JPH03229394A - Food vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the proper control of sales and the stock for each type of foods as well as to perform the heated cooking in accordance with the types of foods by heating the selected food via a heating controller with the proper heating time and heating intensity according to the type of the selected food and totalizing the sales for each food via a totalization controller. CONSTITUTION:A food store room 2 has a cooling device 6 in order to store various types of cooked and refrigerated foods A, a heating room 3 provided with an electronic heater 5 which cooks the foods A with heating are provided. A microcomputer 4 contains a heating controller 4A which properly controls the heating time and the heating intensity of the heater 5 in accordance with the type of the selected food. In addition, the microcomputer is provided with a totalization controller 4B which automatically totalizes the quantity of sold foods A every fixed period. Thus it is possible to attain the optimum heated cooking in accordance with each type of foods A and also to properly control the sales, the stock, etc., for each of foods A.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a food vending machine, which can prepare various side dishes, pilaf, simple items such as spaghetti, boxed lunches, set meals, miso soup, ramen, etc. as appropriate. This invention relates to a food vending machine that refrigerates or freezes ready-to-eat food and heats it appropriately at the time of sale.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, this type of vending machine for cooked food has, for example, one that stores food in a cooled state and then introduces the refrigerated food individually into a microwave oven for instant heating. It was provided as Special Publication No. 51-9314.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in this conventional food vending machine, food was only heated uniformly, so it was not possible to heat the food appropriately depending on the type of food. Therefore, even if a wide variety of foods are sold in response to demand, some foods may not be cooked properly or may be overcooked, making them taste bad. Only one type of food could be sold.

Moreover, it is of course impossible to obtain a heating state that meets the consumer's preferences.

Therefore, this invention was created in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to prepare a large number of various types of foods that are required as consumer preferences have diversified in recent years. In addition to being able to individually heat and cook foods, it is possible to appropriately manage sales and inventory for each type of food.Furthermore, it is possible to defrost food without damaging it when refrigerated or frozen in the food storage room. On the other hand, it is an object of the present invention to provide a food vending machine that can continuously select food items and heat them efficiently even when a large number of users are concentrated in a short period of time, such as in a company cafeteria.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, the present invention provides a food vending machine that includes a food storage chamber having a cooling device for storing various types of cooked refrigerated or frozen foods, and a food storage chamber that has a cooling device for storing various types of cooked refrigerated or frozen foods. a heating chamber equipped with an electronic heating device, a heating control device that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the electronic heating device according to the type of food selected; In addition, the food storage room is equipped with a food storage room and a heating room equipped with an electronic heating device, and cold air is forcedly circulated by an air compressor in the food storage room. Furthermore, the heating chamber is also provided with a food storage chamber and a heating chamber provided with an electronic heating device, and the heating chamber is formed horizontally.
A lateral movement means for moving the selected food in the lateral direction is provided, and a plurality of electronic heating machines are arranged side by side to continuously heat the food while the food is moved laterally by the lateral movement means. The above-mentioned tasks have been achieved.

(Function) According to the invention as described above, many types of cooked chilled or frozen foods are stored in a storage room equipped with a cooling device, and selected foods from these foods are heated. The control device heats and cooks the food in the heating chamber at an appropriate heating time and heating intensity depending on the type. Then, the total is automatically totaled for each type of food selected by the total control device.

Further, in the food storage room, cold air is forcedly circulated by an air compressor to prevent frost from forming inside the food storage room.

Furthermore, the heating chamber is formed to be horizontally long, and while the selected products are moved laterally by a suitable lateral moving means, individual foods are continuously heated by a plurality of electronic heating machines arranged side by side. heated to.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 1 shown in the figure is a vending machine main body 1 according to the present invention, which sells various side dishes, pilaf, and spaghetti.
1.Product A, which is a variety of prepared foods such as boxed lunches, set meals (including raw foods such as sashimi), miso soup, and ramen, is stored in a refrigerator or frozen, and the product A selected by the customer is stored in a refrigerator or frozen.
It automatically heats and cooks the food as needed and sells it.

That is, this vending machine main body 1 includes a storage chamber 2 having a cooling device 6 for storing the product A, and a heating device equipped with an electronic heating machine 5 (for example, a magnetron) for heating and cooking the selected product A. A heating control device 4A that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the electronic heating device 5 according to the type of food A selected, and a totaling device that automatically totals each selected type of product A. A control device 4B is also provided.

