JP7420509B2 - Goods storage - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an article storage that stores a plurality of articles on shelves, and a vending machine.

2. Description of the Related Art Vending machines are known that store a plurality of types of items on shelves provided in a box-shaped cabinet and automatically dispense items selected by a purchaser. For example, in the vending machine described in Patent Document 1, a plurality of shelves are arranged side by side in the vertical direction, and a plurality of items are arranged side by side in the left and right direction, and a plurality of items are arranged in the horizontal direction. has been done. The system also includes a bucket (hopper) that moves vertically in front of a plurality of shelves, and uses a carry-out mechanism to push the item selected by the purchaser forward from the shelf, and carries it out to the bucket that has been moved to the front of the shelf. .

Furthermore, in the vending machine described in Patent Document 1, the bucket is equipped with a belt conveyor that is movable in the left-right direction, and when purchasing multiple products (articles) of the same type, the belt conveyor moves and transfers the products. It is now possible to place them side by side on a belt conveyor at different positions. In addition, when purchasing multiple types of products stored on different shelves, even if the multiple products are stored in the same row, the belt conveyor can be operated in conjunction with the vertical movement of the bucket, allowing multiple products to be moved onto the belt conveyor. It is possible to place them side by side on top. Then, by moving the bucket to a predetermined vertical position and operating the belt conveyor in one direction, the multiple products being carried out on the belt conveyor are transported to the article takeout port (exit). (individual conveyance control) is now possible.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 4-184595

However, in Patent Document 1, although it is described that they are placed side by side on a belt conveyor and placed at different positions, it does not clearly describe how to specifically control the operation of the belt conveyor. As in Patent Document 1, in a vending machine configured to transport articles to an outlet (exit) by operating a belt conveyor in one direction, a plurality of products of the same type or products stored in the same row are transferred onto the belt conveyor. It is conceivable that each time one product is transferred to a belt conveyor, the product is moved a distance corresponding to one product in one direction.

However, even if you try to place multiple items on the belt conveyor in this way, the horizontal length of the belt conveyor is limited, and depending on the delivery position (left and right position) of the item, only a small number of items can be placed. There may be cases where only one item can be placed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and makes it possible to place many items in a bucket side by side without stacking them, thereby enabling bulk purchasing of a large number of items (multiple item conveyance control). The purpose is to provide storage for goods.

In order to solve the above problems, the article storage of the present invention includes a plurality of shelves arranged in a row in the vertical direction, a column arranged in a row in the left-right direction on the shelf, and a column for storing articles; a carrying-out mechanism for carrying out articles forwardly from the column; and a loading section disposed movably in at least a vertical direction in front of the shelf and for placing articles carried forward from the column by the carrying-out mechanism; a conveyance mechanism that conveys the loaded article to a predetermined conveyance position; an article lateral movement mechanism that moves the article placed on the loading section in the left-right direction within the loading section ; the carry-out mechanism; and the conveyance mechanism. and a control unit that controls the operation of the article lateral movement mechanism, and the control unit is configured to load a plurality of articles carried out from the column on the loading section and convey them all at once to the conveyance position. The article storage is capable of controlling a plurality of conveyances by controlling the operation of a carry-out mechanism, the conveyance mechanism, and the article lateral movement mechanism, wherein among the articles stored in the plurality of columns, the articles are conveyed to the predetermined conveyance position. an article selection unit that selects an article to be purchased, and the control unit, in the plurality of conveyance control, selects article position information stored in a storage device and purchase article instruction information instructed by the article selection unit. a bulk purchase possibility determination section that determines whether bulk purchase is possible based on the selection of the plurality of articles by the article selection section; The control unit includes a setting unit that sets all carry-out orders, a selection of either the right or left movement direction of the article in the storage unit by the article lateral movement mechanism, and a movement distance before starting the carry-out process, and the control unit: If the bulk purchase availability determination unit determines that all of the items selected in the item selection unit can be transported to the transport position at once without being piled up in the storage unit , the delivery order set in the setting unit; The carrying out mechanism, the conveyance mechanism, and the article lateral movement mechanism are controlled based on the selection of either the right or left movement direction and the movement distance within the storage section .

Preferably, the control unit may notify that bulk purchase is not possible when the bulk purchase determination unit determines that all the selected articles cannot be carried out without being piled up.

Preferably, the apparatus includes an article detection section that detects a placement position of the article on the placement section, and the control section controls the operation of the article lateral movement mechanism based on a detection result by the article detection section.

Preferably, the control unit includes an article detection unit that detects the placement position of the article in the placement unit, and the control unit is configured to detect the selection content by the article selection unit and the detection by the article detection unit in the plurality of conveyance control. Based on the results, even though the article was moved a predetermined distance in the left and right direction by the article lateral movement mechanism, the first article placed on the loading section and the second article to be carried out next were different. If they are in the same row, it is preferable to restrict the transfer of the second article to the storage section and allow the first article to be conveyed to the conveyance position by the conveyance mechanism.

