JP2009277080A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vending machine for operating a compressor in a short time also in switching to individual cooling operation when heat pump operation is efficiently performed. <P>SOLUTION: In this vending machine, a cooling circulation circuit is constituted by a compressor, a condenser disposed outside a warehouse, an expanding means, and a plurality of evaporators that are disposed in the warehouse and evaporate a refrigerant. A heating/cooling circulation circuit is constituted by a compressor, a heating heat exchanger arranged in an article storage room together with an evaporator, a heater solenoid valve for opening/closing inflow of a refrigerant to the heating heat exchanger, a pressure adjusting means, and the evaporator. A check valve is disposed between the heater solenoid valve connected to the compressor side and the delivery side of the compressor, so that a high pressure refrigerant on the delivery side of the compressor is rapidly made to flow into the condenser side, the pressure difference between the delivery side and the suction side of the compressor is decreased, and the compressor is operated in a short time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine that sells a product such as a beverage in a container such as a can, a bottle, a pack, or a plastic bottle after being cooled or heated in a refrigerant circuit.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions has become a challenge with recent global warming, and energy-saving vending machines have been developed. As one of the methods, a heat pump type vending machine that uses the heat of the condenser, which has been exhausted in the past, to heat the inside of the cabinet has attracted attention (for example, see Patent Document 1).
However, this vending machine uses the internal heat exchanger as an evaporator during cooling and as a condenser during heating, so the flow of refrigerant changes depending on the cooling and heating operation mode of the vending machine. As a result, there is a problem that the piping of the refrigeration circuit becomes complicated, resulting in high costs.
Further, when the compressor is started, if the motor is in an overload state, the motor is locked and a large current flows through the winding of the motor. Conventionally, in order to prevent this, when the lock occurs, the compressor is stopped, and the compressor is restarted after waiting for a time until the pressure balance between the discharge side and the suction side of the compressor is achieved. However, in this method, it takes time (for example, 5 minutes) until the pressure is balanced between the discharge side and the suction side of the compressor to restart the compressor, causing a cooling delay. In addition, in order to eliminate the cooling delay, a valve that can be freely opened and closed is provided at a position that bypasses the high-pressure side and low-pressure side of the refrigeration cycle, and the valve is shortened if a lock occurs when the compressor is overloaded. There was also a method of restarting the compressor after releasing the pressure for a period of time (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2002-298210 A JP 10-38390 A

However, in the case of heat pump operation, the condensation temperature of the heating heat exchanger is higher than that of cooling only operation, and the pressure on the high pressure side is high. Cannot be obtained. In particular, when switching from heat pump operation to single cooling operation, the pressure on the discharge side of the compressor is maintained at high pressure, so the pressure difference from the suction side of the compressor is large, and it takes time to start up the compressor. There was a problem.
In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides a vending machine capable of operating the compressor in a short time even when switching to the cooling single operation when solving the above-described problems and efficiently performing the heat pump operation. For the purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, the vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention has a plurality of product storages for cooling and heating, and selectively cools the product storages according to the cooling and heating operation mode. A vending machine that heats, a compressor that compresses the refrigerant, a condenser that is provided outside the refrigerator to condense the refrigerant, a condenser electromagnetic valve that opens and closes the inflow of the refrigerant from the compressor to the condenser, An expansion unit that expands the refrigerant, a distributor that distributes the refrigerant expanded from the expansion unit, and a plurality of evaporators that evaporate the refrigerant provided in the storage form a cooling circuit, and the compressor, A heating heat exchanger disposed in a product storage together with the evaporator, a heater solenoid valve for opening and closing refrigerant flow from the compressor to the heating heat exchanger, a pressure adjusting means, and the distributor; The heating and cooling circuit is configured with the evaporator. In the automatic vending machine, a check valve provided between the heater solenoid valve and the discharge side of the compressor, characterized in that connecting the condenser solenoid valve on the discharge side of the compressor in the check valve.

  The vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention is provided with a check valve between the discharge side of the compressor and the heater solenoid valve, and the evaporator solenoid valve is connected to the discharge side of the compressor in the check valve. As a result, when switching from heat pump operation to single cooling operation, the high pressure refrigerant on the downstream side of the compressor does not act on the upstream side by the check valve, so the high pressure refrigerant on the discharge side of the compressor quickly flows into the condenser side. As a result, the pressure difference between the discharge side and the suction side of the compressor becomes small, and the compressor can be operated in a short time.

