JPS6237438B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a beverage vending machine that dissolves various powdered raw materials such as coffee and cocoa in hot water and sells them. The present invention aims to provide a beverage vending machine that can increase the quality of beverages, sell high-quality beverages, and maintain a sanitary beverage supply channel.

A product that is used as a beverage vending machine to dispense a fixed amount of powdered raw materials such as coffee, cocoa, tea, soup, etc. into a mixing bowl inside the machine along with hot water, stir and mix them, and then transport them to the bend stage as a hot beverage. There are many implementations and well-known systems that automatically sell and supply products to cups. Furthermore, using the same machine, in addition to hot beverages,
For example, products that are sold and provided as cold drinks such as iced coffee have also been put into practical use. In this case, the method for preparing and selling cold beverages is to add ice to the product cup along with the hot beverage and use the ice to convert the hot beverage into a cold beverage for sale, or to equip the aircraft with a cooler. Conventionally, a method has been put into practical use in which the hot beverage prepared as described above is turned into a cold beverage using a cooler during the process of discharging the hot beverage into a product cup. However, the former method consumes a large amount of ice for one sale, resulting in high running costs. In addition, the latter method requires a separate refrigerator to cool the hot beverages, which increases the manufacturing cost of the vending machine.

As a device to solve this problem, when preparing and selling cold beverages, a small amount of hot water and a fixed amount of powdered raw materials are stirred and mixed in advance in a mixing bowl to create a concentrated liquid, and then cooling water is added. For example, a system is known in which a beverage is prepared by stirring and mixing the cold water and the concentrate in a mixing bowl, as described in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 52-163400. According to this method, a cooler can be omitted and water consumption can also be reduced.

By the way, in the above system, after the concentrate is produced, cold water is replenished into the mixing bowl and mixed, so after the cold water is replenished, the temperature of the beverage becomes so low that almost no raw materials can be dissolved. Therefore, if the dissolution conditions, such as the water temperature or the moisture absorption state of the powder raw material, change, and undissolved ingredients are left while producing the concentrate, the undissolved raw materials will be fed directly to the product cup, making it impossible to provide a high-quality beverage. This will cause inconvenience. In addition, the viscosity of beverages increases as the temperature decreases, so in the above-mentioned method in which beverages are supplied to product cups at low temperatures, the raw material solution is more likely to adhere to the mixing bowl and inside the beverage supply pipes than when selling hot beverages. It has the disadvantage of being unsanitary.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and it is possible to improve the dissolution performance of powdered raw materials while using cold water when preparing and selling cold drinks, thereby making it possible to sell and supply high-quality cold drinks. To provide a beverage vending machine which can maintain a beverage supply channel in a sanitary manner. According to the present invention, this object is achieved by equipping a mixing bowl with a rotating blade that forcibly stirs the powder raw material and hot water and retaining the liquid in the bowl.
In the cold beverage preparation process, after the rotary blade starts rotating, a small amount of hot hot water and powdered raw materials are added, and these are stored and held in the mixing bowl while stirring and mixing, and the concentrated liquid obtained by this stirring and mixing is collected when the rotary blade is stopped. This is achieved by dividing the process into two stages: a raw material dissolution and supply process, which is then supplied to the product cup, and a cold water replenishment process, in which cold water is poured into the mixing bowl after the rotating blades have stopped, and is supplied to the product cup. .

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the present invention will be explained in detail based on illustrated embodiments. First, in FIG. 1, 1 is a container containing powdered raw materials, 2 is a hot water tank, 3 is a cold water tank, 4 is a mixing bowl, 5 is a rotary blade equipped on the mixing bowl 4, 6 is an ice maker,
Reference numeral 7 indicates a product cup storage cylinder, and 8 indicates a product cup carried out to the bending stage 9, which are linked to each other as shown by dotted line arrows. Next, the specific structures of the mixing bowl 4 and the rotary vane in FIG. 1 are shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The case of the mixing bowl 4 has a two-tiered structure, with a powder raw material inlet 41 at the top, a hot water inlet 42 and a cold water inlet 43 at the side, and a beverage outlet 44 at the bottom. . Note that 45 is an exhaust port for removing steam. On the other hand, the rotating blade 5 is a disk body 5
The pulsator has stirring blades 52 formed on the upper surface of the pulsator 1 and centrifugal blades 53 formed on the lower surface thereof, and is installed at the bottom of the mixing bowl 4 so as to be located above the beverage outlet 44 so as to cover it. Further, the shaft 54 of the rotating blade 5 passes through the wall of the bowl and is connected to the stirring motor 10. Further, in the figure, arrow A indicates the direction in which the powdered raw material is introduced, arrows B and C indicate the direction in which hot water and cold water are injected, respectively, D indicates the centrifugal stirring flow caused by the rotation of the rotary blade 4, and E indicates the direction in which the beverage flows out. Here, the function of the rotating blade 5 will be described.
When the powdered raw materials and hot water are put into the mixing bowl 4 while rotating, the raw materials and hot water flow in the direction of arrow D.
The mixture is forcibly stirred in the mixing bowl. Furthermore, due to the centrifugal pump action of the centrifugal vanes 53, the liquid that is about to flow down toward the beverage outlet 44 is returned to the mixing bowl, and is therefore stored and held within the mixing bowl. When the operation of the rotary vane 5 is stopped, the stirring and storage retention functions are lost, and the liquid that has been stagnant in the mixing bowl flows freely through the beverage outlet 4.
Released from 4. After that, if water is injected with the rotary vane 5 stopped, it will flow down inside the mixing bowl without being subjected to the retention and retention effect, and the water will flow through the outflow port 44.
released by.

