JP2003242558A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce generated noise and to improve calmness by reconsidering the structure and disposition of a refrigerator condensing unit mounted in a machine room of an automatic vending machine. <P>SOLUTION: The automatic vending machine is provided with a conditioning unit 7 of the refrigerator in the machine room 6 partitioned at the bottom side of a cabinet 1 with an outer door 2. The conditioning unit is configured by disposing an air-cooled condenser 7a, a blowing fan 7b and a compressor 7c in front and in rear on a base 7d. The cooling air taken from an outside air intake port 2b opened in an outer door taking the machine room as an air duct is blown to the conditioning unit. The condenser is disposed in a position recessed from the front of the machine room by a distance d, and a baffle path 12 extended in the direction of depth is secured between the outside air intake port and the condenser to reduce pressure loss and increase the quantity of air in an air passing passage. Corresponding to the above, the rotational frequency of the blowing fan is lowered to reduce the generated noise and improve calmness while keeping designated cooling performance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mounts a condensing unit for a refrigerator, which cools the inside of a cabinet, in a machine room defined on the bottom side of a cabinet which is a heat-insulated housing with a front door. Cans stored in a product storage rack,
The present invention relates to a vending machine that cools bottles, PET bottles, etc., and sells them as cold products. Specifically, it relates to the configuration and arrangement of the condensing unit of the refrigerator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, the conventional structure of the above-mentioned vending machine is shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 (a), (b). In the figure, 1
Is a cabinet constituted by a heat-insulated housing, 2 is an outer door arranged in front of it, 2a is a product outlet, 3 is a heat-insulated inner door, 4 is a product storage rack housed in the cabinet 1 (a serpentine type product storage) Rack), 5 is a product carry-out shooter for guiding the product carried out from the product storage rack 4 to the product take-out port 2a, 6 is a machine room defined on the bottom side of the cabinet 1, 7
Is a condensing unit of the refrigerator mounted in the machine room 6, and 8 (see FIG. 6) is a cooling unit (an assembly of an evaporator of the refrigerator and a fan inside the refrigerator) arranged on the bottom side of the cabinet 1 inside the refrigerator.

With such a configuration, the product is stored in the product storage rack 4, and cold air that has exchanged heat with the cooling unit 8 arranged at the bottom of the cabinet of the cabinet 1 is circulated and blown into the cabinet to keep the product at a temperature suitable for sale. It is well known that when a product is sold, the product delivered from the product storage rack 4 is delivered to the product outlet 2a via the product delivery shooter 5. On the other hand, the condensing unit 7 of the refrigerator is an air-cooled condenser (fin / tube type) as shown in FIG.
7a, the blower fan 7b, and the compressor 7c are arranged in front and back as shown in the figure, and are installed on the base 7d of the base, and then refrigerant pipe parts 7e such as an accumulator are dispersedly arranged in an empty space on the base. Further, in the compressor (horizontal axis type) 7c, the leg portions provided on the left and right ends of the main body are installed and fixed on the base 7d via the vibration-proof rubber. In addition, 9 is a drain evaporation dish juxtaposed to the side of the condensing unit 7, and 9a is a heating coil for evaporating the drain by flowing a high temperature refrigerant from the condensing unit side.

In the condensing unit 7 having the above structure, the outer door 2 is blown by the air blown by the fan when the refrigerator is operating.
Cooling air (outside air) taken in from the front outside of the machine through the outside air intake ports (circular holes, slit holes arranged side by side) opened at the lower front of the front side (see FIG. 4) to the condensing unit 7 arranged in the machine room. Blows air to condenser 7a, compressor 7
C is air-cooled, and the exhaust gas is discharged to the outside of the machine through an exhaust port opened on the back surface of the machine room 6. The flow of the cooling air is indicated by arrows in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b).

[0005]

Recently, since vending machines are often installed and used in a building such as a lobby of an office building, the vending machines are required to have low noise and quietness. . On the other hand, in the vending machine in which the air-cooled condensing unit 7 is mounted in the machine room of the cabinet as described above, the fan 7b serves as a noise source and its vibration noise and wind noise propagate to the surroundings. There's a problem.

