JPH02148390A - Automatic vending machine for hot commodity - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To well cope with continuous automatic vending of hot commodities by induction heating the commodities preheated and held at a preheating temperature in a cabinet on the way of the commodities being carried to a commodity ejecting port. CONSTITUTION:Canned commodities 6 housed in a commodity housing section 3 are maintained at a preheating temperature by means of an in-chamber preheating means 9. When the commodities 6 are carried to a commodity ejecting port 4 in accordance with vending commands, the commodities are quickly heated to a vending temperature by means of an induction heating coil 10 provided on the carrying route. Therefore, continuous automatic vending of hot commodities can be coped with well.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention heats products containing beverages such as coffee and tea in cans (hereinafter referred to as "canned products") in a machine and heats them as hot products. This article relates to hot product vending machines for sale.

[Conventional technology]

As the product heating method of the hot product vending machine mentioned above,
Conventionally, this has been carried out in the following manner.

(1) An internal heating means consisting of a combination of an electric heater and an internal ventilation fan is installed in the refrigerator containing the product storage section, and all canned products stored in the product storage section while waiting for sales are suitable for use as hot beverages. The product is then heated to a sales temperature and stored at an elevated temperature before being sold.

(2) In the product storage section, can products are stored at room temperature or in a cooled state, and for each sales operation, the can products taken out from the product storage section are guided one by one to an induction heating type product heating device. The canned product is then heated and raised to the sales temperature, and then the canned product is sent to the product outlet and sold.

[Problem R to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, the conventional method of heating products in the hot product vending machine described above has the following drawbacks.

In other words, the suitable selling temperature for hot beverages is 60″C.
It is said to be before and after. Therefore, in the product heating method described in item (1) above, all canned products stored in the product storage section of the aircraft at room temperature are kept at the sales temperature (6
An electric heater with a very large capacity is required to heat the product to a temperature of about 0°C and maintain the temperature at an elevated temperature. For this reason, the electric heater of the interior heating means consumes a large amount of power, which is a major factor in increasing the running cost of the vending machine.

On the other hand, the product heating method described in item (2) above has the advantage of reducing power consumption compared to the heating method described in item (1), but on the other hand, cans are stored at room temperature or at a low temperature after each sale. It takes a long time to heat the product because it takes the product out of the product storage section and then heats it up to the selling temperature, and it takes a long time from the time a coin is inserted until the product comes out, that is, the customer's waiting time.

Particularly in the case of continuous sales in which - many customers purchase a plurality of products in succession, the sales time takes a very long time, causing customers to feel frustrated.

The present invention has been developed in consideration of the above points, and is capable of heating and raising the temperature of canned products to sales temperature in a short selling time while reducing the amount of power consumption required to heat canned products. To provide a hot product vending machine which can also be used for continuous sales.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the hot product vending machine of the present invention has an internal preheating system that keeps all canned products stored in the product storage section at a predetermined preheating temperature. and an induction heating type product heating means that receives canned products discharged from the product storage section in response to a sales command on the way to the delivery route for sending them to the product takeout port and heats them from a preheating temperature to a sales temperature. shall be equipped and configured.

[Effect]

In the above configuration, the internal preheating means installed in the product storage section heats all the canned products stored in the product storage section to the sales temperature (6
0'C) lower than the specified preheating temperature (for example, 40"
Heating to about C), temperature increase (heating temperature range about 20 degrees)
For example, it is a combination of an electric heater and an internal ventilation fan. On the other hand, induction heating type product heating means is installed, for example, at the product outlet, and there is a
Canned products received one by one are heated from preheating temperature to sales temperature.

This is an induction heating coil that raises the temperature.

As a result of the above, while the vending machine is on standby for sales, all the can products stored in the product storage section in the warehouse are stored at a predetermined preheating temperature by the interior preheating means.

In addition, the preheating temperature is lower than the sales temperature, and the electric heater capacity of the internal preheating means consumes less electricity compared to heating canned products to the sales temperature in the refrigerator. When a command is given, one can product is dispensed from the product storage section, passed to an induction heating type product heating means, heated from a preheating temperature to a sales temperature, and then sold. Moreover, in this case, the canned products passed to the induction heating type high-heating means are preheated to the preheating temperature, so the heating time required to heat and raise the temperature to the sales temperature is short. In addition, even in the case of continuous sales, it is sufficient to heat the canned products from the preheating temperature to the sales temperature for each sale under the same conditions.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a hot product vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control system diagram of FIG. 1.

