KR102500077B1 - Mixing Apparatus and Ice Making Machine thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention is a beverage mixing device for mixing water supplied in a water storage tank and beverage tea bags to be supplied to an ice maker, which is formed outside the water storage tank and supplies ultrasonic waves to the beverage tea bags and water to extract an undiluted solution from the beverage tea bags. An ultrasonic generator that extracts and mixes with water, a filter that removes foreign substances from the mixed beverage discharged from the reservoir, a valve that adjusts the amount of the mixed beverage that has passed through the filter and supplies it to the ice maker, and a frequency of the ultrasonic generator and a control unit for adjusting the frequency output from the ultrasonic generator corresponding to the size of the water tank or the amount of water stored in the water tank.
A beverage mixing device and an ice making device including the same according to an embodiment of the present invention may produce ice having a constant concentration of active ingredients.

Description

Beverage mixing device and ice making device including the same {Mixing Apparatus and Ice Making Machine thereof}

The present invention relates to a beverage mixing device and an ice making device including the same, and more particularly, to a beverage mixing device that mixes beverages to be used when making ice by applying vibration to a tea bag using ultrasonic waves, and to an ice making device including the same.

Ice is a must-have in everyday life. Ice is a food that helps to keep food fresh for a certain period of time or to enjoy a cool drink by mixing it with a drink.

However, when drinking fruit juice, soft drinks such as cola, cider, or cold coffee, if you put ice cubes in the drink, the ice cubes cool the drink and make it cool, but as the ice melts, the drink becomes diluted. There is a problem that you can not taste the true taste of .

For this problem, when you burn iced coffee, etc., it burns thicker than the desired concentration, so that the drink is diluted as the ice melts so that it reaches the desired concentration. However, in this case, there is a problem in that you have to drink coffee with a concentration thicker than the desired concentration until the ice melts.

On the other hand, if the concentration of the beverage can be adjusted by directly manufacturing the beverage, such as iced coffee, the beverage concentration can be made thicker than the desired level, but the user cannot arbitrarily adjust the concentration, such as cola, cider, or juice. There is a problem that can not be dealt with in this way.

In order to solve this problem, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0529473 (Ice containing a liquid composition for food and drink and a method for producing the ice) has been disclosed. Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0529473 uses a method of making hollow ice and injecting a liquid composition for food and beverage into the hollow part to freeze it again. However, this method takes a long time to manufacture, and there is a difficulty in accurately injecting the composition liquid for drinking into the hollow ice.

In order to solve the above problems, conventionally, a product obtained by freezing coffee or juice in the form of large ice and cutting it into ice cubes was used. In this method, there is the inconvenience of having to clean the cutter every time after cutting the ice.

In addition, there is a method of making ice by supplying an undiluted solution such as coffee or juice to a general ice maker, but this is because the concentration of the undiluted solution changes over time as the ice manufacturing process time increases, and the concentration of the undiluted solution of the ice produced first and the undiluted solution produced later There is a problem that the concentration of ice varies.

In addition, there was a problem that the valve nozzle was clogged during ice production.

A technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a beverage mixing device for producing ice having a constant concentration of active ingredients during ice production, and an ice making device including the same.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned technical problem, and other technical problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below. There will be.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, one embodiment of the present invention is a beverage mixing device for mixing water supplied into a water storage tank and beverage tea bags to be supplied to an ice maker, which is formed outside the water storage tank and ultrasonic waves are applied to the beverage tea bags and water. An ultrasonic generator for supplying and extracting an undiluted solution from the beverage tea bag and mixing it with water; A filter unit for removing foreign substances from the mixed beverage discharged from the reservoir; a valve controlling an amount of the mixed beverage that has passed through the filter unit and supplying the mixed beverage to the ice maker; And a control unit for adjusting the frequency of the ultrasonic generator, wherein the control unit controls the frequency output from the ultrasonic generator corresponding to the size of the water tank or the amount of water stored in the water tank. It is possible to provide a beverage mixing device. .

The beverage mixing device includes at least one concentration measurement sensor installed inside the water tank to measure the concentration of the mixed beverage and provide it to the control unit; and a circulation pump supplying air so that the mixed beverage circulates inside the water storage tank.

The control unit may operate the circulation pump when the concentration of the mixed beverage input from the concentration measurement sensor is out of a set range.

