JPH05142011A - Discharging device of carbonated water - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To suppress lowering of the carbon dioxide concentration in discharged carbonated water and to reduce the cost. CONSTITUTION:Carbonated water sealed hermetically in a vessel 5 is sent by the pressure of a carbon dioxide to a piping 6 connected to the vessel 5 and discharged from a flow control nozzle 10 in the fore end. The flow control nozzle 10 has a nozzle main body 11 of which the inner surface of the fore end is shaped in a truncated-cone slant, a conical valve plug 13 which is coaxial with the inner surface of the fore end of this nozzle main body 11 and can move straight in the direction of the axial line thereof, and a tension spring 14 which connects this valve plug 13 with the piping side. The cross-sectional area of a flow passage formed by the outer surface of the valve plug and the inner surface of the fore end of the nozzle main body changes in accordance with the pressure of the carbon dioxide at the fore end of the piping 6, and thereby a discharge flow rate of the carbonated water is made invariable irrespective of the pressure of the carbon dioxide.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device mainly incorporated in a vending machine for beverages, and particularly to a carbonated water discharge device for suppressing a decrease in carbon dioxide concentration of discharged carbonated water and reducing costs. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional example.
Will be described with reference to. This conventional example is incorporated into a beverage vending machine together with a beverage concentrate discharge device in order to sell a carbonated beverage. In FIG. 3, the carbonated water container 45 is connected to a pipe 41 for supplying carbon dioxide gas and a pipe 42 for supplying water as an inlet side, and is connected to a pipe 46 for delivering carbonated water as an outlet side. The carbon dioxide cylinder 1 is connected to the source of the pipe 41 via the pressure regulator 2a.
The carbon dioxide gas of 1 serves as a raw material of carbonated water, and the pressure causes the carbonated water to be pumped. A solenoid valve 43 is provided in the pipe 42. The pipe 46 is provided with a flow control valve 47 and a solenoid valve 48, and a nozzle 49 for discharging carbonated water is provided at the tip. Further, in the beverage concentrate container 52, as the entering side,
A pipe 51, which is connected to the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 via the pressure regulator 2b and guides the carbon dioxide gas for pressure feeding, is connected to a pipe 53 for sending the beverage concentrate to the outlet side. In the pipe 53, the flow control valve
54 and a solenoid valve 55 are installed, and the tip becomes an opening for discharging the stock beverage liquid. In order to make each discharge amount accurate, the flow rate of the corresponding liquid is controlled to be substantially constant by each flow control valve 47, 54. Each solenoid valve 43, 48, 55 is turned on / off by a command signal indicated by a broken line from the control unit 59, the corresponding liquid is circulated and blocked, and the discharge amount is determined based on the ON time. The beverage stock solution and the carbonated water to be discharged are poured into the mixing container 20 which is a cup with the start and the end of the discharge matched. This is to obtain a good mixed state without stirring. Here, since it is desired that the carbon dioxide concentration of the carbonated water is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, a high pressure is maintained until just before the nozzle 49, and the carbonated water is released to the atmosphere at once. In addition, 50 is a cooling tank.

Now, the structure of each flow control valve 47, 54 will be described with reference to the common sectional view of FIG. In FIG. 4, 21 is a main body, 22 is an adjusting screw, 23 is a base, 24 is a sleeve, and 25 is a spool. A ring 31 is installed on the bottom of the recess in the upper part of the base body 23, and a sleeve 24 is placed thereon.
And insert the spool 25. The inner peripheral surface of the sleeve 24 and the outer peripheral surface of the spool 25 are slidably fitted to each other, and O-rings 28, 29, 30 are inserted in the outer peripheral surface of the sleeve 24, and the outer peripheral surface of the sleeve 24 and the main body 21 and The space between each inner peripheral surface of the base body 23 is sealed. The main body 21 is screwed and fixed to the base body 23. The adjusting screw 22 screwed into the main body 21 is provided with a coil spring 26 between its lower end and the inner bottom surface of the spool 25, and an O-ring 27 is inserted on the outer peripheral surface thereof so that , The upper inner peripheral surface of the main body 21 is sealed.

When each of the solenoid valves 48 and 55 shown in FIG. 3 is opened, the internal pressure of the spool 25 communicating with the solenoid valves 48 and 55 is reduced, and the gas pressure of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 causes the liquid to flow from the lower hole of the base body 23 to restrict the throttle. After pushing the lower surface of the spool 25 against the urging force of the coil spring 26 through the portion 23a, it passes through the lower hole 25a and the guide hole 24a as a control orifice on the side wall of the sleeve 24, and then on the right side of the main body 21. It flows out from the hole that opens. Moreover, when the flow rate exceeds the set value, the spool 25 rises accordingly and the upper end of the spool 25 becomes a sleeve.
Partly block the 24 guide holes 24a to reduce the flow rate. On the contrary, when the flow rate becomes equal to or lower than the set value, the spool 25 descends according to the degree and opens the guide hole 24a to increase the flow rate. In this way, the flow rate is controlled so as to have a substantially constant value.

