JP2014081111A - Refrigeration and cold storage system - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to grasp an object to be cooled that is stored in a freezer / refrigerator and perform automatic control.
A refrigeration / refrigeration system 100 is attached to a plurality of indoor units 2a to 2c installed in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C and an object to be cooled S installed for each of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C. Tag readers 3a to 3c that read information about the object to be cooled S from the IC tag, and the indoor units 2a of the refrigerators / refrigerators A to C using the information about the object to be cooled S read by the tag readers 3a to 3c. And the centralized management device 10 that controls the operations of 2c.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a refrigeration / refrigeration system that performs automatic control according to an object to be cooled contained in a refrigeration / refrigerator.

  Conventionally, a refrigeration / refrigeration system having a function of managing and controlling a refrigeration / refrigerator collectively has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses that each freezer is connected to a centralized control device via a transmission line, and manages a plurality of refrigerators collectively, for example, performing energy saving operation according to the day of the week.

  In addition, a system has been proposed in which information on an article entering the warehouse is read from an RFID tag so that the article can be easily recognized where the article is located (see, for example, Patent Document 2). In Patent Document 2, an RFID tag storing article information is attached to an article accommodated in a warehouse, and a communication antenna in the warehouse reads the article information from the RFID tag to centrally manage the article storage location. It is disclosed.

JP 2012-7756 A JP 2012-71928 A

  In the refrigeration / refrigeration system of Patent Document 1, as shown in Patent Document 2, if an RFID tag is attached to an article housed in a freezer and stored, which refrigeration / refrigeration is in a warehouse having a plurality of refrigeration / refrigeration rooms. It can be centrally managed whether it is stored in the room. However, when managing the items in the freezer, it is necessary to perform temperature control as well as location management. Further, the set value in the warehouse needs to be changed depending on the contents stored in the refrigerator / refrigerator, and there is a problem that the operation setting must be changed every time the stored item in the warehouse changes. In addition, it is conceivable that not only the same items are contained in the freezer / refrigerator, but various items come in every day. Depending on the articles entering the warehouse, it may be necessary to perform completely different temperature control, etc., and neglecting this may result in overcooling or conversely insufficient cooling, which may adversely affect the articles.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a freezing / refrigeration system capable of automatically controlling the operation of an indoor unit and an outdoor unit in accordance with an object to be cooled. It is intended to provide.

  A refrigeration / refrigeration system according to the present invention is a refrigeration / refrigeration system having an indoor unit installed in a refrigeration / refrigerator and an outdoor unit connected to the indoor unit, and the object to be cooled is stored in the refrigeration / refrigerator. A tag reader that reads information about an object to be cooled from an IC tag attached to the tag, and a centralized management device that controls the operation of the indoor unit and / or the outdoor unit using information about the object to be cooled read by the tag reader; It is equipped with.

  According to the refrigeration / refrigeration system according to the present invention, when an article enters the refrigeration / refrigerator, the information is read from a pre-registered IC tag and the information on the articles in each room is centrally managed according to the contents. Suitable control can be performed automatically.

It is the schematic which shows preferable embodiment of the freezing / refrigeration system of this invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows an example of the centralized management apparatus in the freezing / refrigeration system of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the data structure of database DB in which information CD regarding the to-be-cooled object S was memorize | stored. It is a table | surface which shows the difference of the suction temperature in each indoor unit, and preset temperature when the demand control by the electric power control means of FIG. 2 is performed. It is a table | surface which shows the difference of the suction temperature in each indoor unit, and preset temperature when the demand control by the electric power control means of FIG. 2 is performed. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of automatic temperature control in the freezing / refrigeration system of FIG.1 and FIG.2. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the storage period management control in the freezing / refrigeration system of FIG.1 and FIG.2.

