JPH06290341A - Can commodity heating device of automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a can commodity heating device of an induction heating type which can heat the can commodities of various sizes up to each selling temperature in a short time and with a high heating efficiency. CONSTITUTION:A can commodity heating device heats a can commodity 7 carried out of a commodity storing part of an automatic vending machine up to its selling temperature in the course of its carry-out route. An induction heating coil 17 of the heating device is divided into a lower coil 17a which encloses the lower half of the commodity 7 and an upper coil 17b which encloses the upper half of the commodity 7 against a commodity holder stage 16 which receives and holds the commodity 7 carried along the carry-out route in an inverted posture. At the same time, the coil 17a is fixed at a constant position and the coil 17b is connected to a shift operation mechanism 21 and moved forward and backward between the heating and stand-by positions. Thus, the commodity 7 set on the stage 16 is enclosed by both coils 17a and 17b, and the power is supplied to the commodity 7 from a high frequency power supply 18. Then, the commodity 7 is inductively heated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is intended for an automatic vending machine for canned products such as canned coffee, and heats the product carried out from the product storage section to a suitable temperature for sale on the way of the transportation path for delivering the product to the product outlet. The present invention relates to a can product heating device for a vending machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Cans taken out from a product storage section of a vending machine, rolled through a shooter, are guided to an induction heating type product heating device installed inside a product outlet, and cans are taken out before taking out the product. A can product heating device for an automatic vending machine, in which a product is rapidly heated to a selling temperature to be sold as a hot product, is known in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-100791.

Further, such an induction heating type product heating device is installed in the middle of a product transport path leading from the carry-out end of the product storage section to the product take-out port, and the can product that has moved along this transport path is provided with the product heating device. The same applicant as the present invention has proposed Japanese Patent Application No. 4-220541 with a structure in which it is guided to the inside of the product and is induction-heated and then sent out from the product heating device to the product outlet.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are vending machines according to the above proposal,
And 1 shows the structure of an induction heating type product heating device, in which 1 is a cabinet of a vending machine, 2 is a front outer door of the vending machine, 3 is a product outlet provided at a middle position of the outer door 2, 4 Is a heat-insulating middle door, 5 is a product carry-out door that opens to the bottom of the middle door 4, 6 is a serpentine-type product rack that stores can products 7 that are stored side by side in the cabinet 1 cabinet, 8
Is a shooter provided below the product rack 6, 9 is a cooler,
10 is a heater, 11 is an internal fan, and 12 is a refrigerator. Further, a belt conveyor type product lifter 14 is provided on the back side of the front outer door 2 to receive the product 7 carried out from the product rack 6, lift it up and carry it, and discharge it to the product take-out port 3 from the end thereof. Further, an induction heating type product heating device 15 is installed between the end of the product lifter 14 and the product outlet 3.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the product heating device 15 is a gutter-shaped product pedestal 16 made of a non-magnetic material such as plastic, which is installed in a forward tilted position facing the product passage.
And a saddle-shaped induction heating coil 17 arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the pedestal 16, and a high-frequency power source 1 connected to the induction heating coil 17.
8 and a gate 19 installed at the exit end of the commodity pedestal 16 and its opening / closing drive unit 20.

[0006] With such a configuration, the can product to be sold as a hot product is stored in the product rack 6 at room temperature or at a product temperature of about 30 to 35 ° C by the heater 10, and the cold product is a product in a different room. It is stored in a rack and kept cool by a cooler 9 at around 10 ° C. Then, when a sales command is given, the can product 7 is dropped from the selected product rack 6 and carried through the shooter 8 to the product lifter 14.
After being transferred to, the product is lifted up and conveyed, and is ejected from its end by inertial force and enters the product receiving table 16 of the product heating device 15 in the inverted posture. Here, when a cold product is selected, the gate 19 is opened, and the cold product passes through the heating device 15 as it is and is discharged to the product outlet 3. On the other hand, when the hot product is selected, the gate 19 is closed, and the can product 7 is stopped and received and held on the product receiving stand 16 as shown in the drawing. Subsequently, the induction heating coil 17 receives electric power from the high-frequency power source 18 to induction-heat the canned product 7 to heat the content beverage to a temperature suitable for sales as hot products (about 60 ° C.), and then the gate 1
9 is opened and the can product 7 is discharged into the product outlet 3 by its own weight.

