JP7196626B2 - Product storage device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a product storage device, and more particularly to a product storage device applied to a vending machine that sells products.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a vending machine for selling commodities, commodities stored in a commodities rack of a commodities storage are delivered to a carrier tray, then transported by the carrier tray and delivered to a predetermined commodity take-out area. There is The commodity take-out area is a space that communicates with the outside of the commodity storage via the commodity take-out port, and the user can take out the purchased commodity by inserting his or her hand through the commodity take-out port.

Usually, in this type of vending machine, the door constituting the front surface is composed of a transparent faceplate made of glass or the like, and the products stored in the product racks of the product storage can be visually recognized from the outside and selected. In addition, it is possible to observe the state in which the purchased product delivered from the product rack is transported to the product pickup area by the transport tray. According to the vending machine in which the inside of the commodity storage can be visually recognized in this way, there are advantages such as being able to increase the willingness of the user to purchase the commodity.

A product rack in such a vending machine is configured by arranging a plurality of product storage devices side by side. Each product storage device that constitutes the product rack is configured with a belt. The belt is stretched endlessly along the front-rear direction. This belt is displaced in such a manner that its upper surface moves forward when a driving force is transmitted from a motor, which is a driving source, through a transmission mechanism.

In the product storage apparatus having such a configuration, products are placed on the upper surface of the belt in a normal state, and when the belt is displaced, the products placed on the upper surface are gradually transported forward and moved to the foremost position. (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 5251739

By the way, in the product storage device proposed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the amount of displacement of the belt for dispensing the frontmost product, that is, the amount of conveyance, is generally predetermined for each product size. be.

Therefore, marks are provided in the vicinity of the upper surface of the belt to indicate where to place the products for each size, and it is necessary to place the products on the upper surface of the belt according to the corresponding marks. In addition, it is necessary to change the transport amount according to the size of the product to be placed, and there is a risk that the product replenishment work will be complicated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a commodity storage device that can simplify the work of replenishing commodities.

In order to achieve the above object, a product storage apparatus according to the present invention includes a product storage passage in which products are placed and stored along the extension direction of the product storage device, and a product storage passage in which products are stored in the product storage passage when driven. a conveying means for conveying the commodities stored in the commodity storage passage from the upstream side to the downstream side thereof, and discharging the most downstream commodities arranged on the most downstream side from the commodity storage passage. a reading unit that reads an unshielded portion of the mark member provided in a manner extending along the extending direction of the product storage passage and is not shielded by the product; and the shield read by the reading unit. and a control unit for judging the arrangement of the commodities from an external part and determining the transport amount for dispensing the most downstream commodities by the transport means.

In the commodity storage device according to the present invention, the conveying means includes a pair of pulleys that rotate about their own central axis when a driving force is applied from a driving source, and an endless belt that is stretched between the pulleys. and a conveyor belt that is displaced in its extending direction by the rotation of the pulleys, the upwardly extending portion of the conveyor belt between the pulleys constitutes a part of the product storage passage, and the product is placed thereon. It is characterized by being made to let

Further, according to the present invention, in the commodity storage device described above, the mark member is composed of a reflective tape attached to a base installed below the upper extending portion, and the conveying belt overlaps the reflective tape. is configured to transmit light, and the reading section reads the unshielded portion by detecting reflected light from the reflective tape.

Further, according to the present invention, in the commodity storage device, the mark member is composed of a reflective tape attached to the side of the upwardly extending portion, and the reading section detects reflected light from the reflective tape. The non-shielded portion is read by the above.

According to the present invention, the reading unit reads the unshielded portion of the mark member that is provided in a manner extending along the extension direction of the product storage passage and is not shielded by the product, and the control unit causes the reading unit to The position of the product is determined from the read out-of-shield portion, and the conveying amount for dispensing the most downstream product by the conveying means is determined. The product can be placed freely, and the transport amount of the product is not set according to the size of the product. As a result, there is an effect that the product replenishment work can be simplified.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view schematically showing the internal structure of a vending machine to which a product storage device according to an embodiment of the invention is applied. 2 is a perspective view showing the product rack shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a side view schematically showing one product storage device constituting the product rack shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a plan view schematically showing one product storage device constituting the product rack shown in FIG. 2. FIG. (a) to (c) of FIG. 5 show the detection results of the reflective tape by the reader shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing a modification of the product storage device according to the embodiment of the invention. FIG. 7 is a plan view schematically showing a modification of the product storage device according to the embodiment of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a product storage device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view schematically showing the internal structure of a vending machine to which a product storage device according to an embodiment of the invention is applied. The vending machine exemplified here is configured with a main body cabinet 1 .

A main body cabinet 1 is a rectangular vending machine main body having an opening on the front surface, and a commodity storage box 2 having a heat-insulating structure is arranged inside thereof. A plurality of product racks 10 are provided in the vertical direction in the product storage box 2 . These product racks 10 are installed between rack support side plates (not shown) erected on both sides of the product storage 2, and store products.

