JPH11100098A - Control apparatus for beverage dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid the sudden exhaustion of a raw material or such a state that only dilution water is sold because the exhaustion of the raw material is not noticed in a beverage dispenser which discharges a beverage raw material by constant quantity at the time of selling by a raw material pump. SOLUTION: Both of alarm lamps of a sellout notice lamp 12 and a sellout alarm lamp 13 are provided and a pulse generator 2 generating a pulse corresponding to the rotation of a raw material motor 3 and a sellout sensor 7 detecting the exhaustion of a raw material are provided and, when a pulse integrated value being the use integrated quantity of raw material reaches a sellout notice level, the sellout notice lamp 12 lights and, when selling is further continued and a sellout signal is outputted from the sellout sensor 7, the sellout alarm lamp 13 is allowed to light. In such a stage that the remaining of the raw material is reduced, the replacement preparation of the raw material container is performed by the sellout notice lamp 12 and, in such a stage that the raw material is completely exhausted, selling is stopped by the sellout alarm lamp 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage dispenser for dispensing a liquid beverage material by a material pump at a fixed rate and diluting the beverage material with cold water or the like, and more particularly to a means for monitoring the sold out of the beverage material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As means for monitoring the sold-out of beverage ingredients in a beverage dispenser, there are a means for displaying a sold-out notice when the remaining amount of the beverage ingredients is low, and a means for displaying a sold-out indication when the beverage ingredients are sold out. Are known.

[0003]

However, the conventional beverage dispenser has only one of the above-mentioned notice display and sold-out display, and has many disadvantages. In other words, if only the notice of sold out is displayed, the raw material remains even after the notice is displayed, so if the customer is standing up, sales will continue as it is, and even if the raw material runs out, only the dilution water will not be noticed. There is a possibility of selling beverages. In addition, when only the sold-out display is performed, the raw material is suddenly run out without notice, and the preparation of the raw material container to be replaced may not be in time. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve these inconveniences and to prevent the raw material from being completely exhausted or not being noticed without notice.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by providing both a sold-out notice means for notifying that a beverage ingredient is nearly sold out and a sold-out warning means for alarming that the beverage ingredient is sold out. Is the solution. That is, the present invention relates to a beverage dispenser for dispensing beverage ingredients stored in an ingredient container by an ingredient pump at a constant rate by an ingredient pump, wherein a pulse generator for generating a rotation pulse corresponding to the number of rotations of an ingredient motor for driving the ingredient pump; Means for counting and integrating pulses, a sold-out sensor for detecting that the beverage ingredient in the ingredient container has sold out, a sold-out notice means for notifying that the beverage ingredient is about to be sold out, and the beverage ingredient is Sold-out alarm means for alarming the sold-out, and when the pulse integration amount integrated by the integration means reaches a preset notice level, activates the sold-out notice means, and when the sold-out sensor detects sold out, Control means for activating the sold-out warning means.

[0005] According to such a means, a new raw material container can be prepared with a margin by operating the sold-out notice means, and sales are continued after the sold-out notice. By the operation of the means, it is possible to reliably catch the shortage of the raw material.

Lamps can be used as the sold-out notice means and the sold-out warning means. These lamps are provided separately for each of the above-mentioned means, and are turned on when they are activated. One lamp can be provided so that the lamp flashes when the out-of-sale notice means is activated, and is turned on when the out-of-sale warning means is activated.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a circuit block diagram of a control device showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a time chart thereof, FIG. 3 is a time chart showing a different embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view, and FIG.
First, in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, a raw material pump 1 for extracting raw materials from a raw material container (not shown) by a fixed amount is provided with a pulse generator 2.
Is rotationally driven via a speed reducer 4 by a material motor 3 having a built-in motor. As shown in FIG. 4, the raw material pump 1 is provided with a flexible tube 5 communicating with the raw material container along the arc-shaped wall surface of the casing, and the raw material motor 3 drives the rotor 6 to rotate in the direction of the arrow. 5
The raw material therein, for example, a concentrated syrup, is to be ironed out.

