JP3149935B2 - Cup-type beverage vending machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cup-type beverage vending machine, and more particularly to a vending machine in which ingredients are stirred in a cup.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A so-called cup mixing in which raw materials such as undiluted solution, powder, hot water, water and ice of a beverage are directly poured into a cup, and the raw materials are stirred by rotating a propeller inserted into the cup to prepare a beverage. Beverage vending machines of the type are known.

[0003]

In such a case, the stirring of the raw materials is terminated, the rotation is stopped, and the propeller which has been taken out of the cup has been conventionally kept in a state of waiting until the next sale. Therefore, this type of conventional vending machine has a problem in that the beverage attached to the propeller drips and stains the inside of the machine, or the previous beverage mixes with the next different beverage to impair the taste. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cup mixing type beverage vending machine which solves the above-mentioned problem by simply treating a beverage attached to a propeller after stirring the raw materials.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides the above-mentioned object by providing a washing cup filled with washing water and a control means for rotating a propeller, which has finished stirring the raw materials, in the washing cup for a predetermined time. Shall be achieved.

[0005]

[Action] A washing cup containing washing water is prepared, and the propeller after stirring of the raw material is rotated in the washing cup for a predetermined time to wash off the attached raw material with the washing water.

[0006]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cup moving mechanism, FIG. 2 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a control operation. First, in FIG. 1, an X-axis rail 22 extending left and right is supported on a pair of left and right Y-axis rails 21 extending back and forth so as to be able to run back and forth as indicated by arrows. 23 is supported so as to be able to run left and right as indicated by arrows. The X-axis rail 22 is moved back and forth by a feed screw (not shown) driven by a Y-axis motor 24, and the cup carrier 23 is moved left and right by a feed screw (not shown) driven by an X-axis motor 25.

[0007] A cup hand 26 comprising a pair of left and right arms and a washing cup 27 containing washing water are provided on the cup carrier 23.
And are mounted side by side. The cup hand 26 is driven by the cup hand motor 28 to open the gripped cup 29 when the arms open left and right, and the cleaning cup 27 is driven by the drain solenoid 30 to open the stored cleaning when the bottom plate 27a (FIG. 2) opens. Drain water. A cup unloading mechanism 31, a raw material discharge mechanism 32, and a hot water tank 33 are arranged at a position higher than the cup carrier 23 along the X-axis rail 25 from the left in the figure, and a stirring mechanism 34 is arranged at a position before these. Have been.

The hot water tank 33 always stores hot water boiled by the heater, discharges hot water for beverage preparation into the cup 29 by opening the hot water valve 35,
Hot water is discharged as washing water. Further, the stirring mechanism 34 is driven by a stirring motor 37 and rotated by a propeller 37 (FIG. 2).
The propeller 37 is driven by an elevating motor 38 and moves up and down along a support 39. The above-mentioned motors are on / off controlled by a main control unit for controlling the entire vending machine via a control unit 40. Then, the control operation of the illustrated cup moving mechanism at the time of selling the beverage will be described below based on the flowchart of FIG.

On the cup carrier 23, the cup hand 26 is located immediately below the cup unloading mechanism 31 and is on standby for sale.
Therefore, at the same time as the start of the selling operation, the cup 29 is unloaded from the cup unloading mechanism 31 onto the cup hand 26 (step S1), and then the cup 29 is moved to the raw material discharge mechanism 32 (step S2). The raw material is discharged (step S3), and the cup 29 is further placed in the hot water tank 33.
(Step S4), and a fixed amount of hot water is discharged (step S5).

Subsequently, when the cup 29 is moved to the stirring mechanism 34 and positioned immediately below the propeller 37 as shown (step S6), the propeller 37 is lowered (step S7), and the propeller 37 is moved into the cup 29. The raw material is stirred for a certain period of time (step S8). When the stirring is completed, the propeller 37 is raised (step S9), the cup 29 is moved to the product outlet 41 (FIG. 1) (step S10), and the cup 2 is opened by opening the cup hand 26.
9 is set (step S11).

Thereafter, the cup carrier 23 is moved to position the cleaning cup 27 directly below the propeller 37 (step S12), and the propeller 37 is lowered (step S1).
3) The propeller 37 is rotated in the forward and reverse directions in the cleaning cup 27 for a predetermined time, and the beverage adhering to the propeller 37 is washed away with the hot water stored in the cleaning cup 27 (step S14). When the washing is completed, the propeller 37 is raised to the home position (step S15), and the number of washings is set to washing water (hot water).
It is checked whether the number of times has to be replaced, for example, 10 times (step S16).

If it is determined in step S16 that the number of cleanings has reached 10, the cleaning cup 27 is moved to the drain port 42 (FIG. 2) (step S17), the bottom plate 27a is opened, and the inside of the cleaning cup 27 becomes dirty. The washing water is discarded (step S18). Thereafter, the cleaning cup 27 is moved to the hot water tank 33 (Step S19), and a certain amount of hot water is discharged as the cleaning water (Step S20). Then, the cup carrier 23 is sold under the cup unloading mechanism 31. It returns to the standby position and waits (step S21). If the number of times of cleaning is less than 10 in step S16, the process directly proceeds to step S16.
Proceed to 21 to wait for sale.

[0013]

According to the present invention, by rotating in a cleaning cup for a certain period of time and washing off the adhering raw material with washing water, the beverage still adhering to the propeller as in the prior art is waiting for sale. It does not drip and contaminate the cabin, or mix with the next drink for sale to spoil the taste.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a cup moving mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 23 cup carrier 26 cup hand 27 washing cup 29 cup 34 stirring mechanism 37 propeller

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-260594 (JP, A) JP-A-62-221095 (JP, A) JP-A-2-226393 (JP, A) JP-A-2-161595 (JP) JP-A-62-25795 (JP, A) JP-A-4-136787 (JP, U) JP-A-4-4385 (JP, U) JP-A-2-111882 (JP, U) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07F 13/00-15/12

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cup-type beverage vending machine in which a propeller is rotated in the cup to stir the raw material after the raw material is put into the cup. A cup-type beverage vending machine, further comprising control means for rotating the propeller in the washing cup for a predetermined time.