JP2858890B2 - Vending machine product storage device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial application field The present invention relates to a product storage device of a vending machine.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, a product storage shelf for storing rollable products is provided in a storage of the vending machine main body, and the products in the product storage shelf are provided on the front surface of the main body based on a sales command. In a vending machine that sends the product to an exit, a serpentine-type product storage shelf provided with a plurality of product passages for bending and extending in the vertical direction and stacking and storing rollable products in a row as a product storage shelf. Is generally used, and the articles stored and put in from the input port opened at the upper end of the product passage are sequentially sent out by the sending device provided at the outlet at the lower end of the product passage, and provided at the lower part of the front surface of the main body by the product chute. It is configured to guide and send it to the product outlet.
No. in the official gazette.

(C) Problems to be solved by the invention In such a conventional product storage device of a vending machine, a product storage shelf is extended to a lower position as much as possible in order to increase the number of stored products.

Therefore, in order to send out the product delivered from the lower end of the product storage shelf to the product outlet, the product outlet must be located below the product storage shelf, and the product outlet provided on the front of the main body. Is in a very low position. For this reason, each time a product is taken out of the product outlet, the customer must bend and take a cramped posture, and it is difficult to confirm whether or not the product has been sent into the product outlet. .

In addition, in the case of this type of product storage shelf, since the replenishment of products in each product passage is performed through the input port opened at the upper end, the position of the input port is raised, and the product input is performed while looking directly at the product input port. I can't work. For this reason, there has been a problem that it takes time and effort to insert the product, erroneously inserts a different product into a certain product path, or erroneously inserts the product into a rolling-disabled state.

Furthermore, since the number of stored products in each product passage is almost the same, popular products are sold out quickly, while unpopular products are unsold. This can be improved by increasing the number of stored popular products and decreasing the number of unpopular products.However, in the conventional device, such a total number of stored products can be changed according to the product type without changing. It was impossible to freely adjust the number of stored goods.

In view of the above, the present invention can provide a product outlet at a relatively high position on the front surface of the main body, and can accurately and easily perform replenishment of the product by an administrator, and can store the product according to the type. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine product storage device in which the number of stored products can be freely adjusted.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, a stocker for collectively storing a plurality of types of products is provided at the lower portion of the main body, and the types of the products are determined by various methods. After discriminating the type, the product is transported to the upper product storage shelf by the transport device, while the upper product storage shelf has a common input port, and a ramp is used from the input port to each product path entrance of the product storage shelf, An opening / closing mechanism is provided at each product aisle entrance except for the product aisle entrance provided at the end of the final road, and the opening / closing mechanism is used for a part of the ramp, and is opened and closed according to the product type, thereby taking out from the stocker. The stored product is stored in a predetermined product path.

(E) Function In the above configuration, the products stored in the stocker at the lower part of the main body are discriminated by type, transported by the transport device, and stored in the upper product passage. As a result, the product outlet can be provided relatively high on the front surface of the main body. When a product is taken out of the stocker and the corresponding product path is full, the product is returned to the stocker. Therefore, the stocker can freely store the various commodities by freely adjusting the ratio of the number of commodities stored according to the type. In addition, the stocker can be replenished with commodities more easily than in the past. Furthermore, the product conveyed to the insertion slot of the product storage shelf is automatically stored in a predetermined product path by rolling on the slope.

(F) Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. A front door 3 for opening and closing a storage 2 is provided on the front of the vending machine main body 1. It is pivoted as much as possible. And in the lower part in the storage 2 of the vending machine main body 1,
The stocker 4 is provided so as to be able to be pulled out forward.

The stocker 4 contains items to be stored and sold.
The ratio of the number of storages according to the type is freely adjusted and stored. In this embodiment, a vending machine that sells four types of products A ₁ , A ₂ , A ₃ , and A ₄ will be described. By further increasing the number of products in parallel in the front-rear direction and in multiple rows in the left-right direction, more types of products can be stored and sold.

The stocker 4 is formed in a box shape with an open top, and can store a large number of rollable products A such as canned juice or canned beer in a sideways posture. The bottom surface on which the product A is placed has a shelf 7 that is inclined rearwardly low, and the shelf 7 has a rear end extending rearward from the rear plate 8 and curved upward. A take-out part 9 capable of locking a columnar product A is provided. An opening 10 through which one product A can pass is provided between the lower end of the rear plate 8 and the shelf 7, and the product A stored in the stocker 4 rolls on the shelf 7. To take out part 9 from opening 10
You can move to.

