CN112842007A

CN112842007A - Vending cabinet and control method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN112842007A
Application number: CN202110050409.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 戴毓华; 滕海
Original assignee: Alipay Hangzhou Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Alipay Hangzhou Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-01-14
Filing date: 2021-01-14
Publication date: 2021-05-28

Abstract

The specification discloses a vending cabinet and a control method thereof. The selling cabinet comprises a cabinet body, a plurality of integrated laminate plates and a control device. A plurality of integration plywoods set up and are used for the internal goods of bearing cabinet in the cabinet body, and every integration plywood is including the temperature sensor who is used for detecting the temperature of integration plywood, the illumination module who is used for illuminating the internal goods of cabinet and the control module who is connected with temperature sensor and illumination module respectively. Controlling means sets up in the cabinet body to be connected with a plurality of integration plywood, wherein, controlling means obtains the interior detection temperature of cabinet based on the temperature of a plurality of integration plywood that acquire, and carries out corresponding temperature control to the internal temperature of cabinet based on the interior temperature setting of cabinet that detects temperature and user setting in the cabinet, thereby can realize the accurate control of the internal temperature of cabinet.

Description

Vending cabinet and control method thereof

Technical Field

The disclosure relates to the field of self-service selling, in particular to a selling cabinet and a control method thereof.

Background

The rise of new retail sales makes intelligent vending cabinets more and more popular with operators. The refrigeration cabinet can keep fresh and even bring better taste and let it have natural advantage in self-service field in the aspect of storing food and beverage etc. consequently, the cabinet is sold to intelligence on the market borrows in view of traditional refrigerator, on the basis of traditional refrigeration cabinet, and the structure is customized the improvement in order being applicable to the new retail demand of selling by oneself.

The cabinet of selling on the market carries out a plurality of intelligent transformation on the basis of refrigerator trade generally, has the scheme to pile up on the hardware, but the not systematic condition of transformation leads to relevant experience poor, and temperature control is not accurate even does not refrigerate the scheduling problem. The temperature control of the common selling cabinet is realized based on the acquisition of the temperature in the cabinet, but the method for acquiring the temperature in the cabinet is generally to place a sensor at an air return opening in the cabinet. However, the temperature difference of each layer may exist inside the refrigerator, especially inside the refrigerator with the multi-layer plate, and the temperature difference between the top and the bottom may even exist between 4 and 7 degrees, so that the temperature control scheme is not ideal or applicable to temperature-sensitive articles such as milk and medicines.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the specification provides a vending cabinet and a control method thereof, and accurate control of the temperature in the cabinet body can be achieved.

One aspect of an embodiment of the present specification provides a merchandiser. Sell cabinet and include the cabinet body, a plurality of integration plywood and controlling means. The integrated laminates are arranged in the cabinet body and used for supporting goods in the cabinet body. Each integration plywood including be used for detecting the temperature sensor of the temperature of integration plywood, be used for lightening the lighting module of the internal goods of cabinet and respectively with temperature sensor with the control module group that lighting module connects. The control device is arranged in the cabinet body and connected with the integrated laminates, wherein the control device obtains the in-cabinet detection temperature based on the obtained temperatures of the integrated laminates, and performs corresponding temperature control in the cabinet body based on the in-cabinet detection temperature and the in-cabinet set temperature set by a user.

Another aspect of the embodiments of the present specification provides a control method of a vending cabinet. Sell the cabinet and include the cabinet body and set up the internal bearing that is used for of cabinet a plurality of integration plywood of the internal goods of cabinet. The control method comprises the steps of obtaining a set temperature in a cabinet set by a user; acquiring the temperature of the integrated laminates; acquiring a detected temperature in the cabinet based on the temperatures of the integrated laminates; and correspondingly controlling the temperature in the cabinet body based on the detected temperature in the cabinet and the set temperature in the cabinet.

One or more embodiments of this description are through setting up temperature sensor on every integration plywood to can realize the accurate acquisition of the internal temperature of cabinet through the temperature of every integration plywood that acquires, and then realize the accurate control of the internal temperature of cabinet.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a merchandiser according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of an integrated laminate according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method of controlling a merchandiser according to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a vending cabinet according to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Some exemplary embodiments will now be described. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the illustrated embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with this description. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus consistent with certain aspects of the present description, as defined in the appended claims.

