JPH06314374A - Food heating automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a defect in operation due to frosting, icing, etc., at a movable part in a storage room and improve the stability of vending operation by performing both or either of a door and an in-box conveyance device in idling operation irrelevantly to vending operation. CONSTITUTION:The door 16 or in-box conveyance device 17 is placed in idling operation through a timer 66 and an in-box temperature sensor 67 irrelevantly to whether or not vending operation is carried out, when the possibility of vending is low, for example, in nighttime, one hour after defrosting is completed, at the time of recooling operation at the time of a power failure, maintenance, etc., or when the in-box temperature nearly reaches 0 deg., namely, when an idling operation control means 68 decides that set conditions are met. Therefore, the development of local frosting and icing can be prevented at the rotary and slide parts of the in-box conveyance device 17 and the seal part of the door 16. In this idling operation, steps of vending are given priority, so even when the idling operation and vending operation are performed simultaneously, the cycle time of the vending operation never becomes long.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a food heating vending machine capable of automatically heating and selling refrigerated or frozen stored foods such as hamburgers and rarely packed foods which can be stored at room temperature. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been proposed a vending machine which automatically heats frozen food having a long shelf life in a microwave oven and sells it.

FIG. 9 shows such a vending machine disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-77191. In the vending machine 80, a freezing room 81 is constituted, a bend rack 82 is provided, and a product 83 is stored. This product is received by the comb-teeth-shaped hand portion 85 of the robot hand 84 in response to a sales instruction, carried into the microwave oven 86 below the freezer compartment 81 for heating and cooking, and after heating, the product is taken out by the robot hand 84 and carried out at the exit 87. What is conveyed to is disclosed.

[0004]

However, the transportation by the robot hand 84 is costly because the robot has a wide movement range and three-dimensional movement is required. Further, since it is necessary to insert the hand portion 85 into the freezing chamber 81, there is a large freezing chamber door 88 that does not interfere with the hand portion 85, so that a large amount of warm air and a large amount of cold air flow out, and the refrigeration apparatus must be upsized. In addition, the mechanism for opening and closing the long freezer compartment door 88 is large and complicated.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems. A plurality of conveying devices convey a product stored in a storage box in a simple and compact manner without the need for complicated movements, and also prevent freezing. Is intended.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a food heating vending machine of the present invention stores food in a temperature zone such as refrigeration and freezing, and has a plurality of bend racks inside. Then, a storehouse having a product outlet and a door for opening and closing the product outlet at a predetermined location, a storage room having a loading door, and a conveyance in the storehouse that collects food products dropped on various places on the bottom wall to the product outlet. A device and located below the store,
It is characterized in that the tray rack is provided on the inner surface of the door for heating food, and either or both of the door and the in-compartment transfer device are idled regardless of whether they are sold.

The idle operation of the in-compartment transfer device or the door may be performed a predetermined time after the completion of defrosting.

Further, the idle operation of the in-compartment transfer device or the door is performed after restarting after stopping the cooler.

Still further, the inside transfer device or the door is operated when the inside temperature of the storage reaches a predetermined temperature or higher.

Further, when the idle operation is performed at the same time as the sale, the sale is prioritized.

[0011]

With the above-mentioned structure, the product dropped from the bend rack to the bottom wall is sent to the product outlet having the door by the in-compartment transportation device. When the rotating, sliding part or the sealing surface of the door makes contact, frost is generated, but it is removed by idle operation to prevent the development of frost.

[0012] Further, after the defrosting, when the humidity in the refrigerator is increased, the idle operation is performed at the time when the frost is generated and the refrigerator is cooled, so that the development of frost due to the increase in the humidity in the refrigerator can be prevented.

Further, when the temperature inside the carrier is raised to 0 ° C. or more due to power failure, maintenance, etc., and the frost or ice-melting water in the carrier is applied to the above-mentioned device and door, it is rotated when it is idle. , The water in the sliding part disperses and prevents local ice development.

