JPH0215918B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is directed to the cleaning of vending machines that sell beverages such as juice and carbonated beverages not in cans or bottles, but by mixing raw materials such as syrup with tap water. It is related to the device.

[Conventional technology and its issues]

This type of vending machine is usually constructed as shown in FIG. That is, a water pipe 1 is connected to a reservoir tank 3 via a filter 2, and tap water (liquid for drinking) is stored in the tank 3. Piping is connected from the reservoir tank 3 to the suction side of the ice maker 5 and the pump 6. As is well known, the ice making section of the ice maker 5 and the reservoir tank 3 are at the same level, and when ice is made in the ice making section, the ice is scooped up into the upper storage box, liquid naturally flows into the space from the reservoir tank 3, and re-making of ice begins.

The discharge side of the pump 6 is a plain water valve 8.
The valve 8 selectively drains the liquid from the pump 6 into a carbonated water generation tank 9 and a water discharge section (liquid discharge section) 10, respectively.
Carbonated water is produced using carbonic acid from a carbonated water generating tank 9 and liquid from a plain water valve 8, and the carbonated water is discharged from a water discharge part 10 through a valve 12 that is opened when selling the product.

The carbonated water generation tank 9 and the syrup tank 13 containing syrup as a raw material are connected to the cooling tank 14.
The syrup in the syrup tank 13 is delivered to the raw material dispensing section 16 via the syrup pump 15.
The water from the water outlet 10 and the ice from the ice maker 5 are discharged into the cup 17 and sold as products. These discharge section 10, payout section 1
Drops from the top 6 and water droplets scattered outside the top 17 are collected via the top holder 18 into a bucket 19 provided below.

In order to prevent the water in the baguette 19 from overflowing to the outside of the baguette 19, a liquid level detector 20 such as a flow switch is provided, and it emits a signal when a predetermined water level is reached. In the figure, 4b is a leakage pipe from the ice maker 5.

By the way, the ice maker 5 is not completely sealed, and the inside is in contact with the atmosphere, albeit slightly, and dirt and germs can enter through this atmosphere. For this reason, over a long period of time, bacteria will multiply and garbage will accumulate, resulting in unsanitary conditions.
Needs cleaning.

Therefore, conventionally, a technique has been devised for cleaning the ice maker by circulating water discharged from the pump through a switching valve, as described in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 159400/1983.

However, with this conventional technology, the cleaning circulating water passes through the reservoir tank, so after cleaning, the water in the reservoir tank must be drained and refilled.Since the reservoir tank has a large capacity, it takes a long time to resume sales. There is a problem with this.

In addition, normally, cleaning is performed by discarding the cleaning water after cleaning for a certain period of time, cleaning with fresh water, and repeating this operation several times. The reality is that it takes a long time to drain the water, and the cleaning operation is not repeated.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to stop the circulation to the reservoir tank when cleaning the ice maker and to automatically perform the repeated cleaning.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, tap water is stored in a reservoir tank, the stored liquid is introduced into an ice maker and a pump, and the discharge side of the pump is piped to a liquid discharge part. In the previously well-known vending machine described above that mixes and sells this liquid and raw materials, a routing valve consisting of a three-way valve is interposed in the piping from the discharge side of the pump to the liquid discharge part. A liquid introduction pipe is provided from the routing valve to the ice maker, and an outlet pipe is provided from the ice maker to the suction side of the pump, and when the operation signal described below is input, the routing valve is connected to the discharge side of the pump. is connected to the liquid introduction pipe, and on the other hand, when the operation signal described later is not input,
The pump discharge side is connected to the liquid discharge part, and when a cleaning start switch is turned on, an operation signal and a pump drive signal are sequentially transmitted,
The structure includes a signal generation circuit that controls the pump and routing valve by repeating stopping and transmitting the operation signal several times after a predetermined period of time has passed, and stopping the pump drive signal after stopping the operation signal. be.

[Effect]

The present invention, which is configured as described above, firstly sells the product (mixed raw material liquid) by using a routing valve that normally communicates the discharge side of the pump with the liquid discharge part, and operates in the same manner as the conventional example described above. It is done as follows.