The terminology used in the description of the embodiments is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the description. Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used in the embodiments of the present specification should have the ordinary meaning as understood by those having ordinary skill in the art to which the present specification pertains. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the terms "first," "second," and the like do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another. Also, the use of the terms "a" or "an" and the like do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one. "plurality" or "a number" means two or more. Unless otherwise indicated, the terms "front," "rear," "lower," and/or "upper," and the like are used for convenience in describing relative positional relationships and are not limited to an absolute position or an absolute spatial orientation. The word "comprising" or "comprises", and the like, means that the element or item listed as preceding "comprising" or "includes" covers the element or item listed as following "comprising" or "includes" and its equivalents, and does not exclude other elements or items. The terms "connected" or "coupled" and the like are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections, but may include electrical connections, whether direct or indirect. As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Fig. 1 discloses a schematic view of a merchandiser 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, a vending cabinet 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a cabinet body 10, a plurality of integrated shelves 11, and a control device 12. A plurality of integrated laminates 11 are disposed in the cabinet 10 for supporting the goods in the cabinet 10. The control device 12 is disposed in the cabinet 10. In one embodiment, the control device 12 may be a cabinet top control module disposed at the top of the cabinet 10. The control device 12 is connected to the plurality of integrated laminae 11. For example, a plurality of integrated laminates 11 can be connected with controlling means 12 with the form of POE (Power Over Ethernet, for the Ethernet Power supply) through the net twine, can accomplish Power supply and network communication's function simultaneously with a net twine to can save the interior wiring of cabinet, produce the line and equip simply, reduction in production cost.

Fig. 2 discloses a schematic block diagram of an integrated laminate 11 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, each integrated laminate 11 includes a temperature sensor 111, a lighting module 112, and a control module 113. The temperature sensor 111 and the lighting module 112 are connected to the control module 113.

The Temperature sensor 111 may be, for example, an NTC (Negative Temperature Coefficient) thermistor, and may be configured to detect the Temperature of the integrated laminate 11 and transmit the detected Temperature data to the control device 12. For example, the temperature data may be updated to the control device 12 every 30 seconds (seconds). The lighting module 112 may be used to illuminate the merchandise items within the cabinet 10. The control module 113 may be, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit).

The control device 12 according to an embodiment of the present specification may acquire an in-cabinet detected temperature T based on the acquired temperatures of the plurality of integrated laminates 11, and perform corresponding temperature control on the inside of the cabinet 10 based on the in-cabinet detected temperature T and an in-cabinet set temperature T set by a user.

In some embodiments, the control device 12 may remove the lowest value and the highest value from the temperatures of the plurality of integrated laminae 11, respectively, and average the temperatures of the remaining integrated laminae 11, and then treat the average as the in-cabinet detected temperature T. Alternatively, when the temperature of the integrated laminate 11 is below a predetermined lower temperature limit, such as-55 deg.C, or deviates from the average by more than a predetermined upper temperature limit, such as ≧ 20 deg.C, the temperature of the integrated laminate 11 is considered abnormal, in which case the control device 12 will discard the abnormal temperature of the integrated laminate 11 and calculate the average.

In one embodiment of the present specification, the in-cabinet set temperature t set by the user may be stored in the control device 12 in advance. Of course, in other embodiments of the present description, the vending cabinet 1 may also include a human-computer interaction device 15. The human-computer interaction device 15 can be used for acquiring the in-cabinet set temperature t set by the user, the human-computer interaction device 15 is connected with the control device 12, and the human-computer interaction device 15 can transmit the in-cabinet set temperature t set by the user to the control device 12. The human-computer interaction device 15 is disposed on the cabinet 10, for example, the human-computer interaction device 15 may be disposed near the cabinet door.

The vending cabinet 1 of an embodiment of this description is through setting up temperature sensor 111 on every integration plywood 11 to can realize the accurate acquisition of the internal temperature of cabinet 10 through the temperature of every integration plywood 11 who acquires, and then realize the accurate control of the internal temperature of cabinet 10.

Referring back to fig. 1, the merchandiser 1 of one embodiment of the present description further includes a refrigeration system disposed in the cabinet 10, the refrigeration system including a compressor 13 and an evaporator 14. It should be noted that in this specification, the refrigeration system shows only some of the structural features that are closely related to this specification, and other structural features are omitted, which of course does not mean that the refrigeration system does not include these other structural features. The compressor 13 is connected to the control device 12, and the control device 12 can control the compressor 13 accordingly.

