JPS6212408Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an apparatus for supplying raw materials such as water, syrup, and carbon dioxide gas into a cooling chamber and producing a liquid or semi-frozen carbonated beverage in the cooling chamber. The present invention relates to a carbonated beverage manufacturing apparatus in which a mixer for mixing the raw materials is provided in a supply path of the carbonated beverage.

Generally, in order to produce a good product using this type of carbonated beverage manufacturing equipment, it is necessary to keep the mixing ratio of carbon dioxide gas supplied to the mixer constant and the first mixed liquid of water and syrup, and to In this case, it is necessary to make a second mixed liquid by absorbing a predetermined volume of carbon dioxide gas into the first mixed liquid, and to supply the second mixed liquid to the cooling chamber. However, in conventional carbonated beverage manufacturing equipment, especially when the liquid level in the mixer is low, even if the first mixed liquid containing a predetermined amount of carbon dioxide is prepared in the mixer, there is no waste in the mixer. The foam may re-foam when subjected to fluid shock, reducing its content, or the bubbles may be sucked into the water pipe.
There was a drawback that the desired second mixed liquid could not be supplied to the cooling chamber.

That is, for example, a mixer 1 in the conventional carbonated beverage manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. It has a configuration in which a delivery pipe 5 for taking out the second mixed liquid accumulated at the bottom of the mixer to the outside is provided in a penetrating state, and a predetermined number of through holes 2a are formed in the partition plate 2, The lower part of the mixer 1 passes through the partition plate 2 and hangs down to the bottom of the mixer 1.

However, in such a conventional configuration, pressurized water sent from the water pipe 3 and carbon dioxide gas supply pipe 4 and carbon dioxide gas are mixed in the room above the partition plate 2, and the pressurized water is saturated with carbon dioxide gas. It becomes liquid through the through hole 2a of the partition plate 2 and is stored at the bottom of the mixer 1, but since the partition plate 2 is fixed, the liquid level of the second mixed liquid between the partition plate and the bottom is A space was created between the two, and the once saturated saturated aqueous liquid sometimes foamed again as shown by reference numeral 1c due to the impact of the dropping. Also, this foam is the water pipe 5.
The mixture ratio of the raw materials changes and the quality deteriorates, and the above-mentioned effect fluctuates from strength to weakness depending on the rise and fall of the liquid level in the mixer 1, making it impossible to obtain stable quality. Ta.

In addition, in the conventional example shown in FIG. 2, a partition plate 20 is fixedly installed above the lower opening end of the delivery pipe 5 to prevent air bubbles from being sucked in, but the liquid level drops to near the plate surface. In such cases, suction cannot be completely prevented. In other words, when the liquid level is close to the plate surface, it is at the beginning of the initial injection, and the second mixed liquid in the mixer is completely supplied to the cooling chamber and the container is empty, which is the normal state. Since this is the beginning of the injection/mixing process, it is possible that the partition plate is scratched or exposed above the liquid level, and this adverse condition occurs every time at the beginning of the injection/mixing operation. In the case of this conventional example, the only way to prevent this is to always leave a certain amount of residual liquid in the container.
This is extremely wasteful in terms of efficiency.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an extremely effective means for quickly eliminating the above-mentioned drawbacks, and to achieve this purpose, the inner diameter of the mixer is A float of a slightly small diameter is provided so as to be able to move up and down, and a clearance is formed between the float and the inner wall of the mixer to suppress the flow of air bubbles while allowing the flow of liquid. With this configuration, regardless of the increase or decrease of the liquid level in the mixer, the area below the float is always filled with the saturated second mixed liquid, and products with a stable mixing ratio can always be delivered to the cooling room. It is effective.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a mixer for a carbonated beverage dispensing device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 4 (the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 and 2 showing the conventional example indicate the same or corresponding members),
The mixer designated by the reference numeral 1 has a substantially cylindrical shape as a whole, and is sealed as a whole by a top plate 1a and a bottom plate 1b.

