JP2822637B2 - Coin lifter control method and control device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a coin lifter that lifts a coin dispensed from a coin sorting device to a coin return port located above, and more particularly, to a coin lifter having a motor. The present invention relates to a method of controlling a coin lifter when it is locked and a control device therefor.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art In a vending machine or the like, a coin sorting device capable of sorting input coins and storing the coins for each denomination is incorporated in order to judge whether coins are inserted or not and pay out change. In this coin sorting device, a coin passage inside the device is configured to move the inserted coin using the own weight of the inserted coin. Therefore, the coin slot is necessarily at the highest position of the apparatus, and the coin return port is at the lowest position.

In a vending machine or the like that incorporates this coin sorting device, there is a height difference between the coin insertion slot and the coin return slot, and these two cannot be set to the same height that is convenient for the product purchaser. Therefore, the applicant of the present application has a coin lifter that forcibly lifts a coin dispensed from a coin dispensing unit of a coin sorting device to a coin return port located above using a coin transport belt driven by a motor. It has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 2-20994). If this coin lifter is used, the coin return port can be set at the same height as the coin insertion port.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Here, in such a coin lifter, a plurality of coins are simultaneously conveyed in the coin lifter and the like, so that a coin jam may occur and the drive motor may fall into a locked state. Alternatively, a foreign matter such as a clip may become jammed in the driving force transmitting portion of the coin lifter, which may cause the driving motor to fall into a locked state. When the motor is locked, the coin return operation from the coin return port side becomes impossible, so it is necessary to quickly cancel the locked state. Also, even in such a locked state, if coins are continuously dispensed from the coin sorting device, many coins will stay in the coin lifter, and the work of returning to normal operation will be complicated. Not preferred.

In view of these points, an object of the present invention is to realize a control method and a control device that can quickly and surely automatically release a motor lock in a coin lifter.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a coin lifter control method and a control device according to the present invention monitor whether or not a locked state of a motor has occurred, and when it is detected that the locked state has occurred, coin sorting is performed. The coin dispensing operation on the side of the apparatus is temporarily stopped, and the motor is repeatedly driven forward and reverse at a predetermined cycle in the coin transport direction and in the reverse direction.

In particular, in the present invention, as the drive control of the motor in the locked state, the motor is continuously driven in the coin transport direction for a predetermined period even after the coin dispensing operation is stopped, and thereafter, the motor is driven at a predetermined period. It is driven forward and backward repeatedly.

[Action]

When the motor is locked in the coin lifter, this is detected, and the coin dispensing operation from the coin sorting device is interrupted. At the same time, the motor is repeatedly driven in a fixed cycle in the coin transport direction and in the opposite direction. As a result, the coin transport belt of the coin lifter
Since the motor is repeatedly moved in the reverse direction at a constant cycle, the motor lock state is canceled with an extremely high probability.

In particular, since the motor that has fallen into the locked state is not stopped immediately, but kept in the same direction in the coin transport direction for a certain period of time, it is possible to neglect excessive drive stop due to the instantaneous lock state. In addition, the operation of the coin lifter can be facilitated, and further, with such continuous driving, there is room for eliminating the jamming of coins or the like which cause locking without becoming serious. Thereafter, when the motor is still in the locked state, the forward and reverse rotations of the motor are repeated for the first time. Therefore, the possibility of the coin lifter being eliminated by such forward / reverse drive and the coin lifter returning to the normal state is extremely high. And the certainty of automatic cancellation increases.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a coin sorting apparatus with a coin lifter to which the present invention is applied. The device 1 is composed of a vertically long rectangular parallelepiped device body 2 and a coin lifter 3 attached to one side of the body. A coin inlet 1a is open on the upper surface of the apparatus main body, and a chute 4 for coins to be inserted is disposed immediately above the coin inlet 1a.
At the upper end of the coin, a coin slot 5 for inserting coins CN in a horizontal state
Is installed. On the other hand, on the lower end side of the apparatus main body, a return coin chute 6 having a shape narrowed downward is installed, and the lower end of this chute 6 communicates with the lower end side of the coin lifter 3. A coin return slot 7 is provided at the upper end of the coin lifter 3.
The return port 7 is disposed at a position substantially at the same height as the coin insertion port 5 described above.

Inside the device main body 2, from the upper side, a check section 21 for discriminating the authenticity and denomination of a coin inserted from the coin insertion slot 5, and inserting the coin based on the check result in the check section. A coin sorting unit 22 for sorting coins for each denomination and a coin storage unit 23 for storing the sorted coins for each denomination are incorporated. A slug chute for passing coins determined by the check unit 21 as fake coins downward is provided in a portion of the coin storage unit 23 adjacent to the coin lifter 3.
24 are installed. Also, at the lower end of the coin storage unit 23,
A coin payout section 25 for selectively paying out coins stored in the coin storage section 23 downward is provided.
A coin payout opening 25a opened at the lower end of the return coin chute 6 is located immediately above the upper end opening 6a of the return coin chute 6 described above. The lower end opening of the slag chute 24 faces the coin outlet 25a, and coins falling through the slag chute are also returned from the coin outlet 25a.
Will be paid to the side.

