JP2022055232A - Accumulation suppression mechanism and medium handling device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an accumulation suppression mechanism and a medium handling device, capable of suppressing accumulation of a medium.SOLUTION: An accumulation suppression mechanism 100 includes: a discharge port on which a medium conveyed on a conveyance path falls; a selection gate 47 that moves to a closing position at which the discharge port is closed and to an opening position at which the discharge port is opened so that the medium falls; and a chute 71 through which the medium that has fallen from the discharge port passes. The selection gate 47 includes a guide unit that guides the medium to the chute 71 by coming into contact with the medium immediately before falling or during falling at the opening position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

The present invention relates to a retention suppression mechanism and a medium handling device.

For example, a coin processing device that manages coins in a cash register installed in a store or the like is used. After receiving the coin, the coin processing device performs coin recognition to determine the denomination. Then, the coin processing device selects coins according to the discrimination result and discharges the coins from a desired discharge port.

This coin processing device includes, for example, a rotating member that transports coins on a transport path by rotating, a discharge port provided in the transport path into which the coins transported by the rotating member fall, and a discharge port. It is provided with an opening / closing member that rotates about a rotation axis on the downstream side in the transport direction of the discharge port between a closed position that closes the coin and an open position that opens the discharge port so that the coin falls (patented). See Document 1). The coins that have fallen from the discharge port are guided to the stacker section through, for example, a cylindrical chute section and are collected.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-145488 (for example, paragraph 0007, FIG. 3 etc.)

By the way, in the conventional coin processing apparatus, the retention of coins after the coins are dropped from the discharge port has not been sufficiently examined. Therefore, for example, there are the following problems.
First, it is assumed that the coin transport direction by the transport path and the guide direction of the chute portion are different. In this case, there is a problem that the falling speed of the coin is slowed down by colliding with the side surface of the chute portion during the free fall, and the subsequent coin catches up, causing the coin to stay.
Secondly, it is assumed that the coin detection sensor is arranged under the opening / closing member in the coin transporting direction by the transport path. In this case, there is a problem that the falling speed of the coin slows down when the coin collides with the side wall of the coin detection sensor during free fall, and the subsequent coin catches up, causing the coin to stay.
It should be noted that this problem occurs not only in coins but also in media similar to coins such as coins.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a retention suppression mechanism and a medium handling device capable of suppressing retention of a medium.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the retention suppression mechanism according to one aspect of the present invention has a discharge port into which a medium conveyed on a transport path falls, a closed position for closing the discharge port, and a so as to cause the medium to fall. It includes a sorting gate that moves to an open position that opens the discharge port, and a chute through which the medium that has fallen from the discharge port passes, and the sorting gate comes into contact with the medium immediately before or during the fall at the open position. This is characterized by having a guide portion that guides the medium to the chute.

In order to solve the above problems, the medium handling device according to one aspect of the present invention is provided with the above-mentioned retention suppression mechanism.

According to the present invention, the retention of the medium can be suppressed.

It is a figure which shows the internal structure when the medium handling apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention is seen from the front. It is a figure which shows the internal composition when the medium handling apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention is seen from the side. It is a schematic plan view which shows the coin feeding part, the coin recognition part, and the coin sorting part. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the coin feeding part, the coin recognition part, and the coin sorting part. It is a perspective view which looked at the rotating disk provided with the coin sorting part from the upper side. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the transport path provided in the coin sorting part. It is a schematic perspective view which shows the structure of the peripheral part of a coin ejection port, (a) shows the state which the coin ejection port does not accept (do not eject) a coin, and (b) is a state where a coin ejection port accepts a coin (b). Indicates the state (to be discharged). It is an external perspective view of a chute part. It is a bottom view of a chute part. The sorting gate is shown by a broken line. It is a figure for demonstrating the retention suppression mechanism which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and is sectional drawing of the sorting gate portion. It is a figure for demonstrating the retention suppression mechanism which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and is sectional drawing of the sorting gate portion. It is a front view of a sorting gate. It is a bottom view of a sorting gate. As a comparative example, it is an example of a sorting gate having no retention suppression mechanism. As a comparative example, it is an example of a sorting gate having no retention suppression mechanism.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Each figure is merely schematically shown to the extent that the present invention can be fully understood. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated examples. Further, in the drawings to be referred to, the dimensions of the members constituting the present invention may be exaggerated or reduced in order to clarify the explanation. In each figure, common components and similar components are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description thereof will be omitted.

