JPH05242332A - Coin selecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure the accuracy of coin selection by correcting a signal value obtained from a coin measuring sensor which is to be sharply changed against a change in temperature in accordance with a peripheral temperature in a coin selecting device for measuring the characteristics of a coin to be inspected by the sensor and collating the value of a signal obtained by the measurement with a deciding value by a discriminating device to select the coin. CONSTITUTION:A resistance value for outputting a signal corresponding to a deciding value to be set up is previously determined in a deciding value setting device 12. When a coin is injected into the coin selecting device after the setting and a signal measuring the characteristics of a coin to be inspected is applied to a discriminating device 18, the device 18 corrects the values of signals applied from coin measuring sensors S1, S2 in accordance with a change in the peripheral temperature based on a signal corresponding to the peripheral temperature which is obtained from a temperature detector 5. Then, the corrected signal value is collated with the deciding value of the device 12 to discriminated the coin.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coin sorting device used in a vending machine or the like, and in particular, by measuring the characteristics of coins and comparing the signal value and the judgment value obtained thereby, The present invention relates to a coin sorting device that determines suitability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional technique for such a coin sorting device, there is a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-173585. This is because the judgment value is set by the resistance value of the resistance circuit, and at the time of coin selection, the value of the signal corresponding to this resistance value and the value of the signal obtained by measuring the coin by the coin measurement sensor are collated. Is to determine the appropriateness of coins.

[0003]

However, in such a coin sorting device, the change of the value of the signal obtained by measuring the coin by the coin measuring sensor and the change of the value of the signal of the judgment value setting device with respect to the ambient temperature change. There was a problem that the judgment was not correct when used under severe high and low temperatures. This is a coin measurement sensor that detects the characteristics of a coin based on the electrical conductivity due to the eddy current loss of a coin tested by applying it to a magnetic field. The electrical conductivity also changes.

In order to deal with this, a method of absorbing the amount of change due to the temperature change during the actual sorting operation by setting in advance the characteristic change amount due to the temperature change when setting the judgment value. Has been taken. However, since this method sets the range of the judgment value to be wider than the original range, it has a drawback that it becomes unsuitable when the true / false judgment is delicate.

From the above point of view, the present invention intends to secure the sorting accuracy by correcting the signal value from the coin measuring sensor, which changes drastically with respect to the temperature change, according to the ambient temperature at that time.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention measures the characteristics of an inspected coin by a coin measuring sensor, and a discriminator discriminates a signal value and a judgment value obtained thereby. In a coin sorting device that sorts coins by collating, the determination value is set by determining the resistance value including a resistance circuit, and a determination value setting device that supplies a signal according to this resistance value to the determination device, A temperature detecting device that supplies a signal according to the ambient temperature to the discriminating device is provided, and the discriminating device is configured to correct the value of the signal obtained from the coin measuring sensor according to the ambient temperature change. is there.

[0007]

The resistance value is set in advance in the judgment value setting device so that a signal corresponding to the judgment value to be set is output.
The determination value in this case is set in a range that does not consider a large temperature change. After this setting, when a coin is inserted into the coin sorting device and a signal that measures the characteristics of the inspection coin is given to the discriminating device, the discriminating device determines the coin measuring sensor based on the signal from the temperature detecting device according to the ambient temperature. The value of the signal obtained from is corrected according to the ambient temperature change. Then, the coin is discriminated by collating the corrected signal value with the judgment value of the judgment value setting device.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the structure of a coin sorting device 1, in which a coin passage 3 communicating with a coin slot 2 is provided with a pair of side walls 8 which can be opened and closed.
It is formed by closing (only one shown). Then, the characteristics of the coins rolling on the coin rail 4 and passing through the coin passage 3 are measured by the coin measuring sensors S ₁ and S ₂ arranged on the side walls, and the appropriateness of the coins is determined based on the measurement results. It Sorting gate 7 for accepting or returning rolling coins at the end of coin rail 4.
Is normally provided so as to project the coin from the side wall 8 and guide the coin to the return passage 11. Therefore, when the coin rolling on the coin rail 4 is a counterfeit coin, the sorting gate 7 is maintained in the protruding state and the coin is returned through the return passage 11. On the other hand, if the coin is a true coin, the sorting gate 7 exits, and the coin is introduced into the true coin passage 9. Below the sorting gate 7, there is further provided a sorting gate 10 for sorting coins introduced into the true coin passage 9 according to their denominations, and coins introduced into the true coin passage 9 are sorted according to their type. By the operation of the gate 10, the coin is guided to a predetermined coin pipe (not shown) for each coin type provided in the lower part of the coin sorting device 1.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the selection processing circuit. In the figure, the coin measuring sensors S ₁ and S ₂ respectively induce an oscillating magnetic field in the coin passage, and when the coin passes, the discriminating device 18 detects the influence of the coin on the oscillating magnetic field by a voltage signal. Output. In this case, the coin measuring sensors S ₁ and S ₂ are set to have shapes and oscillation frequencies so as to be sensitive to different characteristics of the coin, such as material, plate thickness, diameter and the like. Coin measurement sensor S ₁ , S ₂
Is connected via a switching device 16 to an A / D conversion input terminal of a discriminating device 18 constituted by a CPU, and the switching device 16 responds to a switching signal from the discriminating device 18 to measure coin measuring sensors S ₁ , S. _One of the signals ₂ is output to the discriminating device 18.