Embodiment 1. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a preferred embodiment of the refrigeration / refrigeration system of the present invention. The refrigeration / refrigeration system 100 of FIG. 1 freezes / refrigerates a plurality of refrigeration / refrigerators A to C that accommodates an object to be cooled S provided in a warehouse, for example. In addition, although the case where the number of rooms is three is illustrated in FIG. 1, it may be a warehouse having more rooms, or may have only one room. 1 has outdoor units 1a to 1c, indoor units 2a to 2c, tag readers 3a to 3c, and article temperature sensors 4a to 4c for each of the freezing and refrigerators A to C, respectively.

  Each of the outdoor units 1a to 1c and each of the indoor units 2a to 2c constitutes a refrigeration cycle circuit connected by a refrigerant pipe, and has a function of cooling the indoor space in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C. . The tag readers 3a to 3c read information stored in the IC tag in a non-contact manner by wireless communication, and are installed in the vicinity of the entrances of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C. Here, the IC tag is, for example, an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag, and is attached to a package or the like in which the object to be cooled S is stored. The IC tag stores information about the object to be cooled S, and the tag readers 3a to 3c read the information about the object to be cooled S when they are loaded and unloaded from the IC tag. The article temperature sensors 4a to 4c measure the temperature of the object to be cooled S when the object to be cooled S is received, and, like the tag readers 3a to 3c, near the entrances of the freezer / refrigerators A to C Is provided.

  Furthermore, the freezing / refrigeration system 100 includes a centralized management device 10 that collectively manages freezing / refrigeration of the freezing / refrigerators A to C. The centralized management apparatus 10 is connected to the above-described outdoor units 1a to 1c, indoor units 2a to 2c, tag readers 3a to 3c, and article temperature sensors 4a to 4c through transmission means 10a, respectively, so that data can be transmitted and received. . Note that the transmission unit 10a may be wired or wireless as long as it can transmit and receive data and control signals. Then, the centralized management device 10 controls the operation of the outdoor units 1a to 1c and the indoor units 2a to 2c of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C using the information about the object S to be cooled read by the tag readers 3a to 3c. To do.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the centralized management apparatus 10 in the refrigeration / refrigeration system 100 of FIG. 1. The centralized management apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. As described above, the centralized management apparatus 10 includes the unit control unit 11, the tag data management unit 12, the database DB, the set temperature calculation unit 20, the storage time limit management unit 30, the power control unit 50, the rapid cooling determination unit 60, and the information output unit. 40.

  The unit control means 11 controls the operations of the outdoor units 1a to 1c and the indoor units 2a to 2c, and can transmit data to the outdoor units 1a to 1c and the indoor units 2a to 2c via the transmission means 10a. It is connected to the. The unit control means 11 controls each of the outdoor units 1a to 1c and the indoor units 2a to 2c in accordance with the objects to be cooled S stored in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C. Each has a function of performing temperature control independently.

  The tag data management means 12 stores and manages the information CD related to the object to be cooled S read by the tag readers 3a to 3c in the database DB. Specifically, when the tag readers 3a to 3c read the tag information from the IC tag when the objects to be cooled S are stored in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C, the tag data management unit 12 sets the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C. The information CD related to the object to be cooled S is stored in the database DB with classification for each C. Similarly, when the tag readers 3a to 3c read the information CD related to the object to be cooled S from the IC tag when the object to be cooled S is delivered, the tag data management means 12 receives the object to be cooled S delivered from the database DB. The information CD about is deleted.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of the database DB in which the information CD related to the object to be cooled S is stored. In the database DB, information CD related to the object to be cooled S read by the tag readers 3a to 3c is stored for each of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C. Here, the information CD related to the object to be cooled S stored in the IC tag is the kind of the article such as vegetables, frozen fish, ice cream, the optimum storage temperature Ts for storage, and the upper limit storage limit temperature allowable for storage. It includes various information such as a storage limit temperature Tt indicating (or a lower limit storage limit temperature), a storage expiration date indicating a period of storage in the refrigerators / refrigerators A to C, and the like. The centralized management apparatus 10 can perform various controls based on the information CD related to the object to be cooled S read from such an IC tag and stored in the database DB.

