JP2022108992A - Automatic dispenser - Google Patents

Abstract

To maintain a posture of a commodity in a conveyance path at a correct posture and prevent hooking of the commodity in the conveyance path or disorder of the posture of the commodity at a take-out port.SOLUTION: An automatic dispenser includes an automatic dispenser body provided with a commodity storage unit that stores commodities, a commodity carrying-out mechanism that individually carries out the commodities stored in the commodity storage unit, and a commodity carrying-out path that guides the commodity carried out by the commodity carrying-out mechanism to a take-out port. The commodity storage unit includes a storage shelf inclined so that one end side facing the commodity carrying-out path is lowered relative to the other end side on which the commodity is replenished, and a posture correction unit that horizontally corrects the posture of the single commodity at a position lowered by one stage is provided in the one end side of the storage shelf.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to vending machines.

A vending machine is equipped with a front door on the front of the vending machine body, which is provided with a product selection means and an outlet for taking out the selected product. , a product storage room having product shelves (racks) in which products are arranged in a plurality of rows, and product conveying means for guiding the product selected by the selection means from the product shelf to an outlet.

A serpentine type in which a series of products are arranged in a vertical direction and a slant type in which a series of products are arranged in a horizontal direction are known as forms of product shelves for products such as cylindrical cans and bottled beverages. A vending machine with a slant-type product shelf has a plurality of storage shelves along the vertical direction for storing multiple products in the depth direction of the vending machine body. A partition plate is provided to partition one stage into a plurality of compartments along the left-right direction, and a plurality of stages and a plurality of rows of storage compartments are formed in the product storage chamber (see Patent Document 1 below).

JP 2017-78975 A

In the conventional vending machine equipped with the above-mentioned slant-type product shelf, the storage shelf has an inclined surface that becomes lower as it goes in the depth direction of the vending machine body, and the storage shelf extends up and down on the further depth side. An unloading passage for the products to be installed is provided. When the product is selected and the stopper provided at the end of the storage shelf is released, one product on the storage shelf is carried out through the carry-out passage onto the chute provided at the bottom of the product storage room. , is led out to the outlet via the shooter.

According to such conventional technology, the posture of products moving on the storage shelf is likely to change during movement, and it is difficult to drop the product while maintaining the horizontal position when dropping from the end of the storage shelf. As a result, the product may assume various postures while falling, causing problems such as the product being caught in the carry-out passage, or the product being disturbed in its posture at the take-out port, making it difficult to take out the product.

To solve this problem, posture control plates are installed at multiple locations above and below the unloading passage, and the opening and closing of the posture control plates is regulated by spring force. The falling speed and falling attitude are controlled. However, if the opening and closing of the attitude control plate is controlled by spring force, products with various weights and shapes will be controlled by a uniform spring force. was not done properly. In addition, if the spring force is increased, there is a problem that clogging is likely to occur in the carry-out passage.

The present invention has been proposed to deal with such circumstances. That is, in a vending machine equipped with a slanted product storage shelf, to maintain the correct posture of the product in the carry-out passage, and to prevent the product from being caught in the carry-out passage and the product from being disturbed at the take-out opening. It is an object of the present invention to appropriately control the drop speed and drop attitude of each product in the carry-out passage by effectively functioning the attitude control plate provided in the carry-out passage.

In order to solve such problems, the present invention has the following configurations.
A product storage unit for storing products, a product carrying-out mechanism for individually carrying out the products stored in the product storage unit, and a product carrying-out passage for leading the products carried out by the product carrying-out mechanism to an outlet are provided. The product storage unit includes a storage shelf inclined so that the other end side facing the product discharge passage is lower than the one end side where the product is replenished, and the storage shelf other than the storage shelf The vending machine is characterized in that a posture correcting part for horizontally correcting the posture of a single product at a position lowered by one step is provided on the end side.

The vending machine of the present invention having such features can maintain the correct posture of the product in the carry-out passage, and can prevent the product from being caught in the carry-out passage and the product from being disturbed at the outlet. . In addition, by effectively functioning the attitude control plate provided in the carry-out passage, it is possible to appropriately control the drop speed and drop attitude for each product in the carry-out passage.

