JPH1116043A - Raw material agitator for cup-type beverage vending machines - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] Even when a small amount of hot water is poured into a mixing ball as in the case of cold beverage sales, the swirling flow area of the hot water in the ball is expanded to stir the powdered raw material put into the ball without remaining. Improve as possible. A hopper-type ball is used in a beverage stirring device of a cup-type beverage vending machine for preparing a beverage by stirring a powder raw material charged into a mixing ball 3 from a raw material box and hot water poured into the ball from a hot water tank. A stirring blade 7 that is rotated by a drive motor 8 is disposed to face a beverage outlet 6a opened at the center of the bottom of the main body 6, and the powder material input port 9a is opened on the outer peripheral side of the upper lid 9. As the main stirring blade, another auxiliary stirring blade 14 is additionally provided on the inclined bottom surface in the ball near the powder material input port, and then connected to the drive shaft 7a of the main stirring blade via the transmission gear 15 for sale operation. Occasionally, both stirring blades are driven to expand the swirling flow area of the hot water to the area of the raw material inlet.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raw material stirring apparatus which is mounted on a cup-type beverage vending machine, and in which a powder raw material and hot water are charged into a mixing ball and stirred to prepare a beverage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a cup beverage vending machine mentioned above, a beverage is prepared by stirring a powder raw material taken out of a powder raw material box into a mixing ball and hot water poured into a ball from a hot water tank at each sales operation. There is known a sales type in which a beverage is supplied to a cup carried out from a ball to a bend stage after being prepared for sale.

FIG. 3 is a beverage system diagram of such a cup-type beverage vending machine. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a raw material box containing powdered raw materials by type called a canister, 2 denotes a hot water tank, 3 denotes a mixing ball, and 4 denotes a mixing ball. The bend stage 5 is a cup supply mechanism. Here, the mixing ball 3 is a hopper-shaped ball body 6 having a beverage outlet 6a opened at the bottom center thereof, a stirring blade 7 installed in the ball body 6 so as to face the beverage outlet 6a, and a drive shaft of the stirring blade 7. A drive motor 8 connected to 7a and an upper lid 9 covering the upper surface of the ball body 6 are provided. At a position close to the outer peripheral side of the upper lid 9, the powder raw material carried out of the raw material box 1 is put into the ball through the shooter 1a. Material inlet 9a, and an exhaust port 9b communicating with the exhaust fan 11 on the opposite side to the powder material inlet 9a, and connected to the hot water tank 2 at a position near the drive shaft 7a of the stirring blade 7. Hot water supply nozzle 10 is inserted. Further, an auxiliary blade 7b for dispersing hot water around is provided on the axis of the drive shaft 7a of the stirring blade 7 so as to face the tip of the hot water supply nozzle 10.

With this configuration, when selling a hot beverage such as hot coffee, for example, the cup 1 is first sent from the cup supply mechanism 5 to the bend stage 4 based on a sales command.
3 is carried out. Also, a fixed amount of powdered raw material is carried out of the raw material box 1 and mixed through a shooter 1a.
Of the hot water tank 2
Then, hot water corresponding to one cup is poured into the ball 6 through the hot water supply nozzle 10, and at the same time, the stirring blade 7 is rotationally driven. As a result, the hot water scatters into the ball by the centrifugal force of the auxiliary blades 7b and falls onto the powder raw material, and at the same time, the powder raw material and the hot water are stirred by the stirring blade 7 to prepare a beverage. The stirring blade 7 is a centrifugal pump together with the stirring blade 7.
While the is rotating, the beverage is swung so as to be pushed back into the ball by the centrifugal force of the blades and stays in the ball. And
When the drive motor 8 is stopped after a predetermined mixing time has elapsed, the beverage stored in the ball flows out of the beverage outlet 6a through the gap between the ball bottom surface and the stirring blade 7,
It is supplied to the cup 13 waiting on the bend stage 4.

