JP2000293744A - Automatic vending machine and its emergency power supply unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic vending machine for disaster control from which the controller of the machine can freely carry out the commodities stored in the machine by using a simple portable battery type emergency power supply unit in an emergency situation where the life line is torn up due to a disaster. SOLUTION: This automatic vending machine which sells commodities by obtaining electric power from commercial power supply at normal time incorporates connectors 18 for connecting an external portable battery type emergency power supply unit 19 in an emergency situation where the commercial power supply is stopped. In addition, interrupt wiring 17 which is individually drawn out from the electromagnetic actuators (solenoid) 14 of vending mechanisms installed to each column of a commodity housing rack is connected to the connectors 18. When an emergency situation occurs due to a disaster, the controller of the vending machine can carry out the commodities from the commodity housing rack by driving the vending mechanisms by energizing the electromagnetic solenoids 14 of designated columns by connecting the emergency power supply unit 19 kept by the controller to the connectors 18 and pressing the control switch 23 of the unit 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine for disaster countermeasures in which an emergency power supply unit can be externally connected to carry out a product when a commercial power supply in the area is stopped due to a disaster. , And an emergency power supply unit applied to a vending machine for unloading goods.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, an electric system of a general vending machine is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a commercial power supply (AC100
V), 2 is an illuminating lamp, 3 is a cooling / heating unit, 4 is a predetermined DC output voltage (for example, D
DC power supply for obtaining C24V and DC8V), 5 is a main control unit for sales control, 6 is a product selection unit including a product selection button, 7 is a money handling device (coin mechanism, building validator), and 8 is a bend mechanism ( A merchandise unloading mechanism that discharges merchandise from a selected column of a merchandise storage rack based on a sales order using an electromagnetic solenoid or the like as an actuator. The power cord plug pulled out of the vending machine body is connected to the outlet of the commercial power supply 1. I try to drive. As is well known, the bend mechanism 8 restrains and holds the products stored in the product storage rack at the storage position in the sales standby state, and operates to carry out the products by controlling the energization of the actuator based on the sales command.

Here, the illumination lamp 2, the cooling / heating unit 3, and the bend mechanism 8 are connected to the commercial power supply 1 (AC100V).
Are connected to the commercial power supply 1 via the DC power supply 4. Some bend mechanisms 8 employ a motor as an actuator.

On the other hand, with respect to the vending machine described above, a storage battery is mounted in the machine as an emergency standby power supply in order to continue product sales even if the commercial power supply 1 is cut off, and the commercial power supply is cut off. A vending machine of a type in which the power supply of the vending machine is sometimes switched from a commercial power supply to a storage battery so that sales can be continued has already been proposed.
No. 68576, JP-A-10-116379 and the like.

[0005] FIG.
FIG. 1 is an electric system diagram disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-209, in which an uninterruptible power supply unit 12 is provided in a unit by combining a storage battery 9, a power failure detection device 10, and a changeover switch 11. In the event of a power outage, storage battery 9
The power is supplied to the control unit 13 (including the main control unit 5, the commodity selection unit 6, and the money handling device 7 in FIG. 5) and the bend mechanism 8 so that the commodity can be sold continuously.

[0006]

As described above, in a vending machine in which a storage battery is provided in the machine as a countermeasure against a power failure, and when the commercial power supply is stopped, the storage battery can be used as a power supply to continue selling products. However, there are the following problems in practical use. That is, (1) The secondary batteries currently used are generally lead-acid batteries, and have a large weight and occupied space. In addition, when a storage battery is mounted on a vending machine and used, there are many management problems such as charging during normal times and maintenance.

(2) When commercial power is stopped, even if devices with large power consumption, such as a cooling / heating unit and an illuminating lamp, are excluded, in order to perform the same sales control as during normal times, control relating to sales control from the storage battery 9 is performed. It is necessary to supply power to both the unit 13 and the bend mechanism 8, and naturally, the power consumption of the storage battery also increases.

On the other hand, the capacity of the storage battery 9 that can be installed in a vending machine is limited, and there is no problem with a short-term power outage of a commercial power supply that can occur normally. If the power line outage period is prolonged due to the shutdown of the lifeline due to the occurrence, the selling operation using the storage battery as a power supply is repeated, and the battery runs out before the power system is restored and the product is automatically sold with the product inventory left in the aircraft There is a possibility that the sales function of the machine will stop.

