JP2011022763A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vending machine for suppressing noise from a solenoid valve, and for attaining low-cost and high-reliability operation of a compressor. <P>SOLUTION: The vending machine is structured to constitute a cooling circulation circuit of a compressor 61 for compressing a refrigerant; a condenser 62, arranged in an outside of a box for condensing the refrigerant; an expansion means for expanding the refrigerant; a distributor for distributing the refrigerant expanded by the expansion means; and a plurality of in-box heat exchangers 65a, 65b, 65c provided in the box from the distributor via a cooling solenoid valve, and for evaporating the refrigerant, and to constitute a heating and cooling circulation circuit 60A of operating an heat pump by a cooling circulation circuit, a second in-box heat exchanger installed in the box for condensing the refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61. By having a second expansion means for expanding the condensed refrigerant and a piping from the compressor 61 to the condenser 62, and piping to be connected to the second in-box heat exchanger from the compressor 61, which are connected by a three-way solenoid valve 68 selectively exchanging the flow path, abnormal sound is suppressed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,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).

  As shown in FIG. 7, the vending machine disclosed in Patent Document 1 is divided into a hot / cold switching room 1z, a cold dedicated room 2z, and a second cold dedicated room 3z, as shown in FIG. The switching chamber evaporator 20z and the switching chamber condenser 21z are installed in the hot / cold switching chamber 1z, the evaporator 5z is installed in the cold dedicated chamber 2z, and the second evaporation is stored in the second cold dedicated chamber 3z. 6z is installed, and an outdoor heat exchanger 7z and a compressor 8z are installed outside the storage room.

    A pipe 161z branched from the discharge part of the compressor 8z is connected to the on-off valve A12z and the on-off valve B13z, and connected to the outdoor heat exchanger 7z from the on-off valve A12z through the pipe 162z, and from the on-off valve B13z to the switching chamber. The condenser 21z is connected to the pipe 165z. Further, the switching chamber condenser 21z is connected to the pipe 162z through the resistor 22z, and is branched into three from the outdoor heat exchanger 7z, and the switching chamber evaporator 20z through the expansion valve A9z, the expansion valve B10z, and the expansion valve C11z, respectively. Are connected to the evaporator 5z and the second evaporator 6z. Then, the switching chamber evaporator 20z, the evaporator 5z, and the second evaporator 6z are aggregated, and one is connected to the switching chamber condenser 21z via the on-off valve E23z, and the other is connected to the suction portion of the compressor 8z. Has been.

    The expansion valve A9z, the expansion valve B10z, the expansion valve C11z, and the resistor 22z each reduce the pressure of refrigerant passing therethrough and have a blocking function. The on-off valve A12z, the on-off valve B13z, and the on-off valve E23z It controls the passage and blocking of the refrigerant flow. As the on-off valve A12z, the on-off valve B13z, and the on-off valve E23z, a normal low cost type direct acting solenoid valve 80 as shown in FIG. 8 is used. As shown in the figure, the direct acting solenoid valve 80 has a cylindrical cylinder 81a inside a solenoid valve main body 81, and an inlet 81b is connected to the side end face of the cylinder 81a, and an outlet 81c is connected to the lower surface. A valve seat 81d is formed in the shape of a truncated cone on the peripheral edge of the upper surface of the outlet portion 81c. Inside the cylinder 81 a, a spherical valve body 82 that comes into contact with the valve seat 81 d and a spool 83 that is attached to the valve body 82 and biases the valve body 82 with gravity and a spring 84 are inserted. An iron armature 85 is connected to the spool 83, and a solenoid 86 is provided on the upper peripheral side of the armature 85.

    With this configuration, when the solenoid 86 is in the non-energized state, the valve body 82 is brought into contact with the valve seat 81d by the gravity of the spring 84 and the spool 83 as shown in FIG. The communication of the exit part 81c is sealed. When the solenoid 86 is energized, the armature 85 is attracted and moved upward by the magnetic force of the solenoid 86 as shown in FIG. 8B, so that a gap is formed between the valve body 82 and the valve seat 81d, and the inlet The part 81b and the outlet part 81c communicate with each other, and the refrigerant can pass therethrough.

  When the hot / cold switching chamber 1z is heated in FIG. 7, the on-off valve A12z, the on-off valve E23z, and the expansion valve A9z are closed, the on-off valve B13z and the resistor 22z are opened, and the compressor 8z is driven. . A part of the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 8z is condensed in the switching chamber condenser 21z and again condensed in the outdoor heat exchanger 7z, and then decompressed by the expansion valve B10z and the expansion valve C11z, respectively, and the evaporator 5z. , And supplied to the second evaporator 6z. Then, a heat pump operation in which the refrigerant evaporated in the evaporator 5z and the second evaporator 6z is returned to the compressor 8 is performed. When the heating temperature in the chamber reaches an appropriate temperature and the heat pump operation is stopped, the compressor 8z is stopped, and then each on-off valve is closed.

