JPH0877451A - Liquid feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To vary the amount of fed hot water through simple constitution at need. CONSTITUTION: A hot water storage tank 22 is provided with a pump 24, which pumps hot water out of the tank 22 and fed the hot water to a mixing bowl 9 through a pipe 25 for hot water. The pump 24 is used with high pumping capacity to supply tea, but when hot water is supplied, a resistance is connected to a circuit for hot water in series with the pump 24 so as to lower the pump capacity. Consequently, even when the hot water is supplied continuously for a long time, no hot water overflows the mixing bowl 9.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a liquid supply device using an electric pump, and more particularly to a device capable of switching the capacity of the electric pump.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a dispenser for dissolving and mixing powdered tea put in a mixing bowl with hot water and pouring it out. In such a dispenser, a hot water storage tank that stores hot water is arranged at the top, and when the "tea" pouring button is operated, the electromagnetic on-off valve is opened and hot water is supplied from the hot water storage tank by the action of gravity. Is common.

[0003]

By the way, in order to surely dissolve the powdered tea in the mixing bowl, the rate of supplying hot water to the mixing bowl is set higher than the discharging rate so that the hot water is accumulated in the bowl. Must be dissolved. However, since the hot water in the hot water storage tank is introduced into the mixing bowl by gravity in the above-mentioned one, when the remaining amount of hot water in the hot water storage tank decreases, the supply speed of hot water to the mixing bowl will decrease. descend. In such a case, a sufficient amount of hot water will not be stored in the mixing bowl, and the powdered tea will not be sufficiently dissolved, so part of the powdered tea may remain on the inner wall of the bowl. It was

[0004] It seems that this can be solved effectively by supplying a fixed amount of hot water in the tank with a pump. However, in practice, the following problems still remain. In general, most dispensers allow both "tea" and "hot water" to be dispensed. In the case of "tea", the operation time of the pump may be limited by a timer or the like according to the capacity of a normal cup. On the other hand, in the case of "hot water", "tea"
The case is not limited to the cup capacity, and it is required that the hot water supply be continued while the "hot water" button is operated and that a desired amount of hot water be obtained.
However, since the mixing bowl is originally set to a volume that does not overflow with one pouring of "tea", if the hot water is continuously supplied to the mixing bowl when the discharge speed is exceeded, Immediately the hot water overflows and the surrounding area becomes dirty. This problem can also be solved by setting the hot water supply path for "tea" and the hot water supply path for "hot water" separately so that the path for "hot water" does not pass through the mixing bowl. However, providing such a path dedicated to "hot water" requires a switching valve and further a separate pipe, which causes a problem that the structure of the entire device is complicated and the cost is increased.

The present invention has been developed and devised in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a liquid supply device capable of changing the liquid supply amount as needed with a simple structure. Is.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the invention for achieving the above object, there is provided a liquid supply device capable of supplying a liquid stored in a tank by an electric pump. An electric circuit for driving the electric pump has a circuit for setting the liquid supply capacity of the electric pump in a high state, and a resistor connected in series to the electric pump to reduce the liquid supply capacity of the electric pump. It is characterized in that the circuit to be brought into a state is configured to be switchable.

[0007]

When the electric pump is driven, the liquid stored in the tank is pumped up. By switching the circuit for the electric pump as necessary, the voltage applied to the electric pump increases or decreases. Can be switched between large and small.

[0008]

The effects of the present invention are as follows. With a simple configuration in which a circuit interposing a resistor is added to the electric pump, it becomes possible to switch the capacity of the electric pump.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of the beverage dispenser of this example, which is used while being placed on a table (not shown). As shown in FIG. 2, this beverage dispenser is composed of a dispenser body 1 (hereinafter, simply referred to as body 1) and a front door 2 which is mounted on the front surface of the dispenser body by a hinge so as to be openable and closable. As shown in FIG. 1, the front door 2 is provided with an operation panel 5 provided with buttons for pouring operation (the button 3 for tea and the button 4 for hot water in this example) or display lamps on the front upper part thereof. There is. Also, front door 2
A pouring portion 6 is formed in the lower part of the concave portion, and a receiving tray 7 on which a cup or the like can be placed is provided on the lower surface thereof. Saucer 7
The drain pan 8 is formed in the shape of a ladder and is detachably mounted below the drain pan 8.

