JPH07220162A - Device for stirring material for cup-type automatic beverage vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the device for stirring material for cup-type automatic beverage vending machine effectively mixing the powder and the hot water in a cup by positioning the elevating stirring blade at the insertion position in the cup corresponding to the powder material amount for a cup. CONSTITUTION:The device for stirring material in the cup mixing system which stirs and mixes the powder material and the hot water in a cup 6 of a cup carrier mechanism 1 is provided with a mechanism 4 for stirring material equipped with an elevating stirring blade 5, thereby stirring the material by inserting it down inside the cup from the waiting position at the top. A ultrasonic level sensor 11 is provided at the bottom of the mechanism for stirring the material as a measurement means which detects the distance between the stirring blade 5 and the powder material in the cup. By the servo control taking the distance data detected by the sensor 11 as a positioning command, the stirring blade 5 is put down in the cup from the waiting position so as to stir material at the proper positioning.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raw material stirring device which is used by incorporating it into a so-called cup-mixing type cup-type beverage vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a cup-type beverage vending machine, cup mixing for preparing a beverage by stirring and mixing powdered raw material and hot water into the cup on the way of the cup conveying path leading to the product outlet. A cup-type beverage vending machine of the type is known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-54696.
The cup-type beverage vending machine of such a cup mixing system does not require a mixing bowl for stirring the powder raw material and the hot water, and since there is no beverage residue in the machine, less dirt is generated and cleaning inside the machine is easy. There are advantages such as becoming.

Further, as a raw material stirring method for stirring the powder raw material and hot water into the cup, an elevating stirring blade is provided at the raw material stirring point set on the cup conveying path, and the stirring blade is placed above the standby position. A raw material agitating device for performing raw material agitation by rotating a stirring blade after lowering the position to insert the cup into a cup is known from Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-67999. In the method of forcibly stirring and mixing the powder raw material and hot water in a cup using such a stirring blade, in addition to the powder raw materials such as coffee and cocoa, the production of various viscous beverages such as juice powder, miso soup, and soup, It becomes possible to sell.

In the method of stirring the raw material with the elevating stirring blade as described above, the stirring blade is pulled up above the cup conveying path at the raw material stirring point in the sales standby state.
When the cup into which the powdered raw material was added in the previous raw material supply step was conveyed to the next raw material stirring point and stopped, the stirring blade was moved from the standby position above the cup via the rack / pinion type lifting drive mechanism. The water is poured into the cup while the stirring blade is rotated and the stirring blade is rotated to stir the raw materials to finish the beverage.

[0005]

By the way, when the powder raw material and the hot and cold water are stirred by the stirring blade in the cup, the insertion position of the descending stirring blade in the cup is important. That is, if the stirring blade insertion position is too deep, the blade may directly touch the bottom of the cup and damage the cup.On the contrary, if the stirring blade insertion position is too shallow, the blade will idle at the initial stage of hot water supply. Or, during stirring, splashes of the beverage splash outside the cup and stain the surroundings. From this, it is necessary to position the stirring blade inserted in the cup at an appropriate depth to stir the raw material.

With respect to this point, the inventor has conducted an actual machine test on various powder raw materials having different properties, and as a result, positions the stirring blade at such a height that it is almost in contact with the surface of the powder raw material deposited on the bottom of the cup. By doing so, it was confirmed that the raw material can be effectively stirred without applying an excessive load torque to the stirring motor. In this regard, conventionally, the positioning control of the lifting / lowering stop with respect to the stirring blade is performed by arranging a limit switch on the moving path of the rack / pinion driving mechanism which is the lifting / lowering drive mechanism, or by outputting the output pulse of the rotary encoder attached to the lifting / lowering drive motor. A position servo mechanism that counts and compares the target value with feedback control is adopted. And in the actual product, there is also an error in assembling the parts. Therefore, in the inspection process, the inspector makes level matching with the cup transport mechanism (belt type) and sets the stirring blade ascending / descending stop position for each product. Is manually adjusted, but the adjustment work requires complicated labor and skill and is troublesome.

Furthermore, when the above-mentioned various beverages are sold together with the same vending machine, the amount of the powdered raw material to be charged into the cup, and hence the bulkiness of the powdered raw material deposited on the bottom of the cup, depends on the type of the sold beverage. Since it is different, in order to optimize the insertion position of the stirring blade into the cup, it is necessary to change the lowering stop position of the stirring blade according to the selection of the beverage type. Including the initial setting of, the above-mentioned positioning adjustment work becomes more and more troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to eliminate the need for adjustment of initial setting in the inspection of product assembly, and to supply the powder raw material charged in the cup. To provide a raw material agitating device for a cup-type beverage vending machine in which the elevating agitating blade is always positioned and controlled at an appropriate insertion position to effectively agitate and mix the powdered raw material and hot water regardless of the amount. Especially.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, in the raw material stirring apparatus of the present invention, the distance between the stirring blade standing by above and the powder raw material contained in the cup is detected. The position servo mechanism lowers the stirring blade from the standby position to perform positioning control to a predetermined stirring level in the cup using the distance data detected by the measuring means as a position command.