JP 2005-227833 A

  However, in this type of vending machine, when the heat pump operation is stopped, that is, in a state where the compressor is stopped and the on-off valve B13z is closed, the pipe 165z is connected to the high-temperature switching chamber condenser 21z. Therefore, the refrigerant in the pipe is kept at a high temperature and high pressure, and the refrigerant in the pipe 161z is cooled outside the chamber and the pressure is reduced, so that a reverse pressure is generated at the outlet of the on-off valve B13z. When the reverse pressure is generated, the valve body 82 is pushed up in the same manner as in FIG. 8B, and a gap is formed between the valve seat 81d. When the gap is formed, the outlet side and the inlet side communicate with each other, and when the refrigerant flows, the pressure between the inlet and outlet of the on-off valve B13z is almost the same. Therefore, the valve body 82 again comes into contact with the valve seat 81 to close the passage. To do. Then, since a back pressure due to the temperature difference is formed again, the vibration of pushing up and pushing back the valve body 82 is repeated. This phenomenon continues until the temperature difference (pressure difference) becomes small, and there is a possibility that an annoying sound (hereinafter referred to as an abnormal sound) generated when the valve body 82 collides with the valve seat 81 may continue to be generated. In order to prevent this, it is conceivable to use a large solenoid valve that resists reverse pressure, but this increases the cost.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending machine that solves the above-described problems, suppresses noise from the electromagnetic valve, and can operate a compressor at low cost and high reliability. And

  In order to achieve the above object, a vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention has a product storage that is also used for cooling and heating, and selectively cools or heats the product storage according to an operation mode of cooling and heating. A vending machine comprising a compressor for compressing a refrigerant, a condenser for condensing the refrigerant provided outside the warehouse, an expansion means for expanding the refrigerant, a distributor for distributing the refrigerant expanded by the expansion means, and the distribution A cooling circulation circuit is configured by a plurality of internal heat exchangers that are provided in the warehouse via a cooling electromagnetic valve and evaporates the refrigerant from the cooler, and the refrigerant compressed from the compressor is supplied with the cooling circulation circuit A vending machine comprising a heating / cooling circulation circuit that performs a heat pump operation with a second internal heat exchanger provided in the condensing unit and a second expansion means for expanding the condensed refrigerant. In the above, the condensation from the compressor And piping to the vessel, a pipe connected to said second internal heat exchanger from the compressor, characterized by being connected by three-way electromagnetic valve for switching selectively the flow path.

  A vending machine according to a second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the second internal heat exchanger is also used as the evaporating internal heat exchanger.

  The vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention selectively flows a pipe from the compressor to the condenser and a pipe connected to the second internal heat exchanger from the compressor. By connecting with a three-way solenoid valve that switches the path, the three-way solenoid valve can be used even if the piping on the second internal heat exchanger side is at high temperature and high pressure and the piping from the compressor is at low temperature and low pressure when the heat pump is stopped. Since a conduit that constantly circulates is formed, it is possible to suppress the generation of abnormal noise from the three-way solenoid valve.

  In addition, the vending machine according to claim 1 according to the present invention suppresses noise from the electromagnetic valve by using the second internal heat exchanger also as the internal heat exchanger that evaporates, A low-cost and highly reliable compressor can be operated.

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 cools 2 chambers and heats 1 chamber. It is a refrigerant circuit figure concerning a conventional example. The block diagram of a direct acting type solenoid valve is shown, (a) is a state when the solenoid is not energized, and (b) is a state when the solenoid is energized.

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 with reference to a perspective view of FIG. 1 and a sectional view of FIG. 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 at the stage, 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 boxes 40b and 40c are exclusively used for cooling, and the product storage box 40a is 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, expanders (expansion means) 63 and 79, an accumulator 69, and an auxiliary heat exchanger 76 in the machine room 50, and extends across the bottom plate 11. The internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, 65c are connected to each other by refrigerant piping. 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.

  The compressor 61 for cooling and heating is for compressing the refrigerant and circulating it in the circuit. When using a chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant, it is used at an evaporation temperature of about −10 ° C. and a condensation temperature of about 40 ° C. during the cooling operation. In the heating operation, the evaporation temperature is about -10 ° C and the condensation temperature is about 70 ° C.

  The condenser 62 is a fin tube type heat exchanger, and discharges unnecessary condensation heat during the cooling operation. 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 expander 63 decompresses the refrigerant passing during the cooling operation and adiabatically expands, and is, for example, a capillary, a temperature expansion valve, or an electronic expansion valve.
The flow divider 64 is for distributing the refrigerant adiabatically expanded by the expander 63 to the internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, 65c.

