JPH07327829A - Tea supply machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To obtain a tea dispenser that is compact and inexpensive because tea leaves are reliably discarded. [Structure] When exchanging tea leaves, a small amount of warm water is supplied from the hot water tank 1 to the tea strainer 7, and then the tea strainer 7 is inverted and rotated to exchange the tea leaves, and whether or not the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are discarded 13 It is provided with a means for detecting that the tea strainer 7 does not rotate in reverse by operating the motor with low torque.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tea dispenser for providing tea.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, hot water is stored in a tank,
Tea supply machines that supply tea by supplying a certain amount of warm water to the tea leaves of a tea strainer are widely used in offices and restaurants. This is shown in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 51-36660.

A conventional tea feeding machine will be described below with reference to FIG. Reference numeral 1 is a hot water tank having an outer tub 2 made of a heat insulating material and having a built-in heater 3. Reference numeral 4 is a valve (for example, a solenoid valve) provided in a hot water supply pipe 5 for supplying hot water in the hot water tank 1 through the hot water supply pipe 5. It controls what you do.
Reference numeral 6 denotes a shower nozzle for feeding hot water in the hot water tank 1 by opening and closing the valve 4, which is attached to the tip of the hot water supply pipe 5. 7 is a tea strainer that puts tea leaves inside to extract tea, and when it is above the teacup 8 that receives the tea extracted by the tea strainer 7, it is ready to receive the tea leaves, and the tea leaves are extracted and discarded as tea leaves. Tea storage tank 9 for storing
When it is on the upper part of the, the opening is turned upside down. The tea strainer 7 is rotated while reversing between the tea supply position above the tea cup 8 and the tea discharge position above the tea discharge tank 9. Reference numeral 10 is a drainage tray on which the teacup 8 is placed, and 11 is a tea leaf storage body for storing new tea leaves and supplying the tea leaves to the tea strainer 7 when the tea leaves are exchanged. The tea leaves sent from the tea leaf storage body 11 do not scatter around the tea strainer 7. It communicates with a shooter 12 that guides the tea leaves so that they gather in the center of the tea strainer 7. 13 is a tea leaf exchanging device for discarding the tea leaves in the tea strainer 7 in the tea discharge tank 9, and 14 is a control device for controlling the operation of each part.

The operation of the conventional tea dispenser configured as described above will be described. When the user presses the tea switch, the valve 4 opens for a certain period of time and a certain amount of hot water (about 140 cc of hot water) in the hot water tank 1 is supplied to the tea strainer 7 from the shower nozzle 6 through the hot water supply pipe 5, and the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 The tea is extracted and supplied to the teacup 8 through. The tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are supplied with a set amount of hot water (700 cc of hot water when exchanging at 5 cups), or when there is no tea supply operation even after a certain time has elapsed after the tea supply operation (for example, When there is no tea supply operation even after one hour has passed), the tea leaves of the tea strainer 7 are discharged, the tea strainer 7 is reversed by the tea leaf exchanging device 13, the old tea leaves are discarded in the tea discharge tank 9, and the tea strainer 7 is the tea leaves. After discarding, it is reversed and returns to the original tea supply position. When the tea strainer 7 returns to the original position, new tea leaves are supplied from the tea leaf container through the shooter 12 to the tea strainer 7 in a constant amount. Here, the conventional tea supply machine has no means for detecting whether or not the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 have been discarded, and therefore there is no confirmation as to whether or not the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 have actually been discarded. I was going.

[0005]

However, in the tea dispenser having the above-described structure, when the tea leaves are discarded, if the time has elapsed since the previous tea supply, the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 will be dried. No, not all tea leaves are discarded when the tea leaves are discarded. Also, to ensure the discard of the tea leaves, replace the tea leaves early before the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are dried,
Alternatively, it is necessary to apply a strong shock to the tea strainer 7 when discarding the tea leaves, and a structure for applying a shock to the tea strainer 7 by reversing the tea strainer 7 to the tea supply position and the tea discharge position and enlarging the motor must be provided. There is a problem that it becomes large and the cost becomes high.

Another problem is that there is no means for detecting whether or not the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are discarded when the tea leaves are replaced.
Even when the tea leaves are not discarded and remain inside the tea strainer 7, new tea leaves are supplied from the tea leaf container to the tea strainer 7 and the tea supply operation is performed. Therefore, the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 become large and the tea strainer 7 is supplied at the time of tea supply. There was a case that tea leaves and hot water leaked outside of, and the tea extracted was not delicious because it was extracted from the tea leaves.

Further, as another problem, when detecting whether or not there are remaining tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 with an optical sensor, the lower side or the lower surface of the tea strainer 7 should be detected immediately after discarding the tea leaves. It is necessary to attach a sensor to the sensor, and discarded tea leaves will stick to the sensor and the sensor will not operate normally. In order to solve this problem, when the tea strainer 7 detects when it returns to the tea feeding position, the sensor must be attached to the upper side or the upper side of the tea strainer, and when the tea is fed, steam is attached to the sensor or when the tea leaves are fed Will stick and it will not work properly. Further, the detection by the sensor sometimes requires an electronic circuit dedicated to the detection, resulting in high cost.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a tea dispenser which does not have the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and which ensures that tea leaves are discarded and is compact and inexpensive.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention according to claim 1 is to invert and rotate the tea strainer after supplying a small amount of warm water from the hot water tank to the tea strainer when replacing the tea leaves. The tea leaves are exchanged, and the invention according to claim 2 is provided with a detecting means for detecting whether or not the tea leaves inside the tea strainer are discarded by moving the motor with a low torque and detecting whether or not the tea strainer rotates in reverse. It is a thing.

