JPH05207937A - Electric coffee heater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the electric coffee heater which can execute a series of operations from crushing of coffee beans to extraction of coffee in one operation for depressing a start key without setting a timer. CONSTITUTION:This coffee heater is provided with such a coffee mill part 30 as coffee beans are supplied little by little to a crushing part 33 from an inserting part of the coffee mill part 30, and constituted so that the coffee mill can be stopped automatically by a microcomputer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electric coffee brewer having a coffee mill section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 7, a conventional electric coffee brewer includes a server mounting table 11 having a built-in first heater 10, a hot water supply passage 12 through which hot water heated by the first heater 10 passes, and water. Placed on a water supply tank 13 connected to one end of a hot water supply passage 12 for storing the water, a heating container 18 having a second heater 17 for reheating, a coffee mill section 15, a coffee basket 16, and a server mounting table 11. The server 14 and the like are provided. When the coffee is brewed in the above-described conventional electric coffee brewer, the operation procedure shown in FIG. 8 is performed.

First, a power plug (not shown) is inserted into an outlet, and all the coffee beans for the number of people are put into the mill container 19.
, And add water in an amount suitable for coffee beans to the water supply tank 13. Next, set the timer according to the amount of coffee beans. Then, whether the taste of the coffee is regular or mild is set with a selection key (not shown). Then, by turning on a start key (not shown) to energize, the electric coffee brewer starts to operate.

When the energization is started, the mill motor 20 starts to operate and the mill cutter 23 crushes the coffee beans.
The ground coffee beans pass through the mill screen 21 and are supplied to the coffee basket 16, as shown in FIG. The operation time of the mill motor 20 at this time is set to the time plus α, which is calculated from the experimental data so far according to the amount of coffee beans.
Therefore, when the coffee beans are actually ground, the mill motor 20 remains idle for a while (about 10 seconds) after all the coffee beans are ground.

All the coffee beans are ground and the mill motor 2
When 0 is stopped, the first heater 10 and the second heater 17 are energized, and the water supplied from the water supply tank 13 is heated by the first heater 10 and circulates in the hot water supply passage 12 to the water supply tank 13 side. It enters the water supply tank 13 again via the open water channel switching solenoid 22.

When the first heater 10 is heated again to a certain temperature or higher, the hot water is then poured into the heating container 18 via the water passage switching solenoid 22 switched to the heating container 18 side, and the second heater is further heated. Heated at 17.

Most of the residual chlorine in the water is removed by heating three times, and the hot water heated to the optimum temperature for coffee extraction is poured onto the ground coffee beans in the coffee basket 16 to extract the coffee. Is performed. The extracted coffee is supplied to the server 14, and the server mounting table 11
The temperature is maintained by the first heater 10 incorporated in the.

[0008]

In the conventional electric coffee brewing machine, the mill container 19 is used when crushing coffee beans.
The grinding noise is loud because all the coffee beans for the number of people are put inside, and the mill motor 20 rotates at a high speed because it is in an unloaded state when the mill motor 20 is idle, and the weight unbalance of the mill cutter 23 causes Then, there was a problem that the noise increased.

Further, since the total amount of coffee beans for the number of people is put in the mill container 19, even if the amount of coffee beans is different, as shown in FIG. 10, the load current characteristic curve of the mill motor shows the coffee beans. The feature that enables the determination of the amount of coffee beans did not appear, and it was difficult to determine the amount of coffee beans added at an early point after the switch was turned on. Therefore, each time the coffee beans are crushed, the operation time of the mill motor 20 must be set by a timer according to the amount of coffee beans, which is a troublesome operation.

The present invention has been invented in view of the above-mentioned problems, and by controlling the operation time of the mill motor by the microcomputer, coffee can be brewed by one-touch operation by the user only pressing the start key. The purpose is to provide such an electric coffee brewer.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an electric coffee brewer according to the present invention has a coffee bean insertion portion and a crushing portion which are partitioned by a partition wall, and the crushing portion is crushed from the insertion portion side. Is characterized by having a coffee mill portion to which coffee beans are supplied little by little to the unit side, and also having the coffee mill portion described above, the operating time of the coffee mill portion is determined by the load current characteristic curve read by the microcomputer. It is characterized by being automatically determined.

