JP2005078549A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce differences of merchandise temperature by ensuring uniform wind direction and the amount of wind blown out from an air shooter. <P>SOLUTION: A vending machine is provided with a function which stores merchandises in a vertical direction in a merchandise container formed in the storage space of an insulated main body case and sequentially conveys them in a lower direction, merchandise racks that are placed in the multiple in two or more rows, and back and forth in right-and-left direction. In addition, the vending machine is also provided with an air shooter which is provided under the merchandise racks and conveys merchandises cut out from the merchandise racks to a merchandise takeoff, and the board side of which is formed with a plurality of air holes; a heat exchange room which is provided under the air shooter, and has a fan that blows heated or cooled air; and a circulation duct which is provided at the back of the merchandise container, and leads between the merchandise container and the fan. A shielding member is provided to shield air blown out from the side edge of the air shooter, and a pressure room is structured with the shooter and the shielding member. In the pressure room, a partition wall is provided to divide the pressure room into right and left. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine that cools or heats products such as beverages in containers such as cans, bottles, packs, and PET bottles for sale.

FIGS. 11-14 show the prior art of a vending machine. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the vending machine, FIG. 12 is a three-dimensional view of the vicinity of the shooter of the vending machine, FIG. 13 is an explanatory view showing the flow of wind at the upper part of the shooter, and FIG. 14 is an explanatory view showing the flow at the lower part of the shooter. It is.
The configuration of a conventional vending machine will be described with reference to FIGS. Reference numeral 1 denotes a product storage chamber formed in a body case having a front opening and serving as a heat-insulating housing, and a plurality (mostly three) of the product cases are arranged in parallel in the left-right direction of the body case by a heat-insulating partition wall. Reference numeral 2 denotes a shooter which is installed in a slanted downward direction inside the product storage chamber 1 and has a large number of holes on its plate surface. 3 is a product that is sold by cooling or heating in the product storage room of the vending machine, and 4 is a product stacked in the vertical direction and stored above the shooter 2. This is a product rack, and a plurality of rows (1 to 4 rows) are installed in the product storage room in the left-right direction and in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface. Reference numeral 5 denotes a cooling unit composed of a refrigeration compressor and a condenser for cooling the commodity storage chamber 1, and reference numeral 6 denotes an evaporator which is piped to the cooling unit 5 and arranged below the shooter 2. Reference numeral 7 denotes a heater disposed in front of the evaporator 6, and 8 denotes a heat exchange chamber in which the evaporator 6, the heater 7, and the fan 9 are housed. A product opening 10 is opened in front of the outer door, and the product 3 carried out from the product rack 4 rolls out along the shooter 2 and is sent out by the customer. 11 is installed on the rear surface of the product storage chamber 1, heated or cooled by the fan 9 of the heat exchange chamber 8, passed through the holes of the shooter 2, and the air exchanged with the product 3 in the product rack 4 is returned again. It is a circulation duct that is a passage returning to the heat exchange chamber 8. Reference numeral 12 denotes an inner door made of a heat insulating material that opens and closes the front opening of the product storage chamber 1, and 13 is arranged on both sides of the product storage chamber 1 to insulate the outside air or the adjacent product storage chamber. 14 is a bottom plate that is disposed on the bottom surface of the product storage chamber 1 and insulates the space between the cooling unit 5 and the space.

In the vending machine configured as described above, for example, when the fan 9 is driven while the cooling unit 5 is driven, the air cooled by the evaporator 6 passes through the vent hole 2a from the lower part of the shooter 2, The inside of the product storage chamber 1 is circulated through the rack 4 and the circulation duct 11, and the product 3 accumulated in the product rack 4 can be cooled. On the contrary, when the fan 9 is driven with the heater 7 being driven, the air heated by the heater 7 circulates inside the product storage chamber 1 through the vent hole 2a of the shooter 2, the product rack 4, and the circulation duct 11. As a result, the product 3 accumulated in the product rack 4 can be heated.
In the above-described conventional vending machine, the inventor of the present application indicates that the wind blown by the drive of the fan 9 and directed to the product rack 4 through the vent hole 2a shows a flow as shown by arrows in FIGS. The product storage chamber 1 is made of a transparent member and observed and confirmed by a visualization experiment. On the upper surface of the shooter 2, the flow discharged from the vent hole 2a has non-uniform wind speed and direction toward the front, upper, and sides as shown in FIG. Further, below the shooter 2, in the flow discharged from the fan rotating clockwise as viewed from the front, a large amount of wind flows on the left side as viewed from the front as shown in FIG. 13.