Preferably, the control unit includes an article detection unit that detects the placement position of the article in the placement unit, and the control unit is configured to detect the selection content by the article selection unit and the detection by the article detection unit in the plurality of conveyance control. Based on the results, even though the article was moved a predetermined distance in the left and right direction by the article lateral movement mechanism, the first article placed on the loading section and the second article to be carried out next were different. When the articles are in the same row, it is preferable that the articles are further moved in the left-right direction by the article lateral movement mechanism.

Preferably, in the plurality of conveyance control, when the article is moved in the left-right direction by the article lateral movement mechanism, the control section may move the article in the same direction as the previous movement direction.

Preferably, in the plurality of conveyance control, when the article lateral movement mechanism moves the article in the left-right direction, the control section controls an area where the article is not placed in the loading section in a narrow direction. It would be best to move it towards.

Preferably, the predetermined distance is approximately the same as the horizontal width of the column.

Preferably, the article detection section is provided in front of the column, facing the placement section.

Preferably, the article detection section is installed corresponding to the left and right positions of each of the plurality of columns.

Preferably, the article storage is a vending machine.

According to the present invention, in a plurality of conveyance control in which a plurality of articles carried out from a column are placed on a loading section and conveyed all at once to a predetermined conveyance position, article position information stored in a storage device and article selection are used. It is determined whether bulk purchasing is possible based on the purchase article instruction information instructed by the article selection section, and based on the selection of a plurality of articles by the article selection section, the article lateral movement mechanism selects the selected articles on the placement section. The order in which all the selected articles are carried out, the selection of the right or left movement direction of the articles within the loading section by the article lateral movement mechanism, and the moving distance are set before the start of the carrying out process, so that all the selected articles can be loaded. When it is determined that the article can be carried out without piling up in the storage section and the article is carried out to the loading section, even if the article is placed at the carrying out position, the article is moved in the left-right direction by a lateral movement mechanism. Therefore, it is possible to prevent articles from being piled up on the placing section. This makes it possible to carry out a plurality of items that cannot be stacked or that should be avoided at once. In particular, since the moving direction of the article by the article lateral movement mechanism is defined as the left-right direction , it is possible to place more articles on the loading section by utilizing the area where no articles are placed on the loading section. It becomes possible.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the general external shape of a vending machine according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the vending machine according to the present embodiment. It is a top view showing the structure of the shelf of the article storage part in this embodiment. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a vending machine showing a schematic structure of a bucket in this embodiment. It is a block diagram showing the composition of the carry-out control device in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows a part of carry-out control procedure in a carry-out control apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the remainder of the carry-out control procedure in a carry-out control apparatus. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of product storage. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a first example of the order of delivery and lateral movement of products, and the corresponding position of the products on the belt conveyor. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a second example of the delivery order and lateral movement of the products, and the corresponding position of the products on the belt conveyor.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the general external shape of the vending machine of this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the internal structure of the vending machine of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a top view showing the structure of the shelf of the article storage section in this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the vending machine showing the schematic structure of the bucket in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, a vending machine 1 (goods storage) includes a main body unit 2 that stores products (goods) and an operation unit 3.

The main body unit 2 has a box-shaped cabinet 4 that is formed in a box shape with an open front and is provided with a door 5 that covers the front opening so as to be openable and closable. Further, inside the cabinet 4, there is provided an article storage section 6 for storing articles.

The operation unit 3 is disposed adjacent to the side of the main unit 2, and includes a product selection switch and a billing section for accepting and disbursing fees in banknotes, coins, etc., or for making payments by card. The operation unit 3 transmits a sales command to the main unit 2 when a fee is paid in the billing section and a product selection operation is performed using a selection switch (product purchase operation panel 82 to be described later).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a transparent plate 10 made of transparent glass or resin is provided on the upper front side of the door 5 of the main unit 2 so that the inside can be visually recognized. A rectangular article outlet 11 is provided at the bottom of the door 5. The article outlet 11 is provided with a rectangular plate-shaped outlet shutter 12 . The outlet shutter 12 is supported by the upper edge of the article outlet 11 so as to be swingable in the front-rear direction. The outlet shutter 12 closes the article outlet 11 at a closed position extending in the vertical direction, and opens the article outlet 11 by swinging its lower portion forward from this closed position.

The article storage section 6 inside the cabinet 4 is configured with a plurality of (for example, six) shelves 13a to 13f arranged at intervals in the vertical direction and each having an open front.

Between the front ends of the shelves 13a to 13f and the transparent plate 10, which is the front surface of the door 5, there is provided a space (hereinafter referred to as bucket movement space 21) in which the bucket 30 (resting section) moves in the front-rear direction. ing.

The bucket 30 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction in the bucket movement space 21 in front of the shelves 13a to 13f. The bucket 30 is configured to be movable in the vertical direction by a bucket vertical movement mechanism 81 (conveyance mechanism) provided inside the door 5, which will be described later. It can be moved to a lower position. Note that the position of the bucket 30 that has been moved to the lowest position is the standby/take-out position (corresponds to the predetermined transport position of the present invention), and in this stand-by/take-out position, the article take-out port 11 is located at the front of the bucket 30. By opening the outlet shutter 12, it is possible to put a hand into the bucket 30.

