Beverage servers and their controlling methods

摘要

A beverage server comprises a tank (1) containing water (11) serving as a coolant and a coiled beverage duct (4) through which beer or other beverage flows and cooling means (8) fitted to a portion of the wall of the tank (1) so as to rapidly cool and serve beer or other beverage discharged from the storage container. The inner wall of the tank (1) near the portion where the cooling means (8) is fitted is made of a material (15) having a high thermal conductivity, whereas the inner wall of the tank (1) near the beverage duct (4) is made of a material (16) having a low thermal conductivity. A sensor (13) is provided near the beverage duct (4) to obtain information for controlling the cooling means (8). This simple beverage server assures stable serving of beverage at a suitable temperature. Another sensor (14) is provided near a portion of the tank wall where the cooling means (8) and a controller (20) to controls the action of the cooling means (8) based on the information from the sensors (13,14) are also provided. The cooling means (8) works at full capacity when one or both of the sensors (13,14) have detected the melting of the coolant (11). This eliminates the risk of trouble due to cooling capacity deficiency even after a long interruption of cooling.