JP2936986B2 - Coin processing machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coin processing machine using a material sensor for discriminating the material of a coin, that is, a supermarket or the like, in which received coins are sorted by denomination and reused as change. The present invention relates to a coin processing machine of the type. In the following description of the drawings, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional circulation type coin processing machine which reuses received coins as change is provided in a coin discriminating section for specifying a denomination of received coins and counting the number of coins, and a coin discriminating section for discriminating the outer diameter (accordingly, the number of coins). A sorting slit for sorting coins, and a sorting counter for counting the sorted coins; a coin storage unit for storing each coin separately from the sorting; a coin storage unit for disposing each of the coins according to a payout instruction; It comprises a payout counting unit that counts while taking out and pays out the specified number of sheets. The reason for this configuration is that, when misallocation occurs due to damage in the outer diameter direction of the coin or the like, the result of the discriminating unit and the result of the sorting unit are collated and detected by the number of sheets or the amount of money. .

[0003]

However, a discriminating sensor used in a coin discriminating section of a conventional coin processor has a pair of coil sensors, each of which has a coil housed in a so-called pot-shaped core, with a coin path interposed therebetween. A plurality of pairs of such coil sensors are provided facing each other as necessary, and this coil sensor is energized at a high frequency to create a high-frequency magnetic field in the coin passage, and the impedance of the coil sensor when the coin passes is measured. The method used to determine the denomination was relatively expensive and large.

For this reason, in order to arrange such a coin discriminating section in a coin processing machine, a physical arrangement area is required, which hinders simplification and downsizing of the apparatus. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a coin processing machine which solves such a problem and detects a mis-allocation of coins using a small and inexpensive material sensor.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problem.
A sorting unit provided with a sorting slit for sequentially sorting coins of six denominations of 50 yen, 5 yen, 100 yen, 10 yen and 500 yen according to their outer diameters in this order, and sorting by the sorting unit. In a coin processing machine provided with a denomination storage for storing coins denominated by denomination, and a dispensing unit of denomination for paying out stored coins from each of the denomination storages, the six denomination coins are provided. Is composed of a group of 50 yen, 100 yen and 500 yen made of white copper and a group of 1 yen, 5 yen and 10 yen made of material other than white copper. Including a coil sensor provided in each payout portion so as to pass through a gap, the inductance of each coil sensor whether or not the material of coins paid out by each payout portion is of the group consisting of white copper To change And a coin discriminating and counting means for detecting the dispensation of coins of different denominations by each of the dispensing units based on the discrimination result of the material sensors and counting the number of denominated coins to be dispensed. The material sensor includes an LC oscillator configured such that an inductance of the coil sensor is included at least in an inductance that determines an oscillation frequency.
It is preferable to determine whether or not the material of the coin to be paid out by each of the payout units belongs to the group consisting of the white copper based on the oscillation output level of the C oscillator.

[0006]

[0007]

[0008]

[0009]

1) In the present invention, an LC oscillator configured so that the inductance of the coil sensor provided in each payout section is included in, for example, an inductance L that determines an oscillation frequency, for example, two capacitors of capacitances C1 and C2 are used. In the Colpitts oscillator, the oscillation frequency and amplitude are given by the following equations (1) and (2), respectively.

[0010]

## EQU1 ## Frequency: ω ² = (C1 + C2) / (L · C1 · C2) (1) Amplitude: h = ω ² · C2 · L−1 (2) Therefore, by changing L (accordingly, coil), the frequency, It can be seen that the amplitude changes.

When this coil is constituted by an open magnetic field core, when a metal is brought close to the open portion, the frequency and amplitude change depending on the degree and thickness of the magnetism (based on the magnetic flux penetration characteristics). The change in the frequency and the amplitude is one factor in the distance between the coil and the object to be measured (based on the distance characteristic of the magnetic flux).

The oscillator operates as a material sensor by setting an appropriate frequency and a distance between the core and the object to be measured based on the above characteristics. In the material sensor according to the present invention, for example, the output of the oscillator is rectified, and the controller determines the material. Judgment is, when configured with a microcomputer, a digital value for each coin material stored in advance in a memory or the like,
The rectified output (analog) is compared with a digitally converted value, and the determination is made based on whether or not the value is within an allowable range. Of course, analog values may be handled only by hardware.

2) Next, the Japanese coins handled in the present invention are summarized and their materials are shown in the order of their outer diameters as shown in Table 1.

[0014]

[Table 1] Paying attention to the materials in Table 1, it can be seen that white copper is alternately arranged as indicated by the mark *. Therefore, if the copper sensor can be detected by the material sensor, the detection of the erroneously sorted coins (coins stored in the storage unit of the next denomination) can be detected by the coin discriminating unit arranged upstream of the conventional sorting slit. Can be performed without using the The coin processing machine of the present invention detects mis-sorting at the time of coin payout by using the material sensor described in the item 1) in the payout unit without using the upstream coin discriminating unit.

