JPH11213239A - Sales control method for automatic vending machine and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for controlling sales for coping with a sales trouble generated when a cover detached from cup merchandise with a cover drops to the carrying mechanism of a bucket unit by operating sales under the condition of partial constraint without immediately stopping the sales of an automatic vending machine. SOLUTION: A merchandise housing rack in which plural columns for arranging and housing merchandise in one front and back column are arrayed in upper and lower stages and right and let columns, and a bucket unit loaded on an X-Y carrying mechanism are mounted in the case of a main body case, and access is performed from the bucket unit at a waiting position to the front part of the selected column based on a selling command, and merchandise ejected from the column is moved to the bucket so as to be carried to a merchandise output port in an automatic vending machine. When the bucket unit can not move to the selected column at the time of selling merchandise due a foreign matter such as a cover dropping to the X-Y carrying mechanism as an obstacle, the bucket unit is returned to the waiting position, and the sales of the column positioned within a range incapable of access is stopped (S9), and the sales of another column capable of access is validated so that the sales can be resumed under the sales control.

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 selling cans, bottles, paper packs, cup products with lids, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a vending machine described above, a main body case having an outer door (transparent door) with a product outlet on the front side and an inner door (transparent door) having a product outlet opening to the product outlet. , A product storage rack in which a plurality of columns for storing products arranged in a front and rear row are arranged in upper and lower rows and left and right rows, an XY transport mechanism disposed in front of the product storage rack, and X
-Equipped with a bucket unit mounted on the X-axis transport unit of the Y transport mechanism, started the XY transport mechanism based on the sales command, and accessed the front of the column where the bucket unit was selected. 2. Description of the Related Art A vending machine is known in which a dispensed product is transferred to a bucket and then sent to a product outlet.

In the vending machine described above, power is transmitted from the bucket unit side to a product discharging mechanism (a pusher mechanism and a gate mechanism) of the column at a position where the bucket unit accesses the column of the product storage rack. A structure in which a power source for a commodity dispensing mechanism is incorporated in a bucket unit so as to perform dispensing has been proposed as Japanese Patent Application No. 9-322728 by the same applicant as the present invention.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are views showing the overall configuration of a vending machine manufactured based on the above proposal. In the figure, 1 is a main body case of a vending machine, 2 is a transparent outside door provided with a product outlet 2a at the lower part on the front surface, 3 is a transparent inner door provided with a flapper 3a at a product outlet opening to the product outlet 2a, 4 Is a drawer-type column 5 that stores products in a row in front and rear for each column
Product storage racks constructed by arranging
5a is a gate of the column 5, 6 is a bucket unit for receiving the goods paid out from the column 5, 7 is a bucket unit 6 mounted thereon, and moves up and down between the goods storage rack 4 and the inner door 3;
An XY transport mechanism that moves in the left-right direction, 8 is a keyboard (numeric keypad) 9 for selecting a product, an operation panel on which a display unit, a coin mechanism, a building validator and the like are mounted, and 10 is a coin return slot.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the structure of the XY transport mechanism 7. The XY transport mechanism comprises an X-axis transport section 7x and a Y-axis transport section 7x.
And a bucket unit 6
Is mounted on an X-axis transport unit 7x, and is guided and supported movably in the X-axis direction along a guide rail laid on the bottom thereof. 7x-1 is an X-axis motor, 7x-2 is a timing belt stretched between the X-axis motor 7x-1 and the bucket unit 6 along the X-axis direction, and 7x-3 is a movement path of the bucket unit 6. , A bucket guide frame provided on the front surface of the X-axis transport section 7x, 7y-1 is a Y-axis motor, 7y-2 is a timing belt in the Y-axis direction, and 7y-3 is a balancer.

In such a configuration, the bucket unit 6 moves in the X and Y axis directions by driving the X axis transport section 7x and the Y axis transport section 7y. In addition, as the position detecting means when the bucket unit 6 accesses the designated column from the standby position, a position detecting plate laid along the longitudinal direction of the X-axis transport unit 7x and the Y-axis transport unit 7y is used. , X-axis transport unit 7x is provided with a stop position sensor (photo interrupter), and at the time of sale, based on the signal of the stop position sensor, the position of the column in which bucket unit 6 is selected by a command from a control unit (not shown), And it moves to the standby position (home position) facing the product outlet.