The plurality of integrated laminae 11 includes a first integrated lamina 11 adjacent the evaporator 14. In one embodiment, the temperature sensor 111 of the first integrated laminate 11 may be disposed closely below the evaporator 14, and the temperature sensors 111 of the other integrated laminates 11 except for the first integrated laminate 11 may be disposed inside the integrated laminates 11, so that the temperature may be transferred to the NTC thermistor through a good thermal conductor, such as a steel plate material of the integrated laminates 11.

The control device 12 may determine whether cooling or heating is required in the cabinet 10 based on a comparison of the acquired cabinet interior detected temperature T and the cabinet interior set temperature T. When it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet 10, the control device 12 may control the compressor 13 to be turned on for cooling. In one embodiment, the control device 12 may further control the integrated laminate 11 to reduce the brightness of the lighting module 112 when it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet 10. In another embodiment, the control device 12 may also control the integrated laminate 11 to reduce power consumption of the internal electronic control when it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet 10. In other embodiments, when it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet 10, the control device 12 may control the integrated laminate 11 to reduce the brightness of the lighting module 112 and reduce the power consumption of the internal electronic control.

When it is determined that heating is required in the cabinet 10, the control device 12 may control the compressor 13 to be turned off, and control the integrated laminate 11 to increase the brightness of the lighting module 112 for heating. For example, the control device 12 may issue an instruction to the integrated laminate 11, and after receiving the instruction, the integrated laminate 11 controls the brightness of the lighting modules 112 to be brightest, so that the lighting modules 112 of the integrated laminate 11 and the electric control module inside the integrated laminate 11 may be heated by using heat emitted by the lighting modules 112.

The selling cabinet 1 in one embodiment of the specification can be well used as a heat source for heating and defrosting in the cabinet body 10 by controlling and recycling the heat power consumption of the electric control module part integrated in the integrated laminate 11, so that the purposes of reducing the hardware cost and reducing the energy consumption can be achieved.

When the acquired in-cabinet detected temperature T is higher than the in-cabinet set temperature T by the first predetermined temperature threshold, for example, when the in-cabinet detected temperature T is T +2 ℃, the control device 12 may control the cooling to be started. When the acquired in-cabinet detected temperature T is lower than the in-cabinet set temperature T by the first predetermined temperature threshold, for example, when the in-cabinet detected temperature T is T-2 ℃, the control device 12 may control cooling to be turned off.

Since the temperature sensor 111 of the first-layer integrated laminate 11 is disposed close to the lower side of the evaporator 14, the temperature T1 of the first-layer integrated laminate 11 detected by the temperature sensor 111 of the first-layer integrated laminate 11 can be regarded as the temperature of the evaporator 14. Therefore, in the cooling mode, when the control device 12 monitors that the temperature T1 of the first-layer integrated laminate 11 is lower than a second predetermined temperature threshold value, for example, T1< -1 ℃, and the difference between the instantaneous value Δ T 'of the difference between the temperature T1 of the first-layer integrated laminate 11 and the detected temperature T in the cabinet and the average value Δ T of the difference is greater than or equal to a third predetermined temperature threshold value γ, that is, Δ T' - Δ T ≧ γ, which may be set to 20 ℃ for example; alternatively, when it is monitored that the cooling duration is longer than a first predetermined time period, for example, longer than 4h (hours), the control turns off the compressor 13 and starts the heating and defrosting start mode.

In one embodiment, the control device 12 may record the instantaneous difference value Δ T 'every second predetermined time period, for example every 30s, from the time the vending cabinet 1 is powered on, and continuously modify the average difference value Δ T by averaging the instantaneous difference values Δ T' at different times.

In the vending cabinet 1 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature sensor 111 is disposed on each integrated laminate 11 in the cabinet 10 to detect the temperature, so that the temperature inside the cabinet 10 can be accurately obtained and controlled accordingly, and the temperature precision inside the cabinet can be controlled to be about ± 0.5 degrees.

In addition, according to the vending cabinet 1 of one embodiment of the present disclosure, the temperature sensor 111 is disposed on each integrated laminate 11, and the design of the plurality of temperature sensors 111 can still effectively ensure the acquisition of the temperature in the cabinet body 10 after the failure of the individual temperature sensor 111, so as to reduce the risk of the failure of the vending cabinet 1 due to the failure of small devices to the maximum extent.

