JP2000279287A - Food storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the adhesion of dust to a food resulted from the intrusion of the outside dust-containing air through an opening by arranging a door for openable and closably blocking the opening of a housing chamber for housing a food in the exposed state, and an air feeding means for feeing clean air into the housing chamber when the door is opened. SOLUTION: A food such as baked bread is housed and displayed on the shelf 6 of a housing chamber 5, and when a customer opens a door 7, a microcomputer detects the opening of the door 7 to operate a blower 12, and also opens an inlet port 8 by a damper 18. The outside air and the air in the housing chamber 5 are sucked to the blower 12 within a ventilation duct 11 through the inlet port 8 and through a communication duct 17, respectively, and relatively large dust is caught and removed from the sucked dust-containing air by a filter 13. The air passed through the filter 13 is further passed through a HEPA filter 14 to catch and remove smaller dust, and the resulting purified air is supplied into the housing chamber 6 through a blow out 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a food storage device suitable for storing, displaying, and storing foods such as freshly baked bread and prepared foods in an exposed state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, foods such as freshly baked bread and prepared foods are displayed in an exposed state, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-256883, so that the scent of the food is drifted around them. A sales form that promotes a customer's willingness to purchase is adopted.

[0003]

However, when the food is displayed on a shelf or the like in an exposed state, the food is directly exposed to the outside air. Therefore, microorganisms contained in the dust in the air adhere to the food, causing a problem in hygiene.

[0004] Therefore, it is conceivable to sell bread and the like in a transparent plastic bag or the like, but this method makes it impossible to make the scent of food drift around.
At a store that promotes fresh bakery, there was a problem that it could not be hired in practice because it was not possible to encourage customers to purchase.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a food storage device capable of storing food in a hygienic manner in an exposed state.

[0006]

That is, the food storage device of the present invention stores food in an exposed state in a storage room provided with an opening, and a door for opening and closing the opening of the storage room. And an air supply means for supplying clean air into the storage chamber when the door is opened.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned food storage device, the air supply means sucks air from the outside and a filter for removing dust in the air, blows the air through the filter, and then blows the air into the storage chamber. And a blower.

According to the present invention, in a food storage device for storing food in an exposed state in a storage room having an opening,
A door for opening and closing the opening of the storage room and an air supply means for supplying clean air to the storage room when the door is opened. It is possible to prevent or suppress the inconvenience that air supplied to the storage chamber and containing dust from the opening enters the storage chamber and adheres to food. Thereby, the preservation environment of the food stored in the exposed state can be maintained in a sanitary manner.

[0009] The food storage device according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the above, the air supply means stops after a predetermined time has elapsed since the door was closed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, the air supply means is stopped after a lapse of a predetermined time after the door is closed, so that the inside of the storage room is cleaned after the door is closed. Will be able to run.

A food storage device according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the food storage device is provided with an exhaust means for discharging air in the storage room to the outside for a predetermined time after the door is closed.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, the exhaust means for discharging the air in the storage chamber to the outside for a predetermined time after the door is closed is provided. The dust that has entered the room can be discharged to the outside, and the storage room can be maintained in a much cleaner environment.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a food storage device 1 to which the present invention is applied. The food storage device 1 of the present invention is, for example, an open showcase for bread installed in a fresh bakery shop, and includes a box-shaped main body 2 having an opening on a front surface. The side surface 2B including the top surface of the main body 2 is made of a transparent material such as glass or acrylic.

An inner box 4 is attached to the inside of the main body 2, and the side surface 4B including the top surface of the inner box 4 is also made of a transparent material. A storage room 5 having an opening 3 on the front surface is formed in the inner box 4 and the storage room 5 is formed.
Inside, a plurality of transparent shelves 6 for placing food B such as freshly baked bread and displaying the food B in an exposed state are provided.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a door for closing the front opening 3 of the storage room 5 so as to be openable and closable. This door 7 is also made of a transparent material such as glass or acrylic and is rotatable to one side of the front surface of the main body 2. Is pivoted to. Here, the side surface 2B of the main body 2
Since the side 4B and the door 7 of the inner box 4 and the door 7 are made of a transparent material, the customer can recognize the food B displayed on the shelf 6 in the storage room 5 even from the outside of the food storage device 1. Will be able to

On the other hand, a suction port 8 is formed in the upper part of the rear face 2A of the main body 2, and an outlet 9 is formed in the upper part of the rear face 4A of the inner box 4. The suction port 8 and the outlet 9 communicate with each other through an air supply duct 11. And
A blower 12 is provided in the air supply duct 11 immediately after the outlet 9.
And an HEPA filter (or a MEPA filter, in which a HEPA filter is used here) 14 made of glass fiber filter paper or synthetic resin non-woven cloth.

In this case, the filter 13 is located on the suction port 8 side of the HEPA filter 14, and the blower 12 is operated to suck air from the suction port 8 side and discharge it to the outlet port 9 side. A suction port 16 is formed below the air outlet 9 on the back surface 4A of the inner box 4.
Is the communication duct 17 and the blower 12 of the air supply duct 11
Is connected to the suction side.

