JPH078262B2 - Electric coffee heater - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an electric coffee brewer capable of crushing coffee beans and pouring hot water into the crushed coffee powder to extract a coffee liquid.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the electric coffee brewer of this type has the following structure. That is, a hopper for accommodating coffee beans is provided in the upper part of the brewer body, and a small crushing chamber in which a cutter for crushing coffee beans is arranged is provided adjacent to the hopper, and for extracting coffee liquid. The hot water was discharged from the upper part of the crushing chamber. Therefore, the coffee beans put into the hopper are sequentially moved into the crushing chamber and crushed by the cutter, and then enter the lower basket. Then, after that, hot water is discharged from the upper portion of the crushing chamber, passes through the crushing chamber, enters the basket, and the coffee liquid is extracted.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention According to the above-described conventional configuration, the crushing chamber is washed with hot water, but the hopper is not washed, so that it has to be washed separately, which is a very troublesome work. In particular, coffee powder at the time of grinding adheres to the inside of the hopper, and moisture from the steam of the hot water causes the cleaning to be troublesome.

Then, this invention aims at providing the electric coffee brewing machine which can eliminate the said problem.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the electric coffee brewer of the present invention has a hopper for storing coffee beans and an output shaft projecting into the hopper at an upper portion of the brewer body. A motor for arranging a motor, a cutter for crushing coffee beans in a crushing chamber formed in the hopper is provided at the tip of the output shaft of this motor, and a water provided at a proper position in the brewer body is provided under the brewer body. A heater for heating water in the tank is provided, a hot water supply pipe for supplying hot water heated by the heater to the hopper is provided, and a circulation pipe for returning the hot water in the hot water supply pipe into the water tank is provided in the middle of the hot water supply pipe. Connected via a switching valve, provided with a lid for the hopper and a safety switch for detecting the opening and closing of the lid, and placing a basket for extracting coffee liquid at the lower position of the hopper. In addition to inserting the safety switch in series in the motor drive circuit, input the lid opening signal from the safety switch and output the signal to switch the switching valve to the circulation pipe side to the switching valve drive circuit. The calculation processing unit is provided.

Action In the above structure, the hot water is discharged into the hopper through the hot water supply pipe, so that the coffee beans attached to the inner surface of the hopper are easily washed off. In addition, when the lid of the hopper is opened while hot water is being discharged, the switching valve operates and the hot water is returned to the water tank via the circulation pipe, which is safe.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a water heater main body (hereinafter referred to as a main body) having a U-shaped side view, and a pedestal portion 2 and
It is composed of a columnar section 3 standing upright from one side of the pedestal section 2, and an eaves section (upper part of the body) 4 projecting horizontally from the upper end of the columnar section 3. The eaves portion 4 is provided with an inverted conical hopper 5 for storing coffee beans, and the eaves portion 4 is provided with a motor 6 in which an output shaft 6a is projected inside the hopper 5 in a horizontal direction. In addition, a blade-shaped cutter 7 for grinding coffee beans is attached to the tip of the output shaft 6a. An outlet 8 for coffee powder is formed at the lower end of the hopper 5, and an outlet plate 9 having a large number of small holes for passing coffee powder is provided at the outlet 8. Reference numeral 10 denotes an inverted L-shaped cover body that is detachably provided inside the hopper 5 so as to cover the cutter 7, and a bean insertion port 11 for guiding coffee beans is formed on a front wall portion thereof. In addition, this cover body
The inside of 10 is a crushing chamber 12. A hot water supply nozzle 13 for supplying hot water is provided at a predetermined position of the hopper 5, and the hopper 5 corresponding to the crushing chamber 12 is provided.
A vibration sensor 14 is attached to the side wall of the. Reference numeral 15 is a dome-shaped hopper lid (lid) that opens and closes the upper portion of the hopper 5, one end of which is hinged to the eaves portion 4 of the main body 1.
It is attached via 16 and the other end can be fixed to the eaves 4 side by a lock knob 17. The hot water supply nozzle 13 is oriented toward the hopper lid 15 so that the hot water diffuses throughout the hopper 5. Reference numeral 18 denotes a safety switch for confirming the hopper lid 15 arranged inside the eaves portion 4 corresponding to the lock knob 17, and is opened / closed by an operation pin 19 projecting from the hopper lid 15. Reference numeral 21 denotes a basket having an inverted conical shape for receiving coffee powder, which is slidably provided below the eaves portion 4 and has a filter 22 arranged inside thereof. The top of this basket 21 has a coffee powder intake 23 at the center.
A basket lid 24 having a groove formed therein is placed, and a basket packing 26 for sealing a portion between the lower end of the outlet 8 of the hopper 5 and a guide tube 25 extending downward is provided at the inlet 23. It is installed. In addition, the basket lid 24
An annular rib 27 is provided near the outer peripheral portion of the lower surface of the same, while also serving as a retainer for the filter 22 and for preventing the scattering of coffee powder. Reference numeral 28 denotes a detection switch for detecting the basket lid 24, which is arranged inside the eaves portion 4 corresponding to the peripheral portion of the basket lid 24, and is composed of a switch body 29 and a lifting pin 30 for operation. Reference numeral 31 is a heat-resistant container placed on the upper surface of the pedestal part 2 for storing the coffee liquid extracted from the basket 21. The main body 1 has a hot water supply device 32 for supplying hot water into the hopper 5, and a control unit 33 for controlling the entire coffee brewer including the hot water supply device 32.
Is provided. The water heater 32 includes a heater (only shown in FIG. 4) 34 provided inside the cradle 2, a water tank 35 provided on the side of the main body 1, and a water tank 35 at one end.
A hot water supply pipe 37 connected to the water supply part 36 at the lower part of the same and the other end connected to the hot water supply nozzle 13 of the hopper 5 via the heater 34, and a switching valve 38 interposed in the middle of the hot water supply pipe 37. Circulation pipe 39 for returning hot water from the hot water supply pipe 37 to the inside of the water tank 35
It consists of and. Also, as will be described later, the switching valve
38 is adapted to be switched by a signal from the control unit 33.