Inside the main unit 2, a machine room 22 is provided below the article storage section 6. The machine room 22 is equipped with a condenser 23a, a condenser fan 23b, and a compressor 23c, which are cooling devices using a refrigeration cycle. The front and rear parts of the machine room 22 communicate with the outside. Further, a lower duct 24 is provided between the machine room 22 and the lowest shelf 13f. The lower duct 24 is equipped with an evaporator 23d of cooling equipment and a fan 23e for the evaporator 23d. The fan 23e generates a flow of air that passes through the evaporator 23d from the front to the rear of the lower duct 24.

A rear portion of the lower duct 24 communicates with a rear duct 25 extending vertically behind the article storage section 6. Further, above the article storage section 6, an upper duct 26 extending in the front-rear direction is provided.

The front opening of the upper duct 26 opens toward the upper part of the bucket movement space 21. Further, a baffle plate 27 is provided at the upper edge of the front opening of the upper duct, and is inclined downwardly toward the front at an angle of 45 degrees, for example.

On the other hand, a back panel 28 is provided at the front end of the lower duct 24. The back panel 28 extends in the vertical direction and partitions the lower duct 24 and the bucket movement space 21 in front of the lower duct 24. Further, in the upper slope portion 28a of the back panel 28, a plurality of ventilation holes 28c each having a diameter of about several mm are arranged vertically and horizontally at approximately 1 cm intervals.

As shown by the arrows in FIG. 2, by operating each of the cooling devices, especially the fan 23e in the lower duct 24, the cooling air that has passed through the evaporator 23d and is cooled is transferred to the lower duct 24. Cooling air circulates through the rear duct 25, upper duct 26, bucket moving space 21, and lower duct 24 in this order. Note that a portion of the cooling air from the rear duct 25 moves forward between the shelves 13a to 13f to cool the products stored on the shelves 13a to 13f.

When the cooling air moves from the upper duct 26 to the bucket moving space 21, the cooling air moves downward from the rear of the bucket moving space 21 by the air guide plate 27, and flows from the ventilation hole 28c of the back panel 28 to the lower duct 24. Cooling air moves to. Therefore, an air curtain is formed in front of the shelves 13a to 13f by the cooling air. Thereby, the cooling air is prevented from coming into contact with the transparent plate 10 of the door 5, and fogging of the transparent plate 10 of the door 5 can be suppressed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the shelf 13 (13a to 13f) has a bottom plate 51, left and right side plates 52, and a back plate 53, and is formed in a box shape with an open top and front. Further, the shelf 13 is equipped with a carry-out mechanism 55 and a partition plate 71.

The unloading mechanism 55 includes a spiral portion 57 formed of a metal rod having a diameter of several mm in a spiral shape, and a drive portion 60 that rotationally drives the spiral portion 57 . The length of the spiral portion 57 in the axial direction is approximately the same as the longitudinal length of the bottom plate 51, and is arranged between the partition plates 71 or between the partition plate 71 and the side plate 52, respectively. Note that the space between adjacent partition plates 71 or between the partition plate 71 and the side plate 52 is a column 72, and a carry-out mechanism 55 is installed in each column 72, respectively.

A plurality of partition plates 71 extend in the front-rear direction on the bottom plate 51 and are arranged between the left and right side plates 52 at intervals in the left-right direction. The partition plates are detachably fixed to a plurality of attachment points provided on the bottom plate 51 and the back plate 53 of the shelf 13.

The drive section 60 is supported by the back plate 53 of the shelf 13, fixes the rear end of the spiral section 57, and rotates the spiral section 57 with the axis of the spiral section 57 as a rotation axis.

The drive section 60 includes a motor 61 and a transmission section 62.

The transmission section 62 has a built-in transmission gear and is arranged on the rear side of the back plate 53 of the shelf 13.

A motor 61 is fixed to the upper rear side of the transmission section 62. A gear shaft (not shown) extending in the longitudinal direction is provided at the lower part of the transmission section 62, and the rear end of the spiral section 57 is fixed to the front end of the gear shaft. The spiral portion 57 is rotated by the drive of the motor 61 via the transmission portion 62 and the gear shaft.

Further, inside the spiral portion 57, a rectangular box-shaped pedestal 70 is provided that extends in the front-rear direction parallel to the axis of the spiral portion 57. The pedestal 70 is supported by the bottom plate 51 of the shelf 13, and the top surface of the pedestal 70 is set to be vertically aligned with the axis of the spiral portion 57.

The products are placed on the pedestal 70 from between the front pitches so as to be held between the pitches of the spiral portions 57. By rotating the spiral part 57 by one pitch, the product held by the spiral part 57 moves forward, and the product supported furthest forward of the spiral part 57 is carried forward from the column 72 of the shelf 13. Ru. The products carried forward from the shelf 13 fall into the bucket 30 located in the bucket movement space 21.

As shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, six columns 72 are formed on one shelf 13, and six columns 72 are provided with unloading mechanisms 55. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, six shelves 13a to 13f are installed in the article storage section 6 inside the cabinet 4. It is assumed that each of the six shelves 13a to 13f is equipped with six columns 72 and a carry-out mechanism 55. Therefore, the vending machine 1 of this embodiment can store and sell 6×6=36 types of products.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the bucket 30 of this embodiment is equipped with a product lateral movement mechanism 75 (article lateral movement mechanism) at the bottom of the bucket 30. The product lateral movement mechanism 75 includes a belt conveyor 76. The belt conveyor 76 is arranged to extend in the left-right direction so as to include all left and right positions of the shelves 13. The belt conveyor 76 is driven by a motor (not shown) and is configured to be movable in the left-right direction.

The upper surface of the belt conveyor 76 is approximately horizontal, and its front, rear, left, and right positions and length are set so that products carried out from any column 72 of the shelves 13 whose vertical positions are aligned can be placed thereon. There is.

Further, the front part of the bucket 30 is provided with a product presence/absence detection sensor 77 (article detection section) that detects whether a product is placed on the belt conveyor 76. Product presence detection sensors 77 are provided in front of each row of columns 72 (six in total in this embodiment), and products are placed on the left and right positions of the belt conveyor 76 corresponding to the columns 72 in each row. detect that

Next, the unloading control device 80 will be explained using FIGS. 5 to 7.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the unloading control device 80 of this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a part of the unloading control procedure in the unloading control device 80. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the remainder of the unloading control procedure in the unloading control device 80. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of product storage. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a first example of the delivery order and lateral movement of the products, and the corresponding positions of the products on the belt conveyor. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a second example of the delivery order and the lateral movement of the products, and the corresponding positions of the products on the belt conveyor. Note that in FIGS. 8 to 10, one rectangle represents one column 72.

As shown in FIG. 5, the unloading control device 80 of this embodiment includes a product purchase operation panel 82 (item selection section), an information input panel 83, a control unit 90 (control section), a bucket vertical movement mechanism 81, It includes a product lateral movement mechanism 75, a product presence/absence detection sensor 77, and a delivery mechanism 55.

The product purchase operation panel 82 is provided in the operation unit 3, for example, and is constituted by a liquid crystal panel, and is a device for performing selection operations when selling products. In this embodiment, in addition to the normal sale in which the products to be purchased are selected one by one and the products are transported to the vicinity of the product takeout port 11, the products to be purchased may be selected in bulk using the product purchase operation panel 82. Thus, it is possible to carry out so-called bulk purchasing (multi-item conveyance control) in which a plurality of articles are placed on the bucket 30 and conveyed to the article takeout port 11.

The information input panel 83 is an operating device for inputting vending machine information and product location information, which will be described later. The information input panel 83 may be used in conjunction with the product purchase operation panel 82 of the vending machine 1 for instructions by an administrator using a predetermined command, or may be a handy type terminal connected to the control unit 90. Good too.

Information may be entered by the administrator, owner, or the like of the vending machine 1 through the information input panel 83.

The bucket vertical movement mechanism 81 is a mechanism for vertically moving the bucket 30 as described above, and includes an actuator whose operation is controlled by the control unit 90. The mechanism 81 for vertically moving the bucket has an actuator controlled by the control unit 90 to carry out the product from the carry-out mechanism 55 to the bucket 30. It is controlled to move so as to substantially match the vertical position of the pedestal 70 of 13a to 13f.

The control unit 90 includes an input/output device, a storage device 91 (ROM, RAM, nonvolatile RAM, etc.), a central processing unit (CPU), a timer, and the like.

The control unit 90 stores various information input from the information input panel 83 in a storage device 91, and also inputs the type of purchased product from the product purchase operation panel 82 and the information on the belt conveyor 76 from the product presence/absence detection sensor 77. Information on the placement position of the product is input, and the bucket vertical movement mechanism 81, product lateral movement mechanism 75, and transport mechanism 55 of each shelf are operated and controlled.

Vending machine information and product location information (article location information) are input and stored in the storage device 91 as various information from the information input panel 83.

The vending machine information is, for example, the number of products arranged, which is six in this embodiment.

The product position information is the position information of the column 72 in which various products are stored. Specifically, the product position information defines the column 72 in which the product is stored for each product type by the shelves 13a to 13f (levels) and rows.

The control unit 90 also includes a bulk purchase permission determination section 92, a carry-out order/product lateral movement setting section 93 (setting section), a product carry-out control section 94, a product lateral movement control section 95, an elevator control section 96, and a carry-out status determination section. 97, a purchased product position determining section 98 is provided.

The bulk purchase possibility determination unit 92 selects various information stored in the storage device 91, purchase product instruction information (purchase product instruction information) instructed by the product purchase operation panel 82, and the products stored in the storage device 91. The location information is read and it is determined whether bulk purchasing is possible.

The carry-out order/product lateral movement setting unit 93 sets the carry-out order of the purchased products to be placed on the bucket 30 and the product lateral movement mechanism for the products placed on the bucket 30 when the bulk purchase determination unit 92 determines that bulk purchase is possible. 75 to set horizontal movement (left/right movement).

The product carry-out control unit 94 controls each carry-out mechanism 55 so that the purchased products are loaded onto the bucket 30 in the carry-out order set by the carry-out order/product lateral movement setting unit 93.

