JPH0451396A - Cup-type automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the non-sales time of a machine owing to the block of a cup by once opening cup grasping pieces, correcting a posture and dropping the cup when the tilt of the cup is detected and giving a self restoration function. CONSTITUTION:When the cup 6 which comes out from a cup chute 24 does not jet into the cup grasping pieces 7A and 7B in straight, a system becomes a continuous shading state and a signal from a cup block detection sensor S comes to a constant state. In the cup blocked state, the cup grasping pieces 7A and 7B are controlled to execute an opening operation. Namely, a cam 42 is rotated and protrusions 41A and 41B are caused to execute an operation so that they are abutted on a cam surface 44b. Thus, the cup 6 recovers from a cup blocked conditions to a normal posture and it is mounted on a cup rest 30. Then, the cup is grasped in the accurate posture of an erect state from the cup grasping pieces 7A and 7B and a drink is poured.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a cup-type vending machine that delivers a cup upon the start of a vending operation and pours a beverage into the cup for sale. Even if the delivered cup becomes jammed or tilted, its posture can be corrected and the cup holder can be held normally.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, in this type of vending machine, the cups generally fall from the cup supply device when selling, reach the vending spout provided on the front of the main body, and the cup holding device placed at the vending spout. The cup is gripped with a handle, and the beverage is poured into the cup. For example, it is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 60-16278.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention Incidentally, a cup may become clogged during the process of falling from the cup supply device to the cup holding section. The most common of these cup jams occur when the cup falls from the cup chute and into the cup holding device.

This is because dirt at the outlet of the cup chute and dirt at the inlet of the holding device may change the falling speed or change the cup posture.Also, if the cup chute and cup holding device are tilted due to misalignment, they may become clogged. Often seen. Trouble caused by such a cup falling can be dealt with by having the operator's route man or service person visit the installed facility and unclog the cup or remove the cause of the problem, thereby making the next sale possible.

However, if the cup is manually cleared every time the cup becomes clogged, there is a problem that not only is efficiency low, but also the sales utilization rate decreases.

The present invention was created in view of the above problems, and is a cup-type automatic machine that automatically eliminates cup jams and tilted cups at the cup holding device and allows the vending machine itself to return to its original position. The purpose is to provide vending machines.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a cup-type vending machine that delivers a cup upon the start of a vending operation and pours a beverage into the cup for sale. , a cup feeding device, a cup holding device configured to hold a cup dropped from the feeding device with a pair of opening/closing cup gripping pieces, and a cup holding device provided directly above the cup holding device to prevent cup clogging and cup tilting. and a control unit that temporarily opens the cup gripping piece to cause the cup to fall and be normally gripped by the cup holding device when the detection sensor detects a cup clogging. be.

(e) Operation When the cup jam detection sensor detects a cup jam or a tilt in the cup holding device, it opens the cup gripping piece of the cup holding device that was in the timing state and was about to receive the cup, and grips the cup. To make a cup that has not fallen to a normal position due to being caught on a piece fall in a straight posture. In this way, the cup gripping piece is moved again.
To perform a grasping motion and self-return to grasping a cup in a normal posture without any human assistance.

(f) Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of the cup-type vending machine according to the present invention. The vending section 1 is a counter table section with a wide open side, which is very different from the conventional rectangular vending machine. It is considered a type of thing. Then, so that a part of this counter table part 2 can be freely opened and closed, a sales door 3 in the shape of, for example, a semicircle is rotatably provided there, and this is configured to operate like a shutter. is closed,
At the time of sale, it is opened to form an outlet for carrying out the cup beverage. Further, this sales section 1 is provided at a height position H (for example, 900 mm) higher than the conventional height position. Cups with beverages already poured into them are delivered to this sales section 1, and therefore, the supply section where cups, beverages, ice, etc. are sent out is located separately from this sales section 1 inside the aircraft. It has a configuration in which it is distributed over several locations. 4 is a product selection button.

