JPS5835687A - Water circuit of ice maker for cup type beverage vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a water circuit in a cup-type beverage vending machine, which is configured to prevent water from stagnating for a long period of time, particularly in an ice-making machine, and to maintain the quality of ice-making water.

As is well known, the vending machine mentioned above has a water tank directly connected to the water supply inside the machine, a cold water line that supplies cold water by pumping water from the water reservoir to the cup, and a cold water line that also receives water from the water reservoir and dispenses ice. It is equipped with an ice maker, a syrup line pulled out from the syrup tank, a carbonated water line including a carbonator, etc., and supplies syrup, cold water for diluting the syrup, carbonated water and From the viewpoint of food hygiene, it is extremely important to maintain the quality of drinking water in cup-type beverage vending machines configured to supply ice. There is no problem with such a point cold water line because the water in the line flows every time a beverage sales operation is performed, and fresh water is replenished from the water reservoir each time. Regarding the ice making circuit including the water line, there are the following problems. In other words, once the ice maker starts ice making operation, it continues to make ice9 until the ice storage chamber is full of ice, stores this ice in the water storage chamber, and delivers a small amount of ice each time a sales command is issued. . Then, as sales progress and the amount of water stored in the ice storage chamber becomes nearly empty, ice-making operation resumes.
Makes ice by receiving water from a water reservoir. For this reason, the water in the ice maker and the ice making water line remains stagnant for a long period of time after one ice making operation is completed until the next ice making operation begins. In addition, heat enters the stored water from the outside, causing the ice to melt and generate melt water. This meltwater is generally stored -
The melt water is led back to the ice making section through a drain pipe pulled out from the bottom of the tank, but since this melt water is exposed to the outside air inside the water storage chamber, there is a possibility that it may be contaminated with bacteria. If the water remains stagnant in the water system for a while, the microorganisms contained in the water will propagate and the formation of scale will progress, resulting in an unfavorable condition for food hygiene when used as ice-making water. Conventionally, this has been done by frequently draining the water in the water circuit of the ice maker and replacing it with fresh water as part of routine maintenance work, but due to the time-consuming process, improvements have been made. The strategy was strongly discouraged.

As such an improvement measure, a water circuit as shown in FIG. 1 has already been proposed. That is, in FIG. 1, 1 is a water reservoir that receives water from a water supply 2 through a water inlet valve 3, and 4 is a water pump 5. The cold water line 9, which is piped between the water cooling coil 6, the cold water valve as a three-way valve, and the bend stage where the cup 8 is carried out, is installed to match the specified water level HK of the water reservoir 1. Ice maker, 1
0 is ice making water 2 ins which is piped between the ice making machine 9 and the water reservoir 1. t1lij cold water valve] Branch and force ~ Bonator 12. The carbonated water line 1 is piped between the carbonated water valve and the pendo stage. Note that the syrup line, leg acid gas twin, etc. are omitted in this figure. The ice making machine 9 has an ice making section 14 and an ice storage section 1 in combination on the top thereof.
Consists of u. The L0 ice making operation is performed as follows. The water introduced into the ice making section 14 through the water inlet 16 through the ice making water 2 in lO forms ice on the inner wall of the evaporator lγ of the refrigerator.
The ice is scraped off by the auger 18 and pushed into the upper extrusion head into column-shaped ice. Thereafter, the columnar ice is further crushed by a cutter 20 and stored in an ice storage chamber. When the water storage chamber becomes full of ice, it detects this and stops the refrigerator. Agitator 21 if a sales command is given in Komu
rotates, and at the same time the ice delivery door 4 opens to supply a predetermined amount of ice to the cup 8 via the chute. In addition, in order to collect the melt water generated when ice melts in the storage water, a melt water drain pipe 24 is connected to the drain hole opened at the bottom of the water storage chamber 15, and this melt water drain pipe 4 is connected to the ice making section. 14 is connected to a three-way joint chrysanthemum connected to the other water inlet 25.

Furthermore, a three-way joint 5 is inserted on the water pump suction side of the cold water line 4, and the branch port of this three-way joint L and the three-way hand 4 on the ice maker side are connected to connect the strainer hammer and the three-way drain joint. The cook is inserted into the mackerel and the nine auxiliary running water is piped in by the father. The three-way cock 9 is for draining water from the ice-making circuit, and by switching between the two three-way cocks 9 and 4, the water can be drained into the drain container island.

According to the above-mentioned water and oil passage, during the beverage sales operation, water from the auxiliary water line is sucked into the water pump 5 through the three-way joint 1 by the operation of the water pump 6 during the sales operation, and as a result, the ice maker 9. A water flow is generated in the ice-making water line IO as shown by the arrow. In other words, new water is supplied from the water reservoir 1 to the ice maker 9 every time a sales operation is performed, and the water is replaced.

