JPH0683694B2 - Electric coffee heater - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electric coffee brewer capable of crushing coffee beans and pouring hot water into the crushed coffee powder to extract a coffee liquid.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of electric coffee brewer, after the coffee beans have been crushed by a cutter, the heater of the water heater is energized, and the water in the water tank is heated to store coffee powder. It was designed to drip into the basket.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention According to the above-mentioned conventional configuration, the temperature of the hot water discharged from the hot water supply device is low at first, and not only delicious coffee liquid is not obtained, but also the hot water is discharged after the heater is energized. It takes about 1 minute to obtain a coffee liquid from the start of pulverization, which is a problem.

Then, this invention aims at providing the electric coffee brewing machine which can eliminate the said problem.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the electric coffee brewer of the present invention has a hopper for storing coffee beans and an output shaft projecting into the hopper at an upper portion of the brewer body. A motor is placed, a cupper for crushing coffee beans in the crushing chamber formed in the hopper is provided at the tip of the output shaft of the motor, and a vibration sensor is provided on the side wall of the hopper corresponding to the crushing chamber. In the lower part of the, a heater to heat the water in the water tank provided in the proper place of the water heater is installed,
A hot water supply pipe for supplying hot water heated by the heater into the hopper is provided, and a circulation pipe for returning the hot water in the hot water supply pipe into the water tank is connected via a switching valve in the middle of the hot water supply pipe.
A basket for extracting coffee liquid is arranged below the hopper, a drive circuit for the motor, a drive circuit for the heater, a crushing end detection circuit for detecting the end of crushing based on a vibration intensity signal from the vibration sensor, and the switching. A switching valve drive circuit for operating the valve is provided, and an arithmetic processing unit is provided for inputting a signal from the crushing completion detection circuit and outputting a control signal to the motor drive circuit, the heater drive circuit and the switching valve drive circuit. The arithmetic processing unit outputs a signal for activating the heater at the start of crushing and switching the switching valve to the circulation pipe side to each drive circuit.

Operation In the above-mentioned configuration, the heater is energized and the switching valve is switched to the circulation pipe side simultaneously with the start of crushing through the arithmetic processing section, and the cutter stop and switching valve is operated by the crushing completion signal from the crushing completion detection circuit, for example. By outputting the switching signal to the side, the heater can be energized to heat the water in the water tank at the same time when the coffee beans are crushed, and the hot water can be immediately discharged into the basket after the crushing of the coffee beans is completed.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a water heater main body (hereinafter referred to as a main body) having a U-shaped side view, and a pedestal portion 2 and
It is composed of a columnar section 3 standing upright from one side of the pedestal section 2, and an eaves section (upper part of the body) 4 projecting horizontally from the upper end of the columnar section 3. The eaves portion 4 is provided with an inverted conical hopper 5 for storing coffee beans, and the eaves portion 4 is provided with a motor 6 in which an output shaft 6a is projected inside the hopper 5 in a horizontal direction. In addition, a blade-shaped cutter 7 for grinding coffee beans is attached to the tip of the output shaft 6a. An outlet 8 for coffee powder is formed at the lower end of the hopper 5, and an outlet plate 9 having a large number of small holes for passing coffee powder is provided at the outlet 8. Reference numeral 10 denotes an inverted L-shaped cover body that is detachably provided inside the hopper 5 so as to cover the cutter 7, and a bean insertion port 11 for guiding coffee beans is formed on the front wall body thereof. In addition, this cover body
The inside of 10 is a crushing chamber 12. A hot water supply nozzle 13 for supplying hot water is provided at a predetermined position of the hopper 5, and the hopper 5 corresponding to the crushing chamber 12 is provided.
A vibration sensor 14 is attached to the side wall of the. Reference numeral 15 is a dome-shaped hopper lid that opens and closes the upper part of the hopper 5, one end of which is attached to the eaves portion 4 of the main body 1 via a hinge 16, and the other end is a lock or 17
By this, it can be fixed to the eaves portion 4 side.
The hot water supply nozzle 13 is oriented toward the hopper lid 15 so that the hot water diffuses throughout the hopper 5. Reference numeral 18 denotes a lock, that is, a safety switch for confirming the hopper lid 15 arranged inside the eaves portion 4 corresponding to the lock 17, which is opened and closed by an operation pin 19 projecting from the hopper lid 15.
Reference numeral 21 denotes a basket having an inverted conical shape for receiving coffee powder, which is slidably provided below the eaves portion 4 and has a filter 22 arranged inside thereof. A basket lid 24 having a coffee powder intake 23 formed in the center is placed on the upper surface of the basket 21.
A basket packing 26 that seals a portion between the lower end of the air outlet 8 of the hopper 5 and a guide cylinder 25 extending downward is attached to this. An annular rib 27 is provided near the outer peripheral portion of the lower surface of the basket lid 24 so as to hold the filter 22 and prevent the coffee powder from scattering. Reference numeral 28 denotes a detection switch for detecting the basket lid 24, which is arranged inside the eaves portion 4 corresponding to the peripheral portion of the basket lid 24, and is composed of a switch body 29 and a lifting pin 30 for operation. Reference numeral 31 denotes a heat-resistant container placed on the upper surface of the pedestal portion 2 for storing the coffee liquid extracted from the basket 21. Then, in the main body 1, a water heater 32 for supplying hot water into the hopper 5 and this water heater.
A control unit 33 that controls the entire coffee brewer including 32 is provided. The water heater 32 includes a heater (shown only in FIG. 4) 34 provided inside the pedestal part 2, a water tank 35 provided on the side of the main body 1, and one end of which is a lower part of the water tank 35. It is connected to the water supply unit 36 and the other end is the heater 34.
Hot water supply pipe connected to the hot water supply nozzle 13 of the hopper 5 via
37, and a circulation pipe 39 for returning the hot water of the hot water supply pipe 37 to the inside of the water tank 35 via a switching valve 38 interposed in the hot water supply pipe 37. Further, as will be described later, the switching valve 38 is switched by a signal from the control unit 33.

