JPH0589330A - Solar battery type automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an automatic vending machine to attain energy saving by covering a part of power consumption by the solar battery of high power generating efficiency. CONSTITUTION:The solar battery 3 driven by a motor 2 so as to be rotated is installed on the roof of an automatic vending machine main body 1, and sun following type control such as to rotate the solar battery 3 by starting the motor 2 so as to expose it sufficiently to the sun when a received light sensor 5 fitted to the solar battery 3 does not receive the prescribed quantity of solar light, and to stop the motor 2 by outputting a signal from the received light sensor 5 when it is exposed sufficiently to the sun is executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine for supplying electric power with a solar cell.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As disclosed in JP-A-2-311990, a front door has a coin insertion slot, a product selection button,
It has a product display section that displays product outlets and sample products, and has a product delivery device that includes members such as product delivery data or product delivery solenoids inside the main unit, and sells products such as canned beverages. The automatic vending machine has become widespread in recent years.

However, in these vending machines,
The commercial power supply is used to drive the lighting of the product display section and the product delivery device.

[0004]

However, in recent vending machines, in order to improve the image of the product, the size of the display is increased in order to obtain brightness and cleanliness, and therefore the lighting is increased.

Further, the vending machine itself has been increasing in size year by year, and the selection efficiency has been improved by increasing the number of selections and selling cold and warm products with one unit. ing.

For these reasons, the power consumption of recent vending machines has been increasing due to the increase in lighting, the increase in heating units and cooling units. On the other hand, in spite of the increase in the size of such vending machines, energy saving is now being called for due to environmental problems. Due to the above circumstances, there is a growing demand for energy-saving vending machines that use less power even for large vending machines.

The present invention provides a solar cell type vending machine for the purpose of energy saving of a commercial power source used for the vending machine in order to satisfy the above-mentioned requirements.

[0008]

The present invention is directed to a solar cell arranged on the roof of a vending machine for converting light into electric power, a motor for driving the solar cell to rotate, and an appropriate portion of the solar cell. And a control device for driving and controlling the motor so as to rotationally drive the solar cell based on the detection operation of the light receiving sensor.

[0009]

[Function] When the sunlight sensor hits the sunlight, stop the motor, and when the sunlight sensor does not hit the sunlight, the motor is driven by the controller to rotate the solar cell and the light sensor to the position where the sunlight hits. Let At this position, the light receiving sensor catches sunlight and cuts off the power supply to the motor, so that the solar cell and the light receiving sensor are always directed to the optimum position where the sunlight hits.

As described above, the solar cell is configured so as to rotate by tracking the sunlight, so that the solar cell can be always placed in the position most likely to receive the sunlight, and efficient power generation can be performed.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a solar cell 3 that is rotated in a certain direction B by a motor 2 is attached to the roof of the vending machine body 1. This is because if the solar cell is simply fixed and attached to the roof of the vending machine, the maximum amount of energy cannot always be extracted from the solar cell because the irradiation amount of sunlight changes with time.

As the solar cell 3, it is possible to use an appropriate one such as a crystalline solar cell composed of a single crystal or a polycrystal, or an Atherphas solar cell, and a large number of these solar cell elements 3C are spread on the plate surface 4. It is also in the form of a solar cell plate. A light receiving sensor 5 for detecting sunlight is also attached to a part of the solar cell 3. The light receiving sensor 5 is a photoconductive effect type optical sensor well known as a CdS cell or a CdSe cell and causes a resistance change depending on the amount of light. Using this sensor 5, the motor 2 is stopped when sunlight is shining on the light receiving sensor 5 as described later, and when the sunlight is not shining on the light receiving sensor 5, the motor drive circuit is energized The battery 3 and the light receiving sensor 5 are made to rotate to the position where the sunlight hits.

FIG. 3 is an electric circuit showing a concrete example of a drive control device in which the solar cell 3 moves by following sunlight. CdS is used as the light receiving sensor 5.

In FIG. 3, a light receiving sensor 5 and a relay 10 (R) are connected in series between AC100V commercial power supply lines L1 and L2. When the light receiving sensor 5 is exposed to sunlight in the daytime, the relay 10 is turned on because the resistance of the light receiving sensor 5 is small.

