JP2000241067A - Electric refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To manage articles in a refrigerator with no waste by displaying the name, quantity, receiving date, appreciation time limit, delivery data and the like, of the articles on a liquid crystal or the like, and alarming an article by flickering the screen or by voice upon expiration or approach of appreciation time limit or when the quantity is excess or deficient. SOLUTION: A liquid crystal panel 19 for indicating the name, quantity, receiving date, appreciation time limit or the like, of articles in a refrigerator 1 is fixed to the side face of the body 2 of refrigerator with a screen 19A and a keyboard 19B being arranged, respectively, at the upper and lower parts thereof. A bar code reader may be used for inputting a data to a computer built in the liquid crystal panel 19 or the like. Various input data are managed by the computer and displayed on the liquid crystal panel 19 or the like. Expiration or approach of appreciation time limit or excess and deficient of quantity of the article is notifies to a user by flickering the display or delivering an alarm. The articles may be circulated by disposing a conveyor 4 for carrying the articles back and forth in the refrigerator 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a commercial or household electric refrigerator such as a hotel or restaurant. More specifically, the present invention relates to transport and management of articles cooled in an electric refrigerator.

2. Description of the Related Art Refrigerated articles (hereinafter referred to as "articles") such as foods in conventional electric refrigerators for business use or home use (hereinafter referred to as "refrigerators") are stationary, and when removing articles at the back, they are placed in front. It was a cumbersome task that required time for housewives etc. because it was necessary to once take out certain items. Also, the articles placed on the back side are difficult to see from the near side, and there is no indication about the articles, so that there is a problem that they are forgotten and rot after a lapse of time, and there is also a problem in terms of cost reduction and elimination of waste of resources. Also, in recent years, refrigerators have become larger and the number of articles has increased, and it is one of the hardest tasks for a person to memorize and store all of these items and combine them to create a menu of dishes. Was.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above circumstances, the present invention has greatly improved the storage and management method in a commercial or home electric refrigerator so that articles on the back side can be easily taken out, and articles can be carried in. , Inspection can be easily done, the name of the goods,
The quantity, expiration date, etc. are displayed to warn the user of old articles whose expiration date has passed.
An object of the present invention is to provide a commercial or household electric refrigerator that creates a cooking menu by combining articles inside and outside the refrigerator.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electric refrigerator for business use or home use, in which a conveyer such as a conveyor driven by a step motor or the like is provided in the refrigerator to move or circulate the goods. It is very easy and quick to carry in, take out and inspect. In addition, the items in the refrigerator are managed by a computer, and the names, quantities, storage dates, expiration dates, etc. of the items are displayed on the LCD panel, etc. Expired or old items are automatically carried out to the entrance. Further, the present invention is characterized in that menus of various dishes are prepared by combining articles inside and outside the refrigerator to save time for busy housewives and the like.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, a transportation means such as a conveyor driven by a step motor or the like is provided in a commercial or household electric refrigerator to move or circulate articles in the refrigerator. In addition, the loading, unloading and inspection of articles can be done easily. As a result, articles on the back side of the refrigerator can be easily and quickly taken out, and can be easily carried in, thereby saving housework time. In addition, it is easy to inspect the goods, and the name, quantity, storage date, expiration date, etc. of the goods are displayed on the liquid crystal panel etc., and the expiration date etc. is reported by blinking and warning of the liquid crystal panel by computer management, Problems such as corruption and excess and deficiency could be solved, and household income and hygiene could be greatly increased. In addition, the loading, unloading, and inspection of articles can be easily and quickly performed, and the articles in the warehouse can be recognized from the outside by the liquid crystal panel, so that the opening time of the door can be greatly reduced, so that the power consumption is reduced. Further, in the present invention, various courtesy tables can be automatically created by combining articles inside and outside the refrigerator, so that housework time for housewives and the like can be reduced, and food expenses can be reduced because articles can be used efficiently. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples.

[0006]

1 is a perspective view of an electric refrigerator provided with a conveyor and a liquid crystal panel according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the conveyor according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a chain portion of a conveyor according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a liquid crystal panel 19 for displaying the name, quantity, warehousing date, expiration date, and the like of refrigerated articles in the refrigerator is provided on a side surface of a main body 2 of a business or household electric refrigerator (hereinafter referred to as a refrigerator) 1. Installed. It can be mounted on the door 3 or detached and mounted on a nearby wall or the like. A screen 19A is provided at an upper portion of the liquid crystal panel 19, and a keyboard 19B for inputting data is provided at a lower portion. The control unit 15A, the arithmetic unit 15B, and the storage unit 1 of the computer 15 (not shown)
Although 5C and the like are provided inside the main body 2, they may be provided outside the main body 2 as accessories. The input of data from the computer 15 of this embodiment is sent from an accessory barcode reader 20 (not shown) for ease of use, but can also be input from the keyboard 19B. The keyboard 19B conforms to a keyboard of a word processor or the like. However, as shown in FIG. 7, push buttons such as a refrigerated article name, a quantity, a shelf life, a storage date, a dish name, and the number of persons are provided so that even an elderly person can easily operate the keyboard. It has become. Further, a push button for an article name such as an egg or milk used every day is provided to facilitate the operation.

