JPH10148460A - Chilled drink supplying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a chilled drink supplying apparatus requiring simple maintenance, hygienic and whereof power consumption is reduced by mounting a pumping means that pumps drinks and supplies it to the drink taking out means on the outer surface of a box body on the hole part of the cabinet erecting drink container directing a mouth part upward detachably. SOLUTION: A plastic bottle 16 is arranged inside a bottle case 18 mounting a pumping device 20 on the mouth part 22 of a two liter plastic bottle 16, inserting a tube 34 into the plastic bottle 16 and attaching a lid part 26 screwing a female screw part of the lid part 26 into the mouth part 22. Power is supplied to a gear pump with erecting the plastic bottle 16 and fixing it with the magnetic force of magnetic sockets 48 and 64. When a liquid supplying button 66 is pressed with a cup 80, the gear pump is activated, the drink in the plastic bottle 16 is pumped through the tube 34 and the drink is fed into the cup 80 through a liquid feeding pipe 52 so that the plastic bottles on the market can be used, cleaning of a tank is not required, the temperature rise caused by the opening and shutting of a door can be avoided and power consumption can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling beverage supply apparatus applicable to various boxes having a cooling function, such as refrigerators and refrigerators.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for supplying cold drinking water, a dedicated tank for cold water is installed in a box having a cooling function, and the cold water is taken out from the outside of the box. Water coolers are common. Previously, there was a water cooler that installed a dedicated tank for cold water inside the door of the refrigerator and took out cold water from outside the door.

[0003] In such a conventional water cooler, since a dedicated tank is used, substances such as minerals contained in water and water scale adhere to the inner surface of the tank over a long period of use. Therefore, there is a problem that the inner surface of the tank must be frequently cleaned, and the maintenance is troublesome. Further, in a water cooler having such a dedicated tank, molds and the like are generated when the water cooler is not used for a while, and there is a hygienic problem.

[0004] In recent years, PET bottle drinks in which drinks such as mineral water and tea are put into PET bottles have become widespread. Such a PET bottle beverage is usually cooled in a refrigerator, and is taken out by opening a refrigerator door each time the beverage is drunk. Therefore, for example, in the case of a PET bottle containing 2 liters (hereinafter, referred to as L), the number of times the door is opened and closed by taking out and storing the bottle is approximately 180 c.
If c is assumed, the number of times becomes 22 times, and there is a problem that the power consumption increases due to the heat loss due to opening and closing of the door. This is a problem particularly when the outside air temperature is high such as in summer. In addition, it takes time to open and close the door and take it out,
It is troublesome.

[0005] When such a PET bottle beverage is put into a dedicated tank of the above-mentioned conventional water cooler to supply cold water,
Since "water" in commercially available PET bottle beverages is usually mostly mineral water, it contains more minerals than tap water, thus further promoting the care and hygiene problems described above. This problem is more pronounced in the case of other beverages such as tea, due to its sediment and the like.

[0006] In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a cooled beverage supply device which is easy to care for, is sanitary, and can reduce power consumption.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooled beverage supply apparatus for cooling a beverage container such as water, juice, black tea, Japanese tea, etc., disposed inside a box having a cooling function. A cooling beverage supply device for supplying a beverage inside the beverage container, wherein the beverage container is provided on an outer surface of the box, and a beverage takeout means from which the beverage is taken out; It is detachably attached to the mouth in a standing position,
Pumping means for pumping a beverage from the beverage container and supplying the beverage to the beverage extracting means.

[0008] The cooled beverage supply device of claim 2 is claim 1.
Wherein the box is a refrigerator, and the beverage taking-out means is provided with a beverage supply pipe provided on an outer surface of a door of the refrigerator, and the pumping means and the beverage supply pipe penetrating the door in and out. And a driving means for driving the pumping means to supply the beverage.

[0009] The cooled beverage supply apparatus of claim 3 is claim 1.
Wherein the pumping means is provided separately from the box body, and fixing means for fixing the pumping means attached to the beverage container in the upright posture inside the box body. It has.