For example, a method according to the following patent document has been proposed for the purpose of uniformly blowing air on the products 3 in the product rack 4 arranged in parallel.
In Patent Document 1, it is proposed to achieve rectification with a crossflow fan and a turbulent flow device. However, in this method, the efficiency of the cross flow fan is reduced by about half compared to the propeller fan, and the power of the fan motor driven by the increase in fluid resistance by the turbulence device is increased, resulting in an increase in cost and power consumption. Incurs an increase.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-228561 proposes to make the flow uniform by attaching an upward guide to the lower surface of the shooter. However, in this method, since the fluid resistance from both end portions of the shooter is smaller than the fluid resistance formed by the vent hole of the shooter and the upward guide, the wind toward the upward guide is greatly limited. The In order to effectively discharge from the upward guide, it is necessary to increase the fan air volume and the power of the motor, leading to an increase in power consumption.
JP 2000-353276 A JP 2002-8117 A

In the above-described conventional vending machine, the direction and the amount of air blown from the shooter are not uniform, and when the area to be cooled or heated becomes large, the cooled or heated air is uniformly fed into the entire product room. As a result, the temperature of the product in the product storage room varies, and there is a risk that a product with insufficient cooling or heating will be sold.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a vending machine that can realize the direction and amount of air blown from a shooter, reduce variation in product temperature, and can be realized at low cost. The purpose is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, a vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention stores products vertically in a product storage chamber formed in a case of a main body case serving as a heat insulating casing. A product rack having a function of carrying out in a direction, arranged in multiple rows in the left-right direction and multiplexed in the front and rear, and a product that is below the product rack and cut out from the product rack is conveyed to a product outlet, And a shooter having a plurality of air holes formed on the plate surface, a heat exchange chamber having a fan under the shooter for blowing heated or cooled air, and a rear portion of the product storage chamber, In a vending machine provided with a circulation duct communicating between a product storage chamber and a fan, a shielding member for blocking air flowing out from a side end of the shooter is provided, and a pressure chamber is configured by the shooter and the shielding member And the pressure The inner, characterized by having a compartment wall dividing the pressure chamber into left and right.

In order to achieve the above object, the vending machine according to claim 2 of the present invention is the vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the compartment wall is interposed between the shooter and an elastic member. It is characterized by.
In order to achieve the above object, a vending machine according to claim 3 of the present invention is the vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein the compartment wall is movable in the left-right direction. It is characterized by being.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention, the shielding member for blocking the air flowing out from the side end of the shooter is provided, and the pressure chamber is formed by the shooter and the shielding member. In the pressure chamber, the pressure chamber has a partition wall that divides the pressure chamber into left and right, so that the pressure rises in accordance with the amount of air supplied in each pressure chamber, and the wind is substantially uniform from the vent hole. By blowing out from the ventilation holes, the product is uniformly blown, and the product is cooled or heated well without variation. Further, according to the vending machine according to claim 2 of the present invention, the elastic member By adopting the configuration of the partition wall in which is inserted, the air leakage of the divided pressure chambers can be prevented, so that the pressure increases in each pressure chamber according to the amount of air supplied. As a result, the air blown out from the vent 2a is blown out of the vents substantially uniformly, so that the wind is uniformly applied to the product and the product is cooled or heated well without variation. Moreover, the elastic member inserted between the shooter softens the impact when the product falls and collides with the shooter, prevents foaming in the product, and prevents deformation of the compartment plate 22a during the impact. . As a result, stable sales can be achieved.

  In addition, according to the vending machine according to claim 3 of the present invention, by making the compartment wall movable in the horizontal direction, by adjusting the amount of air blown from the left and right vent holes 2a, the product temperature can be adjusted more finely. Variations can be reduced.

Embodiments of a vending machine according to the present invention will be described below. In the embodiment described below, the same reference numerals are used for portions corresponding to the above-described conventional technology, and descriptions of substantially the same portions as the conventional technology are omitted.
(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a three-dimensional view of the vicinity of a shooter 2 showing Embodiment 1 of a vending machine according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the front part of the fan of FIG. 1 taken along a vertical plane and viewed from the front, and arrows indicate the flow of air. In FIG. 1, the shooter 2 is formed with at least one row of vent holes 2 a in the front-rear direction facing a product stored in a product rack in which the vent holes of the shooter are multiply installed in the front-rear direction. A shielding plate 20 extends downward from both side ends of the shooter and is fastened to the bottom plate 14 in the cabinet. 21 is a pressure chamber composed of the shooter 2 and the shielding plate 20, and 22 is a partition wall that divides the pressure chamber 21 into a left pressure chamber 21a and a right pressure chamber 21b on a vertical plane. The compartment wall 22 is composed of a compartment plate 22a having an upper flange 22b and a lower flange 22c on the upper and lower sides thereof, and an elastic member 22d having a rectangular cross section fixed to the flange 22b. The bottom plate 14 is fastened with screws, and is in close contact with the shooter 2 with an elastic member 22d. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the compartment wall 22 is movable in the left-right direction from the position A to the position B when viewed from the front, and is disposed at a position corresponding to the position B from the position A on the bottom plate 14. It is fixed by screw holes.

