JP3001032B2 - Bag-in-box sold-out controller for cup-type vending machines - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cup-type vending machine for transferring a liquid material from a bag-in-box to a cup side and dispensing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cup-type vending machine is a bag-in-box type in which a liquid material is filled in a bag (bag) and the bag is placed in a transport box from the viewpoint of the distribution and hygiene of the liquid material. It is preferred to use ones. When the liquid material runs out, the used bag-in-box and the new bag-in-box are replaced.

In such a bag-in-box system,
Since it is not possible to detect the sold-out of the liquid material by inserting a sensor inside the bag-in-box, conventionally, the number of dispensed cups is counted, and when the number of dispensed cups reaches a predetermined number, the liquid dispenser is detected. Has determined that it is sold out, and switches the column of the brand using this liquid raw material to the sold out state.

However, in order to prevent the liquid material from running out before the number of dispensed cups reaches the predetermined number, and to cause a sales trouble or the like, the prescribed number of cups to be dispensed is substantially larger than the number of cups that can be dispensed. Is also set slightly lower. As a result, in such a configuration, even when the liquid raw material is sufficiently left in the bag-in-box, the liquid state is sold out when the number of cups to be dispensed reaches a predetermined number, thereby increasing the selling cost. It will be.

As a countermeasure for this, as shown in FIG. 2, a liquid storage chamber 5 is interposed in a discharge path 4 for the liquid raw material 3 sucked by the pump 2 from the bag-in box 1 and is disposed in the liquid storage chamber 5. A pair of electrodes 6 and 6 as provided liquid drain detection means
Is turned off, the continuity detecting unit 7 outputs a drainage instruction signal a to the control unit 8 side. When the control unit 8 receives the drainage instruction signal a, a predetermined sellout process is performed. It is possible. According to this configuration, since the selling operation can be performed until the liquid raw material 3 in the bag-in-box 1 is almost used up, the selling cost can be reduced.

The bag-in-box 1 is composed of a transport box and a bag filled with the liquid material 3, and a conduction state between the electrodes 6 and 6 is detected by a conduction detection unit 7.
Pump 2 from bag-in-box 1 through reservoir 5
The liquid raw material 3 sucked out in the step is discharged to the cup 9.
Necessary things such as carbonated water, cold water, ice, and hot water are put into this cup 9 through another payout path to become a product. When the sold-out state is reached, after the used bag-in-box 1 is replaced with a new one, the solenoid valve 10 provided in the discharge path 4 for the liquid raw material 3 is closed,
The cock 12 of the discharge path 11 connected to the upper part of the liquid storage chamber 5 is opened, and the air stored in the liquid storage chamber 5 is discharged to the drain bucket 13 side to perform the air release operation. Then, in a state where the air bleeding operation is completed, the solenoid valve 10 is opened and the cock 12 is closed to perform a normal selling operation.

[0007]

However, in the conventional configuration shown in FIG. 2, the electrode 6 and the continuity detector 7 are provided even though the liquid reservoir chamber 5 is filled with the liquid raw material 3.
In some cases, noise may be generated, or bubbles may adhere around the electrode 6, and a liquid-out instruction signal may be erroneously output, and the sold-out processing may be performed. In this case, there is a possibility that a large amount of the liquid raw material 3 is discarded without being used. If the liquid raw material 3 is discarded as it is, the sales cost is rather increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and provides a bag-in-box out-of-box vending machine control apparatus for a cup-type vending machine which can minimize the disposal of a large amount of liquid material without being used. The purpose is to do so.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a liquid storage chamber in a discharge path for transferring a liquid raw material pumped out of a bag-in-box to a cup side, so that a non-conductive state is provided. A drain-off detecting means for generating a drain-off signal when the number of drain-offs reaches the predetermined number is disposed in the reservoir, and the number of outlets from the bag-in-box is counted to determine that the number of outlets has reached a predetermined number. A control unit for performing a determination and performing a sold-out process for the bag-in-box when a drain-out signal is input from the drain-out detecting means after the number of dispensed cups reaches a predetermined number. It is.

[0010]

According to the above arrangement, when the liquid-out signal is input from the liquid-out detecting means after the number of cups to be dispensed reaches the predetermined number, the selling-out process for the bag-in-box is performed. Is operating normally, the liquid material in the bag-in-box can be almost used up, and even if the liquid-out detection means malfunctions, the sales operation will continue until the number of cups to be dispensed reaches the predetermined number. Will be able to continue.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The cup-type vending machine of this embodiment is almost the same except that the control content of the control unit 8 is different.

That is, as shown in FIG. 2, also in this cup-type vending machine, the liquid storage chamber 5 is provided in the discharge path 4 for transferring the liquid raw material 3 sucked by the pump 2 from the bag-in-box 1 to the cup 9 side. Is interposed. A pair of electrodes 6, 6 serving as liquid drain detection means are provided in the liquid reservoir chamber 5, and when the electrodes 6, 6 are in a non-conductive state, the liquid is transmitted from the conduction detecting unit 7 to the control unit 8. An off signal a is generated.

Here, the control unit 8 performs a control operation as shown in FIG. First, in steps 1 and 2, when the bag-in-box 1 is newly set in the vending machine, the air bleeding operation of the liquid storage chamber 5 is performed, and the capacity of the liquid material 3 in the bag-in-box 1 is reduced. The corresponding number of cups is initialized as the number of remaining cups. Then, when the selling operation of the product corresponding to the liquid raw material 3 is performed, a value obtained by subtracting 1 from the number of remaining cups is set as the number of remaining cups (steps 3 and 4). The process proceeds from step 5 to step 3 to continue the normal selling operation without being concerned with the output of the liquid drain signal a.