Next, when cleaning the ice maker, after stopping the vending operation, the cleaning start switch is turned on either manually or automatically periodically.
The routing valve is activated by the signal generation circuit, and the ice maker is connected to the pump discharge side via the liquid introduction pipe, and the discharge flow from the pump flows into the ice maker, and the pump, the routing valve, and the liquid introduction pipe are connected to each other. , a circulation channel for the ice maker, outlet pipe, and pump is formed, water is circulated, and the circulation route is cleaned.
After a predetermined time, the routing valve is returned to the normal state, the pump discharge side is connected to the liquid discharge part, and the circulating water is discharged from the liquid discharge part. This action is repeated several times by sending and stopping the operation signal to clean the ice maker and its piping.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows a piping diagram of one embodiment, in which the same reference numerals as in FIG. 5 indicate the same parts and their functions are the same, so a description thereof will be omitted. That is, this embodiment differs from the conventional example shown in FIG. , the discharge side of the reservoir tank 3 is connected via a check valve 4, and a liquid introduction pipe 4a to the ice maker 5 is connected. In this embodiment, water naturally flows into the ice maker 5 from the reservoir tank 3 via the check valve 4 and the liquid introduction pipe 4a.

The check valve 4 prevents the discharge flow from the routing valve 7 from flowing into the reservoir tank 3 during cleaning, which will be described later. In addition, the above-mentioned routing valve 7
Normally, the discharge side of the pump 6 and the liquid discharge part 10 are connected to drain the liquid to the plain water valve 8, but the solenoid 3 of the routing valve 7
3 is activated, the discharge side of the pump 6 is connected to the liquid introduction pipe 4a and the liquid flows out to the ice maker 5.

Next, the control circuit in this embodiment will be explained based on FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pulse oscillator 21 and the liquid level detector 20 output an output to the counter 24a of the signal generation circuit 23 via the AND circuit 22. The liquid level detector 20 generates a low level abnormal signal when the water level in the bucket 19 exceeds a predetermined value as described above, and the pulse oscillator 21 generates a low level abnormal signal when the liquid level detector 20 reaches a high level. An oscillation pulse is output to the counter 24a via the AND circuit 22 only when the water level in the bucket 19 is low.

Three counters 24 are provided after the counter 24a.
b, 24c, 24d are sequentially connected in series, and these counters 24a, 24b, 24c, 24
d consists of a hexadecimal ring counter, and as shown in Fig. 4, a number (0 to 15) is input to each digit and counted, and a signal is sent to each digit of the third counter 24c and fourth counter 24d. The logic circuit LC of the generation circuit 23 is connected. The four outputs in that connection are from the first digit, second digit, third digit, and fourth digit from the top in FIG.

Further, when the power switch is turned on, a power-on reset circuit 25 outputs a power-on reset signal a that is low level and then high level after a predetermined time.
outputs the signal a to the reset terminal 27a of the flip-flop 27 via the AND circuit 26. Set terminal 27 of this flip-flop 27
A cleaning start switch 28 which outputs a low level signal when turned on is connected to b. The output Q of the flip-flop 27 is connected to the set terminal 2.
Reset terminal 2 from when 7b becomes low level
7a is output at a high level until it becomes a low level, and the output is an inverted signal of the output Q, and at the low level of this output, the counting circuits 24a, 24b, 24c,
24d is reset.

The output Q and the output of the flip-flop 27 are outputted via AND circuits 29 and 30, respectively, depending on the matching condition with the liquid level detector 20, and the AND circuit 30 is connected to the ice dispensing relay X as shown in FIG. ₀ and inputs the output of the AND circuit 29. When the cleaning start switch 28 is turned on and the output Q of the flip-flop 27 is at a high level, the signal generation circuit 23 which operates the output of the AND circuit 29 operates a relay as shown in FIG.
Controls X ₁ , X ₂ , X ₃ , and X ₄ . In addition, in the time chart in Figure 3, the falling part corresponds to each relay.
X ₀ ... indicates the operating (excited) state, and the rising portion indicates the non-operating (demagnetized) state.