[0015]

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a coil sensor constituting a material sensor used in an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, (B) is a side sectional view of the first embodiment of the coil sensor,
FIG. 2A is a plan view thereof. FIG. 2C is a side sectional view of a second embodiment of the coil sensor.

1A and 1B, reference numeral 1 denotes a coil sensor, 1a denotes an annular coil constituting the coil sensor 1, and 1b denotes a so-called pot-shaped core which is usually made of ferrite and has a cylindrical outer peripheral surface. Reference numeral 5 denotes a coin to be measured which moves in the direction of the arrow AR with respect to the stationary coil sensor 1. Reference numeral 12 denotes a predetermined gap (also referred to as a sensor gap) in which the end face 1C of the core 1b and the face 5a of the coin 5 are parallel. ) Is a gap member that is separated via G. The gap member 12 is made of a non-metallic and non-magnetic material. In FIG. 1C, reference numeral 1b 'denotes a cylindrical core having a flat end face 1C.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the material sensor 01 as one embodiment of the present invention. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes the coil sensor described with reference to FIG. 1, and reference numeral 2 denotes an inductance L of the coil sensor 1 and, for example, a Colpitts-type L constituted by using two capacitors (capacitances C1 and C2) not shown.
The C oscillator 3 is a rectifier circuit for rectifying the output of the LC oscillator 2, and 4 is a control unit including a microcomputer.

The output of the LC oscillator 2 including the coil sensor 1 is converted into a DC voltage level by the rectifier circuit 3, and the control unit 4 A / D converts and reads this voltage, discriminates the material, and determines the number of sheets. Perform a count. FIGS. 3A and 3A show how the output of the LC oscillator 2 changes depending on the presence or absence of the coin 5, and FIGS. 3A and 3A show the coil sensor 1 and the LC oscillator 2 with no coin and their output waveforms. (B) and (b) show the coil sensor 1 and the LC oscillator 2 when there is a coin and their output waveforms, respectively. In other words, the oscillation output amplitude is smaller when there is a coin than when there is no coin.

FIGS. 4A, 4A, 5B, and 5B and FIGS. 5A, 5A, 5B, and 5B also show FIGS.
As in (a), (B), and (b), the coil sensor 1 and the LC oscillator 2 and their output waveforms are shown for comparison. 4A and 4A show a case where the distance (gap) between the coil sensor 1 and the coin 5 is large, and FIGS. 4B and 4B show a case where the distance is small. Is smaller than when the gap is large.

FIGS. 5A and 5A show the case where the material of the coin is white copper, and FIGS. 5B and 5B show the case where the material is other than white copper. Is larger than that of white copper. FIG. 6 shows a grouping of coins into white copper and other than white copper, a sensor gap G (horizontal axis) as a distance between the coil sensor 1 and the coin to be measured, and an output of the rectifier circuit 3 (8-bit analog / digital conversion in FIG. 6). (The vertical axis) is plotted.
From this figure, in the case of a white copper coin, the detection value is saturated when the sensor gap G is about 0 to about 1.2 mm, but when the gap G further increases, the detection value gradually decreases, and the material determination value (detection value) If the A / D conversion value is set to about “230”, it can be understood that white copper coins and coins of other materials can be determined.

Next, an embodiment of the coin processor of the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is an external view of a coin processor using the above-described material sensor 01. FIG. 21 shows a cover, 22 shows a coin slot, and 8 shows a coin outlet. FIG. 8 shows an example in which a coin processor is configured using the material sensor 01 as a payout sensor. FIG. 8A is a plan view of the coin processor with a cover removed, and FIG. 8B is a side sectional view. is there. Here, 7 is a transport unit that transports the coins inserted from the insertion slot 22 to the sorting unit side, and 6 is a sorting slit provided in the sorting unit, and is provided in order of the outer diameter of each coin, Each slit passes only coins of the corresponding outer diameter. A means for counting the number of coins passing through the slit is provided in the distribution slit 6. Numeral 9 denotes a storage for storing coins that have passed through the sorting slit 6 in denominations, having a substantially inverted right-angled triangular side section as shown in FIG. And a payout belt 11 that conveys the coins 5 of the denomination stored therein while moving upward.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a coil sensor that is provided for each denomination in the payout unit and constitutes the material sensor 01 described above. 8 denotes an outlet as the above-described coin takeout unit. 10 denotes a coin conveyed to the payout unit by the payout belt 11. 5 is a delivery belt that conveys and ejects the sheet 5 toward the ejection port 8 while sliding it on the gap member 12.