Next, the control unit will be described with reference to FIG.

The control unit 33 uses the commercial AC power supply 41 as the motor 6 and the heater 34.
And the operation of the first DC constant voltage power supply circuit 42 for obtaining the power supply for the drive circuit of the switching valve 38, and the control microcomputer (arithmetic processing unit) 43 of various devices via the first DC constant voltage power supply circuit 42. A second direct-current constant-voltage power supply circuit 44 for obtaining a power supply for use, a heater circuit 46 including a heater 34 and its open / close relay contact 45, a heater drive relay circuit (heater drive circuit) 47 for driving the heater circuit 46, Motor 6 and control thyristor 48 and safety switch
A motor circuit 49 consisting of 18, a motor thyristor drive circuit (motor drive circuit) 50 for driving this motor circuit 49, a switching valve circuit 53 having thyristors 51, 52 for operating the switching valve 38, and this switching valve circuit 53 Provided in the heater 34, a switching valve thyristor drive circuit (switching valve drive circuit) 54 for driving the motor, a pulse generation circuit 55 for driving the microcomputer 43, a reset circuit 56 for initializing the microcomputer 43 when the power is turned on, and the heater 34. A temperature detection circuit 58 for inputting the temperature signal to the microcomputer 43 and a detection switch 28 for the basket lid 24, and a detection signal for the basket lid 24, that is, the basket 21 is input to the microcomputer 43. The basket detection circuit 59 and the vibration sensor 15 provided in the hopper 5 Kicking a grinding end detection circuit 60 for inputting the intensity signal of the vibration to the microcomputer 43, the microcomputer of the switching signal of the hopper lid 15 together consist of the safety switch 18 of the hopper lid 5
The lid detection circuit 61 input to the 43 and the microcomputer 43
It is composed of a buzzer 62 which is controlled by the operation unit and an operation display panel 63 which is arranged on the side surface of the columnar portion 3 of the main body 1. The operation display panel 63 has an LC for displaying the time, etc.
D (liquid crystal display) 64, LED (light emitting diode) 65 for displaying energization, time setting start switch 66 for setting the current time on the LCD 64, and time for starting energization at a desired time Auto setting start switch 67 for
A memory switch 68 for storing the automatically set time, a time setting switch 69 for setting the time, a minute setting switch 70 for setting the minute, a start switch 71, and a stop switch 72 are provided. The microcomputer 43 has a function of measuring an elapsed time from the start of crushing and a function of comparing the elapsed time with a preset time.

