JPH0995395A - Draft beer dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To feed automatically and stably beer drawn from a draft beer cask into a glass in a fixed quantity at a time while suppressing excessive frothing. SOLUTION: A draft beer dispenser is provided with a vertically movable type glass table 16 for placing a glass thereon, a table lifting gear (air cylinder) 17, a beer pouring nozzle 13 which is connected to a pipe arranged to a draft beer cask 7 and is positioned above the table 16, and a beer froth pouring nozzle 14. Under the condition that the table 16, on which the empty glass 15 is placed, is moved up to an ascending position H1 and the beer pouring nozzle 13 is inserted into the glass 15, the pour of beer 6 is started, and the glass table 16 is allowed to gradually descend while being adjusted to the rise of a beer level in the glass 15 so that a tip of the nozzle 13 is not immersed in the beer level. After pouring some more froth of beer into the glass 15 up to the brim thereof through the beer froth pouring nozzle 14 at an intermediate position H2 in the descending path of the glass table 16, the glass table 16 is allowed to descend to the lowermost position H3 where the glass is taken out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a draft beer dispenser which is mounted on a draft beer vending machine or the like and supplies draft beer in a fixed amount for each sale.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, a conventional structure of a draft beer dispenser mounted on a draft beer vending machine is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a vending machine cabinet, 2 is a product outlet 3
The bend stage 4 arranged inside the container is a product take-out door, and the draft beer dispenser 5 incorporated in the machine is a draft beer barrel 7 containing draft beer 6 and a carbon dioxide cylinder connected to the barrel 7 via a gas pipe 8. 9, beer liquid pouring pipe 10 drawn from the barrel 7, beer foam pouring pipe 11 branched from the pipe 10, a cooler 12 provided in the middle of the beer liquid pouring pipe 10, the pipe 10, 11, a beer liquid pouring nozzle 13, a beer foam pouring nozzle 14, and a beer liquid pouring valve 13 which are connected to 11 and arranged above the bend stage 2.
a, a beer foam pouring valve (pressure reducing valve) 14a.

In such a configuration, when a sales order is given,
The cup (or jug) 15 is carried out from the cup supply mechanism (not shown) to the bend stage 2. Subsequently, the beer liquid dispensing valve 13a is opened by a signal from the control unit, and the beer liquid is poured into the cup 15 through the nozzle 13. Further, when a fixed amount of beer liquid is supplied, the beer foam pouring valve 14 is next.
Open a and add beer foam to the upper edge of the cup 4. The amount of beer liquid or beer foam dispensed is controlled by a timer control or the like.

[0004]

By the way, the cup 15
When the beer liquid is poured into the container, if the distance between the nozzle 13 and the cup 15 is large, there is a problem that excessive foaming occurs and the beer overflows from the cup. Therefore, in the past, as a measure to prevent excessive foaming during beer pouring, a vertical / tilt mechanism that tilts the cup close to the nozzle and tilts in an oblique position inside the bend stage is provided, and the cup is tilted when pouring beer liquid. Beer liquid spouting nozzle is applied to the inner wall of the cup at an oblique angle,
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 2299, an elevating cup table is provided, and when pouring draft beer, the cup is raised to insert a pouring nozzle into the cup, and after pouring, the table is lowered to nozzle the cup. It is known that the system is separated from

