EP2979256B1 - Transport of dishes within vending machine with integrated microwave - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a vending machine for food according to the features of claim 1. Such vending machines have been known for many years in a variety of configurations. In particular, such vending machines provide a microwave oven to heat the food selected by the user so that a ready-to-eat hot meal can be provided to the user. A suitable solution is from the DE 10 2009 040 669 A1 previously known. There it is provided to load a built-in vending machine microwave oven via a hinged door with the selected product to turn off this in the microwave oven to close the door and after the heating process to open the door and promote the product to a product issue. Further prior art is out FR2681217A . EP1688894A1 . CA2153738A1 and WO2008 / 141746A1 known. Such vending machines are often located in public facilities such as airports, train stations and the like, as well as in larger companies, offices and self-service canteens. Basically, they are always placed where users have little time to eat a meal. All the more urgent is the desire to provide the desired meal in the shortest possible time frame, while the highest possible quality is to be delivered. In particular, the quality of warm meals is also influenced by the fact that as complete and uniform heating must have taken place.

Within the vending machine, the individual meals are held in product trays, which are visible through a window in the machine. Therefore, a user of the vending machine can first make his selection from the display and then receive the specially selected product after its preparation, essentially heating. Usually, for this purpose, the specially selected product is conveyed from the product store to a microwave oven and from there to the product dispenser. However, there are several breaks in the transport chain. First, the product is in the product storage, from which it must be collected for heating. For heating, it is placed in a microwave oven, which must be sealed microwave-tight for the heating process, so that leakage of the microwave radiation is prevented. After the heating process, the microwave oven is opened again, the product taken out and brought to the product output, to which again a conveyor must be provided.

The positionally accurate picking and dropping the product trays requires a great deal of effort, which is accompanied during operation with a relatively long period of time to promote the product through the vending machine. In order to shorten the waiting time for the customer while maintaining quality, concepts are sought in the present case, in particular to improve the transport within the vending machine to accelerate and simplify.

At the same time, it is uninteresting for the operator of vending machines to buy an acceleration on the basis of much higher initial cost of the vending machine. After the products sold are usually priced below freshly prepared food, the profit margin when selling such food is rather small.

Against this background, the present invention is based on the object of proposing a vending machine for food whose delivery processes Compared to known vending machines are significantly accelerated and its construction is simplified at the same time.

This is achieved by a vending machine for food according to the features of claim 1. Further useful embodiments of such a vending machine can be found in the dependent claims.

According to the invention, it is provided that the closure element for closing the microwave oven is movable independently of the microwave oven within the housing and has a receptacle in which the product to be heated can be transported. The closure element for the microwave oven is thus approach the product storage in a first step after selecting the desired product, where the product tray is inserted into the receptacle of the closure element. Together with the product shell, the closure element will then move into the area of the microwave oven, drive the product dish into the preparation space of the microwave oven and close it microwave-tight. After a heating phase, the closure member retracts the product tray from the microwave oven, places the product tray in the area of a product dispenser, and dispenses the product tray beyond the product dispenser to the customer.

This concept of a one-time receipt of a product shell and its retention to the final output eliminates during the heating process, all gripping operations, which had been required in earlier concepts and had to be handled with a greater expenditure of time. This eliminates the process of closing and opening the shutter opening of the microwave oven, after this process is connected to the conveying process. As a result, the invention enables extremely rapid preparation of the product in the product tray by minimizing the time-consuming transport of the product.

Specifically, it may be provided that the product storage, in which the product trays are held, is formed from a plurality of magazines which can be removed individually from the casing of the vending machine. In the individual magazines, the product trays can be held up to the selection by the user of the vending machine.
At a customer's choice, a product tray is removed from the magazine. This is realized by means of conveyor spirals, in which the products are inserted and by turning the product trays can be moved forward.
Such a magazine can be closed on the visible side of the user by a hinged door, so that by a forward conveying a product shell, the swing door is pressed and the supported by the pivoting door product tray can slide into the receptacle of the closure element. For improved guidance through the swing gate, this is limited in its opening angle, so that too wide unfolding of the swing door is prevented. In addition, the swing doors offer the opportunity to operate magazines each at different temperature levels, since a temperature equalization over the front openings, which would be present without the swing door, is eliminated. In addition, in the case of a magazine filling no temperature drop with respect to the other magazines, while the swing doors are closed when filling, to be expected.
In response to a user selection, the closure element with the receptacle attached to it can thus move into the region below the desired product and then accept this product in the manner described above. For this purpose, the closure element is tilted so that the direction of incidence of the product shell can be achieved. The closure element is further held on a tiltable arm, and with some advantage also on the arm rotatable. The arm is preferably with a lift connected, which can spend the entire arrangement within the housing of the vending machine to any position of the product storage.

