CN116912999A - Commodity storage device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a commodity storage device. Good carry-out of the commodity and good discharge of the most downstream commodity. The device is provided with: a screw for holding a plurality of commodities in a manner aligned along the extending direction of the commodity-accommodating path; and a carry-out control unit that, when the commodity discharge condition is complete, performs a discharge operation in which the spiral is operated from the standby state until a drive time obtained by adding a predetermined time to the delay time elapses by driving a carry-out motor that is linked to the spiral via the output gear, and in which the commodity held at the most downstream position is discharged, when an actual operation time from a start of driving the carry-out motor until a protrusion formed in the output gear is detected by the carry-out detection switch increases or decreases as compared with the predetermined time, drives the carry-out motor until a time obtained by adding a correction delay time calculated by multiplying a ratio of the actual operation time to the predetermined time by the delay time to the actual operation time elapses.

Description

Commodity storage device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a commodity storage device, and more particularly, to an improvement of a commodity storage device applied to a vending machine for selling commodities.

Background

Conventionally, in vending machines for selling commodities, after commodity racks stored in commodity storage boxes are discharged to a conveying tray, the commodity racks are conveyed by the conveying tray and discharged to a predetermined commodity take-out area. The commodity taking-out area is a space that communicates with the outside of the commodity storage via the commodity taking-out port, and if the user inserts his/her hand from the commodity taking-out port, the purchased commodity can be taken out.

In general, in such vending machines, a part of the front surface door constituting the front surface is constituted by a transparent panel such as glass, and it is possible to visually confirm and select the commodity of the commodity rack stored in the commodity storage box from the outside, and to observe the state in which the purchased commodity discharged from the commodity rack is conveyed to the commodity take-out area by the conveying tray. The vending machine capable of visually confirming the inside of the commodity storage box in this way has the advantage of improving the purchase enthusiasm of the user.

The commodity shelf in such vending machines is configured such that a plurality of commodity columns are juxtaposed in the left-right direction. Each commodity column constituting the commodity shelf has a commodity-accommodating passage extending in the front-rear direction, and is configured to have a screw.

The spiral is spirally wound along the extending direction of the commodity-accommodating path, that is, in the front-rear direction. The screw rotates around the central axis when a driving force is transmitted by a carry-out motor as a driving source through a transmission mechanism.

In the commodity column having such a structure, the commodity is normally held between the pitches of the screw, and when the screw is rotated once from the standby state, the commodity held between the pitches is gradually carried forward to discharge the forefront commodity (for example, refer to patent document 1).

Prior art literature

Patent literature

Patent document 1: japanese patent No. 6443459

Disclosure of Invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

In the commodity column, the spiral is rotated once from the standby state to carry out the commodity and discharge the forefront commodity, but it is known that the time for rotating once from the standby state varies depending on the diameter of the spiral, the size of the pitch, and the like.

Therefore, in order to cope with various spirals, a driving time is calculated, which is a time required to rotate the spiral by a predetermined amount (less than one turn) from the standby position, specifically, a time required until a protrusion formed on an output gear integrally rotated with the spiral is detected by a detection switch, and a delay time determined according to characteristics such as a diameter of the spiral to be applied, a pitch of the spiral are added to the driving time.

However, since such a predetermined time and delay time are determined by rotating the screw without load once as in the case of shipping the vending machine, the following problems are involved.

That is, the spiral may not rotate once and return to the standby state even when the carry-out motor is driven until the driving time elapses, because the load is excessively increased due to the mass of the commodity held between the pitches and the sliding contact with the peripheral member at the time of carrying out the commodity. If the screw is not returned to the standby state in this way, the commodity cannot be restrained in place, and the forefront commodity may not be discharged when the next commodity is carried out or discharged.

The screw is described as an example of the carrying-out mechanism, but the screw is not limited to this screw, and similar problems are found in carrying-out mechanisms such as screw carrying-out members and belt conveyors.

In view of the above-described circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a commodity storage device capable of properly carrying out a commodity and properly discharging a commodity at the most downstream.

