JP3366871B2 - Frozen dessert device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing ice confections such as ice cream. 2. Description of the Related Art An ice cream dispenser of this type is conventionally known as shown in FIG. The pouring cylinder 105 accommodates an ice cream cartridge pack 104 on the back side of the door 103 of the freezer compartment 102 through which the cool air generated by the cooler 101 is circulated.
The door 103 is provided with a pouring valve 107 provided with a cock 106 so that the cartridge pack 104
The pump 108 pressurizes the piston 108 by pumping the pressure liquid 109 to the lower side of the piston 108 in the discharge cylinder 105 to compress the cartridge pack 104 and open the cock 106. When the ice cream in the cartridge pack 104 is exhausted, the door 10
3, the piston 108 is lowered, the lid 111 of the dispensing cylinder 105 is removed, and the cartridge 111 is replaced with a new cartridge pack 104. In the case of an apparatus of this type which extrudes a hard type ice cream which is considerably harder than a soft ice cream, the pressure of the pressure liquid 109 supplied below the piston 108 is considerably high. . For this reason, the pressurized liquid 109 causes the piston 108 and the discharge cylinder 10
A liquid seal 112 such as an O-ring is provided on the outer periphery of the piston 108 so as not to leak out from the sliding contact surface with the piston 5. However, in the above-mentioned conventional products, the service life of the liquid seal 112 sometimes becomes significantly shorter than expected in design, and liquid leakage may occur at an early stage. there were. According to the study of the present inventors, the following causes have been found. [0005] That is, since the cartridge pack 104 filled with ice cream is delivered while being cooled to a low temperature, if the cartridge pack 104 is exposed to the outside air, dew condensation is immediately generated on the surface and the surface becomes wet. Since the cartridge pack 104 is completely sealed in consideration of hygiene, an operator may inadvertently place the cartridge pack in a place where foreign matter easily adheres. As a result, foreign matter adheres to the surface of the cartridge pack 104 and is carried into the cylinder 105 when the cartridge pack 104 is loaded into the ejection cylinder 105. As a result, the foreign matter adheres to the inner wall of the cylinder and intersects with the liquid seal 112 of the piston 108. Being bitten by
This causes abnormal wear of the liquid seal 112 at an early stage. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for extracting a frozen dessert having high durability by preventing abnormal wear of a liquid seal. [0007] As a means for achieving the above object, the apparatus for dispensing frozen desserts according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises disposing a dispensing cylinder in a refrigerator, and dispensing the dispensed cylinder. A cartridge pack filled with frozen dessert is exchangeably accommodated on one side of a piston movably provided in the delivery cylinder, and the other side of the piston is pumped with a pressure fluid to discharge the frozen dessert in the cartridge pack. A seal ring that slides on the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder to seal the pressure fluid is fitted to the piston on the pressure-feeding side of the pressure fluid. A dust seal having a lip portion having a shape that expands conically toward the cartridge pack side is provided on the storage side of the pack, and the lip portion of the dust seal is provided. Is brought into sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder , and
To the tip side of the piston from the dust seal arrangement part
Is provided with a step portion connecting the small diameter portion and the large diameter portion,
Part is located on the tip side of the lip part of the dust seal.
The small diameter portion corresponds to the inner peripheral side of the lip portion . [0010] The invention is characterized in that when a pressure fluid is pumped while the cartridge pack is housed in the ejection cylinder, the piston moves and the cartridge pack is compressed. The frozen dessert is poured out. When all the frozen desserts in the pack are dispensed by repeating this dispensing operation, the new cartridge pack is reloaded in the dispensing cylinder, so that the dispensing can be performed again. [0010] In the event that a cartridge pack is replaced, if foreign matter enters the pouring cylinder, it may adhere to the inner wall of the cylinder. However, in the present invention, a dust seal is provided on the side of the piston that houses the cartridge pack, and the dust seal is provided with a lip portion that expands conically toward the cartridge pack side, and the lip portion is a cylinder. Is in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the
Therefore, even if foreign matter adheres to the inner surface of the discharge cylinder, the foreign matter will be scraped off from the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder by the lip portion when the piston moves to the cartridge pack side. Is reliably prevented from being bitten, and the durability of the apparatus for dispensing frozen desserts can be improved. [0011] Further , a step portion formed by connecting a small diameter portion and a large diameter portion is provided at the distal end side of the piston with respect to the dust seal portion, and the large diameter portion is located closer to the distal end side than the lip portion of the dust seal. . For this reason, the large foreign matter adhering to the inner wall of the cylinder is prevented from being pushed by the large diameter portion and sneaking into the dust seal side. Also, small foreign matter that has passed through the large diameter portion is scraped off from the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder by the lip portion of the dust seal, but the piston is provided with a small diameter portion corresponding to the inner peripheral side of the lip portion of the dust seal. Therefore, the scraped foreign matter is stored in the small diameter portion, and the foreign matter is smoothly removed. Therefore,
The durability of the apparatus for dispensing frozen desserts can be further enhanced. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a so-called hard type ice cream dispenser will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, the overall structure of the dispenser will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Reference numeral 11 denotes a freezer comprising a heat-insulating box, the inside of which is a freezer compartment 12, and a heat-insulating door 13 which can be opened and closed on the front surface. A machine room 14 is provided on the bottom side of the freezer 11,
It is installed via a leg 15. On a ceiling portion of the freezing room 12, a cooler 17 connected to a refrigerator 16 installed in the machine room 14 and a fan 18 in the refrigerator are provided.