As shown in the rear view of the stocker 4 in FIG. 2 and the bottom view in FIG. 3, the take-out portion 9 corresponds to the body of the product A as an intermediate portion so as to support only both ends of the product A. A concave portion 11 is formed, and a holding piece 20 of a transport device 16 described later is configured to be able to enter the concave portion 11.

On the other hand, rail members 12, 12 extending in the front-rear direction are provided on both side surfaces of the stocker 4, respectively, and rail support members 13 provided on both side portions in the storage 2 as shown in FIGS. , 13 are inserted into and supported by the rail members 12, 12, so that the stocker 4 can be pulled out to a predetermined front position by holding the handle 14 on the front surface. That is, the front door 3 of the vending machine main body 1 is opened, and the stocker 4 is opened.
By pulling forward with the handle 14 provided on the front of the stocker 4, the stocker 4 can fully open the upper opening forward and upward. Thereby, the goods A to the stocker 4
With the use of both hands, a plurality of products can be stored easily and quickly at the same time into the opening at the top of the stocker, which opens greatly by being pulled forward. In addition, the stocker 4 is moved rearward by pressing the front surface,
It is set at a predetermined storage position.

As shown in FIG. 1, a sensor 15 for detecting the presence / absence and type of a product is provided at the lower end of the rear plate 8 of the stocker 4. That is, in the present invention, it is assumed that the product A rolls like a can or a bottle, and a bar code b representing a type is attached to the entire circumference of the product A as shown in FIG. The data is read at 15 and transmitted to a control circuit described later.

In this case, the position where the sensor 15 is disposed is not limited to the lower end of the rear plate 8 and may be any position such as the take-out / feed device 18 as long as the product A can be monitored. Further, the barcode b indicating the type of the product A may be attached to both ends without being limited to one end of the product A as shown in FIG. Or you may make it attach to the end surface of the goods A. Further, the type of the product A is not limited to the barcode, but can be determined by color, shape, and weight, and various methods can be adopted.

At the rear of the stocker 4, a transport device 16 that moves in the vertical direction is provided. The transfer device 16 is provided with a take-out / loading device 18 movably up and down over a pair of right and left rail members 17 vertically mounted, and a transfer motor 41 (see FIG. 9) provided in the take-out / loading device 18 is correct. The take-out / loading device 18 is configured to move upward when driven in reverse, and to move downward when driven in reverse.

6 and 7, the take-out / injection device 18 is provided with an arm portion 19 that expands and contracts forward and a pair of holding pieces 20, 20 provided at the tip of the arm portion 19, and By the drive of the unloading drive device 42 (see FIG. 9) provided in the device 18,
By extending the arm 19 forward, the holding pieces 20, 20 can be advanced correspondingly to the concave portion 11 of the take-out part 9 of the stocker 4, and thereafter the holding pieces 20, 20 operate to remove the product A of the take-out part 9. The product A is taken out from the stocker 4 by being pinched by the holding pieces 20 and 20 from above and below, and after this pinching, the arm 19 is contracted while rotating upward.

In addition, when the product A is to be inserted into the product insertion port 24 of the product storage shelf 5 provided above the storage 2 described later, as shown in the top view of the product insertion port in FIG. The arm 19 is extended while rotating the holding pieces 20, 20 located at the upper part forward, and the holding piece 20, 20 is advanced to the concave portion 24a of the product receiving tray 24 to hold the product A. Is placed in the product receiving tray 24b, the holding of the product A by the holding pieces 20, 20 is released, and thereafter, the arm 19 is contracted to retract the holding pieces 20, 20.

In the case where the transporter 16 has a configuration in which a plurality of product passages 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D of the stocker 4 and a product storage shelf 5 described later are arranged in parallel in the left-right direction, the rail members 17, 17 are arranged in parallel. This can be dealt with by configuring the take-out / injection device 18 provided at the outermost sides of the product storage shelves provided so as to straddle between the rail members 17, 17 so as to be movable in the left-right direction.

Reference numerals 25, 26, and 27 denote position sensors for detecting the position of the unloading / injecting device 18 and stopping the unloading / injecting device 18 at a predetermined position. The position sensor 26 is provided to detect that the unloading / injection device 18 has come to a position corresponding to the product return position of the stocker 4. ing. Also, the upper position sensor
Reference numeral 27 is provided so as to detect that the take-out / injection device 18 has arrived at a position corresponding to a product insertion port 24 of the product storage shelf 5 described later.

