JP2003067828A - Cup type automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sell cup beverage that uses a transparent cup in a cup type automatic vending machine for detecting the existence/absence of a cup with an optical sensor provided at a selling opening and outputting a detection signal. SOLUTION: This cup type automatic vending machine is provided with the optical sensor 12 having a light emitting part 12A and a light receiving part 12B arranged oppositely at a selling port 10 for transferring the cup beverage and for outputting the detection signal showing the existence/absence of the cup beverage in accordance with whether or not the light receiving part 12B receives a signal from the light emitting part 12A, and a sales control part 100 for controlling sales of the cup beverage on the basis of the detection signal. When the transparent cup beverage is placed on the selling opening 10, the sales control part 100 discriminates the existence/absence of the transparent cup beverage on the basis of the detection signal when the signal from the light emitting part 12A passes through the transparent beverage and deflects.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cup type vending machine for selling a cup beverage prepared by cooking a beverage composed of a raw material and a diluting liquid such as hot water or water.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cup-type vending machine for selling a cup beverage prepared by cooking a beverage consisting of a raw material and a diluting liquid such as hot water or water has been known. In the cup type vending machine, when a beverage purchaser inputs money and presses the beverage selection button, the cup supplied from the cup supply device is conveyed at any time, and the raw material and the diluting liquid are supplied to the cup and then stirred. It is controlled so that it becomes a cup of beverage and is delivered to the sales outlet. However, due to a problem that occurred while the cup was being transported from the cup supply device to the sales outlet, the cup beverage was not delivered to the sales outlet, and the cup beverage could not be completed even though coins were thrown in, which was a so-called non-sale. Also, when purchasing beverages continuously, if you forget to take the cup containing the beverage from the sales port and press the next beverage selection button, a new cup will be conveyed from behind the forgotten cup and you will forget to take it. Sometimes there was a waste of cup drinks and cup drinks that were about to be purchased.

To cope with these problems, various countermeasures have been taken so far. For example, a cup detecting means such as a micro switch is provided at a sales outlet to detect the presence or absence of a cup so as to prevent the above problem from occurring. Further, in recent years, an optical sensor has become widespread as a detection means that is low in cost, resistant to dirt, and highly reliable. The light emitting part and the light receiving part of this optical sensor are provided to face each other in the selling port, and if the optical sensor does not detect the light blocking by the cup even if a predetermined time has elapsed after the beverage selection button was pressed, the cup is carried out. Forbidden to sell and return money as abnormal. Alternatively, while the optical sensor is detecting the light blocking, the beverage selection button is not accepted because there is a cup at the selling port.

[0004]

In recent years, it has been strongly desired to employ a transparent cup in order to increase the added value of soft drinks such as carbonated drinks sold by cup type vending machines. But,
Since the light from the optical sensor is transmitted through the transparent cup,
Since the optical sensor cannot detect the cup even if the cup is taken out to the selling port, the sale is prohibited due to an abnormality in taking out the cup. Or, even if there is a cup in the sales outlet, the light shielding could not be detected and the beverage selection button was accepted, a new cup was transported from behind the forgotten cup, and I tried to purchase a new forgotten cup beverage. There is a problem of wasting cup beverages.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cup type vending machine for selling a cup beverage prepared by cooking a beverage consisting of a raw material and a diluting liquid such as hot water or water. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cup-type vending machine which detects a presence or absence and outputs a detection signal so that a cup beverage using a transparent cup can be sold.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 has a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion which are arranged opposite to a sales outlet for delivering a cup beverage, and the light receiving portion emits light. A control means for outputting a detection signal indicating the presence or absence of a cup beverage according to whether or not a signal from the unit is received, and a control means for controlling the sale of the cup beverage based on the detection signal. Is characterized in that, when the transparent cup beverage is placed on the sales outlet, the presence or absence of the transparent cup beverage is determined based on the detection signal when the signal from the light emitting unit passes through the transparent cup beverage and is refracted. To do.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the signal emitted from the light emitting portion is an infrared ray.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the control means prohibits the sale of the cup beverage when the detection signal does not change even after a predetermined time has passed since the control of selling the cup beverage. It is characterized by controlling.

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the control means controls so as not to accept the sale of the cup beverage while the detection signal continues to be changed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the control means compares the integrated value calculated by integrating the change value of the detection signal with a predetermined determination value to determine the presence / absence of a cup beverage at the sales outlet. It is characterized by.

The invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the control means makes the discriminant value variable in accordance with the transmittance of the signal from the light emitting portion which transmits the transparent cup beverage.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a cup-type vending machine according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which a beverage consisting of a raw material and a diluting liquid such as hot water or water is cooked in a cup and the beverage is purchased from a selling port. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a cup-type vending machine provided to customers. This cup-type vending machine includes a cup supply device 1 for supplying a cup, a powder raw material supply device 2 for supplying powder raw materials such as coffee, cream and sugar, and a liquid raw material supply device for supplying liquid raw materials such as lemon syrup. 3, a hot water tank 4 for supplying hot water, a dilution water supply device 5 for supplying dilution water such as water or carbonated water, an ice making machine 6 for supplying ice making drinking water, and a cup tray supporting a cup 7A and a cup holding device 7 having a cup holding arm 7B for holding the side surface of the cup, a horizontal moving device 8 for horizontally moving the cup holding device 7, and a stirring motor (not shown) for feeding the raw material and the diluent supplied to the cup. And a stirring device 9 that stirs with a stirring blade 9A connected by a rotating shaft to the liquid raw material,
Water and carbonated water are cooled and supplied by a cooling device (not shown).

The horizontal moving device 8 incorporates a motor as a drive source and an endless belt driven by the motor, and the cup holding device 7 is fixed to the endless belt. The motor rotates based on a signal output from a sales control unit (not shown), thereby driving the endless belt. The cup holding device 7 is conveyed to a predetermined position based on the driving of the endless belt.

In FIG. 1, a horizontal moving device 8 for moving the cup holding device 7 in the reciprocating direction is shown for ease of explanation, but in an actual cup type vending machine, space saving is required. In order to realize this, a horizontal moving device that freely moves the cup holding device 7 in the X direction (lateral direction) and the Y direction (depth direction) is provided.

The stirrer 9 stirs the beverage, which is received by the cup carried by the cup holder 7 and is composed of the raw material and the diluent, by the rotation of the stirring blade 9A.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the selling port 10 of the cup type vending machine of the present invention. The selling port 10 is formed in a box shape with an open front surface, a moving door (not shown) is provided on the front surface, a cup beverage is carried into the selling port 10, and an optical sensor 12 (detection means) described later detects the cup. When the detection signal is output to the sales controller, the moving door is moved by a door opening / closing mechanism (not shown) by the signal from the sales controller, and the front surface of the selling port 10 is opened. A carry-in opening 10A for carrying in the cup beverage held by the cup holder 7 is formed on the rear surface. The cup beverage is carried on the horizontal moving device 8 while being held by the cup holding device 7, and the carry-in opening 1
It is carried into the sales port 10 from 0A.

A light emitting portion 12A and a light receiving portion 12B of the optical sensor 12 are provided on both side plates 11 of the selling port 10 so as to face each other. The optical sensor 12 is, for example, an infrared sensor that uses infrared light (signal) as a light source.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the cup-type vending machine according to the present invention, which is provided on a front panel (not shown) of the cup-type vending machine and is used for selecting a type of cup beverage. A button 80, an optical sensor 12 that outputs a detection signal when a cup beverage that has been carried into the sales outlet 10 is detected, and a sales control unit 100 that performs control for cooking the cup beverage selected by the beverage selection button 80. (Control means), a cup holding device 7 that holds a cup in response to a signal from the sales control unit 100, a horizontal moving device 8 that horizontally supports the cup holding device 7, and a moving door by a door opening / closing mechanism. Sales outlet 10 that opens and delivers cup beverages
And.

The beverage selection buttons 80 display the beverages to be sold. And the beverage selection button 8
When 0 is pressed, the sales control unit 100 outputs a signal for supplying, carrying, and stirring the raw material, the diluting liquid, and the cup set corresponding to the display of the beverage selection button 80.
When the sales control unit 100 outputs a signal, the cup supply device 1 supplies the cup, the horizontal moving device 8 conveys the cup holding device 7 holding the cup to a predetermined position, and supplies the powder raw material supply unit 2 or the liquid raw material. The device 3 supplies a predetermined amount of raw material, the hot water tank 4 or the diluting water supply device 5 supplies a predetermined amount of diluting liquid, and depending on the type of beverage, ice is supplied from the ice maker 6, and the stirring device 9 serves as the raw material. Stir the diluent. The cup beverage stirred and cooked by the stirring device 9 is conveyed to the selling port 10.