The air in the refrigerator sucked through the suction duct 19 provided on the inner surface of the freezer compartment 12 is heat-exchanged while passing through the cooler 17 to generate cool air, and the cool air is frozen by the fan 18 in the refrigerator. It is designed to be circulated and supplied into the chamber 12. Thereby, the inside of the freezer compartment 12 is maintained at a cooling temperature such that the hard type ice cream is kept cool while being kept in a state where it can be poured out. On the inner surface side of the above-mentioned heat-insulating door 13, a pouring cylinder 20 formed in a cylindrical shape with a bottom and an open upper surface made of, for example, stainless steel is provided in a vertical type. In the pouring cylinder 20, for example, a plastic piston 5 is provided.
0 is fitted freely to move up and down, the upper part of the piston 50 is the pack storage chamber 22, and the lower part of the piston 50 is the pressure chamber 23. The pressure chamber 23 is connected to a brine supply pipe 25 from a pump 24 provided in the machine room 14, and the pump 24 is connected to a brine tank 26 installed in the freezing room 12. As a result, the brine corresponding to the pressure fluid stored in the brine tank 26 is pumped by the pump 24 into the pressure chamber 23 of the injection cylinder 20.
The piston 50 can be lifted by pressure feeding inside, and conversely, the pump 50 can be reversed to return the brine in the pressure chamber 23 to the brine tank 26 so that the piston 50 can be lowered. On the other hand, a vertical U-shaped groove 27 is cut from the upper edge of the wall surface of the pack storage chamber 22 corresponding to the heat insulating door 13. Therefore, in the pack storage chamber 22, a cartridge pack 30 in which, for example, a plastic film bag is filled with ice cream can be stored in the pouring cylinder 20 while the take-out cylinder 31 is fitted into the U groove 27 from above. I have. A lid 28 can be attached to the upper end of the pack storage chamber 22.
And receive the pressure from the piston 50 by attaching the lid 28. The pouring cylinder 20 having the above structure is
Two belts 34 mounted and fixed on a support plate 33 provided on the back side of the heat insulating door 13 via a hinge 32, and having a middle position in the length direction similarly provided on the back side of the heat insulating door 13. It is mounted vertically as described above. On the other hand, the heat insulation door 13 is provided with an ice cream discharging valve mechanism 40. For details, see Insulated Door 1.
A cylindrical body 4 having a closed front face is provided in a mounting hole 41 formed in
2 is fitted to the front of the heat-insulating door 13 so as to protrude.
The tube 43 is fitted with a clearance, and the opening of the lateral tube 43A can be connected to the take-out tube 31 of the cartridge pack 30. The upper and lower ends of the vertical pipe 43B respectively penetrate the cylindrical body 42 and protrude upward and downward. The lower end forms a spout 44, and a valve body 46 which is raised and lowered by a pouring cock 45 fits into the upper end. Is equipped. Therefore, the spout 44 is opened by rotating the spout cock 45 from the chain line position in FIG. 1 to the solid line position. Next, the piston 50 in the pouring cylinder 20 will be described in detail. The piston 50 has a shape in which a truncated cone-shaped protruding portion 52 is integrally protruded from an upper portion of a cylindrical portion 51 having an open lower surface. For example, the piston 50 is made of plastic having both excellent heat insulating properties and strength. The diameter is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the discharging cylinder 20, and the outer diameter of the base of the raised portion 52 is, for example, 20 mm larger than the inner diameter of the discharging cylinder 20.
