JPH03212398A - Liquid distributing pouring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To simplify handling and insure dispensing of a secure quantity by attaching a dispenser to a storage container in a manner of fixing the position of the housing of a piston pump in the apparatus body and moreover by providing a fastening connection for joining with a handling mechanism of the driving device on the apparatus side. CONSTITUTION: A dispenser 7 attached to a storage container 1 constitutes a piston pump apparatus, a housing 13 of the dispenser 7 has a groove 14 to which a, projection 15 of an apparatus housing 8 is fastened. Inside the housing 13 a supply piston 16 is disposed in such a manner as to be capable of displacement between stoppers 26 and a control piston 19 inside the supply piston 16 is driven with a lever 20 for the control. With turn of an eccentric drive device 26 on a lever 20 the supply piston 16 having passed the stopper 26 is brought downward, causing concentrated beverage 2 to be sucked through an inlet opening 17. With further rotation of the eccentric device 24 the supply piston 16 and the control piston 19 together are moved upward. The beverage is forced outward to a dispensing passage 29.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention particularly relates to an automatic beverage dispensing device for producing a soft drink by mixing various concentrated beverages stored in a storage container with a basic beverage such as carbonated water. Apparatus for dispensing a liquid by means of a storage container for storing a liquid and a supply pump connected to the container for sucking out the liquid from the container, which can be used in conjunction with the invention. .

[Conventional technology]

This type of device is particularly suitable for quantitatively controlling and dispensing concentrated beverages from storage containers for the mixing process in automatic beverage dispensing equipment for mixing carbonated water with concentrated beverages to make soft drinks. suitable.

Of particular importance in this regard is the precise dosing of the concentrated beverage to be dispensed together with the precise positioning of the carbonated water using the simplest possible means to achieve the desired mixing ratio for the soft drink with the necessary precision. It is to be. This mixing ratio must meet the standards for commercially available finished beverages in bottles or cans. Particularly in devices of this type, it should be noted that the mixing ratios of various concentrated beverages and carbonated water are different.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Dosing chambers and dispensing devices for dispensing concentrated drinks are known in automatic beverage dispensing systems (cf. German Patent Applications Nos. 2544671, 3409124 and 3622745).

In its operating position, this arrangement chamber and dispensing device is arranged in a storage container with the dispensing opening facing downward. A magnetic device lifts the slide valve in this arrangement chamber/dispensing device from a lower position in which the outlet through-opening is closed to an upper position in which the inlet through-opening is closed. The liquid that fills the dosing chamber due to gravity is also discharged from the dispensing chamber/dispensing device due to gravity. The volume of concentrated beverage dispensed is compensated by the counter-inflowing air volume. With such a placement chamber and injection device, a relatively accurate pouring amount can be obtained with a small amount of control force (no supply force required).

Known chamber and dispensing devices are extremely difficult to miniaturize due to their size and technical requirements regarding their dispensing capacity. In order to be able to dispense with the introduction of a feed force, it is necessary that the dispense volume of the concentrated beverage is at least approximately compensated by the air volume in order to obtain a reliable dispensing volume.

It is also known to extract and pour liquid from a flexible storage container using a pump device (US Pat. No. 36,674).
(See No. 99). By means of this measure, a storage container with flexible walls can be emptied without having to subsequently fill it with air to compensate for the volume inside the storage container. This known device is therefore unsuitable and cannot be used as an arrangement for achieving high 3-accuracy dispensing of concentrated beverages, for example. In addition to the above-mentioned positioning chamber and dispensing device, a suitably designed piston pump device can also ensure correct positioning during supply and dispensing of the liquid.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The object of the invention is to provide a liquid dispensing device which ensures to the highest degree that the liquid stored in the storage container is dispensed by a dosing and drive system that is standardized with respect to its specific dispense volume. It is about providing.

[Means to solve the problem]

According to the invention, this problem is solved because the dispensing device configured as a piston pump device is integrally attached to this as part of the storage container, and the dispensing device fixes the housing of the piston pump in position on the device body. This problem can also be solved by providing an engaging connection part for connecting with the operating mechanism of the drive device on the equipment side.

