JP5849519B2 - Beverage extraction material crusher - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is applied to cup-type vending machines, beverage dispensers, and the like, and relates to a beverage extraction raw material crusher for crushing raw materials such as coffee beans in order to cook beverages such as coffee by extraction.

  Conventionally, for example, a coffee mill disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known as a coffee bean crusher. This coffee mill is opposed to the rotary blade with the motor having a horizontally extending rotary shaft, the rotary blade provided on the front end side of the drive shaft directly connected to the rotary shaft of the motor, and the drive shaft passing therethrough. Ring-shaped fixed blades arranged on the outer periphery of the drive shaft, a screw for feeding coffee beans between the rotary blades and the fixed blades, and an outer peripheral side of the rotary blades. It is provided with rotating blades and the like that are provided. The coffee mill also includes a casing that constitutes an outer shell thereof, and coffee beans crushed by these blades between a predetermined inner wall surface of the casing and the outer peripheral surfaces of the rotary blade and the fixed blade. (Hereinafter referred to as “coffee powder”) is sent to the outside through the gap between the two blades, and a ring-shaped powder feed passage is defined in which the rotary blades move around. In addition, the casing is provided with a coffee bean inlet through which coffee beans are introduced from above, on the upper side of the screw, and a discharge passage for discharging coffee powder downward is provided below the powder feed passage. It has been.

  In this coffee mill, when the motor is operated, and before and after this, the coffee beans are fed into the coffee bean inlet, the coffee beans are sent between the rotating blade and the fixed blade by the rotating screw, Crushed between. The coffee powder generated by this pulverization is sent out to the powder delivery path by the centrifugal force of the rotary blade. Then, the coffee blades are scraped and collected by the rotating blades that circulate in the powder delivery passage and are discharged downward through the discharge passage.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-124062

  In the above coffee mill, the coffee beans are crushed between the rotary blade and the fixed blade, and when the coffee powder sent to the powder feed passage from both blades is scraped by the rotary blade, By being rubbed against the wall surface, the coffee powder is charged by static electricity. As described above, when the coffee powder is charged, the coffee powder tends to adhere and remain near the connection between the powder delivery passage and the discharge passage and on the inner wall surface of the discharge passage. Are formed so as to gradually increase in the downward direction, thereby suppressing the above-mentioned adhesion / residue of the coffee powder.

  However, the adoption of the discharge passage having the shape as described above is not sufficient for suppressing the adhesion / residue of coffee powder. That is, when the coffee beans are crushed, the portions of the coffee mill that come in contact with the coffee beans, specifically the rotating blades, fixed blades, and the inner wall surface of the casing, have a polarity opposite to that of the charged coffee powder. Charging occurs. In particular, when coffee beans are repeatedly pulverized, the amount of charge inside the coffee mill increases, so that the suction force between the coffee powder charged to opposite polarities and the inside of the coffee mill also increases. As a result, the coffee powder tends to adhere and remain inside the coffee mill. Thereby, the supply accuracy of the coffee powder supplied from the coffee mill to the coffee brewer is deteriorated, for example, the amount of the generated coffee powder decreases with respect to the amount of the coffee beans input.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and reduces the amount of charge inside the apparatus, so that the powder material generated by pulverizing the material adheres and remains inside the apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a beverage extraction raw material crushing apparatus that can significantly reduce the amount of the raw material and can accurately discharge the powder raw material from the apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is an apparatus for crushing a raw material for beverage extraction that crushes a raw material used for cooking a beverage by extraction, and rotates about an axis extending in a predetermined direction. It consists of a rotating pulverizing unit that pulverizes the supplied raw material while rotating the raw material and feeds the pulverized raw material in the radial direction of the axis, and a conductive material. The ring-shaped powder feed passage is disposed between the outer peripheral surface and the outer peripheral surface so as to face the outer peripheral surface, and the powder raw material in the powder feed passage is externally defined. And a movable part movable in the powder delivery passage, and when the raw material is pulverized, the movable part moves in the powder delivery path to move the powder. Collect the powder raw material in the delivery passage, A powdered raw material collection and discharge unit for discharging to the outside, a motor, during grinding of the raw material, rotary grinding unit, and the movable portion of the powder raw material collecting and discharge unit, drive means for driving the rotation force of the motor, passages A grounding means for grounding the wall, the grounding means comprising a metal case constituting the outer shell of the motor and a metal coil spring, one end of which is locked to the passage wall and the other end The contact spring contacts the case to electrically connect the case and the passage wall, and has a grounding wire connected to the case and grounded .