It is made small enough so that a sufficient clearance is formed between the cylinder and the discharge cylinder 20. Lower part of the cylindrical portion 51 (the pressure chamber 23
A seal ring mounting groove 53 is formed so as to surround the entire circumference (on the side), and a dust seal mounting groove 54 is also formed over the entire circumference (above the cartridge pack 30 housing side). An annular seal ring 55 made of synthetic rubber is fitted in the seal ring mounting groove 53. As shown in FIG. 2, the seal ring 55 has a ring-shaped base 5.
A pair of lip portions 55B and 55C extending diagonally downward from 5A to the outer peripheral side and the inner peripheral side are provided. The inner peripheral lip portion 55B is in close contact with the bottom of the seal ring mounting groove 53, and is provided on the outer peripheral side. The tip of the lip 55B is the piston 50
Is in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 20 when it is arranged in the pouring cylinder 20. The two lip portions 55
B and 55C communicate with the pressure chamber 23 through the seal ring mounting groove 53. When the brine is fed into the pressure chamber 23, the brine penetrates between the lip portions 55B and 55C, and the pressure causes the inner peripheral side to move. The lip 55B of the piston 50
Next, sealing is performed by bringing the outer peripheral lip portion 55C into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 20. On the other hand, the dust seal mounting groove 54 has:
An annular dust seal 56 also made of synthetic rubber is fitted. As shown in FIG. 2, as shown in FIG.
A lip portion 56 </ b> B that expands in a conical shape is provided on the side) and the lip portion 56 </ b> B is brought into close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the pouring cylinder 20 when the piston 50 is disposed in the pouring cylinder 20. The lip portion 56B is formed such that the upper end is formed flat and an acute edge is formed between the lip portion 56B and the peripheral surface of the lip portion 56B. I have. The base 5 of the dust seal 56
A dust seal 56 is mounted with a slight gap left between the upper surface of 6A and the inner surface of the dust seal mounting groove 54. Above the dust seal mounting groove 54 (on the pack storage chamber 22 side) of the piston 50, a step 57 is formed by connecting a small diameter portion 57A and a large diameter portion 57B, and the large diameter portion 57B is formed. The small-diameter portion 57A is positioned closer to the inner peripheral side of the lip portion 56B than the lip portion 56B of the dust seal 56. Since the small diameter portion 57A corresponds to the inner peripheral side of the lip portion 56B, a slight gap is formed between the inside of the lip portion 56B and the upper portion of the base portion 56A. Foreign matter scraped off from the inner peripheral surface is stored. The large diameter portion 57B of the piston 50 is
The inner peripheral surface of the dispensing cylinder 20 is accommodated through a small gap that does not hinder the vertical movement of the piston 50. This embodiment has the above-described structure,
Subsequently, the operation will be described. In order to pour ice cream, a container is set below the spout 44, and when the spout cock 45 is turned to the solid line position in FIG. 1, a spout switch (not shown) is turned on and the pump 24 is turned on. Driven in the forward direction, the brine in the brine tank 26 is pumped up and supplied to the pressure chamber 23 of the pouring cylinder 20 to be pressurized. At this time, the brine in the pressure chamber 23 enters between the two lip portions 55B and 55C of the seal ring 55,
Since the inner lip portion 55B is pressed against the piston 50 and the outer lip portion 55C is pressed against the inner peripheral surface of the injection cylinder 20, the leakage of the brine is reliably prevented. The piston 50 rises due to the rise in the pressure of the pressure chamber 23, and the cartridge pack 30 is compressed, so that the cartridge pack 3
Ice cream flows out of the take-out cylinder 31 of the
3 is discharged into the container from a spout 44 opened through the inside of the horizontal pipe 43A. When the proper amount is dispensed, when the dispensing cock 45 is turned to the position shown by the dashed line in FIG. 1, the dispensing switch is turned off, the pump 24 is stopped, and subsequently the pouring outlet 44 is also closed. Dispensing is stopped. By repeating the above, ice cream is sequentially poured out. When the ice cream in the cartridge pack 30 is used up and the cartridge pack 3
Swapping 0 for a new one is performed. In that case, the heat insulation door 13 is opened, and the pouring cylinder 20 is taken out of the refrigerator. Subsequently, the dispensing cylinder 20 is tilted from the hinge 32, the lid 28 of the pack storage chamber 22 is loosened and removed, and a piston lowering switch (not shown) is turned on. Then, the pump 24 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, and the brine in the pressure chamber 23 of the dispensing cylinder 20 is sucked and returned to the brine tank 26 side. The chamber 22 is gradually expanded. When the piston 50 reaches the lower end position, the reverse rotation of the pump 24 is stopped. Then, the used cartridge pack 30 is taken out and replaced with a new cartridge pack 30. When the replacement of the cartridge pack 30 is completed, the lid 28 is attached, the pouring cylinder 20 is held up, and the heat insulating door 13 is closed again. Thereby, the ice cream in the new cartridge pack 30 can be poured out. When the cartridge pack 30 is replaced as described above, if foreign matter such as dust or sand adheres to the outer surface of the newly loaded cartridge pack 30, the foreign matter is taken into the pouring cylinder 20. In some cases, this may adhere to the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 20 as shown in FIG.
