JPH0565169B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fully automatic coffee brewing device, and more particularly to a fully automatic coffee brewing device configured to uniformly grind coffee beans.

BACKGROUND ART In order to extract coffee with good flavor, it is desirable to roast green coffee beans and immediately grind them with a mill for extraction. Therefore, the present applicant previously proposed a "fully automatic coffee brewing device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 1-190317. The proposed device includes a roasting section that heats input green coffee beans using a heating means and roasts the coffee beans, and a grinding section that grinds the coffee beans roasted in the roasting section. and a conveyance section which is provided between the roasting section and the crushing section and automatically conveys the coffee beans roasted in the roasting section to the crushing section after roasting, and It has an integrated structure with an extraction part into which coffee beans are input and extracts coffee from the coffee beans.

In this fully automatic coffee brewing device, the grinding section rotates a cutter made of two blades to grind roasted coffee beans. For example, when coarsely grinding coffee beans, the cutter rotates. The drive time is relatively short, and when coffee beans are to be finely ground, the cutter rotation drive time is lengthened.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional fully automatic coffee brewing device described above, when a large number of coffee beans are supplied into a grinding container having a cutter, these coffee beans are ground all at once, and the blade-shaped cutter Since the coffee beans collide with the coffee beans to break them, there is a problem that the size of the ground coffee particles is not uniform, and the flavor of the coffee extracted in the extraction section is not stable. Furthermore, if you want to grind coffee beans finely with conventional equipment, you have to lengthen the rotation time of the cutter, but there is also the problem that it is difficult to grind all coffee beans into fine powder in the same way. .

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a fully automatic coffee brewing device that solves the above problems.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a fully automatic coffee brewing device that includes a grinding section that grinds coffee beans, and supplies the coffee powder ground by the grinding section to an extraction section to extract coffee. The crushing section includes a coffee bean storage member that stores the coffee beans in the green state and has a hole at the bottom through which the coffee beans pass; a heater for heating and roasting; a conical protrusion on a flat plate-shaped upper surface at a position facing the hole of the coffee bean storage member; and an upper surface formed around the protrusion for storing the coffee beans; a rotating body provided parallel to the bottom surface of the storage member and close to the bottom surface with a small gap therebetween; and rotating the rotating body to transfer the coffee beans roasted by the heater to the coffee beans. It is characterized by comprising: a rotary drive means for supplying the powder to the gap through the hole of the storage member to crush the powder.

Function Coffee beans are supplied to the gap between the bottom surface of the coffee bean storage member and the top surface of the rotating body, and the rotating body is rotationally driven by the rotational drive means, and the coffee beans are fed into the gap between the bottom surface of the coffee bean storage member and the top surface of the rotating body. Coffee beans are ground little by little, and coffee powder is obtained that is ground to a uniform size using the principle of milling.

Furthermore, since the upper surface of the rotating body is provided with a conical protrusion, the coffee beans supplied from the coffee bean storage member are supplied to all directions of the upper surface of the rotating body along the conical protrusion, efficiently shortening the coffee beans. Coffee beans can be ground into uniform particles in a short amount of time, and the ground coffee powder is scattered around the outer circumference of the rotating body due to the centrifugal force of the rotating body and is supplied to the extraction section, so that after grinding, the coffee powder is on the top of the rotating body. There is no need to clean the top surface of the rotor, as there is no residue or ground coffee beans are deposited on the top surface of the rotor.

In addition, since the coffee bean storage member of the grinding section is provided with a heater for heating and roasting green coffee beans, the grinding section also serves as a roasting section, and the coffee beans stored in the coffee bean storage member are Coffee beans can be ground while roasting. Therefore,
A more compact configuration can be achieved than arranging the crushing section and the roasting section separately. Furthermore, since the heater is provided on the inner wall of the coffee bean storage member, the coffee beans can be directly heated, increasing roasting efficiency.

Therefore, freshly roasted coffee beans can be immediately ground to extract the coffee beans, making it possible to extract coffee with more flavor.