FIG. 4 shows a typical embodiment of the present invention, in which a water pipe 3 for injecting the first liquid mixture is inserted and fixed approximately at the center of the upper plate 1a. The insertion position of the carbon dioxide gas supply pipe 4 for injecting carbon dioxide gas is arbitrary, but normally the water supply pipe 3 is similarly inserted and fixed downward into the upper plate 1a above the liquid level. Further, a delivery pipe 5 for taking out the second mixed liquid outside the vessel is fixedly installed on the bottom plate 1b. Inside the vessel, a float F, which constitutes the gist of the present invention, is floatingly movable up and down, covering almost the entire liquid surface within the vessel. As mentioned above, its outer diameter is slightly smaller than the inner diameter of mixer 1, and a sufficient clearance is maintained between it and the inner wall surface of mixer 1 to allow liquid to flow down and suppress bubbles to flow down. . This clearance is actually designed to be approximately 1 mm when the first mixed liquid is only water, and is designed to be as large as approximately 3 to 7 mm when the first mixed liquid contains syrup or the like. The height of the float is approximately 50mm compared to the diameter of 80mm. Furthermore, although the structure of this float is shown as being hollow in the embodiment, it is not necessarily limited to a hollow body.
As long as it has sufficient buoyancy, it may be made of a light plastic material or the like. The actual size of this float is, for example, when the first mixed liquid contains syrup and has a high viscosity.
Diameter 80mm height compared to 200mm height
A 50mm one is used. This is because the high viscosity of the syrup generates a large amount of strong bubbles, filling the container to the brim, making it appropriate for the clearance to be this large.

In FIG. 3, the delivery pipe 5 is connected to a cooling chamber 6 having a pouring pot 7, and the carbon dioxide supply pipe 4 is connected to a primary side carbon dioxide pressure regulator via a first check valve 8 and a pressure regulator 9. 10 is connected to a carbon dioxide gas cylinder 11.

The carbon dioxide gas supply pipe 4 connected to the cylinder 11 is branched from the branch pipe 12 and connected to the upper plate 1 of the syrup tank 13.
3a, which supplies and pressurizes the syrup tank 13 with carbon dioxide gas. Near the bottom 13b of the syrup tank 13, the water pipe 3 passes through a second check valve 14 and a first solenoid valve 15. It is arranged. Further, the water pipe 3 is connected to a water tank 19 via a third check valve 16, a flow rate regulator 17 and a pump motor 18 by a branch pipe 3a, and this water tank 19 is connected to a water tank 19 connected to a water pipe 20. Water is supplied through a water supply port 22 having two electromagnetic valves 21.

In the above configuration, when the carbonated beverage supply device according to the present invention is operated and a carbonated beverage is prepared in the mixer, the carbonated beverage is supplied from the carbon dioxide gas cylinder 11 adjusted by the primary carbon dioxide gas pressure regulator 10. The carbon dioxide gas in the branch part 12
The carbon dioxide gas is branched at 1 and is supplied to a syrup tank 13 and a mixer 1 via a carbon dioxide gas supply pipe 4. The syrup in the syrup tank 13 is pressurized with carbon dioxide gas pressure, and is sent to the mixer 1 via the water pipe 3 via the first electromagnetic valve 15 and the second check valve 14.

The water supplied into the water tank 19 via the second solenoid valve 21 and the water supply port 22 is transferred to the pump motor 18 of the water pipe 3, the third check valve 17 and the flow rate regulator 1.
6 and into the mixer 1. In this case, the syrup and water are separated from the branch 3a on the front side of the mixer 1.
At the same time, the carbon dioxide gas from the carbon dioxide gas supply pipe 4 is injected from the water pipe 3 of the mixer 1 onto the float F in the mixer 1 as a first mixed liquid. Because it is filled with
The first mixed liquid from the water pipe 3 absorbs carbon dioxide gas. In this case, since the first mixed liquid injected from the water pipe 3 has a higher pressure than the pressure inside the mixer 1, the first mixed liquid collides with the upper surface of the float F and scatters.
While scattering in the carbon dioxide atmosphere in the form of fine droplets, carbon dioxide gas is absorbed from the surface of the droplets, and the second liquid mixture becomes sufficiently saturated and drips down. At this time, if the first mixed liquid is only water, the viscosity is low, so secondary bubbles are less likely to occur, and the second mixed liquid becomes simple carbonated water and drips out relatively smoothly. It flows down to the liquid level, but if the first mixed liquid contains syrup etc., the viscosity will be high.
As a side effect, the second liquid mixture becomes foamy, and a large amount of bubbles generated above the float F are destroyed while flowing down the narrow clearance D between the float F and the inner wall of the mixer 1, and the bubbles are destroyed. Only the separated saturated liquid flows down to the bottom plate 1b side of the mixer 1 and is stored as a second mixed liquid.

