JP5336795B2 - Beverage supply equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a beverage supply apparatus.

Conventionally, various types of tea dispensers are known. For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a tea dispenser including a water supply cassette at the lower part of the main body. In this tea dispenser, the water derived from the water supply cassette at the lower part of the main body is heated and carried to the upper part of the tea dispenser, and then hot water is dropped from above the tea leaves to prepare tea.
JP 2000-79062 A

  However, in the tea dispenser described in Patent Document 1, since the water supply cassette is arranged at the lower part, in order to attach the water supply cassette, it is necessary to bend down to the lower part of the tea dispenser, which is inconvenient to remove. There is a problem. In addition, since the water in the water supply cassette must be pumped up to the top of the tea dispenser, a power source for moving the pump is necessary, which is not suitable for the modern society aiming for energy saving.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a subject, The energy which raises the liquid in a storage tank is not required by attaching a storage tank to the upper part of a drink supply apparatus, and the removal of a storage tank is easy. The main object is to provide a beverage supply device.

  The present invention adopts the following means in order to achieve at least one of the above objects.

The beverage supply device of the present invention is a beverage supply device comprising a liquid supply unit capable of attaching a storage tank for storing a liquid at an upper portion thereof, and a beverage preparation unit disposed below the liquid supply unit. , the beverage preparation unit includes a material reservoir for storing the material, a mixing portion for mixing the raw material supplied from the raw material reservoir with liquid supplied from the liquid supply unit, into contact with the material reservoir A canister fixing part as a raw material storage part contact part, and the raw material storage part contact part is in contact with the raw material storage part, and an open position in which the raw material storage part is opened. The raw material storage part abutting part has a rotating rod as a rotating member and a canister motor for rotating the rotating bar, and the raw material storage part is a part of the raw material storage part. Summit And a stirring member provided inside the raw material storage unit and connected to the meshing member, and the meshing members are arranged substantially parallel to each other. When the raw material storage unit abutting portion is disposed at the abutting position, the rotating rod is disposed between the two projecting portions to drive the driving force of the canister motor to the stirring member. Can be communicated to .

In this beverage supply apparatus, since the storage tank is attached to the upper part, the liquid's own weight can be used when supplying the liquid beverage adjustment unit in the storage tank. For this reason, compared with the case where the storage tank is attached to the lower part, it contributes to energy saving. Further, when the storage tank is replaced, it is not necessary to bend the liquid supply unit and replace it. Furthermore, since the upper part of the raw material storage part can be made into an open state, even if it is a case where the inside is cleaned with the raw material storage part attached, it can be easily cleaned. Further, for example, even if the raw material storage unit and the raw material storage unit contact part are not continuous by a structure such that the raw material storage part contact part is removable, the rotating member and the engagement member are engaged with each other. The stirring member can be rotated by rotating the rotating member. The “contact position” means a position where the raw material storage section and the raw material storage section contact section are in contact, and the position where the raw material storage section contact section prevents the movement of the raw material storage section. The “position” means a position where the raw material storage part and the raw material storage part contact part do not contact each other, and a position where there is a gap.

  In the beverage supply device of the present invention, the raw material storage unit may be a raw material storage unit that is detachable from the beverage preparation unit. If it carries out like this, it can clean more easily by removing a raw material storage part.

In the beverage supply device of the present invention, the two protrusions of the meshing member may be formed in a substantially right triangle shape having an inclined surface rearward in the rotational direction. In this way, when the cantilever fixing portion is moved to the contact position, if the rotating rod comes into contact with the inclined surface, the protrusion or rotating rod rotates as the rotating rod moves downward along the inclined surface. However, regardless of the rotational position of the protrusion, the rotating rod is guided between two members arranged substantially in parallel. Further, since the protrusion has a right triangle shape having a slope on the rear side in the rotation direction, there is no possibility that a force is applied to the protrusion in the direction opposite to the rotation direction when the rotating rod moves downward. . For this reason, the stirring member that communicates with the protruding portion rotates in the reverse direction, and a region that does not have the powdered raw material is generated in the lower portion of the stirring member, thereby preventing the preparation of a beverage with less raw material (that is, a low concentration). be able to.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the dee server 10, FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged perspective view for explaining the configuration of the tea server 10, and FIG. 3 is for explaining the open / closed state of the canister unit 40. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the open / closed state of the canister body 50, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an outline of the configuration of the piping section 60, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram for explaining the outline of the configuration of the piping unit 60, and FIG. 7 is a plan view for explaining the configuration of the mixing unit 80. As shown in FIG. 1, the tea server 10 of the present invention has a tea dispenser unit 30 attached to the front surface of a water server unit 20.