The vending cabinet 1 in one embodiment of the present specification utilizes the technology of IoT (Internet of Things) to network all electronic control modules inside the integrated laminate 11 through systematic design and innovation, can communicate with each other and work in coordination, and increases the recycling of energy of the electronic control modules, so that the demand of people for hot drinks or food purchase can be met in cold winter.

As shown in fig. 2, the lighting module 112 of one embodiment of the present disclosure may include two light strips. The two lamp strips are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the integrated laminate 11, for example, the two lamp strips may be respectively disposed on the front and rear sides of the integrated laminate 11, or may be disposed on the left and right sides of the integrated laminate 11. Each light strip includes a plurality of white lamps 1121 and a plurality of yellow lamps 1122 which are uniformly arranged in a predetermined ratio, and a light guide bar 1123 for uniformly guiding out the light. For example, the power consumption of each light strip is about 6W (watt), and 18 lamps may be designed on each light strip, wherein the white lamp 1121 and the yellow lamp 1122 are controlled in a ratio of 2: the ratio of 1 is uniformly distributed. Of course, the number and the ratio of the white lamps 1121 and the yellow lamps 1122 can be adjusted accordingly according to actual requirements. The white lamps 1121 and the yellow lamps 1122 are respectively connected to the control module 113, and the control module 113 can respectively control the white lamps 1121 and the yellow lamps 1122.

In one embodiment, the control module 113 may respectively send out a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signal to the white lamps 1121 and the yellow lamps 1122, and the control module 113 controls the on, off or brightness of the white lamps 1121 and the yellow lamps 1122 based on the PWM signal, so as to control the brightness and the color temperature of the lighting module 112.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, each integrated laminate 11 further includes a camera 114 for photographing, the camera 114 is connected to a control module 113, and the control module 113 can control the camera 114 accordingly.

The control module 113 may further determine the current status of the vending cabinet 1. When the current status of the vending cabinet 1 is determined to be a non-transaction status, the control module 113 will give the control right of the lighting module 112 to the temperature control logic and the energy saving logic, and at this time, the control device 12 will perform the above-mentioned temperature control or energy saving control according to the acquired temperature T detected in the cabinet. For example, if heating is required, control of the lighting module 112 is given to the heating logic. If there is no heating requirement, the control right of the lighting module 112 is handed to the energy saving logic, and the control device 12 can control the integrated laminate 11 to reduce the brightness of the lighting module 112, for example, to reduce the brightness of the lighting module 112 to 30%, thereby achieving the purpose of saving energy.

When the current state of the vending cabinet 1 is determined to be the transaction state, the control module 113 may adjust the on/off or brightness of the white light 1121/yellow light 1122 in real time through the PWM signal to control and adjust the brightness of the lighting module 112, for example, control the white light 1121 and the yellow light 1122 to be adjusted to 80% of the brightest state, and start the camera 114 to shoot.

The control module 113 may further perform AI (Artificial Intelligence) image recognition on the picture taken by the camera 114, and when the recognized picture does not meet the picture quality requirement, the on/off or brightness of the white light 1121/yellow light 1122 is adjusted by the PWM signal to control and adjust the brightness and color temperature of the lighting module 112, so as to meet the picture quality requirement.

In one embodiment, the control module 113 may compare the recognized photograph with an internally stored standard picture to determine whether the recognized photograph meets picture quality requirements. For example, the control module 113 may compare the recognized photo with the standard picture stored inside from dimensions such as brightness and color temperature, respectively, to perform quality score determination based on the standard picture stored inside, and determine whether the recognized photo meets the picture quality requirement based on the determination result of the quality score. And if the quality score of the recognized photo does not meet the requirement under the influence of an actual scene such as ambient light, judging that the recognized photo does not meet the picture quality requirement.

After the image acquisition is completed, the control module 113 may release the control right of the lighting module 112.

The selling cabinet 1 of one or more embodiments of this specification can furthest improve the imaging quality through special lamp area design and real-time judgement logic, and simultaneously, the real-time regulation of colour temperature can reduce the high requirement to the lamp pearl colour temperature in the engineering, improves the feasibility of putting to the ground of volume production.

