JP2010148707A - Showcase - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a showcase the rear side of which is difficult to see through a door from the front side without impairing the visibility of a storage chamber from the rear side of the door. <P>SOLUTION: The showcase 11 includes: a transparent glass cover 16 constituting the front surface of a box body 12 which internally defines the storage chamber 14 for storing articles; and a transparent sliding door 30 provided so that an opening 12b for taking in and out articles provided on the rear surface of the box body 12 is openable and closable. The sliding door 30 includes a polarization layer 34 which regulates transmission of at least a part of light going from the front to the rear while allowing transmission of light going from the rear to the front, so that an area on the rear side of the showcase 11 is difficult to see through from the front side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a showcase in which a stored article can be visually recognized.

  As a showcase for refrigerated storage of articles such as food and beverages, there is a so-called netacase that is installed in a counter of a sushi restaurant and stored refrigerated while displaying fresh ingredients such as stored sushi material (patents) Reference 1). As shown in FIG. 5, the showcase 10 is a storage room in which articles are stored in a refrigerated manner inside a box 12 that is filled with a heat insulating material such as urethane foam between the exterior and the interior. 14 is provided. Further, the showcase 10 has a transparent glass cover 16 fitted in a front opening 12a formed on the front side of the box 12 so that articles stored in the storage chamber 14 can be seen from the front side on the customer side sitting on the counter. It has become.

The showcase 10 has an article entrance / exit 12b for the storage chamber 14 formed on the rear surface of the box 12, and a slide door 18 is slidably attached to the article entrance / exit 12b in the left-right direction. Each slide door 18 is made of a substantially rectangular transparent plate, and is held by rails whose upper and lower end edges are arranged opposite to each other above and below the article entrance 12b. Then, the sliding door 18 is slid in the left-right direction to open the article entrance 12b, thereby allowing articles to be taken in and out of the storage chamber 14, or closing the article entrance 12b to block the storage chamber 14 from the outside air. It is supposed to be. In addition, the storage door 14 is visible from the rear side (kitchen side) of the slide door 18 through the transparent plate, and the articles in the storage room 14 can be confirmed from the rear side. Contributing to replenishment.
JP-A-8-327209

  Since the showcase 10 has the glass cover 16 and the slide door 18 transparent as described above, the rear side of the showcase 10 can be seen through the glass cover 16 and the slide door 18 from the front side. However, since the rear side of the showcase 10 placed on the counter is mostly used as a cooking space, cooking utensils such as chopping boards and articles such as seasonings are placed so that they cannot be seen from the customer side. There is a desire to want. Therefore, in the showcase 10, for example, the slide door 18 is polished glass, or a colored film or the like is pasted so as to be hidden from view from the front side. As described above, when the showcase 10 is blindfolded on the slide door 18, it is difficult to see the storage chamber 14 from the rear side and the articles in the storage chamber 14 cannot be easily confirmed. It will get worse. Further, the storage chamber 14 becomes dark due to the blindfold of the slide door, and the display property of the stored articles is impaired.

  That is, the present invention has been proposed in order to suitably solve these problems inherent in the conventional showcase according to the prior art, and without impairing the visibility of the storage chamber from the rear side of the door. An object of the present invention is to provide a showcase in which the rear side is difficult to see through the door from the front side.

In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems and achieve the intended purpose, the showcase of the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is:
A show comprising a transparent cover that forms a front surface of a box body that internally defines a storage chamber for storing articles, and a transparent door that is disposed so that an opening provided on the rear surface of the box body can be opened and closed. In case
The door is provided with a polarizing layer that restricts transmission of at least a part of light traveling from the front to the rear while allowing transmission of light from the rear to the front.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, by providing the polarizing layer on the slide door, the rear side of the showcase can be blindfolded while maintaining the exhibitability and usability of the storage room.

In the invention according to claim 2, the polarizing layer is within an angle formed by a line connecting an upper end of the see-through area of the cover and a lower end of the see-through area of the door and a horizontal line passing through the lower end of the see-through area of the door. Thus, the gist is that the polarization axis is defined so as to restrict the transmission of light from the front to the rear.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, the rear side area | region of a showcase can be blinded appropriately.

  According to the showcase according to the present invention, it is possible to make it difficult to see the rear side from the front side through the cover and the door without impairing the visibility of the storage unit through the door from the rear side.