On the other hand, when selling cold beverages such as iced coffee, a certain amount of powdered raw material and a small amount of hot water necessary for dissolving the powdered raw material are put into the ball body 6 of the mixing ball 3 based on a sales order. The powder raw material is dissolved in hot water by stirring with the stirring blade 7 and supplied to the cup 13. At the same time, cold water and ice are supplied from a cold water supply line (not shown) and an ice maker to the cup 13 to complete a cold beverage.

[0006]

In the above-described mixing ball having the conventional structure, when preparing a hot beverage, an amount of hot water corresponding to a full cup is poured into the ball body 6 to stir the raw materials. Therefore, the undissolved portion of the powder raw material hardly occurs. On the other hand, when preparing a cold beverage, the amount of hot water poured into the ball body 6 is much smaller than in the case of a hot beverage, and therefore, the centrifugal force of the stirring blade 7 causes the inside of the ball to flow. The spread range of the swirling hot water and the hot water scattered on the auxiliary blades 7b is narrowed, and in particular, the hot water does not sufficiently reach the peripheral area in the ball where the powder material charging port 9a is opened. As a result, a situation in which a part of the powder raw material charged far away from the stirring blade 7 does not melt completely and remains attached to the inner wall surface of the ball body 6 easily occurs. Moreover, if the powder material remaining undissolved adheres and remains in the ball of the mixing ball 3,
In addition to impairing the flavor of the beverage by mixing it with the beverage to be sold next time, prolonging the waiting time for sale may lead to hygiene problems such as deterioration and decay of residual ingredients.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to circulate hot water in a mixing ball even when a small amount of hot water is poured into a mixing ball as in the case of selling cold beverages. It is an object of the present invention to provide a raw material stirring device for a cup-type beverage vending machine in which a basin is expanded so that powdered raw materials put into a ball can be completely dissolved.

[0008]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a powder raw material taken out of a raw material box at the time of sale and put into a mixing ball, and hot water poured into the ball from a hot water tank. Is a beverage mixing device of a cup-type beverage vending machine for preparing a beverage by supplying the beverage to the cup from the ball, and a stirring blade rotating by a drive motor is provided at a beverage outlet opened at the center of the bottom of the hopper type mixing ball. When the powder material input port is opened on the outer peripheral side of the upper surface of the ball, another auxiliary stirring blade is additionally provided on the inclined bottom surface in the ball near the powder material input port, with the stirring blade serving as the main stirring blade. At the time of sale, the main stirring blade and the auxiliary stirring blade are simultaneously driven to stir the raw material (claim 1). Specifically, the main stirring blade and the auxiliary stirring blade are supplemented in the following manner. So as to interlock the stirring blade.

(1) The rotation shaft of the auxiliary stirring blade and the drive shaft of the main stirring blade connected to the drive motor are connected via a transmission gear. (2) Gears are formed on the peripheral surfaces of the disk-shaped main stirring blade and the auxiliary stirring blade, and the auxiliary stirring blade is operatively connected to the main stirring blade via the gear (claim 3). As described above, the main stirring blade facing the beverage outlet and the auxiliary stirring blade arranged on the side close to the powder material inlet are arranged side by side with the main stirring blade on the bottom surface in the mixing ball. By simultaneously driving the blades, the swirling flow area of the hot water poured into the mixing ball is expanded by the cooperative action of the main stirring blade and the auxiliary stirring blade. As a result, even when the amount of hot water poured into the mixing ball is small, such as when selling cold beverages, the powdered raw material introduced into the ball through the powdered raw material inlet can be sufficiently washed and stirred by the swirling flow of hot water, As a result, there is no possibility that the raw material powder is completely melted and remains in the ball.

In addition, by linking the auxiliary stirring blade to the main stirring blade, both stirring blades can be driven in conjunction with one drive motor.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A specific embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. In the drawings of each embodiment, the same members corresponding to FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. [Embodiment 1] FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) show an embodiment corresponding to the first and second aspects of the present invention, in which a mixing ball 3 includes a main stirring blade 7 and an auxiliary stirring blade 14. A number of stirring blades are incorporated. Here, the main stirring blade 7 faces the beverage outlet 6a opened at the center of the bottom of the ball body 6, and is connected to the drive motor 8 via the drive shaft 7a. On the other hand, the auxiliary stirring blade 14 is arranged on the inclined bottom surface in the ball near the powder material inlet 9a in parallel with the main stirring blade 7, and the rotary shaft 14a is drawn out above the upper lid 9. , And is connected to a drive shaft of the main stirring blade 7 via a transmission gear 15.