In this case, the outside air intake 2b opened at the lower part of the front surface of the outer door 2 has its hole diameter and slit width made small in order to make it as inconspicuous as possible.
Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the condensing unit 7 is arranged in the center of the front part of the machine room 6 so that the front surface of the condenser 7a approaches the back of the outer door 2 and faces the outside air intake 2b. Therefore, the cross-sectional area of the air guide path for guiding the cooling air taken in from the outside air intake port 2b to the condenser 7a of the condensing unit 7 is to be rapidly reduced and changed in a short distance, and the air guide path Wind loss (pressure loss) increases.

On the other hand, when the refrigerator is in operation, it is necessary to ventilate the condensing unit 7 with cooling air of an air volume corresponding to the condensing capacity of the condenser 7a. For this reason, in the related art, the rotation speed of the fan 7b is increased so as to compensate for the pressure loss in the air guide path described above to secure the air volume of the cooling air ventilated to the condenser 7a. The higher the number of revolutions, the louder the wind noise becomes, and if it remains as it is, the noise level propagating to the outside of the machine becomes high and the quietness of the vending machine is impaired.

Further, the condensing unit 7 having the above-mentioned conventional structure has the following problems in the details of its assembly structure. That is, (1) the piping parts 7e such as accumulators attached to the condensing unit 7 should be dispersed around the compressor 7c and arranged in the air guide path as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 (b). Therefore, these pipe parts 7e act as obstacles to the cooling air flow, increasing the windage loss in the ventilation passage, and disturbing the cooling air flow to cause turbulent noise.

(2) As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the condenser 7a of the condensing unit 7 is located at the forefront part of the machine room 6 close to the back of the outer door 2, so that when the door is opened. In order to prevent the radiating fins of the operator from hitting the condenser 7a and deforming the radiating fins of the condenser 7a, a wire mesh 10 or the like is provided on the front surface of the condenser 7a for protection. The wind loss in the air passage is increased.

(3) In the compressor (horizontal axis type) 7c, as shown in FIG. 7, the leg portions 7c-1 provided at both ends of the main body are installed on the base 7d via the anti-vibration rubber 7f. However, if this is left as it is, only a small gap g remains between the lower surface of the compressor 7c and the base 7d, and a sufficient ventilation passage through which cooling air passes is not secured on the lower surface side of the compressor, which becomes a large ventilation resistance. The wind loss is increasing.

(4) As for the blower fan 7b, in the conventional configuration, as shown in FIG. 8, the fan mounting base 11 made of sheet metal fixed to the rear surface of the casing of the fan motor 7b-1 has a plate surface of the motor fixing portion 11a. Of the fan motor 7b-1 crosses the cooling air flow and protrudes to the outer periphery of the casing of the fan motor 7b-1. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, in order to fix the fan motor 7b-1 to the mount 7b-2, the fan motor 7b- A flange 7b-3 having a diameter larger than that of the motor main body is provided on the rear end surface of the casing 1 and is attached to the fan mount 11 via the flange 7b-3. Also, the motor fixing portion 11a of the fan mount 11 protruding to the outer peripheral side of the motor 7b-1 becomes an obstacle to the cooling air flow, and the air loss in the ventilation passage increases.

(5) Further, noises such as vibration noises and wind noises generated in the condensing unit 7 are hardly attenuated inside the machine room 6, and the outside air intake 2b opened in the outer door 2 as it is, Alternatively, it leaks from the exhaust port on the back side and propagates to the outside. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and for the purpose of improving the quietness of the vending machine, for the refrigerator condensing unit installed in the machine room, the assembly structure and the arrangement thereof are reviewed to reduce the generated noise. The purpose is to provide an improved vending machine that can achieve this.

