JPH10289365A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic vending machine which can sell the commodities of normal temperatures in addition to the cold and hot commodities and also can reduce the heat loss of each room of the vending machine. SOLUTION: This vending machine 1 includes plural commodity store columns 5 which are arranged in parallel to each other with gaps A set among them in a commodity store box 3, a cooling means and a heating means placed at the right and left sides of the box 3 respectively, and the adiabatic diaphragms 6 which are put into the gaps A to form the rooms of different temperature bands at right and left sides of the box 3. Thus, two diaphragms 6 are inserted to the different gaps A. In such a constitution, a cooling room is formed at the right or left side of the box 3 with a heating room formed at the other side of the box 3 respectively. Meanwhile, each room formed between both diaphragms 6 is kept at the normal temperature as a normal temperature room by the thermal insulating function of the diaphragms 6 and can store the commodities of normal temperatures.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine having a plurality of rooms having different temperature zones.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vending machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-334542 is known as this kind of vending machine.

In this vending machine, a plurality of serpentine-type product storage columns are arranged on the left and right in a product storage, and a gap for a heat insulating partition plate is provided between each of the product storage columns. Further, when the heat insulating partition plate is inserted into this gap, the product storage is divided into left and right, while the cooling means is installed on the left side of the product storage and the heating means is installed on the right side. Cold products are stored in the room on the left side (cooling room) with respect to the partition plate, and hot products are stored in the room on the right side (heating room).

[0004]

However, when this heat insulating partition plate is constituted by one sheet and inserted and disposed in the gap, only the cold product room and the hot product room are provided in the product storage room as described above. Thus, it is unsuitable to sell products stored at room temperature, for example, canned confectionery.

[0005] Further, since the cooling chamber and the heating chamber are adjacent to each other with one heat insulating partition plate interposed therebetween, a large temperature difference between the adjacent rooms greatly affects the thermal effect of each other, resulting in heat loss. Has a problem that the size becomes larger.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine capable of selling not only cold products and hot products but also normal temperature products and further reducing heat loss in each room.

[0007]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first aspect of the present invention is to dispose a plurality of product storage columns in a product storage with a gap therebetween.
In a vending machine in which a cooling means is arranged on one side in the left and right direction of a product storage and a heating means is arranged on the other side, and a heat insulating partition plate is inserted into a gap to form rooms of different temperature zones on the left and right of the product storage. And at least two heat insulating partition plates are inserted into different gaps.

According to the present invention, a cooling room is formed in one of the left and right rooms of the product storage, and a heating room is formed in the other room of the product storage. On the other hand, the room formed between the heat-insulating partition walls is at room temperature (room temperature room) due to the heat insulation of each heat-insulating partition plate, and can store room-temperature products.

Further, since the cooling room and the heating room are arranged with the room temperature room therebetween, the temperature difference between the adjacent rooms is smaller than in the conventional case, thereby reducing the heat loss of the cooling room and the heating room. be able to.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the vending machine of the first aspect, the heat insulating partition plate is constituted by two sheets, and the width of the gap is smaller than twice the thickness of one heat insulating partition plate. The structure is large.

According to the present invention, two heat-insulating partition plates are connected to one
Since it can be inserted into the gap between the locations, when the interior of the product storage is constituted by the cooling chamber and the heating chamber, this gap can be used as a storage space for one of the heat insulating partition plates.

[0012]

1 to 3 show a first embodiment of a vending machine according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the vending machine, and FIG. 2 shows cooling means and heating means. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the vending machine, and FIG. 3 shows an inserted state of a heat insulating partition plate.

This vending machine 1 is, as shown in FIG.
The vending machine main body 2 has a product storage 3 and a machine room 4 at the top and bottom, and a plurality of serpentine-type product storage columns 5 are provided on the left and right in the product storage 3. Each of the product storage columns 5 has a gap A between adjacent columns 5, and the gap A is interposed with a heat insulating partition plate 6 filled with a foamed resin or the like, so that the product storage 3 is partitioned in the left-right direction. In addition, 7 is a heat-insulating inner door that opens and closes the front surface of the product storage 3, and 8 is an outer door that opens and closes the front surface of the inner door 7.

The product storage 3 is cooled and heated by the cooling means 9 and the heating means 11 shown in FIG. That is,
The cooling means 9 includes a compressor 9 a and a condenser 9 b installed in the machine room 4 and a product storage column 5 on the left side of the product storage 3.
Is constituted by an evaporator 9c, a circulating fan 9d and an expansion valve (not shown) installed on the lower back side of the lower part of FIG. The left room is cooled, and the products in the left product storage column 5 are cooled. On the other hand, the heating unit 11 is an electric heater 1 installed on the right side of the product storage 3.
1a and a circulation fan 11b, the inside air blown by the circulation fan 11b is circulated to the electric heater 11a (broken line arrow) to heat the room on the right side and heat the goods in the goods storage column 5 on the right side. I do.