Embodiments Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 and 2 are external views showing a fully automatic coffee brewing device 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as the brewing device) which is an embodiment of the present invention. The extraction device 1 shown in the figure is a drip-type extraction device, and roughly speaking, it has a configuration in which an extraction device main body (hereinafter referred to as main body) 2 is provided with a roasting and pulverizing section 3, a coffee bean input section 4, an extraction section 5, etc. It is said that

As shown in FIG. 3, the roasting and pulverizing section 3 includes a coffee bean storage member 6 that stores the green coffee beans inserted into the spherical coffee bean input section 4, and a flat top surface for pulverizing the coffee beans. A circular rotating body 7 having a shape, a motor 8 that rotationally drives the rotating body 7,
Heaters 9 and 1 provided on the storage member 6 and the rotating body 7
0 and more. The motor 8 and heaters 9 and 10 are connected to a control circuit (not shown) built into the main body 2. The heater 9 contains a coiled nichrome wire and is provided on the inner wall of the storage member 6, and heats and roasts the green coffee beans placed in the storage member 6. The heater 10 has a built-in coiled nichrome wire and is attached to the bottom side of the rotating body 7, and heats and roasts the coffee beans that have fallen through the central hole 6a of the storage member 6. Therefore, the heaters 9 and 10 function as a roasting section that roasts green coffee beans.

The upper opening 6b of the coffee bean storage member 6 communicates with the coffee bean input portion 4, and the inside thereof is tapered to encourage the coffee beans to fall. A rack 6c is provided on the outer periphery of the storage member 6, and a pinion 6d meshes with the rack 6c. Then, by turning the knob 11 shown in FIG. 1, the pinion 6d rotates, and the storage member 6 moves up and down so as to approach or separate from the rotating body 7.

Further, the storage member 6 itself is made of, for example, ceramic, which has heat resistance, corrosion resistance, and high hardness. Then, the bottom surface 6 of the storage member 6
e is a rough surface having minute irregularities, and a tapered surface is provided around the center hole 6a to guide the coffee beans to the outside.

Rotating body 7 disposed below the storage member 6
is the upper surface 7a opposite to the bottom surface 6e of the storage member 6.
and a skirt portion 7b that covers the outer periphery of the motor 8. The upper surface 7a of the rotating body 7 has a rough surface with minute irregularities, and has a conical protrusion 7c in the center that guides coffee beans that have fallen from the storage member 6 to the outside. Further, like the storage member 6, the rotating body 7 is made of ceramic having heat resistance, corrosion resistance, and high hardness.

The rotary body 7 is rotationally driven by a motor 8 as will be described later, and grinds the coffee beans supplied through the central hole 6a into the gap 12 between the bottom surface 6e of the storage member 6 and the top surface 7a of the rotary body 7. Incidentally, the motor 8 is mounted and fixed on the bracket 13. Therefore, by turning the above-mentioned knob 11, the storage member 6 can be moved up and down.
The gap 12 is adjusted by moving downward.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a passage 3b communicating with the lower opening 3a of the roasting and pulverizing section 3 is formed on the outer periphery of the storage member 6 and the rotating body 7. This lower opening 3a is located above the dripper 14 in the extractor 5.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a tank in which water for brewing coffee is stored, and a heater (not shown) for boiling the water in the tank 15 is provided at the bottom of the tank. In addition, the hot water boiled in the tank 15 is controlled by an on-off valve (not shown).
and is supplied to the dripper 14 via the pipe 16. The extractor 5 is made up of the dripper 14 and a pot 17 placed below the dripper 14.

Next, fully automatic coffee brewing device 1 with the above configuration
The process of coffee extraction will be explained step by step.

First, the lid 4a of the coffee bean input section 4 is removed, and green coffee beans are dropped into the input section 4. Next, the lid 4a is attached to the insertion port 4, and the upper opening of the input section 4 is closed. Next, the dial 18 and switch 19 provided on the top surface of the main body 2 are operated to set the coffee strength, roasting temperature, etc. Then, as described above, after adjusting the gap 12 by turning the grinding roughness adjustment knob 11, the start switch 20 on the front surface of the main body 2 is pressed. The dial 18, switch 19 and start switch 20 are connected to a control circuit (not shown) built into the main body 2. Therefore, when the start switch 20 is turned on, the control circuit heats the heaters 9 and 10 and starts the motor 8 to drive the rotating body 7 to rotate.

A large number of coffee beans inserted into the insertion section 4 are placed in a storage section 6 having a tapered bottom, and are heated by a heater 9. Furthermore, storage section 6
The coffee beans on the bottom side of the storage member 6 and the rotating body 7 are transferred little by little through the central hole 6a by the rotation of the rotating body 7.
It is supplied into the gap 12 between the

At this time, since the storage member 6 and the rotating body 7 are also heated by the heat generated by the heaters 9 and 10, the coffee beans are roasted in the process of reaching the gap 12 from the storage section 6. Further, the rotating body 7 is driven to rotate by the motor 8, and the coffee beans are moved outward by the projections 7c. At that time, the bottom surface 6e of the storage member 6
The gap 12 gradually narrows due to the tapered part of
Moreover, since the surfaces of the bottom surface 6e of the storage member 6 and the top surface 7a of the rotating body 7 are rough like stone, the coffee beans supplied into the gap 12 are roasted and finely ground.

