JPS6012540B2 - Ice vending machine with ice detection means - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ice vending machine having an ice presence/absence detecting means, and in particular, it is capable of constantly and stably detecting the presence or absence of ice stored in an ice storage section regardless of changes in outside temperature such as in winter or summer. The present invention relates to a new configuration for carrying out this process.

Conventionally, in this type of ice vending machine, a thermostat is installed in a part of the ice storage section, and the detection temperature when ice is present is 1.5 ±
The detection temperature for no ice was set at about 1.5°C and the detection temperature for no ice was set at about 4±1.5°C, and the presence or absence of ice was displayed and the ice making unit was controlled by detecting this temperature. For example, when using the device at a low outside temperature (3°C to 10°C), if there is ice in the ice storage unit and the ice touches the thermostat, an ice presence signal will be output, and once the ice is removed, When the ice signal is output, even if the ice leaves the thermostat, the ambient temperature of the thermostat does not rise above 4 ± 1.5 degrees Celsius, so the no ice signal cannot be output. The display did not change, causing inconvenience to users. Therefore, by installing a heater near the thermostat installed in the ice storage unit, the presence or absence of ice could be maintained throughout the year without being affected by the external temperature. Control technology has been developed to provide appropriate control of the display and ice making units.

On the other hand, an example of an ice vending machine to which the present invention can be applied is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

That is, an ice making mechanism section 2 and an ice storage section 3 are provided in a case 1 which is box-shaped as a whole, and a metering box 4 and an ice removal chamber 5 are disposed in the ice storage section 3. There is a door 6 in front of the ice removal chamber 5.
In addition, an ice feeding screw (ice feeding mechanism) 7 is rotatably attached to the ice storage section 3. The specific configurations of the ice storage section 3 to quantitative box 4 and ice removal chamber 5 are as shown in FIG. 2. That is, in FIG. 2, a saucer 10 is provided at the bottom of the metering box 4 and is configured to be rotatable in the direction of arrow A around a fulcrum 9 by means of a spring member 8. The action is normally configured to close the bottom of the metering box 4. An ice discharging motor (ice discharging mechanism) 11 for rotatably opening and closing the saucer 10 is attached to this metering box 4, and a cam body 12 provided on the shaft 11a of this ice discharging motor 11
A reciprocating lever 13 is attached to the. The lower end of this reciprocating lever 13 passes through the opening 14 of the saucer 10,
Its tip part is bent to form a locking part 15, and a shank-shaped pusher plate 16 for pushing down the saucer is fixed to the upper part of the locking part 15. 17 detects that the saucer 10 in the closed position is removed from the closed position, and the contact of the quantitative detection switch 17 is set to NO.
The electromagnetic switch MS for controlling the operation of the drive motor GM of the ice feeding screw 7 by switching from to NC.
The energization to the electromagnetic coil portion DM is cut off, each contact Mg of the electromagnetic switch MS is turned off, and the drive motor GM is stopped. The cam body 1 provided on the shaft 11a during the rotation of the ice discharge motor 11 is denoted by the reference numeral 18.
2, which controls the rotation of the ice discharge motor 11. A fixed partition plate 19 is provided inside the ice removal chamber 5 and protrudes from the door 6 side.
and a movable partition plate 21 protruding from the back wall 20 form the ice removal chamber 5.
It is arranged in such a way that it separates the

The tip of the fixed partition plate 19 has a locking part 22 bent in an inverted L shape.
In the normal state, the movable partition plate 21' is connected to the stationary partition plate 22 by the action of a weight 23 such that its leading end is brought into contact with the locking part 22. K
A door switch 24 attached to a part of the ice tray 1 is turned on and off by opening and closing the door 6, and an ice extraction container 25 is provided in the ice extraction chamber 5. Wall portion 3 of this ice storage section 3
A is provided with a thermostat 26, and the presence or absence of ice in the ice storage section 3 is detected by this thermostat 26.