The product lateral movement control unit 95 controls the product lateral movement mechanism 75 to horizontally move (left and right) the product set in the delivery order/product lateral movement setting unit 93.

The elevator control unit 96 controls the operation of the bucket vertical movement mechanism 81 based on the carry-out order set in the carry-out order/product lateral movement setting unit 93.

The carry-out status determination unit 97 determines the carry-out status of the product to the bucket 30, more specifically, the placement position (row) of the product on the belt conveyor 76, based on the detection signal of the product presence/absence detection sensor 77.

The purchased product position determination unit 98 determines the position information of the purchased product column 72 based on the product location information stored in the storage device 91 and the purchase product selection information input from the product purchase operation panel 82. do.

The carry-out control shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is executed by the control unit 90 when a product purchase operation is performed using the product purchase operation panel 82.

First, in step S10, selection information of the purchased product selected from the product purchase operation panel 82 is input into the storage device 91. Then, the process advances to step S20.

In step S20, the purchased product position determination unit 92 checks the storage position of the purchased product based on the product location information stored in the storage device 91 and the selection information of the purchased product inputted into the storage device 91 in step S10. do. Here, the storage position is the row or stage of the column 72 in which the purchased product is stored. Specifically, from the product purchase operation panel 82, the user inputs into the storage device 91 which column or column 72 the product was operated to purchase, and the column or column of the target product for which the purchase operation was performed. Then, the process advances to step S30.

In step S30, the bulk purchase determination unit 92 determines whether the purchased products are placed on the belt conveyor 76 based on the storage position of the purchased products confirmed in step S20 and the placement position of the products on the belt conveyor 76 determined by the carry-out status determination unit 97. In step S20, it is determined whether or not there is a product at the same lateral position (front) as the storage position (column) of the purchased product input in step S20. If it is determined that there is a product in front of (in the same row) the storage position of the purchased product, the process advances to step S40. If it is determined that there is no product in front of (in the same row) the storage position of the purchased product, the process advances to step S50.

In step S40, the bulk purchase permission determination unit 92 determines whether bulk purchase is possible. The decision as to whether or not bulk purchasing is possible is made by moving the products that have already been carried out onto the belt conveyor 76 in the bucket 30 horizontally by a predetermined distance by the belt conveyor 76, so that the next product ordered to be purchased is stacked on top of the products on the belt conveyor 76. It is determined whether or not it is carried out onto the belt conveyor 76 without any damage. Here, the belt conveyor 76 may be moved to either the left or right. Further, the predetermined distance in this step is, for example, the width of one column 72, or the distance of the width of two or more columns 72. If it is determined that the product can be purchased in bulk, that is, the next product to be purchased will be carried out onto the belt conveyor 76 without being stacked on top of the products on the belt conveyor 76, the process advances to step S50. Bulk purchasing is not possible, that is, no matter how the belt conveyor 76 is moved from side to side, it is determined that the next product to be purchased cannot be delivered onto the belt conveyor 76 without being piled up on top of the products on the belt conveyor 76. If so, the process advances to step S60.

Note that even if the product lateral movement mechanism 75 operates the belt conveyor 76 to move the product laterally, the product ordered for purchase will not be stacked on top of the products on the belt conveyor 76 and will be carried out onto the belt conveyor 76. If the bulk purchase availability determination unit 92 determines that it is not possible to carry out the bulk purchase, it is preferable to change the order of carrying out and confirm whether further carrying out is possible.

Hereinafter, a specific example will be described of a method for determining whether or not bulk purchasing is possible by changing the delivery order and lateral movement of products.

The delivery order is defined by which product is to be delivered onto the belt conveyor 76 among the multiple products ordered for purchase in bulk purchasing, the type of product, or the position (stage, row) of the column 72 in which the products are stored. .

The product lateral movement is defined by how many widths of the columns 72 the belt conveyor 76 is to be moved in either left or right direction, that is, by the moving direction and the moving distance. For example, it is defined as "one column to the right."

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, assume that products a, b, c, and d are selected for bulk purchase in a vending machine having three columns and five columns 72. In addition, a is the column 72 in the first row from the top and second from the left, b is the column 72 in the second row from the top and second from the left, c is the column 72 in the second row from the top and third from the left, and d is the top column 72. It is assumed that the storage device is housed in the third column 72 from the left in the third row.

As in the first example shown in FIG. 9, if the ordered purchase order of a → b → c → d is set as the unloading order, the item a is moved to the left by the width of one column 72 after being unloaded. It is possible to carry out the next product b and then carry out the product c, but no matter how much you move the belt conveyor 76 from side to side to carry out the next product d, it will not be possible to carry out the next product d on the belt conveyor 76. Product d is stacked on top of any of the products a to c. This is because the horizontal movement of the belt conveyor 76 is restricted so that the products already placed on the belt conveyor 76 do not move outward beyond the left and right ends of the belt conveyor 76.

Therefore, as in the second example shown in FIG. 10, the delivery order is changed to c→d→a→b. After carrying out the product c, it is moved to the right by the width of one column 72, then the product d is carried out, and then the product a is carried out, and then moved to the right by the width of one column 72. By doing this, product b is then transported onto the belt conveyor 76 without being piled up on top of other products c, d, and a.