On the other hand, if the number of remaining cups is 0, the process proceeds from step 5 to step 6, where it is determined whether or not the continuity detecting section 7 has output the drain signal a. Is not output, the liquid storage chamber 5 is still filled with the liquid raw material 3, so the process proceeds to step 7 and the selling operation is continued. And the reservoir 5
When the liquid source 3 in the inside is reduced (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 2), the electrodes 6 and 6 are brought into a non-conductive state, and when the drainage signal a is output from the conduction detecting unit 7, the amount of the liquid source 3 is reduced. Therefore, the selling operation of the product corresponding to the liquid raw material 3 after this is stopped, and the sold-out processing such as the sold-out display is performed (step 8).

With this configuration, even if the number of cups to be paid out reaches the predetermined number and the number of remaining cups becomes 0, if the electrode 6 and the conduction detecting section 7 are operating normally, a sales trouble or the like can be avoided. The liquid raw material 3 in the bag-in-box 1 can be almost completely used without any occurrence. Further, while the liquid storage chamber 5 is still filled with the liquid raw material 3, the electrode 6
Even if the drainage signal a is output due to malfunction of the continuity detection unit 7 or the continuity detection unit 7, the selling operation is continued until the number of dispensed cups reaches a predetermined number, so that a large amount of the liquid raw material 3 is discarded without being used. This is prevented from being done.

As shown in FIG. 3, the two bag-in boxes 1A and 1B may be switched by an electromagnetic switching valve 14, and in this case, one of the bag-in boxes 1A and 1B is sold out. When it is confirmed as described above, the electromagnetic switching valve 14 switches to the other bag-in-box 1A, 1B. After this switching operation, the liquid reservoir chamber 5 is filled with the liquid raw material 3 and the electrodes 6, 6 are filled.
When the state becomes conductive, the selling operation is continuously performed and the one bag-in-box 1A,
The fact that 1B is in the sold-out state is displayed on a predetermined sold-out display section 15 that can be visually recognized by the attendant (for example, a display lamp provided on the back surface of the door body flashes).

On the other hand, if the liquid storage chamber 5 is not filled with the liquid raw material 3 after the switching operation and the electrodes 6 and 6 are in a non-conductive state, the bag-in-box 1 on the switching side
A and 1B are also determined to have already been used, and sold-out processing is performed.

According to this configuration, even if one of the bag-in-boxes 1A and 1B is used up, the selling operation can be continued. If one of the bag-in-boxes 1A and 1B has been used up, the bag-in-boxes 1A and 1B may be replaced.
If the amount of the liquid material 3 in one of the bag-in-boxes 1A and 1B is small, the selling operation can be continued without replacement. Thereby, exchange of bag-in-box 1A, 1B can be performed easily at a more appropriate time.

In the above embodiment, when the bag-in-box 1 is newly set in the vending machine, the number of cups corresponding to the capacity of the liquid material 3 in the bag-in-box 1 is automatically set as the remaining cup number. Has been described, but it may be configured such that the initial setting number of cups can be adjusted by inputting from a keyboard or the like provided on the back surface of the door body.

Further, a predetermined alarm unit or the like for performing an alarm operation such as blinking of the display unit when the liquid discharge signal 6 is output from the conduction detection unit 9 before the remaining number of cups becomes zero may be provided. According to this, when refilling the bag-in-box 1, etc.,
A clerk or the like is notified of the malfunction of the electrodes 6 and the continuity detection unit 7 and is warned. At this time, the clerk checks the state of the electrodes 5 and the continuity detection unit 9 and checks the state of the liquid storage chamber 4.
You can take appropriate measures such as checking the inside,
It is possible to improve the reliability of the electrode 6 and the conduction detection unit 7.

[0021]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, after the number of cups to be dispensed reaches a predetermined number, when a drain-out signal is input from the drain-out detecting means, the selling-out process for the bag-in-box is performed. When the drain-out detecting means is operating normally, the liquid raw material in the bag-in-box can be almost used up without causing a sales trouble and the drain-out detecting means malfunctions. Even in this case, since the selling operation is continued until the number of payout cups reaches the predetermined number, it is possible to prevent a large amount of liquid material from remaining.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a control operation of a bag-in-box selling-out control device of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a bag-in-box sold-out control device of a vending machine.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a bag-in-box selling-out control device of a vending machine according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1A, 1B Bag-in-box 2 Pump 3 Liquid raw material 4 Dispensing path 5 Liquid storage chamber 6 Electrode 7 Continuity detecting unit 8 Control unit 9 Cup 14 Electromagnetic switching valve a Liquid disconnection signal

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G07F 9/02 101 G07F 13/02 102

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A liquid discharge detecting means for interposing a liquid storage chamber in a discharge path for transferring a liquid raw material sent out from a bag-in-box by a pump to a cup side and generating a liquid discharge signal when the liquid supply becomes non-conductive. Is disposed in the reservoir, counting the number of cups dispensed from the bag-in-box to determine that the number of cups has reached a predetermined number, and after the number of cups has reached a predetermined number, A bag-in-box out-of-box vending machine in a cup-type vending machine provided with a control unit for performing a sell-out process for the bag-in-box when a liquid-out signal is input from a liquid-out detecting means.