[0013]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a condensing unit for a refrigerator is provided in a machine room defined on the bottom side of a cabinet with an outer door, and This is an automatic vending machine that keeps the products stored in the cabinet cold during operation, and the condensing unit of the refrigerator has an air-cooled condenser, a blower fan, and a compressor arranged side by side on the base. In the one in which the cooling air taken in from the outside air intake opening at the lower part of the front surface of the outer door is used as the air passage for the machine room and is sent to the condensing unit, the condenser of the condensing unit is arranged in front of the machine room. It is arranged at a deeper position, and an air guide passage extending in the depth direction is secured between the outside air intake opening on the outer door and the front surface of the condenser (claim 1).

With the above structure, the distance (air guide path) between the outside air intake opening to the outer door and the air-cooled condenser of the refrigerating machine condensing unit arranged in the machine room behind it is the same as the conventional structure (Fig. 6), the sudden change in the cross-sectional area of the air passage becomes small, and the wind loss (pressure loss) in the air passage is reduced. Therefore, if the blower fan is operated at the same speed as the conventional one, the amount of cooling air passing through the condensing unit will increase by the amount of reduction in windage loss. By setting the rotation speed of the blower fan to be lower than before, according to the amount of blown air required to exert a predetermined condensation capacity,
Noise generated by the fan (wind noise) is reduced and the quietness of the vending machine is improved.

Further, according to the present invention, based on the above-mentioned structure, in order to further enhance the noise reducing effect, the assembly structure of the condensing unit can be constituted by the following embodiments. (1) Arrange the piping components such as accumulators attached to the condensing unit so that they are laterally on the base so that they do not obstruct the cooling air flow.
The turbulent noise is kept low together with the reduction of wind loss (claim 2).

(2) On the base of the condensing unit, a pedestal for supporting the anti-vibration rubber attached to the legs of the compressor is provided, and cooling air is provided between the lower surface of the compressor and the base by using the pedestal as a spacer. A ventilation gap passing through is secured to reduce wind loss (claim 3). (3) The fan mounting base made of sheet metal that fixes and supports the blower fan to the base of the condensing unit does not have the plate surface contour of the motor fixing part protruding from the end face of the fan motor casing, and the supporting leg part of the plate surface. Is formed in a shape parallel to the blowing direction of the cooling air to lower the ventilation resistance (claim 4), and in order to increase the effective sectional area of the fan blades to increase the air volume, The casing end surface is directly superposed on the plate surface of the motor fixing portion of the fan mounting base without using a large-diameter flange, and is screwed between them.

(4) A sound absorbing material is arranged on the back side of the compressor, and the sound absorbing material is set to be smaller than the projected area of the compressor body, and this sound absorbing material has almost no influence on securing the air volume of the cooling air flow. The vibration sound generated from the compressor is absorbed and attenuated to reduce the noise propagating outside the machine (claim 6). (5) On the back side of the outer door, a sound absorbing material is placed around the outside air intake opening on the door, and this sound absorbing material absorbs and attenuates the noise generated by the condensing unit to the front of the vending machine. The transmitted noise is reduced (claim 7).

The noise level of the vending machine can be more effectively reduced by using the assembly structure of each of the above-mentioned items together with the condensing unit of the refrigerator installed in the machine room.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to illustrated embodiments. In the drawings of the embodiments, the members corresponding to those in FIGS. 6 to 9 are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. The embodiment of the vending machine shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) has basically the same configuration as the conventional vending machine shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b), but Regarding the condensing unit 7 of the refrigerator installed in the machine room 6,
The assembly structure and arrangement are configured as described below.

First, regarding the arrangement of the condensing unit 7, the air-cooled condenser 7a is arranged at a position retracted rearward from the front surface of the machine chamber 6 by a distance d, and the outside air intake opening at the lower front surface of the outer door 2 is arranged. An air guide path 12 is defined between the inlet 2b and the front end surface of the condenser 7a and extends in the depth direction of the machine room 6 and is partitioned by partition walls on both left and right sides thereof. In the illustrated example, the left and right partition walls are arranged in parallel to define the air guide passage 12 having the same width from the inlet to the condenser 7a, but the left and right partition walls are arranged in a V-shaped diagonal arrangement. It may be formed so that the passage cross section of the air guide passage 12 expands from the front end face of the condenser 7a toward the front outside air intake port 2b.