Next, in the coin lifter 3, a drive roll 23 and a driven roll 33 are rotatably supported at a lower end and an upper end in a vertically extending cylindrical case 31, and a coin transport belt 34 is stretched over these. ing. A driving force is transmitted to the lower drive roll 32 from a drive motor 36 side via a speed reduction mechanism 35 including a belt and a pulley. As shown in the figure, a plurality of pairs of protrusions 34a that can engage with coins are formed at regular intervals on the surface of the conveyor belt.

In the coin sorting device 1 having this configuration, the coin insertion slot 5
Is dropped into the apparatus main body 2 through the chute 4. When the input coin is a genuine coin, the coin is sorted by the coin sorting unit 22 into a storage cylinder of a corresponding denomination in the coin storage unit 23, and when it is a fake coin, the slag is shifted by the coin sorting unit 22. It is distributed to the shoot 24 side. Coins falling through this slug chute 24,
The coins dispensed from the coin storage unit 23 via the coin dispensing unit 25 respectively roll in the returned coin chute from the coin dispensing port 25a by their own weight, and move to the lower end portion of the coin lifter 3. The coins that reached this lower end were
The coin is conveyed upward by the conveyance belt 34 moved by the drive roll 32 and returned outside from the coin return port 7 at the upper end position.

FIG. 2 shows a main part of a drive control system of the apparatus of the present embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 51 denotes a control circuit composed of a microcomputer, which controls each driven part by executing a control program stored in advance based on various input command signals and detection signals from each unit. In this example, a recovery control operation from the locked state of the drive motor 36 is performed based on the count of the timer 52 and the motor lock sensor 37 that detects the motor lock state based on the overcurrent of the drive motor 36 of the coin lifter. When the motor lock sensor 37 detects that the motor 36 has entered the locked state, the recovery control operation in this example is performed in the same coin transport direction (forward rotation direction) for one second continuously.
Driving 36, after that, the opposite direction (reverse rotation direction)
Then, the motor is rotated for 1 second, and then the motor is rotated for 1 second in the forward rotation direction. The reverse rotation and the forward rotation of the motor are repeated three times in a cycle of one second.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG.
Will be described.

In the flowchart of FIG. 3, in step ST1,
The apparatus 1 starts the operation of paying out coins such as change in response to an input command signal from a coin return switch or the like (at time T in FIG. 4).
1). At the start of this coin dispensing operation, coin lifter 3
Is driven in the forward rotation direction. As a result, the coin transport belt 34 starts moving toward the return port 7 side. During normal operation, it is detected in step ST4 that the coin payout is completed (time T2 in FIG. 4), and after it is detected in step ST6 that the coins paid out inside the coin lifter 3 are gone, Drive motor 36
Is stopped, the coin transport operation by the transport belt 34 is stopped (time T3 in FIG. 4), and the operation is terminated. Here, the end of coin payout can be detected by using a drive signal to the coin payout unit 25, for example. Also, it is determined whether or not the coins have run out of the coin lifter after a lapse of a sufficient time (for example, 3 seconds) for the coins to be conveyed to the return slot 7 by the coin lifter after the payout of the coins is completed. It can be done depending on whether or not.

Next, an operation when the motor lock state is detected will be described. In step ST3, when it is detected during the coin payout operation that the motor 36 has entered the locked state based on the output of the motor lock sensor 37 (time T11 in FIG. 5), these steps are repeated from step ST8. The control is shifted to and the coin dispensing operation from the coin dispensing section 25 is interrupted. Similarly, when the motor lock state is detected after the coin payout is completed, the process proceeds from step ST5 to step ST8. In this case, the coin has been paid out, so this step
Go through ST8 to the next step.

After that, steps ST9 and ST10 are looped and the motor 36
Is continued to be driven in the normal rotation direction for one second as it is, and it is monitored whether or not the motor lock state has been eliminated. If the motor lock state is released, step ST
The process shifts from step 9 to step ST15 to restart the interrupted coin payout operation and returns to step ST2.

However, if the motor lock state is not resolved by the continuous motor operation for one second, the operation proceeds from step ST10 to step ST10.
In step 11, the motor 36 is biased in the reverse rotation direction (time T12 in FIG. 5), steps ST12 and ST13 are looped, and this state is continued for one second. When the motor lock state is released during this period (time T13 in FIG. 5), step ST12
Then, the process proceeds to step ST15 to resume the coin payout operation, and then returns to step ST2.

On the other hand, if the motor lock is not released by the reverse rotation drive control of the motor, the motor 36 is urged in the forward rotation direction again in step ST14. This state is 1
It is continued for seconds (steps ST9 and ST10). Thereafter, the normal rotation and the reverse rotation of the motor are repeated every second. Although not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3, in this example, after the motor lock is detected, the motor normal rotation and the reverse rotation drive are repeated three times. The driving of the device 1 is stopped.

