CN115620447A

CN115620447A - Commodity conveying device

Info

Publication number: CN115620447A
Application number: CN202210755972.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 阿部顺一
Original assignee: Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Current assignee: Fuji Electric Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-07-14
Filing date: 2022-06-29
Publication date: 2023-01-17
Also published as: JP2023012595A

Abstract

The invention relates to a commodity conveying device which can convey commodities well. A commodity conveying device (30) is provided with a conveying tray (31) which can move vertically inside a commodity storage bin (11) containing a plurality of commodity storage shelves (12) vertically, wherein the conveying tray moves downwards after receiving commodities sent out from any commodity storage shelf and conveys the received commodities to a commodity taking-out area (11A), the commodity conveying device is provided with a commodity posture correcting component (34) which corrects the commodities received by the conveying tray and conveyed to the commodity taking-out area into a horizontal posture so as to prevent part of the commodities from protruding from the conveying tray to the commodity storage shelf, and preferably, the commodity posture correcting component corrects the commodities into the horizontal posture by applying external force to the commodities received by the conveying tray and conveyed to the commodity taking-out area.

Description

Commodity conveying device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a product conveying device, and more particularly, to a product conveying device applied to a vending machine that sells products.

Background

As an automatic vending machine that sells commodities, there is known an automatic vending machine that feeds commodities stored on commodity storage shelves of a commodity storage box to a conveyance tray and then conveys the commodities to a commodity takeout area by the conveyance tray.

The conveyance tray is provided in the commodity storage box so as to be movable in the vertical direction in a front region of a plurality of commodity storage shelves accommodated in the commodity storage box in the vertical direction, and is a long member having an extension length in the horizontal direction that is sufficiently larger than an extension length in the front-rear direction. The conveyance tray can be changed in posture to a receiving posture in which the conveyance tray can receive and convey a commodity and a hand-out posture in which the commodity can be handed out.

In the above-described vending machine, the conveyance tray receives a commodity, which is delivered from an arbitrary commodity storage shelf, in the receiving posture and then moves downward, and then the conveyance tray changes from the receiving posture to the delivering posture to deliver the commodity to the commodity delivery area (see, for example, patent document 1).

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent No. 5904040

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In addition, in recent years, there has been a demand for diversification of sales commodities for vending machines, and from the viewpoint of the aesthetic appearance of sales commodities, there are cases where commodities having a large commodity height (commodity length) are stored on commodity storage shelves in sales postures other than the horizontal posture, that is, in sales postures including the upright posture.

Further, since the conveyance tray is a long member having a length extending in the left-right direction sufficiently larger than a length extending in the front-rear direction as described above, when the conveyance tray receives commodities from any commodity-accommodating shelf in the receiving posture, a part of the commodities may protrude rearward from the rear end portion of the conveyance tray.

If a part of the commodity protrudes rearward from the rear end portion of the conveyance tray in this manner, the commodity collides with another commodity storage shelf and falls when the conveyance tray moves downward in the receiving posture, and the commodity cannot be conveyed well.

In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a product conveying device capable of conveying a product satisfactorily.

Means for solving the problems

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a commodity transporting device including a transport tray movable in a vertical direction inside a commodity storage box accommodating a plurality of commodity storage shelves in the vertical direction, the transport tray moving downward after receiving a commodity sent out from an arbitrary commodity storage shelf and transporting the received commodity to a commodity takeout area, the commodity transporting device including a commodity posture correcting member correcting the commodity received by the transport tray and transported to the commodity takeout area to a horizontal posture so as to prevent a part of the commodity from protruding from the transport tray toward the commodity storage shelf.

In the above commodity carrying device, the commodity posture correcting means corrects the commodity into the lying posture by applying an external force to the commodity received by the carrying tray and carried to the commodity takeout area.

In the above-described commodity transport device, the transport tray is movable in a vertical direction in a region in front of the commodity storage shelf of the commodity storage box, and the commodity posture correcting member includes: a conveyor belt that is disposed in a loop-like fashion on the transport tray so as to be displaceable along an extending direction thereof, and that is disposed in a manner such that an upper horizontal extension portion thereof is exposed from a placement surface of the transport tray; and a roller that displaces the conveyor belt in an extending direction in a case where the conveyance tray moves in an up-down direction.

In the above-described commodity conveying device, the conveyor belt may be provided in a pair on the left and right of the conveyor tray, and when the conveyor tray moves downward, the conveyor belt may be displaced so that the upper horizontally extending portion approaches the other conveyor belt.

In the above-described article transport device, the rollers may be provided to be rollable on a side wall constituting a movement region of the transport tray, and when the transport tray moves in the vertical direction, the rollers roll along the side wall to displace the conveyor belt.

In the above commodity conveying device, the conveyance tray may be arranged to be swingable about a central axis of a tray shaft portion extending in the left-right direction, and the commodity posture correction member may correct the commodity into the lying posture by swinging the conveyance tray about the central axis of the tray shaft portion when the conveyance tray receives the commodity fed out from any of the commodity storage shelves and then moves downward.

In the above-described article transport device, the article posture correcting means may include: an elevation guide rail having a main guide path for guiding an elevation body supporting the transport tray via the tray shaft portion in a vertical direction; and an attitude control rail having an auxiliary guide path for guiding an attitude defining roller disposed on the conveyance tray in a vertical direction, wherein the auxiliary guide path causes the attitude defining roller of the conveyance tray to alternately roll on a rear end edge of the auxiliary guide path itself and a rolling surface provided in a continuous manner with the rear end edge, thereby swinging the conveyance tray around a central axis of the tray shaft portion.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the present invention, since the commodity posture correcting member corrects the commodity received by the conveyance tray and conveyed to the commodity takeout area to the lying posture so as to avoid a part of the commodity from protruding from the conveyance tray toward the commodity storage shelf, there is no risk that the commodity collides with another commodity storage shelf or the like and falls off from the conveyance tray, and an effect that the commodity can be conveyed well is obtained.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view showing an automatic vending machine to which a product transport device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied.