<About the configuration of the medium handling device according to the embodiment>
The configuration of the medium handling device 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the present embodiment, as the medium handling device 1, a coin processing device for managing coins handled by a register installed in a store or the like will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal structure when the medium handling device 1 is viewed from the front. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an internal composition when the medium handling device 1 is viewed from the side. “Up / down”, “left / right”, and “front / back” in the description of the medium handling device 1 follow the arrows of FIGS. 1 and 2. The direction is defined for convenience of explanation and does not limit the present invention.

The medium handling device 1 shown in FIG. 1 collectively receives coins and then recognizes each coin to determine the denomination. After that, the medium handling device 1 sorts coins for each denomination according to the discrimination result, stores the sorted coins, and then withdraws the coins.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the medium handling device 1 includes a coin feeding unit 2, a coin recognition unit 3, a coin sorting unit 4, a reject coin accommodating unit 5, a denomination hopper 6, and a chute unit 7. It has a transport gate 8, a coin withdrawal box 9, a coin collection box 10, and a control unit 11. The denomination hopper 6 may be referred to as a "stacker unit" or the like.

The coin feeding unit 2 receives and temporarily stores the coins C that have been collectively inserted. Then, the coin feeding unit 2 pays out the coins C to be accommodated one by one to the coin recognizing unit 3. For example, a rotating disk (not shown) is provided in the coin feeding portion 2. The coins in the coin feeding unit 2 are moved by the centrifugal force when the rotating disk rotates, and are fed out to the coin recognition unit 3 one by one.

The coin recognition unit 3 recognizes the coin C paid out from the coin payout unit 2. For example, the coin recognition unit 3 determines the authenticity of the coin, the denomination, and the like. The coin recognition unit 3 has a sensor (not shown) for recognizing coins, and determines the authenticity, denomination, etc. of the coin based on the characteristics of the coin detected by the sensor. The coin recognition unit 3 conveys the recognized coin C to the coin selection unit 4.

The coin sorting unit 4 sorts and discharges the coin C while transporting it, based on the recognition result by the coin recognizing unit 3. As shown in FIG. 2, the coin sorting unit 4 has coin ejection ports 45a to 45f and reject openings 46a and 46b (reject openings 46b are not shown). The coin discharge ports 45a to 45f are discharge ports for discharging normal coins recognized as genuine coins by denomination. The reject ports 46a and 46b are discharge ports for discharging reject coins recognized as fake coins and foreign substances such as dust. Here, the denomination means, for example, six types of coins of 1 yen, 5 yen, 10 yen, 50 yen, 100 yen, and 500 yen in Japan. The specific configuration of the coin sorting unit 4 will be described later.

The reject coin accommodating unit 5 accommodates reject coins that have passed through the reject ports 46a and 46b and foreign substances such as dust. The reject coin accommodating portion 5 has a door 51 that can be opened and closed on the front surface of the medium handling device 1. The operator opens the door 51 and collects the reject coins and the like stored inside the reject coin storage unit 5.

The denomination hopper 6 accommodates normal coins that have passed through the coin ejection ports 45a to 45f in the denomination. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, six denomination hoppers 6 (denomination hoppers 61a to 61f) are provided. Each of the denomination hoppers 61a to 61f is arranged as an example below the coin ejection ports 45a to 45f of the corresponding denomination. The denomination hoppers 61a to 61f have means for feeding coins C one by one to the transport gate 8.

The chute unit 7 is provided between the coin sorting unit 4 and the denomination hopper 6, and connects the coin sorting unit 4 and the denomination hopper 6. The chute portion 7 guides normal coins that have passed through the coin ejection ports 45a to 45f to the denomination hopper 6 by free fall. The specific configuration of the chute unit 7 will be described later.

The transport gate 8 is provided for each of the denomination hoppers 61a to 61f, and branches the transport destination of the coin C paid out from the denomination hoppers 61a to 61f. The transport gate 8 branches into a route indicated by an arrow T and a route indicated by an arrow U in FIG. 1 as a transport destination.

The coin withdrawal box 9 accommodates the coin C to be withdrawn. The coin withdrawal box 9 accommodates coins C transported by the route of arrow T by the transport gate 8. The coin withdrawal box 9 may have a plurality of small boxes for storing coins C according to the denomination.