In the above structure, an ultrasonic level sensor is used as the measuring means, and the ultrasonic level sensor is arranged in parallel with the elevating stirring blade and fixedly arranged on the lower surface side of the elevating drive mechanism of the stirring blade. It is good to carry out.

[0011]

In the above configuration, the cup carried out from the cup supply mechanism to the cup transport mechanism based on the sales command, after the powder raw material of the kind selected at the raw material supply position on the transport path is charged, is moved to the next raw material stirring position. When it is conveyed to, the ultrasonic level sensor first measures the distance from the powder raw material deposited on the bottom of the cup at the raw material stirring position, and outputs the detection signal to the controller. on the other hand,
The controller uses the distance data based on the detection signal of the ultrasonic level sensor as a position command to start the lifting / lowering drive mechanism of the stirring blade (for example, a rack / pinion mechanism driven by a motor), and conveys the stirring blade from the standby position at the upper end to the cup conveyance. Move down towards the cup that is stopped on top of the mechanism. In addition, the amount of downward movement at that time is calculated by counting the output pulses of the rotary encoder connected to the drive motor, and compared with the position command described above, the drive motor is driven when the stirring blade is lowered by an amount corresponding to the detection distance. Servo control to stop. As a result, the stirring blade stops at the position near the surface of the powder raw material deposited on the bottom of the cup. Next, while pouring hot water supplied from the hot water tank into the cup, the stirring blades are rotationally started to stir and mix the powder raw material and hot water for a predetermined time to finish the beverage. And
When the stirring of the raw materials is completed, the stirring blade is driven to move upward and retracted to the original standby position, and the cup containing the beverage is sent to the product take-out port by the cup transport mechanism to complete a series of selling operations.

According to the above-mentioned positioning control of the stirring blade, even if the amount of the powdered raw material fed into the cup, that is, the bulkiness of the powdered raw material deposited at the bottom of the cup varies depending on the type of beverage to be sold. The positioning of the stirring blade is controlled so that it always descends and stops at the optimum insertion position for stirring the raw materials, while avoiding problems such as the stirring blade directly touching the bottom of the cup or spinning on the liquid surface. The raw material can be effectively stirred. Further, as a matter of course, it is not necessary to adjust the ascending / descending stop position of the stirring blade, which has been conventionally performed after the product is assembled to cope with the variation in the assembly accuracy of the parts.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a belt-conveying type cup conveying mechanism laid inside the machine through a product outlet 14, 2 is a raw material box containing various powder raw materials, 3 is a hot water tank, 4
Is a raw material stirring mechanism equipped with a lifting stirring blade 5, and 6 is a cup. Further, the raw material stirring mechanism 4 is incorporated in the case 4a by combining components such as the rack 7, the pinion 8, the lifting motor 9, and the stirring motor 10, and the stirring blade 5 stirs through a long shaft. It is connected to the motor 10.

The beverage selling operation with such a configuration is performed as follows. That is, when the cup 6 is carried out from the cup supply mechanism (not shown) on the belt of the cup transport mechanism 1 based on the sales instruction, first, the cup 6 is moved to directly below the raw material box 2 and at this position, the raw material box 2 is moved. Then, a fixed amount of powder raw material is put into the cup. Subsequently, when the cup transport mechanism 1 moves the cup 6 to the next raw material stirring position and stops, the lift motor 9 of the raw material stirring mechanism 4 is started and the rack 7 is moved.
The stirring blade 5 is moved downward from the upper standby position to be inserted into the cup, and the hot water supply valve 3a of the hot water tank 3 is opened to pour hot and cold water into the cup 5 from the hot water supply nozzle 3b. The stirring blade 5 is rotated for about several seconds by driving to mix the raw material powder and hot water with stirring in the cup. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state during stirring of the raw materials. Further, when the stirring of the raw materials is completed, the stirring blade 5 moves up again and returns to the standby position, and the cup 6 containing the finished beverage is also added.
Is sent to the product take-out port 14, whereby the one-time selling operation is completed and the state returns to the selling standby state.