According to the cooling beverage supply device of the present invention, the beverage container is disposed in an upright posture with the mouth of the beverage container substantially up, inside the box having a cooling function, and a pumping means is provided in the mouth. Attach. The pumping means supplies the beverage inside the beverage container to a beverage extracting means provided on the outer surface side of the box body and supplies the beverage.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooling beverage supply apparatus provided in a refrigerator, wherein a pumping means driven by the driving means pumps up the beverage in the beverage container and passes through a liquid supply path to open the refrigerator door. The beverage is supplied to a beverage supply pipe provided on the outer surface of the container, from which the beverage is taken out.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the pumping means is provided separately from the box. Then, after the pumping means is attached to the beverage container in the upright posture, the pumping means is fixed inside the box by the fixing means.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

The cooling beverage supply device of the present embodiment is a refrigerator 1
0 is provided in the refrigerator compartment 12 provided at the uppermost stage.
The refrigerating compartment 12 has a door 14 on the front surface, and a bottle case 18 for placing a commercially available plastic bottle 16 is provided on a rear surface of a lower portion thereof. The bottle case 18 is arranged at a lower portion of the rear surface of the door 14 so as to be inclined slightly rearward, so that the plastic bottle 16 can be easily inserted. The cooling beverage supply device is provided with a pump device 20 attached to the mouth 22 of the plastic bottle 16.
And a beverage take-out portion provided on the door 14.

First, the pump device 20 will be described with reference to FIG.

The pump device 20 has a pump body 24, a lid 26 provided at a lower portion of the pump body 24, a liquid supply connecting portion 28 projecting from the front surface of the pump body 24, and projecting from an upper portion of the pump body 24. It is composed of an electric connection part 30.

The lid 26 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and has a female screw portion 32 which engages with a male screw portion of the mouth portion 22 inside thereof. A silicon tube 34 protrudes downward from the lid 26. The tube 34 is inserted into the plastic bottle 16.

The pump body 24 has a gear pump 36 provided therein.
A tube 34 is connected to 8. In addition, drain port 4
From 0, a water injection pipe 42 extending to the front end of the liquid supply connection portion 28 is connected. The front end of the water pipe 42 serves as a water inlet 44.

A concave portion 46 is provided on the upper surface of the liquid supply connection portion 28, and the front wall of the concave portion 46 is an inclined surface.

The electric connection portion 30 is vertically erected from the pump body 24 and then extends forward to form an inverted L-shape. The front end of the electric connection portion 30 has a female magnet type socket 4.
8 are provided. Power is supplied to the gear pump 36 from the socket 48.

Next, the beverage take-out portion of the door 14 will be described with reference to FIG.

On the rear surface of the door 14, a plastic bottle 16
A liquid supply path 50 is provided at substantially the same height as the position at which the pump device 20 is mounted. This liquid supply path 50 is the door 14
And the rear end of the liquid supply path 50 is connected to the water inlet 44 of the pump device 20. A liquid supply pipe 52 whose front end is bent downward is connected to the front end of the liquid supply path 50. Further, a packing 54 is provided on the rear inner peripheral portion of the liquid supply path 50, and when the water injection pipe 42 is connected, water leakage does not occur.

A hook 56 for fixing the pump device 20 protrudes slightly above the liquid supply path 50. The rear end of the hook 56 forms a claw 58, and the front end is provided rotatably about a horizontal shaft 60. A spring 62 is provided on the shaft 60 to urge the claw 58 downward. The hook 58 of the hook 56 engages with the concave portion 46 at the upper part of the liquid supply connection portion 28.

Above the hook 56, a male magnetic socket 64 for fitting with the socket 48 of the electric connection portion 30 is provided. The socket 64 is electrically connected to a power supply (not shown).

A water supply button 66 is provided below the water supply path 50.
Is provided. The water supply button 66 is turned on when pressed backward by a cup or the like.

Next, an electrical configuration of the cooled beverage supply device will be described with reference to FIG.

A microcomputer 68 for controlling the refrigerator 10 is provided, and the microcomputer 68 has a built-in timer.
Further, a bridge driver circuit 70 is connected to the microcomputer 68. The gear pump 36 is connected to the bridge driver circuit 70. In addition, the microcomputer 68 includes:
A water supply button 66 is connected via an amplifier 72.
Further, DC power is supplied to the microcomputer 68 and the bridge driver circuit 70, respectively. The gear pump 36 is supplied with power from the bridge driver circuit 70 via the sockets 48 and 64 as described above.

The microcomputer 68 outputs a forward rotation signal for rotating the gear pump 36 forward and a reverse rotation signal for reverse rotation to the bridge driver circuit 70 based on a predetermined control method. This control method will be described later.