As shown in FIG. 10, if all the products can be carried out without being piled up on the belt conveyor 76 by simply moving the products horizontally but also by changing the delivery order, it is determined that bulk purchasing is possible and the process proceeds to step S50. No matter how the lateral movement of the products and the order of delivery are changed, if even one product is piled up when all the products are carried out, it is determined that bulk purchasing is not possible and the process proceeds to step S60.

In step S50, the order of delivery and lateral movement of the products determined to be available for bulk purchase in step S40 are stored in the storage device 91. Then, the process advances to step S70.

In step S60, the purchaser is informed that bulk purchasing is not possible through guidance, a display on the product purchase operation panel 82, or voice from a speaker (not shown). Then, the process advances to step S70.

In step S70, it is determined whether or not product selection has been completed. Completion of product selection may be determined by, for example, providing a product selection completion switch on the product purchase operation panel 82 and determining whether or not this product selection completion switch has been operated. The product selection completion switch is a switch that is operated after selecting multiple products to purchase when purchasing in bulk. If the product selection is completed, the process advances to step S90 in FIG.

In step S90 shown in FIG. 7, the unloading process is started. The carry-out process is a process in which the products are carried out from the shelf 13 to the bucket 30 and moved to the article take-out port 11 in the order stored in step S50. The unit 96 controls the operation of the unloading mechanism 55, the product lateral movement mechanism 75, and the bucket vertical movement mechanism 81, respectively. First, in this step, the delivery order stored in the storage device 91 is read out. Then, the process advances to step S100.

In step S100, the carry-out order/product lateral movement setting unit 93 reads product information of the articles to be carried out from the storage device 91 one by one in the carry-out order stored in step S60. The product information read here is position information (row, row) where the product is stored. If a plurality of delivery orders and lateral movement of products that allow bulk purchasing are stored, the delivery order and lateral movement of products that require the least lateral movement of the products and the vertical movement of the bucket 30 are adopted, and the order is based on this delivery order. Read out product location information sequentially. Then, the process advances to step S110.

In step S110, with respect to the row of products read out in step S100, the carry-out status determining unit 97 determines whether a product has already been carried out from the same column. Whether or not a product has already been carried out from the same row is determined by detecting whether or not a product is placed on the belt conveyor 76 in the same row using the product presence/absence detection sensor 77 corresponding to the row. Bye. If the products have already been carried out from the same row, that is, if there are products in the same row on the belt conveyor 76, the process advances to step S120. If the product has not yet been carried out from the same row, that is, if there is no product in the same row on the belt conveyor 76, the process advances to step S140.

In step S120, the transported products on the belt conveyor 76 are moved laterally. Specifically, the product lateral movement control unit 95 controls the product lateral movement mechanism so as to perform the set product lateral movement before the next delivery of the product based on the delivery order and product lateral movement stored in step S50. Activate 75. Then, the process advances to step S130.

In step S130, the product lateral movement control unit 95 determines whether the transported product on the belt conveyor 76 has reached the set lateral movement position. Here, the presence or absence of the product at the corresponding left and right position on the belt conveyor 76 is detected by the product presence/absence detection sensor 77 located at the same left and right position as the column 72 that will carry out the product next. If the product that has already been carried out has reached the lateral movement position, that is, if there is no product at the same left or right position on the belt conveyor as the column 72 from which the next product is to be carried out, the process advances to step S140. If the lateral movement position of the transported product has not been reached, that is, if the product is located at the same left-right position on the belt conveyor 76 as the column 72 from which the product will be transported next, step S130 is repeated.

In step S140, the elevator control unit 96 controls the operation of the bucket vertical movement mechanism 81 to move the bucket 30 to the receiving position (vertical position) for the next product to be transported, and operates the transport mechanism 55 to move the bucket 30 to the receiving position (vertical position) for the next product to be transported. Transport the product. Then, the process advances to step S150.

In step S150, the carry-out status determination unit 97 determines whether all of the products determined to be available for bulk purchase in step S40 have been carried out to the bucket 30. When all the products purchased in bulk have been taken out, this routine ends. If all the products purchased in bulk have not been taken out, the process returns to step S100.

As described above, the vending machine 1 of the present embodiment has multiple stages and multiple rows of columns 72, and the bucket 30 is moved up and down to match the vertical position of the column 72 to be delivered, and the selected product is selected. is carried out from the column 72 to the bucket 30. Note that since the horizontal width of the belt conveyor 76 of the bucket 30 substantially matches the width of the shelf 13, it is possible to carry out the product to the bucket 30 no matter which column 72 the product is carried out from.

In the vending machine 1 of the present embodiment, when a purchase instruction is given for multiple products at once on the product purchase operation panel 82, the instructed products are placed one by one in the bucket 30, and a plurality of products are placed in the bucket 30. Bulk purchasing is possible in which multiple items can be taken out at once by moving the items individually to the item takeout port 11. This bulk purchasing makes it possible to sell a plurality of products in a short time by reducing the movement of the bucket 30.