  Here, the correspondence between the constituent elements of the present embodiment and the constituent elements of the present invention will be clarified. The tea server 10 of this embodiment corresponds to the beverage supply device of the present invention, the water supply bottle 22 corresponds to a storage tank, the water server unit 20 corresponds to a liquid supply unit, and the canister body 50 corresponds to a raw material storage unit. The canister fixing portion 44 corresponds to the ingredient storage section, the tea dispenser unit 30 corresponds to the beverage preparation unit, the rotating rod 46 corresponds to the rotating member, the protrusion 52 corresponds to the meshing member, and the wing 56 Corresponds to a stirring member. In the present embodiment, an example of the operation method of the tea server 10 of the present invention is also clarified by describing the operation of the tea server 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the water server unit 20 includes a water supply bottle 22 detachably attached to an upper portion, a cold water tank 24, and a hot water tank 26. The water bottle 22 is made of a transparent material. For this reason, since the remaining amount of water in the water supply bottle 22 can be known at a glance, the user can be notified of the replacement time of the water supply bottle 22. Furthermore, a sense of cleanliness can be given to the consumer due to the transparency. The cold water tank 24 and the hot water tank 26 are connected to the water supply bottle 22 by a water supply pipe (not shown). The water led out from the water supply bottle 22 is heated or cooled by a heater or a cooler (not shown).

  As shown in FIG. 2, the tea dispenser unit 30 supplies cold water or hot water from the cold water tank 24 or the hot water tank 26 in order from the top and the canister unit 40 for storing raw materials (for example, tea powder) (see FIG. 3) A piping section 60 (see FIG. 5), and a mixing section 80 (see FIG. 6) for mixing cold water or hot water and a raw material. Cold water or hot water led out from the cold water tank 24 and the hot water tank 26 is supplied to the mixing unit 80 via the piping unit 60. Cold water or hot water and the raw material supplied from the canister unit 40 are mixed in the mixing unit 80 and supplied to the paper cup 100.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the canister unit 40 includes a canister body 50, a canister insertion hole 42, and a canister fixing portion 44. As shown in FIG. 4, the canister body 50 includes a rotatable protrusion 52 on the upper surface of the canister body 50, and a discharge port 54 for discharging the raw material stored in the canister body 50 at the lower part of the canister body 50. A part of the upper surface of the canister body 50 has a lid 53 that can be opened and closed. As shown in FIG. 4 (A), the protrusion 52 has a substantially right triangle shape having an inclined surface rearward in the rotation direction of the protrusion 52, and is composed of two members arranged substantially parallel to each other. Here, the substantially right triangle shape means a shape that can be regarded as a right triangle, such as a shape in which at least one vertex of the right triangle is an arc shape in addition to a right triangle shape, and substantially parallel means parallel. In addition to the state, it means a state where the two arranged members do not contact each other. As shown in FIG. 4, the wing 56 communicates with the protrusion 52 at the upper part of the canister body, and has a screw part 58 at the lower part. For this reason, when the protrusion 52 rotates, the wing 56 and the screw part 58 rotate simultaneously. That is, the raw material stored inside the canister body 50 is stirred by the blades 56 and discharged from the discharge port 54 by a certain amount through the screw portion 58. By doing so, even if the powdered tea powder is solidified during storage, it is agitated by the wings 56, and a fixed amount of powder can be discharged by the screw portion 76 in accordance with the rotational speed.

