JP2000231667A - Temperature controller for can - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hold a can at set temperature (heating, temperature insulation, or cooling temperature) outdoors and indoors and in an automobile. SOLUTION: The temperature controller 1 is constituted by fitting a PTC thermistor (temperature-sensiting resistance element) to the bottom part 6a of a container 6 into which a can containing drink is inserted and winding the cylindrical part 6b of the container 6 with a linear heater 11 in a coil shape. A thermal reed switch 12 is fitted to part of the cylindrical part 6b. To cool the can, a Peltier element is fitted to the bottom part 6a of the container 6. The cylindrical part 6b of the container 6 is so shaped as to have two internal- diameter parts corresponding to two kinds of can differing in diameter and the bottom part 9a of the small-diameter part is below the bottom part 8a of the large-diameter part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a can temperature control device for heating or cooling a can containing liquid food such as soft drink.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Tea, coffee drinks, oolong tea, and the like are sold in cans. These are often heated or cooled to an appropriate temperature by a vending machine. Heating is performed by an electric heater, etc.
Cooling is performed in a refrigeration cycle using a refrigerant. Immediately after purchasing from a vending machine, it is at an appropriate temperature, but if you take it home and time passes, it will be close to normal temperature. Therefore, it is sufficient to drink immediately after purchasing from a vending machine, but there are times when it is not possible to drink immediately.

[0003] In this case, drink at a temperature close to room temperature, or drink by heating or cooling by appropriate means. It takes time and effort to heat it in a pot. Also, the can cannot be directly heated in a microwave oven. On the other hand, cooling can be easily performed by placing the can in a refrigerator, but cannot be performed outdoors or in a car.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of this point, and it is possible to set a can to a set temperature simply by supplying power, not only outdoors or in a car, but also indoors. It is intended to provide a can temperature control device that can be maintained. In addition, the "drink" in the present invention includes not only drinking water but also soup or a mixture of a solid and a liquid.

[0005]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is provided.
A container into which a can containing a beverage is inserted is provided, a heating element is mounted on the bottom of the container and around the cylindrical portion, and a temperature switch is mounted on a part of the cylindrical portion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the heating element provided on the bottom portion is a PTC thermistor, and the heating element mounted on the cylindrical portion is a coil heater. It is characterized by being wound in a shape.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the linear heater is densely wound below the cylindrical portion and coarsely wound above the cylindrical portion. I do.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the Curie point of the PTC thermistor is set to a temperature higher than the temperature control point of the linear heater. I do.

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that a container into which a can containing a beverage is inserted is provided, and a cooling element is attached to the bottom of the container.

The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that a container into which a can containing a beverage is inserted is provided, a cooling element is mounted on the bottom of the container, and a heat radiating mechanism is provided below the container. And

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the first or fifth aspect, the cylindrical portion of the container has an inner diameter corresponding to two or more kinds of cans having different diameters. It is characterized by having a portion.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the first or fifth aspect, the cylindrical portion of the container has an inner diameter corresponding to two or more kinds of cans having different diameters. Parts, and a part of their inner diameters overlap each other.

[0013] Further, according to the invention described in claim 9, the cylindrical portion of the container has an inner diameter portion corresponding to two or more kinds of cans having different diameters, and a small diameter portion among them. Is located lower than the bottom of the large diameter portion.

According to the temperature control device for a can having the above-described structure, the can can be heated or cooled only by supplying a current to the heating element or the cooling element. Depending on the shape of the cylindrical portion of the container, heating and cooling of several types of cans having different diameters can be performed efficiently.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the heating device according to the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the can temperature control device. The temperature control device 1 has a structure in which a container 6 into which a can is inserted is embedded via a heat insulating material 5 (see FIG. 5) in a housing 4 whose upper part is opened and closed by a lid 3 attached by a hinge 2. ing. A joining piece 7 (see FIG. 5) of a double-sided adhesive tape or a magic tape (registered trademark, which binds and binds two fiber stitches) is attached to the bottom of the housing 4. The housing 4 is fixed to the instrument panel or the like by attaching the other connecting piece to the instrument panel or the like of the automobile.