[0009] On the other hand, when a disaster occurs and the lifelines of electricity, water, gas, etc. are stopped, the supply of beverages and foods to the victims in the disaster area is an urgent task, which is now dispersed in the city. Many beverage and food vending machines are installed in the machine as beverages and food, so the vending machines are opened and stored in the machine in the event of an emergency when the lifeline stops. If a vending machine can be carried out, the vending machine can be used as a beverage and food service terminal. However, in the above-mentioned conventional vending machine for power failure countermeasures, since the power consumption of the storage battery for maintaining the sales function at the time of power failure is relatively large, the battery runs out early, and the vending machine is used for beverages and foods. Can not be fully used as a source of

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to provide a storage battery having problems in terms of cost, maintenance, and power supply capacity, and to make the lifeline down due to the occurrence of a disaster without permanently installing the storage battery in the machine. In case of emergency, the administrator can use the simple portable battery-type emergency power supply unit to unload the goods stored in the vending machine and provide it to local disaster victims. An object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine and its emergency power supply unit.

[0011]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a vending machine and its emergency power supply unit are constructed as follows.

(1) In a vending machine that operates and sells products by supplying power from a commercial power supply during normal times, a connector for connecting a battery-powered emergency power supply unit from the outside when the commercial power supply is stopped is provided inside the machine. In addition, the connector is connected to the interrupt wiring individually drawn out from the actuator of the bend mechanism mounted on each column of the product storage rack, and the emergency power supply unit connected to the connector is connected to the actuator of the designated column in an emergency. Power is supplied, and the bend mechanism is driven to carry out the product from the product storage rack (Claim 1). Specifically, in consideration of preventing mischief in normal times and workability in emergency, emergency use is considered. A power supply unit connector is arranged on the back side of the outer door (claim 2).

(2) On the other hand, the emergency power supply unit according to the present invention, which is applied to the vending machine according to the above item (1) and carries goods out of the warehouse in an emergency, has a battery case, a push button type or the like in its unit case. Inverter that converts and outputs AC to operate a bend mechanism actuator using a switch and a battery as input power, a timer contact connected to the output side of the inverter, and a timer circuit, and pulls out a cable with connector from the unit case (Claim 3).

As an embodiment of the invention, a unit case is provided with a plurality of selection buttons corresponding to each product storage column of a vending machine, and a multi-connector cable with a connector corresponding to each selection button. There is a configuration in which an interrupt wiring of each actuator of a vending machine is connected to a connected connector to select a product to be carried out by operating a button of a unit (claim 4).

In the above, in the case of an emergency where the lifeline is stopped due to a disaster, the vending machine administrator opens the outer door of the vending machine using a key and automatically connects the cord connector of the portable power supply unit. Connect to the connector provided on the back of the vending machine's outer door, and turn on the power switch of the power supply unit here. When power is supplied from the power supply unit, the bend mechanism of the designated column operates and the product is carried out of the warehouse. be able to. Therefore, without adding a major modification to the conventional vending machine, it is only necessary to add an interrupt wiring drawn from the actuator of the bend mechanism (such as an electromagnetic solenoid) and a connector for connecting the emergency power supply unit for each column. Thus, it is possible to easily respond to emergency removal of goods for disaster countermeasures. In addition, in this case, the battery of the power supply unit only applies to the actuator (such as an electromagnetic solenoid) of the bend mechanism for an extremely short time (100 mms).
Since electric power is supplied to other sales control units and the like, no electric power is required for one merchandise carrying-out operation. Therefore, a dry battery can be used as the battery of the power supply unit.

As an inverter provided in the emergency power supply unit, for example, an input voltage DC12V, an output voltage A
If a C100V specification is adopted, eight 1.5-volt AA batteries are connected in series, preferably about ten in consideration of a decrease in battery voltage due to energization, so that the bend mechanism can be practically used. Can be operated in actual equipment tests.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given based on the embodiments shown in FIGS. First, FIG. 1 shows a circuit diagram of a basic embodiment of the present invention. In the figure,
Numeral 14 denotes an electromagnetic solenoid as a drive actuator of a bend mechanism provided for each column of the multi-column type product storage rack mounted on the vending machine, and # 1 to #n represent column numbers, respectively. Each electromagnetic solenoid 14 has a relay contact 15 that is turned on by a command output from the main control unit 5 (see FIG. 5) based on a product selection command given to the product selection unit 6 in FIG. Contact 16 (a predetermined time for each sales operation, for example, 100 mms
ec, the contact is closed) and a commercial power supply (AC100
V).

