JP2008232591A - Storage and opening/closing structure of storage - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily perform the freshness management of goods in storage regardless of kinds of goods. <P>SOLUTION: This storage comprises a rotating shelf 4 having a take-out side opening 46 serving as an opening for putting the goods in and out at least in two directions, and a storage side opening 47; and a door 3 disposed in an openable/closable manner at the body 2 including the rotating shelf 4 and exposing a part of the rotating shelf 4 when opened. In a preset time zone, only the storage side opening 47 is always exposed when opening the door 3. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage for storing food, industrial products, and the like, and an opening / closing structure of the storage.

In the business of handling food, it is necessary to reliably manage the freshness of food stored. As a simple method of freshness management, there is a method of thorough so-called first-in first-out, in which food that has been contained first is consumed or carried out first. In addition, as a method of performing fine management, there is a method of determining the delivery date and the expiration date for each food package and strictly managing the remaining time until the expiration date. Which method is appropriate depends on the content of the food handling business and the type of food, but in any method, it takes a lot of work and time to perform reliable management manually. .
Therefore, various methods for easily managing the freshness of food have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The inventory management device described in Patent Document 1 is provided with a non-contact type ID tag reader that reads information from a non-contact type ID tag in a food storage such as a refrigerator, and information on the non-contact type ID tag included in the food package Is used to manage freshness for each package.
JP 2006-298554 A

  By the way, the method described in Patent Document 1 is based on the premise that the package of the food to be managed has a non-contact type ID tag without omission, and only the limited food is to be managed, or the non-contact type This method is difficult to apply until the penetration rate of ID tags becomes extremely high. In addition, depending on the content of the work and the type of food, strict management in hour and minute units by a non-contact type ID tag may not be required. For example, only first-in first-out management of taking out in the order of accommodation is sufficient. Is often obtained. Furthermore, in terms of managing the elapsed time from the date of manufacture, the same management may be required for various industrial products other than food products, and non-contact ID tags are attached to all managed items. It is not expected at present. For this reason, there has been a demand for a method for easily managing a variety of items including items that are not provided with non-contact type ID tags.

  An object of the present invention is to enable easy management of items based on the order in which they are stored, regardless of the type of items.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is provided with an accommodating portion provided with at least two openings through which an article can be taken in and out, and a main body incorporating the accommodating portion, which can be opened and closed. A storage comprising: a door that exposes a portion; and an opening control mechanism that exposes only the specific opening of the opening when the door is opened when a predetermined condition is satisfied. Provide storage.
According to the above configuration, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, only a specific opening is exposed when the door of the main body is opened. Thus, for example, by using one of the openings exclusively for the entrance for storing the goods, only the opening dedicated for the entrance can be used in a state where a predetermined condition is satisfied, so that the goods in the accommodation section are accommodated. Arranged in order. Furthermore, if a predetermined condition is satisfied when the item is accommodated in the accommodating portion, the items arranged in the accommodating order can be taken out in the accommodating order if the other opening is used exclusively for taking out. Therefore, since it is possible to thoroughly manage so-called first-in first-out, that is, to take out any item in the order in which it was accommodated, it is possible to easily perform management based on the order of accommodation regardless of the type of the item.

In the above-described configuration, the housing portion includes the two opening portions facing each other and is rotatably attached to the main body, and the opening control mechanism is configured such that when the door is opened, the specific opening portion of the door is It is good also as what restrict | limits the rotation position of the said accommodating part so that it may overlap with a position.
In this case, since the accommodating portion is rotatably attached to the main body, by rotating the accommodating portion, any opening can be exposed, and the rotation position of the accommodating portion when the door is opened is limited. By doing so, a specific opening is exposed. Thereby, the structure which exposes a specific opening part among the opening parts of at least 2 directions is easily realizable. Moreover, since each opening part can be exposed by rotating an accommodating part, switching of the opening part to expose can be implement | achieved easily.

In the above-described configuration, the storage portion includes a substantially circular storage shelf and a side wall standing around the storage shelf, and the side wall is formed by cutting out two portions facing each other. The opening may be configured.
In this case, since the opening portion is formed by cutting out the side wall of the storage shelf, it is possible to easily realize a configuration in which the specific opening portion is exposed among the opening portions in at least two directions.