Fig. 2 is a side sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of an automatic vending machine to which the commodity transporting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of an automatic vending machine to which a commodity transporting device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied.

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of a product conveying device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the conveyance tray shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the conveyance tray shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing a main part of the article transport apparatus shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing a main part of the article transport apparatus shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 9 is a side sectional view showing a state where the conveyance tray receives commodities sent out from an arbitrary commodity storage shelf.

Fig. 10 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the posture of the commodity is corrected by the displacement of the conveyor shown in fig. 4 and the like.

Fig. 11 is a side sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of an automatic vending machine to which the product transport device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention is applied.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of an automatic vending machine to which a product conveying device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention is applied.

Fig. 13 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of a product conveying device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is a perspective view showing the conveyance tray shown in fig. 13.

Fig. 15 is a perspective view showing the conveyance tray shown in fig. 13.

Fig. 16 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the conveyance tray shown in fig. 13 and the like is swung when the conveyance tray moves downward.

Fig. 17 is a side sectional view showing a state in which the conveyance tray shown in fig. 13 and the like is swung when the conveyance tray moves downward.

Description of the reference numerals

1. A vending machine; 10. a main body cabinet; 11. a commodity storage; 11A, a commodity takeout area; 11B, a conveying area; 12. a commodity storage shelf; 12a, a storage goods channel; 20. an outer door; 30. a commodity conveying device; 31. a conveying tray; 32. a side plate; 33. a center plate; 331. a reference part; 332. a guide section; 34. a conveyor belt; 341. a first conveyor belt; 341a, 1 st pulley; 341b, an upper horizontal extension; 342; a 2 nd conveyor belt; 342a, 2 nd pulley; 342b; an upper horizontal extension; 351. a 1 st roller; 352. a 2 nd roller; 36. a mounting shaft portion; 40. a lifting unit; 41. a lifting body; 41a, a guide roller; 42. a posture-defining roller; 43. a lifting guide rail; 43a, a main guide path; 44. a gesture control track; 44a, an auxiliary guide path; 47. a guide plate; 47a, right surface; 47b, left surface; 471. a guide path; w, commodity.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the commodity carrying device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

< embodiment 1 >

Fig. 1 to 3 are views showing a vending machine to which a commodity carrying device according to embodiment 1 of the present invention is applied, fig. 1 being a front view, fig. 2 being a side sectional view schematically showing an internal structure, and fig. 3 being a perspective view showing the internal structure.

The vending machine 1 illustrated here is installed inside a facility such as a store, and includes a main body cabinet 10 and an outer door 20.

The main body cabinet 10 is a rectangular parallelepiped case having an opening (hereinafter, also referred to as a front surface opening) 10a on a front surface. The outer door 20 is flat and swingably held at one side of the main body case 10 so as to open and close the front opening 10a of the main body case 10. Although not explicitly shown in the drawings, the main body cabinet 10 and the outer door 20 each have a heat insulating function, and when the front opening 10a of the main body cabinet 10 is closed by the outer door 20, the commodity storage 11 serving as a heat insulating space is formed inside the main body cabinet 10.

In the commodity storage 11 of the main body cabinet 10, a plurality of commodity storage shelves 12 are provided in the vertical direction. The commodity storage shelf 12 is configured by arranging a plurality of storage lanes 12a for storing a plurality of commodities in the front-rear direction in parallel on the left and right sides, and is disposed in the commodity storage 11 in a state where the front ends of the commodity storage shelves 12 are located on the same vertical plane (hereinafter referred to as "delivery plane").

The commodity storage shelves 12 can be arranged at arbitrary height positions of the commodity storage 11 and can be set to have different heights from each other. Further, the width of the storage lane 12a in the left-right direction can be arbitrarily set in each commodity storage shelf 12. The storage lane 12a set in the commodity storage shelf 12 is capable of operating alone and sequentially feeding out the stored commodities forward, so that the commodity positioned at the forefront falls downward through the delivery plane. In embodiment 1, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, a commodity storage shelf 12 called a so-called spiral rack configured to sequentially feed commodities in a storage lane 12a forward by rotation of a spiral is illustrated.

The commodity storage shelf 12 is not necessarily limited to a commodity storage shelf in which commodities are discharged by rotation of screws, and a commodity storage shelf configured to discharge commodities forward by driving of a conveyor, for example, may be applied.

The commodity storage 11 is provided with an evaporator 13a. The evaporator 13a constitutes a refrigerant circuit for circulating a refrigerant together with a compressor 13b, a condenser 13c, and an expansion mechanism 13d provided in the equipment room 14, and cools air passing through the inside of the commodity storage container 11 around itself by exchanging heat between the refrigerant passing through a refrigerant passage, not shown, of itself and the air, and the equipment room 14 is partitioned and formed in a lower region of the commodity storage container 11.

The air cooled around the evaporator 13a is sucked into the air passage 15b from the suction port 15a of the rear duct 15 provided on the rear surface of the commodity storage container 11 by driving the in-container blower F1, and is blown out from the respective blow-out ports 15c after passing through the air passage 15b, thereby cooling the commodities stored in the respective commodity-storing shelves 12.