As shown in FIG. 5, the container 6 is open at the top and comprises a bottom portion 6a and a cylindrical portion 6b. As shown in FIG. 2, the planar shape of the container 6 is a shape in which holes 8 and 9 having different inner diameters A and B are continuously provided, that is, a hole 8 having a larger inner diameter A (for example, φ66 mm) and a smaller inner diameter Part of each diameter of the hole 9 of B (for example, φ53 mm) is formed in a shape in which the holes 9 are overlapped with each other (a polished shape). The boundary between hole 8 and hole 9 is narrow in this polished type,
This is to prevent the cans put in the holes 8 and 9 from falling down.

The inner diameters A and B are slightly larger than the diameter of the can. This is for the purpose of efficiently transferring heat to the can by preventing the linear heater 11 described below from being separated from the can. In providing the two holes 8 and 9,
Instead of such a polished shape, as shown in FIG. 3, all of the smaller holes 9 are included in the larger holes 8, and a part of the smaller holes 9 is replaced with the larger holes 8. You may make it contact the hole 8.

Thus, the can inserted into the smaller hole 9 can be reliably heated. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the bottom 9a of the smaller hole 9 is
By setting it at a position lower than the bottom 8a, it is possible to hold a can having a small diameter and a high height without any problem. Setting the bottom portion 9a of the smaller hole 9 to a lower position in this way can be adopted also in the polished type shown in FIG. In addition, although two holes 8 and 9 were provided in the container 6,
Without being limited to this, a container provided with a hole having two or more inner diameter portions corresponding to two or more kinds of cans having different diameter dimensions may be provided.

FIG. 5 shows a vertical section of the housing 4 and the container 6. As described above, the container 6 is provided inside the housing 4 with the heat insulating material 5 interposed therebetween.
A TC thermistor 10 is mounted. A linear heater 11 is wound around the cylindrical portion 6b in a coil shape. The linear heater 11 is densely wound below the cylindrical portion 6b and coarsely wound above the cylindrical portion 6b. A thermal reed switch 12 is attached to a part of the tubular portion 6b as a temperature switch.

PTC thermistor (temperature-sensitive resistance element) 10
Has a property that the resistance value rapidly increases when the Curie point (specific temperature) is reached, and the flow of current decreases, so that a voltage can be directly applied to both ends. As the Curie point, a temperature higher than the temperature control point of the linear heater 11;
In practice, it is set so that the can is heated to 65 ° C. Incidentally, the temperature control point of the linear heater 11 is 55 ° C.

In the thermal reed switch 12, a magnet is disposed outside a reed switch in which a contact is sealed in a glass tube, and the magnetic force of the magnet is weakened in association with an increase in temperature so that the contact is brought into contact until then. When the applied magnetic force decreases, the contact switches. When the contacts are switched, the power supply to the linear heater 11 is cut off.

FIG. 6 shows an energization circuit of the above-mentioned can temperature control device, and applies a predetermined voltage to the power supply terminals 13 and 14. As a power supply voltage, a DC voltage of 12 volts is used when used in an automobile, and a DC voltage that is reduced to a similar level is used when used indoors. A power switch 15, a fuse 16, a thermal reed switch 12, and a linear heater 11 are connected in series between the power terminals 13 and 14, and a PTC thermistor 10 is connected between the fuse 16 and the power terminal 14. ing. Further, a series circuit of a resistor 17 and a light emitting diode 18 is connected in parallel to the thermal reed switch 12, and a series circuit of a resistor 19 and a light emitting diode 20 is connected in parallel to the linear heater 11. The light emitting diode 18 emits green light and the light emitting diode 20 emits red light.

The can temperature control device having such a configuration is used by applying a predetermined voltage to the power terminals 13 and 14 and turning on the power switch 15. When the power switch 15 is turned on, the PTC thermistor 10 is energized and generates heat. Since the PTC thermistor 10 itself does not easily reach a temperature above the Curie point, no temperature switch is required and the bottom of the can is heated to 65 ° C.