  The set temperature calculation means 20 in FIG. 2 calculates the set temperature Tr of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C using the information CD related to the object to be cooled S read from the tag readers 3a to 3c and stored in the database DB. . Specifically, the set temperature calculation unit 20 stores in advance the load ratio associated with each type, and the set temperature calculation unit 20 stores the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C in which the new objects to be cooled S are stored. The optimum storage temperature Ts of all the objects to be cooled S is multiplied by a load ratio corresponding to the type of the object to be cooled S. The set temperature calculation means 20 calculates an average value of the optimum storage temperatures Ts for the quantity of the objects to be cooled S accommodated in the warehouse multiplied by the load ratio as the set temperature Tr. Therefore, when two or more articles having different optimum storage temperatures T enter the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C, the load average value of the optimum storage temperatures Ts based on different types and quantities becomes the set temperature Tr. Note that when the set temperature calculation means 20 determines that only the same type of object to be cooled S is accommodated in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C, the optimum storage temperature Ts of the object to be cooled S instead of the load average value. May be set as the set temperature Tr. In this way, by using the load average value as the set temperature Tr, temperature control suitable for the type of the object S to be cooled can be performed.

  Then, the unit controller 11 controls the indoor units 2a to 2c or the outdoor units 1a to 1c so that the set temperature Tr calculated by the set temperature calculator 20 is obtained. In particular, the unit control means 11 stores a set upper limit temperature THref and a set lower limit temperature TLref for each freezing / refrigerator A to C, and the set temperature T calculated by the set temperature calculating means 20 is the set lower limit temperature TLref. When the temperature is equal to or lower than the set upper limit temperature THref (TLref ≦ Tr ≦ THref), the indoor units 2a to 2c and the like are controlled so as to become the set temperature Tr. On the other hand, when the set temperature Tr is higher than the set upper limit temperature THref (Tr> THref), the unit controller 11 controls the indoor units 2a to 2c and the like so as to be the set upper limit temperature THref. Further, when the set temperature Tr is lower than the set lower limit temperature TLref (Tr <TLref), the unit control unit 11 controls the indoor units 2a to 2c and the like so as to become the set lower limit temperature TLref. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the optimum storage temperature Ts of the object to be cooled S from being largely separated from the set temperature Tr and causing a situation such as excessive cooling or insufficient cooling.

  The storage time limit managing means 30 determines whether or not the storage time limit of the object to be cooled S is within a predetermined period set in advance. Specifically, the storage expiration management means 30 has two predetermined periods, for example, 3 days and 1 week. The storage period management means 30 determines whether or not the objects to be cooled S stored in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C have passed a predetermined period based on the storage period of the object to be cooled S stored in the database DB. judge.

  The information output means 40 is composed of display means such as a liquid crystal display or a touch panel, for example. When the storage deadline management means 30 determines that the object to be cooled S has passed a predetermined period, it outputs that effect. When the storage period management unit 30 determines that the storage period is one week before, the information output unit 40 outputs a caution display. Further, when the storage period management unit 30 determines that the storage period is three days ago, the information output unit 40 displays a warning. In this way, when there is an object to be cooled S whose storage deadline is approaching, the object to be cooled S whose storage period has expired remains in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C by intermittently calling attention. Can be prevented.

  In addition, although the case where the information output means 40 displays on the screen that the deadline is approaching is illustrated, the deadline is approaching by voice, for example, as long as it informs the user or the like to that effect. May be output. Alternatively, display means or the like may be provided on the side of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C, and the information output means 40 may display a warning or the like on the display means or the like of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C via the transmission means 10a.

  The power control means 50 determines the indoor units 2a to 2c that perform the power suppression operation among the plurality of indoor units 2a to 2c. Specifically, the power control means 50 detects the indoor units 2a to 2c that can preferentially perform the power suppression operation using the information CD related to the object S to be cooled stored in the database DB. Then, the unit control means 11 controls the indoor units 2a to 2c detected by the power control means 50 so as to perform power suppression operation (demand control).