[0005]

The conventional example has the following problems. First, since the flow control valve 47 is installed in the pipe 46 for carbonated water, pressure loss occurs there,
That is, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the carbonated water decreases. As a countermeasure, even if the flow rate control valve 47 is replaced with the nozzle 49 and installed at the outlet, the carbon dioxide gas is separated from the carbonated water in the flow rate control valve, and the carbon dioxide concentration is lowered. Secondly, the flow rate control valve 47 for carbonated water has a smaller flow rate fluctuation range than the flow rate control valve 54 for undiluted beverage, and the performance is too good and the cost is too high for the purpose of use. This is because the carbon dioxide gas pressure for pumping carbonated water is higher than the carbon dioxide gas pressure for beverage stock solution pumping,
Assuming that the pressure fluctuations by the pressure regulators 2a and 2b are the same, the fluctuation range of the carbonated water flow rate by the carbonated water flow control valve 47 is the fluctuation range of the beverage stock solution flow rate by the beverage stock solution flow control valve 54. Smaller than, in other words, flow control valve
This is because 47 controls the flow rate of carbonated water with more accuracy than necessary compared with the stock solution of beverage.

An object of the present invention is to provide a carbonated water discharge device which solves the above problems of the prior art, suppresses the decrease in carbon dioxide concentration of discharged carbonated water, and reduces the cost. is there.

[0007]

In a carbonated water discharging device according to a first aspect of the present invention, carbonated water sealed in a container is pressure-fed through a pipe connected to the container by the pressure of carbon dioxide gas, and the flow rate at the tip thereof. In the device for discharging from a control nozzle, the flow rate control nozzle includes a nozzle body having an inner surface at the tip of which is a truncated cone shape; and a conical valve that is coaxial with the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body and is capable of moving straight in the direction of its axis. A body; a tension spring that connects the valve body to the tip side of the pipe; and a flow formed by the valve body outer surface and the nozzle body tip inner surface in accordance with carbon dioxide gas pressure at the pipe tip. The discharge flow rate of the carbonated water is constant regardless of the carbon dioxide gas pressure by changing the cross-sectional area of the passage.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the carbonated water discharging device according to the first aspect, the tension spring is a coil spring, and the valve body straight-moving guide shaft penetrates through the inner space thereof.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the carbonated water discharging device according to the first or second aspect, the apex angle of the valve body is less than or equal to the apex angle of the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body.

[0010]

In the carbonated water discharger according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in accordance with the carbon dioxide gas pressure maintained at a high level at the tip of the pipe, the flow path formed by the valve body outer surface and the nozzle body tip inner surface is formed. By changing the cross-sectional area,
The discharge flow rate of carbonated water becomes constant regardless of the carbon dioxide gas pressure.

Particularly, in the carbonated water discharge device according to the second aspect, the guide shaft for linearly advancing the valve element is penetrated through the coil spring (cylindrical or conical) as an extension spring so as to be housed in the internal space. Is provided.

Particularly, in the carbonated water discharging device according to the third aspect, since the apex angle of the valve body is less than or equal to the apex angle of the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body, the cross-sectional area of the flow passage gradually decreases in the flow direction, and the carbonated water is discharged. Is gradually narrowed down.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a carbonated water discharge device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the embodiment. In FIG. 1, only the piping system for carbonated water is shown, and the piping system for the beverage concentrate in FIG. 3 is omitted. The difference between this embodiment and the conventional example is that a flow control nozzle is provided at the tip of the pipe instead of the flow control valve in order to keep the flow rate constant. That is, the carbonated water container 5 is connected to the carbon dioxide gas supply pipe 2 and the water supply pipe 3 on the entry side, and to the carbonated water delivery pipe 6 on the exit side. A carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 is connected to the source of the pipe 2 via a pressure regulator 2a, and the carbon dioxide gas of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 1 serves as a raw material of the carbonated water, and the carbonated water is pumped by the pressure. A solenoid valve 4 is provided in the pipe 3. An electromagnetic valve 7 is provided near the tip of the pipe 6, and a flow rate control nozzle 10 for discharging carbonated water is provided at the tip. Each solenoid valve 4, 7 has a control unit 9
Is turned on and off by a command signal indicated by a broken line from FIG. 2 to flow and block water and carbonated water, respectively, and the discharge amount is determined based on the on time. In addition, 8 is a cooling tank.

