JP3517389B2 - Apparatus and method for quantitatively removing granular dry ice - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for extracting granular dry ice in fixed amounts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When frozen foods, frozen desserts, cakes, etc. are purchased at general stores, supermarkets, or department stores, dry ice is included as a cold insulating material. Conventionally, in this case, block-shaped dry ice is cracked and used.
In this case, there is a problem in that it is difficult to obtain the necessary weight accurately, and there is also a problem in safety because the dry ice is grasped by hand when breaking the dry ice block.

Therefore, in recent years, granular dry ice formed in the shape of a cylindrical pellet has been provided, and it has become possible to easily weigh accurately.

[0004]

However, even when granular dry ice is used, granular dry ice is distributed as a service when a specific product is purchased. A thermal insulation box containing the above is placed and the cashier fills in a small bag of granular dry ice and hands it over. For this reason, dry ice is stored in a small lot, and there is a problem that there are many losses due to sublimation. Also, when subdividing at the cash register part,
Since the supply amount tends to vary and the dry ice and the low-temperature dry ice scooping equipment are directly handled, the distribution at the cash register is a troublesome task.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide an apparatus and a method capable of distributing granular dry ice into a predetermined amount by a simple operation.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention as set forth in claim 1, an agitator is rotatably disposed in a granular dry ice accommodating chamber formed in a heat insulating structure, and the granular A dry ice outlet was opened in a part of the bottom wall of the dry ice storage chamber, and a rotary type weighing device that rotatably accommodates a box member having a weighing space inside was placed below the granular dry ice storage chamber. , An opening having a size corresponding to the dry ice outlet is formed vertically through the upper plate of the rotary weighing device, which is different from the formation position of the dry ice outlet on the lower plate of the rotary weighing device. A dry ice discharge port is formed at the phase position, a dry ice discharge port is opened on the side wall of the casing, and this dry ice discharge port and dry ice discharge port are connected by a dry ice discharge chute. Is characterized in that dry ice outlet airtightly closable configured by the door and rotatable in synchronism with said mixing tool and mass member.

According to the present invention, the stirrer is rotatably arranged in the granular dry ice accommodating chamber formed in the heat insulating structure, and the dry ice is partially formed on the bottom wall of the granular dry ice accommodating chamber. A rotary weighing device that rotatably accommodates a box member that forms a weighing space inside is arranged below the granular dry ice storage chamber, and the dry ice is placed on the upper plate of the rotary weighing device. An opening of a size corresponding to the outlet is formed vertically through, and a dry ice outlet is formed at a phase position different from the position where the dry ice outlet is formed on the lower plate of the rotary weighing device. It is characterized in that a granular dry ice taking-out container is arranged so as to be able to move in and out so as to correspond to the ice discharge port, and the stirring tool and the box member can be rotated synchronously.

According to the present invention as set forth in claim 8, the agitator arranged in the granular dry ice accommodating chamber and the box member of the rotary measuring device arranged below the granular dry ice accommodating chamber are synchronously rotated once, While stirring the granular dry ice stored in the granular dry ice storage chamber with a stirrer, the granular dry ice was dropped from the dry ice outlet formed on the bottom wall into the weighing space formed in the box member of the rotary weighing device, and then dropped into the weighing space. It is characterized in that the dry ice is taken out from the dry ice discharge port arranged on the lower side of the measure member during the rotation of the rotary type measure member through the dry ice discharge chute to the dry ice discharge port by a fixed amount.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the stirring tool arranged in the granular dry ice storage chamber and the box member of the rotary measuring device disposed below the granular dry ice storage chamber are synchronously rotated once, While stirring the granular dry ice stored in the granular dry ice storage chamber with a stirrer, the granular dry ice was dropped from the dry ice outlet formed on the bottom wall into the weighing space formed in the box member of the rotary weighing device, and then dropped into the weighing space. It is characterized in that the dry ice is dropped into a take-out container arranged on the lower side of the box member during the rotation of the rotary box member so that the granular dry ice is taken out in a fixed amount.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a granular dry ice outlet is formed in the bottom wall of the granular dry ice accommodating chamber formed in the heat insulating structure, and the box member is rotatably accommodated below the granular dry ice accommodating chamber. The rotary measuring device is arranged, and since the stirring tool that rotates in synchronization with the rotation of the box member is arranged in the dry ice storage chamber, in a state where the dry ice storage chamber is filled with granular dry ice and stored, The metering space formed on the rotary square member coincides with the granular dry ice outlet, and the granular dry ice flows down into the metering space to accommodate a certain amount of granular dry ice. When the dry ice outlet matches the dry ice outlet, the granular dry ice is taken out in fixed amounts.
At this time, since the stirring tool rotates in the dry ice storage chamber, even if the dry ice undergoes a crosslinking phenomenon in the dry ice storage chamber, the rotating stirring tool destroys the crosslinking.