Front view of the vending machine. Explanatory drawing which shows the state which opened the front door of the vending machine. Side sectional explanatory drawing of a vending machine. Explanatory diagrams showing configuration examples of a product delivery mechanism ((a) shows a standby state, (b) shows a state when a product is selected, and (c) shows a state after product selection). Side cross-sectional explanatory drawing of the vending machine which concerns on other embodiment. Explanatory drawing showing an installation example of a cassette case ((a) shows the state before insertion, (b) shows the state immediately after insertion, and (c) shows the state when the cassette case is installed). Explanatory drawing which shows the state which opened the front door of other embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the same reference numerals in different figures denote portions having the same function, and duplication of description in each figure will be omitted as appropriate.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vending machine 1 has a front door 2 and a vending machine main body 3 . The front door 2 is attached to the front side of the vending machine main body 3 so that it can be opened and closed, and the inside of the vending machine main body 3 can be opened by opening the front door 2 as shown in FIG. ing.

The front door 2 is provided with at least a product selection section 2A for acquiring fees and selecting products, and a product take-out opening 2B. The front door 2 is closed as shown in FIG. 1 when merchandise is sold, and the front door 2 is opened as shown in FIG. 2 when merchandise is replenished.

The vending machine main body 3 includes a commodity storage section 3A in which commodities are stored. In the slant-type product storage unit 3A, a storage shelf 10 is configured by a plurality of shelves 10A arranged vertically and a plurality of rows of partitions 10B arranged left and right. A series of (same kind) products P are stored in each storage compartment.

As shown in FIG. 3, the vending machine main body 3 also includes a product delivery mechanism 3B for individually delivering the products P stored in the product storage section 3A, and a product delivery mechanism 3B for taking out the products P carried out by the product delivery mechanism 3B. A product carrying-out passage 3C leading to the port 2B is provided. Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the vending machine main body 3 has a cooling/heating device for cooling or heating a part or all of the products P stored in the product storage section 3A to a predetermined temperature. A machine room 3E is provided for driving and controlling each part including the heating device 3D and the cooling/heating device 3D.

The storage shelf 10 in the product storage section 3A is replenished with products from one end side that is opened by opening the front door 2. - 特許庁The shelf board 10A of the storage shelf 10 is inclined so that the other end side facing the product carrying-out passage 3C is lower than the one end side where the products P are replenished. As a result, the products P replenished on the storage shelf 10 are moved by the inclination of the shelf plate 10A, and are supplied one by one to the product carrying-out mechanism 3B provided on the other end side of the storage shelf 10. As shown in FIG.

On the other end side of the storage shelf 10 where the product carry-out mechanism 3B is provided, a posture correcting section 11 is provided for horizontally correcting the posture of the single product P at a position lowered by one step. The posture correcting section 11 has a holding surface that is inclined downward in the direction of carrying out the product P, but is horizontal in the horizontal direction intersecting the carrying out direction. By holding the product P, the influence of the load of the product P on the storage shelf 10 is eliminated, and the posture of the product P held by the posture correcting part 11 is corrected to a horizontal state.

In the slant-type product storage unit 3A, a shelf board 10A of a storage shelf 10 extends in the depth direction of the vending machine main body 3. On the shelf board 10A, for example, a product P such as a cylindrical canned drink is placed. is stored horizontally. At this time, the product P moving on the shelf plate 10A of the storage shelf 10 may be disturbed in its posture during movement. Since the product P is corrected to a horizontal posture by the posture correcting section 11, the product P drops onto the product carrying-out passage 3C while maintaining the horizontal posture.

An attitude control plate 12 for controlling the falling attitude of the merchandise P is provided in the merchandise carrying-out passage 3C so as to be openable and closable for each of the above-described storage compartments. The attitude control plate 12 is rotatably supported at one end on the side of the attitude correcting part 11, and the other end is a free end, and is regulated in a closed state so that the product P dropped from the other end of the storage shelf 10 can be prevented. It will open under its own weight. The commodities P dropped from the other end side of the storage shelf 10 sequentially contact the attitude control plate 12 existing below them, so that the falling speed and the falling attitude are appropriately controlled.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the product carry-out mechanism 3B. In this example, the product carry-out mechanism 3B includes a carry-out control member 20, a drop stopper 21, and a supply stopper 22. As shown in FIG. In the standby state of FIG. 4A, the drop stopper 21 stops the product P supplied onto the posture correcting section 11 from dropping.