The beverage preparation operation with the above configuration is performed as follows. First, to prepare and sell hot beverages,
The sales command starts the rotary vane 5, and a fixed amount of raw material and hot water are sent from the powder raw material container 1 and hot water tank 2 to the mixing bowl 4 by arrows A and B.
The components are fed and stirred and mixed by the rotary blade 5. During this time, the product cup 8 is waiting to be taken out, and when a predetermined time has elapsed, the rotating blades stop and the hot beverage is sold and supplied to the product cup 8 through the outlet 44. In this sales operation, each component is program-controlled by a preset cam operation.

On the other hand, when cold beverages are selected and prepared and sold, the process according to the present invention is carried out according to a program according to a time chart as shown in FIG. That is, when a cold beverage sales command is given, the stirring motor 10 is first started and the rotation of the rotary blade 5 is started. At the same time, a small amount of hot hot water is injected from the hot water tank 2, and while this hot water is stored and held in the mixing bowl 4 by the rotating blades 5, a fixed amount of powdered raw material is added, and both The mixture is forcibly stirred in the mixing bowl. Therefore, the powdered raw material stirred with hot water dissolves well and a concentrated beverage liquid is obtained. When a predetermined stirring time has elapsed, the stirring motor 10 is stopped, and the concentrated liquid starts to flow out in a gravity manner and is supplied to the product cup 8. The steps up to this point are the first raw material melting and supplying step.
Next, a second cold water replenishment process is performed while the rotating blade 5 is stopped. In this step, cold water corresponding to the amount remaining after subtracting the amount of hot water added in the previous step from the amount of finished beverage is supplied from the cold water tank 3 to the mixing bowl 4. At this time, since the rotating blades are stopped, the supplied cold water does not remain in the mixing bowl 4 but is discharged as it is, washing the inner surface of the beverage supply pipe leading to the mixing bowl 4 and the product cup 8, and washing the product cup. 8.
A predetermined amount of ice is supplied to the product cup 8 by the ice maker 6 while the rotary blade 5 is rotating. With this, one sales operation cycle is completed, and the device is again in a sales standby state.

As is clear from the above explanation of the operation, according to the present invention, since cold water is first used when preparing cold drinks, the amount of ice consumed can be reduced, and there is also a machine in the aircraft that cools hot drinks and makes them into cold drinks. A special cooler for changing can be omitted. Moreover, in cooperation with the operation of the rotary blade, the cold beverage preparation process consists of two processes: a raw material dissolution and supply process and a cold water replenishment process.
By setting the process to be carried out in stages, it is possible to improve the dissolution performance of the powdered raw material and completely dissolve it, eliminating the lumps of undissolved raw materials that often occur when dissolving powdered raw materials in low-temperature hot water. , can supply high quality cold drinks for sale. In addition, the liquid that flows out and is supplied to the product cup immediately after the first raw material melting process is initially hot, and the hot liquid comes into contact with the ice poured into the product cup, increasing the cooling effect of the ice. . In addition, the concentrated liquid produced in the first raw material dissolution and supply step is supplied to the product cup before being replenished with cold water and flows down the beverage supply pipe while still at high temperature. Even if some raw material remains undissolved, this undissolved part can be dissolved in the beverage supply pipe before the beverage is supplied to the product cup. Therefore, it is possible to always provide a high-quality beverage in which the ingredients are sufficiently dissolved. In addition, since the concentrated liquid is discharged while maintaining a low viscosity and high temperature state, it is difficult for the raw material solution to adhere to the mixing bowl or inside the beverage supply pipe, and even if it does, the cold water flowing immediately afterwards As a result, it is possible to provide a beverage vending machine that can be thoroughly washed, prevents the occurrence of adhesion of raw material residue, and has many excellent effects, such as being convenient for hygiene.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Each figure relates to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 is a system diagram of the entire beverage vending machine, Figure 4 is a time chart of vending operation, and Figures 2 and 3 are specific diagrams of the mixing bowl and rotating blade. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal side view and a partially cutaway plan view showing the structure. 1... Powder raw material container, 2... Hot water tank, 3...
...Cold water tank, 4...Mixing bowl, 5...
rotating blade.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a beverage vending machine that puts powdered raw materials and hot water into a mixing bowl, stirs and mixes them, and then supplies them to a product cup at a sales outlet for sale, the powdered raw materials and hot water are forcedly stirred into the mixing bowl, Equipped with a rotating blade that stores and holds liquid in the mixing bowl, the cold beverage preparation process involves adding a small amount of hot water and powdered raw materials after the rotating blade starts rotating, and stirring while storing and holding the liquid in the mixing bowl. A raw material dissolving and supplying process in which the concentrated liquid obtained by stirring and mixing is supplied to the product cup by stopping the rotating blade, and a cold water replenishing process in which cold water is poured into the mixing bowl after the rotating blade is stopped and is supplied to the product cup. A beverage vending machine characterized by being equipped with a control device that divides the process into two stages.