JPS6359070B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in a storage unit that can switch between cold and hot operation, which switches between cooling and warming articles.

Conventionally, vending machines are generally known as this type of storage that can be switched between cold and hot operation, so this conventional vending machine will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. 1 is a main body of a vending machine having a heat insulating material 2, and the interior of this main body 1 is partitioned into two product storage chambers 3a and 3b on the left and right, and each chamber 3
A and 3b are provided with product shelves 4a and 4b, respectively. In addition, the product storage chambers 3a and 3b each have evaporators 5a and 5b for cooling, heaters 6a and 6b for heating, and each chamber 3a and 3b has cold air,
Blow fans 7a and 7b are arranged to forcefully circulate warm air. Evaporators 5a and 5b arranged in each chamber 3a and 3b are connected in series to each other, and the electric compressor 8, capacitor 9, capillary tube A10a, evaporator 5a, and evaporator 5b are connected in sequence, and the evaporator 5a is bypassed. Capillary tube B10b
A bypass circuit 11 is formed including the capillary tubes A10a and B10b, and electromagnetic valves 12a and 12b are provided at the inlet portions of the capillary tubes A10a and B10b, respectively. The electromagnetic valves 12a and 12b are opened and closed by electric signals based on a cold/hot operation selection switching command.

In the above configuration, when both the product storage chambers 3a and 3b are in the cooling operation, the solenoid valve 12a is opened and the solenoid valve 12b is closed, and the refrigerant flows through the refrigerant circuit indicated by the solid arrow, and the refrigerant flows in both the product storage chambers 3a and 3b. was cooling. In addition, the product storage room 3a is heated, the product storage room 3
When performing refrigerated operation of b, close the solenoid valve 12a,
By opening the electromagnetic valve 12b, the refrigerant flows through the refrigerant circuit indicated by the dotted arrow to cool only the product storage chamber 3b, and the product storage chamber 3a is heated by the heater 6a. When both chambers 3a and 3b are kept warm, the electric compressor 8 is stopped and both chambers 3a and 3b are operated at a warm temperature by heaters 6a and 6b.

As described above, by selecting the heaters 6a, 6b, the compressor 8, and the solenoid valves 12a, 12b and energizing them, the product storage chambers 3a, 3b can be cooled to cold, warm to cold,
A combination of warm and hot operation was obtained, allowing one vending machine to sell cold and hot products at the same time. However, since a solenoid valve is used to control the refrigerant circuit, not only the cost is high, but also the electricity bill is high.
The reliability of the solenoid valve was also low due to clogging caused by dust during the cooling cycle.

The present invention eliminates these drawbacks and provides a cold/hot operation switching type storage unit that can control the refrigerant circuit without requiring a solenoid valve when controlling the refrigerant circuit, has low manufacturing costs, low electricity costs, and is highly reliable. In particular, the object is to obtain a refrigerant circuit for this purpose.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, using the same reference numerals except that the cooling system is different from the conventional one. The evaporators 5a and 5b are connected in series, and an electric compressor 8, a condenser 9, and a first capillary tube 13 form a two-stage cooling system. Further, the upstream evaporator 5a and the first capillary tube 13 are connected to the first capillary tube 1
2nd capillary tube 1 with greater resistance than 3
4 and a bypass pipe 16 via a flow divider 15. The first capillary tube 13 and the second capillary tube 14 are attached to the flow divider 15 from the inlet of the first capillary tube 13 to the second capillary tube 1.
4. The outlets of the capacitors 9 are arranged higher than that. The first capillary tube 13 is connected to a heater 6 for heating the chamber 3a in which the evaporator 5a is provided on the upstream side.
It is installed by exchanging heat with part a.

The cold/hot switching operation in the above configuration will be described. When both the product storage chambers 3a and 3b are in cooling operation, the operation of the compressor 8 is controlled by a refrigeration thermostat (not shown) that controls the chamber 3b.
At this time, the first capillary tube 14 is
Since the resistance of the first capillary tube 13 is smaller, most of the refrigerant flows through the first capillary tube 13, cooling the evaporators 5a and 5b and cooling the respective chambers 3a and 3b. (Refrigerant flow indicated by solid line arrow) Next, when the product storage compartment 3a is to be heated and the product storage compartment 3b is to be refrigerated, the cold/warm selector switch (not shown) of the compartment 3a can be switched to warm storage. The heater 6a is energized.

