JPH03291799A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To ensure safety by heating with heating coil only canned drink from which a magnetic ink is detected by a magnetic sensor. CONSTITUTION:Whether inputted cans are those for heating or not can be judged because whether the canned drink to be heated are supplied with a magnetic ink M or not is dicriminated by a magnetic sensor 15 even if the cans not for heating such as highviscous or carbonated drink and the like are inputted to a merchandise storage device 5 for hot sales. Thus, safety is ensured because only the cans for heating are heated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Field of Application The present invention is applied to a vending machine that heats canned beverage products such as coffee (hereinafter referred to as canned beverages) by induction heating them at the time of sale. .

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional vending machine, which has recently been disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 53-41295, will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 5 is a front view of a conventional vending machine, and Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line I-I'' in Fig. 5. In Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, 1 is the main body of the vending machine. There is a known storage room 3 for storing canned beverages 2 such as coffee and supplying the canned beverages 2 one by one, a product storage device 4 for cold sale, and a product storage device 5 for hot sale inside. are doing.

Below the product storage device described above, there is a cold sales discharge means 6,
A discharge means 7 for hot sale is provided respectively. Reference numeral 8 denotes a door body that is opened when an operator who replaces the canned beverages 2 in the storage room 3 stores the canned beverages 2. On the front side, there is a cold sales switch 9 that operates the cold sales release means 6, and a hot sales release means 7. A warm vending switch 10 and a vending outlet 11 are formed. Reference numeral 12 denotes a heating coil for inductively heating the canned beverage 2 to be sold hot, and is provided below the product storage device 5 for hot sale.

The operation of the vending machine configured as above will be explained.

First, when the cold vending switch 9 is pressed, the cold vending discharging means 6 is activated, and the refrigerated canned beverage 2 is discharged from the cold vending product storage device 4 to the vending outlet 11.

Next, when the hot sale switch 10 is pressed, the hot sale discharge means 7 is activated, and one refrigerated or heated canned beverage 2 is discharged from the hot sale product storage device 5 to the heating coil 12.
The canned beverage 2 is conveyed to the sales outlet 11 after supplying high-frequency power to the heating coil 12 and increasing the temperature of the canned beverage to the hot sales temperature by induction heating.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with such a configuration, heating a high viscosity beverage with poor convection may cause the surface of the can to burn, and heating a high pressure beverage such as a carbonated beverage may cause an explosion.

High viscosity beverages can be handled by lowering the heating output, but there is a problem in that the heating time becomes longer. This type of vending machine must keep the heating time as short as possible.

Therefore, high viscosity drinks and carbonated drinks are excluded from induction heating sales. However, if the operator who replaces the products in the vending machine 1 mistakenly puts a high viscosity drink or carbonated drink into the product storage device 5 for hot sales, there is a problem that the can surface may burn or the can may explode as described above. It had

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a safe vending machine that will not accidentally heat up even if a high viscosity drink or a carbonated drink is mistakenly dispensed.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the vending machine of the present invention is exclusively used for canned beverages that can be heated in advance, with magnetic ink applied to the can walls of the upper and lower lids to indicate that they can be heated. and a heating coil for inductively heating a canned beverage, a magnetic sensor for detecting the magnetic ink, and a heating control means for heating only canned beverages determined by the magnetic sensor to be heatable by the heating coil. . .

Effects The present invention has the above-described configuration, so that even if an operator who replaces products in a vending machine mistakenly puts a high viscosity drink or a carbonated drink into the product storage device for hot sales, the canned drink that is determined to be heatable by a magnetic sensor can be used. Since the vending machine only heats the can, it is possible to provide a safe vending machine without the risk of burning the surface of the can or causing the can to explode.

