TW201943338A - Beverage cooling device characterized by utilizing a two-stage cooling mechanism to avoid energy loss and other problems caused by extremely rapid cooling of high-temperature beverages - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a beverage cooling device including: a main body, a normal temperature cooling tank, a low temperature cooling tank, a cooling pipeline, a coolant supplying tank, and a pre-cooling tank. The normal temperature cooling tank and the low temperature cooling tank are disposed at the main body. The cooling pipeline includes a front section and a rear section. The front section is disposed in the normal temperature cooling tank. The front section has a receiving end for receiving the beverage. The rear section is disposed in the low temperature cooling tank and communicates with the front section. The rear section has an output end for discharging the beverage. The coolant supplying tank is connected to the normal temperature cooling tank and supplies the coolant. The pre-cooling tank is used to cool the coolant and is connected to the low temperature cooling tank to supply the coolant. Thereby, the present invention utilizes a two-stage cooling mechanism to avoid energy loss and other problems caused by extremely rapid cooling of high-temperature beverages.

Description

Drink cooling device

The invention relates to a beverage cooling device, in particular to a beverage cooling device with a two-stage cooling function.

Beverage cooling devices are common commercial cooling equipment and are widely used in cafes and hand-cranked beverage stores. As the beverage is more likely to breed bacteria at high temperature (18 ° C to 70 ° C), in order to quickly pass through this high temperature section and meet the different requirements of customers for the temperature of the beverage, the store must reduce the high temperature beverage to an appropriate temperature in a short time. The common traditional method is to use ice cubes to cool down, but ice cubes are still susceptible to bacterial contamination during the manufacturing process, so there are health problems.

For this reason, the conventional beverage cooling device introduces the boiled beverage into a metal pipe with high thermal conductivity, and directly immerses the metal pipe in ice water or other cooling liquid with a lower temperature, so as to minimize Lower the temperature of the drink. However, although the above method has the advantage of rapid temperature reduction, there are still some unavoidable disadvantages. First of all, the aforementioned cooling method is similar to completing a large amount of heat exchange in a short time, which has a great load on the refrigeration compressor, and will reduce the efficiency of the compressor and generate unnecessary extra energy loss.

Secondly, the rapid temperature change brings the effect of thermal expansion and contraction, which may cause stress failure at the welding place of the metal pipe and other components (such as the water inlet and outlet pipes for beverages). The above phenomenon causes cracks in the metal pipe, causing the problem of interactive pollution of the beverage and the cooling liquid.

Furthermore, the conventional beverage cooling device has only a single cooling tank. If water is used as the cooling liquid, it is often difficult to achieve an ideal cooling effect. In order to improve the cooling efficiency, some operators have adopted more extreme methods (such as liquid nitrogen coolers) to enhance the heat exchange effect. However, this practice often causes drinks to freeze directly in the metal tube and cannot flow out, but it cannot achieve the purpose of providing drinks quickly.

Therefore, in order to solve the defects in the energy consumption and cooling efficiency of the conventional beverage cooling device, the present invention proposes a beverage cooling device, which can achieve a two-stage cooling function through a separately arranged cooling tank, which can not only save energy, but also improve cooling Efficiency and stability.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a beverage cooling device is provided, which includes a body, a normal temperature cooling tank, a low temperature cooling tank, a cooling pipeline, a cooling liquid supply tank, and a pre-cooling tank.

The normal temperature cooling tank and the low temperature cooling tank are arranged on the body. The cooling pipe includes a front section and a rear section. The front section is set in a normal-temperature cooling tank, and the front section has a receiving end for receiving drinks. The rear section is arranged in the low-temperature cooling tank and communicates with the front section, and the rear section has an output end for outputting drinks. The cooling liquid supply tank is connected to a normal-temperature cooling tank and supplies a cooling liquid. The pre-cooling tank is used to cool the aforementioned cooling liquid, and is connected to a low-temperature cooling tank to supply the cooling liquid.

Through the above embodiments, the beverage cooling device uses a normal-temperature cooling tank and a low-temperature cooling tank to perform two-stage cooling on the cooling pipeline. When the high-temperature beverage enters the front section of the cooling pipeline, it is initially cooled by the cooling liquid in the normal-temperature cooling tank, which can avoid excessive heat exchange when the beverage enters the rear section. In addition, as the temperature of the beverage has been reduced to a certain degree, the low-temperature cooling tank does not need to be maintained at an extremely low temperature state, while reducing the additional energy loss of the compressor, it can protect related components from being affected by drastic temperature changes.

In one embodiment, the beverage cooling device may include a connecting pipe, two ends of the connecting pipe are connected to a low-temperature cooling tank and a pre-cooling tank, and the connecting pipe is passed through the cooling liquid supply tank. Alternatively, the two ends of the connecting pipe can be connected to a normal-temperature cooling tank and a cooling liquid supply tank instead, and run through the pre-cooling tank.

