JPH10153491A - Temperature sensor attaching device for cooling unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of components, and the man-hour for assembling, and to improve the efficiency of mounting operation, by making a temperature sensor easily mountable on a cooling unit by one-touch operation while using only a holder of one component. SOLUTION: A cooling unit of a refrigerator loaded on an automatic vending machine, etc., is a fin tube-type evaporator 1, and a temperature sensor part of a thermistor 2 is arranged directly touching a lead pipe 1c of a refrigerant piping drawn out from the evaporator, and the both are heat conductibly bound by using an insert holder, when the thermistor 2 as the temperature sensor is heat-conductibly mounted on the cooling unit. An S-shaped metallic clip 8 onto which the drawing is performed, is used as the holder, and the holder is installed over the lead pipe 1c of the evaporator 1 and the temperature sensor of the thermistor 2, for heat conductively binding them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cooling unit for cooling a refrigerator inside a refrigerator mounted on a vending machine for selling cold goods, and the like. The present invention relates to a sensor mounting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in the vending machine mentioned above,
A cooling unit (fin / tube type evaporator) of a refrigerator is incorporated in a refrigerator accommodating the product storage rack to keep the products stored in the product storage rack cool. The thermistor is provided as a refrigerator operation control means in the cooling unit. A temperature sensing tube of another part into which the temperature sensing part of the temperature sensor is inserted is heat conductively mounted, and the refrigerator is turned on and off based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor to adjust the temperature in the refrigerator. ing.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional mounting structure of the above-mentioned temperature sensor. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a fin-tube type evaporator (cooling unit), and a temperature detecting portion (sensor) of a thermistor 2 which is a temperature sensor. The temperature sensing part is inserted into a separate metal sensing tube 3 made of metal, and the sensing tube 3 is attached to the plate surface of the end plate 1a of the evaporator 1 and fastened with screws 5 via mounting brackets 4. The lead wire 2a of the thermistor 2 is bound to a refrigerant pipe 1c drawn out of the evaporator 1 by a vinyl band 6, and when the lead wire 2a is pulled or the like, the temperature detecting part of the thermistor 2 causes the temperature sensing tube 3 I try to prevent accidental falling off from 2b is a lead wire connector of the thermistor 2, 7
Is a capillary tube connected to the refrigerant introduction side lead pipe 1c drawn out of the evaporator 1.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned conventional temperature sensor mounting structure has a large number of parts and many man-hours, and has the following problems in terms of assemblability. That is, in order to insert the thermistor 2 into the temperature-sensitive tube 3 and fix it thermally along with the end plate 1a of the evaporator 1, it is necessary to screw the mounting bracket 4 to the end plate 1a with the fastening screw 5. In addition, the lead wire 2a of the thermistor 2 and the refrigerant pipe 1b of the evaporator 1 are bound by a vinyl band 6 in order to prevent the temperature detecting portion of the thermistor 2 from dropping out of the temperature sensing tube 3. In order to attach 2 to the evaporator 1, four components of the temperature sensing cylinder 3, the mounting bracket 4, the screw 5, and the vinyl band 6 are required, and the assembling process requires three steps.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned thermistor 2 is attached
Since the evaporator 1 is installed in the cabinet of the vending machine, the operation is performed in a narrow work space in the cabinet. In addition, one vending machine usually incorporates two to four cooling units. For this purpose, screwing operation using tools such as a screwdriver,
It takes time and effort to bind the vinyl band 6 by fingertip work, and the efficiency of the assembly work is poor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to mount a temperature sensor to a cooling unit with one part and one man-hour. It is an object of the present invention to provide a temperature sensor mounting device for a cooling unit, which is capable of reducing the operation efficiency.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a cooling unit temperature sensor mounting apparatus for mounting a temperature sensor on a cooling unit of a fin tube type evaporator to detect a temperature. The temperature sensing part of the temperature sensor is directly attached to the lead pipe of the refrigerant pipe drawn out from the evaporator, and the two are thermally tied together through a fitting type holder. The configuration is as follows.

(1) The holder is a metal clip formed by sheet metal processing into an S-shape, and the holder is bridged over the lead pipe and the temperature sensing part of the temperature sensor. (Claim 2) (2) A resin-made cylindrical snap having a holder having a Dharma-shaped cross-section, a part of its peripheral surface being opened in the longitudinal direction, and a claw at an end thereof for locking and holding a temperature sensor. Then, the holder is bridged over the lead pipe and the temperature sensing tube of the temperature sensor. (Claim 3) (3) For the resin-made cylindrical snap described in (2) above,
An auxiliary clip having a Ω-shaped cross section made of a metal leaf spring material is attached to the outer periphery of the snap. (Claim 4) By attaching a temperature sensor such as a thermistor to a fin-tube type evaporator as a cooling unit using the above-mentioned various holders, a conventional temperature-sensitive cylinder, a mounting bracket, a screw, a vinyl band, etc. The temperature sensor can be heat conductively attached to the evaporator with a simple one-touch operation, without any troublesome work such as screw operation with a large number of parts and tools, binding of the lead wire and the refrigerant pipe with a vinyl belt, etc.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings of each embodiment, the same members corresponding to FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals. [Embodiment 1] FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b) show an embodiment corresponding to claim 2 of the present invention, and a thermistor (temperature sensor).
2 is a state in which the temperature detecting section (temperature sensing section) is attached to a pipe of a lead pipe 1c which penetrates an end plate 1a of a fin-tube type evaporator (cooling unit) 1 and is drawn out from the side. Both are thermally connected via a metal clip (holder) 8. Here, the clip 8 is formed by processing a metal plate material having a high heat transfer property and a spring property into an S-shaped sheet metal, and as shown in FIG. Between the heat transfer. In addition, the thermistor 2 is elastically held by the metal clip 8, so that there is no possibility that the thermistor 2 will fall out unexpectedly.

