device (not shown) having a microcomputer for performing various controls of the vending machine including the cup dispenser 1 and the beverage cooking device 2 is provided.
[0011]
The cup dispenser 1 stocks a large number of paper cups C stacked in the vertical direction, and the lowermost cup C is separated from the upper cup in the lower part and will be described later. A delivery mechanism (not shown) for delivery to the cup transport device 3 is provided. The cup dispenser 1 is provided above the left end of the cup transport device 3, and a position immediately below the cup dispenser 1 is a home position of a cup gripping mechanism 16 described later of the cup transport device 3.
[0012]
The beverage cooking device 2 contains a cup conveying device 3 that conveys the cup C received from the cup dispenser 1 and a different type of powdery or granular raw material (hereinafter referred to as “powdered raw material”) and is selected. Beverage supply having a plurality of raw material supply devices 4 (powder raw material supply devices) for sequentially supplying powder raw materials according to products to the cup C, and a hot water supply device 5 (liquid raw material supply device) for supplying hot water to the cups C The apparatus 6 and the stirring apparatus 7 which stirs the granular raw material and warm water supplied in the cup C are provided.
[0013]
The cup conveying device 2 includes a support frame 11 that extends horizontally in the left-right direction, a drive pulley 12 and a driven pulley 13 that are rotatably provided at both left and right ends of the support frame 11, and between these pulleys 12, 13. It has an endless transport belt 14 wound around, a transport motor 15 with an encoder that rotates the drive pulley 12 forward and backward, and a cup gripping mechanism 16 fixed to the transport belt 14.
[0014]
The cup gripping mechanism 16 is driven along the support frame 11 while holding the cup C received from the cup dispenser 1 from both the left and right sides, and is stopped at a plurality of predetermined positions. The cup gripping mechanism 16 is built in the case 17 having a box shape fixed to a predetermined portion of the conveyor belt 14, a pair of left and right grip arms 18 and 18 projecting forward from the front of the case 17, and the case 17. An arm driving mechanism (not shown) that opens and closes the gripping arms 18 and 18 is configured. When the cup gripping mechanism 16 moves in the left-right direction at the time of sale, the gripped cup C is transported along a transport path substantially parallel to the support frame 11. During the transport of the cup C, the cup gripping mechanism 16 is temporarily stopped at a predetermined position, and accordingly, the cup C is also temporarily stopped at the predetermined supply position, from the raw material supply device 4 corresponding to the supply position. Powder raw material is supplied to the cup C.
[0015]
The beverage cooking apparatus 2 of this embodiment has four raw material supply apparatuses 4 arranged adjacent to each other along the transport path of the cup C, and for cream powder and coffee powder in order from the left side. , Cocoa powder and sugar raw material supply devices 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D. Each raw material supply device 4 has a canister 21 that stores the granular raw material, and a supply mechanism 22 that is provided below the canister 21 and sends out the granular raw material in the canister 21 to the outside by a predetermined amount. The supply mechanism 22 includes a cylindrical chute 23 that extends vertically downward, and a predetermined amount of powder raw material falls through the chute 23 and is supplied to the cup C stopped at the supply position immediately below the chute 23. .
[0016]
Of the four raw material supply devices 4, the raw material supply device 4C for cocoa powder functions as a topping material supply device in addition to supplying cocoa powder to the cup C when cocoa is selected at the time of sale. That is, after the coffee drink is filled in the cup C, the coffee drink can be topped with cocoa powder as a topping material.
[0017]
The hot water supply device 5 is disposed on the right side of the rightmost raw material supply device 4D, that is, on the downstream side of the transport path of the cup C, and stores water by heating it with a heater (not shown) provided therein. And a supply nozzle 26 connected to the hot water tank 24 via a hot water valve 25 made of an electromagnetic valve. After supplying the powder raw material to the cup C, a predetermined amount of warm water is supplied to the cup C from the hot water tank 24 via the supply nozzle 26.
[0018]
The stirrer 7 includes a stirrer 27 that stirs the powder raw material and hot water in the cup C at the same time as or after the warm water is supplied to the cup C by the hot water supply device 5, and a lifting mechanism that moves the stirrer 27 up and down. 28. The stirrer 27 has a rotatable impeller 29 and a stirring motor (not shown) that rotationally drives the impeller 29. When the cup C stops at the hot water supply position (the position of the rightmost cup C indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1), the agitator 27 is driven downward by the elevating mechanism 28 and the impeller 29 is inserted into the cup C. The In this state, the impeller 29 rotates to stir the granular material and hot water in the cup C. After the stirring is completed, the stirrer 27 is driven up and returned to the original position before the lowering.
[0019]
Next, the operation | movement at the time of the sale of the drink cooking apparatus 2 comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated. For example, when the purchaser selects a coffee containing cream / sugar and selects the topping of the cocoa powder into the coffee beverage, first, the cup dispenser 1 is activated, and a number of cups stored in the cup dispenser 1 are operated. The lowermost cup C is cut off and dropped and transferred to the cup gripping mechanism 16 located at the home position.
[0020]
