JP2005209223A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve a structure of a product storage rack for detailed inventory control in the machine caring about energy saving of a vending machine and shelf life of hot product and for simplification of adjustment in the machine following the change of sales products. <P>SOLUTION: The vending machine, equipped with the product storage rack (6) for piling up products vertically inside a heat insulated cabinet (1) and a cooling/ heating unit (4) disposed on the bottom of the cabinet, in which the product storage rack is bisected into an upper rack and lower rack so that the lower rack is cooled or heated by the cooling/ heating unit and a shutter unit (8), of a heat insulator, is installed between the upper rack and lower rack for insulating heat between the upper rack and lower rack, and composed of a product discharging mechanism (12) in the lower end of the upper rack in each column for discharging stock products stored in the column of the upper rack through the shutter unit to the column of the lower rack following a supply command for the stock product different from a sale command. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to a vending machine that cools or heats products such as cans and coffee beverages and sells them as cold or hot products.

As vending machines for cans and bowls, those represented by serpentine vending machines are known. This serpentine vending machine is equipped with a top tray for product introduction at the upper end of each column and a product delivery mechanism (bend mechanism) at the lower delivery end for each column in the cabinet as a heat-insulating housing. Product storage racks that stack and store products in a row, and products that are equipped with cooling or heating devices for products placed at the bottom of the cabinet. One by one is dropped and carried out one by one and sent to the product outlet.
On the other hand, recently, there is a tendency to increase the capacity of vending machines (the number of products stored) in order to increase the route efficiency by reducing the trouble of replenishing the products by visiting the vending machines installed at each location. On the other hand, reducing the power consumption of vending machines and promoting energy saving is an important issue. In addition, depending on the type of beverage product, there is a product that deteriorates the quality of the content beverage when heated for a long period of time, and countermeasures thereof are also an issue.

In order to solve the above problems, the inventors divided the product storage racks housed in the cabinet cabinet of the vending machine into two parts, and installed a shutter device as a heat shielding partition in the middle. , The stock stored in the lower rack area is cooled at the bottom of the cabinet, or cooled or heated with a heating device, and the upper rack area is closer to room temperature than the lower rack area. In addition, the development of vending machines using a method that replenishes products from the upper region of the rack to the lower region in accordance with the product carry-out operation from the lower region associated with product sales has been underway.
On the other hand, a vending machine having a configuration related to the above system is known as Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-91855. In this known vending machine, a heat-insulating shutter device that divides the rack into an upper region and a lower region that is cooled or heated is attached to the product storage rack housed in the product storage, and the shutter The apparatus includes an automatic return-type heat insulating shutter that opens by the weight of the product and allows the product to pass therethrough, and the heat insulating shutter that moves the product in the upper region in accordance with the operation of the product carrying device provided at the lower end of the product storage rack The product delivery device in the upper area is operated at the same time or with a slight delay in conjunction with the product sales operation of discharging the product from the lower area by the product delivery device. The product is sent to the lower region through the shutter device.

By the way, in serpentine type can vending machines, etc., a multi-selection product storage rack is generally installed in the warehouse to sell a wide variety of beverage products, and each column of the product storage rack has different types of products. Are stored and sold separately by column. On the other hand, the number of products sold by vending machines varies depending on the location (location) of the vending machine, the season, the customer base, etc. Furthermore, among the products sold by the same vending machine, sales of popular items are rotating. Is fast (more sales per hour), but less popular products are sold less frequently and take longer to store onboard until sold.
Therefore, considering the energy-saving and product storage stability (especially hot products) of vending machines, the appropriate number of products that are stored in the cold storage and warming area of the product storage rack and kept cool and warm to the appropriate sales temperature is In addition to the conditions such as the location of the vending machine and the season, the best-selling products and the less popular products will naturally differ. In this respect, in the vending machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-91855, the product is sent from the upper region to the lower region each time the product is transported from the lower region where the product is cooled or heated. I am doing so. Therefore, for each column in the upper area of the product storage rack, or more precisely in each column in the upper area of the rack, while the product remains in that column, the column in the lower area corresponding to this column is always full. It will be stored in.

