JPH06227594A - Beverage/food feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a beverage/food feeding device which can discharge a beverage/food completely in a container. CONSTITUTION:The leading end of a discharging tube 3 which is provided on a deformable flexible bag 1, in which a beverage/food is filled and sealed, is fastened by a discharging tube fastening member 12 which is provided movably in the direction to a container 9. Then, the discharging tube fastening member (guide member) 12 is made to reciprocate in such a manner that the leading end of the discharging tube 3 is made to attend to the container 9 during a beverage/food feeding motion, and the leading end is retracted from the location to attend to the container 9 at the completion of the beverage/food feeding motion.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a food and drink supply device provided with a flexible bag which is filled and sealed with food and drink and is deformable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, foods and drinks such as juice and yogurt are filled and sealed in a bag made of a deformable soft synthetic resin, and the bag is stored in a box such as a corrugated board.
Disposable BI that dispenses food and drink from the bag as needed and replaces the entire box when the food and drink runs out
A food / beverage supply device having a B (bag-in-box) for supplying food / drink has appeared, and such a food / beverage supply device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-109895. There is.

And, in such a food and drink supplying device,
Before supplying food and drink, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, first, a box containing a bag filled with drink (hereinafter referred to as BI
B) 1 is the food and drink supply device main body (hereinafter referred to as the main body)
After being stored in 2, the discharge tube 3 attached to the bottom of the BIB 1 is pulled out.

Next, the discharge tube 3 is attached to a discharge pump 4 which is a food / drink discharge device of the main body 2, and finally the tip of the discharge tube 3 is provided below the front door 2a.
Set it by projecting it to the upper part of. At this time, the tip of the discharge tube 3 is set so as to be positioned above a container such as a paper cup (not shown) placed on a tray 6 provided below the food and drink outlet 5.

After setting the BIB 1 as described above, when the supply switch 2b provided on the front door 2a is pressed, the discharge pump 4 is driven for a certain period of time according to a supply command from a supply controller (not shown) to discharge the discharge. A required amount of food and drink is discharged from the tip of the tube 3 for the purpose toward the lower container.

After that, if necessary, the electromagnetic valve 7a of the water tank 7 is opened for a certain period of time, and a certain amount of water is poured into the container through the dilution water pipe 7b, thereby diluting at a predetermined ratio. The prepared food and drink is supplied.

[0007]

In such a conventional food and drink supplying apparatus, as a discharge pump, a plurality of rollers are sequentially brought into pressure contact with the discharge tube and moved downward from above along the extraction tube. There are used peristaltic pumps that push out food and drink in the discharge tube by doing so, and bellows pumps that push out food and drink stored in the bellows part by compressing the bellows part.

However, in such a peristaltic pump or bellows pump, the pressure for pushing the food and drink changes periodically, so that when the pushing pressure is small, the food and drink is not vigorously discharged and drops from the tip of the discharge tube. become. However, since the container is placed below the discharge tube even when the food or drink is dripped in this way, the food or drink is not spilled from the container.

On the other hand, when a BIB is attached to a cup-type vending machine, which is an example of a food and drink supply device, to try to sell food and drink, the tip of the discharge tube is arranged above the food and drink outlet. In order not to prevent the container from falling from the cup dispenser, it is necessary to set it so as to be positioned diagonally above the container such as a paper cup that has dropped.

However, in the case where the tip of the discharge tube is arranged obliquely above the container in this way, when food or drink is dripped from the tip of the discharge tube, the dripped food or drink is located obliquely below the end of the discharge tube. It does not fit inside, and along with this, a predetermined amount of food and drink is no longer discharged,
Moreover, when diluting, there was a problem that a drink of a predetermined ratio or less was supplied. In addition, there is a problem in that the device is unclean because the food or drink that cannot be completely contained in the container is unclean.

An object of the present invention is to provide a food and drink supply device capable of discharging all food and drink into a container.

[0012]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprises a deformable flexible bag which is filled and sealed with food and drink, and discharges a certain amount of food and drink from a discharge tube provided in the flexible bag. In the food and drink supply device supplied by the device,
A discharge tube locking member that is provided so as to lock the distal end portion of the discharge tube and is movable in the direction of the container from which the food and drink is discharged, and a tip of the discharge tube during a food supply operation period of the food and drink. And driving means for causing the discharge tube locking member to reciprocate so as to face the container and withdraw the tip of the discharge tube from the position facing the container when the operation of supplying the food and drink is completed.

