JP2002279511A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic vending machine having a shutter mechanism preventing the number of components and cost from increasing without reducing the number of articles stored on an article storage rack. SOLUTION: A shutter wall of a shutter device 8 for thermal insulation between an upper rack part 6A and a lower rack part 6B is defined by a topmost rail segment 6a of the lower rack part 6B. The rail segment 6a doubling as the shutter wall is rotatable on its upper end between a solid line position (closed position) and a dash line position (open position), acts as the shutter wall when rotated toward the closed position by an actuator (not shown) of the shutter device 8, and acts as a wall for passing the article 14 when rotated toward the open position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine which heats at least products such as cans and bottled beverages and sells them as hot products.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a vending machine for cans and bottles, a vending machine represented by a serpentine vending machine is known. This serpentine type vending machine is equipped with a top tray for product introduction at the upper end of each column and a product unloading mechanism (bend mechanism) at the lower unloading end in a cabinet of a cabinet serving as an insulated housing. Storage rack that stacks and stores products in a vertical line, and a cooling device and / or heating device for commodities arranged at the bottom of the cabinet. Are dropped and carried out one by one and sent out to a product take-out port.

On the other hand, in recent years, the capacity of vending machines (the number of stored products) has been increasing in order to reduce the labor for replenishing commodities by circulating through vending machines installed at each location as much as possible and to improve route efficiency. On the other hand, it is important to reduce the power consumption of vending machines and promote energy saving. Further, depending on the type of beverage product, if the content is heated for a long period of time, the quality of the content beverage may be degraded.

In view of the above, a product storage rack housed in a cabinet storage of a vending machine is divided into upper and lower parts, and a shutter device as a heat shielding partition is provided in the middle thereof, and stored in a lower rack area. The product is kept cool or heated by a cooling device or heating device arranged at the bottom of the refrigerator, and the upper rack area is used as a stock space closer to normal temperature than the lower rack area,
An automatic shutter system that opens the shutter device in accordance with a decrease in the number of products carried out from the lower rack area and the number of fillings accompanying product sales, and supplies products from the upper rack area to the lower rack area. A vending machine has been proposed (JP-A-20
00-30138).

[0005]

However, when the above shutter device is opened, the shutter wall overlaps with the passage wall of the product, so that the passage width becomes narrow. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a margin for the narrowing width in advance, which is contrary to the desire to store as many products as possible in a limited volume. Further, since the shutter wall is incorporated as a separate part, the number of parts and the cost are increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, without reducing the number of products that can be stored in a product storage rack, and further increasing the number of parts and suppressing an increase in cost. The primary purpose is to obtain a vending machine.

On the other hand, a vending machine in which a storage rack is divided into upper and lower stages by providing the above-mentioned shutter device (Japanese Patent Laid-Open
In Japanese Patent Application Publication No. -30138), the number of products in the lower rack portion that is being heated decreases as the products are sold, so it is necessary to replenish the products from the upper rack portion at room temperature.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and detects an optimal timing for replenishing products from an upper rack portion to a lower rack portion, and detects the optimal timing of replenishing the lower rack heated. A second object is to obtain a vending machine that can always fully fill a product.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a first vending machine (Claim 1) of the present invention is provided in a cabinet of a heat-insulating housing, in which the upper end of each column is provided. Equipped with a product storage rack equipped with a product loading top tray on the side and a product unloading mechanism on the lower discharge end side. In the vending machine for dropping and discharging the products arranged in the lowermost position of the column one by one from the product storage rack by the product unloading mechanism based on a sales command and sending the products to the product outlet, It has a shutter device that divides the storage unit into upper and lower tiers, shields the upper rack unit and the lower tier rack unit from heat, and opens and closes based on a supply command for stock products different from the sales command. The shutter wall of the shutter device,
It is characterized by being formed by a segment forming a part of the side wall of the column.

As described above, the product storage rack is divided into upper and lower stages, and the shutter device for shielding the upper and lower rack portions from heat is provided. Thus, the upper rack portion, which is shielded from heat, can be used as a stock area for commodities, thereby reducing the heat load of the heating device and promoting energy saving.

In addition, since the shutter wall of the shutter device is formed by using a segment that forms a part of the side wall of the column, when the shutter wall is opened, the segment that is the shutter wall is the side wall of the column, that is, the product. Since it functions as a passage wall, the shutter wall does not overlap with the passage wall to reduce the passage width unlike a conventional vending machine having a shutter wall as a separate component, and the number of stored products is reduced. Nothing. Further, since the existing passage wall is also used as the shutter wall, it is not necessary to provide the shutter wall as a separate component, and the number of components of the shutter device can be reduced.