With this configuration, the air discharged from the fan 9 is divided into two substantially right and left by the partition plate and supplied to the pressure chamber. Since the elastic member 24 can prevent air leakage in the divided pressure chambers, the pressure rises in accordance with the amount of air supplied in each pressure chamber, and the air is blown out from the vent hole 2a. The ventilation holes 2a are formed almost directly under the product, and by blowing the air substantially uniformly, the product is uniformly blown and the product is cooled or heated well without variation.
Next, a method for adjusting the left and right air volumes will be described with reference to FIG. For example, when the temperature of the product 3b on the left row side is high and the temperature of the product 3a on the right row side is low, the compartment wall 22 is moved from the position C to the position B. As a result, the amount of air flowing in from the fan 9 is small in the pressure chamber 21b and large in the pressure chamber 21a. As a result, the amount of air blown out from b decreases, and the temperature of the product 3b decreases. On the other hand, the amount of air blown out from the vent 2aa increases, the temperature of the product 3a rises, and the variation in product temperature decreases. That is, by moving the compartment wall 22 in the horizontal direction and adjusting the amount of air blown from the vent hole 2a, the variation in the product temperature can be reduced more finely.

Further, by changing the arrangement, quantity, or diameter of the air holes in the front-rear direction of the air holes, it is possible to reduce the product temperature variation in the front-rear direction. For example, in order to further cool / warm the products in the second row from the front in the front-rear direction of the product rack, arrange the vent holes directly under the products in two rows in the left-right direction, or increase the diameter of the vent holes. It ’s fine.
In addition, the vent holes 2a are not limited to being arranged in a single row on the left and right sides, but may be configured in a plurality of rows. For example, in a product having a long dimension such as a 500 ml pet product, particularly a product requiring cooling / heating, the vent holes 2a are arranged in two or three rows.
In addition, the elastic member 24 is configured to be inserted between the shooter 2 and the compartment plate 22a, so that the impact when the product 3 falls and collides with the shooter 2 is reduced, and foaming in the product is prevented. Deformation of the compartment plate 22a is prevented during impact. As a result, stable sales can be achieved.

The shooter may be in the form shown in the three-dimensional view of FIG. In the figure, product racks 4 (not shown) are arranged in three rows in the left-right direction, and each product 3a, 3b, 3c is accommodated. In the shuter 2, three rows of vent holes 2 a are drilled along the longitudinal direction of the shooter 2 at a position located directly below the product 3. The partition wall 22 is fastened to the bottom plate 14 at a position that divides the discharge port of the fan 9 into approximately three equal parts, and the pressure chambers 21 constituted by the shooter 2 and the shielding plate 20 are respectively pressure chambers 22a, 22b, and 22c. It is divided into The compartment wall 22 is fastened so as to be movable in the horizontal direction. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.
In such a configuration, the air discharged from the fan 9 is divided into three by the partition wall 22, and is substantially uniformed from the air holes 2 a toward the product 3. The product 3 is cooled or heated by heat exchange with the uniform air, thereby reducing variations in product temperature. Further, by moving the two compartment walls 22 in the left-right direction, the amount of air blown out from the vent hole 2a can be adjusted, so that the product temperature variation can be reduced more finely.