With this configuration, the driving motor 8 can be used at the time of selling operation.
When the is rotated, the auxiliary stirring blade 14 rotates in conjunction with the main stirring blade 7. As a result, the swirling flow area of the hot water poured into the mixing ball 3 is expanded as shown by arrows A and B in FIG. 1 (b), and the hot water flows into the outer peripheral bottom area where the powder material inlet 9a opens. Become. Therefore, even when a small amount of hot water is supplied to the mixing ball 3 in accordance with the sale of the cold beverage, the powder raw material charged into the mixing ball through the powder raw material charging port 9a can be sufficiently stirred without being melted.

In the illustrated embodiment, the rotation directions of the main stirring blade 7 and the auxiliary stirring blade 14 are opposite to each other.
By adding another gear, the stirring blades 7 and 14 can be rotated in the same direction, whereby the swirling flows A and B of the hot water spread in the same direction. [Embodiment 2] FIG. 2 shows an application embodiment of the present invention corresponding to claim 3. In this embodiment, gears 7b, 14b are provided on the peripheral surface of each of the disk-shaped stirring blades 7, 14.
The power of the drive motor 8 is transmitted from the main stirring blade 7 to the auxiliary stirring blade 14 to drive them collectively.

Thus, the same raw material stirring effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and the structure of the auxiliary stirring blade 1 can be improved.
4 is simplified.

[0015]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, the auxiliary stirring blade is additionally provided at the bottom of the mixing ball, and the swirling flow area of the hot water poured into the ball is opened around the opening of the powder material inlet. By expanding to the area,
Even when a small amount of hot water is supplied into the mixing ball when selling a cold beverage, the beverage can be prepared by completely dissolving the powdery raw material charged into the ball without dissolving it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a raw material stirring device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a longitudinal sectional view of a mixing ball,
(b) is a cross-sectional plan view

FIG. 2 is a configuration sectional view of a raw material stirring device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a beverage system diagram of a cup-type beverage vending machine with a mixing ball having a conventional structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Raw material box 1a Raw material shooter 2 Hot water tank 3 Mixing ball 4 Bend stage 6 Ball main body 6a Drinking outlet 7 Main stirring blade 7a Drive shaft 7b Gear 8 Drive motor 9 Top lid 9a Powder raw material inlet 10 Hot water supply nozzle 13 Cup 14 Auxiliary stirring blade 14a Rotating shaft 14b Gear

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cup-type beverage which is prepared by mixing a powdery raw material taken out of a raw material box into a mixing ball at the time of sale and hot water poured into the ball from a hot water tank to prepare a beverage and supplying the beverage to the cup from the ball. It is a raw material stirring device of a vending machine, and a stirring blade which is rotated by a drive motor is disposed facing a beverage outlet opened at the center of the bottom of a hopper type mixing ball, and a powder raw material inlet is opened on the outer peripheral side of the upper surface of the ball. The above-mentioned stirring blades are used as main stirring blades, and additional auxiliary stirring blades are additionally provided on the inclined bottom surface in the ball near the powder material inlet, so that the main stirring blades and the auxiliary stirring blades are simultaneously driven during the sales operation. A raw material stirring device for a cup-type beverage vending machine, wherein the raw material is stirred. 2. A cup-type beverage according to claim 1, wherein the rotation shaft of the auxiliary stirring blade and the drive shaft of the main stirring blade connected to the drive motor are connected via a transmission gear. Raw material stirring device for vending machines. 3. The raw material stirring device according to claim 1, wherein a gear is formed on the peripheral surface of the main stirring blade and the auxiliary stirring blade which are disc-shaped, and the auxiliary stirring blade is transmitted to the main stirring blade via the gear. A raw material stirring device for a cup-type beverage vending machine, which is connected.