Under the above setting conditions, the connecting pipe can additionally provide a heat exchange path between the normal temperature cooling tank and the low temperature cooling tank. When beverages of different temperatures are introduced into the beverage cooling device, the connecting pipe can provide the temperature adjustment function of the two cooling tanks.

In one embodiment, the cooling pipe may be made of stainless steel.

In one embodiment, the aforementioned pre-cooling tank may further include a refrigeration unit for immersion in a cooling liquid. The material of the cooling unit may be copper, but is not limited thereto. Further, the beverage cooling device may include a compressor, and the compressor has a condensing end, and the condensing end is connected to the refrigeration unit. The beverage cooling device may include a heat dissipation unit, which is connected to the compressor, so as to absorb the heat energy of the compressor and dissipate it outward.

In one embodiment, the cooling liquid may be water.

In order to fully understand the purpose, characteristics and effects of the present invention, the following specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings are used to make a detailed description of the present invention, which will be described later.

Please refer to FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B, and FIG. 1C together. The beverage cooling device 100 includes a main body 200, a normal-temperature cooling tank 300, a low-temperature cooling tank 400, a cooling line 500, a cooling liquid supply tank 600, and a pre-cooling tank 700. The front side of the body 200 has an injection port 210 and an output port 220. The injection inlet 210, the cooling pipeline 500, and the output port 220 are sequentially connected from top to bottom, so that the beverage automatically flows to the output port 220. The normal-temperature cooling tank 300 and the low-temperature cooling tank 400 are provided in the main body 200. The cooling pipeline 500 includes a front section 510 and a rear section 520, and the front section 510 and the rear section 520 are respectively disposed in a normal temperature cooling tank 300 and a low temperature cooling tank 400. The front section 510 includes a receiving end 511. The receiving end 511 is connected to the injection port 210 to receive a beverage. The rear section 520 includes an output terminal 521, which is connected to the output port 220 to output beverages. In addition, the cooling pipe 500 has a coupling section 530 to connect the front section 510 and the rear section 520. In this embodiment, the injection port 210, the cooling pipe 500, and the output port 220 are paired left and right, and the two sets of pipes are independent of each other. According to the needs of use, the above pipelines can also be more than three groups. The cooling pipe 500 may be made of stainless steel.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a normal temperature circulation pipeline of the beverage cooling device 100. As shown in FIG. 2, the cooling liquid supply tank 600 is located on the rear side of the beverage cooling device 100. The cooling liquid supply tank 600 is connected to the first motor M1 via a pipeline, and the first motor M1 is connected to the normal-temperature cooling tank 300 via a pipeline. The cooling liquid L is supplied to the normal-temperature cooling tank 300. In the normal temperature cooling tank 300, the cooling liquid L and the front section 510 of the cooling pipe 500 exchange heat, and return to the cooling liquid supply tank 600 from the other side of the normal temperature cooling tank 300. In one embodiment, the cooling liquid L may be water.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a low-temperature circulation pipeline of the beverage cooling device 100. The pre-cooling tank 700 is located on the front side of the beverage cooling device 100 and is used to reduce the temperature of the cooling liquid L. The pre-cooling tank 700 is connected to the second motor M2 through a pipeline, and the second motor M2 is connected to the low-temperature cooling tank 400 through a pipeline, thereby supplying the cooled liquid L to the low-temperature cooling tank 400. In the low-temperature cooling tank 400, the cooling liquid L and the rear section 520 of the cooling pipe 500 are heat-exchanged, and return to the pre-cooling tank 700 from the other side of the low-temperature cooling tank 400.

As shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C, the beverage cooling device 100 achieves the purpose of cooling by using the compressor 800 and the heat dissipation unit 900. In detail, the pre-cooling tank 700 includes a cooling unit 710, the cooling unit 710 is immersed in the cooling liquid L, and the compressor 800 has a condensing end connected to the cooling unit 710, thereby maintaining the cooling unit 710 at Low temperature state. The heat dissipation unit 900 is connected to the compressor 800 to absorb thermal energy and dissipate the thermal energy to the outside. The material of the cooling unit 710 and the heat dissipation unit 900 may be copper, but is not limited thereto.

It should be particularly noted that there are many methods for reducing the temperature of the cooling liquid L, and the compressor 800 and the heat dissipation unit 900 described above are just one example. Therefore, the above examples are only needed to explain the operation principle of the beverage cooling device 100, but should not be considered as a necessary limitation of this embodiment. In addition, the refrigeration and heating of the compressor 800 are well-known techniques, so the technical principles of the compressor 800 and its condensation end are not described in detail here.