The foreign matter adhering to 0 is denoted by Z). This foreign matter Z
As the piston 50 rises, it tends to penetrate between the piston 50 and the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 20. However, in the present embodiment, a large diameter portion 57B is formed at the upper end of the cylindrical portion 51 of the piston 50 so as to be close to the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 20 so as to leave a small gap. Foreign matter is removed by the large diameter portion 57B, and is reliably prevented from entering the seal ring 55 side. The relatively small foreign matter that could not be removed by the large-diameter portion 57B is removed by the lip portion 56B of the dust seal 56 provided on the piston 50.
Since it is expanded toward the second side, it is scraped off from the inner peripheral surface of the pouring cylinder 20 by its tip, and is fed into the small diameter portion 57A of the piston 50.
Thus, even if foreign matter adheres to the inner peripheral surface of the pouring cylinder 20, it is reliably prevented from entering the seal ring 55 side, and abnormal wear of the seal ring 55 can be prevented. . As described above, according to the present embodiment, the dust seal 56 can reliably prevent foreign matter from entering the seal ring 55 side, so that the durability of the ice cream pouring device can be greatly improved. There is an advantage. In particular, according to the present embodiment in which the large diameter portion 57B is formed at the tip of the piston 50, relatively large foreign matter can be removed before entering the dust seal 56 side, so that the durability of the dust seal 56 is further improved. Can be enhanced. In addition, the large diameter portion 57B can prevent the piston 50 from tilting in the injection cylinder 20 and also prevent abnormal locking when the piston 50 moves up and down. <Other Embodiments> The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above with reference to the drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, various changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to an apparatus for pouring a frozen dessert using a cartridge pack filled with a so-called hard ice cream. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other frozen desserts such as software cream, yogurt, sherbet, etc. It is also possible to apply to a dispensing device using a cartridge pack filled with. (2) By forming the piston from a soft rubber material, the piston and the liquid seal or dust seal may be manufactured by integral molding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an entire structure according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a piston portion. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a piston. FIG. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional example. [Description of References] 12 ... Freezer compartment 13 ... Insulated door 20 ... Cylinder 22 ... Pack storage chamber 23 ... Pressure chamber 24 ... Pump 30 ... Cartridge pack 50 ... Piston 51: Cylindrical part 53: Seal ring mounting groove 54: Dust seal mounting groove 55: Seal rings 55B, 55C: Lip part 56: Dust seal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-10-201425 (JP, A) JP-A 61-84264 (JP, U) JP-A 62-121403 (JP, U) JP-A 2 143538 (JP, U) Fully open sho 59-15503 (JP, U) Fully open sho 57-110317 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A23G 1/00-9 / 30

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims 1] A dispensing cylinder is arranged in a cooling box, and a cartridge pack filled with frozen dessert on one side of a piston movably provided in the dispensing cylinder is replaceable. In which the frozen dessert in the cartridge pack can be poured out by pumping a pressurized fluid to the other side of the piston. A seal ring that slides on the peripheral surface to seal the pressure fluid is fitted, and a lip of a shape that expands conically toward the cartridge pack side of the piston is provided on the housing side of the cartridge pack. the dust seal having a part provided with the lip portion of the dust seal is in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder, and the dust seal arrangement portion of the piston R
On the tip side, a step portion connecting the small diameter portion and the large diameter portion is provided,
The large diameter part is closer to the tip than the lip of the dust seal.
And the small diameter part corresponds to the inner peripheral side of the lip part
An apparatus for dispensing frozen desserts.