The vending cabinet 1 of one or more embodiments of this description can carry out corresponding light filling to the scene of picking up the picture of camera according to the different changes of environment to can satisfy the camera and to the high requirement of the feature extraction of article and color reduction, ensure the reducibility of camera picking up the picture, satisfy the requirement to light filling intensity and colour temperature etc. under various scenes.

One embodiment of the specification also provides a control method of the vending cabinet. This sell cabinet includes the cabinet body and sets up a plurality of integration plywood that are used for the internal goods of bearing cabinet at the internal of cabinet. Fig. 3 discloses a flow chart of a control method of a vending cabinet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, the control method may include steps S11 through S14.

In step S11, the in-cabinet set temperature t set by the user is acquired.

In step S12, the temperature of the plurality of integrated laminae is acquired.

In step S13, an in-cabinet detected temperature T is acquired based on the temperatures of the plurality of integrated laminae.

In one embodiment, the obtaining the in-cabinet detected temperature T based on the temperatures of the plurality of integrated laminae of step S13 may include: respectively removing the lowest value and the highest value from the temperatures of the integrated laminates; averaging the temperatures of the remaining integrated laminate; and regarding the average value as the detected temperature T in the cabinet.

When the temperature of the integrated laminate is below a predetermined lower temperature limit, such as-55 deg.C, or deviates from the average by more than a predetermined upper temperature limit, such as ≧ 20 deg.C, the temperature of the integrated laminate is considered abnormal, in which case the average is calculated after discarding the abnormal temperature of the integrated laminate.

In step S14, the temperature inside the cabinet is controlled based on the detected cabinet temperature T and the set cabinet temperature T.

Sell the cabinet and still including setting up the refrigerating system in the cabinet body, refrigerating system includes compressor and evaporimeter, and every integration plywood is including the lighting module who is used for lightening the internal goods of cabinet. In one embodiment, the step S14 of performing corresponding temperature control on the inside of the cabinet based on the detected inside temperature T and the set inside temperature T may include steps S21 to S23.

In step S21, the cabinet inside detected temperature T is compared with the cabinet inside set temperature T to determine whether cooling or heating is necessary inside the cabinet. When it is determined that cooling is necessary in the cabinet, the process proceeds to step S22. When it is determined that heating is necessary in the cabinet, the process proceeds to step S23.

In step S22, when it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet, the control unit turns on the compressor to perform cooling.

Alternatively, the step S14 may further include the step S24 when it is determined that the cabinet interior needs to be cooled according to the comparison of the detected cabinet interior temperature T with the set cabinet interior temperature T of the step S21. In step S24, the integrated laminate may be further controlled to at least one of reduce the brightness of the lighting module and reduce the power consumption of the internal electronic control.

In step S23, when it is determined that heating is required in the cabinet, the compressor is controlled to be turned off, and the integrated laminate is controlled to increase the brightness of the lighting module to perform heating.

When the acquired in-cabinet detected temperature T is higher than the in-cabinet set temperature T by a first predetermined temperature threshold, for example, when the in-cabinet detected temperature T is T +2 ℃, the refrigeration can be controlled to be started; when the acquired in-cabinet detected temperature T is lower than the in-cabinet set temperature T by a first predetermined temperature threshold, for example, when the in-cabinet detected temperature T is T-2 ℃, the cooling may be controlled to be turned off.

The plurality of integrated laminae includes a first integrated lamina adjacent the evaporator. The control method according to an embodiment of the present specification may further include: in a cooling mode, when the temperature T1 of the first-layer integrated laminate is monitored to be lower than a second preset temperature threshold value, for example, T1< -1 ℃, and the difference between the instantaneous value delta T 'and the average value delta T of the difference between the temperature T1 of the first-layer integrated laminate and the detected temperature T in the cabinet is greater than or equal to a third preset temperature threshold value gamma, namely delta T' -delta T ≧ gamma, and the third preset temperature threshold value gamma is 20 ℃ for example; or, when the continuous cooling time is monitored to be longer than a first preset time, for example, longer than 4h, the compressor is controlled to be turned off and the heating defrosting starting mode is started.

In one embodiment, the control method may further include: the instantaneous difference value Δ T 'is recorded every second predetermined period, for example every 30s, and the average difference value Δ T is continuously corrected by averaging the instantaneous difference values Δ T' at different times.

