JP3053782B2 - Vending machine cooling system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine cooling device, and more particularly to a vending machine cooling device having an improved cooling circuit in a cup-type beverage vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a cup-type beverage vending machine provided with an ice maker and a water tank for cooling a beverage to be sold, or in addition to these refrigerators, a raw material (for example, flexible 2. Description of the Related Art A cup-type beverage vending machine provided with a refrigerator for cooling raw materials for keeping refrigerators (beverage raw materials stored in plastic bags) is known.

A cooling circuit in such a cup-type beverage vending machine is conventionally configured as shown in, for example, FIG. 3 or FIG.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, one cooling circuit 101
In the cooling circuit 101, a compressor 102 for refrigerant compression, a condenser 103, a drier 104, an accumulator 105, a check valve 106, and the like are provided, and an evaporator 107 for an ice maker and an evaporator for a water tank are provided. 108 are connected in parallel. The evaporators 107 and 108 are operated by the operation of the solenoid valves 109 and 110. An expansion valve 111 and a water tank capillary 112 are provided upstream of the evaporators 107 and 108, respectively.

The example shown in FIG. 4 shows a case where a refrigerator for cooling raw materials is further provided.
It is composed of two cooling circuits 122 and 123. The cooling circuit 122 includes a compressor 124, a condenser 125, a dryer 126, a solenoid valve 127, an evaporator 128 for an ice maker, an accumulator 129, and a check valve 130.
The cooling circuit 123 is provided with a compressor 131, a condenser 132, a dryer 133, an accumulator 134, a check valve 135, and an evaporator 136 for a water tank and an evaporator 137 for a refrigerator for material cooling are provided in parallel. ing. Each evaporator 1
For solenoids 36 and 137, solenoid valves 138 and 13 respectively
9, Capillary for water tank 140, Capillary for refrigerator 14
1 is provided.

As described above, in a cup-type beverage vending machine having three ice coolers, a water tank, and a refrigerator for cooling raw materials as shown in FIG. 4, at least two cooling circuits 122, The cooling circuit is provided with a compressor and the like in each cooling circuit. That is, there is not found any one configured with substantially one cooling circuit for three coolers including the ice making machine . This is considered to be because it has conventionally been considered difficult to divide the refrigerant into three.

[0007]

However, an ice maker
In a vending machine having at least three cooling machines including the above, if the cooling machine is configured with two cooling circuits as shown in FIG. 4, the cost is increased by dividing the cooling circuit into two and the space for installing these cooling devices is large. A space is required, and there is a problem that the vending machine is enlarged to secure the space.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to focus on such problems and reduce the cost of a cooling device in a cup-type beverage vending machine, and at the same time, reduce the space for installing the cooling device to reduce the size of the entire vending machine. It is to make the change.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a vending machine having at least three cooling units including an ice machine, a water tank for cooling beverages, and a refrigerator for cooling raw materials. In the cup-type beverage vending machine having the above, the cooling circuits for the at least three coolers are substantially constituted by one cooling circuit, and at least the refrigerant compressor in the cooling circuit is shared with one common compressor. And the refrigerant evaporators for the respective coolers are connected in parallel , and
Solenoid valves are installed on the upstream side of the evaporator for
The solenoid valve is connected to the control device, and based on the signal from the control device.
And that each solenoid valve is selectively operable
The operation signal of each solenoid valve by the control device is
While the ice machine is operating, no other coolers are operating, and while the ice machine is stopped,
The signal is a signal that enables the operation of another cooler .

[0010] In the above cooling device, it is preferable that the condenser, the dryer and the accumulator in the cooling circuit are also common to the at least three coolers.

[0011] Further, upstream and downstream of the evaporator for each cooler,
Coupler means that can connect and disconnect circuits,
For example, it is preferable to provide a detachable seal coupler.

[0012]

[0013]

In the cooling device for a vending machine according to the present invention as described above, even if the vending machine has three cooling machines, its cooling circuit can be constituted by substantially one circuit, and one cooling machine can be provided. Makes it possible to operate each cooler. Therefore, the cost of the entire cooling device can be significantly reduced, and the space for the cooling device can be reduced.

