JP5315960B2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine that cools and heats products such as beverages in containers such as cans, bottles, packs, and PET bottles for sale.

  There is a strong demand for energy saving in vending machines due to global warming and carbon dioxide emission reduction issues. In order to save energy, it is useful to reinforce the heat insulation structure of the vending machine and to partially cool and heat only necessary products in the warehouse. In order to partially cool and heat only necessary products in the warehouse, it is a well-known technique to provide a short rear duct on the back of the warehouse, and among them, the upper part of the rear duct having an opening on the upper surface. It is also known to improve the efficiency of partial cooling or partial heating by providing an air passage shielding plate (for example, Patent Document 1).

  As shown in FIG. 4, the vending machine described in Patent Document 1 is provided with a cooling / heating device 3 and a fan 4 at the lower part of a main body 2 of the vending machine that stores the product storage device 1, and an upper part at the back. A return duct 5 having an opening and an air path shielding plate 6 having a U-shaped cross section having closed openings 6 a and 6 b above the return duct 5. According to this configuration, as indicated by an arrow A in the drawing, the air circulation flow in the product storage 1 is blocked more efficiently from the upper rear portion of the product storage device 1 and flows into the return duct 5 so that it is required more efficiently. Only in quantity can the product be cooled or heated.

JP 2000-182133 A

However, even if the air passage shielding plate 6 is provided on the upper part of the return duct 5, an experimental result that the power consumption is not reduced so much was obtained, and it was considered that the following problems existed.
1) Since the airflow also flows over the upper part of the airway shielding plate 6, there is an outflow of heat from the outside on the wall surface, resulting in an increase in power consumption.
2) As shown by arrow B in FIG. 4, an airflow that flows meandering along the periphery of the airway shielding plate 6 from the upper part of the airway shielding plate 6 is generated. It descends on the inner and rear surfaces, moves forward on the upper surface of the airway shielding plate 6, descends along the front surface of the airway shielding plate 6, and proceeds rearward on the lower surface of the airway shielding plate 6. Since an inflowing meandering wall flow is generated, the air in the upper part of the body is induced to circulate downward, and as a result, the range of partial cooling or partial heating is expanded upward and the power consumption is increased.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been considered in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a vending machine with low power consumption by appropriately promoting partial cooling or partial heating.

The vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention includes a product storage rack that carries out products stored side by side in a cabinet in a cabinet in order from the lowest order in accordance with a sales command, and a cabinet in accordance with the operation mode. A cooling / heating unit with a fan that cools or heats the product by circulating or blowing cool air or warm air, and is located on the back of the cabinet connected to the wind tunnel of the cooling / heating unit, for partial cooling or partial heating on the front wall In a vending machine comprising a duct having a suction port, a heat insulating shielding member that prevents the flow of a circulating flow of cold air or warm air is provided at the top of the duct ,
The heat insulation shielding member is substantially the same as the cross section of the duct and is made of a rectangular urethane board, and extends from the upper end of the duct to the ceiling in the warehouse .

According to the cooling device of the first aspect of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained by providing the heat insulating shielding member for preventing the flow of the circulating flow of the cool air or the warm air at the upper part of the duct.
1) The thickness of the heat insulating wall between the outside of the vending machine is increased by the heat insulating shielding member provided at the upper part of the rear duct, so that the outflow of heat from the wall surface is reduced, resulting in a reduction in power consumption.
2) Since the flow descending from the upper part of the back of the vending machine simply descends vertically along the rear, the downward flow is shielded by the air flow flowing into the rear duct, so that the gas in the upper part of the warehouse is at its position. It stops at. Therefore, since the range of partial cooling or partial heating is maintained appropriately, power consumption is reduced.

  Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a state where a door and a product storage rack of the vending machine shown in FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the vending machine shown in FIG. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

  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 the present 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 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, an expansion valve 63, an accumulator 69, a cooling unit that connects the evaporators 65 a, 65 b, and 65 c in the warehouse with refrigerant pipes across the bottom plate 11, and a compressor 61, a heating / cooling unit for connecting the evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c and the heating heat exchangers 66a, 66b in the cabinet across the bottom plate 11 with refrigerant pipes across the bottom heat exchanger 76, the electronic expansion valve (not shown), and the bottom plate 11 And a heating part of the heater 66h.

  In the cold part, the refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 61, the compressed refrigerant is condensed by the condenser 62, adiabatic expansion is performed by the expansion valve 63, and the evaporators 65 a, 65 b and 65 c that cool the inside of the refrigerator are used. A refrigerant cycle is formed which is fed and evaporated by the evaporators 65 a, 65 b and 65 c and returned to the compressor 61 via the accumulator 69.

  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. Then, the air is exhausted to the rear opening of the machine room 50.

  The accumulator 69 is a sealed container for allowing the refrigerant evaporated from the evaporators 65 a, 65 b, and 65 c to flow in, gas-liquid separation to store the liquid refrigerant, and returning the gas refrigerant to the compressor 61.

  In the heating / cooling section, the refrigerant is compressed by the compressor 61, the compressed refrigerant is sent to the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b for heating the interior, and the refrigerant condensed by the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b is further stored. After condensing and radiating heat with the external heat exchanger 76, it is adiabatically expanded with an electronic expansion valve, sent to the evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c that cool the interior, and evaporated with the evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c. A refrigerant cycle for heat pump operation that returns to the compressor 61 via the accumulator 69 is formed. Depending on the cooling and heating operation mode of the product storage 40a, 40b, 40c, the heating heat exchanger 66a and the evaporator 65a or the heating heat exchanger 66b and the evaporator 65b do not flow at the same time with the solenoid valve. The operation setting is selectively performed.

  In the heating section, the heaters 66h and 66h are installed in front of the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b, and the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b are used when the interior of the cooling side is cooled to an appropriate temperature by the heat pump operation. Without operation, the operation of the refrigerant circuit is stopped, and the product storage boxes 40a and 40b are heated.

  The evaporators 65a, 65b, and 65c are installed below the product storage boxes 40a, 40b, and 40c, the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b are installed after the evaporators 65b and 65a, and a fan 65f is installed behind them. It is. The evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c, the heating heat exchangers 66a, 66b, and the fan 65f are surrounded by the wind tunnels 77a, 77b, 77c, and the fronts of the wind tunnels 77a, 77b, 77c are opened to the inner side, and the rear Is installed in communication with the rear ducts 70a, 70b, 70c.

  The rear ducts 70a, 70b, and 70c are configured by main bodies 71a, 71b, and 71c made of a plate-like member having a U-shaped cross section, and are laid on the rear surface of the cabinet 10, and suck into the front wall near the upper portion thereof. It has openings 72a, 72b, 72c and blowout openings 73a, 73b, 73c connected to the wind tunnels 77a, 77b, 77c at the bottom. The rear ducts 70a, 70b, 70c and the wind tunnels 77a, 77b, 77c form a ventilation path. The fan 65f heats the heat exchangers 66a, 66b, the evaporators 65a, 65b, 65c, and the heaters 66h, 66h. Cooled or heated air (cold air or warm air) is blown from the wind tunnels 77a, 77b, 77c to the product S in the product storage, and is collected from the rear ducts 70a, 70b, 70c as indicated by an arrow A in FIG. By doing so, cooling and heating in the product storage are performed.

  The heat insulation blocking members 74a, 74b, and 74c are rectangular members made of hard urethane, and the cross section thereof is substantially the same as that of the rear ducts 70a, 70b, and 70c, and the product storage case 40a from the upper ends of the rear ducts 70a, 70b, and 70c. It is installed in such a manner that it almost covers up to the ceiling.

