JPS5838834B2 - currency identification device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is applicable to an automatic money processing device or the like, in which money is used (however, in this specification, money includes coins and metal objects having shapes similar to coins).

) The present invention relates to a currency identification device for detecting the arrival of currency and identifying the authenticity of currency.

Money identification devices generally detect the arrival of money and identify the authenticity of the money by using changes in the impedance of a detection coil as the money arrives.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the mechanical parts of this type of currency identification device, where 1 is an inclined coin orbit, 2 is an inserted coin, LA is a detection coil, M and T are electromagnets, and 3 is a A money transfer prevention part linked to the electromagnet M, 4 a money return prevention part linked to the electromagnet T, 5 a money return track, 6 a money storage blocking part linked to the electromagnet T, and 7 a money return track.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the electric circuit part in a conventional currency identification device, where O20 is an oscillator, B is a resistor R1 on two sides,
R2 is connected, and the detection coil LA is connected to one of the remaining two sides.
is connected to the other, and two coils LB and LC are selectively connected to the other through contacts cal of a relay CA, which will be described later. A is an amplifier circuit, J is a judgment circuit, CA, CB , CC, C are relays cal, ca2
゜ca3 is the contact of relay CA, cbl, cb2 is the contact of relay CB, ccl, cc2 is the contact of relay CC,
cl.

C2 is a contact of relay C, and E is a DC power supply.

Next, the operations shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 will be explained.

When no coin is inserted into the coin orbit 1, that is, when the inserted coin 2 is not present in front of the detection coil LA, the bridge circuit B is set to maintain an equilibrium state by the detection coil LA and the coil LB. There is.

At this time, the output voltage of bridge circuit B is small, and the output voltage of amplifier circuit A is also small.

When the output voltage of the amplifier circuit A is small as described above, the output of the determination circuit J operates the relay CB.

When the relay CB operates, the contact cb1 closes and the relay C also operates, so the contact c2 closes and the electromagnet M operates.

Therefore, due to the operation of this electromagnet M, the money transfer prevention part 3 protrudes into the money track 1.

Now, when money is inserted, the inserted money 2 is stopped in front of the detection coil LA by the money blocking section 3.

As a result, the impedance of the detection coil LA changes, so the bridge circuit B becomes unbalanced, its output voltage increases, and the output voltage of the amplification circuit A also increases.

When the output voltage of the amplifier circuit A increases in this way, the determination circuit J detects this and the relay CB is restored.

When relay CB recovers, its contact cb2 recovers, and while relay C has not yet recovered due to slow recovery,
Relay CA operates and detects the arrival of coin 2.

By this operation of relay CA, its contact ca1 is switched, and coil LB in bridge circuit B is switched to coil LC.

Next, the authenticity of the inserted coin 2 is determined.

That is, when the coin 2 is a regular coin, the bridge circuit B is set to be in an equilibrium state by the detection coil LA and the coil LC, and the output of the determination circuit J at this time causes the relay CB to be activated again. Operate.

At this time, relay CB operates while relay C performs the delayed recovery, so relay CC operates along the route of power supply E - contact c1, - contact cb2 - contact ca3 - relay CC - power supply E, and its contact cc2 Due to the switching operation, the operating circuit of the electromagnet M is interrupted and at the same time, the electromagnet T is operated.

Due to the restoration of the electromagnet M, the money transfer prevention unit 3 stops the money trajectory 1.
At the same time, due to the operation of the electromagnet T, the money return prevention part 4 projects onto the money return track 5, and the money storage prevention part 6 pulls in from the money track 1, causing the regular money to roll onto the money storage track 7.

On the other hand, if the input coin 2 is an unsuitable coin, the relay (
After the operation of 'A, the bridge circuit B becomes unbalanced due to the detection coil LA and the coil LC, so no output is generated in the determination circuit J, and the relay CB does not operate again after recovery.

For this reason, relay CC does not operate, and after relay C slowly recovers, electromagnet M recovers.

- Due to the restoration of the electromagnet M, the money transfer prevention unit 3 moves to the money trajectory 1.
The unsuitable coins are pulled into the coin return track 5 and rolled.

After the inserted coin 2 rolls onto the coin storage track 1 or the money storage track 5, the relay CA is restored, and the coil LC in the bridge circuit B is switched to the coil LB by its contact Ca1.

After the money is processed, there is no money in front of the detection coil LA, so the bridge circuit B is in an equilibrium state, and the relays CB and C operate in sequence as described above, and the electromagnet M operates.

That is, the device returns to the state before the coin was inserted, and prepares for detecting and identifying the next inserted coin.

As described above, the conventional currency identification device detects the arrival of currency and identifies the authenticity of the currency by switching the coils on one side of the bridge circuit B, which has the following drawbacks.