  Here, as shown in FIG. 4A, eight indoor units (indoor unit addresses = 1 to 8) are installed in any of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C, and each indoor unit 1 to 8 has a predetermined setting. It is assumed that the temperature is controlled by Tr. At this time, the power control means 50 receives the suction temperature detected by the temperature sensor mounted in each of the indoor units 2a to 2c, and the first difference ΔT1 between the suction temperature and the set temperature Tr (= set temperature Tr−suction) Temperature). Thereafter, the power control means 50 extracts, for example, indoor units (for example, indoor unit addresses = 2, 5, and 7 in FIG. 4A) where the first difference ΔT1 is far from a predetermined set threshold value and is too cold.

  Next, the power control means 50 identifies the refrigeration / refrigerator (for example, refrigeration / refrigerator A) in which the indoor unit addresses = 2, 5, and 7 extracted using the first difference ΔT1 are installed, and from the database DB The upper limit storage limit temperature Tt of the object to be cooled S stored in the freezer / refrigerator A is extracted. When a plurality of objects to be cooled S are stored in the refrigeration / refrigerator A, the power control means 50 extracts, for example, the highest upper limit storage limit temperature Tt. Then, the power control means 50 calculates a second difference ΔT2 (= storage limit temperature Tt−set temperature Tr) between the upper limit storage limit temperature Tt and the suction temperature. Since the larger the second difference ΔT2 is, the more room there is for the temperature inside the warehouse to rise, the power control means 50 determines the priority order for demand control in descending order of the second difference ΔT2. Then, the unit control means 11 performs demand control such that the operation with reduced power consumption is performed according to the priority order of the indoor unit addresses 5, 6, and 3 in accordance with the priority order determined by the power control means 50.

  Thus, by performing demand control using the upper limit storage limit temperature Tt read by the IC tag, demand control can be performed in a safe order without impairing the quality of the article. That is, normally, when the same value is lined up, the indoor unit addresses 1 to 8 are in ascending order. However, an indoor unit with a small indoor unit address is not always suitable for driving with reduced power consumption. On the other hand, the power control means 50 grasps the object to be cooled S in the warehouse by the tag readers 3a to 3c, and determines the priority of demand control from the data read from the tag readers 3a to 3c. Demand control can be performed in a safe order without impairing the quality of S, and energy can be saved.

  The power control unit 50 described above is exemplified for the case where power control is performed using the set temperature Tr calculated by the set temperature calculation unit 20, but the unit control unit 11 does not calculate the set temperature Tr. You may perform the above-mentioned electric power control using preset temperature of each freezer / refrigerator AC. Even in this case, demand control can be performed without impairing the quality of the object S to be cooled.

  The rapid cooling determination means 60 in FIG. 2 compares the article temperature detected by the article temperature sensors 4a to 4c with the set temperature Tr, and the difference between the article temperature and the set temperature Tr is larger than a preset temperature difference. The rapid cooling determination means 60 determines that cooling is necessary. The unit control means 11 controls the indoor units 2a to 2c so that rapid cooling is performed in the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C that are determined to require rapid cooling. In addition, the control at the time of rapid cooling can use well-known techniques, such as operating at a maximum output for a predetermined time. As described above, when the temperature of the object S to be cooled is remarkably higher than the set temperature Tr, it is possible to automatically cool the inside of the store according to the set value.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of automatic temperature control in the refrigeration / refrigeration system of FIGS. 1 and 2, and an operation example of the refrigeration / refrigeration system 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. First, when the object S to be cooled enters the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C, the information of the object S to be cooled is read by the tag readers 3a to 3c and transmitted to the centralized management device 10 (step ST1). Then, the information CD related to the object to be cooled S transmitted by the tag data management means 12 of the centralized management apparatus 10 is stored in the database DB (see step ST2, FIG. 3).

