JPH11264644A - Beverage feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a beverage feeder which is excellent in heat exchangeability of cooling water in a condition of an incessant vendition of beverages. SOLUTION: A quadrangular-pyramid-shaped protrusion 8 is provided on a bottom portion of a cooling water tank 1. A water flow is generated in the direction shown by the arrows in cooling water W filled in the cooling water tank 1 with the rotation of a propeller 4B in a given direction, which is fixed to a rotary shaft 4A of an agitator motor 4. By allowing the water flow to move along the inclined surface of the quadrangular-pyramid-shaped protrusion 8 to the direction of the inner wall of the cooling water tank 1, circulation of the cooling water W from the vicinity of the water surface to the bottom portion of the cooling water tank is improved, thus preventing lowering of heat exchangeability.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage supply apparatus for supplying carbonated beverages and non-carbonated beverages, and more particularly, to a beverage supply apparatus which is excellent in cooling the beverage even in a situation where the sale of beverages is continuous.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is provided a cooling unit for circulating and cooling carbonated water, syrup and dilution water in a cooling water tank cooled by a cooler, and mixing the cooled syrup with dilution water or carbonated water. There is a beverage supply device that supplies a prepared beverage in a cup, and is used in summer resorts and the like.

[0005] FIG. 5 shows a conventional beverage supply device, which includes a cooling water tank 1 having cooling water W in a water tank, an evaporator 2 which is disposed in the cooling water tank 1 in a U-shape, and an evaporator 2. A refrigerant inlet 2A for injecting a liquid refrigerant supplied from a cooler (not shown), a refrigerant outlet 2B for discharging a vaporized gas refrigerant from the evaporator 2, and a water tank that adheres to the outer periphery of the evaporator 2 and Ice 3 for cooling the cooling water W, an agitator motor 4 for generating a rotational force for stirring the cooling water W in the cooling water tank 1, and a carbonator tank housing 5 for housing a carbonator tank for storing carbonated water. A cooling coil 6 which is formed in a spiral shape in the center of the cooling water tank 1 and has two cooling pipes for cooling carbonated water and dilution water, and a dilution water inlet for injecting dilution water into one of the cooling coils 6 6A and A dilution water outlet 6B for discharging the dilution water cooled by the cooling coil 6, a carbonated water inlet 6C for injecting carbonated water into another system of the cooling coil 6, and a carbonated water cooled by the cooling coil 6 are discharged. Carbonated water outlet 6D, syrup coil 7 for cooling syrup, syrup inlet 7A for injecting syrup into syrup coil 7, and syrup outlet 7B for discharging syrup cooled by syrup coil 7
Having. A lid is provided at the uppermost part of the cooling water tank 1, but is not shown.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
Ice 3 is formed on the surface of the evaporator 2 by heat exchange of the refrigerant circulating inside. Cooling water W in cooling water tank 1
Is cooled by heat exchange accompanying melting of the ice 3. The heat exchange with the cooling water W cooled in this way cools the carbonated water, the dilution water, and the syrup.

[0005] A propeller (not shown) for stirring the cooling water W in the cooling water tank 1 is mounted on the rotating shaft 4A of the agitator motor 4, and the cooling water W is rotated based on the rotation of the agitator motor 4 in a predetermined direction. Is stirred. This stirring promotes heat exchange between the ice 3 attached to the outer periphery of the evaporator 2 and the cooling water W, thereby lowering the temperature of the cooling water W to cool the cooling coil 6 and the syrup coil 7. The cooling coil 6 is configured such that a pipe for cooling dilution water is disposed on a lower side, and a pipe for cooling carbonated water is disposed on an upper side. In addition, the cooling water tank 1 shuts off the water tank from the outside by a lid 1A provided at the top.

In the above-described beverage supply device, syrup, carbonated water, or dilution water cooled by heat exchange with the cooling water W is mixed at a predetermined ratio and provided to the purchaser as a cup beverage.

[0007]

However, according to the conventional beverage supply device, when the beverage is continuously sold, there is a limit to the stirring of the cooling water up and down by the propeller, so that the temperature difference between the vicinity of the water surface and the bottom of the cooling water is limited. Therefore, there is a problem that the heat exchangeability of the cooling water is reduced and the cooling capacity is reduced. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a beverage supply device which is excellent in heat exchangeability of the cooling water W even when the beverage is continuously sold.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, cooling water stored in the water tank is cooled by ice formed in the water tank, and the raw material of beverages and the like are cooled by the cooled water. In the beverage supply apparatus for cooling and supplying the cooling water, a stirring means for generating a flow of vertical cooling water toward a substantially central portion of the bottom in the water tank, and the vertical cooling water formed at the bottom in the water tank A beverage supply device having water flow regulating means for guiding the flow of water toward the side wall of the water tank.

