JPH0481233B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Technical Field) This invention provides a vending machine that sells a beverage liquid made by mixing raw materials from a raw material supply mechanism and hot water from a hot water supply mechanism. Regarding.

(Prior Art) Such a device is known, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 35234/1983. This device includes, for example, a regular coffee raw material supply mechanism and a hot water supply mechanism,
By inserting a predetermined amount of coins into the coin mechanism and operating the selection switch, the coffee raw material supply mechanism supplies a predetermined amount of coffee raw materials to the extraction mechanism, and the hot water supply mechanism supplies a predetermined amount of hot water to the extraction mechanism. A known method is to mix coffee, extract the coffee liquid through a filter, and sell it in cups.

Further, as a hot water supply mechanism for such an apparatus, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-221913 is known.
This technology consists of a primary chamber and a secondary chamber through which hot water flows, and the pressurizing pump's pressure feed pipe faces into the secondary chamber to serve as a heat exchange section, and the hot water in the primary chamber is transferred to the pressurized chamber. The hot water is sucked in by a pump and sent under pressure to the hot water supply section through the heat exchange section of the pressure feed pipe.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the above-mentioned vending machine, there is a problem in which liquid accumulates due to surface tension in, for example, the extraction mechanism, the discharge path in the middle, and the hot water supply mechanism. In particular, the extraction mechanism has a piston and a portion that once receives the extracted liquid, and there is a problem in that a considerable amount of liquid remains in such a portion in the form of a water film.

Even if liquid remains in this way, as long as the vending operation is performed according to the product number, the amount of liquid that will accumulate is approximately fixed, so the amount of beverage liquid supplied to the cup will always be approximately constant and there will be no problem.

However, if a considerable amount of time has passed since the last sale and the sales operation is performed, the liquid that has accumulated in the middle of the sale has evaporated and dried, so if the liquid accumulates in the same way during the current sale operation, There was a problem in that the amount of beverage liquid supplied to the cup was reduced accordingly.

In addition, with the hot water supply mechanism as described above, in which hot water is sucked into the primary chamber by a pressurizing pump and then forced into the hot water supply section through the heat exchange section of the pressure feed pipe, a drop in the temperature of the hot water can be prevented. The evaporative drying of the liquid is accelerated, and as a result, the amount of the beverage liquid decreases is increased. This causes dissatisfaction to the customers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vending device that can always keep the amount of beverage liquid to be sold substantially constant regardless of the length of the sales time interval.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) The present invention discharges a predetermined amount of raw material from a raw material supply mechanism by inserting a predetermined amount of money into a coin mechanism and operating a switch, and also releases a predetermined amount of raw material from a hot water supply mechanism. A vending machine that discharges a fixed amount of hot water, mixes the hot water with raw materials to make a desired beverage liquid, and sells it in cups. Compare the drying time memory that stores the set drying time data, the correction value memory that stores the data that determines the amount of hot water to be added, the elapsed time of the counter during sales operation, and the drying time of the drying time memory, and compare the drying time of the counter. To achieve the above object, the vending machine is provided with means for increasing and controlling the amount of hot water discharged from the hot water supply mechanism in accordance with correction value memory data when the elapsed time is determined by the drying time.

(Function) By providing such a means, by inserting a predetermined amount of money into the coin mechanism and operating a switch, a predetermined amount of raw material can be released from the raw material supply mechanism, and a predetermined amount of hot water can also be released from the hot water supply mechanism. Then, when mixing the hot water and raw materials to make a prescribed beverage liquid and selling it in cups, the elapsed time on the sales operation counter is compared with the drying time in the drying time memory, and the elapsed time on the counter is greater than or equal to the drying time. When the amount of hot water is increased, the amount of hot water discharged from the hot water supply mechanism is controlled to increase according to the data in the correction value memory, thereby compensating for the amount of liquid that has accumulated and evaporated on the way.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 is an external view, in which 1 is a signboard advertising items for sale, 2 is an on-sale indicator lamp that indicates a sales status, 3 is a process indicator lamp that indicates an operating process, and 4 indicates an out-of-change status. 5 is a digital display for displaying the amount of money inserted, 6 is a money slot for the coin mechanism, and 7 is a lever for returning the amount of money inserted. 8 is cafe au lait,
Instant coffee with sugar and cream, American coffee, Regular A coffee, Regular B coffee, Regular C coffee, Special coffee, Instant coffee with sugar, American coffee, Regular A coffee, Regular B coffee, Regular C coffee, Special coffee, Selection switch group for selecting a total of 14 cocoa items, 9 is a group of 7 functions that specify increase in hot water, decrease in hot water, increase in sugar, decrease in sugar, no sugar, increase in cream, decrease in cream as necessary. A group of switches, 10 is a money return slot, and 11 is a sales slot where a cup is set.