Further, the present invention comprises a deformable flexible bag which is filled and sealed with food and drink, and a certain amount of food and drink is supplied from a food and drink discharge device from a discharge tube provided in the flexible bag. In the object supply device, a nozzle portion having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the discharge tube is formed at the tip of the discharge tube.

[0014]

With this configuration, the distal end of the discharge tube provided in the deformable flexible bag filled with food and drink is locked by the discharge tube locking member that is movable in the direction of the container. be able to. Then, the driving means causes the tip of the discharge tube to face the container during the food and drink supply operation, and reciprocates the discharge tube locking member so as to retract the tip from the position facing the container at the end of the food and drink supply operation. Can be made. Further, a nozzle portion having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the discharge tube can be formed at the tip of the discharge tube to increase the discharge pressure of food and drink at the tip of the discharge tube.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a view showing the structure of an automatic vending machine which is an example of a food and drink supplying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 represent the same or corresponding parts.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 8 stores a container 9 such as a paper cup, and the container 9 is placed on a tray 6 arranged below the food and drink outlet 5 in response to a sales command from a supply control unit (not shown). It is a cup dispenser that drops it. In the same figure, the cup dispenser 8 is in a state of being opened and rotated after the front door (not shown) of the vending machine 2A is opened.

Reference numeral 10 is a BIB cooling chamber for cooling and accommodating two BIB1's therein. The discharge tubes 3 of the two BIB1's in this BIB cooling chamber 10 are mounted on a discharge pump 4 as well. As shown in FIG. 2, its tip is locked to a discharge tube moving portion 14 provided with a pinch solenoid 11, a guide member 12 which is a discharge tube locking member, and a moving solenoid 13 which is a driving means.

Here, the pinch solenoid 11 normally closes the tip of the discharge tube 3 by projecting the plunger 11a, and when a supply command is issued, the pinch solenoid 11 is discharged by the moving solenoid 13 as described later. After the tip of the tube 3 moves to a position facing the container 9, the plunger 11a is sucked and the discharge tube 3 is opened before the drive pump 4 is driven.

Further, the guide member 12 is provided so that the pinch solenoid 11 is placed on the one hand and the end portion 12a on the container 9 side is engaged with the other end of the discharge tube 3 and is movable in the direction of the container 9. It is a thing.

On the other hand, the moving solenoid 13 normally projects from the plunger 13a and holds the guide member 12 at a position away from the container 9 (hereinafter referred to as a standby position) so that the tip of the discharge tube 3 faces the container 9. It is to evacuate. When the guide member 12 is at the standby position, the tip of the discharge tube 3 does not prevent the container 9 from falling.

When the supply command is issued, the moving solenoid 13 sucks the plunger 13a, and moves the guide member 12 that moves together with the plunger 13a to a position close to the container 9 (hereinafter referred to as a discharge position). ), And the tip of the discharge tube 3 is held at the position where it faces the container 9 until the operation of supplying food and drink is completed. After the food and drink supply operation is completed, the plunger 13a is projected to return the guide member 12 to the standby position.

That is, the moving solenoid 13 causes the tip of the discharge tube 3 to face the container 9 during the food / drink supply operation, and the tip of the discharge tube 3 moves to the container 9 at the end of the food / drink supply operation. This is for reciprocating the guide member 12 so as to retract from the facing position.

In FIG. 1, 7A is an ice making section for making ice for cooling the discharged food and drink, and S
Is a space for housing each device for extracting a beverage from a powdered raw material such as coffee and supplying the beverage. Here, each device accommodated in this space S is not shown because it is not directly related to the description of the present invention.

Next, the operation of supplying food and drink in the vending machine thus constructed will be described.

When a sales command is issued from the supply control unit,
First, the container 9 is changed from the cup dispenser 8 to the food and drink outlet 5.
It falls on the tray 6 arranged in the lower part of. Next, the moving solenoid 13 attracts the plunger 13a, moves the guide member 12 to the discharge position, and moves the tip of the discharge tube 3 to a position facing the container 9 as shown in FIG.

After that, the pinch solenoid 11 attracts the plunger 11a to open the tip of the discharge tube 3 for a certain period of time, while the discharge pump 4 is driven for a certain period of time.
A required amount of food and drink is supplied from the discharge tube 3 into the container 6.

