JPS6188394A - Merchandize carry-out unit - 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] [Technical field to which the invention pertains]

This invention is applicable to milk products packaged in small containers, in which liquid milk added to drinks such as coffee is divided into small portions and placed in containers, and is used by incorporating it into an automatic cup-type beverage outlet for selling coffee, etc. The present invention relates to a product t9 output device.

[Prior art and its problems]

As a recent trend, the tastes of customers using the above-mentioned beverage vending machines are becoming increasingly diverse and sophisticated, and as a result, many cup-type beverage vending machines that sell fresh briny coffee are on the market. In this case, with conventional machines, powdered milk was used as the milk added to the coffee, and the powdered milk added to the coffee was stirred and mixed in a mixing bowl according to the customer's request before being sold.
Recently, there has been a request from customers that the above-mentioned milk products containing foreign liquid milk in containers be carried out in conjunction with the sale of beverages, and that the customers themselves add the liquid milk to cups of coffee. By the way, the container of the above-mentioned containerized liquid milk product which is generally commercially available is as shown in Fig. 2, and the product container 1 has approximately the same vertical and horizontal dimensions, and has a brim on the top surface that serves as a spout. It is a small container with a special shape having a portion 1a, and this container is weak to the extent that it can be easily destroyed by applying a slightly large force. It is troublesome to store items one by one in the same position in a shelf, and it is also troublesome in terms of time and effort. The parts become intertwined with each other and remain bridged, making it difficult to separate the products one by one and transport them smoothly even if you try to transport the products using the conventionally known extrusion method or gravity drop method. However, there are extremely troublesome problems in handling this kind of small, specially shaped products with vending machines.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention was made in consideration of the above points, and in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a large number of small products such as milk in containers with brims are stored in a bulk manner in a product storage container, and based on the directive, It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyance mechanism that can smoothly carry out items one by one.

[Key points of the invention]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a product storage container whose bottom surface is an inverted conical inclined surface, and a vertical shaft chute with a hollow shaft rotatably disposed through the center of the bottom of the product storage container. , and a head having a diamond-shaped cross section, the top and bottom of which bulges out in the radial direction from the top of the chute and whose upper and lower surfaces are conical surfaces, and an inclined lower surface of the head and an inclined bottom surface of the storage container. a product delivery rotary body having a product take-out core opened at one location on the circumference of a vertical axis chute m facing a product passage gap defined between the product passage gap and a drive for rotationally driving the rotary body based on a command; By rotating the product delivery rotary body, the products stored in bulk in the product storage container are guided toward the center of the bottom surface of the container while being stirred by the head of the rotary body, The products are taken into the HtJI chute one by one through the product take-out window, and are then dropped downward and carried out.