Fig. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of each part housed in the housing, in which 12 is a water inlet joint connected to the water inlet, 13 is a water strainer, 14 is a water filter, and 15 is a water supply solenoid valve. , 16 is a system tank, and 17 is a water boiling tank. Water is supplied from the water outlet to the water strainer 13, the water filter 14,
The water is supplied to the lower part of the water heating tank 17 via the water supply solenoid valve 15 and the system tank 16 in this order. The system tank 16 is provided with a float 18 and a water level switch 19, and the water level in the water boiling tank 17 is kept constant by always maintaining a constant water level.

An upper heater 20 and a lower heater 21 are provided in the water boiling tank 17. Further, on the outer wall of the central part of the water boiling tank 17, a hot water solenoid valve 22 for instant coffee, a hot water solenoid valve 23 for cocoa, and a solenoid hot water valve 2 for regular coffee are provided.
4. A first temperature sensor 25 is provided.
Further, a limiter 26 and a steam venting pipe 27 are provided at the top of the water boiling tank 17, and a second temperature sensor 2 is installed in the middle of the steam venting pipe 27.
8. A temperature fuse 29 is provided. Further, a limiter 30 and a third temperature sensor 31 are provided on the lower outer wall of the water heating tank 17, and a fourth temperature sensor 32 is provided on the upper outer wall.

The hot water supply electromagnetic valve 24 supplies hot water in the water heating tank 17 to the metering tank 33. A float 34 is housed within this measuring tank 33. The hot water in the metering tank 33 is supplied to the extraction mechanism 63 via the check valve 36 by the operation of the procon pump 35. As shown in FIG. 3, the extraction mechanism 63 is provided with a piston 38 movable up and down in a cylinder 37, and the tip of a pipe 64 from the procon pump 35 is inserted into the piston 38. The tip of the piston 38 is connected to a pipe 64.
The structure is such that the hot water supplied from the bathtub is distributed throughout the building in a shower-like manner. A filter 46 is provided at the lower end of the cylinder 37, and a funnel-shaped coffee liquid receiver 65 is provided on the opposite side of the filter 46. Hot water is supplied into the cylinder 37 at high pressure by the operation of the procon pump 35.

Reference numerals 39, 40, and 41 are a regular A coffee canister, a regular B coffee canister, and a regular C coffee canister, which constitute a coffee raw material supply mechanism, respectively. Reference numeral 42 denotes a canister constituting a raw material supply mechanism for instant coffee, 43 a canister for cream, 44 a canister for sugar, and 45 a canister constituting a raw material supply mechanism for cocoa. Each of the canisters 39 to 45 houses a coiled spring that is driven to rotate by a raw material discharge motor, and each raw material is discharged by rotating the spring due to the operation of the motor. It's summery. The amount of raw material discharged at this time is determined by the operating time of the motor. Canisters 39 to 4 for each of the above regular coffees
The coffee raw material released from 1 is transferred to the piston 3.
8 is supplied onto the filter 46 in the cylinder 37 via a shutter (not shown). The filter 46 is wound up from the supply roll 47 side through the lower part of the cylinder 37 to the take-up roll 48 side.

Coffee extracted into the coffee liquid receiver 65 via the filter 46 is supplied into the mixing bowl 50 via a pipe 49. The raw materials discharged from the instant coffee canister 42, cream canister 43, and sugar canister 44 are directly supplied to the mixing bowl 50 via a shutter 51. Further, hot water from the hot water tank 17 is supplied to the mixing bowl 50 via the instant coffee hot water solenoid valve 22 and the pipe 52. The mixing bowl 5
At 0, the coffee mixed with sugar and cream is supplied to the cup 53 set in the outlet 11.

Cocoa raw material discharged from the cocoa canister 45 is supplied to a blender funnel 54.
The blender funnel 54 is also supplied with hot water from the hot water tank 17 via the cocoa hot water solenoid valve 23 and pipe 55. The mixture of cocoa raw material and hot water in the blender funnel 54 is stirred by a motor 57 in the blender housing 56 and supplied to the cup 53.

A drainage bucket 58 is installed below the sales port 11 to collect liquid leaking into the sales port 11. The amount of liquid accumulated in the drain bucket 58 is detected by a drain switch 59. A bucket 60 for storing coffee grounds is installed below the take-up roll 48. A fifth temperature sensor 61 is provided at the outlet of the procon pump 35, and a sixth temperature sensor 61 is provided near the check valve 36.
A temperature sensor 62 is provided.

FIG. 4 shows a circuit configuration in which an earth leakage breaker 72 is connected to a plug 71 connected to a commercial AC power source, and a first solid is connected to the earth leakage breaker 72 through the limiter 26 and upper heater 20 in series. The output terminal of the state relay 73 is connected, and the output terminal of the second solid state relay 74 is also connected via the limiter 30 and the lower heater 21 in series. In addition, a power switch 75 is connected to the earth leakage breaker 72.
A control circuit 76 is connected thereto, and a series circuit of the water supply solenoid valve 15, water level switch 19, and drain switch 59 is also connected thereto.