First, in Fig. 1, 1 is the cabinet of the vending machine, 2 is its front door, 3 is a serpentine product storage section housed inside the cabinet L, and 3a is the product storage section 3.
4 is a product take-out port opened in the front door 2; 5 is a product take-out chute disposed between the product storage section 3 and the product take-out port 4; and 6 is a can product. Here, in the interior of the cabinet 1 in which the product storage section 3 is housed, an interior preheating means 9 which is a combination of an electric heater 7 and an interior ventilation fan 8 is installed. On the other hand, below the product outlet 4, an induction heating coil 10 is installed as an induction type product heating means for receiving and heating canned products 6 one by one.

This induction heating coil 10 is a saddle-shaped coil with an open upper surface and an arc-shaped cross section.
170149 by the same applicant) and is a high-frequency type Il! It receives power from 11 and is excited. In addition, 12 is a canned product 6 stored in the product storage section 3.
13 is a temperature sensor that detects the heating temperature of the can product 6 received in the induction heating coil 11; 14 is a temperature sensor that detects whether the can product 6 is received in the induction heating coil 10. It is a non-contact type sensor.

Next, Figure 2 shows the sales and heating control system diagram for canned products.
In the figure, 15 is a control section, and based on the sales command signal input to the control section 14, the temperature information from the temperature sensors 12 and 13 mentioned above, and the detection signal from the sensor 14, the product storage section 3 The operation control of the bending mechanism 3a and the induction heating coil 10. Controls power supply to the internal preheating means 9;
That is, when the vending machine is in operation, including the sales standby state, the internal preheating means 9 is energized based on the temperature information obtained by the temperature sensor 12, and the canned product 6 stored in the product storage section 3 is heated to the preset temperature. Heat to the preheat temperature (eg 40'C). As mentioned above, the preheating temperature is set lower than the sales temperature, and the power consumption of the internal preheating means 9 for keeping warm is the same as when the canned product 6 is heated to the sales temperature inside the refrigerator. It costs significantly less than if you maintain it.

Here, when a sales command is given, the bending mechanism 3a of the product storage section 3 operates according to a command from the control section 15 to dispense one can product 6, and the can product 6 is placed on the inclined surface of the chute 5. rolls in an inverted position, falls from its front edge, and is received by the induction heating coil 10.

On the other hand, when the canned product 6 is received by the induction heating coil 10, its state is detected by the sensor 14, and based on the detection signal, power supply to the induction heating coil 10 is started, and the canned commercial product 6 is heated by induction. The principle of induction heating is well known and will not be explained here.
The heating temperature of the canned product 6 is detected by a temperature sensor 13, and when the temperature of the canned product 6 rises to a predetermined sales temperature, the control unit 15 stops the power supply to the induction heating coil 10. Note that the temperature sensor 13
Instead of using a timer control method, the induction heating coil 10 may be powered for a preset period of time.

Moreover, during this induction heating, since the can product 6 passed to the induction heating coil IO has been heated to a predetermined preheating temperature in advance, the temperature increase range for heating up to the sales temperature is small, and therefore the induction heating coil 10 The product is heated and raised to the predetermined sales temperature in a short time. Further, even during continuous sales, the conditions for heating the product are always the same, and the canned product 6, which has been kept warm at the preheating temperature, is heated to the sales temperature by the induction heating coil 10 and sold in each sales operation.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the hot product vending machine according to the present invention is configured as described above, it exhibits a powerful effect.

In other words, all canned products stored in the product storage section of the warehouse are kept warm at a predetermined preheating temperature by the preheating means in the warehouse, including when they are on standby for sale, and are stored from the product storage section each time they are sold. Since the dispensed can products are guided to an induction heating type product heating means to be heated to the sales temperature and then sold, (1) the can products are heated to the sales temperature in the warehouse and stored; <Compared to conventional product heating methods, the power consumption of the internal preheating means is lower, and even if you add in the power consumption of the induction heating type product heating means, which is only energized at the time of sale, Moo vending machine The running cost of the system can be significantly reduced.

(2) During the sales operation, it is only necessary to heat and raise the temperature of the canned product from the preheating temperature to the sales temperature.Therefore, in the conventional method, canned products stored at room temperature or low temperature are induction heated to the sales temperature at the time of sale. Compared to the product heating method described above, the sales time from the time a coin is inserted until the actual product is taken out from the product outlet can be significantly shortened, and the same conditions can be applied even during continuous sales, improving customer service.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) In a hot product vending machine that heats the canned products stored in the product storage section of the aircraft to the selling temperature and sells them, the interior of the machine keeps all the canned products stored in the product storage section warm to a predetermined preheating temperature. A preheating means and an induction heating type product heating device that receives canned products discharged from the product storage section according to a sales command on the way to the delivery route to the product takeout port, and heats and raises the temperature from the preheating temperature to the sales temperature. A hot product vending machine characterized by comprising means.