The judgment value setting device 12 is a DC constant voltage power supply V
a first setting unit 13 in which a series circuit of resistors R ₁ and R ₂ is connected to c, and a second setting unit 14 in which a series circuit of resistors R ₃ and R ₄ is connected to a DC constant voltage power supply Vc. Become. The resistance R ₁ of the first setting unit 13 is a variable resistance, and the resistances R ₁ and R _{2 are}
The resistance value of the resistor R ₁ is determined so that the voltage value at the connection point of 1 corresponds to the first determination value for matching with the value of the signal obtained by measuring the characteristics of the inspection coin by the coin measuring sensor S ₁ . In the second setting unit 14, the resistor R ₃ is a variable resistor, and the voltage value at the connection point of the resistors R ₃ and R ₄ is the value of the signal obtained by measuring the characteristics of the inspection coin by the coin measuring sensor S _2. The resistance R is set to the second judgment value for matching with
The resistance value of ₃ is decided.

In the judgment value setting device 12, the connection points of the resistors R ₁ and R _{2 and} the connection points of the resistors R ₃ and R ₄ are respectively connected to the A / D conversion input terminals of the judgment device 18 via the switching device 15. It is connected. In this case as well, the switching device 15 is controlled by the discriminating device 18 and outputs one of the voltage signals at the respective connection points to the discriminating device 18. Although not shown, this coin sorting device 1 has a first setting unit 13 and a second setting unit 14 according to the coin type in order to sort the coins according to the coin type. 2 Judgment value is set.

The temperature detecting device 5 includes a diode 6 and a resistor R.
₅ , R ₆ and Zener diode 17 are used to output a signal corresponding to the ambient temperature to the A / D conversion input terminal of the discriminating device 18 by utilizing the temperature characteristic of the diode 6. Resistance R
₅ and the Zener diode 17 are intended to absorb the fluctuation of the power supply voltage Vc. According to the temperature detecting device 5, when the voltage Vc is 5 V and the ambient temperature is 25 ° C., and the voltage at the anodic end of the diode 6 is 200 mV, the ambient temperature rises by about 50 ° C. The voltage at the terminal of the diode drops to 100 mV, and when the ambient temperature drops by about 50 ° C, the voltage at the node of the diode becomes 3
Increase to 00 mV.

The discriminator 18 comprises coin measuring sensors S ₁ ,
The value of the signal obtained from S ₂ is corrected according to the ambient temperature change detected by the temperature detecting device, and the coin is discriminated by comparing the corrected signal value with the judgment value of the judgment value setting device.

This correction will be described. FIG. 3 shows a characteristic a representing a change in a judgment value with respect to a change in ambient temperature and a characteristic b representing a change in a signal value obtained from the coin measuring sensors S ₁ and S ₂ when a genuine coin is inspected. .. From this characteristic diagram, it can be seen that the characteristic b changes significantly as compared with the characteristic a when the ambient temperature changes. Therefore, when the discrimination device 18 obtains the measurement signal from the coin measurement sensor,
The value Y of the measurement signal is corrected depending on how much the ambient temperature at that time fluctuates from the reference temperature of 25 ° C.

As a concrete correction method, a value obtained by subtracting the value B of the characteristic a at the reference temperature of 25 ° C. from the value A of the characteristic a corresponding to the ambient temperature at that time is added to the value Y of the measurement signal. An operation of adding (Y + (A−B) = Y1) is performed. And
The discriminating device 18 collates the corrected value Y1 of the measurement signal with the value of the signal from the determination value setting device 25 to discriminate the appropriateness of the inspection coin. Characteristics Accordingly, determination unit 18, for each coin measuring sensor S _1, S _2, which represents the change in the coin measurement sensor S _1, the signal value obtained from the S ₂ with respect to a change in the ambient temperature for each coin type authentic coin b is stored in the memory 19 as table data, and the memory 19 is used for the determination.
Is read and the value of A used in the calculation of the above-mentioned correction formula is read out for correction.

If the discriminating device 18 discriminates the coin type according to the collation based on the measurement results of the coin measuring sensors S ₁ and S ₂ , finally, the inspection coin is the coin type concerned. And the data indicating the denomination is sorted and the gate drive device 20 and the coin signal output device 2 are distributed.
Output to 1. As a result, the distribution gate driving device 2
0 controls the drive of the distribution gates 7 and 9 according to the type, and introduces the inspection coin rolling on the coin rail 4 into the corresponding coin pipe.

[0017]

The coin sorting device according to the present invention is affected by the fluctuation of the ambient temperature because the coin value is corrected with the signal value obtained by the coin measuring sensor and then compared with the judgment value. Without this, it is possible to perform the determination with high accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a coin sorting device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration of a coin sorting device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a characteristic a representing a change in a judgment value with respect to a change in ambient temperature, and a characteristic b representing a change in a signal value obtained from a coin measuring sensor when a genuine coin is inspected.

[Explanation of symbols]

S ₁ , S ₂ Coin measurement sensor 5 Temperature detection device 12 Judgment value setting device 18 Judgment device

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A coin sorting device that sorts coins by measuring the characteristics of an inspected coin with a coin measuring sensor and comparing the signal value and the judgment value obtained by the discriminator with a resistance circuit. A determination value setting device that sets the determination value by determining the included resistance value and supplies a signal corresponding to the resistance value to the determination device, and a temperature detection device that supplies a signal according to the ambient temperature to the determination device. And a discriminating device that corrects the value of the signal obtained from the coin measuring sensor according to a change in ambient temperature.