However, when considering the appropriate number of products in the cold storage / heating area, the lower area of the product storage rack can be used regardless of whether the sales turnover is fast (selling goods) or slow (less popular). When full, the heat load on the cooling / heating device increases and power consumption increases. Especially for hot products with low sales turnover, it is heated for a long time until the products in the lower area are sold. It remains exposed to the state.
The present invention has been considered in view of the above points, and its purpose is to solve the above-mentioned problems by making it possible to carry out detailed inventory management of the product in consideration of energy saving and preservation of the product. An object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine that can simplify the in-flight adjustment work associated with changes in sales products.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a cabinet for serving as a heat-insulating housing is provided with a top tray for product introduction at the upper end of each column and a product delivery mechanism at the lower delivery end for each column. Equipped with a product storage rack that stacks and stores products in a row and a product cooling / heating device placed at the bottom of the cabinet, the product unloading mechanism operates in line with the sales order to line up from the product storage rack to the bottom of the column. A vending machine that drops and delivers products one by one and sends them to the product outlet. The product storage section of the product storage rack is divided into upper and lower stages, and the lower rack section is cooled by a cooling / heating device. In addition, a shutter device having a heat insulating structure is interposed between the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion to shield the heat between the upper rack region and the lower rack region, and the upper rack portion. At the lower end of each column of the section, stock products stored in the column of the upper rack section operated based on a stock product replenishment command different from the sales instruction are transferred to the column of the lower rack section through the shutter device. In a vending machine equipped with a product delivery mechanism for feeding, and configured to supply products from the upper rack part to the lower rack part at any time according to the sales situation of the product for each column, the shutter device is moved forward from the product storage rack. A structure in which a drawer type shutter mounting frame laid so as to be capable of being pulled out is assembled with a column and an automatic return type thermal insulation shutter corresponding to each column (Claim 1), and an upper rack portion for storing the drawer type shutter device The space between the lower rack part and the lower rack part is such that the arm can be inserted into the product storage rack from the front with the shutter device pulled out. Set (claim 2), so achieving simplification of adjustment work on board due to change of the machine maintenance, and goods sold.

In addition, an adjustable passage width restricting plate is disposed at the lower end portion of the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion so as to face the product delivery mechanism and the product carry-out mechanism with the product outlet passage therebetween, and the passage width restriction plate of the upper rack portion. By connecting the passage width regulating plate of the lower rack part and the top tray via the adjustment link, and operating the adjustment link when changing the sold product to a product of a different size (thickness) The product carry-out mechanism, each passage width regulating plate corresponding to the product delivery mechanism, and the top tray can be collectively adjusted (claim 3).
In addition, each column of the lower rack part is provided with a product detection switch for detecting the passage of the product sent from the upper rack part to the lower rack part on the upper end entrance side, and an operation signal of this detection switch is taken into the control unit. Thus, it is possible to monitor the product feed from the upper rack portion to the lower rack portion and the actual product inventory of each column of the lower rack portion.

As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) According to the first and second aspects of the invention, the shutter device is assembled with a pull-out type shutter mounting frame laid so as to be able to be pulled out forward from the product storage rack, and an automatic return type heat insulating shutter corresponding to each column. Further, the space between the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion for storing the drawer-type shutter device can be inserted into the product storage rack from the front with the shutter device pulled out. With this setting, it is possible to simplify the maintenance work in the machine and the adjustment work in the machine accompanying the change of the product for sale.
(2) According to the invention of claim 3, the adjustable passage width restricting plate facing the product delivery mechanism and the product delivery mechanism with the product outlet passage sandwiched between the lower ends of the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion, respectively. When placing and changing the sales product to a product of different size, connecting the passage width restriction plate of the upper rack part, the passage width restriction plate of the lower rack part, and the top tray via the adjustment link, By operating the adjustment link, the passage width restricting plate and the top tray corresponding to the product carry-out mechanism and the product delivery mechanism can be adjusted together and combined with the configuration in the previous section (1). The service can be improved by easily adjusting the product passage width associated with the change.