(a) In bridge circuit B, first, before putting coins into money track 1, coil LB is adjusted so that an equilibrium state is obtained between detection coil LA and coil LB, and then regular coins are put into money track 1. Coil L is set so that an equilibrium state is obtained between detection coil LA and coil LC when the coil is turned on.
C must be adjusted, which requires complicated adjustment in two stages.

(Since the O-bridge circuit B has a relay contact ca1, since the bridge circuit B is operated with a weak alternating current from the oscillator O8C, contact failures are likely to occur, which poses a problem in terms of reliability.

(c) Input coin 2 using relay C's slow recovery time
Since this time is used to identify the authenticity of the relay, it is necessary to ensure that the slow and gradual recovery time of the relay C is sufficient to ensure the time from when the relay CB operates again until the relay CC operates.

Therefore, when unsuitable coins are put into the money track 1, if the slow recovery time of the relay C is long, the recovery of the electromagnet M is delayed, and the money processing time becomes longer.

As described above, since the timing is complicated and the money processing time is long, it is difficult to identify the authenticity of money during transfer because the transfer time of money is short compared to the money processing time.
It's impossible.

The present invention has been made in response to the above-mentioned problems, and it simplifies the configuration of the bridge circuit, has high reliability due to the non-contact structure, and is easy to adjust.Furthermore, it can detect the arrival of coins and identify authenticity almost simultaneously. To provide a money identification device capable of increasing the speed of money identification without requiring complicated timing operations, and capable of surely detecting the arrival of money and identifying authenticity.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the electric circuit portion of an embodiment of the present invention, and the configuration of the mechanical portion is the same as that in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 3, O20 is an oscillator, and B' is this oscillator O.
It is a bridge circuit to which an output of 8C is applied, and this bridge circuit B' has resistors R1 and R2 connected to two sides, and the detection coil LA shown in FIG. 1 is connected to one of the remaining two sides.
A coil LC is connected to the other end.

The coil LC is adjusted so that the bridge circuit B' is in an equilibrium state only when a genuine coin arrives on the currency trajectory 1 in FIG. 1, that is, only when a genuine coin exists in front of the detection coil LA. There is.

The output of this bridge circuit B' is an amplifier circuit A with a constant amplification degree.
added to.

In this case, the output voltage SIG of the amplifier circuit A is
The impedance of A changes as shown in FIG. 4 with respect to the impedance X.

Note that in FIG. 4, ■Sat is the saturation voltage of SIG.

The output voltage SIG of the amplifier circuit A is determined by the first determination circuit J for detecting the arrival of money on the money track 1 in FIG. Second step to determine whether the currency is inappropriate
is commonly added to the determination circuit J2.

The first judgment circuit J1 mainly includes a Zener diode ZD and a transistor TR1, and the second judgment circuit J2 includes a voltage comparator A3 that compares the output voltage SIG of the amplifier circuit A and the voltage generated in the variable resistor VR. Transistor TR2
It is mainly composed of.

Here, the threshold value L E Vl of the first judgment circuit JI is set lower than the unbalanced saturation voltage Vsat of the bridge circuit BI with reference to zero level, and the threshold value L E Vl of the first judgment circuit JI is set lower than the unbalanced saturation voltage Vsat of the bridge circuit BI.
The threshold value LE 2 of 2 is set to a level lower than the threshold L EVl and relatively close to the zero level with the zero level as a reference.
7. Between the collector of TR2 and the DC power supply E, the first
Electromagnets M and T in the figure are connected.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

In FIG. 4, Zl is a relatively narrow impedance region of the detection coil LA when a genuine coin is present in front of the detection coil LA and SIG is less than LE■2 and it is detected that the inserted coin 2 is a genuine coin. , Z2 is SIG LEV
1 or less, indicating a wide impedance region of the detection coil LA when detecting the arrival of money.

Before the coin is introduced into the coin orbit 1, there is no coin in front of the detection coil LA, so the impedance X of the detection coil LA is a value outside the impedance region Z2,
Bridge circuit B' becomes unbalanced.

At this time, the output voltage SIG of the amplifier circuit A is the saturation voltage Vs
at, and the threshold value L E V of the first judgment circuit J1
Since it is larger than l, the Zener diode ZD becomes conductive and base current is supplied to the transistor TR1.

Therefore, the transistor TR1 becomes conductive, the electromagnet M operates, and the money transfer prevention part 3 projects into the money track 1.

Now, when a coin is thrown into the money orbit 1, the inserted money 2 is stopped in front of the detection coil LA by the money rolling prevention part 3.

At this time, the bridge circuit B' approaches an equilibrium state, and the output voltage SIG of the amplifier circuit A decreases from the saturation voltage Vsat to a value equal to or lower than the threshold value LEV1 of the first determination circuit J1.

When SIG becomes less than LE'v1, the Zener diode ZD is cut off, so that the base current no longer flows through the transistor TR1 and the transistor TR1 is also cut off, so that the electromagnet M is restored.