That is, as the pulse signal from the pulse oscillator 21 increases, as shown in FIG.
The state of each digit changes, and based on this, the output of each digit of the counters 24c and 24d is input to the logic circuit LC consisting of an AND circuit, a NAND circuit, etc. ₁ , X ₂ ... are controlled. For example, regarding _relay ), the output Q from the flip-flop 27 is input to each NAND circuit N ₁ .
Even though the NAND circuits N _{1 ,} N ₃ , N ₄ in front of X 1 , X ₃ , and X ₄ are at low level and the respective relays X ₁ , X ₃ , and X ₄ are activated, Since none of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd digits output “1”,
NAND circuit _N2 is at high level and relay _X2 is not activated. Next, when the fourth counter 24d reaches the count 1 and enters "1" in the first digit (point B), the NAND circuit
_N2 becomes low level and relay _X2 is activated. This state continues, the fourth counter 24d counts 2, the second digit becomes "1", and the third counter 24c counts 8.
After passing through the point where the fourth digit becomes "1" (point C) and the point where the fourth counter 24d counts 4 and the third digit becomes "1" (point D), the third counter When the count 24c reaches 8 and the fourth digit becomes "1", the NAND circuit _N2 becomes high level and the relay _X2 becomes inactive (point E in the same figure). Relays X ₁ , X ₃ , and X ₄ are also operated in the same manner, resulting in the time chart shown in FIG. 3. Note that point F in the figure is the point in time when the fourth counter 24d reaches a count of 8 and the fourth digit becomes "1". Also,
Relay X ₁ connects third counter 2 between CD
When 4c becomes count 8, 0, 8, turn off, count
Turns on when it reaches 11, 3, 11.

As shown in FIG. 3, the relay _X0 is energized (turned on) when the cleaning start switch 28 is turned on (point A in FIG. 3) and there is no output from the AND circuit 30.
When the make contact X _0a closes, the ice dispensing solenoid 31 and the geared motor 32 for mixing the ice in the ice maker 5 operate, and the relay X ₀ is activated by the output of the AND circuit 30 at point F in the figure based on the output.
is turned off (demagnetized). Also, relays X ₁ , X ₂ , X ₃
are excited respectively, their make contacts X _1a ,
When X _2a and X _3a are closed, the solenoid 33 for the routing valve 7, the pump 6, and the solenoid 34 for the plain water valve 8 are driven, and when the relay X ₄ is turned on, its break contact
X _4a is opened, and both the compressor 35 and fan motor 36 of the ice maker 5 are stopped. Note that L in the figure is a lamp that indicates that cleaning is in progress.

This embodiment has the above configuration, and its operation will be described next.

First, when dispensing products, the cleaning switch 28 is off, so the relay _X1 is off.
The solenoid 33 is in a non-operating state, and the routing valve 7 communicates the discharge side of the pump 6 with the discharge section 10 in the same manner as in the conventional example described above.

Next, when cleaning the ice maker 5 and its piping, the cleaning start switch 28 is turned on manually and the signal is input (point A in FIG. 3).
Then, the relays X ₀ , X ₁ , X ₃ , and X ₄ are energized, and the solenoid 33 is operated to cause the routing valve 7 to connect the discharge side of the pump 6 and the liquid introduction pipe 4a, and the ice dispensing solenoid 31 and the geared motor 32,
As the plain water valve 8 operates,
The compressor 35 and fan motor 36 of the ice maker 5 are stopped. At this time, the plain water valve 8 connects the routing valve 7 directly to the discharge part 10 (without passing through the tank 9). Thereafter, when the relay X ₂ is energized at point B in FIG. 3 and the pump 6 is driven, the liquid flows from the discharge side of the pump 6 via the routing valve 7 and the liquid introduction pipe 4a to the ice maker 5, The ice is circulated to the suction side of the pump 6 via the outlet pipe 4b to clean the ice maker 5 and its circulation piping.