As shown in fig. 1, the outer door 20 is provided with a window 21 and a commodity outlet 22. The window 21 is formed by disposing a transparent surface member 21a having heat insulation properties such as a laminated glass, and even when the front opening 10a of the main body cabinet 10 is closed by the outer door 20, the front commodity stored in the storage lane 12a of all the commodity storage shelves 12 can be visually recognized from the outside.

The product outlet 22 is an opening through which a user receives a purchased product, and is formed below the window 21 of the outer door 20. As is clear from fig. 2, the upper edge 22a of the opening of the commodity outlet 22 is set to be located below the commodity storage shelf 12 disposed at the lowermost layer. The commodity outlet 22 is normally closed by an outlet cover 23 provided in the outer door 20, and can be opened by pressing and rotating the outlet cover 23 inward. The take-out cover 23 is supported by the outer door 20 through an upper end portion by an opening/closing shaft 23a extending in the left-right direction. Although not explicitly shown in the drawings, a gasket for preventing the circulation of the internal atmosphere of the commodity storage container 11 and the outside air through the commodity outlet 22 is provided on the entire circumference of the portion of the outer door 20 located around the commodity outlet 22 and facing the removal cover 23.

Further, a commodity selection unit 24, a coin insertion port 25, a bill insertion port 26, a card reader 27, a coin return port 28, and the like are provided at a portion of the outer door 20 located on a side of the window 21.

The commodity selection section 24 has numeric keys (japanese: press 37350\12486, 1256140), a display, and the like, and allows the user to select commodities. The coin inlet 25 is an opening for inserting coins. The bill insertion slot 26 is an opening for inserting a bill.

The card reader 27 is used for transmitting and receiving data relating to money to and from a recording medium storing money amount information called electronic money, when the recording medium is held in a predetermined communication-capable area. The coin return opening 28 is an opening for returning the inserted coin, returning change, and the like.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, a commodity takeout area 11A and a conveyance area 11B are secured at the front end of the commodity storage container 11. The product takeout area 11A is a lowermost space to which the product purchased by the user is finally conveyed, and is configured below the upper edge of the product takeout port 22 when the outer door 20 is in a closed state.

The conveyance area 11B is a space for conveying the commodities sent out from the storage lanes 12a of the commodity storage shelves 12 to the commodity takeout area 11A, and is provided above the commodity takeout area 11A continuously from the commodity takeout area 11A. The front-rear dimension and the left-right dimension of the conveyance area 11B are configured to be substantially equal to the commodity takeout area 11A.

A commodity carrying device 30 is disposed in a commodity takeout area 11A and a carrying area 11B secured to the front end portion of the commodity storage container 11. As shown in fig. 4, the commodity transporting device 30 includes a transport tray 31 and an elevating unit 40.

As shown in fig. 5 and 6, the conveyance tray 31 is configured by disposing a center plate 33 between a pair of side plates 32, and the dimension of the center plate 33 in the left-right direction is set to be substantially the same as the total width of the commodity-accommodating shelf 12. The conveyance tray 31 is a long member having a length in the left-right direction sufficiently larger than that in the front-rear direction, and the left-right direction is the longitudinal direction.

The central plate 33 of the conveyance tray 31 is a member in which the reference portion 331 and the guide portion 332 are integrally formed. The reference portion 331 is a flat plate-like portion disposed so that a distal end edge extending in the horizontal direction approaches the outer door 20, and an upper surface of the reference portion 331 constitutes a placement surface of the conveyance tray 31. The guide portion 332 is a portion extending obliquely from the rear end edge of the reference portion 331 so as to gradually approach the commodity-accommodating shelf 12 as going upward.

In the reference portion 331 of the transport tray 31, two conveyors 34, i.e., the 1 st conveyor 341 and the 2 nd conveyor 342, are provided so as to form a pair on the left and right.

The 1 st belt 341 is annularly stretched over a pair of left and right 1 st pulleys 341a rotatable about a central axis in the front-rear direction, and is displaceable in the extending direction thereof. The 1 st conveyor 341 is provided with the upper horizontal extension portion 341b exposed from the upper surface of the reference portion 331, that is, from the mounting surface of the transport tray 31, through the left cutout 331a formed as a pair of left and right cutouts in the reference portion 331.

The 1 st roller 351 is connected to the leading end of the 1 st pulley 341a on the left side where the 1 st belt 341 is displaced. The 1 st roller 351 is connected to the 1 st pulley 341a on the left side so that the central axis thereof coincides with the central axis of the 1 st pulley 341a on the left side and is rotatable integrally with the 1 st pulley 341a on the left side, and a part of the peripheral edge of the 1 st roller 351 protrudes leftward from the side plate 32 (left side plate 32) of the conveyance tray 31. When the 1 st roller 351 rotates around its own central axis, the 1 st pulley 341a on the left side connected thereto is rotated, thereby displacing the 1 st belt 341.

The 2 nd belt 342 is disposed in an endless manner on a pair of left and right 2 nd pulleys 342a rotatable about central axes in the front-rear direction, respectively, and is displaceable in the extending direction thereof. The 2 nd conveyor belt 342 is provided with an upper horizontal extension portion 342b that is exposed from the upper surface of the reference portion 331, that is, from the mounting surface of the transport tray 31, through the cutout 331b on the right side out of the cutouts of the reference portion 331 formed as a pair of right and left.

A 2 nd roller 352 is connected to a rear end portion of the 2 nd pulley 342a on the right side where the 2 nd belt 342 is displaced. The 2 nd roller 352 is coupled to the right-side 2 nd pulley 342a so that the central axis thereof coincides with the central axis of the right-side 2 nd pulley 342a and is rotatable integrally with the right-side 2 nd pulley 342a, and a part of the peripheral edge of the 2 nd roller 352 protrudes rightward from the side plate 32 of the transport tray 31 (the right-side plate 32). When rotating around the center axis of the roller 352, the 2 nd roller 352 rotates the connected 2 nd pulley 342a on the right side, thereby displacing the 2 nd belt 342.