The control circuit 76 includes the selection switch group 8, the function switch group 9, and a plurality of display lamps 7 built into each switch corresponding to each switch of the selection switch group 8.
7. A plurality of indicator lamps 78, the on-sale indicator lamp 2, and the process indicator lamp 3 are connected to each switch of the function switch group 9, which are incorporated in each switch. The control circuit 76 also includes a water cutoff detection switch, a paper feed detection switch, a pump float detection switch,
Various detection switches 79 such as a cut-out detection switch and a door switch are connected, and each of the temperature sensors 25, 28, 31, 32, 61,
62 are connected. Further, the control circuit 76
The above-mentioned procon pump 35, each hot water supply solenoid valve 2
2, 23, 24, motor 57 and instant coffee raw material discharge motor 80, cocoa raw material discharge motor 81, Regular A coffee raw material discharge motor 82, Regular B coffee raw material discharge motor 83, Regular C coffee raw material discharge motor 84 , a cream raw material discharge motor 85, a sugar raw material discharge motor 86, etc. are connected, and a coin mechanism 87 is also connected. The control circuit 76 also includes the solid state relays 73 and 7.
4 input terminals are connected thereto, as well as a start switch 88 and a reset switch 89. Furthermore, a keyboard 90 having a numeric keypad and function keys such as an input key, an erase key, and an operation key, a code display 91, a data display 92, a cassette interface 93, and various counters 94 are connected to the control circuit 76. There is. The start switch 88, reset switch 89, keyboard 90, code display 91, and data display 92 are used when setting codes and data in the RAM, which will be described later. Further, the cassette interface 93 is a terminal for connecting a cassette tape, and by connecting the cassette tape here, it becomes possible to input and output programs and output data. In addition, various counters 94
is used to count the number of sales for each product or to count the total number of sales.

The control circuit 76 includes a CPU as shown in FIG.
(Central Processing Unit) 101, ROM (Read Only Memory) 102, RAM (Random Access Memory) 103, Clock Oscillator 104, Interface Circuit 105, and Stabilized Power Supply 106
The CPU 101 includes a ROM 102,
RAM 103 and interface circuit 105 are connected via a bus line. Said CPU1
01 controls each section using the clock from the clock oscillator 104 as a timing base.
Note that the stabilized power supply 106 is the commercial AC power supply 10.
The AC power from 7 is stabilized into DC power and supplied to each part. The interface circuit 105
includes the coin mechanism 87 and the motors 57, 8.
Various motors 108 such as 0 to 86, various electromagnetic valves 109 such as the electromagnetic valves 15 and 22 to 24, various indicator lamps 11 such as the solid state relays 73, 74, and lamps 23, 77, 78, etc.
0, the selection switch group 8, the function switch group 9, the various detection switches 7
9. Each temperature sensor 25, 28, 31, 3
Various temperature sensors 111, 2, 61, 62, etc. are connected.

As shown in FIG. 6, the RAM 103 stores data that determines the standard amount of raw materials to be released at one time when selling each product, the amount when increasing the amount, and the amount when decreasing the amount.
A data memory 112 that stores data that determines the standard amount of hot water used, the amount when increasing the amount, and the amount when decreasing the amount, etc., an elapsed time counter 113 that counts the elapsed time since the last sale, and additional supply at the time of compensation. A correction value memory 114 that stores data that determines the amount of hot water to be used, and a drying time memory 115 that stores drying time data that corresponds to the amount of liquid that accumulates in the extraction mechanism 63, pipe 49, etc. due to surface tension evaporates and disappears are provided. It is being

The CPU 101 is equipped with the ROM 102 at the time of sale.
The processing shown in FIG. 7 is performed based on the program data. That is, when a predetermined amount of coins is inserted into the coin mechanism 87 and the selection switch 8 is operated while the on-sale indicator lamp 2 is lit (in this case, the function switch 9 is not operated in advance). Increase the amount of hot water, reduce the amount, increase the amount of sugar, reduce the amount, increase the amount of cream,
Reduced weight and sugar-free is set. ), coin mechanism 87
It controls the machine to accept coins, return change, etc. Next, the load corresponding to the sales product is identified. The address for reading desired data from the data memory 112 is determined by signals from the function switch 9 and selection switch 8. Next, check whether the current sale is regular coffee or not. If the coffee is other than regular coffee, the desired raw material discharge motor and hot water supply solenoid valve are operated for a predetermined period of time based on the data read from the data memory 112 by address designation to sell instant coffee and cocoa. Furthermore, when the product to be sold is regular coffee, the contents of the elapsed time counter 113 and the contents of the drying time memory 115 are compared, and if the elapsed time has not reached the preset drying time, the data memory 1
Based on the predetermined regular coffee data read from 12, the desired raw material discharge motor and hot water supply solenoid valve 24 are operated for a predetermined time, and the procon pump 35 and extraction mechanism 63 are operated to perform regular coffee sales operations. . Furthermore, when the elapsed time exceeds the preset drying time, the hot water amount data in the correction value memory 114 is added to the data that determines the hot water amount among the predetermined regular coffee data read out from the data memory 112 by address designation. Perform data correction. Then, based on the data read from the data memory 112, a desired raw material discharge motor is operated to discharge regular coffee raw materials, and the hot water supply solenoid valve 24 is operated based on the corrected hot water amount data to discharge hot water. , operates the procon pump 35 and the extraction mechanism 63 to perform regular coffee sales operations. At the same time, the elapsed time counter 113 is cleared and restarted.