  (3) According to the invention of claim 4, each column of the lower rack part is provided with a commodity detection switch for detecting the passage of the commodity sent from the upper rack part to the lower rack part on the upper end entrance side. The operation signal of this detection switch is taken into the control section so that the product can be fed from the upper rack section to the lower rack section and the actual product inventory of each column in the lower rack section can be monitored. It is possible to effectively support the supply of products to the rack and the management of product inventory in the lower rack.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated examples shown in FIGS. First, FIG. 1 shows the overall structure of the vending machine. In the figure, 1 is a cabinet as a heat-insulating housing, 2 is a display room for sold products, and a front outer door equipped with a sales operation unit such as a coin mechanism and a product selection button, and 2a is a product provided at the lower part of the outer door 2. An outlet, 3 is an insulated door, 4 is a cooling / heating unit as an assembly of a cooler (evaporator) 4a, an electric heater 4b, a fan 4c, and a wind tunnel 4d disposed at the bottom of the cabinet 1; Reference numeral 5 denotes a product carry-out shooter that leads to the product outlet 2a, and a serpentine-type product storage rack 6 in which a product storage section is divided into upper and lower stages and a shutter device 8 is combined in the middle as shown below. It is installed. The product storage rack 6 is designed so that its outer dimensions (left and right, depth) match the cross section of the space defined in the cabinet 1.

Here, as is well known, the serpentine-type product storage rack 6 defines a meandering product passage (column) in which arc-shaped rail segments are installed between the left and right rack side plates, and each column has its The top tray 7 for product introduction is provided at the upper end side, and the bend mechanism is provided at the lower carry-out end side. In the illustrated rack, the columns are arranged in four rows. Although not shown, the cabinet 1 is generally partitioned into a plurality of rooms arranged side by side through heat-insulating partitions, and each room has a product storage rack 6 and a cooling unit, or cooling / heating. Unit 4 is installed and used as a cold product room or a cold / hot product room.
Here, the serpentine type product storage rack 6 is divided into an upper rack portion 6A and a lower rack portion 6B, and a heat insulating structure is formed between the upper rack portion 6A and the lower rack portion 6B. A shutter device 8 is interposed. As a result, the shutter device 8 is used as a heat shielding partition, and the cabinet 1 is kept in the lower half area where the interior of the cabinet 1 is cooled or heated, and the upper half area (close to normal temperature) shielded from the lower half area. It is divided.

The lower rack portion 6B has a lower carry-out end facing a product carry-out mechanism 9 that operates in accordance with a product sale command for each column in the same manner as a normal serpentine-type product storage rack, and is opposed to the mechanism across a product passage. An adjustable passage width regulating plate 10 is incorporated, and further, a product detection switch 11 for detecting a product passing through each column is provided on the rack top inlet side, and an actuator piece thereof is provided in the product passage. It sticks out.
On the other hand, at the lower end portion of the upper rack portion 6A, a product delivery mechanism 12 having the same mechanism as the product carry-out device 9 and an adjustable passage width restricting plate 13 are incorporated for each column. The upper end inlet side communicates with the rear end of the top tray 7. The product delivery mechanism 12 is controlled independently of the product delivery mechanism 9 installed in the lower rack section 6B, and operates based on a product supply command (details will be described later) different from the product sales command. ing.

  The shutter device 8 is incorporated in the product storage rack 6 so that it can be pulled out from the assembly position to the front of the cabinet 1 as shown by an arrow P in the figure, and the structure thereof is as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b). A shutter mounting frame 8a having a length in the front-rear direction corresponding to the depth of the cabinet 1 in the cabinet and a width corresponding to the column width of the product storage rack 6 and mounted in accordance with the columns of the product storage racks 6 arranged in the front and rear rows. It consists of an assembly of a heat insulating material partition plate 8b installed on the upper surface side of the frame 8a and a swing-open heat insulating shutter 8c pivotally supported on the mounting frame 8a corresponding to each column. Further, the heat insulating shutter 8c is made of, for example, a hard resin having low heat conductivity, and is pivotally supported downward in a double-spread manner as a set of two sheets, and is urged by the supporting shaft as shown in FIG. A spring (torsion coil spring) 8d is provided to provide an automatic return type shutter that is biased in a direction to close the shutter 8c.