As an alternative to a rotatability of the entire closure element on the arm, it is also possible to only rotatably hold the receptacle on the closure element, so that practically only the product is rotated on the closure element, but the closure element always remains in the same basis. Such a solution requires a much smaller footprint in the housing.

The receptacle can also be adapted in its shape to the shape of the product shells, which can be shaped so that a centering takes place in the receptacle. This is easily possible with round product trays, where a centering can be omitted due to the circular symmetry. For example, in the case of oval-shaped product trays, the receptacle can specify a preferred direction into which the product tray is then aligned when it collapses. As a result, the product shell at a later time in the microwave oven receives a defined position, which can take place due to the uniform distances to the walls of the preparation chamber of the microwave oven efficient heating.

However, the receptacle preferably forms a substantially oval collecting basket, which is suitable for receiving substantially all forms of common product trays, so that even differently shaped product trays can be held and offered simultaneously in the vending machine.

With some advantage, the receptacle also has a position switch which is actuated as soon as a product shell has fallen into the receptacle. In the event that due to the rotation of the conveyor spiral no complete release of the product shell takes place, thus the product shell gets stuck in the conveyor spiral, this is determined in view of reaching the desired conveying position of the conveyor spiral and the missing triggering of the position switch, whereupon the conveyor spiral is rotated further by an additional partial rotation until the position switch is actuated. Subsequently, the conveyor spiral is turned back to the actual target position.

Then, the closure element moves with the recorded in the receptacle product tray in a lower portion of the vending machine, in particular below a feed opening of the microwave oven. Its low-profile arrangement allows for a very compact design of vending machines, since the already existing space below the product storage can be used by this. The microwave oven can also be moved on a rail assembly from a rest position to a working position, so far to meet after passing the height level of the microwave oven through the closure element this and to shorten the travel of the elevator and arm. The closure element can then move into a closed position of the microwave oven, wherein the product dish is then in the closed position in the interior of the preparation space of the microwave oven. The receptacle may advantageously be made of a microwave-transparent material, so that the product shell can be reached on all sides by the microwaves.

After retraction of the product tray in the microwave oven is in the context of heating of the product in the product tray whose usually made of a plastic material cover bulge due to the expansion of the product by the heating. In the course of this bulge of the lid of the product shell engages a tool for locally opening the product shell, which is arranged in the microwave oven. This is, for example, a knife suspended in the ceiling region of the microwave oven or a needle or the like, which, however, is arranged so far in the upper region of the microwave oven that the blade or tip of the tool opens after the lid of the product bowl has opened due to the decrease in the inflation the lid comes out of the product shell again. By such a punctual opening is a bursting of Product shell avoided by an internal overpressure. Otherwise, such a burst could lead to an explosion of the product shell in the microwave oven, which would have to be eliminated again by a complex cleaning. The selective opening of the product trays thus serves first and foremost hygienic goals.

Specifically, for example, a bulge of the lid of the product shell in the range of about two centimeters can be pronounced. The tool will then hit the lid after about a centimeter of curvature and eventually retract into the lid up to one centimeter. As a result, the tool will still be far away from the product, so that it can not come into contact with the product. This prevents contamination of the tool by the product.

For an improved uniformity of heating, an eccentric roller can be provided in the region of the closure element or the microwave oven, which engages in the closure position of the closure element either the product shell or the receptacle from below and at least on one side moves up and down by a rotation about an eccentric axis. As a result of this movement, it is ensured that microwave radiation propagating in the preparation chamber of the microwave oven reaches all areas of the product dish uniformly, thereby ensuring a faster, more uniform heating of the product.

Subsequently, the product held on the closing element leaves the microwave oven again and, in the course of a further rotation of either the receptacle or the entire closing element, ejects the product dish from the housing via a product outlet. Here, the product output can be assigned at least one means for detecting a machine-readable code, for example a barcode, arranged on the product tray. This can ensure that only authorized products are kept in the vending machine. Is detected at issue, that an unauthorized barcode has been found, so the operation of the vending machine can be suspended until a new activation.

The invention described above will be explained in more detail below with reference to an embodiment.