Solution for solving the problem

In order to achieve the above object, a commodity storage device according to the present invention includes: a carrying-out mechanism which is arranged in a commodity storage passage extending in a straight line and holds a plurality of commodities in a manner of being arranged along an extending direction of the commodity storage passage; and a carry-out control unit that performs a carry-out operation when a commodity carrying-out condition is complete, wherein the carry-out mechanism is operated from a standby state by driving a carry-out motor that is linked to the carry-out mechanism via an output gear until a driving time is elapsed, the driving time being a time obtained by adding a predetermined time to a delay time determined in accordance with a characteristic of the carry-out mechanism, and the commodity storage device is characterized in that, when the carry-out operation is performed, the carry-out control unit causes the carry-out motor to be driven until a time obtained by adding a correction delay time, which is calculated by multiplying a ratio of the actual operation time to the predetermined time by the delay time, is elapsed when an actual operation time from a start of driving the carry-out motor until a rotation amount of the output gear reaches a predetermined reference rotation amount is increased or decreased compared with the predetermined time.

In the commodity storage device according to the present invention, the actual operating time is a time from a start of driving of the carry-out motor to a detection of a protrusion formed on the output gear by the detection unit.

In the commodity storage device according to the present invention, the carry-out control unit may drive the carry-out motor until the drive time elapses when the actual operation time matches the predetermined time in the case of performing the discharge operation.

In the above-described commodity storage apparatus, the commodity storage path extends in the front-rear direction, and the carrying-out mechanism includes a screw that is configured to be spirally wound in the extending direction of the commodity storage path, and gradually carries out the commodity held between the pitches of the screw toward the front to discharge the forefront commodity when the screw rotates about the central axis.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

According to the present invention, when the discharge operation is performed, the carry-out control unit drives the carry-out motor until a time obtained by adding the correction delay time calculated by multiplying the delay time by the ratio of the actual operation time to the predetermined time has elapsed when the actual operation time from the start of the drive of the carry-out motor until the rotation amount of the output gear reaches the predetermined reference rotation amount is increased or decreased from the predetermined time, and therefore, even if the carry-out mechanism becomes overloaded, the carry-out mechanism can be stopped in an appropriate state from the standby state, and the effect that the commodity can be carried out well and the commodity at the most downstream can be discharged well can be obtained.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view showing an external configuration of a vending machine to which a commodity storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional side view schematically showing an internal structure of a vending machine to which the commodity storing apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing an external structure of 1 article rack shown in fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the main portion of the product rack shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the driving unit shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram schematically showing the output gear and the carry-out detection switch shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing a characteristic control system of a commodity column, which is a commodity storing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing content of the discharge operation control performed by the carry-out control unit shown in fig. 7.

Detailed Description

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

Fig. 1 and 2 show a vending machine to which the commodity storage device according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied, respectively, fig. 1 is a front view showing an external appearance of the vending machine, and fig. 2 is a cross-sectional side view schematically showing an internal structure of the vending machine. The vending machine 1 illustrated here is, for example, a vending machine installed in a store or the like, and includes a main body cabinet 10 as a main body of the apparatus.

The main body cabinet 10 is a rectangular parallelepiped case having an opening (hereinafter, also referred to as a front surface opening) 10a on the front surface, and has a commodity storage 11 inside. The commodity storage 11 is a chamber surrounded by a heat insulating material and having a heat insulating structure, and the commodity shelf 13 is provided with a plurality of layers in the up-down direction. These commodity racks 13 are erected between rack support side plates, not shown, which are erected on both sides of the commodity storage 11, respectively, to store commodities.

The commodity storage 11 is provided with an evaporator 14a. The evaporator 14a is configured as a refrigerant circuit 14 in which a refrigerant circulates in a compressor 14b, a condenser 14c, and an expansion mechanism 14d disposed in a device chamber 12 partitioned into a lower region of the commodity storage container 11, and the refrigerant passing through a refrigerant passage, not shown, exchanges heat with air passing through the interior of the commodity storage container 11 around itself, thereby cooling the air.