  According to this configuration, when the raw material is pulverized, the rotating pulverization unit driven by the driving means rotates about the axis so that the supplied raw material is pulverized while rotating, and the pulverized raw material that is the pulverized raw material Is sent out in the radial direction of the axis by the centrifugal force of the rotary crushing section. Moreover, this powder raw material is sent out to the ring-shaped powder delivery path | route defined between the outer peripheral surface of a rotary crushing part, and a passage wall. And the movable part of the powder raw material collection / discharge part driven by the driving means collects the powder raw material in the powder delivery path by moving in the powder delivery path, and from the discharge port of the passage wall to the outside Discharge.

  In the pulverizing apparatus for pulverizing the raw material as described above, static electricity is generated inside due to friction with the raw material. Specifically, the powder material that is generated when the rotary crushing unit that crushes the material and the passage wall on which the powder material slides when being collected by the powder material collection / discharge unit is charged to one of the positive and negative polarities. Is charged to the other positive or negative polarity. As described above, in a pulverizing apparatus such as a conventional coffee mill, when the raw material is repeatedly pulverized, the amount of charge inside the apparatus is accumulated and becomes large. The suction force with the raw material also increases, and the powder raw material tends to adhere and remain inside the apparatus. Therefore, in the present invention, the passage wall is made of a conductive material, and the passage wall is grounded by the grounding means, whereby the charge of the charged passage wall can be removed, thereby reducing the charge amount of the passage wall. Can be reduced. Further, in this case, the powder raw material fed from the rotary pulverizing unit to the powder passage when the raw material is pulverized functions as a conductor that connects the rotary pulverizing unit and the passage wall, so that the charge of the charged rotary pulverizing unit is also removed. Thereby, the charge amount of the rotary pulverizing part can also be reduced.

As described above, according to the pulverization apparatus of the present invention, the charge amount inside the apparatus can be reduced, and an increase in the charge amount of the powder raw material charged by sliding on the passage wall can be suppressed. It is possible to greatly reduce the adhesion and remaining of the raw material inside the apparatus, and the powder raw material can be accurately discharged from the apparatus.
The grounding means of the present invention comprises a metal case constituting the outer shell of the motor and a metal coil spring, one end of which is locked to the passage wall and the other end contacts the motor case. The connecting spring and the earth wire connected to the motor case and grounded are electrically connected in order of the connecting spring, the motor case and the earth wire from the side of the passage wall. The wall is grounded.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the beverage extraction raw material crushing apparatus according to the first aspect, the passage wall is made of a metal whose main component is aluminum.

  In general, a metal whose main component is aluminum is relatively inexpensive and easy to mold. Therefore, the passage wall can be obtained relatively inexpensively and easily by configuring the passage wall with the above materials. it can.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the apparatus for crushing the beverage extraction raw material according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the apparatus is connected to the discharge port of the passage wall and guides the powdered material discharged from the discharge port to the outside. The guide member further includes a member, and the guide member is formed of a material having the same polarity as the polarity of charging the raw material when the raw material is pulverized and having a higher tendency to be charged than the raw material.