The linear heater 11 is energized when the thermal reed switch 12 is closed, and heats the outer periphery of the can.
This temperature is set to 55 by the thermal reed switch 12.
It is controlled in the range of ± 0.5 ° C. When the thermal reed switch 12 is closed and current is flowing through the linear heater 11, the red light emitting diode 20 is turned on, and when the thermal reed switch 12 is opened, the green light emitting diode 18 is turned on.

The temperature control device for a can according to the present invention includes not only a device for heating the can but also a device for cooling the can. FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in that case. In this structure, a Peltier element 21 as a cooling element is attached to the bottom 6 a of the container 6, and a heat radiation mechanism is provided below the Peltier element 21. The heat dissipating mechanism is, specifically, a fin 22.
And a fan 23 for blowing air to the fins 22. In the lower part of the housing 4, a wind guide port 4a and an exhaust port 4b are provided.

In this embodiment, the bottom of the container 6 is cooled by energizing the Peltier element 21. Therefore, the can stored in the container 6 is cooled. The lower surface of the Peltier element 21 is in contact with the fin 22, and the fin 2
2 is cooled by the wind generated by the fan 23.

[0027]

Since the present invention is a temperature control device for a can configured as described above, according to the invention described in claims 1 to 4, the can containing drinking water is always heated. It can be kept at a suitable temperature just after purchasing the beverage.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the can containing drinking water can be cooled to an appropriate temperature, so that the beverage can always be drunk in a cooled state.

According to the invention described in claim 6, the heat exchanged heat can be cooled by the wind generated by the heat radiating mechanism, and the cooling element can be reliably operated.

According to the invention described in claim 7, two or more cans having different diameters can be reliably held in the cylindrical portion of the container.

According to the invention described in claim 8, the housing of the temperature control device can be formed small.

According to the ninth aspect, a can having a small diameter and a high height can be reliably held.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a cylindrical portion of the container shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a top view of a cylindrical portion of a container different from that of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the one shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a temperature control device for heating the can of the one shown in FIG.

6 is an energization circuit diagram of the one shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a temperature control device for cooling a can.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Temperature control apparatus 6 Container 6a Bottom 6b Cylindrical part 8a Bottom 9a Bottom 10 PTC thermistor 11 Linear heater 12 Thermal reed switch 21 Peltier element 22 Fin 23 Fan

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A container into which a can containing a beverage is inserted, a heating element is mounted on the bottom of the container and around the cylindrical portion, and a temperature switch is mounted on a part of the cylindrical portion. And a can temperature control device. 2. The can according to claim 1, wherein the heating element provided on the bottom portion is a PTC thermistor, and the heating element mounted on the cylindrical portion is formed by winding a linear heater in a coil shape. Temperature control device. 3. The can temperature control device according to claim 2, wherein the linear heater is densely wound below the cylindrical portion and coarsely wound above the cylindrical portion. 4. The Curie point of the PTC thermistor
The can temperature control device according to claim 2, wherein the temperature is set higher than the temperature control point of the linear heater. 5. A can temperature control device, comprising: a container into which a can containing a beverage is inserted; and a cooling element attached to a bottom of the container. 6. A temperature control device for a can, wherein a container into which a can containing a beverage is inserted is provided, a cooling element is mounted on the bottom of the container, and a heat radiating mechanism is provided below the container. 7. The can temperature according to claim 1, wherein the shape of the cylindrical portion of the container has an inner diameter portion corresponding to two or more kinds of cans having different diameters. Control device. 8. The container according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical portion has an inner diameter portion corresponding to two or more kinds of cans having different diameters, and a part of the inner diameters overlaps each other. Item 6. The temperature control device for a can according to Item 1 or 5. 9. The shape of the cylindrical portion of the container has inner diameter portions corresponding to two or more types of cans having different diameters, and the bottom of the smaller diameter portion is smaller than the bottom of the larger diameter portion. A can temperature control device, which is located at a low position.