In the shutter device 8 having such a configuration, when the product 14 falls on the heat insulating shutter 8c from above and is landed, the shutter 8c is opened from the solid line position to the chain line position by the weight of the product 14, and the product 14 passes through the shutter passage. Fall down. The biasing spring 8d is set to have such a spring strength that pushes up the shutter 8c to the solid line position in the figure and closes the shutter passage when no load is applied to the product 14.
Further, the height h of the frame 8a of the shutter device 8 is set to be larger than the thickness of the human arm. When the shutter device 8 is pulled forward in FIG. The arm can be inserted into the product storage rack 6 from the front of 1. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), between the adjustable passage width restricting plates 10 and 13 respectively disposed opposite to the product carry-out mechanism 9 and the product delivery mechanism 12, The passage width regulating plate 13 and the top tray 7 laid on the upper side are connected to each other via an adjustment link 15. This adjustment link 15 is used to collectively adjust the passage width regulating plates 10 and 13 and the top tray 7 to a new position when the sales product 14 is changed to a product having a different thickness. In the state where the shutter device 8 is pulled out of the cabinet, the arm is inserted into the rack from the front and manually operated.

  That is, as shown in the figure, the passage width restricting plates 10 and 13 have guide pins 16 and 17 projecting laterally from the upper and lower ends thereof into irregularly shaped adjusting groove holes 6c and 6d formed in the rack side plate 6a of the product storage rack 6. It is fitted and suspended in that position. Then, by moving the guide pins 16 and 17 back and forth along the adjustment slot 6c, the product passage between the product carry-out mechanism 9 and the product delivery mechanism 12 has a width A corresponding to a thick can, or a narrow can. Is adjusted to a width B corresponding to. In the same manner as described above, the top tray 7 also has guide pins that are coupled to the front and rear ends of the top tray 7 fitted in adjustment slots formed in the rack side plate. The space between the arc-shaped rail segment 6b defining the meandering product passage is adjusted to a width A corresponding to a thick can or a width B corresponding to a thin can. Such a product passage width adjusting mechanism is well known and has been conventionally employed in a serpentine product storage rack. And the passage width regulation plates 10 and 13 and the top tray 7 are interconnected by the adjustment link 15 as described above, so that the adjustment of the product passage width associated with the change of the sales product can be adjusted. It can be performed collectively by manual operation.

  Next, the sales and replenishment operations of the product having the above configuration will be described. When loading products into the product storage rack 6 of the vending machine installed at the location, first allocate the sales products to each column of the product storage rack 6 and perform initial settings such as cold and hot mode settings. After the shutter device 8 is pulled out, the adjustment link 15 described above is operated for each column to adjust the product passage width according to the size (thickness) of the product to be sold. Insert and set it back in its original position. At this stage, the product delivery mechanism 12 of the upper rack portion 6A is released and its outlet passage is opened. In this state, when the product 14 is put on the top tray 7 from the front of the cabinet 1, the product 14 rolls on the top tray 7 and enters the column of the upper rack portion 6A from its rear end, and its meandering shape. After the product path is lowered, the heat insulating shutter 8c of the shutter device 8 is pushed open to move into the lower rack portion 6B and stacked and stored in the rack. In this process, the product that has entered the lower rack portion 6B is counted by the control unit via the detection switch 11, and a command from the control unit is issued when the number of products stored in each column of the lower rack unit 6B reaches a predetermined number. Thus, the product delivery mechanism 12 of the upper rack portion 6A is reset, and the flapper protrudes into the product passage, and holds and holds the subsequent product introduced through the top tray 7. Note that the product is introduced until the upper rack portion 6A and the top tray 7 are full.