Next, the control unit will be described with reference to FIG.

The control unit 33 uses the commercial AC power supply 41 as the motor 6 and the heater 34.
And the operation of the first DC constant voltage power supply circuit 42 for obtaining the power supply for the drive circuit of the switching valve 38, and the control microcomputer (arithmetic processing unit) 43 of various devices via the first DC constant voltage power supply circuit 42. A second direct-current constant-voltage power supply circuit 44 for obtaining a power supply for use, a heater circuit 46 including a heater 34 and its open / close relay contact 45, a heater drive relay circuit (heater drive circuit) 47 for driving the heater circuit 46, A motor circuit 49 consisting of the motor 6, a thyristor 48 for controlling the motor 6 and the safety switch 18, and the motor circuit 49.
A motor thyristor drive circuit (motor drive circuit) 50 for driving the switch valve, a switch valve circuit 53 having thyristors 51, 52 for operating the switch valve 38, and a switch valve thyristor drive circuit for driving the switch valve circuit 53 (switch valve drive Circuit 54, a pulse generation circuit 55 for driving the microcomputer 43, a reset circuit 56 for initializing the microcomputer 43 when the power is turned on, and a temperature detecting element 57 provided in the heater 34, and its temperature signal Microcomputer 43
A temperature detection circuit 58 for inputting to the basket lid 24 and a detection switch 28 for the basket lid 24, and a basket detection circuit 59 for inputting a detection signal of the basket lid 24, that is, the basket 21 to the microcomputer 43, and a vibration sensor provided in the hopper 5. Comprising 15 crushing completion detection circuit 60 for inputting the vibration intensity signal in the crushing chamber to the microcomputer 43, and a safety switch 18 for the hopper lid 5, and lid detection for inputting the opening / closing signal of the hopper lid 15 to the microcomputer 43. Circuit 61 and microcomputer
It is composed of a buzzer 62 controlled by 43 and an operation display panel 63 arranged on the side surface of the columnar portion 3 of the main body 1. The operation display panel 63 is an LC that displays the time, etc.
D (liquid crystal display) 64, LED (light emitting diode) 65 for displaying energization, time setting start switch 66 for setting the current time on the LCD 64, and time for starting energization at a desired time Auto setting start switch 67 for
A memory switch 68 for storing the automatically set time, a time setting switch 69 for setting the time, a minute setting switch 70 for setting the minute, a start switch 71, and a stop switch 72 are provided. The microcomputer 43 has a function of measuring an elapsed time from the start of crushing and a function of comparing the elapsed time with a preset time.

