JP5266819B2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vending machine having a plurality of commodity storages, consuming little power, reducing the frequency of starting a compressor with high reliability, and having an excellent heating property even at low peripheral temperatures. <P>SOLUTION: This vending machine having the plurality of commodity storages to selectively cool or heat each commodity storage by an operation mode of the cooling/heating includes: the compressor; a condenser provided outside the storage; an expansion means; a plurality of evaporators provided inside the storages; heat exchangers provided inside the storages; heaters provided inside the storages; internal temperature detection means each detecting an internal temperature; and a control means controlling them by thermocycle operation. When the temperature inside the commodity storage performing heating operation at cooling/heating simultaneous operation becomes a thermo-operation start temperature, the control means performs heat pump operation until the temperature inside the commodity storage performing the heating operation when the internal temperature of the commodity storage performing cooling operation is the thermo-start temperature or above becomes a thermo-operation stop temperature. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&amp;INPIT

Description

    The present invention relates to a vending machine that sells products such as cans, bottles, packs, and plastic bottles, such as beverages, cooled or heated in a refrigerant circuit for sale.

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions has become an issue 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 is attracting attention.
There are various types of heat pump vending machines, but it is difficult to cover all of the vending machine's cooling and heating operations with the heat pump due to restrictions on the condensation temperature and evaporation temperature of the refrigerant used. It is known to compensate for the shortage with a heater (see, for example, Patent Document 1). On the other hand, it is also known that heating to a predetermined temperature is performed by a heater, and a temperature range higher than that is performed by an operation exclusively for the heat pump (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
JP 2001-109942 A JP 2006-155031 A

However, since heating by heat pump operation is more efficient than heating by a heater, it is desirable to operate the heat pump as much as possible in order to reduce power consumption. However, there are the following problems.
(1) When multiple product storages are used, the time required to reach the proper cooling and heating temperatures (thermocycle time) is different, and the time required for heat pump operation that operates cooling and heating simultaneously decreases, resulting in increased power consumption. .
(2) If there are multiple commodity storages that are also used for cooling and heating, the frequency of compressor shutdown will increase accordingly, resulting in increased power consumption and reduced reliability.
(3) When a plurality of heating heat exchangers are operated when the ambient temperature is low, the condensing temperature is lowered, so that the product temperature is lowered, that is, the product temperature may not be heated to an appropriate temperature. .
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and in a vending machine having a plurality of product storage boxes, the power consumption is low, the number of start-ups of the compressor is low, the reliability is high, and the heating characteristics are low even at low ambient temperatures. The purpose is to provide an excellent vending machine.

In order to achieve the above object, a vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention has a plurality of product storages, and selectively cools or heats each product storage according to a cooling and heating operation mode. A compressor for compressing the refrigerant, a condenser for condensing the refrigerant provided outside the warehouse, an expansion means for expanding the refrigerant provided on the outlet side of the condenser, and a refrigerant expanded by the expansion means A distributor that distributes the refrigerant, a plurality of evaporators that evaporate the refrigerant to cool the interior of the warehouse, a heating heat exchanger that condenses the refrigerant and heats the interior of the warehouse, and A heater that heats the inside of the storage chamber, an internal temperature detection unit that detects the internal temperature, and a control unit that controls these, and the control unit detects a temperature detected by the internal temperature detection unit, a predetermined temperature Compared with the thermo-operation start temperature and thermo-operation stop temperature of A thermocycle operation for starting or stopping cooling heating in the evaporator, the evaporator provided in the warehouse, a cooling single operation for operating only the evaporator among the heating heat exchanger, the evaporator, In the vending machine that selectively performs the cooling and heating simultaneous operation to operate the heating heat exchanger at the same time, the control means cools when the inside of the product storage to be heated during the cooling and heating simultaneous operation reaches the thermo-operation start temperature. The heat pump operation is performed until the inside of the product storage to be heated reaches a thermo-operation stop temperature on condition that the temperature in the storage of the product storage to be operated is equal to or higher than the thermo start temperature. In addition, when a plurality of cooling / heating product storages are operated for heating, the temperature in one of the plurality of cooling / heating product storages during the heating / cooling simultaneous operation is the thermo operation. When the start temperature is reached, a heat pump operation is performed in which a plurality of heating heat exchangers are simultaneously operated regardless of the temperature in the other product storage cabinet for cooling and heating.

