JPS6037381B2 - Water-cooled thermal storage beverage chiller - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a cold cup type soft drink vending machine, a water-cooled thermal storage type beverage cooling device used for dispensing cold water or soft drinks, and the like.

The above mentioned beverage cooling system consists of a cooler that is an evaporator for a refrigerator, a beverage cooling coil inserted in a beverage supply pipeline, and an electric agitator for water flies, all placed in a cooling water tank filled with water. 2. Description of the Related Art A device is well known in which a beverage is cooled by operating a refrigerator using water in a water tank as a heat transfer medium.

In this case, in order to reduce the capacity of the refrigerator, ice called an ice bank is constantly made around the cooler in the water tank, and the heat stored in the ice is used even when the refrigerator is not operating. Generally, a method is widely adopted in which the cooling water in the pot is maintained at a low temperature, thereby instantaneously increasing the beverage cooling capacity. An outline of such a water-cooled thermal storage type beverage cooling device is shown in FIG. In Figure 1, 11 is a drinking water source such as tap water, 2
3 is a drinking water reservoir, 3 is a drinking water supply pipeline drawn out from the reservoir 2 and piped to the cup 5 placed on the pend stage 4, 6 is a drinking water pump, and 7 is near the end of the pipeline 3. Beverage supply valve installed in
8 is a beverage supply control circuit. On the other hand, the beverage cooling device 9 includes a cooling water tank 92 filled with water 91 and a cooler 9 which is an evaporator for a refrigerator 93 installed submerged in water in the water tank.
4, an agitator 95 for a water punch, and the pipeline 3
The beverage cooling coil 31 is inserted in the middle of the ice tank and placed in the ice tank at a distance from the cooler 94. Furthermore, 96
97 is a combinator motor of the refrigerator 93, 97 is a drive motor of the agitator 95, and 98 is an ice bank generated around the cooler 94. Drinking water is always stored in the reservoir 2, and when a drink supply command signal is given, the supply valve 7
is opened, and at the same time, the pump 6 is operated and drinking water cooled by the cooling coil 31 is supplied to the cup 5. By the way, the operation control circuit for the refrigerator compressor motor 96 and the agitator drive motor 97 in the conventional device is as shown in FIG.

In the figure, TS. is a contact point of a thermostat for controlling the operation of the compressor motor 96 connected in series with the compressor motor 96, and its temperature-sensing part is installed apart from the cooler 94,
When the ice layer formed around the cooler grows and the ice bank 98 reaches a predetermined thickness, the temperature sensing portion is covered with the ice layer and operates, opening the contact TS and stopping the compressor motor 96. Further, when the ice melts and the temperature sensing portion is exposed from the ice layer, a return operation is performed to close the contact TS and restart the operation of the refrigerator 93. In contrast, the agitator drive motor 9
While the beverage cooling device is in operation, the device 7 continues to operate at all times to improve the heat flow characteristics, and continues to drain the water 91 in the water tank 92.
By the way, when the beverage cooling device is operated using the above-mentioned conventional operation method, even though the pump 6 and supply valve 7 are operating normally when the beverage supply command is given, drinking water is flowing out into the cup. Failure to do so may cause problems.

