JP2002162145A - Cold insulation cabinet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cold insulation cabinet capable of accurately grasping a lifetime of a storage battery. SOLUTION: A voltage of the storage battery 6 is sensed by first and second voltage sensors 7 and 8. When a voltage drop time from when a prescribed first reference voltage is sensed by the sensor 7 to when a prescribed second reference voltage is sensed by the sensor 8 is a prescribed reference time or less, the battery 6 is judged to arrive at its lifetime, and hence an alarm is displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cool box which stores fresh foods, medicines and the like and is transported by a vehicle or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as this kind of cool box, for example, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-73360, a heat-insulating cool box body having an opening / closing door on the front side and a bottom side inside the box. Is known, which comprises a regenerative cooler disposed in a refrigerator, a refrigerating device for refrigerating the cooler, and an in-compartment blower that circulates air in the compartment.

[0003] In this cold storage, the refrigerating device is driven by an external power supply to cool the cooler, and after the connection to the external power supply is released, the inside of the refrigerator is charged by a storage battery charged in advance by the external power supply. The air blower is driven to circulate the air inside the refrigerator to perform a cooling operation during transportation.

[0004]

In the cool box, when the voltage of the storage battery drops below a predetermined voltage, this is displayed by an alarm or the like, and the storage battery is connected to an external power supply to charge the storage battery.

However, the life of the storage battery (reduction in capacity)
When the storage battery is charged after confirming the alarm, the voltage of the storage battery may drop sharply, and the internal blower may not be able to be driven during the transportation of the article. However, there is a problem in that a problem occurs in the transportation of the products.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a cool box which can accurately grasp the life of a storage battery.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a cool box main body capable of storing an arbitrary article, and a cooler disposed at a predetermined position in the cool box main body. And an in-compartment air blower that circulates the in-compartment air through a cooler, and a storage battery that is charged by an external power supply. When the connection with the external power supply is released, the in-compartment air blower is driven by the storage battery. A voltage detecting means for detecting the voltage of the storage battery, and detecting that the voltage of the storage battery has dropped to a predetermined first reference voltage after charging the storage battery. Determining means for determining whether or not the time dropped to a predetermined second reference voltage lower than the voltage is equal to or shorter than a predetermined time.

[0008] Thus, it is possible to determine the life of the storage battery based on the time when the voltage of the storage battery has dropped to the first reference voltage and then when the voltage has dropped to the second reference voltage.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the cold storage according to the first aspect, further comprising display means for displaying a predetermined alarm based on a result of the judgment by the judgment means.

Thus, in addition to the function of the first aspect, the life of the storage battery can be displayed by an alarm.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the cold storage according to the first or second aspect, the heating means for heating the air in the refrigerator driven by the storage battery, and heating when the voltage of the storage battery drops to the first reference voltage. Control means for stopping driving of the means and stopping driving of the internal blower when the voltage of the storage battery drops to the second reference voltage.

Thus, in addition to the operation of the first or second aspect, since the driving of the heating means and the internal blower is sequentially stopped with the voltage drop of the storage battery, overdischarge of the storage battery is prevented.

[0013]

1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a cool box, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view thereof, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram thereof. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the control unit, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a change in voltage.

This cool box has a heat-insulating cool box body 1 having an open front, a cool storage type cooler 2 for cooling the inside of the cooler, a refrigerating device 3 for storing cold in the cooler 2, and an air inside the cooler. A circulating internal fan 4, a heater 5 for heating the internal air, a storage battery 6 as a storage battery, and a first sensor for detecting the voltage of the storage battery 6.
And a second voltage detector 7, 8, a timer 9 that measures time based on the detection result of each voltage detector 7, 8, a determination unit 10 that performs a predetermined determination based on the time measured by the timer 9, The display unit 11 includes a display unit 11 that displays a predetermined warning, and a control unit 12 that controls operations of the in-compartment fan 4, the heater 5, and the display unit 11.

The refrigerator compartment body 1 has a heat insulating door 1a for opening and closing the front opening, and a caster 1b for movement is attached to a lower portion of the refrigerator compartment body 1. Further, a machine room 1c is provided in an upper part of the cool box main body 1. Ventilation passages 1e are provided on the bottom and back sides of the cool box main body 1 and are separated from the inside of the refrigerator by a partition plate 1d. One end of the ventilation passage 1e is open to the lower front end side in the refrigerator. The end side opens to the upper part on the back side in the storage.