[0007]

The conventional can product heating device described above has the following problems in terms of function. That is, (1) a saddle-shaped coil having an open upper surface is conventionally used as an induction heating coil so that it does not interfere with the handling of various products having different can diameters and the incorporation of can products. For this reason, the magnetic flux of the induction heating coil is interlinked only in the lower half region of the can container placed in the inverted posture to perform induction heating,
The upper half of the can is not heated. That is, the heating area of the can container becomes about half of the entire peripheral surface. Therefore, it takes a long time to heat the content drink in the can product to a temperature suitable for sale (about 60 ° C.), and in particular, a can product having a large can diameter and a large content capacity requires a longer heating time, The sales operation time will be prolonged and the customers will have to wait.
The output of the induction heating coil is limited by the electric power capacity of the entire vending machine, and there is a circumstance that a high output induction heating coil cannot be mounted.

(2) Further, there are short and small sized canned products having a small content capacity and long and large sized products having a large capacity. In this respect, the conventional induction heating coil is single and has a constant longitudinal dimension. For this reason, in a large-sized can product having a size larger than that of the induction heating coil, it is necessary to lengthen the heating time because the can container protrudes more than the coil. Further, in the case of small and small sized small can products, a part of the magnetic flux of the induction heating coil does not interlink with the can container, and that portion becomes a leakage magnetic flux, resulting in increased power loss and reduced heating efficiency.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to solve the above-mentioned problems by using an induction heating type which can heat can products of various sizes efficiently and in a short time to a sales suitable temperature. To provide a can product heating device.

[0010]

The above-mentioned object can be achieved by constructing a can product heating device according to the present invention as follows. (1) The induction heating coil is divided into two parts, a lower coil that surrounds the lower half of the can product and an upper coil that surrounds the upper half, and the lower coil is fixed in place and the upper coil is placed in a heating position and a standby position. Installed so that it can move forward and backward between

With respect to the upper coil having the above-mentioned structure, the upper coil is always held at the standby position, and a moving operation means for shifting the standby position from the standby position to the heating position when a can product comes in is provided. (2) The induction heating coil is divided into a main coil and an auxiliary coil and arranged in the front and back to supply power only to the main coil for short and small size can products, and to the main coil and auxiliary coil for long and large size can products. Electric power is supplied to perform induction heating. Then, the above configuration is implemented by providing a control unit that determines the size of the can product that has arrived in the apparatus and switches the auxiliary coil to power feeding or non-power feeding based on the determination signal. be able to.

(3) Further, the induction heating coil is divided into an upper coil and a lower coil by combining the configurations of the above-mentioned (1) and (2), and further, the upper coil and the lower coil are arranged in front and rear respectively. The main coil and the auxiliary coil may be divided into two parts.

[0013]

In the configuration of (1) above, in the standby state, the upper coil is retracted to the standby position which is above the product passage, and the can product that has moved to the heating device along the transport path is in the upper position. It is received and held in a predetermined heating position without fear of interference such as being caught by the coil. Here, when the upper coil is moved from the standby position to the heating position, the upper coil covers the upper half of the can peripheral surface of the can product so as to be almost in close contact therewith. If the upper coil and the lower coil are supplied with electric power at the same time in this state, the can container is simultaneously induction-heated in the entire peripheral area, which allows the contents beverage of the can product to be heated efficiently to a suitable temperature for sale in a short time.