Next, the operation will be described.

First, water is put in the water tank 35 and a predetermined amount of coffee beans is put in the hopper 5, and the start switch 71 is pressed. However, if the hopper lid 5 is in the open state, the safety switch 18 is off, the lid detection circuit 61 inputs it to the microcomputer 43, the LCD 64 blinks "Lid", and the buzzer 62 issues a warning. I can't start. Similarly, when the basket lid 24 is forgotten and the basket 21 is attached or the basket 21 is not attached, the detection switch 28 is off and the basket detection circuit
It is input to the microcomputer 43 by 59, the LCD 64 blinks "Basket" and the buzzer 62 outputs an alarm, and the driver cannot start. Hopper lid to start
15 is closed, safety switch 18 is turned on, basket lid 24 is properly set on basket 21, and the basket
21 can be attached to the main body 1, the detection switch 28 can be turned on, and the start switch 71 can be pressed again to start. When started, the heater driving relay circuit 47 operates the heater relay to close the relay contact 45 and energize the heater 34. Further, the motor thyristor drive circuit 50 turns on the motor thyristor 48 to rotate the motor 6. The switching valve 38 is programmed by the switching valve thyristor drive circuit 54 so that the microcomputer 43 is programmed to be on the circulation pipe 39 side immediately after the power is turned on.
The hot water heated by returns to the water tank 35 from the circulation pipe 39. The coffee beans inside the hopper 5 enter the crushing chamber 12 through the bean input port 11 in sequence and are crushed by the cutter 7.
It enters the filter 22 of the basket 21 through the outlet 8.
Here, during the crushing of the coffee beans, the vibration of the vibration sensor 14 provided on the side wall of the crushing chamber 12 is strong, and when the crushing is completed, only the vibration of the idle rotation of the motor 6 becomes weak. When the magnitude of this vibration becomes weaker than a predetermined vibration by the crushing completion detection circuit 60, the crushing is considered to have been completed, and this is input to the microcomputer 43. The microcomputer 43 outputs a signal to the motor thyristor drive circuit 50 to turn off the motor thyristor 48, and the motor 6
Stop rotating. This crushing time is usually about 40 seconds. Here, a commutator motor is usually used as a motor for crushing coffee beans, and is generally rated for a short time. Therefore, if one minute elapses, the motor 6 stops rotating regardless of vibration intensity. Computer 43 is programmed.

After a lapse of one minute from the start after the end of crushing, the hot water discharged becomes sufficiently hot, so that the switching valve 38 is switched from the circulation pipe 39 to the hot water supply pipe 37 by the switching valve thyristor drive circuit 54, and The microcomputer 43 is programmed so that the motor 6 is rotated by the motor thyristor drive circuit 50 for a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds). Therefore, hot water enters the hopper 5 from the hot water supply pipe 37 through the hot water supply nozzle 13 and enters the crushing chamber 12 from the bean charging port 11, but the cutter 7 is rotated by the rotation of the motor 6 to turn the hot water into the crushing chamber 12 Scatter inside. As a result, the inside of the crushing chamber 12 is cleaned. In addition, hot water passes through the outlet 8 to the basket.
Drop to 21 and brew coffee. When the coffee is extracted in this way and the water in the water tank 35 is exhausted, the heater 34 is put into an idle state and the temperature rapidly rises. This temperature rise is detected by the temperature detecting element 57 and is input to the microcomputer 43 from the temperature detecting circuit 58, and the heater is
The heater drive relay circuit 47 turns off 34. Furthermore, after turning off the heater 34, a predetermined time has elapsed (here, 30
After a second), the buzzer 62 notifies the completion and the switching valve 38 is programmed in the microcomputer 43 to switch the hot water supply pipe 37 to the circulation pipe 39 again.

After that, the heater 34 is turned on by the temperature detection circuit 58, the microcomputer 43, and the heater drive relay circuit 47.
The coffee liquid in the container 31 is kept warm by turning it off. Here, this heat retention operation is performed 2 hours after the completion notification is given.
The microcomputer 43 is programmed to automatically turn off the power to the heater 34.

