JPH0690752B2 - Vending machine product unloading device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a product unloading device for an automatic vending machine, such as an automatic ticket issuing machine, which targets thin products.

[Conventional technology]

As an automatic vending machine of this type, a roller push-out type product discharging device as shown in FIG. 7 is known. In such a device, a delivery roller 3 is installed at the bottom of a product storage shelf 2 in which products 1 are stacked and stored, and the roller 3 is rotated based on a sales command to move the lowest product in the shelf to the front. Roller feed is carried out as shown by the arrow through the gap between the partition plate 4 and the bottom plate of the product storage shelf, and the transport conveyor 5 at the subsequent stage
It is delivered to a product take-out port (not shown) via the conveyor 5.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

By the way, in the above-described roller feed type product dispensing mechanism, slips occur between the roller 3 and the product 1 so that the products are not conveyed smoothly, or the friction between the products acts to make a single selling operation. There was a problem of lack of reliability due to sales troubles such as the shipment of two products at the same time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to solve the drawbacks of the conventional method and to provide a product unloading device that can reliably separate and carry out products one by one.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

To achieve this object, the present invention relates to a vacuum suction pad for sucking and holding a product, a vertical and horizontal axis type moving carriage for moving a holding header of the suction pad up and down, front and back, and a vacuum suction pad. It is equipped with an air pressure control circuit that can apply vacuum pressure and discharge pressure, and moves the moving carriage based on the sales command to bring the vacuum suction pad to the top product in the shelf, and the vacuum pressure control circuit Vacuum pressure is supplied to the suction pad to attract the product to the vacuum suction pad, and the moving carriage is operated to convey the vacuum suction pad to the product outlet, and the air pressure control circuit applies the discharge pressure to the vacuum suction pad. It is characterized in that the product that is supplied and sucked and held is separated from the vacuum suction pad.

[Action]

According to the above means, by the pressure control of the air pressure control circuit and the moving operation of the moving carriage based on the sales instruction, the stored products in the shelf are sucked one by one from the top through the vacuum suction pad, and the stored products are moved from the storage position. The product is taken out, conveyed to the product take-out port, and paid out.

〔Example〕

1 and 2 are configuration diagrams of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 6 to FIG. 6 are operation explanatory views showing the product dispensing operation in order. First, in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, 6 is a vending machine cabinet, 7 is a coin mechanism,
Reference numeral 8 is a product storage rack for stacking and storing a large number of products 1. With respect to such a product storage shelf, the product delivery mechanism is roughly classified into a vacuum suction pad 9 for sucking and holding the product 1, and a vertical and horizontal axis type moving carriage 11 for vertically and backwardly moving the holding head 10 of the pad 9. And an air pressure control circuit 12 for applying a vacuum pressure and a discharge pressure to the vacuum suction pad 9. In addition, 13 is an operation controller that gives an operation signal to the carriage 11 and the air pressure control circuit 12 based on the output signal from the coin mechanism 7, 14 is a product outlet opening on the front of the carriage, and 15 is a product leading to the product outlet. It is a carry-out shooter.

The detailed structure of each part will be described below. The moving carriage 11 is a horizontal axis moving carriage composed of a drive motor 16, a pinion 17, and a rack 18 in the front-rear direction, a drive motor 19 mounted on the holding head 10, and a worm gear 20. It is an assembly of a vertical movement carriage composed of a pinion 21 coupled via a vertical axis movement carriage 22 mounted on the horizontal movement carriage. On the other hand, the air pressure control circuit 12 includes an air pump 23, and an air pipe 28 connected between the suction port 24 and the discharge port 25 of the air pump 23 via the control valves 26 and 27 as electromagnetic valves, respectively, and the vacuum suction pad 9. It consists of Reference numeral 29 is a detection switch for detecting that the vacuum suction pad 9 has landed on the product 1.