  The internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, and 65c are for cooling the product storages 40a, 40b, and 40c, and the internal heat exchanger 65a is the second internal heat for heating the product storage 40a. It also serves as an exchanger. The internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, 65c are installed at the lower part of each product storage, surrounded by a wind tunnel 67, a fan 65f is installed behind them, and a duct 67d is installed behind them. Has been. The cooling and heating in the product storage are performed by blowing the air cooled or heated by the internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, 65c to the product S in the product storage, and the duct 67d as shown by the arrow in FIG. It is done by collecting more.

  The accumulator 69 is a sealed container for flowing the refrigerant evaporated from the internal heat exchangers 65 a, 65 b and 65 c, separating the gas and liquid 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 auxiliary heat exchanger 76 is a fin tube type heat exchanger, and discharges unnecessary condensation heat during heat pump operation.
The expander 79 decompresses the refrigerant passing during the heat pump operation and adiabatically expands, and is, for example, a capillary, a temperature expansion valve, or an electronic expansion valve.

  The heaters 66a and 66b are installed in front of the internal heat exchangers 65a and 65b to heat the product storage units 40a and 40b. The product storage unit 40b is heated only by energizing the heater 66b. Is called.

  The inside temperature sensors Ta, Tb, Tc are installed on the upper surface of the wind tunnel 67 in the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c, and are used to detect the inside temperature of the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c. is there.

  The three-way solenoid valve 68 selectively branches the refrigerant discharged from the compressor 61 to the condenser 62 or the internal heat exchanger 65a. When the three-way solenoid valve 68 is not energized, the conduit that flows from the compressor 61 to the internal heat exchanger 65a is opened, and the conduit that flows from the compressor 61 to the condenser 62 is closed. The pipeline that flows from the machine 61 to the condenser 62 is opened, and the pipeline that flows from the compressor 61 to the internal heat exchanger 65a is closed.

  The cooling electromagnetic valves 70a, 70b, 70c are connected between the flow divider 64 and the internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, 65c to open and close the expanded refrigerant passage, and the outlet electromagnetic valve 72a is used for internal heat exchange. The passage of the evaporated refrigerant between the container 65a and the compressor 61 is opened and closed. All of these solenoid valves have the structure of a direct acting solenoid valve as shown in FIG.

  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 60A that only cools the inside of the cabinet and a heating / cooling circulation circuit 60B that performs a heat pump operation inside the warehouse (simultaneously performs cooling and heating). In addition, the enclosure of the dotted line in the figure has shown typically goods storage 40a, 40b, 40c.

  The cooling circuit 60A is connected to the three-way solenoid valve 68 from the compressor 61 via the pipe 161, connected to the condenser 62 via the pipe 162 from the three-way solenoid valve 68, and from the condenser 62 via the expander 63. 64 and connected to the in-compartment heat exchangers 65a, 65b, and 65c via the cooling electromagnetic valves 70a, 70b, and 70c. A check valve 71c is connected between the cooling electromagnetic valve 70c and the internal heat exchanger 65c. The cooling circuit 60A further collects the accumulator 69 after the pipes from the internal heat exchangers 65a and 65b and the pipe via the outlet electromagnetic valve 72a from the internal heat exchanger 65c are collected by the collector 67. It is composed of a pipe line that returns to the compressor 61 via.

  On the other hand, in addition to the cooling circuit 60A, the heating / cooling circuit 60B includes a pipe 165 for connecting the check valve 71b and the internal heat exchanger 65a from the three-way solenoid valve 68, and an internal heat exchanger. A pipe connected to the auxiliary heat exchanger 76 via the check valve 71 and connected to the auxiliary heat exchanger 76 and a pipe 84 connected to the distributor 64 from the auxiliary heat exchanger 76 via the expander 79 are provided.

  Thus, the heating / cooling circulation circuit 60B is connected from the compressor 61 to the internal heat exchanger 65a via the three-way electromagnetic valve 68, and from the internal heat exchanger 65a to the auxiliary heat exchanger 76 via the check valve 71, Connected to the distributor 64 via the expander 79, connected to the internal heat exchangers 65b and 65c via the cooling solenoid valves 70b and 70c from the flow divider 64, and compressed via the collector 67 and accumulator 69. The circuit returns to the machine 61.

As the refrigerant, R134a is used as a refrigerant used within a critical pressure, for example, a fluorocarbon refrigerant. Further, a refrigerant used outside the critical pressure, for example, a carbon dioxide refrigerant may be used.
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. From the left side of the front of the product storage unit (40a, 40b, 40c), for example, all are cooled. In the case, the CCC mode is indicated. When only the left product storage is heated, the HCC mode is indicated. Further, the control means 90 controls the compressor 61, the three-way solenoid valve 68, the cooling solenoid valves 70a, 70b, 70c, the outlet solenoid valve 72a, etc. according to the temperatures detected by the interior temperature sensors Ta, Tb, Tc, The inside temperature is maintained at an appropriate temperature by a thermocycle operation in which the inside is controlled ON / OFF within a certain temperature range.