[0010]

With this configuration, it is possible to obtain a compact tea tea dispenser that ensures the discard of tea leaves and is inexpensive.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of a tea feeding machine of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tea dispenser according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same components as those of the conventional example shown in FIG.

The tea dispenser shown in FIG. 1 as an embodiment of the present invention is different from the conventional tea dispenser shown in FIG. 3 in that the tea leaf changing device 13 has a stepping motor (not shown). Moreover, this stepping motor has a control device 14 for generating a signal unique to the present invention and a limit switch 15 for detecting the position of the tea strainer 7.

The operation of the tea dispenser of this embodiment will be described below. The hot water stored in the hot water tank 1 is always controlled by the heater 3 to an optimum temperature (about 75 ° C.) for making tea. And when the user presses the tea switch, valve 4
The hot water in the hot water tank 1 passes through the hot water supply pipe 5 and is supplied from the shower nozzle 6 to the tea strainer 7 in a fixed amount. The hot water supplied to the tea strainer 7 extracts tea from the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 and is supplied to the drinking cup 8. The above operation is repeated several times (generally 5 to 10 cups) or after a certain time (generally about 1 hour) elapses after tea supply by hot water supply, the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are discharged. Then, when the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 come out, the control device 1 is applied to each coil of the stepping motor (not shown) inside the tea leaf exchanging device 13.
A pulse is input from 4 and the tea leaves of the tea strainer 7 are discarded in the tea discharge tank 9 by rotating for a certain period of time. The stepping motor rotates a certain angle with one pulse (in this embodiment, 1
Degree), the speed of the input pulse and the rotational torque are inversely proportional,
The voltage applied to the coil is directly proportional to the rotation torque, and the rotation direction can be changed by the timing of the pulse application to each coil.If the voltage is applied to a specific coil, the stepping motor does not rotate and the stop torque is maximum. Becomes

The tea leaf exchanging operation will be described below with reference to FIG. The pulse from the controller 14 is initially slow and progressively fast. For example, 100pps → 200pps → 400pps. This is because the rotation torque is small when the stepping motor is operated with a faster pulse from the beginning than the characteristics of the stepping motor, so that there is not enough rotation torque to rotate the strainer 7 and the weight of the wet tea leaves inside the strainer 7, and the strainer 7 rotates in reverse. It doesn't move. Therefore, at first, the tea strainer 7 can be rotated in reverse by a small stepping motor by moving the stepping motor with a slow pulse and gradually increasing the speed. When it is rotated 180 degrees (when 180 pulses are applied), a voltage is applied to a specific coil and the coil is suddenly stopped.
By the operation of this motor, the tea strainer 7 is reversed and abruptly stops when it reaches the upper part of the tea discharge tank 9. This tea strainer 7
By this operation, the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are discarded in the tea discharge tank 9. At this time, when the tea supply operation is performed the set number of times and the tea leaves are exchanged, the tea leaves are not dried by discarding them immediately after the last tea supply operation, and the tea leaves are smoothly disposed of for a certain period of time. When there is no tea supply operation during the period and the tea leaves are exchanged, the valve 4 is opened for a short time, and the warm water in the warm water tank 1 passes through the hot water supply pipe 5 and the shower nozzle 6 supplies a small amount of warm water (about 10 cc of warm water) to the tea strainer 7. The controller 14 controls so that the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are moistened so that the tea leaves fall more easily than the tea strainer 7 and the tea leaves are discarded. When the disposal is completed, the controller 14 rotates the stepping motor in the reverse rotation direction in the reverse direction if the tea strainer 7 does not have any tea leaves. If there are tea leaves in the tea strainer 7, the rotation torque does not rotate and the medium speed pulse (200 pps) Is entered. If the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 have been discarded, the tea strainer 7 will rotate in reverse and return to the tea supply position. When the limit switch for detecting the position of the tea strainer 7 is turned on, the pulse from the control unit will stop and the tea strainer 7
The rotation of is stopped and the tea supply stand by. If the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7 are not discarded and the tea leaves remain, the tea strainer 7 does not rotate in reverse and the limit switch 15 for position detection does not turn on after a certain period of time (1 second), so that the control device 14 does When it is judged that the tea leaves remain inside 7, the slow reverse rotation pulse is input to the stepping motor, the tea strainer 7 is returned to the tea supply position where the limit switch 15 for position detection is turned on, and the tea leaf discarding operation is performed again. Tea strainer 7 at this time
By supplying a small amount of warm water (about 10 cc of warm water) again to moisten the tea leaves inside the tea strainer 7, the tea leaves can be reliably discarded. When tea leaves are left in the tea strainer 7 when discarded, almost all of the tea leaves are not left, and about half of the tea leaves are not left. It is rare that a small amount is left on the edge of the tea strainer 7 and remains in the tea strainer 7 in actual use. Since the amount of tea leaves used is small, there is no problem in both taste and function, and therefore the above detection means can detect the problem without any problems. As a method of lowering the rotation torque of the stepping motor, there is a method of lowering the voltage of the pulse applied to the stepping motor, and the pulse at this time is a low speed pulse.