The air cooled around the evaporator 14a is sucked into the air duct 16b through the suction port 16a of the back air duct 16 provided on the back surface of the commodity housing box 11 by driving the in-box blower fan 15, and is blown out from the respective blowing ports 16c after passing through the air duct 16b, whereby the commodity housed in the commodity shelf 13 is cooled.

In the front region of the commodity shelf 13 in the commodity storage 11, a pair of conveying rails 17a are disposed on both sides of the front region, and a conveying tray 17b is disposed so as to be movable in the up-down direction between the conveying rails 17a by a conveying mechanism not shown. That is, a conveyance path 17 for passing the conveyance tray 17b is formed between the conveyance rails 17 a. The conveyance path 17 extends to a front region of the equipment room 12, and a commodity take-out region 18 is a lowermost position of the front region of the equipment room 12.

The front opening 10a of the main body cabinet 10 is opened and closed by a front door 20. The front door 20 is a door body having a size sufficient to close the front opening 10a, and is provided so as to be swingable along a left edge portion on the front side of the main body cabinet 10.

The front door 20 has a heat insulating structure, and includes a window 21 to which a glass plate 21a having heat insulating properties that can be visually confirmed from the outside is attached, and a rectangular commodity outlet 22 is formed in a lower portion of the window 21.

The commodity outlet 22 is an opening for a user to take out a commodity that is conveyed by the conveyance tray 17b to the commodity take-out area 18, and the commodity outlet 22 is opened and closed by a commodity take-out door 23.

Further, a commodity selecting section 24, a coin insertion port 25, an amount display 26, a bill insertion port 27, a coin return port 28, and the like are provided on the right side of the window section 21 of the front surface door 20.

The commodity selecting section 24 has keys 0 to 9, a numeric keypad, a display, and the like, and is used for a user to select a commodity. The coin inlet 25 is an opening for inputting coins. The money amount display 26 is constituted by an LCD or the like, for example, and displays the amount of money to be deposited.

The banknote insertion slot 27 is an opening for inserting banknotes. The coin return port 28 is an opening for returning the inserted coins, returning change, or the like. In addition, a card reader or the like is provided, and when a recording medium storing amount information called electronic money is held in a predetermined communicable area, data relating to money is transmitted and received between the card reader and the recording medium.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing an external appearance structure of the 1-item rack 13 shown in fig. 1 and 2. In addition, since the plurality of product shelves 13 shown in fig. 1 and 2 each have the same structure, 1 product shelf 13 will be described below, and description of other product shelves 13 will be omitted.

The commodity shelf 13 illustrated here is configured to include a base 30, a partition plate 40, and a plurality of commodity columns (commodity storing devices) 50.

The base 30 is made of a metal plate or the like, and includes a base frame 31 and a base plate 32. As also shown in fig. 4, the base frame 31 has a rectangular shape formed by forming the front frame 311, the rear frame 312, and the pair of left and right side frame portions 313 and 314 into a four-sided frame, and the base frame 31 has a rectangular opening, not shown.

The front frame portion 311 is a long member having a longitudinal direction in the left-right direction, and forms a front end portion of the base 30. The rear frame portion 312 is a long member in the longitudinal direction, and is also a flat plate member protruding upward. A left side frame portion (hereinafter, also referred to as a left side frame portion) 313 extends in the front-rear direction so as to connect a left end portion of the front frame portion 311 with a left end portion of the rear frame portion 312, and a left wall portion 313a extending in the front-rear direction is attached to the left side frame portion 313. A right side frame portion (hereinafter, also referred to as a right side frame portion) 314 extends in the front-rear direction so as to connect a right end portion of the front frame portion 311 with a right end portion of the rear frame portion 312, and a right wall portion 314a extending in the front-rear direction is attached to the right side frame portion 314.