  With this configuration, when the cooling and heating operation is started, the air cooled or heated by the evaporators 65a, 65b and 65c, the heating heat exchangers 66a and 66b, and the heating heaters 66h and 66h is indicated by an arrow A in FIG. Partial cooling or partial heating is performed by cooling or heating the product S through the holes 42a of the chute 42 to cool or heat the product S and collecting it from the ducts 70a, 70b, and 70c.

  Further, the air in the upper part of the cabinet rises from the inner doors 30b and 30a side at a slow speed as indicated by the arrow B in FIG. And since it descend | falls perpendicularly | vertically along the back simply from the upper part of the back in a store | warehouse | chamber, as a result of the downward flow being shielded by the air path which flows into back duct 70a, 70b, 70c, the gas of the upper part in a store | warehouse | chamber is in that position. It will be stagnant. Therefore, it is suppressed that the range of partial cooling or partial heating is expanded upward.

  Also, the heat insulation shielding member provided at the top of the back duct increases the thickness of the heat insulation wall between the outside of the vending machine, so that the outflow of heat from the wall surface is reduced, resulting in a reduction in power consumption. .

  In the calorimeter test conducted by the inventors (heat insulation characteristic test to determine the amount of heat flowing out to the outside by measuring the amount of heat generated by the heater that heats the inside and the heat inflow to the outside is constant) By providing 74a, 74b, and 74c, the amount of heat released can be reduced from 180W to 170W.

  Further, in the HCC operation mode (the cooling heating operation mode in which the left product storage 40a is heated and the other product storages 40b and 40c are cooled), which is the highest in annual operation of the vending machine, the heat insulating shielding member 74a. , 74b, and 74c, the power consumption can be reduced by about 4% from 5.0 KW / DAY to 4.8 KW / DAY.

  The heat insulation blocking member may be a rectangular member made of hard urethane, and may extend to the ceiling in the warehouse and form an air layer between the wall surface of the warehouse.

  Moreover, the heat insulation shielding member may be a heat insulation board formed by protruding the back wall of the main body cabinet.

  In this way, unlike simply providing an airway shielding plate, by providing a heat insulating shielding member at the upper part of the duct to prevent the flow of a circulating flow of cold air or warm air, the outside of the vending machine is provided. Since the thickness of the insulation wall in between increases, the outflow of heat from the wall surface can be reduced. In addition, the flow descending from the upper part of the back of the vending machine simply descends vertically along the rear, so that the downward flow is shielded by the air flow flowing into the rear duct, so that the gas in the upper part of the warehouse is at its position. It stops at. Therefore, since the range of partial cooling or partial heating is maintained appropriately, power consumption can be reduced.

  As described above, the present invention is useful as, for example, a vending machine for cooling / heating the internal atmosphere of a heat insulating housing.

1 is a perspective view showing a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view in the state which removed the door and goods storage rack of the vending machine shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the vending machine shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the vending machine of a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body cabinet 20 Outer door 30 Inner door 40a, 40b, 40c Product storage 60 Cooling / heating unit 61 Compressor 62 Condenser 63 Expansion valve (expansion means)
65a, 65b, 65c Evaporator 66a, 66b Heating heat exchanger 66h Heater heater 70a, 70b, 70c Rear duct 74a, 74b, 74c Thermal insulation shielding member

Claims (1)

A product storage rack that transports products stored side by side in the cabinet's cabinet vertically according to the sales order, and cools or heats the product by circulating air in the cabinet according to the operation mode. Vending machine comprising: a cooling / heating unit with a fan, and a duct located on the rear side of the cabinet connected to the wind tunnel of the cooling / heating unit and having a suction port for partial cooling or partial heating on the front wall In the upper part of the duct, a heat insulating shielding member for preventing the flow of the circulating flow of cold air or warm air is provided ,
The heat insulating shielding member is substantially the same as the cross section of the duct and is made of a rectangular urethane board, and extends from the upper end of the duct to the ceiling in the warehouse .

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