Next, the configuration of the main parts of the beverage vending mechanism of the present invention will be explained according to FIGS. 2 to 4.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a situation in which a drink is poured into a cup and the cup after the pouring is moved to a cup vertical movement device.
Further, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a situation in which a cup containing a beverage is raised by the cup vertical moving device, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a situation in which a cup containing a drink approaches the sales department.

At each time, reference numeral 5 denotes an opening/closing cup gripping piece 7 that grips the cup 6 sent out from the cup supply device in response to a sales command.
This cup holding device 5 has a slider part 9 slidably mounted on a rail 8 arranged approximately horizontally in the cabinet of the vending machine, and is mounted in the front and back direction It is now possible to move by sliding. A drive device for sliding the cup holding device 5 and a mechanism for opening and closing the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B are shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, and details thereof will be described later. By the way, the second cup holding device 5 is normally
Although not shown, a beverage supply device, an ice maker, etc. are provided above the illustrated position in the figure, and a beverage dispensing nozzle 10 and an ice discharge hose 11 from these devices face the cup 6.

Then, the beverage supply device dispenses a beverage in response to the customer's product selection operation, and pours the blended beverage into the cup 6 through the beverage dispensing nozzle 10 while the cup holding device 5 is holding the cup 6. Pour out. At this time, the beverage supply device dilutes syrup with carbonated water to prepare a carbonated beverage, or dissolves powdered raw materials such as coffee in hot water and adds sugar and milk as necessary to make a coffee beverage. Mix. Similarly, when the customer selects a product, the ice maker delivers ice through the ice discharge hose 11 into the cup held by the cup holding device 5.

When drinks and ice are supplied to the cup, the cup holding device 5 slides in the direction of the arrow, comes to the position shown in FIG. 3, and stops at a predetermined position. Stopping of the cup holding device 5 is controlled by an optical position sensor or the like arranged on the transfer path. Reference numeral 12 denotes a cup vertical movement device that transfers and raises the cup that has arrived at the predetermined position.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, this cup vertical movement device 12 has a bell 1-14 installed on pulleys 1, 3, and 13 arranged above and below, and is capable of forward and reverse rotation by driving one of these pulleys. A drive motor 15, a vertical slider 16 attached to the belt 14, a circular trapezoidal coaster portion 18 provided at the tip of the vertical slider 16, and a coaster portion by inserting the base of the plate slider 16. 18 and a guide rod 19 for stable vertical movement.

Note that 20.20 is the spindle of the pulley. By the way, the coaster part 18 is normally positioned a little below the bottom of the cup 6 moving in the direction A, and when the cup 6 comes, the drive motor 15 rotates slightly in the normal direction, thereby causing the coaster to move forward. The portion 18 rises slightly to support the bottom of the cup and is placed on top of it. After that, the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B are opened, and the coaster part 18 is released from the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B.
A transfer will be made to. Next, the cup gripping piece 7A,
After the cup 7B is opened more widely so that there is no problem with the rise of the cup 6, the coaster part 1 is rotated again by the normal rotation of the drive motor 15.
8 is raised and stopped at a position where it enters the cup guide opening 21 which is slightly larger than the diameter of the cup to prevent the cup from falling down.

In Figure 4, cup 6 is counter table part 2 of sales department 1.
As can be understood from the figure, the cup 6 containing the beverage appears inside the sales department 1 so as to protrude from below and is carried out. At this time, the vending door 3 is of course opened to form the outlet 22 from which the cup 6 comes out.

As described above, grasping the released cup → pouring the beverage into the cup → after pouring the beverage, moving the cup to the up-and-down device → transferring the cup to the cup-up and down device → raising the cup →
Cup beverages are provided to customers through a series of sales operations such as transport to the sales department.