The base plate 32 is placed on the base frame 31 so as to block the rectangular opening. As shown in fig. 4, the base plate 32 is provided with a plurality of recesses 321 extending in the front-rear direction in parallel, and the recesses 321 adjacent to each other are planar portions 322 between each other.

The partition plate 40 is provided in plural and is an elongated plate-like member made of a metal plate or the like. The lower end locking pieces 41 formed at the lower end portions of the partition plates 40 are inserted into the lower locking holes 322a formed at the flat portions 322 of the base plate 32, and the rear end locking pieces 42 formed at the rear end portions of the partition plates 40 are inserted into the rear locking holes 312a formed at the rear frame portion 312 of the base frame 31, whereby the partition plates 40 are attached to the base plate 32, whereby the partition plates 40 are fixedly supported by the base 30 so that the longitudinal direction thereof coincides with the front-rear direction, as shown in fig. 4.

As described above, by fixedly supporting the plurality of partition plates 40 on the base 30, commodity storage passages 45 extending in the front-rear direction are defined between the partition plates 40 adjacent to each other, between the left wall portion 313a and the leftmost partition plate 40 adjacent to the left wall portion 313a, and between the right wall portion 314a and the rightmost partition plate 40 adjacent to the right wall portion 314a. The base plate 32 forms the bottom surface of each commodity-accommodating passage 45, and in particular, the plurality of recesses 321 of the base plate 32 form the bottom of each commodity-accommodating passage 45. In the rear frame 312, a circular coupling hole 312b is formed as a rear surface of each commodity-accommodating passage 45.

The plurality of commodity columns 50 are provided corresponding to the commodity storage passages 45, respectively, and are configured to include a driving unit 51 and a screw 55.

In addition, the plurality of product columns 50 arranged in parallel with the product rack 13 may differ in the rotation direction of the screw 55 or the like, but the basic structure is the same, and therefore, in the following, 1 product column 50 will be described, and description of other product columns 50 will be omitted.

As shown in fig. 4, the driving unit 51 is mounted to the rear frame portion 312. Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the driving unit 51 shown in fig. 4. As shown in fig. 5, the drive unit 51 is configured such that a carry-out motor 512, an output gear 513, and a carry-out detection switch (detection unit) 514 are housed in the front and rear pair of drive cassettes 511a, 511b.

The carry-out motor 512 is a drive source that is driven in accordance with a drive command supplied from a carry-out control unit 60 described later. The output gear 513 has a substantially annular shape, and has a first output tooth 513a formed at an outer peripheral portion and a second output tooth 513b formed at an inner peripheral portion. The output gear 513 is housed inside the drive cases 511a and 511b such that the second output teeth 513b are exposed from the inner surfaces of the through holes 511c formed in the drive cases 511a and 511b. Here, the through hole 511c extends in the front-rear direction at a substantially central portion of the drive cartridges 511a, 511b.

The output gear 513 is coupled to the carry-out motor 512 via a coupling gear unit 515. The interlocking connection gear unit 515 includes a first interlocking connection gear 515a that meshes with the output shaft 512a of the carry-out motor 512, and a second interlocking connection gear 515b that meshes with the first interlocking connection gear 515 a. The first output tooth 513a is engaged with the second linkage gear 515b, so that the output gear 513 can rotate around its own central axis. The output gear 513 is housed in the drive cases 511a and 511b such that the central axis coincides with the central axis of the through hole 511c of the drive cases 511a and 511b.

The carry-out detection switch 514 is housed in the drive cassettes 511a and 511b so as to be positioned on the right side of the output gear 513. As shown in fig. 6, the carry-out detection switch 514 is provided with a carry-out contact 514a. The carry-out contact 514a is biased by a biasing member, not shown, to determine the standby posture. When the carry-out contact 514a is displaced against the urging force of the urging member by being pressed by the projection 513c formed on the output gear 513, the carry-out detection switch 514 outputs a detection signal to the carry-out control unit 60 that is electrically connected. That is, the carry-out detection switch 514 is disposed at a position where the carry-out contact 514a can abut against the protruding portion 513c of the output gear 513.