In order to achieve the above technical problem, one embodiment of the present invention is an ice storage unit; a cold plate supplied with a refrigerant to form the ice in a predetermined shape; and a water storage tank for storing mixed beverage or water supplied to the cold plate. an ultrasonic generator formed on the outside of the water tank to supply ultrasonic waves to the beverage tea bag and water to extract the juice from the beverage tea bag and mix it with water; a filter unit for removing impurities from the mixed beverage discharged from the reservoir; a valve for controlling the amount of the mixed beverage that has passed through the filter unit and supplying it to the cold plate; and a beverage mixing device including a controller configured to adjust a frequency of the ultrasonic generator, wherein the controller controls a frequency output from the ultrasonic generator in accordance with the size of the reservoir or the amount of water stored in the reservoir. can provide.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the beverage mixing device may supply ultrasonic waves to beverage tea bags using an ultrasonic generator to easily extract and supply the juice to an ice maker.

An ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention has a beverage mixing device therein so that ice containing an active ingredient (coffee or tea) can be produced and stored in real time.

In addition, the ice produced by the ice maker according to the embodiment of the present invention does not change the concentration of the beverage even when the ice melts, so that the beverage with the same taste can be continuously enjoyed.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above effects, and should be understood to include all effects that can be inferred from the detailed description of the present invention or the configuration of the invention described in the claims.

1 is a view showing a beverage mixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram showing each component of the beverage mixing device shown in Figure 1;
FIG. 3 is a view showing an ice maker having the beverage mixing device shown in FIG. 1;

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and, therefore, is not limited to the embodiments described herein. And in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is said to be "connected (connected, contacted, combined)" with another part, this is not only "directly connected", but also "indirectly connected" with another member in between. "Including cases where In addition, when a part "includes" a certain component, it means that it may further include other components without excluding other components unless otherwise stated.

Terms used in this specification are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, terms such as "include" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, but one or more other features It should be understood that the presence or addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof is not precluded.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view showing a beverage mixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the components of the beverage mixing device shown in FIG.

1 and 2, the beverage mixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a water tank 20, an ultrasonic generator 30, a filter unit 50, a concentration measuring sensor 40, and a first valve 60 ), a second valve 70, a circulation pump 80, and a controller 100.

Specifically, the water tank 20 is a container for storing mixed beverages. The water tank 20 is made of metal, etc., and can easily reflect ultrasonic waves on the inner surface and can be coated with a reflective material that is harmless to the human body.

The water storage tank 20 has a space for accommodating mixed beverages therein, and may be formed in a movable form or formed in a shape installed inside an ice maker.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, the beverage mixing device according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include a cover covering the upper portion of the water tank 20. At this time, a tea bag fixing means for fixing the beverage tea bag 10 may be provided on the inside of the cover. In particular, the tea bag fixing means allows the beverage tea bag 10 to be fixed to a set position in the water tank 20 so that ultrasonic waves of a set frequency are supplied to the beverage tea bag.

The ultrasonic generator 30 supplies ultrasonic waves to extract the juice from the beverage tea bag and mix it with water. The ultrasonic generator 30 is provided on the outside of the water storage tank 20 and supplies ultrasonic waves to the inside of the water storage tank 20 . The ultrasonic generator 30 may supply waves of a frequency band higher than the normal vibration frequency to the inside of the water storage tank. At least one ultrasonic generator 30 may be provided on one side or bottom of the water storage tank 20 .

The filter unit 50 filters foreign substances included in the mixed beverage supplied from the water tank 20 to the first valve 60. The filter unit 50 preferably has a mesh structure in which only foreign substances having a size capable of blocking the valve hole of the first valve 60 are filtered and the remaining coffee powder passes through.

The filter unit 50 may be any filter having a filtering effect of foreign matter other than the mesh structure described above.

The concentration measuring sensor 40 is installed in the water tank 20 to measure the concentration of the mixed beverage. At least one concentration sensor 40 is provided. For example, the concentration measuring sensor 40 may be provided on the side from which the mixed beverage flows out. In addition, two or more concentration measuring sensors 40 may be provided at different locations. When two or more concentration measurement sensors 40 are provided, the concentrations of different places can be measured, so that the mixing state of the mixed beverage in the water tank 20 can be recognized through the control unit 100 later.

The concentration measuring sensor 40 measures the concentration for each set time and provides the measured concentration to the control unit 100 .