  When the operation mode is set to the CCC mode by operating the operation mode setting SW 91 in such a configuration, the control means 90 energizes the three-way solenoid valve 68 to open the pipe 161 and the pipe 162, and the cooling solenoid valves 70a, 70b, 70c, The outlet solenoid valve 72a is opened. As shown by the thick line in FIG. 5, the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 is condensed by the condenser 62 to become a liquid, expands by the expander 63, and becomes a low-temperature gas-liquid two-phase flow. And then flow into the internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, 65c. The inflowing refrigerant evaporates in the internal heat exchangers 65a, 65b, and 65c, cools the product storages 40a, 40b, and 40c, and the evaporated refrigerant collects in the aggregator 67 to store the liquid refrigerant. Then, the gas and liquid are separated and returned 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.

  Next, when the operation mode is set to the HCC mode in which the operation mode setting SW 91 is operated to heat one chamber on the left side and to cool the two chambers on the right side and the right side, the control means 90 turns off the three-way solenoid valve 68. The piping 161 and the piping 165 are opened, the cooling electromagnetic valve 70a and the outlet electromagnetic valve 72a are closed, and the cooling electromagnetic valves 70b and 70c are opened. As shown by the thick line in FIG. 6, the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 passes through the pipe 165 from the three-way solenoid valve 68 and flows into the internal heat exchanger 65a. The refrigerant flowing into the internal heat exchanger 65a is condensed, heats the commodity storage 40a, further condenses in the auxiliary heat exchanger 76 via the check valve 71, and flows into the expander 79. The refrigerant that has flowed into the expander 79 expands to become a low-temperature gas-liquid two-phase flow, and flows into the internal heat exchangers 65b and 65c via the flow divider 64 and the cooling electromagnetic valves 70b and 70c. The refrigerant that has flowed into the internal heat exchangers 65b and 65c evaporates in the internal heat exchangers 65b and 65c, cools the product storage 40b and 40c, and enters the compressor 61 via the collector 67 and the accumulator 69. Return. In this heat pump operation, the inside of the cabinet is maintained at an appropriate temperature by the thermocycle operation as described above.

  Eventually, when the product storage 40a reaches an appropriate temperature, the cooling operation of only the internal heat exchangers 65b and 65c is started, the three-way solenoid valve 68 is energized to close the piping 161 and the piping 168, and the piping 161 and The pipe 162 is opened and the solenoid valves 70a and 72a are closed. And if goods storage 40b, 40c reaches a suitable temperature, the compressor 61 will be stopped, the three-way solenoid valve 68 will be de-energized, and a cooling operation will be stopped.

  Even when the compressor 61 is stopped, the pipe 165 on the side of the internal heat exchanger 65a is at a high temperature and a high pressure, and the pipe 161 from the compressor 61 is cooled to a low temperature and a low pressure. Therefore, the generation of abnormal noise from the three-way solenoid valve 68 can be suppressed.

  Also, by combining the internal heat exchanger that condenses and heats and the internal heat exchanger that evaporates and cools, the noise from the solenoid valve is suppressed, and the compressor is operated at low cost and high reliability. Can do.

  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.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body cabinet 20 Outer door 30 Inner door 40a, 40b, 40c Goods storage 60 Cooling / heating unit 61 Compressor 62 Condenser 63, 79 Inflator 64 Current divider 65a, 65b, 65c Internal heat exchanger 68 Three-way solenoid valve 70a, 70b, 70c Cooling solenoid valve 72a Outlet solenoid valve 80 Direct acting solenoid valve 81a Valve seat 82 Valve body 83 Spool 84 Spring 90 Controller 91 Operation mode selection SW
161, 162, 168 Piping

Claims (2)

A vending machine that has a product storage for cooling and heating, and selectively cools or heats the product storage by an operation mode of cooling and heating,
A compressor for compressing the refrigerant; a condenser for condensing the refrigerant outside the storage; an expansion means for expanding the refrigerant; a distributor for distributing the refrigerant expanded by the expansion means; and a cooling electromagnetic valve from the distributor via the cooling solenoid valve. And a plurality of in-compartment heat exchangers that evaporate the refrigerant provided in the storage form a cooling circuit, and in the storage where the refrigerant compressed from the cooling circuit and the compressor is condensed In the vending machine comprising the heating / cooling circulation circuit for performing the heat pump operation with the second internal heat exchanger provided and the second expansion means for expanding the condensed refrigerant,
The piping from the compressor to the condenser and the piping connected to the second internal heat exchanger from the compressor are connected by a three-way solenoid valve that selectively switches the flow path. And vending machine.   The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the second internal heat exchanger is also used as the evaporating internal heat exchanger.