In the above configuration, the door is a sliding door that slides along a curved path along the rotation direction of the housing portion, and the opening control mechanism is an engaging portion that engages the door and the housing portion. And a rotation restricting portion that restricts the rotation operation of the accommodating portion at a predetermined position.
In this case, the opening control mechanism rotates the housing portion as the door slides, so that the housing portion when the door is opened can be easily rotated without using complicated mechanisms, motors, or the like. . And it becomes possible to expose a specific opening part by regulating this accommodating part in a predetermined position. Therefore, management based on the order of accommodation can be realized with a configuration that is very simple and can be realized at low cost.

The said structure WHEREIN: The said partition part is good also as a structure by which the partition wall extended toward the said other opening part from one said opening part is arrange | positioned.
In this case, the items in the container are arranged in the order of accommodation along the partition wall, so that the order of the items is not confused when the items are accommodated and taken out. For this reason, the first-in first-out management can be performed more reliably.

The said structure WHEREIN: The said opening control mechanism is good also as a structure provided with the control means which operate | moves only in the preset time slot | zone, and exposes the said specific opening part when the said door opens.
In this case, since a specific opening is exposed when the door is opened only during a specific time zone, for example, if the opening dedicated to the entrance is exposed during the loading time zone of the item, the user is not conscious. First-in first-out management can be thoroughly implemented.

The said structure WHEREIN: The refrigerator which cools the air in the said accommodating part and hold | maintains to the preset temperature may be sufficient.
In this case, there is an advantage that a refrigerated food or product requiring freshness can be managed easily and reliably based on the order of accommodation.

Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a housing part having an opening part into / from which goods can be taken in / out in at least two directions, incorporated in a main body of a storage, and a door disposed in the main body so as to be opened and closed. The storage is configured such that a part of the housing portion is exposed when opened, and only the specific opening portion of the opening portion is exposed by an opening control mechanism when the door is opened. Provide the open / close structure of the storage.
According to this structure, when a predetermined condition is satisfied, only a specific opening is exposed when the door of the main body is opened. Thus, for example, by using one of the openings exclusively for the entrance for storing the goods, only the opening dedicated for the entrance can be used in a state where a predetermined condition is satisfied, so that the goods in the accommodation section are accommodated. Arranged in order. Furthermore, if a predetermined condition is satisfied when the item is accommodated in the accommodating portion, the items arranged in the accommodating order can be taken out in the accommodating order if the other opening is used exclusively for taking out. Therefore, since it is possible to thoroughly manage the so-called first-in first-out, in which any item is taken out in the order in which it is accommodated, it is possible to easily perform management based on the order of accommodation regardless of the type of the item.

  According to the present invention, since it is possible to thoroughly manage so-called first-in first-out, that is, taking out items in the order they are stored, regardless of the type of items, management based on the order in which the items are stored can be easily performed.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a case where the storage and the open / close structure of the storage of the present invention are applied to a refrigerator storing food will be described as an example.
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a configuration of a refrigerator 1 according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.
A refrigerator 1 as a storage is provided with a columnar main body 2 that contains food, and a pair of doors 3 that are opened to the left and right are disposed on the front surface of the main body 2. The door 3 is a sliding door that slides along a curved surface constituting the side surface of the main body 2 while drawing a locus of a curve, and is formed with a concave portion 31 on which a user places a hand. In the space formed inside the door 3, a rotating shelf 4 that houses items is arranged. A refrigeration circuit (not shown) that cools the space inside the door 3 and keeps it at a predetermined temperature is housed below the door 3.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the rotating shelf 4 built in the main body 2.
The rotating shelf 4 serving as a storage unit is configured by stacking disc-shaped food storage shelves 41 serving as storage shelves vertically so as to be spaced apart from each other. In addition, a top plate 43 is disposed on the uppermost portion of the stacked food storage shelves 41, and the entire shape of the rotating shelf 4 is a cylindrical shape that can be incorporated in the cylindrical main body 2.
A side wall 44 is erected on the outer periphery of the food storage shelf 41. The side wall 44 extends from the surface of the food storage shelf 41 to the food storage shelf 41 or the top plate 43 positioned above the food storage shelf 41. Further, the shape of the side wall 44 is a curved surface along the outer peripheral shape of the food storage shelf 41.

  The side walls 44 are cut out on the front side and the back side of the food storage shelf 41, and these cutout portions serve as an extraction side opening 46 and a storage side opening 47 as openings. The extraction-side opening 46 and the accommodation-side opening 47 are opened relative to each other so that one can see through the other. Further, a display portion 41A is attached to the edge of the take-out side opening 46 of the food storage shelf 41, and a display portion 41B is attached to the edge on the side of the storage side opening 47. The display unit 41A displays that the take-out side opening 46 is an open side on the food take-out side by characters, illustrations, or the like. The display part 41B displays that the accommodation side opening part 47 is an opening part in the side which puts a food with a character, an illustration, etc. The display units 41A and 41B are, for example, pasted stickers or engraved characters.