As shown in FIG. 1, a conveyor 4 is provided from the entrance side of the interior 2A of the main body 2 of the refrigerator 1 to the back side so that refrigerated articles (hereinafter referred to as articles) 14 can be circulated. Has become. The conveyor 4 may be installed around the inside of the refrigerator 1, or may be installed in a door pocket 3A or the like. Further, the number may be increased as needed. Conventionally, when removing the article 14B on the back side, it was necessary to remove the article 14A on the entrance side. However, according to the present invention, the required article 14E can be easily removed by operating the keyboard 19B. The same can be said for carrying in the article 14. When carrying in the article 14, it is common practice to place a new one at the back and an old one at the entrance. Since the conveyor 4 of the present invention is of a circulating type, it is easy to take out, carry in, and inspect the articles 14, so that this routine can be easily carried out, and time for a housewife who does housework can be saved.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the conveyor 4 includes an article tray 5, a chain 6, chain wheels 7, 8, a motor 9, and the like. As shown in FIG. 4, the article tray 5 is welded to a leg 13 which is welded to an outer link 17 provided outside the inner link 16 of the chain 6. Chain 6
Is supported and moved by wheels 7,8. The chain wheel 7 is fitted on a shaft 9A of a motor 9 disposed on the lower side, and a rotational force is applied. The chain wheel 8 is a driven wheel, and is supported by a bearing 10 bolted to a bottom plate 11 shown in FIG. The goods tray 5 is supported by a chain 6, but this alone is unstable, so that the chain guide 12 shown in FIG.
Is supported on the outside. The center portion 12A of the chain guide 12 which is bolted to the bottom plate 11 via the support legs 19
Also supports Chain 6. The motor used in the present invention uses a step motor or a pulse motor capable of stepping movement without a sensor in conjunction with a computer, but if a linear motor or other direct drive motor is used, it is more compact. Become. Of course, a general-purpose induction motor may be used although the shape becomes large and the place is pretended.

In this embodiment, the flat shape of the article tray 5 is shown in FIG.
Is a circle as shown in FIG. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the circular shape is more advantageous because the distance between the article trays 5 in the X direction and the Y direction can be reduced by about 100% of the tray size K in comparison with the rectangular shape shown in FIG. Therefore, this embodiment is particularly effective for articles having a circular cross section, such as milk bottles, which require time for putting in and out each morning.

The inside of the refrigerator 1 has poor visibility, and it is difficult to confirm the contents other than the article 14A near the entrance. For this reason, there is no other way than to rely on the user's memory for the existence of the article 14B on the back side or to take out and confirm the article 14A on the entrance side each time. When relying on the memory of the user, there is forgetting that the article 14
This causes problems such as lack of reputation and decay. The circulating conveyor 4 of the present invention is an effective means for solving this problem, but in order to further assure this, the name, quantity, expiration date, article storage location, etc. of the articles 14 in the refrigerator 1 are determined. These are managed by a computer 15 (not shown) and displayed on a liquid crystal panel 19 or the like so that they can be checked from outside the refrigerator. The reporting method is employed in the present invention. It is to be noted that a storage unit 15C for storing the article 14 in and out of the warehouse.
May be input with the keyboard 19B. However, if a bar code label is attached to the article 14 or the article receiving tray 5 and the bar code label is read, the article name, the expiration date, and the like can be known, and the efficiency is further improved. The article receiving tray 5 is also provided with a barcode label so that the storage position can be recognized, but a detailed description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 7 shows a liquid crystal screen, and FIG. 8 shows a schematic partial view of a keyboard.

The refrigerator 1 of the present invention is provided with the conveyor 4 so that the loading, unloading, and inspection of the articles 14 can be performed easily and quickly, and the articles 14 inside the refrigerator can be recognized outside the refrigerator by the liquid crystal panel 19. Since the opening time of the door 3 can be greatly reduced, there is an advantage that power consumption can be significantly reduced.

In the present invention, in order to make the management of the articles 14 in the refrigerator 1 more efficient, the expired articles 14D are used.
Alternatively, a method of automatically discharging the article 14C with a near expiration date near the entrance is adopted. As a result, the user is aware of the existence of the old article and can take it out quickly. The goods tray 5 of the conveyor 4 is provided so that these can be easily managed.
Are provided with numbers, symbols and the like so that the computer 15 can easily recognize them. In addition, an edge 5A is provided around the upper surface of the article receiving tray 5 so that the article 14 does not drop due to vibration or the like.

In the refrigerator 1 of the present invention, a menu of dishes can be prepared. This creates a menu of Japanese, Western, Chinese, etc. dishes by combining the items 14 in the refrigerator 1, but inputs the sample menus of these dishes in advance and selects the closest one to these. To create a menu table. Of course, since items outside the refrigerator can also be input, the number of combinations in this case is large, and a menu table rich in variety can be created. Since these are all managed by computer, it is possible to create a menu by combining items with expiration dates or items near the expiration date, and combining them with items outside the refrigerator, so that there is no waste of corrupting the items. It is economical and can prepare a menu in a few seconds, saving time for housewives etc. and reducing brain fatigue.