As shown in FIG. 4(b), when a product is selected, the drop stopper 21 of the product carrying-out mechanism 3B provided in the storage compartment for the selected product is rotated toward the product carrying-out passage 3C, and the posture is changed. The selected product P is removed from the product P on the correcting section 11 and dropped into the product carrying-out passage 3C. At this time, the supply stopper 22 stops the product P on the shelf board 10A so that the product P is not supplied to the posture correcting section 11 with the drop stopper 21 removed. After that, as shown in FIG. 4(c), the drop stopper 21 returns to the standby state, and when the drop stopper 21 functions, the supply stopper 22 is released and the posture of the product P on the shelf board 10A is corrected. Feed on section 11 .

In the vending machine 1 according to such an embodiment, when one of the products P is selected by the product selection unit 2A, the product carrying-out mechanism 3B of the storage compartment corresponding to the selected product P is activated and selected. The product P drops from the attitude correcting section 11 into the product carrying-out passage 3C, contacts the attitude control plate 12, and the product P whose attitude is controlled is carried out through the chute 13 to the outlet 2B. According to this, after the posture is horizontally corrected by the posture correcting section 11, the product P is dropped into the product delivery passage 3C, so that the posture of the product P from the product delivery passage 3C to the outlet 2B is in a proper state. is maintained, and it is possible to suppress the product P from being caught in the product carrying-out passage 3C and the attitude disturbance at the outlet 2B.

5 to 7 show a vending machine 1A according to another embodiment of the invention. This vending machine 1A comprises a front door 2 and a vending machine main body 3. The front door 2 comprises a product selection section 2A and an outlet 2B. The vending machine main body 3 comprises a product storage section 3A and a product delivery mechanism. 3B and a product carrying-out passage 3C are provided in common with the above-described embodiment.

In this vending machine 1A, a cassette case 4 filled with commodities in advance can be inserted into a storage shelf 10 of a commodity storage section 3A. In the illustrated example, the cassette case 4 is installed on the shelf board 10A, but the shelf board 10A may be omitted and the cassette case 4 itself may form the storage shelf 10. FIG.

The cassette case 4 is, for example, filled with a necessary amount of products at a product sales office or the like, transported to the installation site of the vending machine 1A, and placed in the storage compartment of the vending machine 1A. By inserting , the product is replenished for each storage compartment.

In the past, vending machines were replenished with products by transporting a cardboard box containing all the products in front of the vending machine, taking out the products one by one from the cardboard box, and replenishing the storage compartment of the vending machine. . According to such a prior art, not only is the physical burden on the worker who replenishes the product heavy, but the replenishment work takes a long time, resulting in the loss of an opportunity to sell the product during that time. In addition, when replenishment work is carried out with the storage shelves open, the temperature inside the refrigerator will change significantly, requiring preparation time to keep the products at an appropriate temperature, further resulting in missed product sales opportunities. .

On the other hand, in the embodiment of the present invention, the replenishment work for each storage section is completed in one step of inserting the cassette case 4 filled with the product into the storage section of the storage shelf 10 as it is. Product replenishment work can be simplified. In addition, since the time required for the product replenishment work performed with the storage shelf 10 open can be shortened, the loss of product sales opportunities can be minimized.

In the example shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cassette case 4 is installed in the vending machine main body 3 and the vending machine 1A is operated. Replace case 4.

FIG. 6 shows an installation example of the cassette case 4 . The illustrated cassette case 4 has a lid 4A. At a business office or the like, the lid 4A is opened, the case is filled with products, and the cassette case 4 is placed at the installation site of the vending machine 1A with the lid 4A closed. transport to At the installation site of the vending machine 1A, after the front door 2 is opened and the empty cassette case 4 is pulled out, a cassette filled with commodities is placed in the opened storage compartment as shown in FIG. 6(a). The case 4 is matched and the cassette case 4 is inserted into the storage compartment.