Next, the operation will be described.

First, water is put in the water tank 35 and a predetermined amount of coffee beans is put in the hopper 5, and the start switch 71 is pressed. However, if the hopper lid 5 is in the open state, the safety switch 18 is off, the lid detection circuit 61 inputs it to the microcomputer 43, the LCD 64 blinks "Lid", and the buzzer 62 issues a warning. I can't start. Similarly, when the basket lid 24 is forgotten and the basket 21 is attached or the basket 21 is not attached, the detection switch 28 is off and the basket detection circuit
It is input to the microcomputer 43 by 59, the LCD 64 blinks "Basket" and the buzzer 62 outputs an alarm, and the driver cannot start. Hopper lid to start
15 is closed, safety switch 18 is turned on, basket lid 24 is properly set on basket 21, and the basket
21 can be attached to the main body 1, the detection switch 28 can be turned on, and the start switch 71 can be pressed again to start. When started, the heater driving relay circuit 47 operates the heater relay to close the relay contact 45 and energize the heater 34. Further, the motor thyristor drive circuit 50 turns on the motor thyristor 48 to rotate the motor 6. The switching valve 38 is programmed by the switching valve thyristor drive circuit 54 so that the microcomputer 43 is programmed to be on the circulation pipe 39 side immediately after the power is turned on.
The hot water heated by returns to the water tank 35 from the circulation pipe 39. The coffee beans inside the hopper 5 enter the crushing chamber 12 through the bean input port 11 in sequence and are crushed by the cutter 7.
It enters the filter 22 of the basket 21 through the outlet 8.
Here, during the crushing of the coffee beans, the vibration of the vibration sensor 14 provided on the side wall of the crushing chamber 12 is strong, and when the crushing is completed, only the vibration of the idle rotation of the motor 6 becomes weak. When the magnitude of this vibration becomes weaker than a predetermined vibration by the crushing completion detection circuit 60, the crushing is considered to have been completed, and this is input to the microcomputer 43. The microcomputer 43 outputs a signal to the motor thyristor drive circuit 50 to turn off the motor thyristor 48, and the motor 6
Stop rotating. This crushing time is usually about 40 seconds. Here, a commutator motor is usually used as a motor for crushing coffee beans, and is generally rated for a short time. Therefore, if one minute elapses, the motor 6 stops rotating regardless of vibration intensity. Computer 43 is programmed.

After a lapse of time after the end of crushing and one minute has passed from the start, the hot water discharged becomes sufficiently hot, so that the switching valve 38 is switched from the circulation pipe 38 to the hot water supply pipe 37 by the switching valve thyristor drive circuit 54, and The microcomputer 43 is programmed so that the motor 6 is rotated by the motor thyristor drive circuit 50 for a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds). Therefore, hot water enters the hopper 5 from the hot water supply pipe 37 through the hot water supply nozzle 13 and enters the crushing chamber 12 from the bean charging port 11, but the cutter 7 is rotated by the rotation of the motor 6 to turn the hot water into the crushing chamber 12 Scatter inside. As a result, the inside of the crushing chamber 12 is cleaned. In addition, hot water passes through the outlet 8 to the basket.
Drop to 21 and brew coffee. When the coffee is extracted in this way and the water in the water tank 35 is exhausted, the heater 34 is put into an idle state and the temperature rapidly rises. This temperature rise is detected by the temperature detecting element 57 and is input to the microcomputer 43 from the temperature detecting circuit 58, and the heater is
The heater drive relay circuit 47 turns off 34. Furthermore, after turning off the heater 34, a predetermined time has elapsed (here, 30
After a second), the buzzer 62 notifies the completion and the switching valve 38 is programmed in the microcomputer 43 to switch the hot water supply pipe 37 to the circulation pipe 39 again.

After that, the heater 34 is turned on by the temperature detection circuit 58, the microcomputer 43, and the heater drive relay circuit 47.
The coffee liquid in the container 31 is kept warm by turning it off. Here, this heat retention operation is performed 2 hours after the completion notification is given.
The microcomputer 43 is programmed to automatically turn off the power to the heater 34.