In the case where a passage wall of a product is formed by, for example, meandering a plurality of arc-shaped segments connected in a wave shape (formed in a zigzag shape), the upper end of one of the arc-shaped segments is formed. By pivotally supporting the portion and freeing the lower end portion, the arc-shaped segment can be rotated in the horizontal direction about the upper end portion to form a shutter wall. In addition, it is preferable to attach a heat insulating member to the segment as the shutter wall to enhance the heat shielding property.

In the above vending machine, the segment forming a part of the side wall of the column at the upper part of the lower rack portion is defined by a narrow position where the width of the column is smaller than the diameter of the product, and Is provided so as to be movable between the wide position and the large position, and is urged to the wide position when the product passes, and is urged toward the narrow position by a spring. It is preferable to provide a product filling detecting means for detecting the full filling of the product, and to output the replenishment command depending on whether the detected full filling is correct or not (claim 2).

In a vending machine in which a storage device is partitioned into upper and lower tiers by providing a shutter device, the number of products in the lower rack portion which is being heated decreases as the products are sold. It is necessary to replenish the product from the rack part on the side, but according to the vending machine provided with the product filling number detecting means as described above, when the product passes through the upper part of the lower column, the segment is resilient. Moves to the wide position against the back, and returns to the narrow position by the spring force after passing, but when the lower rack part is full of goods, the goods are stacked up to the top of this rack, Are held in a state where they are moved to the wide position by the stacked topmost products, and by detecting the holding time of the state where the products are moved to the wide position, the product filling detection method is performed. Can detect the full filling of the product, and output a replenishment command in accordance with whether the full filling is detected or not, thereby optimizing the replenishment timing of the product to the lower rack portion, and Can always be fully filled with goods.

Further, the second vending machine of the present invention (Claim 3) is characterized in that, in a cabinet of a cabinet serving as a heat-insulating housing, a top tray for introducing a product is provided at the upper end side of each column, and a lower tray is carried out. Equipped with a product unloading mechanism on each end,
A product storage rack that stacks and stores products in a vertical line,
Equipped with a heating device for commodities arranged at the bottom of the compartment, and by the commodities unloading mechanism based on the sales order, the commodities arranged at the bottom of the column are individually dropped and conveyed from the merchandise storage rack to the merchandise outlet. In the vending machine to send out, the product storage section of the product storage rack is divided into upper and lower tiers, and the upper and lower racks are shielded from heat, and a stock different from the sales order is provided. A shutter device that opens and closes based on a product supply command, and a segment that forms a part of a side wall of the column at the upper part of the lower rack portion, is positioned at a small width position where the width of the column is smaller than the diameter of the product. A movable position between a large position larger than the diameter of the product, and a spring biased to the small width position side so as to be movable to the large position when the product passes, so that the position of the segment is reduced. And a product filling detecting means for detecting a full filling of the product in the lower rack portion, and outputting the replenishment command according to whether the detected full filling is correct or not. .

Thus, regardless of whether or not the shutter wall of the shutter device forms a part of the side wall of the column,
A segment that forms part of the side wall of the column at the top of the lower rack section can be moved between a narrow position where the width of the column is smaller than the diameter of the product and a wide position where the width of the column is larger than the diameter of the product. And a product filling detecting means for detecting the full filling of the product in the lower rack portion according to the position of the segment, according to the position of the segment, so as to be movable to a wide position when the product passes, and to be movable to a wide position. By outputting the above-mentioned replenishment command according to whether the full filling is detected or not,
When the product passes through the upper part of the lower column, the segment moves to the wide position against the spring force and returns to the narrow position by the spring force after passing, but the product is filled in the lower rack part. Upon filling, the goods are stacked up to the top of the rack, and therefore the upper segment is held in the wide position by the stacked top goods, so that the goods are stacked in this wide position. By detecting the holding time or the like, the product filling detection means can detect the full filling of the product, and output a replenishment command depending on whether the detected full filling is correct or not. The product replenishment timing is made appropriate, and the lower rack portion can always be fully filled with the product.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a vending machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall structure of a vending machine according to this embodiment. This vending machine includes a cabinet 1 serving as an insulated housing, a display room for sales products, a front outside door 2 equipped with a sales operation unit such as a coin mechanism and a product selection button,
A product outlet 2a provided at the lower part of the front outer door 2, a heat-insulating inner door 3, a cooler (evaporator of a refrigerator) 4a arranged at the bottom of the cabinet 1, an electric heater 4b, and a fan 4
c, a serpentine having a cooling / heating unit 4 as an assembly of a wind tunnel 4d and a product unloading shooter 5 communicating with a product outlet 2a, a product storage part being divided into two upper and lower stages, and a shutter device 8 being combined therebetween. A type product storage rack 6 is housed. The outer dimensions (left and right, depth) of the product storage rack 6 are designed to match the cross section of the space defined in the cabinet of the cabinet 1.