However, among the countermeasures described above, the one having a vertical / tilting mechanism in the bend stage is not suitable for a vending machine because the mechanism is complicated and the occupied space becomes large. On the other hand, the method of pouring beer while lowering the cup from the ascending position can be handled by a simple spring mechanism compared to the former method, but the rise in the liquid level of the beer poured into the cup and the speed of lowering the cup match However, if the nozzle is immersed in the beer liquid level in the cup during beer pouring, foreign matter such as dust adhering to the nozzle is mixed into the beer supplied to the cup, which causes a sanitary problem. Moreover, it is quite difficult with the timer control method to add a proper amount of beer foam to the cup without excess or deficiency.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to suppress excessive foaming and automatically supply a certain amount of draft beer to a cup, and at the same time, to maintain hygiene for a beer pouring nozzle. It is to provide an improved draft beer dispenser capable of solving problems.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, in the draft beer dispenser of the present invention, an elevating cup table for mounting a cup, an elevating means for the cup table, and a pipe connection to a draft beer barrel are provided. A state in which a beer liquid pouring nozzle arranged above the table and a beer foam pouring nozzle are placed, and a cup table on which an empty cup is placed is moved to a raised position and the beer liquid pouring nozzle is inserted into the cup. At the same time, the beer liquid pouring nozzle is started at the middle point of the descending path while starting the pouring of the beer liquid and gradually lowering the cup table as the liquid level inside the cup rises so that the tip of the nozzle does not submerge. After the beer foam is added to the upper edge of the cup through the cup table, the cup table is lowered to the lowest cup take-out position.

Further, each component of the above-mentioned draft beer dispenser can be concretely embodied in the following modes. 1) As an elevating means for the cup table, an air cylinder for controlling the elevating and lowering of the cup table using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder as a pressure source is used. 2) The middle point of the table descending path is set to a position where the pouring nozzle comes out from the upper surface of the cup, the descending movement of the cup table is temporarily stopped at the middle point, and beer bubbles are poured into the cup in this stopped state. .

3) In the above item 2), a stopper mechanism for temporarily stopping the descending of the cup table is provided at an intermediate point of the table descending path in accordance with the pouring position of beer foam. 4) The tip of the beer liquid pouring nozzle is bent and opened toward the inner peripheral side surface of the cup placed on the table. 5) A beer liquid pouring nozzle and a beer foam pouring nozzle are juxtaposed with each other, and a liquid level sensor is provided above the cup.

In the above structure, when a draft beer pouring command is given to the dispenser, the cup table having an empty cup is lifted from the lowest standby position by operating the air cylinder. At this raised position, the beer liquid pouring nozzle is inserted into the cup, and the bent nozzle tip comes close to and faces the inner peripheral side surface of the cup. Here, when the beer liquid is started to be poured from the draft beer barrel through the beer liquid discharging nozzle, the beer liquid discharged from the nozzle comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cup from an oblique direction and is poured into the cup with almost no foaming. Be done. Then, as the liquid level in the cup rises, the air cylinder is lowered to maintain a certain distance between the tip of the nozzle and the liquid level so that the nozzle will not be submerged in the liquid level in the cup. A fixed amount of beer liquid is supplied into the cup.

When the beer liquid is poured into the cup,
The cup table is temporarily stopped by the stopper mechanism at an intermediate point set on the way of its descending path, and in this stopped state, pouring of beer froth into the cup is started through the beer froth pouring nozzle. In this case, the liquid level sensor monitors the amount of foam that has entered the cup, and when the foam reaches the upper edge of the cup, pouring of beer foam is stopped, and then the stopper mechanism is released to open the cup table. The beer pouring operation is completed by lowering to the lowest standby position which is the cup take-out position.

An electric elevator mechanism or the like can be used as the means for raising and lowering the cup table. Especially, by using an air cylinder whose pressure source is a carbon dioxide gas cylinder, it is possible to pressurize the draft beer without a motor power source. The cup table can be moved up and down using the carbon dioxide gas cylinder used.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The basic structure of a draft beer dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention and the drafting operation of the draft beer will be described below with reference to FIGS. In addition,
In the drawings of the embodiments, the same members corresponding to FIG. 5 are designated by the same reference numerals. In the figure, the beer liquid pouring nozzle 13 and the beer foam pouring nozzle 14 are combined with the beer liquid pouring valve 13a and the beer foam pouring valve 14a as shown in FIG. 5, and are placed above the bend stage of the vending machine. An elevating cup table 16 is arranged below the cup table 16 in combination with a table elevating device 17. The table lifting device 17 employs an air cylinder that moves up and down by using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder 9 that supplies carbon dioxide gas under pressure to the draft beer barrel 7 as a pressure source, and is connected to the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 9 through an electromagnetic pilot valve 18 for piping. ing. Further, the beer liquid pouring nozzle 13 is formed so that its tip is bent in a V shape, and its nozzle opening end is arranged so as to face the inner peripheral side surface of the cup 15 which is placed on the cup table 16 and ascended. Has been done. Further, a liquid level sensor 19 is provided above the cup table 16 in parallel with the beer foam pouring nozzle 14.