As shown in FIG. 6(b), the cassette case 4 inserted into the storage compartment is slid on the shelf plate 10A, and the action part of the lid 4A hits the upper plate 10C, and the lid 4A is automatically opened. become. By further sliding on the shelf plate 10A, the cassette case 4 is set in a predetermined installation state, and the product P in the cassette case 4 is supplied to the front of the supply stopper 22 in the product carry-out mechanism 3B.

As described above, the cassette case 4 may be inserted into the storage rack 10 for operation of the vending machine 1A, or the cassette case 4 may be pulled out and collected when each product is replenished. At this time, at the business office that fills the cassette case 4 with products, the availability of products in each storage compartment of the vending machine 1A can be obtained as online data. Then, by inserting the cassette case 4 into the required storage section, the necessary quantity of merchandise can be replenished.

Another feature of the vending machine 1A is that, as shown in FIG. 7, the cassette case 4 is installed at a slant so as to shift the commodities to one side in a direction intersecting the product unloading direction. there is According to this, the position of the product P in the cassette case 4 is shifted toward the lower slope, and the product P moves in the cassette case 4 in a stable posture and comes out of the cassette case 4. fits in the posture corrector 11 described above. According to this, together with the function of the posture correcting section 11 described above, it is possible to further stabilize the falling posture of the product in a proper horizontal posture.

A further feature of the vending machine 1A shown in FIGS. 5 to 7 is that the vending machine main body 3 is provided with a plurality of blowers 30 that apply air pressure to the attitude control plate 12 from below for each row of storage compartments. is provided, and the blowing pressure of the blower 30 is controlled according to the height of the storage compartment of the selected product and/or the type of the selected product.

If the attitude control plate 12 were to uniformly define the reaction force when the product P was opened by its own weight by using a spring force or the like, the weight and shape of the product would differ depending on the type of product. Since the drop height differs depending on the stage position of the section, it may not be possible to properly control the drop attitude, drop speed, and drop impact of the product dropping through the product delivery passage 3C.

On the other hand, in the vending machine 1A, the blower 30 is provided below the product delivery passage 3C to assist the function of the posture control plate 12 in the product delivery passage 3C. By appropriately changing the wind pressure applied from the outlet, the falling posture, falling speed, and falling impact of the product falling through the product delivery passage 3C are optimized.

As shown in FIG. 7, the blower 30 is arranged for each row of storage compartments or for each storage compartment. Each blower 30 is individually controlled by the controller 40 . A selection signal of the product selected from the product selection unit 2A is transmitted to the control unit 40 . The control unit 40 recognizes the storage section of the selected product and the type of the product from the selection signal, and based on the recognition, controls the blowing pressure of the blower 30 corresponding to the column of the product section of the selected product. do.

As a control example of the control unit 40, the wind pressure is increased when the weight of the selected product is heavy, and the wind pressure is decreased when the weight is light. The air pressure is increased when the selected product is dropped from a high position, and the wind pressure is decreased when the selected product is dropped from a low position. In addition, since the wind pressure of the blower 30 acts not only on the attitude control plate 12 but also on the falling commodity itself, the wind pressure is controlled to be low for the commodity that is susceptible to air resistance when dropped. Air pressure is controlled to a high level for products with shapes that are difficult to receive air resistance. The above control is performed comprehensively for the selected product.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, when the cassette case 4 is installed with an inclination to the left and right, by shifting the position of the air blower 30 according to the position of the products to be pushed to one side, the falling products can be moved. It is possible to efficiently apply wind pressure to The blower 30 can also serve as the blower of the cooling/heating device 3D described above.

The effects of the vending machines 1 and 1A according to the embodiments of the present invention described above can be summarized as follows.

A posture correction part 11 for horizontally correcting the posture of a single product at a position lowered by one step is provided on the carry-out end side of the storage shelf 10 for storing the product P, so that the posture of the product while moving on the storage shelf 10 is provided. Even if the product is disturbed, the posture can be corrected horizontally before carrying out, the posture of the product in the product carrying-out passage 3C can be stabilized, and the product can be caught in the product carrying-out passage 3C. Disturbance of product orientation at the outlet 2B can be suppressed.

