JP5755485B2 - Beverage dispenser - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a beverage dispenser for supplying a beverage such as a carbonated beverage.

  As this type of beverage dispenser conventionally used, for example, a configuration shown in Patent Document 1 can be exemplified. That is, the conventional apparatus is provided with an upper ice storage for storing ice pieces to be provided to the outside and a lower ice storage for storing ice pieces for cooling the beverage via the cold plate. The bottom surface of the upper ice storage is constituted by an inclined surface, and an opening that communicates between the upper ice storage and the lower ice storage is provided at the upper portion of the bottom surface. That is, the ice pieces are preferentially stored in the upper ice store, and when the ice pieces in the upper ice store exceed a certain amount, the ice pieces in the upper ice store are supplied to the lower ice store.

JP 9-315493 A

  In the conventional beverage dispenser as described above, the ice dispenser in the upper ice store is supplied to the lower ice store through the opening only when the ice pieces in the upper ice store exceed a certain amount. Depending on the operation, the amount of ice pieces in the lower ice store may be less than the amount required for beverage cooling. It can be considered that ice pieces are preferentially stored in the lower ice store, and the ice pieces are stored in the upper ice store after the lower ice store is full. There may be a situation where the ice pieces in the upper ice store are insufficient, although ice pieces are stored in the ice store.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and its purpose is to avoid the shortage of ice pieces in the upper ice storage, and to reduce the amount of ice pieces necessary for cooling the beverage. It is to provide a beverage dispenser that can be maintained.

The beverage dispenser according to the present invention is an upper ice storage for storing ice pieces to be provided to the outside, a lower ice storage disposed below the upper ice storage and connected to the upper ice storage through a communication passage, A cold plate which is provided in the lower ice storage and has a flow path inside and cools the beverage body passing through the flow path by heat exchange with ice pieces stored in the lower ice storage, and is attached to the cold plate and is cold A temperature detection unit that detects the surface temperature of the plate, a switch that is provided in the communication passage, opens and closes the communication passage, and is connected to the temperature detection unit and the switch, and the surface temperature of the cold plate detected by the temperature detection unit is When the temperature is lower than the predetermined reference temperature, the communication path is closed by the switch, and when the surface temperature of the cold plate detected by the temperature detector is higher than the reference temperature, the switch By opening the communication passage Te, and a ice chips supply control unit for controlling the supply of ice chips to the lower ice bin from the top of the ice bin.

  According to the beverage dispenser of the present invention, the lower ice storage is connected to the upper ice storage via the communication passage, and the opening / closing operation of the switch is controlled based on the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit. Since the supply of ice pieces to the lower ice storage is controlled, ice pieces necessary for cooling the beverage can be supplied to the lower ice storage according to the use status of the beverage dispenser while preferentially storing the ice pieces in the upper ice storage. . Thereby, it can avoid that the ice piece in an upper ice store is insufficient, and can maintain the quantity of the ice piece required for drink cooling.

It is a front view which shows the drink dispenser by Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the drink dispenser of FIG. 1 in the state which removed some covers. It is a perspective view which shows the internal structure of the upper ice store of FIG. It is a cross-sectional perspective view of a lower ice storage when the lower ice storage of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the cold plate of FIG. It is a bottom view which shows the cold plate of FIG. It is an enlarged view which expands and shows the temperature detection part of FIG. It is a side view which shows the temperature detection part of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows a communication path when the communication path of FIG. 2 is seen from diagonally forward and downward. It is a perspective view which shows the switch of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the ice piece supply control part which controls the switch of FIG.

Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Embodiment 1 FIG.
FIG. 1 is a front view showing a beverage dispenser according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the beverage dispenser of FIG. 1 with some covers removed. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the beverage dispenser includes a stage 1, an ice piece discharge unit 2, a beverage dispensing unit 3, an ice making unit 4, an upper ice store 5, a lower ice store 6, and a communication passage 7 (FIG. 1). 2). The stage 1 is a table on which a cup is placed by a user. The ice piece discharge unit 2 is disposed above the stage 1 and discharges ice pieces to a cup on the stage 1 in accordance with a user operation. The drink pouring part 3 is arrange | positioned above the stage 1 along with the ice piece discharge | release part 2, and pours a drink into the cup on the stage 1 according to a user's operation.