Fig. 4 discloses a flow chart of a control method of a vending cabinet according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. The lighting module of selling the cabinet includes two lamp areas, and two lamp areas can set up respectively in the relative both sides of integration plywood, and every lamp area includes a plurality of white lamps and a plurality of yellow lamps that evenly arrange with predetermined proportion. Each integrated laminate further includes a camera. As shown in fig. 4, a method for controlling a vending cabinet according to another embodiment of the present disclosure may include steps S31 to S33.

In step S31, it is determined whether the current status of the vending cabinet is a transaction status. When it is determined that the current state of the vending cabinet is the non-transaction state, the process proceeds to step S32. When it is determined that the current state of the vending cabinet is the transaction state, the process proceeds to step S33.

In step S32, if the current status of the vending cabinet is determined to be non-transaction status, the control right of the lighting module is handed to the temperature control logic and the energy saving logic.

In step S33, when the current status of the vending cabinet is determined to be the transaction status, the brightness of the lighting module is controlled and adjusted, and the camera is started to shoot. In one embodiment, the on, off, or brightness of the plurality of white lamps and the plurality of yellow lamps may be controlled based on the PWM signal to control the brightness and color temperature of the lighting module.

After step S33, the control method of one embodiment of the present specification may further include steps S34 to S36.

In step S34, AI image recognition is performed on the photograph taken by the camera.

In step S35, it is determined whether the recognized photograph satisfies the picture quality requirement. The identified photo can be compared with an internally stored standard photo from dimensions such as brightness, color temperature and the like to judge whether the identified photo meets the quality requirement of the photo. When the recognized photograph does not satisfy the picture quality requirement, the process may proceed to step S36.

In step S36, when the recognized photo does not satisfy the picture quality requirement, the on, off or brightness of the white lamps and the yellow lamps can be controlled based on the PWM signal to control and adjust the brightness and color temperature of the lighting module, so as to achieve the picture quality requirement.

The method for controlling a vending cabinet according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may further include step S37. In step S37, after the image acquisition is completed, the control right of the lighting module is released. If heating is needed, the control right of the lighting module is handed to the heating logic; if no heating requirement exists, the control right of the lighting module is given to the energy-saving logic to control and reduce the brightness of the lighting module so as to achieve the purpose of energy saving.

According to the control method of the vending cabinet in one or more embodiments of the specification, the temperature of each integrated laminate is obtained to achieve accurate obtaining of the temperature in the cabinet body, and then accurate control of the temperature in the cabinet body is achieved.

According to the control method of the vending cabinet in one or more embodiments of the specification, the heat consumption of the electric control module part integrated in the integrated laminate is controlled and recycled, and the heat consumption can be well used as a heat source for heating and defrosting in the cabinet body, so that the purposes of reducing hardware cost and reducing energy consumption can be achieved.

The control method of the vending cabinet in one or more embodiments of the specification can perform corresponding light supplement on the image-picking scene of the camera according to different changes of the environment, so that high requirements of the camera on feature extraction and color reduction of articles can be met, the reducibility of image picking of the camera is guaranteed, and the requirements on light supplement intensity, color temperature and the like in various scenes are met.

The foregoing description has been directed to specific embodiments of this disclosure. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims may be performed in a different order than in the implementations and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing may also be possible or may be advantageous.

The above description of the embodiments is only intended to help understand the core ideas of the present specification. It should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and principle of the present specification, several improvements and modifications can be made to the present specification, and these improvements and modifications should fall within the protection scope of the claims set forth in the specification.

Claims

1. A merchandiser, comprising:

a cabinet body;

a plurality of integration plywood, set up in the internal bearing that is used for of cabinet the internal goods of cabinet, every integration plywood includes:

the temperature sensor is used for detecting the temperature of the integrated laminate;

the lighting module is used for lighting goods in the cabinet body; and

the control module is respectively connected with the temperature sensor and the lighting module; and

a control device arranged in the cabinet body and connected with the plurality of integrated laminate plates,

the control device obtains the in-cabinet detected temperature based on the obtained temperatures of the integrated laminates, and performs corresponding temperature control on the in-cabinet detected temperature and the in-cabinet set temperature set by a user.

2. The merchandiser of claim 1, further comprising:

the refrigerating system is arranged in the cabinet body and comprises a compressor and an evaporator, the compressor is connected with the control device,

when the control device judges that the cabinet body needs to be refrigerated based on the comparison between the detected temperature in the cabinet and the set temperature in the cabinet, the control device controls the compressor to be turned on for refrigeration; and when the cabinet body needs to be heated, the compressor is controlled to be closed, and the integrated laminate is controlled to increase the brightness of the lighting module to heat.

