JPH0375994A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent fact that the surface of a can is scorched and a can explosion is generated by a simple constitution by discriminating a heating applicable can and its capacity by color marks on the upper and the lower cover parts of the heating applicable can and controlling a heating coil. CONSTITUTION:Color marks provided on the upper and the lower covers of a can thrown into a heating coil 12 are discriminated by a color mark discriminating means 18, and a heating applicable can and its capacity are discriminated. In accordance with a result of this discrimination, the heating coil 12 is controlled by a heating coil means 19, and only to the heating applicable can, proper heating corresponding to its capacity is executed. As a result, it is prevented surely by a simple constitution that the surface of a can is scorched due to excessive heating, and a can explosion is generated by heating a carbonated drink can, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine that heats canned beverage products such as coffee (hereinafter referred to as canned beverages) by induction heating at the time of sale.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, as seen in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 53-41295, a vending machine has been devised that applies induction heating technology to heat canned beverages in a short time and sell them hot.

An example of a conventional vending machine will be described below with reference to the drawings. Figure 5 is a front view of a conventional vending machine, and Figure 6 is a front view of a conventional vending machine.
The figure shows a sectional view taken along line I-1' in FIG. Fifth
In the figures and FIG. 6, 1 is a vending machine main body, which houses a canned beverage 2 such as coffee, and this canned beverage 2.
The interior includes a well-known storage room 3 for supplying products one by one, a product storage device 4 for cold sale, and a product storage device 5tl for hot sale.

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. There are three pages forming the hot selling switch 10 and the selling outlet 11 that operate the hot selling switch 10 and the selling outlet 11. 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. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the surrounding area including the heating coil 12, and 13, 14, and 15 are detection means such as microswitches for detecting the can diameter and can size. 5 types of sizes (2 in φ55mm)
50g and 190g, and 250g, 190g, and 160g with a diameter of 53 mm), and three types of capacities are detected. That is, the detection means 13 determines the can diameter, and the detection means 14
．． 1.5 is used to determine the can size.

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.
high-frequency power is supplied to the heating coil 12 for a predetermined time according to the capacity determined by the detection means 13.14.15, and the temperature of the canned beverage is raised to the hot selling temperature by induction heating. is carried out to the sales outlet 11.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with such a configuration, there is a possibility that the surface of the can will burn if a high viscosity beverage with poor convection is heated, and a high pressure beverage such as a carbonated beverage may explode if heated. be.

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 hot sales using induction heating. 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

Also, multiple detection means are required to detect can capacity (page 5). This poses the problem of being expensive.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine that is safe and can detect the capacity at low cost without accidentally heating up even if a high viscosity drink or carbonated drink is mistakenly dispensed. .

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the vending machine of the present invention provides a preheatable canned beverage with a specific color determined from information indicating that it can be heated and information indicating the capacity of the beverage inside. A heating coil that inductively heats canned beverages and a color that determines whether heating is possible and the capacity of the beverage inside are determined from the specific color mark, which is dedicated to canned beverages with marks placed on the can walls of the upper and lower lids. The apparatus is equipped with a mark discriminating means and a heating control means for heating only canned beverages that can be heated by the heating coil for a time corresponding to the volume of the contents according to the discriminating signal from the color mark discriminating means.

The present invention has the above-described configuration, so that even if an operator who replaces products in a vending machine mistakenly inserts a high viscosity drink or carbonated drink into the 6-page vending product storage device,
Only canned beverages determined to be heatable by the color mark discrimination means are heated for a period of time according to the result of capacity discrimination, so it is safe and there is no risk of the can surface burning or the can exploding, and the capacity can be determined at the same time. This makes it possible to provide inexpensive vending machines.