Here, according to the present invention, an interrupt wiring (lead wire) 17 is drawn out from both ends of each of the electromagnetic solenoids 14, and the interrupt wiring 17 is provided.
Is connected to a connector (socket) 18 corresponding to each electromagnetic solenoid 14. The connectors 18 are arranged in the order of the column numbers described above, and are arranged on the back side of the outer door of the vending machine as described later.

Also, in the case of an emergency when the lifeline including the power system is stopped due to a disaster or the like,
An emergency power supply unit 19 is provided as a means for urgently carrying out the in-flight inventory items in order to provide the victims with the items. The power supply unit 19 is a small and portable power supply unit which is always stored by an administrator of a vending machine. A battery (for example, a 1.5V dry battery) 20 is built in the unit case 19a as a power supply. And a cord connector (plug) 22 that is inserted into and connected to the socket 18 of the vending machine described above with respect to the cable 21 drawn from the unit case 19a. Reference numeral 23 denotes a push-button operation switch that also functions as a power switch.

Here, the outer shape of the emergency power supply unit 19,
FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) show the internal circuits. That is,
The battery of the emergency power supply unit is connected to the input power supply (D
C12V), the inverter 24 that outputs AC100 AC and the operation switch 23 are turned on to perform timed operation (1).
And a time limit return contact 25 of the timer 25 interposed on the output side of the inverter 24.
a. In addition, 26 is a compensating capacitor for compensating for a voltage drop due to the energization of the battery 20, and 27 is a noise killer for absorbing noise.

Next, FIG. 2 shows the overall structure of a vending machine for disaster countermeasures provided with the connector 18 described above. In the figure, 30 is a vending machine cabinet, 31 is a front outer door thereof, 32 is an insulated inner door, 33 is a serpentine type product storage rack mounted in the cabinet of the cabinet 30 (a serpentine type product storage rack is a well-known type). As described above, a bend mechanism operated by the operation of an electromagnetic solenoid is provided at the product discharge end of each column of the rack.), 34 is a product discharge shooter, and 35 is a product takeout port.
The connectors 18 connected to the above-described interrupt wirings 17 (see FIG. 1) are arranged on a connector board 36 in a concentrated manner.

With this configuration, in the event of a disaster such as an earthquake that causes the lifeline including the commercial power system to stop, the vending machine administrator opens the vending machine outer door 31 using the key and prepares in advance. The connector of the interrupt wiring drawn out from the actuator of the bend mechanism of the column corresponding to the desired product on the board 36 on which the code connector 22 of the portable emergency power supply unit 19 is arranged on the back surface of the outer door 31. When the button of the operation switch of the power supply unit 19 is pressed after being plugged into the power supply unit 18, the AC output (AC 100 V) of the inverter 24 is supplied to the cable 21, the connector 22 /
1 and the interruption wire 17 is applied to the electromagnetic solenoid 14 of the bend mechanism shown in FIG. 1, whereby the bend mechanism is operated, and the product rolls forward from the column through the unloading shooter 34 in FIG. Further, a current is supplied to the electromagnetic solenoid 14 for a predetermined time (for example, 1
When power is supplied for only 00 mmsec, the timer contact 25a is turned off by the timed operation of the timer 25, and one unloading operation is automatically terminated. That is, the current is not flowed more than necessary, and the consumption of the battery 20 is not accelerated. In addition, by repeatedly performing this operation, it is possible to continuously carry out products from the same column. Furthermore, if the same operation is performed by replacing the code connector 22 of the power supply unit 19 with the connector 18 corresponding to another column on the terminal board, different types of products can be carried out from another selected column.

Next, an improved embodiment of the emergency power supply unit 19 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). In this embodiment, the unit case 19a of the emergency power supply unit 19
And a plurality of selection buttons 28 also serving as power switches corresponding to the number of selections of vending machines, and are connected from the unit case 19a to multi-core cords 21 and cords 21 pulled out corresponding to the respective selection buttons 28. A multi-pin type cord connector 22 is provided. The power supply unit includes a relay circuit 29, and each timer contact 25 interposed in each line branched from the output side of the inverter 24.
a is selectively turned ON for a predetermined time in accordance with the operation of the selection button 28.