Figur 1

einen erfindungsgemäßen Verkaufsautomaten in einer frontalen Schnittdarstellung,

Figur 2

den Verkaufsautomaten gemäß Figur 1 in einer seitlichen Schnittdarstellung mit einer in einer Befüllungslage befindlichen Aufnahme,

Figur 3

den Verkaufsautomaten gemäß Figur 1 in einer seitlichen Schnittdarstellung mit einer in einer Einfahrposition befindlichen Aufnahme,

Figur 4

eine Querschnittsdarstellung eines Mikrowellenofens mit darin befindlicher Aufnahme mit Produktschale,

Figur 5

eine schematische Seitendarstellung einer Produktschale mit angedeuteter Luftzirkulation,

Figur 6

den Verkaufsautomaten gemäß Figur 1 in einer seitlichen Schnittdarstellung mit einer Aufnahme, welche eine fertige, ausgabebereite Produktschale aufweist, sowie

Figur 7

den Verkaufsautomaten gemäß Figur 1 in einer seitlichen Schnittdarstellung während der Produktausgabe.

Show it

FIG. 1

a vending machine according to the invention in a frontal sectional view,

FIG. 2

according to the vending machine FIG. 1 in a lateral sectional view with a receptacle located in a filling position,

FIG. 3

according to the vending machine FIG. 1 in a side sectional view with a recording in a retracted position,

FIG. 4

a cross-sectional view of a microwave oven with therein housing with product tray,

FIG. 5

a schematic side view of a product tray with indicated air circulation,

FIG. 6

according to the vending machine FIG. 1 in a side sectional view with a receptacle which has a finished, output-ready product shell, as well as

FIG. 7

according to the vending machine FIG. 1 in a side sectional view during product output.

FIG. 1 shows a vending machine 10, which is enclosed by a housing 11 in which both a series of magazines 13 with a plurality of product trays 16 for selection by a customer, as well as a microwave oven 30 and an unspecified automatic cutlery output 17 are kept ready. Following a selection by the customer, a closing element 20, which has a receptacle 21 in the form of a collecting basket, moves into a position below the magazine compartment with the desired product tray 16. In this position, a conveying spiral 15 of the magazine 13 makes a rotation through which a product tray 16 is conveyed to the closure member 20 and the receptacle 21 to. Here, the magazine 13 concealing pivoting door 14, which is made of Plexiglas to obtain the transparency for the customer, disengage to a stop, so that an incidence path of the product shell 16 is formed in the receptacle 21. For this purpose, the receptacle 21 additionally has a receiving funnel 22, which simplifies centering of the product pan 16 in the receptacle 21.

FIG. 2 shows the same vending machine 10 in a side view, in which it can be seen that the magazines 13 are filled with a plurality of product trays 16, which can be successively conveyed out of the magazines 13 by rotation of the conveyor spirals 15 while pushing the pivot door 14 away. In detail, then, the closure element 20, which carries the receptacle 21 and then also the product shell 16, spend this in a microwave oven 30, in which the receptacle 21 with the product shell 16 enters via a bottom-side access 32.

For movement of the closure element 20 within the vending machine 10, the closure element 20 is mounted on an arm 23, which via a Elevator 24 can be moved in height. The arm 23 allows an inclination of the closure element 20 and is in the width of the vending machine 10 movable.

FIG. 3 shows the next step, in which now the closure element 20 has been spent with the recorded in the receptacle 21 product shell 16 in an area below the microwave oven 30 by means of the elevator 24. In addition, the closure element 20 was placed on the arm 23 in a horizontal position. In this deep position, the microwave oven 30 is now moved out via rails 33 under the magazines 13 and thus brought into a position above the closure element 20. In a next step, the closure element 20 will now insert the product shell 16 through the bottom access 32 of the microwave oven 30 into its preparation space 31 and at the same time seal the microwave oven 30 microwave-tight.

FIG. 4 shows the microwave oven with the product retracted therein, which is held in the receptacle 21. The microwave oven is microwave-tightly locked on the bottom side by the closure element 20, so that a separate step for closing a door can be omitted.

Below the microwave oven 30, an eccentric roller 35 is arranged, which engages over a slot through the closure member through the receptacle 21 and this moves in the course of rotation about an eccentric axis 36 up and down. Due to a bulging of the lid of the product tray 16, this lid also engages a tool 34, which pierces the lid and thus helps to reduce the internal pressure of the product trays 16. In this case, the tool 34 is arranged so high that when the bulge of the lid of the product pan 16 recedes, the tool is no longer in engagement with the product pan 16. Due to the fact that the receptacle 21 is formed of a microwave transparent material, a uniform circulation of the microwaves within the preparation space 31 is allows. In addition, due to the shape of the receptacle 21 and the design-related exact positioning of the product shell 16 in the preparation chamber 31, a very uniform heating of the product in the product shell 16 is made possible. Essentially, the product shell has more or less the same distance from all the walls of the preparation space 31. Due to the exact averaging of the product in the preparation chamber 31, the preparation time is approximately halved compared to a randomly placed product because of the associated uniform irradiation by microwaves. In addition, it is possible to circulate the resulting hot air around the product pan 16, as in FIG FIG. 5 indicated.