The lifting unit 40 is used to move the conveyance tray 31 in the vertical direction in the article takeout area 11A and the conveyance area 11B of the article storage 11. That is, the product takeout area 11A and the conveyance area 11B constitute a movement area of the conveyance tray 31.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the lifting unit 40 is configured by providing a lifting body 41 and a posture determining roller 42 on each side plate 32 of the transport tray 31, and providing a pair of left and right lifting rails 43 and a posture control rail 44 on the main body cabinet 10. In fig. 7 and 8, illustration of the right elevating guide rail 43 and the posture control rail 44 is omitted.

The lifting body 41 is supported to be rotatable with respect to the side plate 32 of the transport tray 31 about the mounting shaft portion 36 along the left-right direction, and the lifting body 41 is configured such that a front pair of guide rollers 41a and a rear pair of guide rollers 41a are disposed one above the other. The posture defining roller 42 is disposed on the side plate 32 of the transport tray 31 at a position rearward of the attachment portion of the vertically movable body 41 so as to be rotatable about an axis line along the left-right direction.

The lifting rail 43 is a vertically long member that is long in the vertical direction, and is attached to the main body cabinet 10 in a vertical direction at positions on both sides of the movement area (the commodity takeout area 11A and the conveyance area 11B) of the conveyance tray 31. A main guide path 43a extending in the vertical direction is formed in the lifting rail 43. The main guide path 43a functions to guide the guide roller 41a of the vertically movable body 41 in a straight line in the vertical direction.

The posture control rail 44 is a vertically long member having a longitudinal direction, and is attached to the main body cabinet 10 so as to be adjacent to the up-and-down guide 43 on the rear side of the up-and-down guide 43. An auxiliary guide path 44a extending in the vertical direction is formed in the attitude control rail 44. The auxiliary guide path 44a is provided in parallel with the main guide path 43a, and functions to guide the posture defining roller 42 of the side plate 32 of the conveyance tray 31 in a straight line in the vertical direction.

In such a lifting unit 40, a sprocket 45 is attached to the left lifting rail 43. The sprocket 45 is attached to the main body cabinet 10 in a state in which the axis thereof is horizontal in the left-right direction in the upper region of the left lifting rail 43 by a rotation actuator 46 such as an electric motor for forward/reverse rotation.

A timing chain (timing chain) 451 is wound around the sprocket 45. The timing chain 451 has one end connected to the upper end portion of the lifting body 41 supported by the left side plate 32 of the transport tray 31, and has the other end connected to the upper end portion of the balance weight 451 a.

The balance weight 451a is vertically movable along a guide path 471 of the left guide plate 47 attached to the main body case 10 adjacent to the up-down guide rail 43 on the front side of the up-down guide rail 43 on the left side. The right surface 47a of the left guide plate 47 constitutes a side wall of the moving area of the conveying tray 31. A part of the circumferential surface of the 1 st roller 351 is in contact with the right surface 47a of the left guide plate 47, and the 1 st roller 351 can roll on the right surface 47 a.

On the other hand, a driven sprocket 48 is attached to the right elevating guide rail 43. The driven sprocket 48 is coupled to the sprocket 45 via a transmission shaft 49 and rotates in synchronization with the rotation (normal rotation or reverse rotation) of the sprocket 45. A timing chain 481 is wound around the driven sprocket 48. With the timing chain 481, one end portion is connected to the upper end portion of the lifting body 41 supported by the side plate 32 on the right side of the transport tray 31, and the other end portion is connected to the upper end portion of the balance weight 481 a.

The balance weight 481a is vertically movable along a guide path 471 of the right guide plate 47 attached to the right side of the main body cabinet 10 so as to be adjacent to the up-down guide rail 43 on the front side of the up-down guide rail 43 on the right side. The right guide plate 47 and the left guide plate 47 form a pair of right and left, and a left surface 47b of the right guide plate 47 faces a right surface 47a of the left guide plate 47, and forms a side wall of a movement area of the conveyance tray 31. A part of the circumferential surface of the 2 nd roller 352 contacts the left surface 47b of the right guide plate 47, and the 2 nd roller 352 can roll on the left surface 47 b.

In the commodity transport device 30 configured as described above, when the sprocket 45 is rotated by driving of the rotary actuator 46, the driven sprocket 48 is also rotated in the same direction in synchronization with the sprocket 45 via the transmission shaft 49. The synchronous rotation of the sprocket 45 and the driven sprocket 48 changes the feed length of the

timing chains

451, 481, and the conveyance tray 31 can be moved in the vertical direction by the respective vertically movable bodies 41. At this time, the

counter weights

451a, 481a connected to the end portions of the

timing chains

451, 481 on the side opposite to the side where the lifting body 41 is located move up and down in the guide path 471 in the direction opposite to the conveying tray 31. When the transport tray 31 moves in the vertical direction, the posture defining roller 42 rolls in contact with the rear end portion of the auxiliary guide path 44a, and the transport tray 31 moves up and down with the upper surface (placement surface) of the reference portion 331 as a horizontal surface.