The shooter may have the form shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional view of the shooter, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the shooter. 4 and 5, reference numeral 23 denotes a wind guide flat plate fixed from the back side directly below the shooter air hole 2 a, and 23 a passes through the wind guide flat plate 23 and communicates with the shooter air hole 2 a. A wind guide to be formed. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.
In this configuration, the straightness of the air discharged from the fan 9 is improved by increasing the straight section of the passage formed by the wind guide 23a and the vent hole 2a of the shooter. Therefore, the wind speed of the air exchanged with the product 3 is made uniform, and the variation in the product temperature is reduced.
Another embodiment in which the shape of the wind guide is changed will be described below.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the wind guide. Reference numeral 30a denotes a cylindrical flange in which the vent hole of the shooter 30 is formed by burring, which is one of stretch flange moldings. Reference numeral 30b denotes a wind guide formed on the inner surface of the cylindrical flange 30a. The cylindrical flange 30a has a height of 2.5 mm with respect to a diameter of 10 mm of the wind guide 30b.
According to such a configuration, since the wind guide can be easily manufactured by continuous punching with an automatic machine, the manufacturing cost can be reduced. In addition, since the air passing through the vent hole is increased in linearity by this wind guide, the same operations and effects as those of the second embodiment are obtained.
Moreover, FIG. 7 is sectional drawing which shows another Example of a wind guide. 31 a is a wind guide in which the cross-sectional area of the hole of the wind guide plate 31 is perforated larger than the vent hole 2 a of the shooter 2. According to this configuration, the wind passing through the wind guide 31a is contracted as shown by the arrow in the figure, and can further increase the straightness, so that the wind speed of the air that exchanges heat with the product becomes uniform, Variation in product temperature is reduced.

Further, the shape of the wind guide 31a is not limited to a circle, and the same action and effect can be obtained even if it is a rectangle.
8 and 9 are sectional views showing another embodiment of the wind guide. 32a is a wind guide in which all the holes of the wind guide plate 32 are formed in a tapered shape, and 33a is a part of the holes in the wind guide plate 33 that is tapered. In any case, the wind passing through the wind guide with this configuration reduces the resistance of the contracted flow compared to the fourth embodiment, so that the straightness of the wind is further increased and the heat exchanged with the product is performed. The wind speed is uniform, and the variation in product temperature is reduced.
FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment of the wind guide. 34a is a cylindrical flange portion formed by burring the vent hole of the shooter 34, and 34b is further formed into a taper shape by subjecting the cylindrical flange portion 34a to V-shaped bending or pipe expansion from the back side of the shooter. It is a wind guide. According to such a configuration, since the wind guide can be easily formed by die processing, it can be manufactured at low cost. In addition, since the air passing through the vent hole is increased in linearity by this wind guide, the same operations and effects as in the fifth embodiment are exhibited.

It is a three-dimensional view showing Embodiment 1 of the vending machine according to the present invention. It is sectional drawing which cut | disconnected the front part of the fan of FIG. 1 by the vertical surface, and was seen from the front. It is a three-dimensional view showing Embodiment 2 of the vending machine according to the present invention. It is a three-dimensional view of the shooter part which shows Embodiment 3 of the vending machine concerning this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the shooter of FIG. It is sectional drawing of the wind guide which shows Embodiment 4 of the vending machine concerning this invention. It is sectional drawing of the wind guide which shows Embodiment 5 of the vending machine concerning this invention. It is sectional drawing of the wind guide which shows Embodiment 5 of the vending machine concerning this invention. It is sectional drawing of the wind guide which shows Embodiment 6 of the vending machine concerning this invention. It is sectional drawing of the wind guide which shows Embodiment 7 of the vending machine concerning this invention. It is a cross-sectional view of a conventional vending machine. It is a three-dimensional view near a shooter in a vending machine according to the prior art. It is explanatory drawing which shows the flow of the wind of the upper part of a shooter in the vending machine of a prior art. It is explanatory drawing which shows the flow of the lower part of a shooter in the vending machine of a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

1 Product Storage 2 Shuta 2a Vent 3 Product 4 Product Rack 5 Cooling Unit (Cooling Device)
6 Evaporator (cooling device)
7 Heater (heating device)
8 Heat exchange chamber 9 Fan 10 Beverage outlet 13 Left and right side walls 14 Bottom plate 20 Shield plate 21 Pressure chamber 22 Compartment wall 22d Elastic member 23 Wind guide plate 23a Wind guide 30 Shutter 30a Cylindrical flange 30b Wind guide

Claims (3)

The product storage room formed in the case of the main body case as a heat-insulating housing has the function of storing products in the vertical direction and sequentially transporting them downward, arranged in multiple rows in the left-right direction and multiple in the front and back A product rack, a shooter that is below the product rack and cut out from the product rack, transports the product to a product take-out port, and has a plurality of vent holes formed on a plate surface; and below the shooter In a vending machine having a heat exchange chamber having a fan for blowing heated or cooled air, and a circulation duct installed at the rear of the product storage chamber and communicating between the product storage chamber and the fan,
A shielding member for blocking air flowing out from the side end of the shooter is provided, a pressure chamber is formed by the shooter and the shielding member, and a partition wall is provided in the pressure chamber that divides the pressure chamber into left and right. Vending machine characterized by The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein an elastic member is interposed between the compartment wall and the shooter. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the compartment wall is movable in the left-right direction.

Images