At this time, if the input coin 2 is a regular coin, the bridge circuit B' will be in a completely balanced state, so the amplifier circuit A
The output voltage SIG is a voltage in a relatively narrow impedance region Z1 from the saturation voltage VQat, that is, the threshold value LEV of the second determination circuit J2.

The voltage decreases to a voltage relatively close to zero level below.

When SIαJLBV21 becomes lower, this is detected by the voltage comparator A3, and the transistor TR is detected by the voltage comparator A3.
Since the base current is supplied to the transistor T and the transistor T becomes conductive, the electromagnet T operates.

That is, when the inserted coin 2 is a regular coin, the money transfer prevention unit 3 pulls the money from the money track 1 due to the restoration of the electromagnet M, and at the same time, the money return prevention unit 4 is pulled out by the operation of the electromagnet T.
protrudes into the money return track 5, and the money storage blocking part 6 pulls it in from the money track 1, so the inserted money 2 rolls onto the money storage track 7.

On the other hand, if input currency 2 is unsuitable currency, SIG is L
Although it becomes E■ or less, it does not become LE■ or less, so only the electromagnet M is restored and the electromagnet T does not operate.

Therefore, the inserted coin 2 is pulled into the money return track 5 by the money transfer prevention section 3 when the electromagnet M is restored, and simultaneously rolls into the money return track 5.

After the above operation of storing or returning the inserted coin 2 is completed, since there is no coin in the coin orbit 1, SIG becomes a saturation voltage Vsat larger than LE■1, so the electromagnet M is operated again and the It returns to the normal state and prepares for detecting and identifying the next input coin.

In this way, in this device, the output voltage of the bridge circuit B' is applied via the amplifier A to the first judgment circuit J1 and the second judgment circuit J2, which has a lower threshold value, to detect the arrival of money. Since the authenticity and falsity of coins are identified simultaneously in parallel, the identification speed can be significantly increased.
It is possible to instantly identify not only stationary coins but also coins that are being transferred.

In addition, since the bridge circuit does not include coil LB or relay contact cal as in conventional bridge circuits, there is no need for complicated timing operations, which not only simplifies the configuration of bridge circuit B', but also improves reliability by making it contactless. performance is greatly improved.

Furthermore, in the conventional device, the coin authenticity identification process included a time period during which it was unclear whether or not the inserted coin 2 actually existed in front of the detection coil LA (during switching between coils LB and LC). However, in the present invention, since the presence of money is always reliably detected and the authenticity of the money is determined at the same time, the circuit operation is extremely accurate.

Even if the input coins 2 are wet and have stickiness between them and the coin track 1, the transfer speed of the coins will be slow. However, in the present invention, the electromagnet M does not operate again while the inserted coin 2 is in the front part of the detection coil LA, so there is no possibility of such an inconvenience occurring. do not have.

Furthermore, in the conventional device, in the bridge circuit B,
After adjusting the coil LB, a two-step adjustment was required in which the coil LB was switched to the coil LC and the coil LC was adjusted.However, since the coil LB is not used in the present invention, only the LC is adjusted as described above. This makes adjustment very easy, and combined with the simplification of the configuration, it can be expected to facilitate manufacturing and reduce manufacturing costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a mechanical part in a general currency identification device, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an electric circuit portion in a conventional currency identification device, and FIG. 3 is a circuit configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the impedance of the detection coil and the output voltage of the amplifier circuit in FIG. 3. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1.--money track, 2... Inserted coin, 3... Money rolling prevention part, 4... Money return prevention part, 5... Money return track, 6... Money storage prevention part, 7 ...Money storage orbit,
M, T...electromagnet, LA...detection coil, LC...
- Coil, O20... oscillator, B'... bridge circuit, A... amplifier circuit, Jl... first judgment circuit, J
2...Second determination circuit, A3...Voltage comparator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A detection coil that is installed on the money track and whose impedance changes when a coin arrives on the money track; this detection coil is connected to one side, and the detection coil on the money track is installed when a regular coin arrives at the position. A bridge circuit configured to be in an balanced state only and in an unbalanced state at other times; An amplifier circuit that increases or reduces the unbalanced output voltage of this bridge circuit; Determining the output voltage of this amplifier circuit. and a determination circuit; the determination circuit is set to a first threshold value lower than the unbalanced saturation level of the bridge circuit with reference to zero level, and the output voltage of the amplifier circuit is 1, when the impedance is below a wide impedance range, the detection coil installed determines the arrival of money at the position and outputs a money arrival signal. ; The second threshold is set to a level 0, which is lower than the threshold of the first determination circuit and relatively close to the zero level, with the zero level as a reference, and the output voltage of the amplifier circuit is set to this second threshold. and a second determination circuit that determines only genuine coins from among the coins within an extremely narrow impedance region and outputs a genuine coin signal when the impedance becomes equal to or lower than the threshold value of 2; A currency identification device characterized in that it performs almost simultaneous identification of whether or not a currency is a currency.