Here, the storage side opening 47 is an opening used when food is stored in the rotating shelf 4, and the takeout side opening 46 on the opposite side is an opening used when taking out food from the rotating shelf 4. is there. For this reason, the food on the food storage shelf 41 is lined up toward the take-out opening 46 in the order in which the food is stored from the storage opening 47. In other words, since the food stored first is located at the position closest to the extraction side opening 46, as long as the food is always taken out from the extraction side opening 46, Can be managed.
However, if food is taken out from the storage-side opening 47 or food is put in from the extraction-side opening 46, the storage order is confused and freshness management cannot be performed. Therefore, as will be described later, the refrigerator 1 can use only the accommodation-side opening 47 during a specific time period, and enables reliable management based on the order of accommodation.

  Below the food storage shelf 41 located at the lowermost part of the rotating shelf 4 is a base part 42, and the base part 42 is freely rotatable at the bottom (not shown) in the main body 2 via, for example, a bearing or the like. Is attached to. A protrusion 45 is erected on the side surface of the base portion 42. The protrusion 45 acts as an engaging portion together with the claw 32 described later.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of the refrigerator 1, and in particular, a cross-sectional view at a height position between the food storage shelf 41 and the food storage shelf 41.
As shown in FIG. 3, the front side of the cylindrical main body 2 is composed of a pair of doors 3 and the back side is a curved wall. The rear wall has a double structure of an outer wall 21 and an inner wall 22. When the door 3 is opened, the two doors 3 slide as indicated by arrows A and A 'in the drawing, 21 and the inner wall 22.

One door 3 is provided with a claw 32 protruding toward the base portion 42. The nail | claw 32 is arrange | positioned so that entrance / exit from the door 3 is possible, and it engages with the protrusion 45 standingly arranged by the base part 42 in the protrusion state. The claw 32 is disposed on the front side of the protrusion 45 in the door 3 that slides and opens in the direction indicated by the arrow A in the figure. For this reason, when performing the operation | movement which opens the door 3, the nail | claw 32 engages with the protrusion 45 with the sliding of the door 3. FIG.
As described above, since the rotating shelf 4 is rotatably attached to the main body 2, when the claw 32 is engaged with the protrusion 45, the protrusion 45 receives a force for opening the door 3, and the rotating shelf 4 rotates. This rotation direction is the direction indicated by the arrow A in the figure, like the door 3.

The inner wall 22 is provided with a stopper 33 as a rotation restricting portion that protrudes toward the rotating shelf 4. The stopper 33 is fixedly provided on the inner wall 22, does not contact the outer periphery of the rotating shelf 4, and engages with the protrusion 45.
The stopper 33 is on the substantially opposite side of the claw 32 in the state shown in FIG. That is, the protrusion 45 contacts the stopper 33 when the claw 32 and the protrusion 45 are engaged and the rotating shelf 4 rotates approximately 180 degrees. In a state where the protrusion 45 is in contact with the stopper 33, the rotation of the rotating shelf 4 is restricted, and the rotating shelf 4 can rotate only in the reverse direction, that is, the direction indicated by the arrow A ′ in the drawing.

Therefore, when the door 3 is opened with the claw 32 protruding, the claw 32 and the projection 45 are engaged, and the rotating shelf 4 is urged in the direction of arrow A in the figure. The rotating shelf 4 is rotated by this urging force and stops when the protrusion 45 comes into contact with the stopper 33.
At this time, the rotating shelf 4 rotates approximately 180 degrees and the accommodation side opening 47 moves to the front side, so that the accommodation side opening 47 is exposed from the opening where the door 3 is opened.
If the accommodation opening 47 has moved to the front side before the door 3 is opened, the claw 32 does not engage with the protrusion 45, so the rotating shelf 4 does not rotate, and similarly the accommodation opening 47 Is exposed.
Therefore, when the door 3 is opened with the claws 32 protruding, the accommodation side opening 47 is always exposed.
Further, when the claw 32 does not protrude, the protrusion 45 can freely rotate in either direction of arrows A and A ′ in the drawing as long as it does not contact the stopper 33.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the refrigerator 1.
As shown in FIG. 4, the control system of the refrigerator 1 includes a control unit 51 as a control unit that controls each unit of the refrigerator 1, an operation unit 53 including a switch and the like operated by a user of the refrigerator 1, and time Is provided with a timing unit 54 that counts time and an actuator 55 that allows the claw 32 to enter and exit. In addition, a temperature control unit 56 that controls the refrigeration apparatus drive circuit 57 is connected to the control unit 51.