[0015] Further, even if one common compressor is used, the operation is controlled by the control device so that, for example, an ice making machine having a large load and another cooling machine are controlled so as not to be operated simultaneously. This makes it possible to reduce the load even in a vending machine having three coolers, and to save energy.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a vending machine cooling apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a cooling circuit of a cooling device of a vending machine according to one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an entire vending machine. The vending machine 1 includes an ice machine 2, a water tank 3 for cooling beverages, and a refrigerator 4 for cooling raw materials (for example, housed in a flexible plastic bag). (A refrigerator for chilling beverage ingredients).

Reference numeral 5 denotes a cooling circuit for each of the coolers 2, 3, and 4, and the cooling circuit 5 is substantially configured as one cooling circuit. The cooling circuit 5 is provided with one common compressor 6 that compresses the refrigerant circulated in the cooling circuit 5. A condenser 7 for condensing the refrigerant is provided downstream of the compressor 6, and a dryer 8 is provided downstream thereof.

Downstream of the dryer 8, three circuits 9a,
A branch circuit 9a branched into 9b and 9c and provided in parallel
Represents a cooling circuit for the ice maker 2, a branch circuit 9b forms a cooling circuit for the water tank 3, and a branch circuit 9c forms a cooling circuit for the refrigerator 4 for cooling the raw material.

The branch circuit 9a is provided with an electromagnetic valve 1 from the upstream side.
0a, detachable seal coupler 11a, expansion valve 12 for ice machine, evaporator 13 for ice machine, detachable seal coupler 1
4a is provided. An electromagnetic valve 10b, a water tank capillary 15, and a water tank evaporator 16 are disposed in the branch circuit 9b from the upstream side. In the branch circuit 9c, an electromagnetic valve 10c, a detachable seal coupler 11b, a raw material cooling refrigerator capillary 17, a raw material cooling refrigerator evaporator 18, and a removable seal coupler 14b are arranged from the upstream side. . Seal coupler 11a, 11b, 14a, 14b
Can be attached and detached as necessary, so that the cooling circuit can be disconnected and connected.

Each of the branch circuits 9a, 9b, 9c joins on the downstream side, and after joining, is connected to the accumulator 19. A check valve 20 is provided downstream of the accumulator 19, and the refrigerant is circulated to the compressor 6 via the check valve 20. In addition, 21 in FIG.
The ice level detection switch of the ice making machine 2 is shown, and when the switch 21 is turned on, the condition for operating the ice making machine 2 is shown.

Each of the solenoid valves 10a, 10b and 10c is connected to a control device 22 and is operated based on a signal from the control device 22.

The control in the control device 22 is performed, for example, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, the horizontal axis is time,
In other words, each operating condition is represented, and the vertical axis indicates the ON / OFF state of each device together with each device.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the ice maker ice level detecting switch 21 is on, the compressor 6 is turned on, the electromagnetic valve 10a for the ice maker is turned on, and the ice maker 2 is operated. At this time, the water tank electromagnetic valve 10b and the raw material cooling refrigerator electromagnetic valve 10c are turned off. by this,
The ice making machine 2 requiring a large load is operated, the other cooling machines 3 and 4 are stopped, and the relatively small compressor 6 can make ice.

When the ice making machine ice level detection switch 21 is off, the aquarium thermistor 23 (shown in FIG. 1) is on, and the material cooling refrigerator thermistor 24 (shown in FIG. 1) is on, the compressor 6 is on. Water tank solenoid valve 10b
And the refrigerator cooling electromagnetic valve 10c is turned on,
The ice making machine electromagnetic valve 10a is turned off. As a result, the operation of the ice maker 2 is stopped, and the water tank 3 and the raw material cooling refrigerator 4 are stopped.
Is operated (cooled). When one of the thermistors 23 and 24 is on, one of the solenoid valves 10b and 10c may be turned on to cool either the water tank 3 or the refrigerator 4 for cooling the raw material.