The flow control nozzle 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 which is a sectional view thereof. In FIG. 2, the nozzle body 11 is screwed onto the pipe end 6 a, which is the tip of the pipe 6, and is sealed via an O-ring 15. Pipe end 6a
The guide shaft (12) is fixed to the tip of the nozzle (11) with its axis coaxial with the axis of the nozzle body (11). The guide shaft 12 guides the conical valve body 13 so that it can go straight. At the base of this guide shaft 12, or the tip of the pipe end 6a, and the bottom surface of the valve body 13,
Each end face of the cylindrical coil spring 14 is fixed, the tip side of the pipe 6 and the valve body 13 are connected by the coil spring 14, and the guide shaft 12 penetrates and is housed in the hollow portion of the coil spring 14.

In the flow rate control nozzle 10, the coil spring 14 is adjusted according to the increase / decrease in the carbon dioxide gas pressure at the tip of the pipe 6.
The degree of expansion of the changes to large and small, and the outer surface of the conical valve body 13,
The cross-sectional area of the flow path formed by the truncated cone-shaped inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body 11 changes greatly or greatly. Therefore, with a proper design, the discharge flow rate from the nozzle body 11 of carbonated water can be made substantially constant regardless of the carbon dioxide gas pressure. Here, the apex angle of the valve body 13 is set to the nozzle body.
By setting the angle to be less than or equal to the apex angle of the inner surface of the tip of 11, the cross-sectional area of the flow path is gradually reduced toward the flow direction, and the flow of carbonated water is gradually narrowed. This flow control nozzle 10 is shown in FIG.
Compared with the flow control valve in the conventional example shown in Fig. 3, the structure is simplified and the number of parts is greatly reduced, so not only cost reduction but also pressure loss here is kept low and the concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the carbonated water is reduced. The decrease is suppressed. Moreover, in order to suppress this pressure loss, by making the apex angle of the valve body 13 less than or equal to the apex angle of the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body 11, the cross-sectional area of the flow passage is gradually reduced toward the flow direction, and the flow of the carbonated water is reduced. Further support is provided by gradually narrowing down. Further, as a matter of course, a high pressure is maintained just before the flow rate control nozzle 10 and the atmosphere is released all at once, so that the carbon dioxide concentration can be maintained.

[0016]

In the carbonated water discharger according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the flow formed by the outer surface of the valve body and the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body in accordance with the carbon dioxide pressure which is maintained high at the tip of the pipe. By changing the cross-sectional area of the passage, the discharge flow rate of the carbonated water becomes constant regardless of the carbon dioxide gas pressure. Therefore, the pressure of carbon dioxide gas for pumping carbonated water can be kept high until just before the nozzle at the tip of the pipe, and the pressure loss in the flow control nozzle can be reduced by simplifying the structure and reducing the number of parts. By reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in water and simplifying the structure and reducing the number of parts, the reliability of the device can be improved and the cost can be reduced.

Particularly, in the carbonated water discharging device according to the second aspect, the guide shaft for linearly advancing the valve element is housed in the inner space of the coil spring (cylindrical or conical) as a tension spring, and penetrates through this. The size of the device can be reduced.

Particularly, in the carbonated water discharging device according to the third aspect, since the apex angle of the valve body is less than or equal to the apex angle of the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body, the cross-sectional area of the flow passage gradually decreases toward the flow direction, and the carbonated water is discharged. Is gradually narrowed down. Therefore, suppression of pressure loss in the flow control nozzle is assisted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a flow rate control nozzle according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a conventional example

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a flow control valve in a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Carbon dioxide cylinder 2 Piping 2a Pressure regulator 3 Piping 4 Solenoid valve 5 Container 6 Piping 6a Piping end 7 Solenoid valve 8 Cooling tank 9 Control unit 10 Flow control nozzle 11 Nozzle body 12 Guide shaft 13 Valve body 14 Coil spring 15 O-ring 20 mixing container

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus in which carbonated water sealed in a container is pressure-fed through a pipe connected to the container by the pressure of carbon dioxide and discharged from a flow control nozzle at the tip of the pipe, wherein the flow control nozzle comprises: A nozzle body whose inner surface has a truncated cone shape; coaxial with the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body,
A conical valve body capable of moving straight in the direction of the axis; a tension spring connecting the valve body and the tip end side of the pipe; and an outer surface of the valve body depending on the carbon dioxide pressure at the tip of the pipe. A carbonated water discharge characterized in that a discharge flow rate of the carbonated water becomes constant regardless of the carbon dioxide gas pressure by changing a cross-sectional area of a flow path formed by the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body. apparatus. 2. The carbonated water discharge device according to claim 1, wherein the tension spring is a coil spring, and a guide shaft for linearly advancing the valve body is provided so as to penetrate through the internal space thereof. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein
The carbonated water discharge device is characterized in that the apex angle of the valve body is less than or equal to the apex angle of the inner surface of the tip of the nozzle body.