JP2003128188A - Beverage feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a beverage feeder capable of visually displaying thereon whether or not replenishment of a material is needed and whether or not a beverage can be fed. SOLUTION: The beverage feeder includes a weight sensor 30 which measures a weight of a material A received in a material container 20, wherein the weight includes both the material and the container 20. When the sensor 30 detects that the material A is of a predetermined weight or less, it displays to visually prompt to replenish the material A. Further, when the material A is of a predetermined quantity or less, it displays, that the beverage is out of stock and stops feeding the beverage.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a beverage supply device for producing and providing beverages such as coffee and tea.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this type of beverage supply device,
A raw material container made of a liquid such as milk that needs to be refrigerated is stored in a raw material container having a cold storage function, and this is supplied to the main body of the beverage supply device via a tube to generate a beverage in the main body of the beverage supply device. What is offered to customers is known.

At restaurants, cafes, etc., there is a drink bar where customers can self-serve for drinks.
The beverage supply device may be installed in this drink bar to provide beverages such as coffee and tea. In such a drink bar, a clerk looks around at any time, and replenishes a raw material container with a small amount of raw material each time.

[0004]

However, for raw materials that need to be refrigerated, it is necessary to confirm the necessity of replenishment by opening the raw material container and checking the remaining amount, which is a laborious task for the clerk. . Further, the customer cannot easily know whether or not his / her desired beverage is supplied, which may cause inconvenience in selecting the beverage.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a beverage supply device capable of visually displaying the necessity of supplementing raw materials and the possibility of beverage supply. To provide.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in claim 1, a raw material container for containing a raw material of a beverage,
In a beverage supply device provided with a beverage supply device main body for producing a predetermined beverage using a raw material supplied from a raw material container, a raw material container base on which the raw material container is mounted, and a raw material mounted on the raw material container base A weight detection means for detecting that the weight of the container has become less than or equal to a predetermined weight, and a display means for performing a predetermined display when the detected weight of the raw material container becomes less than or equal to the predetermined weight. As a result, it is possible to display to the outside that the remaining amount of the raw material has become equal to or less than the predetermined weight.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the first aspect, the display means illuminates a different color before and after the weight detected by the weight detecting means reaches a predetermined weight. Therefore, it is possible to clearly warn of the necessity of supplementing raw materials.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the function of the first aspect, the display means detects before the detection weight of the raw material container has become less than or equal to a predetermined weight and when it has reached the predetermined weight. And a display unit that displays different predetermined character information after the supply of the drink reaches the predetermined amount after the predetermined weight is detected. Thereby, the character information corresponding to the situation of the remaining amount of the raw material can be displayed.

In addition, in addition to the operation of claim 1, 2 or 3, in claim 4, the predetermined weight detected by the weight detecting means can be arbitrarily set, so that the predetermined weight can be freely set. You can

Further, in addition to the operation of claim 1, 3 or 4, in claim 5, the supply amount of the beverage reaches a predetermined amount after it is detected that the detected weight of the raw material container is below a predetermined weight. Then, a control means for stopping the supply of the beverage is provided. As a result, the supply of the beverage can be stopped at the same time when the raw material is used up.

[0011]

1 to 6 show a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a beverage supply device, and FIG. 2 is a first embodiment of the present invention. Operation explanation diagram,
3 is a rear view of the weight detection device, FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of the weight detection device, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system, and FIG. 6 is an operation explanatory diagram of the display lamp.

The beverage supply device according to the present invention comprises coffee,
Beverage supply device body 1 for producing and providing beverages such as tea
0, a raw material container 20 that stores a raw material A made of a liquid such as milk, and a weight detection device 30 that detects the weight of the raw material A including the raw material container 20.

The beverage supply device main body 10 supplies the beverage supply device main body 10 with the operation unit 11 for accepting a customer's selection of which of a plurality of types of beverages to provide and the raw material A in the raw material container 20. A tube 12 and a beverage production unit 13 that receives the supply of the raw material A to produce a predetermined beverage,
The display unit 14 includes a display lamp 14 that displays the remaining amount of the raw material A, a control unit 16 that controls the operations of the beverage production unit 13, the display lamp 14, and the display panel 15.