In addition, in the case where the conveyance tray 31 moves in the up-down direction, the 1 st roller 351 rolls on the right surface 47a of the left guide plate 47, and the 2 nd roller 352 rolls on the left surface 47b of the right guide plate 47. Therefore, when the transport tray 31 moves downward, as shown by the solid arrows in fig. 5, the 1 st roller 351 rotates clockwise about the central axis line as viewed from the front, whereby the 1 st conveyor belt 341 is displaced so that the upper horizontal extension 341b moves rightward, and the 2 nd roller 352 rotates counterclockwise about the central axis line as viewed from the front, whereby the 2 nd conveyor belt 342 is displaced so that the upper horizontal extension 342b moves leftward.

That is, when the transport tray 31 moves downward with respect to the conveyor belts 34 provided on the transport tray 31 as a pair on the left and right, the conveyor belts 34 are displaced in such a manner that the upper

horizontal extensions

341b and 342b approach the other conveyor belt 34.

On the other hand, in the case where the transport tray 31 moves upward, as shown by a broken line arrow in fig. 5, the 1 st roller 351 rotates in the counterclockwise direction centering on the central axis as viewed from the front, whereby the 1 st conveyor belt 341 is displaced so that the upper horizontal extension 341b moves to the left, and the 2 nd roller 352 rotates in the clockwise direction centering on the central axis as viewed from the front, whereby the 2 nd conveyor belt 342 is displaced so that the upper horizontal extension 342b moves to the right.

Hereinafter, a characteristic operation of the article conveyance device 30 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with respect to the article sales operation of the vending machine 1.

When the vending machine 1 is in the vending standby state, the conveyance tray 31 is disposed in the article takeout area 11A. When the article selection unit 24 of the outer door 20 is operated from the sales standby state to perform an article purchase operation and the storage lane 12a is instructed, the sprocket 45 rotates to move the conveyance tray 31 upward in the conveyance area 11B from the article takeout area 11A to the conveyance area 11B, and the conveyance tray is positioned with respect to the corresponding article storage shelf 12. Thus, when the storage lane 12a operates to deliver a product from the front, the product is received by the upper surface of the central plate 33 via the guide portion 332 of the conveyance tray 31, and a part of the product W is placed on the upper horizontally extending portion 341b of the conveyor 34 as shown in fig. 9.

When the storage lane 12a is operated and a predetermined time has elapsed, the sprocket 45 rotates to move the conveyance tray 31 downward in the conveyance area 11B toward the product takeout area 11A. Meanwhile, the 1 st roller 351 is rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed from the front while rolling on the right surface 47a of the left guide plate 47, whereby the 1 st conveyor belt 341 is displaced in such a manner that the upper side horizontal extension 341b approaches the 2 nd conveyor belt 342, and the 2 nd roller 352 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the front while rolling on the left surface 47b of the right guide surface, whereby the 2 nd conveyor belt 342 is displaced in such a manner that the upper side horizontal extension 342b approaches the 1 st conveyor belt 341. As a result, an external force is applied to a part of the commodity W placed on the upper horizontally extending

portions

341b and 342b of the conveyor 34 (the 1 st conveyor 341 or the 2 nd conveyor 342) due to the displacement of the conveyor 34, and the posture of the commodity W is broken, and the commodity W is conveyed while lying, as shown in fig. 10, and reaches the commodity retrieval area 11A. Thereafter, the removal cover 23 is allowed to be pushed open to receive the commodity W through the commodity removal port 22.

As described above, according to the commodity conveying device 30 of embodiment 1 of the present invention, when the conveying tray 31 that receives the commodity W conveyed from an arbitrary commodity storage shelf 12 moves downward in the conveying area 11B toward the commodity retrieval area 11A, the conveyor 34 that is stretched annularly so that the upper horizontal extending portions 341B and 342B are exposed from the placement surface of the conveying tray 31 is displaced, and an external force is applied to the commodity W to correct the commodity W into the lying posture, so that a part of the commodity W does not protrude from the conveying tray 31 toward the commodity storage shelf 12, and therefore, there is no risk that the commodity W collides with another commodity storage shelf 12 or the like and falls from the conveying tray 31, and the commodity W can be conveyed satisfactorily.

In addition, in the product transport device 30, since the 1 st conveyor 341 and the 2 nd conveyor 342 are displaced by the 1 st roller 351 and the 2 nd roller 352 rolling on the right surface 47a of the left guide plate 47 and the left surface 47b of the right guide plate 47 constituting the side wall of the moving area of the transport tray 31, a drive source for displacing the conveyor 34 is not required, and power consumption can be reduced.

In the above-described article transport device 30, when the pair of the left and right first and 2

second conveyors

341 and 342, which are annularly stretched in a state in which the upper horizontally extending portions 341B and 342B are exposed from the placement surface of the transport tray 31, moves downward in the transport region 11B with the transport tray 31 having received the article W moving toward the article pickup region 11A, the first and 2

second conveyors

341 and 342 are displaced in a state in which the upper horizontally extending portions 341B and 342B are close to the other conveyor 34, so that the article W corrected to the lying posture can be brought close to the central region of the reference portion 331 between the upper horizontally extending portions 341B and 342B, and the user can easily pick up the article W.

< embodiment 2 >

Fig. 11 and 12 are side sectional views schematically showing the internal structure of a vending machine to which a product conveying device according to embodiment 2 of the present invention is applied, and fig. 11 and 12 are perspective views schematically showing the internal structure. The same components as those of the vending machine 1 to which the product conveying device 30 according to embodiment 1 is applied are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted as appropriate.

The vending machine 2 illustrated here is installed inside a facility such as a store, and includes a main body cabinet 10 and an outer door 20.

