JP2008051417A - Cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an environment-friendly cooling device such as an automatic vending machine by efficiently cooling commodities stored in each commodity storage by utilizing the cold generated by a Stirling refrigerator even in a machine chamber space limited in its height. <P>SOLUTION: In this cooling device using the Stirling refrigerator, an evaporator has a branching header for branching a refrigerant flowing in from a cold transferring means, a collecting header for collecting the refrigerant flowing out from the cold transferring means, and a group of pipes composed of pipes connected in parallel between the branching header and the collecting header, an outlet of the collecting header is positioned at an uppermost stage of the group of pipes, and an inlet of the branching header is positioned at a lowermost stage to secure cooling performance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cooling device such as a vending machine that cools products stored in a product storage.

In a conventional vending machine refrigerator, for example, a fluorocarbon gas such as R407c is used, and when such a fluorocarbon gas is released into the atmosphere, it promotes global warming due to the greenhouse effect. For this reason, the use of CFCs is in a global trend from the viewpoint of environmental protection.
In such a background, in recent years, Stirling refrigerators have attracted attention. A Stirling refrigerator is a self-cooling type refrigerator that does not have an external compressor or condenser. By compressing and expanding the internal gas using a reciprocating compressor, the low-temperature cooling unit and the high-temperature high heat Part. Here, a natural refrigerant such as helium gas is used as the gas, and since a chlorofluorocarbon-based gas is not used, the Stirling refrigerator is friendly to the global environment.
However, since the Stirling refrigerator uses the refrigeration effect due to the compression and expansion of gas, the structure of the compression / expansion space is limited, and the area of the cold heat generating part is limited to a small part. .

Therefore, in order to apply a Stirling refrigerator to a vending machine, a thermosiphon is used in a small cold heat generating part to efficiently transfer cold heat to the evaporator, and the air obtained by exchanging the cold heat with the evaporator is a product. It is known to cool a product stored in each product storage by circulating in the storage. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2006-38385 A

However, the cooling device used in this type of vending machine has the following problems.
(1) Since the thermosiphon circulates the refrigerant using gravity, a predetermined height difference is required between the Stirling refrigerator and the evaporator.
(2) On the other hand, since the machine room for storing the Stirling refrigerator and the evaporator is required to be as low as possible in order to increase the number of beverages stored in the vending machine, there is a restriction on the height. .
Therefore, the present invention is considered in view of the above points, and even if the machine room space is limited in height, the products stored in the respective product storage boxes using the cold generated by the Stirling refrigerator. The purpose is to provide an environmentally friendly cooling device such as a vending machine by efficiently cooling the container.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a cooling device according to a first aspect of the present invention uses a cold heat transfer means for transferring cold heat generated in a Stirling refrigerator, and uses the cold heat transferred by the cold heat transfer means. And an evaporator for cooling the air circulating through the interior of the product storage, and an inflow path and an outflow path that are located below the product storage and communicate with the product storage by a heat insulating wall. And a cooling container configured to store the evaporator between the inflow path and the outflow path, and cooling the product stored in the product storage by the evaporator stored in the cooling container. In the apparatus, the evaporator includes a branch header for branching the refrigerant flowing in from the cold heat transfer means, a collect header for collecting the refrigerant flowing out to the cold heat transfer means, the branch header, and the collect head. A pipe group consisting of pipes connected in parallel with each other, the outlet of the assembly header is located at the uppermost stage of the pipe group, and the inlet of the branch header is located at the lowermost stage of the pipe group It is characterized by doing.

The cooling device according to claim 2 of the present invention is the cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional area is gradually increased from the inlet of the inflow path in the cooling vessel toward the windward side surface of the evaporator. It is characterized by.
A cooling device according to a third aspect of the present invention is the cooling device according to the first aspect, wherein the cross-sectional area gradually decreases from the outlet of the outflow passage in the cooling vessel toward the outlet from the leeward side surface of the evaporator. It is characterized by doing.