As described above, by disposing the condenser 7a at a position deeper than the front surface of the machine room 6 by the distance d,
The distance between the outside air intake 2b opened in the outer door 2 and the condenser arranged behind it (the distance including the air guide passage 12) is longer than that of the conventional configuration (see FIG. 6), and the air passage is increased. The abrupt change of the cross-sectional area is also reduced, and the windage loss (pressure loss) of the blower path to the cooling air flow that guides the air is reduced. As a result, if the blower fan 7b is operated at the same rotation speed as in the conventional case, the air volume of the cooling air passing through the condensing unit 7 will increase by the reduction amount of the above-mentioned windage loss. Therefore, in the actual operation of the refrigerator, by setting the rotation speed of the blower fan 7b to be lower than the conventional one in accordance with the amount of blown air required for the condenser 7a to exhibit a predetermined condensing capacity, the noise generated by the fan (wind noise) can be reduced. ) Is reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), a piping component 7e such as an accumulator attached to the condensing unit 7 is arranged side by side on the base 7d, and the condensing unit 7 is arranged. Care is taken so that the piping component 7e does not become an obstacle to the cooling air flow that is ventilated. This makes it possible to suppress turbulent noise as well as reduce windage loss.

Regarding the supporting structure of the compressor 7c of the condensing unit 7, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), rail-shaped pedestals 7g are provided on the base 7d side by side, and the anti-vibration rubber 7f is mounted on the pedestals 7g.
The compressor 7c is mounted and supported via the. As a result, the pedestal 7g acts as a spacer and the compressor 7
A ventilation gap G (G> g (see FIG. 7)) through which cooling air passes is secured between the lower surface of c and the base 7d, and the cooling air has a resistance along the upper and lower surfaces of the compressor 7c as indicated by the arrow in the figure. It flows with almost no damage and reduces wind loss.

On the other hand, the blower fan 7b and the fan mount 11 also have the following structure in the illustrated embodiment. That is, the fan mount 11 made of sheet metal assembled in the casing of the fan motor 7b-1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), the plate surface contour of the motor fixing part 11a is set so that it does not extend outside the rear end surface of the casing of the fan motor 7b-1, and the supporting leg part 11b is entirely reversed. It is bent to have a V shape, and its plate surface is formed in a shape parallel to the ventilation direction of the cooling air.
Further, the fan motor 7b-1 has a screw seat formed inside the casing rear end face cover 7b-3, and when it is fixed to the fan mount 11, the fan motor 7b-1 has a structure similar to that of the conventional structure of FIG. The cover 7b-3 is attached to the fan mount 11 without a flange 7b-2 having a diameter larger than that of the casing.
It is applied directly to the motor fixing portion 11a, and is screwed between the screw seats.

According to this structure, since the plate surface of the support leg portion 11b of the fan mounting base 11 is parallel to the blowing direction of the cooling air, the ventilation resistance is reduced and the wind loss is reduced. By omitting 7b-2 (see FIG. 9), the effective cross-sectional area of the fan blades can be increased to increase the air volume. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, in order to reduce noise leakage to the outside by effectively absorbing and attenuating vibration noise, wind noise and the like of the blower fan 7b of the condensing unit 7 and the compressor 7c, The following measures are taken.
That is, with respect to the front outer door 2, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), the sound absorbing material 13 is provided around the outside air intake 2b on the back side of the door plate.
Is laid. Further, for the compressor 7c, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), the sound absorbing material 14 is arranged close to the back of the compressor body, and the outer shape of the sound absorbing material 14 is determined so as to fit within the projection surface of the compressor body. . As the sound absorbing materials 13 and 14, for example, foam of a polymeric material foamed in a sponge shape is used.

As a result, the noise propagating forward from the condensing unit 7 when the refrigerator is operating is reduced by the sound absorbing material 13.
The noise level that is absorbed by and leaks to the front of the vending machine is attenuated. Moreover, this sound absorbing material 13 is used for the outside air intake 2
Since it is installed at a position away from b, it does not hinder the ventilation of cooling air. Also, the condensing unit 7
The noise propagating from the machine to the exhaust port side of the machine room 6 is
The sound is absorbed and attenuated by. Moreover, since the sound absorbing material 14 is arranged behind the compressor 7c with the size described above, the sound absorbing effect can be exhibited without obstructing the cooling air flow.