On the opposite side of the wall 3a corresponding to the thermostat 26, a heater 27 for heating the thermostat 26 is provided according to the control technique described above. In an ice vending machine having such an ice detecting means, when the outside temperature drops, the heater 27 is energized to raise the ambient temperature of the thermostat 26, and the ice in the ice storage section 3 is removed from the thermostat 26. If the ice is removed, the thermostat 26 is turned off, outputting a signal indicating that there is no ice and displaying a sold-out display. Next, when the ice-making mechanism section 2 operates and ice enters the ice storage section 3 again, the thermostat 26 is turned on and outputs a signal indicating that there is ice, allowing sales. However, in such an ice vending machine, even though there is enough ice in the ice storage section 3 to sell it, if the ice leaves the thermostat 26 and is used when the outside temperature drops, If the heater 27 is energized, the thermostat 26 will be turned off and malfunction.

In addition, in the ice vending machine, as described above, there is a case where ice leaves the thermostat 26 even though there is a sufficient amount of ice in the ice storage section 3 to sell it (for example, when ice leaves the thermostat 26). However, if this happens in the summer when the outside temperature is high, the thermostat 26 may turn off even when the heater 27 is not energized, causing a malfunction. There is. Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide an ice vending machine that prevents the thermostat from malfunctioning when the outside temperature drops.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ice vending machine that can prevent the thermostat from malfunctioning not only when the outside temperature is low but also during the summer when the outside temperature is high.

In order to achieve this main objective, the inventor of the present application focused on the fact that in the ice vending machine described above, the time until the fixed amount detection switch detects the fixed amount depends on the amount of ice stored in the ice storage section. In series with the heater, connect the normally open contact of a timer that has a set time shorter than the time it takes for the quantitative detection switch to detect the quantitative amount when the ice storage section is low, and that is energized together with the ice feeding mechanism. To provide an ice vending machine characterized in that the heater is energized by closing the contact, and the thermostat is controlled by the heater.

According to this ice vending machine, the heater is energized after the set time of the timer, which is set according to the state in which there is no longer enough ice in the ice storage section to sell, is turned on, so that the ice vending machine can sell the ice. Even if the ice leaves the thermostat even though there is enough ice in the ice storage city,
The thermostat will not malfunction when the outside temperature drops. Furthermore, in order to achieve the other object, the inventor of the present application connects a normally open contact of a relay in series to an ON contact of a thermostat or in parallel to the ON contact, and
In series with the outside of the heater, a normally open contact of a timer is connected, which has a set time shorter than the time required for the quantitative detection switch to detect a quantitative amount when there is little ice in the ice storage section, and is energized together with the ice feeding mechanism. The ice vending machine was constructed so that when the contact was opened, electricity was applied to the outside of the heater, and the thermostat was controlled by the heater.

Therefore, this ice vending machine not only prevents the thermostat from malfunctioning when the outside temperature drops as described above, but also ensures that there is enough ice in the ice section to sell during the summer when the outside temperature is high. However, even if the ice leaves the thermostat and the thermostat turns OFF, it is connected in series to the ON contact of the thermostat and is self-maintained by the normally open contact, so the thermostat will not malfunction when the outside temperature rises. can also be prevented. Next, a case will be described in which the present invention is implemented in the ice vending machine shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. The ice vending machine includes an ice making mechanism section, an ice storage section, an ice feeding mechanism, Any device may be used as long as it has a metering device with a metering detection switch and an ice discharge mechanism, and the grouping structure of each mechanism and each part can be changed as appropriate.

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a first embodiment of the invention, in which a normally open contact of a timer 28 is provided in series with the heater 27 and energized together with the ice feed screw 7.