According to the cooling device according to claim 1 of the present invention, the evaporator includes a branch header for branching the refrigerant flowing in, a header for collecting the refrigerant flowing out, and a space between the branch header and the header. A pipe group consisting of pipes connected in parallel, the outlet of the collective header is located at the uppermost stage of the pipe group, and the inlet of the branch header is located at the lowermost stage of the pipe group. As a result of ensuring the height of the Stirling refrigerator and the evaporator even in the machine room with restrictions, it is possible to efficiently cool the products stored in each product storage using the cold generated by the Stirling refrigerator. it can.
Further, according to the cooling device of the present invention, the cooling device gradually increases from the inlet of the inflow passage in the cooling vessel toward the windward side surface of the evaporator, so that the fluid resistance is small and the entire surface of the evaporator is As a result, the circulating air in the product storage can be made to flow substantially uniformly into the product, so that the product can be efficiently cooled.

  In the cooling device according to claim 3 of the present invention, the cross-sectional area gradually decreases from the outlet of the outflow passage in the cooling container toward the outlet from the leeward side surface of the evaporator. As a result of less resistance and increasing the flow rate of circulating air in the product storage, the product can be efficiently cooled.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
(Example 1)
FIGS. 1-5 is the figure explaining Example 1 which concerns on this invention. 1 is a perspective view of an overall view of a vending machine showing Embodiment 1 according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of the vending machine shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the bottom of the product storage of the vending machine shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a plan view of the machine room of the vending machine shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view for explaining the structure of the evaporator.
1 to 5, the vending machine includes a main body cabinet 10 formed as a rectangular heat insulator having an open front surface, an outer door 20 and an inner door 30 provided on the front surface, and the main body cabinet 10. The inside is divided into two upper and lower sections by the bottom plate 11, and the upper part is partitioned by, for example, two heat insulating partition plates 41, for example, three independent product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c, and the lower part product storage units 40a, 40b, Machine room 50 for storing the cooling unit 60 for cooling 40c, and cooling heat that circulates the cooled or heated air in the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c across the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c and the machine room 50 Circulating means 80 and the inside of the outer door 20 are used to control the cooling and heating operation of the vending machine by the temperature sensor T in the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c. Control means 100.
More specifically, the outer door 20 is for opening and closing the front opening of the main body cabinet 10 and is not shown in the figure, but on the front surface of the outer door 20 is a sample of the product W to be sold. A product display room for displaying products, a selection button for selecting a product W to sell, a money slot for inserting money, a product outlet 21 for taking out the paid product W, etc. Necessary configuration is arranged.

The inner door 30 opens and closes the front surfaces of the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, and 40c to keep the products in the interior warm, and is a box-shaped structure having a heat insulator inside.
The product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c are for storing the product W such as a canned beverage or a beverage containing a plastic bottle while maintaining the desired temperature, and the capacity of the storage unit is that of the product storage unit 40c. It is distributed in a manner larger than the other commodity storages 40a, 40b. The product storage racks 40a, 40b, and 40c each store the products W in a manner that they are arranged in the vertical direction, and are provided with a product carry-out mechanism for discharging the products W one by one according to a sales signal. , A product carry-out chute 42 for carrying the discharged product W to the sales port 21 of the outer door is provided.
The merchandise carry-out chute 42 is for guiding the merchandise W carried out of the merchandise carry-out mechanism to the merchandise take-out port 21, and the merchandise container 40a is gradually inclined downward from the back of the merchandise container toward the near side. , 40b, 40c are plate-like members. In addition, a large number of holes are formed in the surface so that the cooled or heated air blown out from the cold circulation means 80 is allowed to pass therethrough.
As shown in FIG. 3, an inflow port 83a and an outflow port 86b, which will be described later, are formed at the bottom of each product storage 40a, 40b, 40c.