Exemplary embodiments of a vending machine according to 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.
First, a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. 1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the vending machine shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a refrigerant circuit diagram according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is. FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the control device, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant in a single cooling operation for cooling all three chambers, and FIG. 6 shows a heat pump operation for heating one chamber and cooling two chambers. FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant, and FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant in the single cooling operation for cooling the two chambers.
In these drawings, the vending machine has 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 an interior of the main body cabinet 10 in two directions. The bottom plate 11 is partitioned and formed in a step, and the upper part is cooled by, for example, three independent product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c separated by two heat insulating partition plates 40w, and the lower part product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c are cooled or Cooling / heating of the vending machine by the temperature sensor Ta, Tb, Tc disposed inside the machine room 50 for storing the cooling / heating unit 60 for heating and the outer door 20 and in the product storages 40a, 40b, 40c. And control means 90 for controlling operation and the like.

More specifically, the outer door 20 is used to open and close the front opening of the main body cabinet 10 and is not shown in the figure. Product display room, selection button for selecting the product to be sold, money slot for inserting money, product outlet 21 for taking out the paid-out product, etc. Is arranged.
The inner door 30 opens and closes the front surfaces of the product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c to keep the products in the interior warm. The inner door 30 is a box-shaped structure that is divided into upper and lower stages and has a heat insulator inside. The upper inner door 30a is pivoted at one end to the outer door 20, and the other end is engaged with the outer door 20, and the upper inner door 30a is opened at the same time as the outer door 20 is opened to facilitate replenishment of goods. It is to make. The lower inner door 30b is in a closed state when one end pivots on the main body cabinet 10 and the other end is hooked on the main body cabinet 10 with a latch (not shown) and the outer door 20 is opened. It is possible to prevent the cool air or warm air in the storage cases 40a, 40b, and 40c from flowing out, and to open as necessary during maintenance.
The product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c are for storing products such as canned beverages and beverages containing plastic bottles while maintaining the desired temperature, and the capacity of the storage units is the product storage units 40c, 40a. , 40b in a large manner. In this embodiment, the product storage case 40c is exclusively used for cooling, and the product storage cases 40a and 40b are also used for cooling and heating. The product storage racks 40a, 40b, and 40c store the products in a manner that they are arranged in the vertical direction, and are provided with a product storage rack R that includes a product delivery mechanism for discharging the products one by one in response to a sales signal. There is a product carry-out chute 42 for carrying the discharged product S to the sales port 21 of the outer door through a carry-out door 31 installed in the inner door 30b.

The cooling / heating unit 60 includes a compressor 61, a condenser 62, an expansion valve 63, an accumulator 69, a cooling unit that connects the evaporators 65 a, 65 b, and 65 c in the warehouse with refrigerant pipes across the bottom plate 11, and a compressor 61, a heating / cooling unit for connecting the evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c and the heating heat exchangers 66a, 66b in the warehouse across the bottom plate 11 with refrigerant pipes across the bottom heat exchanger 76, the electronic expansion valve 79, and the bottom plate 11, and heating It has a heating part of heaters 80a and 80b. The cooling / heating unit 60 cools or heats the product S in the product storage rack R by circulating cold air or warm air in the cabinet according to the cooling / heating operation mode.
A fan 62f is installed at the rear of the condenser 62. The fan 62f sucks air from the front opening of the machine chamber 50, sucks heat of condensation by the condenser 62, and absorbs exhaust heat of the compressor 61. Thus, the air is exhausted to the rear opening of the machine room 50.
The evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c are for cooling the product storages 40a, 40b, and 40c, and are installed at the lower part of each product storage. Moreover, the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b are installed after the evaporators 65b and 65a, and are for heating the product storage boxes 40a and 40b. The evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c and the heating heat exchangers 66a, 66b are surrounded by a wind tunnel 67 in each product storage 40a, 40b, 40c, a fan 65f is installed behind them, and a duct 67d is installed behind them. Is installed. The cooling and heating in the product storage are performed by blowing the air cooled or heated by the evaporators 65a, 65b and 65c and the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b to the product S in the product storage, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. As shown, it is performed by collecting from the duct 67d.

The accumulator 69 is a sealed container for allowing the refrigerant evaporated from the evaporators 65 a, 65 b, and 65 c to flow in, gas-liquid separation to store the liquid refrigerant, and returning the gas refrigerant to the compressor 61. The accumulator 69 is also a container for storing the refrigerant remaining in the refrigerant circulation of the circuit.
The heaters 80a and 80b are installed in front of the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b, and the refrigerant is used without using the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b when the interior of the cooling side is cooled to an appropriate temperature in the heat pump operation. This is for stopping the operation of the circuit and heating the product storage 40a, 40b.
The refrigerant circuit configuration of the cooling / heating unit 60 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The refrigerant circuit configuration includes a cooling circulation circuit 81 that only cools the inside of the warehouse and a heating and cooling circulation circuit 82 that simultaneously performs heating and cooling inside the warehouse (performs a heat pump operation).
The cooling circuit 81 is connected to the flow divider 64 via the compressor 61, the condenser electromagnetic valve 68, the condenser 62, the check valve 71, and the expansion valve 63 (expansion means or capillary). Further, it is connected to the evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c via the evaporator electromagnetic valves 70a, 70b, 70c, and after collecting the pipes from the evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c, returns to the compressor 61 via the accumulator 69. Circuit.