As is clear from fig. 6, 2 protrusions 513c are formed at positions 180 ° different from each other about the central axis of the output gear 513 according to the present embodiment. Therefore, when the output gear 513 rotates once, the carry-out detection switch 514 outputs 2 detection signals to the carry-out control unit 60.

The plurality of engaging pieces 52 formed in the drive cartridges 511a, 511b of the drive unit 51 having such a configuration are inserted into the engaging holes 312c formed in the rear frame portion 312, respectively, whereby the drive unit 51 is engaged with the rear frame portion 312 and is mounted to the rear frame portion 312. In this case, the drive unit 51 is attached to the rear frame 312 such that the through holes 511c of the drive cartridges 511a, 511b coincide with the coupling holes 312b of the rear frame 312, and the second output tooth 513b of the output gear 513 is exposed from the front side through the coupling holes 312b.

The screw 55 is formed by, for example, spirally winding a rod-like body made of metal in the front-rear direction. Such a screw 55 is engaged with a part of the second output tooth portion 513b of the output gear 513 via the transmission member 53 such that the central axis coincides with the central axis of the output gear 513, and the screw 55 rotates integrally with the output gear 513.

The screw 55 rotates around the central axis to gradually carry out the commodity constrained between the pitches forward, and discharges the commodity constrained to the forefront (downstream-most position) between the forefront pitches.

In addition, the above-mentioned carry-out detection switch 514 detects the rotation of the output gear 513 by the carry-out feeler 514a coming into contact with the protruding portion 513c provided on the output gear 513, and the screw 55 rotates integrally with the output gear 513 via the transmission member 53, and therefore, as a result, the carry-out detection switch 514 detects the rotation of the screw 55.

Fig. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing a characteristic control system of the commodity column 50 as a commodity storing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 7, the commodity column 50 includes a carry-out control unit 60.

The carry-out control unit 60 controls the operation of each commodity column 50 in a unified manner in accordance with the program and data stored in the storage unit 61. The carry-out control unit 60 is electrically connected to the vending machine control unit 70 that integrally controls operations of the respective units of the vending machine 1, and forms a control unit 100 together with the vending machine control unit 70. The carry-out control unit 60 includes an input processing unit 60a, an actual operating time calculation unit 60b, a comparison unit 60c, a delay time setting unit 60d, and an output processing unit 60e.

The carry-out control unit 60 may be realized by, for example, executing a program, that is, software, by a processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit: central processing unit), may be realized by hardware such as an IC (Integrated Circuit: integrated circuit), or may be realized by a combination of software and hardware.

The input processing unit 60a inputs a detection signal from the carry-out detection switch 514 or inputs a command supplied from the vending machine control unit 70. The actual operating time calculation unit 60b calculates an actual operating time, which is a time from when the carry-out motor 512 is driven until the second detection signal is input through the input processing unit 60 a.

The comparing unit 60c compares whether or not the actual operating time calculated by the actual operating time calculating unit 60b is increased or decreased from the predetermined time read from the storage unit 61. Here, the predetermined time is set to a time required to rotate the unloaded screw 55 a predetermined amount (less than one turn) from the standby state at the time of shipment of the vending machine 1 or the like, specifically, a time required to detect 2 times by the carry-out detection switch 514 the protruding portion 513c formed in the output gear 513 integrally rotated with the unloaded screw 55, and is stored in the storage unit 61.

The delay time setting unit 60d sets a delay time determined according to the characteristics such as the diameter and pitch of the screw 55 to be applied. More specifically, when the comparison unit 60c finds that the actual operating time matches the predetermined time, the delay time setting unit 60d directly sets the delay time stored in advance in the storage unit 61 as the delay time. On the other hand, when the comparison unit 60c detects that the actual operation time does not coincide with the predetermined time and increases or decreases, the delay time setting unit 60d sets the correction delay time calculated by multiplying the delay time by the ratio of the actual operation time to the predetermined time as the new delay time. The output processing unit 60e outputs a drive command and a drive stop command to the carry-out motor 512.