In the vending machine 1 of the present embodiment, in order to prevent products from piling up on the bucket 30 when purchasing in bulk, a product lateral movement mechanism 75 for moving the products in the left and right direction within the bucket 30 is provided. Specifically, the bucket 30 is equipped with a belt conveyor 76 that moves the products left and right.

By providing the belt conveyor 76 in this way, when purchasing products in the same row during bulk purchasing, the products carried out to the bucket 30 and placed on the belt conveyor 76 are moved laterally to the next product. After securing space for carrying out the products in the same row, carry out the products in the same row.

As a result, even if products in the same row are designated for purchase, they can be placed in the bucket 30 so that they do not pile up, and it is possible to carry out bulk purchasing in which the products are transported all at once to the product takeout port. Since the products are prevented from being piled up in this way, as many products as possible that cannot be stacked or should be avoided, such as products that require careful handling, can be loaded on the bucket 30 and transported.

In this embodiment, the belt conveyor 76 is selectively moved in either the left or right direction as needed based on the selection of a plurality of products in bulk purchasing. , it is possible to place as many products as possible on the belt conveyor 76. This is a situation where, even though there is a space on the belt conveyor 76 of the bucket 30 in which a product can be placed, the empty space cannot be moved laterally to the left or right position of the column 72 where the next product will be carried out. This is because it can be avoided as much as possible.

Moreover, since the lateral movement of the products by the belt conveyor 76 is set by the number of items corresponding to the width of the column, the lateral movement of the products can be easily and appropriately set.

Furthermore, the bucket 30 is provided with product presence detection sensors 77 that detect the presence or absence of products on the belt conveyor 76, corresponding to the left and right positions of each column 72. As a result, after the product is moved laterally by the belt conveyor 76, the presence or absence of the product is detected by the product presence/absence detection sensor 77, thereby making it possible to reliably determine whether or not the next product can be carried out. can. In addition, by operating the belt conveyor 76 until there are no products at the next product delivery position, a space for placing the next product is secured in response to malfunction of the product lateral movement mechanism 75 or rolling of the product. be able to.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, the delivery order and product lateral movement are set based on the purchase instruction information of all products in bulk purchasing, but when the products are carried out onto the belt conveyor 76 of the bucket 30, the products on the belt conveyor 76 are The belt conveyor 76 may be moved left and right based on the placement position (placement state) of. In this case, the order of export is the set order.

For example, when the product for which purchase has been instructed is carried out onto the belt conveyor 76 by the carry-out mechanism 55, the presence or absence of the product on the belt conveyor 76 is detected by the product presence/absence detection sensor 77;
If the product is not placed at the location to be carried out, the product is carried out. However, when the product is placed at the position to be carried out, the product is laterally moved a predetermined distance by the product lateral movement mechanism 75. Regarding the horizontal movement of the product, in which direction it is moved horizontally, to the left or right, for example, as shown in FIG. 9 where product a is moved to the left after being carried out, there is a wide range where no products are placed after product a is carried out. It is better to move it to the right side, where the area without products is narrower than the right side. In this way, if it is necessary to move the belt conveyor 76 horizontally when carrying out the next product after carrying out a product, the belt conveyor 76 is moved laterally in the direction opposite to the side where the range (area) where the product is not carried is wide. By doing so, subsequent products can be placed easily without being piled up. Alternatively, in a series of bulk purchases, it may be moved in the same left-right direction as the previous left-right movement direction.

The predetermined distance here may be set to the width of one column 72, for example. Even if the product is laterally moved a predetermined distance by the product lateral movement mechanism 75, if the product (first product) is still placed at the position where the next product (second product) is to be carried out, that is, the belt conveyor 76 If the product above and the product to be carried out next are in the same row, the carrying out of the next product (second product) from the column 72 is stopped and the bucket 30 is moved to the standby/take-out position. It is preferable to allow the purchaser to take out the products currently placed on the belt conveyor 76.

Furthermore, even if the product is moved laterally by a predetermined distance (one row width of the column 72) by the product lateral movement mechanism 75, the product (first product) is still in the position where the next product (second product) is to be carried out. If the product is placed there, it is preferable to further move the product a predetermined distance in the same direction and determine whether or not the product is placed at the position where the next product is to be carried out. Regarding further lateral movement of this product, any product on the belt conveyor 76 can be moved to the left-right position of the outermost column 72 in the left-right direction of the belt conveyor 76. Until one of the products on the belt conveyor 76 moves to the left-right position of the outermost column 72 in the left-right direction of the belt conveyor 76, if the product is placed in the position where the next product is to be carried out, the next product is The removal of the products is stopped and the bucket 30 is moved to the standby/take-out position.

As described above, when carrying out a product onto the belt conveyor 76 of the bucket 30, the belt conveyor 76 can be controlled to move left and right based on the placement position (placement state) of the product on the belt conveyor 76. Since it is not necessary to set the order of carry-out, control in the control unit 90 becomes easier.

Further, in the unloading mechanism 55, the spiral portion 57 may be replaced by another mechanism such as a belt conveyor. The belt conveyor is suitable for the carry-out mechanism 55 for carrying out products that require careful handling, such as bento lunches. Therefore, by adopting the present invention, it is possible to purchase products such as boxed lunches in bulk, and it is also possible to protect the products during transport.