On the other hand, the heating / cooling circulation circuit 82 is connected to the circuit from the compressor 61 via the check valve 72 via the heater electromagnetic valve 68a and from the heating heat exchanger 66a to the check valve 71, and via the heater electromagnetic valve 68b. After the circuit from the heating heat exchanger 66b to the check valve 71 is assembled (connected in parallel), the external heat exchanger 76 is connected to the flow divider 64 via the electronic expansion valve 79 as pressure adjusting means, This circuit is connected to the evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c from the flow divider 64 via the evaporator electromagnetic valves 70a, 70b, and 70c, and merges again to return to the compressor 61 via the accumulator 69.
As the refrigerant, R134a is used as a refrigerant used within a critical pressure, for example, a fluorocarbon refrigerant.
The control means 90 controls the cooling or heating of the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, and 40c by the cooling and heating operation mode. As shown in FIG. 4, a CPU and a memory are provided inside, and control such as opening and closing of the solenoid valve of the refrigerant circuit is performed according to the cooling heating operation mode determined by the setting of the operation mode setting SW91. The operation mode indicates the cooling or heating operation of the product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c by C and H, and in the order of (40a, 40b, 40c) from the left side of the product storage unit, for example, all are cooling Is described as CCC mode, and when only the left product storage is heated, it is described as HCC mode. Further, the control means 90 controls the compressor 61, the electronic expansion valve 79, the condenser electromagnetic valves 68, 68a, 70a, etc. according to the temperatures detected by the internal temperature sensors Ta, Tb, Tc, and stores them by thermocycle operation. Maintain the internal temperature at an appropriate temperature. Further, as will be described later, the control means 90 performs refrigerant recovery control for recovering the refrigerant that leaks from the valves and is stored in the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b when the heater electromagnetic valves 68a and 68b for heating are closed.

When the operation mode is set to the CCC mode by operating the operation mode setting SW 91 with such a configuration, the control means 90 opens the condenser electromagnetic valve 68 and the evaporator electromagnetic valves 70a, 70b, 70c, and the heater electromagnetic valves 68b, 68c. Is closed and the electronic expansion valve 79 is fully opened. As shown in FIG. 5, the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 is condensed by the condenser 62 to become liquid refrigerant, expands by the expansion valve 63 and becomes a low-temperature gas-liquid two-phase flow, and is divided by the flow divider 64 in three directions. After being divided into two, the evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c evaporate, and the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, and 40c are cooled. The refrigerant that has become gas is separated into gas and liquid via an accumulator 69 that stores liquid refrigerant and returns to the compressor 61. In this cooling, the controller 90 controls the internal temperature to an appropriate temperature by the thermocycle operation by the internal temperature sensors Ta, Tb, and Tc.
When one room among the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, 40c, for example, the product storage box 40a, reaches an appropriate temperature, the evaporator electromagnetic valve 70a corresponding to the inside of the storage room is closed, and the cooling single operation of the two rooms is continued. Further, when one room reaches an appropriate temperature, the single cooling operation of one room is continued, and operation control is performed until all the rooms have the appropriate temperature. Note that, as described above, the single cooling operation may include all three rooms, two rooms, and one room.
Next, when the operation mode is set to the HCC mode in which the left chamber is heated by operating the operation mode setting SW 91, the control means 90 opens the heater electromagnetic valve 68a and the evaporator electromagnetic valves 70b and 70c, and the condenser The electromagnetic valve 68, the heater electromagnetic valve 68b, and the evaporator electromagnetic valve 70a are closed, and the electronic expansion valve 79 is set to a predetermined opening. As shown in FIG. 6, the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 flows into the heating heat exchanger 66a through the check valve 72 and the heater electromagnetic valve 68a, is condensed, and heats the commodity storage 40a. The high-temperature refrigerant condensed by the heating heat exchanger 66 a is further condensed by the external heat exchanger 76 and expanded by the electronic expansion valve 79. The refrigerant expanded by the electronic expansion valve 79 becomes a low-temperature gas-liquid two-phase flow, and is divided by the flow divider 64 and then evaporated by the evaporators 65b and 65c, thereby cooling the product storage boxes 40c and 40b. The refrigerant that has become gas in the evaporators 65 b and 65 c returns to the compressor 61. In this heat pump operation, the inside of the cabinet is maintained at an appropriate temperature by the thermocycle operation as described above.

