JP2002074494A - Beverage cooling device for beverage vending machine and operation control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To reduce the power consumption of a beverage cooling device, and to prevent overcooling of a beverage sold and to stably supply beverages such as draft beer. A refrigerator (8) for accommodating a beverage container (1) and a cooling water tank (9) for cooling a beverage cooling coil (3) of a beverage supply pipe (2) drawn from the beverage container are provided. In the beverage cooling device configured to cool the beverage container, a temperature sensor 13 disposed in an outlet side conduit of the beverage container to detect the temperature of the beverage extracted from the beverage container, and a cooling water tank based on a detection signal of the temperature sensor. A control box 14 for controlling the operation is provided. Usually, the refrigerator and the cooling water tank are operated together, and the operation of the cooling water tank is stopped under the condition that the beverage temperature detected by the temperature sensor falls below the set temperature, and the operation of only the refrigerator is continued. To sell beverages.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage cooling apparatus mounted on a beverage vending machine such as a cup-type vending machine for selling various beverages such as draft beer and low-malt beer, and a beverage dispenser.
And its operation method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a beverage vending machine such as a cup-type vending machine or a beverage dispenser described above, beverage is extracted from a beverage container by a fixed amount at a time based on a sales command, and is discharged and supplied to a cup waiting at a bend stage. ing. Taking a cup-type vending machine for draft beer as an example, a beer keg (beverage container) is connected to a carbon dioxide gas cylinder via a dispense head, and then housed in a refrigerator in the vending machine and cooled to an appropriate temperature for sale. At the time of selling beer, beer extracted in a pressure rise manner from the beer barrel by the carbon dioxide pressure supplied from the carbon dioxide gas cylinder into a cup via a beverage supply pipe piped between the beer barrel and the bend stage and a beverage supply valve is quantitatively added to the cup. It discharges and supplies.

In this case, the proper selling temperature of beer is 5
Although it is about ° C., immediately after the beer barrel is carried to the location and refilled in the vending machine, the temperature of the beer in the barrel increases. For this reason, in a vending machine equipped with only a refrigerator to keep beer barrels cool, if sales resume immediately after refilling the beer barrels, fresh beer will be sold. Further, if the pull-down time until the beer is sufficiently cooled is “prepared for sale” and the sale is stopped, a sales opportunity is missed.

Therefore, in order to be able to sell sufficiently cooled beer even if sales are resumed immediately after refilling the beer barrel, in addition to the above-described refrigerator, the cooling of the beverage in the beverage supply line drawn from the beverage container is performed. A system in which a cooling water tank in which a coil is immersed is additionally provided in the machine, and a refrigerator and a cooling water tank are operated in combination to sell beverages has been proposed by the same applicant of the present invention as Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-162238. ing.

[0005]

As described above, a refrigerator for accommodating a beverage container in a machine as a beverage cooling device and a water-cooled cooling water tank for cooling a beverage extracted from the beverage container in the middle of a piping route are used together. By doing so, the beverage extracted from the beverage container is rapidly cooled to a suitable selling temperature in the process of flowing through the cooling coil immersed in the cooling water tank. As a result, the beverage can be cooled to an appropriate temperature and sold even if the sale is resumed immediately after the refill of the beverage container in the machine.

[0006] However, in the beverage cooling device having a refrigerator and a cooling water tank as described above, if the refrigerator and the cooling water tank are continuously operated while the beverage vending machine is operating, the power consumption increases and the running cost increases. . In addition, in the case of beverages such as beer and low-malt beer, it is necessary to adjust the gas pressure supplied from the carbon dioxide gas cylinder in accordance with the beverage temperature in order to obtain an appropriate amount of foaming in the state of being supplied to the cup. From this, the beverage temperature is excessively reduced by the combined operation of the refrigerator and the cooling water tank, and when the carbon dioxide pressure is reduced in accordance with the beverage temperature, the liquid sending power of the beverage is reduced and a fixed amount of beverage is supplied to the cup. Sales time becomes longer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to reduce power consumption and to reduce running costs, and to prevent transient cooling of a beverage to be sold to a cup. It is an object of the present invention to provide a beverage cooling device for a beverage vending machine improved so that the supply can be stably performed, and an operation control method thereof.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a cup-type vending machine, a beverage dispenser, and the like, which extract a predetermined amount of beverage from a beverage container and supply the beverage to a cup based on a sales command. Beverage cooling device mounted on a beverage vending machine, which includes a refrigerator for accommodating a beverage container and keeping it cool, and a cooling water tank for cooling a beverage by immersing a beverage cooling coil in a beverage supply pipe drawn from the beverage container. A refrigerator, a cooling water tank is operated to cool the beverage to be sold, a temperature sensor disposed in an outlet side pipeline of the beverage container to detect a temperature of the beverage extracted from the beverage container; Operation control means for stopping the operation of the cooling water tank when the temperature of the beverage detected by the temperature sensor falls below the set temperature is provided (Claim 1). And Gosuru thing.