The vending machine according to claim 2 of the present invention is the vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising an outdoor temperature detecting means for detecting an outdoor temperature, wherein the control means has an outdoor temperature equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature during simultaneous cooling and heating operation. In this case, the heat pump operation is performed by reducing the number of heating heat exchangers to be operated even when the temperature of the plurality of product storage containers for cooling and heating during the heating operation is equal to or higher than the thermooperation stop temperature.

In the vending machine according to the first aspect of the present invention, when the inside of the warehouse where the control means performs one heating operation reaches the thermo-operation start temperature, there are 2 commodity storages to be cooled whose interior temperature is equal to or higher than the thermo-start temperature. If there are more than one, the heating operation is performed until the inside of the chamber reaches the thermo operation stop temperature if it is more than one, resulting in a reduction in the single heating operation using the heater, resulting in an increase in the heating efficiency of the heating operation as a whole. Power consumption can be reduced. In addition, if the temperature in the one heating chamber becomes the thermo-operation start temperature during the simultaneous cooling and heating operation, by performing a heat pump operation that simultaneously operates a plurality of heating heat exchangers regardless of the temperature in the other chamber Since the two heating chambers are synchronized and the heat pump operation is performed, power consumption is reduced, and the start-up frequency of the compressor is reduced, thereby improving long-term reliability.
In the vending machine according to the second aspect of the present invention, when the outdoor temperature is equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature, the control means reduces the number of heating heat exchangers to be operated even when the temperature is equal to or higher than the heating thermooperation stop temperature. By performing the heat pump operation, the heat exchanger used for heating is not used at the time of the low peripheral temperature at the same time. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the product temperature from being lowered without lowering the condensation temperature.

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.
Example 1
First, a vending machine according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1-12. 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. is there. 4 is a block diagram of the control device, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant in the CCC mode, FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing the flow of the refrigerant in the HCC mode, and FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram of the HHC mode. It is a circuit diagram which shows the flow of a refrigerant | coolant. FIG. 8 is a flowchart of control of the vending machine according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the heating priority operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the single cooling operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart of the single heating operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 12 is a time chart of control of the vending machine according to the first embodiment. The CCC mode, CHC mode, and HHC mode representing the operation mode will be described later.
In these drawings, the vending machine includes 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 the interior of the main body cabinet 10 up and down. The bottom plate 11 is divided into two sections, and the upper part is divided into, for example, three independent product storage units 40a, 40b, 40c divided by two heat insulating partition plates 40w, and the product storage units 40a, 40b, 40c are formed in the lower part. A machine room 50 for storing a cooling / heating unit 60 for cooling or heating, an inside temperature sensor Ta, Tb, Tc in the product storages 40a, 40b, 40c, and a machine disposed inside the outer door 20. And a control means 90 for controlling the cooling and heating operation of the vending machine by the peripheral temperature sensor To in the chamber 50.

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 drawing. Necessary for selling products, such as a product display room for exhibiting samples, a selection button for selecting products to be sold, a money slot for inserting money, a product outlet 21 for taking out paid items, etc. The structure which becomes 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 two 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, so that 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 something to be done. 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. Further, it is possible to prevent the cool air or warm air in the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, and 40c from flowing out, and to open them 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 a 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 40c is exclusively used for cooling, and the product storages 40a and 40b are also used for cooling and heating. The product storage racks R, 40a, 40b, and 40c each have a product storage rack R having a product take-out mechanism for storing products in a vertically aligned manner and discharging the products one by one in response to a sales signal. There is a product carry-out chute 42 for carrying out 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, a flow divider 64, and evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c in the warehouse across the bottom plate 11 through refrigerant pipes that constitute a refrigeration cycle. The cooling unit is connected, the heating unit is connected to the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b from the compressor 61 by refrigerant piping, and the heating heaters 80a and 80b installed in the product storage units 40a and 40b. The product S in the product storage rack R is cooled or heated by circulating cold air or warm air in the cabinet.
A fan 62f is installed at the rear of the condenser 62. The fan 62f sucks air from the opening on the front surface of the machine chamber 50, absorbs 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 in the lower part of each product storage. Moreover, the heating heat exchangers 66b and 66a are installed in front of the evaporators 65b and 65a, and are for heating the product storage boxes 40b and 40a. The evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c and the heating heat exchangers 66b, 66a are surrounded by a wind tunnel 67 in each product storage 40a, 40b, 40c, and a fan 65f and a duct 67d are installed behind them. Yes. For cooling and heating in the product storage, the air cooled or heated by the evaporators 65a, 65b and 65c and the heat exchangers 66b and 66a is blown to the product S in the product storage and collected from the duct 67d. It is done by doing.