The main body cabinet 10 is a rectangular parallelepiped case having an opening on a front surface. The outer door 20 is flat and swingably held by one side of the main body case 10 so as to open and close the front opening 10a of the main body case 10. Although not explicitly shown in the drawings, the main cabinet 10 and the outer door 20 each have a heat insulating function, and when the front opening 10a of the main cabinet 10 is closed by the outer door 20, the commodity storage 11 serving as a heat insulating space is formed inside the main cabinet 10.

The commodity storage shelves 12 can be arranged at arbitrary height positions of the commodity storage 11 and can be set to have different heights from each other. Further, the width of the storage lane 12a along the left-right direction can be arbitrarily set in each commodity storage shelf 12. The storage lane 12a set in the commodity storage shelf 12 is capable of operating alone and sequentially feeding out the stored commodities forward, so that the commodity positioned at the forefront falls downward through the delivery plane. In embodiment 2, as shown in fig. 11 and 12, a commodity storage shelf 12 called a so-called spiral rack configured to sequentially feed commodities in a storage lane 12a forward by rotation of a spiral is illustrated.

The air cooled around the evaporator 13a is sucked into the air passage 15b from the suction port 15a of the rear surface duct 15 provided on the rear surface of the commodity storage container 11 by driving the in-container fan F1, and is blown out from the respective blow-out ports 15c after passing through the air passage 15b, thereby cooling the commodities stored in the respective commodity-storing shelves 12.

As shown in fig. 11, the outer door 20 is provided with a window 21 and a commodity outlet 22. The window 21 is formed by disposing a transparent surface member 21a having heat insulation properties such as a laminated glass, and even when the front opening 10a of the main body cabinet 10 is closed by the outer door 20, the front commodity stored in the storage lane 12a of all the commodity storage shelves 12 can be visually recognized from the outside.

The product outlet 22 is an opening through which a user receives a purchased product, and is formed below the window 21 of the outer door 20. The upper opening edge 22a of the commodity outlet 22 is set to be located below the commodity storage shelf 12 disposed at the lowermost layer. The commodity outlet 22 is normally closed by an outlet cover 23 provided in the outer door 20, and can be opened by pressing and rotating the outlet cover 23 inward. The take-out cover 23 is supported by the outer door 20 through an upper end portion by an opening/closing shaft 23a extending in the left-right direction. Further, a commodity selection unit 24, a coin insertion port 25, a bill insertion port 26, a card reader 27, a coin return port 28, and the like are provided at a portion of the outer door 20 located on a side of the window 21.

A commodity takeout area 11A and a conveyance area 11B are secured at the front end of the commodity storage 11. The product takeout area 11A is a space to which the product purchased by the user is finally conveyed, and is configured below the upper edge of the product takeout opening 22 when the outer door 20 is in a closed state.

The conveyance area 11B is a space for conveying the commodities W fed out from the storage lanes 12a of the commodity storage shelves 12 to the commodity takeout area 11A, and is provided above the commodity takeout area 11A continuously from the commodity takeout area 11A. The front-rear dimension and the left-right dimension of the conveyance area 11B are configured to be substantially equal to the commodity takeout area 11A.

A commodity carrying device 50 is disposed in a commodity takeout area 11A and a carrying area 11B secured to the front end portion of the commodity storage container 11. As shown in fig. 13, the article transport device 50 includes a transport tray 51 and an elevating unit 60.

As shown in fig. 14 and 15, the conveyance tray 51 is configured by disposing a center plate 53 between a pair of side plates 52, and the dimension of the center plate 53 in the left-right direction is set to be substantially the same as the total width of the commodity-accommodating shelf 12. The conveyance tray 51 is a long member having a length in the left-right direction sufficiently larger than that in the front-rear direction, and the left-right direction is the longitudinal direction.

The central plate 53 of the conveyance tray 51 is a member in which the 1 st inclined portion 531 and the 2 nd inclined portion 532 are integrally formed. The 1 st inclined portion 531 is a portion which is disposed so that the tip end edge approaches the outer door 20 and extends obliquely downward from the tip end edge gradually as going rearward. The 2 nd inclined portion 532 is a portion extending obliquely upward gradually from the rear end edge of the 1 st inclined portion 531 toward the rear, that is, toward the commodity-accommodating shelf 12. The upper surface of the 1 st inclined part 531 and the upper surface of the 2 nd inclined part 532 constitute a placement surface of the conveyance tray 51.

The lifting unit 60 moves the conveyance tray 51 in the vertical direction in the product takeout area 11A and the conveyance area 11B of the product storage 11. That is, the article takeout area 11A and the conveyance area 11B constitute a movement area of the conveyance tray 51.

The lifting unit 60 is configured by providing a lifting body 61 and a posture defining roller 62 on the side plate 52 of the transport tray 51, and providing a pair of left and right lifting rails 63 and a posture control rail 64 on the main body cabinet 10.

The lifting body 61 is supported to be rotatable with respect to the side plates 52 of the transport tray 51 about the tray shaft portion 55 extending in the left-right direction, and the lifting body 61 is configured such that a pair of front and rear guide rollers 61a are vertically arranged. The posture defining roller 62 is disposed on the side plate 52 of the transport tray 51 at a position rearward of the attachment portion of the lifting body 61 so as to be rotatable about an axis line along the left-right direction.

The up-down guide 63 is a vertically long member that is long in the vertical direction, and is attached to the main body cabinet 10 so as to extend in the vertical direction at positions on both sides of the movement region (the product takeout region 11A and the conveyance region 11B) in which the conveyance tray 51 moves. A main guide path 63a (see fig. 16 and 17) extending in the vertical direction is formed in the lifting rail 63. The main guide path 63a functions to guide the guide roller 61a of the lifting body 61 linearly in the vertical direction.