The machine room 50 is a space for storing the cooling unit 60 located below the product storages 40a, 40b, and 40c, and in order to increase the number of drinks stored in the vending machine as a restriction in the height direction. It is required to make it as low as possible.
2 and 4, the cooling unit 60 includes a Stirling refrigerator 61 and a high heat transfer means 64 (high temperature section heat exchanger 62, first heat transfer section 64) that transfers high temperature exhaust heat from the high temperature section 61 b of the Stirling refrigerator 61. A pipe 63a and a second pipe 63b), a radiator 65 that dissipates the transferred high-temperature exhaust heat, a fan 66 that exhausts the dissipated heat to the outside of the vending machine, and the low temperature of the Stirling refrigerator 61 A cold heat transfer means 69 (consisting of a low temperature heat exchanger 67, a liquid pipe 68a, and an air pipe 68b) for transferring cold heat from the section 61a, and an evaporator 70 for cooling the interior using the transferred cold heat. It is prepared for.
The Stirling refrigerator 61 is placed horizontally, and has a low temperature part 61a that generates cold heat by operating at the tip thereof, and a high temperature part 61b that generates high temperature exhaust heat at the center side thereof. Yes. Further, the Stirling refrigerator 61 is controlled by the control means 100 based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor T or the like disposed inside the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c.

The high temperature part heat exchanger 62 is for absorbing high temperature exhaust heat from the high temperature part 61b of the Stirling refrigerator 61, and is connected in a manner in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the high temperature part 61b. The high temperature part heat exchanger 62 is filled with a refrigerant, and a plurality of thin tubes serving as refrigerant passages are arranged in a line, and the high temperature exhaust heat generated in the high temperature part 61b and each thin tube are formed. Heat exchange is performed with the refrigerant passing through. Here, various refrigerants can be used. As an example, carbon dioxide is used as an antifreeze.
The first pipe 63 a is a pipe that connects the high-temperature part heat exchanger 62 and the radiator 65, and moves the refrigerant that has received heat at the high-temperature part heat exchanger 62 to the radiator 65.
The second pipe 63 b is a pipe line connecting the radiator 65 and the high temperature part heat exchanger 62, and is for moving the refrigerant that has absorbed heat by the radiator 65 to the high temperature part heat exchanger 62.

The structure of the radiator 65 is a so-called fin-and-tube type, and the disposition position is the upper part on the near side of the machine room 50, and the center thereof is higher than the center of the Stirling refrigerator 61.
The fan 66 is disposed in the vicinity of the radiator 65 and exhausts heat of condensation of the refrigerant condensed by the radiator 65 to the outside of the vending machine.
The low temperature part heat exchanger 67 is for transferring cold heat from the low temperature part 61a of the Stirling refrigerator 61, and is connected to the low temperature part 61a in a manner in contact with the outer peripheral surface. A refrigerant is sealed inside the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67, and a plurality of thin tubes serving as refrigerant passages are formed in a line, and each thin tube passes through the cold heat generated in the low-temperature part 61a. The refrigerant is condensed into a condensate. Here, as the refrigerant, for example, a gas such as carbon dioxide which is a gas at normal temperature and does not freeze with the cold heat from the low temperature portion 61a of the Stirling refrigerator 61 (an antifreeze refrigerant) is used.

The liquid pipe 68a is a pipe line connecting the evaporator 70 and the low temperature part heat exchanger 67, and the refrigerant condensed in the low temperature part heat exchanger 67 is moved from the low temperature part heat exchanger 67 to the evaporator 70 in a liquid state. It is for making it happen.
The air pipe 68b is a pipe line connecting the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67 and the evaporator 70, and moves the refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator 70 from the evaporator 70 to the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67 in a gaseous state. belongs to.
Although the arrangement relationship between the liquid pipe 68a and the aerial pipe 68b is not clearly shown in the figure, the aerial pipe 68b is positioned above the liquid pipe 68a. This is because the density of the refrigerant passing through the air pipe 68b is smaller than the density of the refrigerant passing through the liquid pipe 68a. In such a refrigerant pipe configuration, the refrigerant circulates using gravity while repeating the phase change between the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67 and the evaporator 70, and is called a loop-type thermosiphon heat pipe. Is.