[Effect]

A dispensing device configured as a piston pump device according to the present invention is attached to this as part of a storage container, and a dispensing amount specific to the type of liquid is set for each operating stroke, thereby storing the liquid to be dispensed. The stored reservoir can be connected with its piston pump device to a standardized drive, via which it is ensured that a quantity specific to the type of liquid is dispensed during each working cycle. be done. This applies in particular when the device according to the invention is used in an automatic beverage dispensing device for dispensing a concentrated beverage stored in a storage container, which concentrate is divided into a basic beverage, e.g. carbonated water, and a drink specific to each concentrated beverage. It is useful when mixed in proportions to make soft drinks. That is, in this case, it is desirable not only to replace an empty storage container with a new container of the same type of concentrated beverage, but also to be able to arbitrarily use storage containers containing various types of concentrated beverages depending on the mixing purpose.

Malfunctions in operating technology that could lead to erroneous mixing results can be completely avoided when using the device according to the invention. The dispensing device configured as a piston pump device is provided with an engaging connection part for fixing the housing of the piston pump in the main body of the device and for connecting with the operating mechanism of the drive device on the device side. Easy handling and operational reliability. It is advantageous to arrange a corresponding retaining and connecting counterpart on the housing of the device body, so that the piston pump device together with the storage container arranged above it can be mounted as far as possible from the front side.

According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the storage container has a bag-like membrane that surrounds the stored liquid depending on the volume. In particular, considering ease of handling during transportation and stacking, the bag-like membrane of the storage container is preferably sealed with a rectangular parallelepiped container having a container wall with a stable shape. It is also possible to use bladder membranes that do not require ventilation of the internal space in connection with piston pump devices. This is because the suction force transmitted to the stored liquid via the piston pump device is
This is because a reliable pouring amount can be ensured even when various opposing forces are caused by the walls of the sac membrane when the sac membrane is folded in various situations.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the piston pump device is attached to the storage container via a conical elastic intermediate member, which allows the piston pump device to form a stable storage container in its operating position. It can be held on the outside and inside a form-stable storage container in transport and storage positions.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 2, a storage container 1 for containing a concentrated beverage 2 is comprised of a flexible inner container wall 3 and a stable, box-shaped outer container wall 4 surrounding them. The flexible inner wall 3 has an initial storage capacity of the concentrated beverage 2 (indicated by the dashed line)
It is formed as a bag-shaped membrane so as to adapt to the remaining amount (indicated by a solid line) at each time. What is important in this case is that the gaps, openings or small holes in the area of the outer wall 4 allow air to enter between the outer wall 4 and the inner wall 3 so that the inner wall 13 can accommodate the reduced capacity of the concentrated beverage 2. It is to be. In the region of the pouring point 5, the pouring device 7 connects to the storage container 1 via a conical attachment member 6 made of elastic material.
It is connected to the inner wall 3 and outer wall 4 of. The connection of the conical mounting member 6 to the outer wall 4 results in favorable handling stability.

During transport or storage, the conical element 6 together with the dispensing device 7 attached thereto is withdrawn into the interior of the storage container 1, as indicated by the dash-dotted line 6'. In operation, when the storage container 1 is attached to an automatic beverage dispensing device and the concentrated beverage 2 is to be dispensed to make a soft drink by operating the dispensing device 7, the conical member 6 is connected to the dispensing device 7. and is pulled outward as shown by the solid line.

FIG. 1 shows a device for dispensing a concentrated beverage 2 from a storage container 1 together with a part of an automatic beverage dispensing device, in which case the concentrated beverage is combined with separately dispensed carbonated water to make a soft drink. It is mixed. One or more B- storage containers 1 for concentrated beverages 2 can be arranged in the storage chamber 9 of the equipment housing 8 of the automatic beverage dispensing device. To ensure the desired mixing ratio with other beverage ingredients, i.e. carbonated water,
The dispensing device 7 is designed as a piston pump device, via which the stored concentrated beverage 2 can be dispensed in a quantitative and detectable manner.