Here, the product storage rack 6 has a meandering product passage (column) in which a plurality of arc-shaped rail segments are connected between left and right rack side plates. Top tray 7 for product launch,
Further, a bend mechanism is provided on the lower discharge end side. Note that the product storage rack 6 in this embodiment has columns arranged in four front and rear rows. In general, the interior of the cabinet 1 is partitioned into a plurality of rooms arranged side by side through a heat insulating partition, and a product storage rack 6 and a cooling unit or cooling / cooling unit are provided for each room.
The heating unit 4 is installed to be used as a cold product room or a cold / hot product room.

Here, the serpentine-type product storage rack 6 has a product storage portion divided into an upper rack portion 6A and a lower rack portion 6B, and shields between the upper rack portion 6A and the lower rack portion 6B. A heating shutter device 8 is provided. As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the uppermost rail segment 6a of the lower rack portion 6B also serves as a shutter wall of the shutter device 8, and a heat insulating member 6b is attached to the rear side of the rail segment 6a. Is being worn. The rail segment 6 which also serves as the shutter wall
a is rotatably provided between a solid line position (closed position) and an alternate long and short dash line position (open position) with its upper end as a center, and is opened and closed by an actuator (not shown) of the shutter device 8. Rotate between positions.

Thus, when the rail segment 6a, which is the shutter wall of the shutter device 8, is in the closed position, the passage of the goods 14 is prevented, and the inside of the cabinet 1 is cooled or heated in the lower half area. And the upper half area (close to normal temperature), which is shielded from the lower half area, and allows the commodity 14 to pass when the rail segment 6a is at the open position.

Further, at the lower discharge end of the lower rack portion 6B, a product discharge mechanism 9 which operates in accordance with a product sales command for each column and a product passage are separated from each other similarly to a normal serpentine type product storage rack. An adjustable adjustable passage width regulating plate 10 is incorporated.

Further, the second-stage rail segment 6c facing the uppermost rail segment 6a of the lower rack portion 6B also has a solid line position (narrow width position) and an alternate long and short dash line position (wide position) about its upper end. ), And is urged to a narrow position by a spring (not shown). However, when the product 14 passes, the product 14 is weighed against its spring by its own weight. The product 14 is rotated to the wide position to allow the product 14 to pass downward.

When the rail segment 6c is in the narrow position, the rail segment 6c presses the push switch 6d to turn on the push switch 6d,
When the rail segment 6c is at the wide position, the rail segment 6c separates from the push switch 6d and turns off the rail segment 6c. Therefore, when the product 14 passes through the rail segment 6c,
Push switch 6d is turned off momentarily from ON state
When the product 14 is filled up to the position of the rail segment 6c of the lower rack 6B,
Since the uppermost product 14 stays without passing through the rail segment 6c, the rail segment 6c is held at the wide position, and the push switch 6d is kept in the OFF state.

Here, the control unit (not shown) does not output a product replenishment command when the push switch 6d is maintained in the OFF state, and outputs a product replenishment when the push switch 6d is maintained in the ON state. Output command. When the commodity supply command is output, the shutter device 8
Rotates the shutter wall 6a to the open position, and one product 14 stored in the upper rack 6A falls to the lower rack 6B.

On the other hand, at the lower end of the upper rack portion 6A, a product delivery mechanism 12 having the same mechanism as that of the product carrying-out device 9 and an adjustable passage width regulating plate 13 are incorporated for each column. The upper end inlet side of the column communicates with the rear end of the top tray 7. In addition, the product sending mechanism 12
It is controlled independently of the product unloading mechanism 9 provided in the lower rack section 6B, and operates based on a product supply command different from a product sales command.

