JPH09147211A - Duct device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a duct device which can effectively cool or heat the commodities in an automatic vending machine without increasing the load of the heat exchange parts and a fan. SOLUTION: The duct device is provided with an inner duct 11 which extends upward along the rear wall 5a of a commodity store box 5 and functions to lead the circulating air passed through a commodity column 6 to the heat exchange parts 9 and 10. The duct 11 includes a 1st inlet port 23 opening at the upper end part of the duct 11, a 2nd inlet port 24 opening almost at the middle part of the duct 11 in its vertical direction and an outlet port 25 opening at the lower end part of the duct 11 and connecting directly to both parts 9 and 10 which open at the lower end part of the box 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a duct device for a vending machine in which an internal duct is provided in a part of a route of circulating air that circulates in a product storage to cool or heat a product. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 shows a flow of circulating air in a conventional vending machine. An evaporator 62 and a heater 63, which are heat exchanging parts, are provided below the product storage 61.
Is provided so that cooling or heating can be performed. A fan 64 is provided in front of the evaporator 62 and the heater 63, and the air blown by the fan 64 causes
Air circulates in the product storage 61. An internal duct 65 is connected to the rear side of the evaporator 62 and the heater 63. The internal duct 65 extends vertically along the rear wall 66 in the product storage 61, and has an intake port 65a at the upper end and an exhaust port 65b directly connected to the evaporator 62 and the heater 63 at the lower end. There is.

The circulating air blown out from the fan 64 after passing through the heat exchange section is guided forward and then upward to cool or heat the products in the product column 67. Further, the circulating air is guided rearward, is then sucked into the internal duct 65, and returns to the heat exchange section. In this way, by providing the internal duct 65 in a part of the circulation path of the circulating air,
A short circuit of circulating air is prevented.

[0004]

In such a conventional vending machine, the internal duct 65 can prevent a short circuit of the circulating air circulating in the product storage 61. However, the internal duct 65 does not exist. Since there is only one intake port 65a, the intake port 65a can be located at any of the upper, middle and lower parts of the product storage 61.
The circulation route of the circulating air is biased, making it difficult to efficiently cool or heat the product. Further, it is difficult to finely adjust the products stored in the lower part of the product column 67 in the order of sale, such as cooling or heating by weighting the products in other parts more heavily.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a duct device for a vending machine which can efficiently cool or heat a product without increasing the load on the heat exchange section or the fan.

[0006]

A duct device for a vending machine according to claim 1 is provided with an interior duct extending vertically along a rear wall of the commodity storage box, and the commodity column is constituted by the interior duct. In the duct device of the vending machine, which is configured to guide the circulating air that has passed through the heat exchanger to the heat exchange unit, the internal duct has a first intake port that opens at the upper end and a second intake port that opens at approximately the middle in the vertical direction. It is characterized by having an opening and an exhaust opening which is open at the lower end and is directly connected to the heat exchange section.

According to this structure, in the product storage, the circulating air passing through the product column is sucked from two places, the first intake port at the upper end of the internal duct and the second intake port at the intermediate part. Therefore, the flow of the circulating air becomes relatively uniform in the vertical direction. Further, in consideration of the friction loss of the internal duct, the opening area of the first intake port and / or the second intake port
By designing the opening area of the intake port, the ratio between the intake amount from the first intake port and the intake amount from the second intake port can be adjusted.

The duct device of the vending machine according to claim 2 is provided with an internal duct extending vertically along the rear wall of the product storage, and the circulating air passing through the product column is supplied by the internal duct. In the duct device of the vending machine configured to lead to the heat exchange unit, the internal duct has a first intake port opened at the upper end and a first intake port opened at the lower end and directly connected to the heat exchange unit.
It comprises a first duct having an exhaust port, a second intake port opening at the upper end and a second duct having a second exhaust port opening at the lower end and directly connected to the heat exchange section, the first intake port being the second It is characterized in that it is arranged at a position higher than the intake port.

According to this structure, the circulating air that has passed through the product column has the first intake port and the second intake port at the upper end of the first duct.
It is sucked from two places, the second intake port and the upper end of the duct. In this case, since the first intake port and the second intake port are arranged at different height positions, the flow of the circulating air becomes relatively uniform in the vertical direction. Further, similarly to the first aspect, it is possible to easily adjust the ratio of the intake amount from the first intake port and the intake amount from the second intake port. And the first
Since the duct and the second duct are independent, the total friction loss of them is smaller than the friction loss of the duct of the confluence type as claimed in claim 1, and the load of the fan can be reduced accordingly. .

In the duct device of the automatic vending machine according to the second aspect, it is preferable that the second duct is composed of a pair of air passages arranged on the left and right sides of the first duct.

According to this structure, the first duct and the second duct which are independent of each other can be arranged without increasing the depth dimension of the internal duct, and the circulation path of the circulating air is arranged in the left-right direction. Can also be made uniform.