Next, when the vending machine is put into operation, the cooling / heating unit 4 is operated in a designated mode, and the cool air or the warm air exchanged with the cooler 4a or the heater 4b is circulated through the inside of the cabinet by the fan 4c. The product 14 stored in the lower rack portion 6B of the product storage rack 6 is kept cold or heated. The operation of the cooling / heating unit 4 is controlled on the basis of the set temperature in the warehouse, as in a normal vending machine. Further, in this case, since each heat insulating shutter 8c of the shutter device 8 is closed, the cool air and the warm air are circulated through only the region of the lower rack portion 6B to actively cool or heat this region. Thus, since the area of the upper rack portion 6A is blocked by the shutter device 8 and cool air and warm air are not ventilated, the area is kept near room temperature as compared to the area of the lower rack portion 6B.
On the other hand, when the product is sold, the product carry-out mechanism 9 equipped in the designated column of the lower rack unit 6B is operated based on the sales command from the control unit, and the product 14 arranged in the lowest position is dropped and carried out. The product is sent to the product outlet 2a through the carry-out shooter 5. When the number of products stored in the column of the lower rack unit 6B decreases as the product sales progress, the product delivery mechanism 12 of the upper rack unit 6A operates in response to a product replenishment command from the control unit, and the upper rack unit The necessary number of products 14 stocked in 6A are sent out in order. The product 14 sent out by this operation falls onto the shutter device 8, pushes open the heat insulating shutter 8c, moves to the lower rack portion 6B, and is replenished. Further, when the product 14 enters the lower rack portion 6B, the product detection switch 11 operates and the signal is taken into the control unit and counted. The heat insulating shutter 8c closes again after passing through the product to close the shutter passage.

In this case, the timing for issuing a product replenishment command from the control unit to the product delivery mechanism 12 is performed as follows, for example. That is, the number of products that are always stored in the lower rack section 6B for each column of the product storage rack 6 is set to the optimum sales temperature for the vending machine installation location, season, customer base, product type, cold and hot products. Set in advance taking into consideration the time required for cooling and heating, and the residence time in the rack before hot products are sold (the quality of beverages deteriorates when hot products are heated for a long time). , Input to the control unit. When the number of products in the column of the lower rack unit 6B becomes smaller than the set stock quantity, the control unit outputs a product supply command to the column.
Alternatively, the control unit monitors the sales status of the product for each column of the product storage rack 6 (for example, counts the number of sales per specified time), and always stores it in the lower rack unit 6B based on this data. A proper stock quantity is determined, and the actual stock quantity of goods in the lower rack section 6B at that time is compared with the proper stock quantity, and a product replenishment command is output at an appropriate timing.

As a result, it is possible to achieve fine inventory management for the lower rack portion 6B of the product storage rack 6 so as to maintain an appropriate stock quantity determined according to the type of product stored here for each column. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the quality of the content beverage accompanying the long-time heating of the hot product. In addition, compared to the method in which the lower rack portion 6B is always filled with products, the cooling and heating device heat load is reduced in terms of energy savings, and the power consumption can be reduced, and the sales turnover is low. For hot products (low-popular products), by setting the appropriate number of stocks to be less than the storage capacity of the lower rack section, it is possible to shorten the residence time until the product is actually sold and reduce the content beverage. Quality deterioration can be prevented.
In the illustrated embodiment, a serpentine-type product storage rack is shown as the product storage rack, but the present invention is not limited to a serpentine-type product storage rack, and is also applied to other vertically stacked product storage racks. Of course, it can be applied.

Cross-sectional view of the entire vending machine showing an embodiment of the present invention It is a block diagram of the shutter apparatus in FIG. 1, (a), (b) is a top view and a cross-sectional side view, respectively. The principal part enlarged view explaining the operation | movement of the shutter apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of a structure and operation | movement of the goods passage width adjustment mechanism with which the goods storage rack of FIG. 1 was equipped, (a) is a layout drawing of the adjustment link which connects between the passage width regulation board built in the rack, and a top tray, (b) is an explanation of its operation.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cabinet 2 Outer door 2a Product outlet 4 Cooling / heating unit 6 Serpentine product storage rack 6A Upper rack part 6B Lower rack part 7 Top tray 8 Shutter device 8a Shutter mounting frame 8c Thermal insulation shutter 9 Product carry-out mechanism 10 Passage width regulating plate 11 Product detection switch 12 Product delivery mechanism 13 Passage width regulating plate 14 Product 15 Adjustment link