Further, in the above configuration (2), the main coil is selected to have a length corresponding to a small-sized small-sized can product, and the auxiliary coil is combined with the main coil to have a large-sized large-sized can. It is selected to correspond to the product. When a small can product is sold, the auxiliary coil remains unpowered and only the main coil is powered. On the other hand, when a large product is sold, the main coil and the auxiliary coil are simultaneously supplied with electric power for induction heating. As a result, the heating time for large can products is not prolonged, and large can products and small products can be heated to the appropriate temperature for sales in the same heating time. When heating small products, the auxiliary coil is not powered. Therefore, wasteful power consumption can be suppressed to save power.

Further, if the configuration of (3) is adopted, various can products of different sizes such as large size, small size, long size, short size, etc. can be efficiently induction-heated in a short time regardless of the size of the can container. be able to.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In each embodiment, the same parts as those in FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals. Embodiment 1: FIG. 1 shows an embodiment corresponding to claim 1 of the present invention. In this embodiment, the induction heating coil 17 encloses the lower half of the can product 7 and is a lower coil 17a.
And an upper coil 17b surrounding the upper half, and the lower coil 17a is fixedly arranged on the lower surface side of the product receiving stand 16 here. On the other hand, the upper coil 17b has a link 21a, a drive solenoid 21b, and a return spring 2
It is connected to a moving operation mechanism 21 that is a combination of 1c so that it can move forward and backward between a heating position shown by a solid line and a standby position shown by a chain line.

With this structure, the upper coil 17 is in standby.
b is retracted to the upper standby position (chain line). here,
As described in FIG. 3, when the canned product 7 carried out from the product rack by the selling operation enters the product heating device 15 through the product lifter and is received and held in the inverted posture on the product receiving stand 16, the moving operation mechanism is operated. The drive solenoid 21b of 21 carries out a suction operation, and the upper coil 17b descends from the standby position to the heating position (solid line) via the link 21a and covers so that it almost comes into close contact with the peripheral surface of the can product 7. Therefore, in this state, the can product 7 is surrounded by the upper coil 17b and the lower coil 17a from above and below.

Next, the upper coil 17 from the high frequency power source 18
If the power is supplied to a and the lower coil 17b at the same time, the can product 7
Means that the entire circumference of the can container will be heated at the same time,
Beverages in canned products can be heated to a suitable temperature for sale efficiently in a short time. And when the induction heating process is completed,
The drive solenoid 21b of the movement operation mechanism 21 is returned to the non-excitation state to move the upper coil 17b backward to the standby position, and at the same time, the gate 19 (see FIG. 3) at the outlet side end is opened. As a result, the canned product 7 slides down the slope of the product receiving tray 16 and is taken out into the front exit port.

Embodiment 2 FIG. 2 shows an embodiment corresponding to claim 2 of the present invention. In this example,
The induction heating coil 17 is divided into a main coil 17c and an auxiliary coil 17d arranged in front and rear, and each coil is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the product receiving table 16. Here, the main coil 17
c is selected to have a longitudinal dimension corresponding to the size S of the small and small sized can 7S, and the auxiliary coil 17d is selected so that the length combined with the main coil 17c corresponds to the size L of the large sized large can 7L. ing. In addition, the auxiliary coil 17d
A sensor (for example, a proximity switch) 22 for discriminating the size of the canned product 7 is provided above the product, and the power feeding circuit of the auxiliary coil 17d is powered based on the detection signal of the sensor 22. , And a changeover switch 23 for controlling non-power supply.

With such a structure, when the can product 7 carried out from the product rack by the selling operation is carried into the product heating device 15 via the product lifter and its tip hits the exit side gate and stops, the sensor 22 is located at this position. The product size is determined by. Here, when it is determined that the can product 7 is a small product 7S having a short size, the changeover switch 23 remains open, and the high frequency power supply 18 supplies power only to the main coil 17c to inductively heat the can product. On the other hand, when it is determined that the can product 7 is a large product 7L having a large size, the changeover switch 23 is switched to a closed circuit, and the main coil 17c and the auxiliary coil 17d are simultaneously supplied with power from the high frequency power source 18 to inductively heat the can product. . When the heating is completed, the gate on the outlet side is opened and the can product 7 is carried out to the product outlet as in the first embodiment.