The duct device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 4 is provided with an in-compartment duct extending vertically along the rear wall of the merchandise storage, and the circulating air passing through the product column is circulated by the in-compartment duct. In a duct device for a vending machine adapted to lead to a heat exchange unit, the internal duct has an intake port opened at an upper end and an exhaust port opened at a lower end and directly connected to the heat exchange unit. The lower end portion of the duct is characterized in that it is formed in an expanded shape toward the exhaust port.

According to this construction, the circulating air flowing from the internal duct to the heat exchange section is liable to become a laminar flow, that is, the sectional area of the internal duct gradually increases, so that the friction loss of the internal duct can be reduced. You can As a result, the load on the fan can be reduced.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A vending machine to which a duct device according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vending machine 1 is composed of a vending machine body 2 and a main door 3 which is attached to the front surface of the vending machine body 2 so as to be openable and closable. Inside the vending machine body 2, a product storage 5 having a heat insulating door 4 on the front side is widely provided.
A product column 6 filled with products is housed therein.

In the product storage 5, a chute 7 is provided below the product column 6, and below the chute 7, a fan 8 for circulating air and an electric heater 9 constituting a heat exchange section are provided. The evaporator 10 and the evaporator 10 are arranged side by side. Further, an internal duct 11 is arranged on the rear side of the evaporator 10, and the internal duct 11 extends in the up-down direction along the rear wall 5a in the product storage 5.
In this case, the product is heated by driving the electric heater 9, and the product is cooled by driving the evaporator 10. Although not shown, a cooling unit (external unit) is arranged in the lower space of the product storage 5, and the evaporator 10 is connected to this cooling unit.

The internal duct 11 is composed of a duct main body 21 and a chamber portion 22 connected to the lower side of the duct main body 21, and a first intake port 23 is provided at the upper end of the duct main body 21.
However, there is a second intake port 24 in the middle part and the chamber part 2
An exhaust port 25 is formed at the front end of 2. The first intake port 23 is an opening of the end of the duct body 21, and is arranged at a height position approximately in the middle of the product storage 5. The second intake port 24 is a round hole 24a formed at an intermediate position of the duct body 21, and the second intake port 24 of the present embodiment has four holes.
It is composed of individual round holes 24a (see FIG. 2). The exhaust port 25 is directly connected to the evaporator 10, and the chamber portion 2
In cooperation with 2, the air is stably guided to the evaporator 10 and the electric heater 9. The second intake port 24 may be configured with a plurality of square holes or slits.

Now, the flow of air will be described.
The air blown from the fan 8 after passing through the evaporator 10 and the electric heater 9 passes through the slit formed in the chute 7, is guided forward, and is further guided to the product column 6. Part of the air that has risen while passing through the inside of the product column 6 is sucked into the second intake port 24 toward the rear inside the product column 6. The remaining air further rises, and then is sucked into the first intake port 23 toward the rear inside the product column 6. The air sucked into the first suction port 23 and the air sucked into the second suction port 24 join together in the duct main body 21, and the portion of the evaporator 10 and the electric heater 9 from the chamber portion 22 through the exhaust port 25. Return to.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the air is located at the middle portion of the product storage 5, and the first intake port 23,
And since air is taken in from two places above and below the second intake port 24 located at the lower part, two flows, air crossing the middle part of the product column 6 and air crossing the lower part, are generated accordingly. Can be heated or cooled relatively uniformly. Further, by positively guiding air to the lower portion of the product column 6 through the second intake port 24, it is possible to positively heat or cool the products in the order of sales, and efficiently heat the products. Or it can be cooled. Also,
By appropriately adjusting the number and diameter of the round holes 24a forming the second intake port 24, the intake air amount from the first intake port 23 and the second intake port 23 can be adjusted.
It is possible to adjust the ratio with the amount of intake air from the intake port 24,
That is, the ratio of the amount of air traversing the middle part of the product column 6 to the amount of air traversing the lower part can be adjusted.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The internal duct 11 in this embodiment is composed of a tall first duct 31 and a short second duct 32. First duct 31
The second duct 32 and the second duct 32 share part of the wall surface and are formed independently of each other. That is, the second duct 32 is
A pair of left and right air passages 32 sandwiching the first duct 31
a, 32a. A first intake port 33 is provided at the upper end of the first duct 31, and a pair of second intake ports 34. , 34 are open. Below the first duct 31 and the second duct 32, there is a chamber portion 35 shared by both ducts 31, 32,
An exhaust port 36 shared by the ducts 31 and 32 is formed at the front end of the chamber portion 35.