3. The merchandiser of claim 2, wherein the control device further controls at least one of the integrated laminate to reduce the brightness of the lighting module and to reduce the power consumption of the internal electrical control when it is determined that refrigeration is required in the cabinet.

4. The vending cabinet of claim 2, wherein the control device is configured to control the refrigeration to be started when the acquired detected temperature in the cabinet is higher than a set temperature in the cabinet by a first predetermined temperature threshold; and when the acquired detected temperature in the cabinet is lower than the set temperature in the cabinet by the first preset temperature threshold, controlling to close refrigeration.

5. The merchandiser of claim 2, said plurality of integrated shelves including a first integrated shelf adjacent said evaporator, said control means being configured to monitor a temperature of said first integrated shelf below a second predetermined temperature threshold in the cooling mode, and to provide a difference between an instantaneous value of the difference and an average value of the difference between the temperature of said first integrated shelf and a temperature sensed within the merchandiser that is greater than or equal to a third predetermined temperature threshold; or when the continuous cooling time is monitored to be longer than a first preset time, controlling to close the compressor and start the heating defrosting starting mode.

6. The merchandiser of claim 5, in which said control means is arranged to record said instantaneous difference value every second predetermined period of time and to continuously modify said mean difference value by averaging said instantaneous difference values at different times.

7. The merchandiser of claim 2, wherein the plurality of integrated decks comprises a first layer of integrated decks adjacent the evaporator, wherein the temperature sensors of the first layer of integrated decks are disposed below adjacent the evaporator, and the temperature sensors of the other integrated decks are disposed within the integrated decks.

8. The merchandiser of claim 1, wherein said control means is adapted to remove the lowest and highest values from the temperatures of said plurality of integrated tiers, respectively, and average the temperatures of the remaining integrated tiers to consider said average as said in-bin sensed temperature.

9. The merchandiser of claim 8, wherein the control means is configured to consider the temperature of the integrated laminate as abnormal if the temperature of the integrated laminate is below a predetermined lower temperature limit or deviates from the average value by more than a predetermined upper temperature limit, and to calculate the average value after discarding the abnormal temperature of the integrated laminate.

10. The vending cabinet of claim 1, wherein the control device is connected to the plurality of integrated shelves in a POE configuration via a network cable.

11. The merchandiser of claim 1, wherein the lighting module comprises two light strips disposed on opposite sides of the integrated laminate, each light strip comprising a plurality of white lamps and a plurality of yellow lamps uniformly arranged in a predetermined ratio, and a light guide pillar for uniformly guiding out the light, the plurality of white lamps and the plurality of yellow lamps being respectively connected to the control module.

12. The merchandiser of claim 11, the control module for controlling the on, off, or brightness of the plurality of white and yellow lights based on PWM signals to control the brightness and color temperature of the lighting modules.

13. The vending cabinet as recited in claim 12, each integrated laminate further comprising a camera connected to the control module, the control module being configured to control the adjustment of the brightness of the lighting module and activate the camera to shoot when the current status of the vending cabinet is determined to be a transaction status.

14. The vending cabinet of claim 13, wherein the control module is further configured to perform image recognition on the photo taken by the camera, and control and adjust the brightness and the color temperature of the lighting module to meet the picture quality requirement when the recognized photo does not meet the picture quality requirement.

15. The merchandiser of claim 14, wherein the control module is operable to compare the identified photograph to an internally stored standard photograph to determine whether the identified photograph meets the picture quality requirement.

16. The merchandiser of claim 14, wherein the control module is configured to release control of the lighting module upon completion of image capture.

17. The merchandiser of claim 13, the control module being configured to pass control of the lighting module to temperature control logic and energy saving logic upon determining that the current status of the merchandiser is a non-transactional status.

18. The merchandiser of claim 1, further comprising:

and the human-computer interaction device is arranged on the cabinet body and used for acquiring the set temperature in the cabinet set by a user, and the human-computer interaction device is connected with the control device.

19. A method of controlling a merchandiser comprising a body and a plurality of integrated decks disposed within the body for supporting product within the body, the method comprising:

acquiring a set temperature in a cabinet set by a user;

acquiring the temperature of the integrated laminates;

acquiring a detected temperature in the cabinet based on the temperatures of the integrated laminates; and

and correspondingly controlling the temperature in the cabinet body based on the detected temperature in the cabinet and the set temperature in the cabinet.