Also, the commodity storage 2 is provided with an evaporator 3 as a cooling means. The evaporator 3 constitutes a refrigeration cycle that circulates the refrigerant with the compressor 5, the condenser 6, etc., which are arranged in the machine room 4, and the refrigerant passing through its own refrigerant passage (not shown) and its surroundings It exchanges heat with the air inside the commodity storage 2 that passes through, and cools the air. Here, the machine room 4 is a room defined on the lower side of the product storage box 2 inside the main body cabinet 1 .

The air cooled around the evaporator 3 is sucked into the ventilation passage 9 through the suction port 8a of the rear duct 8 installed on the rear surface of the product storage 2 by driving the internal ventilation fan 7. The product stored in the product rack 10 is cooled by being blown out from the outlet 8b after passing through the path 9. - 特許庁

In the front area of the product rack 10, transport rails 11 are arranged on both sides in a pair of left and right. It is arranged so as to be movable. In other words, a transport path 13 for passing the transport tray 12 is formed between the transport rails 11 . The transport path 13 extends to the front of the machine room 4, and the transport path 13 and the machine room 4 are partitioned by a partitioning heat insulating material 4a.

The main body cabinet 1 is provided with a door 14 and a closing member 15 . The door 14 opens and closes the upper portion of the front opening of the main body cabinet 1, more specifically, the front region of the commodity storage 2, and is arranged on one side edge of the main body cabinet 1 so as to move to open and close. The door 14 has a heat-insulating structure and includes a heat-insulating glass plate (not shown) that allows the inside to be visually recognized from the outside.

The closing member 15 closes the lower portion of the front opening of the main body cabinet 1 , more specifically, the lower portion of the front opening of the main body cabinet 1 that cannot be closed by the door member 14 . Therefore, the blocking member 15 blocks the front of the transport passage 13 formed in front of the machine chamber 4 .

The closing member 15 is formed with a rectangular commodity outlet 15a. The commodity outlet 15 a is an opening for the user to take out the commodity conveyed through the carrier tray 12 , and is opened and closed by the commodity outlet door 16 .

As shown in FIG. 2, the product rack 10 is constructed by arranging a plurality of product storage devices 20 side by side.

3 and 4 schematically show one product storage device 20 constituting the product rack 10 shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3 being a side view and FIG. 4 being a plan view. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the product storage device 20 includes a pulley 21, an irradiation section 31, a reading section 32, and a control section 40. As shown in FIG.

The pulleys 21 are a pair of front and rear pulleys, each of which is an elongated member whose longitudinal direction is the horizontal direction. The pulley 21a on the front side is linked to a motor 22 as a drive source. The motor 22 is driven according to commands given from the control section 40 .

A conveyor belt 23 is stretched endlessly between the pulleys 21 . The conveyor belt 23 can be displaced along its extending direction by the rotation of the pulleys 21 . That is, the pulley 21a on the front side is a drive pulley that rotates counterclockwise about its central axis when viewed from the right side by being driven by the motor 22, and the pulley 21b on the rear side rotates the pulley 21a on the front side. It is a driven pulley that rotates counterclockwise when viewed from the right around its central axis by displacing the conveying belt 23 due to its rotation.

An upper extending portion 23a of the conveyor belt 23 between the pulleys 21 forms a product storage passage 24 extending in the front-rear direction. The product W is placed along the existing direction).

That is, the conveyor belt 23 is displaced in such a manner that the upper extending portion 23a moves forward due to the rotation of the pulley 21, and the product W placed on the upper extending portion 23a is directed forward. While conveying the product W, the frontmost product W located on the most downstream side is delivered from the product storage passage 24 to the transport tray 12.例文帳に追加In this manner, the pulley 21 and the conveying belt 23 constitute the conveying means while forming the commodity storage passage 24 .

A base 25 is provided below the upper extending portion 23a of the conveying belt 23. As shown in FIG. Such a base 25 is a conventionally known one, and prevents the upper extending portion 23a from bending downward due to the weight of the product W while stretching the conveying belt 23. As shown in FIG.

A reflective tape (marking member) 26 is attached to the upper surface of the base 25, which overlaps with the upper extending portion 23a, along the front-rear direction (extending direction of the product storage passage 24). The reflective tape 26 is an elongated member whose longitudinal direction is the front-rear direction.

Also in the conveying belt 23, the portion 23b that can be overlapped with the reflective tape 26 is made of, for example, a light-transmitting material or the like so as to transmit light.

The irradiation unit 31 is composed of a light source such as an infrared LED, for example, and irradiates, for example, infrared light toward the product storage passage 24 according to a command given from the control unit 40 . The reading unit 32 is equipped with, for example, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensor or the like, and detects reflected light from the reflective tape 26 , which is information on the product storage passage 24 . The reading section 32 provides the detection result to the control section 40 .

The control unit 40 comprehensively controls the operation of the product storage device 20 according to programs and data stored in a storage unit (not shown).

Note that the control unit 40 may be implemented by software, for example, by causing a processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) to execute a program, or may be implemented by hardware such as an IC (Integrated Circuit). Alternatively, software and hardware may be used together.