Next, the transport motor 15 of the cup transport device 3 operates, and the cup gripping mechanism 16 that grips the cup C moves to the right. And three raw material supply devices 4 for supplying cream powder, coffee powder and sugar, respectively, specifically, the respective supply positions corresponding to the left two raw material supply devices 4A and 4B and the rightmost raw material supply device 4D, Cup C is stopped, and cream powder, coffee powder, and sugar are sequentially supplied to cup C, respectively.
[0021]
When the supply of the powder raw material to the cup C is completed, the cup C is further conveyed to the right and stopped at the hot water supply position. And while supplying warm water to the cup C, the granular raw material and warm water in the cup C are stirred. After the stirring is completed, the transport motor 15 of the cup transport device 3 rotates in the reverse direction, whereby the cup C is transported to the left. And the cup C stops in the supply position of the raw material supply apparatus 4C which supplies cocoa powder, and the cocoa powder T is supplied to this cup C from the raw material supply apparatus 4C. This completes cooking of the beverage for sale in which the cocoa powder T is topped on the coffee beverage containing cream and sugar (see FIG. 2). In addition, after this transported beverage is transported to the right end by the cup transport device 3, it is transported to the sales outlet by a transport device (not shown) and provided to the purchaser.
[0022]
As described in detail above, according to the beverage cooking apparatus 2 of the present embodiment, a beverage for sale in which a cocoa powder T as a topping material is topped on a coffee beverage can be provided to the purchaser. In addition, since one of the plurality of existing raw material supply devices 4 is used as a topping material supply device, there is no need to newly provide a topping material supply device, thereby producing the beverage cooking device 2 at a low cost. Can do.
[0023]
In addition, this invention can be implemented in various aspects, without being limited to the said embodiment described. For example, in the present embodiment, a case where cocoa powder is topped in a coffee beverage has been described, but instead of cocoa powder, a topping material such as cinnamon powder, chocolate chip or almond chip is accommodated in the canister 21 of the raw material supply device 4C. Or by adding a raw material supply device capable of supplying any of these topping materials, it is possible to top them with a coffee beverage. By doing so, it is possible to provide the purchaser with a wide variety of sales beverages. Moreover, you may make it further provide the whipped cream supply apparatus for topping a whipped cream on the drink in a cup, and topping a topping material from on top of a whipped cream. Furthermore, the present invention is of course applicable to vending machines that topping materials other than coffee (for example, tea or soft drinks).
[0024]
In the embodiment, the powder raw material and hot water are supplied while transporting the cup C, but the present invention is a drink produced by stirring powder raw materials other than the topping material together with hot water in a conventional mixing bowl. Can be applied to vending machines that supply beverage cups to the cups of the sales outlets. In this case, the topping material supply device is installed above the sales outlet, and after the beverage from the mixing bowl is supplied to the cup of the sales outlet, the topping material is dropped from the topping material supply device, Topped with beverages.
[0025]
In addition, the detailed configuration of the beverage cooking apparatus 2 shown in the embodiment is merely an example, and can be appropriately changed within the scope of the gist of the present invention.
[0026]
【The invention's effect】
As described above in detail, the beverage cooking apparatus of the cup type vending machine of the present invention can topp the top beverage on the beverage in the cup, thereby providing the purchaser with a wide variety of sales beverages. It has the effect of being able to.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of a cup-type vending machine to which a beverage cooking apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a beverage for sale in which a topping material is topped on a beverage in a cup.
[Explanation of symbols]
2 Beverage cooking device 3 Cup transport device 4 Raw material supply device (powder material supply device)
4C Raw material supply device (topping material supply device)
5 Hot water supply device (liquid raw material supply device)
6 Beverage supply equipment C Cup T Cocoa powder (topping material)

Claims (1)

Beverage preparation of a cup-type vending machine that cooks a beverage in a state where the topping material is scattered on the liquid surface of the beverage by topping powdered or granular topping material on the beverage in the cup at the time of sale A device,
A beverage supply device that supplies a cup with a plurality of types of ingredients constituting the beverage or the beverage according to the selected product, and
The beverage in the cup supplied by the beverage supply device, and a topping material feeding device for feeding to scattered the topping material,
Equipped with a,
The beverage supply device is
A cup transport device for transporting the cup along the transport path;
While containing different types of powdery or granular powdery raw materials and liquid raw materials, the cups are arranged along the conveying path and along the cups, and the cups are conveyed by the cup conveying device. A plurality of powder raw material supply devices and liquid raw material supply devices for sequentially supplying the powder raw material and the liquid raw material required for cooking the beverage to be supplied to the cup,
The topping material supply device is configured as at least one of the plurality of powder raw material supply devices, and is a beverage cooking device for a cup-type vending machine.

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