  According to this structure, the powder raw material discharged from the discharge port of the passage wall is guided to the outside through the guide member connected to the discharge port. This guide member is made of a material that has the same polarity as the charge of the raw material on the charge train and is more likely to be charged than the raw material. That is, for example, when the raw material is charged with a positive polarity, the guide member has a higher tendency to be charged with a positive polarity than the raw material. Therefore, when the powder raw material discharged from the discharge port is guided through the guide member, the powder raw material charged to the positive polarity in the above case due to friction when contacting the guide member, Charges to a relatively negative polarity. That is, the charge amount (potential) of the powder raw material charged to a positive polarity is lowered. Further, in this case, the guide member is charged to a positive polarity by the amount that the charge amount of the powder raw material is reduced.

  As described above, since the powder raw material and the guide member are both charged to the same polarity, a repulsive force acts between the two, thereby making it difficult for the powder raw material to adhere to the guide member. Sent to the outside. Moreover, since a powder raw material will be in a state close | similar to neutrality electrically, it becomes easy to mix with water at the time of subsequent beverage extraction, and, as a result, the extraction efficiency of a drink improves.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the beverage pulverizing apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, the guide member is made of polyacetal.

  For example, when coffee beans are used as a raw material, the coffee beans are charged to a positive polarity by friction with a metal such as iron or aluminum on a charge train described later. Polyacetal is charged to a positive polarity by friction with coffee beans. Therefore, by adopting polyacetal as the material of the guide member, the guide member having the above-described effect of claim 3 can be easily obtained. Moreover, polyacetal is excellent in abrasion resistance and productivity among synthetic resins, and is preferable as a material for ensuring food hygiene.

It is a perspective view which shows the coffee mill to which the grinder of the raw material for beverage extraction by one Embodiment of this invention is applied. The coffee mill of FIG. 1 is shown, (a) is a top view, (b) is a right view. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of a coffee mill. It is the perspective view which shows the stationary mill part of a coffee mill, and its disassembled perspective view. (A) is a perspective view which shows the rotation mill part, passage wall ring, and guide member of a coffee mill, (b) is a perspective view which abbreviate | omits a passage wall ring and a guide member from (a), and shows a rotation mill part. is there. It is a perspective view which decomposes | disassembles and shows Fig.5 (a). It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the grinding | pulverization operation | movement of the coffee beans in a coffee mill. It is a figure which shows an example of a charging column. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the movement of an electric charge at the time of the grinding | pulverization of the coffee beans in a coffee mill.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show a coffee mill to which a beverage extraction raw material crushing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. This coffee mill 1 is built in, for example, a cup-type vending machine or a beverage dispenser, and when coffee is cooked by extraction, the coffee beans that are the raw material are crushed one cup at a time, and coffee powder (powder raw material) ).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the coffee mill 1 has a mill main body 2 that crushes coffee beans at the center, and a motor 3 that drives the mill main body 2 is provided behind the coffee main 1. Arranged on the front side is a powder material supply unit 4 that supplies the coffee powder fed from the mill body 2 to a lower coffee extractor (not shown). The coffee mill 1 is configured such that a case 1a constituting the outer shell is assembled with a plurality of outer shell parts, and the mill body 2 and the motor 3 are appropriately assembled with the case 1a. Yes. Moreover, the cylindrical part 4a provided in the left end part of the powder raw material supply part 4 is comprised so that the inside and outside of the case 1a may be connected, for example, discharge | releases the scent of coffee powder produced at the time of the grinding | pulverization of coffee beans to the outside It is used to do.

  FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the coffee mill 1. As shown in the figure, the mill body 2 is assembled to the case 1a with the upper half projecting upward from the case 1a. When the coffee mill 1 is in operation, the mill body 2 is fixed to the stationary mill 6 and the case 1a. It has a built-in rotary mill portion 7 that rotates when the coffee mill 1 is operated.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the immovable mill portion 6 is formed in a cylindrical shape extending in the vertical direction, and receives a coffee hopper 11 that receives coffee beans charged from above, and is screwed to the lower portion of the hopper 11 to remove the coffee beans. A coarse pulverization ring 12 for pulverization to a relatively coarse state (hereinafter referred to as “coarse pulverization”) and a lower fine pulverization ring 25 (described later) of the rotary mill portion 7 are screwed to the lower surface of the coarse pulverization ring 12. It has an upper fine grinding ring 13 for working and grinding the coarsely ground coffee beans into a finer state (hereinafter referred to as “fine grinding”).

