JPH0454589A - Automatic vending machine for frozen commodities - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the cooling air flowed through the opened loading door of the subject commodity from affecting other small rooms by providing a cooler in each small room and at the same time providing an independent commodity loading door at the front of each room. CONSTITUTION:A refrigerator 4 is divided into two small rooms 41 and 42 set side by side with a heat insulating partition 4a provided between both rooms. Each of both rooms 41 and 42 is provided with plural commodity racks 6, a cooler 7, and a chute 9. A heat insulating inner door 5 set at the front of the refrigerator 4 are provided with the independent commodity loading doors 51 and 52 opposite to both rooms 1 and 42 at the front of the racks 6. Then the commodity carry-out doors 53 and 54 are set at the front of the chute 9 respectively. In such a constitution, even a state where the doors 51 and 52 of the specific room 41 (42) are opened for supply of the commodities does not affect the other room 42 (41). Thus the commodities 14 is kept frozen in the room 42 (41).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a frozen product vending machine that sells frozen products such as ice cream.

[Conventional technology]

As is well known, the above-mentioned frozen product vending machine has a freezer made of heat-insulating walls inside the machine, and a cooler (evaporator of the freezer) inside the freezer.

The company also has multiple product ranks that store products by type, and sells products by keeping them frozen.

Here, in conventional vending machines, the freezer consists of one room, and all the product racks are arranged and arranged in this freezer, and the inside of this freezer is cooled by a cooler to keep the stored products in a frozen state. I try to do that. In addition, in order to replenish the product rack with products, the front of the freezer is equipped with an insulated inner door separate from the front door of the vending machine, and this inner door has a product loading door divided into multiple parts, and a product loading door, and a product loading door divided into multiple parts. It has a structure with a door for use.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, the conventional vending machine configuration described above has the following problems in terms of keeping the freezer cold.

(1) Since the in-flight freezer consists of a single room that stores all the product racks at once, opening the loading door facing the front to replenish some product racks with products The cold air inside the refrigerator flows out through the open door, and the hot air from outside enters the refrigerator, increasing the temperature inside the refrigerator. As a result, the temperature of products stored in product racks that do not require replenishment (kept in a frozen state) rises, resulting in a situation where, for example, ice cream melts and the quality of the product deteriorates. cause.

C) Furthermore, it takes a long pull-down time to lower the temperature inside the refrigerator, which has once risen due to product replenishment, to a predetermined cold storage temperature, and during this period, products that are not sufficiently cold will be sold.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and provides a frozen product that suppresses the temperature rise inside the freezer due to product replenishment to a minimum range, and also enables rapid cooling of the temperature inside the refrigerator once the temperature has risen after product replenishment. The purpose is to provide vending machines.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention divides the interior of a freezer into a plurality of small rooms lined up on the left and right with an insulating partition wall in between, installs a cooler in each small room, and installs a cooler in each small room. The front of the room shall be configured with separate product loading areas.

In addition, in order to quickly reduce the internal temperature of the small rooms targeted for product replenishment to the predetermined cold storage temperature after product replenishment, a refrigeration cycle is configured with a separate cooling unit for each small room of the freezer. At least two coolers are installed, and one cooler is used to keep each small room cool at all times.For small rooms that are subject to product replenishment, multiple coolers installed in the small room are used. It can also be configured to operate simultaneously and rapidly cool the product after replenishing the product.

[Effect]

With the above configuration, even if the product loading area of a specified small room is opened for product replenishment, other small rooms will not be affected, and the products stored in that small room can be maintained in a frozen state. .

In addition, by switching the operation mode of the refrigerator to simultaneously operate multiple coolers installed in the room after replenishing products, the room that has risen due to product replenishment can be rapidly cooled. The products stored in the small room, including newly replenished products, can be cooled down to a predetermined sales temperature in a short time.

〔Example) Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

First, in Figures 1 to 4, l is the main body case of the vending machine, 2 is the front door of the main body case l, and 3 is the front face N2.
4 is a freezer constructed with an insulating wall inside the main body case l, 5 is an insulated inner door provided on the front of the freezer 4, 6 is a product rank stored in the freezer, 7 is inside the freezer Cooler (evaporator of refrigerator) installed at the bottom of 8
9 is a cooling unit (condensing unit of the refrigerator) which constitutes a refrigeration cycle in combination with the cooler 7; and 9 is a product delivery chute that connects the product rack 5 and the product take-out port 3.

Here, the freezer 4 is partitioned into two small rooms 41 and 42 arranged on the left and right by providing an insulating partition wall 4a in the center of the refrigerator, and each small room 41 and 42 has a plurality of product racks 6 inside. , a cooler 7, and a shaker 9 are provided.

In addition, the insulating inner door 5 arranged on the front side of the freezer 4 has independent product loading perimeters 51 and 52 at the front position of the product rack 6, corresponding to the small rooms 41 and 42, respectively. A door 5 for carrying out the product is located in front of the shake 9 for carrying out the product.
3.54.