When investigating this problem, it was found that small pieces of ice were clogged in a narrow part of the beverage supply pipeline 3 or inside the supply valve 7, blocking the flow of the beverage. This is thought to be due to the drinking water being supercooled in the beverage cooling coil 31 for some reason during the cooling process, which resulted in the generation of ice chips, and consideration was given to investigating the cause of the generation of ice chips. As a result, the cause was found to be as follows. That is, FIG. 3 shows a time chart showing the operation progress of the beverage cooling apparatus according to the conventional circuit shown in FIG. In the figure, water temperature characteristic lines A and B represent the water temperature surrounding the cooling coil 31 in the water tank 92 and the surface temperature of the cooler 94, respectively. As is clear from this temperature characteristic line A, the water temperature is once supercooled to a minus temperature T,° C., which is lower than the freezing point of water, 0° C., in the process where a frozen layer begins to be formed on the surface of the cooler 94. Generally, in order for ice to condense on the surface of the cooler 94, the water temperature around the surface of the cooler needs to be supercooled to below the freezing point, and the moment a layer of ice forms after this temperature transition, the ice disappears. After the temperature reaches 0°C, only the temperature of the cooler covered with the frozen layer decreases and ice grows, so that no supercooling phenomenon occurs in the water. However, as mentioned above, if the agitator 95 continues to be operated during the transition period when freezing starts and the water 91 in the tank 92 is lit, the water temperature throughout the tank becomes approximately equal to the temperature of the cooler 94. As a result, in the process of freezing, the supercooling phenomenon of the water 91 occurs not only in the surrounding area of the cooler 94 but throughout the entire tank. In this case, the supercooling temperature T, °C is determined by the structure of the water tank, the cooling capacity of the refrigerator,
It varies depending on the agitator's parasitic state, but it is approximately 10.
It is about 530 to 12.0 qo. As a result, cooler 9
Drinking water remaining in the cooling coil 31 located away from the cooling coil 31 is also supercooled to below the freezing point via the water 91, which is a heat transfer medium, and minute ice pieces are generated in the cooling coil. Moreover, if a beverage supply command is given while ice chips are generated in the cooling coil 31, the ice chips will move along with the drinking water inside the pipeline 3, causing the ice chips to move in the narrow areas of the pipeline.
For example, the inside of the supply valve 7 may become clogged, resulting in a troublesome situation in which the flow of drinking water is dammed up and normal drinking water supply is inhibited. Particularly in a vending machine, since the amount of beverage supplied is set by controlling the opening time of the supply valve 7, the above-mentioned trouble directly leads to sales trouble.
Although the above explanation deals with the case where water is supplied as a beverage in a cooled manner, a similar problem of overcooling may also occur when other types of syrups are supplied in a chilled manner. The present invention relates to the above-mentioned beverage cooling device, and prevents the beverage in the beverage cooling coil from being overcooled during the ice layer formation process of the ice bank.
This was done to prevent the formation of ice chips.

According to the present invention, the present invention provides an ice sensor that is installed near the surface of a cooler to detect the formation of an ice layer on the surface of the cooler, and an agitator drive motor that closes a contact based on an ice detection signal from the ice sensor. The system is equipped with an operation control contact for the agitator drive motor that starts the operation of the agitator, and is configured to stop the agitator operation at least until a layer of ice is detected to be formed on the surface of the cooler when the water temperature of the cooling water tank is near the freezing point. achieved by doing. Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 4 shows the operation control circuit of a basic embodiment of the present invention.
An agitator operation control contact S is inserted and connected to the power supply circuit. The contact S is closed based on an ice detection signal from an ice sensor 10, which will be described later. The ice sensor 0 is mounted on the mounting plate 11 close to the surface of the cooler 94 in the cooling water tank 92.
The cooler 9 is equipped with a pair of electrode rods 12 installed at
4 is configured to detect that an ice layer has been formed on the surface of the ice cube and output an ice detection signal from the conversion circuit. In other words, while ice is not being generated, the electrical resistance between the electrode rods 12 is small and no signal is output from the conversion circuit 13, so the contact S
is open. As the refrigerator operates, a frozen layer of the ice bank 98 is generated on the surface of the cooler 94, and when the electrode rod 12 is covered with this frozen layer, the inter-electrode resistance value increases and the ice detection signal is output from the conversion circuit 13. It operates to close the contact S and start the agitator drive motor 97. Due to the above control operation, during the cooling process to generate an ice bank, the agitator drive motor 97 is stopped with the contact S open at least until an ice layer forms on the surface of the cooler 94. When this is detected by the ice sensor 1, the contact S is closed and operation is started.