At this time, the food and drink may not be vigorously discharged due to the periodical change in the pressure pushed out by the discharge pump 4, and may drip from the tip of the discharge tube 3, but the tip of the discharge tube 3 may be dropped. Since the food is dripped into the container 9, the dropped food and drink is discharged to the container 9 without falling outside the container 9.

When the food / beverage supply operation is completed in this way, the operation of the pinch solenoid 11 is stopped, and the tip of the discharge tube 3 is closed, the moving solenoid 1 is moved.
3, the plunger 13a is projected to return the guide member 12 to the standby position as shown in FIG. As a result, the tip of the discharge tube 3 retreats from the position facing the container 9 and prepares for the next supply command.

As described above, before the food or drink is discharged, the tip of the discharge tube 3 is moved to a position facing the container 9 and the tip is kept at that position during the period of the food supply operation. Even if the pressure pushed out by the pump 4 changes periodically, all food and drink can be discharged into the container 9. In addition, this makes it possible to discharge a required amount of food and drink into the container 9 without contaminating the device, and to supply food and drink of a predetermined dilution ratio.

By the way, in the above description, the food and drink are all discharged into the container by moving the tip of the discharge tube to the position facing the container before discharging the food and drink. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is also possible to discharge all food and drink into the container by forming a nozzle portion at the tip of the discharge tube.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of the structure of an automatic vending machine which is an example of the food and drink supplying apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 2 represent the same or corresponding parts.

In the figure, numeral 15 is a nozzle portion formed at the tip of the discharge tube 3, and this nozzle portion 15 is
As shown in FIG. 5, a nozzle 16 having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the discharge tube 3 is inserted and fixed to the tip of the discharge tube 3.

By thus inserting and fixing the nozzle 16 having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the discharge tube 3, the cross-sectional area of the tip of the discharge tube 3 can be reduced.
As a result, even if the pressure pushed out by the discharge pump 4 decreases, the pressure of the food or drink discharged from the tip of the discharge tube 3 increases by the amount that the cross-sectional area of the discharge tube 3 decreases.

Therefore, even if the pushing pressure of the discharge pump 4 changes periodically and the pushing pressure becomes small, the food and drink can be vigorously discharged without dripping from the tip of the nozzle 16 of the nozzle portion 15. It is possible to discharge all the food and drink into the container 9.

In the above description, the nozzle portion 15 has been described as having a structure in which the nozzle 16 is inserted and fixed to the tip of the discharge tube 3, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the tip of the discharge tube 3 is not limited to this. Alternatively, the nozzle may be integrally formed.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the tip of the discharge tube can be exposed to the container during the operation of supplying food and drink, the pressure of the discharge pump for pushing out food and drink is cyclic. Even if it changes, all food and drink can be discharged into the container.

Further, by reducing the cross-sectional area of the tip of the discharge tube, it is possible to discharge food and drink into the container even when the pushing pressure becomes small.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a structure of a food and drink supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the food and drink supply device is in a standby state.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which the food and drink supply device is in a supply state.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of the structure of a food and drink supply device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a main part of a distal end portion of a discharge tube of the food and drink supply device.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a conventional food and drink supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 BIB 3 Discharge Tube 4 Discharge Pump 9 Container 12 Guide Member 13 Transfer Solenoid 15 Nozzle Part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A food and drink supply device comprising a deformable flexible bag which is filled and sealed with food and drink, and which supplies a certain amount of food and drink by a food and drink discharge device from a discharge tube provided in the flexible bag. In, a discharge tube locking member that is provided so as to be movable in the direction of the container in which the food and drink is discharged while locking the distal end portion of the discharge tube, and the discharge tube locking member during the supply operation period of the food and drink. Drive means for causing the discharge tube locking member to reciprocate so that the tip of the discharge tube faces the container, and the tip of the discharge tube is retracted from the position facing the container at the end of the feeding operation of the food and drink. Food and drink supply device. 2. A food and drink supply device comprising a deformable flexible bag which is filled and sealed with food and drink, and which supplies a predetermined amount of food and drink by a food and drink discharge device from a discharge tube provided in the flexible bag. 2. The food and drink supply device according to claim 1, wherein a nozzle portion having a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the discharge tube is formed at the tip of the discharge tube.