  Here, a method for fixing the canister body 50 to the canister 40 will be described in detail. When the canister body 50 is fixed to the canister section 40, first, a part of the canister body 50 is inserted into the canister insertion hole 42 provided in the canister section 40 as shown in FIG. Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the canister fixing portion 44 is rotated, and the upper portion of the canister main body 50 is fixed by the canister fixing portion 44 (corresponding to the contact position of the present invention). One side of the canister fixing part 44 is in contact with the canister part 40, and the canister fixing part 44 rotates up and down around this one side. When the canister fixing portion 44 is rotated downward (in a direction approaching the canister main body 50), the rotating rod 46 provided at the lower portion of the canister fixing portion 44 meshes with the protrusion 52 provided at the upper portion of the canister main body 50. To do. In other words, the rotating rod 46 enters between the two members arranged substantially in equilibrium with the protrusion 52. At this time, as described above, since the protrusion 52 has a substantially right triangle shape having an inclined surface rearward in the rotation direction of the protrusion 52, the canister fixing portion 44 is moved to the contact position. When the rotating rod 46 comes into contact with the inclined surface, the protrusion 52 or the rotating rod 46 rotates as the rotating rod 46 moves downward along the inclined surface, and the rotation position of the protruding portion 52 is related. Instead, the rotating rod 46 is guided between two members arranged substantially in parallel. Furthermore, since the protrusion 52 has a right triangle shape having a slope on the rear side in the rotation direction, when the rotating rod 46 moves downward, a force is applied to the protrusion 52 in the direction opposite to the rotation direction. There is no fear. For this reason, the screw portion 58 communicating with the projection portion 52 rotates in the reverse direction, and a region having no powdered raw material is generated below the screw portion 58, so that a beverage with less raw material (that is, a low concentration) is prepared. Can be prevented. On the other hand, when the canister body 50 is removed from the canister section 40, the canister fixing section 44 that fixes the upper portion of the canister body 50 is rotated upward, and as shown in FIG. And the canister fixing portion 44 are brought into contact with each other to open the canister body 50 (corresponding to one of the open positions of the present invention). By doing so, the canister body 50 can be easily detached from the canister 40.

  A canister motor (not shown) is provided inside the canister fixing portion 44, and the rotating rod 46 can be rotated by operating the canister motor. The rotating rod 46 is provided below the canister fixing portion 44 and is in contact with the canister fixing portion 44 at the center position of the rotating rod 46. The power of the canister motor is transmitted to this contact by a drive shaft (not shown). When the canister motor rotates, the rotating rod 46 also rotates at the same time. Further, as described above, the rotating rod 46 can be engaged with the protrusion 52 on the upper surface of the canister body 50. Therefore, as described above, when the canister main body 50 is fixed by the canister fixing portion 44, when the canister motor (not shown) is operated, the rotating rod 46 rotates and meshes with the rotating rod 46. The protruding portion 52 thus rotated rotates.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the piping unit 60 supplies cold water or hot water to the cold water tank 24, a hot water pipe 64 connected to the hot water tank, an open pipe 66 that is always open, and a mixing unit. A first discharge pipe 68, a second discharge pipe 70, a third discharge pipe 72, a fourth fourth discharge pipe 74, and an electromagnetic valve 76 that opens and closes the ends of the respective pipes are provided. These solenoid valves 76 are closed when not in use. For example, when hot water is discharged from the first discharge port 68, a closing valve 76 b (see FIG. 6) provided in the hot water pipe 64 and the first discharge are provided. A closing valve 76c (see FIG. 6) provided at the outlet 68 is opened. By doing so, hot water is introduced from the hot water pipe 64, and hot water is discharged from the first discharge pipe 68. At this time, since the piping unit 60 includes the open pipe 66, the piping unit 60 is not sealed even when all the solenoid valves 76 are closed. By doing so, the hot water in the pipe section 60 can be discharged from the first discharge pipe 68 even after the closing valve 76b is closed. The opening / closing of each solenoid valve 76 is controlled by a controller (not shown). Moreover, since it is the same also when discharging hot water from another discharge port, or when discharging cold water, description is abbreviate | omitted here.

As shown in FIG. 7, the mixing unit 80 includes a first recess 82, a second recess 84, a third recess 86, and a fourth recess 88 in a single plate-like member. The tea powder, which is a raw material, and cold water or hot water are mixed in the one concave portion 82, the second concave portion 84, or the third concave portion 86. Thus, since the mixing part 80 consists of one plate-shaped member, when cleaning the mixing part 80 , since a some recessed part can be cleaned simultaneously, a labor can be saved.