According to the present invention, the following position servo mechanism is combined with the raw material stirring mechanism 4, and the stirring blade 5 is used.
Is controlled to move up and down between the rising standby position and the insertion position into the cup. That is, the ultrasonic level sensor 11 is installed on the lower surface of the case 4a of the raw material stirring mechanism 4 as a measuring unit that is arranged in parallel with the stirring blade 5 and detects the distance between the cup 6 and the stirring blade 5. This level sensor 11 measures the distance H between the ultrasonic transducer and the powder raw material deposited at the bottom of the cup by directing the ultrasonic transducer into the cup that has moved directly below the sensor. Is converted into the number of pulses corresponding to the distance H by the controller 12. The distance H in this case changes according to the amount of the powdered raw material supplied to the cup 6, that is, the bulkiness of the powdered raw material deposited at the bottom of the cup. On the other hand, the elevating motor 9 is provided with a rotary encoder 13 as a detecting means for obtaining the elevating movement amount of the stirring blade 5, and its output pulse is counted by the controller 12 and detected by the level sensor 11. The descending position of the stirring blade 5 inserted in the cup is controlled by servo control using data as a position command.

That is, when the cup 6 charged with the powder raw material in the former raw material supply step reaches the raw material stirring position on the conveying path, the ultrasonic level sensor 11 first detects the distance H at this position, and the controller 12 Level sensor 11
The number of pulses corresponding to the distance H is converted on the basis of the detection signal of the above, and the elevation motor 9 is started by using this as a position command, and the stirring blade 5 is lowered from the standby position via the rack / pinion mechanism, and the cup 6 Insert it inside. Then, the controller 12 counts the number of pulses output from the encoder 13 of the lifting / lowering motor 9 as the stirring blade 5 moves downward and compares it with the number of pulses of the position command, and when the two pulses match, the lifting / lowering motor 9 To stop.

Here, if the standby position of the stirring blade 5 is adjusted to the same height as the level sensor 11 in advance, the stirring blade 5 is inserted and positioned near the surface of the powder raw material deposited in the cup at the descending stop position. Will be done. Then, while a constant amount of hot and cold water is supplied from the warm water tank 3 to the cup 5 in response to a command from the controller 12, the stirring motor 1
0 is started, the stirring blade 5 is rotated, and the powder raw material and hot and cold water are stirred and mixed in the cup to finish the beverage. Then, when the stirring time of a predetermined time (about several seconds) has elapsed, the stirring motor 10 is stopped, the lifting motor 9 is further reversed, and the stirring blade 5 is returned to the original standby position while counting the output pulse of the encoder 13. Rise and restore. This completes the raw material stirring step, and the cup 6 containing the finished beverage is sent from the raw material stirring point toward the product outlet 14 by the cup transport mechanism 1.

[0018]

As described above, according to the raw material agitation apparatus of the present invention, the adjustment work of the elevation stop position setting of the agitation blade, which has been conventionally performed after the product is assembled, becomes unnecessary, and the influence of the variation in the component assembly accuracy is eliminated. It is possible to effectively stir and mix the powder raw material and the hot and cold water in the cup by controlling the positioning of the stirring blade at an appropriate insertion position with respect to the cup into which the powder raw material is charged without receiving the powder.

Even when the amount of the powdered raw material supplied to the cup varies depending on the type of beverage, the lowering stop position of the stirring blade is optimized according to the bulkiness of the powdered raw material deposited on the bottom of the cup. As a result, it can be used as it is for a cup-mixing type beverage vending machine that sells together various beverages with different powder raw material input amounts for each beverage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural layout view of a raw material stirring apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state during stirring of raw materials by the raw material stirring device of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Cup Transfer Mechanism 2 Raw Material Box 3 Hot Water Tank 4 Raw Material Stirring Mechanism 5 Stirring Blade 6 Cup 7 Rack 8 Pinion 9 Lifting Motor 10 Stirring Motor 11 Ultrasonic Level Sensor 12 Controller 13 Encoder 14 Product Takeout Port

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A raw material agitating device for a cup type beverage vending machine which stirs and mixes powdered raw material and hot water into the cup on the way of the cup transportation route in the machine leading to the product outlet, In the case where a stirring blade is provided at the raw material stirring point on the path and the stirring blade is lowered from the standby position above to the inside of the cup to stir the raw material, the stirring blade that is waiting above and the inside of the cup The measuring means for detecting the distance between the powdered raw material and the powdered raw material is provided, and the position data is used as the position command to lower the stirring blade from the standby position to the predetermined stirring level in the cup. A raw material stirring device for a cup-type beverage vending machine, which is characterized in that its position is controlled. 2. The raw material agitating device for a cup-type beverage vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the measuring means is an ultrasonic level sensor. 3. The cup stirring method according to claim 2, wherein the ultrasonic level sensor is arranged in parallel with the elevating stirring blade and is fixedly arranged on the lower surface side of the elevating drive mechanism of the stirring blade. Raw material stirring device for beverage vending machines.