  The refrigeration apparatus drive circuit 57 drives a refrigeration circuit including a use side heat exchanger, a heat source side heat exchanger, an expansion valve, a compressor, and the like. The refrigeration apparatus drive circuit 57 operates at any time according to the control of the temperature control unit 56 so as to maintain the room in which the rotating shelf 4 is accommodated at a preset temperature.

The control unit 51 stores the time preset by the operation unit 53 in the built-in memory 52. This time is a time set in the refrigerator 1 as a time zone in which only the housing-side opening 47 should be exposed. Here, the start time and the end time of the control for exposing only the accommodation-side opening 47 are set and stored in the memory 52.
The control unit 51 monitors the current time measured by the time measuring unit 54, and when the current time reaches the start time stored in the memory 52, the control unit 51 operates the actuator 55 to move the claw 32 to the rotating shelf 4 side. Make it protrude. Thereby, the refrigerator 1 will always transfer to the state which the accommodation side opening part 47 exposes, when the door 3 is opened.
Thereafter, the control unit 51 again monitors the current time measured by the time measuring unit 54. When the current time reaches the end time stored in the memory 52, the control unit 51 operates the actuator 55 to move the claw 32 into the door 3. Pay. Thereby, when the door 3 of the refrigerator 1 is opened, the user can expose the favorite side of the extraction side opening 46 and the accommodation side opening 47.

As described above, according to the refrigerator 1 according to the embodiment to which the present invention is applied, when the door 3 is opened until the end time is reached after the start time stored in the memory 52 is reached, the take-out side Of the opening 46 and the accommodation side opening 47, only the accommodation side opening 47 is exposed.
For this reason, if the start time and the end time are set in accordance with, for example, the time zone for carrying in the food, only the accommodation-side opening 47 is opened at the time of the operation for accommodating the carried-in food in the refrigerator 1. They are arranged in one direction from the accommodation side opening 47, that is, in the direction indicated by the arrow B in the figure.
Accordingly, when the door 3 is opened after the end time has passed and the takeout side opening 46 is exposed, the food that has been stored earlier is closer to the takeout side opening 46, so that the food is taken out in the order in which it was stored. Can do. That is, in the refrigerator 1, it is possible to thoroughly perform freshness management based on the order of accommodation only by storing food in a specific time zone regardless of the type of food.

  For this reason, for example, if the refrigerator 1 is used in the business of handling food, inventory of food can be simplified and the expiration date can be easily managed, so that an effect such as an ordering error and a reduction in disposal loss can be expected. Moreover, when food is stored, it is only necessary to put the food in one direction from the storage opening 47, and there is no need to rearrange the food on the food storage shelf 41, so that it is possible to suppress power consumption accompanying excessive outflow of cold air. . Further, since it does not have large-scale equipment for moving food and has a simple configuration as described above, it can be installed in a small area and can be easily introduced into a small-scale store or the like.

In addition, since only the storage side opening 47 can be automatically used from the start time to the end time, the food is arranged in the storage order in the food storage shelf 41 without the user being particularly conscious. For this reason, since a user's burden is very light, reliable freshness management can be performed easily.
Furthermore, since the mechanism that exposes the housing-side opening 47 between the start time and the end time only needs to project the claw 32 by the operation of the actuator 55, easy freshness management is easily realized with a simple configuration. it can. Before the start time and after the end time, the extraction side opening 46 and the accommodation side opening 47 can be easily switched by simply rotating the rotating shelf 4.

The refrigerator 1 does not include a motor or the like as a mechanism for rotating the rotating shelf 4. In the rotating shelf 4, portions where the side walls 44 are cut out are an extraction side opening 46 and an accommodation side opening 47. In addition, the mechanism for exposing only the housing opening 47 in a specific time zone is configured by only the claw 32, the stopper 33, and the protrusion 45, and the above configuration is realized only by controlling the actuator 55 by the control unit 51. Thus, the refrigerator 1 has realized the storage which can perform easy freshness management by the structure which is realizable with very simple and low cost.
Further, by applying the present invention to a refrigerator, there is an advantage that freshness management of first-in first-out can be reliably performed for fresh foods and products that require refrigerated storage.