On the product storage shelf 5 provided in the upper part of the storage 2, arc-shaped traveling plates are disposed to face each other in the front-rear direction and are arranged in the up-down direction, so that they extend in the up-down direction while bending and have a columnar shape. Serpentine-type merchandise passages 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D are formed at the front and rear to store the merchandise A in a row so as to be rollable. A lid 28 is provided at the upper end of each of the product passages 6B, 6C and 6D.
Opening / closing mechanism 28 composed of Ba, 28Ca, 28Da and solenoids 28Bb, 28Cb, 28Db for opening and closing their lids 28Ba, 28Ca, 28Da.
B, 28C and 28D are provided. On the other hand, the upper end of the product passage 6A remains open. The lids 28Ba, 28Ca, and 28Da form a rolling path for the product A in a closed state, and the product placed in the product input / output 24b of the product input port 24 is closed as described later.
It rolls on 8Ba, 28Ca, 28Da and reaches the product path 6A.

Sensors 30A to 30D for detecting whether or not the product A is full are arranged at the upper part of each of the product passages 6A to 6D, while the lowermost product A is locked at the lower end and based on a sales command. Sending devices 31A-3 for controlling sending one by one sequentially
1D is provided for each.

At the product insertion port 24 of the product storage shelf 5 provided with these product passages 6A to 6D, as shown in FIG. A recess 24a into which the holding pieces 20, 20 of the unloading and loading device 18 can enter is formed in the product loading and receiving tray 24b.

In addition, a product chute 32 as a product unloading device is provided below the product storage shelf 5. This product shoot 32
Are sending devices 31A to 31D provided below each of the product passages 6A to 6D.
Product A that has been dropped
It is provided with a low slope forward so as to guide and send it to 33, and the rear part is rotatably supported so that the front part can be moved up and down.

That is, the product chute 32 is provided between the lower part of the upper product storage shelf 5 and the upper part of the lower stocker 4, and receives the product A sent from each of the product paths 6A to 6D and takes out the product.
33 is provided so as to be forwardly inclined so as to be guided to 33, and the front portion is provided so as to be movable up and down while supporting the rear portion so that the stocker 4 can be moved forward and downward when the stocker 4 is pulled out. The part can be moved upward so that the drawer of the stocker 4 is not hindered.

In this embodiment, a product chute is used as a product carrying device.
32, an endless belt-type unloading shelf extending in the front-rear direction is provided between the lower part of the upper product storage shelf 5 and the upper part of the lower stocker 4, and each of the upper product storage shelves 5 When the product A sent from the product passages 6A to 6D is received, the endless belt may be driven to rotate, carried forward, and delivered to the product outlet 33.

A product outlet 33 is provided at a vertically intermediate portion of the front door 3, which is the front surface of the main body 1, corresponding to a lower portion of the upper product storage shelf 5, and a product delivered from the product chute 32 is provided at a rear portion. A delivery door 34 opened by A is provided, and an outlet door 35 that can be opened forward is provided at the front.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the product outlet 33 can be provided at a substantially intermediate position of the vending machine main body 1, so that the customer can take out the product in a very easy posture.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram for controlling the driving of the transport device 16, and a control unit 40 is configured by a microcomputer, and includes the transport motor 41, the take-out / input drive device 42, and the respective sensors 15, 25 to 27, 30A to 30D are connected to each other, and drive control of the opening / closing mechanisms 28B to 28D, the transport motor 41, and the take-out / injection drive device 42 is performed based on the input of a signal from each sensor.

The operation according to this configuration is achieved by program control of the control unit 40, and this operation will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

The control unit 40 starts with the operation,
It is determined from the signal from the lower position sensor 25 whether or not the 18 is located at the predetermined standby position. If not, the transport motor 41 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, and the unloading and loading device 18 is moved to the lower position sensor. An initial setting operation for moving to a predetermined standby position detected at 25 is performed (100).

Next, the control unit 40 determines whether or not there is a signal from the sensor 15 to determine whether or not the product A exists in the stocker 4 (101). As a result, if the merchandise A does not exist in the stocker 4 (N of 101), the processing here ends, and the routine shifts to another routine. Product A in stocker 4
If There it exists (101 Y), investigated by the product A is compared against the codes stored in advance a signal from the sensor 15 whether the A ₁ (102), as a result, product A ₁ In the case of (102, Y), the presence or absence of a signal from the sensor 30A is checked (103).

As a result, if the product A ₁ in the commodity passage 6A with no signal from the sensor 30A has not filled (103 N), the memory M
After resetting the contents (104), the take-out and drive unit 42 of the take-out and insertion device 18 is driven (105).