[0012]

According to the above construction, the coffee bean insertion portion and the crushing portion are partitioned by the partition wall, and the coffee beans are supplied little by little from the insertion portion side to the crushing portion side.
The load current characteristic curve of the mill motor can be characterized by the amount of coffee beans. Further, by reading the load current characteristic curve by the microcomputer, the operation time of the mill motor suitable for the amount of coffee beans is determined, and the operation of the mill motor is automatically stopped, so that the timer adjustment operation becomes unnecessary.

[0013]

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

The electric coffee brewer according to this embodiment has a coffee mill section 30 as shown in FIG.
The coffee mill section 30 is provided with a partition wall 34 having a funnel shape, the coffee mill section 30 is divided into an insertion section 32 and a crushing section 33, and a mill cutter 35 is arranged at the bottom of the coffee mill section 30. It is set up. Due to the formation of the partition wall 34, the coffee beans inserted from the insertion portion 32 are moved little by little to the crushing portion 33, and the mill cutter 38 (FIG. 4) is operated so that the mill cutter 35 moves in the crushing portion 33 space. It rotates at high speed to crush coffee beans. The ground coffee beans pass through the mill screen 36 and are sent to the coffee basket 37.

The load current characteristic curve of the mill motor 38 when this coffee mill unit 30 is used draws a curve as shown in FIG. That is, one concave portion and two convex portions appear in the amount for 2 to 5 people, whereas 1 amount is 1 in the amount for 1 person.
Only the convex part appears. Further, in the amount for 2 to 5 persons, the time (T _N ) from the concave portion to the second convex portion differs depending on the amount of coffee beans. Further, the time (T _p ) from the second convex portion until all the coffee beans are ground is also different. The time from the first convex portion to the concave portion (T _I ) is almost constant regardless of the amount of coffee beans.

As described above, since the load current characteristic is remarkable depending on the difference in the amount of coffee beans, the amount of coffee beans can be determined by the microcomputer.

That is, first, depending on whether or not there is a concave portion within the fixed time T _I , it is determined that the amount is for one person. Next, if there is a concave portion in T _I , the time T _N to reach the second convex portion is measured. Therefore, if T _N = T _N2 , it is judged to be two people, and if T _N3 , it is judged to be three people. If the amount of coffee beans can be determined here, the T _P suitable for each amount can be determined.

The above program is input to the microcomputer control unit 39 shown in FIG. 3, a current detection circuit 40 is added to the mill motor 38 current circuit, and the current flowing to the mill motor 38 is sequentially supplied to the microcomputer control unit 39. If input, the operating time of the coffee mill unit 30 can be determined from the load current characteristic curve of the mill motor 38.
That is, in the case of 2 to 5 people, the operating time T = T _I + T _N +
T _P , and for one person, it is determined that T = T _I + T _P , and the mill motor 3 automatically
The operation of No. 8 can be stopped.

An electric coffee brewer equipped with the coffee mill unit 30 as described above will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 4, the electric coffee brewer according to the present invention has a server mounting table 11 in which a first heater 10 and a first temperature sensitive element 41 are incorporated, and hot water heated by the first heater 10. The hot water supply passage 12 through which the water passes and one end of the hot water supply passage 12 for storing water are connected, the water supply tank 13 provided with the second temperature sensing element 42, and the second reheating second
A heating container 18 having a heater 17 and a third temperature sensitive element 45, a coffee mill unit 30, and a coffee basket 3
7 and a server 14 and the like mounted on the server mounting table 11. As shown in the schematic circuit diagram of FIG. 5, the microcomputer control mechanism includes a first heater 10 for heating water supplied from the water supply tank 13 to the microcomputer control unit 39, and a first sense for sensing the temperature of the extracted coffee. A temperature element 41, a second heater 17 for heating the hot water in the heating container 18, a third temperature sensitive element 45 for sensing the hot water temperature in the heating container 18,
Mill motor 38, mill motor load current detection circuit 40, mill motor stop timer circuit 43, water channel switching solenoid 2
2, a start key 44, and a blinking display lamp 46 associated with the control function are respectively connected, and a mill motor stop timer circuit 43 is incorporated.