The overall flow of this sales operation can be more fully understood in FIG. That is, when the cup dropper 23 is operated in response to a sales command, the cup passes through the cup chute 24 and is gripped by the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B. After gripping the cup, the beverage is poured from the beverage dispensing nozzle 10, etc., and then the entire cup holding device 5 moves sideways, and Cupl → Cu
It is moved from p2 to Cup3.

At the position of Cup 3, the cup is transferred to the cup moving device 12, raised to the position of Cup 4, and carried out. By the way, the released cup is the cup gripping piece 7A.
If the cup is not gripped correctly by 7B and is tilted diagonally into the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B, the light beam will be continuously blocked by the cup, and a clogging signal will be output. A detection sensor S is arranged directly above the cup holding device 5.

In the present invention, when the cup clogging detection sensor S performs a detection operation, the cup gripping pieces 7A, 7B are slightly opened to allow the cup to drop correctly.
7B is characterized by being gripped in a normal state. Details will be described later. In addition to the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B, the means for holding the cup is provided with an oak presto that supports the bottom of the cup, although not shown. This cupless 1- is installed on the rail 8, and is movable up and down, so that even if cups of different heights are used, the cupless 1- is always fixed to the top of the cup.
The two ends are aligned with the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B.

Further, the means for holding the cup is a cup gripping piece 7A.

In addition to 7B, although not shown, a cup rest for supporting the bottom of the cup is provided. This cup rest is provided on the rail 8, and is movable up and down, so that even if cups of different heights are used, the two ends of the cup are always aligned with the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B. There is.

In addition, when transferring the cup, the cup is not moved horizontally but moved upward at an angle of about 5° in order to prevent the cup rest from collapsing and becoming dirty due to contact with the cup 6. And, below the position of Cup 2 is a cup disposal port 3.
1 and a drainage bucket 32 are arranged. This is because if there is a power outage etc. while the cup is being transferred, it is unsanitary to sell the stagnant cup beverage, and the stagnant cup prevents further sales. No matter where it is on the path, it is forcibly moved to the position of Cup 2 after the power is restored, and the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B are opened at this position so that the cup can be discarded.

In addition, when the cup is in the process of rising from Cup 3 to Cup 4 and the power is restored, the cup vertical movement device 12
The configuration is such that the cup is once lowered by performing a reverse operation, and is then transferred to the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B to be discarded at the Cup2 position. As a result, it is possible to fully cope with power outages, etc. during the sales operation, to ensure that the sales operation is unhindered, and to always sell only fresh drinks.

Next, the structure of the cup holding device 5 and the mechanism for moving the cup holding device 5 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. As mentioned above, the cup holding device 5 is attached to the rail 8
A cup holder 25 has a slider part 9 that is slidably mounted on the slider part 9, and a pair of cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B for holding the cup 6 are attached to the slider part 9.
It is equipped with

The slider portion 9 is biased by a drive device 9A to reciprocate on the rail 8. The drive device 9A is composed of a pinion 27 that meshes with a rack 26 provided on the back side of the rail 8, and a drive motor 28. Ru. The slider part 9 also includes two pairs of upper and lower rollers 29 and 29 that sandwich and support the protrusion 26A on which the rack 26 is formed from above and below. A set of rollers 36 are provided which rotate and move within the .

The pair of cup gripping pieces 7A, 7B are attached to arms 39A, 39B (Fig. etc.). These operating levers 38A and 38B are operated by springs 4 attached to the upper base frame 25B of the cup holder 25.
OA and 40B are biased in directions that repel each other. The other rotating ends of the actuating levers 38A and 38B are bent in a direction toward the center, and have protrusions 41A and 41B, respectively, which come into contact with the cam 42 at their tips. The protrusions are arranged such that the protrusion 41B provided on the actuation lever 38B side is located at the top, and the protrusion 41A provided on the actuation lever 38A side is located at the bottom. The cam surface 44 includes cam surfaces 44a and 44b where both the protrusions 4LA and 41B are in uniform contact as shown in FIGS. 10 and 12, and a protrusion 41. as shown in FIG.
It is formed with a concave cam surface 44c that contacts A and a convex cam surface 44d that contacts the protrusion 41B, and is formed such that 44d shown by a solid line is located at the top and 44c shown by a broken line is located at the bottom. There is. And these cam surfaces 44a, 4
4b, 44e, and 44d have different distances from the center of the cam rotation shaft 43, so the cup gripping piece 7A depends on the cam surface they hit.