In the above beverage supply device, the water flow regulating means has a slope inclined in the side wall direction with the bottom substantially in the center as a vertex, and guides the flow of the vertical cooling water toward the side wall of the water tank along the slope. It may be a projection member, and the projection member preferably has a quadrangular pyramid shape or a conical convex shape.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a beverage supply apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a beverage supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention, which has a quadrangular pyramid-shaped projection 8 at the bottom in a cooling water tank 1. Other configurations and functions are the same as those of the beverage supply device described with reference to FIG. 5, and thus redundant description will be omitted.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section taken along the line AA in FIG.
The quadrangular pyramid-shaped protrusion 8 provided on the bottom of the cooling water tank 1 is provided such that a protruding end is located on an extension of the rotating shaft 4A of the agitator motor 4, and from the protruding end toward the inner wall of the cooling water bath 1. It has an inclined surface.

FIG. 3 shows a cross section taken along line BB in FIG.
When a propeller 4B attached to a rotating shaft 4A of the agitator motor 4 rotates in a predetermined direction, a water flow indicated by an arrow is generated in the cooling water W in the cooling water tank 1. The cooling water W stirred near the propeller 4B moves toward the bottom, moves along the inclined surface of the quadrangular pyramid-shaped projection 8 toward the inner wall of the cooling water tank 1, and moves along the inner wall to near the water surface. Moving. The cooling water W near the water surface is drawn to the propeller 4B based on the stirring operation of the propeller 4B. The quadrangular pyramid-shaped projection 8 promotes the circulation of the water flow generated in the cooling water W based on the stirring operation of the propeller 4B, and thereby the cooling water W
Of uneven temperature due to poor circulation of water. In the figure, the evaporator 2, the ice 3, and the cooling coil 6 are not shown for convenience of explanation, and the agitator motor 4,
The rotary shaft 4A and the propeller 4B are shown in a side view without a sectional view.

According to the above-mentioned beverage supply device, the circulation of the cooling water W from the vicinity of the water surface to the bottom of the cooling water tank is improved, so that the heat exchangeability of the cooling water W is reduced even in a situation where the beverage is continuously sold. Thus, a stable cooling capacity can be provided for a long time.

FIG. 4 shows a beverage supply device according to another embodiment of the present invention, in which a cooling water tank 1 is provided at its bottom with a projection 9 having a curved inclined surface. With such a configuration, the friction loss between the water flow generated due to the rotation of the propeller 4B and the bottom portion is reduced, so that the cooling water W can be circulated more efficiently. Also in FIG.
Similarly, the evaporator 2, the ice 3, and the cooling coil 6 are not shown in the drawing, and the agitator motor 4, the rotating shaft 4
A and the propeller 4B are shown in a side view without a sectional view.

In the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the quadrangular pyramid-shaped and curved-surface-shaped projections are provided on the bottom of the cooling water tank is used. In addition, the above-described protrusion may be attached to the bottom of the existing beverage supply device later, or the bottom of the cooling water tank may be processed into the above-described protrusion in advance.

[0017]

As described above, according to the beverage supply apparatus of the present invention, the stirring means for generating the vertical cooling water flow toward the bottom substantially at the center of the bottom of the water tank, and the stirring means formed at the bottom of the water tank. Since the water flow restricting means for guiding the flow of the vertical cooling water toward the wall surface of the water tank is provided, excellent heat exchange properties of the cooling water W can be imparted even when the beverage is continuously sold.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view showing a beverage supply device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the beverage supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the beverage supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing another beverage supply device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view showing a conventional beverage supply device.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing a conventional beverage supply device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, cooling water tank 1A, lid 2, evaporator 2A, refrigerant inlet 2B, refrigerant outlet 3, ice 4, agitator motor 4A, motor shaft 4B, propeller 5, carbonator tank housing 6, cooling coil 6A, dilution water inlet 6B, Dilution water outlet 6C, carbonated water inlet 6D, carbonated water outlet 7, syrup coil 7A, syrup inlet 7B, syrup outlet 8, quadrangular pyramid projection 9, projection W, cooling water

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A beverage supply device that cools cooling water stored in the water tank with ice formed in the water tank, and cools and supplies beverage ingredients and the like with the cooled cooling water. A stirring means for generating a vertical cooling water flow toward a substantially central portion of a bottom of the water tank; and a water flow regulating means formed at a bottom portion in the water tank, for guiding the flow of the vertical cooling water toward a side wall of the water tank. A beverage supply device comprising: 2. The water flow restricting means has a slope inclined in the side wall direction with the bottom substantially in the center as a vertex, and directs the flow of the vertical cooling water along the slope in the side wall direction of the water tank. The beverage supply device according to claim 1, wherein the beverage supply device is configured to be a projection member that guides the beverage. 3. The beverage supply apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said projection member has a quadrangular pyramid shape or a conical convex shape.