JP2008065513A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic vending machine capable of switching a blowing area according to a demand of an article and an installation place. <P>SOLUTION: This automatic vending machine for storing the article in a shed to be sold while cooling or heating it is provided with a cooling unit comprising a cooler for cooling the article by cold wind circulation and a fan, and a setting means for conducting switching between the first blowing mode for circulating cold wind blown from the cooling unit to a lower part area, and the second blowing mode for circulating the cold wind over the whole area. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine that sells cooled products or heated products.

Conventionally, even in the case of storing and storing products that require cooling in the vending machine cabinet, a cooler is provided from the cooling device with a guide mechanism to partially blow cool air from the viewpoint of energy saving. Zone cooling that circulates to the lower area in the cabinet is known.
In addition, a configuration is known in which, according to the health code setting, switching between zone cooling that circulates cold air to the lower area in the warehouse and all-area cooling that circulates to all areas in the warehouse is performed using a guide mechanism. . (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-258785 A

However, the conventional vending machine described above has the following problems.
That is, when the vending machine is installed in a place where it can be sold well, if the zone cooling for circulating the cold air to the lower area in the warehouse is performed as described above, there is a possibility that the chance of selling will be missed.
Also, as in Patent Document 1, when switching between zone cooling and whole area cooling according to the health code, the contents are taken into consideration, but the installation location and sales are not taken into account, and it is still unsatisfactory. It was enough.
Furthermore, the guide mechanism is used for switching, and the apparatus is large.
This is the same problem in vending machines that sell heated products.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine capable of easily switching the air blowing area depending on the sales of products or the installation location.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
In a vending machine that stores products in a warehouse and cools or heats them for sale, a cooling device comprising a cooler and a blower fan that cools the products by circulating air blown by cold air, and cold air sent from the cooling device It has the setting means which switches the 1st ventilation mode which circulates to the lower part area | region in a store | warehouse | chamber, and the 2nd ventilation mode which circulates to the whole area | region in a store | warehouse | chamber.
Further, a heating device comprising a heater and a blower fan for heating the product by circulating air blown by warm air, a first air blowing mode for circulating the cool air sent from the cooling device to a lower region in the warehouse, and the interior of the warehouse The initial setting of the air blowing mode is the first air blowing mode or the second air blowing mode, characterized in that setting means for switching the second air blowing mode to be circulated in the entire region is provided.

The circulation area switching by the air blowing mode controls the air volume by the air blowing fan.
Change the number of full items according to the blowing mode.
The air blowing mode is switched according to the stored product.

  According to the present invention, in the vending machine, since the air blowing mode can be switched, an effect that energy saving can be achieved according to the installation location, sales, and the like can be obtained.

Exemplary embodiments of a vending machine according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 3 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a paper pack vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a solid line arrow indicates a circulation air flow route by lower area zone cooling, and a chain line arrow indicates a circulation air flow by all area cooling. Each route is shown.
That is, the vending machine 30 illustrated in FIG. 3 is a vending machine for selling various beverages such as coffee beverages and dairy beverages as products of paper packs, and includes a main body cabinet 31 and a front outer door 32. It is.
The main body cabinet 31 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape with an open front surface (the right side in FIG. 3), and a direct stack rack provided with a column 33 in which a plurality of paper pack products are stacked and stored inside the main body cabinet 31. 34 is installed. In each of these columns 33, products 37 that can be stored at room temperature such as syrup beverages and tomato juice (products that can be cooled at room temperature) and products that require cooling such as dairy beverages (products that require cooling) are stored as products 37. . Further, a horizontal conveyor 36 is provided at the lower part of the direct product rack 34 to carry out the product dropped (carrying out) from the direct product rack 34 to the product outlet 35.

Further, a cooling device 40 is provided on the bottom side in the cabinet constituting the vending machine 30. Reference numeral 50 denotes a condensing unit in which a compressor or the like (not shown) is provided. The cooling device 40 is composed of a wind tunnel 43 provided with an evaporator (evaporator) 41 and a blower fan 42 inside. The evaporator 41 cools the internal air sucked from a suction port opened forward in the internal space. The air can be blown into the cabinet through the blowout duct 38 by blowing air from the blower fan 42.
Specifically, the refrigerant is supplied to the evaporator 41 by the operation of the compressor, and the cold air cooled by the heat exchange is circulated through the inside of the cabinet as indicated by the arrow by the air blown by the blower fan 42. The stored product can be cooled. Further, a thermistor 39 for detecting the temperature in the warehouse is provided in the vicinity of the cooling device 40.

The product 37 stored in the direct product rack 34 is obtained from the lowest product in the product stored in the direct product rack 34 by the operation of a carry-out device (not shown) according to a sales command based on a purchase instruction by the user. In addition to dropping downward in order, the product is taken out from the product outlet 36 by the horizontal conveyor 36.
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the cooling control system of the vending machine described above. As shown in the figure, the main control unit 1 is connected with a cooling unit 2 that controls a condensing unit 50, an evaporator 41, a blower fan motor 43, a thermistor 39, and a ventilation mode setting device 3 that includes a remote controller. Yes. Based on the temperature detected by the thermistor 39, the operation (ON / OFF) of the cooling device 40 is controlled.
In addition, the main control unit 1 includes a coin processing unit 4 that receives and calculates coins or banknotes, which are essential functions of the vending machine, a carry-out device that carries out products, and a carry-out control unit 5 that controls the horizontal conveyor 36. A merchandise selection button 6, a price display 7 and the like are connected to each other.