  The evaporator 70 is for exchanging the cold heat of the refrigerant with the air in the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c, and is installed at a position spaced apart from the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67 by a predetermined distance. The product is stored in an inclined manner inside a cold-heat vessel 90 (details will be described later) disposed below the corresponding product storage 40a, 40b, 40c. The evaporator 70 has a short cross-sectional structure in the height direction, and the center of the Stirling refrigerator 61 and the center of the evaporator 70 are installed with a height h as shown in FIG. . More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the evaporator 70 includes a branch header 71 that distributes the liquid refrigerant flowing in from the liquid pipe 68a, a collective header 72 that collects the gas refrigerant flowing out to the air pipe 68b, and a branch. It has a pipe group composed of parallel pipes 73 arranged in parallel (four in this example) between the header 71 and the collective header 72 and fins 74 inserted in the parallel pipes 73. ing.

The branch header 71 is a copper pipe having a diameter larger than that of the liquid pipe 68a and the parallel pipe 73. The liquid pipe 68a is connected to the lowermost portion (inlet) on the side surface, and one side of the parallel pipe 73 is equally spaced above the liquid pipe 68a. The sides are connected in parallel. Further, the bottom surface of the branch header 71 is in contact with the bottom surface of the cooling / heating container 90.
The collective header 72 is a copper pipe having a diameter larger than that of the gas pipe 68b and the parallel pipe 73. The gas pipe 68b is connected to the uppermost portion (exit) of the side surface, and the other side of the parallel pipe 73 is equally spaced below the gas pipe 68b. The sides are connected in parallel. The bottom surface of the collective header 72 is positioned higher than the bottom surface of the branch header 71.
The parallel pipe 73 has a configuration in which long U-shaped pipes 73a and U-shaped short bend pipes 73b are alternately connected to each other, and is a copper pipe formed in a meandering shape. Since the evaporator 70 is inclined and installed, the parallel pipe 73 is disposed in a manner that gradually inclines upward from the branch header 71 side toward the collective header 72 side.

The fins 74 are aluminum plate-like members inserted and press-fitted into the straight portion of the U-shaped tube 73a at equal intervals, and are intended to promote heat exchange with the air in the cabinet.
As shown in FIG. 2, the cold heat circulation means 80 includes a rear duct 81 that collects air in the cabinet, an open / close mechanism 82 that switches a heating or cooling ventilation channel, a heating chamber 84 that heats the air in the cabinet, It has a blower duct 87 that circulates air inside and a cooling container 90 that cools the air inside the cabinet.
The rear duct 81 is a ventilation channel for returning the air that has cooled or heated the products W in the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, and 40c to the evaporator 70 or the heater 85, and the back surface of the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, and 40c. These are plate-shaped members having a U-shaped cross-section respectively installed. The rear duct 81 has a suction port whose upper part opens toward the front surface, and the lower part communicates with an inlet 83 a that leads to the heating chamber 84 and an inlet 83 b that leads to the cooling container 90.

The opening / closing mechanism 82 is for switching the passage of the heated or cooled air to the heating chamber 84 or the cooling container 90, and has a pair of rotatable flappers. One flapper switches the inlet 83a from the heating chamber 84 and the inlet 83b from the cooling vessel 90, and the other flapper switches the outlet 86a to the heating chamber 84 and the outlet 86b to the cooling vessel 90. It is. Specifically, during the cooling operation, the inlet 83a and the outlet 86a are closed, and the inlet 83b and the outlet 86b are opened. On the other hand, during the heating operation, the inlet 83a and the outlet 86a are opened, and the inlet 83b and the outlet 86b are closed.
The heating chamber 84 has an inflow port 83a and an outflow port 86a in the front-rear direction, and is a rectangular space composed of a plate-like member. The heater 85 is provided inside to heat the air in the cabinet. Is for.