Further, in the above embodiment, one shelf is provided with six columns 72 and six carry-out mechanisms 55, but any other number may be used as long as there are a plurality of each column. Furthermore, the control of the present invention may also be applied to vending machines with columns 72 of different sizes, such as using the width of two columns 72 on a certain shelf to store products with large left and right widths. good.

Further, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to the vending machine 1, but the present invention can be applied not only to the vending machine but also to a storage for other items. In an article storage warehouse, the number of storage sections (columns) is relatively large, and there are many opportunities to carry out articles in bulk, so by applying the present invention, it is possible to more effectively shorten the carrying out time. becomes.

1 Vending machine (goods storage)
13 Shelf 30 Bucket (transport mechanism)
55 Unloading mechanism 72 Column 75 Product lateral movement mechanism (article lateral movement mechanism)
76 Belt conveyor (placement section, article lateral movement mechanism)
77 Product presence/absence detection sensor (article detection section)
81 Bucket vertical movement mechanism (transport mechanism)
82 Product purchase operation panel (product selection section)
90 Control unit (control unit)
93 Unloading order/product lateral movement setting section (setting section)

Claims (11)

Multiple shelves arranged vertically,
a plurality of columns arranged side by side in the left-right direction on the shelf and storing articles;
an unloading mechanism that unloads articles forward from the column;
A placing part is disposed in front of the shelf so as to be movable at least in the vertical direction, and on which the article carried out forward from the column by the carrying out mechanism is placed, and the placing part on which the article is placed is placed at a predetermined transport position. A transport mechanism that transports the
an article lateral movement mechanism that moves the article placed on the storage section in the left-right direction within the storage section ;
a control unit that controls the operation of the unloading mechanism, the transport mechanism, and the article lateral movement mechanism;
Equipped with
The control unit is configured to operate and control the unloading mechanism, the conveying mechanism, and the article lateral movement mechanism so that a plurality of articles unloaded from the column are placed on the loading unit and conveyed all at once to the conveying position. An article storage that can control individual conveyance,
comprising an article selection unit that selects an article to be transported to the predetermined transportation position from among the articles stored in the plurality of columns,
The control unit determines whether bulk purchasing is possible in the multiple-item transport control based on article position information stored in a storage device and purchase article instruction information instructed by the article selection unit. Based on the selection of the plurality of articles by the bulk purchase determination section and the article selection section, the order in which all the selected articles are carried out by the carry-out mechanism to the storage section, and the order in which they are carried out by the article lateral movement mechanism are determined . a setting unit that selects either the right or left movement direction of the article in the description storage unit and sets the movement distance before starting the carrying-out process;
When the bulk purchase availability determination unit determines that all of the articles selected in the article selection unit can be conveyed to the conveyance position at once without being piled up in the placement unit , the control unit sets the control unit in the setting unit. The article storing method is characterized in that the operation of the unloading mechanism, the conveying mechanism, and the article lateral movement mechanism is controlled based on the unloading order, the selection of either left or right moving direction within the storage section, and the moving distance. Warehouse. The article storage warehouse according to claim 1, wherein the control unit notifies that bulk purchase is not possible when the bulk purchase determination unit determines that all the selected articles cannot be carried out without being piled up. . comprising an article detection section that detects a placement position of the article in the placement section,
The article storage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control section controls the operation of the article lateral movement mechanism based on a detection result by the article detection section. comprising an article detection section that detects a placement position of the article in the placement section,
In the plurality of conveyance control, the control section causes the article lateral movement mechanism to move a predetermined distance in the left and right direction based on the selection by the article selection section and the detection result of the article detection section. Nevertheless, when the first article placed on the said loading section and the second article to be carried out next are in the same row, the carrying out of said second article to said loading section is restricted. The article storage according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first article is conveyed to the conveyance position by the conveyance mechanism. comprising an article detection section that detects a placement position of the article in the placement section,
In the plurality of conveyance control, the control section causes the article lateral movement mechanism to move a predetermined distance in the left and right direction based on the selection by the article selection section and the detection result of the article detection section. Nevertheless, when the first article placed on the loading section and the second article to be carried out next are in the same row, the article is further moved in the left-right direction by the article lateral movement mechanism. The article storage according to claim 1, characterized in that: 6. The control unit moves the article in the same direction as the previous movement direction when the article is moved in the left-right direction by the article lateral movement mechanism in the multiple-piece conveyance control. Goods storage. In the plurality of conveyance control, when the article is moved in the left-right direction by the article lateral movement mechanism, the control section is configured to move an area of the placement section where the article is not placed in a narrow direction. 7. The article storage according to claim 6, wherein: The article storage according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the predetermined distance is substantially the same as the left-right width of the column. The article storage according to any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein the article detection section is provided in front of the column, facing the storage section. The article storage according to any one of claims 3 to 9, wherein the article detection section is installed corresponding to the left and right positions of each of the plurality of columns. The article storage according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the article storage is a vending machine.

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