The optical sensor 12 emits light when the cup beverage using the transparent cup T is carried into the selling port 10.
Infrared rays from 2A are refracted by a cup beverage using a transparent cup T as shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4C, and the value of the detection signal output by the light receiving unit 12B is shown in FIG. d)
It changes as shown in. The sales control unit 100 determines that there is a cup when the integrated value calculated by integrating the change value of the detection signal exceeds a predetermined determination value as shown in FIG. When the integrated value calculated by integrating the change value of the detection signal exceeds the discriminant value, the sales control unit 100 determines that there is a cup, opens the cup gripping arm 7B of the cup holding device 7, and opens the cup beverage using the transparent cup T. At the same time as opening, the movable door is moved by the door opening / closing mechanism to open the front surface of the selling port 10.

The structure of the cup-type vending machine according to the present invention, which supplies the raw material and the diluting liquid such as hot water or water into the cup and stirs with the stirrer to sell the cooked cup beverage, has been described above. Next, the method of cooking the cup beverage will be described in detail with reference to lemon soda (carbonated beverage) prepared by stirring and cooking the lemon syrup and carbonated water supplied to the transparent cup T as an example.

With the configuration of the cup type vending machine according to the first embodiment described above, lemon syrup and carbonated water are supplied to the transparent cup T in the cup type vending machine, and the lemon is stirred and cooked by the stirrer 9. To sell soda,
When the beverage purchaser inputs money and the beverage selection button 80 of the lemon soda is pressed, first, the transparent cup T is supplied from the cup supply device 1 to the cup holding device 7. The transparent cup T supplied from the cup supply device 1 is the cup tray 7A.
And held by the cup gripping arm 7B. The transparent cup T held by the cup holding device 7 is appropriately stepwise fed by the horizontal moving device 8, and when it is conveyed to the position of the liquid raw material supply device 3, it is supplied with lemon syrup and then the dilution water supply device. When it is conveyed to the position of 5, the carbonated water is supplied, and when it is conveyed to the position of the ice making machine 6 and supplied with ice and then conveyed to the position of the stirring device 9, the stirring blade 9A is rotated to rotate the lemon syrup and the carbonate. Water and ice are stirred to cook lemon soda. The transparent cup T containing lemon soda that has been cooked is conveyed to the selling port 10. Sales outlet 10
When the transparent cup T containing lemon soda is transported to the optical sensor 12, a detection signal is output from the optical sensor 12 to the sales control unit 100, and the sales control unit 100 integrates and calculates the change value of the detection signal from the optical sensor 12. When the integrated value exceeds the discriminant value, it is determined that there is a cup, the cup holding arm 7B of the cup holding device 7 is opened to open the transparent cup T containing lemon soda, and the movable door is moved by the door opening / closing mechanism to move the front surface of the sales outlet 10. Open up. When the front side of the selling port 10 is opened and the beverage purchaser receives the cup beverage containing lemon soda, the selling operation ends.

Although the determination value as a reference value for determining the presence / absence of a cup has been described in the embodiment, the determination value may be different for each beverage depending on the transmittance of the beverage. One discriminant value may be used according to the beverage having a small value. By setting a different value for each beverage, it becomes possible to prevent misjudgment due to the difference in the transmittance of the beverage. Further, if one determination value is set for a beverage having a low transmittance, the presence or absence of a cup can be determined even for a beverage having a small change in integral value due to the small transmittance of the beverage and the small change in the detection signal. Since the setting for each drink sold is eliminated, it is possible to shorten the set time when installing the cup type vending machine. Further, as the discriminant value, if a value obtained by an experiment in advance is used, it is possible to shorten the set time when installing the cup type vending machine.

FIG. 5 shows, as a second embodiment of the present invention, a vending machine of a cup type vending machine of a system in which a beverage cooked (mixed) in the vending machine is supplied to the cup in the vending machine. Unlike the beverage cooking method of transporting a cup containing cooked beverage cooked in an automatic vending machine to the sales port and providing it to the customer who purchases the beverage, the cup dropped from the cup supply device 1 through the cup chute 14 into the sales port 10. In addition, the method of supplying the beverage cooked in the vending machine from the beverage nozzle 15 is adopted. Since the cup dropped from the cup supply device 1 through the cup chute 14 into the selling port 10 can be securely fixed by the cup supports 13A and 13B that fix the position of the cup, as shown in FIG. The position of the formula sensor 12 can be provided at a position where the infrared ray from the light emitting portion 12A is surely refracted when hitting the transparent cup T, and as shown in FIG.
Since the detection signal value output by the device clearly changes between the standby state and the presence of the cup, it is possible to determine that the cup is present when the detection signal value becomes smaller than a predetermined determination value.