The refrigerant circuit configuration of the cooling / heating unit 60 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the piping from the compressor 61 is connected to a condenser 62 through an electromagnetic valve 68, and the piping from the condenser 62 is connected to an expansion valve 63 (expansion means, capillary through a check valve 71). But may be connected). The piping from the expansion valve 63 is connected to the flow divider 64, and is connected to the evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c via the electromagnetic valves 70a, 70b, and 70c from the flow divider 64, and the evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c. Are connected to a compressor 61 through an accumulator 69. The broken lines in FIG. 3 indicate the product storage containers 40a, 40b, and 40c. The product storage containers 40a, 40b, and 40c have internal temperature sensors Ta, Tb, and Tc, and the product storage containers 40b and 40c have heaters. It shows that 80b and 80a are installed. Further, the peripheral temperature sensor To indicates that it is installed in the machine room 50 outside the storage.
On the other hand, the piping exiting from the compressor 61 is connected to the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b via the electromagnetic valves 68a and 68b, and the piping exiting the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b is connected to the check valves 71 1 and 71. And are connected to the external heat exchanger 76. In addition, the piping exiting from the external heat exchanger 76 is connected to the downstream side of the expansion valve 63 via the electronic expansion valve 79.
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 storages 40a, 40b, 40c. As shown in FIG. 4, the control means 90 has a CPU and a memory inside, and the operation mode is set by the H / C setting mode SW91. Set to control the opening and closing of the solenoid valve of the refrigerant circuit. The H / C setting mode SW91 is for setting the cooling or heating operation of the product storage units 40a, 40b, 40c, and is expressed by a combination of “C” for cooling and “H” for heating. In order from the left side (40a, 40b, 40c), for example, CCC mode is indicated when all are cooled, and HCC mode is indicated when only the left product storage is heated.
The control means 90 detects the temperature in each warehouse by the inside temperature sensors Ta, Tb, Tc, and performs a thermocycle operation. Specifically, when the internal temperature reaches the thermo OFF set temperature (for example, -1 ° C for cooling, 65 ° C for heating, hereinafter referred to as cooling OFF temperature, heating OFF temperature) Close the solenoid valve for the evaporator and heating heat exchanger, or stop the heater, and the internal temperature is the thermo ON set temperature (for example, 8 ° C for cooling, 45 ° C for heating, cooling ON temperature below) When the temperature becomes the heating ON temperature), the electromagnetic valves related to the evaporator and heating heat exchanger in the cabinet are opened, or the heater is energized to control the interior to an appropriate temperature. The thermo OFF set temperature and the thermo ON set temperature correspond to the thermo operation stop temperature and the thermo start temperature of claim 1.

Further, the control means 90 controls the operation mode as will be described later according to the internal temperature and the ambient temperature. The operation modes include a heat pump operation in which a heating heat exchanger is operated to perform cooling and heating simultaneously, a cooling single operation in which only cooling is performed, and a single heating operation in which heating is performed using only a heater.
When the H / C setting mode SW91 is operated to set the CCC mode in such a configuration, the control unit 90 opens the electromagnetic valves 68, 70a, 70b, and 70c, closes the electromagnetic valves 68b and 68a, and all three chambers. A single cooling operation is performed to cool the air. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 is condensed in the condenser 62 to become liquid refrigerant, and expands by the expansion valve 63 to become a low-temperature gas-liquid two-phase flow. The product 64 is diverted in three directions and evaporated by the evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c, and the product storages 40a, 40b, 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 using the internal temperature sensors Ta, Tb, and Tc.
Next, when the H / C setting mode SW91 is operated to set the HCC mode in which the left chamber is heated, the control means 90 opens the solenoid valves 68a, 70b, 70c, and the solenoid valves 68, 68b, 70a. Close the, and heat pump operation to heat 1 room and cool 2 rooms. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 flows into the heating heat exchanger 66b and is condensed to heat 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, is divided by the flow divider 64 and is evaporated by the evaporators 65b and 65c, and the product storage boxes 40b and 40c are cooled. The refrigerant that has become gas in the evaporators 65 b and 65 c returns to the compressor 61 via the accumulator 69. As described above, the heat pump operation is also thermocycle operation, and the interior is maintained at an appropriate temperature.