As shown in FIG. 7, the first recess 82 includes a first tea outlet 92 for discharging a mixture of tea powder and cold water or hot water. The first recess 82 consists of two parts of the narrow portion 82a and a wide portion 82b, the narrow portion 82a is positioned higher than the first tea supply port 92, and is located just below the first exhaust pipe 68. For this reason, the cold water or hot water discharged from the first discharge pipe 68 is pulled down by the narrow portion 82a and led to the first tea outlet 92 by its own weight. Wide portion 82b is positioned immediately below the discharge port 54, a structure is gradually lowered from the narrow portion 82a toward the first tea supply port 92. During this reason, the dissolved while cold or to hot water and the tea powder supplied to the narrow portion 82a from the first discharge pipe 68 flows from the narrow portion 82a passes through the wide portion 82 b, and reaches the first tea supply port 92 A beverage is prepared. Moreover, the 4th recessed part 88 is used when supplying cold water or hot water to the paper cup 100 as it is, without mixing a tea powder. In addition, although the case where cold water or hot water and a raw material were mixed in the 1st recessed part 82 was demonstrated, the structure of the 2nd recessed part 84 and the 3rd recessed part 86 is the same as that of the 1st recessed part 82, The 2nd recessed part 84 Since the same applies to the case of mixing in the third recess 86, the description is omitted here.

  The beverage (mixture of raw material and cold water or hot water) mixed in the first recess 82 is dropped from a first tea outlet 92 onto a previously installed paper cup 100. At this time, since the first tea outlet 92 is provided with the clear flow valve 99, the beverage can be reliably supplied to the paper cup 100.

According to the tea server 10 of the present embodiment described in detail above, the water server unit 20 to which the water bottle 22 can be attached, the canister unit 40 for storing tea powder, and the cold water supplied from the water server unit 20 Or the mixing part 80 which mixes hot water and the tea powder supplied from the canister part 40 is provided. For this reason, compared with the case where the water supply bottle 22 is provided in the lower part, it can contribute to energy saving more. Furthermore, the water server unit 20 can also use an existing water server. For this reason, a labor can be reduced rather than the case where the water server unit 20 is newly made.

  The tea dispenser unit 30 includes a canister body 50 and a canister fixing portion 44 that abuts the canister body 50, and the canister fixing portion 44 rotates up and down. Therefore, the canister body 50 can be opened by rotating the canister fixing portion 44 upward. Therefore, when the inside of the canister body 50 is cleaned, it can be easily cleaned.

  Furthermore, the canister body 50 is detachable from the tea dispenser unit 30. Therefore, by removing the canister body 50, the inside of the canister body 50 can be cleaned more easily.

  Furthermore, the canister fixing part 44 has a rotating rod 46, the canister body 50 has a protrusion 52 and a wing 56 communicating with the protrusion 52, and when the canister main body 50 is fixed by the canister fixing part 44, The rotating rod 46 and the protrusion 52 are engaged with each other. By doing so, the wing 56 can be rotated by rotating the rotating rod 46. Therefore, even if the canister fixing portion 44 is moved, the wings 56 can be rotated.

  It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be implemented in various modes as long as it belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the water server unit 20 includes the cold water tank 24 and the hot water tank 26, but the cold water tank 24 and the hot water tank 26 may not be provided. In this case, since the water supply bottle 22 and the piping part 60 can be directly connected, the water server unit 20 can be made smaller. In this case, when cooling or heating the water in the water supply bottle 22, a cooler or a heater may be adjacent to the pipe portion 60, or a cooler or A heater may be adjacent. Also in this case, the same effect as the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

  In the embodiment described above, tea powder is exemplified as a raw material stored in the canister body 50, but the raw material is not limited to tea powder, and may be a powder such as coffee powder or a dried beverage. It may be a liquid such as a concentrated beverage or coffee. Also in this case, the same effect as the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