Therefore, the water 91 in the water tank is near 0°C, and the cooler 94
remains undamaged until ice forms on its surface. As a result, the supercooling phenomenon in the water tank only occurs locally in the area around the cooler 94, and the supercooling phenomenon extends to the area around the beverage cooling coil 31, which is separated from the cooler 94. First, there is no possibility of ice chips forming in the drinking water inside the cooling coil. The above operation results are shown in a time chart as shown in Figure 5, where the characteristic line A represents the water temperature.
never falls below 000. Next, an applied example that is a further development of the basic example described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 6 shows the operation control circuit, and FIG. 7 shows a time chart of the operation progress. In FIG. 6, the power supply circuit for the agitator drive motor 97 includes, in addition to the control contact S described in the previous embodiment, a contact that opens when the water temperature drops to T2, which is slightly higher than 0°C, during the cooling process of the aquarium water. A contact TS2 of the thermostat that operates and a relay contact x that closes based on a beverage supply command signal are connected and inserted in parallel with each other. By opening and closing the operation control contacts S, TS2, and × of the agitator drive motor 97, the operation result of the agitator drive motor is as shown in Fig. 7. When the water temperature reaches around 0°C where a layer begins to form, the operation of the agitator is stopped. Therefore, the beverage in the beverage cooling coil is not supercooled, and the generation of ice chips can be prevented. Moreover, during the period from the start of cooling until the water temperature drops to nearly 0℃, the period when the ice bank remains after a water layer has formed, and even when the ice has melted, the water temperature inside the cooling coil due to the beverage supply operation The agitator is operated during operating periods in which there is no risk of overcooling occurring within the beverage cooling coil, such as during the period when the beverage is flowing, and cooling can be carried out with high thermal efficiency. As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the operation of the agitator is stopped until the formation of a frozen layer is detected in the process of water starting to condense around the cooler, so that supercooling is slightly reduced. It stays only around the container, and the water around the beverage cooling coil is not supercooled to below 0°C.

As a result, ice chips are no longer generated in the beverage cooling coil, and the conventional beverage supply troubles can be solved and beverages can be supplied smoothly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a system diagram of a water-cooled thermal storage type beverage chiller, Fig. 2 is an operation control circuit diagram of a conventional chiller, Fig. 3 is a time chart of the cooling operation progress according to Fig. 2, and Figs. 4 and 6. are operation control circuit diagrams of the basic and applied embodiments of the present invention, respectively, and FIGS. 5 and 7 are diagrams of FIGS. 4 and 6, respectively.
It is a time chart of the progress of cooling operation according to the figure. 3...Beverage supply pipeline, 31,...
Beverage cooling coil, 9... Beverage cooling device, 91.
...Water, 92...Cooling water tank, 93...
... Refrigerator, 94 ... Cooler, 95 ... Agitator, 97 ... Agitator drive motor, 98 ... Ice bank, S ... Agitator operation control contact, 10 ...
...Ice sensor, 12...Electrode beam. Key figure, 2 figure, 3 figure, 4 figure, spear 5 figure, 6 times off figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cooler, a beverage cooling coil inserted in the middle of a beverage supply pipeline, and an electric agitator for stirring water in the cooling water tank are arranged in a cooling water tank filled with water, and the water in the water tank is In a water-cooled thermal storage type beverage cooling device that uses water as a heat transfer medium to cool the beverage and also generates an ice layer around the cooler to store heat, it is installed near the surface of the cooler to generate an ice layer on the surface of the cooler. A water-cooled thermal storage type beverage chiller, comprising: an ice sensor that detects when the ice sensor is activated; and an agitator drive motor operation control contact that closes the contact and starts operation of the agitator drive motor based on an ice detection signal from the ice sensor. . 2. In the beverage cooling device according to claim 1, the ice sensor has a pair of electrode rods installed close to the surface of the cooler, and the electric resistance difference between the electrode rods of water and ice is determined by the ice sensor. A water-cooled thermal storage beverage chiller that outputs an ice detection signal based on