  The hopper 11 is made of a plastic molded product, and a gear portion 14 is provided on the outer peripheral surface thereof at a position slightly higher than the center in the vertical direction. Further, a male screw portion 15 is formed in the lower half portion of the outer peripheral surface of the hopper 11, and the hopper 11 is attached to the case 1a in a state where the male screw portion 15 is screwed. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1 and the like, by rotating the particle size adjusting screw 10 having the worm gear 10a meshing with the gear portion 14 as appropriate, the stationary mill portion 6 moves up and down while rotating relative to the case 1a, The clearance between the upper fine grinding ring 13 of the mill unit 6 and the lower fine grinding ring 25 of the rotating mill unit 7 is adjusted. Thereby, the particle size of the coffee beans finely pulverized by the upper fine pulverization ring 13 and the lower fine pulverization ring 25 can be easily adjusted.

  The coarsely pulverized ring 12 is made of a predetermined metal (for example, aluminum or an alloy thereof) and is formed in a cylindrical shape having a relatively thick peripheral wall. At the bottom of the coarse pulverization ring 12, there is provided a pulverization convex portion 18 that extends in the entire circumferential direction and protrudes inward, and coarsely pulverizes coffee beans in cooperation with a raw material feeder 21 described later. The crushing convex portion 18 is configured to protrude from the raw material feeder 21 with a predetermined interval smaller than the particle size of the coffee beans.

  The crushing convex portion 18 has a predetermined thickness, and its upper surface 18a is formed along a plane perpendicular to the raw material feeder 21 extending in the vertical direction. The raw material feeder 21 is continuous with the upper surface 18a. The tip surface 18b that faces the upper surface 18a forms a corner that forms a right angle with the upper surface 18a. In addition, the crushing convex portion 18 is provided with a plurality of concave portions 18c (12 in this embodiment) formed in a concave shape along the circumferential direction thereof. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, each recess 18 c is formed so as to open between the upper surface 18 a and the tip end surface 18 b of the pulverized projection 18.

  In addition, a plurality of (in this embodiment, 12) recesses 19 are formed on the inner surface of the coarse pulverization ring 12 along the circumferential direction above the pulverization projections 18. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, each recess 19 is formed so as to open from the upper surface to the inner surface of the coarse pulverization ring 12, and the inner surface is formed so as to be substantially along the radial direction of the coarse pulverization ring 12. The triangular triangular surface 19a, and the circular arc surface 19b formed so as to extend arcuately in the counterclockwise direction are connected to the triangular surface 19a.

  As will be described later, when the coffee beans are crushed, the raw material feeder 21 rotates counterclockwise, so that the coffee beans around the raw material feeder 21 move in the same counterclockwise direction as the raw material feeder 21, When the coffee beans hit the concave portion 19 (triangular surface 19a) or the inner surface of the concave portion 18c of the pulverized convex portion 18, the movement and slip of the coffee beans in the circumferential direction can be suppressed. Thus, the coffee beans can be efficiently sent downward by the raw material feeder 21, and the coarse pulverization can be efficiently performed.

  The upper fine grinding ring 13 is made of a predetermined metal (for example, stainless steel), and is formed vertically symmetrical with the lower fine grinding ring 25. The upper fine pulverization ring 13 has an inner diameter slightly larger than the inner diameter of the pulverization convex portion 18 of the coarse pulverization ring 12 and an outer diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the coarse pulverization ring 12. The upper fine grinding ring 13 is formed so that the thickness gradually increases from the inside toward the outside, and each of the inclined lower grinding surfaces 13a extends in the radial direction and extends in the circumferential direction. A large number of blades (not shown) are formed.