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 16 indicates a product outlet of the product storage device 4 for cold sale, 17 indicates a product outlet of the product storage device 5 for hot sale, and 618 indicates color mark discrimination means using a color sensor. Specific color marks placed on the upper and lower lids of applicable cans are used to determine whether or not the can is suitable for heating and how many grams the capacity is, and is provided in the product storage device 5 for hot sale. In Figure 1 on page 7, 19 is a heating control means, the input of which is connected to the hot sale switch 10 and the color mark discrimination means 18, the output of which is the hot sale release means 7, the heating coil 12,
Heating completion carrying out means 2 for carrying out the cans to the sales outlet when heating is finished
0 is connected.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example in which color marks M are 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 19 sends a color mark discrimination signal indicating whether or not there is a color mark M on the can to be released during the next heat sale in the product storage device 5 for hot sale, and what color the color mark M is. Manually start with mark discrimination means (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 3). Next, if the color of the color mark M is determined to be red, for example, based on the color mark discrimination signal manually inputted in advance (step 4), the capacity of the heating application can is determined to be 250 g, and induction heating is performed for a predetermined time (step 5). ). Further, if it is determined that the color of the color mark M is, for example, blue (step 6), it is determined that the heating application can has a capacity of 190 g, and induction heating is performed for a predetermined time (step 7). Also color mark M
If it is determined that the color is, for example, yellow (step 8), the capacity of the heating application can is determined to be 160 g, and induction heating is performed for a predetermined time (step 9). And once the heating is finished,
The heating completion and carrying out means 20 (not shown) is activated to carry out the canned beverage to the sales outlet and complete the heating sale (step 10).

In addition, if the can is not of a predetermined color in step 4.6.8, it is determined that the can is not suitable for heating, and the heating completion delivery means 20 (not shown) is activated to transport the canned beverage to the sales outlet without heating it. It is.

As described above, according to this embodiment, even if a non-heating can of high viscosity beverage or carbonated beverage is mistakenly placed in the product storage device 5 for hot sale, the color mark discriminating means 19 Page 8 attempts to heat it. By determining whether or not a canned beverage has a predetermined color mark M on it, and what color it is, it is possible to determine whether it is a heated can or not, and at the same time, what is the capacity? Since no heat is applied, it is safe and there is no risk of accidentally heating a can that does not apply to heating, resulting in burnt can surfaces or explosions, and no special capacity determination method is required. This can be provided by inexpensive vending machines.

In addition to the effects of the invention, as is clear from the examples, the vending machine of the present invention has a heatable canned beverage with a specific color mark determined from information indicating that it can be heated and information indicating the capacity of the drink inside. This is a vending machine that sells canned beverages, which is installed on the can walls of the upper and lower M sections, and includes a heating coil that inductively heats the canned beverage, and a determination as to whether or not heating is possible based on the specific color mark, and the capacity of the beverage inside. color mark discriminating means for discriminating, and heating control means for heating only canned beverages that can be heated in accordance with the discrimination signal from the color mark discriminating means with the heating coil for a time corresponding to the volume of the contents. Therefore, even if an operator who replaces products in a vending machine mistakenly inserts a non-heating can of high viscosity drinks or carbonated drinks into the product storage device for hot sales, the color marking means can be used to heat the product. Since only canned beverages that have been determined to be heated are heated, it is possible to accidentally heat cans that are not eligible for heating, resulting in burnt can surfaces or
It is safe because there is no risk of the can exploding, and since the capacity can be detected at the same time using the color mark discrimination means, there is no need for a special capacity discrimination means, making it inexpensive and has extremely great practical effects.

[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. Figure 4 is the operation flowchart of Figure 1, Figure 5 is a front view of a conventional vending machine, and Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of marking on the upper and lower lids of canned beverages in one embodiment. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line I-1' in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the vicinity of the heating coil in FIG. mark discrimination means, 19... heating control means;

Claims (1)

[Claims] A vending machine for selling canned beverages in which a specific color mark determined from information indicating that the canned beverage can be heated and information indicating the capacity of the beverage inside is applied to the can walls of the upper and lower lids. a heating coil for inductively heating a canned beverage; a color mark discriminating means for determining whether heating is possible based on the specific color mark and the capacity of the beverage inside; and a heating coil for inductively heating a canned beverage; 1. A vending machine comprising heating control means for heating only available canned beverages with the heating coil for a time corresponding to the volume of the contents.