Next, when the H / C setting mode SW91 is operated to set the HHC mode in which the left and center chambers are heated, the control means 90 opens the solenoid valves 68b, 68a, 70c, and the solenoid valves 68, 70b, 70a is closed and the heat pump operation is performed to heat the two chambers and cool the one chamber. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, the high-temperature refrigerant compressed by the compressor 61 flows into the heat exchangers 66b and 66a and is condensed, and heats the product storage boxes 40b and 40a. The high-temperature refrigerant condensed by the heating heat exchangers 66 b and 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, evaporates in the evaporator 65c via the flow divider 64, and the product storage 40c is cooled. The refrigerant turned into a gas in the evaporator 65a is returned to the compressor 61 through the accumulator 69 and the refrigeration cycle operation is performed. In this heat pump operation, the inside of the cabinet is maintained at an appropriate temperature by the thermocycle operation as described above.
The cooling and heating control method will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 8-11, taking as an example the case where the operation mode is the HCC mode by operating the H / C setting mode SW91. For convenience of explanation, hereinafter, the product storage units 40a, 40b, and 40c are referred to as the left chamber 40a, the middle chamber 40b, and the right chamber 40c, the product storage unit that performs cooling operation is a cooling chamber, and the product storage unit that performs heating operation is a heating chamber. That's it.

First, as shown in FIG. 8, from the state where the cooling and heating operation is stopped, that is, the state where the compressor 61 is stopped and all the solenoid valves are closed (S11), the control means 90 is moved to the inside of the refrigerator. The temperature is read (S12). The inside temperature of the left chamber 40a, which is a heating chamber, is obtained and compared with the heating ON temperature (S13). If the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a is not lower than the heating ON temperature, that is, exceeds the heating ON temperature (S13 / No), the internal temperatures of the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c, which are cooling chambers, are checked and the cooling ON The temperature is compared (S14). If the inside temperature of the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c does not exceed the cooling ON temperature, that is, if it is lower than the cooling ON temperature (S14 / No), the inside temperature is maintained at an appropriate temperature. Returning to step S12 in this state, monitoring of the internal temperature is continued.
If the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a is equal to or lower than the heating ON temperature in step S13 (S13 / Yes), the internal temperatures of the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c, which are cooling chambers, are examined and compared with the cooling OFF temperature ( S15). If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is equal to or higher than the cooling OFF temperature (S15 / Yes), that is, if the left chamber 40a requires heating, the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c require cooling or unnecessary. Regardless of whether the temperature is higher than the cooling OFF temperature, that is, the inside temperature of the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c is equal to or higher than the cooling OFF temperature, the heating priority heat pump operation of step S20 is started. In step S15, if the inside temperature of the cooling chamber is not higher than the cooling OFF temperature, that is, if the inside temperature of the cooling chamber is equal to or higher than the cooling OFF temperature, a sub-routine (step for heating alone described later) (step S15). Enter S40).

In addition, if the inside temperature of the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c that are cooling chambers is equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature in step S14 (S14 / Yes), the left chamber 40a that is the heating chamber has a heating OFF temperature (for example, It is judged whether it is smaller than 65 ° C. (step S16). If the heating chamber is smaller than the heating OFF temperature (S16 / Yes), then the number of cooling chambers equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature is determined (step S17). When the number of cooling chambers equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature is 1 (S17 / No), the heating chamber is at an appropriate temperature and only one cooling chamber is equal to or higher than the ON temperature. Continue monitoring the temperature in the return chamber.
If the number of cooling chambers equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature is 2 or more in step S17 (S17 / Yes), that is, if the internal temperature of the heating chamber is lower than the heating OFF temperature, the cooling chamber needs to be cooled. Since there are two or more rooms, the subroutine for heating priority heat pump operation is entered (step S20). In step S16, if the internal temperature of the heating chamber is equal to or higher than the heating OFF temperature (S16 / No), the heating chamber is sufficiently heated, and the cooling single operation subroutine (step S30) is entered. .
In the heating priority heat pump operation subroutine of step S20, control is performed as follows. For the sake of clarity, the case where the left chamber 40a is equal to or lower than the heating OFF temperature and the middle chambers 40b and 40c are equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature will be described as an example. As shown in FIG. 9, the electromagnetic valve 68a related to the heating chamber and the electromagnetic valves 70b and 70c related to the cooling chamber are opened (step S21), and the compressor 61 is started (step S22). Next, the internal temperature is read (step S23), and the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is determined (step S24). If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is equal to or higher than the cooling OFF temperature in step S24 (S24 / No), the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a that is the heating chamber is determined (step S25). If the heating chamber has not reached the heating OFF temperature in Step S25 (Step S25 / No), the operation returns to Step S23 and the operation is continued. If the heating chamber reaches the heating OFF temperature in Step S25 (Yes in Step S25). The compressor 61 is stopped, the subroutine is exited, and the process returns to the first step S11.

