JPH04199398A - Commodity lifter control device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the occurrence of the mistake of a commodity by rotating again a commodity lifter by one turn as long as next sale is normal even if the commodity is left on the commodity lifter because of the abnormality of commodity conveyance in previous sale. CONSTITUTION:When the abnormality of the commodity conveyance occurs in the previous sale, there is possibility that the commodity of the previous sale is conveyed to a commodity take-out port 3 and the proper commodity 5 is left on the commodity lifter 9 at the time of the next sale. Then, when the abnormality of the commodity conveyance in which a conveyance detection switch 13 does not operate occurs, it is stored in a storage part 2. Then, in the next sale, the commodity lifter 9 is started again based on of this storage, and is made to rotate by one turn until a lifter operation detection switch 14 operates. Accordingly, even if the proper commodity 5 is left on the commodity lifter 9, this commodity 5 too is sent to the commodity take-out port 3, and is delivered to a purchaser, and trouble that the commodity is mistaken successively in the following sale can be eliminated. Thus, the occurrence of the mistake of the commodity can be prevented while intending the expansion of a sale chance.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a vending machine equipped with a product lifter that lifts products removed from a product shelf to a product takeout port in response to a sales signal, and more particularly to a product lifter that improves handling when an abnormality occurs in product transportation by the product lifter. Regarding a control device.

[Conventional technology]

In a vending machine where the product is dropped by its own weight from the bottom of the shelf and taken out, when the product is guided directly to the product outlet with a chute, the product outlet is located at the lower part of the vending machine and the product is removed. I have to bend over to take it out. Therefore, a vending machine was developed that made it easier to take out the products by installing a mechanism (hereinafter referred to as a product lifter) that stops the products being carried out and lifts them up to the product removal port located at a higher position than the drop point. (Patent Application Hei 2-1)
13592)). By the way, in a vending machine equipped with such a product lifter, if the product does not reach the product outlet due to some abnormality even after a certain period of time has elapsed since the product lifter was activated, it will be considered as a failure and subsequent sales will be suspended. This will result in a loss of sales opportunities until the patrol equipment comes and takes care of the problem. Therefore, even if an abnormality occurs in which the product is not transported, it is not immediately treated as a failure, but if the product is transported normally in the next sale, it can be sold from then on, increasing sales opportunities. There is.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, even if an abnormality occurs in which the product is not transported, the vending machine continues to sell if the next sale and subsequent sales are normal, but the following problem exists. That is, if a product is not transported during a pre-sale, there is a possibility that the product that was not transported remains on the product lifter. Therefore, even if the product reaches the product takeout port in the next sale, there is a possibility that it is the product from the previous sale, and if this is the case, the original product will remain on the product lifter.
It will be taken out in the next sale. Such product mix-ups continue one after another, and the product purchaser is forced to purchase a product different from the desired product each time. This invention was made in order to prevent the occurrence of such a situation, and provides a product lifter control device for a vending machine that prevents the above-mentioned product mix-up while expanding sales opportunities. The purpose is to

[Means to solve the problem]

This invention is provided with a storage means for storing information when a product transport abnormality occurs, and a lifter operation detection means for detecting that the product lifter has rotated once, and furthermore, the product is removed from the product shelf within a certain period of time. If the product does not reach the product takeout port in the next sale, it is stored in the storage means that the product will not be transported, and when the product reaches the product takeout port in the next sale, it is determined whether or not the product is not transported is stored in the storage device. A control means is provided for checking and, if stored, causing the product lifter to operate again until the lifter operation detection means is activated.

[Effect]

If a product transport abnormality occurs during a pre-sale, the previous product may be sent out to the product take-out port during the next sale, leaving the original product remaining on the product lifter. Therefore, if an abnormality in product transportation occurs, it is stored in the storage means, and at the next sale, the product lifter is activated again based on the memory and rotated once until the lifter operation detection means is activated. As a result, even if the product remains in the original product lifter, this product is also sent out to the product takeout port and delivered to the purchaser, thereby preventing products from being left behind one after another in subsequent sales.