The cooler 2 is arranged in a ventilation path 1e on the bottom side of the cool box main body 1, and its upper part is covered by a partition plate 1d. The cooler 2 includes a refrigerant pipe 2 connected to a refrigeration circuit.
a and a regenerator (not shown) in thermal contact with the refrigerant pipe 2a
The cold storage medium flowing through the refrigerant pipe 2a stores the cold storage agent, and the cold storage material cools the inside of the refrigerator.

The refrigerating apparatus 3 comprises a well-known refrigerating circuit comprising a cooler 2 (evaporator), a compressor 3a and a condenser 3b. The compressor 3a and the condenser 3b are housed in a machine room 1c. I have. The refrigeration system 3 is driven by an external power supply.

The in-compartment fan 4 is disposed at the other end of the ventilation passage 1e, and the air sucked from one end of the ventilation passage 1e is inserted into the ventilation passage 1e.
e is discharged into the refrigerator from the other end side.

The heater 5 is arranged in the ventilation passage 1e on the bottom surface side of the cool box main body 1, and heats the air blown from the cooler 2 side.

The storage battery 6 is connected to an external power supply (not shown) (for example, a single-phase 200 volt commercial AC power supply) via a charger 6a, and drives the internal fan 4 and the heater 5 and the like with the power stored by the external power supply. It has become.

The first and second voltage detectors 7 and 8 are connected to the storage battery 6, respectively, and the first voltage detector 7 detects the first reference voltage V1 which is slightly lower than when the storage battery 6 is completely charged. It is supposed to. Also, the second voltage detector 8
Is configured to detect a second reference voltage V2 lower than the first reference voltage V1 and slightly higher than the overdischarge of the storage battery 6.

The timer 9 is connected to each of the voltage detectors 7 and 8, and starts timing when the first voltage detector 7 detects that the voltage V of the storage battery 6 has dropped to the first reference voltage V1. Thereafter, when the second voltage detector 8 detects that the voltage V of the storage battery 6 has dropped to the second reference voltage V2, the time measurement is terminated.

The judgment unit 10 is connected to the timer 9 and
It is determined whether or not the counted time T of the timer 9 is equal to or less than a predetermined reference time Ts. That is, the reference time Ts
Is a reference time for determining the life of the storage battery 6.

The display unit 11 displays an alarm by, for example, turning on a light-emitting lamp.
It is arranged on the front of.

The control unit 12 is constituted by a microcomputer, and is connected to the fan 4 and the heater 5 in the refrigerator. That is, the control unit 12 controls the internal fan 4 and the heater 5 based on the temperature detected by the internal temperature sensor and the cold storage temperature sensor (not shown) so that the internal temperature becomes an arbitrary set temperature. ing. Further, the control unit 12 is connected to the determination unit 10 and the display unit 11, and operates the display unit 11 based on the determination result of the determination unit 10.

In the cold storage constructed as described above, the refrigerating apparatus 3 operates to cool the cooler 2 by connecting to an external power supply, and the storage battery 6 is charged by the power of the external power supply. . When the connection to the external power supply is released, for example, when the cool box is used for transporting goods, the refrigerator 3 is stopped, and the internal fan 4 and the heater 5 are driven by the storage battery 6.

Here, the operation of the control section 12 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, after the charging of the storage battery 6 is completed (S1), when the voltage V of the storage battery 6 drops to the first reference voltage V1 (S2), the timer 9 starts counting time (S3). Thereafter, when the voltage V of the storage battery 6 drops to the second reference voltage V2 (S4), the timer 9 stops counting the time (S5), and when the measured time T is less than the reference time Ts (S6), that is, the storage battery If it is determined that 6 has reached the end of its life, an alarm is displayed on the display unit 11 (S7). If the measured time T is not less than the reference time Ts in step S6, the program is terminated without displaying the alarm.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the capacity of the storage battery 6 is sufficient, the fall time Tmx (solid line in the figure) from the first reference voltage V1 to the second reference voltage V2 is long, If the capacity is small, the voltage will drop sharply,
The descent time Tmn (broken line in the figure) also becomes shorter.