If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is lower than the cooling OFF temperature in step S24 (S24 / Yes), it is then determined whether there is another cooling chamber that is operating (S27), and the other is operating. If there is any cooling chamber (S27 / Yes), the solenoid valve related to the cooling chamber that has reached the cooling OFF temperature is closed, and the process proceeds to step S28. If there is no other cooling chamber operating in step S27 (S27 / No), even if the inside temperature of the cooling chamber has reached the cooling OFF temperature or lower, the temperature of the heating chamber will not reach the heating OFF temperature. Proceed to step S25 to continue the heat pump operation.
In the subroutine for cooling only operation in step S30, control is performed as follows. In addition, in order to clarify the explanation, the case where the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c are equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature will be described as an example. As shown in FIG. 10, the electromagnetic valves 70b and 70c related to the cooling chamber and the electromagnetic valve 68 related to the condenser 62 are opened (step S31), and the compressor 61 is started (step S32). Next, the internal temperature is read (step S33), and it is monitored whether the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a, which is a heating chamber, has dropped below the heating ON temperature (step S34), and the internal temperature of the heating chamber is heated. If the temperature is not lower than the ON temperature (step S34 / No), the operation is continued until the inside temperature of all the cooling chambers reaches the cooling OFF point (step S35 / No). If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber reaches the cooling OFF point (step S35 / Yes), the compressor 61 is stopped (step S36), the subroutine is exited, and the process returns to the first step S1. If the internal temperature of the heating chamber falls below the heating ON temperature during this cooling single operation (Step S34 / Yes), the heating operation of the heating chamber is required, so that the cooling single operation is stopped. Proceed to step S36.

In the subroutine of heating independent operation in step S40, the heater 80a is energized without circulating the refrigerant circuit as shown in FIG. 11 (step S41). Next, the internal temperature is read (step S42), and it is monitored whether the internal temperatures of the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c in the cooling chamber have risen above the cooling ON temperature (step S43). If the internal temperature is not higher than the cooling ON temperature (step S43 / No), heating by energizing the heater is continued until the internal temperature of the heating chamber reaches the heating OFF point (step S44 / No). If the internal temperature of the heating chamber reaches the heating OFF point (step S44 / No), the heater energization is stopped (step S45), the subroutine is skipped, and the process returns to the first step S11. If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber rises to the cooling ON temperature or higher in step S43 (step S43 / Yes), the process proceeds to step S45 where the heating single operation is stopped so as to switch to the heat pump operation with good thermal efficiency.
With this configuration, the control of the cooling and heating operation of the first embodiment will be described with reference to the time chart of FIG. 12 taking the HCC mode as an example. The upper part of FIG. 12 shows the internal temperature of the heating chamber in comparison with the heating ON temperature and the heating OFF temperature, and the lower part shows the internal temperature of the cooling chamber in comparison with the cooling ON temperature and the cooling OFF temperature. In the middle, the operation pattern of heat pump operation is shown schematically. The operation pattern of heat pump operation is the case where 2 rooms are cooled and 1 room is heated (or vice versa) is expressed as 2 rooms HP, 1 room is cooled and 1 room is heated. Indicated as 1 room HP.