As a result of the above-described control processing, when one sale of instant coffee, cocoa, and regular coffee is completed, the machine waits for the next sale.

In the embodiment of the present invention having such a configuration, if the drying time set in the drying time memory 115 has elapsed from when regular coffee was sold last time to when regular coffee is sold this time, the extraction mechanism Measuring tank 33 that supplies hot water to 63
From this, it is determined that the hot water in the hot water supply paths such as the procon pump 35 and the pipe 64 will evaporate and decrease, and the coffee liquid that has accumulated in the coffee receiver 65 of the extraction mechanism 63, the pipe 49, etc. due to surface tension will evaporate. It is determined that the hot water has run out, and the current amount of hot water is replenished by the data in the correction value memory 114. However, due to this sales operation, even if hot water or coffee liquid is newly accumulated in the hot water supply path, coffee receiver 65, or pipe 49, the amount has been increased, so the cup 53 has an appropriate amount of regular water. Coffee will be provided. Therefore, there is no risk of complaints from customers. Also, when the current sales operation is performed before much time has passed since the previous sale, the elapsed time has not reached the drying time, so at this time, the amount of hot water and the amount of water according to the data set in the data memory 112 are Become. In other words, at the time of this sale, there is no evaporation of hot water from the metering tank 33 or pipe 64 as the hot water supply path, and there is no evaporation of hot water from the coffee receiver 65 or pipe 49 of the extraction mechanism 63.
Since the previous coffee liquid remains in the cup 53 without drying, just by releasing the original amount of hot water from the hot water tank 17, an appropriate amount of regular coffee is supplied to the cup 53. .
In this way, when selling regular coffee, it is possible to always sell an appropriate amount of regular coffee regardless of the length of time that has passed since the last sale, and it is possible to improve trust with customers. .

In the above embodiment, the amount of hot water supplied is compensated only when regular coffee is sold, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, when selling instant coffee, compensation for the amount of hot water supplied is performed using the pipe 52, mixing bowl 50, etc. There are pools of hot water and coffee liquid in the pipe 55, blender funnel 54, and blender housing 56 when selling cocoa. Depending on the situation, the amount of hot water may be compensated.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, a vending machine is provided that can always keep the amount of beverages sold substantially constant regardless of the length of the sales time interval and improve customer trust. It is possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figures show an embodiment of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is an external view, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the internal configuration, Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the extraction mechanism, Fig. 4 is a circuit configuration diagram,
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the main structure of the control circuit in FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the main memory structure of the RAM, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the sales control processing by the CPU. 8...Selection switch, 17...Water boiling tank, 24...Hot water supply solenoid valve for regular coffee, 3
9, 40, 41... Regular coffee canister, 53... Cup, 63... Extraction mechanism, 76... Control circuit, 82, 83, 84... Regular coffee raw material discharge motor, 87... Coin mechanism, 101...
CPU (Central Processing Unit), 102...ROM (Read/
only memory), 103...RAM (random
access memory), 112...data memory, 1
13... Elapsed time counter, 114... Correction value memory, 115... Drying time memory.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 By inserting a predetermined amount of money into the coin mechanism and operating a switch, a predetermined amount of raw material is discharged from the raw material supply mechanism, and a predetermined amount of hot water is discharged from the hot water supply mechanism, and the hot water and raw materials are mixed to produce the desired amount. In a vending machine that makes and sells beverages in cups, it is necessary to add a counter that counts the elapsed time from the previous sale to the current sale, and a drying time memory that stores preset drying time data. Compare the correction value memory storing data that determines the amount of hot water, the elapsed time on the counter during the sales operation, and the drying time in the drying time memory, and if the elapsed time on the counter exceeds the drying time, the correction value is calculated. A vending machine characterized by comprising: means for increasing and controlling the amount of hot water discharged from the hot water supply mechanism according to data in a memory.