Embodiments of the Invention Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an assembled configuration diagram of the entire product conveyance mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, and in the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a product storage in which a large number of products l in containers with legs shown in FIG. 2 are stored in bulk. The container, 20 is a product delivery rotary body, 30 is an oblique chute, 40 is a product conveyance side, and 50 is a product delivery chute. Let's talk about the detailed structure of each component individually. First, let's look at the product storage capacity! S10 is the 3rd U! As shown in J.
And, in the center of the bottom, there is a vertical axis chute ff1, which will be described later.
It has a hopper structure with a lil hole open, and the following product F unloading rotary body 20 is placed in the product storage capacity 2310.
is included. This product delivery rotary body 20 is a cylindrical hollow shaft-shaped receptacle shaft that passes through the center of the inclined bottom surface 11 of the product storage container 10 and is rotatably supported on the base 12 on the container side via a bearing 21. portion 22, and the upper and lower surfaces extending radially from the top of the chute portion 22 are conical surfaces 23. '24 head 2 with a diamond-shaped cross section
5, and facing the product passage gap defined between the bottom surface 11 of the product storage container 10 and the lower inclined surface 24 of the head 25 in the supporting position shown in the figure.
A product take-out window 26 corresponding to the size of the product l is opened at one location on the circumferential surface of the stock chute portion 22. Further, the product Fζ output rotating body 20 is transmission-coupled to a drive unit 28 via a gear 27. In addition, in FIG. 3 1, the gap A between the peripheral wall of the container lO and the peripheral edge of the head 25,
The gap B between the bottom surface of O and the lower surface 24 of the head 20 is %. Correspondingly, it is set slightly larger than that. With the flS configuration up to this point, as shown in Figure 1, the product storage container l
When a large number of products 1 are stored in bulk in the container 2 and the product delivery rotary body 20 is rotated in this state by the 4 drive unit 2B, the product 1 stored in the container 10 is moved to the head of the rotary body 20. By rotating the container 250 times, a stirring action is applied, and the entanglement of the containers within the container is loosened. In addition, the product is head 25
As the product rotates, the product is guided inside the container to the center of the bottom along between the vertically inclined surface and the inclined bottom surface 11 of the product storage container 10. It is taken into the interior of the vertical shaft chute section 22 through the window 26, and from there, it falls inside the chute section 22 under its own weight and is carried out downward. In this case, as confirmed from the actual operation, the products 1 are not taken out in succession, and the product take-out window 2G of the rotating body 20 is intermittently searched for the products that have fallen and are in the open position. It works to take the liquid into the chute section 22. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, a product detection sensor 29 is installed near the product take-out window 26 in the immersion chute section 22, and the product detection sensor 29 detects the product delivery rotary body 2.
For example, 1 from the product storage container 10 side with the rotational drive of 0
By detecting that the product 1 has been carried out into the chute section 22 and immediately giving a stop command to the drive section 28 in response to this detection signal to stop the rotation of the rotating body 20, the product storage container 10 and the product are carried out. It is also possible to take out a fixed amount of products using a single mechanism in combination with the rotating body 20. On the other hand, in the example of the first Tm, as mentioned earlier, the product [
) A diagonal chute 30 and a product conveyor 40 are connected in series between the outlet of the chute section 22 of the output rotating body 20 and the parts dispensing chute 50 located at the product takeout port of the vending machine. The product display device is assembled and configured by intervening equipment. Of these, the diagonal chute 30 is the product & output rotating body 2.
It is a chute of a cylindrical structure with its own weight Yft that is tilted and passed between the outlet of the chute section 0 and the product conveyance a mechanism 40 described later, and its rotary shaft is connected to the vertical axis chute section of the rotating body 20. 2
The purpose is to line up the products 1 that are dropped through 2 into the cylinder passage of the diagonal chute as shown in the figure. Note that the diameter tAD of the diagonal chute 30 is approximately the same as the size of the product 1, and the inclination angle θ of the chute is set to such an extent that the product 1 slides in the cylinder passage in a natural fall manner. A product transport mechanism 40 located below the diagonal chute 30 has a rotating drum type transport body 42 that has a recess 41 on its circumferential surface with a volume that can accommodate one product 1.
and a drive unit 43 that rotates the rotary drum 42 once in the direction of the arrow based on a product stack command, and the product dispensing chute whose peripheral surface is located below the exit of the diagonal chute 30 shown in +iiJ. 50 and are interposed so as to face each other. Reference numerals 31 and 32 are product detection sensors installed at the exit end and the end of the diagonal chute 30, respectively. When there is no product in the chute, this is detected as 1 and the product detection sensor 31 is activated. When the chute is full of products, the product detection sensors 32 are activated and output respective signals. Next, the product sales operation using the above-mentioned transport mechanism will be described. Note that the operation of taking out the product from the product storage container IO by the product delivery rotary body 20 has already been explained, and the explanation will be omitted here to avoid duplication. First, if there is no product in the diagonal chute 30 while the product is waiting for sale,
The product detection sensor 31 detects this state, and the product unloading rotating body 20 is driven to rotate by the operation of the drive unit 28, and intermittently takes the products l from the product storage container 10 one by one into the 120-shut unit 22. The products are carried out onto the diagonal chute 30, and the products are lined up in a line in the order of step-out within this diagonal chute. When the inside of the diagonal chute 30 is full of products 1, the product detection sensor 32 detects this and immediately gives a stop command to the drive unit 28 to stop the rotation of the product delivery rotary body 20, and the product storage container The removal of products from 10 will be temporarily suspended. On the other hand, in the Ui selling standby state of the product, the product transport mechanism 40 is moved to the recess 41 that opens to the m transport body 42.
is waiting and stopping at a position near the exit of the diagonal chute 30, and therefore, the lowest product l lined up in the diagonal chute passes through the chute exit and reaches the recess 41 of the conveyor 42.
When a command is given to sell the product from this sales standby state, the drive unit 43 of the product transport mechanism 40 is started and the rotating drum type transport body 42 carries the product 1. Rotate once in the direction of the arrow while storing it,
During the conveyance, when the recess 41 turns downward, the recess 4
The product l stored in the product 1 falls into the product dispensing chute 50 and passes through the product dispensing chute 50 to the automatic 1 (not shown).
On the other hand, the rotary drum type conveyor 42, which is empty after carrying out the product, rotates once and returns to the position where the recess 41 faces the outlet of the diagonal chute 30 again. Stop. As a result, each time a sales directive is issued,
The products lined up in the diagonal chute 30 are separated one by one from the lowest position and transported to the product delivery chute 50. When this sales operation is repeated several times and the product in the diagonal chute 30 is out of stock, the product detection sensor 31 is activated and drives the product delivery rotary body 20 again to take out the product from the product storage container 10 and take it out of the diagonal chute 30. Replenish to 30. Note that the product storage capacity of the diagonal chute 30 is preferably limited to about 10 products at most so that bridges do not occur between products due to the stacking load of the products. Regarding the product conveyance mechanism 40, in the illustrated embodiment, a recess 41 is provided at one location on the circumferential surface of the rotary drum type conveyor 42, but this recess 41 is provided at a plurality of locations on the circumferential surface at predetermined pitch intervals. It is also possible to construct a configuration in which the product is transported by forming the recess at a location and moving the recess one pitch at a time for each sales operation. Furthermore, when the rotary drum-type conveyor 42 rotates to bend and convey the products one by one from the diagonal chute 30, the lowest product l in the diagonal chute 30 is stored as shown in FIG. ? Depending on the force, the product container may overlap in front of the product that has already entered the recess 41 of the conveyor 42, or the tails of the product containers with flange may become intertwined with each other, creating a situation in which the product transportation is obstructed. Sometimes. 7FVC like this. In order to deal with the occurrence of this problem, the product posture is allowed to roll between the front edge of the outlet side opening end of the cylindrical diagonal chute 30 and the circumferential surface of the rotary drum type 19 feeder 42, as shown in FIG. By setting a sufficient escape gap H1, when the product is transported, the lowest product in the diagonal chute 30 rolls from the position 5g to the position shown in FIG. can avoid interference with products stored in
As a result, the product can be transported by the transport body 42 without any trouble. It is preferable that the gap (2) between the rear edge on the opposite side and the circumferential surface of the conveyor be narrow enough to prevent the tail of the product container from entering.