According to the electric coffee brewing machine equipped with the microcomputer control mechanism as described above, according to the operation procedure shown in FIG. 6, the one-touch operation of turning on the start key 44 enables the grinding and extraction of coffee beans. You can

First, a power plug (not shown) is inserted into an outlet, and the entire amount of coffee beans for the number of people is inserted from the insertion portion 32. Next, the amount of water suitable for the coffee beans is put into the water supply tank 13. Then, by turning on the start key 44, the electric coffee brewer starts to operate.

By turning on the start key 44,
At the same time when the mill motor 38 starts to operate, the first heater 1
0, the second heater 17 is energized, the water channel switching solenoid 2
2 also starts working. However, since it is not necessary to energize the second heater 17 while the hot water is circulating in the hot water supply passage 12, the second heater 17 may be energized after about 1 minute.

The load current characteristic curve of the mill motor 38 is read by the microcomputer, and the coffee mill unit 30 is automatically stopped when a predetermined time has elapsed according to the amount of coffee beans.

In parallel with the crushing of the coffee beans, the first heater 10 and the second heater 17 are energized, the water supplied from the water supply tank 13 is heated by the first heater 10, and the water inside the hot water supply passage 12 is heated. And enters the water supply tank 13 again via the water channel switching solenoid 22 switched to the water supply tank 13 side.

The hot water heated by the first heater 10 again is
When it is detected by the first temperature sensitive element 41 and the second temperature sensitive element 42 that the temperature has reached a certain temperature or higher, the water channel switching solenoid 22 is switched, and the water channel switching solenoid 22 switched to the heating container 18 side is used. It is poured into the heating container 18 and further heated by the second heater 17.

Most of the residual chlorine in the water was removed by heating three times, and the hot water heated to the optimum temperature for coffee extraction was poured onto the ground coffee beans in the coffee basket 37 to extract the coffee. Is performed. The extracted coffee is supplied to the server 14, and the first temperature sensitive element 41
Is sensed by the first heater 10 built in the server mounting table 11 by sensing the heat retention temperature.

The second heater 17 electrically senses the state at the start of energization at the time when the coffee extraction is completed, and stops energization after a lapse of a certain time. As a result, useless energization can be eliminated and emptying can be prevented.

According to the electric coffee brewer described above, the user can set the coffee beans and water for the number of people in the coffee brewer and press the start key. Extraction is performed.

Conventionally, in a coffee brewing machine in which it is possible to select whether the taste of coffee is mild or regular, adjustment has been performed by slowing or increasing the rotation speed of the mill motor. At that time, a slight difference is seen in the load current characteristic curve of the mill motor due to the low rotation speed. If this information is input to the microcomputer as information, it is possible to operate the coffee mill unit suitable for each taste and according to the amount of coffee beans.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, in the electric coffee brewer according to the present invention, the coffee bean insertion portion and the crushing portion are partitioned by the partition wall, and the crushing portion is crushed from the insertion portion side. Since coffee beans are supplied to the parts side by side, the load current characteristic curve of the mill motor can be made to have a characteristic depending on the amount of coffee beans.If the load current characteristic curve is read by a microcomputer, the amount of coffee beans Since the operation time of the mill motor suitable for the above is determined and the operation of the mill motor is automatically stopped, the timer adjustment operation is unnecessary.

Therefore, in the electric type coffee brewer according to the present invention, it is possible to fully automatically perform the processes from crushing to extraction of coffee beans by one-touch operation of pressing the start key.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a coffee mill section according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a load current characteristic curve of the mill motor according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a microcomputer controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing a configuration of an electric coffee brewer according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a microcomputer controller according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an operating procedure and an energized state in the electric coffee brewer according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional electric coffee brewer.

[Fig. 8] Fig. 8 is a view showing an operating procedure and an energized state in a conventional electric coffee brewer.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a conventional coffee mill.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing a load current characteristic curve of a conventional mill motor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 Coffee Mill Section 32 Insertion Section 33 Grinding Section 34 Partition Wall 39 Microcomputer Control Section (Microcomputer) 43 Mill Motor Stop Timer Circuit (Microcomputer)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. The coffee bean insertion portion and the crushing portion are separated by a partition wall, and the coffee mill has a coffee mill portion for feeding the coffee beans little by little from the insertion portion side to the crushing portion side. An electric coffee water heater. 2. A coffee mill section according to claim 1,
An electric coffee brewer characterized in that the operating time of the coffee mill section is automatically determined by reading the load current characteristic curve by a microcomputer.