Until the time T0, the operation is stopped. At the time T0, the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a decreases to the heating ON temperature, and the middle chamber 40b and the right chamber 40c are equal to or higher than the cooling OFF temperature. The heating priority heat pump operation (two-chamber HP) of step S20 is performed. Specifically, the solenoid valves 68a, 70b, and 70c are opened, the compressor 61 is driven with the solenoid valves 68, 68b, and 70a closed, the left chamber 40a is heated, the middle chamber 40b, and the right chamber 40c. A heat pump operation (two-chamber HP) is performed to cool the air. Next, when the internal temperature of the right chamber 40c reaches the cooling OFF temperature or lower at time T1, the internal temperature of the middle chamber 40b has not yet reached the cooling OFF temperature or lower, so the solenoid valve 70c is closed. Then, the cooling operation of the right chamber 40c is stopped, and the heat pump operation (one chamber HP) is started in which the left chamber 40a is heated and the middle chamber 40b is cooled. Even if the heat pump operation is continued and the internal temperature of the middle chamber 40b reaches the cooling OFF temperature or lower at time T2, the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a does not reach the heating OFF temperature. ) Will continue. During this time, the middle chamber 40b is cooled below the cooling OFF temperature. When the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a reaches the heating OFF temperature at time T3, the compressor 61 is stopped and the heat pump operation (one chamber HP) is suspended.
Eventually, even if the internal temperature changes and the internal temperature of the middle chamber 40b reaches or exceeds the cooling ON temperature at time T4, the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a does not reach the heating ON temperature. Thermal operation is not performed. When the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a reaches the heating ON point at time T5, the electromagnetic valves 68a, 70b, 70c are opened, the compressor 61 is started, the left chamber 40a is heated, the middle chamber 40b, the right The heat pump operation (two chambers HP) in which the chamber 40c is cooled is started. Thereafter, similar control is performed, and the heating chamber and the cooling chamber are maintained at appropriate temperatures.

In this way, control is performed with priority given to the internal temperature of the heating chamber, and as a result, the heating single operation using the heater is reduced, and as a result, the heating efficiency of the heating operation as a whole increases and power consumption is reduced. Can be reduced.
(Example 2)
A vending machine according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 13-17. The difference from the first embodiment is the control method of cooling and heating when there are two or more product storage chambers for both cooling and heating, and the others are substantially the same as those of the first embodiment. To do. FIG. 13 is a cooling and heating flowchart of the vending machine according to the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the heating synchronous heat pump operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13, and FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the low peripheral temperature operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 16 is a time chart of the control of the vending machine according to the second embodiment.
The cooling and heating control method will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIGS. 13-15, taking the case where the H / C setting mode is the HHC mode as an example.
Compared with the flowchart of FIG. 8, the flowchart of FIG. 13 is used in step S18 instead of step S17, and steps S19, 50, and 60 are added. Therefore, the steps before step S18 are the same as described above, and will be described from step S18.

That is, in the state where the cooling heating operation is stopped, the inside temperature of the left chamber 40a and the middle chamber 40b as the heating chamber is equal to or lower than the heating ON temperature, and the right chamber 40c as the cooling chamber is equal to or higher than the cooling OFF temperature. (S15 / Yes), or when the internal temperature of the heating chamber is lower than the heating OFF temperature and lower than the heating OFF temperature, and the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature (S16 / Yes), step S18. Determine the number of heating chambers below the heating OFF temperature. If the number of heating chambers is 1 (S18 / No), the heating priority heat pump operation subroutine of step S20 is entered. If the number of heating chambers is 2 or more (S18 / Yes), the ambient temperature is then set to the low ambient temperature. It is compared with a judgment value (for example, 5 ° C.) (step S19). The subroutine for the heating priority heat pump operation in step S20 is the same as described above and will not be described.
If the ambient temperature is equal to or higher than the low ambient temperature determination value in step S19 (S19 / Yes), the heat synchronous heat pump operation of step S50 is entered, and if the ambient temperature is lower than the low ambient temperature determination value (S19 / No). Then, the low ambient temperature heat pump operation of step S60 is started.
In the heating synchronous heat pump operation subroutine of step S50, control is performed as follows. For the sake of clarity, the case where the left chamber 40a and the middle chamber 40b are below the heating OFF temperature and the right chamber 40c is above the cooling ON temperature will be described as an example. As shown in FIG. 14, the electromagnetic valves 68a and 68b related to the heating chamber and the electromagnetic valve 70c related to the cooling chamber are opened (step S51), and the compressor 61 is started (step S52). Next, the internal temperature is read (step S53), and the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is determined (step S54). If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is equal to or higher than the cooling OFF temperature in step S54 (S54 / No), the internal temperatures of the left chamber 40a and the intermediate chamber 40b, which are heating chambers, are determined (step S55). If the heating chamber does not reach the heating OFF temperature in step S55 (step S55 / No), the operation returns to step S53 and the operation is continued. If both the heating chambers reach the heating OFF temperature in step S55 ( In step S55 / Yes), the compressor 61 is stopped, the subroutine is exited, and the process returns to the first step S11. In step S55, if one heating chamber reaches the heating OFF temperature and the other heating chambers do not reach the heating OFF temperature, the solenoid valve related to the heating chamber that has reached the heating OFF temperature is closed. The heat pump operation is continued in the remaining heating chamber and cooling chamber.