Further, when the user extracts the coffee liquid from the coffee powder, the coffee powder is directly put into the filter 22 mounted on the basket 21. At this time, when the start switch 71 is pressed to start, the motor 6 rotates for a minimum time (here, 4 seconds) necessary for detecting the end of grinding, but the motor 6 stops upon detecting the end of grinding. The operation thereafter is the same as that described above, but the microcomputer 43 counts the time when the motor 6 rotates, and if the time is the minimum time, the inside of the crushing chamber 12 is cleaned as described above.
The motor 6 is programmed so as not to rotate for a second.

If the hopper lid 15 is opened or the basket 21 is pulled out during the above-mentioned operation, the start switch
As described when the 71 is pressed, the LCD 64 blinks and the buzzer 62 gives an alarm and the heater 34
And the motor 6 is turned off, and the microcomputer 43 is programmed so that the switching valve 38 is on the side of the circulation pipe 39. At this time, if the hopper lid 15 is closed or the basket 21 is returned to the original state, the operation can be continued.

Further, in the above embodiment, the switching valve 38 is switched from the circulation pipe 39 to the hot water supply pipe 37 after 1 minute has elapsed from the start, but the switching valve 38 is switched immediately after the crushing end detection circuit 60 detects the end of crushing. May be.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As is clear from the description of the above embodiments, according to the configuration of the present invention, the heater can be energized to heat the water in the water tank at the same time as the start of pulverization, and therefore the hot water can be immediately added to the basket after pulverization is completed. Since it can be discharged inside, a delicious coffee liquid can be obtained and the time until the coffee liquid is obtained can be shortened.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an electric coffee brewer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the same, and FIG. It is a circuit block diagram. 1 ... Boiler body, 5 ... hopper, 6 ... motor,
6a ... Output shaft, 7 ... Cutter, 12 ... Grinding chamber, 13 ...
Hot water supply nozzle, 14 …… Vibration sensor, 18 …… Safety switch, 21 …… Basket, 32 …… Hot water supply device, 33 …… Control unit, 34 …… Heater, 35 …… Water tank, 37 …… Hot water supply pipe,
38 …… Switching valve, 39 …… Circulation pipe, 43 …… Microcomputer, 46 …… Heater circuit, 47 …… Heater drive relay circuit, 49 …… Motor circuit, 50 …… Motor thyristor drive circuit, 53 …… Switching Valve circuit, 54 …… Switching valve thyristor drive circuit, 60 …… Grinding completion detection circuit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A hopper for accommodating coffee beans and a motor having an output shaft projecting into the hopper are arranged on an upper part of a brewer body, and a crushing chamber formed in the hopper at a tip of the output shaft of the motor. Equipped with a cutter for crushing coffee beans, equipped with a vibration sensor on the side wall of the hopper that corresponds to this crushing chamber, and heats the water in the water tank provided in the proper position at the bottom of the brewer body. A heater is provided, and a hot water supply pipe for supplying hot water heated by the heater to the hopper is provided.In the middle of the hot water supply pipe, a circulation pipe for returning the hot water in the hot water supply pipe into the water tank is connected through a switching valve, A basket for extracting coffee liquid is placed below the hopper, and the completion of crushing is detected by the vibration signal from the motor drive circuit, heater drive circuit, and vibration sensor. A crushing end detection circuit for operating and a switching valve drive circuit for operating the switching valve are provided, and a signal from the crushing end detection circuit is input, and a control signal is sent to the motor drive circuit, the heater drive circuit and the switching valve drive circuit. An electric coffee brewer which is provided with an arithmetic processing unit for outputting and which outputs a signal for activating the heater at the start of crushing and for switching the switching valve to the circulation pipe side to each drive circuit from the arithmetic processing unit. 2. The electric coffee brewer according to claim 1, wherein the arithmetic processing unit outputs a motor stop signal to the motor drive circuit based on a crush end signal from the crush end detection circuit. 3. An arithmetic processing unit having a function of measuring an elapsed time from the start of pulverization and having a function of comparing this elapsed time with a preset time. Electric coffee kettle. 4. A motor stop signal is sent from the arithmetic processing unit when a crush end signal is input from the crush end detection circuit or when the elapsed time from the start of crush matches the set time. The electric coffee brewer according to claim 3, wherein a switching signal for outputting to the motor drive circuit and for switching the switching valve to the hot water supply pipe side is output to the switching valve drive circuit.