The structure described above is the same for the vending machine shown in the conventional example. The vending machine according to the present embodiment has the number of heat insulating partition plates 6 used and the size of the heat insulating partition plate 6 and the gap A. It has a characteristic.

That is, in the present embodiment, two heat insulating partition plates 6 are used. One of the heat insulating partition plates 6 is inserted into the gap A at the center between the left and right in the product storage 3, and the other heat insulating partition plate 6 is It is inserted into the gap A on the second surface from the right. Thereby, the inside of the product storage 3 is divided into three rooms in the horizontal direction. Here, when the cooling means 9 and the heating means 11 are operated, a room between the left heat insulating partition plate 6 and the left side surface of the product storage 3 becomes a cooling room B, and a product storage column in the cooling room B. 5 (3 left
Rows) of products (cold products) are cooled. On the other hand, a room between the right heat insulating partition plate 6 and the right side surface of the product storage 3 is a heating room C, and the product storage column 5 in the heating room C is provided.
The products (hot products) in the (right two columns) are heated. Furthermore,
The room surrounded by the left and right heat insulating partition plates 6 becomes a room temperature room D because the cooling air and the heating air are shut off by the heat insulating partition plates 6, and the product storage column 5 in the room temperature room D (1 near the center).
Row) products are stored at room temperature.

As shown in FIG. 3A, if the thickness W2 of the heat insulating partition plate 6 is, for example, 15 mm, the width W1 of the gap A is about 35 mm. And the width dimension W1 is formed to be slightly larger than twice the thickness dimension W2. As a result, when changing from three rooms to two rooms, that is, when two rooms, ie, the cooling room B and the heating room C, are used, as shown in FIG. The plates 6 can be stacked and stored.

According to the present embodiment, the two heat insulating partition plates 6
Thus, the cooling room B and the heating room C as well as the room temperature room D can be formed, and cold products, hot products, and even room temperature products can be sold.

Further, the cooling room B and the heating room C are arranged with the room temperature room D interposed therebetween, and the temperature difference between the adjacent rooms B, C, D is smaller than that of the conventional room.
And the heat loss of the heating chamber C is reduced.

Further, the width dimension W1 of the gap A is formed to be slightly larger than twice the thickness dimension W2 of one heat insulating partition plate 6, so that the two heat insulating partition plates 6 are connected to one gap A. The interior of the product storage 6 can be inserted into the cooling chamber B and the heating chamber C.
In this case, one of the heat insulating partition plates 6 may be overlapped with the other heat insulating partition plate 6 and inserted into one gap A. This gap A can also be used as a storage space for the one heat insulating partition plate 6. .

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of a vending machine according to the present invention. In this embodiment, an evaporator 9c1 as a cooling means and an electric heater 1 as a heating means in a room temperature room D.
1a1 are installed, and a circulation fan 12 shared by each means is installed.

According to this embodiment, the room temperature room D can be arbitrarily changed to a cooling room or a heating room as required. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the above embodiment.

[0023]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in addition to the cooling room and the heating room in the product storage,
Room temperature room can be formed, and various kinds of products can be sold.

Further, since the cooling room and the heating room are arranged with the room temperature room interposed therebetween, and the temperature difference between the adjacent rooms is smaller than that of the conventional room, the heat loss of the cooling room and the heating room can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since two heat insulating partition plates can be inserted into one gap, when the interior of the product storage is composed of a cooling chamber and a heating chamber, one of the heat insulating partitions is inserted into this gap. The partition can be inserted over the other heat-insulating partition, and this gap can be used as a storage space for one heat-insulating partition.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vending machine according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vending machine showing a cooling unit and a heating unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an inserted state of the heat insulating partition plate according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vending machine showing a cooling unit and a heating unit according to a second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vending machine, 2 ... Vending machine main body, 3 ... Commodity storage, 5 ... Commodity storage column, 6 ... Heat insulation partition plate, 9 ... Cooling means, 11 ... Heating means, A ... Gap.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of product storage columns are arranged side by side in a product storage with a gap therebetween, and a cooling means is arranged on one side in the left-right direction of the product storage, and a heating means is arranged on the other side. In a vending machine in which a heat insulating partition plate is inserted into the gap to form rooms of different temperature zones on the left and right sides of the product storage, at least two heat insulating partition plates are inserted into different gaps. Vending machine. 2. A heat insulating partition plate comprising two heat insulating partition plates, wherein the width of the gap is formed to be slightly larger than twice the thickness of one heat insulating partition plate. The vending machine described.