In this case, the density of the float F is selected so that it exerts an appropriate buoyancy force that is lighter than the liquid and heavier than the bubbles, so it floats on the liquid surface while being pushed down by gravity in the direction of arrow A. , float F
Even if the upper part is in the gas phase with bubbles, the lower part of the float F is in the liquid phase of the second mixed liquid, and the bubbles are not sucked into the delivery pipe 5. In addition, even if the second mixed liquid is sent from the delivery pipe 5 to the cooling chamber 6 and cooled, and the liquid level of the second mixed liquid in the mixer decreases, the float F always maintains the interface between the liquid phase and the gas phase. Therefore, the lower part of the float F is always filled with the liquid phase of the second mixed liquid, and what is always sent out from the delivery pipe 5 is a second liquid phase consisting of a predetermined volume of water containing carbon dioxide and syrup, etc. Since it is a mixed liquid, excess carbon dioxide gas does not flow out from the delivery pipe 5.

Furthermore, due to the presence of the float F, the first mixed liquid collides with the upper surface of the float F and is effectively scattered, resulting in a dramatic increase in the amount of carbon dioxide saturation. Even when the amount of saturation in the mixer was insufficient, the amount of saturation was sufficient due to the float F, and there was no need to adjust factors such as gas pressure. In other words, even an extremely small mixer has a large capacity.

Another preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 5, in which the water pipe 3 is inserted and fixed into the mixer 1 from a position off the center of the upper plate 1a, and is inverted inside the mixer so that the upper plate Although it is set to point toward the center of the inner wall of 1a, the other configuration is exactly the same as that shown in FIG. 4.

In this configuration, the first liquid mixture injected from the water pipe 3 is first injected and scattered around the center of the inner wall of the upper plate 1a before directly colliding with the upper surface of the float F, and is scattered inside the vessel. It is something.

A feature of this configuration is that the injection distance of the first mixed liquid is always kept constant regardless of fluctuations in the liquid level. In the case of Fig. 4, the float is at the lowest position at the beginning of the injection because the inside of the vessel is empty, and then as the second mixed liquid is prepared by continuing injection, the float is at the lowest position. rises with That is, as the float rises, the injection distance decreases, and the impact received by the injection liquid weakens accordingly, and it is inevitable that some difference will occur in the saturation effect. On the other hand, in the case of this embodiment, there is no variation in the injection distance and the saturation effect is always constant.

Further, another preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 6, in which the water pipe 3 is inserted and fixed downward from the center of the upper plate 1a as in the case of FIG.
The length of the protrusion inside the mixer is longer than that in FIG. 4, and an appropriate distance is maintained between it and the inner wall of the upper plate 1a, almost the same as in FIG. 5. The difference from FIG. 5 is that instead of inverting the tip, a reversing cap 30 is provided at the tip, whereby the liquid is similarly injected centered on the inner wall of the upper plate 1a.

FIGS. 8 and 9 show the structure of the inversion cap 30, which is hollowed out in the form of a female thread that screws into a male thread machined at the tip of the water pipe 3.
A stepped portion 31 is machined at the lower end of the female screw portion, so that a space portion 32 necessary for inverting the first liquid mixture is held below this step during screwing. Furthermore, this space portion 32 has an upwardly inclined ejection slot 3 which is machined in multiple radial directions on the female threaded portion.
3, and the joint part is cut so that it connects in a curved shape.