  The ice making unit 4 and the upper ice storage 5 are disposed above the ice piece discharging unit 2 and the beverage dispensing unit 3. The ice making unit 4 is, for example, a known auger type or cell type ice making machine, and generates ice pieces from ice-making water supplied from the outside. The upper ice storage 5 is an ice storage disposed immediately below the ice making unit 4, and ice pieces generated in the ice making unit 4 are directly supplied to the upper ice storage 5. The ice pieces discharged from the ice piece discharge unit 2 are ice pieces stored in the upper ice storage 5.

  The lower ice storage 6 is an ice storage disposed below the upper ice storage 5, and is connected to the upper ice storage 5 via a communication passage 7 (see FIG. 2). That is, the ice pieces stored in the upper ice storage 5 are supplied to the lower ice storage 6. As will be described in detail later, the ice pieces stored in the lower ice storage 6 are for cooling the beverage poured out from the beverage dispensing section 3.

  Next, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of the upper ice storage 5 of FIG. In the figure, the upper ice storage 5 is provided with a stirring mechanism 50, a plurality of weighing masses 51 a and 51 b, and a communication opening 52. The stirring mechanism 50 includes a disc-shaped wheel 50a having a plurality of blade portions on the outer periphery, and a rod-shaped agitator 50b. The wheel 50a and the agitator 50b are connected to a motor (not shown), and the ice pieces in the upper ice storage 5 are agitated by rotating the wheel 50a and the agitator 50b by the driving force of the motor.

  The weighing masses 51a and 51b are made of members having a C-shaped cross section with different internal capacities. A certain amount of ice pieces carried by the blades of the wheel 50a are stored in the weighing masses 51a and 51b as the wheel 50a is rotationally driven. These weighing masses 51a and 51b are connected to a motor (not shown), and are rotated by the driving force of the motor when the user operates the ice piece discharge unit 2 (see FIG. 1). When the weighing masses 51a and 51b are driven to rotate, a certain amount of ice pieces corresponding to the internal volumes of the weighing masses 51a and 51b are discharged from the ice piece discharge unit 2.

  The communication opening 52 is an opening provided on the side surface of the upper ice storage 5, and is a place to which a communication passage 7 connecting the upper ice storage 5 and the lower ice storage 6 is connected.

  Next, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the lower ice storage 6 when the lower ice storage 6 of FIG. 1 is viewed obliquely from above and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cold plate 62 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the lower ice storage 6 is provided with a communication opening 60, an agitator 61, and a cold plate 62. The communication opening 60 is an opening for connecting the communication passage 7 from the upper ice storage 5, and is provided in the upper part of the lower ice storage 6. The agitator 61 is connected to a motor (not shown), and the ice pieces in the lower ice storage 6 are agitated by rotating the agitator 61 by the driving force of the motor.

  The cold plate 62 is disposed at the bottom of the lower ice storage 6. Ice pieces in the lower ice storage 6 are stored on the cold plate 62. As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of tubes 62 a extend from the cold plate 62. Although only an outline is shown in FIG. 4, the pipe 62 a is arranged in a meandering manner inside the cold plate 62. A beverage poured out from the beverage dispensing section 3 or a beverage body containing a beverage stock solution or carbonated water for producing this beverage is passed through the pipe 62a. That is, the cold plate 62 cools the beverage body passing through the pipe 62a (flow path) by heat exchange with the ice pieces stored in the lower ice storage 6.

  6 is a bottom view showing the cold plate 62 shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing the temperature detecting unit 65 shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 shows the temperature detecting unit 65 shown in FIG. FIG. As shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, a temperature detection unit 65 is attached to the bottom surface of the cold plate 62 (the surface on the bottom surface side of the lower ice storage 6). The temperature detection unit 65 is configured by a thermistor, for example, and detects the surface temperature of the cold plate 62. The surface temperature of the cold plate 62 is raised when the amount of ice pieces in the lower ice storage 6 is insufficient with respect to the flow rate of the beverage body passing through the pipe 62a in the lower ice storage 6. That is, by monitoring the surface temperature of the cold plate 62 by the temperature detector 65, it is possible to monitor whether or not the ice pieces stored in the lower ice storage 6 are insufficient. The output of the temperature detector 65 is input to an ice piece supply controller 8 (see FIG. 11) described later.

  Next, FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the communication path 7 when the communication path 7 of FIG. In the figure, the communication passage 7 includes a curved pipe portion 7 a connected to the upper ice storage 5 and a straight pipe portion 7 b connected to the lower ice storage 6. A switch 70 is incorporated between the curved pipe portion 7a and the straight pipe portion 7b.