The housing 13 of the dispensing device 7 is held so that it can be attached to the dispensing location of the automatic beverage supply device from the front side. For this purpose, the housing 13 of the dispensing device 7 has a groove 14 into which the projection 15 of the device housing 8 engages in a horseshoe-like manner. A supply piston 16 is arranged in the housing 13 of the dispensing device 7 in such a way that it can displace the stopper 261vl in the axial direction. These stoppers define a dispensing stroke which determines the amount of concentrated beverage 2 to be dispensed for each operating cycle. Housing 1 of pouring device 7
The inlet opening 17 in 3 faces the storage container 1 and coincides concentrically with a central through opening 18 in the supply piston 16, so that the control piston 19 is guided in an axially displaceable manner. ing. The axial movement between the control piston 19 and the supply piston 16 is likewise limited by a stop 27. fIiJ11II piston 19 is driven via lever 20. One end 21 of the lever 20
engages in the groove 22 of the control piston 19 in a fork-like manner.

The lever 20 has a shaft 23 fixed to the equipment housing 8.
It is supported so as to be able to pivot around the center and is driven in the direction of the arrow by an eccentric drive 24 which is surrounded by a lever arm 25 in a fork-like manner.

When the eccentric device 24 is further swiveled from the position shown in FIG. It is sucked in through the introduction opening 17. When the eccentric 24 rotates further, the upper side of the control piston 19 first comes into the area of the introduction opening 17 and closes it. When the control piston 19 continues its upward movement, the control piston 1
9 and the feed piston 16 abut each other, so that the feed piston 16 is moved upwards together with the control piston 19. In this case, the concentrated beverage sucked into the dispensing device 7 is forced out via the side channel 2B in the control piston 19 into the central dispensing channel 29. The concentrated beverage 2 is discharged from the central pouring channel 29 and mixed with separately poured carbonated water to produce a soft drink. In this way, any number of working cycles can be carried out directly in succession and the number of cycles can be counted, which allows very precise placement of the dispensing volume for individual working cycles or for the entire working cycle. It can be implemented.

Due to the fixed correspondence of the dispensing device 7 to each storage container 1 and therefore to the concentrated beverage 2 stored in this container 1, the amount of concentrated beverage dispensed from the dispensing device in each operating cycle is directly related to the concentrated beverage at that time. can be adapted to the type and mixing ratio for the desired soft drink. Advantageously, parts of the dispensing device 7 are made of plastic.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a dispensing device according to the invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a concentrated beverage storage container and a dispensing device 11 attached thereto. 1... Storage container 2... Concentrated beverage 3... Inner wall 4... Outer wall 6... Conical mounting member 7... Dispensing device 8... Housing 13 of automatic beverage supply device... - Housing of the injection device 14.22... Groove 16... Supply piston 19... Control piston 20... Lever 24... Eccentric drive device 12-

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A device for dispensing a liquid using a storage container for storing the liquid and a supply pump connected to the storage container for sucking the liquid out of this storage container. In,
A dispensing device (7) configured as a piston pump is integrally attached to the storage container (1) as part of it;
The injection device (7) is a piston pump housing (13)
The apparatus is characterized in that it is provided with an engaging connection part (14, 22) for fixing the position on the equipment main body (15) and for connecting with the operating mechanism (21) of the driving device (24, 20) on the equipment side. Liquid dispensing device. 2) The storage container (1) is characterized in that it has a bag-like membrane with a flexible wall (3), and the membrane surrounds the stored liquid (2) according to the amount of storage. A device according to claim 1. 3) The storage container (1) has a rectangular parallelepiped container wall (
3. Device according to claim 2, characterized in that it is sealed from the outside by 4). 4) The dosing device (7) is connected to the storage container (1) via a conical attachment (6) made of elastic material, by means of which the dispensing device (7) is connected to the storage container (1) in the operating position. ) outside the storage container (
4. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that it is held inside the device.