JPH035964Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (a) Industrial application field This invention relates to a coin ejecting device applied to automatic ticket vending machines, etc., and particularly relates to an improvement of a coin ejecting device having a coin ejecting function and a coin collecting function.

(b) Prior Art A coin discharging device includes a hopper that stores coins, and a coin discharging disk that discharges the coins in the hopper to the outside one by one. In normal mode operation, when change or the like occurs, the coin ejecting disk is rotated to eject a predetermined number of coins.
If the amount of coins remaining in the hopper is too small, a coin ejection error will occur, and if the amount of coins remaining in the hopper is too large, the load on the coin ejection disk will become large, causing a failure. In order to keep the remaining amount of coins in the hopper at an appropriate level, the coin ejecting device has a coin detector that detects whether the remaining amount of coins is at an appropriate level. I'm trying to replenish coins.

Incidentally, in automatic vending machines such as ticket issuing machines, all coins stored in the coin supply section/coin ejecting device are collected into the collection section at the time of checkout or maintenance work. The coins stored in the coin discharging device (hopper) are collected using the chute that is used during normal operation (change is released), but the coins stored in the coin supply section cannot be collected. ,
Conventionally, a separate chute was installed between the coin supply section and the coin collection section, and the coins were transferred via this (Refer to Utility Model Publication No. 60-25641).
etc). However, this method requires a large space because it requires a dedicated chute for collection, and also requires a flapper, etc. to switch whether the coins ejected from the coin supply section fall into the coin ejecting device or into the collection section. As a result, the device becomes complicated and has the disadvantage of increasing size and cost.

Therefore, it is mechanically simple and desirable to collect coins from the coin supply section through a coin ejecting device.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention However, conventional coin ejecting devices only have a mechanism for ejecting coins one by one, and do not have a mechanism for ejecting a large number of coins for collection. Ta.
In addition, if the coins to be collected are allowed to flow all at once from the coin supply section into the hopper, the coins will overflow from the hopper, so it is necessary to control the inflow amount. Since only a coin detector was provided to set the level of remaining coins in the mode, coins could only be input little by little from the coin supply section, making it impossible to quickly collect coins.

This idea was made in view of these problems, and the above-mentioned drawbacks were solved by providing an opening that can be opened and closed on the side wall of the hopper, as well as separately installing a coin detector to set the level when collecting coins. The purpose is to provide a release device.

(d) Means for solving the problem This invention consists of an upright cylindrical hopper that stores coins supplied from an upper coin supply section, and a coin discharge disk that discharges the coins in this hopper to the outside one by one. In the coin discharging device, the side wall of the hopper is provided with an opening and a shutter for opening and closing the opening, and the inner wall of the hopper is provided with a low level detector for detecting a remaining amount of coins at a low level. a high-level level detector that detects the remaining amount of high-level coins;
a switching means for switching the operation mode from a normal mode in which coins are ejected one by one from the coin ejecting disk to a collection mode in which coins are collected through the opening; and in the normal mode, the remaining amount of coins is a normal supply means for replenishing coins from the coin supply section so as to maintain the level of the low level detector; and in a collection mode, the shutter is opened and the remaining amount of coins in the hopper reaches the level of the high level detector; The present invention is characterized in that it is further provided with a recovery replenishing means for causing coins to flow in from the coin replenishing section so as to maintain the coins.

(e) Function The coin discharging device of this invention has an opening in the side wall of the hopper that can be opened and closed by a shutter, and also has a low level detector and a high level detector inside the hopper. During normal operation, the remaining amount of coins is controlled based on the low level detector, and when collecting coins, the opening is opened and the remaining amount of coins is controlled based on the high level detector.

That is, during normal operation, the remaining amount of coins is set at a low level so that the disk rotates smoothly and coins can be ejected one by one accurately. When switched to the collection mode by the switching means, the collection shutter is opened to discharge coins in the hopper into the chute, and coins in the coin supply section flow into the hopper. With this, the coins in the coin supply section can also be quickly collected from the opening of the hopper. At this time,
The coin level to prevent overflowing the hopper is set by a high level detector. As a result, a larger amount of coins flows into the hopper than in the normal mode, and the coins can be collected more efficiently.
In addition, since there is no need to drive the coin discharge disk in the collection mode (except when collecting the coins remaining in the hopper at the end), there is no problem even if a large amount of coins flow into the hopper.

(f) Embodiment FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an automatic ticket vending machine equipped with a coin ejecting device, which is an embodiment of this invention.

In the figure, 1 is a cassette-type coin supply device;
2 is a coin supply control device that discharges the coins in the coin supply device 1 to a supply chute 3 based on a coin supply start signal, and the coin discharge port of the coin supply chute 3 faces the hopper opening of the coin discharge device 4. are doing. The coin supply device 1, the coin supply control device 2, and the coin supply chute 3 correspond to the coin supply section of this invention. Note that another coin discharging device 5 arranged in parallel with the coin discharging device 4 uses only the coins input from the coin input port 6 for replenishment.