As shown in FIG. 2, the storage room 2 is provided with a product stocker 7 in which each type of product A is stored, and the product stocker 7 stores products of the type selected by the product selection button 9 provided on the front of the vending machine main body 1. The structure is such that the product is dropped into a takeout 011 by a product takeout mechanism 18. In the illustrated example of the product stocker 7, the flange-shaped products A are stacked and stored according to product type, and the product retrieval mechanism 18 is configured so that the flange of the product A in the lowest row is It has a locking gear 7a that is locked, and this locking gear 7a is appropriately rotated by a motor (not shown) in response to instructions from the product selection button 9 via the microcomputer 4.
By the rotation of a, the product A whose collar is locked is released and falls downward.

The product stocker 7 of the storage room 2 is not limited to the illustrated example, but may have a structure in which the product A of the type selected by the product selection button 9 falls into the heating chamber 3 which is the takeout port 11. It can be set as appropriate.

This storage chamber 2 has a cooling device 6 having a known structure.
The product A inside is stored refrigerated or frozen, but at that time, in order to prevent frost from forming in the storage room 2, the air compressor 8 is used to store the product A at about -5°C to -5°C as shown in Fig. 3. The storage chamber 2 is configured to circulate air at 10° C. inside the storage chamber 2. That is, by strongly circulating the cold air in this way, it is possible to cool the product uniformly, and there is no possibility that frost will adhere to the product stocker 7 in the storage room 2 and make it impossible to take out the product A. Reference numeral 19 denotes a dehumidifying device that simultaneously dehumidifies the air circulating in the storage room 2 by the air compressor 8.

The heating chamber 3 is equipped with an electronic heating device 5, and this electronic heating device 5 is specifically a magnetron that is a microwave power oscillator used in a microwave oven. The microcomputer 4 includes a heating control device 4A that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the electronic heating device 5 according to the type of food A selected. That is,
This microcomputer 4 is programmed with an appropriate heating time and intensity according to the type of product A prepared in advance, and this program is stored in RAM or a magnetic disk and cannot be copied from another storage device. It is assumed that

Therefore, by using this heating control device 4A, for example, when thawing raw food such as sashimi, the strength is first increased and then the heating is performed weakly, and when browning such as gratin, the heating is performed strongly at the beginning and end. An appropriate heating method is programmed, and heating can be performed in accordance with the selected product A.

This program uses an optical symbol reader 10 installed in the heating chamber 3 to read barcodes etc. attached to each type of product A.
The electronic heating machine 5 is controlled by a heating control device 4A connected to the optical symbol reader 10 (a well-known bar code reader).

The microcomputer 4 incorporates a totalization control device 4B that automatically totals the sales volume of each selected type of product A on a fixed date. Total control device 4B
The total sales quantity is displayed on the total display section 1 formed on a liquid crystal display or the like provided inside the vending machine main body 1.
Further, this aggregated data is transmitted wirelessly through an antenna 20, and is aggregated by a receiving device (not shown) as appropriate, or transmitted by wire.

Next, the use and each function of this vending machine main body 1 will be explained based on the circuit diagram of FIG. Then, it is checked by the microcomputer 4 connected to the fee collection machine 15, and if it is OK, the microcomputer 4 issues permission to select the product A. and,
When the customer selects the desired product A by pressing the product selection button 9 as appropriate, the microcomputer 4 connected to the product selection button 9 activates the product removal mechanism 18 to rotate the locking gear 7a and remove the product from the product stocker 7. A falls into the heating chamber 3, the optical symbol reader 10 determines the type of barcode attached to the product A in the heating chamber 3, and the microcomputer 4 connected to the optical symbol reader 10 reads the barcode. The heating control device 4A controls the electronic heating device 5 as appropriate with a program according to the type of product A to heat and cook the product.

When the heating is completed, the take-out door Ila of the take-out port 11 of the heating chamber 3 opens, and the customer takes out the product A. At this time, when the customer takes out the product A and there is no product A in the heating chamber 3, the product detection sensor 12 installed inside the product A
It is detected that the product A is missing, and the microcomputer 4 connected to the product detection sensor 12 closes the takeout door Ila of the takeout port 11. However, when the product detection sensor 12 detects the product A, the electronic heating device 5
Even after the heating is finished, the take-out door 11a remains open and does not close.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, this vending machine body 1 can efficiently heat the selected products A in succession even when a large number of users are concentrated in a short period of time, such as in a company cafeteria. The heating chamber 3 is formed to be horizontally long so that the product A selected by the customer can be moved horizontally by a lateral moving means 17,
While the product A is being moved laterally by this lateral moving means 17, the product A
It is also possible to arrange a plurality of electronic heaters 5 side by side so that they are heated continuously.