  Next, in the set temperature calculation means 20, the load average value of the optimum storage temperature Ts of the object to be cooled S accommodated in the refrigerator / refrigerator A in which the object to be cooled S is newly stored is set in the refrigerator / refrigerators A to C. Calculated as the temperature Tr (step ST3). Here, the unit control means 11 determines whether or not the set temperature Tr is not less than the set lower limit temperature TLref and not more than the set upper limit temperature THref (steps ST4 and ST5).

  When the set temperature Tr is lower than the set lower limit temperature TLref (Tr <TLref), the indoor units 2a to 2c are controlled by the unit control means 11 so that the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C become the set lower limit temperature TLref (step ST6). . On the other hand, when the set temperature Tr is higher than the set upper limit temperature THref (Tr> THref), the unit control means 11 is configured so that the indoor units 2a to 2c are unit control means 11 so that the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C become the set upper limit temperature THref. (Step ST7). When the set temperature Tr is not less than the set lower limit temperature TLref and not more than the set upper limit temperature THref, the indoor units 2a to 2c are controlled by the unit control means 11 so that the indoor units 2a to 2c become the set temperature Tr. (Step ST8).

  When the information CD related to the object to be cooled S is read from the IC tag described above (step ST1), the temperature of the object to be cooled S may be detected by the article temperature sensors 4a to 4c. In this case, the rapid cooling determination means 60 determines whether or not cooling is necessary based on the article temperature. When it is determined that cooling is necessary, after the rapid cooling control is first performed in the unit control means 11, automatic control using the set temperature Tr described above may be performed.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the storage period management control in the refrigeration / refrigeration system 100 of FIGS. 1 and 2, and the storage period management control will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition, information CD regarding the to-be-cooled object S stored in the freezer / refrigerators A to C is stored in the database DB, and the storage period management control is performed at a frequency of, for example, once a day or once every several hours. This is performed using the article data stored in. It may be performed each time a new object to be cooled S is received.

  First, the storage period management means 30 acquires the storage period of the database DB and compares it with a preset set period (3 days, 1 week) (step ST11). The comparison of the deadlines is performed for all the objects to be cooled S accommodated in each of the refrigeration / refrigerators A to C. Thereafter, if there is an object to be cooled in the database DB whose storage deadline is approaching within 3 days (step ST12), a warning display is output from the information output means 40 (step ST13). On the other hand, when the storage period is 3 days or more but less than 1 week (step ST14), a warning is displayed from the information output means 40 (step ST15). In this way, it is possible to manage each storage period for each object to be cooled S using the information CD related to the object to be cooled S stored in the IC tag.

  The embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the refrigeration / refrigeration system 100 of FIG. 1, the case where the outdoor units 1a to 1c are provided for the indoor units 2a to 2c, respectively, is illustrated, but a plurality of indoor units 2a to 2c are one outdoor unit or It may be connected to a plurality of outdoor units connected in parallel. Furthermore, although the case where the outdoor units 1a to 1c and the indoor units 2a to 2c are respectively connected in series is illustrated, a relay unit is installed between the outdoor units 1a to 1c and the indoor units 2a to 2c. The outdoor units 1a to 1c or the indoor units 2a to 2c may be connected in parallel to the relay unit. In this case, the centralized management apparatus 10 also controls the relay unit.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the case where the optimal storage temperature and storage limit temperature of the to-be-cooled object S are memorize | stored in the IC tag is illustrated, the kind of the to-be-cooled object S and the optimal storage are stored in the centralized management apparatus 10 side. The temperature and storage limit temperature may be stored in association with each other, and the optimum storage temperature and storage limit temperature may be extracted according to the type information stored in the IC tag.

  Furthermore, in the storage period management means 30 of FIG. 2, the case where a warning is indicated by comparing with a predetermined period is illustrated, but the object to be cooled S is stored in the freezer / refrigerators A to C for a predetermined period from the start of storage. A caution display or a warning display may be displayed after the passage.