Further, when the user extracts the coffee liquid from the coffee powder, the coffee powder is directly put into the filter 22 mounted on the basket 21. At this time, when the start switch 71 is pressed to start, the motor 6 rotates for a minimum time (here, 4 seconds) necessary for detecting the end of grinding, but the motor 6 stops upon detecting the end of grinding. The operation thereafter is the same as that described above, but the microcomputer 43 counts the time when the motor 6 rotates, and if the time is the minimum time, the inside of the crushing chamber 12 is cleaned as described above.
The motor 6 is programmed so as not to rotate for a second.

If the hopper lid 15 is opened or the basket 21 is pulled out during the above-mentioned operation, the start switch
As explained when pressing 71, the LCD 64 blinks and the buzzer 62 can be alerted, and the heater
34 and the motor 6 are turned off, and the switching valve 38 is connected to the circulation pipe 39.
The microcomputer 43 is programmed to be on the side of. At this time, if the hopper lid 15 is closed or the basket 21 is returned to the original state, the operation can be continued. Here, even when the microcomputer 43 goes into a runaway state, the motor 6 is turned off because the motor 6 and the safety switch 18 of the motor circuit 49 are connected in series to the commercial AC power supply 41. Further, since the hot water supply nozzle 13 faces the hinge 16, hot water is discharged toward the opened hopper lid 15 so that safety is ensured.

After that, if the hopper lid 15 is closed or the basket 21 is replaced, the operation can be continued,
Assuming that a child or the like can open and close the hopper lid 15 during use, a delay of 5 seconds is provided for continuous operation.

Further, in the above embodiment, the switching valve 38 is switched from the circulation pipe 39 to the hot water supply pipe 37 after 1 minute has elapsed from the start, but the switching valve 38 is switched immediately after the crushing end detection circuit 60 detects the end of crushing. May be.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the configuration of the present invention as is clear from the description of the above embodiments, the hot water is discharged into the hopper that stores the coffee beans, so the inside of the hopper can be easily washed, and When the lid of the hopper is opened, the switching valve is actuated and the hot water in the hot water supply pipe enters the circulation pipe side and is not discharged into the hopper, which is safe. The crushing chamber can be cleaned easily by rotating the cutter while discharging hot water.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an electric coffee brewer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the same, and FIG. It is a circuit block diagram. 1 ... Boiler body, 5 ... hopper, 6 ... motor,
6a ... Output shaft, 7 ... Cutter, 12 ... Grinding chamber, 13 ...
Hot water supply nozzle, 15 …… hopper lid, 18 …… safety switch,
32 …… hot water supply device, 33 …… control unit, 34 …… heater, 35…
… Water tank, 37 …… Hot water supply pipe, 38 …… Switching valve, 39 …… Circulation pipe, 43 …… Microcomputer (arithmetic processing unit), 46…
… Heater circuit, 47 …… Heater drive relay circuit, 49…
… Motor circuit, 50 …… Motor thyristor drive circuit,
53 …… Switching valve circuit, 54 …… Switching valve thyristor drive circuit.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A hopper for accommodating coffee beans and a motor having an output shaft projecting into the hopper are arranged on an upper part of a brewer body, and a crushing chamber formed in the hopper at a tip of the output shaft of the motor. Is provided with a cutter for crushing coffee beans, a heater for heating water in a water tank provided at a proper position in the boiling body is provided at a lower portion of the boiling body, and hot water heated by the heater is used in the hopper. A hot water supply pipe is provided inside, and a circulation pipe for returning the hot water in the hot water supply pipe to the water tank is connected in the middle of this hot water supply pipe through a switching valve, and a lid for the hopper is provided and the lid is opened and closed. Is provided with a safety switch for detecting the above, a basket for extracting coffee liquid is arranged below the hopper, and the safety switch is provided in series in the drive circuit of the motor. Electric coffee boiling and apparatus in which a calculation processing unit for outputting a signal for switching the switching valve to the circulation pipe side to the drive circuit of the switching valve inputs the open signal of the lid from all switches. 2. A function of outputting a signal for switching the switching valve to the hot water supply pipe side to a driving circuit of the switching valve after a predetermined time elapses after inputting a lid closing signal from the safety switch to the arithmetic processing unit. An electric coffee brewer according to claim 1.