The posture control rail 64 is a vertically long member having a longitudinal direction, and is attached to the main body cabinet 10 so as to be adjacent to the up-and-down guide 63 on the rear side of the up-and-down guide 63. An auxiliary guide path 64a (see fig. 16 and 17) extending in the vertical direction is formed in the attitude control rail 64. The auxiliary guide path 64a is provided in parallel with the main guide path 63a, and functions to guide the posture defining rollers 62 of the side plates 52 of the transport tray 51 in the vertical direction.

In the attitude control rail 64, as shown in fig. 11 and the like, a plurality of notches 642 are formed in a portion constituting the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a, and a plurality of concave portions 65 are disposed in each of the plurality of notches 642. The concave portion 65 is disposed slightly below the installation height of each commodity storage shelf 12 except for the lowermost commodity storage shelf 12, and is configured such that the upper side rolling surface 651 and the lower side rolling surface 652 gradually approach each other as going rearward. The upper rolling surface 651 is a portion that continues from the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a above itself and gradually extends obliquely downward as it goes rearward. The lower rolling surface 652 is a portion that continues from the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a below itself and gradually extends obliquely upward as going rearward. The upper rolling surface 651 and the lower rolling surface 652 are continuous with each other and allow the attitude determining roller 62 to roll.

In such an elevating unit 60, a sprocket 66 is attached to the left elevating guide rail 63. The sprocket 66 is attached to the main body cabinet 10 in a state in which its axis is horizontal in the left-right direction in an upper region of the left lifting rail 63 by rotating the sprocket in the forward/reverse direction by a rotary actuator 67 such as an electric motor.

A timing chain 661 is wound around the sprocket 66. The timing chain 661 has one end connected to an upper end portion of the lifting body 61 supported by the left side plate 52 of the conveying tray 51, and has the other end connected to an upper end portion of a balance weight (not shown).

The balance weight can move up and down along the guide path 681 of the left guide plate 68 attached to the main body case 10 adjacent to the lifting rail 63 on the front side of the lifting rail 63 on the left side.

On the other hand, a driven sprocket 69 is attached to the right elevating guide rail 63. The driven sprocket 69 is coupled to the sprocket 66 via a transmission shaft 70 and rotates in synchronization with the rotation (normal rotation or reverse rotation) of the sprocket 66. A timing chain 691 is wound around the driven sprocket 69. The timing chain 691 has one end connected to an upper end portion of the lifting body 61 supported by the right side plate 52 of the conveyance tray 51, and has the other end connected to an upper end portion of the counterweight 691 a.

The counterweight 691a can move vertically along the guide path 681 of the right guide plate 68 attached to the main body cabinet 10 adjacent to the up-down guide 63 on the front side of the up-down guide 63 on the right. The right guide plate 68 and the left guide plate 68 form a pair of right and left.

In the commodity transporting apparatus 50 configured as described above, when the sprocket 66 is rotated by driving the rotary actuator 67, the driven sprocket 69 is also rotated in the same direction in synchronization with the sprocket 66 via the transmission shaft 70. The sprocket 66 and the driven sprocket 69 are rotated in synchronization with each other, so that the feed length of the

timing chains

661, 691 is changed, and the conveyance tray 51 can be moved in the vertical direction by the respective elevating units 61. At this time, the balancer 691a connected to the end of the

timing chains

661, 691 on the side opposite to the lifter 61 moves up and down in the guide path 681 in the opposite direction to the conveyance tray 51.

When the conveyance tray 51 moves downward, the conveyance tray 51 receives the commodities sent out from the commodity-accommodating shelf 12, and therefore the posture-defining rollers 62 roll in a state of contacting the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a or the rolling surface (the upper rolling surface 651 or the lower rolling surface 652) of the concave portion 65 by the weight of the commodities, which will be described in detail later. That is, when the transport tray 51 moves downward and the posture defining roller 62 rolls in a state of being in contact with the upper side rolling surface 651 of the concave portion 65, as shown in fig. 16, the transport tray 51 takes a posture in which the 1 st inclined portion 531 swings downward about the tray shaft portion 55, and then, when the posture defining roller 62 rolls in a state of being in contact with the lower side rolling surface 652 of the concave portion 65, the transport tray 51 takes a posture in which the 1 st inclined portion 531 slightly swings upward about the tray shaft portion 55, and when the posture defining roller 62 rolls to the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a, as shown in fig. 17, the transport tray 51 takes a posture in which the 1 st inclined portion 531 swings upward about the tray shaft portion 55.

On the other hand, when the conveyance tray 51 moves upward, since the conveyance tray 51 does not receive a commodity, the posture determining rollers 62 do not roll in a state of contacting the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a and the rolling surface (the upper side rolling surface 651 or the lower side rolling surface 652) of the concave portion 65, and as a result, the conveyance tray 51 does not swing around the tray shaft portion 55.

Hereinafter, a characteristic operation of the article conveyance device 50 according to embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with respect to the article selling operation of the vending machine 2.

When the vending machine 2 is in the vending standby state, the conveyance tray 51 is disposed in the article takeout area 11A. When the article selection unit 24 of the outer door 20 is operated from the sales standby state to perform an article purchase operation and the storage lane 12a is instructed, the sprocket 66 rotates to move the conveyance tray 51 upward in the conveyance area 11B from the article takeout area 11A to the conveyance area 11B, and the conveyance tray is positioned with respect to the corresponding article storage shelf 12. Thus, when the storage lane 12a operates to send out a commodity from the front, the commodity is received on the upper surface of the center plate 53 via the 2 nd inclined portion 532 of the conveyance tray 51.