Figure 2 is a front view of the coin ejecting device 4, and Figure 3 is a front view of the coin ejecting device 4.
4 are a left side view and a plan view of the discharge device, respectively.

The upright cylindrical hopper 40 is open at the top, and supports on its inner bottom surface a coin discharging disk 41 having a conical top surface and having a total of five coin guide holes 41a bored in its outer periphery. This coin discharge disk 41 is connected to the rotating shaft of a motor 42, and as the motor 42 rotates, the coins in the hopper 40 are pushed out one by one to the coin discharge port 43. A set of low level detectors S1 (SL) for detecting the remaining amount of coins at a low level and a set of high level detectors S1 (SH) for detecting the remaining amount of coins at a high level are attached to the side wall of the hopper 40. Each detector outputs an on signal when the remaining coin level falls below the level regulated by that detector.

An opening 44 is formed in the side wall of the hopper directly above the coin discharge port 43, and a shutter 45 for opening and closing the opening 44 is attached to the side wall. The rear end of the shutter 45 is engaged with a pin 46,
The pin 46 moves the rear end of the shutter 45 in the direction of arrow A release by the clock release rotation of the L-shaped lever 47. The L-shaped lever 47 engages with the inverted L-shaped lever 48 by a pin 47a, and the inverted L-shaped lever 48
The tip of a lever 50 that moves up and down as a solenoid 49 turns on and off is in contact with the upper edge of the horizontal piece 48a.

When the solenoid 49 is turned on with the above configuration, the lever 50 rotates the inverted L-shaped lever 48 counterclockwise, disengages the L-shaped lever 47 from the pin 47a, and further rotates the L-shaped lever 47. Rotate clockwise. This causes the arm 46 to move toward the shutter 4.
5 in the direction A to open the opening 44 of the hopper 40. Further, when the solenoid 49 is turned off, the original state is restored by the inverted L-shaped lever 48 and the L-shaped lever return force. Therefore,
When an ON signal is applied to the solenoid 49 in the collection mode, the shutter 45 opens and the coins in the hopper are ejected from the opening 44 to the outside. In addition, since a flapper (not shown) is provided at an appropriate location of the discharge chute 51 at the lower part of the coin discharge port 43 to guide the released coins to a safe or a coin return port, this flapper is used to guide the discharged coins to a safe or a coin return port. By sorting to the side, the coins released from the opening 44 of the hopper 40 pass through the chute 51 and are guided to the safe.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the coin supply control device. In the figure, a screw 21 is attached to the lower part of the supply hopper 20, which is open at the top, for smoothly discharging coins to the coin supply chute 3, and this screw 21 is further driven by a motor 22 fixed at the lower part. Rotationally driven. The coin supply chute 3 is arranged so that its tip faces an opening 23 formed in the lower part of the supply hopper 20, is further arranged so as to face the opening 23, and is further arranged to open and close the opening 23. A shutter 24 for opening and closing the shutter 24 and a solenoid 25 for controlling opening and closing of the shutter 24 are provided.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control section of the coin discharging device. The CPU 60 determines the detection signal from the detection circuit 65 and the operating state of the device, and provides control signals to the motor drive circuit 63 and the solenoid circuit 64. The operation of the CPU 60 is controlled according to a program stored in a program memory 61. The motor drive circuit 63 drives the motor 22 (M1) or the motor 42 (M2) according to a control signal from the CPU 60. The solenoid drive circuit 64 operates the solenoid 25 (SOL1) or the solenoid 49 according to the control signal from the CPU 60.
(SOL2) is driven. The detection circuit 65 receives the detection signal of the lower level detector S1 and the detection signal of the higher level detector S2, and sends detection data to the CPU 60. A recovery switch 66 is also connected to the CPU 60. This recovery switch 6
When 6 is turned on, the operation mode is switched from normal mode to recovery mode.

Next, the operation procedure of the above-mentioned control section will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, step n1 (hereinafter, step ni is simply
It's called ni. ), it is determined whether the recovery switch is turned on. If it is not turned on, the process proceeds to normal mode n2, where it is determined whether the low level detector S1 is on or off. If it is on, the replenishment motor 22 is turned on at n3, and the replenishment solenoid 25 is also turned on. As a result, the screw 21 rotates and the shutter 24 opens the opening 23, so that a fixed amount of coins are replenished into the hopper 40 of the ejection device 4. After coin replenishment, the state of the detector S1 is determined again, and if it remains on, a fixed amount of coins is replenished at n3. When the detector S1 is turned off, the process proceeds to n4, where the replenishment motor 22 and replenishment solenoid 25 are turned off and the process ends. That is, in the normal mode, coins are replenished until the level of remaining coins in the hopper 40 reaches or exceeds the low level regulated by the detector S1.