In this way, the water does not remain stagnant for a long time in the ice making machine, and the growth of microorganisms and the formation of limescale are effectively suppressed, thereby maintaining the quality of the ice making water.

However, if ice builds up and logs remain in the ice making section 14 up to the water channel 1 above, the water resistance inside the ice making section will become large, making it difficult for the suction operation of the water pump during beverage sales. It has been found that only the water next to the melt water drain pipe, which has low water resistance, is sucked in, and then air is drawn into the water storage chamber 15. Moreover, if air is sucked into the water circuit, the water supply function of the water pump 5 will deteriorate, the quality of carbonated water will deteriorate due to a decrease in the volume of carbon dioxide due to air being mixed in with the carbonated water in the carbonator, and the cold water supply to the cup will deteriorate. Various problems arise, such as variations in the amount of ice and, furthermore, a deterioration in the quality of the ice due to air being mixed into the ice-making water.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its object is to obtain a dead water circuit which prevents air from entering the water circuit during operation using the water circuit shown in FIG.

According to the present invention, there is provided a system in which a passageway of a meltwater drain pipe of an ice maker is operated to block the passageway in response to a drop in the water level in the meltwater drainpipe, for example, to prevent air from being sucked in from the ice storage compartment. This is achieved by providing a valve mechanism.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

In FIG. 2, a water drain pipe 24 K Fi is drawn out from the bottom of the water tank stop in the ice making machine 9 and connected to the water inlet side of the ice making section 14 , and is formed at the end face of the branch port of the float 31 and the three-way joint 26 . Nine float valves are provided, each consisting of a valve seat 32. This float valve lowers the float 31 when the water level inside the melt water drain pipe drops.
As shown in FIG. 5, it operates so as to come into close contact with the valve seat 32 and close the passage inside the pipe.

Therefore, in the water circuit shown in Fig. 1, water from the auxiliary water line is pumped to the water pump 5 by operating the water pump 6 during beverage sales.
When the water level on the melt water drain pipe island drops to the lower limit, as shown in Figure 3, the float 31 comes into close contact with the valve dust and blocks the passage, preventing air from being sucked into the auxiliary water flow line. do. Consequently, the water in the ice-making water line 10 flows through the ice-making section 14 and is forced to flow toward the auxiliary water line. During sales standby, the water level in the melt water drain pipe is balanced with the water level in the water reservoir, and since the float 31 is also in the raised position, the water generated in the ice storage vehicle can flow freely. It's cloudy.

Figure 1 shows an example of a valve mechanism in which a three-way joint chrysanthemum branch boat is provided with a seat valve in place of a fully equipped float valve. This seat valve is normally open), but closes when negative pressure in the direction of arrow P is applied due to the suction operation of the water pump.

As described above, according to the present invention, water is poured into the ice-making enclosure every time a beverage is sold and replaced with fresh water to maintain the quality of the ice-making water. The practical effect of preventing room air from being sucked into the water circuit and ensuring stable operation is achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a water circuit diagram of a cup-type beverage vending machine to which this invention is implemented, #! Figure 2 is a structural diagram of the main parts of an embodiment based on this invention, Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the valve mechanism in Figure 2, and Figure #I4 is a valve 4 of an embodiment different from that shown in Figure 2! ! This is the composition. 1...Water reservoir, 4...Cold water line, 5...Water pump, F...Cold water valve, 8 River cup, 9--Ice maker,
10... Ice making water line, construction... Ice making section, 15...
Water storage chamber, 4...fusion 9- water drain pipe, hook...three-way joint, 30...auxiliary water line, 31...7@ funnel valve float, 32.
...Float valve seat. 10-

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) An ice making machine connected via a water tin ice water line and consisting of nine ice making sections and an ice storage chamber, and a pend stage from which a cup is carried out from the water reservoir via a water pump and a cold water valve. Nine cold water lines are piped between them, nine auxiliary running water lines are inserted into the water pump suction couple of the cold water line, and are drawn out from a three-way joint branch boat and connected to the water inlet of the ice making section of the ice maker, and the ice storage compartment. This cup-type beverage vending machine has a water drain pipe that is pulled out from the bottom and connected to the water inlet side of the ice-making section, so that when the water pump operates during beverage sales, water flows from the ice-making machine side through the auxiliary water flow twin. A water circuit for an ice maker in a cup-type beverage vending machine, characterized in that a valve mechanism is installed in the passage of the melt water drain pipe to prevent air from being introduced from the ice storage compartment. 2. In the water circuit according to claim 1, the valve mechanism is a float valve that operates to close the passage in response to a drop in the water level in the melt water drain pipe. Ice making in a cup-type beverage vending machine Il& machine water circuit.