  5A shows the rotary mill portion 7 and its surroundings, FIG. 5B shows only the rotary mill portion 7, and FIG. 6 shows an exploded view of FIG. 5A. . As shown in these drawings and FIG. 3, the rotary mill unit 7 extends in the vertical direction, and is fixed to a raw material feeder 21 that feeds the coffee beans put into the hopper 11 downward, and a lower portion of the rotary shaft 22 of the raw material feeder 21. The mill gear 23, the powder raw material collecting / discharging plate 24 (powder raw material collecting / discharging unit) fixed above the mill gear 23 of the rotating shaft 22, and the bottom screwed on the powder raw material collecting / discharging plate 24 It has a side fine grinding ring 25 (rotary grinding part).

  The raw material feeder 21 is made of a predetermined metal (for example, aluminum or an alloy thereof) and has a rotating portion 21a formed in a cylindrical shape extending in a vertical direction in a vertical direction, and protrudes a predetermined length from the outer peripheral surface of the rotating portion 21a. A spiral convex portion 21b that spirally extends so as to make one round clockwise from the upper end portion to the lower end portion of the portion 21a. The raw material feeder 21 has a rotating shaft 22 extending in the vertical direction inserted into the rotating portion 21a from below, and a nut 21c is screwed and tightened to the upper end portion of the rotating shaft 22 protruding upward from the upper end thereof. The rotation shaft 22 is fixed. The rotary shaft 22 is rotatably supported by bearings 22a and 22a fixed in the case 1a at a position slightly below the lower end portion and the center in the vertical direction.

  The mill gear 23 is formed of a helical gear having a relatively large diameter, and is fixed between the upper and lower bearings 22a and 22a of the rotary shaft 22, as shown in FIG. Further, the mill gear 23 is engaged with an intermediate gear 32 that is engaged with a drive gear 31 fixed to the output shaft of the motor 3. In the present embodiment, the driving means of the present invention includes the motor 3, the driving gear 31, the intermediate gear 32, the mill gear 23, the rotating shaft 22, and the like.

  The powder raw material collection / discharge plate 24 collects coffee powder fed to a powder feed passage 26 described later when the coffee beans are crushed and discharges the coffee powder to the front powder raw material supply unit 4 side. The powder raw material collecting / discharging plate 24 is formed in a disk shape having a diameter that is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the lower fine grinding ring 25, and the outer peripheral portion of the powder raw material collecting / discharge plate 24 extends in the circumferential direction with respect to the center. Six blade portions 24a (movable portions) that are arranged at equal angles (60 °) to each other and project upward are provided. Further, on the side of the blade portion 24a of the powder raw material collection / discharge plate 24, a powder delivery passage 26 is defined between the upper and lower fine grinding rings 13 and 25 and the case 1a. A fixed passage wall ring 27 (passage wall) is arranged.

  The passage wall ring 27 is made of a metal mainly composed of aluminum, such as aluminum or an alloy thereof, and is formed in a cylindrical shape having an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the powder raw material collection / discharge plate 24. As shown in FIG. 6, the passage wall ring 27 is provided with a discharge port 27 a communicating with the inside and outside of the passage wall ring 27 at the front portion, and protrudes rearward at the rear portion, and a connection spring 29 described later for grounding. A spring locking portion 27b for locking one end of the spring is provided. The thus configured passage wall ring 27 is fixed in the case 1a so that its inner peripheral surface faces the outer peripheral surfaces of the upper and lower fine grinding rings 13 and 25 and surrounds the entire outer peripheral surface. Yes. Thereby, between the outer peripheral surfaces of the upper and lower fine grinding rings 13 and 25 and the inner peripheral surface of the passage wall ring 27, coffee powder is sent out between the fine grinding rings 13 and 25 when the coffee beans are ground. A ring-shaped powder delivery passage 26 is defined.

  A guide member 28 is connected to the discharge port 27a of the passage wall ring 27 to guide the coffee powder discharged substantially horizontally from the discharge port 27a downward. The guide member 28 is made of a molded product made of polyacetal, and is formed in a predetermined shape that opens from the back surface to the bottom surface. A cylindrical chute 36 extending in a vertical direction is connected to the lower side of the guide member 28.

