JP2002329242A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To uniformly cool or heat articles stored in respective columns of an article storage rack without generating a dead space of ventilation in a box nor any temperature irregularity only by adding a simple component to a ventilation path in the box. SOLUTION: This automatic vending machine is equipped with an article storage rack 5, an article carrying-out shooter 6, and a cooling/heating unit 7 in the box 1 of a cabinet and holds the article hot or cold by blowing and circulating cold air or hot air according to the cold or hot vending mode; and air holes 6a are punched in the entire area of the shooter and the cold or hot air blow forward by the cooling/heating unit is sent upward in the box. An air direction guide 6 which guides part of the air blown from the cooling/heating unit toward rear-side columns of the article storage rack is provided on the reverse surface side of the article carrying-out shooter and part of the cold or hot air flow blown forward from the cooling/heating unit is redirected and sent toward the rear-side columns of the article rack.

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 keeping beverages such as cans, bottles, and PET bottles cold and hot in the machine and selling them as cold or hot products.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art First, as an example of a vending machine to which the present invention is applied, FIGS. 2A and 2B show a conventional structure of a vending machine equipped with a serpentine type product storage rack. FIG.
In (a), 1 is a vending machine cabinet serving as a heat-insulating housing, 2 is a front outer door, 2a is a product outlet opening at a lower portion of the outer door 2, and 3 is a heat-insulating inner door.
, Goods 4 such as cans, bottles, plastic bottles, etc. are stored in a vertical line in each of the columns arranged in the front, rear, left and right rows, and the bend mechanism 5a based on the sales order moves the goods 4 in order from the bottom to the bottom. Product storage rack 5 to be unloaded to the warehouse, a product unloading shooter 6 arranged below the product storage rack 5 to deliver the product 4 dropped from the rack and delivered to the product outlet 2a, and installed on the rear side of the bottom of the warehouse. A cooling / heating unit 7 is provided. Reference numeral 8 denotes a suction duct laid on the back surface of the refrigerator so as to suck air in the refrigerator and guide the air to the cooling / heating unit 7, and reference numeral 9 denotes a condensing unit of a refrigerator installed in a machine room outside the refrigerator.

[0003] Here, the above-mentioned product unloading shooter 6 is
(b) As shown in the figure, a large number of air guide holes 6a are formed from a sheet metal processed product of a thin steel plate that is punched over almost the entire area of the forwardly inclined shooter surface. The cooling / heating unit 7 has a configuration in which a cooler (evaporator of a refrigerator) 7a, a wind tunnel in which an electric heater 7b is installed, and a fan 7c in a refrigerator are combined, and cool air exchanged with the cooler 7a or the heater 7b. Alternatively, the warm air is blown out toward the inside of the refrigerator by the fan 7c.

[0004] The operation of the vending machine for keeping / insulating and keeping the product cold is well known. In the cold product sale mode, the refrigerator 9 is operated to exchange heat with the cooler 7a of the cooling / heating unit 7 for cooling. After the blown cool air blows forward by the blow of the fan 7c, the cool air passes through the air guide hole 6a of the product carry-out shooter 6, changes its direction upward as shown by the arrow in the drawing, and flows through the inside of the refrigerator, and the rear side of the upper part of the refrigerator The air is circulated and blown into the refrigerator along a path that is sucked into the suction duct 8 and returned to the cooler 7a again.
Is stored as a cold product and kept cool at an appropriate temperature. On the other hand, in the hot product sales mode, the heater 7b is energized in place of the refrigerator 9, and the air heated by the heater is circulated and blown into the refrigerator in the same manner as described above to keep the product 4 at a suitable temperature for sale.

[0005] When a sales command is given in this state, the bend mechanism 5a of the product storage rack 5 is operated, and the next sales product 4 arranged at the lowest position in the rack is dropped down and carried out, and the shooter 6 is released. Is slid on the surface of the product and sent out to the product outlet 2a. Also, the products 4 arranged in the upper part of the rack move down in the rack in order as the sales progress.

[0006]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional internal structure, the products 4 stored in the product storage rack 5 are stored.
The following problems remain in terms of product temperature management. That is,
Considering the distribution of the cool air / warm air that circulates and passes through the inside of the refrigerator, the air flow blown forward from the cooling / heating unit 7 as shown by the arrow in FIG. To the upper part of the refrigerator as it is, and thereafter sucked into the suction duct 8 arranged on the rear surface of the refrigerator and returned to the cooling / heating unit 7, so that the blind spot in the lower rear half area of the refrigerator deviates from the circulation ventilation path. Regions arise.

For this reason, the articles stored in the front column of the article storage rack 5 are efficiently cooled / heated by directly hitting the circulating air (cool air or warm air). On the other hand, among the products stored in the rear row column of the product storage rack 5, particularly the products arranged on the unloading end side are out of the circulation ventilation path, so that the cool air and the warm air are not directly blown. It is harder to be cooled or heated compared to products stored in a store, and it takes a long time to cool / heat to a suitable temperature for sale.