The drive of the unloading / injection drive device 42
6, the arm 19 is extended forward as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and the holding pieces 20, 20 in the opened state are advanced corresponding to the concave portions 11 of the take-out portion 9 of the stocker 4, and then, Pinching piece 20,20
Was clamped operate to clamp the product A ₁ of the take-out portion 9. Then, after the holding, the take-out / drive unit 42 contracts the arm 19 while rotating the holding pieces 20 and 20 upward, and the product A ₁
And is brought into the state of FIG. 7 and stopped (105).

When extraction operation Product A ₁ by the extraction-on drive 42 is finished, the conveyance motor 41 of the control unit 40 extracting the dosing device 18
Is driven forward. By the forward rotation of the transport motor 41,
The loading / unloading device 18 starts moving upward (106).

Next, the control device 40 monitors the output of the sensor 27 to determine the presence / absence of the take-out / injection device 18 (107), and detects that the take-out / injection device 18 has reached the product input port 24 of the product storage shelf 5. Then (Y in 107), the transport motor 41 is stopped (108).

Next, the control device 40 drives the take-out / input drive device 42 to perform a product input operation to the product input / output 24b (109).

That is, by driving the take-out put drive 42 as shown in FIG. 8, to move the clamping pieces 20, 20 sandwiching the items A ₁ while extending the arm portion 19 forward. Then, when the holding pieces 20, 20 advance to the concave portion 24a of the product input receiving 24b of the product input port 24,
Holding pieces 20, 20 are opened to release the holding of the product A _1, the product A ₁
Is placed in the product receiving tray 24b. Product A ₁ of this item thrown received 24b to the insertion mounting, the lid 28Ba are closed in each opening and closing mechanism 28B~28D, 28Ca, falls into commodity passage 6A and rolls on 28 Da. After turned this product A _1, holding piece 20, 20 is retracted by the contraction operation of the arms 19 remain open, take-out put drive 42 is stopped to end the of closing operation item A _1.

Next, the control device 40 drives the transport motor 41 in the reverse direction to lower the unloading / injecting device 18 (110). This unloading and loading device 18
Has reached a predetermined standby position corresponding to the unloading section 9 of the stocker 4 from the output of the sensor 25 (111),
The transport motor 41 is stopped (112), and the process returns to step 101.

On the other hand, the product A appearing in the take-out section 9 in the stocker 4 is
In A ₂ (113 in Y), there is a free space in the commodity passage 6B, sensor 30B
When there is no signal from the controller (N in 114), the opening / closing mechanism 28B is driven to open the lid 28Ba (115). Then, the processing 1 described above
By executing 04-109, for placing-on products A ₂ appearing on the take-out portion 9 to the product launches receiving 24b. As a result, the product A ₂ is moved from the product input / output 24b to the lid 28Da, 28ACa in the same manner as described above.
It rolls on the top and falls into the product passage 6B. After that, the above-described processes 110 to 112 are executed, and the process returns to the process 101.

Similarly, (Y 116) under the trade A is A ₃ appearing on lead-out portion 9 of the stocker 4, there is a free space in the commodity passage 6C, (N 117) when the signal from the sensor 30C is not opening and closing mechanism 28
C is driven to open the lid 28Ca (118). Also, Stocker 4
In product A is A ₄ appearing on the take-out portion 9 (119 Y), there is a free space in the commodity passage 6D, when there is no signal from the sensor 30D drives the (120 N), the opening and closing mechanism 28D lid of Open 28 Da (121). By subsequently executing the respective process 104-112 is commodity A ₃ is the commodity passage 6C, also products A ₄ can be accommodated in the commodity passage 6D.

By the way, the commodity A in the stocker 4 is present, if product A appearing on the lead-out portion 9 is not the A ₁ to A ₄ (N of 102,113,116,119), or product A appearing extraction unit 9 A ₁ is one of the to a _2, the corresponding sensor 30
If the corresponding product passages 6A to 6D are full of products with the signals A to 30D (Y of 103, 114, 117, and 120), the following product circulation operation is performed to change the product type appearing in the extraction unit 9.

That is, the control device 40 examines the contents of the memory M to determine whether or not the product circulation operation has reached 10 times (12).
2) If the number has reached 10 times, the process ends. If the number has not reached 10 times (N in 122), the content of the memory M is incremented by 1 (123), and the take-out / injection drive device 42 in the take-out / injection device 18 is driven to take out the product from the take-out section 9 of the stocker 4. A is taken out (124), and the transport motor 41 is driven forward (125).

