JPH0634274B2 - Cold drink vending machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention is directed to a cold beverage by pouring a predetermined amount of ice pieces into a cup and injecting a raw material of the beverage at every constant command. Cold drink vending machine for selling.

(Prior Art) This type of vending machine is equipped with an ice making machine in its body. For example, this ice making machine is, for example, No. 59-184073 of Kaikai and No. 6 of Shoko.
As seen in No. 0-29030, a spiral shaft is provided in an ice making cylinder, water is supplied into the ice making cylinder to form an ice layer on the inner peripheral portion thereof, and this ice layer is rotated by the spiral shaft. Then, it is divided into ice pieces of almost constant size and sent to the stocker for storage, and when the drink is sold, the stocker's discharge port is opened for a certain period of time, and ice chips are put into the cup through this discharge port. There is.

However, if the ice pieces stored in the stocker are left for a long time, it becomes difficult for the ice pieces to fuse with each other, and it becomes difficult to release the ice pieces in a fixed amount from the outlet, or the release itself becomes impossible. turn into.

Then, as seen in Jitsukai Sho 56-67590,
An agitator is installed in the stocker, and when a drink sales command is input, the stocker's outlet is opened and the agitator is rotated at the same time to release the ice pieces in the stocker.
Further, there has been proposed a means for agitating ice pieces by rotating the agitator for a fixed time period and a required time period during a standby time when there is no command to sell a beverage.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) However, the time speed of fusion of ice pieces is not constant because it changes depending on the water quality (ice quality), the ambient temperature, etc. Therefore, the agitator is rotated at regular intervals. In the above-mentioned means, in order to keep the fusion-free state at any timing when the beverage sales command is input, it is necessary to set the time interval for rotating the agitator to be considerably short and rotate the agitator frequently. I have to. And when the agitator frequently rotates and the ice pieces are stirred in this way,
There is a risk that some of the ice pieces will be broken into fine particles and will be interposed between the ice pieces, which will rather promote the fusion of the ice pieces.

Further, in the case where a drink sales command is input immediately before the agitator starts rotating, insufficient agitation of ice pieces may hinder proper release thereof.

When the agitator rotates, there is a change in the load applied to the agitator, that is, the time until it reaches a stable rotation speed depending on the degree of fusion of ice pieces and the remaining amount of ice pieces. Since the agitator rotates at the same time as the opening of the discharge port, the difference in the rising of the agitator causes variations in the discharge amount of ice pieces, making it difficult to stably supply the required amount of ice pieces to the cup.

The present invention aims to solve such problems.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) In order to solve such problems, the present invention provides an ice making machine in the body of an automatic vending machine equipped with a cup station. An ice making cylinder to which a water supply pipe is connected, a cooling pipe provided at the outer periphery of the ice making cylinder, a stocker provided at an upper end of the ice making cylinder, and a spiral shaft rotatably provided in the ice making cylinder. An agitator for stirring ice pieces provided in the stocker, a discharge port formed on a side surface of the stocker, a shutter for opening and closing the discharge port, and a first drive for driving and rotating the agitator. And a second driver that drives the shutter to open the discharge port, and cools the water supplied into the ice making cylinder through the water supply pipe with the cooling pipe to the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder. Ice layer This ice layer is divided into pieces of ice of almost constant size by rotation of the spiral shaft, sent out into the stocker and stored, and after the cup is introduced into the cup station, the shutter is driven to drive the stocker In the one in which the discharge port is opened for a certain period of time and the ice pieces in the stocker are thrown into the cup of the cup station, the timing of energization of the first driver and the second
And controlling the timing of the energization of the driver, prior to opening the discharge port of the stocker by energizing the second driver,
The control means is provided for stirring the ice pieces in the stocker based on the rotation of the agitator due to the energization of the first driver.

(Operation) When a drink sales command is input, the agitator first rotates, and this rotation stirs the ice pieces in the stocker.
After that, the discharge port of the stocker is opened, and the ice pieces in the stocker are discharged through this discharge port and put into the cup of the cup station.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, 1 is a machine of an automatic vending machine, in which a raw material container 2 containing various beverage ingredients, a hot water storage tank 3, hot water mixing tanks 4, mixing balls 4, an ice maker 5, a cup station 6 Etc. are provided.

The structure of the ice making machine 5 will be described. In the ice making cylinder 10, a spiral shaft 11 that rotates in conjunction with a motor 9 as a first driver is provided in the ice making cylinder 10.
A stocker 12 is attached to the upper end of the stocker 12, and an agitator 13 is housed in the stocker 12. The agitator 13 is connected to the upper end of the spiral shaft 11 to rotate integrally with the spiral shaft 11. Ice maker 10
A cooling pipe 14 is wound around the outer periphery of the ice making cylinder, and a water supply pipe 15 is connected to the peripheral surface of the lower end portion of the ice making cylinder 10. Water is supplied into the ice making cylinder 10 through the water supply pipe 15, and the water is cooled by the cooling pipe. It is cooled via 14, and an ice layer is generated on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 10 by this cooling, and this ice layer is divided into almost constant size ice pieces in accordance with the rotation of the spiral shaft 11, and the stocker 12 It is sent inside and stored. The outer surfaces of the ice making cylinder 10 and the stocker 12 are covered with a heat insulating material 25.

A discharge port 16 is formed in the lower part of the side surface of the stocker 12,
A solenoid 17 as a second driver is attached to the discharge port 16.
A shutter 18 interlocked with is rotatably attached. In addition, the discharge chute 19 is obliquely downward from the discharge port 16.
And a guide chute 20 made of synthetic resin is provided at the tip of the discharge chute 19, a guide hose 26 is connected to the lower end of the guide chute 20, and the tip of the guy hose 26 is introduced into the cup station 6. There is.