If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is lower than the cooling OFF temperature in step S54 (S54 / Yes), the compressor 61 is stopped, all the solenoid valves are closed (step S57), and the heating independent operation subroutine (step Go to S40).
In the subroutine of the low circumferential temperature operation in step S60, the control is performed as follows. As shown in FIG. 15, in the heating chamber, the middle chamber 40b is prioritized and the electromagnetic valve 68b related to the middle chamber 40b and the electromagnetic valve 70c related to the cooling chamber are opened (step S61), and the compressor 61 is started (step S62). Next, the internal temperature is read (step S63), and it is monitored whether the internal temperature of the right chamber 40c, which is the cooling chamber, has dropped below the cooling OFF temperature (step S64). If the temperature is not lower than the cooling OFF temperature (step S64 / No), the operation is continued until the inside temperature of the middle chamber 40b reaches the heating OFF temperature (step S65 / No). If the inside temperature of the middle chamber 40b reaches the heating OFF temperature (step S65 / Yes), the process proceeds to step S66 for controlling another heating chamber.
In step S66, the electromagnetic valve of the heating chamber is switched, the electromagnetic valve 68b related to the middle chamber 40b is closed, and the electromagnetic valve 68a related to the left chamber 40a is opened. Next, the internal temperature is read (step S67), and it is monitored whether the internal temperature of the right chamber 40c, which is the cooling chamber, has dropped below the cooling OFF temperature (step S68), and the internal temperature of the cooling chamber is monitored. If the temperature is not lower than the cooling OFF temperature (step S68 / No), the operation is continued until the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a reaches the heating OFF temperature (step S69 / No). If the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a reaches the heating OFF temperature (step S69 / Yes), the compressor 61 is stopped (step S70), and the process returns from the subroutine to the first step S11.

If the internal temperature of the cooling chamber reaches the cooling OFF temperature (step S64 / Yes or step S68 / Yes), the compressor 61 is stopped to stop the heat pump operation and all the solenoid valves are closed (step S64 / Yes or Step S68 / Yes). S71), the heating independent operation subroutine is entered (step S30).
With this configuration, the cooling and heating operation control of the second embodiment will be described with reference to the time chart of FIG. 16 taking the HHC mode as an example. In this example, it is assumed that the ambient temperature is higher than the low ambient temperature determination value.
Until the time T0, the operation is stopped. At the time T0, the middle chamber 40b becomes the heating ON temperature, the middle chamber 40b is equal to or higher than the heating ON temperature, and the right chamber 40c is equal to or higher than the cooling ON temperature. Since the temperature is higher than the low ambient temperature determination value and there are two heating chambers, the heating synchronous heat pump operation (two chambers HP) in step S50 is performed. Specifically, the solenoid valves 68a, 68b, and 70c are opened, the compressor 61 is driven in a state where the solenoid valves 68, 70a, and 70b are closed, the left chamber 40a and the middle chamber 40b are heated, and the right chamber 40c is heated. A heat pump operation (2 chamber HP) is performed to cool the air. Next, when the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a reaches or exceeds the heating OFF temperature at time T1, the internal temperature of the right chamber 40c has not yet reached the cooling OFF temperature or less, so the solenoid valve 68a is closed. Then, the heating operation of the left chamber 40a is stopped, and the heat pump operation (one chamber HP) in which the middle chamber 40b is heated and the right chamber 40c is cooled is started. When the heat pump operation is continued and the internal temperature of the right chamber 40c reaches the cooling OFF temperature or lower at time T2, the compressor 61 is stopped, all the solenoid valves are closed, and the heating single operation for energizing the heater 80b is performed. . Then, when the internal temperature of the middle chamber 40b reaches the heating OFF temperature or higher at time T3, the heating single operation is stopped.