On the other hand, if the recovery switch 66 is turned on, n
1→n5, first, the discharge motor 42 and recovery solenoid 49 are turned on. Furthermore, the on/off state of the high level detector S2 is determined at n6. If the detector S2 is on, it is then determined at n7 whether the collection operation is complete. This determination is made based on the output of a final coin detector (not shown) attached near the coin return port 43. If the collection operation is not completed, the process advances to n8 and the replenishment motor 22 and replenishment solenoid 25 are turned on. By the above procedure, the discharge motor 42 and the replenishment motor 22 are turned on, and the collection solenoid 49 and the replenishment solenoid 25 are also turned on.
The coins in the coin supply device 1 are supplied to the hopper 40 via the coin supply control device 2 and the coin supply chute 3, and the supplied coins are further supplied to the opening 44.
is directly discharged from the chute 51. Further, the coins in the hopper 40 that are not ejected from the opening 44 are ejected from the coin ejection port 43 by the rotation of the coin ejection disk 41. While performing the above operations, if the remaining coin level in the hopper 40 exceeds the high level regulated by the high level detector S2, the process proceeds from n6 to n9, and the replenishment motor 2
2 and supply solenoid 25 are turned off. Coin supply from the coin supply device 1 is now stopped. If the high level detector S2 turns on in this state, the process will proceed to n7 again, and if the recovery operation has not been completed, n
At step 8, turn on the replenishment motor and replenishment solenoid.
By repeating the above operations, the hopper 40
As soon as the remaining amount of coins in the hopper becomes lower than the level regulated by the high-level level detector S2, coins are replenished from the coin replenishing device 1, and the coins in the hopper 40 are chuteed from the opening 44 and the coin ejection port 43. 51 will be released sequentially. When all the coins have been collected, the process proceeds from n7 to n10, where the discharge motor 42 and collection solenoid 49 are turned off and the process ends.

The recovery switch 66 and n1 correspond to the switching means of this invention, and the operations of the replenishment motor 22, replenishment solenoid 25, motor drive circuit 63, solenoid drive circuit 64, detection circuit 65, and n2 to n4 correspond to the normal replenishment means of this invention. Corresponding to replenishment motor 2
2, supply solenoid 25, motor drive circuit 63,
Solenoid drive circuit 64, detection circuit 65 and n
The operations 5 to n9 correspond to the recovery replenishment means of this invention.

As described above, in the normal mode, coin supply is started and stopped according to the detection output of the lower level detector S1, while in the recovery mode, the opening provided in the side wall of the upright cylindrical hopper 40 is opened. , and by starting and stopping coin supply according to the output of the high-level level detector S2, the coin remaining level in the hopper 40 at the time of collection is maintained at a high level, and the coin supply level is continuously maintained against the chute 51. It is possible to release a large number of coins.

(g) Effect of the invention As described above, according to this invention, an opening that is opened and closed by a shutter is formed in the side wall of an upright cylindrical hopper, and a large number of coins are successively released from the opening during the collection mode. Since the remaining coin level can be maintained at a high level so that the coins are released at a high rate, the configuration is simplified by collecting coins via the hopper without providing a dedicated collection path, and the collection speed is kept high. be able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an automatic ticket vending machine to which a coin ejecting device according to an embodiment of the invention is applied. Second
Figures 4 to 4 are a partially cutaway front view, left side view, and plan view of the coin ejecting device. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the coin replenishment control device attached to the automatic ticket vending machine. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control section of the coin discharging device, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operating procedure of the control section. 1... Coin supply device, 4... Coin discharge device, 2
2...Replenishment motor, 25...Replenishment solenoid, 4
0...Hotsupa, 41...Coin ejection disk, 43
... Coin discharge port, 44 ... (for coin collection) opening, 45 ... (for coin collection) shutter, SL ...
Low level detector, SH...High level detector.

Claims (1)

[Claim for Utility Model Registration] A coin discharging device having an upright cylindrical hopper that stores coins supplied from an upper coin supply section and a coin discharging disk that discharges the coins in the hopper to the outside one by one. In the hopper, an opening and a shutter for opening and closing the opening are provided on the side wall of the hopper, and a low level detector for detecting a low level coin remaining amount and a high level coin remaining amount on the inner wall of the hopper. a high-level level detector for detecting the remaining amount of coins, and switching the operating mode from a normal mode in which coins are ejected one by one from the coin ejection disk to a collection mode in which coins are collected through the opening. a switching means; a normal supply means for supplying coins from the coin supply section so that the amount of remaining coins remains at a level of a low level detector in a normal mode; A coin discharging device comprising: a replenishment means for supplying coins from the coin replenishing section at the time of collection so that the remaining amount of coins is maintained at the level of a high level detector.