【Example】

FIG. 1 is an internal configuration diagram of a vending machine showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1(A) is a front view, and FIG. 1(B) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a main part thereof. In the figure, ■ is a control unit consisting of a microcomputer, 2 is a storage unit that stores programs and data necessary for the control, and also stores various data during the control process, 3
4 is a product removal port provided at a height set at a position where it is easy to take out products, and 4 is a meandering product storage path 4a where products (
A serpentine-type product shelf that stores canned products (5), 6. A solenoid-type product delivery mechanism installed at the bottom of the can, 7.
8 is a chute provided below the product shelf 4 so as to be inclined forward; 8 is a product delivery port that opens in front of the product shelf; 9 is a horizontal portion facing the product delivery port 8 and a vertical portion that rises from the product delivery port 3; This is an L-shaped product lifter consisting of. The product lifter 9 consists of an endless heald 10 guided by a rotating drum (not shown) at both ends and bent portions, and a suitable number (5 in the case of the illustration) of bars 11 fixed at equal intervals around the endless heald 10. The endless belt 10 is driven by a lifter motor 12 and rotates counterclockwise in the figure. 13 is a conveyance detection switch that detects that the product 5 transported by the product lifter 9 has reached the product takeout port 3; and 14 is a lifter operation detection switch that detects the number of crosspieces 11 that have passed. In the vending machine shown in the figure, when a sales signal is issued from the control section 1, the product delivery mechanism 6 operates, and the designated product 5 is delivered from the product shelf 4 and falls onto the chute 7. The product 5 passes through the product delivery port 8 and falls onto a product lifter 9 facing below. The product lifter 9 is activated after a certain period of time sufficient for the product 5 to get on the product lifter 9 after the product discharging mechanism 6 is operated, moves the product 5 horizontally while pushing it with the crosspiece 11, and then lifts it vertically. This is transported to the product outlet 3. When the product 5 reaches the product outlet 3, the conveyance detection switch 13 is activated.
operates, and the product lifter 9 is thereby stopped. As mentioned above, the product lifter 9 is activated after the product 5 is placed on the product.This is to reduce the impact on the product 5 and ensure that the product 5 is stopped. The product lifter 9 will stop even if the conveyance detection switch 13 is not actuated if a certain period of time sufficient for the product 5 to reach the product outlet 3 has elapsed since the product lifter 9 was started. The above is a normal sales operation, but the control operation when an abnormality occurs in the conveyance of the product 5 by the product lifter 9 will be explained below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The control unit 1 checks whether the product 5 has been transported normally based on the operation signal of the transport detection switch 13 in the previous sale (step S1), and if it has not been transported, stores in the storage unit 2 that the product has not been transported (step S1). S2). In this state, check the presence or absence of the next sales signal in step S3.
), if there is a sales signal, the product carry-out machine fI6 is operated to carry out the product 5 from the product shelf 4 (step S4), and then the lifter motor 12 is energized to start the product lifter 9 (step S5). Here, the operation of the conveyance detection switch 13 is checked for a period of time sufficient for the product 5 to reach the product outlet 3, for example, 5 seconds (steps S6→S7). If 5 seconds pass without the conveyance detection switch 13 being activated (step S
6), the transport abnormality is stored in the storage unit 2 as a transport abnormality occurrence (step 513). Also, step S
If the conveyance detection switch 13 is activated in step 7, the lifter motor 12 is temporarily stopped (step S8), and it is checked whether there is a memory in the storage unit 2 that the product was not conveyed in the pre-sale (step S9). If there is no memory of no product transport, the process returns to step S3 to wait for the next sale, and if so, the lifter motor 12 is energized again (step 5IO) for a period of time sufficient for the product lifter 9 to rotate once, for example, 12 seconds. The passage of the crosspiece 11 is counted by the lifter operation detection switch 14 (step 5).
12). In the illustrated embodiment, there are five crosspieces 11, so if the crosspieces 11 pass the lifter operation detection switch 14 six times, the product lifter 9 has rotated once. Therefore, when the crosspiece 11 is detected six times in step 312, the lifter motor 12 is stopped (step 514), and step S
Return to 3. Furthermore, if 12 seconds have elapsed without detecting the crosspiece 11 six times in step S11, the product transportation abnormality is stored in step S13, and then the process moves to step S14. As described above, according to the configuration of the illustrated embodiment, when the product 5 for the next sale is transported after a product transport abnormality occurs in the previous sale, the product lifter 9 is temporarily stopped and then restarted. Since it is activated and rotated once, even if the original product 5 remains, it is reliably taken out, and the products sold after the next sale are not carried over one after another. Furthermore, even if the pre-sold product and the original product happen to be connected together and sent out to the product takeout port 3 during the first conveyance, the second operation of the product lifter 7 is simply one rotation based on the detection of the crosspiece 11. This is not abnormal.

【Effect of the invention】

According to this invention, even if a product is left behind on the product lifter due to an abnormality in product transportation during a previous sale, the product lifter will be rotated once again if the next sale is performed normally, so the original product will always be purchased. This eliminates the phenomenon of products falling into the hands of a person and then being sold one by one in subsequent sales. Furthermore, even if an abnormality occurs in product transport, if the next sale is normal, it will not be considered a failure, so there will be no loss of sales opportunities.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1(A) is a front view of the internal structure of a vending machine, FIG. 1(B) is a vertical sectional view of the main part thereof, and FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the control operation of a vending machine. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Control part, 2...Storage part, 3...Product outlet,...Product shelf, 5...Product, 9...Product lifter,
13... Product conveyance detection switch, 14... Lifter operation detection switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A product lifter is activated to carry the product removed from the shelf by a sales signal to the product takeout port, and when it is detected that the product has reached the product takeout port or has not arrived within a certain period of time. In the vending machine that stops the product lifter, a storage means for storing product conveyance abnormality;
a lifter operation detection means for detecting that the product lifter has rotated once, and storing in the storage means that the product will not be transported if the product taken out from the product shelf does not reach the product takeout port within a certain time; When it is detected that the product has reached the product takeout port during sales, it is checked whether or not the product is not transported is stored in the storage means, and if it is stored, the product lifter is moved by the lifter operation detection means. A product lifter control device for a vending machine, comprising a control means for restarting the product lifter until it is activated.