On the back side (inner side) of the front door 2,
A mixing bowl 9 for dissolving and mixing powdered tea with hot water is arranged at a height near the pouring portion 6. The mixing bowl 9 is formed in a cylindrical shape on the upper side and a conical shape on the lower side, and is formed in a funnel shape that opens up and down as a whole. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the bowl receiver 1 fixed horizontally to the inner surface of the front door 2
The distal end portion is detachably inserted into the insertion hole 12 of No. 1 so as to be held. Further, above the mixing bowl 9, a funnel-shaped guide 10 which is substantially coaxial with the mixing bowl 9 and which opens vertically is arranged,
It plays a role of guiding the powdered tea discharged from the canister 13 described below to the mixing bowl 9 without scattering to the surroundings. The guide 10 is fitted into a holding ring 15 of a support plate 14 which is vertically mounted on the inner surface of the front door 2 so as to be mounted.

On the other hand, a canister 1 for supplying a fixed amount of powdered tea stored therein is provided on the upper front surface of the main body 1.
Although not shown, the main body 3 is fixed to the main body 1 by a support member such as a bracket. Further, a powder tea discharge portion 13a is formed at the bottom of the canister 13, one end side of which extends forward, and a discharge port 16 which opens obliquely upward is formed at the end surface thereof. Further, a screw device 17 for carrying out the powdered tea is incorporated in the discharge part 13a. The screw device 17 has a screw body 17a supported horizontally and rotatably with respect to the discharge part 13a, and its front end extends to the vicinity of the discharge port 16. Screw body 17
The rear end of a projects through the back side wall surface of the canister 13,
A motor 18 attached to the lower rear part of the canister 13.
The screw body 17a is allowed to rotate at a slow speed.

The outlet 16 is always closed by an opening / closing lid 19 having a sheet heater H1 therein in order to protect the powdered tea near the outlet 16 from moisture. further,
A solenoid SOL is attached to the lower portion of the outer side surface of the canister 13, and its actuating piece can push out the rotary shaft 20 of the opening / closing lid 19 by exciting the solenoid SOL, thereby rotating the opening / closing lid 19 in the opening direction. It can be moved. Reference numeral 21 is a spring for returning the spring. On the other hand, a hot water storage tank 22 having a built-in heater H2 is fixed to the bottom of the main body 1, and a water supply tank 23 is set on the top of the hot water storage tank 22 in a removable state. A water supply valve mechanism is provided on the lower surface of the water supply tank 23 so that water can be supplied to the water supply tank 22 in accordance with the water level in the hot water storage tank 22. The heater H2 built in the hot water storage tank 22 is designed to be energized by three thermostats TH1 to TH3 which are mounted on the tank 22 and have different set temperatures.

Further, a pumping pump 24 for pumping hot water in the tank 22 is attached to the rear portion of the hot water storage tank 22. This pumping pump 24 has a pipe 2 for supplying hot water.
5 is connected, the same pipe 25 extends along the side wall in the main body 1, and its tip extends toward the front door 2 and faces the mixing bowl 9. Further, the pumping pump 24 is incorporated in the electric circuit shown in FIG. 6 so as to be driven by the operation of the tea or hot water button 4. That is, the pumping pump 24 is a pump motor PM (DC motor).
This pump motor PM is connected to the DC power supply circuit 26. The DC power supply circuit 26 changes the capacity of the pump motor PM depending on whether the tea button 3 is operated or the hot water button 4 is operated.
A circuit 27 for tea and a circuit 28 for hot water are provided. When the tea circuit 27 has no resistor, the hot water circuit 28 has a resistor R connected in series and the tea circuit 27 is selected. The DC power supply voltage from the DC power supply circuit 26 is applied to the pump motor PM as it is, but when the circuit 28 for hot water is selected, the voltage dropped by the resistor R is applied, and therefore the corresponding amount is applied. The capacity of the pump motor PM is reduced.

However, a timer contact T2M1 is provided in the tea circuit.
Since the pump motor PM is driven for a set timer time, the amount of hot water stored in the mixing bowl 9 during this period is set to be smaller than the capacity of the mixing bowl 9. On the other hand, since the hot water circuit 28 is not provided with such a timed contact, the closed state of the switch S3 continues while the hot water button 4 is operated. The hot water will be continuously supplied, but the hot water will not overflow from the mixing bowl 9 depending on the lowered pump capacity, that is, the hot water supply capacity will be slightly lower than the natural drainage capacity from the mixing bowl 9. The resistance value of the resistor R is set.