The operation unit 11 comprises a selection button 11a corresponding to a menu (not shown) of beverages displayed on the body 10 of the beverage supply device such as known coffee and tea.

One end of the tube 12 has a beverage supply device body 1
No. 0 is connected to a pump (not shown), and this pump feeds the raw material A of the raw material container 20 to the beverage production section 13.

The beverage production unit 13 produces a beverage such as coffee with milk or tea using the raw material A supplied from the raw material container 20 and other raw materials such as hot water and coffee raw material in the beverage production unit 13. Then, the liquid is discharged from the nozzle 13a connected to the beverage production unit 13.

The indicator lamp 14 is composed of an indicator such as an LED and is installed near the selection button 11a.
The display panel 15 is composed of a well-known liquid crystal screen, and displays the message from the control unit 16 in characters. In addition, the display lamp 14 and the display panel 15 are the control unit 1.
The display is controlled under the control of 6.

The raw material container 20 has an upper surface opened and is made of a member having a heat insulating property. Further, the upper surface is provided with a heat-insulating lid 21 which can be opened and closed, and accommodates a raw material A such as milk which needs to be refrigerated and stored therein. In this embodiment, the milk contained in a paper pack is stored. The other end of the tube 12 is inserted into the raw material A and is fed to the beverage supply device body 10.

The weight detecting device 30 is composed of two weight detecting portions 31 provided on the back side thereof and a raw material container base 32 on which the raw material container 20 is placed, and the weight detecting portion 31 is provided on the lower front surface. A display lamp 33 that provides a predetermined display according to the detected weight is provided.

Each of the weight detecting parts 31 has a spring 34 for urging the raw material container 32 upward, a mounting plate 35 connected to the spring 34, and a hole 36 provided on the back surface.
Micro switch 37 provided on the upper end side of this hole 36
It consists of and.

One end of the raw material container base 32 has a weight detecting device 30.
Through the hole 36 provided on the back surface of the weight detection device 30
The rear end 32a of the hole 36 is vertically movable between the upper end and the lower end of the hole 36.

The display lamp 33 has a well-known structure which is turned on by a power source (not shown), and includes a micro switch 37.
Is configured to be switchable between two color light emitters depending on whether it is on or off, and is provided on the front surface of the weight detection device 30 so as to face the outside.

One end of the spring 34 is the weight detecting device 3
0 is connected to a mounting plate 35 arranged on the upper outside of the rear surface, and the other end is connected to a rear end portion 32a of the raw material container base 32.

The attachment plate 35 is fixedly attached to the elongated hole 35b provided on the back surface of the weight detection device 30 by two screws 35a, and the screw 35a can be moved vertically along the elongated hole 35b.

In the beverage supply device configured as described above, for example, the selection button 11 for coffee with milk
When a is pressed, a predetermined amount of the raw material A is fed from the raw material container 20 through the tube 12 and mixed with the raw material such as coffee liquid in the beverage production section 13 to produce a milk-containing coffee beverage. Beverage is dispensed.

Here, the operation of the control section 16 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2A, the raw material A in the raw material container 20.
If there is sufficient remaining amount, the weight of the raw material container stand 3
2 is held in the lower position, and the rear end portion 32a is located at the lower end of the hole 36. At this time, the micro switch 37 is not pressed and the switch off state is maintained. Next, when the remaining amount of the raw material A decreases and falls below a predetermined weight, the raw material container base 32 is lifted upward by the spring 34 as shown in FIG. 2B, and the rear end portion 32 a becomes the upper end of the hole 36. Contact. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3, the micro switch 37 is pushed and turned on. As shown in FIG. 6, in this embodiment, when the micro switch 37 is off, it lights up in green, and when the micro switch 37 is on, it changes from green to red,
Replenishment of raw material A is promoted.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the attachment plate 35 can be arbitrarily moved in the vertical direction to arbitrarily change the predetermined weight for determining the necessity of supplementing the raw material A. For example, when it is desired to detect the beverage at the time when the beverage can be supplied 10 more times, the weight of the raw material A is measured 10 times in advance, and when the weight becomes lighter than this weight, the raw material container base 3
The urging force of the spring 34 is set so that 2 is lifted upward and the rear end portion 32 a contacts the micro switch 37.

