JPS5922186A - Controller for vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control device for a vending machine that is equipped with an ice maker inside and sells drinks containing ice.

(b) Background A vending machine that sells iced beverages is equipped with an ice maker (1) as shown in Figure 1, and a beverage supply device (4) dispenses the selected beverage each time a sales signal is applied. The ice maker (1) is configured to supply over-charged ice to the cup (5) at the same time as the ice is poured out. However, especially in vending machines that sell iced coffee, the beverage supply device (4) internally mixes coffee, sugar, and milk powder dissolved in boiling water and pours the mixture into the cup (5). At this time, if the ice maker (11) is out of ice and cannot pour ice into the kelp (5), the coffee will be sold lukewarm and unfit for drinking.

No. 0 Background Art and Problems Therefore, conventional vending machines have been proposed that stop selling when the ice maker runs out of ice. A typical example of this is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-19480, in which the ice maker adds the amount of ice needed for one sale to a counter and subtracts the counter in response to a sales signal. hand,
The sales operation and stoppage are controlled based on the count contents of the counter. In this conventional technique, if the amount of ice sold is constant each time, the sales number can be reliably determined based on the amount of ice in stock. However, in a vending machine that sells iced coffee and syrup drinks such as cola, if you want to sell delicious coffee or syrup, the ratio is generally around 2:1 unless you change the amount of ice supplied. ing. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately control sales with conventional devices that detect the amount of ice in stock based on the number of sales.

B) Object of the Invention In view of the above points, the present invention attempts to achieve more accurate sales control by controlling the counting of the counter based on the ice supply time.

(e) Embodiment of the invention FIG. 2 shows a control device for a vending machine according to the invention. In the figure, SL is a solenoid that controls the opening and closing of the ice sales gate of the ice maker (1), MC is the compressor motor of the ice maker (1), SL is a switch operated by the sales signal,
S2 turns O when the amount of water stored in the ice maker (1) falls below the upper limit level.
R1 is a subtraction control relay connected in parallel with the solenoid SL, and R2 is an addition control relay connected in parallel with the compressor motor MC. The contact S of the subtraction control relay R1 is connected to the AND gate (8) together with the pulse oscillator (6) with a period of 50rr+S, and the contact S4 of the addition control relay R2 is a pulse oscillator ( It is connected to the AND gate (9) along with the power.

Further, (2) is an up/down counter for detecting the amount of water stored, and an AND gate (8) is connected to the down side and an AND gate (9) is connected to the amplifier side. Furthermore, S5 has an ice maker (1
) is activated when the water storage amount reaches the upper limit level.
(+1; is a setting device that sets the inventory amount of the ice maker to be discontinued.)
3) is a comparison device that compares the counted value of the counter (2) and the setting value of the setting device 00). Each output of the counter (2), preset circuit (1, 0) and setting device side is indicated by a 12-bit binary code. Also, the comparison device (
3) outputs f-HJ'e to activate the timer device when the counted value of the counter (2) becomes smaller than the set value of the setting device. Note that the set value of the setting device may be the amount of water for one sale or the amount of water for several sales. (13) is a flip-flop circuit that is set by the detection power of the power-on detection circuit 04) and reset by turning on the switch S, 0 is the (15) OR gate, and L is the output of the OR gate. This is a lamp that displays the sales stop Δ.

The operation based on the above configuration will be explained. First, when the power is turned on, the power-on detection circuit 04) delays the sudden rise of the power supply voltage using an integrating circuit, and when the gradually rising integrated voltage reaches a threshold, it generates an output and then outputs an output to the 7-resophronop circuit 03. ) is set to 0. Therefore, the lamp L is operated by the set output Q of the Noritsubu flop circuit 03) to indicate that the sale has been stopped. On the other hand, the counter (2) detects the output of the power-on detection circuit (14) when the power is turned on.
The count value is "0" because the comparator (3) outputs rHJ and the timer device (I2) generates an output TO during the operation period. Since there is no ice in the ice maker (1) and the switch S2 is ON, the compressor motor MC is powered and driven to perform ice making operation.