【Effect of the invention】

As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a product storage kit container whose bottom surface is an inverted conical filler surface, and a vertical hollow shaft rotatably arranged to extend through the center of the bottom of the product storage container. It is an assembly of a shaft shoot part and a head which bulges out in the radial direction from the top of the chute part and whose upper and lower surfaces have a regular cross-section and whose upper and lower surfaces are conical surfaces, and where the inclined lower surface of the head and the storage A product delivery rotary body having a product ejection window opened at one location on the circumferential surface of the vertical axis chute facing the product passage gap defined between the container and the inclined bottom surface of the container; By rotating the product delivery rotary body, the products stored in bulk in the product storage container are stirred by the head of the rotary body and directed toward the center of the bottom of the container. By arranging the structure so that the products are taken in one by one into the vertical shaft chute through the product take-out window and then dropped downwards, it is possible to store a large number of products in bulk in the product storage container. Products, such as milk in containers, which are difficult to handle with the 14n of the conventional product stacking device, can be smoothly taken out one by one from the product storage container and carried out based on instructions. It should be noted that the products to be sold are not limited to the above-mentioned products packaged in containers with a flange, and the present invention can also be applied to various odd-shaped products equivalent to the above-mentioned products.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a product conveyance mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a perspective view of the external appearance of a milk product in a container with a hatch, Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the detailed structure of the assembly of the product storage container and the product delivery rotor in Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a partial front view of the product delivery rotating body in Figure 3;
Figures 5 and 1'S6 are explanatory diagrams of the product transfer operation performed between the diagonal chute and the rotating drum type conveyance mechanism in Figure 1, respectively, in Figure 0, l: product, 10: product storage container. , 20: Product unloading rotating body, 22; Vertical axis chute section, 25:! IF! Part, 26: Product extraction window, 2nd: Drive unit, 29: Product detection sensor, 30
: Slimming chute, 40: Product transport tank, 41: Product storage recess, 42: Rotating drum type transport body, 43: Drive unit,
50: Product delivery chute, H1 = escape gap for product posture. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A small product delivery device that takes out and carries out products one by one based on a command from a product storage container storing a large number of small products in bulk, the bottom surface being inclined in the shape of an inverted cone. a vertical axis chute portion having a hollow shaft rotatably disposed through the center of the bottom of the product storage container; The chute is assembled with a head having a rhombic cross-section and has a conical lower surface, and a vertical axis chute facing the product passage gap defined between the sloped lower surface of the head and the sloped bottom surface of the storage container. It is composed of a product delivery rotary body with a product take-out window opened at one place on the circumference of the unit, and a drive unit that rotates the rotary body based on a command. The products stored in bulk in the storage container are stirred by the head of the rotating body and guided toward the center of the bottom of the container, and the products are taken one by one into the vertical shaft chute through the product extraction window. A product carrying device characterized in that the product is carried out by falling downward. 2) In the unloading device according to claim 1,
A product carrying out device characterized in that a product detection sensor is installed in a vertical axis chute of the product carrying out rotary body to detect the carrying out of the product and to give a stop signal of the product carrying out rotary body to a drive unit. 3) In the unloading device according to claim 1,
an inclined chute located opposite to the product carrying out rotary body below its vertical axis chute section to receive falling carried out products from the chute section and arranging them in a line; and an inclined chute located opposite to the lower opening end of the inclined chute; A product delivery device characterized in that it is configured in combination with a product transport mechanism that separates products lined up on an inclined chute one by one starting from the lowest one and transports them toward a product delivery chute. 4) In the unloading device according to claim 3,
The product transport mechanism includes a rotating drum-type transport body that faces the lower open end of the inclined chute and has a recess formed on its circumference for accommodating one product, and rotates the transport body based on a command. A product delivery device comprising: a drive section to be operated; and a drive section to be operated. 5) In the unloading device according to claim 3,
The inclined chute is a chute with a cylindrical structure, and allows the posture of the product waiting at the lowest position in the chute to roll between the front edge of the lower opening end of the chute and the circumferential surface of the rotating drum type conveyor. A product carrying-out device characterized by having an escape gap set therein.