A cover 22 is integrally connected to the upper end of the guide chute 20 via a self-hinge 21. This cover 22
Is in contact with the upper edge of the guide chute 20 and covers the tip portion of the discharge chute 19. Engaging claws 23, 23 are integrally formed on the edge of the cover 22, and engaging flanges 24 are integrally formed on the edge of the guide chute 20. The engaging claws 23, 23 engage with the engaging flange 24. The cover 22 is detachably elastically engaged, and the edge portion of the cover 22 is joined to the upper end edge of the guide chute 20 by this engagement.
By removing 3, 23 and rotating the cover 22 via the self-hinge 21, the periphery of the tip end portion of the discharge chute 19 can be opened and the discharge chute 19 can be easily cleaned. There is.

As shown in FIG. 7, the cover 22 is formed separately from the guide chute 20, and the engaging claw 23 a is formed on the cover 22.
Are formed in the guide chute 20 respectively, and the engaging claws 23a are inserted into the engaging holes 24a so that the cover 22 is detachably attached to the guide chute 20. It is also possible.

Next, the operation will be described.

When a certain command for promoting sales is input, first, a cup a (not shown) is placed in the cup station 6 and a cup a is opened.
Will be introduced. At the same time, the motor 9 is energized, the agitator 13 rotates, and the ice pieces in the stocker 12 are agitated. Then, the cup a is placed in the cup station 6.
After a certain amount of time is introduced, the solenoid 17 is energized for a certain period of time with a certain margin time, that is, immediately before the produced beverage liquid described later is discharged to the cup a, the shutter 18 is sucked, and the discharge port 16 is opened for a certain period of time. To be done. Then, by this opening, the ice pieces in the stocker 12 are discharged from the discharge port 16, and are sequentially passed through the discharge chute 19, the guide chute 20, and the guide hose 26, and are thrown into the cup a.

During this period or thereafter, a predetermined raw material from the predetermined raw material container 2 and the hot and cold water tank 3 are mixed in the mixing ball 4.
Hot water is introduced into the cup a of the cup station 6 and mixed with the ice pieces in the cup a to be sold as a cold beverage.

The agitator 13 in the stocker 12 starts to rotate prior to the opening of the discharge port 16, so that the stocker 1 is always open at the time when the discharge port 16 opens.
The ice pieces in 2 are well agitated to separate each individually.

And unlike the conventional case, the agitator 13 does not rotate unnecessarily during the stand-by for sale, so that it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that a part of the ice pieces is shredded into small pieces, and therefore the fusion of the ice pieces is avoided as much as possible. Therefore, when the agitator 13 rotates, the ice pieces can be reliably separated.

Further, since the agitator 13 starts to rotate before the discharge port 16 opens, the ice pieces are not sufficiently stirred at the time when the discharge port 16 opens, and the agitator 13 does not rotate. Outlet 1 after starting
Since there is a certain allowance time until 6 opens, there is a change in the time until the agitator 13 rises to a stable rotation speed depending on the degree of fusion of ice pieces in the stocker 12 and the remaining amount of ice pieces. However, when the outlet 16 is opened, the agitator 13 always has a stable rotation speed.

For this reason, when the discharge port 16 is opened, a certain amount of ice pieces are surely discharged from the stocker 12 and are thrown into the cup a.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the agitator is connected to the spiral shaft so that the motor for driving the spiral shaft is interlocked, but it may be driven by a separate and independent driving source.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the ice pieces in the stocker can be reliably separated when the ice pieces are discharged, and a fixed amount of the ice pieces can be constantly put in the cup each time the ice pieces are sold. Therefore, the cold beverage having a constant concentration can be always provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a time chart according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view showing the internal structure of the same vending machine, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the ice making machine, FIG. 4 is a front view of the same, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a peripheral portion of the guide chute.
FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the VI portion in FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a modified example of the connecting structure of the guide chute and the cover. 6 ... Cup station 12 ... Stocker 13 ... Agitator 16 ... Discharge port

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Hisashi Karasawa 180 Furuichi-cho, Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, Toshiba Equipment Co., Ltd. (56) References ) Actually open 59-133977 (JP, U) Actually open 59-184073 (JP, U) Actually open 60-29030 (JP, Y2)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ice making machine is provided in the body of an automatic vending machine having a cup station, the ice making machine has an ice making cylinder connected to a water supply pipe, and a cooling pipe provided on the outer periphery of the ice making cylinder. A stocker provided at the upper end of the ice making cylinder, a spiral shaft rotatably provided in the ice making cylinder, an agitator for stirring ice pieces provided in the stocker, and a side surface of the stocker. A discharge port, a shutter for opening and closing the discharge port, a first driver for driving and rotating the agitator, and a second driver for driving the shutter to open the discharge port. , The water supplied into the ice making cylinder through the water supply pipe is cooled by the cooling pipe to generate an ice layer on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder, and this ice layer is turned into an ice piece of almost constant size by rotating the spiral shaft. While dividing In the case where it is sent out and stored in the stocker, and after the cup is introduced into the cup station, the shutter is driven to open the discharge port of the stocker for a certain time and throw the ice pieces in the stocker into the cup of the cup station. The timing of energizing the first driver and the timing of energizing the second driver are controlled so that the first opening is performed before opening the discharge port of the stocker by energizing the second driver.
A cold beverage vending machine, which is provided with a control means for stirring the ice pieces in the stocker based on the rotation of the agitator caused by the energization of the driver of the cold beverage vending machine.