In this way, coffee beans are ground in a stone mill.
While passing through the gap 12 between the storage member 6 and the rotating body 7, the particles are crushed into particles of approximately uniform size.
Then, the ground coffee beans are pushed outward by the centrifugal force of the rotating body 7 and the following coffee beans, and fall into the passage 3b and the lower opening 3a, where they fall into the dripper 1.
Deposits within 4.

The process of roasting and grinding the green coffee beans described above is performed in substantially the same way for all the coffee beans placed in the storage member 6, so that the coffee powder falling into the dripper 14 is substantially uniform from the start of grinding to the end of grinding. It becomes a grain. When all the coffee beans placed in the storage member 6 are crushed, the hot water in the tank 15 is dripped into the dripper 14 via the pipe 16.

Since a filter 14a is provided at the bottom of the dripper 14, coffee extracted from the ground coffee in the dripper 14 passes through the filter 14a and is stored in the pot 17 below.

In this manner, the extraction device 1 roasts green coffee beans and immediately grinds and extracts them, so it is possible to make coffee with a high flavor.

Furthermore, although green coffee beans are used in the above description, if roasted coffee beans are used, for example, the start switch 21 may be pressed instead of the start switch 20. in this case,
Both the heaters 9 and 10 are not heated, and the storage member 6 and rotating body 7 function only as a crushing section.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the fully automatic coffee brewing device according to the present invention supplies coffee beans little by little into the gap between the bottom surface of the coffee bean storage member and the top surface of the rotary body, and also uses the principle of a millstone. Coffee beans can be ground to a uniform size. Therefore, for example, when producing strong coffee, by narrowing the gap, the size of the ground coffee powder can be made finer, and moreover, uniform fine particles can be produced, resulting in a more stable flavor. It will be done. In addition, since the bottom surface of the coffee bean storage member and the flat top surface of the rotating body are arranged parallel to each other, and the coffee beans are ground in a small gap between the two members, the ground coffee beans are It does not accumulate on the top surface of the rotating body, and there is no need to clean the top surface of the rotating body. Furthermore, since the upper surface of the rotating body is provided with a conical protrusion, the coffee beans supplied from the coffee bean storage member are supplied to all directions of the upper surface of the rotating body along the conical protrusion, efficiently shortening the coffee beans. Coffee beans can be ground into uniform particles in a short amount of time, and the ground coffee powder is scattered around the outer circumference of the rotating body due to the centrifugal force of the rotating body and is supplied to the extraction section, so that after grinding, the coffee powder is on the top of the rotating body. There is no leftover. Furthermore, since the coffee bean storage member of the grinding section is provided with a heater that heats and roasts the green coffee beans, the grinding section also serves as a roasting section, and the coffee beans stored in the coffee bean storage member are Coffee beans can be ground while roasting. Therefore, it is possible to have a more compact configuration than arranging the crushing section and the roasting section separately. Furthermore, since the heater is provided on the inner wall of the coffee bean storage member, the coffee beans can be directly heated, increasing roasting efficiency. Therefore, freshly roasted coffee beans can be immediately ground to extract coffee, which has the advantage of making it possible to extract coffee with more flavor.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of a fully automatic coffee brewing device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view for explaining the internal structure of the main parts of the present invention. . 1... Fully automatic coffee extraction device, 2... Extraction device main body, 3... Roasting and pulverizing section, 4... Coffee bean input section, 5... Extraction section, 6... Coffee bean storage member, 6e... Bottom surface , 7...Rotating body, 7a...Top surface, 12...Gap, 14...Dripper, 15...
Tank, 20, 21...start switch.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A fully automatic coffee brewing device that includes a grinding section that grinds coffee beans, and supplies coffee powder ground by the grinding section to an extraction section to extract coffee, wherein the grinding section comprises: A coffee bean storage member that stores the coffee beans in the green state and has a hole at the bottom through which the coffee beans pass; a heater for roasting; a conical protrusion on a flat plate-shaped upper surface at a position facing the hole of the coffee bean storage member; the upper surface formed around the protrusion is connected to the bottom surface of the coffee bean storage member; a rotating body disposed parallel to and close to the bottom surface with a small gap therebetween; and rotating the rotating body to transfer coffee beans roasted by the heater to the hole of the coffee bean storage member. A fully automatic coffee brewing device comprising: a rotary drive means for supplying coffee to the gap and grinding the coffee;