In addition, in the said structure, it is good also as a structure which provided the partition wall in the food storage shelf 41 so that a food might line up in a line.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of partition walls 48 extending from the take-out opening 46 toward the storage opening 47 may be provided on the food storage shelf 41. The height of these partition walls 48 is arbitrary, and may reach from the food storage shelf 41 to the food storage shelf 41 or the top plate 43 thereabove.
According to this configuration, as shown by the arrow B in the figure, the food stored from the storage side opening 47 in the set time zone is arranged in a row without disturbing the storage order. For this reason, it becomes possible to reliably take out food from the take-out side opening 46 in the order of accommodation, so that first-in first-out management can be performed more reliably.

Further, the above-described embodiment is merely an aspect of the present invention, and can be arbitrarily modified and applied within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, a set of two doors 3 is provided, but the present invention is not limited to this. It is good also as a structure which slides and opens the door 3 of a sheet | seat in the direction of arrow A in the figure. In the above embodiment, the control unit 51 controls the claw 32 to protrude from the start time to the end time. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is good also as a structure which can be made to protrude at arbitrary timings by operation of the switch with which the operation part 53 is provided. In this case, for example, the switch of the operation unit 53 may be provided on the front side of the refrigerator 1 including the door 3. The structure for projecting the claw 32 is not limited to the one using the actuator 55, and other driving means can of course be used.
Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to refrigerators, and can be applied to general thermostatic storages that store items in a cooled or heated atmosphere at a predetermined temperature, and can also be applied to storages that do not have a cooling or heating function. The size of the storage to be applied is not particularly limited, and the specific detailed configuration of the apparatus to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the example of the above embodiment and can be arbitrarily changed.

It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the structure of the refrigerator which concerns on embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the rotation shelf inside a refrigerator. It is sectional drawing which shows the internal structure of a refrigerator. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the control system of a refrigerator. It is sectional drawing which shows another example of the internal structure of a refrigerator.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Refrigerator (storage), 2 ... Main body, 3 ... Door, 4 ... Rotating shelf (accommodating part), 21 ... Outer wall, 22 ... Inner wall, 31 ... Recessed part, 32 ... Claw (engaging part), 33 ... Stopper ( Rotation restricting part), 41 ... Food storage shelf (storage shelf), 41A, 41B ... Display part, 42 ... Base part, 43 ... Top plate, 44 ... Side wall, 45 ... Projection (engagement part), 46 ... Extraction side Opening part (opening part), 47 ... accommodating side opening part (opening part), 48 ... partition wall, 51 ... control part (control means), 52 ... memory, 53 ... operation part, 54 ... timing part, 55 ... actuator, 56 ... Temperature controller, 57 ... Refrigeration apparatus drive circuit.

Claims (8)

An accommodating portion provided with at least two openings through which goods can be taken in and out;
A door that is openably and closably disposed on a main body containing the housing portion, and that exposes a part of the housing portion when opened;
An opening control mechanism that exposes only the specific opening among the openings when the door is opened in a state where a predetermined condition is established,
A vault characterized by comprising The accommodating portion includes two openings facing each other, and is rotatably attached to the main body.
The opening control mechanism restricts the rotational position of the housing portion so that the specific opening portion overlaps the position of the door when the door is opened.
The storage according to claim 1. The storage portion is configured to include a substantially circular storage shelf and a side wall erected around the storage shelf,
The side wall is formed by notching two portions facing each other to form the opening,
The storage according to claim 2. The door is a sliding door that slides along a curved path along the rotation direction of the housing portion,
The opening control mechanism is
An engaging portion for engaging the door and the accommodating portion;
A rotation restricting portion for restricting the rotation operation of the accommodating portion at a predetermined position,
The storage according to claim 2 or 3, wherein A partition wall extending from the one opening to the other opening is disposed in the housing portion.
The storage in any one of Claim 2 to 4 characterized by these. The opening control mechanism includes a control unit that operates only during a preset time period and exposes the specific opening when the door is opened,
The storage in any one of Claim 1 to 5 characterized by these. Being a refrigerator that cools the air in the housing and holds it at a preset temperature;
The storage in any one of Claim 1 to 6 characterized by these. A housing portion having at least two openings for inserting and removing goods is built in the main body of the storage, and a part of the housing portion is exposed when a door that can be opened and closed is opened in the main body. Configure the vault,
Exposing only the specific opening of the opening by an opening control mechanism when the door is opened;
Opening and closing structure of the storage characterized by

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