(1) Normally, the refrigerator and the cooling water tank are operated together, and the operation of the cooling water tank is stopped under the condition that the beverage temperature detected by the temperature sensor falls below the set temperature, and the operation of only the refrigerator is continued. Power consumption is reduced, and at the same time, transient cooling of the beverage is suppressed so that beverages such as beer and low-malt beer can be supplied to the cup with a stable pouring pressure (claim 2). .

(2) An operation changeover switch for switching the operation of the refrigerator between operation and stop is added to the control means. In a location where the sales frequency is high, the operation of the refrigerator is stopped by the changeover switch, and only the cooling water tank is operated to supply the drink for sale. Cooling is performed (claim 3). In other words, in locations where beverage sales are large and beverage containers are frequently replenished in short cycles, the quality of beverages such as draft beer deteriorates even if the beverage containers are set on the airplane without cooling. There is no quality problem because the beverage container is emptied (sold out) before it comes. Therefore, by cooling the beverage extracted from the beverage container to a suitable temperature for sale by operating the cooling water tank while forcibly stopping the operation of the refrigerator containing the beverage container, the power consumption of the beverage cooling device can be reduced, Sales can be performed normally.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a diagram of a beverage sales system shown together with a beverage cooling device, 1 is a beverage container such as a beer barrel, 2 is a beverage cooling coil 3, a beverage supply valve 4, and a beverage nozzle 5 from a dispense head 1a connected to the beverage container 1. The beverage container 1 is a pipe line connected to the bend stage 6 through which the beverage container 1 is connected via a dispense head 1a.
When the beverage supply valve 4 is opened at the time of beverage sale, the beverage extracted in a pressure rise manner from the beverage container 1 is discharged and supplied to the cup 7 from the beverage nozzle 5 at the tip through the supply pipe 2. Is done.

On the other hand, as a beverage cooling device, a refrigerator 8 containing a beverage container 1 and a beverage supply line 2
Is provided with a cooling water tank 9 in which the beverage cooling coil 3 is immersed in water. Further, a cooler 8a of the refrigerator 8 (an evaporator of a refrigerator installed in the refrigerator in combination with a fan (not shown)) and a cooler 9a of the cooling water tank 9 (a refrigerator that stores an ice bank in a peripheral area thereof). Evaporating coil) is a refrigerator 1
0 (condensing unit) and electromagnetic valve 11
Refrigerant pipes 12a and 12b are connected in parallel via a and 11b to form a refrigeration circuit. Reference numeral 9b denotes an agitator for stirring water in the cooling water tank 9. Here, according to the present invention, a temperature sensor 13 for detecting the temperature of the beverage extracted from the beverage container 1 inside the refrigerator 8 is provided in the beverage supply line 2, and the detection signal of the temperature sensor 13 is taken in to cool the beverage. A control box 14 for controlling the operation of the apparatus is provided. Control box 14
The electromagnetic valve 11 of the refrigerant circuit 12a is manually operated.
An operation changeover switch 15 for arbitrarily operating / stopping the refrigerator 8 by turning on / off a.

Next, the operation control operation of the beverage cooling apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described, and its flowchart is shown in FIG.
That is, normally, in a state where the beverage container 1 is newly replenished and sales are resumed, the refrigerant is supplied from the refrigerator 10 to the coolers 8a and 9a of the refrigeration circuit, and the refrigerator 8 and the cooling water tank 9 are supplied.
Are operated in combination, and in this state, the beverage container 1 accommodated in the refrigerator and the beverage cooling coil 3 immersed in the cooling water tank
It sells beverages that cool down. Here, immediately after the beverage container 1 is refilled, the temperature of the beverage contained in the container is higher than the suitable temperature for sale (about 5 ° C.), but at the time of sale, the beverage extracted from the beverage container 1 is immersed in the water of the cooling water tank 9 to cool the beverage. Quenched in the process of flowing through coil 3,
The cup 7 is supplied with a beverage cooled to a suitable temperature for sale.

On the other hand, when the beverage container 1 accommodated in the refrigerator 8 is sufficiently cooled with the lapse of time from the resumption of sales, and the beverage temperature detected by the temperature sensor 13 becomes lower than the set temperature (suitable temperature for sale), the control box 14
Of the refrigeration circuit 12b with the output command of
F to shut down the cooler 9a of the cooling water tank 9,
Only the continuous operation is performed to keep the beverage stored in the beverage container 1 at a suitable temperature for sale and sell the beverage. By stopping the operation of the cooling water tank 9, the amount of power consumed by the beverage cooling device can be reduced, and total power saving can be achieved.