The coin collection box 10 stores the coins C to be collected. The coin collection box 10 accommodates coins C transported by the route of arrow U by the transport gate 8.

The control unit 11 controls the overall operation of the medium handling device 1. The control unit 11 has a control unit (not shown) that controls the operation of each of the above-mentioned components, and a storage unit (not shown) that stores a program executed by the control unit and various data.

(About the composition of the coin sorting unit)
The configuration of the coin sorting unit 4 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7 (see FIGS. 1 and 2 as appropriate). The coin sorting unit 4 sorts and discharges the coin C while transporting it, based on the recognition result by the coin recognizing unit 3. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the coin sorting unit 4 mainly includes a sorting housing 41, a rotating disc 42, and a disc driving unit 43.

As shown in FIG. 4, the sorting housing 41 is a cylindrical member having one end closed, and has a bottom surface 41a and a side wall 41b. An annular transport path 44 for transporting (moving) the coin C is formed on the bottom surface 41a of the sorting housing 41 (see FIG. 6).

As shown in FIG. 4, the rotating disk 42 is a disk-shaped member made of resin and is installed in the sorting housing 41. The rotating disk 42 is arranged parallel to the bottom surface 41a of the sorting housing 41, and receives the rotational driving force of the disk driving unit 43 to rotate in a predetermined direction with the rotating shaft 42s as the rotation center. The rotating disc 42 conveys the coin C on the transport path 44 (see FIG. 6) by rotating.

As shown in FIG. 5, the rotating disc 42 has a main body portion 42a, an annular rib 42b, a connecting portion 42c, and a transport notch portion 42d. The shape of the rotating disc 42 is not limited to that shown in FIG. The main body portion 42a is a disk-shaped member located at the center of the rotating disk 42. The annular rib 42b is an annular member provided on the outer peripheral portion of the rotating disk 42. The annular rib 42b is provided at a predetermined distance from the main body portion 42a. The connecting portion 42c is a member that connects the main body portion 42a and the annular rib 42b. The connecting portions 42c are provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction of the rotating disk 42. The transport notch 42d is a recess formed in the bottom of the annular rib 42b. The transport notches 42d are provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction of the rotating disk 42. The transport notch 42d transports the coins C while holding them one by one as the rotating disc 42 rotates.

As shown in FIG. 6, coin ejection ports 45a to 45f and reject openings 46a and 46b are formed in the transport path 44 in the coin sorting unit 4. In addition, when the coin discharge port 45a to 45f is described without particular limitation, it may be referred to as "coin discharge port 45". Further, when the reject ports 46a and 46b are described without particular limitation, the term "reject port 46" may be used. The positions and numbers of the coin ejection port 45 and the reject opening 46 are not limited to those shown in FIG. Reference numeral 78 in FIG. 6 indicates the transport direction of the coin C.

FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the peripheral portions of the coin ejection port 45 and the reject opening 46. Since the configurations of the peripheral portions of the coin ejection port 45 and the reject opening 46 are the same, the coin ejection port 45 will be described here as an example. Note that FIG. 7A shows a state in which the coin ejection port 45 does not accept (discharge) coin C, and FIG. 7B shows a state in which the coin ejection port 45 accepts (discharges) coin C. Is shown. Further, in FIG. 7, the retention suppression mechanism 100 (see FIGS. 10 and 11), which will be described later, is omitted without being shown.

As shown in FIG. 7, a sorting gate 47 is provided around the coin ejection port 45. The sorting gate 47 closes the coin ejection port 45 or opens the coin ejection port 45 by rotating around the shaft 47a, for example, by a solenoid or the like. As shown in FIG. 7A, when the sorting gate 47 is in a state where the coin ejection port 45 is blocked (normal time), the coin C passes over the sorting gate 47. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the sorting gate 47 operates to open the coin ejection port 45, the coin C is guided to the coin ejection port 45 and falls (discharged). As shown in FIG. 3, the sorting gates 47 are provided in the coin ejection ports 45a to 45f and the reject openings 46a and 46b (see reference numerals 47a to 47h in FIG. 3).

(About the configuration of the chute part)
The configuration of the shoot unit 7 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 (see FIGS. 1 to 7 as appropriate). FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of the chute portion 7. FIG. 9 is a bottom view of the chute portion. In FIG. 9, the sorting gates 47a to 47f are shown by broken lines.