The opening of 7B changes. This cam is then rotated by a cam drive device 45. The cam drive bag M45 is composed of a drive motor 46, a reduction mechanism 47, a drive gear 48, and a cam drive gear 49 fixed to the lower part of a cam rotation shaft 43 to which a cam 42 is fixed.

'' In the configuration of the dual cup holding device 5, the mechanism and operation of the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B are shown in the plan view of the cup holding device 5 shown in FIG. 9 and the operation diagrams shown in FIGS. 10 to 12. will be better understood.

That is, the cam 42 rotates in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise), and the protrusion 4 is formed on the cam surface 44a that is a short distance from the cam rotation shaft 43.
1. When A and 41B are in contact as shown in Fig. 12, the shaft 37
The operating levers 38A and 38B are allowed to rotate sufficiently, and the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B are opened in order to rotate in directions that repel each other due to the tensile force of the springs 40A and 40B. ing.

Further, the protrusions 41A, 41.8 are far from the cam rotation shaft 43, that is, the cam surface 44a has a large protrusion.

In the state shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 in which the actuating levers 38A and 38B are pressed by the lever 44b, they rotate in a direction toward the center of each other against the springs 40A and 40B. Cup gripping piece 7A in condition
, 7B makes it possible to grip the cup.

In the standby state shown in FIG. 10, the opening is approximately 2 to 3+ nm larger than the diameter of the gripping portion of the designated cup, so that the cup that is sent out and falls can be easily received.

Then, in the waiting state shown in Figure 10, the cup 6 that fell
When the cam 42 is inserted, the cam 42 rotates a little and becomes the state shown in FIG.
1B wins. During this process, both operating levers 38A
, 38B both operate to swing in one direction using the support shafts 37 and 37 as fulcrums. However, since the operating lever 38B has a larger number of strokes in this swinging motion than the operating lever 38A, the cup gripping piece 7A.

7B is slightly closed as a whole to grip the cup 6.

This shaking motion in one direction is performed because the beverage dispensing nozzle 10 and the like are located in this shaking direction, and the cup 6 is placed under the nozzle to ensure that the beverage is poured into the cup 6.

Note that the cup gripping piece 78 is rotated by controlling the rotation of the cam 42.

Although not shown, the cam 42 is used to open and close the 7B.
A rotating disk is attached to the upper end of the rotating disk, and this rotating disk has a projecting plate (
(not shown), and around the rotation of the projecting plate as the rotating disk rotates, there are multiple sensors (not shown) that detect the rotation angle of the rotating disk when the projecting plate crosses and the light is blocked. The configuration is such that the With this configuration, these position detection sensors detect the rotational angular position of the cam 42 in each mode of the standby state of the cup holding device 5, the cup gripping state, and the cup opening state, and detect the rotational angle position of the cam 42 in each mode of the cup holding device 5, the cup gripping piece 7A, You can control the opening and closing of 7B.

Next, features of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 13 to 15.

That is, FIG. 13 is a front configuration diagram from the cup feeding device to the cup holding device when the cup is normally gripped, FIG. 14 is a side configuration diagram as viewed from the right when the cup is clogged, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a side configuration diagram when an opening operation is being performed to unblock a blockage.