Next, the installation and use state of the cooled beverage supply device will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, a 2 L PET bottle 1
The pump device 20 is attached to the mouth portion 22 of No. 6. In this case, the tube 34 is inserted into the plastic bottle 16, and the female screw 32 of the lid 26 is screwed into the mouth 22 for attachment. After that, the plastic bottle 16 is placed in the bottle case 18.

As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG.
The water inlet port 44 is engaged with the water suction path 50 by setting the water inlet 6 to an upright state in which the mouth portion 22 is directed from a slightly inclined state to a state where the mouth portion 22 is almost directly above. Then, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the claw 58 of the hook 56 is engaged with the concave portion 46, and the magnetic sockets 48 and 64 are fixed by the magnetic force. As a result, the PET bottle 16 is
It is completely fixed by the hook 56 and the sockets 48 and 64. Further, power is supplied to the gear pump 36 by the sockets 48 and 64.

In this state, when the cup 80 is pressed against the water supply button 66 as shown in FIG.
6 is driven to pump the beverage contained in the plastic bottle 16 from the tube 34, and the tube 34, the gear pump 36,
The beverage is supplied from the liquid supply pipe 52 to the cup 80 via the water injection pipe 42 and the water absorption path 50. When the glass 80 is released from the water supply button 66, the water supply is stopped.

Next, a control state of the water supply operation will be described with reference to FIG.

The purpose of this control is that if the water supply path is one-way, the beverage may remain in the tube 34, the gear pump 36, and the water supply path 50 at the time when the water supply is completed, and there is a possibility that mold and fungi may propagate. . Therefore, the purpose is to prevent the beverage from remaining in the water supply path 50 and the like, and to enable the water supply operation to be restarted immediately even after the water supply button 66 is pressed immediately after the water supply operation is completed.

In step 1, the water supply button 66 is
If the state is N, the process proceeds to step 2.

In step 2, the gear pump 36 is rotated forward to supply water.

In step 3, the water supply button 66 is
In the FF state, the gear pump 36 is stopped, and the water supply is terminated.

In step 4, the timer of the microcomputer 68 is turned on. This timer measures whether 10 seconds have elapsed.

In step 5, it is determined whether or not the water supply button 66 has been turned on during the measurement by the timer.
If the state is N, the process proceeds to step 6; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 7.

In step 6, the timer is reset, and the process returns to step 2. This allows the gear pump 36
Rotates forward again to supply water.

In step 7, it is determined whether or not the timer has measured 10 seconds.
Returning to step 8, if 10 seconds have elapsed, the process proceeds to step 8.

In step 8, the gear pump 36 is rotated in the reverse direction, and the beverage remaining in the water supply path 50 and the gear pump 36 is returned to the inside of the plastic bottle 16 again.

With the above control, the water supply button 66 is turned off.
When the water supply button 66 is pressed again within 10 seconds in the F state, the water supply operation can be started immediately. When 10 seconds or more have elapsed, the gear pump 36 rotates in the reverse direction, and the beverage remaining in the water supply path 50 or the like is removed from the plastic bottle 16.
, The beverage does not remain inside the water supply path 50, and there is no danger of mold and fungal propagation.

With the above-mentioned cooling beverage supply device,
A commercially available plastic bottle can be attached to the refrigerator 10 to easily take out the beverage therein. Therefore, there is no need to wash the tank or the like as in the related art. In addition, since the pump device 20 is separate, even if it breaks down, it can be easily replaced. Further, even when the plastic bottle 16 is not used, only the hooks 56 protrude from the rear surface of the door 14, so that the rear surface of the door 14 can be provided with a pocket such as an egg rack or mayonnaise as in the related art. Can be used as

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment lies in the shape of the claw 82 of the hook 56.

The claw 58 of the first embodiment has a shape protruding one from the rear end of the hook 56. With this shape,
There has been a problem that the water injection pipe 42 hits the tip of the claw 58 to buffer the rotation of the hook 56, causing a side slip or an insertion direction being shifted laterally.

However, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the claws 82 project in two forks. With such a structure, first, when attaching the water injection pipe 42 to the water supply path 50, the hook 56 rotates along the water injection pipe 42 and fits into the recess 46. In this case, since the claw 82 is divided into two branches, the water injection pipe 4 is provided between the two branches.
2 are engaged, and the hook 56 moves along the water injection pipe 42 to reach the concave portion 46. For this reason, the water injection pipe 42 does not buffer the rotation of the hook 56 to cause a side slip, and the insertion direction does not shift laterally.