During ice-making operation, relay R2 is energized and contact S is ON, and a pulse generated by the pulse oscillator (force) is output from the AND gate (9) and introduced into the counter (2) where it is added. The capacity of the ice maker (1) varies depending on the season, and experiments have shown that the time required to make 1 g of ice varies from 1.28 to 1.88. (The oscillation period of the force is arbitrarily set in advance within this range. Therefore, the content added to the counter (2) is II
The amount of water is expressed in units of .

Although the timer device 02) stops outputting 1 and 0 during the operation period due to the expiration of the timer time, the sales stop state continues at the cent on the 0th floor of the flip-flop circuit.

That is, when the power is turned on, the output of the timer device 02) is ignored. This is because there is no ice in the ice maker (1) when the power is turned on, so it is dangerous to detect ice making based on the timer time. When the amount of water stored in the ice maker (1) reaches the upper limit level, switch S2 is turned OFF.
L, the compressor motor MC becomes inactive and the ice-making operation is stopped, and the relay R2 is also demagnetized, so that the counter (2) is no longer incremented. On the other hand, when the needle water amount reaches the upper limit level, Suinochi S turns on and the water amount data when the ice maker (1) is full is displayed on the counter (2).
At the same time, the 0th level of the 7-resop flop circuit is set and the output of the OR gate (1) disappears, the lamp L goes out, and the sales operation becomes possible.Therefore, when a sale is made, the switch S is turned on by the sales signal. Then, the solenoid SL operates, the ice sales gate opens, and the ice pops out (
5). The sales signal is generated based on the customer's selection of coffee or syrup drink, and the period during which the switch SI is ON differs depending on the coffee or syrup drink. During the ice sales period when the switch S1 is turned on, the relay R1 is energized and the contact S3 is turned on.
The pulses generated by the pulse oscillator (6) are generated by an AND gate (
8) It is introduced into wo through kara/ri (2) and subtracted. It takes 50m5 to discharge 1z of ice from the ice sales gate, so the oscillation period of the pulse oscillator (6) is 5.
Set to Q ms , the counter (2) performs a subtraction in units of 1y- each time a pulse is introduced.

However, when the amount of water stored in the ice maker falls below the upper limit level due to sales, switch S2 is turned on and ice making operation is restarted, and the counter (2) is incremented by 1 every time a unit of time elapses, indicating that a sale has been made. is subtracted each time. When the amount of water stored returns to the upper limit level, the water amount data is again entered in the counter (2) and the ice making operation is stopped. However, if sales are carried out continuously and the count value of the counter (2) is less than the set value of the setting device set, the rH
J is output, the timer device 021 is activated, and during the operation period of the timer device α2, the vending machine stops selling at the output TO, and the lamp L is lit. In this state, the counter (2) only adds up due to the ice making operation. Then, when the timer time set by the timer device θ ends and the output TO stops during the operation period, the vending machine immediately becomes ready to sell since the flip-flop circuit 03) has been reset. Therefore, except when the power is turned on, the amount of ice produced for sale is detected by the elapse of the timer time by the timer device (12). Therefore, the timer time is determined by the count value of the counter (2) during the ice making operation. is set for a sufficient period of time to exceed the set value.

(F) Effect According to the present invention, in order to detect the ice storage amount by a counter that adds count every time the ice making operation passes the first unit time and subtracts the count every time the ice discharge operation passes the second unit time,
Reliable water storage amount detection is performed in a vending machine that sells different amounts of ice for each product. When the amount of water stored is less than the planned amount, ice sales are stopped, and when the amount of water stored is restored after a certain period of time, ice sales are resumed, so that ice can be reliably discharged as drinks are sold.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a vending machine with an ice maker, and FIG. 2 shows a control device for the vending machine according to the present invention. (1) Ice maker (2) Water storage amount detection counter , (3)... Comparison device, 0υ... Setting device,
(+21...Timer device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a vending machine that is equipped with an ice maker and mixes and dispenses ice with beverages, during the ice making operation of the ice maker, the first unit time is added, and while the ice maker is in the ice selling operation, the first unit time is added. a water storage amount detection counter that is decremented every time two units of time elapse; a setting device that presets the amount of water stored in the ice maker that should be discontinued; and a count value of the water storage amount detection counter that is set to a setting value of the setting device. A control device for a vending machine comprising a comparison device that determines whether the sale is unsuitable if the value falls below the threshold, and a timer device that prohibits the vending operation for a certain period of time after the comparison device determines that the sale is unsuitable.