Further, a damper 18 for opening and closing the suction port 8 is attached to the suction port 8. Another suction port 19 is formed in the lower part of the rear surface 4A of the inner box 4, and an exhaust port 21 is formed in the rear surface 2A of the main body 2. The suction port 19 and the exhaust port 21 are communicated with each other through an exhaust duct 22, and a blower 23 is provided in the exhaust duct 22.

The blower 23 is operated to suck air from the suction port 19 side and discharge it to the exhaust port 21 side. Further, a damper 24 for opening and closing the exhaust port 21 is also attached to the exhaust port 21.

Next, FIG. 2 shows an electric circuit of a control device of the food storage device 1, and 26 in the figure is a general-purpose microcomputer. The input of the microcomputer 26 is connected to the output of a door switch 27 for detecting the opening and closing of the door 7, and the output of the microcomputer 26 includes the motors of the blowers 12 and 23 and the damper 1.
8, 24 solenoids are connected.

With the above structure, foods B such as freshly baked bread are stored and displayed on the shelves 6 of the storage room 5. When the customer opens the door 7, the microcomputer 26 detects the opening of the door 7 by the door switch 27, drives the blower 12, and opens the suction port 8 by the damper 18.

Thus, outside air is sucked from the suction port 8, and air in the storage chamber 5 is sucked from the suction port 16 through the communication duct 17 to the blower 12 in the air supply duct 11.
In the air containing dust sucked by the blower 12, relatively large dust is first captured by the filter 13 and removed. In the air that has passed through the filter 13, even smaller dust is captured and removed by the HEPA filter 14.

The clean air from which dust has been removed by the filter 13 and the HEPA filter 14 is supplied into the storage chamber 5 from the outlet 9 formed on the back surface 4A of the inner box 4. That is, since the outside air sucked from the suction port 8 is supplied into the storage chamber 5 after being purified, the pressure is positive. Therefore, the intrusion of outside air containing dust from the opening 3 is suppressed.

The storage chamber 5 sucked from the suction port 16
The inside air becomes clean air and is circulated again in the storage room 5, so that the air in the storage room 5 is always cleaned while the door 7 is open.

Next, when the customer takes out the food B from the storage room 5 and closes the door 7, the microcomputer 26 detects this by the door switch 27. Then, for example, for 15 minutes after the door 7 is closed, the operation of the blower 12 is continued, and the damper 24 is opened to operate the blower 23.

As a result, the air in the storage chamber 5 is
9 is sucked into the exhaust duct 22 and discharged from the exhaust port 21 to the outside. Therefore, dust that has entered the storage chamber 5 while the door 7 is open is discharged to the outside through the exhaust port 21, and thus the cleaning of the air in the storage chamber 5 proceeds quickly.

After the elapse of 15 minutes, the microcomputer 26 stops the blowers 12 and 23 and closes the dampers 18 and 24. With such an operation,
Since the interior of the storage room 5 is a clean environment, it is possible to prevent or significantly suppress the inconvenience of dust in the air falling and adhering to the food B.

In the above embodiment, the air in the storage chamber 5 is circulated through the filter 13 and the HEPA filter 14 during the operation of the blower 12 by providing the suction port 16 and the communication duct 17. The inside of the storage room 5 can be cleaned only by suctioning and cleaning.

Further, in the embodiment, the description has been made by taking as an example a food storage device which is installed in a fresh bakery and displays freshly baked bread. However, the present invention is also effective in a food storage device which displays warm prepared foods in a supermarket or the like. .

[0030]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in a food storage device for storing food in an exposed state in a storage room having an opening, a door for opening and closing the opening of the storage room is provided. Air supply means for supplying clean air into the storage chamber when the door is opened, so that when the door is opened, clean air is supplied into the storage chamber to contain external dust from the opening. It is possible to prevent or suppress inconvenience that air enters the storage chamber and adheres to food. Thereby, the preservation environment of the food stored in the exposed state can be maintained in a sanitary manner.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, the air supply means is stopped after a lapse of a predetermined time since the door is closed. Can be performed.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the above, the exhaust means for discharging the air in the storage chamber to the outside for a predetermined time after the door is closed is provided. The dust that has entered the room can be discharged to the outside, and the storage room can be maintained in a much cleaner environment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical side view of a food storage device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electric circuit of the food storage device of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 B Food 1 Food preservation apparatus 2 Main body 3 Opening 4 Inner box 5 Storage room 6 Shelf 7 Door 11 Air supply duct 12, 23 Blower 13 Filter 14 HEPA filter 22 Exhaust duct

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Tamura 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Hideo Aoki 2--5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Masakazu Sakata 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka F-term in Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (reference) 3B110 AA00 CA00 EA04 EA06

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for storing food in an exposed state in a storage room provided with an opening, wherein: a door for opening and closing the opening of the storage room; and when the door is opened, clean air is stored in the storage room. A food storage device, comprising: an air supply unit that supplies air to a room. 2. The air supply means comprises a filter for removing dust in the air, and a blower that sucks air from outside, passes through the filter, and blows out into the storage chamber. The food storage device according to claim 1, wherein 3. The food storage device according to claim 1, wherein the air supply means stops after a predetermined time has elapsed since the door was closed. 4. The food storage device according to claim 1, further comprising exhaust means for exhausting air in the storage chamber to the outside for a predetermined time after the door is closed.