When there is enough ice in the ice storage section 3, the ice feed screw 7
Since ice is supplied to the metering box 4 in a short period of time, it takes around 3q of sand to reach the predetermined amount, the saucer 10 moves from the closed position, and the metering detection switch 17 switches from NO to NC. However, if the amount of ice in the ice storage section 3 decreases, it will take about 5 hours to reach a certain amount. Therefore, the timer 28 is set to about 49 sands. In the drawings, the symbol C. S
The symbol indicated by is a coin selector, ■ and ■ are power supply terminals, and ■ is a sales signal terminal, which issues a sales signal via a detection unit (not shown) when the inserted coins reach the sales setting price. It is. ■ is an empty terminal, ■ is an out-of-change signal when the change is out, the out-of-change indicator lamp L,
2 is a terminal for cutting off change, and 2 is a terminal for cutting off change, which outputs a signal to prevent coins from being inserted or dispensed when ice is sold out during sales. ■ is coin sereta C. If S is out of order, a stop signal is issued to display a display using a lamp (not shown) to prevent continuous sales, and ■ is an empty terminal. The power supply to the timer 28 and the drive motor GM starts at the same time as the coin is inserted into the coin selector C. Power is supplied from the power terminals ■ and ■ of S, and the timer 28 starts energizing when the ice is guided to the saucer 10 and measurement starts, and the energization ends when the ice discharging motor 11 This is when the motor control switch 18 switches from NC to NO again. Therefore, the timer 28 continues to operate from the time the coin is inserted until the ice is guided to the ice removal chamber 5. Further, relay X2 is connected to motor control switch 18, coin selector C. The relay X2 is connected to the sales signal terminal of S, the on-sale lamp L2, and the bright lamp, respectively, and the relay X2 is energized by coin selector C. The power supply terminal ■ of S and the sales signal terminal ■ are connected to a coin selector C.S (not shown). A short circuit is caused by the IJ relay section in S, and the coil (not shown) of relay X2 is energized and self-held at contact X2. The above coin selector C. S, relay
Regarding the electrical connection and operation of 2 and timer 28,
Since the circuit diagram of FIG. 5 is exactly the same, the above description will be omitted in the explanation of FIG. 5, which will be described later.
Furthermore, the solenoid SL shown in FIG.
The door 6 is locked during the sales operation, and in the figure, the reference numeral CO indicates a sales counter for managing the number of sales.

With this configuration, when the amount of ice stored in the ice storage section 3 is small, the contact force of the timer 28 becomes N earlier than the bushing point of the quantitative detection switch 17 switches from NO to NC. Then, the electromagnetic relay X3 is energized and self-maintained, and the heater 27 is energized. At this time, the drive motor GM continues to rotate and the contact point of the quantitative detection switch 17 changes from NO to NC.
``This switching'' energizes relay
By switching from O to NC, the power to the electromagnetic coil part DM of the electromagnetic switch MS is cut off, each contact Mg of this electromagnetic switch MS is turned OFF, and the rotation of the drive motor GM is stopped. be. When relay X turns ON, the ice discharge motor 11 starts rotating and guides the ice to the exit.
It is F. When ice release motor 1 1 rotates, motor control switch 18 is switched from NC to NO and relays X, , X2
The timer 28 is demagnetized and reset. By resetting relay X2, the on-sale lamp L goes out and the bright lamp L3 lights up. The ice discharge motor 11 is stopped by switching the motor control switch 18 from NO to NC again. Therefore, by energizing the heater 27, the thermostat 26 is turned off, and the relay X3 is demagnetized to stop the energization of the heater 27. Next, when the ice-making mechanism section 2 operates, ice accumulates in the ice storage section 3, the thermostat 26 turns on, and the on-sale lamp L lights up, allowing the ice to be sold. In the configuration of this embodiment, the heater 27 is energized to heat the thermostat 26 by taking advantage of the fact that when the amount of ice decreases, the operation time of the quantitative detection switch 17 is longer than a predetermined time. Malfunction of the thermostat 26 can be prevented. Next, a second embodiment of the ice vending machine according to the present invention will be described.

The purpose of this embodiment is to prevent malfunctions of the thermostat, especially during the summer. In other words, in the summer, if the ice leaves the thermostat even though there is still ice left in the ice storage section, the thermostat will turn off and display a sold-out message to prevent the remaining ice from increasing. In this system, a circuit is used to keep the thermostat in the ON state using a relay, and only when the remaining amount of ice is detected is a low level displayed. As shown in the circuit diagram of FIG. 5, the overall configuration is the same as that of FIG. 4, but an electromagnetic relay X4 is provided in series with the ON contact of the thermostat 26, and a normally open relay It is equipped with a contact point.