First, in FIG. 13, a cup jam detection sensor S consisting of a light emitting part Sa and a light receiving part sb detects a light beam slightly above the cup 6 when the cup 6 is normally gripped by the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B. It is placed in a position where it can pass through. Therefore, in this case, when the cup 6 falls, the light rays are temporarily blocked and immediately transmitted, and a corresponding detection output (pulse wave) is obtained from the cup clogging detection sensor S. Note that the cup 6 has its bottom surface blocked by the cup. The cup rest 30 is supported by a rest 30.The cup rest 30 is movable up and down so that the height of the cup is adjusted according to the size of the specified cup.Therefore, the cup dropper 23A
Equipped with

Cup 6 coming out from cup chute 24 as shown in Figure 14
If it does not enter straight into the cup gripping pieces 7A, 7B, the light shielding state continues and the signal from the cup clogging detection sensor S remains constant.

Therefore, in the case of this cup clogging state, the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B are controlled to open as shown in FIG. 15. That is, by rotating the cam 42, the projections 41A,
4], perform the same operation as shown in FIG. 12 so that B comes into contact with the cam surface 44b. As a result, the cup 6 recovers from the cup clogging situation shown by the broken line to the normal posture shown by the solid line.
It rests on the cup rest 30 and the cup gripping pieces 7A, 7 are placed on the cup rest 30 again.
From B, it is held in an upright position and then the drink is poured.

The flow of the above control operation is as shown in FIG.

In the flowchart in the same figure, when sensor S is turned on,
It is in a transparent state where light reaches the light receiving part sb, and the sensor S
When is turned OFF, it means that the light receiving section sb is in a light-shielded state in which no light reaches it.

After feeding the cup, the cup jam detection sensor S turns OFF → O
Determine whether a state change occurs in N (determination 51)
. If it falls normally, the light will be blocked and the sensor will be turned off.
Subsequently, the light transmitting state immediately occurs, so the sensor is turned on, and the determination 51 becomes YES, and it is determined that the cup holding device 5 is not tilted or clogged. Therefore, in this case, the cup holding device 5 that has been waiting is caused to perform a cup gripping operation (process 52), and then the beverage is sold (process 53).

If the determination 51 is No, it is determined whether the sensor S is not turned on even after one second has elapsed (determination 54), and if the determination 54 is YES, the cup 6 is moved to the cup gripping pieces 7A, 7.
It is stuck in B and is not being held properly. Therefore, in this case, check whether the flag is set (determination 55), and since there is no flag, set the flag (process 56), and then change the cup holding device 5 from the standby state to the open state (process 57). . This makes it possible for the cup 6 that has been caught to fall again, assumes a vertical position, falls, and rests on the cup rest 30. Then, the cup holding device 5 is returned to the cup receiving standby state (process 58).

After the process 58, the judgment 51 is performed again, and if the cup 6 is gripped normally by the above-mentioned process 57, the judgment 51 is YE.
S, processing 52 is performed, and beverage sales are performed in processing 53.

However, even after processing 57, if cup 6 is still stuck, judgment 51 is returned as No.
Then, the decision 54 is also YES, and the flag is still set in the decision 55, so the decision 55 is YES.
S, and sales are stopped (processing 59).

Next, the operation of the cup-type vending machine with the above configuration will be explained.

Cup holding device 5 depending on the large cup or small cup to be sold
Adjust the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B on the tray so that it is at a height that can hold the cup rest.

When a predetermined coin is inserted and a sales command is given by the customer's selection operation, the cup discharged from the cup supply device passes through the cup chute 24 and is held by the cup holding device 5. If the cup is clogged in the cup chute 24, or if the cup is clogged or tilted in the cup holding device 5, the cup clog detection sensor S detects it, and the cup gripping piece 7A is stopped.

7B is slightly opened and corrected so that it can be grasped correctly. After the cam drive unit 45 starts and holds for a short time,
As shown in Fig. 11, the cup 6 is swung and biased toward the beverage dispensing nozzle 0 side, and at that position, the cup 6 that holds the ice and beverage supplied from the ice maker and beverage supply device receives it. Beverage injection is then completed.