In such a structure, a part of the air rising while passing through the inside of the product column 6 is directed rearward inside the product column 6 and the second intake port 3 of the second duct 32.
After being sucked in by 4 and the remaining air further rising,
The air is sucked into the first intake port 33 of the first duct 31 toward the rear inside the product column 6. The air sucked into the first suction port 33 and the air sucked into the second suction port 34 are
It reaches the chamber portion 35, merges here, and returns from the exhaust port 36 to the evaporator 10 and the electric heater 9. .

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the first
Since air is sucked from the duct 31 and the second duct 32 from the upper and lower two positions of the upper part and the intermediate part of the product storage box 5, the air crossing the upper part of the product column 6 and the intermediate part are correspondingly crossed. Two flows with air are generated, and the product can be heated or cooled relatively uniformly. Further, by appropriately adjusting the cross-sectional areas of both ducts 31 and 32, it is possible to adjust the ratio of the amount of air traversing the upper part of the product column 6 to the amount of air traversing the middle part. On the other hand, since the first duct 31 and the second duct 32 are configured independently of each other, the friction loss is reduced and the load on the fan 8 can be reduced.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The internal duct 11 in this embodiment has an intake port 41 at the upper end and an exhaust port 42 at the lower front end, and has a duct main body 43 and a chamber section 44.
It has a structure in which and are integrated. The front plate 44a of the chamber portion 44 extends to the exhaust port 42 while curving.
The chamber portion 44 is formed in an expanded shape toward the exhaust port 42.

In such a structure, since the cross-sectional area of the chamber portion 44 gradually increases toward the exhaust port 42, the flow of air from the duct main body 43 through the chamber portion 44 to the exhaust port 42 becomes a laminar flow. It is easy and can make the air flow that curves at a right angle smooth. Therefore, the friction loss of the internal duct 11 can be reduced, and the load of the fan 8 can be reduced.
The front plate 44a may be formed in an oblique straight line.

[0024]

As described above, according to the duct device of the vending machine of the first aspect, the circulating air passing through the product column is sucked in at two upper and lower positions, so that the flow of the circulating air is prevented. The product can be made uniform, and the product can be efficiently cooled or heated without increasing the load on the heat exchange unit or the fan and with a simple configuration.

Further, according to the duct device of the automatic vending machine of claim 1, as in the above, the circulating air is sucked at the upper and lower portions, so that the flow of the circulating air can be made uniform. With a simple structure, the product can be efficiently cooled or heated, and the load on the fan can be reduced.

Further, according to the duct device of the vending machine of the first aspect, the load of the fan can be reduced and the flow of the circulating air can be made smooth.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of an automatic vending machine including a duct device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the interior of the vending machine including the duct device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a vending machine including a duct device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the interior of the vending machine equipped with the duct device according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of a vending machine including a duct device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a vending machine including a conventional duct device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Vending Machine 5 Product Storage 5a Rear Wall 6 Product Column 8 Fan 9 Electric Heater 10 Evaporator 11 Internal Duct 23 First Intake Port 24 Second Intake Port 25 Exhaust Port 31 First Duct 32 Second Duct 33 First Intake Port 34 Second intake port 36 Exhaust port 41 Intake port 42 Exhaust port 44 Chamber section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tomoaki Yamazaki 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Dai Noguchi, 5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka No. 5 Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An automatic duct, comprising an in-compartment duct extending vertically along a rear wall of a merchandise storage cabinet, for guiding circulating air passing through a product column to a heat exchange section by the in-compartment duct. In the duct device for a vending machine, the internal duct has a first intake port opened at an upper end portion, a second intake port opened at an approximately middle portion in a vertical direction, and a lower end portion directly connected to the heat exchange unit. A duct device for a vending machine, which has an exhaust port. 2. An automatic system, comprising an in-compartment duct extending vertically along a rear wall in a merchandise storage cabinet, the circulating air passing through a merchandise column being guided to the heat exchange section by the in-compartment duct. In the duct device of the vending machine, the internal duct has a first duct having a first intake port opened at an upper end and a first exhaust port having a first exhaust port opened at a lower end and directly connected to a heat exchange unit, and opened at an upper end. A second intake port and a second exhaust port that opens at the lower end and is directly connected to the heat exchange unit
A duct device for a vending machine, comprising a duct, and the first intake port is disposed at a position higher than the second intake port. 3. The duct device for a vending machine according to claim 2, wherein the second duct is composed of a pair of air passages arranged on the left and right sides of the first duct. . 4. An automatic duct provided with an in-compartment duct extending vertically along a rear wall of the merchandise storage cabinet, the circulation air passing through the product column being guided to the heat exchange section by the in-compartment duct. In the duct device for a vending machine, the internal duct has an intake port that is open at an upper end portion, and an exhaust port that is open at a lower end portion and is directly connected to the heat exchange unit, and a lower end portion of the internal duct is the A duct device for a vending machine, which is formed in an expanded shape toward an exhaust port.