With this construction, the cup table 16 is lowered to the lowest standby position during standby. Here, when a beer pouring command (sales command of a draft beer vending machine) is given to the dispenser, the cup 15 turns into the cup table 1.
6 is carried out, the cup table 16 is moved to the rising position H1 shown in FIG. 1 (a) by the operation of the table lifting device 17, and the beer liquid pouring valve 13 is placed at this rising position.
a opens, and the beer liquid 10 pressure-fed from the draft beer barrel 7 through the nozzle 13 starts to be poured into the cup 15. After the start of pouring the beer liquid, the table elevating device 17 is gradually moved down at a speed according to the rise of the liquid level in the cup so that the nozzle 13 is not submerged in the liquid level in the cup. A certain amount of beer liquid is poured out while keeping some distance between the tip of the and the liquid surface in the cup.

After the pouring of the beer liquid, the cup table 16 descends to an intermediate point H2 shown in FIG. 1 (b) (this intermediate point is set at a position where the nozzle 13 is pulled out upward from the cup 15). When it reaches, the cup table 16 is temporarily stopped at the intermediate position H2 by the operation of the stopper mechanism described later, and then the beer foam pouring valve 14a is opened in this stopped state, and the beer foam 20 is put into the cup 15 through the nozzle 14. Top up. In this case, the liquid level sensor 19 monitors the liquid level of the cup 15 (the sensor 19 and the cup 1
5 is detected from the distance L to the surface of the beer foam 20 supplied), and when the beer foam 20 reaches the upper edge of the cup 15, the beer foam pouring valve 14a is closed to stop the foam pouring. , The stopper mechanism is released to restart the lowering of the cup lifting device 17, and the cup table 16 is lowered to the lowest standby position where the cup 15 is taken out.
This completes a series of draft beer pouring operations.

Next, the specific construction of the stopper mechanism for the above-mentioned table lifting device 17 and cup table 15 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the pilot valve 18 connected to the table lifting device (air cylinder) 17 in FIG. 2 is a two-position switching valve as shown in the schematic view of FIG. 3, and is a throttle valve 18a for variably adjusting the cylinder lifting speed.
It has. With such a configuration, in the standby state (the pilot valve 18 is not energized), the ports a and b of the pilot valve 18 communicating with the upper and lower cylinder heads of the air cylinder are both open to the atmosphere side, and the cup table 15 is the lowest by its own weight. Down to the position. Here, when the pilot valve 18 is energized and switched, the carbon dioxide gas pressure supplied from the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 9 is introduced to the lower side of the air cylinder through the port b, whereby the cup table 16 moves upward. Further, when the pilot valve 18 is switched to the non-energized state in accordance with the start of beer pouring into the above-mentioned cup, both ports a and b are opened to the atmosphere side, and the cup table 16 equipped with the cup 15 is poured into the cup. The weight of the brewed beer is added and it descends. In this case, by adjusting the valve opening of the throttle valve 18a, it is possible to arbitrarily adjust the ascending / descending speed of the cup table 16 to match the rising of the liquid level of the cup 15.

On the other hand, in order to temporarily stop the cup table 16 at an intermediate point on the way down, the stopper mechanism 2 as shown in FIGS.
1 is provided. The stopper mechanism 21 is composed of an electromagnetic solenoid 21a and a lever-type stopper piece 21b which is connected to the solenoid 21a and swings in the horizontal direction. The tip of the stopper piece 21b of the cup table 16 is controlled by energizing the solenoid 21a. It is arranged so that it appears and disappears in the movement route. In addition, 21c is a rotation support shaft 21c of the stopper piece 21b. With such a configuration, the cup table 1
When ascending 6, the stopper piece 21a is retracted to the position shown by the chain line in order to avoid interference with the table 16. When the cup table 16 is lowered from the raised position, the solenoid 21a is energized to stop the stopper piece 21.
b is projected from the retracted position to the solid line position in the figure. This allows
The cup table 16 descending by its own weight from above via the above-mentioned table lifting device 17 (air cylinder) is placed on the stopper piece 21b and stopped at that position. Further, when the solenoid 21a is switched to non-energized state from this stopped state and the stopper piece 21b is retracted to the chain line position in the figure, the cup table 16 is released from the stopper mechanism 21 and freely descends to the lowest position.