  2 illustrates the case where the centralized management apparatus 10 includes the set temperature calculation means 20, the storage time limit management means 30, and the power control means 50. However, any one of the above configurations is provided. It may be.

  1a to 1c outdoor unit, 2a to 2c indoor unit, 3a to 3c tag reader, 4a to 4c article temperature sensor, 10 centralized management device, 10a transmission means, 11 unit control means, 12 tag data management means, 20 set temperature calculation Means 30 storage expiration management means 40 information output means 50 power control means 60 rapid cooling judgment means 100 freezing / refrigeration system A to C freezing / refrigerator information on CD to be cooled, DB database, S to be cooled , Ts optimum storage temperature, Tt storage limit temperature, Tr set temperature, THref set upper limit temperature, TLref set lower limit temperature, Ts optimum storage temperature, ΔT1 first difference, ΔT2 second difference.

Claims (7)

A freezing / refrigeration system having an indoor unit installed in a freezer / refrigerator and an outdoor unit connected to the indoor unit,
A tag reader that reads information about the object to be cooled from an IC tag attached to the object to be cooled that is stored in the refrigerator / refrigerator;
A refrigeration / refrigeration system comprising: a central management device that controls operation of the indoor unit and / or the outdoor unit using information on the object to be cooled read by the tag reader. The IC tag stores information on the type of the object to be cooled,
The central management device is
A set temperature calculating means for calculating a set temperature of the freezer / refrigerator in which the object to be cooled is stored according to the type of information read by the tag reader;
2. The refrigeration / refrigeration system according to claim 1, further comprising: unit control means for controlling the indoor unit and / or the outdoor unit so as to achieve the set temperature calculated by the set temperature calculating means. . The IC tag stores information on the optimum storage temperature of the object to be cooled.
The set temperature calculation means stores a predetermined load ratio for each type of the object to be cooled, and a load that is a load average of the optimum storage temperature of the object to be cooled stored in the refrigerator / refrigerator The refrigeration / refrigeration system according to claim 2, wherein an average value is calculated as the set temperature.   The unit control means stores in advance the set upper limit temperature and set lower limit temperature of the refrigerator / refrigerator, and the set temperature calculated by the set temperature calculating means is not less than the set lower limit temperature and not more than the set upper limit temperature. If the set temperature is greater than the set upper limit temperature, the set upper limit temperature is controlled so that the set temperature is greater than the set upper limit temperature. 4. The refrigeration / refrigeration system according to claim 2 or 3, wherein when the temperature is small, control is performed so that the set lower limit temperature is reached. The IC tag stores information on the storage period of the object to be cooled,
The central management device is
A storage deadline management means for determining whether a period until the storage deadline of the object to be cooled has passed a preset predetermined period;
When the storage deadline management means determines that there is an object to be cooled whose period until the storage deadline has passed the predetermined period, it further comprises information output means for outputting a message to that effect. The refrigeration / refrigeration system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. An article temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the object to be cooled when the object to be cooled is stored in the freezer / refrigerator;
The central management device is
Rapid cooling determination means for determining whether or not it is necessary to cool the refrigerator / refrigerator according to the article temperature of the object to be cooled measured by the article temperature sensor;
6. The unit control unit according to claim 1, further comprising: a unit control unit configured to control the indoor unit to perform a rapid cooling operation when it is determined that cooling is necessary in the rapid cooling determination unit. Refrigeration / refrigeration system according to item. The IC tag stores a storage limit temperature when the object to be cooled is stored,
The centralized management device has power control means for determining the indoor unit that performs power suppression operation among the plurality of indoor units,
The power control means extracts the indoor unit based on a first difference between a suction temperature in the indoor unit and a set temperature of the indoor unit, and the inside of the refrigerator / refrigerator in which the extracted indoor unit is installed The storage limit temperature read from the IC tag of the object to be cooled is extracted, and the indoor unit that performs the power suppression operation according to the order of the difference between the extracted storage limit temperature and the suction temperature is determined. The refrigeration / refrigeration system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein:

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