Next, the structure of the bucket unit 6 is shown in FIG. In the figure, 11 is a box-shaped bucket case, 12
Is a belt conveyor for laying out products laid on the bottom of the bucket case 11, 12a is a belt conveyor motor, and 13 is a flapper provided on the front surface of the bucket case 11 (when a product stored in the bucket hits an inner door (see FIG. 5)). 13a is a return spring (torsion coil spring) for urging the flapper 13 in the closing direction;
Is an open / close detection switch for the flapper 13, 15 is a product detection switch for detecting a product paid out from the product storage column and transferred to the bucket unit 6, 15a is an actuator of the switch, and 16 is a middle position on the rear surface of the bucket case 11. A transport roller for taking in the product, 17 is a timing belt for transmitting and connecting between the transport roller 16 and the drive motor 12a, and 18 is a connection for transmitting and connecting to the transport roller 17 so as to protrude and retract from the rear surface of the rack case 11. Gears (gears for transmitting power to the product delivery mechanism of the product storage column), 19 is a pin pusher that protrudes from the rear surface of the rack case 11 to open and close the gate mechanism of the product storage column, 19a is a feed screw of the pin pusher 19, 1
9b is a pusher motor, 20 is a product stopper (controls the product taken in the bucket to an upright posture) over the upper front of the rack case 11, and 21 is a stop position sensor (XY transport mechanism (see FIG. 5)). A sensor for detecting the stop position of the bucket unit 6 which moves along the X-axis transport unit), and 22 is a guide roller of the bucket unit 6.

With this configuration, when the bucket unit 6 moves from the standby position (home position) based on the sales command and accesses the position of the commodity storage column selected by the customer, first, the pusher motor 19b is started to push out the pin pusher 19. Then, the gate 5a of the product storage column 5 is opened. The connecting gear 18 protrudes rearward in conjunction with the advance of the pin pusher 19, and meshes with the drive gear of the commodity discharging mechanism on the column side. Next, the conveyor motor 12a is started, and its power is transmitted to the commodity dispensing mechanism on the column side, and the commodities arranged in the front row are dispensed from the column to the bucket unit 6.

Here, when the product paid out from the column enters the inside of the bucket case 11 (the product is pushed forward from the rear and falls down to the forward inclined position), the product detection switch 15 is activated, and this switch operation signal is generated. Based on pin pusher 19
And the gate 5a (see FIG. 4) of the column is closed.
Subsequently, the Y-axis transport unit 7y of the XY transport mechanism 7 (see FIG. 5)
Is slightly lifted, the product is scooped up by the transport roller 16, and the product is taken into the bucket case 11 by the feeding operation of the transport roller 16. In this case, the upper portion of the product leans against the product stopper 20 of the bucket unit 6, and the bottom surface protrudes forward by the feed of the transport roller 16 to deepen the posture from the forward inclined posture to the upright posture.
When it is out of the way, it falls in a standing posture and lands on the belt conveyor 12. When the product placed on the belt conveyor 12 is sent forward and pushes the bucket flapper 13 from the inside, the bucket flapper 13 is slightly opened and the open / close detection switch 14 is reversed. To stop.

In this state, the bucket flapper 13
Of the bucket guide frame 7x-3 of the X-axis transport unit 7x shown in FIG. 6 does not fully open. That is, the bucket guide frame 7x-3 is provided with a cutout and a sub-shooter so that the bucket flapper 13 can be opened only at a position corresponding to the home position of the bucket unit 6, and this home position is the product storage rack 4
In the access position to the column, the bucket flapper 13 is restrained in a half-open state and the product is held in the bucket case 11.

Then, by the transport operation of the XY transport mechanism 7, the bucket unit 6 is moved to the product outlet 2a (FIGS. 3 and 4).
(See FIG. 4), the conveyor motor 12a is started again, the belt conveyor 12 is turned, and the bucket flapper 13 and the flapper 3a provided at the product outlet of the inner door 3 (see FIG. 4) are pushed open. The product is carried out of the bucket unit 6 to the product outlet 2a. When the product is carried out to the product outlet 2a, the bucket flapper 13 returns to the closed position and the open / close detection switch 1
4, the conveyor motor 12a is stopped by this operation signal, and a series of selling operations is completed. This series of selling operations is performed by a program command from a not-shown selling control unit.

[0012]

There is no problem in selling canned goods, paper-packed goods, and the like with the above-mentioned vending machine. As described above, the lid may come off from the cup container in the middle of the transport route, which may cause a sales trouble.

[0013] Here, the cup product with a lid is formed by molding a thin plastic on the top of a cup container containing the contents beverage (the upper surface of the cup container is sealed with aluminum foil or the like so that the contents beverage does not spill out). The product is covered with a lid (a hole for inserting a straw is formed on the top of the lid), and a straw is inserted into the lid so that the contents can be drunk. The lid can be easily removed. Fitted in a cup container.