The main control unit 1 includes a storage unit 11 that stores an operation program, and a storage unit 12 that stores a blowing mode set by the blowing mode setting device 3 and setting data necessary for sales.
The air blowing mode setting device 3 has a function of setting whether to perform circulating air blowing by zone cooling control by the lower region (first air blowing mode) or to perform circulating air blowing by whole region cooling (second air blowing mode). Here, it is assumed that zone cooling control is set as an initial setting.
Based on this setting, the cooling control unit 2 controls the blower fan motor 43 to control the air volume of the blower fan 42.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a cooling control processing procedure in the paper pack vending machine according to the present invention.

First, the air blowing mode is set. In this case, since the initial setting is set to the first air blowing mode in which the circulation air flow is performed by the zone cooling control by the lower region, when operating as it is, it is not necessary to set, but the circulation air flow by the entire region cooling in the warehouse When operating in the second air blowing mode in which the air blowing is performed, the setting is changed using the air blowing mode setting device 3.
Therefore, before the operation of the vending machine 30 is started, it is determined whether the first ventilation mode is OK (step S1). Here, in order to operate not in the 1st ventilation mode but in the 2nd ventilation mode which performs circulation ventilation by whole area cooling (Step S1, No), the ventilation mode setting device 3 is operated and the ventilation mode is switched ( Step S2) is set to the second air blowing mode (Step S3).
When the second air blowing mode is set, the entire area cooling control is performed (step S4). Here, the whole area cooling control is a control for circulating and blowing cool air from the cooling device 40 to the whole area in the warehouse.

Specifically, the cooling control unit 2 outputs an instruction to the blower fan motor 43 to operate the blower fan 42 (step S5). The cold air that has exchanged heat with the evaporator 41 in the warehouse by the operation of the blower fan 42 is forcedly circulated upward from the lower part of the warehouse as indicated by the dotted arrow A, and the product 37 in the warehouse is forced by the forced circulation of the cold air. Is cooled to cool the entire area of the product 37 in the warehouse. The product 37 can be kept at the reference cooling temperature by the whole area cooling control for the corresponding column.
On the other hand, if it is OK in the first air blowing mode (step S1, Yes), the circulation air blowing by the zone cooling control by the lower region is performed.
When the first air blowing mode is set, zone cooling control is performed (step S6).

Specifically, the cooling control unit 2 issues an output command to the blower fan motor 43 to intermittently operate the blower fan 42 (step S7). Due to the intermittent operation of the blower fan 42, the air volume is reduced, and the cold air exchanged with the evaporator 41 is forcibly circulated toward the lowermost part of the interior and the product 37 in the vicinity thereof as shown by the solid arrow B. The product 37 in the warehouse is cooled by the forced circulation, and the lower region is cooled by zone cooling of the product 37 in the warehouse. In the case of this method, the number of sales is small and the number of inventory is small, so there is no problem in sales.
As described above, in the present invention, in a paper pack vending machine, by setting the air blowing mode according to sales or installation location, it is possible to reduce power consumption and improve energy saving efficiency.

In the above-described embodiment, a paper pack vending machine for selling paper pack products is exemplified. However, the present invention can be applied to other beverage sales as a matter of course. Is possible.
Moreover, although only the cooling is described in the above-described embodiment, the same control is possible even with a warmed product.

Configuration block diagram showing a control apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention The flowchart figure which shows the operation | movement in this invention 1 is a schematic front view of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main control part 2 Cooling / heating control part 3 Blower mode setting apparatus 12 Memory | storage part 30 Vending machine 40 Cooling apparatus 42 Blower fan 43 Blower fan motor

Claims (7)

In the vending machine for storing and cooling the product in the cabinet, a cooling device comprising a cooler and a blower fan for cooling the product by circulating ventilation with cold air, and the cool air sent from the cooling device in the lower part of the cabinet A vending machine comprising setting means for switching between a first air blowing mode to be circulated in an area and a second air blowing mode to be circulated in all areas in the warehouse. In a vending machine that stores and heats a product in a cabinet, a heating device comprising a heater and a blower fan that heats the product by circulating air blown by warm air, and cool air sent from the cooling device in the cabinet A vending machine comprising setting means for switching between a first air blowing mode that circulates in a lower area and a second air blowing mode that circulates in all areas in the warehouse. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the initial setting is a first air blowing mode. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the initial setting is a second air blowing mode. 5. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein switching by the air blowing mode controls the air volume by the air blowing fan. The vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the number of full items is changed according to the air blowing mode. The vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the air blowing mode is switched in accordance with stored goods.

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