FIG. 6 again shows the entire vending machine 10 in a lateral sectional view, wherein in the position shown first the closure member 20 was driven with the receptacle 21 down, the microwave oven 30 is moved back over the rails 31 back to its rest position and the closure member 20 by means of the elevator 24th was spent on the height of a product issue 12. At the same time a rotation of the receptacle 21 by 180 ° took place, so that now the receiving hopper 22 points to the product output 12.

By now tipping the closing element 20, as in FIG. 7 shown, the product tray 16 is output through the product output 12, wherein at the same time by means arranged in the product dispenser 12 means for detecting a bar code, in particular a bar code scanner, it is verified that the product tray 16 is an acceptable product.

After a repeated rotation of the receptacle 21 by 180 ° and a renewed inclination of the closure element 20 of the vending machine 10 is back in the initial state and in a position to accept new orders.

Thus described above is a vending machine, which provides a new transport concept for the product shells to be heated, in which the closure element of the microwave oven has a receptacle with which the product is picked up from a product store, placed in the microwave oven and finally led to the product output, without the Having to put down the product in between.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

10

vending machine

11

casing

12

product delivery

13

magazine

14

hinged door

15

spiral conveyor

16

product trays

17

Cutlery edition

20

closure element

21

admission

22

receiving hopper

23

poor

24

elevator

30

microwave oven

31

preparation room

32

bottom access

33

rail

34

Tool

35

eccentric

36

eccentric

Claims (13)

1. A vending machine for dishes, comprising a housing (11) which surrounds a product store for accommodating product trays (16) provided for sale and a microwave oven (30) which is accessible from one side, as well as a closure element (20) for sealing the microwave oven (30) in a microwave-tight manner, wherein the closure element (20) is movable within the housing (11) between the product store and the microwave oven (30), and comprises a receptacle (21) for a product tray (16), wherein said receptacle (21) is accommodated in a microwave-tight closure position of the closure element (20) within a preparation space (31) of the microwave oven (30), characterized in that the product store is associated with rotatable conveyor spirals (15) which are rotatable in one or both directions for the output of one respective product tray (16) per output process to the receptacle (21) of the closure element (20), and the closure element (20) is retained and can be inclined on an inclinable arm (23) in such a way that a drop-in direction of the respective one product tray (16) can be reached, wherein after the accommodation of the product tray (16) the product tray is brought to a region beneath the microwave oven (30), the closure element (20) on the arm (23) to a horizontal position, and the microwave oven (30) to a position above the closure element (20), whereupon the closure element (20) pushes the product tray (16) through the entrance on the bottom side of the microwave oven (30) into its preparation space, and simultaneously seals the microwave oven (30) in a microwave-tight manner.
2. A vending machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the product store comprises a plurality of magazines (13) for accommodating product trays (16), which magazines are individually removable from the housing (11) and are each separately sealed by swing doors (14).
3. A vending machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the opening angle of the swing doors (14) is limited.
4. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the arm (23) is movable via a lift (24) within the housing (11).
5. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the receptacle (21) is rotatably held on the closure element (20).
6. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the closure element (20) is rotatably held on the arm (23).
7. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the shape of the receptacle (21) is adjusted to the shape of the product trays (16), and centres them in the closure position of the closure element (20) in the preparation space (31) of the microwave oven (30).
8. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the receptacle (21) comprises a position switch which can be actuated by inserting a product tray (16).
9. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the receptacle (21) is made from a microwavepermeable material.
10. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the microwave oven (30) is mounted in the housing on rails (33) and is movable along said rails (33) from an idle position to a working position.
11. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one tool (34) for locally opening the product tray is arranged in the microwave oven (30).
12. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the microwave oven (30) or the closure element (20) is associated with an eccentric roller (35), which in the closure position of the closure element (20) contacts the product tray (16) and/or the receptacle (21), thereby respectively engaging beneath them, and is rotatable about an eccentric axis (36).
13. A vending machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the housing is associated with a product outlet (12) with means for detecting a machine-readable code arranged on the product tray (16).

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