The circulation pump 80 is operated to internally circulate the mixed beverage in the water tank 20 to make the concentration constant. It is preferable that the circulation pump 80 is provided with a pump that supplies high-pressure air to the inside of the water storage tank 20 .

The above-described ultrasonic generator 30 supplies ultrasonic vibration to the beverage tea bag 10 so that the particles in the beverage tea bag 10 are dissolved and mixed in water to create a mixed beverage. However, when ultrasonic waves are continuously supplied from the ultrasonic generator 30 for a predetermined time or more, a phenomenon in which the mixed beverage is separated into particles and water may occur again. In order to prevent this problem, after the beverage is extracted from the beverage tea bag 10, the circulation pump 80 is operated when remixing after a certain period of time to prevent separation of particles and water.

As described above, the circulation pump 80 assists the ultrasonic generator 30 to maintain a constant concentration of the mixed beverage in the water storage tank 20 .

At least one circulation pump 80 is used, and when two or more are used, it is preferable to install them in the same direction on the same line and in different directions at different locations so that the circulation direction is constant.

That is, the circulation pump 80 injects high-pressure air in the direction of the arrow so that the mixed beverage rotates in one direction inside the water tank 20 to keep the internal concentration constant.

The first valve 60 may control the amount of mixed beverage supplied to the ice maker 200 . The first valve 60 may be opened and closed under the control of the control unit 100 . For example, when the ice maker operates, the first valve 60 is opened to supply the mixed beverage to the ice maker. On the other hand, when the ice maker stops operating, the first valve 60 is closed to block the supply of the mixed beverage. In addition, when the concentration of the mixed beverage in the reservoir 20 exceeds the set concentration, the first valve 60 is closed to block the supply of the mixed beverage to the ice maker 200 .

The first valve 60 is installed to enable exchange or replacement. For example, when the mixed beverage is coffee or green tea, coffee and green tea have different particle sizes. Therefore, nozzle clogging of the first valve 60 may occur. In order to prevent such a case, the first valve 60 is selectively used according to the particle size of coffee or green tea.

In addition, since cleaning of the first valve 60 is required, it is installed to be replaceable so that another valve can be used during cleaning.

Meanwhile, the first valve 60 may selectively supply water supplied from the outside to the ice maker 200 by using a 3-way valve. That is, when general ice production is required instead of ice production using mixed drinks, water supplied from the outside can be supplied to the ice maker 200 .

The water level measuring sensor 90 measures the water level in the water storage tank 20 . The water level measuring sensor 90 continuously transmits the detected water level to the control unit 100 . In addition, the water level measuring sensor 90 may transmit one of two signals of exceeding the water level or less than the water level to the control unit 100 when the water level is out of the set water level.

The second valve 70 may control the amount of water flowing into the water storage tank 20 . The second valve 70 is controlled to supply or shut off water when the water level is out of the level set by the water level measuring sensor 90 . For example, when the water level sensor 90 detects that the water level exceeds or is an appropriate water level, the second valve 70 is closed to block the supply of water to the water storage tank 20 . When the water level sensor 90 detects that the water level is lower than the water level, the second valve 70 is opened to supply water to the water storage tank 20 .

The control unit 100 is connected to the ultrasonic generator 30, the first valve 60, the second valve 70, the concentration measurement sensor 40, the circulation pump 80, and the water level measurement sensor 90 to measure the concentration. The ultrasonic generator 30 , the circulation pump 80 , the first valve 60 and the second valve 70 may be controlled by receiving signals from the sensor 40 and the water level measuring sensor 90 .

For example, the control unit 100 controls the ultrasonic generator 30 to generate ultrasonic waves at a set frequency when the beverage tea bag 10 is seated at a set position in the water tank 20. At this time, water level related information is received from the water level measuring sensor 90 and the second valve 70 is controlled so that water of a certain level is contained in the water storage tank 20 . When concentration information within a set range is input from the concentration measurement sensor 40 , the controller 100 opens the first valve 60 to supply the mixed beverage to the ice maker 200 .

At this time, the control unit 100 stops the ultrasonic generator 30 so that the particles and water of the mixed beverage are not separated.

