JP2003219918A - Food service cart - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To avoid moisture condensation in a cooling air supply duct in a food service cart provided with cooling function. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of sectioned chambers 6 partitioned in heating spaces 6a and refrigeration retaining spaces 6b is divided into right and left, and arranged in multistages in vertical direction. Then, cooling air supply duct 11 to supply the cooling air in the refrigeration retaining spaces 6b are installed in the vertical direction between right and left sectioned chamber rows, and cooling air recovery ducts 20 to collect the cooling air from respective refrigeration retaining spaces 6b are installed in the neighborhood of the front and rear of the cooling air supply duct 11. The moisture condensation becomes difficult to occur because the cooling air supply duct 11 is pinched by the cooling air recovery ducts 20 in which the temperature becomes higher than that of the recovery ducts. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a serving cart for heating and serving meals in hospitals and nursing homes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For hospital inpatient meals, it is necessary to prepare a variety of menus according to the medical condition of each patient. Conventionally, each hospital has its own kitchen where cooking is done by itself. The food was either provided by a cooking company or cooked by an outside cooking company.

However, as described above, it is inefficient and inefficient to perform cooking for each hospital because of facility and human resources. Then, in order to solve it, Patent No. 264418
Japanese Patent Publication No. 7 (A47B 31/02) proposes a feeding system as shown in FIG.

At the cooking center 41, various dishes are cooked according to orders from a plurality of hospitals, subjected to cook chill processing, and then packed together with tableware. The packed dishes are placed on the refrigerating vehicle for freezing 43 in a state of being stored in the cool wagon 44 and delivered to each hospital 42.

When the cool wagon 44 is delivered, the hospital 4
In 2, the cool wagon 44 is kept in the refrigerated state and waits until the lunch time. When the lunch time is approaching, food is taken out from the cool wagon 44 according to the menu corresponding to each patient, placed on the tray 47 for each patient, and stored in a predetermined compartment 46 of the serving cart 45. To do.

In the catering cart 45, each compartment 4
In FIG. 6, a far infrared heater 49 is provided on the tray 47 at a position corresponding to each dish 48, each heater is energized for a predetermined time by a timer, and each dish 48 is heated to an optimum state. It In that state, it is carried to each hospital room and provided to each patient. By doing so, it is possible to efficiently provide a dish suitable for each patient while reducing the waste of equipment and personnel.

Further, a cooling unit including a compressor, a condenser and the like is provided in the catering cart, an evaporator is arranged in a cold air supply duct to supply cold air, and a tray on which food is placed is stored in a compartment. Delivered as is, during delivery and waiting,
There has also been developed a serving cart in which cold air is supplied from the cold air supply duct into the compartment to maintain a refrigerated state and heating is performed at a predetermined time. If such a catering cart is used, the food is taken out from the cool wagon 44 before feeding, placed on the tray 47, and stored in a predetermined compartment 46 of the catering cart 45, as in the above-mentioned feeding system. No need for troublesome work.

[0008]

However, in the serving cart having such a cooling function, the cold air supply duct is arranged in the serving cart in a state of being in direct contact with the outside air. However, there is a problem that dew condensation is likely to occur.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, that is, to prevent dew condensation from occurring in the cold air supply duct of the catering cart having a cooling function.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the catering cart according to claim 1, a plurality of compartments partitioned into a heating space and a refrigerating and holding space are divided into left and right parts and are vertically multi-staged. Cold air supply ducts for supplying cold air to the refrigerating and holding space are vertically arranged between the left and right compartment rows, and cool air for collecting the cool air from the respective refrigerating and holding spaces is adjacent to the front and rear of the cold air supply duct. A feature is that a recovery duct is provided. In this way, dew condensation is less likely to occur in the cold air supply duct of the catering cart having a cooling function.

Further, the catering cart according to a second aspect of the present invention forms a path for supplying cold air from the cold air supply duct to the heating space, and supplies cold air to the heating space from the cold air supply duct when the heating space is in an unheated state. It is characterized by doing. By doing so, the heating space can be sufficiently cooled.

Further, in the serving cart according to a third aspect of the present invention, a route for supplying cold air from the cold air recovery duct to the heating space is formed, and cold air is supplied from the cold air recovery duct to the heating space when the heating space is in an unheated state. It is characterized by doing. By doing so, the entire amount of the cool air cooled by the evaporator can be made to flow into the refrigerating and holding space, and the heating space can be cooled while the refrigerating and holding space is sufficiently cooled.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a serving cart main body in which a cooling fan is provided inside an inlet of the cold air supply duct, and a cooling unit for supplying cold air is opposed to the inlet of the cold air supply duct. It is characterized in that it is provided in a separable state. By doing so, it becomes possible to cope with the case where the air is circulated in the cart without cooling, or the case where the cool air is collectively supplied to a plurality of serving carts at a cool air generating station or the like.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a serving cart of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view thereof. 1 and 2, 1 is a control unit housing, 2 is a control panel, 3 and 4 are doors, 5 is a heating plate, 6 is a compartment, 7 is a partition plate, 8 is a cooling unit, 9 is an evaporator, 10 is a cooling fan, 11 is a cool air supply duct, 12 is a heating space cooling fan, 13 is an intake duct,
14 is a power assist wheel, 15 is a caster, 16 is a handle, 17 is a tray, 18 is a tableware for heating, 19 is a tableware for non-heating, and 20 is a cold air recovery duct.