  In the above-described embodiment, the canister fixing portion 44 is rotated up and down to come into contact with the canister main body 50. Absent. For example, the canister fixing part 44 may be removable, the canister fixing part 44 may be rotated left and right, or may be slid up and down or left and right. Also in this case, the same effect as the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

  In the above-described embodiment, when the canister body 50 is removed from the canister 40, the canister 40 and the canister fixing part 44 are brought into contact with each other. However, the canister fixing part 44 is provided with a claw part. You may make it provide the recessed part which latches this nail | claw part. By so doing, the canister fixing portion 44 is fixed to the canister portion 40, and therefore, when removing the canister main body 50, the canister fixing portion 44 does not fall down. The method for fixing the canister fixing portion 44 is not limited to the claw portion and the concave portion. For example, the canister fixing portion 44 such as a male button and a female button, plus and minus magnets, etc. Any material can be used as long as it can be detachably fixed to the housing.

  In the above-described embodiment, the protrusion 52 has a substantially right-angled triangular shape in the upward direction. However, the protrusion 52 is in a direction that meshes with a member corresponding to the rotating rod 46 regardless of whether the protrusion 52 is oriented in the horizontal direction or the oblique direction. There is no particular limitation as long as it is present. The shape of the protrusion 52 is not particularly limited as long as it is a shape that meshes with a member corresponding to the rotating rod 46, such as a triangular shape, an obtuse triangular shape, a quadrangular shape, a substantially rectangular shape, or a semicircular shape. . Also in this case, the same effect as the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of the tea server 10. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged perspective view for explaining the configuration of the tee server 10. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an open / closed state of the canister unit 40. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the open / closed state of the canister body 50. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an outline of the configuration of the piping section 60. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram for explaining the outline of the configuration of the piping section 60. FIG. 7 is a plan view for explaining the configuration of the mixing unit 80.

Explanation of symbols

  10 tea server, 20 water server unit, 22 water bottle, 24 cold water tank, 26 hot water tank, 30 tea dispenser unit, 40 canister part, 42 canister insertion hole, 44 canister fixing part, 46 rotating rod, 50 canister body, 52 protrusion Part, 53 lid, 54 outlet, 56 wings, 58 screw part, 60 pipe part, 62 cold water pipe, 64 hot water pipe, 66 release pipe, 68 first discharge pipe, 70 second discharge pipe, 72 third discharge pipe, 74 4th discharge pipe, 76 solenoid valve, 80 mixing part, 82 1st recessed part, 82a narrow part, 82b wide part, 84 2nd recessed part, 84a narrow part, 84b wide part, 86 3rd recessed part, 86a narrow part, 86b Wide part, 88 4th recessed part, 92 1st tea outlet, 94 2nd tea outlet, 96 3rd tea outlet, 98 4th tea outlet, 99 Clear flow valve, 10 0 paper cups.

Claims (3)

A beverage supply apparatus comprising: a liquid supply unit capable of attaching a storage tank for storing liquid at an upper portion; and a beverage preparation unit disposed below the liquid supply unit,
The beverage preparation unit is
A raw material storage section for storing raw materials;
A mixing unit for mixing the raw material supplied from the raw material reservoir with liquid supplied from the liquid supply unit,
A canister fixing portion as a raw material storage portion contact portion that contacts the raw material storage portion;
Have
The raw material storage unit contact part is configured to be movable between a contact position that contacts the raw material storage part and an open position that opens the raw material storage part,
The raw material storage unit abutting portion has a rotating rod as a rotating member and a canister motor for rotating the rotating rod,
The raw material storage unit has a meshing member rotatably provided on a top surface of the raw material storage unit, and a stirring member provided inside the raw material storage unit and connected to the meshing member. ,
The meshing member includes two protrusions arranged substantially parallel to each other,
When the raw material storage portion contact portion is disposed at the contact position, the rotating rod is disposed between the two protrusions, and the driving force of the canister motor can be transmitted to the stirring member. Features
Beverage supply device. The raw material storage unit is a raw material storage unit detachable from the beverage preparation unit.
The beverage supply apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The beverage supply device according to claim 1, wherein the two protrusions of the meshing member are formed in a substantially right triangle shape having an inclined surface rearward in the rotation direction.

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