Meanwhile, the control unit 100 controls the first valve ( 60) is closed and the circulation pump 80 is operated. The control unit 100 operates the circulation pump 80 for a certain period of time and then stops the circulation pump 80 and opens the first valve 60 when a signal within a set concentration range is input to the concentration measurement sensor 40. . At this time, after operating the circulation pump 80 of the control unit 100 for a set time, when concentration information below the set range is input from the concentration measuring sensor 40, the circulation pump 80 is stopped and the beverage tea bag 10 is replaced. An alarm may occur.

As described above, the beverage mixing device according to the embodiment of the present invention can easily extract the juice and supply it to the ice maker by supplying ultrasonic waves to the beverage tea bag using the ultrasonic generator.

Through this, it is possible to effectively manufacture ice containing active ingredients (coffee, green tea, etc.).

3 is a diagram illustrating an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3 , an ice maker according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a beverage mixing device 150 and a cold plate 210 .

The ice maker 200 has components of a typical ice maker. However, the configuration of the water storage unit or water storage unit of the ice maker is replaced with the beverage mixing device 150 of the present invention.

Since a detailed description of the beverage mixing device 150 overlaps with those of FIGS. 1 and 2, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the beverage mixing device 150 is located inside the ice making device 200 .

The mixed beverage supplied from the beverage mixing device 150 is supplied to the first valve 60 provided in the ice maker 200 .

At this time, the first valve 60 is located above the cold plate 210 and drops the mixed beverage onto the cold plate 210 drop by drop according to a set time.

The cooling plate 210 provided in the ice making device 200 lowers the temperature at which ice is produced as the refrigerant passes therethrough. The cold plate 210 is formed in a shape for generating square ice or cylindrical ice, and may be formed in various ways according to the shape of ice to be manufactured.

Ice produced by the cold plate 210 is accommodated in the ice storage unit 220 provided in the ice maker 200 .

As described above, the ice maker according to the embodiment of the present invention has a beverage mixing device therein so that ice containing an active ingredient (coffee or tea) can be produced and stored in real time.

In addition, the ice produced by the ice maker according to the embodiment of the present invention does not change the concentration of the beverage even when the ice melts, so that the beverage with the same taste can be continuously enjoyed.

The above description of the present invention is for illustrative purposes, and those skilled in the art can understand that it can be easily modified into other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features of the present invention. will be. Therefore, the embodiments described above should be understood as illustrative in all respects and not limiting. For example, each component described as a single type may be implemented in a distributed manner, and similarly, components described as distributed may be implemented in a combined form.

The scope of the present invention is indicated by the following claims, and all changes or modifications derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and equivalent concepts should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

10: beverage tea bag
20: water tank
30: ultrasonic generator
40: concentration measurement sensor
50: filter unit
60: first valve
70: second valve
80: circulation pump
90: water level measurement sensor
100: control unit
150: beverage mixing device
200: ice maker

Claims (4)

A beverage mixing device for mixing water supplied into a water storage tank and beverage tea bags to be supplied to an ice maker,
an ultrasonic generator formed on the outside of the water tank to supply ultrasonic waves to the beverage tea bag and water to extract the juice from the beverage tea bag and mix it with water;
a filter unit for removing foreign substances from the mixed beverage discharged from the water tank;
a valve controlling an amount of the mixed beverage that has passed through the filter unit and supplying the mixed beverage to the ice maker;
a controller for adjusting the frequency of the ultrasonic generator;
a water level sensor for measuring the water level in the reservoir;
at least one concentration measuring sensor installed inside the water tank to measure the concentration of the mixed beverage and provide the measured concentration to the control unit; and
Including a circulation pump for supplying air so that the mixed beverage circulates inside the water tank,
The control unit,
Controlling a frequency output from the ultrasonic generator according to the size of the reservoir and the amount of water stored in the reservoir using the water level information received from the water level measurement sensor;
When the concentration of the mixed beverage input from the concentration measurement sensor is out of the set range due to the separation of the water and the particles of the original solution by supplying ultrasonic waves to the mixed beverage in which the undiluted solution and water extracted from the beverage tea bag are mixed for a set time or longer, the turn on the circulation pump,
Beverage mixing device for stopping the circulation pump and generating an alarm for replacing the beverage tea bag when the concentration information below the set range is input from the concentration measuring sensor after operating the circulation pump for a set time.
delete delete ice storage unit;
a cold plate supplied with a refrigerant to form the ice in a predetermined shape; and
A beverage mixing device according to claim 1;
Including, an ice maker.

Images