On the vending machine side, each interrupt wiring 17 drawn from the electromagnetic solenoid (actuator) 14 of the bend mechanism for each column of the product storage rack is collectively connected to one multi-pin connector 18. The connector 18 is connected to the cord connector 22 on the power supply unit side.
And connect them all at once.

According to such a configuration, the cord connector 22 of the emergency power supply unit 19 is disposed on the outer door of the vending machine when the commodity is carried out as in the embodiment described with reference to FIG. ), The labor for selecting the connector 18 to be connected can be omitted, and the desired product can be unloaded from the vending machine simply by selecting and pressing the selection button 28 at hand with the power supply unit 19.

[0026]

As described above, according to the vending machine of the present invention, instead of the storage battery (uninterruptible power supply) of the emergency power supply in the machine as a conventional power failure countermeasure, a battery type is provided from outside in an emergency. A connector for connecting the emergency power supply unit is installed inside the machine, and the connector is connected to an interrupt wiring that is individually drawn from the actuator of the bend mechanism mounted on each column of the product storage rack, and is connected to the connector in an emergency. Power supply from the emergency power supply unit to the actuator in the specified column, and the bend mechanism is driven to carry the product out of the product storage rack, so that the vending machine bears costs in terms of cost, maintenance and management. Without permanently installing storage batteries in vending machines
Even in the event of an emergency where the local lifeline is stopped due to a disaster, the administrator simply opens the outer door of the vending machine, connects the portable emergency power supply unit to the interrupt wiring connector that leads to the actuator, and operates it. The goods stored in the goods storage rack in the machine can be carried out freely, whereby the vending machine can be used as a terminal for providing drinks and food in the event of a large-scale disaster.

In addition, the vending machine for disaster countermeasures according to the present invention does not require a permanent storage battery occupying a large space inside the machine, and is simply remodeled simply by adding simple interrupt wiring and its connector. Can be easily implemented on existing vending machines without the need for
It can be promoted in terms of cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electric circuit diagram of a bend mechanism of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front external view showing a configuration of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention with a door opened.

3A and 3B are configuration diagrams of an emergency power supply unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3A is an external view of the entire unit, and FIG. 3B is a circuit diagram of the unit.

4A and 4B are configuration diagrams of an embodiment different from FIG. 3, wherein FIG. 4A is an external view of the entire unit, and FIG. 4B is a circuit diagram of the unit;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an electric system of a conventional vending machine.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a power supply system of a conventional vending machine having a built-in storage battery as a countermeasure against power failure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Commercial power supply 4 DC power supply 5 Main control part 6 Commodity selection part 7 Money processing device 8 Bend mechanism 14 Electromagnetic solenoid (actuator) 17 Interruption wiring 18 Connector (socket) 19 Emergency power supply unit 19a Unit case 20 Battery 21 Cable 22 Connector (Plug) 23 Operation switch 24 Inverter 28 Selection switch 31 Outer door of vending machine 33 Commodity storage rack 36 Connector board

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vending machine for selling products by supplying power from a commercial power supply during normal times, a connector for connecting a battery-powered emergency power supply unit from the outside in the event of a commercial power supply outage is provided inside the machine. The connector is connected to the interrupt wiring individually drawn out from the actuator of the bend mechanism provided in each column of the product storage rack, and power is supplied to the actuator of the specified column from the emergency power supply unit connected to the connector in an emergency, A vending machine characterized in that the bend mechanism is driven to carry out a product from a product storage rack. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a connector for connecting the emergency power supply unit is arranged on the back side of the outer door. An emergency power supply unit has an inverter for converting and outputting an alternating current for operating an actuator of a bend mechanism by using a battery, an operation switch, and a battery as input power in a unit case thereof, and a timer connected to an output side of the inverter. 2. The emergency power supply unit applied to a vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the emergency power supply unit has a built-in contact and a timer circuit, and is a portable power supply unit having a cable with a connector drawn out of a unit case. 4. The emergency power supply unit according to claim 3, wherein the unit case includes a plurality of selection buttons corresponding to each product storage column of the vending machine and a cable with a multiple connector corresponding to each selection button. An emergency power supply unit, wherein the connector is connected to a connector to which an interrupt wiring of each actuator of the vending machine is connected, and a product to be carried out is selected by a button operation of the unit.