When this cup product with a lid is sold by the above-mentioned vending machine, the lid 23b of the cup product with a lid 23 is placed at various places along the product transport path from the column 5 of the product storage rack to the product outlet 2a. May come off from the cup container 23a, and only the cup container may be carried out to the product outlet 2 with the lid removed. As described above, if the lid 23b comes off in the middle of the transport path, only the cup container 23a may be carried out to the product outlet 2a, giving the customer distrust. Further, the lid 23b which has come off from the cup container 23a falls into the bucket case and rests on the belt conveyor 12 (in this case, the lid can be discharged together with the cup container to the product outlet by the conveyor). There are various behaviors, such as falling off to the outside and falling into the cabin, but the removed lid is XY
If it falls on the rail of the X-axis transport unit 7x (see FIG. 5) of the transport mechanism, the following sales trouble occurs.

Next, the situation of occurrence of this sales trouble is shown in FIG.
This will be described in (a) and (b). Note that X1 and X2 in FIG.
,. . Xn represents the stop position of the bucket unit 6 corresponding to the columns arranged in the left and right rows. Here, FIG.
As shown in the above, the lid 23b of the cup product with a lid is detached from the cup container in the previous selling operation and stopped on the X-axis transport unit 7x of the XY transport mechanism 7 (for example, when stopped at the standby position (home position)). (The left side of the bucket unit 6), and if the product in the column on the left end is selected at the next sale, the X-axis transport unit 7x is driven to drive the bucket as shown in FIG. 7B. In the process of moving the unit 6 to the left from the standby position toward the stop position X1, the bucket unit 6 pushes the fallen lid 23b. As a result, at a position before the bucket unit 6 reaches the designated column (X1), the lid 23b is sandwiched between the Y-axis transport unit 7y (the left rail unit) and the bucket unit 6 is locked at this position. I will.

In this case, in the conventional vending machine, X-
If the bucket unit 6 does not reach the selected column within a specified time after the start of the start of the Y transport mechanism 7 (the position detection sensor described above does not operate), it is determined that an abnormality (failure) has occurred and immediately. The current situation is that vending machines are suspended and sales are resumed after removing fallen objects by in-flight inspection by an administrator. In addition, other than the lid detached from the cup product 23 with the lid, any foreign matter is XY.
The same applies when the bucket unit 6 becomes inaccessible to some of the columns due to a drop on the transport mechanism or the like.

By the way, in the abnormal state shown in FIG.
Although the bucket unit 6 cannot access the leftmost column (X1), the columns (X2 to X) except for the leftmost column are not accessible.
The column located at n) is accessible. Nevertheless, stopping the vending machine from being sold immediately misses a sales opportunity and reduces the operating efficiency of the vending machine.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and a cover which comes off at the time of selling a cup product with a cover is X-shaped.
To provide a vending machine sales control method and apparatus capable of coping with a sales trouble caused by dropping on a Y transport mechanism or the like and enabling resumption of product sales under some sales restrictions. The purpose is to:

[0019]

According to the sales control method of the present invention, in order to attain the above object, according to the sales control method of the present invention, the inside of a main body case having an outer door with a product outlet on the front side and an inner door is provided.
A product storage rack in which a plurality of columns for storing products arranged in front and rear rows are arranged in upper and lower rows and left and right rows, an XY transport mechanism disposed in front of the product storage rack, and an X-axis transport unit of the XY transport mechanism The XY transport mechanism was started based on the sales command, the bucket unit was accessed from the standby position in front of the column selected, and the products paid out from the column were transferred into the bucket. In a vending machine that is transported to the product exit above, if the bucket unit cannot move to the column selected at the time of product sale due to foreign objects falling inside the machine, return the bucket unit to the standby position and access Columns located in the inaccessible range will be suspended, and other accessible columns will be available for sale (Claim 1). As an aspect, when the bucket unit does not reach the selected column within a specified time at the time of selling the product, the bucket unit is returned to the standby position and the same moving operation is performed again, and the bucket unit becomes inaccessible by this moving operation. Sales of columns located in the range are suspended (claim 2).

A sales control device for implementing the above-described sales control method includes means for detecting an access position of a bucket unit corresponding to each column of a product storage rack, and a foreign object falling inside the machine at the time of product sales. If the bucket unit cannot move to the selected column due to
Means for discriminating between a column located in an inaccessible range of the bucket unit and a column located in an accessible range based on the signal of the position detecting means, and an inaccessible range based on the judgment result of the discriminating means. (Claim 3).

According to the above-described sales control method and apparatus, the bucket unit accesses the designated column at the time of sale of the product, for example, because the lid that has come off during the sale of the cup product with the cover falls on the XY transport mechanism. Even if an unsuccessful sales trouble occurs, the product can be sold in the remaining accessible columns, thereby improving the operating efficiency of the vending machine.

