JPS6023271B2 - Internal cooling system for hot-and-cold vending machines - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an internal cooling device for a hot and cold vending machine.

Beverages and other bottled products handled by vending machines are generally cooled or refilled inside the machine and sold as cold or hot products.

Furthermore, in order to diversify products and sell cold and hot products in the same machine depending on the season, the product storage area is divided into multiple rooms, and each room can be operated in cold storage or heating mode. A vending machine with the above design has been put into practical use. In this case, a refrigerator is generally used as the cold storage means, and an electric heater is generally used as the heating means. Here, an overview of a conventional hot and cold vending machine will be described with reference to a diagram.

In Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, 1 is the main cabinet of the vending machine, 2 is the front door, and the interior of the cabinet 1 is divided into two product storage rooms 3A and 38 on the left and right, and each room has a shelf for products. 4 are housed. The products carried out based on the sales command are taken out through the chute 5 to the product takeout port 6. By the way, room 3A is a cold product storage room and is equipped with a refrigerator evaporator 7A and an internal ventilation fan 8.
A is installed. On the other hand, the room 3B serves as a hot or cold product storage room and is equipped with an evaporator 7B, a blower fan 8B, and a heater 9. Furthermore, in the lower machine room of the cabinet 1, there is installed a cooling unit 13, which is a refrigerator that combines a motor compressor 10, a condenser 11, and an outside fan 12. It consists of Next, FIG. 3 shows a conventional refrigerant circuit.

That is, the evaporators 7A and 7B of the chambers 3A and 3B are connected in parallel to the condensing unit 13 via expansion valves 14 as capillary tubes, respectively. Here, two lines of branched refrigerant circuits including evaporators in each chamber are indicated by reference numerals 15A and 158. In addition, each room 3A,
Each room is equipped with a thermostat 16A, 16B that senses the room temperature and operates at a set temperature as a control means for maintaining the cold storage temperature of cold products in 3B at an appropriate temperature, and each branch soot circuit 15A, 15B is equipped with a thermostat 16A, 16B that senses the room temperature and operates at a set temperature. Solenoid valves 17A and 178 are inserted and connected on the inlet side, respectively. Next, FIG. 4 shows an electrical control circuit for the cooling circuit shown in FIG. 3.

In the figure, turtles 8A and 18B are auxiliary relays, 19 is a cold storage/heating operation selection switch, and a thermostat for controlling the Futagawa heater 9. As is clear from the illustrated circuit, each chamber 3A,
The thermostats 16A and 16B of 3B control the opening and closing of the solenoid valves 17A and 7B, respectively, and each branch cold soot circuit 15A,
15B, and further controls the flow of cold soot to the solenoid valve blades 7A, 1.
When both 78 are closed, the compressor 0 of the condensing unit 13 is connected via the auxiliary relays 18A and 18B.
, the operation of the extraneous fan 12 is stopped. Note that FIG. 3 is a schematic representation, and a starting relay for the compressor motor, an overload relay, etc. are omitted. In addition, the operation selection switch 19 is set to sell hot products in room 3B.
When switching, solenoid valve turtle 7B closes and auxiliary relay 18B
is also held inactive, and the heater 9 is energized. FIG. 7 shows the actual operation progress when both the chambers 3A and 3B are operated in cold storage using this cold storage operation control method. Thermostat 16 for each room m, n, m, n'' in the figure
Represents the closing and opening operating points of A and 16B, as well as ON and O
FF indicates the operation/stop period of the condensing unit 13. By the way, as shown in Fig. 7, chambers 3A and 3B
In general, the opening and closing cycles of the thermostats 16A and 16B do not match and vary due to unbalanced refrigeration loads. On the other hand, the condensing unit 13 is controlled so that as long as the thermostat in at least one chamber closes its contact point, the solenoid valve in the other chamber is closed and the condensing unit 13 continues to operate even if the evaporator is in a rest state.
As a result, the condensing unit remains in operation almost all the time, which is much longer than the OFF period during the operation period ○M in the condensing unit. Moreover, the capacity of the condensing unit 13 is determined in advance based on the total refrigerating load of the chambers 3A and 3B, and even if only one of the refrigerating loads is applied to either the chambers 3A or 38, it is necessary for the operation of the condensing unit. The overall power consumption is large and the operating efficiency is reduced. In addition, as is clear from the control circuit configuration in Figure 4, each thermostat 1
Since 6A and 16B control the opening/closing of the solenoid valves and the operation control of the condensing unit, there is a drawback that the circuit configuration becomes complicated, such as requiring an auxiliary relay. The present invention has been developed in consideration of the above-mentioned points, and it is possible to save energy and reduce running costs while maintaining the cooling temperature of each room at an appropriate temperature, reducing power consumption and simplifying the control circuit. It is an object of the present invention to provide an advantageous configurable internal cooling device for a hot and cold vending machine.

