JPH07141562A - Starting method for operation of frozen soda drink dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an operation starting method for the frozen soda drink dispenser which can dispense frozen soda drink as soon as possible when operation is restrated. CONSTITUTION:When the operation is started, the temperature in a freezing casing 11 is detected and the driving torque of a stirring blade in the freezing casing 11 is detected. The mixed material in the freezing casing 11 are cooled while stirred and when the temperature in the freezing casing 11 reaches specific vending start temperature (-2.5 deg.C) before the driving torque reaches a specific cooling stop value, the supply of sirup, water and carbon dioxide to a subordinate tank 27 is enable and a vending stop state is reset. At this time, the frozen soda drink in the freezing casing 11 is not in a freezing completion state, so the frozen soda drink can be dispensed in prompt manner.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for starting operation of a frozen carbonated beverage dispenser for producing a frozen carbonated beverage by stirring and mixing raw materials such as syrup, water and carbon dioxide gas while cooling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a frozen carbonated drink dispenser,
An evaporator (cooling pipe) forming a part of the refrigeration system is wound around the freezing casing, and cools the mixed raw material composed of syrup, water and carbon dioxide gas supplied from the sub-tank to the freezing casing. In addition, a stirring blade is provided in the freezing casing, which is rotated by a gear motor connected through a coupling to stir the above-mentioned mixed raw material to make a frozen carbonated beverage in a semi-frozen state. This stirring blade is constantly rotated in order to always sell the frozen carbonated drink, but the cooling described above is intermittent depending on the cooling state of the frozen carbonated drink. That is, excessive cooling is not preferable because it extremely increases the viscosity and the like of the frozen carbonated beverage in a semi-frozen state.For example, a torque detector is provided in the above-mentioned coupling, and if the stirring resistance torque or the driving torque reaches a predetermined value. , Stop the operation of the refrigeration system and stop the cooling.

Generally, when the store is closed at night, for example, the operation of the frozen carbonated drink dispenser is stopped, so that the frozen carbonated drink left in the frozen casing becomes considerably melted over time. For this reason, in order to resume sales, it must first be refrozen, but in order to produce a frozen carbonated beverage of good quality, the mixed raw materials inside must be completely liquefied before cooling and stirring. I know that is necessary. Conventionally, in order to sell frozen carbonated beverages of perfect quality at first, it is decided not to replenish the three raw materials until the cooling and stirring of the remaining raw materials of the frozen casing as described above are completely completed, and Until the cooling is completed and the raw material is replenished to the sub-tank, the product is not sold (see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 61-120984).

[0004]

According to the above-mentioned conventional method of resuming sales, the sale is not performed until the remaining raw material in the frozen casing is completely cooled. Therefore, the quality of the frozen carbonated beverage to be sold is the highest. Despite the quality, customers just after opening the store had to wait a considerable amount of time. However, in such a frozen carbonated drink dispenser, after the start of sales, if the amount of the completed frozen carbonated drink in the frozen casing decreases, the raw materials are appropriately replenished from the sub-tanks and the frozen carbonated drink is poured in various states. Issued and sold. According to the inventor's knowledge, the carbon dioxide content rate in frozen carbonated drinks is 80% as the number of poured cups increases.
From 40% to 40%, but with a carbon dioxide gas content rate of this level, the predetermined quality sufficient for sale is satisfied. In other words, in the conventional way of starting sales, the sales will resume with the carbon dioxide content rate of 80%.
It turns out that it keeps customers waiting more than necessary. The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a method for starting the operation of a frozen carbonated beverage dispenser that allows the frozen carbonated beverage to be poured out as soon as possible even when the operation is restarted. Is.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the operation start-up method of the present invention, a mixed raw material composed of syrup, water and carbon dioxide is put into a freezing casing from a sub tank and frozen, By stirring, in a frozen carbonated drink dispenser for producing a frozen carbonated drink,
While detecting the temperature in the freezing casing, the driving torque of the stirring blade in the freezing casing is detected, the mixed raw material in the freezing casing is cooled while being stirred, and the temperature in the freezing casing is the driving torque. When the temperature reaches the predetermined sales start temperature before reaching the predetermined cooling stop value, the syrup, water and carbon dioxide gas can be supplied to the sub tank, and the sales stop is released.

[0006]

When the operation is restarted, the liquefied remaining raw material in the frozen casing is cooled in a usual manner and stirred by the stirring blade rotated by the drive motor to become a frozen carbonated beverage. When the temperature detector detects that the internal temperature of the freezing casing has reached a predetermined sales start temperature that can be set to, for example, -2.5 ° C, at this time, the driving torque of the stirring blade stops the cooling operation. Although the specified cooling stop value has not been reached, open the carbon dioxide gas valve and the syrup valve, start the water supply pump to supply the carbon dioxide, syrup, and water raw materials to the sub tank, and display the sales stoppage. To cancel.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a systematic diagram of a raw material of a frozen carbonated beverage dispenser 10 to which the present invention is applied. The casing 11 is surrounded by a refrigerating system evaporator (cooling pipe) not shown, and the mixed raw materials inside the casing 11 are
Similarly, a gear motor (not shown) is agitated by an internal agitating blade which is driven via a viscosity detecting torque detecting coupling. The frozen carbonated beverage produced by cooling and stirring is poured from the pouring cock 13 and sold. The temperature inside the freezing casing 11 is detected by a temperature detector or thermistor 15.