The relay 10 has a normally-closed relay contact 11a and a normally-open relay contact 11b. When the relay 10 is turned on, the normally-closed relay contact 11a is closed and the normally-open relay contact 11b is opened as shown in the figure. open.

The motor 2 for rotating the solar cell 3 is connected between the power lines L1 and L2 via the normally open relay contact 11b of the relay 10 and the normally closed contact 14a which is one of the contacts of the reset switch 13. It is connected. The reset switch 13 is the normally closed reset switch contact 14
In addition to a, it has a normally open reset switch contact 14b, and the reset switch 13 turns off the normally closed reset switch contact 14a when the solar cell 3 is in the evening and reaches a predetermined final position. The normally-open reset switch contact 14b is switched to operate so as to be turned on. 15 is a 24-hour timer (TM)
Then, the timer contact 16 is turned on at the time when the 24-hour timer 15 counts the passage of a predetermined time in the morning.
It is supposed to do. Therefore, the timer contact 16 is turned on at a predetermined morning time, and the normally open reset switch contact 14 of the reset switch 13 which is already on.
The motor 2 is driven via b, and the motor 2 is rotated from the final position on the evening of the previous day to the standby position for the start of the solar cell 3 on the next day, so that the sun is tracked and prepared.

In FIG. 2, 20 is a coin slot.
Reference numeral 21 is a product selection button, 22 is a product display section, and 23 is a product outlet.

A control circuit is provided in the vending machine body 1 so that the solar cell 3 can partially cover the power supply used by the vending machine.

In the electric circuit of FIG. 3, the relay 10 is turned on because the resistance of the light receiving sensor 5 is small when the sensor 5 is exposed to sunlight during the daytime. To do. Therefore, in this case, since the relay contact 11b is open, the motor 2 is not energized.

When sunlight deviates from the light receiving sensor 5, the amount of light received decreases and the resistance of the sensor 5 increases, so the relay 10 is turned off. Therefore, the relay contact 11b is turned on, and the motor 2 is passed through this relay contact 11b. Because it is energized,
The solar cell 3 starts rotating in search of sunlight. Solar cell 3
When is irradiated with sunlight, the CdS light receiving sensor 5 receives a sufficient amount of light again, the sensor selection becomes small, the relay 10 is turned on, and the relay contact 11b is turned off, so that the solar cell 3 is stopped at that position. To do.

Thus, the sunlight is obtained, the motor 2 is intermittently driven, and the solar cell 3 is gradually rotated in the constant direction B.
Next, when the solar cell 3 reaches the final position in the evening, the reset switch 13 is switched, and the reset switch contact 14a is turned off. Therefore, even if the light receiving sensor 5 is not exposed to light, the motor 2 is not energized even if the relay 10 is turned off. When the 24-hour timer 15 is turned on in the morning, the timer contact 16 is turned on and the reset switch 1
Since the motor 2 is driven through the reset switch contact 14b of 3 which is on, the solar cell 3 is set to the start standby position and starts rotating while tracking the sunlight again. Thereby, the maximum power generation is always obtained from the solar cell 3, and the solar cell 3 can be used efficiently. In this example, the motor is stopped when the solar cell reaches the final position, but the motor may be stopped by a timer.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the solar cell provided on the roof of the vending machine is rotated by the light receiving sensor such as CdS so that the solar cell is exposed to the maximum amount of sunlight. ON / OFF control the motor of
Since the sun is tracked, the solar cell can generate power efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a solar cell type vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the vending machine.

FIG. 3 is an electric circuit of a control device for rotating the solar cell so as to track sunlight.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Vending machine body 2 Motor 3 Solar cell 5 Light receiving sensor

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A solar cell arranged on the roof of a vending machine for converting light into electric power, a motor for driving the solar cell to rotate, and a solar cell disposed at an appropriate location of the solar cell. A solar cell type vending machine, comprising: a light receiving sensor for detecting the above; and a control device for driving and controlling the motor so as to rotationally drive the solar cell based on the detection operation of the light receiving sensor.