The compartment of the catering cart is divided into front, rear, left and right, and is divided by the heating plate 5 in the vertical direction to form a large number of compartments 6.
Each of the compartments 6 accommodates a tray 17 on which tableware with food ingredients is placed. Tray 1
The tableware on 7 is divided into left and right tableware for heating 18 having a conductive layer made of silver paste on the bottom of the beach and tableware 19 for non-heating without such a conductive layer. Is on the inside. Double doors 3, 4
Are provided on the front surface and the rear surface of the cart so that the tray 17 can be put in and taken out from the front and rear.

The heating plate 5 forming the bottom surface of each compartment 6 has a plurality of induction heating coils embedded in predetermined internal positions. Then, the tray 17 stored in each compartment 6
Is positioned in the front-rear direction by the peripheral wall of the rear end edge of the heating plate 5 and the doors 3 and 4, and the position in the left-right direction is determined by the peripheral walls of the left and right side edges of the heating plate 5, and induction heating of the heating plate 5 is performed. The coil is always placed at a fixed position. Further, each heating tableware 18 on the tray 17 is placed by the positioning means so as to be always in a predetermined position, and in the end, each heating tableware 18 is always located at a position corresponding to each induction heating coil. When a high frequency current is applied to the induction heating coil, an eddy current flows in the conductive layer to generate heat and the tableware is heated.

Further, in each compartment 6, a partition plate 7 is provided so as to divide the compartment 6 into left and right parts and divide into an outer heating space 6a and an inner refrigerating and holding space 6b. The tableware 18 for heating is placed in the heating space 6a, and the tableware 19 for non-heating is placed in the refrigerating holding space 6b. And while the tableware 18 for heating is heated by each induction heating coil in the heating space 6a, the refrigerating holding space 6b.
The cold air cooled by the evaporator 9 of the cooling unit 8 provided at the bottom of the serving cart is supplied by the cooling fan 10 through the cold air supply duct 11. The cold air supplied from the cold air supply duct 11 to the cold storage space 6b returns to the intake duct 13 via the cold air recovery duct 20, is cooled again by the evaporator 9, and is sent to the cold air supply duct 11.
In this way, the cold air circulates to cool the non-heating tableware 19. As a result, in the compartment 6, it becomes possible to heat the food in the tableware 18 for heating while refrigerating the food in the tableware 19 for non-heating.

A cold air supply duct 11 for supplying cold air to the refrigerating and holding spaces 6b is provided vertically between the left and right compartment rows, and a cold air recovery duct 20 for recovering the cool air from each refrigerating and holding space 6b is supplied. Since they are provided adjacent to each other in the front and rear of the duct 11, the cold air supply duct 11 is sandwiched between the cold air recovery ducts 20 having a temperature higher than that of the duct 11, and dew condensation does not easily occur.

When the steering wheel 16 is pulled, the electric power assist wheels 14 assist the traveling of the catering cart, so that the catering cart can be moved with a small force. Since the height dimension of the power assist wheel 14 is relatively large, a relatively large space can be formed under the floor of the catering cart body.

Therefore, in this catering cart, the cooling fan 10 is provided in the cart body, but the refrigerating holding space 6 is provided.
The cooling unit 8 for supplying cold air to b was provided under the floor of the main body of the serving cart, and it was made detachable.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the cooling unit. In FIG. 3, reference numerals 8 to 13 correspond to those in FIG. 1, 21 is a main body base, 22 is a compressor, 23 is a condenser,
24 is a condenser fan, 25 is a drain tank, 26 is a heat insulating box, 27 is a sealing material, 28 is a hanging metal fitting, 29 is a hook plate, 30 is a fastening bolt, 31 is a cold air recovery port, 32
Is a cold air supply port, and 33 is an evaporator straightening plate.

Hook plates 28, 28 are provided so as to project in the horizontal direction from the upper left and right upper edges of the cooling unit 8. On the other hand, on the lower surface of the main body base 21, the hook plate 2
8 and 28 are supported in a state of being slidable in the front-rear direction from both left and right sides, and hanging metal fittings 29 and 29 having a crank-shaped cross section for supporting the cooling unit 8 are provided between the lower surface of the main body base and the upper surface of the cooling unit. ing.

