JPS6033491Y2 - Flexible coffee vending machine - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to the improvement of a coffee vending machine with a fresh pull set, and is designed to ensure good mixing performance of coffee and sugar or milk in the mixing bowl, and to prevent the temperature of the coffee from dropping. The purpose is to do something.

2. Description of the Related Art A so-called fresh-pull coffee vending machine that uses coffee powder made from ground coffee beans as a raw material, adds hot water to it, and uses a filter to extract coffee is well known.

The outline of such a coffee vending machine will be explained with reference to FIG. 1. In the figure, 1 is a coffee powder container, 2 is a hot water tank, 3 is a coffee extractor, 4 is a mixing bowl,
5 is a sugar container, 6 is a milk container, 7 is a cup container, 8 is a cup, and 9 is a bending stage.

The coffee extractor 3 includes a cylinder 10, a pressurizing piston 11 that is moved up and down within the cylinder, and a filter 12.

As the filter 12, a fixed metal filter, an endless belt-shaped metal filter, or a disposable roll-shaped filter paper is used, and the filter 12 is cleaned once by an appropriate means such as operating a scraper or transferring the metal filter or filter paper. Coffee grounds remaining on the filter are removed after each vending operation.

This is the conventional configuration, and its sales operation is as follows.

First, coffee powder and hot water are supplied to the cylinder 10 based on a sales signal.

When the brewing of coffee begins in the cylinder 10, the piston 1
1 descends, the coffee is pressurized, and the coffee is extracted under pressure through the filter 12.

The extracted coffee is sent to a mixing bowl 4, where it is stirred and mixed with sugar or milk introduced from above, and is then transferred to a cup 8, which is carried out in advance to a bending stage 9.
Supplied to rel.

As mentioned above, in the Fresh Pull set coffee vending machine, the coffee in the cylinder 10 is pressurized by lowering the piston 11 at an appropriate speed because the regular drip method takes a long time to brew coffee. A method of forced extraction is used.

For this reason, the flow rate of coffee discharged from the coffee extractor 3 toward the mixing bowl 4 is quite high if left as it is.

On the other hand, as is well known, the structure of the mixing bowl 4 is such that a coffee inlet is opened in the tangential direction at the top of a ball with an open top surface and a discharge port in the bottom surface. As the coffee swirls inside the bowl and is discharged to the outlet, sugar or milk introduced from above is stirred and mixed with the coffee.

Therefore, if the speed of feeding the coffee to the mixing bowl 4 is high, the time for the coffee to pass through the mixing bowl will be shortened, and the coffee will be sent to the cup 8 before the sugar or milk is sufficiently stirred and mixed, resulting in high quality coffee. I can't sell delicious coffee.

Conventional countermeasures include making the mixing bowl larger and lengthening the flow path leading to the outlet, or creating a maze in the middle of the flow path to reduce the coffee flow path. There are well-known devices that have been subjected to the following measures.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional means, the size of the mixing bowl is large, and a large amount of heat is taken away from the coffee during the process of passing through the mixing bowl, resulting in a large drop in temperature of the coffee.

If the temperature of the coffee drops, delicious coffee cannot be sold.

The present invention was developed in consideration of this point, and its structure is such that the flow rate of coffee extracted under pressure in a coffee extractor is reduced on the way to the mixing bowl, and the coffee and sugar or milk in the mixing bowl are combined. In order to ensure good mixing performance and prevent the temperature of the coffee sold for sale from dropping, we installed a new diffuser in the middle of the pipe from the coffee extractor to the mixing bowl. The diffuser is equipped with a heater for heating coffee, and the diffuser is shaped like a cylindrical container, with a coffee outlet opening at the center of the bottom, a coffee inlet opening tangentially at the top, and an inner space of the container. A vent is provided to communicate with the atmosphere.

The present invention will be explained in detail below based on illustrated embodiments.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, a diffuser 13 is newly inserted and installed in the middle of the conduit leading from the coffee extractor 3 to the mixing bowl 4 according to the present invention.