After the beverage is poured, the cup is moved toward the vertical movement device 12 by the drive device 9A. At the position where the cup has finished moving, the coaster part 18 of the cup vertical moving device 12 rises to receive the bottom surface of the cup 6 and place it thereon, and the cam drive device 45 operates again to move the cup 6. Gripping pieces 7A, 7
Open B as shown in Figure 12, and cup 6 is part of the coaster 18.
You can wait for someone else. After the cup gripping pieces 7A and 7B are transferred, they return to their original positions and wait for the next sale. Then, the cup vertical movement device 12 operates again, and the coaster portion 18 continues to rise. While the coaster part 18 is rising, the sales door 3 has already been opened and the carry-out port 22 has been formed, so the cup 6 rests on the coaster part 18 and exits into the sales section 1 from below. come. Therefore, the customer can easily take out the cup 6 placed on the coaster part 18 from the sales department 1 by simply grasping it lightly. Moreover, since the sales department 1 is located higher than before, customers can take out the products without having to bend down.
Don't struggle. After removing cup 6, coaster part 18
The machine descends to its original position, waits for the next cup transfer, and completes the series of sales operations.

In addition, if there is a power outage or the like during a series of horizontal and upward movements of the cup after pouring the beverage, the cup is forcibly moved to the discard position and the entire cup is dropped and discarded.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, when a cup clogging or cup tilt is detected by the cup passage detection sensor provided immediately above the cup holding device, the cup gripping piece is moved. Since the vending machine has a self-recovery function that once opens the cup, corrects its posture, drops it, and returns the cup to normal grip by placing it between the cup gripping pieces, it is possible to shorten the time when the vending machine does not sell due to a cup clogging.

In addition, the trouble of calling a route service person when the cup becomes clogged can be saved, making management easier.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an overall external perspective view of a cup-type vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an external configuration diagram of a vending mechanism showing the process of pouring a beverage into a cup and moving the cup after filling. 3
Figure 4 is an external configuration diagram of the vending mechanism showing the situation immediately after transfer to the cup vertical movement device, Figure 4 is an external configuration diagram of the vending mechanism showing the situation where the cup has appeared from below in the sales department, and Figure 5 is FIG. 6 is a side view showing the overall configuration of the vending mechanism, FIG. 6 is a side configuration diagram seen from the right side in FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is an external perspective view of the cup holding device seen from the front, and FIG. 8 is the cup holding device. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the cup holding device as seen from the rear of the rail, Fig. 10 is a plan view of the cup holding device in a state in which it is ready to receive a delivered cup. 11 is a plan view showing a state in which the cup holding device has been moved slightly toward the beverage injection nozzle side after gripping the cup, and FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a state in which the cup holding device has released its grip on the cup. Fig. 13 is a front configuration diagram from the cup feeding device to the cup holding device when the cup is normal, similarly, Fig. 14 is a side configuration diagram as viewed from the right when the cup is clogged, and Fig. 15 is a diagram showing how to unblock the cup. FIG. 16 is a side view of the configuration when the opening operation is being performed, and is a control operation flowchart 1 to 1. 1...Sales department, 3...Sales door, butt/cup holding device,
6...Cup, 7A, 7B...Cup gripping piece, 1
0...Beverage pouring nozzle, 12...Cup vertical movement device, 18.Part of coaster, 22...Export port, S...
Cup passage detection sensor. Agent Patent Attorney Crest 1) Makoto

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a cup-type vending machine that sends out a cup at the start of a vending operation and pours a beverage into the cup for sale, there is a cup feeding device and a pair of opening/closing devices that handle the cup that has fallen from the feeding device. a cup holding device which is held by a cup gripping piece; a cup jam detection sensor which is provided directly above the cup holding device and detects a cup jam or a cup tilt; A cup-type vending machine characterized by comprising a control section that temporarily opens a cup gripping piece to cause the cup to drop and be normally gripped by a cup holding device.