Next, the function and effect of this embodiment having the above-mentioned structure will be described in detail. First, when the equipment is turned on, water having a certain level or more enters the hot water storage tank 22. Switch S1 is closed and relay X
The excitation X1 closes the contact X11, and the hot water storage tank 2
The heater H2 in the tank 2 is energized and the tank 22
The water inside is heated to a constant temperature. On the other hand, when the inside of the hot water storage tank 22 has reached a certain temperature, when the cup is set on the pan 7 and the tea button 3 on the operation panel 5 is pressed to pour out "tea", the switch S2 is closed. To be Then, the relay X3 is excited and the contact X31 is closed, so that the motor 18 of the screw device 17 is driven and, at the same time, the solenoid SOL is excited and the opening / closing lid 19 opens the discharge port 16. Thus, a certain amount of powdered tea is dropped and discharged from the discharge port 16 and introduced into the mixing bowl 9 through the guide 10.

When the relay X3 is excited by operating the tea button 3, the contact X32 is also closed, so that the pump motor PM of the water pump 24 is energized. In this case, for the pump motor PM, the circuit 27 for tea
However, since the resistor R is not interposed in the brown circuit 27 as described above, the pump motor PM
The power supply voltage from the DC power supply circuit 26 is directly applied to. Therefore, the pump motor PM is driven in a high capacity state, and the mixing bowl 9 is passed through the hot water supply pipe 25.
Hot water is supplied. Thus, when the timer T1M times out while hot water is being supplied, the switch S4 is opened, the motor 18 of the screw device 17 is stopped, and the solenoid SOL is demagnetized at the same time. by this,
The opening / closing lid 19 is closed and the supply of powdered tea is stopped. But,
Even if the timer T1M times out, the timer T2M has not timed up yet, and the hot water supply operation by the pumping pump 24 is still continuing. In the mixing bowl 9, since the hot water supply speed is higher than the natural drainage speed, the hot water is gradually accumulated in the mixing bowl 9 within a range where it does not overflow while the hot water supply is continued. Therefore, the powdered tea has a sufficient amount of hot water for melting, and the pump motor PM is driven in a high capacity state, so that the hot water supply speed is high. There is no undissolved tea and it is surely dissolved. Thus, a certain concentration of tea can be poured out. And
When the timer T2M times out, the timer contact T
2M1 is opened, the power supply to the pump motor PM is stopped, and the hot water supply operation is completed. As the timer T2M times out, the timer contact T2M2 is closed and the relay X4 is excited, so the contact X41 is opened and the relay X3 is opened.
Demagnetizes.

On the other hand, when "hot water" is desired, the hot water button 4 is operated. Then, since the switch S3 is closed, the pump motor PM is energized through the hot water circuit 28, and continues to be energized while the hot water button 4 is operated. However, since the voltage applied to the pump motor PM is reduced by the amount of the voltage drop due to the resistance R interposed in the hot water circuit 28, the pump motor PM is driven in a state of low capacity. As a result, the hot water supply speed is suppressed to be smaller than the natural drainage speed of the mixing bowl 9, so that the hot water does not overflow from the mixing bowl 9 even if the hot water is continuously supplied for a long time.

As described above, according to this embodiment, unlike the prior art, the hot water in the hot water storage tank 22 is fed by the pump 24, so that it is constant regardless of the remaining amount of hot water in the hot water storage tank 22. The hot water supply rate and the hot water supply amount are secured. Therefore, since hot water is constantly supplied in the mixing bowl 9 in a constant state, the powdered tea is surely melted. on the other hand,
When only hot water is continuously supplied, the hot water circuit 28 is selected and the energizing path to the pump motor PM is switched. Since the pump capacity is limited by a simple structure in which the resistor R is slightly interposed, the problem of hot water overflow can be solved with a simple structure and low cost.

The present invention can be modified in various ways,
The following modifications are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In this example, the direct current motor is used as the pump water pump motor, but an alternating current motor may be used instead. The resistance R may be a variable resistance R so that the hot water supply speed can be freely adjusted within a range in which hot water does not overflow from the mixing bowl 9. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is not limited to beverage dispensers, but can be widely applied to those requiring a change in liquid feed speed / feed amount.

[Brief description of drawings]

1] Front view of a beverage dispenser

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the internal structure.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the vicinity of the mixing bowl when the front door is opened.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the canister partially broken away.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a canister.

FIG. 6 is an electric circuit diagram.

[Explanation of symbols]

9 ... Mixing bowl 13 ... Canister 22 ... Hot water storage tank 24 ... Pumping pump R ... Resistance

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A liquid supply device capable of supplying liquid stored in a tank by an electric pump, wherein an electric circuit for driving the electric pump has a liquid supply capacity of the electric pump. And a circuit for connecting a resistor in series to the electric pump to make the liquid pumping capacity of the electric pump low for switching the liquid supply device. .