This diffuser 13 has a cylindrical metal container as a main container 14, and a coffee outlet 15 is opened at the center of the funnel-shaped bottom surface. It is configured with a coffee inlet 17 that opens in the tangential direction of the container, and a vent 18 that communicates the inner space of the main container 14 with the atmosphere.

Furthermore, a turbulent flow plate 19 is provided inside the main body container 14 and protrudes from the inner circumferential wall surface and extends in the vertical direction.

The main body container 14 is made of a metal material with good thermal conductivity, and is configured as a thick container so as to have a large heat capacity.

An electric heater 20 for heating coffee is wrapped around the outer periphery of the main body container 14 of the diffuser 13.

In the above configuration, while waiting for sales, the damp heater 20 is energized and the main body container 14 of the diffuser 13 is heated.

In this state, coffee extracted under pressure from the coffee extractor 3 according to the coffee sales command is discharged tangentially from the coffee inlet 17 to the diffuser 13 as shown by arrow A at a high flow rate.

Therefore, the coffee becomes a swirling flow and flows down inside the main container 14 while coming into contact with the mural of the main container 14 which is in a heated state and being further stirred by the turbulence plate.

In this case, the inner space is communicated with the atmosphere through the vent 18 and is maintained at atmospheric pressure. Therefore, under these conditions, the coffee introduced into the diffuser 13 releases the kinetic energy of the coffee flow and is heated to the main body. It will be temporarily stored in the container 14, and from there it will be sent out to the mixing bowl 4 at a slow speed via the discharge port 15 using a gravity flow method.

Moreover, in the process of swirling flow in the diffuser 13, the coffee comes into sufficient contact with the wall surface of the main container 14 heated by the heater 20 and is heated, and the temperature decreases due to heat loss on the way from the hot water tank 2 to the diffuser 13. It is sent to the mixing bowl 4 in a high temperature state.

In particular, the diffuser 13 is configured to rotate along the inner circumferential wall surface of the end body container 14 for heating coffee, and is further stirred by a turbulence plate, so that the coffee can be heated efficiently. Coffee can be sufficiently heated even if the capacity of the heater is reduced.

As a result, the speed at which coffee is introduced into the mixing bowl 4 is reduced to be lower than the flow speed delivered under pressure from the coffee extractor 3, and while a small and simple shape with low heat loss is adopted as the mixing bowl 4, sugar or milk It is possible to ensure good mixing performance of coffee and coffee, and to prevent the temperature of the coffee supplied to the cup 8 from decreasing without consuming much power by using a small-capacity heating heater.

As described above, according to the present invention, a diffuser with a heater, which is simpler than the conventional one, is newly installed in the middle of the pipe between the coffee extractor and the mixing bowl, and the diffuser can efficiently heat the coffee. With this configuration, the flow rate of the coffee is reduced, and the coffee, sugar, and milk can be mixed well in the mixing bowl, and the temperature of the coffee is prevented from dropping while saving electricity, which allows us to sell high-quality, delicious coffee. It is possible to provide a coffee vending machine with a complete set of fresh pulls that has great practical value.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a system diagram of the embodiment of the present invention showing the cross-sectional structure of the main parts, and Fig. 2 is the arrow view of the diffuser in Fig. 1.
FIG. 1: coffee powder container, 2: hot water tank, 3: coffee extractor, 4: mixing bowl, 5: sugar container, 6: milk container, 8: cup, 11: pressure piston, 12: filter, 13: diffuser, 14: Main container, 15:
Coffee outlet, 17: Coffee inlet, 18: Ventilation port, 19: Turbulence plate, 20: Coffee warming heater, A: Coffee flow in the diffuser.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Coffee powder and hot water are supplied to a coffee extractor equipped with a pressure piston and a filter to extract coffee under pressure, and the extracted coffee is supplied to a cup via a mixing bowl where sugar or milk is added and mixed. In the coffee vending machine configured as shown in FIG. The diffuser consists of a cylindrical container, with a coffee outlet opening at the center of the bottom, a coffee inlet opening tangentially at the top, and a vent opening that communicates the inner space of the container with the atmosphere. A coffee vending machine with a complete set of fresh pulls.