  Further, a connection spring 29 for electrically connecting the passage wall ring 27 and the metal case 3 a constituting the outer shell of the motor 3 is locked to the spring locking portion 27 b of the passage wall ring 27. ing. The connection spring 29 is constituted by a metal coil spring, and a spring locking portion 27 b of the passage wall ring 27 is inserted into one end portion, and the other end portion is in contact with the case 3 a of the motor 3. Further, the case 3a of the motor 3 is provided with a connecting portion 3b, and the terminal 30a of the ground wire 30 is connected to the connecting portion 3b. As described above, the passage wall ring 27 is electrically connected in order of the connection spring 29, the case 3a of the motor 3, and the ground wire 30, and is grounded by these. In the present embodiment, the grounding means of the present invention includes the connection spring 29, the case 3a of the motor 3, the ground wire 30, and the like.

  Next, the coffee beans grinding operation in the coffee mill 1 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. The coffee mill 1 is installed below a coffee bean supply device (not shown) for supplying coffee beans before pulverization, and a raw material chute 37 extending downward from the coffee bean supply device is connected to the hopper 11. ing. The coffee bean supply device can supply coffee beans (for hot coffee, iced coffee, etc.) of different types and roasting degrees to the coffee mill 1.

  First, a predetermined amount of coffee beans is charged into the hopper 11 of the coffee mill 1 through the raw material chute 37 from the coffee bean supply device. Before and after this, the motor 3 operates and the mill gear 23 is rotationally driven via the drive gear 31 and the intermediate gear 32. Thereby, the rotating shaft 22 of the rotary mill unit 7 rotates counterclockwise, and accordingly, the raw material feeder 21, the powder raw material collecting / discharging plate 24, and the lower fine grinding ring 25 also rotate counterclockwise.

  The coffee beans put into the hopper 11 fall as shown by the upper black arrow in FIG. 7 and reach the raw material feeder 21. The coffee beans that have reached the upper end of the raw material feeder 21 are sent downward as the raw material feeder 21 rotates counterclockwise. In this case, the spiral convex portion 21b of the raw material feeder 21 and the pulverized convex portion 18 of the coarse pulverization ring 12 cooperate to roughly pulverize the coffee beans.

  Specifically, a pressing force from above by the spiral convex portion 21 b acts on the coffee beans around the raw material feeder 21, and the coffee beans are applied to the tip of the pulverized convex portion 18 of the coarse pulverization ring 12 from above. It is sheared by being pressed. Thereby, the coffee beans coarsely pulverized to a size that can pass between the raw material feeder 21 and the pulverized convex portion 18 are fed by the upper fine pulverization ring by the raw material feeder 21 as shown by the lower black arrow in FIG. 13 is passed between the fine grinding rings 13 and 25 through the space between them.

  The coffee beans coarsely crushed as described above are finer by the grinding surfaces 13a and 25a of both fine grinding rings 13 and 25 while being sent in the radial direction by the centrifugal force of the rotating lower fine grinding ring 25. That is, it is finely pulverized. Coffee powder generated by the fine pulverization is sent to the powder delivery passage 26 from between the fine pulverization rings 13 and 25. Further, in this case, as the powder raw material collection / discharge plate 24 rotates, the plurality of blade portions 24a move around the powder delivery passage 26, and the coffee powder in the powder delivery passage 26 is moved by the blade portions 24a. While being collected, it is discharged forward from the discharge port 27a of the passage wall ring 27 as indicated by the upper white arrow in FIG. Then, the discharged coffee powder hits the inner surface 28a of the guide member 28, and as a result, the direction is changed downward as indicated by the lower white arrow in FIG. Supplied to coffee extractor.

  As described above, according to the coffee mill 1, since the coffee beans are coarsely pulverized before being finely pulverized, fluctuations in the driving load of the motor 3 can be suppressed as compared with the case where the coffee beans are directly pulverized. Can do. As a result, coffee beans can be sufficiently and stably pulverized to produce coffee powder having a substantially uniform particle diameter, and the motor 3 having a small output torque, that is, a small and inexpensive one can be employed. Therefore, the coffee mill 1 can be manufactured compactly and at low cost as the entire apparatus.