Thus, during operation of the refrigerator, the temperature of the evaporator 1 is transmitted to the thermistor 2 via the metal clip 8, and is detected as an electric signal from the thermistor 2 to the outside. Moreover, the work of attaching the thermistor 2 can be easily performed by a one-touch operation of merely fitting the lead pipe 1c into the clip 8 and the thermistor 2 without any tools such as a screwdriver or screw operation.

[Embodiment 2] FIGS. 2 (a) to 2 (c) show an embodiment corresponding to claim 3 of the present invention. A holder for thermally coupling the thermistor 1c and the thermistor 2 is a cylindrical snap 9 made of resin. The snap 9 is a resin molded product having a Dharma-shaped cross section as shown in the figure, and includes a thermistor insertion tube portion 9a, a locking claw 9b formed at an end thereof, and a lead pipe insertion tube connected to the tube portion 9a. Part 9c,
A slit 9d is formed in a part of the peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 9c so as to open along the longitudinal direction thereof.

Then, the lead pipe 1 of the evaporator 1
In order to heat conductively attach the thermistor 2 to the c, first, the temperature detecting portion (temperature sensing portion) of the thermistor 2 is connected to the cylindrical portion 9a of the snap 9.
Then, the claw portion 9b is engaged with the end of the thermistor 2, and then the cylindrical portion 9c of the snap 9 is applied to the lead pipe 1c of the evaporator 1 so as to push and spread the slit 9d.

With this mounting structure, the evaporator 1
Is directly transmitted to the thermistor 2. Further, the attachment of the thermistor 2 is simply performed by a one-touch operation of fitting the lead pipe 1c into the resin snap 9 and the thermistor 2 without any tool such as a screwdriver or screw operation as in the first embodiment. be able to. Moreover, since the snap 9 is provided with the locking claw 9b to lock and hold the thermistor 2, there is no possibility that the thermistor 2 will fall out of the snap 9 unexpectedly.

[Embodiment 3] FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (c) show an embodiment corresponding to claim 4 of the present invention, which is an improvement of the embodiment 2 described above. In this embodiment, an auxiliary clip 10 having a Ω-shaped cross section formed by sheet metal processing of a metal leaf spring material is attached to the outer periphery of the cylindrical snap made of resin described in FIG. From the tightening.

According to this configuration, the metal auxiliary clip 10 backs up the decrease in the holding force of the thermistor due to the deterioration of the spring property due to the aging of the resin snap 9 and the deformation due to the creep phenomenon. The reliability can be improved by preventing falling off.
If the auxiliary clip 10 is attached to the resin snap 9 in advance and handled as one part, the work of attaching the clip again after the thermistor 2 is attached can be omitted, and the number of work steps at the assembly site can be reduced. .

[0016]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, in the assembling step of thermally connecting the temperature sensor to the cooling unit serving as the fin-tube type evaporator,
Work can be done easily and efficiently with one-touch fitting-type operation that does not require any troublesome tools or screw operations. Moreover, only one metal clip or resin snap is used, and the number of parts and the number of assembling steps can be greatly reduced as compared with the conventional mounting structure, so that the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment corresponding to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a side view of an assembled state in which a thermistor as a temperature sensor is attached to a fin-tube type evaporator;
(b) is an exploded perspective view of (a).

FIGS. 2A and 2B are configuration diagrams of an embodiment corresponding to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 2A is a side view of an assembled state in which a thermistor as a temperature sensor is attached to a fin-tube evaporator.
(b) is an end view showing the shape of the resin snap shown in (a), and (c) is an exploded perspective view of (a).

3A and 3B are configuration diagrams of an embodiment corresponding to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 3A is a side view of an assembled state in which a thermistor as a temperature sensor is attached to a fin-tube evaporator.
(b) is an end view of the resin snap combined with the metal clip in (a), and (c) is an exploded perspective view of (a).

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a conventional mounting structure in which a thermistor, which is a temperature sensor, is heat conductively mounted on a fin tube type evaporator.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fin-tube type evaporator (cooling unit) 1c Lead pipe 2 Thermistor (temperature sensor) 8 Metal clip (holder) 9 Resin snap (holder) 9b Locking claw 9d Slit (opening) 10 Auxiliary clip

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cooling unit of a refrigerator mounted on a vending machine or the like is a fin-tube type evaporator, wherein the temperature sensor is attached to the cooling unit and a temperature sensor is attached to the cooling unit. A temperature sensor mounting device for a cooling unit, characterized in that a temperature sensing part of a temperature sensor is directly attached to a lead pipe of a refrigerant pipe drawn out of the cooling unit, and the two are heat conductively bound via a fitting type holder. 2. The temperature sensor mounting device according to claim 1, wherein the holder is a metal clip formed by sheet metal processing in an S-shape, and the holder is bridged over the lead pipe and the temperature sensing part of the temperature sensor. A temperature sensor mounting device for a cooling unit, characterized in that: 3. A temperature sensor mounting device according to claim 1, wherein the holder has a cross section in a Dharma shape, a part of its peripheral surface is opened in the longitudinal direction, and a claw for locking and holding the temperature sensor is provided at an end thereof. A temperature sensor mounting device for a cooling unit, comprising: a tubular snap made of resin provided, wherein the holder is bridged over a lead pipe and a temperature sensing tube of a temperature sensor. 4. A temperature sensor mounting device according to claim 3, wherein an auxiliary clip having a Ω-shaped cross section made of a metal leaf spring material is attached to the outer periphery of the cylindrical snap made of resin. Cooling unit temperature sensor mounting device.