At the base of the tube 5 inserted into the raw material pump 1, a sold-out sensor 7 (FIG. 4) for detecting the presence or absence of the raw material in the tube 5 is provided. The sold-out sensor 7 is a sensor in which a coil is wound around an annular magnetic core having a notch in a part, and the tube 5 is sandwiched between the notched portions of the magnetic core. Detect if sold out. A water nozzle 8 for discharging cold water or the like for diluting the raw material from a tank (not shown) is disposed adjacent to the tip of the tube 5. In the illustrated example, the raw material container is formed of a flexible bag contained in a box-shaped case, and the tube 5 is directly connected to the bag. The details of the beverage dispenser and the raw material pump having such a configuration are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-294888.

Next, in FIG. 1, a CPU 10 having a ROM 8 storing a control program and a RAM 9 storing a raw material usage amount outputs an output pulse of the pulse generator 2 A sold-out signal or the like is input to control the raw material motor 3, the sold-out notice lamp 12, the sold-out alarm lamp 13, and the like. Hereinafter, the control operation will be described based on the time chart of FIG. That is, when an operation switch (not shown) is pressed, the material motor 3 is rotated,
The raw material is discharged from the tube 5. During that time, the rotation pulse generator 2 generates a rotation pulse corresponding to the number of rotations of the raw material motor 3. Therefore, the number of rotation pulses is counted, and when the count value reaches a predetermined value for one drink, the raw material motor 3 is stopped.

On the other hand, the pulse count value is integrated as an integrated amount of raw material used and stored in the RAM 9. Eventually,
When the accumulated count value reaches the sold-out notice level, for example, about the remaining five cups, the sold-out notice lamp 12 is turned on to warn that the sold-out is near. Thereafter, when the tube 5 is emptied by continuing to sell, the sold-out alarm lamp 13 is turned on by the sold-out signal from the sold-out sensor 7 to warn of sold-out and disable the selling operation.

In the embodiment described above, the lamps are separately provided for a sold-out notice and a sold-out warning. However, as shown in the time chart of FIG. It is also possible to save the lamp by blinking the lamp 12 and turning on the lamp at the time of the sold-out warning.

[0012]

According to the present invention, both the sold-out notice means and the sold-out warning means are provided, so that when the amount of the raw material is low, the warning for the raw material can be prepared with a warning and the replacement of the raw material container can be carried out with a margin. If you continue to do so, a sold-out warning will be issued, so you do not have to worry about selling only dilution water without noticing the sold-out, and you can sell out the beverage until the ingredients are completely exhausted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a raw material pump.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the raw material pump of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Raw material pump 2 Pulse generator 3 Raw material motor 5 Tube 6 Rotor 7 Sold-out sensor 12 Sold-out notice lamp 13 Sold-out alarm lamp

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A beverage dispenser for dispensing a fixed amount of beverage ingredients stored in an ingredient container by an ingredient pump, wherein the pulse generator generates a rotation pulse corresponding to the number of revolutions of an ingredient motor for driving the ingredient pump; Means for counting and integrating; a sold-out sensor for detecting that the beverage ingredient in the ingredient container has been sold out; a sold-out notice means for notifying that the beverage ingredient is about to be sold out; and the beverage ingredient being sold out. Sold-out warning means that warns that, when the pulse integration amount integrated by the integration means reaches a preset notice level, the sold-out notice means is operated,
Control means for activating the sold-out alarm means when the sold-out sensor detects a sold-out condition. 2. A beverage dispenser according to claim 1, wherein lamps are separately provided as a sold-out notice means and a sold-out warning means, and these lamps are turned on when the respective means are operated. Control device. 3. A lamp is commonly provided as an out-of-sale notice means and an out-of-sale alarm means, so that the lamp blinks when the out-of-sale notice means operates, and the lamp is turned on when the out-of-sale alarm means operates. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A control device for a beverage dispenser according to any of the preceding claims.