  Next, a method for removing (static eliminating) static electricity generated inside the coffee mill 1 when the coffee beans are crushed will be described. As described above, when coffee beans are crushed by the coffee mill 1, static electricity is generated inside the coffee mill 1 due to friction with coffee beans and coffee powder. Specifically, the raw material feeder 21, the coarse pulverization ring 12, the upper fine pulverization ring 13, the lower fine pulverization ring 25, and the passage wall ring 27 are charged to one of positive and negative polarities, and are generated in the opposite direction. Coffee powder is charged to the other positive and negative polarity.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of the charge train. As is apparent from this charge train, iron and aluminum tend to be negatively charged, that is, negatively charged due to friction with the coffee beans, while coffee beans are likely to be positively charged, that is, positively charged. Therefore, when coffee beans are crushed in the coffee mill 1, the raw material feeder 21, the coarse pulverization ring 12, the upper fine pulverization ring 13, the lower fine pulverization ring 25, and the passage wall ring 27 made of stainless steel or aluminum are used. Is negatively charged and the coffee grounds that are produced are positively charged. In particular, the coffee powder fed from the upper and lower fine grinding rings 13, 25 to the powder feeding passage 26 is pressed against the inner surface of the passage wall ring 27 by the blade portion 24 a that circulates in the passage 26. Therefore, since it is collected while sliding, a relatively large frictional force is generated, and as a result, the charge amount of the coffee powder and the passage wall ring 27 becomes relatively large.

  As described above, since the passage wall ring 27 is grounded in the coffee mill 1, as shown by the wavy arrow in FIG. 9, in the passage wall ring 27 that is negatively charged, most of the negative charge is It is removed via the connection spring 29, the case 3 a of the motor 3 and the ground wire 30. In this case, the coffee powder fed from the upper and lower fine grinding rings 13 and 25 to the powder feeding passage 26 functions as a conductor connecting the fine grinding rings 13 and 25 and the passage wall ring 27, thereby Most of the negative charges of the feeder 21, the coarse pulverization ring 12, the upper fine pulverization ring 13, and the lower fine pulverization ring 25 are also passed through the passage wall ring 27, the connection spring 29, the case 3 a of the motor 3, and the ground wire 30. Removed.

  On the other hand, the positively charged coffee powder is discharged forward through the discharge port 27a of the passage wall ring 27 and hits the inner surface 28a of the guide member 28 to be turned downward as described above. As described above, the guide member 28 is made of polyacetal, and the polyacetal has a higher tendency to be charged more positively than coffee beans on the charging train shown in FIG. For this reason, the positively charged coffee powder is relatively negatively charged due to friction caused by contact with the inner surface 28 a of the guide member 28. That is, the charge amount (potential) of the coffee powder that has been positively charged decreases. In this case, the guide member 28 is positively charged as much as the charge amount of the coffee powder decreases.

  As described above, since both the coffee powder and the guide member 28 are in a positively charged state having the same polarity, a repulsive force acts between them, whereby the coffee powder is applied to the inner surface 28a of the guide member 28. It becomes difficult to adhere and is smoothly guided to the following chute 36 and further guided to the coffee extractor below it. Further, since the coffee powder is in an electrically neutral state, it is easily mixed with water (including hot water) during subsequent coffee extraction, and as a result, the coffee extraction efficiency is improved.

  As described above in detail, according to the coffee mill 1 of the present embodiment, the charge amount inside can be reduced by static elimination, and the charge amount of the coffee powder charged by sliding on the passage wall ring 27 is increased. Can be suppressed. Accordingly, the coffee powder can be significantly reduced from adhering to and remaining in the coffee mill 1, and the coffee powder can be discharged from the coffee mill 1 with high accuracy.