As described above, according to the beverage supply apparatus of the present embodiment, when the remaining amount of the raw material A becomes less than a predetermined weight set in advance, the lighting color of the display lamp 33 changes from green to red. Therefore, the supplement of the raw material A is visually prompted.

In the first embodiment, the case in which a plurality of weight detecting units 31 are provided has been described, but the present invention can be applied even if the number is one.

7 and 8 show a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the control section 16, and FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory view of the display panel 15. In the present embodiment, the control unit 16 lights up when the remaining amount of the raw material A is exhausted and indicates that there is no raw material A, and displays characters on the liquid crystal screen to display the remaining amount state of the raw material A. The display panel 15 is controlled, and other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Here, the operation of the control unit 16 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7 and the operation explanatory diagram of FIG.

First, a predetermined weight for determining whether or not the raw material A needs to be replenished is determined in advance, and the number N of times the beverage can be sold at the predetermined weight is set (S1). It is determined whether the micro switch 37 of the weight detection unit 31 is on or off (S2), and while the micro switch 37 is off, the normal display of "sale" is displayed on the display panel 15 as shown in FIG. 8 (a). It is displayed (S3). When the remaining amount of the raw material A becomes equal to or less than the predetermined weight and the micro switch 37 is turned on in step S2,
As shown in FIG. 8B, the display panel 15 displays "Milk remaining amount is small" to warn the supplement of the raw material A (S4). At that time, as in the first embodiment, the lighting color of the display lamp 33 on the surface of the weight detection device 30 changes from green to red. After that, when the beverage is supplied before the supplement of the raw material A (S5), the number of times of supply is subtracted from the number of times of supply N (S6), and when the number of times of supply N becomes 0. (S7), turn on the indicator light 14 (S8),
As shown in FIG. 8C, the display of the sold-out beverage is displayed on the display panel 15 (S9). Then, the supply of the beverage is stopped (S10).

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the micro switch 37 is turned on, the display panel 1 is provided not only in the weight detection device 30 but also in the beverage supply device main body 10.
Since it is possible to display that the remaining amount of the raw material A is low, or that the remaining amount of the raw material A has completely disappeared, by the letter 5
The status of the remaining amount of raw materials can be clearly communicated not only to the salesclerk but also to the customer. Further, when the remaining amount of the raw material A is completely exhausted, the indicator light 14 near the selection button 11a is turned on and the supply of the beverage is stopped at the same time. Therefore, the customer mistakenly selects the beverage without the raw material A. Possibility can be reduced.

9 and 10 show a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the control unit, and FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory view of the display panel 15. In the present embodiment, the control unit 16 lights up when the remaining amount of the raw material A is exhausted and indicates that there is no raw material A, and displays characters on the liquid crystal screen to display the remaining amount state of the raw material A. The display panel 15 is controlled, and other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

Here, the operation of the control unit 16 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 9 and the operation explanatory diagram of FIG.

First, a predetermined weight for determining whether or not the supplement of the raw material A is necessary is determined, and the number N of times the beverage can be supplied with the predetermined weight is N
Is set (S11). It is determined whether the micro switch 37 of the weight detection device 30 is on or off (S12), and while the micro switch 37 is off, the display panel 15 displays a normal display of "sale" as shown in FIG. 10 (a). Perform (S13). In step S2, when the remaining amount of the raw material A becomes less than or equal to a predetermined weight and the micro switch 37 is turned on, as shown in FIG. The specific number of times N that can be supplied is displayed (S14). At that time, as in the first embodiment, the lighting color of the display lamp 33 on the surface of the weight detection device 30 changes from green to red to warn the replenishment of the raw material A. After that, when the beverage is further supplied (S15), the number of times of actual supply is subtracted from the number of times of supply N (S16), and the numerical value of N is displayed on the display panel 15 each time. For example, as shown in FIG. 10C, the display panel 15 displays "Two cups can be sold". When the number N of times of supply has become 0 (S17), the indicator lamp 14 is turned on (S18), and "Beverage sold out" is displayed on the display panel 15 as shown in FIG. 10 (d) (S19). Then, the supply of the beverage is stopped (S2
0).