Furthermore, if it is detected that the internal temperature has risen to a predetermined temperature or more and an idle operation is performed, the dispersion of dissolved water or the development of frost can be prevented.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a food heating vending machine, and an outlet 3 for a product 2.
It has an outer door 5 equipped with a carry-out door 4, a coin slot, a select button (all not shown), and a storage 5 for storing the product 2 therein, for example, in a freezing temperature zone. 6 is a loading door provided on the front surface of the storage 5, 7 is a heat-insulating box, 8 is a bottom wall in the storage, and a cooling air passage 9, a cooler 10, and a fan 11 are arranged below it. 12 is
A bend rack consisting of a spiral body 13 and a box-shaped column 14 that is rotated by a motor (not shown). The product 2 is stored between the spiral bodies 13 and the product 2 is dropped by the rotation of the spiral body 13. is there. Reference numeral 15 is a product outlet opening at the front center of the bottom wall 8, and a slide door 16 is provided.

Reference numeral 17 denotes an in-compartment transporting device that slides on the bottom wall 8 and transports it to the product outlet 15 that falls from each bend rack 12, and includes a left and right pusher member 18 that moves left and right and a front and rear pusher member 19 that moves back and forth. I have it.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a microwave oven for heating food, which is installed in a machine room 22 below the storage 5 so that a left-opening door 21 faces the left side surface of the vending machine 1. On the inner wall of the door 21, there is provided a tray rack 24 on which a tray 23 on which the product 2 is placed is detachably placed.

Numeral 25 indicates a tray 23 between the position of the product outlet 15 and the position of the carry-out port 3 and the tray rack 24.
It is an outside-conveyance apparatus that moves the tray, and is equipped with a tray placing section 26 on which the tray 23 is detachably placed and which moves up and down by linear movement and curved movement. Reference numeral 27 denotes a unloading device that pushes out the products on the tray 23 to the unloading port 3 between the unloading positions, and has a pushing piece 28 that reciprocates back and forth.

Next, the detailed configuration of each device will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6. In FIG. 3, in the internal conveyance device 12, a carriage 29 to which the left and right pushing member 18 is fixed is provided movably in the guide rail 30, and a wire 31 for driving the carriage 29, a left and right drive motor 32, a non-contact type. It has a limit switch 33 and a wire pulley 34.

On the other hand, as for the left and right pushing member 18, the carriage 35 to which the forward and backward pushing member 19 is fixed is a guide rail portion 36.
It is movably provided inside and has a wire 37 for driving the carriage 35, a front-back drive motor 38, a non-contact type limit switch 39, and a wire pulley 40.
Further, FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the in-compartment transfer apparatus, in which the left and right pushing members 41 have front and rear bend racks 1 in the depth direction.
It corresponds to a length of 2. Reference numeral 42 denotes a front and rear pushing member having substantially the entire width of the storage 5, which is moved by a carriage 44 which moves in guide rail members 43 provided on the left and right. Further, 45 is a drive shaft which is driven by a front-rear drive motor 46. It should be noted that parts having the same function are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 5, the door 21 of the microwave oven 20
As is well known, a door latch (not shown) is provided, and has a latch opening / closing mechanism 48 for opening / closing this with a cam 47 and a door opening / closing mechanism 50 for opening / closing the door 21 with a 4-node link 49.