  Next, the showcase according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of preferred embodiments. For convenience of explanation, the same reference numerals are used for the same elements as those of the showcase shown in FIG. 5, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  The showcase 11 according to the embodiment includes a storage room 14 (see FIG. 1) for storing goods such as fresh foods and beverages in parallel in the left and right sides of the box 12 and a cooling device for cooling the storage room 14. A machine room in which devices (all not shown) such as a compressor, a condenser, a fan motor and an expansion valve are installed is defined. In addition, the wall part which defines the storage chamber 14 in the box 12 has a heat insulating structure. The showcase 11 is provided with a front opening 12a corresponding to the front side of the storage chamber 14 on the front side of the box 12 facing the customer when the showcase 11 is installed on a face-to-face counter or the like. . In the showcase 11, a transparent glass cover (cover) 16 is fitted into the front opening 12a so that articles stored in the storage chamber 14 can be seen from the front side. The showcase 11 is provided with an article entrance 12b corresponding to the storage chamber 14 on the rear surface of the box 12 facing the kitchen side when the showcase 11 is installed on a counter or the like. In the showcase 11, a pair of slide doors (doors) 30 and 30 held by upper and lower rails 20 and 22 provided at the article entrance 12b are slidably disposed in the left and right directions. The article doorway 12b is opened and closed by sliding displacement to the left and right (see FIG. 2). The slide door 30 is composed of a transparent plate 32 such as transparent glass or resin, and a frame member is attached to the outer peripheral edge of the transparent plate as necessary.

  The glass cover 16 is a so-called pair glass in which a pair of glass plates 16a and 16a are arranged opposite to each other so as to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. As shown in FIG. 1, the glass cover 16 is gently inclined downward from the rear to the front. Later, it was bent downward and inclined downward at a steep angle. As described above, the showcase 11 includes the glass cover 16 on the front side and the front surface of the storage room 14.

  The showcase 11 is arranged in a meandering manner so that a lower evaporator 27 connected to a cooling device comes into contact with a bottom plate 24a forming an upper surface of a lower heat insulating wall 24 constituting a lower portion of the storage chamber 14 in the box 12 from below. Has been. The showcase 11 is meanderingly arranged so that the upper evaporator 28 connected to the cooling device contacts the ceiling plate 26a forming the lower surface of the upper heat insulating wall 26 constituting the upper rear side of the storage chamber 14 in the box 12 from above. ing. The showcase 11 cools the storage chamber 14 by cooling the bottom plate 24 a with the lower evaporator 27 and cooling the ceiling plate 26 a with the upper evaporator 28.

  The slide door 30 is provided with a polarizing layer 34 that restricts transmission of at least part of light traveling from the front to the rear side, and allows transmission of light from the rear side to the front. The sliding door 30 of the embodiment is configured to provide a polarizing layer 34 with a polarizing film sandwiched between a pair of transparent plates 32, 32, and the polarizing layer 34 absorbs light in a specific polarization direction. Yes. As schematically shown in FIG. 3, the polarizing layer 34 has an image like a blind curtain with fine slits, absorbs light other than a certain polarization direction, and transmits only the remaining light in one direction. It has a polarizer 34a. Here, the polarizer 34a of the polarizing layer 34 is inclined downward as it goes from the rear side to the front side with respect to the polarizing layer 34 (when the showcase 11 is used from the rear side, the user enters the storage chamber 14). It is set to transmit light incident from the direction of the line of sight (hereinafter referred to as the transmission direction). On the other hand, the polarizer 34a is set to absorb incident light from a horizontal direction from the front side to the rear side other than the transmission direction or a direction inclined downward from the front side to the rear side. The polarizing film constituting the polarizing layer 34 is formed by, for example, stretching a film formed by blending dichroic organic molecules with a polymer such as PVA, thereby arranging the organic molecules to be the polarizer 34a in a specific direction. It is formed. In addition, the adhesive used when a polarizing film is affixed on the transparent plate 32 is one that is transparent when cured.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the polarizing layer 34 includes a line L <b> 1 connecting the upper end of the see-through area of the glass cover 16 and the lower end of the see-through area of the slide door 30, and a horizontal line L <b> 2 passing through the lower end of the see-through area of the slide door 30. The polarization axis of the polarizer 34a is defined so as to restrict the transmission of light from the front to the back within an angle θ formed by. Here, the see-through area upper end of the glass cover 16 refers to a connecting portion between the glass cover 16 and the upper heat insulating wall 26 of the box 12 in the embodiment, and the lower end of the slide door 30 from the highest angle in the glass cover 16. A part that can be seen through. The lower end of the see-through area of the slide door 30 refers to the upper end of the lower rail 22 in the slide door 30 of the embodiment that is entirely constituted by the transparent plate 32, and the rear of the showcase 11 from the lowest position in the slide door 30. The part which can see through the side in the horizontal direction. That is, in the showcase 11, since it is required that the area below the bottom of the see-through area of the slide door 30 is blinded from the front side, the polarizer 34a absorbs light incident from the range of the angle θ. When the polarization axis is set, the rear region of the showcase 11 can be hidden most widely. In the showcase 11 of the embodiment, the polarization axis is set so as to absorb the light incident from the front side at an angle ½ of the angle θ from the horizontal line L2, and the visibility from the rear side of the slide door 30 is visible. And the balance is optimized. Thus, by defining the optimum value of the polarization axis, it becomes easy to set parameters such as the degree of polarization and the visible light transmittance (color density) determined in relation to the polarization axis.

