JPS6222945Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the invention] This invention is a coffee vending machine that sells raw materials dispensed in fixed quantities from a raw material tank by melting them in boiling water at a predetermined temperature, or mixing them with a predetermined amount of cold water or ice. Concerning vending machines that sell products.

For example, immediately after the power is turned on, the vending machine cannot heat or cool hot or cold water to a predetermined temperature. The product is configured to stop sales and display a sold-out display even though the product is stored. However, in this case, even though the product or the ingredients used for cooking the product are automatically ready for sale once they have been sufficiently heated or cooled, the sold-out display prevents the user from making a purchase. This has the problem of causing a loss of motivation.

Furthermore, conventionally, a signal generating section outputs a clock signal at a predetermined repetition period, and the number of clock signals corresponding to the time required to process the product or the material to a predetermined temperature or a predetermined storage amount is preset. A counter section that counts down the clock signal output from the generator section and a display section that displays the contents of the counter section so that they can be checked from outside the vending machine are provided, and the period during sales preparation until the vending machine becomes available is utilized. There is a method that prevents the loss of purchasing desire as mentioned above by informing the customers.
When displaying the remaining waiting time using such a timer method, set the timer time longer than the minimum necessary waiting time to ensure that sales can begin when the displayed waiting time reaches zero. Therefore, it is not possible to display a preferable waiting time.

Therefore, the present invention provides, as an alternative to the timer means, a sampling section that reads the output of a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the material used for cooking the product at a predetermined repetition period, and a substitute for the detected temperature read by the sampling section. It has a calculation part that calculates the waiting time required to reach the set sales start temperature, and displays the waiting time calculated by this calculation part, so that the waiting time can be displayed accurately. The following is a first embodiment of the present invention.
This will be explained based on FIGS.

Figure 1 shows that a sales instruction is detected and coffee powder, sugar, and milk are dispensed in predetermined amounts from the raw material tank.
This is a configuration diagram of a coffee vending machine configured to dissolve this with hot water discharged from a hot water tank and pour it into a cup dispensed near the product outlet, where 1 is a coin validation device and 2 is a dispenser. 3 is a dispensing device capable of dispensing cups, coffee powder, sugar, milk, and hot water; 4 is a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the hot water dispensed by the dispensing device 3; 5 is an input money display 2 and a dispensing device; a CPU 7 that controls the device 3 according to a program written in the ROM 6 in advance;
The information necessary for processing by CPU5 is written.
RAM, 8 is an I/O connecting each of the above devices and CPU 5
It's a bus.

As shown in FIG. 3, the hot water tank 9 that prepares the hot water to be dispensed by the dispensing device 3 has a float 10 that detects the amount of water stored, and a tap water valve 11 that is controlled by detecting the vertical position of the float 10 to store the water. The limit switches 12 and 13 for keeping the amount constant, the immersion heater 14, and the temperature sensors 15 and 16 for detecting the water temperature in the hot water tank 9 and controlling the energization of the immersion heater 14 to maintain a constant temperature are removed. Device 3
The dispensing valve 17 controlled by the hot water tank 9 is constituted by a thermostat for low limit detection attached to the outer wall of the hot water tank 9.

Next, the configuration of the CPU 5 and ROM 6 will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. When coins are inserted into the input slot 18 when the water temperature in the hot water tank 9 exceeds 70°C, the CPU 5 first activates the coin validation device 1.
The input amount is then stored in a predetermined location in the RAM 7, and the total input amount is calculated by adding the input amount [a-1]. The total amount deposited from time to time is digitally displayed on the deposit display 2 [a-2]. When it is detected that the total amount of money put in has reached the selling price in the sellability determination [a-3], the CPU 5 instructs the dispensing device 3 to dispense the product to the product dispensing port 19. In the product dispensing operation [a-4], the coffee powder, sugar, and milk are dispensed, the dispensing valve 16 is opened, and the products are dissolved in hot water supplied from the hot water tank 9, and the coffee powder, sugar, and milk are dissolved in the product dispensing port 19.
is dispensed into a cup (not shown).

