JPH04358298A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time during which the temperature rises up to a set level in a commodity store roof of a vending machine and at the same time to prevent the total amount of consumed currents from exceeding a maximum allowable level when all or most of heaters are turned on. CONSTITUTION:A vending machine consists of plural commodity store rooms that can be cooled and heated, plural heaters which heat the store rooms respectively, an illumination means which illuminates a display part, and a control means which turns on and off the illumination means and those heaters. The control means functions to turn off all or some of illumination means when all or most of heaters are turned on.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Object of the invention]

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine equipped with a plurality of storage chambers that can be cooled and heated.

0003

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a vending machine of this type having four storage chambers is equipped with four heaters for heating each of the four storage chambers. Further, in order to illuminate the display section provided on the door, such as a sample, an illumination means consisting of a fluorescent lamp is provided. In this configuration, if all the storage rooms are used as heating rooms, all four heaters must be turned on, but when all heaters and lighting means are turned on, the total current used is from the commonly used breaker. There is a possibility that the maximum allowable current value of 15A may be exceeded.

For this reason, in the conventional configuration, three of the four heaters are turned on at the same time and one is turned off so that the total operating current does not exceed 15A. In this case, in order to heat the four storage chambers almost evenly, the heaters that are turned off are changed every time a predetermined period of time elapses.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the above-mentioned conventional configuration, only three of the four heaters are turned on at the same time, so the heating effect is weakened, and the storage contents in all the storage compartments are not heated. There is a problem in that it takes a long time for a product such as a can to reach a set temperature.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent the total current used from exceeding the maximum allowable current value when all or most of the heaters are turned on, while also ensuring that the temperature in the storage room reaches the set temperature. To provide a vending machine that can shorten the time required to lift the vending machine.

[Configuration of the invention]

[0008]

[Means for solving the problems] The vending machine of the present invention includes:
A plurality of storage chambers that can be cooled and heated, a plurality of heaters for heating each of these storage chambers, a lighting means for illuminating a display section, and a plurality of heaters and the lighting means. A vending machine comprising a control means for on/off control, wherein the control means turns off all or part of the lighting means when turning on all or most of the plurality of heaters. .

[0009]

[Operation] According to the above means, since all or part of the lighting means is turned off when all or most of the plurality of heaters are turned on, the amount of current supplied to the lighting means is reduced. The total current used can be prevented from exceeding the maximum allowable current value. In this case, since all the heaters that should be turned on are turned on, the heating effect of each heater can be set sufficiently strong, and the time required for the temperature of the storage room to rise to the set temperature can be shortened.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vending machine that sells drinks such as canned coffee and canned juice will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, in FIG. 2 showing the front of the entire machine, a main door 2 that opens and closes the front of the machine body 1 is provided with display sections, for example, display sections 3 and 4 in two upper and lower stages. In the exhibition sections 3 and 4, a large number of drink samples 5 are displayed, and a plurality of fluorescent lamps (not shown) for illuminating these samples 5 and fluorescent lamps (not shown) for backlighting are provided. ing. These fluorescent lamps constitute illumination means.

Further, below the display sections 3 and 4 of the main door 2, selection switches 6 are arranged corresponding to each of the samples 5 mentioned above. The main door 2 is provided with a money slot 7 at its center, and a drink outlet 8 at the bottom.
9 and 10 are provided. As shown in FIG. 3, an inner door 11 is provided inside the main door 2 of the machine body 1, and a loading door 12 and inner door sales ports 13, 14, 15 are provided on this inner door 11. It is provided.

Now, inside the machine body 1, as shown in FIG.
are provided, and these storage chambers 16 to 19 can be cooled and heated. The front openings of the storage chambers 16 to 19 are opened and closed by the inner door 11. Each storage room 16~
The lower part of 19 is a machine room, and each machine room includes fan devices 20 to 23, heaters 24 to 27 for heating each storage compartment 16 to 19, and heaters 24 to 27 for cooling each storage compartment 16 to 19. Coolers 28-31 are provided. and,
Temperature sensors 32 to 35 are provided in each of the storage chambers 16 to 19 to detect the temperature of these storage chambers 16 to 19.

Further, in FIG. 5 showing the electrical configuration, for example, a microcomputer 36, which is a control means, has an operating program for the vending machine. This microcomputer 36 receives temperature detection signals from the temperature sensors 32 to 35 described above, as well as a detection signal from a photosensor 37 for detecting whether it is nighttime or not. The microcomputer 36 then controls the relay coils 3 of the relays 39 to 43 via the drive circuit 38.
The relay switches 39b to 43b of the relays 39 to 43 are controlled to turn on and off.
The heaters 24 to 27 and the fluorescent lamp circuit 44 are turned on and off by turning them on and off.