[0011]

1 is a perspective view and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view of a quantitative dry ice extracting device to which the present invention is applied. This granular dry ice quantitatively extracting device includes a casing body (2) having a dry ice storage chamber (1) whose upper surface is open, and a dry ice storage chamber (1).
Has a lid body (3) for covering the upper opening of the casing body, and the casing body (2) and the lid body (3) are each formed in a heat insulating structure.

The dry ice accommodating chamber (1) is formed in the shape of a quadrangular pyramid in which the head of the inferior constriction is cut, and the dry ice outlet (5) is opened at a portion near one side of the bottom wall (4). Has been formed. In addition, a fork-shaped stirrer (6) formed of a metal rod having a circular cross section is provided inside the dry ice storage chamber (1) to prevent the bridge of the dry ice and to destroy the bridge when the bridge is bridged. It is rotatably arranged.

The casing body (2) includes a dry ice storage chamber.
A rotary measuring device (7) is arranged below the bottom wall of (1). As shown in FIG. 3, this weighing device (7) is formed by rotatably mounting a disc-shaped polyacetal resin-made mast member (9) inside a housing (8) made of polyacetal resin. A fan-shaped measuring space (10) is formed so as to penetrate a part of the rotary type square member (9). And
A communication port (12) communicating with the dry ice outlet (5) is formed at a portion of the upper surface plate (11) of the housing (8) close to one side, and the communication port (12) and the weighing space ( The opening shape of 10) is matched with the shape of the dry ice outlet (5).

Further, the lower surface plate (13) of the housing (8) is also formed with a dry ice discharge port (14) conforming to the shape of the dry ice outlet port (5). The dry ice discharge port (14) is formed at a different phase in the rotational direction of the box member (9) from the place where the communication port (12) is formed on the upper wall (11). Then, the wall surface that does not form the measuring space (10) of the measuring member (9) is formed on the upper and lower plates of the housing (8) (11) and (13) respectively, the communication port (12) and the dry ice discharge port ( By covering 14), communication with the weighing space 10 is cut off.

An opening (15) for taking out granular dry ice (15) is formed on one side wall of the casing body (2), and a dry ice discharging chute (16) continuous from the lower side of the dry ice discharging opening (14). The tip of the granular dry ice outlet (1
It is slightly protruding from 5). The door (17) that hermetically closes the dry ice outlet (15) is the casing body.
(2) It is attached to one side wall. Then, the portion near the dry ice outlet (15) and the portion near the upper end of the four side wall portions of the casing body (2) are the dry ice storage chamber.
It becomes a boundary between (1) and the outside, and a large temperature difference occurs,
The casing body where the dry ice outlet (15) and the dry ice input port are located, because moisture in the atmosphere adheres to the wall surface and gets wet or freezes.
A heater is arranged near the upper end of the side wall on the four sides of (2) to prevent dew condensation.

The fork-shaped stirrer (6) arranged inside the dry ice storage chamber (1) and the box member (9) of the weighing device (7) are fixed to the same rotary shaft (18). The shaft (18) is linked to an electric drive motor (19). Therefore, the stirring tool (6) and the box member (9) rotate together. A drive motor (1) for driving the agitator (6) and the box member (9)
The power supply circuit (20) of 9) is provided with a medal timer (21) as a start switch. By inserting a coin-shaped medal, the stirring tool (6) and the box member (9) are set to 1 The drive motor (19) is rotationally operated so as to rotate.

Further, in this quantitative dry ice extracting device, it is detected that the limit switch (22) for detecting that the lid (3) is closed and the dry ice extracting port (15) are closed. Limit switch (23) is installed, both limit switches (22) (23)
The drive motor (19) is inserted only in a state where it is inserted in series in the power supply circuit (20) of 9), the lid (3) is securely closed, and the dry ice extraction port (15) is open. It can be rotated.

Further, the casing main body (2) is provided with a rotation accumulator (24) for integrating and displaying the number of times the drive motor (19) has been operated, and the drive motor (19) rotates by a preset number of revolutions. When this happens, close the medal slot of the medal timer (21) to disable medal insertion, and use a lamp or other device to notify that it is time to refill the dry ice storage chamber (1). The notifying means (25) is activated. The rotary accumulator (24) is designed so that the granular dry ice can be continuously taken out by resetting after the granular dry ice is replenished in the dry ice storage chamber (1).