In addition to the above-described respective embodiments, the induction heating coil 17 is divided into an upper coil 17a and a lower coil 17b as in the first embodiment, and the upper coil and the lower coil are further divided into the second embodiment. As described above, the main coil 17c and the auxiliary coil 17d arranged side by side may be divided into two parts, and the upper coil for the main coil and the auxiliary coil may be combined with the movement operation mechanism 21 described in the first embodiment.

[0022]

As described above, the structure of the present invention has the following effects. (1) According to the constitutions of claims 1 and 2, the can product carried into the product heating device can be induction-heated from the entire peripheral surface of the can container, whereby the content drink of the can product can be sold in a short time. It is heated to a suitable temperature. Moreover, since the upper coil can be moved to the retracted position, the can product can be taken in and delivered without any trouble.

(2) According to the constitutions of claims 3 and 4, regardless of the size of the can length, large can products and small can products can be efficiently induction-heated in a short time, and particularly small can products. Power consumption can be reduced by preventing wasteful power consumption when heating. (3) According to the configuration of claim 5, various can products having different sizes such as large size, small size, long size, and short size can be efficiently induction-heated in a short time regardless of the size of the can container.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an induction heating type can product heating device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an induction heating type can product heating device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

3A and 3B are schematic configuration diagrams of a vending machine equipped with a can product heating device, in which FIG. 3A is a side view and FIG. 3B is a front view.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional induction heating type can product heating device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 7 Can Products 16 Commodity Stand 17 Induction Heating Coil 17a Lower Coil 17b Upper Coil 17c Main Coil 17d Auxiliary Coil 18 High Frequency Power Supply 21 Moving Operation Mechanism 22 Can Size Discrimination Sensor 23 Change Switch

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshihisa Furuta 1-1, Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Fuji Electric Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An induction heating type can product heating device that heats a can product carried out from a product storage section of a vending machine to an appropriate temperature for selling hot products on the way of the carrying route, and moves along the carry out route. In a product cradle that receives and holds a can product that has come in an inverted position, an induction heating coil is provided on the outer periphery of the product pedestal, and the induction heating coil includes a lower coil that surrounds the lower half of the can product and an upper half. A can of an automatic vending machine, which is divided into an upper coil to be surrounded and a lower coil which is fixed at a fixed position so that the upper coil can be moved forward and backward between a heating position and a standby position. Commodity heating device. 2. The can product heating device according to claim 1,
A can product heating device for a vending machine, which is provided with a moving operation means for holding the upper coil in the standby position at all times and transferring the product from the standby position to the heating position when a can product arrives. 3. An induction heating type can product heating device that heats a can product carried out from a product storage section of a vending machine to a temperature suitable for selling hot products on the way of the carrying route, and moves along the carry out route. For the product cradle that receives and holds the can product that came back in an inverted posture, in the one equipped with an induction heating coil on the outer periphery, the induction heating coil is divided into a main coil and an auxiliary coil and arranged in front and back, A can product heating device for a vending machine, which supplies electric power only to the main coil for short and small size can products, and supplies electric power to the main coil and auxiliary coil for long and large size can products for induction heating. 4. The can product heating device according to claim 3,
A can product heating device for a vending machine, which is provided with a control means for determining the size of a can product that has arrived in the device and switching the auxiliary coil between power supply and non-power supply based on the determination signal. 5. An induction heating coil is divided into an upper coil and a lower coil by combining the configurations of claim 1 and claim 2, and further, an upper coil and a lower coil are respectively arranged in front and rear of a main coil and an auxiliary coil. Can product heating device for vending machines, characterized by being divided into two parts.