Thus, according to this embodiment, the raw material A
Since the weight becomes less than or equal to a predetermined weight and the micro switch 37 is turned on, the number of drinks that can be finally sold can be visually displayed by characters.

[0038]

As described in detail above, according to the beverage supply device of the first aspect, it is possible to detect that the remaining amount of the raw material has become equal to or less than the predetermined weight and display this. As a result, it is possible to know that the remaining amount of the raw material has become equal to or less than the predetermined weight without opening the raw material container. Therefore, for example, when the raw material container is used in a restaurant or the like, the labor of the clerk can be saved. Further, since the weight of the entire raw material container is detected, it is possible to use, for example, raw materials in paper packs having different shapes and containers, and it is possible to improve versatility.

Further, according to the beverage supply apparatus of claim 2,
In addition to the effect according to the first aspect, when the remaining amount of the raw material becomes less than or equal to a predetermined weight, it is possible to change the lighting color of the light emitting body and display it. As a result, the store clerk can easily know that the raw material needs to be replenished even from a place away from the beverage supply device, and can improve the work efficiency.

According to the beverage supply device of claim 3,
In addition to the effect according to claim 1, since the state of the remaining amount of the raw material can be displayed stepwise by the character information, in addition to being able to efficiently replenish the raw material, is it possible to provide the beverage to the customer? You can clearly tell whether or not you can improve the service.

According to the beverage supply device of claim 4,
In addition to the effect according to claim 1, 2 or 3, the predetermined weight detected by the weight detecting means can be arbitrarily set,
By setting the predetermined weight according to the situation, the raw materials can be efficiently replenished.

According to the beverage supply device of claim 5,
In addition to the effect according to claim 1, 3 or 4, when the remaining amount of the raw material reaches a predetermined amount or less, the supply of the beverage is stopped. It is possible to surely prevent a defect such as being provided to the customer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of a beverage supply device showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a weight detection device.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the weight detection device.

FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory view of the weight detection device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the display lamp.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram of the display panel.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the display panel.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Beverage supply device main body, 13 ... Beverage production | generation part, 14 ... Indicator light, 15 ... Display panel, 16 ... Control part, 20 ... Raw material container, 30 ... Weight detection device, 31 ... Weight detection part, 32 ... Raw material container stand , 33 ... Indicator lamp, 34 ... Spring, 37
… Micro switch, A… Raw material.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A beverage supply device comprising: a raw material container for storing a raw material of a beverage; and a beverage supply device main body for producing a predetermined beverage by using the raw material supplied from the raw material container. A raw material container table, a weight detecting means for detecting that the weight of the raw material container placed on the raw material container table is below a predetermined weight, and a predetermined indication when the detected weight of the raw material container falls below the predetermined weight And a display unit for performing the above. 2. The display means comprises a light-emitting body that lights up different colors before and after the weight detected by the weight detection means reaches a predetermined weight. Beverage supply equipment. 3. The display means detects whether the detected weight of the raw material container has become equal to or less than a predetermined weight, after detecting that the predetermined weight has been reached, or detecting that the predetermined weight has been reached. The beverage supply device according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit that displays different predetermined character information after the supply amount of the beverage reaches a predetermined amount. 4. The beverage supply device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined weight detected by the weight detection means can be set arbitrarily. 5. A control means for stopping the supply of the beverage when the supply amount of the beverage reaches a predetermined amount after detecting that the detected weight of the raw material container has become less than or equal to the predetermined weight. The beverage supply device according to claim 3 or 4.