JP3430730B2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic vending machine with a cooling and heating unit for keeping cans or bottles and the like in the machine while keeping them cold or keeping them warm for sale.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, FIG. 7 shows a conventional structure of an automatic vending machine to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a cabinet of a vending machine that serves as a heat-insulating housing, 2 is its front outer door, 3 is an inner door, 4 is a product outlet, and cabinet 1
A product rack (serpentine type product rack) 6 that stores products 5 in the product storage box, and a shooter 7 that sends out the products dropped from the product rack 6 to the product outlet 4.
A cooling unit 10 (a heating unit using a heater in place of the cooler 9 or a cooling device) that is arranged on the back surface side (lower side) of the shooter 7 by combining an internal fan 8 and a cooler ((evaporator of refrigerator) 9 (There is also a cooling and heating unit with a heater and a heater), and it is connected to the wind tunnel 10a of the cooling unit 10 on the rear side of the storage, that is, between the product rack 6 and the back wall of the cabinet 1. Is provided with a suction duct 11 that rises toward the upper part of the refrigerator, and 12 is a condensing unit of the refrigerator.

With such a structure, when the vending machine is in operation, cool air that has exchanged heat with the cooler 9 of the cooling unit 10 blows forward through the internal fan 8 and the commodity rack 6 is indicated by an arrow. After ventilating, it is circulated and blown back to the cooling unit 10 via the suction duct 11 that opens in the upper part of the refrigerator, and in this blowing process, the products 5 stored in the product rack 6 are cooled to an appropriate temperature for sale. To do. The same applies to the case of the heating unit, in which warm air heated by the heater circulates and blows the inside of the refrigerator to heat the product.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, recently, the road protrusion of a vending machine has become a social problem.
Therefore, it is an important issue to reduce the depth dimension of the cabinet 1 as much as possible and to make the vending machine thinner. From this point of view, looking at the configuration of FIG. 7, the required depth dimension A of the cabinet 1 is determined by the depth dimension of the product rack 6 plus the thickness B of the suction duct 11.
Therefore, apart from the product rack 6, the thickness B of the suction duct 11 must be reduced in order to reduce the overall depth dimension A. However, if the thickness of the suction duct 11 is reduced, the cross-sectional area of the suction duct is reduced and the windage loss is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide cold air in a refrigerator,
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending machine with an improved ventilation path so that a sufficient amount of warm air can be circulated and the vending machine can be made thinner without being restricted by a suction duct.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a product in which a product rack is housed.
Products that are paid out from the product rack on the bottom side of the storage
The shooter to be sent to the outlet and the storage on the back side of the shooter
Equipped with a cooling or heating unit in combination with an internal fan
Through the cooling and heating unit,
Automatic sales that circulates warm air to keep products cool or warm
It is a vending machine and is connected to the rear surface of the wind tunnel of the cooling and heating unit.
For those equipped with a suction duct that rises to the top of the cabinet
The suction duct on either the left or right side of the inside wall
The suction duct is installed on the rear side
The shoe is connected between the lower part and the wind tunnel of the cooling and heating unit.
It shall be constructed by laying a rear duct that is shorter than the height of the roof .

The invention according to claim 2 is a product rack.
From the product rack to the bottom of the product storage
The shooter that sends out the released product to the product outlet, and the shutter
Cooling or heating combined with the internal fan on the back of the computer
A heat unit is installed, and a refrigerator is provided through the cooling and heating unit.
Keeping the product cool by circulating cold or warm air inside
It is a vending machine that keeps warm and keeps the cooling and heating unit.
Suction duct that stands up at the upper part of the cabinet and is connected to the rear surface of the wind tunnel
In the one with the
It is installed on the side wall, and the left and right suction ports are installed on the rear side of the refrigerator.
Of the cooling and heating unit straddling the bottom of the duct
Rear duct that is shorter than the height of the shooter communicating with the wind tunnel
Shall be laid and configured.

[0008]

In the above structure, the cool air or warm air blown forward from the cooling or heating unit is ventilated through the product rack to cool or heat the stored products, and then it is laid up on the side wall of the storage and laid inside. The air is circulated and blown along a route that returns to the cooling and overheating unit via the suction duct that opens at the top and the rear duct that is laid behind the cooling and heating unit. In this case, the rear duct has a height that can be accommodated on the rear side of the shooter, and therefore, it is necessary to secure a ventilation space that is involved in circulating air in the refrigerator between the rear part of the product rack and the back wall of the cabinet. Absent.
As a result, the product rack can be arranged so as to be in close contact with the back wall of the cabinet, and the vending machine can be made thin. It should be noted that, although the frontage of the cabinet is slightly increased, the suction duct can be selected to have a cross-sectional dimension that allows a sufficient amount of air flow regardless of the depth dimension of the cabinet.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below in Examples 1 and 2 described below. In the drawings of each embodiment, the same members corresponding to those in FIG. 7 are designated by the same reference numerals. (Embodiment 1) FIGS. 1, 2, and 5 show an embodiment corresponding to claim 1 of the present invention, in which a wind tunnel 10a of a cooling unit 10 installed at the bottom of the cabinet 1 is shown. In addition, a suction duct 11 that rises from the bottom to the top of the inside of the refrigerator is laid along one of the left and right side walls of the inside of the refrigerator, and the lower portion of the suction duct 11 and the wind tunnel 10a of the cooling unit 10 are provided. A back duct 13 is laid on the back wall surface in the refrigerator so as to communicate with the rear end surface. Where the back ducks
The height dimension H of the shoe 13 is set to be lower than the height of the shooter 7 so as to fit on the back surface side of the shooter. Further, the suction duct 11 and the rear duct 13 are combined and interconnected as shown in FIG. 5, and the window hole 1 leading to the wind tunnel 10a of the cooling unit is provided at the center of the plate surface of the rear duct 13.
3a is opened, and the shooter 7 is provided on the upper left and right two places.
A slit 13b for locking the rear end of the rear end in an insertion manner is opened.