The thin plate-shaped gap member 12 is located between the feeding belt 10 and the coil sensor 1, and is provided between the feeding belt 10 and the coil sensor 1.
While maintaining the gap G between the lower surface of the coin 5 conveyed by the payout belt 10 and the end surface 1C of the core of the coil sensor 1 (FIG. 1) at a predetermined value.
The bottom surface of the passage of the coin 5 is formed. The operation of FIG. 8 will be described. The coin 5 inserted into the coin slot 22 of FIG.
Is transported to the distribution slit 6 by the transport unit 7. The coins 5 that have reached the distribution slits 6 are sorted by the slits 6 in the order of their outer diameters and stored in the storage 9. When there is a coin payout instruction, the control means (not shown) controls the feeding belt 10.
And the payout belt 11 is driven in the direction of paying out coins.

9 to 9 show the operation of paying out the coins 5 at this time in chronological order. In each drawing, the upper side is a plan view, and the lower side is a side sectional view. FIG. 10 shows the rectified output of the material sensor 01 corresponding to the operation of FIG. 9, and points in FIG. 10 correspond to operation points in FIG. Referring to FIG. 9, the coin 5 to be paid out is a coil sensor 1
Approaches () and reaches (). Then, it covers the front surface of the coil sensor 1 (,), and is eventually released (,
,).

FIG. 11 shows the difference in the rectified output of the material sensor 01 due to the difference in the material of the coin at this time.
The control unit 4 (FIG. 2) captures the peak value (see FIG. 11), compares the peak value with the material data set in advance, and determines the material of the coin to be measured. The coin that has passed the sensor 1 reaches the outlet 8 (FIG. 8).

[0026]

[0027]

According to the present invention as described above, erroneous sorting by the sorting slit for sorting coins of the six denominations according to their outer diameters is performed to the next storage with a small difference in outer diameter. In most cases, paying attention to the fact that when coins of the six denominations are arranged in the order of their outer diameters, the material is alternated with white copper and the rest, and the coins paid out by each payout section pass through a predetermined gap from the core end face A material sensor including a coil sensor provided in each dispensing unit so as to determine whether or not the material of the coin to be dispensed by each dispensing unit is of a group made of white copper based on a change in inductance of each coil sensor. A coin discriminating and counting means for detecting the dispensation of coins of different denominations by each dispensing section based on the discrimination result of the material sensor and counting the number of coins to be dispensed by denomination. Since the distribution erroneous service and configured to detect at payout, without providing a coin discriminator for denomination discrimination becomes large and expensive, it is possible to prevent trouble with customers in advance.

[0028]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a coil sensor constituting a material sensor used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a material sensor.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a different example of an output waveform corresponding to the presence or absence of a coin of the material sensor of FIG. 1;

4 is a diagram showing a different example of an output waveform corresponding to the size of a gap between a coil sensor and a coin of the material sensor of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a different example of output waveforms of the material sensor of FIG. 2 corresponding to white copper coins and coins other than white copper.

6 is a characteristic diagram showing an example of a relationship between a sensor gap and a detection output for a white copper coin and a coin other than white copper in the material sensor of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an external view of a coin processing machine.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a coin processing machine as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a state in which coins are unloaded by time series when coins are ejected from the coin processing machine of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a characteristic diagram showing an example of the relationship between the coin discharge position and the detection output of the material sensor in time series in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a characteristic diagram in which characteristics similar to those of FIG. 10 are obtained for a white copper coin and a coin other than the white copper.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 01 Material sensor 1 Coil sensor 1a Coil 1b, 1b 'Core 1c End face 2 LC oscillator 3 Rectifier circuit 4 Control unit 5 Coin 5a surface 6 Distributing slit 7 Conveying unit 8 Outlet 9 Storage 10 Discharge belt 11 Discharge belt 12 Gap member G gap 21 cover 22 inlet

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. 1 yen, 5 yen thrown in from an inlet and conveyed
A distributing unit provided with a distributing slit for sequentially distributing coins of six denominations of 0 yen, 5 yen, 100 yen, 10 yen and 500 yen according to their outer diameters in this order, and the distributing unit; A coin processing machine comprising: a denomination storage for storing the obtained coins by denomination; and a dispensing unit for denomination which pays out stored coins from each of the denomination storages, wherein the six denomination coins are provided. Is composed of a group of 50 yen, 100 yen and 500 yen made of white copper and a group of 1 yen, 5 yen and 10 yen made of material other than white copper. Including a coil sensor provided in each payout portion so as to pass through a gap, the inductance of each coil sensor whether or not the material of coins paid out by each payout portion is of the group consisting of the white copper Based on change And a coin discriminating and counting means for detecting the dispensation of coins of different denominations by each of the dispensing units based on the discrimination result of the material sensors and counting the number of denominated coins to be dispensed. Characterized coin processing machine. 2. The material sensor includes an LC oscillator configured to include at least an inductance of the coil sensor in an inductance that determines an oscillation frequency.
The coin according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether or not the material of the coin to be paid out by each of the payout units belongs to the group consisting of the white copper based on the oscillation output level of the LC oscillator. Processing machine.