First, when ice accumulates in the ice storage section 3, the thermostat 26 turns
N, the relay X4 is energized and its normally open contact is closed to maintain self-holding. The on-sale lamp is turned on and the product is in a sales state. Furthermore, even though there is enough ice left in the ice storage city to sell, if the ice leaves the thermostat 26 and turns off, relay X4 is self-holding, so it will continue to sell. In this way,
As ice is sold one after another, the amount of ice stored in ice storage section 3 decreases.
During the sales cycle, when it takes more than four tiles to measure the amount using the quantitative detection switch [7], the normally open contact of the timer 28 is turned on, which keeps the relay X3 energized and energizes the heater 27. Next, when the ice is measured in the quantitative device by the continuous rotation of the drive motor GM, the quantitative detection switch 17
changes from NO to NC, energizes relay X, and maintains itself. The ice release motor 11 is driven by the operation of the relay X, and during this time the sales lamp L2 is turned on by the relay X2.
It becomes. The ice discharge motor 11 continues to rotate by switching the motor control switch 18 from NC to NO. This demagnetizes relays X, X2 and timer 28. At this time, the thermostat 2 detects a decrease in the amount of ice stored in the ice storage section 3.
Since relays X3 and X4 are also turned off, the heater 27 is also deenergized, the on-sale lamp L goes out, and the sold-out lamp L3 lights up. The ice discharge motor 1 further rotates and the motor control switch 18 is changed from NO to NC.
Switch to and stop. Solenoid SL shown in FIG.
1 is used to lock the door 6 of the ice removal chamber 5 during the sales operation, and in the figure, the item designated by the symbol CO is a sales counter for managing the number of sales.

The configuration according to the second embodiment is equipped with a cylinder and its normally open contact that operate as described above, so that even if ice remains in the ice storage section in the summer when the outside temperature is high, the ice will not be absorbed by the thermostat. Even if you leave the thermostat 26, the thermostat 26 remains O.
Although it becomes FF, the relay is self-held by its normal contact, and the ON contact of the thermostat 26 remains closed, so it is possible to prevent malfunction of the thermostat in the summer when the outside temperature is high. Furthermore, as shown in Figure 6, a heater 27 is installed in the same position and adjacent to the thermostat 26 provided on the wall 3a of the ice storage section 3 to ensure the operation of the thermostat and also to keep the heater small. You can make it look like this. Since the ice vending machine with the ice detection means according to the present invention has the above-described structure and operation, the thermostat can operate extremely accurately, preventing the vending machine from malfunctioning even when the outside temperature is low or throughout the year. Therefore, the intended purpose can be suitably achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of an ice vending machine in which the present invention can be implemented, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing the main parts of FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing a first embodiment of the invention, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing a second embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 6 is an example of arrangement of a thermostat and heater. FIG. 1 is a case, 2 is an ice making mechanism section, 3 is an ice storage section, 4 is a quantitative box, 5 is an ice removal chamber, 6 is a door, 7 is an ice feeding screw (ice feeding mechanism), 11 is an ice discharging motor (ice discharging mechanism) ), 17
is a quantitative detection switch, GM is a drive motor, 18 is a motor control switch, 26 is a thermostat, 27 is a heater,
28 is a timer, and X, -F are relays. Groove Figure 5 Figure 6 Crocodile Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An ice making mechanism section, an ice storage section, an ice feeding mechanism, a metering device having a metering detection switch, an ice discharging mechanism, a thermostat provided in the water storage section, and a thermostat located near the thermostat. an ice presence/absence detection means consisting of a heater, which is connected in series to the heater, and has a set time shorter than the time required for the quantity detection switch to detect the quantity when there is little ice in the ice storage section, and the ice feeding mechanism. An ice vending machine characterized in that a normally open contact of a timer that is energized at the same time is connected, and when the contact is closed, a heater is energized so that a thermostat is controlled by the heater. 2. An ice making mechanism, an ice storage section, an ice feeding mechanism, a metering device having a metering detection switch, an ice discharge mechanism, a thermostat provided in the water storage section, and a heater located near the thermostat to determine the presence or absence of ice. A normally open contact of a relay connected in series to the ON contact of the thermostat is connected in parallel to both ends of the ON contact for self-maintenance of the relay when the ON contact is opened; In series with the heater, connect a normally open contact of a timer that has a set time shorter than the time it takes for the quantitative detection switch to detect a quantitative amount when the ice storage section is low, and that is energized together with the ice feeding mechanism. An ice vending machine characterized in that the heater is energized by closing the contact, and the thermostat is controlled by the heater.