The operation of this structure is substantially the same as that of FIG. 5, but the distal end is a removable cap structure that allows for adjustment and cleaning. Of course, for this purpose, the center part of the upper plate 1a must also have a removable structure, and this can be done by screwing, fitting, or
It is constructed by known means such as.

Still another preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 7, in which the water pipe 3 is inserted and fixed upward from the center of the bottom plate 1b and also serves as the stem of the float F. The water pipe 3 passes through the through hole Fb formed at the center of the float F, so that the float F
can move up and down, and its upward movement position is regulated by a stopper Fc formed at the upper end of the water pipe 3. The stopper Fc does not have to be welded, but may be one in which a stop ring or the like is fitted into a machined groove.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the case where carbon dioxide gas is mainly mixed with the first mixed liquid such as water and syrup is described, but it is of course also possible to prepare carbonated water when the first mixed liquid is only water. In that case, the cooling chamber 6 shown in FIG. 3 is not necessarily required, and the syrup tank 13 is not required at all.

Further, although the mixer 1 has been described assuming a circular cross section, it may be square or other polygonal, and in that case, the shape of the float F may be made to match the shape.

Because the mixer of the carbonated beverage supply device of the present invention has the structure and function described above, the float can separate the upper and lower parts into a gas phase and a liquid phase, and instead of sending carbon dioxide bubbles in the direction of the spout, a second mixed liquid consisting of water, etc. that has absorbed a certain amount of carbon dioxide can be sent in the direction of the spout, making it possible to always produce a product with a stable mixing ratio.

In addition, the float can dramatically increase the amount of carbon dioxide gas saturation and exhibit high performance in an extremely small mixer, making it possible to greatly contribute to miniaturization of mixers.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are cross-sectional views showing a conventional mixer, FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram of a carbonated beverage supply device according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a mixer according to the present invention, and FIGS. 7 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the mixer of the present invention, FIG. 8 is a related perspective view of the reversing cap in the embodiment of FIG. 6, and FIG. 9 is a sectional view of the reversing cap. 1 is a mixer, 1a is a top plate, 1b is a bottom plate, F is a float, Fb is a through hole, Fc is a stopper, 3 is a water pipe, 3a is a branch part, 4 is a carbon dioxide gas supply pipe, 5 is a delivery pipe, 6 1 is a cooling chamber, 7 is a pouring pot, 8 is a first check valve, 9 is a pressure regulator, 10 is a pressure regulator for primary carbon dioxide gas, 11 is a carbon dioxide gas cylinder, 12 is a branch part, 13 is a syrup tank, 14 is the second check valve,
15 is a first electromagnetic valve, 16 is a third check valve, 17 is a flow rate regulator, 18 is a pump motor, 19 is a water tank, 30 is a reversing cap, 31 is a step, 32 is a space, and 33 is a spout slot. , D is the clearance.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) In a carbonated beverage mixer that prepares a carbonated beverage by injecting a beverage such as water and carbon dioxide gas from their respective pipes at the same time, the inside diameter of the mixer is A float with a slightly small diameter is provided, and a clearance is formed between the float and the inner wall surface of the mixer to allow the liquid to flow down from above the liquid level to below the liquid level and to suppress the flow of air bubbles. carbonated drink mixer. (2) The carbonated beverage mixer according to claim 1, wherein the tube for injecting the beverage is inserted downward from the top of the mixer, and the injected beverage collides with the upper surface of the float. (3) After the tube for injecting the beverage is inserted downward from the top of the mixer, it is directed upward again within the container, and the ejected beverage is injected upward and collides with the top wall of the mixer. A carbonated beverage mixer according to claim 2 of the utility model registration claim. (4) A pipe for injecting the beverage is inserted upward from the center of the bottom of the mixer, passes through the center of the float and serves as a stem for vertical movement, and the injected beverage is inserted at the top of the mixer. The carbonated beverage mixer according to claim 1 of the utility model registration that collides with a wall.