JPH05166055A - Vending machine controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a vending machine controller which starts simultaneously the supply of refrigerant to all evaporators when the temperatures detected by all temperature detector means exceed the thermo-on temperature end integrates the cooling timing for reduction of the operating time of a cooler. CONSTITUTION:Three commodity storing boxes are cooled by the evaporators 1a-1c, and a cooler 2 circulates the refrigerant through the evaporators 1a-1c. The refrigerant flowing to the evaporators can be individually controlled with closing/opening of the solenoid valves 3a-3c. The thermistors 4a-4c are set at the air blow-out part of each commodity storing box and detect the inside temperature of each storing box. A temperature detector 5 is added together with a thermotempereture setter 6, a controller 7, a cooler driving part 8, etc. Then the valves 3a-3c are opened to operate the cooler 2 and to cool all stored commodities when the inside temperature of each commodity storing box exceeds a prescribed thermo-on temperature. In such a constitution, the operating time of a cooler is shortened and the power consumption is reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a controller for a cooling device of a vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a control device of this type supplies a refrigerant to an evaporator in each storage compartment based on an ON / OFF temperature preset in a thermo temperature setting device regardless of the state of other storage compartments. The temperature of the product was adjusted by controlling the opening and closing of the solenoid valve that was supplied.

[0003]

However, when two or more product storages are being cooled at the same time, there are differences in how to cool the storages due to uneven capacity of the evaporator and variations in the product storage amount. Therefore, the opening / closing timing of the solenoid valve for each evaporator is shifted. If even one solenoid valve opens due to this,
(Or open), chiller operation starts (or continues)
As a result, there has been a problem that the power consumption increases due to the prolonged operation time. The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control device that can shorten the operating time of a cooler by unifying cooling timings.

[0004]

A control device for a vending machine according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises a plurality of product storages and an evaporator that is independent for each storage, and controls the supply of refrigerant to the evaporators. Thereby, in the vending machine that keeps the product temperature constant, a thermo temperature setting means for setting a thermo on / off temperature for temperature control, and a temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature in each product storage, Temperature determination means for determining whether the temperature detected by each of the temperature detection means exceeds the thermo-on temperature, and by the determination of the temperature determination means, the temperatures detected by all the temperature detection means are the thermo-on temperatures. And a control means for sending a predetermined drive signal so as to simultaneously start the supply of the refrigerant to all the evaporators.

A control device for a vending machine according to the second aspect of the present invention comprises a plurality of product storages and an independent evaporator for each storage, and controls the refrigerant supply to the evaporators to control the product temperature. In a vending machine which is kept constant, a thermo temperature setting means for setting a thermo on / off temperature and a predetermined upper limit temperature for temperature control, a temperature detecting means for detecting a temperature in each product storage, and Temperature determination means for determining whether the temperature detected by each of the temperature detection means exceeds the thermo-on temperature and the upper limit temperature, and by the determination of the temperature determination means, the temperatures detected by all the temperature detection means are When the temperature exceeds the thermo-on temperature, or when the temperature detected by at least one temperature detecting means exceeds the upper limit temperature, a predetermined refrigerant supply to all the evaporators is started at the same time. Characterized in that a control means for sending a motion signal.

[0006]

According to the conventional operation, when the temperature exceeds the thermo-on temperature in one product storage and a cooling request is issued, only the solenoid valve for the product storage is opened to start the operation of the cooler. Since the opening time of the solenoid valve is different, the closing time is also different, which causes a disadvantage that the operating time of the cooler is prolonged. However, in the first aspect of the present invention, the predetermined thermo-on temperature is set in all the product storages. When the temperature exceeds the limit, all the solenoid valves are opened and the cooler is operated to start cooling all the product storage boxes at the same time.

According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the control of the first aspect of the invention, if the temperature exceeds a predetermined upper limit temperature (a temperature higher than the thermo-on temperature) in one product storage box, all solenoid valves are opened and all the solenoid valves are opened. The product storage is cooled at the same time, and if the operation start timing is unified in this way, all product storage will fall below the thermo-off temperature at about the same time and a cooling stop request will be issued, so the operating time of the cooler Is shortened.

[0008]

1 is a control block diagram showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. In this embodiment, it is assumed that three commodity storages (not shown) are cooled by the evaporators 1a, 1b, 1c, respectively. The cooler 2 includes evaporators 1a, 1b and 1
Circulate the refrigerant through c. The flow of the refrigerant to the evaporators 1a, 1b, 1c can be individually controlled by opening / closing the solenoid valves 3a, 3b, 3c.

In order to detect the temperature inside the product storage, thermistors 4a, 4b, 4c are attached to the air discharge part of each product storage, and these thermistors 4a, 4b,
The temperature detector 5 detects the temperature inside the refrigerator by the detection signal of 4c. The thermo temperature setting device 6 is for setting an upper limit temperature of the thermo on / off temperature and a temperature higher than the thermo on temperature. The controller 7 compares and determines the temperature detected by the temperature detector 5 with the set values of the thermo-ON / OFF temperature and the upper limit temperature from the thermo temperature setter 6 to determine the cooler drive unit 8 and the solenoid valve drive unit 9a. , 9b, 9
A predetermined drive signal is sent to c, whereby the cooler 2 and the solenoid valves 3a, 3b, 3c are opened and closed.