  In addition, this invention can be implemented in various aspects, without being limited to the said embodiment described. In the embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to a coffee mill has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when a tea-based beverage is cooked by extraction, the tea leaves that are the raw materials are crushed. It is also possible to apply to a crushing apparatus. In the embodiment, the passage wall ring 27 is made of a metal mainly composed of aluminum. However, the passage wall ring 27 may be made of various conductive materials as long as the charged charges can be removed by grounding. Furthermore, in the embodiment, the guide member 28 is made of polyacetal. However, the guide member 28 may be made of another material (for example, glass or epoxy resin) that has a higher tendency to be positively charged than coffee beans on the charging train. .

  Note that the upper and lower fine grinding rings 13 and 25, the passage wall ring 27, and the like can be made of a material that tends to be more positively charged than coffee beans on the charging train. In this case, since the coffee powder is negatively charged, it is preferable to employ a material (for example, polypropylene or polyphenylene sulfide) that tends to be more negatively charged than the coffee beans on the charging train as the material of the guide member 28.

  In the embodiment, the raw material feeder 21, the lower fine grinding ring 25, and the powder raw material collecting / discharging plate 24 are configured to rotate about the rotary shaft 22 extending in the vertical direction. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a coffee mill in which the rotation axis is arranged to extend horizontally as in the conventional coffee mill described above. Furthermore, the detailed configuration of the coffee mill 1 shown in the embodiment is merely an example, and can be appropriately changed within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

1 Coffee Mill 2 Mill Body 3 Motor 3a Motor Case (Grounding Means)
6 Immovable Mill 7 Rotating Mill 13 Upper Fine Grinding Ring 18 Grinding Convex 21 Raw Material Feeder 22 Rotating Shaft 24 Powder Raw Material Collection / Discharge Plate (Powder Raw Material Collection / Discharge Unit)
24a Blade (movable part)
25 Lower fine grinding ring (rotary grinding part)
26 Powder delivery passage 27 Passage wall ring (passage wall)
27a Discharge port 28 Guide member 29 Connection spring (grounding means)
30 Ground wire (grounding means)

Claims (4)

A beverage extraction raw material crushing device for crushing raw materials used for cooking beverages by extraction,
A rotary pulverization unit that is configured to be rotatable about an axis extending in a predetermined direction, and pulverizes the supplied raw material while rotating the raw material, and sends the pulverized raw material in the radial direction of the axis. When,
A ring-shaped powder feed passage that is made of a conductive material, is disposed so as to face the outer peripheral surface of the rotary pulverizing unit and surround the entire outer peripheral surface, and feeds the powder raw material between the outer peripheral surface. And a passage wall in which a discharge port for discharging the powder raw material in the powder delivery passage to the outside is formed,
It has a movable part movable in the powder delivery path, and when the raw material is pulverized, the movable part moves in the powder delivery path to collect the powder raw material in the powder delivery path, Powder raw material collection / discharge unit that discharges to the outside from the discharge port,
A driving means that has a motor and drives the movable part of the rotary pulverizing part and the powder raw material collecting / discharging part by the rotational force of the motor when pulverizing the raw material;
A grounding means for grounding the passage wall;
Equipped with a,
The grounding means is
A metal case constituting the outer shell of the motor;
A connection spring that is configured by a metal coil spring, one end of which is locked to the passage wall and the other end abuts the case, thereby electrically connecting the case and the passage wall;
A ground wire connected to the case and grounded;
An apparatus for crushing beverage extraction raw materials, comprising:   The said passage wall is comprised with the metal which has aluminum as a main component, The grinding | pulverization apparatus of the raw material for drink extraction of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. A guide member connected to the discharge port of the passage wall and for guiding the powder raw material discharged from the discharge port to the outside;
3. The guide member according to claim 1, wherein the guide member is made of a material that has the same polarity as a polarity of the raw material when the raw material is pulverized and has a higher tendency to be charged than the raw material. The crushing apparatus of the raw material for beverage extraction as described.   The said guide member is comprised with the polyacetal, The grind | pulverizing apparatus of the raw material for drink extraction of Claim 3 characterized by the above-mentioned.

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