Then, by monitoring the signal from the sensor 26,
It is determined that the unloading / injecting device 18 has reached the product return position to the stocker 4 (126), and the drive of the transport motor 41 in the unloading / injecting device 18 is stopped (108). Thereafter, the take-out / injection drive device 42 is driven to return the product A to the stocker 4 (10
9).

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the take-out / drive unit 42 is used to return the goods A grasped by the holding pieces 20 and 20 of the take-out / feed apparatus 18 to the stocker 4 so that the goods input port 24 of the goods storage shelf 5 can be returned.
A product return passage 52 having a product input port 51 similar to that described above is formed. Therefore, when the control unit 40 detects that the take-out / injection device 18 has reached the position corresponding to the product input port 51, the control unit 40 stops the take-out / injection device 18 there and transfers the product A to the product input port 24 of the product storage shelf 5. The product A is delivered to the product input port 51 of the product return passage 52 in exactly the same manner as described above. Thereby, the product A falls on the shelf 7 through the product return passage 52. In this case, if the user does not want to drop the product A onto the shelf 7, as shown in FIG. The passages 54, 55, and 56 may be provided.

Thus, the product A appearing in the unloading section 9 of the stocker 4
Is repeated by the transport device 16 and returned to the stocker 4 again, and when the number of times reaches 10 consecutive times (122
(Y) Even if a product filling request is issued from the product passages 6A to 6D, the process of restocking the product from the stocker 4 to the product storage shelf 5 is temporarily ended. However, if the product replenishment operation from the stocker 4 to the product storage shelf 5 is actually performed even once during the return operation to the product stocker 4, the processing 10
The merchandise replenishment process is continued due to the merit of the contents of the memory M during the execution of steps 4 to 112.

(G) Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, the product outlet can be provided relatively high on the front surface of the main body. The product can be easily taken out, and the presence or absence of the product in the product outlet can be checked very easily. In addition, since the loading of the product by the administrator can be performed by loading into the lower stocker, the loading position of the product is lowered, and the work can be performed while looking directly at the loading section,
It is possible to prevent erroneous insertion of a product, and it is possible to reliably and extremely easily perform an insertion operation without stretching the product.

In addition, since the transfer of the product from the lower stocker to the upper product storage shelf is automatically performed by automatically determining the type, the product can be stored in the stocker irrespective of the type and can be stored collectively regardless of the type. The merchandise collection and storage can be freely adjusted according to the sales of the merchandise.

Furthermore, since there is only one product insertion port to the product storage shelf, the upper invalid space when a plurality of product passages are provided can be reduced, and the configuration of the insertion port can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a vertical side view of a vending machine, FIG. 2 is a rear view of a stocker below the vending machine, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal side view of a vending machine in a state where a front door is removed and a lower stocker is drawn forward, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of a product, FIG. FIG. 6 and FIG.
FIG. 9 is a top view of a product loading / receiving portion provided at a product passage entrance at the top of the vending machine, FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a control unit,
FIG. 10 is an operation flowchart of the control unit, and FIG. 11 is a conceptual sectional view showing another configuration example of the stocker. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vending machine main body, 2 ... storage, 4 ... lower stocker, 5 ... upper product storage shelf, 15 ... product identification sensor, 16 ...
Conveying device, 18… Unloading and loading device, 25-27… Position sensor, 28
B to 28D: open / close mechanism, 28Ba to 28Da: lid, 28Bb to 28Db: solenoid, 30A to 30D: product detection sensor, 40: control unit.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A product storage shelf having a plurality of product passages for storing various products for each type in a storage of the main body, wherein the products in the product storage shelf are provided on the front surface of the main body based on a sales command. In a vending machine for sending out to an outlet, the storage is divided into two vertically, the product storage shelf is provided at an upper portion, and a stocker for collectively storing products irrespective of type is provided at a lower portion so as to be able to be pulled out of the warehouse, On the product storage shelf, an opening / closing mechanism is provided at the entrance of each of the product passages, and the opening / closing mechanism is used to form a ramp connecting the only product input port to the entrance of each of the product passages, while using the opening / closing mechanism in each of the product passages. A first sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a product, a second sensor for determining the presence and type of the product to be taken out of the stocker,
While taking out the product from the stocker, returning the product to the stocker again, or storing the product in the product storage shelf, and determining the shortage of the product in the product path according to the first sensor output, The type of the product to be taken out of the stocker is determined in accordance with the output of the second sensor, and when the product corresponds to the insufficient product type, the open / close mechanism is drive-controlled to be stored in a corresponding product path. And a control unit for driving and controlling the transport device so as to return the product to the stocker when the product type does not correspond to the shortage product type.