For this reason, in a vending machine installed at a location where the sales turnover is fast and goods are replenished frequently, if the sales are resumed without sufficient waiting time after the goods are replenished, The product supplied to the rear column of the storage rack is sold in a lukewarm state that is not sufficiently cooled / heated. In addition, if the vending machine is suspended during the waiting time until the cooling / heating of the commodities supplied to the rear column is sufficiently completed, a chance of selling is missed in the meantime.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and only requires the addition of simple components to the ventilation path without making a significant change in the internal structure of the refrigerator, and does not create a blind spot area for ventilation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine improved so that products stored in each column of a storage rack can be efficiently cooled and maintained without unevenness in product temperature.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in order to attain the above object, according to the present invention, a product in which a plurality of columns arranged in front and rear are stacked and stored in a vertical direction in a cabinet of a cabinet is sold. Storage racks that take out products from the product storage rack in order from the bottom, product takeout shooters that send out products delivered from the product storage racks to product outlets, and cooling / heating units arranged at the rear side of the bottom of the warehouse in combination with the warehouse fans. A vending machine that cools or heats the product by circulating cold or warm air in the refrigerator according to the cold or hot selling mode, and the shooter punches a ventilation hole in the entire area The cool / warm air discharged from the cooling / heating unit to the front is ventilated toward the product storage rack in the warehouse. On the back side of Yuta, it shall provide a wind direction guide for guiding towards a portion of the discharge air from the cooling / heating unit on the rear row side column of the product storage rack.

According to the above construction, a part of the cool air or the warm air blown forward from the cooling / heating unit hits the wind direction guide provided on the back side of the product take-out chute and changes its direction. Ventilate towards. Further, the remainder bypasses or slips through the wind direction guide, passes through the air guide hole of the chute, and flows through the front column of the product storage toward the upper part of the storage as it is. As a result, there is no blind spot in the lower rear half area of the refrigerator inside, and the circulating air is evenly applied to the products lined up at the front and rear ends of the columns of the product storage rack to cool / heat the products uniformly. In addition, the waiting time until a newly replenished product reaches a suitable selling temperature can be reduced.

[0012]

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. In the drawings of the embodiment, the same members corresponding to FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals. The internal structure of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1A is basically the same as that of FIG. 2A except that a product carrying shooter 6 laid on the lower surface side of the product storage rack 5 has A wind direction guide 6b as shown in FIG.
In the illustrated example, the wind direction guide 6b is a partition piece provided at the front and rear middle of the chute 6 so as to protrude downwardly obliquely across a part of the chute width, and its mounting position, angle, length and height. As for the size and the like, it is determined that the ventilation distribution in the refrigerator is optimized.

The above-mentioned wind direction guide 6b functions as follows. That is, the air flow (cool air or warm air) blown forward from the cooling / heating unit 7 during the operation of the vending machine
Changes its direction when a part of it hits the wind direction guide 6b,
The air passes through the air guide hole 6a of the shooter and flows toward the rear row column of the product storage rack 5, and the remaining air flow bypasses or passes through the wind direction guide 6b and passes through the air guide hole 6a as it is, to the front inside the refrigerator. The air is passed through the front column of the product storage rack 5 toward the product storage rack 5. Accordingly, the blind spot of the ventilation as shown in FIG. 2 does not occur in the rear lower half area of the refrigerator, whereby the circulating air flow is stored in the columns of the front and rear rows of the product storage rack 5 and is directed to the discharge end side. The products are evenly cooled / heated by evenly hitting the lined products.

[0014] The wind direction guide 6a is not limited to the structure shown in the illustrated example, but may be implemented in various shapes suitable for the structure and arrangement in the refrigerator.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cabinet of the cabinet is provided with the goods storage rack, the goods unloading shooter, and the cooling / heating unit, so that the goods can be stored in the cold or hot sales mode. A vending machine in which cold air or warm air is circulated to keep the product cool or warm. The shooter punches a wind guide hole in the entire area of the vending machine to discharge the cool air or warm air discharged from the cooling / heating unit forward. A wind direction that guides a part of the air discharged from the cooling / heating unit toward the rear column of the product storage rack on the back side of the product unloading shooter in the case where the air is ventilated toward the product storage rack in the warehouse. With the provision of the guide, a part of the cool air or warm air blown forward from the cooling / heating unit is turned by the wind direction guide to be used for the product storage rack. I would like to ventilation towards the column-side column. As a result, there is no blind spot in the lower rear half area of the warehouse, and the circulating air uniformly hits the products lined up at the column output end of the front and rear columns of the product storage rack to uniformly cool / heat the products. In addition, the waiting time until a newly replenished product reaches a suitable selling temperature can be reduced. In addition, the present invention can be easily implemented by simply adding a simple wind direction guide component to the rear surface of the product unloading shooter without significantly changing the internal structure of the refrigerator.

[Brief description of the drawings]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein (a) is a configuration diagram inside a refrigerator, and (b) is a perspective view from the back side of a product discharge shooter in FIG. Figure

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional vending machine;
(a) is a configuration diagram of the inside of the refrigerator, (b) is a perspective view seen from the back side of the product carry-out shooter in the (a) diagram [Brief description of the drawings] 1 cabinet 4 products 5 product storage rack 5a bend mechanism 6 products Unloading shooter 6a Air guide hole 6b Wind direction guide 7 Cooling / heating unit 7a Cooler 7b Heater 7c Inside fan 8 Suction duct

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A product storage rack and a product storage, in which a plurality of products stacked and stored in a row in the upper and lower rows for each of a plurality of columns arranged in front and rear rows are sequentially taken out from the lowest order based on a sales command in a cabinet of a cabinet having a heat insulating structure. Commodity unloading shooter that sends out the products paid out from the rack to the product outlet, and cooling / cooling unit arranged at the rear side of the bottom of the warehouse in combination with the fan in the warehouse.
A vending machine equipped with a heating unit to cool or heat products by circulating cold or hot air in the refrigerator in accordance with the cold or hot sales mode.
The shooter is configured such that a cool air or a warm air discharged forward from a cooling / heating unit is blown toward a product storage rack in a refrigerator by punching a wind guide hole in an entire area of the shooter. A vending machine provided with a wind direction guide for guiding a part of wind discharged from a cooling / heating unit toward a rear column of a product storage rack.