In FIG. 6, the outside-compartment transfer device 25 has a substantially U-shaped frame 51 and a vertically extending chain 53 engaged with a drive sprocket 52 rotated by a motor (not shown). This chain 53 has a slide guide 54
Carrier 55 is attached and the vertical moving body 56 is fixed. The tray mounting portion 26 is connected to the vertical moving body 56 by a parallel link 57. In addition, the tray mounting unit 2
Parallel link 57 for linear and curvilinear motion in 6
A cam lever 60 that engages with a cam track 59 provided on the inner wall of the frame 51 is fixed to one of the bars 58. The cam track 59 has a straight line portion 61 that gives a linear movement and a curved portion 62 that gives a curved movement to the tray mounting portion 26, and a straight line between the position of the product outlet 15 and the position of the carry-out port 3. Movement and curving movement is performed between the position of the carry-out port 3 and the tray rack 24 of the microwave oven 20. Reference numeral 63 denotes a guide hole provided in the tray mounting portion 26, which is the tray 2 shown in FIG.
The guide pin 64 out of the two pairs of guide pins 64 and 65 provided on the lower surface of 3 engages for positioning. The guide pin 65 engages with the guide hole 66 (FIG. 2) of the tray rack 24 for positioning.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. After the coin is inserted, when the product is selected (STEP1), the spiral body 13 of the selected bend rack 12 is driven (STEP2), and the door 16 is opened (STEP3). The tray 23 through the product outlet 15 and the bottom wall 8
Rise slightly below (STEP 4). At this time, the left and right pushing members 18 and the forward and backward pushing members 19 of the in-compartment transfer device 17 are sequentially driven (in the case of the other embodiment of FIG. 4, conversely, the forward and backward pushing members 42 and the left and right pushing members 41 are arranged in this order), and the bend rack 12 is moved. The more dropped product 2 is guided to the product outlet 15 and placed on the tray 23 (STEP 5). Next, the outside-conveyance device 25 is swung down (STEP 6), and the tray 2 on the tray placing section 26 is moved.
3. The product 2 is delivered onto the tray rack 24 of the door 21 in the open state. During this time, the closing operation of the door 16 (STEP 7) and the reset of the in-compartment transportation device 17 are performed (STEP 8).
Then, the door 21 is closed and cooking is performed for a predetermined time (STEP 9). When the cooking is completed, the door 21 is opened (STEP 10), the outside-conveyance device 25 is swung up, and the tray 23 and the product 2 are placed on the tray placing portion 26 again.
It stops at the position opposite to the carry-out port 3 (STEP 11). Then, the carry-out device 27 is operated to push out the product to the carry-out port 3 (STEP 12) and transfer it to a position where the product can be taken out (STEP 13).

The above is the normal selling mode, and the flow of the dotted line shown in FIG. 8 shows the idling mode. That is, regardless of whether or not the door (16) or the in-compartment transportation device (17) is sold by the timer (66) and the in-compartment temperature sensor (67), for example, when there are few sales opportunities at night, or one hour after defrosting is completed. Afterwards, when the recooling operation is performed due to a power failure, maintenance, or the like, and when it is determined by the idle operation control means 68 that it is in a state that meets the set conditions, such as when the internal temperature is near 0 ° C. Run dry.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the rotation of the internal transfer device (17), the development of frost on the sliding portion and the sealing portion of the door (16), and the development of local ice blocks.

Since the step of selling has priority in such idle driving, even when idle driving and selling are performed at the same time,
The cycle time of sales will not be long.

[0028]

According to the present invention, the operation of the in-compartment transfer device in the storage chamber or the movable part of the door can be prevented from immobilizing due to frost, freezing or the like, and the stability of the selling operation can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a food heating vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the internal configuration of the food heating vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an in-compartment transfer device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the internal conveyance device.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a microwave oven.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an outside-conveyance device.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a tray.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the food heating vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a conventional food heating vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 merchandise 5 storage 6 loading door 8 bottom wall 12 bend rack 15 product exit 16 door 17 inside transfer device 18 left and right pushing member 19 front and back pushing member 20 range 21 door 23 tray 24 tray rack 25 outside transfer device 26 tray loading section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Okita 3-22 Takada Hondori, Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Refrigerator Co., Ltd. (72) Yoshito Kimura 3-22 Takaida Hondori, Higashi-Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture Within Matsushita Cold Machinery Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A bottom wall for storing food in a temperature zone such as refrigeration and freezing, having a plurality of bend racks therein, and having a product outlet at a predetermined position and a door for opening and closing the product outlet, A storage having a loading door, an in-chamber transfer device for collecting food dropped on various places on the bottom wall to the product outlet, and a tray rack located below the storage for heating food provided on the inner surface of the door. A food heating vending machine comprising a microwave oven and performing idle operation regardless of whether or not the door and / or the in-compartment transportation device are sold. 2. The food heating automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the in-compartment transfer device or the door is idled for a predetermined time after completion of defrosting. 3. The food heating automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the in-compartment transfer device or the door is idled after the cooler is restarted after being stopped. 4. The food heating automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the in-compartment transfer device or the door is operated when the in-compartment temperature of the storage reaches a predetermined temperature or higher. 5. When idle driving and sales are performed at the same time,
The food heating vending machine according to claim 1, wherein sales is prioritized.