With the above structure, during the cold-keeping operation in the cold storage, the cool air that has exchanged heat with the cooler 9 of the cooling unit 10 and is blown out forward from the internal fan 8 moves upward in the cold storage as indicated by the arrow in the figure. After ventilating air to cool the stored products in the product rack (see FIG. 7), the product is circulated through a path such that it returns to the cooling unit 10 via the suction duct 11 and the rear duct 13 laid on the side wall in the refrigerator. Blown. Moreover, as can be seen from the ventilation path of the illustrated configuration, there is no duct for circulating air inside the refrigerator extending above the shooter 7 on the back side of the inside of the cabinet, and therefore the rear end of the product rack is located behind the cabinet 1. The vending machine can be formed into a thin structure by arranging the vending machine so that it is almost in close contact with the wall.

Embodiment 2 FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 show an embodiment corresponding to claim 2 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the suction ducts 11 are laid and distributed on the left and right side walls of the cabinet 1 inside the cabinet, and the rear duct 13 laid on the rear side of the bottom of the cabinet extends between the left and right suction ducts 11, and It communicates with the wind tunnel 10a of the cooling unit 10 through the window hole 13a opened in the front surface. Further, the rear duct 13 is set to a low height dimension so that it can be accommodated on the rear surface side of the shooter 7 as in the first embodiment.

With this structure, after the cool air blown forward from the cooling unit 10 reaches the upper part of the inside of the refrigerator, it is branched into two and is passed through the suction duct 11 and the rear duct 13 laid on the left and right side walls to cool the cooling unit. Circulation is sent to return to 10. In addition, since the second embodiment has the suction duct 11 of two systems as compared with the first embodiment, the ventilation capacity of the suction duct can be increased by that much.
This is advantageous when increasing the heat load, and thus the circulating air volume in the refrigerator, such as in an automatic vending machine in which the number of columns in the product rack is increased to increase the number of products accommodated.

Each of the illustrated embodiments is a cooling unit 10.
Although the case in which the product is kept cool is described, it is needless to say that the same can be done when a heating unit or a heating / cooling unit is provided instead of the cooling unit.

[0014]

As described above, according to the present invention, a sufficient amount of circulating air in the refrigerator can be ensured via the suction duct laid on the side wall of the refrigerator, and the suction duct does not restrict the air flow. , The rear part of the product rack can be placed almost in close contact with the back wall in the refrigerator, and as a result, the depth dimension of the cabinet can be reduced and the vending machine can be made thinner than the conventional structure. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a bird's-eye view showing a configuration of a main part of an embodiment corresponding to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line XX in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a bird's-eye view showing a configuration of a main part of an embodiment corresponding to the second embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line XX in FIG.

5 is a diagram showing an assembly structure of a suction duct and a rear duct in FIG.

6 is a diagram showing an assembly structure of a suction duct and a rear duct in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a conventional configuration diagram of a vending machine to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cabinet 6 product rack 7 Shooter 8 Internal fan 9 cooler 10 Cooling unit 10a Wind tunnel 11 Suction duct 13 Rear duct

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A shooter for delivering a product discharged from a product rack to a product outlet on the bottom side of a product storage box containing a product rack, and cooling or heating in combination with an internal fan on the back side of the shooter. An automatic vending machine in which a unit is provided and cold or warm air is circulated through the cooling and heating unit to keep the product cold or warm, and is connected to the rear surface of the wind tunnel of the cooling and heating unit. in those with suction duct to stand up inside the top, the suction
If you install the duct on either the left or right side of the inside wall
On the back side of the inside of the cabinet, the lower part of the suction duct and the cooling and heating
Than the height of the shooter that is connected to the wind tunnel of the heat unit
A vending machine characterized by laying a short back duct . 2. A bottom portion in a product storage box containing a product rack.
Send out the products delivered from the product rack to the product outlet
Shooter, and a fan inside the store behind the shooter
The cooling or heating unit
Circulation of cold or warm air through the heat unit
It is a vending machine that keeps products cool or warm
Connect to the rear of the wind tunnel of the cooling and heating unit, and
In the case of having a suction duct that rises, the suction
Install the ducts on both left and right side walls of the cabinet and
On the back side, straddle between the lower parts of the left and right suction ducts
The height of the shooter communicating with the wind tunnel of the cooling and heating unit.
A vending machine featuring a rear duct that is very short .