The air duct 87 is for blowing the air heated in the heating chamber 84 or the air cooled in the cooling container 90 into the product storages 40a, 40b, and 40c, and an internal fan 88 is provided inside. And it is a ventilation flow path comprised with the plate-shaped member. The air duct 87 is open at the front, communicates with the heating chamber 84 through the opening / closing mechanism 82, and communicates with the cooling container 90 through the opening / closing mechanism 82 at the bottom.
The cooling container 90 is a box-shaped structure constituted by a heat insulating wall 91, and is installed on the lower surface side of the bottom plate 11 and the back surface side of the machine room 50. Inside the cooling container 90, a heat insulating wall 94 is provided so as to separate the suction side and the discharge side of the evaporator 70, so that the rear part forms an inflow chamber 92 and the front part forms an outflow chamber 93 with the evaporator 70 as a boundary. ing.
The heat insulating wall 91 is formed of a heat insulating material that opens upward, is formed of a heat insulating material, and surrounds the four circumferences of the horizontal plane, and is also formed of a heat insulating material, and is formed of a heat insulating bottom wall 91b as a bottom surface. .

The inflow chamber 92 is formed in such a manner that the first inflow portion 92a extending downward in substantially the same cross section as the inflow port 83b and the cross section gradually expanding to the windward front side of the evaporator 70 connected to the inflow portion 92a. And a second inflow portion 92b.
The outflow chamber 93 has a triangular cross section formed by the leeward rear surface of the evaporator 70 and the bottom wall 91b of the cooling vessel, and a trapezoidal cross section formed between the side surface of the evaporator 70 and the side wall surface 91a of the cooling vessel. The first outflow portion 93a composed of two spaces, and the second outflow portion 93b formed between the partition wall 94 and the side wall surface 91a and extending upward in substantially the same cross section as the inflow port 83b. And is configured.
The partition wall 94 is a heat insulating member having a ceiling surface located between the inflow port 83b and the outflow port 86b, a bottom surface in contact with the assembly header 72 side of the evaporator 70, and a substantially trapezoidal cross section.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control means 100 is installed inside the outer door 20, has a main control unit, a memory, and the like inside, detects the temperature of the in-compartment sensor T, and detects the cooling unit 60 and the heater 85. Is controlled so that the products W in the product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c are brought to a predetermined temperature.
In this configuration, first, the refrigerant flow and cooling operation of the cooling unit 60 will be described.
The high temperature exhaust heat from the high temperature part 61b of the Stirling refrigerator 61 is released to the outside of the vending machine as follows. The refrigerant to which the high-temperature exhaust heat is transferred in the high-temperature part heat exchanger 62 that is thermally connected to the high-temperature part 61 b moves to the radiator 65 through the first pipe 63 a and is radiated by the radiator 65. The dissipated heat is released by the fan 66 to the outside of the vending machine. In addition, the refrigerant radiated by the radiator 65 moves to the high temperature section heat exchanger 62 through the second pipe 63b, and receives the heat again by the high temperature section heat exchanger 62, thereby repeating the above cycle. Since the enclosed refrigerant is carbon dioxide, if the temperature in the radiator 65 exceeds about 31 ° C., the refrigerant will not condense and the cycle of releasing heat in a supercritical state will be repeated.
Moreover, the cold heat from the low temperature part 61a of the Stirling refrigerator 61 is transferred to the inside of the evaporator 70 as follows. The refrigerant to which the cold heat is transferred in the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67 thermally connected to the low-temperature part 61a is condensed in the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67 to become a liquid, and the branch header of the evaporator 70 through the liquid pipe 68a. Move to 71. The moved refrigerant is distributed from the branch header 71 to each parallel pipe 73 and stays at the bottom. The liquid refrigerant evaporates by exchanging heat with the air from the outside of the evaporator 70, and the evaporation heat is transmitted to the air and transferred into the warehouse. The evaporated refrigerant rises along the respective parallel pipes 73, gathers in the collective header 72, returns to the low-temperature part heat exchanger 67 through the air pipe 68b, and repeats a cycle of absorbing heat and returning to the liquid. become. Since the parallel piping 73 is disposed in a manner that is gradually inclined upward from the branch header 71 side toward the assembly header 72 side, the refrigerant evaporating inside is gradually transferred toward the assembly header 72 side. There is no backflow.

Next, cooling by circulation of air in the warehouse will be described. In the cooling operation, as shown in FIG. 2, the opening / closing mechanism 81 closes the inlet 83a and the outlet 86a, and opens the inlet 83b and the outlet 86b. In this state, when the internal fan 88 is driven, the air inside the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c is transferred to the rear duct 81, the inlet 83b, the inflow chamber 92, and the evaporator 70 as shown by the arrows in the figure. It flows in and is cooled, passes through the outflow chamber 93, the outlet 86b, and the air duct 87, returns to the inside of the product storage 40a, 40b, and 40c, and cools the product W in the storage.
The inflow chamber 92 includes a first inflow portion 92a that extends downward in substantially the same cross section as the inflow port 83b, and a second inflow portion 92b that is connected to the inflow portion 92a and gradually expands the cross section to the front surface of the evaporator 70. Since the flow velocity of the internal air passing therethrough is gradually reduced, the passage resistance is small, and the evaporator 70 is hit by the substantially uniform wind speed and the efficiency of heat exchange is good.

According to the cooling device according to this embodiment, the evaporator 70 is connected in parallel between the branch header that branches the inflowing refrigerant, the assembly header that collects the outflowing refrigerant, and the branch header and the assembly header. Piping, and the lower end of the branch header is positioned lower than the lower end of the collective header, so that the height difference between the Stirling refrigerator and the evaporator can be secured even in a machine room having a height restriction, and As a result of the backflow of the evaporated refrigerant being suppressed, the product stored in each product storage can be efficiently cooled using the cold generated in the Stirling refrigerator.
Further, according to the cooling device of the present invention, since the inflow path in the cooling vessel gradually increases from the inlet toward the inlet face (front face) of the evaporator, the fluid resistance is small and substantially uniform over the entire face of the evaporator. As a result of circulating air in the product storage box, the product can be efficiently cooled.

(Example 2)
FIG. 6 shows Example 2 of the embodiment according to the present application. FIG. 6 is a side view of a vending machine equipped with the cooling device of the second embodiment.
The difference from the first embodiment is the configuration inside the cooling container 90, specifically, the point where the branch header 71 side where the evaporator 70 is connected to the liquid pipe 68a is arranged on the near side, and other configurations. Since this is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.
The cooling container 90 is a box-shaped structure made of a heat insulating material, and is disposed on the lower side of the bottom plate 11 and the back side of the machine room 50. Inside the cooling container 90, a heat insulating wall 97 is provided so as to separate the suction side and the discharge side of the evaporator 70, so that the inflow chamber 95 is formed in a portion facing the suction side and the outflow chamber 96 is formed in a portion facing the discharge side. Is forming.