As shown in FIG. 8, the chute portion 7 has chute 71a to 71f, an inlet connecting portion 75, and an outlet connecting portion 76a, 76b. The chute portion 7 is made of, for example, resin. In addition, when the shoots 71a to 71f are described without particular limitation, they may be referred to as "shoot 71".

The chute 71a to 71f have chute inlets 72a to 72f (see FIG. 8) arranged in an annular shape (inverted J-shape) and chute outlets 73a to 73f (see FIG. 9) arranged in a row. The positions of the chute inlets 72a to 72f correspond to the coin ejection ports 45a to 45f, and the chute 71a to 71f guide the coins ejected from the coin ejection ports 45a to 45f to the corresponding denomination hoppers 61a to 61f. The chutes 71a to 71f are each formed in a cylindrical shape so that coins can fall inside. The chutes 71a to 71f are preferably formed in a cylindrical shape, for example.

As shown in FIG. 8, the chute 71a to 71f are arranged so that the axial center direction intersects the vertical direction (vertical direction) (that is, the axial center direction is not parallel to the vertical direction). Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the axial direction 79 of the chute 71a to 71f intersects the transport direction 78 of the coin C when viewed from above (same below), and has a predetermined angle θ. (Not parallel). For example, exemplifying the sorting gate 47d as an example, the axial direction 79d of the chute 71d corresponding to the sorting gate 47d is tilted by an angle θd with respect to the transport direction 78d of the coin C when passing through the sorting gate 47d. There is. Therefore, when the coin C is ejected from the coin ejection port 45 as it is, the coin C collides with the side surfaces of the chutes 71a to 71f during the free fall, so that the falling speed of the coin C slows down and the subsequent coin C becomes. By catching up, coins may stay. As a countermeasure, the medium handling device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a retention suppressing mechanism 100 (see FIGS. 10 and 11) for suppressing the retention of coin C.

<About the configuration of the retention suppression mechanism according to the embodiment>
The retention suppression mechanism 100 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 13. The retention suppression mechanism 100 is for suppressing the retention of the coin C in the chutes 71a to 71f. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the retention suppression mechanism 100 is mainly composed of a sorting gate 47 and a chute 71.

As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the sorting gate 47 is formed from an axial passage portion 471 through which the shaft 47a passes, a connecting portion 472 connected to a device for generating a driving force such as a solenoid, and an axial passage portion 471. It has a first plate portion 473 and a second plate portion 474 extending in a direction orthogonal to the axis 47a (see FIG. 11). As shown in FIG. 10, the first plate portion 473 is located outside the annular rib 42b of the rotating disc 42, and the second plate portion 474 is located inside the annular rib 42b of the rotating disc 42. That is, the first plate portion 473 is arranged outside the second plate portion 474 (on the outer peripheral side of the transport path 44).

As shown in FIG. 13, the first plate portion 473 and the second plate portion 474 have a substantially rectangular shape, and are gently curved in accordance with the annular transport path 44 (see FIG. 6). A guide portion 475 is formed on the lower surface (back surface) of the first plate portion 473 and the second plate portion 474. The guide portion 475 comes into contact with the coin C immediately before or during the fall while the sorting gate 47 is in the open position, and guides the coin C to the chute 71. The guide portion 475 may be any as long as it appropriately guides the coin C to the chute 71, and its shape is determined, for example, by the positional relationship with the chute 71, the transport speed of the coin C, and the like.

The guide portion 475 in the present embodiment is composed of a first guide portion 476 formed on the back surface of the first plate portion 473 and a second guide portion 477 formed on the back surface of the second plate portion 474. The first guide portion 476 has a first guide surface 476a that mainly contacts the outside of the coin C to be conveyed. Further, the second guide portion 477 has a second guide surface 477a that mainly contacts the inside of the coin C to be conveyed. That is, the first guide surface 476a and the second guide surface 477a are formed on both sides in the width direction of the transport path 44.