The stored water in the hot water tank 9 is maintained at a predetermined temperature of 93°C by the temperature sensor 15 and the immersion heater 14, but it is repeatedly dispensed in a short period of time and a large amount of tap water is replenished. When the water temperature drops below 70℃, this is detected by the thermostat 17 [a-5], and the CPU 5 forcibly changes the operating mode of the vending machine to the sold-out mode and stops the sale [a-5]. 6]. Alternatively, the CPU 5 checks [a-7] whether a predetermined time (for example, 1 second) has elapsed since switching to [a-6], and when it detects that the predetermined time has elapsed, it reads the water temperature ts via the temperature sensor 4. [a-8] Substitute this sampling value into a preset formula to calculate the time [waiting time] required to raise the water temperature before the thermostat 17 is reversed, and [a-9] Output to gold display 2 [a-10], clear the timer checked in [a-7] [a-11], and return to [a-5].

The waiting time is a function of the detected water temperature _ts as shown in FIG. 4, and when the waiting time is T, it can be expressed as T=F _(ts) . The formula T=F _(ts) is explained in detail as follows. The amount of water stored in the hot water tank 9, which is kept constant by the float 10, is V, and the immersion heater 1
Let H be the heater capacity of No. 4, and _tr be the water temperature at which the thermostat 17 is inverted, then T=F _(t) = α·V· _tr −t _s /H . Here α is a constant.

The second equation above is pre-written in the ROM 6, and the CPU 5 substitutes the latest detected water temperature _ts into the second equation, and each time, the waiting time is calculated and displayed on the input money display 2. . In addition, during the period until the thermostat 17 detects the low limit and returns, the display on the input amount display 2 is as follows.
The waiting time is digitally displayed on the numerical displays DP ₃ and DP ₄ , the unit display 21 of the unit displays 20 and 21 lights up to display 〓minutes〓, and the mode display 22 and 23 The mode indicator 22 lights up to display the "waiting time".

With this configuration, the waiting time for the water temperature sampled at one-second intervals is updated and displayed, for example, every time sampling is performed, so that optimal waiting time information can be provided to the user.

In the above embodiment, the temperature sensor 4 and the immersion heater 1
Although the four temperature control temperature sensors 15 are provided separately, one temperature sensor 15 can be used in common.

Although the above embodiments have been described by taking as an example the heat treatment of hot water as a material, the same applies to the case of performing a cooling treatment. However, in this case, water cooling means is provided in place of the immersion heater 14.

Further, by providing a temperature sensor and correcting the constant of the formula T=Ft written in the ROM 6 with temperature information, more accurate waiting time display can be realized. In this case, the second equation can be expressed as follows.

T=F _(ts) =α·V· _tr − _ts /H·W…W is a constant determined by the temperature detected by the temperature sensor, and the lower the temperature, the larger its value.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the waiting time can be displayed more accurately than the waiting time display using conventional timer means, and the reliability against disturbances is also significantly improved compared to the conventional one. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of a coffee vending machine, Fig. 2 is a front view of the vending machine, Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a hot water tank, and Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a coffee vending machine.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the ROM, FIG. 5 is a layout diagram of the input money display, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart of FIG. 1. 1... coin verification device, 2... input money display, 3...
Dispensing device, 4...Temperature sensor, 5...CPU,
6...ROM, 7...RAM, 8...I/O bus,
17...Thermostat.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. A vending machine that sells products at a predetermined temperature, including a sampling section that reads the output of a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of materials used for cooking the product at a predetermined repetition period, and the sampling section A calculation section that calculates the waiting time required to reach the sales start temperature by substituting the detected temperature read in, and a display that displays the waiting time calculated by this calculation section so that it can be checked from outside the vending machine. A vending machine with a section. 2 Claim No. 1 for Utility Model Registration in which the display part is configured so that the waiting time is displayed on the deposit display
Vending machines listed in section. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the calculation unit is configured to correct the calculated waiting time using temperature information.