The refrigerant circuit is independent of the serving cart main body, and can be attached to and detached from the main body base 21 without performing processing on the refrigerant pipe. In addition, the power supply can be taken from a connector provided on the main body of the serving cart.
When the cooling unit 8 is attached to the main body base 21, first, the hanging fittings 28, 28 on both sides and the hook plates 29, 29 are aligned, and the cooling unit 8 is pushed toward the serving cart side while sliding the floor surface. A sealing material 27 for preventing leakage of cool air is interposed between the main body base 21 and the cooling unit 8, and the tightening bolts 30,
By tightening with 30, 30, the sealing material 27
The cooling unit 8 is fixedly supported under the floor of the main body base 21 while being compressed.

As shown in the plan view of FIG. 4, the sealing material 27 is provided so as to cut off the portions of the cold air recovery port 31 and the cold air supply port 32 so as to surround the entire circumference of the cold air recovery port 31 and the cold air supply port 32. After being tightened by the tightening bolts 30 passing through the bolt holes 35 of the fixing plate 34, the cool air is prevented from leaking out from around the cool air recovery port 31 and the cool air supply port 32.

Thus, the cooling unit 8 and the cooling fan 1
0 is separated, only the cooling fan 10 is attached to the serving cart main body, and the cooling unit 8 is detachable, so that the distance between the cooling fan 10 and the evaporator 9 can be increased, and the evaporator 9 can be increased.
The distribution of the air flowing through is less affected by the suction distribution of the cooling fan 10, and the heat exchange efficiency of the evaporator 9 is improved. In addition, even when the air is circulated in the cart without cooling, such as ozone sterilization air circulation and warm heat circulation, the cooling unit 8
This can be dealt with by turning off and turning on the cooling fan 10.

Further, when a cooling unit is not provided for each serving cart, but when the cool air is collectively supplied to a plurality of serving carts at a cold air generating station or the like,
The serving cart can be cooled only by connecting the cold air supply pipe from the cold air generating station or the like to the inlet of the cooling fan 10.

A duct for connecting the cool air recovery duct 20 and the cool air recovery port 31 is provided inside the main body base 21 to which such a cooling unit 8 is attached, and as shown by an arrow in FIG. The cool air after cooling each compartment is recovered by the cool air recovery port 31, cooled by the evaporator 9, and then sent again from the cool air supply port 32 to the cold air supply duct 11 by the cooling fan 10.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway view for explaining the flow of cold air. As shown in FIG. 5, the cold air supply duct 11
A cold air discharge port 36 is provided on the wall between the compartment and each compartment, and a cold air suction port 37 is provided on the wall between the cold air recovery duct 20 and each compartment. Then, the cool air sent into the cool air supply duct 11 by the cooling fan 10 flows into each compartment through the cool air discharge port 36 and cools the inside thereof, as shown by the arrow in FIG.
It is sucked into the cold air recovery duct 20 through the cold air suction port 37.

By the way, in this serving cart, it is assumed that the cooled or frozen food is stored in the heating space or the refrigerating and holding space, and the food in the heating space is heated at a certain time to provide a dish. There is. Therefore, during delivery or during standby, it is necessary to cool and store not only the food items stored in the refrigerating holding space but also the food items in the heating space. Therefore, in this catering cart, the heating space cooling fan 12 is provided on the ceiling of the uppermost compartment so that the inside of the heating space is cooled by supplying cold air to the heating space during delivery or standby. The cool air to the heating space can be supplied from the cool air supply duct 11 or the cool air recovery duct 20.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a case where cold air is supplied from the cold air supply duct to the heating space. In this serving cart, a duct is formed on the ceiling of the uppermost compartment by being surrounded by a heat insulating partition 39, and cool air is discharged from the cool air supply duct 11 through the discharge ports 38, 38 into the duct. Then, the cold air is sent into the heating space of the uppermost compartment by the heating space cooling fan 12. The cold air sequentially flows into the heating space of the lower compartment through the gap between the door 3 and the heating plate 5 or the like, and all the heating spaces can be cooled.

As described above, when the cool air to the heating space is taken from the cool air supply duct 11, the cool air is discharged from the evaporator 9 →
Cooling fan 10-> Cold air supply duct 11-> Heating space 6a
The refrigerating and holding space 6b and the cold air recovery duct 20 flow. As a result, the cold air cooled by the evaporator 9 is divided into the refrigerating and holding space 6b and the heating space 6a, and the cooling of the refrigerating and holding space 6b is weakened accordingly, but the heating space 6a is sufficiently cooled. be able to.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a case where cold air is supplied from the cold air recovery duct to the heating space. In this catering cart, a duct is formed on the ceiling of the uppermost compartment by a heat insulating partition wall 40 so as to be communicated with the cool air recovery duct 20, and the cool air of the cool air recovery duct 20 is sucked into the duct. Then, as in the case of FIG. 6, the cold air is sent into the heating space of the uppermost compartment by the heating space cooling fan 12,
Through the gap between the door 3 and the heating plate 5 or the like, it is also sequentially flowed into the heating space of the lower compartment to cool all the heating spaces.