Next, a product payout operation with the above configuration will be described. When a coin is inserted and a sales signal is given from the sales standby state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the output signal from the operation controller 13 first starts the air pump 23, and as shown in FIG. 26 and 27 operate to suck air through the vacuum suction pad 9. At the same time, the vertical movement carriage of the movement carriage 11 moves, and when the vacuum suction pad 9 lands on the product 1, the switch 29 operates to stop the movement carriage at that position, and the vacuum suction pad 9 moves to the maximum position. Vacuum adsorption of high-ranking products. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the drive motor 19 is rotated in the reverse direction to raise the vacuum suction pad 9 while holding one product 1a by suction. In this case, since the vacuum suction pad sucks the product from the upper surface, it is possible to surely separate and take out the products one by one. Next, as shown in FIG. 5, the horizontal axis moving carriage moves to the left to transfer the product 1a adsorbed and held on the vacuum suction pad to a position above the carry-out shooter 15. When the horizontal axis moving carriage reaches a predetermined position, the control valves 26 and 27 are switched as shown in FIG. 6 to apply the discharge pressure of the air pump 23 to the vacuum suction pad 9 to release the suction state of the product. Separate the product 1a from the pad. As a result, the product 1a falls onto the carry-out shooter 15 and is discharged to the product take-out port 14. On the other hand, the moving carriage 11 moves backward and returns to the original standby position, and the air pump 23 also stops and enters the sales standby state again.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a vacuum suction pad for sucking and holding a product, a vertical / horizontal axis type moving carriage for moving a holding header of the suction pad in vertical and front-rear directions, and vacuum suction. Equipped with an air pressure control circuit that can apply vacuum pressure and discharge pressure to the pad, move the moving carriage based on the sales command to bring the vacuum suction pad to the top product in the shelf, and the vacuum from the air pressure control circuit. Vacuum pressure is supplied to the vacuum suction pad to attract the product to the vacuum suction pad, and the moving carriage is operated to convey the vacuum suction pad to the product outlet, and the air pressure control circuit discharges pressure to the vacuum suction pad. By separating the suction-held products from the vacuum suction pad, the products stored in a stack in the stack can be reliably separated one by one from the top. Ri out, it can be paid out to the goods outlet.

In particular, according to the present invention, since the discharge pressure is supplied from the air pressure control circuit to the vacuum suction pad to positively separate the product suction-held from the vacuum suction pad, the vacuum pressure to the vacuum suction pad is shut off. In this case, the product that has been suction-held does not continue to be sucked onto the vacuum suction pad.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 are a front view and a side view, respectively, showing the structure of a product unloading device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are explanatory views of the product unloading operation in the apparatus of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, which are shown in order respectively, and FIG. 7 is a conventional feed roller type product unloading apparatus. It is a block diagram. 1 ... Merchandise, 8 ... Merchandise storage rack, 9 ... Vacuum suction pad, 10 ... Holding head, 11 ... Vertical and horizontal axis type moving carriage, 12 ... Pneumatic control circuit, 13 ... Operation controller ,14……
Product outlet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum type suction pad for sucking and holding products in a product carrying-out device of an automatic vending machine, which takes out the products stacked and stored in a shelf one by one according to a sales command and pays them out to a product outlet. The moving carriage is provided with vertical and horizontal axis type moving carriages for moving the pad holding headers in the vertical and forward and backward directions, and an air pressure control circuit capable of applying vacuum pressure and discharge pressure to the vacuum type suction pad, and based on a sales instruction. Is moved to bring the vacuum suction pad to the uppermost product in the shelf, and vacuum pressure is supplied from the air pressure control circuit to the vacuum suction pad to adsorb the product to the vacuum suction pad. , Moving the moving carriage to convey the vacuum suction pad to the product outlet, and supplying the discharge pressure from the air pressure control circuit to the vacuum suction pad. Article conveying device for an automatic vending machine, characterized in that to separate the product which holds the suction from the vacuum-type suction pad.