In the product column 50 having the above-described configuration, when the user selects a product in the product column 50 by the product selection unit 24 and inputs a desired money or performs a predetermined money process (subtraction process) and a discharge instruction is given from the vending machine control unit 70, the carry-out control unit 60 considers that the discharge condition of the product is complete, and performs the following discharge operation control.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing content of the discharge operation control performed by the carry-out control unit 60 shown in fig. 7. The operation of the commodity column 50 will be described while describing the discharge operation control.

The carry-out control unit 60 under the discharge operation control outputs a drive command to the carry-out motor 512 via the output processing unit 60e (step S101), and starts counting the actual operating time via the actual operating time calculating unit 60b and waits for the input of the second detection signal from the carry-out detection switch 514 (steps S102 and S103).

By outputting a drive command to the carry-out motor 512 in this way, the carry-out motor 512 is driven, and the screw 55 is rotated about the central axis by the rotation of the output gear 513 and the transmission member 53. This causes the product between the pitches of the screw 55 to be carried forward, and causes the product between the pitches to be discharged forward.

When the second detection signal is input by the input processing unit 60a (step S103: yes), the carry-out control unit 60 stops counting the actual operation time by the actual operation time calculation unit 60b and calculates the actual operation time (step S104), and the comparison unit 60c compares whether or not the actual operation time has increased or decreased from the predetermined time read from the storage unit 61 (step S105).

When the actual operation time is increased or decreased from the predetermined time (yes in step S105), the carry-out control unit 60 reads the delay time stored in the storage unit 61 by the delay time setting unit 60d, and multiplies the delay time by the ratio of the actual operation time to the predetermined time to calculate a corrected delay time (step S106).

Specifically, the predetermined time stored in the storage unit 61 is 1000ms, for example, the delay time is 400ms, and the actual operating time is 1200ms, for example. In this case, the correction delay time (480 ms) is calculated by multiplying 400ms (delay time) by 1200/1000 (ratio of actual operation time to prescribed time).

The carry-out control unit 60 that calculates the correction delay time in this way waits for the correction delay time to elapse (step S107), that is, waits for the time obtained by adding the actual operation time to the correction delay time to elapse.

When the correction delay time has elapsed (yes in step S107), that is, when the time obtained by adding the actual operation time to the correction delay time has elapsed, the carry-out control unit 60 outputs a drive stop command to the carry-out motor 512 via the output processing unit 60e (step S108), and thereafter returns the process to end the present process.

Accordingly, even when the screw 55 is overloaded, the screw 55 can be stopped in an appropriate state by rotating once from the standby state.

By rotating the screw 55 from the standby state once in this way, the forefront commodity is discharged from the commodity column 50. The commodity discharged from the commodity column 50 is received by the conveying tray 17b, conveyed by the conveying tray 17b to the commodity-taking-out area 18, and taken out through the commodity-taking-out port 22.

On the other hand, in the case where the actual operation time does not increase or decrease as compared with the predetermined time in the above-described step S105 (step S105: no), that is, in the case where the actual operation time coincides with the predetermined time, the carry-out control unit 60 reads out the delay time stored in the storage unit 61 by the delay time setting unit 60d, sets the delay time, and waits for the delay time to elapse (step S109), that is, waits for the time (driving time) obtained by adding the predetermined time to the delay time to elapse.

When the delay time has elapsed (yes in step S109), that is, when the drive time obtained by adding the predetermined time to the delay time has elapsed, the carry-out control unit 60 outputs a drive stop command to the carry-out motor 512 via the output processing unit 60e (step S108), and returns the process to end the present process.

Accordingly, the screw 55 can be rotated once from the standby state and stopped in an appropriate state.