That is, the vending machine main body 1 is formed horizontally, and is provided with a storage chamber 2 in which a large amount of various types of products A are kept refrigerated or frozen by a cooling device [6]. The moving means 17 is formed to reach the horizontally elongated heating chamber 3. In this case, as shown in FIG.
When the product A is selected, the product A is transferred from the storage room 2 to the belt conveyor 17 by the product take-out mechanism 18 similar to the embodiment described above.
a, and the belt conveyor 17a is activated at the same time. Below the belt conveyor 17a, an electronic heating device 5, a product detection sensor 13, a plurality of tanks, and a belt conveyor 17b are provided, and the product A is sequentially moved to this belt conveyor 17b and transferred to the belt conveyor 17b. Roller 2 connected to the side of conveyor 17b
1 to reach the outlet 11.

Incidentally, near the starting end of the belt conveyor 17b, an optical symbol reader 10 for reading the barcode attached to the product A is provided, and the heating control device of the microcomputer 4 connected to the optical symbol reader 10 is installed. 4A, each electronic heating device 5 is configured to appropriately control the heating time and heating intensity of each electronic heating device 5 according to the type of the selected product A.

The product detection sensors 13 are also provided in the same number as the electronic heating machines 5, and are connected to the heating control device 4A, respectively. 5 is the heating control device 4A
The program is controlled to perform predetermined heating.

Further, the use and various functions of the vending machine body 1 having such a lateral movement means 17 will be explained based on the circuit diagram of FIG. is stored in the toll collection machine 15, and the toll collection machine 1
The product A is checked by the microcomputer 4 connected to the product A, and if it is OK, the microcomputer 4 issues permission to select the product A. When the customer presses the product selection button 9 as appropriate to select the desired product A, the microcomputer 4 connected to the product selection button 9 operates the product removal mechanism 18 to remove the product A from the product stocker 7.
falls onto the belt conveyor 17a, and at the same time, the belt conveyor 17a operates and the product A moves sideways.The lower belt conveyor 17b also operates, and the product A slides down onto the lower belt conveyor 17a, and this belt It moves laterally in the opposite direction on the conveyor 17b.

At this time, the optical symbol reader 10 reads the barcode attached to the product A, and the heating control device 4A of the microcomputer 4 stores a heating program preset according to the product A. , when the product A is detected by the product detection sensor 13, the electronic heating device 5 designated by the product detection sensor 13 is activated by the heating control device 4.
Heating is performed by appropriately controlling the heating time and heating intensity using the heating program A.

, 2. A product detection sensor 1 in which a plurality of products A to be moved laterally by a belt conveyor 17b are stacked and arranged.
When detected by each of 3, the product A is heated by the electronic heating device 5 designated by the product detection sensor of each product A.
is heated and cooked while moving horizontally. Therefore, even if the products A are selected one after another, each product can be heated with an appropriate heating program by each electronic heating device 5 while being sequentially moved by the belt conveyor 1.7b, as shown in FIG. .

In addition, this vending machine body 1 can also be configured so that the product A can be purchased with a so-called prepaid card or ID card, and by doing so, it can quickly process large quantities of items used in 4-employee cafeterias, etc. It will be convenient.

Incidentally, reference numeral 16 denotes a temperature sensor 16 that detects the temperature in the storage chamber 2 in order to appropriately set the temperature.