  Next, FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the switch 70 of FIG. In the figure, the switch 70 includes a block body 71, a shielding plate 72, and a motor 73. The block body 71 is an inclusion interposed between the curved pipe portion 7a and the straight pipe portion 7b. The block body 71 is provided with a hole 71a having the same diameter as the curved pipe portion 7a and the straight pipe portion 7b. The shielding plate 72 is a disk-shaped member provided in the hole 71a, and is supported by the block body 71 so as to be rotatable about the rotation shaft 72a. The motor 73 is connected to the rotating shaft 72a of the shielding plate 72, and rotates the shielding plate 72 in accordance with control by an ice piece supply control unit 8 described later. The outer diameter of the shielding plate 72 is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the hole 71a, and the ice plate in the communication passage 7 is stopped by stopping the shielding plate 72 at an angle orthogonal to the axial direction of the hole 71a. Movement is restricted. That is, the switch 70 is for opening and closing the communication passage 7.

  Next, FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the ice piece supply control unit 8 that controls the switch 70 of FIG. In the figure, the temperature detector 65 and the motor 73 of the switch 70 are connected to the ice piece supply controller 8. The ice piece supply control unit 8 is configured by a computer having a storage unit that stores information such as a program and an arithmetic unit that performs arithmetic processing based on the information in the storage unit. The ice piece supply control unit 8 controls the opening / closing operation of the switch 70 based on the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit 65 to control the supply of ice pieces from the upper ice storage 5 to the lower ice storage 6.

  Specifically, when the surface temperature of the cold plate 62 detected by the temperature detection unit 65 is lower than a predetermined reference temperature, the ice piece supply control unit 8 determines that the ice piece amount in the lower ice storage 6 is the beverage cooling. And the operation of the motor 73 is controlled so as to close the communication passage 7. At this time, the supply of ice pieces from the upper ice storage 5 to the lower ice storage 6 is stopped, and the ice pieces are stored in the upper ice storage 5. On the other hand, when the surface temperature of the cold plate 62 is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference temperature, the ice piece supply control unit 8 detects that the ice piece amount in the lower ice storage 6 is insufficient for cooling the beverage, The operation of the motor 73 is controlled so as to open the communication passage 7. At this time, ice pieces are supplied from the upper ice storage 5 to the lower ice storage 6, and ice pieces are stored in the lower ice storage 6.

  In such a beverage dispenser, the lower ice storage 6 is connected to the upper ice storage 5 via the communication passage 7, and the opening / closing operation of the switch 70 is controlled based on the temperature detected by the temperature detection unit 65. Since the supply of ice pieces from the ice storage 5 to the lower ice storage 6 is controlled, ice pieces necessary for cooling the beverage according to the use state of the beverage dispenser are stored while preferentially storing the ice pieces in the upper ice storage 5. It can be supplied to the lower ice storage 6. Thereby, it can avoid that the ice piece in the upper ice storage 5 runs short, and can maintain the quantity of ice piece required for drink cooling. In such a configuration, even when the usage mode of the beverage dispenser is biased to either ice piece provision or beverage cooling, the ice piece produced by the ice making unit 4 can be used to the maximum extent possible, which is convenient for the user. Can greatly improve the performance.

  5 upper ice storage, 6 lower ice storage, 7 communication passage, 8 ice piece supply control unit, 65 temperature detection unit, 70 switch.

Claims (1)

An upper ice storage, where ice pieces for storage to the outside are stored,
A lower ice storage that is disposed below the upper ice storage and connected to the upper ice storage via a communication passage;
A cold plate that is provided in the lower ice storage, has a flow path inside, and cools the beverage body passing through the flow path by heat exchange with ice pieces stored in the lower ice storage;
A temperature detector that is attached to the cold plate and detects a surface temperature of the cold plate;
A switch provided in the communication passage to open and close the communication passage;
When the surface temperature of the cold plate detected by the temperature detector is lower than a predetermined reference temperature, the communication passage is closed by the switch and connected to the temperature detector and the switch, and the temperature detector by opening the communication passage by the switch when the surface temperature of the cold plate that has been detected is the reference temperature or higher by controlling the supply of ice chips from the previous SL upper ice bin to the lower ice bin A beverage dispenser comprising: an ice piece supply control unit.

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