When the beverage temperature of the beverage container 1 rises due to the influence of the ambient temperature, etc., the temperature sensor 13
The electromagnetic valve 11b returns to ON by a command from the control box 14 on the basis of the detected temperature, and the operation of the cooling water tank 9 is restarted. Thereafter, the period until the detected temperature of the temperature sensor 13 falls below the set temperature is It is assumed that the beverage is cooled and sold to a suitable temperature for sale by the combined operation of the refrigerator 8 and the cooling water tank 9.

In the above-described operation control method, the operation of the refrigerator 8 is prioritized in terms of maintaining the freshness of the beverage contained in the beverage container 1, and the cooling water tank 9 is operated / stopped according to the transition of the beverage temperature detected by the temperature sensor 13. To save power. On the other hand, in a vending machine installed in a location with a large sales volume, the beverage container 1 is frequently replenished in a short cycle, so that the freshness of the beverage can be maintained without intentionally keeping the beverage container 1 set in the machine. Since the entire amount is sold out before the water quality decreases, the problem of deterioration of the beverage quality does not occur.

Therefore, an operation changeover switch 15 for the refrigerator is additionally provided in the control box 14 as shown in the illustrated embodiment, and the operation changeover switch 15 is provided for a vending machine installed in a location where the sales volume is large. , The electromagnetic valve 11 a of the refrigerant circuit 12 a is turned off, the operation of the refrigerator 8 is stopped, and the cooling water tank 9 continues to operate, and the beverage extracted from the beverage container 1 at the time of sale flows through the beverage supply line 2. In the process, the beverage can be cooled by cooling it to the appropriate temperature for sale by the beverage cooling coil 3. If the above-described operation control method is adopted in a location where the amount of sales is large, the operation of the refrigerator 8 is stopped and power consumption is reduced, and the beverage extracted from the container is cooled to a suitable temperature for sale, so that normal sales can be performed. I can do it.

[0018]

As described above, according to the beverage cooling apparatus and the operation control method of the present invention, the refrigerator accommodating the beverage container and the cooling water tank for cooling the beverage extracted from the beverage container during its supply. Beverage vending machine that reduces running costs by reducing the total amount of power consumption while utilizing the functions described above, and also extracts beverages from containers in a pressure-rise manner using carbon dioxide gas pressure, such as draft beer and low-malt beer. In this case, an effect is obtained in that the beverage can be supplied stably while suppressing excessive cooling of the beverage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a beverage sales system with a beverage cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation control method of the beverage supply device of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Beverage container 2 Beverage supply line 3 Beverage cooling coil 6 Bend stage 7 Cup 8 Refrigerator 9 Cooling water tank 10 Refrigerator 13 Temperature sensor 14 Control box (operation control means) 15 Operation changeover switch

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) G07F 13/10 B67D 1/08 A F term (reference) 3E047 BA02 BA04 DA02 FA05 3E082 BB01 CC01 DD01 EE03 EE04 3L045 AA02 BA04 CA01 DA02 GA02 LA05 MA01 PA05

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A beverage cooling device mounted on a beverage vending machine such as a cup-type vending machine or a beverage dispenser for extracting a predetermined amount of beverage from a beverage container at a time based on a sales command and supplying the beverage to a cup. And a cooling water tank for cooling a beverage by immersing a beverage cooling coil of a beverage supply pipe drawn from a beverage container, and cooling the beverage to be sold by operating the refrigerator and the cooling water tank. A temperature sensor arranged in the outlet side conduit of the beverage container to detect the temperature of the beverage extracted from the beverage container, and a cooling water tank under the condition that the beverage temperature detected by the temperature sensor falls below a set temperature. A beverage cooling device for a beverage vending machine, comprising: operation control means for stopping the operation of the beverage vending machine. 2. A method for controlling the operation of a beverage cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerator and the cooling water tank are normally operated in combination, and the cooling water tank is operated under the condition that the temperature of the beverage detected by the temperature sensor falls below a set temperature. A method of controlling the operation of a beverage cooling apparatus, wherein the operation of the refrigerator is stopped and only the refrigerator is continued to cool the beverage to be sold. 3. The method for controlling the operation of a beverage cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means includes an operation changeover switch for switching operation / stop of the refrigerator, and in a location where the frequency of sales is high, the refrigerator is operated by the changeover switch. A method for operating a beverage cooling apparatus, wherein the method is stopped, and only the cooling water tank is operated to cool the beverage for sale.