[0022]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. First, a block diagram of the sales control system is shown in FIG. Here, a control program necessary for the processing operation of the CPU 25 is stored in the ROM (storage unit) 24, and the control unit 25 performs a series of operations in accordance with a predetermined program procedure in accordance with a sales command from a product selection keyboard 26. The sales operation is executed, and the commodity selected by the customer is paid out from the column and carried out to the commodity outlet. Here, the position of the XY transport mechanism 7 is determined by the X-axis position sensor 27x,
Detect at 27y. The RAM 28 is a storage unit for writing a column inaccessible to the bucket unit 6 at the time of sale as described later, and the display unit 29 displays a sales stop column. The display unit 29 is provided on the operation panel 8 (see FIG. 3).
The display unit 29 is not limited to a lamp, but may be a liquid crystal display or a voice guide.

Next, taking the product sales described in FIG. 7 as an example,
A sales control method for dealing with a sales trouble when the lid 23b that has come off from the cup container falls on the X-axis transport unit 7x during the selling operation of the cup product with the lid will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, product selection (step S1
), The XY transport mechanism is started (step S2). In step S3, the X-axis and Y-axis position sensors (see FIG. 2) detect whether or not the bucket unit has reached the selected column. The signal is fetched and determined. When the signal reaches the selected column, it is determined that there is no abnormality, and the next step S
The selling operation is continued in step 4, and the product is carried out to the product outlet (step S5).

On the other hand, the lid detached from the cup product with the lid at the time of the previous sale falls on the X-axis transport unit, and
(a), the bucket unit remains in the selected column (FIG. 7 (b)) even after the specified time has elapsed in step S3.
(If the product in the column located in the leftmost column is selected as described in (2), the position is not reached, step S6
After the bucket unit is once returned to the standby position (home position) in step S7, the same operation as step S2 is performed again in step S7 (retry operation). If the lid dropped by the retry operation is removed from the X-axis transport unit and the bucket unit reaches the selected column, the process returns from step S8 to step S4 to continue the selling operation.

On the other hand, if the bucket unit does not move to the selected column within the specified time even in the retry operation in step S7, the column in which the bucket unit is inaccessible in step S9 (in the example of FIG. 7B, Only the vertical column corresponding to the leftmost stop position X1) is set to stop selling, and this state is displayed as "sold out" on the display unit in FIG. 2, and the process returns to step S1 to resume selling the vending machine. . By resuming the sales, the products in the remaining columns accessible by the bucket unit can be sold except for the columns whose sales have been stopped in step S9. Although not shown in the figure for easy understanding, if a commodity is not selected within a predetermined time after resuming sales, a refund operation is performed.

[0026]

As described above, according to the sales control method and apparatus of the present invention, a foreign matter such as a lid detached from a cup container during the selling operation of a cup product with a lid falls onto the XY transport mechanism. However, even if the falling foreign object becomes an obstacle and the bucket unit cannot be moved to the designated product storage column at the next sale, it is determined that a failure has occurred and the vending machine is not immediately stopped selling, and the bucket unit is not stopped. Sales of vending machines can be resumed and sales can be resumed assuming that only columns located in the inaccessible range of the vending machine can be sold and other columns can be sold, thereby selling products without missing sales opportunities. Operation rate can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a time chart showing a sales control method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a sales control system for performing the sales control of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view of a vending machine to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 4 is an external view of the vending machine shown in FIG. 3 in an outer door open state;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the configuration of an XY transport mechanism in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a detailed structure of a bucket unit in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of a sales trouble when a lid detached from a cup product with a lid falls on an XY transport mechanism,
(a) is a diagram showing a state in which the lid has fallen on the X-axis transport unit,
(b) is a diagram showing the state when the bucket unit is moved toward the leftmost selected column at the next product sale

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body case 2 Outer door 2a Merchandise exit 3 Inner door 4 Merchandise storage rack 5 Column 6 Bucket unit 7 XY conveyance mechanism 7x X-axis conveyance part 7y Y-axis conveyance part 23 Cup goods with a lid 23a Cup container 23b Cover

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A product storage rack in which a plurality of columns for storing and arranging products in a front and rear row are arranged in upper and lower rows and left and right rows in a cabinet of a main body case having an outer door with a product outlet on the front surface. Equipped with an XY transport mechanism provided in front of the rack, and a bucket unit mounted on the X-axis transport unit of the XY transport mechanism, and starts the XY transport mechanism based on a sales command to place the bucket unit in a standby position. A vending machine that accesses the front of the column selected from the above, transfers the products paid out from the column to the bucket, and then carries out the product to the product outlet, when selling products due to foreign objects falling inside the machine If the bucket unit cannot move to the selected column, return the bucket unit to the standby position, suspend sales of columns located in the inaccessible range, and sell other columns. Sales control method of the vending machine, characterized in that to resume sold as possible. 2. The selling control method according to claim 1, wherein if the bucket unit does not reach the selected column within a specified time during the sale of the product, the bucket unit is returned to the standby position and the same moving operation is performed again. A vending machine vending control method comprising suspending vending at a column located in a range in which the bucket unit is inaccessible by this moving operation.