The control operation of the apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the temperature of each product storage detected by the thermistors 4a, 4b, 4c and the temperature detector 5 in steps S1 and S2, and the thermo-ON / OFF temperature and the upper limit temperature set by the thermo-temperature setting device 6, are set in the control device 7. When the internal temperature of the first product storage is higher than the thermo-on temperature, the process proceeds from step S3 to step S4, the solenoid valve 3a of the product storage is opened, and If the internal temperature is lower than the thermo-off temperature, step S
From 5 to step S6, the solenoid valve 3 of the product storage
a is closed.

Until the temperature judgment for all the product storages is completed, the process goes through the loop of steps S3 to S7, and then proceeds to step S8 to determine whether or not all the product storages are at the thermo-on temperature or more. If the storage is at or above the thermo-on temperature (in this case, all solenoid valves are already open), the cooler 2 is turned on in step S9, and all the product storages are cooled at the same time.

When all the product storages are not above the thermo-on temperature, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the process proceeds from step S8 to step S12 as shown by the broken line, and when all the product storages are below the thermo-off temperature, further step S13. If the cooling device 2 is turned on, the cooling device 2 is turned off, cooling of all the product storage is stopped, and then the process returns to step S1 and proceeds from step S3 to step S5 and step S6. 3a, 3b and 3c are closed.

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, when all the product storages reach the thermo-on temperature or more, cooling to all the product storages is started at the same time, and by this cooling, all the product storages are controlled to the thermo-on temperature or less. If this happens, the cooling of all product storage is stopped.

On the other hand, in the second aspect of the present invention, if all the product storages are not higher than the thermo-on temperature, but there is at least one product storage temperature exceeding the upper limit temperature, the process proceeds to step S8 and step S11, and all solenoid valves are operated. Is opened (which causes the closed solenoid valve to be opened), and the cooler 2 is turned on to cool all the goods storage compartments at the same time. On the other hand, if there is no product storage that exceeds the upper limit temperature, the process proceeds from step S10 to step S12, and if all the product storages are below the thermo-off temperature, in step S13 the cooler 2 is turned off if it is on. ..

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the above temperature control. At time t ₀ , all solenoid valves 3a, 3b, 3c are shown.
Is closed to open and the cooler 2 is turned on. Due to this cooling, the product storage has reached the thermo-off temperature at time points t ₁ , t ₂ and t ₃ , respectively, so the corresponding solenoid valves 3a, 3b,
3c are closed respectively. Thereafter, cooling at t ₆ the solenoid valves 3a, 3b, but 3c is opened, the entire product storage exceeds the thermo temperatures corresponding respectively at time t _4, t _5, t ₆ to product storage exceeds the thermo temperature Machine 2 is turned on. Further, at time t ₇ , the upper limit temperature is reached in one product storage container for the solenoid valve 3a before the temperature of all the product storage containers exceeds the thermo-on temperature. Therefore, at that time, all the solenoid valves 3a, 3b, 3
The cooling machine 2 is turned on by opening c.

[0016]

As described above, according to the first invention,
If all product storages exceed the specified ON temperature, all solenoid valves are opened and all product storages are cooled at the same time. Since the deviation in the opening and closing timing of the valve is reduced, the operating time of the cooler is shortened and the power consumption can be reduced.
Further, in the second invention, if all the product storages are cooled if the upper limit temperature is exceeded in one product storage, even if one product storage is supplemented with another product storage, It is possible to solve the problem that cooling does not start as long as it is below the ON temperature.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a control device for a vending machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a time chart showing the operation of the apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Evaporator 2 Cooler 3 Solenoid valve 4 Thermistor 5 Temperature detector 6 Thermo temperature setting device 7 Control device 8 Cooler drive unit 9 Solenoid valve drive unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic vending machine comprising a plurality of product storages and an independent evaporator for each storage, and controlling the supply of refrigerant to the evaporators to keep the product temperature constant. Thermo temperature setting means for setting the thermo on / off temperature for temperature control, temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature inside each product storage, and the temperature detected by each of the temperature detecting means exceeds the thermo on temperature. When temperature determination means for determining whether or not, by the determination of the temperature determination means, the temperature detected by all the temperature detection means exceeds the thermo-on temperature,
A control device for a vending machine, comprising: a control means for sending a predetermined drive signal to simultaneously start the supply of the refrigerant to all the evaporators. 2. An automatic vending machine comprising a plurality of product storages and an independent evaporator for each storage and controlling the supply of a refrigerant to the evaporators to keep the product temperature constant. The thermo-on / off temperature for temperature adjustment and the thermo-temperature setting means for setting a predetermined upper limit temperature, the temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature in each product storage, and the temperature detected by each of the temperature detecting means are When the temperature detected by the temperature determination means for determining whether or not the temperature exceeds the thermo-on temperature and the upper limit temperature, and the temperature detected by all the temperature detection means exceeds the thermo-on temperature,
Alternatively, when the temperature detected by at least one temperature detecting means exceeds the upper limit temperature, a control means for sending a predetermined drive signal to simultaneously start the supply of the refrigerant to all the evaporators is provided. Vending machine control device.