The passage width regulating plate 1 of the upper rack 6A
0 interlocks with the passage width regulating plate 13 of the lower rack portion 6B,
When one of the passage width regulating plates 10 (or 13) is adjusted to have a passage width suitable for the product 14 which is a thick can, the other passage width regulating plate 13 (or 10) is also a thick can. When the width of the passage width regulating plate 10 (or 13) is automatically adjusted so as to have a passage width suitable for the product 14, and the one of the passage width regulating plates 10 (or 13) is adjusted to have a passage width suitable for the product 14 which is a thin can, The other passage width regulating plate 13 (or 10) also
The width is automatically adjusted so as to have a passage width suitable for the product 14 which is a thin can.

Next, the operation of the vending machine of this embodiment will be described. First, in the initial state, both the upper rack section 6A and the lower rack section 6B are fully filled with the product 14. The rail segment 6a is held at the closed position, and the rail segment 6c is held at the wide position.

The lower rack 6B is heated by the cooling / heating unit 4, and the products 14 filled in the lower rack 6B are heated. On the other hand, the upper rack section 6A is shielded from heat by the rail segment 6a and the heat insulating member 6b, which are shutter walls.
Is filled at about room temperature.

When the product 14 is sold, the product unloading mechanism 9 mounted on the designated column of the lower rack 6B operates based on the sales command from the control unit to move the product 14 arranged at the lowest position downward. The product is dropped out, sent out to the product outlet 2a via the product unloading shooter 5. Then, as the products 14 are sold, the products 14 stored in the columns of the lower rack portion 6B move downward, and as a result, the rail segments 6
c, the uppermost product 14 in the lower rack portion 6B also moves downward and separates from the rail segment 6c. As a result, the rail segment 6c rotates to the narrow position by the spring force, depresses the push switch 6d, and turns on the push switch 6d.

Here, since the ON state of the push switch 6d is maintained, the control section outputs a commodity supply command, and the commodity sending mechanism 12 of the upper rack section 6A operates to store the commodity in the upper rack section 6A. The put product 14 is sent out. The commodity 14 sent out by this operation falls on the rail segment 6a which is the shutter wall of the shutter device 8. Further, the commodity supply command is also sent to the shutter device 8, and the actuator of the shutter device 8 moves the rail segment 6a, which is the shutter wall, to the open position, and the commodity 14 that has fallen on the rail segment 6a is released from the opened shutter wall. And falls to the lower rack portion 6B. The rail segment 6a is immediately returned to the closed position.

The dropped commodity 14 moves the rail segment 6c at the narrow position to the wide position, and turns off the push switch 6d. Since only one product 14 has been sold, the product 14 filled in the lower rack portion 6B has moved downward by one product 14, and the product 14 dropped and replenished is a rail segment. Stop at the position 6c, and keep the push switch 6d in the OFF state. As a result, the controller does not output the commodity supply command, the rail segment 6a, which is the shutter wall, remains closed, and excessive supply is not performed.

As described above, according to the vending machine according to the present embodiment, the shutter device 8 is provided which divides the product storage rack into upper and lower tiers and shields the upper and lower rack portions 6A and 6B from heat. Thereby, the lower rack portion 6B can be used as a heating region of the product 14, and the upper rack portion 6A shielded by the shutter device 8 can be used as a stock region of the product 14, so that the heat load of the cooling / heating unit 4 can be reduced. It is possible to promote energy saving with less.

Moreover, the shutter wall of the shutter device 8 is
When the shutter wall is opened by being formed by the rail segment 6a forming a part of the side wall of the column,
The rail segment 6a serving as the shutter wall functions as a side wall of the column, that is, a passage wall for the product 14, so that the shutter wall overlaps the passage wall as in a conventional vending machine having a shutter wall as a separate component. The width is not reduced, and the storage quantity of the product 14 is not reduced. Further, since the existing rail segment 6a is also used as a shutter wall, it is not necessary to provide the shutter wall as a separate component, and the number of components of the shutter device can be reduced.

When the commodity 14 passes through the upper part of the lower rack portion 6B, the rail segment 6c moves to the wide position against the spring force, and after passing through the shutter wall of the shutter device, the rail segment 6c is moved by the spring force. Returning to the narrow position, when the lower rack portion 6B is fully filled with the product 14, the products are stacked up to the upper portion of the lower rack portion 6B, and the rail segment 6c is held in a state moved to the wide position, Since the push switch 6d detects the state of being moved to the wide position, the product 1 in the lower rack portion 6B is
4 can be properly detected, and the control unit outputs a product supply command in accordance with whether or not the product is fully filled, thereby optimizing the supply timing of the product 14 to the lower rack 6B. Can be.