Claims (4)

  A product storage rack for stacking and storing products in a vertical row with a top tray for product input at the upper end of each column and a product output mechanism at the lower output end for each column in a cabinet as a heat insulating housing, and Equipped with a product cooling / heating device located at the bottom of the cabinet, the product delivery mechanism based on the sales order operates to drop products from the product storage rack at the bottom of the column one by one and send them to the product take-out port. The vending machine is configured to divide the product storage part of the product storage rack into upper and lower stages, and cool or heat the lower rack part with a cooling / heating device, and the upper rack part and the lower rack part A heat insulating shutter device is interposed between the upper rack area and the lower rack area, and a sales command is provided at the lower end of each column of the upper rack section. Is equipped with a product delivery mechanism that operates based on a replenishment command for another stock product and stores the stock product stored in the column of the upper rack section to the column of the lower rack section via the shutter device, and the sales of the product for each column In a vending machine that replenishes products from the upper rack section to the lower rack section as needed, the shutter device is attached to a drawer-type shutter mounting frame that can be pulled forward from the product storage rack. A vending machine with a structure that incorporates a self-resetting heat-insulating shutter.     2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the space interval between the upper rack portion and the lower rack portion for storing the drawer-type shutter device is set to a dimension in which an arm enters the cabinet from the front with the shutter device pulled out. Vending machine characterized by that. A product storage rack for stacking and storing products in a vertical row with a top tray for product input at the upper end of each column and a product output mechanism at the lower output end for each column in a cabinet as a heat insulating housing, and Equipped with a product cooling / heating device located at the bottom of the cabinet, the product delivery mechanism based on the sales order operates to drop products from the product storage rack at the bottom of the column one by one and send them to the product take-out port. The vending machine is configured to divide the product storage part of the product storage rack into upper and lower stages, and cool or heat the lower rack part with a cooling / heating device, and the upper rack part and the lower rack part A heat insulating shutter device is interposed between the upper rack area and the lower rack area, and a sales command is provided at the lower end of each column of the upper rack section. Is equipped with a product delivery mechanism that operates based on a replenishment command for another stock product and stores the stock product stored in the column of the upper rack section to the column of the lower rack section via the shutter device, and the sales of the product for each column In a vending machine that replenishes products from the upper rack part to the lower rack part at any time according to the situation,
The upper rack portion and the lower rack portion are provided with adjustable passage width restriction plates facing the product delivery mechanism and the product carry-out mechanism with the product outlet passage interposed therebetween, and the upper rack portion passage restriction plate and lower rack portion. The vending machine is characterized in that it is connected to the passage width regulating plate and the top tray through an adjustment link. A product storage rack for stacking and storing products in a vertical row with a top tray for product input at the upper end of each column and a product output mechanism at the lower output end for each column in a cabinet as a heat insulating housing, and Equipped with a product cooling / heating device located at the bottom of the cabinet, the product delivery mechanism based on the sales order operates to drop products from the product storage rack at the bottom of the column one by one and send them to the product take-out port. The vending machine is configured to divide the product storage part of the product storage rack into upper and lower stages, and cool or heat the lower rack part with a cooling / heating device, and the upper rack part and the lower rack part A heat insulating shutter device is interposed between the upper rack area and the lower rack area, and a sales command is provided at the lower end of each column of the upper rack section. Is equipped with a product delivery mechanism that operates based on a replenishment command for another stock product and stores the stock product stored in the column of the upper rack section to the column of the lower rack section via the shutter device, and the sales of the product for each column In a vending machine that replenishes products from the upper rack part to the lower rack part at any time according to the situation,
A vending machine comprising a product detection switch for detecting the passage of a product sent from the upper rack unit to the lower rack unit on the upper end entrance side of each column of the lower rack unit.

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