Since the cassette case 4 filled with commodities in advance can be inserted into the storage shelf 10, it is possible to reduce and simplify the work of replenishing the commodities. In addition, since the product replenishment work performed by opening the storage shelf 10 can be performed in a short time, the downtime of the vending machine related to product replenishment is shortened, and fluctuations in the inside temperature are suppressed. Changes in the temperature of already stored products are reduced. In addition, it is possible to suppress an increase in power consumption when replenishing merchandise.

Since the product taken out of the cassette case 4 can be carried out after being held by the posture correcting part 11 once, even if the product posture is disturbed when coming out of the cassette case 4, the product posture at the time of carrying out is adversely affected. do not affect

Since the cassette case 4 is installed with an inclination so as to shift the commodities to one side in a direction intersecting the carrying-out direction of the commodities, the commodities moving in the cassette case 4 are stably moved. be able to. In addition, since the dropping position of the product can be shifted to one side, the air pressure from the blower 30 can be efficiently applied to the falling product.

In addition to the posture correction part 11, since the posture control plate 12 is provided for each storage compartment of the storage shelf 10, the posture of the commodity corrected by the posture correction part 11 is stably maintained by the posture control plate 12 when the product is dropped. be able to.

Since a plurality of blowers 30 for applying air pressure to the posture control plate 12 from below are provided for each row of storage compartments in the storage shelf 10, a spring for regulating the opening and closing of the posture control plate 12 can be omitted. This eliminates the need for complicated spring strength design in consideration of product types, and eliminates the problem of products being easily caught due to excessive spring strength. In addition, since it is not necessary to secure a spring mounting structure or mounting space, it becomes easy to secure a space for the product carry-out passage 3C.

By controlling the blower 30, it is possible to suppress the product dropping speed due to the wind pressure, and the contact impact between the attitude control plate 12 and the product is alleviated, so that the noise of the product dropping can be reduced. In addition, by controlling the product drop speed depending on the strength of the blowing air for each product, it is possible to control the dispensing speed of products such as carbonated beverages that are easily foamed.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and design modifications and the like are made within the scope of the present invention. is included in the present invention. In addition, each of the above-described embodiments can be combined by utilizing each other's techniques unless there is a particular contradiction or problem in the purpose, configuration, or the like.

1, 1A: vending machine, 2: front door, 2A: product selection section, 2B: outlet,
3: vending machine body,
3A: product storage unit, 3B: product delivery mechanism, 3C: product delivery passage,
3D: cooling/heating device, 3E: machine room,
4: cassette case, 4A: lid,
10: storage shelf, 10A: shelf plate, 10B: partition plate, 10C: upper plate,
11: posture corrector, 12: posture control plate, 13: shooter,
20: carry-out control member, 21: drop stopper, 22: supply stopper,
30: blower, 40: control unit,
P: Product

Claims (4)

A product storage unit for storing products, a product carrying-out mechanism for individually carrying out the products stored in the product storage unit, and a product carrying-out passage for leading the products carried out by the product carrying-out mechanism to an outlet are provided. Equipped with a vending machine body that is
The product storage unit includes a storage shelf inclined so that the other end side facing the product discharge passage is lower than the one end side where the product is replenished,
A vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a posture correcting portion for horizontally correcting a posture of a single product at a position lowered by one step is provided on the other end side of the storage shelf. The product storage unit is capable of inserting a cassette case pre-filled with products into the storage shelf,
2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein said cassette case is installed with a slant so as to gather commodities to one side in a direction intersecting with a direction of unloading of commodities. The storage shelf is provided with a plurality of tiers in the upper and lower directions, and each tier is provided with storage compartments divided into a plurality of rows,
3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein an attitude control plate for controlling the falling attitude of the merchandise is provided for each of the storage compartments in the merchandise carrying-out passage so as to be openable and closable. The vending machine main body is provided with a plurality of blowers for applying air pressure to the attitude control plate from below for each row of the storage compartments or for each storage compartment,
4. The vending machine according to claim 3, wherein the blower pressure is controlled according to the height of the storage compartment for the selected product and/or the type of the selected product.

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