As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the first guide surface 476a and the second guide surface 477a are formed so as to be narrower toward the downstream side in the transport direction 78. That is, the first guide surface 476a and the second guide surface 477a are inclined with respect to the transport direction 78. Further, as shown in FIG. 13, the tip 476b of the first guide surface 476a is located upstream of the tip 477b of the second guide surface 477a in the transport direction. As a result, the coin C comes into contact with the first guide surface 476a first and then with the second guide surface 477a, and the behavior of the coin C can be stabilized. By contacting the first guide surface 476a and the second guide surface 477a, the moving direction of the coin C is changed from the transport direction 78 to the axial direction 79 of the chute 71 (see FIG. 10).

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the first guide portion 476 and the second guide portion 477 have a shape that hides the components arranged around the sorting gate 47. As a result, for example, the coin C does not come into contact with the coin detection sensor 48 arranged below the sorting gate 47 and downstream of the sorting gate 47. Therefore, since it does not come into contact with other components (for example, the coin detection sensor 48) before entering the chute 71, deceleration before entering the chute 71 can be suppressed. In this embodiment, the vertical dimension of the first guide portion 476 is larger than the vertical dimension of the second guide portion 477.

As described above, the retention suppression mechanism 100 according to the embodiment has a guide portion 475 in the sorting gate 47 which leads to the chute 71 in contact with the coin C immediately before or during the fall to the coin discharge port 45. Therefore, the coin C does not excessively contact (collision) with the inner surface of the chute 71 during the free fall, and it is possible to prevent the falling speed of the coin C from decelerating. As a result, it is possible to prevent the coin C from staying due to the subsequent coin C catching up. Here, the guide portion 475 only needs to avoid excessive contact (collision) between the coin C and the inner surface of the chute 71, and is not intended that the coin C does not come into contact with the inner surface of the chute 71 at all.

As a comparative example, a sorting gate 97 having no retention suppression mechanism 100 (see FIG. 10) is shown in FIGS. 14 and 15. As shown in FIG. 14, in the sorting gate 97 in the comparative example, the moving direction of the coin C cannot be changed to the axial direction 79 of the chute 71, and the coin C collides with the inner surface of the chute 71. Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the sorting gate 97 in the comparative example is exposed without hiding the components (for example, the coin detection sensor 48) arranged around the sorting gate 47. Therefore, the coin C comes into contact with another component (for example, the coin detection sensor 48) before entering the chute 71, and the falling speed of the coin C slows down.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be carried out without changing the gist of the claims. Modifications of the embodiment are shown below, for example.

In the embodiment, a coin is assumed as a medium, and the medium handling device 1 has been described as a coin processing device for managing coins. However, the type of the medium handling device 1 is not limited to that described in the embodiment, and can be applied to, for example, a device that handles a medium other than coins (for example, a coin-like device). Similar to coins are, for example, coins.

1 Medium handling device 2 Coin payout part 3 Coin recognition part 4 Coin sorting part 5 Reject coin storage part 6 Kind type hopper 7 Shoot part 8 Conveyance gate 9 Coin withdrawal box 10 Coin collection box 11 Control unit 41 Sorting housing 42 Rotating disk 43 Disk drive unit 44 Transport path 45 Coin discharge port (discharge port)
46 Reject port (exhaust port)
47 Sorting gate 48 Coin detection sensor 71 Chute 78 Transport direction 79 Axial center direction 473 First plate part 474 Second plate part 475 Guide part 100 Retention suppression mechanism

Claims (6)

The discharge port where the medium transported on the transport path falls, and
A sorting gate that moves to a closed position that closes the discharge port and an open position that opens the discharge port so that the medium falls.
A chute through which the medium dropped from the discharge port passes is provided.
The sorting gate has a guide portion that guides the medium to the chute by contacting the medium immediately before or during the fall at the open position.
A retention suppression mechanism characterized by this. The chute has a cylindrical shape and is arranged so that the axial direction intersects the vertical direction.
The guide portion changes the traveling direction of the medium from the transport direction to the axial direction.
The retention suppression mechanism according to claim 1. The sorting gate is a rotating member provided with a rotating shaft on the downstream side in the transport direction.
The guide portion is formed on the back surface of the sorting gate.
The retention suppression mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that. The guide portion has a first guide surface and a second guide surface formed on both sides in the width direction of the transport path.
The first guide surface and the second guide surface are inclined so as to be narrower toward the downstream side in the transport direction.
The retention suppression mechanism according to claim 3. The front end of the first guide surface is located upstream of the front end of the second guide surface in the transport direction.
The retention suppression mechanism according to claim 4. A medium handling device comprising the retention suppression mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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