When the ice making machine ice level detecting switch 21 is off and both the thermistors 23 and 24 are off, the compressor 6 is stopped. That is, since the cooling conditions are satisfied for all three coolers, the cooling operation is not performed.

In such a cooling device for a vending machine, only one cooling circuit 5 is provided for the three cooling machines 2, 3, and 4, and a single compressor 6 and the like are configured. Therefore, the cost of the cooling circuit 5 itself is greatly reduced. Further, by using the compressor 6 and the like in common, the space occupied by the cooling circuit 5 can be significantly reduced, the space in the vending machine 1 can be reduced, and the vending machine 1 itself can be reduced in size. It becomes possible.

Further, since one common compressor 6 is sufficient, energy saving can be achieved. Further, even if the compressor 6 is relatively small, as shown in the above-described embodiment, by performing the switching operation for each evaporator, it is possible to cope with different temperature requirements of each cooler.

Furthermore, if the ice making machine 2 and the other cooling machines are not operated simultaneously by the control device 22, even if the vending machine 1 has three cooling machines including the ice making machine 2 having a large load, the vending machine 1 can be used. One compressor 6 and, consequently, substantially one cooling circuit 5 can be used sufficiently smoothly.
Therefore, further energy saving can be achieved by this operation control.

Although the vending machine 1 having three coolers is shown in the above embodiment, the present invention can be similarly applied to a vending machine having a further cooler. .

[0030]

As described above, according to the vending machine cooling apparatus of the present invention, the vending machine having at least three cooling machines is constituted by substantially one cooling circuit. Since the number of compressors is one and the evaporators for the respective coolers are connected in parallel, cost reduction and space saving of the entire cooling device can be realized. In addition, the vending machine can be downsized.

Further, since the ice making machine having a large load and another cooling machine are controlled so as not to be operated simultaneously , the three evaporators connected in parallel can be operated without any problem in terms of load, and the compression can be further performed. It is possible to reduce the size of the machine, reduce the cost of the entire cooling circuit, and save space.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vending machine cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing operation control states of the cooling device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cooling circuit diagram of a cooling device of a conventional vending machine.

FIG. 4 is a cooling circuit diagram of another conventional vending machine cooling device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vending machine 2 Ice machine 3 Water tank 4 Refrigerator for raw material cooling 5 Cooling circuit 6 Compressor 7 Condenser 8 Dryer 9a, 9b, 9c Branch circuit 10a, 10b, 10c Solenoid valve 11a, 11b, 14a, 14b Seal coupler 12 Ice making Expansion valve for machine 13 evaporator for ice machine 15 capillary for water tank 16 evaporator for water tank 17 capillary for raw material cooling refrigerator 18 evaporator for raw material cooling refrigerator 19 accumulator 20 check valve 21 ice level detection switch 22 control device 23, 24 Thermistor

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cup-type beverage vending machine having at least three coolers, an ice machine, a water tank for cooling beverages, and a refrigerator for cooling ingredients, wherein a cooling circuit for the at least three coolers is substantially formed. Consists of one cooling circuit,
At least a common refrigerant compressor in the cooling circuit
And one refrigerant evaporator for each cooler connected in parallel , and the upstream side of the evaporator for each cooler
Each solenoid valve and connect each solenoid valve to the control device
Each solenoid valve is selectively operated based on a signal from the control device.
Operable by the controller
When the operation signal of each solenoid valve is output during the operation of the ice making machine,
Is not operating and other cooling machines can be operated while the ice machine is stopped
A cooling device for a vending machine, characterized in that the signal is: 2. The vending machine cooling apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a condenser, a dryer, and an accumulator in the cooling circuit are shared by the at least three coolers. 3. An upstream and downstream side of the evaporator for each of the coolers,
3. The vending machine cooling device according to claim 1, further comprising a coupler means capable of connecting and disconnecting the circuit.