As described above, according to the cool box of the present embodiment, the voltage of the storage battery 6 is detected, and the voltage drop time T from the first reference voltage V1 to the second reference voltage V2 is set to the predetermined reference time Ts. In the following cases, an alarm is displayed assuming that the storage battery 6 has reached the end of its life, so that the time to replace the storage battery 6 can be accurately grasped, and the cooling capacity of the cool box can always be kept good. .

If the reference time Ts of the voltage drop is set to be slightly longer than the time when the storage battery 6 has completely reached the end of its life, for example, even if the reference time Ts becomes shorter than the reference time Ts immediately after the start of the transportation, the transportation is stopped. Power supply can be maintained until termination.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a cool box, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of a control unit. In the present embodiment, except that the control unit is connected to each of the voltage detectors 7 and 8, the configuration is the same as that of the above-described embodiment. It is shown with a suffix.

That is, the control unit 12 shown in the figure controls the operation of the in-compartment fan 4, the heater 5 and the display unit 11 in the same manner as in the embodiment described above, and based on the detection results of the voltage detectors 7 and 8, The drive of the internal fan 4 and the heater 5 is stopped.

Here, the operation of the control section 12 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, after charging of the storage battery 6 is completed (S10), the voltage V
Falls to the first reference voltage V1 (S11), the timer 9 starts counting time (S12), and the driving of the heater 5 is stopped (S13). Thereafter, the voltage V of the storage battery 6
Falls to the second reference voltage V2 (S14), the timer 9 stops counting the time (S15), and stops driving the internal fan 4 (S16). At this time, if the time T measured by the timer 9 is less than or equal to the reference time Ts (S17), an alarm is displayed on the display unit 11 (S18). If the measured time T is not equal to or less than the reference time Ts in step S18, the program is terminated without displaying an alarm.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the driving of the heater 5 and the internal fan 4 is sequentially stopped in accordance with the voltage drop of the storage battery 6, the storage battery 6 may be in an overdischarged state. In addition, it is possible to reliably prevent the life of the storage battery 6 from being shortened due to overdischarge.

[0035]

As described above, according to the cool box of the first aspect, the life of the storage battery can be accurately grasped, so that the cooling capacity of the cool box can always be kept good.
This is extremely advantageous for transporting fresh foods and pharmaceuticals.

According to the cold storage of the second aspect, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, the life of the storage battery can be displayed by an alarm, so that the life of the storage battery can be quickly confirmed.

According to the cool storage of the third aspect, in addition to the effects of the first or second aspect, the storage battery is not over-discharged, so that the life of the storage battery due to the over-discharge is reliably prevented from being shortened. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a cool box showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a cool box;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a cool box;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of a control unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a change in voltage.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a cool box showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Cold storage main body, 2 ... Cooler, 4 ... Inside fan, 5 ... Heater, 6 ... Storage battery, 7 ... 1st voltage detector, 8 ... 2nd voltage detector, 9 ... Timer, 10 ... Judgment Unit, 11: display unit, 12: control unit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An insulated refrigerator main body capable of storing an arbitrary article,
A cooler arranged at a predetermined position in the cool box body, a blower for cooling the inside of the cooler through the cooler, and a storage battery charged by an external power supply, disconnecting the connection to the external power supply In the cold storage in which the internal blower is driven by the storage battery, the voltage detection means for detecting the voltage of the storage battery, and after the storage battery is charged, the voltage of the storage battery becomes a predetermined first reference voltage. Determining that the time of falling to a predetermined second reference voltage lower than the first reference voltage after detecting the drop to the second reference voltage is equal to or less than a predetermined time. Cold storage. 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying a predetermined alarm based on a result of the determination by the determination unit. 3. A heating means for heating the inside of the refrigerator driven by the storage battery, and when the voltage of the storage battery drops to a first reference voltage, the driving of the heating means is stopped, and the voltage of the storage battery is reduced to a second reference voltage. The cool storage box according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising control means for stopping driving of the internal blower when the storage box is lowered to a lower position.