According to the present invention, the evaporators of each product storage chamber are connected in parallel to one refrigerator condensing unit through expansion valves to form a cooling circuit, and the evaporators of each product storage chamber are connected in parallel to one refrigerator condensing unit. A solenoid valve is inserted only in the branch refrigerant circuit including the evaporator in the room, and among the thermostats installed in each product storage room, the thermostat in the cold product storage room controls the operation of the condensing unit, and the hot or cold product storage room This is achieved by controlling the opening and closing of the solenoid valve using a thermostat.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below based on the drawings.

First, in the refrigerant circuit shown in Fig. 5, the basic circuit is the same as that in Fig. 2, but the difference from Fig. 2 is that of the rooms 3A and 3B, only the branch line in room 3B, which is the hot or cold product storage room, is used. A solenoid valve 17B is inserted into the soot circuit 15B.

Here, Evaporators 7A and 7B installed in rooms 3A and 3B
In addition to the refrigeration load conditions of each room, such as the cold soot evaporation temperature, heat exchange area, and air flow rate of the fan, the temperature inside each room can be maintained at approximately the predetermined appropriate temperature with the same cold storage operation cycle. be selected in advance. - On the other hand, the control circuit has a circuit configuration as shown in FIG. With this circuit configuration, the condensing unit turtle 3 is controlled to operate and stop under the operating conditions of the thermostat 16A of the cold-only product storage chamber 3A, regardless of the operation of the thermostat quantity 6B.
On the other hand, the thermostat 16B operates under the operating conditions of the solenoid valve 17.
Controls opening and closing of only B. In particular, the thermostat 16B controls the flow of cold butter to the solenoid valve 178, that is, the evaporator 78, for the purpose of preventing freezing during cold storage operation of the products stored in the chamber 3B.
The temperature is set just before the product freezes. Note that when the operation of the chamber 3B is switched from cooling to heating, the solenoid valve 17B remains closed and the heater 9 floods. FIG. 8 shows an example of the actual operation progress under the above-mentioned protection operation control.

As is clear from this figure, the operation of the refrigerator condensing unit 13 is controlled via the thermostat 16A according to the internal temperature condition of the chamber 3A, and the operation of the evaporator 7B of the chamber 3B is also controlled at the same time according to the same operation cycle. Maintain the temperature inside the refrigerator at approximately the appropriate temperature. Therefore, the operating period of the condensing unit 13, that is, the power consumption, is significantly reduced compared to the conventional system shown in FIG. 7, and can greatly contribute to energy saving. In addition, as for chamber 3B, the solenoid valve 17B is independently controlled by the thermostat 168, so that when high temperature products are refilled in chamber 3A, the refrigeration load is such that the products in chamber 3B are already sufficiently cooled. Even if an imbalance occurs in the chamber 3B, the thermostat 16B opens the contact at the operating point m' and closes the solenoid valve 17B, so that the temperature inside the refrigerator does not drop below that point and freezing of the product can be prevented. Furthermore, compared to the control circuit shown in FIG. 4, the control circuit shown in FIG. 6 has the advantage that the solenoid valve 16A, the auxiliary relays 18A, 18B, etc. can be omitted, and the circuit configuration can be simplified.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 are front and side views showing the overall structure of the hot-and-cold vending machine, Figure 3 is a soot circuit diagram of the internal cooling system in the secondary tank, and Figure 4 is the control shown in Figure 3. Circuit diagram, FIG. 5 is a cold soot circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The control circuit diagram in the figure, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8 are explanatory diagrams of the progress of cold storage operation according to the conventional method and the embodiment of the present invention, respectively. 1...Cabinet, 3A...Cold exclusive product storage room, 3B...Hot and cold product storage room, 7A, 7B...Evaporator, 1
3.....・Condensing unit, 14... Expansion valve, 15A, 15B... Branch cold soot circuit, 16A,
16B...・Thermostat, 17B...
·solenoid valve. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 1 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cold-only product storage room equipped with a refrigerator evaporator and a hot-or-cold product storage room equipped with a heater and a refrigerator evaporator are provided in the cabinet.
In hot-and-cold vending machines that refrigerate or heat stored products, the refrigerant circuit is constructed by connecting the evaporators of each product storage chamber in parallel to one refrigerator condensing unit via expansion valves. In addition, a solenoid valve is inserted only in the branch refrigerant circuit including the evaporator in the hot or cold product storage room, and among the thermostats installed in each product storage room, the condensing unit is operated by the thermostat in the cold product storage room. 1. An internal cooling system for a hot-and-cold vending machine, characterized in that the opening and closing of the solenoid valve is controlled by a thermostat in a hot-or-cold product storage chamber.