The third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, means for releasing the hook 56 is provided. That is, when the release member 74 is rotatably provided on the horizontal shaft 75 as a fulcrum at the electric connection portion 30 and the hook 56 is fitted into the concave portion 46, the front end of the release member 74 is connected to the rear end of the hook 56. The projection 76 is engaged with the projection 76 (the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 10).

Then, in order to release the engagement state of the hook 56, the rear end of the release member 74 is rotated downward,
The rear end of the hook 56 is lifted upward (the state shown by the dotted line in FIG. 10). Thereby, the engagement state of the hook 56 can be easily released.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, a water purification member 78 having a T-shaped cross section is inserted at the lower end of the tube 34 inserted into the PET bottle 16 as shown in FIG. The water purification member 78 is made of fibrous activated carbon, and has a size that can be inserted from the mouth 22 of the plastic bottle 16. Further, the water purification member 78 is detachably attached to the tube 34 so that the tube 34 can be easily removed when cleaning.

When the water purification member 78 is provided, the water in the PET bottle 16 can be purified and supplied by the action of the activated carbon.

In the above embodiment, the plastic bottle 16 is attached to the rear surface of the door 14 and the beverage is supplied from the liquid supply pipe 52 on the front surface of the door 14. You may make it supply 16 drinks to the ice tray of an automatic ice maker.

That is, in a refrigerator having an automatic ice making device, water is conventionally put in a tank and the water is supplied to an ice tray. Instead of this, water or juice in a plastic bottle is supplied to the ice tray. Then, the ice making may be performed. Even in this case, there is no need to clean the inside of the tank as in the conventional case.

In the above embodiment, the pump is provided separately from the door. Instead, the pump is provided integrally with the door, and a suction tube of the pump is inserted from the mouth of the plastic bottle. It may be structured.

[0058]

As described above, according to the cooled beverage supply device of the first aspect of the present invention, the beverage inside the beverage container provided inside the box is pumped up by the pumping means and provided on the outer surface of the box. It can be easily taken out from the beverage taking out means.
Since a commercially available plastic bottle or the like can be used for this beverage container, there is no need to provide a tank for storing beverages as in the related art, and it is not necessary to clean the inside thereof.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the refrigerator door is provided with the beverage extracting means, the beverage in the beverage container can be easily extracted without opening and closing the door. Therefore, the temperature inside the refrigerator does not rise due to opening and closing of the door.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the pumping means is provided separately from the box, even if the pumping means breaks down, only this part needs to be replaced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a cooling beverage supply device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which a pump device is attached and inserted into a plastic bottle.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the plastic bottle is about to be attached to a cooled beverage supply device.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a state in which a PET bottle is attached to a cooled beverage supply device and a beverage is to be supplied.

FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a door and a pump device.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the pump device as viewed from behind.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a cooled beverage supply device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control state of the same.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the hook and the pump device according to the second embodiment as seen from behind.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the pump device according to the third embodiment as seen from behind.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing a state where the pump device of the third embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 11 is a partially cutaway side view of the plastic bottle of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a water purification member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Refrigerator 12 Refrigerating room 14 Door 16 PET bottle 20 Pump device 22 Mouth part 24 Pump body 26 Attachment part 28 Connection part 30 Socket part 34 Tube 36 Gear pump 42 Water injection pipe 44 Water injection port 46 Depression 48 Socket 50 Liquid supply path 52 Liquid supply pipe 54 Packing 56 Hook 58 Claw 60 Shaft 62 Spring 64 Socket 66 Water supply button 68 Microcomputer

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A beverage container, such as water, juice, black tea, or Japanese tea, disposed inside a box having a cooling function,
A beverage supply device for supplying a beverage inside the beverage container, comprising: a beverage extraction means provided on an outer surface of the box body, the beverage being extracted from the beverage container; A cooling beverage supply device, comprising: a pumping means which is detachably attached to the mouth in a posture, and which pumps up the beverage from the beverage container and supplies the beverage to the beverage extracting means. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the box is a refrigerator, the beverage taking-out means includes a beverage supply pipe provided on an outer surface of a door of the refrigerator, and the pumping means and the beverage supply means penetrating the door in and out. 2. The cooled beverage supply device according to claim 1, comprising: a liquid supply path connecting a pipe; and a drive unit configured to drive the pumping unit to supply the beverage. 3. 3. The fixing means for fixing the pumping means, which is provided separately from the box body and is attached to the beverage container in the upright posture, inside the box body. The apparatus for supplying a cooled beverage according to claim 1, further comprising means.