In addition, in order to adapt to drinks at different temperatures, the beverage cooling device 100 may use pipes to run through a cooling liquid supply tank 600 or a pre-cooling tank 700 to achieve the effect of automatically balancing the temperature. Taking FIG. 4A as an example, the connection pipe 410 is connected to the low-temperature cooling tank 400, and the flow path of the connection pipe 410 flows through the cooling liquid supply tank 600 first, and then flows back to the pre-cooling tank 700. In the cooling liquid supply tank 600, the cooling liquid L inside and outside the connection pipe 410 can be heat-exchanged, thereby reducing the temperature difference between the normal-temperature cooling tank 300 and the low-temperature cooling tank 400.

In the same way, the beverage cooling device 100 can also adopt the wearing form of FIG. 4B, that is, the connection pipe 310 is connected to the normal temperature cooling tank 300, and the connection pipe 310 flows through the pre-cooling tank 700 first, and then returns to the cooling liquid supply tank. 600. Through any of the installation methods of FIGS. 4A and 4B described above, the normal temperature cooling tank 300 and the cooling liquid L in the low temperature cooling tank 400 can perform appropriate heat exchange, so that the beverage cooling device 100 can stably perform the two-stage cooling function.

It can be known from the above embodiments that the beverage cooling device of the present invention reduces the temperature of the beverage through two sets of coolant systems with different temperatures, and avoids direct contact of the high-temperature beverage with the extremely low-temperature coolant through the secondary cooling mechanism.

Therefore, the present invention can effectively reduce the temperature of the beverage, and also prevent the heat exchange between the beverage and the cooling liquid from being too intense, which can not only reduce the additional energy loss of the compressor, but also avoid the problem of stress damage caused by thermal shock. In addition, the present invention adopts a progressive cooling method to extend the cooling action time. Therefore, the beverage cooling device does not need to use extremely low-temperature cooling liquid, and can also achieve an ideal cooling effect, and take into account the hygiene and the flavor of the beverage. According to this, the present invention can effectively solve the problem of freezing of beverages in the conventional beverage cooling device.

The present invention has been disclosed in the foregoing with preferred embodiments, but those skilled in the art should understand that the foregoing embodiments are only used to describe the present invention, and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention. It should be noted that changes and substitutions equivalent to the foregoing embodiments should be included in the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be defined by the scope of the patent application.

100‧‧‧ beverage cooling device

200‧‧‧ Ontology

210‧‧‧ injection port

220‧‧‧output

300‧‧‧ Normal temperature cooling tank

310‧‧‧ connecting pipe

400‧‧‧ Low-temperature cooling tank

410‧‧‧ connecting pipe

500‧‧‧cooling pipeline

510‧‧‧front

511‧‧‧Receiver

520‧‧‧back

521‧‧‧output

530‧‧‧Coupling section

600‧‧‧ coolant supply tank

700‧‧‧ pre-cooling tank

710‧‧‧Refrigeration unit

800‧‧‧compressor

900‧‧‧ cooling unit

L‧‧‧ Coolant

M1‧‧‧First motor

M2‧‧‧Second motor

FIG. 1A is a schematic front view of a beverage cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a schematic rear view of the beverage cooling device of FIG. 1A.

Figure 1C is an exploded view of the beverage cooling device of Figure 1A.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the normal temperature circulation pipeline of the beverage cooling device.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the low temperature circulation pipeline of the beverage cooling device.

FIG. 4A is a schematic view of a connection pipe flow path of a beverage cooling device.

FIG. 4B is a schematic view of another connection pipe flow path of the beverage cooling device.

Claims (9)

A beverage cooling device includes: a body; a normal-temperature cooling tank disposed on the body; a low-temperature cooling tank disposed on the body; a cooling pipeline comprising: a front section provided on the normal-temperature cooling tank Inside, the front section has a receiving end for receiving drinks; and a rear section is provided in the low-temperature cooling tank and communicates with the front section, and the rear section has an output end for outputting drinks; a cooling liquid supply tank connected to the normal temperature cooling tank and Supplying a cooling liquid; and a pre-cooling tank for cooling the cooling liquid, the pre-cooling tank is connected to the low-temperature cooling tank to supply the cooling liquid. The beverage cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising: a connecting pipe, the two ends of which are connected to the low-temperature cooling tank and the pre-cooling tank, and the connecting pipe is passed through the cooling liquid supply tank. The beverage cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising: a connecting pipe, the two ends of which are connected to the normal-temperature cooling tank and the cooling liquid supply tank, and the connecting pipe is passed through the pre-cooling tank. The beverage cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling pipe is made of stainless steel. The beverage cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the pre-cooling tank further comprises a uniform cooling unit for immersion in the cooling liquid. The beverage cooling device according to claim 5, wherein the cooling unit is made of copper. The beverage cooling device according to claim 5, further comprising: a compressor having a condensing end connected to the refrigeration unit. The beverage cooling device according to claim 7, further comprising: a heat dissipation unit connected to the compressor, and the heat dissipation unit absorbs the heat energy of the compressor and dissipates outward. The beverage cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the cooling liquid is water.