As described above, in the apparatus of the present embodiment, when the motor lock is detected, the coin dispensing operation from the coin sorting apparatus side is interrupted, so that many coins on the coin lifter side in the locked state are removed. There is no clogging.

By the way, since a coin lifter forcibly lifts up a coin, there is a possibility that, for example, at the time of receiving the coin, the posture of the coin is corrected during the transportation, or a locked state due to a foreign matter may be instantaneously generated. When the instantaneous locking occurs, the motor drive is stopped or reversely rotated in each case, so that the coin lifter cannot be substantially operated. Therefore, in this example, the motor that has fallen into the locked state is not stopped immediately, and the driving state in the coin transport direction is maintained for a certain period of time. Can be eliminated, the operation of the coin lifter can be facilitated, and furthermore, by such continuous driving,
There is room for eliminating jams and the like that cause locks without becoming too large. Thereafter, when the motor is still in the locked state, the forward and reverse rotations of the motor are repeated for the first time. Therefore, the possibility of the coin lifter being eliminated by such forward / reverse drive and the coin lifter returning to the normal state is extremely high. Get higher. As described above, according to the device of the present embodiment, the motor lock state can be eliminated with an extremely high probability.

In the above example, the forward and reverse rotation periods of the motor are not limited to one second, but have characteristics that should be set according to the specifications of each device. Further, the number of repetitions of forward and reverse rotations of the motor is not limited to three in the above example. Even, the method of detecting the motor lock state is
Of course, instead of detecting the overcurrent as in the above example, other methods may be used.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the present invention, it is monitored whether or not the motor lock state has occurred in the coin lifter, and when it is detected that the lock state has occurred, the coin dispensing operation of the coin sorting apparatus side is temporarily stopped. At the same time, and the motor is repeatedly driven at a predetermined cycle in this order or in the reverse order in the coin transport direction and in the opposite direction. Therefore, according to the control of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a large number of coins from being dispensed to the coin lifter side when the motor is locked and jammed there. At the same time, there is a high possibility that coins or the like jammed in the driving portion of the coin lifter, such as the conveyor belt, will come off due to the forward and reverse rotation driving of the motor, so that the motor lock state can be eliminated with an extremely high probability. .

In particular, in the present invention, since the motor that has fallen into the locked state is not stopped immediately, but is kept in the driving state in the coin transport direction for a certain period of time, an excessively-sensitive drive stop accompanying the instantaneous locking state occurs And the operation of the coin lifter can be facilitated, and furthermore, such continuous driving leaves room for eliminating the jamming of coins or the like which cause locking without becoming serious. Thereafter, when the motor is still in the locked state, the forward and reverse rotations of the motor are repeated for the first time. Therefore, the possibility that the coin clogging or the like is cleared by such forward / reverse drive and the coin lifter returns to the normal state is extremely high. And the certainty of automatic cancellation increases.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a coin sorting device with a coin lifter according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a control system of the device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a coin dispensing operation, FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing a normal coin dispensing operation in the apparatus of FIG. 1,
FIG. 5 is a timing chart showing the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 when the motor is locked. [Description of Signs] 1 ... Coin sorting device 2 ... Coin sorting device main body 3 ... Coin lifter 5 ... Coin insertion slot 7 ... Coin return opening 31 ... Case 34 ... Coin transport belt 34a ... Coin clerk Mating projection 36: Drive motor.

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G07D 1/00 G07D 9/00 418 G07F 1/04 102

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method of controlling a coin lifter that lifts up coins dispensed from a coin sorting device to a coin return port located above using a coin transport belt driven by a motor, wherein the motor is in a locked state. It is monitored whether or not the coin has fallen out, and when it has fallen into the locked state, the coin payout operation from the coin sorting device is temporarily stopped, and the coin payout operation is continued for a predetermined period after the coin payout operation is stopped. A coin is driven in a coin transport direction, and thereafter, when still in the locked state, the motor is driven forward and reverse repeatedly at a predetermined cycle in a coin transport direction and in a direction opposite to the coin transport direction. Lifter control method. 2. A coin lifter control device configured to lift up a coin paid out from a coin sorting device to a coin return port located above by using a coin transport belt driven by a motor. A motor lock detecting unit that detects that the motor has fallen into a locked state, a coin payout stop unit that temporarily stops a coin payout operation from the coin sorting device when receiving a detection output from the motor lock detecting unit, Upon receiving the detection output from the motor lock detection means, the motor is continuously driven in the coin transport direction for a predetermined period, and when there is still the detection output, the motor is moved in the coin transport direction and in the coin transport direction. And a motor control means for repeatedly driving the motor forward and backward at a predetermined cycle in a direction opposite to that of the coin lifter.