The motor of the tea leaf exchanging device 13 can be operated by a DC motor instead of a stepping motor. At this time, in order to reduce the rotating torque by judging whether or not the tea leaves have been normally discarded, The same effect can be obtained by reducing the voltage applied to the DC motor.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to surely replace the tea leaves by detecting whether or not the tea leaves are discarded by controlling the tea leaf replacement operation without requiring a special configuration, and the microcomputer is used for the control. Since it is used, it is possible to easily obtain an inexpensive tea supply machine.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a tea leaf is replaced, a small amount of warm water is supplied to the tea strainer from the hot water tank, and then the tea strainer is rotated by reversing to replace the tea leaf, and whether the tea leaf inside the tea strainer is discarded. By providing a means for detecting whether or not the tea strainer does not rotate in reverse by moving the motor with a low torque, it is possible to obtain a small-sized and inexpensive tea dispenser with a simple configuration.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tea feeding machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a tea leaf exchange operation of the tea dispenser.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional tea dispenser.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Hot water tank 3 Heater 4 Valve 5 Hot water supply pipe 6 Shower nozzle 7 Tea strainer 8 Teacup 9 Tea discharge tank 10 Drainage tray 11 Tea leaf storage unit 13 Tea leaf exchange device 14 Control device 15 Limit switch for position detection

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A tea leaf storage body for storing tea leaves, a tea strainer located below the tea leaf storage body and supplied with tea leaves from the tea leaf storage body, a motor for reversing and rotating the tea strainer, and a hot water tank. , A valve for supplying hot water in the hot water tank, a valve for opening hot water when the hot water supply operation is performed, and a tea supplying means for supplying tea to the tea strainer, and when the set number of times of tea supply or the amount of tea supply is reached, the tea strainer is inverted by a motor. In a tea supply machine having a tea leaf exchanging device that rotates and discards old tea leaves and supplies new tea leaves from the tea leaf container to the tea strainer, a small amount of hot water is supplied from the hot water tank to the tea strainer when replacing the tea leaves, and then the tea strainer is reversed. A tea dispenser characterized in that it is provided with a device for moving tea leaves to change tea leaves. 2. A tea leaf storage body for storing tea leaves, a tea strainer located below the tea leaf storage body to receive tea leaves from the tea leaf storage body, a motor for reversing and rotating the tea strainer, and a hot water tank. , A valve for supplying hot water in the hot water tank, a valve that opens when the hot water is operated, and a tea supplying means for supplying tea to the tea strainer, and when the set number of times of tea supply or the amount of tea supply is reached, the tea strainer is rotated by a motor. In a tea supply machine that has a tea leaf changing device that moves old tea leaves and discards old tea leaves to supply new tea leaves to the tea strainer, the tea strainer is inverted and rotated by a motor when changing the tea leaves, and the original tea feeding position is set after discarding the tea leaves. When rotating the tea strainer back in reverse, the motor is first rotated with a low torque and if the tea strainer does not rotate in reverse, it is judged that the tea leaves are not discarded and remain in the tea strainer, and the discarding operation of the tea leaves is repeated again. A tea dispenser characterized by that. 3. The tea dispenser according to claim 2, wherein a stepping motor is used as a motor, and the tea strainer is inverted and rotated by the stepping motor when replacing the tea leaves, and after discarding the tea leaves, the tea strainer is inverted and rotated to the original tea feeding position. When it is returned, the stepping motor is first operated at high speed to rotate with low torque and if the tea strainer does not rotate in reverse, it is determined that the tea leaves are not discarded and remain in the tea strainer, and the discarding operation of the tea leaves is repeated again. A tea dispenser characterized by that. 4. The tea dispenser according to claim 2, wherein when the tea leaves are replaced, the tea strainer is inverted and rotated by a motor, and the tea leaves are discarded.
When the tea strainer is rotated back to the original tea supply position, the motor is first operated at a low voltage to rotate with low torque, and if the tea strainer does not rotate reversely, the tea leaves are not discarded and remain in the tea strainer. The tea dispenser is characterized by repeating the discarding operation of the tea leaves again. 5. The tea dispenser according to claim 2, further comprising a position detecting device for detecting a tea feeding position of the tea strainer, wherein the tea strainer is reversed by a motor to discard the tea leaves, and then the tea strainer is returned to the original tea feeding position. When the motor is first rotated with a low torque when reversing and returning, and if the tea strainer is not in the tea supply position within the set time, it is judged that the tea strainer does not reversely rotate and the tea leaves are not discarded and remain in the tea strainer. The tea dispenser is characterized by repeating the operation of discarding tea leaves again.