In addition, inside the small rooms 41 and 42 described above, there is a screen shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, two coolers 7 are provided in each room, and two cooling units 8 are further provided that constitute a refrigeration cycle with these coolers 7. Here, the cooler 6 installed in the small room N41 is represented by If, 12, the cooler 6 installed in the small room 42 is represented by 13, the two cooling units 8 are represented by NOI, NO2, and the refrigeration circuit is represented by the fifth
In FIG. 5, reference numerals 10 and 11 denote a compressor and condenser constituting the cooling unit 8, 12 an expansion valve attached to each cooler 7, and 13 a solenoid valve connected in series with the expansion valve 12. and cooler II, 13 is cooling unit NOI
The coolers 12 and 14 are connected in parallel to the cooling unit NO2.
are connected in parallel to form a two-system refrigeration cycle.

With such a configuration, under normal operating conditions the cooling unit
The refrigerant is supplied from I to the cooler II, and the small room 4 of the freezer 4 is
In addition, a refrigerant is supplied from the cooling unit NO2 to the cooler I3 to cool the small section M42, and the products stored in the product racks 6 installed in each small room are kept in a frozen state. Note that in this state, the solenoid valve 13 communicating with the cooler 12, 114 is closed to stop the supply of refrigerant. here,
When the vending machine is given a sales command, the item 14 (the item containing the ashes) is dispensed from the chute 6, and the item 14 is dispensed from the chute 9. Then, the product is delivered to the product take-out port 3 via a product delivery W (either one of 53 or 54) which is opened in time with the delivery of the product.

In addition, when replenishing products due to sold out products, only the product loading area 51 of the small room accommodating the product racks 6 that need to be replenished, for example, the small room 41 on the left side, is opened, and then the product racks 6 in the small room 41 are Replenish products. on the other hand,
When the indoor temperature of the small room 41 rises as a result of this product replenishment work, the controller switches and controls the solenoid valve 13 based on the temperature detection by the internal temperature regulator, and changes the operating mode of the refrigeration cycle as follows. In other words, in FIG. 5, the refrigerant supply from the cooling unit NO2 is transferred from the cooler I3 located on the small room 42 side to the cooler I2 located on the small room 41 side.
Switch to As a result, the small room 41 where the product was replenished
Then, the two coolers 11 and 82 operate simultaneously to rapidly cool the room, and the products stored in the small room 41, including the newly replenished products, are cooled to the predetermined cold storage temperature in a short time. Note that when the internal temperature of the small room 41 drops to a predetermined temperature during the rapid cooling operation after product replenishment, the operation mode of the refrigerator returns to normal operation again due to detection by the internal temperature controller.
13 is driven.

In addition, if the product is sold out on the small room 42 side on the right side of the freezer 4, contrary to the above, the product loading area 52
is opened to perform product replenishment work, and if the internal temperature of the small room 42 rises due to this product replenishment work, coolers H3 and 1 are operated simultaneously after product replenishment to rapidly cool the refrigerator interior. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the frozen product vending machine of the present invention is configured as described above, it achieves the following effects.

(1) The interior of the freezer is divided into multiple small rooms lined up on the left and right with an insulated partition wall between them, and a cooler is installed inside each small room, with an independent cooler installed in the front of each small room. By creating a product loading area with a built-in area, even if the product loading area of a small room that is subject to product replenishment is opened, other small rooms will not be affected by cold air flowing out. Items stored in the refrigerator can be maintained at a low temperature.

(2) In addition, each small room of the freezer is equipped with at least two coolers that form a refrigeration cycle with separate cooling units, and each small room is always kept cool with one cooler. As for the small rooms subject to product replenishment, multiple coolers installed in the small rooms were operated simultaneously after product replenishment to quickly cool down the products stored in the small room whose temperature rose after product replenishment. It is possible to cool food to a predetermined temperature and sell it in a short period of time, improving customer service.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 show the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and the first
The figure is a vertical side view of the vending machine, Figure 2. 3 is a sectional view taken along arrows nn and mm in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram of the refrigeration cycle. , 4a: Insulated bulkhead, 41.42F small room, 5: Insulated inner door, 51, 52
:Product loading area, 53.54:Product unloading door,
6: Product rack, 7: Cold 5 cone Figure 1 Figure 3 Figure 4 Bold

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A product rack and a cooler are installed in a freezer configured with an insulating wall, and products stored in the product rack are kept in a frozen state while products are removed from the product rack based on sales instructions. In a frozen product vending machine that sells products by taking them out to the outlet, the interior of the freezer is divided into multiple small rooms lined up on the left and right with an insulated partition wall in between, and a cooler is installed inside each small room. In addition, the frozen product vending machine is characterized by having an independent product loading door in the front of each small room. 2) In the frozen product vending machine according to claim 1, at least two coolers each forming a refrigeration cycle with a separate cooling unit are provided in each compartment of the freezer,
At all times, each small room is kept cool with one cooler, and for small rooms that are subject to product replenishment, multiple coolers installed in that small room are operated simultaneously after product replenishment to quickly cool them down. A frozen product vending machine that is characterized by: