JPH04302085A - Temperature controller for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To minimize the degradation of commodities stocked for a long time by calculating the preservation time of the oldest commodity in a commodity stocker and heating only commodities to be earlier sold at the time when this preservation time exceeds a prescribed time. CONSTITUTION:The supply time of the oldest commodity 4 in a commodity stocker 5 is set as the discrimination time. The time elapsed from the discrimination time to the present time is calculated as the preservation time. It is discriminated whether this preservation time is within a proper set time, for example, 24 hours or not. If the preservation time exceeds 24 hours, the output of a heater 9 of a heating device 8 is weakened, and the rotational frequency of a fan 10 is set to a lower value, and only commodities to be earlier sold are heated but commodities 4 to be sold later are not heated. Thus, the degradation of commodities 4 stocked for a long time is minimized.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine equipped with a heating device for heating products, and more particularly to a temperature control device for the vending machine.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some vending machines heat products and sell them as so-called HOT products. In this type of vending machine, products are constantly heated.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional vending machines mentioned above, the products are constantly heated regardless of the product's sales, so if the product is not selling well, the product is continuously heated for a long period of time This accelerated the deterioration of the product.

[0004] The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a temperature control device for a vending machine that can minimize the deterioration of products.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention detects the number of products supplied to the vending machine body in a vending machine equipped with a heating device for heating the products. A supply quantity detection part is provided, a supply time detection part is provided to detect the date and time when the product is supplied to the vending machine body, a sales quantity detection part is provided to detect the number of products sold, and the supply time detection part is provided to detect the number of products sold. A calculation unit is provided for calculating the storage time of the product stocked first in the product stocker from the supply quantity information, the sales quantity information from the sales quantity detection unit, and the time information from the supply time detection unit; When the storage time exceeds a predetermined time, the heating capacity of the heating device is weakened,
A control section is provided to control the heating device so that only the products that are sold first are heated.

[0006]

[Operation] With the above configuration, when the storage time of the product stocked first in the product stocker exceeds a predetermined time, the heating capacity of the heating device is weakened, and the product that is to be sold earlier is products that are sold later are not heated, minimizing deterioration of products that have been stocked for a long time.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 2, 1 is a vending machine main body that supports a front door 2 so as to be openable and closable, and 3 is an inner box installed inside this vending machine main body 1. In the inner box 3, product stockers 5 for stocking products 4 such as canned drinks are stored in multiple rows in the front and back, and a proximity sensor 7 is installed on the side wall of the supply port 6 at the top of each product stocker 5 into which the products 4 are placed. buried,
The supply of the product 4 to the product stocker 5 can be detected. Further, a heating device 8 consisting of a heater 9 and a fan 10 is provided at the bottom of the inner box 3, and the product stocker 5
The product inside is heated. An inner door 11 is provided on the front surface of the inner box 3 so as to be openable and closable. In addition, Figure 2
, 12 is a push button for product sales, and 13 is a sample product.

[0008] As shown in FIG. 1, the vending machine is equipped with a central processing unit 20, and this central processing unit 20 includes a supply quantity detection unit 21 connected to a proximity sensor 7 and a timer 22. Supply time detection unit 23 and push button 12
A calculation unit 25 connected to the supply quantity detection unit 21, the supply time detection unit 23 and the sales quantity detection unit 24, and a control unit 26 for controlling the heating device 8 are provided. There is.

Next, the temperature control operation of this vending machine is as follows.
This will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG. First, the supply of the product 4 to each product stocker 5 is determined based on the signal from the proximity sensor 7 (step S1), and when the product 4 is supplied, the supply quantity detection unit 21 connected to the proximity sensor 7 determines whether the product 4 is supplied to each product stocker 5 (step S1). Check the number of products supplied to each product stocker 5 (
Step S2) is carried out. At this time, the supply time detection unit 23 stores the supply time of each product 4.

[0010] Furthermore, the sale of the product 4 is determined based on the signal from the push button 12 (step S3), and if the product 4 is sold, the sales quantity detection section 24 connected to the push button 12 determines whether the product is sold. The number is confirmed (step S4).

[0011] When product 4 is supplied or sold,
In the calculation unit 25, the inventory quantity is calculated from the supply quantity information from the supply quantity detection unit 23 and the sales quantity information from the sales quantity detection unit 24, and the supply time of the oldest product 4 in the product stocker 5 is determined as the judgment time. It is newly set as (step S5).

[0012] Then, in the calculation unit 25, the elapsed time from the judgment time to the current time is calculated as a storage time (step S6), and it is determined whether this storage time is within an appropriate set time, for example, 24 hours. It is determined in step S7.

Here, if the storage time has not reached 24 hours, the heating device 8 is operated at its normal capacity (step S8), and all the products 4 are heated. On the other hand, the storage time is 2
If the time has exceeded 4 hours, the output of the heater 9 of the heating device 8 is weakened by the control unit 26, and the output of the fan 1 is reduced.
0 rotation speed is set to a low value (step S9), and only the product 4 at the bottom of the vending machine body 1, that is, the product 4 that is sold early, is heated, but the product 4 that is sold later is heated.
is not heated. This minimizes the deterioration of the products 4 that have been stocked for a long period of time.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the temperature of the entire inner box 3 is adjusted, but it is also possible to individually control the amount of heating for each product stocker 5.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the calculation section calculates the storage time of the product stocked first in the product stocker, and when this storage time exceeds a predetermined time, Since the heating capacity of the heating device is weakened and only the products that are sold quickly are heated, deterioration of products that have been stocked for a long time can be minimized, and power consumption can also be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a temperature control device for a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the vending machine.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the temperature control operation of the vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Vending machine body 4. Product 5 Product stocker 6 Supply port 7 Proximity sensor 8 Heating device 12 Push button 20 Central processing unit 21 Supply quantity detection unit 23 Supply time detection section 24 Sales quantity detection part 25 Arithmetic unit 26 Control section

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] A vending machine equipped with a heating device that heats products is provided with a supply number detection unit that detects the number of products supplied to the vending machine main body, a supply time detection section for detecting the date and time of the sale; a sales quantity detection section for detecting the number of products sold;
Calculate the storage time of the earliest stocked product in the product stocker from the supply quantity information from the supply quantity detection unit, the sales quantity information from the sales quantity detection unit, and the time information from the supply time detection unit. and a control unit that controls the heating device so that when the storage time exceeds a predetermined time, the heating capacity of the heating device is weakened and only the products that will be sold quickly are heated. Temperature control device for vending machines.