As described above, the light emitting portion 12A and the light receiving portion 1 which are arranged opposite to the sales outlet 10 for delivering the cup beverage.
2B, the optical sensor 12 that outputs a detection signal indicating the presence or absence of a cup beverage depending on whether or not the light receiving unit 12B receives the signal from the light emitting unit 12A, and the cup beverage based on the detection signal. A sales control unit 100 for controlling the sales of
When the transparent cup beverage is placed on the selling port 10, the sales control unit 100 includes the transparent cup beverage based on the detection signal when the signal from the light emitting unit 12A passes through the transparent cup beverage and is refracted. It is possible to sell a cup beverage using a transparent cup with a cup-type vending machine that detects the presence or absence of a cup by an optical sensor 12 provided at the selling port 10 and outputs a detection signal by determining the presence or absence of the cup. It will be possible.

Since the signal emitted from the light emitting section 12A is infrared rays, it is possible to use an optical sensor which is low in cost, resistant to dirt and highly reliable, as a detecting means.

The sales control unit 100 controls to sell the cup beverage, and controls the sale of the cup beverage when the detection signal does not change even after a predetermined time elapses. It is possible to prevent so-called non-sale in which the cup beverage is not completed even though the product is added.

The sales control unit 100 controls so as not to accept the sale of cup beverages while the detection signal is continuously changed, so that the beverages can be introduced even when the beverages are continuously purchased. It is no longer necessary to press the next beverage selection button while forgetting to remove the selected cup from the outlet.

The sale control unit 100 compares the integrated value calculated by integrating the change value of the detection signal with a predetermined determination value to determine the presence / absence of a cup beverage at the sales outlet 10 to ensure the sale. It becomes possible to determine the presence or absence of a transparent cup beverage in the mouth.

The sales control unit 100 makes it possible to prevent erroneous determination due to the difference in the transmittance of the beverage by making the determination value variable according to the transmittance of the signal from the light emitting unit 12A that transmits the transparent cup beverage. It will be possible.

[0032]

According to the present invention, a cup-type vending machine which detects the presence or absence of a cup by an optical sensor provided at a selling port and outputs a detection signal can sell a cup beverage using a transparent cup. Will be possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a cup-type vending machine to which the cup-type vending machine of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a sales port to which the cup type vending machine of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram to which the cup type vending machine of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 shows changes in the detection signal output by the optical sensor of the embodiment to which the cup type vending machine of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 shows a sales outlet as a second embodiment to which the cup type vending machine of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 shows changes in the detection signal output by the optical sensor as the second embodiment to which the cup type vending machine of the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cup feeder 2 Powder raw material supply device 3 Liquid raw material supply device 4 hot water tank 5 dilution water supply device 6 ice machine 7 cup holder 8 Horizontal movement device 9 Stirrer 10 sales outlets 11 Side plate 12 Optical sensor 12A light emitting part 12B light receiving part 80 Beverage selection button 100 Sales Control Department

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A cup beverage having a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion, which are arranged opposite to a sales outlet for delivering the cup beverage, depending on whether or not the light receiving portion receives a signal from the light emitting portion. A detection means for outputting a detection signal indicating presence or absence; and a control means for controlling the sale of the cup beverage based on the detection signal, wherein the control means is provided when a transparent cup beverage is placed on the selling port. A cup-type vending machine, characterized in that the presence or absence of the transparent cup beverage is determined based on a detection signal when a signal from the light emitting unit passes through the transparent cup beverage and is refracted. 2. The cup-type vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the signal emitted by the light emitting unit is infrared light. 3. The control means controls to prohibit the sale of the cup beverage when the detection signal does not change even after a predetermined time elapses after controlling the sale of the cup beverage. The cup-type vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that. 4. The cup-type automatic according to claim 1, wherein the control means controls so as not to accept the sale of the cup beverage while the detection signal continues to be changed. Vending machine. 5. The control means compares the integrated value calculated by integrating the change value of the detection signal with a predetermined determination value to determine the presence / absence of a cup beverage at the selling port. The cup-type vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The cup-type automatic vending according to claim 5, wherein the control means makes the discriminant value variable in accordance with a transmittance of a signal from the light-emitting portion that transmits the transparent cup beverage. Machine.