Reference numeral (26) in the drawing denotes a casing body (2) and a lid body.
Air damper located between (3) and lid (3)
Is not closed suddenly.

A method of using the apparatus for extracting fixed quantity of granular dry ice having the above structure in a supermarket will be described. First, the lid body (3) is opened and a predetermined amount of granular dry ice is put into the dry ice storage chamber (1), and the lid body (3) is securely closed and sealed. Then, if there is a person who purchases a product that includes dry ice, the cashier person hands the necessary number of medals to the product purchaser according to the carry-back time and the size of the packaging container. The product purchaser hands the medal to the store clerk at the place where the quantitative dry ice extraction device is installed, such as a service counter, or performs the dry ice extraction operation by himself / herself. To remove it, attach a synthetic resin bag or packing container to the tip of the dry ice discharge chute (16) of the dry ice extraction port (15), insert the medal into the medal timer (21), and turn on the drive motor (19). By operating, the required amount of granular dry ice is taken out from the dry ice storage chamber (1) to the dry ice taking-out port (15).

When the number of times of taking out the dry ice reaches a preset number of times, the medal insertion into the medal timer (21) is disabled so that the taking out of the medal timer becomes inoperable and the informing means To activate dry ice and request replenishment of dry ice. In the present invention, the box member
Since a certain amount of dry ice is always taken out in (9), there is a relationship between the amount of dry ice put into the dry ice storage chamber (1) and the volume of the measuring space (10) of the box member (9). You can predict how many times it will be completely paid out,
By setting the number of times in anticipation of weight loss due to sublimation in the dry ice storage chamber (1) and adhesion to the wall surface, it is possible to know the replenishment time with certainty.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment, in which the structure of the part for taking out the granular dry ice from the weighing device (7) in the above-mentioned embodiment to the outside of the casing is modified as follows. That is, the dry ice take-out container (27) is arranged below the dry ice discharge port (14) formed in the weighing device (7), and the dry ice take-out container (27) is taken out from the side wall of the casing body (2). It is configured to be retractable. Further, a limit switch (28) for detecting that the dry ice taking-out container (27) is mounted in a proper posture is arranged at the rear end of the taking-out container inserting area.

In the case of this embodiment, a dry ice storage chamber
A limit switch (22) that detects that the lid (3) that closes the upper opening of (1) is closed, and a limit that detects that the dry ice take-out container (27) is installed in a proper posture. The switch (28) and the lid (3) are securely closed,
The drive motor (19) can be rotated only when it is detected that the dry ice taking-out container (27) is mounted in the proper posture.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, a rod-fork-shaped agitator formed of a metal rod having a circular cross section is used as the agitator (6), but it is also tentatively crosslinked so that the granular dry ice does not crosslink. In this case, the stirrer (6) may preferably have a fork shape in view of rotation resistance, etc., although it may have any shape as long as it can be easily broken. The cross-sectional shape of the fork portion at that time may be square or wing-shaped.

[0025]

According to the present invention, a rotary measuring device that rotatably accommodates a box member is arranged below a granular dry ice storage chamber formed in a heat insulating structure, and in synchronization with the rotation of the box member. Since the rotating stirrer is placed inside the dry ice storage chamber, the dry dry ice is not bridged by the rotating stirrer, while the granular dry ice in the dry ice storage chamber flows down to the weighing space formed on the rotary box member. By further rotating the weighing space, the granular dry ice in the weighing space can be taken out from the dry ice discharging port to the dry ice discharging port via the dry ice discharging chute or to the discharging container. As a result, a fixed amount of granular dry ice can always be easily obtained.

Further, since the dry ice is hardly touched during the subdivision work of the granular dry ice, the work safety is improved.

Furthermore, since the dry ice provided as a service product is centrally managed, the loss of dry ice due to sublimation can be caused.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a quantitative dry ice extracting device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional front view of a quantitative dry ice extracting device.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway exploded perspective view of a main part of a rotary weighing device taken out.

FIG. 4 is a schematic power supply circuit diagram of a drive motor.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional front view of a quantitative dry ice extracting device according to another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Granular dry ice storage chamber, 3 ... Lid, 5 ... Dry ice outlet, 6 ... Stirrer, 7 ... Rotary measuring device, 9 ... Masu member, 10 ... Measuring space, 14 ... Dry ice discharge port, 15 … Granular dry ice outlet, 16… Dry ice discharge chute, 17… Door, 19… Drive motor, 20… Power supply circuit to drive motor, 21… Medal timer, 22 ・ 22 ・ 28… Detection element, 27
… A container for taking out granular dry ice.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65D 83/06 G01F 11/24