Eventually, when the internal temperature changes and the internal temperature of the middle chamber 40b reaches the heating ON temperature or lower at time T4, the left chamber A heat pump operation (two chamber HP) is performed to heat the 40a and middle chambers 40b and cool the right chamber 40c. Next, when the internal temperature of the left chamber 40a reaches or exceeds the heating OFF temperature at time T5, the internal temperature of the right chamber 40c has not yet reached the cooling OFF temperature or less, so the solenoid valve 68a is closed. Then, the heating operation of the left chamber 40a is stopped, and the heat pump operation (one chamber HP) is started with the middle chamber 40b being the heating operation and the right chamber 40c being the cooling operation. When the internal temperature of the middle chamber 40b reaches the heating OFF temperature or higher at time T6, the compressor 61 is stopped and the heat pump operation is stopped.
Further, when the internal temperature changes and the internal temperature of the right chamber 40c reaches or exceeds the cooling ON temperature at time T7, the internal temperatures of the left chamber 40a and the intermediate chamber 40b do not reach the heating ON temperature or less. However, a heat pump operation (two chambers HP) is performed in which the left chamber 40a and the middle chamber 40b are heated and the right chamber 40c is cooled. The same control is performed thereafter, and the heating chamber and the cooling chamber are kept at appropriate temperatures.
Thus, when the cooling heating operation is started, the two heating chambers are synchronized and the two heat pump operations are performed, so that the power consumption is reduced and the startup frequency of the compressor 61 is reduced. Long-term reliability is improved.

    Moreover, since the heat exchanger used for heating is not used simultaneously at the time of low peripheral temperature, it can suppress that product temperature falls, without a condensation temperature falling.

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

It is a perspective view which shows the vending machine which concerns on Example 1 of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the vending machine shown in FIG. It is a refrigerant circuit figure concerning Example 1 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 of CCC mode. It is a circuit diagram which shows the flow of the refrigerant | coolant of HCC mode. It is a circuit diagram which shows the flow of the refrigerant | coolant of HHC mode. 3 is a flowchart of control of the vending machine according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of heating priority heat pump operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 8. FIG. It is a flowchart of the cooling single operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. It is a flowchart of the heating independent operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 is a time chart of control of the vending machine according to the first embodiment. 6 is a flowchart of control of a vending machine according to a second embodiment. It is a flowchart of the heat synchronous heat pump driving | operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a low ambient temperature heat pump operation shown in the flowchart of FIG. 13. It is a time chart of control of the vending machine concerning Example 2.

Explanation of symbols

10 Main body cabinet 20 Outer door 30 Inner door 40a, 40b, 40c Product storage (left room, middle room, right room)
60 Cooling / Heating Unit 61 Compressor 62 Condenser 63 Expansion Valve (Expansion Means)
65a, 65b, 65c Evaporator 68b, 68c Solenoid valve 80b, 80c Heater 90 Controller 91 H / C setting mode selection SW
Ta, Tb, Tc Internal temperature sensor To Ambient temperature sensor

Claims (2)

A vending machine that has a plurality of product storages and selectively cools or heats each product storage according to the cooling and heating operation mode,
A compressor that compresses the refrigerant; a condenser that is provided outside the refrigerator to condense the refrigerant; an expansion means that is provided on the outlet side of the condenser to expand the refrigerant; a distributor that distributes the refrigerant expanded by the expansion means; A plurality of evaporators that evaporate refrigerant to cool the inside of the cabinet, a heating heat exchanger that condenses the refrigerant and heats the inside of the cabinet, and a heater that is provided in the cabinet and heats the inside of the cabinet And an internal temperature detection means for detecting the internal temperature, and a control means for controlling these,
The control means performs a thermocycle operation for starting or stopping cooling heating in the warehouse by comparing the temperature detected by the internal temperature detection means with a predetermined thermooperation start temperature and a thermooperation stop temperature,
A single cooling operation for operating only the evaporator among the evaporator and the heating heat exchanger provided in a warehouse, and a simultaneous cooling and heating operation for simultaneously operating the evaporator and the heating heat exchanger are selectively performed. In the vending machine to perform,
The control means is configured to perform heating operation on the condition that when the inside of the product storage to be heated during the simultaneous cooling and heating operation reaches the thermo-operation start temperature, the inside temperature of the product storage to be cooled is equal to or higher than the thermo-start temperature. The heat pump is operated until the temperature of the product storage to be reached reaches the thermo shutdown temperature,
When a plurality of cooling / heating product storages are heated, the temperature in one of the plurality of cooling / heating product storages during the heating / cooling simultaneous operation is the thermo-operation start temperature. If it becomes, the vending machine characterized by performing the heat pump operation | movement which operates a some heating heat exchanger simultaneously irrespective of the temperature in the other goods storage warehouse also used for cooling and heating. Having an outdoor temperature detecting means for detecting the outdoor temperature,
When the outdoor temperature is equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature during the cooling and heating simultaneous operation, the control means is operated even when the temperatures of the plurality of product storage boxes for cooling and heating during the heating operation are equal to or higher than the thermooperation stop temperature. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the heat pump operation is performed with a reduced number of heating heat exchangers.

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