The fluorescent lamp circuit 44 has the plurality of fluorescent lamps described above, is for lighting these fluorescent lamps, and constitutes illumination means. The microcomputer 36 is configured to control the power supply/disconnection of the compressor that constitutes the refrigeration cycle together with each of the coolers 28 to 31 described above via a drive circuit (none of which is shown), and also controls the power supply and disconnection of each of the aforementioned fans. The devices 20 to 23 are driven by a drive circuit (
(not shown) to perform power on/off control.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. All storage rooms 16-19
When using the storage compartments 16 to 19 as heating chambers, the operating mode is set to heat each of the storage compartments 16 to 19 by operating a changeover switch (not shown) for each of the storage compartments 16 to 19. and,
In the state before heating starts, the temperature of each storage chamber 16 to 19 is below the set temperature, so as shown in FIG. 1, the process advances to "YES" in step S1 and the heater 24 is turned on (step S2). , followed by "YE" in step S3.
Proceeding to "S", the heater 25 is turned on (step S4),
Furthermore, proceed to "YES" in step S5 and turn on the heater 26.
is turned on (step S6), and then step S
7, the answer is "YES", and the fluorescent lamp circuit 44 is turned off (step S8), and the heater 27 is turned on (step S9).

As a result, all four heaters 24-27 are turned on to heat each storage chamber 16-19. In this case, the fan devices 20 to 23 are also energized to transfer hot air heated by the heaters 24 to 27 to each of the storage chambers 16 to 23.
Air is blown into 19.

After this, the temperature of each storage chamber 16 to 19 rises, and for example, when the temperature of the storage chamber 16 reaches the set temperature,
The process proceeds to "NO" in step S1, and the heater 24 is cut off (step S10), and the fluorescent lamp circuit 44 is turned on (step S11). Similarly, other storage room 1
Regarding 7 to 19, when each temperature reaches the set temperature,
Steps S3, 5, and 7 each go to "NO" and the heaters 25, 26, and 27 are cut off (steps S12 and 1).
3 and 14), the fluorescent lamp circuit 44 is turned on (step S11). That is, when at least one of the four heaters 24 to 27 is turned off, the fluorescent lamp circuit 44 is turned on.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the photosensor 33
If it is detected that it is night time, the fluorescent lamp circuit 4
0 is turned on. However, even at night, when all four heaters 24 to 27 are turned on, the fluorescent lamp circuit 44 is turned off. During the day, the fluorescent lamp circuit 44 is turned off.

When cooling each of the storage compartments 16 to 19, the compressor and fan devices 20 to 23 are energized while the heaters 24 to 27 are turned off, so that the storage compartments 16 to 19 are cooled by the coolers 28 to 31. Fan device 20~
23 to blow air into the storage chambers 16-19.

According to this embodiment having such a configuration, when all four heaters 24 to 27 are turned on, all of the fluorescent lamp circuits 44 are turned off.
This reduces the amount of current that is applied to the device, and prevents the total current used from exceeding the maximum allowable current value of 15A. In this case, since all the heaters 24 to 27 are turned on, the heating effect is set to be strong enough, and compared to the conventional configuration, it takes a longer time for the temperature of each storage chamber 16 to 19 to rise to the set temperature. Can be shortened.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the heaters 24 to 27
When all lights are turned on, even at night, the fluorescent light circuit 4
4 is turned off, the display sections 3 and 4 are no longer illuminated, which may give the impression that the sale of drinks has been discontinued. However, in this case, storage room 16
The drinks in ~19 are not heated to the set temperature, so
It is not appropriate to sell such drinks and it is therefore not a problem to give the impression that the sale of the drinks has been discontinued.

In the above embodiment, the fluorescent lamp circuit 44, that is, all the fluorescent lamps are turned off, but instead,
It may be configured to turn off some of the plurality of fluorescent lamps. Further, although the present invention has been applied to the case where four storage chambers 16 to 19 are provided, it may be applied to the case where there are two, three, or five or more storage chambers. Further, one heater 24 to 27 is provided in each storage chamber 16 to 19.
However, each storage chamber may also be provided with two or more heaters. Furthermore, although the fluorescent lamp circuit is turned off when all of the heaters are turned off, it goes without saying that the fluorescent lamp circuit may be turned off when most of the heaters are turned off.

[0023]

As is clear from the above description, the present invention has a structure in which the control means turns off all or part of the lighting means when turning on all or most of the plurality of heaters. The advantage is that when all or most of the heaters are turned on, the total current used does not exceed the maximum allowable current value, while reducing the time required for the temperature in the storage room to rise to the set temperature. It has a great effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1: Flowchart showing one embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 2
] Whole front view

[Figure 3] Overall front view showing the main door open

[Figure 4] Cross-sectional view

[Figure 5] Electrical circuit diagram

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is the main body of the machine, 2 is the main door, 3 and 4 are the exhibition section (display section)
, 16, 17, 18, 19 are storage rooms, 24, 25, 26
, 27 is a heater, 36 is a microcomputer (control means), and 44 is a fluorescent lamp circuit (illumination means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of storage chambers that can be cooled and heated, a plurality of heaters for heating each of these storage chambers, lighting means for illuminating a display section, and the plurality of heaters. and a control means for controlling on/off of the lighting means, the control means comprising:
A vending machine characterized in that when all or most of the plurality of heaters are turned on, all or part of the lighting means is turned off.