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A stirrer (6) is rotatably arranged in a granular dry ice storage chamber (1) formed in a heat insulating structure, and dry ice is provided on a part of a bottom wall of the granular dry ice storage chamber (1). Opening the outlet (5), granular dry ice storage room
A rotary measuring device (7), which accommodates a square member (9) in a rotatable state, is arranged below the (1).
An opening of a size corresponding to the dry ice lead-out port (5) is formed in the upper plate of (7) in a vertically penetrating manner, and the rotary measuring device
The dry ice outlet (14) is formed at a phase position different from the formation position of the dry ice outlet (5) on the bottom plate of (7), and the dry ice outlet (14) is formed on the side wall of the casing body (2). 15) and open this dry ice outlet (1
5) and the dry ice outlet (14) are connected by the dry ice outlet chute (16), and the dry ice outlet (15) is connected to the door (17)
Is configured to be airtightly closed by means of the agitator (6) and the box member (9).
A fixed-quantity extractor for granular dry ice, which is configured so that and can be rotated synchronously. 2. A fixed quantity extraction device for granular dry ice according to claim 1, wherein the agitator (6) and the box member (9) are driven by the same drive motor (19). 3. The fixed quantity extraction device for granular dry ice according to claim 1, wherein a medal timer (21) is arranged as a start switch in the power supply circuit (20) to the drive motor (19). 4. A stirrer (6) is rotatably arranged in a granular dry ice storage chamber (1) formed in a heat insulating structure, and dry ice is provided on a part of a bottom wall of the granular dry ice storage chamber (1). Opening the outlet (5), granular dry ice storage room
A rotary measuring device (7), which accommodates a square member (9) in a rotatable state, is arranged below the (1).
An opening having a size corresponding to the dry ice outlet (5) is formed vertically on the upper plate of (7), and the dry ice outlet (5) on the lower plate of the rotary weighing device (7) is formed. )
The dry ice discharge port (1
4) is formed, the granular dry ice taking-out container (27) is arranged so as to be able to move in and out corresponding to the dry ice discharge port (14), and the agitator (6) and the box member (9) are rotated synchronously. A fixed-quantity extractor for granular dry ice. 5. The device for extracting fixed quantity of granular dry ice according to claim 4, wherein the agitator (6) and the box member (9) are driven by the same drive motor (19). 6. The granular dry ice quantitative extracting device according to claim 4, wherein a medal timer (21) is arranged as a start switch in the power supply circuit (20) to the drive motor (19). 7. A detection element (22) for detecting that the lid (3) of the granular dry ice storage chamber (1) is closed, and detecting that the granular dry ice extraction container (27) is mounted. The quantitative dry ice extracting device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein the detecting element (28) for performing the operation is provided in a power supply circuit (20) of the drive motor (19). 8. A stirrer (6) arranged in the granular dry ice storage chamber (1) and a box member (9) of a rotary measuring device (7) disposed below the granular dry ice storage chamber (1). And 1 rotation in synchronism with each other, and while the granular dry ice stored in the granular dry ice storage chamber (1) is stirred by the stirrer (6), rotary measurement is performed from the dry ice outlet (5) formed on the bottom wall. The dry dry ice dropped into the measuring space (10) formed in the measuring member (9) of the device (7) and dropped into the measuring space (10) is a rotary measuring member.
A method for extracting a fixed amount of granular dry ice, in which a fixed amount is taken out of the casing from the dry ice discharge port (14) through the dry ice discharge chute (16) during the rotation of (9). 9. The number of operating revolutions of the box member (9) is integrated, and when the number of dry ice taking-out operations reaches a predetermined number of revolutions, the timing of replenishing dry ice to the granular dry ice storage chamber (1) is notified. The quantitative extraction method of granular dry ice according to claim 8. 10. An agitator (6) arranged in the granular dry ice storage chamber (1) and a box member (9) of a rotary measuring device (7) disposed below the granular dry ice storage chamber (1). Synchronize with and 1
While rotating the granular dry ice stored in the granular dry ice storage chamber (1) with the stirrer (6), the rotary ice measuring device (7) is fed from the dry ice outlet (5) formed on the bottom wall.
The granular dry ice dropped into the measuring space (10) formed in the measuring member (9) and dropped into the measuring space (10) is a rotary measuring member.
A fixed amount extraction method of granular dry ice, in which a certain amount of granular dry ice is taken out by dropping it into an extraction container (27) arranged below the rotary weighing device (7) during the rotation of (9). 11. The dry ice replenishment time for the granular dry ice accommodating chamber (1) is notified by accumulating the number of operating revolutions of the box member (9) and reaching the predetermined number of revolutions of the dry ice removing work. The quantitative extraction method of granular dry ice according to claim 10.