During operation in the HCC mode, when the product storage 40a in the heating chamber reaches an appropriate temperature, the compressor 61 is stopped, the heater electromagnetic valve 68a corresponding to the inside of the storage is closed, and the condenser electromagnetic valve 68 is opened. Then, the cooling single operation of the two chambers (the product storage cases 40b and 40c) is continued as in the CCC mode described above.
In the cooling only operation of the two chambers (product storage units 40b and 40c), the control unit 90 opens the condenser electromagnetic valve 68 and closes the heater electromagnetic valve 68a. The operation of the compressor 61 is started, and the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 as shown in FIG. 7 is condensed in the condenser 62 to become liquid refrigerant, expands in the expansion valve 63, and is cooled at low temperature. After being divided into two directions by the flow divider 64, it is evaporated by the evaporators 65b and 65c, and the cooling of the product storage boxes 40b and 40c is continued. The refrigerant that has become gas is separated into gas and liquid via an accumulator 69 that stores liquid refrigerant and returns to the compressor 61.
When starting the operation of the compressor 61, the high condensing temperature and the high discharge pressure during the heat pump operation are maintained in the pipe, so that the pressure on the discharge side and the suction side of the compressor 61 is high. ing. However, since the high-pressure refrigerant in the pipe between the heater electromagnetic valves 68a and 68b and the check valve 72 does not act upstream by the check valve 72, the high-pressure refrigerant on the discharge side of the compressor 61 is Since the valve 68 is quickly opened into the condenser 62, the pressure on the discharge side and the suction side of the compressor 61 is balanced, and the compressor can be started in a short time.

Further, even when the operation mode setting SW 91 is operated to switch the operation mode from the heat pump operation mode HCC to the CCC mode of the cooling only operation, the high pressure refrigerant on the downstream side does not act on the upstream side by the check valve 72, so the compression is performed. The high pressure on the discharge side of the machine 61 is released into the condenser 62 via the condenser solenoid valve 68. As a result, the pressure on the discharge side and the suction side of the compressor 61 is balanced, and the compressor is turned on in a short time. It can be activated.
As described above, by providing the check valve 72 between the heater solenoid valves 68a and 68b connected to the compressor 61 side and the discharge side of the compressor 61, the heat pump operation is switched to the cooling single operation. Since the high pressure on the downstream side does not act on the upstream side by the check valve 72, the high-pressure refrigerant on the discharge side of the compressor 61 quickly flows into the condenser 62. As a result, the discharge side and the suction side of the compressor 61 And the compressor 61 can be operated in a short time.

  As described above, the vending machine according to the present invention is suitable for cooling or heating a product such as a beverage contained in a container such as a can, a bottle, a pack, or a plastic bottle in a refrigerant circuit.

1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing of the vending machine shown in FIG. It is a refrigerant circuit figure concerning the example of the present invention. It is a block diagram of a control apparatus. It is a circuit diagram which shows the flow of the refrigerant | coolant in the cooling single operation which cools all the three chambers. It is a circuit diagram which shows the flow of the refrigerant | coolant in the heat pump driving | operation which heats 1 chamber and cools 2 chambers. It is a circuit diagram which shows the flow of the refrigerant | coolant in the cooling single operation which cools 2 chambers.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body cabinet 20 Outer door 30 Inner door 40a, 40b, 40c Product storage 60 Cooling / heating unit 61 Compressor 62 Condenser 63 Expansion valve (expansion means)
65a, 65b, 65c Evaporator 66a, 66b Heating heat exchanger 68 Condenser solenoid valve 68a, 68b Heater solenoid valve 71a, 71b, 71c Evaporator solenoid valve 72 Check valve 76 External heat exchanger 79 Electronic expansion valve ( Pressure adjustment means)
90 Controller 91 Operation mode selection SW

Claims (1)

A vending machine having a plurality of product storages for cooling and heating, and selectively cooling or heating the product storages according to an operation mode of cooling and heating,
A compressor for compressing the refrigerant; a condenser for condensing the refrigerant provided outside the storage; a condenser solenoid valve for opening and closing the inflow of the refrigerant from the compressor to the condenser; an expansion means for expanding the refrigerant; A distributor for distributing the refrigerant expanded by the means, and a plurality of evaporators for evaporating the refrigerant provided in the warehouse, constitute a cooling circuit,
The compressor, a heating heat exchanger disposed in a product storage together with the evaporator, a heater solenoid valve for opening and closing refrigerant flow from the compressor to the heating heat exchanger, and pressure adjusting means; In the vending machine in which a heating and cooling circuit is configured by the distributor and the evaporator, a check valve is provided between a discharge side of the compressor and a heater solenoid valve, and the check valve A vending machine characterized in that a condenser solenoid valve is connected to the discharge side of the compressor.

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