Then, a part of the first capillary tube 13 is heated by the heat of the heater 6a. On the other hand, since the chamber 3b is refrigerated, the operation of the electric compressor 8 is controlled.

Therefore, the refrigerant flows into the first capillary tube 13, but since a part of the first capillary tube 13 is heated by the warm heater 6a, flash gas is not generated in the first capillary tube 13. It will be greatly promoted. Therefore, the resistance of the first capillary tube 13 becomes very large, and the resistance of the second capillary tube 14 becomes smaller, so that most of the refrigerant flows through the second capillary tube 14 and cools only the evaporator 5b. and cools the chamber 3b (refrigerant flow indicated by dotted arrows). And room 3a
The heating is controlled by a warm heater 6a and a thermostat for warming (not shown). In the case of co-temperature operation for both chambers 3a and 3b, by setting the changeover switches (not shown) for both chambers 3a and 3b,
The compressor is stopped, the heaters 6a and 6b are energized, and a thermostat (not shown) provided in the chamber 3a controls both the heaters 6a and 6b to control the heating of both chambers 3a and 3b. Ru. By performing cold/hot switching control as described above, it is possible to control the refrigerant circuit without using a solenoid valve, etc.
Product storage compartment 3 can be opened by simply switching the cold/hot switch.
In a and 3b, combinations of cold-cold, hot-cold, and hot-hot operations are obtained, and one vending machine can sell cold products and hot products at the same time.

As described above, the storage room of the present invention has two product storage rooms, and by arranging an evaporator and a heater in each of the two rooms and switching between cooling operation and heating operation, it is possible to store refrigerated products and warm products. The structure is configured so that products can be sold simultaneously, and the evaporators installed in the two chambers are connected in series, and the compressor, condenser, first capillary tube, and evaporator are connected in sequence, and the upstream evaporator is bypassed. A bypass pipe including a second capillary tube is provided, and when both chambers are in cold operation, the resistance of the second capillary tube of the bypass circuit is made larger than the resistance of the first capillary tube, and The evaporator on the upstream side of a part of the capillary tube is exchanged with a heater installed in the product storage chamber, and when one chamber is in hot operation, the first capillary tube is heated by the cold/temperature changeover switch. Since the resistance of the first capillary tube is made larger than that of the bypass circuit, a single cold/hot selector switch can switch between cold and cold, cold and hot.
A combination of warm and hot operation is obtained, and one vending machine can sell cold and hot products at the same time, which not only makes operation very easy, but also eliminates the need to use solenoid valves. Therefore, it has great practical effects, such as low cost, low power consumption, and high reliability.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to vending machines, but similar practical effects can be obtained with any cold/hot operation switching storage that has a similar cooling system, such as a cold/hot switching wet towel machine.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the configuration of a cold operation switching type vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a refrigerant circuit diagram of the cooling unit in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a conventional cold operation switching type vending machine. FIG. 4 is a front view showing the configuration of the vending machine, and FIG. 4 shows a refrigerant circuit diagram of the cooling unit in FIG. 3. 1... Cabinet, 3a, 3b... Product storage room, 4a, 4b... Product shelf, 5a, 5b... Evaporator, 6a, 6b... Heater, 13... First
capillary tube, 14...second capillary tube.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Two storage chambers are formed in the main body, each of the two chambers is provided with an evaporator for cooling and a heater for heating, and a switch for switching between cold and hot operation is provided, and the evaporator installed in the two chambers is provided. are connected in series with a compressor, a condenser, and a first capillary tube to form a cooling system, and a bypass pipe that bypasses the first capillary tube and the upstream evaporator is connected to a second capillary tube. A cold/hot switching type storage which is provided through a capillary tube and which exchanges heat with a heater in a room in which an evaporator is installed on the upstream side.