The raw material inlet of the freezing casing 11 is connected to the sub-tank 27 via a pipe 21 having a heater 17 and an operation valve 19 and a pipe 25 having an operation valve 23. The operation valve 19 controls communication between the freezing casing 11 and the sub tank 27, and is opened during operation and closed when operation is stopped after closing the store. The heater 17 is
The pipe 21 is heated so as not to freeze, so that the pipe 21 is prevented from being blocked by freezing. The operation valve 23 is opened when the liquid inside the sub tank 27 or the freezing casing 11 is discharged, and is closed at other times. A reed switch 29 is provided at the bottom of the sub tank 27,
It cooperates with the illustrated float provided in the sub tank 27 to detect that the sub tank 27 is substantially empty.

The sub-tank 21 is a mixture tank for temporarily mixing raw materials such as syrup, water and carbon dioxide, and may be called a mixing tank. The upper part of the sub-tank 21 is a brass carbon dioxide gas valve 31.
The carbon dioxide gas cylinder 35 is communicated via a pipe 33 provided with. The outlet pressure of the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 35 is usually 4 kg.
Adjusted to a pressure of / cm ² , two check valves 37 prevent backflow. Further, the pipe 33 is connected to the operation valve 3
9 and the pipe 41 having the check valve 37 are connected to the pipe 25, but the operation valve 39 is the sub tank 2
The mixed liquid in 7 is gas-stirred, or the frozen casing 11
It is opened when the carbon dioxide gas is directly supplied to the inside of the container, and is closed at other times.

The sub tank 27 communicates with a water supply tank 45 via a check valve 37 and a water supply pump 43. The water supply tank 45 is provided with a float switch 47 that detects an upper limit water level and a lower limit water level, and controls opening and closing of a water supply valve 49 that communicates with an external water supply system. That is, when the float switch 47 detects the lower limit water level, the water supply valve 49 is opened, and the water supply from the external water supply system enters the water supply tank 45. When the float switch 47 detects the upper limit water level, the water supply valve 49 is closed and the water supply is stopped. Further, the float switch 47 controls the operation of the pump 43 when supplying water to the sub tank 27. That is, when the raw material water supply command is issued, the water supply pump 43 is activated (the water level of the water supply tank 45 is the upper limit water level), but if the lower limit water level is detected, the water supply pump 43 is stopped and the raw material water is supplied. Supply is complete.

Further, in the sub-tank 27, a pressure detector or pressure sensor 5 for detecting the pressure of the internal gas phase space.
1 is provided, and in addition, a syrup tank 59 is connected via a pipe 57 having a flow regulator 53 for quantifying the flow and a stainless steel syrup valve 55. This syrup tank 59 has a check valve 37
Is connected to the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 35 via the pipe 61 having the above and the above-mentioned pipe 33, and the pressure of the carbon dioxide gas acts on the liquid surface of the syrup inside, and when the syrup valve 55 is opened, it is opened at the bottom of the syrup tank 59. The syrup is pumped to the sub tank 27 through the pipe 57.

In the above structure, the operation of supplying the raw material during the normal operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. The sub tank 27 is emptied and the reed switch (LS) 29 is turned off.
N, the pressure sensor (PS ₁ ) 51 is 0.9 Kg / c
If the pressure of m ² is detected and the water level of the water supply tank 45 is at the upper limit water level, the main control board 62 including the microcomputer opens the syrup valve 55 and the water supply pump 4
By instructing the operation of No. 3 and the opening of the carbon dioxide gas valve 31, the supply of the raw material to the sub tank 27 is started. That is, when the pressure in the sub tank 27 is 0.9 kg / cm ² or less, only the carbon dioxide gas valve 31 is opened and only carbon dioxide gas is supplied. If the conditions for starting the supply of the raw materials described above are satisfied, the carbon dioxide gas valve 31
Then, the syrup valve 55 is opened and the water supply pump 43 is started.
When the pressure sensor 51 detects the pressure of 1.8 Kg / cm ² , the carbon dioxide gas valve 31 is closed. Then, the inflow of water and syrup is continued, and when the water level in the water supply tank 45 reaches the lower limit water level, the float switch 47 is activated, the syrup valve 55 is closed, and the pump 43 is stopped. The amount of water between the upper limit water level and the lower limit water level of the water supply tank 45 is constant, and the amount of syrup flowing is also quantified by the flow regulator 53, so the ratio of syrup and water was kept at a predetermined value. Be done.