20. The control method of claim 19, the merchandiser further comprising a refrigeration system disposed in the cabinet body, the refrigeration system including a compressor and an evaporator, each of the integrated tiers including a lighting module for illuminating items within the cabinet body, the respective temperature control within the cabinet body based on the detected temperature within the cabinet and the set temperature within the cabinet comprising:

comparing the detected temperature in the cabinet with the set temperature in the cabinet to judge whether the cabinet body needs to be cooled or heated;

when the fact that refrigeration is needed in the cabinet body is judged, the compressor is controlled to be turned on for refrigeration; and

and when the cabinet body needs to be heated, the compressor is controlled to be closed, and the integrated laminate is controlled to increase the brightness of the lighting module to heat.

21. The control method of claim 20, further controlling the integrated laminate to reduce at least one of a brightness of the lighting module and a power consumption of the internal electronic control when it is determined that cooling is required in the cabinet.

22. The control method according to claim 20, further comprising:

when the obtained detected temperature in the cabinet is higher than the set temperature in the cabinet by a first preset temperature threshold value, controlling to start refrigeration; and

and when the acquired detected temperature in the cabinet is lower than the set temperature in the cabinet by the first preset temperature threshold, controlling to close refrigeration.

23. The control method of claim 20, the plurality of integrated floors including a first integrated floor adjacent the evaporator, the control method further comprising:

in a cooling mode, when the temperature of the first-layer integrated laminate is monitored to be lower than a second preset temperature threshold value, and the difference between the difference instantaneous value and the difference average value between the temperature of the first-layer integrated laminate and the temperature detected in the cabinet is larger than or equal to a third preset temperature threshold value; or when the continuous cooling time is monitored to be longer than a first preset time, controlling to close the compressor and start the heating defrosting starting mode.

24. The control method according to claim 23, further comprising:

and recording the instantaneous difference value every second preset time, and continuously correcting the average difference value by averaging the instantaneous difference values at different times.

25. The control method of claim 19, the obtaining an in-cabinet detected temperature based on the temperatures of the plurality of integrated laminae comprising:

respectively removing the lowest value and the highest value from the temperatures of the integrated laminates;

averaging the temperatures of the remaining integrated laminate; and

and regarding the average value as the detected temperature in the cabinet.

26. The control method according to claim 25, wherein when the temperature of the integrated laminate is lower than a predetermined lower temperature limit or deviates from the average value by more than a predetermined upper temperature limit, the temperature of the integrated laminate is regarded as abnormal, and the average value is calculated after the temperature of the abnormal integrated laminate is discarded.

27. The control method of claim 19, wherein the lighting module comprises two light strips, the two light strips are respectively arranged on two opposite sides of the integrated laminate, each light strip comprises a plurality of white lamps and a plurality of yellow lamps which are uniformly arranged in a predetermined ratio, and the control method further comprises:

controlling on, off, or brightness of the plurality of white lamps and the plurality of yellow lamps based on the PWM signal to control brightness and color temperature of the lighting module.

28. The control method of claim 27, each integrated lamina further comprising a camera, the control method further comprising:

judging whether the current state of the vending cabinet is a transaction state;

when the current state of the vending cabinet is judged to be a non-transaction state, the control right of the lighting module is handed to a temperature control logic and an energy-saving logic; and

and when the current state of the vending cabinet is judged to be a transaction state, controlling and adjusting the brightness of the lighting module, and starting the camera to shoot.

29. The control method of claim 28, further comprising:

and carrying out image recognition on the pictures shot by the camera, and controlling and adjusting the brightness and the color temperature of the lighting module when the recognized pictures do not meet the picture quality requirement so as to meet the picture quality requirement.

30. The control method of claim 29, further comprising:

and comparing the recognized photo with an internally stored standard photo from the dimensions of brightness and color temperature respectively to judge whether the recognized photo meets the quality requirement of the photo.

31. The control method of claim 29, further comprising:

and after the image acquisition is finished, releasing the control right of the lighting module.

32. The control method of claim 31, further comprising:

when heating is needed, the control right of the lighting module is handed to a heating logic;

and when no heating requirement exists, the control right of the lighting module is given to an energy-saving logic to control and reduce the brightness of the lighting module.