[0014]

The present invention is a recycle-type business or home electric refrigerator equipped with a refrigerated goods display panel, and has an automatic cooking menu creation function, so that its utility is large. In conventional commercial or household electric refrigerators, it was necessary to remove all the articles on the entrance side when removing the articles on the back side,
According to the present invention, since the articles are circulated by the conveyor, the articles on the back side can be easily and quickly taken out by operating the buttons. In addition, it is a common practice to put new items in the back and put old items in the foreground when putting articles in place. Was. For this reason, the articles on the back side have become old and have decayed. However, the circulating conveyor according to the present invention can easily realize this fixed stone by button operation. or,
Inspection of goods is also easy. In addition, since the items in the warehouse are computer-managed and the name of the item and the expiration date are displayed and warned on the liquid crystal panel, etc. Can also save money. In addition, the circulation conveyor of the present invention makes it easy and quick to carry in, take out, and inspect goods.
In addition, since the liquid crystal panel allows the user to recognize the articles inside the refrigerator outside the refrigerator, the opening time of the door can be greatly reduced, and the power consumption is also greatly reduced. Further, since the refrigerator of the present invention has an automatic dish menu creation function, menu items of various dishes can be created by combining articles inside and outside the refrigerator. Of course, it is possible to create a menu that combines expiration dates or items with near expiration dates, so it is economical without waste, and it is an epoch-making method that saves time for housewives and reduces fatigue of the brain. The invention is exactly the low growth type and 21
It is a century-type commercial or household electric refrigerator.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of a refrigerator according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the conveyor of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the chain portion of the conveyor of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a layout diagram of a round article tray according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a layout view of the rectangular article receiving tray of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic partial view of a liquid crystal screen of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic partial view of the keyboard of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Refrigerated goods circulation type electric refrigerator 7: Chain wheel 2: Refrigerator body 8: Chain wheel 2A: Inside the cabinet 9: Bearing 3: Door 10: Bearing 3A: Pocket 11: Bottom plate 4: Conveyor 12: Chain guide 5: Article tray 12A: Central part 6: Chain 13: Leg 14: Article 18: Square-shaped article tray 14A: Entrance side article 19: Liquid crystal panel 14B: Back side article 19A: Liquid crystal screen 14C: Near expiration date 19B: Keyboard 14D : Expiration date of goods 20: Barcode reader 15: Computer K: Receiving tray size 15A: Control unit 15B: Operation unit 15C: Storage unit 16: Inner link 17: Outer link

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. In an electric refrigerator for business or home use, the name, quantity, warehousing date, expiration date, departure date, etc. of refrigerated articles in the refrigerator are displayed on a liquid crystal panel or the like, and the items whose expiration date has expired or are near. A business or home electric refrigerator characterized in that a computer manages the occurrence of an excess or deficiency of a damaged product or quantity, and warns a user by flashing a screen of a liquid crystal panel or the like or by sound. 2. A business or home electric refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the name, quantity, storage date, expiration date, delivery date, storage position, etc. of the refrigerated articles in the refrigerator are read by a bar code reader. 3. The commercial or household electric refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the refrigerated articles are moved or circulated by means of a conveyor or the like to facilitate loading, unloading, and checking of the refrigerated articles in the refrigerator. . 4. An electric refrigerator for business or home use according to claim 3, wherein a number or a symbol is assigned to a refrigerated goods receiving tray of a conveyor in the refrigerator to control the refrigerated goods. 5. A business or household electric refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the refrigerated articles whose expiration date or near expiration date in the refrigerator are automatically carried out to the entrance side by a conveyor. 6. The electric refrigerator for business or home use according to claim 3, wherein the planar shape of the refrigerated goods tray of the conveyor in the refrigerator is circular. 7. The electric refrigerator for business or home use according to claim 3, wherein an edge for preventing falling off of the article is provided around a refrigerated article receiving tray of a conveyor in the refrigerator. 8. The electric refrigerator for business or home use according to claim 3, wherein the prime mover of the transportation means such as a conveyor is a step motor or a pulse motor. 9. The electric refrigerator for business use or home use according to claim 3, wherein the prime mover of the transportation means such as a conveyor is a direct drive motor such as a linear motor. 10. The commercial or domestic electric refrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the chain guide of the conveyor supports the refrigerated goods receiver. 11. The commercial or household electric refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a bar code label is attached to the refrigerated article and the bar code label is read. 12. The commercial or household electric refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein various cooking menus are automatically created by combining refrigerated items in the refrigerator. 13. The business or home use according to claim 1, wherein an article outside the refrigerator is also input to the liquid crystal panel or the like and various cooking menus are automatically created in combination with the refrigerated articles in the refrigerator. For electric refrigerator. 14. An electric refrigerator for business use or home use according to claim 1, wherein various cooking menus are automatically created by combining a combination of articles whose expiration date has expired or an article near the expiration date. . 15. The business or home use according to claim 1, wherein an article whose expiration date is expired or an article near the expiration date is combined with an article inside or outside the refrigerator to automatically prepare various cooking menus. For electric refrigerator.