In the product storage apparatus 20 configured as described above, when the product W is not stored in the product storage passage 24, that is, when the product W is not placed on the upper extension portion 23a, the irradiation unit 31 The detection result given from the reading unit 32 for detecting the reflected light of the reflective tape 26 by irradiation is a belt-like one showing the entire area of the reflective tape 26, as shown in FIG. 5(a).

On the other hand, as indicated by the two-dot chain lines in FIGS. 3 and 4, when a plurality of (five in the illustrated example) products W are stored in the product storage passage 24, part of the reflected light from the reflective tape 26 is blocked by the product W. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5B, the detection result given from the reading unit 32 includes a shielded portion 261 shielded by the product W and a shielded portion 261 not shielded by the product W in the reflected light of the reflective tape 26 . Alternating external portions 262 are shown. That is, the reading unit 32 reads the unshielded portion 262 of the reflective tape 26 that is not shielded by the product W. As shown in FIG. In FIG. 5B, the frontmost shielded portion 261 is the portion shielded by the frontmost product W, and the immediately following non-shielded portion 262a (262) is the frontmost product W and the second from the downstream side. is the part between W and the product (hereinafter also referred to as the second product) W. The control unit 40 to which the reading result is given in this way can determine the arrangement of the products W in the product storage passage 24 .

When a delivery command is given for the product W stored in the product storage passage 24, the control unit 40 shields the front product W and the second product W as shown in FIG. 5(c). By driving the motor 22 until the outer portion 262 a becomes the front outer shield portion 262 , the transport amount can be determined, and the front product W can be delivered to the transport tray 12 .

As described above, according to the product storage device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the reading unit 32 is provided on the reflective tape 26 extending along the extending direction of the product storage passage 24. By detecting the reflected light, the unshielded portion 262 is read, and the control unit 40 determines the arrangement of the product W based on the unshielded portion 262 read by the reading unit 32, and the front product W by the pulley 21 and the conveying belt 23. Therefore, the product W can be freely placed on the product storage passage 24 without being restricted by the placing position. You can also set it according to the size. As a result, the replenishment work of the product W can be simplified.

6 and 7 are plan views schematically showing modifications of the product storage device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, the base 25 may be provided with left and right reflective tapes 26a and 26b extending along the direction in which the product storage passage 24 extends. In this case, the portion 23c of the conveying belt 23 that can be overlapped with the reflective tapes 26a and 26b is made of, for example, a light-transmitting material, so that it can transmit light. .

As shown in FIG. 7, a reflective tape 26c extending along the extending direction of the product storage passage 24 may be provided at a portion of the base 25 on the side of the conveyor belt 23 . By providing the reflective tape 26c on the side of the conveying belt 23 in this way, it is not necessary to form an area in the conveying belt 23 through which light can pass.

Although preferred embodiments and modifications of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications can be made.

In the above-described embodiment, the conveying belt 23 is displaced to convey the product W, but in the present invention, the conveying means may be constituted by a pusher member that always pushes the product forward. good.

In the above-described embodiment, the mark member is composed of the reflective tape 26, but in the present invention, a member that emits light by itself may be used as the mark member.

In the embodiment described above, the reflective tape 26 was provided on the base 25, but in the present invention, the mark member may be directly provided on the member forming the product storage passage.

20 Product storage device 21 Pulley 22 Motor 23 Conveyor belt 23a Upper extending portion 24 Product storage passage 25 Base 26 Reflective tape 31 Irradiation unit 32 Reading unit 40 Control unit W Product

Claims (4)

a product storage passage in which products are placed and stored along the extension direction thereof;
When driven, the product stored in the product storage passage is conveyed from the upstream side to the downstream side of the product storage passage, and the most downstream product arranged on the most downstream side is removed from the product storage passage. A product storage device comprising a conveying means for ejecting and
a reading unit that reads an unshielded portion of the mark member that is provided to extend along the extending direction of the product storage passage and is not covered by the product;
and a control unit that determines the placement of the product based on the out-of-shield portion read by the reading unit, and determines a conveying amount for dispensing the most downstream product by the conveying means. Product storage device. The conveying means is
a pair of pulleys that rotate around their own central axis when a driving force is applied from a driving source;
a conveyor belt that is endlessly stretched between the pulleys and that is displaced in its extending direction by the rotation of the pulleys;
2. A product storage apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upwardly extending portion of said conveyor belt between said pulleys constitutes a part of said product storage passage, and said product is placed thereon. The mark member is composed of a reflective tape affixed to a base installed below the upwardly extending portion,
The conveying belt is configured such that a portion that can overlap with the reflective tape transmits light,
3. The commodity storage device according to claim 2, wherein the reading section reads the outside portion by detecting reflected light from the reflective tape. The mark member is composed of a reflective tape attached to the side of the upwardly extending portion,
3. The commodity storage device according to claim 2, wherein the reading section reads the outside portion by detecting reflected light from the reflective tape.

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