The inflow chamber 95 has a first inflow portion 95a that extends downward in substantially the same cross section as the inflow port 83b, and is connected to the inflow portion 95a so as to go around the side surface of the evaporator 70 and toward the wind surface side of the evaporator 70. The second inflow portion 95b communicates with the second inflow portion 95b.
The outflow chamber 96 includes a first outflow portion 96a that gradually expands in cross section toward the outflow port 86b, and a second outflow portion 96b that is formed in substantially the same cross section as the outflow port 86b.
The partition wall 97 is a heat insulating structure having a substantially trapezoidal cross section, a ceiling surface positioned between the inflow port 83b and the outflow port 86b, and a bottom surface in contact with the collective header 72 side of the evaporator 70.
According to this configuration, in the refrigerant flow, the cold heat from the low temperature portion 61 a of the Stirling refrigerator 61 is transferred to the evaporator 70 via the cold heat transfer means 69 as described above.
Since the evaporator 70 has a short cross-sectional structure in the height direction and is disposed so as to be inclined, the evaporator 70 is installed with a height h with respect to the Stirling refrigerator 61, so that the cooling performance can be ensured. Further, since the parallel pipes 73 in the evaporator 70 are arranged in a manner that gradually inclines upward from the branch header 71 side toward the assembly header 72 side, the refrigerant evaporating inside is gradually moved toward the assembly header 72 side. As a result, the cooling performance is prevented from being lowered.

  Further, since the first outflow passage 96a in the cooling vessel 90 gradually increases in cross-sectional area from the inlet to the outlet from the leeward side of the evaporator, the fluid resistance is reduced by keeping the flow velocity from the leeward side low. As a result of reducing and increasing the flow rate of circulating air in the product storage, the product can be efficiently cooled.

  As described above, the cooling device according to the present invention is useful for cooling products stored in a plurality of product storage boxes in, for example, a vending machine, using cold heat generated in a Stirling refrigerator.

It is a perspective view of the whole figure of the vending machine carrying the cooling device of Example 1. FIG. 2 is a sectional side view of the vending machine shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the bottom of the commodity storage of the vending machine shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from above. It is a top view in the machine room of the vending machine shown in FIG. It is a perspective view explaining the structure of an evaporator. It is a side view of the vending machine carrying the cooling device of Example 2.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body cabinet 40a Product storage 40b Product storage 40c Product storage 42 Chute 50 Machine room 60 Cooling unit 61 Stirling refrigerator 62 High temperature part heat exchanger 63a 1st piping 63b 2nd piping 64 High temperature waste heat transfer means 65 Radiator 66 Fan 67 Low-temperature section heat exchanger 68a Liquid pipe 68b Air pipe 69 Cold heat transfer means 70 Evaporator 71 Branch header 72 Collective header 73 Parallel pipe 73a U-shaped pipe 73b Bend pipe 74 Fin 80 Cold heat circulation means 81 Rear duct 82 Opening / closing mechanism 83a Inflow port 83b Inlet port 84 Heating chamber 85 Heater 86a Outlet port 86b Outlet port 87 Blower duct 88 Fan in the chamber 90 Container (cooling vessel)
91 heat insulation wall 92 inflow chamber 93 outflow chamber 94 partition wall 100 control means

Claims (3)

Cold transfer means for transferring cold generated in the Stirling refrigerator, and
An evaporator for cooling the air circulating in the warehouse of the product storage, using the cold transferred by the cold transfer means;
The inflow channel and the outflow channel that are located below the product storage and communicate with the product storage are partitioned by a heat insulating wall, and the evaporator is accommodated between the inflow channel and the outflow channel. Equipped with a cooling container
In the cooling device for cooling the product stored in the product storage by the evaporator stored in the cooling container,
The evaporator is connected in parallel between a branch header for branching the refrigerant flowing from the cold heat transfer means, a collect header for collecting the refrigerant flowing out to the cold heat transfer means, and the branch header and the collect header. A piping group consisting of
The cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an outlet of the collective header is located at the uppermost stage of the pipe group, and an inlet of the branch header is located at the lowermost stage of the pipe group.   2. The cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional area gradually increases from the inlet of the inflow passage in the cooling vessel toward the windward side surface of the evaporator. The cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional area gradually decreases from the outlet of the outflow passage in the cooling vessel toward the outlet from the leeward side surface of the evaporator.

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