When the storage lane 12a is operated and a predetermined time has elapsed, the sprocket 66 rotates to move the conveyance tray 51 downward in the conveyance area 11B toward the product pickup area 11A. The conveyance tray 51 that has received the product is swung about the tray shaft 55 and moved downward because the posture defining rollers 62 roll on the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a, the upper side rolling surface 651 of the concave portion 65, the lower side rolling surface 652 of the concave portion 65, and the rear end edge 641 of the auxiliary guide path 64a in this order by the weight of the product. As the conveyance tray 51 is moved downward in this manner, the posture of the commodity W received by the conveyance tray 51 is broken due to the swinging of the conveyance tray 51 around the center axis of the tray shaft portion 55, and the commodity W is conveyed while being in a lying posture, as shown in fig. 17, and reaches the commodity takeout area 11A. Thereafter, the removal cover 23 is allowed to be pushed open to receive the commodity W through the commodity removal port 22.

As described above, according to the commodity transporting apparatus 50 of embodiment 2 of the present invention, when the transport tray 51 that has received the commodity W that has been dispatched from any of the commodity storage shelves 12 moves downward in the transport area 11B toward the commodity takeout area 11A, the commodity W is corrected to the lying posture by swinging the transport tray 51 about the central axis of the tray shaft portion 55 so as to avoid a portion of the commodity W from protruding from the transport tray 51 toward the commodity storage shelf 12, and therefore, there is no risk that the commodity W collides with another commodity storage shelf 12 or the like and falls from the transport tray 51, and the commodity W can be transported satisfactorily.

While preferred embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications are possible.

In the above-described embodiments 1 and 2, the

conveyance trays

31 and 51 are not only moved to the conveyance area 11B but also moved to the article takeout area 11A, and the received articles can be taken out through the article takeout port 22, but in the present invention, the conveyance trays may be changed in posture to the receiving posture and the handing-out posture, convey the articles in the receiving posture, and hand-out the articles to the article takeout area in the handing-out posture.

In embodiment 1, the 1 st conveyor 341 and the 2 nd conveyor 342 are provided on the transport tray 31, but in the present invention, 1 conveyor may be provided on the transport tray, or 3 or more conveyors may be provided. In the present invention, the shape is not limited to the conveyor belt, and the shape is not limited as long as the commodity received by the conveyor tray and conveyed to the commodity takeout area is corrected to the lying posture by applying an external force to the commodity.

In embodiment 2 described above, the plurality of concave portions 65 are provided in the auxiliary guide path 64a of the attitude control rail 64, but in the present invention, if the conveyance tray is a member that corrects the commodity to the lying attitude by swinging the conveyance tray about the center axis of the tray shaft portion when the conveyance tray receives the commodity sent out from any commodity storage shelf and then moves downward, the shape of the member is not limited.

In embodiment 2 described above, the recessed portions 65 are provided in both the left and right attitude control rails 64, but in the present invention, recessed portions may be provided only in either one of the left and right attitude control rails. The recess may be disposed at any height.

Claims

1. A commodity carrying device comprising a carrying tray which is movable in a vertical direction inside a commodity storage box containing a plurality of commodity storage shelves in the vertical direction, wherein the carrying tray is moved downward after receiving a commodity sent out from an arbitrary commodity storage shelf and carries the received commodity to a commodity takeout area,

the commodity conveying device is provided with a commodity posture correction component, and the commodity posture correction component corrects the commodity which is received by the conveying tray and conveyed to the commodity taking-out area into a horizontal posture so as to prevent a part of the commodity from protruding from the conveying tray to the commodity storage shelf.

2. The article transport device according to claim 1,

the article posture correcting member corrects the article to the lying posture by applying an external force to the article received by the conveyance tray and conveyed to the article takeout area.

3. The article transport device according to claim 2,

the conveyance tray is movable in an up-down direction in a front region of the commodity storage shelf of the commodity storage box,

the commodity posture correcting member includes:

a conveyor belt that is disposed in a stretched state in a loop shape so as to be displaceable along an extending direction of the conveyor belt, and that is disposed in a state in which an upper horizontal extension portion is exposed from a placement surface of the conveyor tray; and

a roller that displaces the conveyor belt in an extending direction when the conveyance tray moves in an up-down direction.

4. The article transport device according to claim 3,

the conveyor belts are provided on the conveyor tray in a pair of left and right, and when the conveyor tray moves downward, the conveyor belts are displaced so that the upper horizontal extension portion approaches the other conveyor belt.

5. The article transport device according to claim 3 or 4,

the rollers are provided rollably on a side wall constituting a movement area of the conveyance tray, and when the conveyance tray moves in the vertical direction, the rollers roll along the side wall to displace the conveyor belt.

6. The article transport device according to claim 1,

the conveying tray is arranged to be capable of swinging around a central axis of a tray shaft part extending along the left-right direction,

when the conveyance tray receives a commodity sent out from an arbitrary commodity storage shelf and then moves downward, the commodity posture correction member corrects the commodity to the lying posture by swinging the conveyance tray around the central axis of the tray shaft portion.

7. The article transport device according to claim 6,

the commodity posture correction member includes:

a lifting guide rail having a main guide path for guiding a lifting body supporting the conveying tray via the tray shaft portion in a vertical direction; and

an attitude control rail having an auxiliary guide path for guiding an attitude regulation roller disposed on the transport tray in a vertical direction,

the auxiliary guide path alternately rolls the attitude determining roller of the conveyance tray, which moves downward after receiving the commodity, on a rear end edge of the auxiliary guide path itself and a rolling surface provided so as to be continuous with the rear end edge, thereby swinging the conveyance tray around a central axis of the tray shaft portion.