In the following, with reference to the flow chart of FIG. 2 in addition to FIG. 1 and FIG. 3, the operation start or restart status at the time of opening a store will be described. First, turn on the power switch S ₁ when the store opens
With this setting, the refrigeration-type refrigerant compressor (CM) 64 is activated after the protection standby time of 2 minutes has elapsed. On the other hand, the gear motor (GM) 65 that drives the stirring blade is also started to stir the inside of the frozen casing 11, so that the raw material remaining inside becomes uniform, and the thermistor (TH) 15 detects the temperature. If the detection temperature is 2 ° C or lower, there is a possibility that ice remains in the raw material. Therefore, in order to improve the quality, the hot gas valve HV ₁ of the refrigeration system is opened and the liquid line valve HV ₁ is opened. ₂ is closed and hot refrigerant gas flows into the cooling pipe (not shown). Frozen casing 1
If the temperature in 1 rises above 2 ° C, the hot gas valve H
V ₁ is closed and the condensed refrigerant is flowed into the cooling pipe by using the liquid line valve HV ₂ to start cooling. The same applies when the initially detected temperature is 2 ° C. or higher. Empirically, the detected temperature is 2 ℃
If it is above, there is no ice (grains) and it is judged that all are liquid.

When cooling is started and thermistor 15 detects -2.5 ° C., it depends to some extent on the ambient temperature condition where the frozen carbonated beverage dispenser is installed.
Under the control of the main control board 62, the sale stop lamp (not shown) of the display board 63 is turned off to enable the supply of raw materials to the sub tank 27, that is, the supply of carbon dioxide gas, syrup and water. The actual supply of the raw material is performed when the pressure in the sub-tank 27 is 0.9 Kg / cm ² and the start condition for turning on the reed switch 29 is satisfied. Furthermore,
The operation of the compressor 64 is continued and cooling progresses, and if the torque detection coupling of the stirring blade detects the upper limit torque, the operation of the compressor 64 is stopped as in the conventional case. The above-mentioned sales start temperature of -2.5 ° C is reached before the drive torque of the stirring blade reaches the upper limit, and as described above, the sales start temperature is affected by the ambient temperature condition. , -2.5 ° C, but not limited to.

After that, the agitating blade is still equipped with the gear motor 65.
To keep the frozen carbonated drink in good condition. According to the torque detection of the stirring blade, that is, when the torque is smaller than the lower limit torque, the cooling operation is restarted, and when the upper limit torque is reached, the cooling operation is stopped. Such an operation is repeated repeatedly, and at the closing time, the power switch S ₁ is turned off and the operation is stopped.

In the electric circuit diagram of FIG. 3, ELB is an earth leakage breaker, S ₁ is a power switch, S ₂ is a cooling switch,
S ₃ is a phase change switch, TR ₁ is an auto transformer, TR ₂
Is a transformer, SR is a thermal relay, RX is an antiphase relay, I / T is a temperature interface, TH is a thermistor, I / P is a pressure interface, PS ₁ is a pressure sensor, FS is a float switch, LS is a reed switch, and PH is photo interrupt, X ₁ ~X ₄ relay,
GM is a gear motor, SV ₁ is a carbon dioxide gas valve, WV is a water supply valve, HV ₂ is a liquid line valve, PM is a water supply pump motor, SV ₂ is a syrup valve, CM is a compressor, FM is a fan motor, HV is a heater, NF. Is a noise filter, PS ₂
Is a pressure switch.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Before the cooling is completed after the resistance torque of the stirring blade reaches the upper limit torque, the temperature inside the sub-tank is monitored to detect the predetermined sales start temperature (for example, -2.5 ° C), and the sale is canceled before sales. Therefore, it is possible to significantly reduce the waiting time of the customer when the sales are resumed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a raw material flow of a frozen carbonated beverage dispenser in which an operating method of the present invention is carried out.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a driving method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a control circuit diagram of a frozen carbonated drink dispenser in which the operating method of the present invention is implemented.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Frozen carbonated drink dispenser, 11 ... Frozen casing, 15 ... Thermistor (temperature detector), 27 ... Sub tank, 31 ... Carbon dioxide valve, 35 ... Carbon dioxide cylinder, 43 ...
Water supply pump, 45 ... Water supply tank, 55 ... Syrup valve.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A frozen carbonated beverage dispenser for producing a frozen carbonated beverage by putting a mixed raw material consisting of syrup, water and carbon dioxide gas into a frozen casing from a sub-tank to freeze and stir the mixture. Along with detecting the temperature, the driving torque of the stirring blade in the same refrigerating casing is detected, the mixed raw material in the refrigerating casing is cooled while being agitated, and the temperature in the refrigerating casing is stopped when the driving torque is a predetermined cooling stop. A method for starting operation of a frozen carbonated beverage dispenser, which enables supply of syrup, water, and carbon dioxide gas to the sub-tank and releases the suspension of sales when the temperature reaches a predetermined sales start temperature before reaching the value.