[0027]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, the cooling air taken in through the outside air intake opening in the front outer door of the cabinet is supplied to the condensing unit of the refrigerator arranged in the machine room. It can be rectified to reduce the pressure loss of the ventilation passage, and the rotation speed of the blower fan can be set low in accordance with this pressure loss reduction, so that the vibration noise and wind noise of the fan can be ensured while ensuring the predetermined condensing capacity. Noise can be reduced and the quietness of vending machines can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention,
(a) is a cross-sectional side view, (b) is a cross-sectional plan view of the machine room in (a)

2A and 2B are views showing an assembly structure of the refrigerating machine condensing unit in FIG. 1, in which FIG. 2A is a side view and FIG. 2B is a rear view.

3 is an assembly structure diagram of the blower fan and the fan mounting base in FIG. 1, where (a) is a side view, (b) is a rear view, and (c) is a side view of a fan motor.

FIG. 4 is an external view of a conventional vending machine with the door open.

5 is an overhead view of the refrigerator condensing unit in FIG.

6A and 6B are views showing the internal structure of the vending machine corresponding to FIG. 4, in which FIG. 6A is a side sectional view and FIG. 6B is a transverse plan view of the machine room in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the assembly structure of the refrigerator condensing unit in FIG.

8 is an assembly structure diagram of the blower fan and the fan mounting base in FIG. 6, (a) is a side view, and (b) is a rear view.

9 is an external view of the blower fan in FIG. 8, where (a) is a side view and (b) is a rear view.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cabinet 2 outer door 2b Outside air intake 4 product storage racks 6 Machine room 7 Refrigerator condensing unit 7a condenser 7b Blower fan 7b-1 Fan motor 7c compressor 7d base 7e Piping parts 7f anti-vibration rubber 7g pedestal 11 Fan mount 11a Motor mounting part 11b Support leg 12 wind guide 13 Sound absorbing material 14 Sound absorbing material

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masaki Fujinami             1-1 Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa             Inside Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. F term (reference) 3E044 AA01 FB01 FB11 FB15                 3L045 AA06 AA07 DA02

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerating machine condensing unit is provided in a machine room defined on the bottom side of a cabinet with an outer door,
This is an automatic vending machine that keeps the products stored in the cabinet cold by operating the refrigerator, and the condensing unit of the refrigerator is an air-cooled condenser, blower fan,
It becomes a configuration that the compressors are arranged side by side on the base,
In the one in which the cooling air taken in from the outside air intake opening at the lower part of the front surface of the outer door is used as the air passage in the machine room and is blown to the condensing unit, the condenser of the condensing unit is recessed from the front surface of the machine room. The vending machine, which is arranged at a position, has an air guide passage extending in the depth direction of the machine room between the outside air intake opening to the outer door and the front surface of the condenser. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein piping components such as accumulators attached to the condensing unit are arranged laterally on the base. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a pedestal for supporting a vibration-proof rubber attached to a leg of the compressor is provided on the base of the condensing unit, and the pedestal is used as a spacer for the lower surface of the compressor. An automatic vending machine characterized by ensuring a ventilation gap through which cooling air passes between the base and the base. 4. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the fan mounting base for fixing the blower fan to the base of the condensing unit does not have the plate surface of the motor fixing portion protruding from the end surface of the casing of the fan motor. In addition, the vending machine is characterized in that the supporting leg portion has a plate surface that is parallel to the blowing direction of the cooling air. 5. The vending machine according to claim 4, wherein the motor fixing portion of the fan mount is directly superposed on the end face of the casing of the fan motor, and the two are screwed together. 6. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a sound absorbing material is arranged on the back side of the compressor, and the sound absorbing material is set smaller than the projected area of the compressor body. Vending machine. 7. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a sound absorbing material is arranged on a rear surface side of the outer door in a peripheral region of an outside air intake opening opened in the door.