Next, when relay X ₁ is demagnetized at point C in Figure 3,
The solenoid 33 is turned off, the routing valve 7 connects the discharge side of the pump 6 to the water discharge part 10,
The liquid used for cleaning is drained from the water outlet 10 and collected in a bucket 19. This demagnetization and excitation of relay X ₁ is repeated three times, and the above circulation and drainage are
When the cleaning is repeated several times, the cleaning is completed and the relays X ₁ and X ₄ are demagnetized at point D in FIG. 35 and the fan motor 36 start driving, the pump 6 stops at point E in FIG. At this time, the ice dispensing solenoid 31 and the geared motor 32 are stopped, and the flip-flop 27 is reset via the output AND circuit 26 of the counter 24d, and each counter 24a of the signal generation circuit 23 stops counting, and the product sales are stopped. Return to standby state.

If the liquid level detector 20 outputs an abnormal signal during the above cleaning, the oscillation pulse from the pulse oscillator 21 will no longer be output to the counter 24a, and the flip-flop 27 will output Q to each NAND circuit N ₁ . gone, relays X ₀ , X ₁ , X ₂ , X ₃ ,
All X ₄ will be demagnetized and cleaning will be canceled. When the liquid collected in the bucket 19 is removed, the pulse oscillator 21 starts outputting pulses to the counter 24a, and each counter 24a... restarts counting, and each NAND circuit _N1 ... When the output Q is input, each relay X _{0 .} . . is energized, and the cleaning work after the cleaning is stopped is performed.

Note that semiconductor switching elements may be used instead of the relays X ₀ , X ₁ , X ₂ , X ₃ , _and good.

Furthermore, during cleaning, detergent or disinfectant may be mixed in from the outside.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention is configured as described above, and the ice maker and its piping can be repeatedly washed and cleaned without being circulated to the reservoir tank, so compared to the conventional example, the operation is smoother and the degree of cleaning is higher. will improve. Additionally, since the reservoir tank is not drained, the time required for resale after cleaning is shortened.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a piping diagram showing an example of piping inside a vending machine, FIG. 2 is a block circuit diagram showing an example of the control shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the control shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the counter in FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is a piping diagram of a conventional example. 1... Pipe, 2... Filter, 3... Reservoir tank, 4... Check valve, 5... Ice maker, 6... Pump, 7... Routing valve, 8... Plain water valve, 9... ...Carbonated water generation tank, 10...Water discharge part (liquid discharge part),
11...Carbonated cylinder, 12...Valve, 13...
Syrup tank, 14... Cooling tank, 15... Syrup pump, 16... Raw material dispensing section, 17... Tip, 18... Tip stand, 19... Bucket, 2
0...Liquid level detector, 21...Pulse oscillator, 2
2, 26, 29, 30...AND circuit, 23...
Signal generation circuit, 24a, 24b, 24c, 24d
... Counter, 25 ... Power-on reset circuit,
27...Flip-flop, 28...Cleaning start switch, 31...Ice dispensing solenoid, 32...
... Geared motor, 33 ... Solenoid for routing valve, 34 ... Solenoid for plain water valve, 35 ... Compressor for ice maker, 36 ... Fan motor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Tap water is stored in the reservoir tank 3, the stored liquid is introduced into the ice maker 5 and the pump 6, and the discharge side of the pump 6 is piped to the liquid discharge part 10 to mix this liquid and the raw material. In a vending machine that sells ice cream, a routing valve 7 consisting of a three-way valve is interposed in the piping from the discharge side of the pump 6 to the liquid discharge section 10, and liquid is supplied from the routing valve 7 to the ice maker 5. An inlet pipe 4a is provided, and an outlet pipe 4b is provided from the ice maker 5 to the suction side of the pump 6, and the routing valve 7 connects the discharge side of the pump 6 to the liquid inlet when an operation signal described later is input. On the other hand, when the operation signal described later is not input, the discharge side of the pump 6 is connected to the liquid discharge part 10, and when the cleaning start switch 28 is turned on, the operation signal and The pump 6 and the routing valve 7 are controlled by sequentially transmitting a pump drive signal, repeating stopping and transmitting the operation signal several times after a predetermined period of time has passed, and stopping the pump drive signal after stopping the operation signal. A waterway cleaning device in a vending machine equipped with a signal generation circuit 23.