[0018]

Since the draft beer dispenser of the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects. 1) When pouring draft beer from a draft beer barrel through a pouring nozzle arranged above a cup placed on a cup table, while suppressing excessive foaming of beer, an appropriate amount of beer foam on the beer liquid. Automatically,
Moreover, it is possible to distribute and supply a certain amount of draft beer without excess or deficiency.

2) In the process of pouring beer into the cup, the pouring nozzle does not soak into the liquid surface in the cup, and this prevents foreign matter such as dust adhering to the nozzle from mixing in the beer poured into the cup. It can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a basic configuration of a preferred embodiment of the present invention and a beer pouring operation, (a) shows a beer liquid pouring state, and (b) shows a beer foam pouring state. , (C) is a diagram showing a state in which the cup is lowered to the take-out position after the beer is poured out.

FIG. 2 is a specific configuration layout diagram of a cup table lifting device and a stopper mechanism in FIG.

3 is a schematic diagram of a pilot valve of the table lifting device in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the stopper mechanism in FIG.

[Figure 5] Conventional configuration of draft beer dispenser installed in draft beer vending machines

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Beer liquid 7 Draft beer barrel 9 Carbon dioxide cylinder 13 Beer liquid pouring nozzle 14 Beer foam pouring nozzle 15 Cup 16 Elevating cup table 17 Table elevating device (air cylinder) 18 Pilot valve 19 Liquid level sensor 20 Beer foam 21 Stopper mechanism

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A draft beer dispenser for supplying a fixed amount of draft beer stored in a barrel to a cup placed on a stage through a beer liquid dispensing nozzle and a beer foam dispensing nozzle by pressurizing carbon dioxide, the cup being mounted. An elevating cup table, an elevating means for the cup table, a beer liquid pouring nozzle arranged in a pipe connection to a draft beer barrel and arranged above the table, and a beer foam pouring nozzle,
Start pouring the beer liquid with the beer liquid pouring nozzle inserted into the cup by moving the table on which the empty cup is placed to the raised position, and make sure that the tip of the nozzle is not submerged in the liquid surface. The cup table is gradually lowered in accordance with the rise in the liquid level inside, and after adding beer foam to the upper edge of the cup through the beer foam pouring nozzle at the middle point of the descending path, the cup table is moved to the lowest cup taking-out position. Draft beer dispenser characterized by lowering to. 2. The draft beer dispenser according to claim 1, wherein an air cylinder for raising and lowering the cup table by using a carbon dioxide gas cylinder as a pressure source is used as the raising and lowering means of the cup table. 3. The draft beer dispenser according to claim 1, wherein an intermediate point of the table descending path is set to a position where the pouring nozzle comes out from the upper surface of the cup, and the descending movement of the cup table is temporarily stopped at the intermediate point, A draft beer dispenser characterized by pouring beer foam into a cup in this stopped state. 4. A draft beer dispenser according to claim 3, further comprising a stopper mechanism for temporarily stopping the lowering of the cup table at an intermediate point of the table lowering path according to the pouring position of beer foam. Dispenser. 5. The draft beer dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the tip of the beer liquid pouring nozzle is bent and opened toward the inner peripheral side surface of the cup placed on the table. 6. The draft beer dispenser according to claim 1, wherein a beer liquid pouring nozzle and a beer foam pouring nozzle are juxtaposed with each other, and a liquid level sensor is provided above the cup, and the beer is detected based on the detection signal of the liquid level sensor. Draft beer dispenser characterized by controlling the pouring of.