As described above, according to the commodity column 50 as the embodiment of the present invention, when the actual operation time from the start of the driving of the carry-out motor 512 until the protrusion 513c formed on the output gear 513 is detected 2 times by the carry-out detection switch 514 is increased or decreased from the predetermined time, the carry-out control unit 60 causes the carry-out motor 512 to be driven until the time obtained by adding the correction delay time calculated by multiplying the delay time by the ratio of the actual operation time to the predetermined time to the actual operation time is elapsed, and therefore, even if the screw 55 becomes overloaded, the screw 55 can be stopped in an appropriate state from the standby state, and the commodity can be carried out well and the forefront commodity can be discharged well.

Further, according to the commodity column 50, by stopping the screw 55 in an appropriate state, the forefront commodity can be always placed at an optimal position.

While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications can be made.

In the above embodiment, 2 protruding portions 513c are provided in the output gear 513, and thus the detection signal is waited for to be input 2 times from the carry-out detection switch 514, but in the present invention, there may be one protruding portion provided in the output gear. In this case, a detection signal is waited for to be input from the detection section 1 time.

In the above-described embodiment, the actual operation time until the protrusion 513c of the output gear 513 is detected by the carry-out detection switch 514 is described as an example of the actual operation time until the rotation amount of the output gear reaches the predetermined reference rotation amount, but various modifications are possible in the present invention. That is, the rotation amount of the output gear may be detected not only by the detection portion detecting the protruding portion provided to the output gear but also by the detection portion detecting the recessed portion provided to the output gear, and the rotation amount of the output gear may be detected by, for example, an encoder.

In the above-described embodiment, the screw 55 is exemplified as an example of the carry-out mechanism, but the present invention is not limited to the screw, and a screw type conveying member, a belt conveyor, or the like may be applied as the conveying mechanism.

Description of the reference numerals

1: a vending machine; 10: a main body cabinet; 13: a commodity shelf; 30: a base; 40: a partition plate; 45: a commodity storage passage; 50: a commodity column; 51: a driving unit; 512: a carry-out motor; 513: an output gear; 513c: a protruding portion; 514: a carry-out detection switch; 514a: carrying out the contact; 55: a screw; 60: a carry-out control unit; 60a: an input processing unit; 60b: an actual operating time calculation unit; 60c: a comparison unit; 60d: a delay time setting unit; 60e: an output processing unit; 61: a storage unit; 70: a vending machine control unit; 100: and a control unit.

Claims (4)

1. A commodity storage device is provided with:

a carrying-out mechanism which is arranged in a commodity storage passage extending in a straight line and holds a plurality of commodities in a manner of being arranged along an extending direction of the commodity storage passage; and

a carry-out control unit that performs a carry-out operation for discharging the commodity held at the most downstream position by operating the carry-out mechanism from a standby state until a drive time, which is obtained by adding a predetermined time determined in advance to a delay time determined in accordance with the characteristics of the carry-out mechanism, by driving a carry-out motor that is linked to the carry-out mechanism via an output gear, when a discharge condition of the commodity is complete,

the commodity storing device is characterized in that,

when the discharge operation is performed, the carry-out control unit drives the carry-out motor until a time obtained by adding a correction delay time calculated by multiplying the delay time by a ratio of the actual operation time to the predetermined time, when an actual operation time from a start of driving the carry-out motor until a rotation amount of the output gear reaches a predetermined reference rotation amount is increased or decreased compared with the predetermined time.

2. The article storage device of claim 1, wherein,

the actual operation time is a time from a start of driving of the carry-out motor to a detection of a protrusion formed on the output gear by a detection unit.

3. The article storage device of claim 1, wherein,

when the actual operation time matches the predetermined time during the discharge operation, the carry-out control unit drives the carry-out motor until the drive time elapses.

4. The article storage device according to any one of claim 1 to 3, wherein,

the commodity-accommodating passage extends in the front-rear direction,

the carrying-out mechanism includes a screw configured to be spirally wound in an extending direction of the commodity-accommodating path, and gradually carries out the commodity held between each pitch of the screw toward the front to discharge the forefront commodity when the screw rotates around the central axis.