[0035]

As described above, according to the first vending machine of the present invention, the product storage rack is divided into upper and lower tiers,
By providing a shutter device that shields the upper and lower rack portions, the lower rack portion is used as a product heating area and the upper rack portion that is shielded by the shutter device is used as a product stock region. As a result, the heat load of the heating device is reduced, and energy saving can be promoted.

In addition, since the shutter wall of the shutter device is formed by using a segment that forms a part of the side wall of the column, when the shutter wall is opened, the segment serving as the shutter wall becomes the side wall of the column, that is, the product. Since it functions as a passage wall, the shutter wall does not overlap with the passage wall to reduce the passage width unlike a conventional vending machine having a shutter wall as a separate component, and the number of stored products is reduced. There is no. Further, since the existing passage wall is also used as the shutter wall, it is not necessary to provide the shutter wall as a separate component, and the number of components of the shutter device can be reduced.

Further, according to the second vending machine of the present invention, regardless of whether or not the shutter wall of the shutter device forms a part of the side wall of the column, the product passes through the upper part of the lower column. When the segment moves to the wide position against the spring force and returns to the narrow position by the spring force after passing, when the lower rack part is full of products, it reaches the top of this rack. Since the goods are stacked, and thus the upper segment is held in a state where the goods are moved to the wide position by the stacked uppermost goods, the goods are detected by detecting the holding time of the state where the goods are moved to the wide position. The filling detection means can detect the full filling of the product, and output a replenishment command in accordance with the detected full / unfulfilled state, so that the replenishment timing of the product to the lower rack portion can be appropriately adjusted. And, it is possible to always fully filled with product in the lower-side rack portion.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of a vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing details of a shutter device peripheral portion of the vending machine shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cabinet 2 Outer door 2a Merchandise outlet 4 Cooling / heating unit 6 Serpentine type merchandise storage rack 6a Rail segment 6b Insulation member 6c Rail segment 6d Push switch 6A Upper rack part 6B Lower rack part 7 Top tray 8 Shutter device 9 Product unloading mechanism 10 Passage width regulating plate 11 Commodity detection switch 12 Commodity sending mechanism 13 Passage width regulating plate 14 Commodity

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In a cabinet of a cabinet serving as a heat-insulating housing, each column is provided with a top tray for introducing a product at an upper end thereof, and a product discharging mechanism at a lower discharging end side. Equipped with a product storage rack for stacking and storing products, and a product heating device arranged at the bottom of the storage, and the product unloading mechanism based on a sales command allows one product to be arranged at the lowest position of the column from the product storage rack by the product storage rack. In a vending machine in which the product storage unit of the product storage rack is divided into upper and lower tiers,
A shutter device that shields heat from the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion, and that opens and closes based on a supply command of a stock product different from the sales command, wherein the shutter wall of the shutter device is A vending machine characterized by being formed by a segment forming a part of a side wall of a column. 2. A segment forming a part of a side wall of the column at an upper portion of the lower rack portion, a small width position where the width of the column is smaller than the diameter of the product, and larger than a diameter of the product. In addition to being provided so as to be movable between the large position and the small width position side so as to be movable to the large position when the commodity passes, the lower rack portion according to the position of the segment. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising: a product filling detection unit configured to detect the full filling of the product in the item (1), and outputs the replenishment command according to whether the detected full filling is appropriate. 3. In a cabinet of a cabinet serving as a heat-insulating housing, each column is provided with a top tray for loading a product at an upper end thereof and a product discharge mechanism at a lower discharge end thereof, and the products are vertically arranged in a row. Equipped with a product storage rack for stacking and storing products, and a product heating device arranged at the bottom of the storage, and the product unloading mechanism based on a sales command allows one product to be arranged at the lowest position of the column from the product storage rack by the product storage rack. In a vending machine in which the product storage unit of the product storage rack is divided into upper and lower tiers,
A shutter device that shields heat from the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion, and opens and closes based on a supply command of a stock product different from the sales command, and a shutter device at an upper portion of the lower rack portion. A segment that forms a part of the side wall of the column is provided so as to be movable between a small width position where the width of the column is smaller than the diameter of the product and a large position that is larger than the diameter of the product. At the time of passing, the product can be moved to the large position, spring-biased to the small width position side, and according to the position of the segment, product filling detection means for detecting the full filling of the product in the lower rack portion. A vending machine which outputs the replenishment command in accordance with whether the full filling is detected or not.