EMBODIMENT A vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a control block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the vending machine shown in FIG. 1. Note that detailed explanations of parts that are the same as those of the conventional example will be omitted.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 13 indicates a product outlet of the product storage device 4 for cold sale, and reference numeral 14 indicates a product outlet of the product storage device 5 for hot sale. 15 is a magnetic sensor using a Hall element,
To determine whether the canned beverage you are about to heat is a can of low-viscosity beverages such as coffee, or a non-heating can of high-viscosity beverages such as soup, or carbonated beverages, check the top and bottom lids of the can of heating. When magnetism is detected by the applied magnetic ink = 5, it is determined that the can is heated, and when no magnetism is detected, it is determined that it is a non-heated can. There is. In FIG. 1, 16 is a heating control means, the input of which is connected to the hot sale switch 10 and the magnetic sensor 5, the output of which is a hot sale release means 7,
The heating coil 12 is connected to a heating completion carrying-out means 17 for carrying out the cans to a sales outlet when heating is finished. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which magnetic ink M is applied to the upper and lower lids of a canned beverage. (a) is an example in which it is applied to the edge of the lid, (b) is an example in which it is applied to the entire surface of the lid, and (c) and (d) are examples in which it is applied to a part of the lid.

The operation of the vending machine configured as described above will be explained with reference to the operation flowchart shown in FIG. First, the heating control means 16 manually generates a magnetic ink detection signal from a magnetic sensor to determine whether or not there is magnetic ink M in the can to be released during the next heated sale in the product storage device 5 for hot sale (step 1). Next, it is determined whether the warm sales switch 10 has been turned on (step 2). If it is turned on, the process proceeds to the next step, in which the hot sale discharge means 7 is activated to introduce the canned beverage into the heating coil 12 (step 8). Next, the presence or absence of magnetic ink M is determined based on a magnetic ink detection signal manually generated in advance (step 4), and if magnetic ink is present, it is determined that the can is suitable for heating, and induction heating is performed (step 5). When the heating is completed, the heating completion/unloading means 17 (not shown) is activated to transport the canned beverage to the sales outlet, completing the heated sale (step 6). In addition, in step 4, if there is no magnetic ink, it is determined that the can is not applicable to heating, and the heating is completed without heating.
7 (not shown) to carry out the canned beverages to the sales outlet.

As described above, according to this embodiment, even if a non-heating can such as a high viscosity drink or a carbonated drink is mistakenly placed in the product storage device 5 for hot sale, the magnetic sensor 15 detects the magnetic field in the canned beverage to be heated. By determining whether or not ink M has been applied, it is possible to determine whether or not a can can be heated, and only cans to which heating is applied are heated. It is possible to provide a safe vending machine without the risk of burning the surface or exploding the can.

In addition to the effects of the invention, as is clear from the examples, the vending machine of the present invention sells canned beverages in which magnetic ink is applied to the can walls of the upper and lower lids to indicate that the canned beverages can be heated. The vending machine includes a heating coil for inductively heating a canned beverage, a magnetic sensor for detecting the magnetic ink, and a heating control means for heating only the canned beverage determined to be heatable by the magnetic sensor with the heating coil. Therefore, even if an operator who replaces products in a vending machine mistakenly inserts a non-heatable can of high-viscosity drinks or carbonated drinks into the product storage device for hot sales, the magnetic sensor can be used to heat the product. Since only canned beverages that have been identified are heated, there is no risk of scorching the surface of the can or exploding the can due to accidentally heating a can that is not heated, which is the case with conventional methods.It is safe and has no practical effect. It is extremely large.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a control block diagram of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Figs. A side view showing an example of applying magnetic ink to the upper and lower lids of a canned beverage in an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a front view of a conventional vending machine. Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along line II' in Fig. 5. 2... Canned beverage, 12... Heating coil, 15... Magnetic sensor, 16... Heating control means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A vending machine for selling canned beverages, in which magnetic ink indicating that the canned beverage can be heated is applied to the can walls of the upper and lower lid parts, and the machine includes a heating coil for inductively heating the canned beverage, and a magnetic ink applied to the can wall of the upper and lower lid parts. A vending machine comprising: a magnetic sensor for detecting a beverage; and a heating control means for heating only canned beverages determined by the magnetic sensor to be heatable by the heating coil.