By the way, in this vending machine main body 1, the configuration of the cooling device 6, storage chamber 2, electronic heating device 5, heating chamber 3, heating control device 4A, tally control device 4B, or lateral movement means 17 can be freely configured as appropriate. It goes without saying that it can be set and is not limited to the illustrated example.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention provides a food vending machine with a food storage chamber 2 having a cooling device 6 for storing the product A, which is a variety of cooked refrigerated or frozen foods, and A heating chamber 3 provided with an electronic heating device 5 for cooking, a heating control device 4A that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the electronic heating device 5 according to the type of the selected product A, and the selected product A. Since it is equipped with a tally control device 4B that automatically tallies for each type of product A, it is possible to prepare a large number of products A of various types, such as various side dishes, pilaf, spaghetti-1 bento, set meals, miso soup, ramen, etc. You can select any of these refrigerated or frozen cooked foods to your liking, instant heat them, and purchase them. Moreover, since it can be cooked with the optimal heating time and heating intensity depending on the individual type of product A, completely different types of product A can be prepared, from defrosting raw fish such as sashimi to browning products such as gratin. It is something that can be done. Then, the totals are automatically calculated for each type of product A selected by the customer, so that sales, inventory, etc. for each product A can be easily grasped, and product management can be performed appropriately.

In addition, the food vending machine is provided with a food storage chamber 2 having a cooling device for storing various types of cooked refrigerated or frozen food products, and an electronic heating machine 5 for heating and cooking the product A. It is equipped with a heating chamber 3 and a heating control device 4A that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the electronic heating device 5 according to the type of the selected product A. By forming the product so that cold air is forced to circulate, it is possible to prevent frost from forming when the product is refrigerated or frozen without being heated, so product A is not damaged and can be taken out smoothly. can.

Furthermore, the food vending machine is provided with a food storage chamber 2 having a cooling device 6 for storing products A, which are various types of cooked refrigerated or frozen foods, and an electronic heating machine 5 for heating and cooking the products A. and a heating control device 4A that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the electronic heating device 5 according to the type of the selected product A, and the heating chamber 3 is formed horizontally. has a lateral movement means 17 for moving the selected product A in the lateral direction, and this lateral movement means 17
Because a plurality of electronic heating machines 5 were arranged side by side in order to continuously heat the product A while the product A was moving horizontally,
While the selected product A is moved laterally by the lateral movement means 17, each product A can be heated continuously by a plurality of electronic heating machines 5 arranged side by side. In step 5, heating can be performed with an appropriate heating program by the heating control device 4A. Therefore, even when a large number of users converge in a short period of time, such as in a company cafeteria, the products A can be selected in succession and heated efficiently.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the invention, with the first being a perspective view and the second being a perspective view.
The figure is a side sectional view, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional schematic explanatory diagram showing the defrosting structure of the storage chamber, FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram, and FIGS. 5 to 7 show other embodiments. The figure is a perspective view, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the internal system, and FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram. A...Product, 1...Vending machine body, 2...Storage room, 3...Heating chamber, 4...Microcomputer, 4A...Heating control device, 4B...Tally control Device, 5...Electronic heating machine, 6...Cooling device, 7...Product stocker 7a
...locking gear, 7b...door, 8...air compressor,
9... Product selection button, 10... Optical symbol reader, 11... Takeout port, 11a... Takeout door,
12...Product detection sensor 13...Product detection sensor 14...Tally display section,]5...Charge collection machine, 1
6... Temperature sensor 17... Lateral movement means, 17a
... Belt conveyor, 17b... Belt conveyor,
18...Product removal mechanism, 19...Dehumidifier, 2
0...Antenna, 21...Roller patent applicant Hiroshi Murakami,,! ,=゛,, 1 = 1 1 other person Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A food vending machine equipped with a food storage chamber having a cooling device for storing various types of cooked refrigerated or frozen foods, and an electronic heating machine for heating and cooking the foods. a heating chamber, a heating control device that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the electronic heating machine according to the type of food selected, and a totalization control device that automatically totals the total for each type of food selected. A food vending machine characterized by being equipped with. 2. In a food vending machine, a food storage chamber having a cooling device for storing various types of cooked refrigerated or frozen foods, a heating chamber equipped with an electronic heating machine for heating and cooking the food, and and a heating control device that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the heating machine according to the type of food selected, and the food storage chamber is formed so that cold air is forcedly circulated by an air compressor. Features food vending machines. 3. In a food vending machine, a food storage chamber having a cooling device for storing various types of cooked refrigerated or frozen foods, a heating chamber equipped with an electronic heating machine for heating and cooking the food, and and a heating control device that appropriately controls the heating time and heating intensity of the heating machine according to the type of food selected, and the heating chamber is formed horizontally to move the selected food in the horizontal direction. What is claimed is: 1. A food vending machine comprising a lateral movement means, and a plurality of electronic heating machines arranged side by side to continuously heat the food while the food is moved laterally by the lateral movement means.