In this way, if the cool air to the heating space is taken from the cool air recovery duct 20, the cool air will be cooled by the evaporator 9 →
Cooling fan 10-> Cold air supply duct 11-> Refrigerating holding space 6
The flow is as follows: b → cool air recovery duct 20 → heating space 6a. As a result, although the cooling of the heating space 6a becomes weak, the entire amount of the cool air cooled by the evaporator 9 can be flowed to the refrigerating and holding space 6b, and the refrigerating and holding space 6b can be sufficiently cooled.

In the above embodiment, the cooling unit 8
Although the above is provided on the lower side of the serving cart, a cooling unit may be provided on the upper side of the serving cart. Further, in the above embodiment,
Although the cooling air is sent into the heating space by the heating space cooling fan 12, a damper may be provided in place of the heating space cooling fan 12, and the cooling air may be controlled by opening and closing the damper.

[0035]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects. That is, in the catering cart according to claim 1, a plurality of compartments partitioned into a heating space and a refrigerating and holding space are divided into left and right and arranged in a multi-tiered manner in the vertical direction, and between the left and right compartment rows, Cold air supply ducts for supplying cold air to the refrigerating and holding spaces are provided in the vertical direction, and cold air recovery ducts for recovering the cool air from the respective refrigerating and holding spaces are provided adjacent to the front and rear of the cold air supplying ducts. As a result, dew condensation is less likely to occur in the cold air supply duct of the catering cart having a cooling function.

Further, in the serving cart according to a second aspect of the present invention, a route for supplying cold air from the cold air supply duct to the heating space is formed, and when the heating space is in an unheated state, cold air is supplied to the heating space from the cold air supply duct. With this configuration, the cool air can be directly supplied from the cool air supply duct to the heating space, and the heating space can be sufficiently cooled.

Further, in the serving cart according to a third aspect of the present invention, a route for supplying cold air from the cold air recovery duct to the heating space is formed, and cold air is supplied to the heating space from the cold air recovery duct when the heating space is in an unheated state. It is characterized by doing. With this configuration, the entire amount of the cool air in the cool air recovery duct is passed through the refrigerating and holding space and then flown into the heating space, so that the heating space can be cooled while the refrigerating and holding space is sufficiently cooled.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a serving cart main body in which a cooling fan is provided inside an inlet of the cold air supply duct, and a cooling unit for supplying cold air is opposed to the inlet of the cold air supply duct. Since it is provided so as to be separable from the above, it is possible to cope with the case where the air is circulated in the cart without cooling, or the case where the cool air is collectively supplied to a plurality of serving carts at a cool air generating station or the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a serving cart of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the serving cart of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a cooling unit.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a cooling unit.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway view for explaining the flow of cold air.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a case where cold air is supplied to a heating space from a cold air supply duct.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a case where cold air is supplied from a cold air recovery duct to a heating space.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a conventional feeding system.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 ... Heating plate 6 ... Compartment 7 ... Partition board 8 ... Cooling unit 9 ... Evaporator 10 ... Cooling fan 11 ... Cold air supply duct 12 ... Heating space cooling fan 17 ... Tray 18 ... Tableware for heating 19 ... Tableware for non-heating 20 ... Cold air recovery duct 21 ... Base 22 ... Compressor 23 ... Condenser

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tokutaro Mase             2-5-3 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Yo Denki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Fumio Mizuno             2-5-3 Keihan Hondori, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Yo Denki Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 3L045 AA06 BA02 CA02 EA01 PA04

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of compartments divided into a heating space and a refrigerating and holding space are horizontally arranged in a multi-tiered manner in the vertical direction, and cool air is supplied to the refrigerating and holding space between the left and right compartment chamber rows. A distribution cart, wherein cold air supply ducts are provided in the up-down direction, and cold air recovery ducts for recovering the cool air from the refrigerating and holding spaces are provided adjacent to the front and rear of the cold air supply duct. 2. The cold air is supplied from the cold air supply duct to the heating space, and the cold air is supplied from the cold air supply duct to the heating space when the heating space is in an unheated state. Serving cart. 3. The cooling air is supplied from the cold air recovery duct to the heating space, and the cooling air is supplied from the cold air recovery duct to the heating space when the heating space is in an unheated state. Serving cart. 4. A cooling fan is provided inside the inlet of the cold air supply duct, and a cooling unit for supplying cold air is provided so as to face the inlet of the cold air supply duct so as to be separable from the serving cart main body. The catering cart according to claim 1, 2, or 3.