(Effects of Example)
Next, the operation of the showcase 11 according to the embodiment will be described. When the showcase 11 is installed on the counter of the store, the line of sight of the customer sitting on the front side of the counter becomes approximately the same height as the glass cover, and the customer sees the showcase 11 horizontally from the front side. On the other hand, the user on the counter side of the counter stands on a floor that is one step higher than the customer side for convenience of exchanging goods to the customer side via the upper side of the showcase 11. The case 11 is looked down from the rear side. Since the showcase 11 is provided with the polarizing layer 34 on the slide door 30, the rear side of the showcase 11 is difficult to see or cannot be seen from the front side through the glass cover 16 and the slide door 30. For this reason, even if a cooking space is provided on the rear side of the showcase 11 (particularly the region below L2), cooking utensils and seasonings are not visible from the front side of the showcase 11, and the rear region of the showcase 11 Usability can be improved. On the other hand, the showcase 11 can be seen through the storage chamber 14 from the rear side through the sliding door 30 even if the polarizing layer 34 is provided. In other words, the user of the showcase 11 can check the articles stored in the storage chamber 14 via the slide door 30 and can quickly take out the articles or appropriately refill the articles. Moreover, even if the showcase 11 is provided with the polarizing layer 34 that blinds the slide door 30 from the front side, light (light from the transmission direction) can be taken into the storage chamber 14 from the rear side through the slide door 30. The storage chamber 14 can be brightened. Therefore, if the sliding door is made of polished glass, or a colored film or the like is attached to a glass plate so as not to be seen from the front side, the rear side light is prevented from entering, so the storage chamber 14 becomes dark. Unlike the case, the showcase 11 according to the embodiment can simplify the illumination provided in the storage chamber 14 because the storage chamber 14 is bright. Thus, according to the showcase 11 of the embodiment, the rear side of the showcase 11 can be blindfolded while maintaining the exhibitability and convenience of the storage chamber 14.

(Example of change)
It is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment, but can be modified as follows.
(1) In the embodiment, the polarizing layer is provided by sandwiching the polarizing film between the pair of transparent plates, but it may be attached to either the inner surface facing the storage chamber or the outer surface facing the outside of the transparent plate. Moreover, you may attach a polarizing film to both the inside and outside of a transparent plate.
(2) In the example, the polarizing layer is composed of a single polarizing film, but a polarizing layer may be composed by stacking a plurality of polarizing films. At this time, the polarizing films may be stacked with the same polarizing axis angle of the polarizer or with different polarizing axis angles of the polarizer.
By providing the polarizing layer on the surface of the slide door, the slide door can be prevented from being damaged, and the transparent plate can be prevented from being damaged starting from the scratch.
(3) A type in which the upper evaporator 28 is disposed above the storage chamber 14 by being suspended by a support means (not shown) provided on the upper heat insulating wall 26 as in another example showcase 40 shown in FIG. Then, since the line of sight from the front side is blocked by the upper evaporator 28, the portion corresponding to the front end of the upper evaporator 28 is the upper end of the transparent area of the glass cover 16.
(4) In a configuration in which the outer peripheral edge of the transparent plate in the slide door is covered with an opaque frame material, the upper end of the lower frame material may be the lower end of the see-through area of the slide door.

1 is a side sectional view showing a showcase according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is a rear view which shows the showcase of an Example. It is a slide door of the showcase of an Example, Comprising: It is a sectional side view which shows a polarizing layer typically. It is side sectional drawing which shows the showcase of another example. It is a schematic perspective view which shows an example of a showcase.

Explanation of symbols

12 box body, 12b article doorway (opening), 14 storage room, 16 glass cover (cover)
30 Sliding door (door), 34 Polarizing layer, L1 line, L2 horizontal line,
θ angle

Claims (2)

A transparent cover (16) constituting the front surface of the box (12) that internally defines a storage chamber (14) for storing articles, and an opening (12b) provided on the rear surface of the box (12). In a showcase with a transparent door (30) arranged to be openable and closable,
A showcase characterized in that the door (30) is provided with a polarizing layer (34) that restricts transmission of at least a part of light traveling from the front to the rear while allowing transmission of light from the rear to the front.   The polarizing layer (34) passes through the line (L1) connecting the upper end of the transparent area of the cover (16) and the lower end of the transparent area of the door (30), and the lower end of the transparent area of the door (30). The showcase according to claim 1, wherein the polarization axis is defined so as to regulate the transmission of light from the front to the back within an angle (θ) formed by the horizontal line (L2).

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