JPS6362797B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a control device for a cup-type vending machine that sells drinks such as coffee by pouring them into cups. The present invention relates to a control device for enabling simultaneous use of multiple cups (hereinafter referred to as "my cups").

Prior Art For example, in the conventional cup-type vending machine shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 44-22009, when a product is selected using a product selection switch, an automatic cup dispensing mechanism automatically moves the built-in cup to a bend stage. The product is transported to a cup, and the product beverage is poured into the cup and sold.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention This type of vending machine with a built-in cup has the disadvantage that a customer cannot purchase a commercial beverage using any cup owned by the customer.

In addition, in conventional vending machines without an automatic cup dispensing mechanism in which customers place their own cups on a cup holder and sell them, it is possible to use their own cup, but before the customer places the cup on the bending stage. When the introduction of products into drinking water begins, there is a risk that the products will be washed away and customers will not be able to purchase the products.

This was done in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks in the cup-type beverage vending machine of the present invention,
To provide a cup-type vending machine that allows a customer to use his or her own cup and easily stops an automatic cup delivery mechanism when using his or her cup.

Means and Effects for Solving Problems The present invention includes a cup detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a cup on a bending stage, and a cup detection means for detecting the absence of a cup when a product selection operation is performed and a sales operation is started. a drive circuit that drives a cup motor that transports a cup in the vending machine to a bending stage when a cup is detected; a prohibition circuit that prohibits driving of the cup motor when the cup detection means detects the presence of a cup; and a device for supplying the beverage to the bending stage when the beverage is in the bending stage.

With the above configuration, when the cup detection means detects the absence of a cup when a product selection operation is performed and a vending operation is started, the drive circuit is driven to drive the cup motor, and the vending machine built-in The cup is fed to the bend stage. On the other hand, when the cup detection means detects the presence of my cup, the cup motor is not driven by the operation of the prohibition circuit, and the built-in cup is not ejected. Therefore, even when using a personal cup, sales can be carried out simply by placing the personal cup on the bending stage and operating the product selection switch.

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

In Fig. 1, reference numeral 1 is a bending stage for taking out cup beverages installed at the front of the cup-type vending machine. According to the beverage sales control based on the above, the built-in cup 2 is automatically carried out from the vending machine onto the cup holder 1a. When using a customer's own cup 3, the customer places the cup 3 on the cup holder 1a. and,
After the cup 2 or 3 is correctly placed on the cup holder 1a, the prepared beverage is dispensed into the cup and the customer can take out the cup 2 or 3.

Reference numeral 4 designates a roughly U-shaped flapper that guides and restricts the built-in cup 2 to be placed in a predetermined position on the cup holder 1a when the built-in cup 2 is carried out. It is supported so that it can rotate between the dotted line and
The guide plate 4a of the flapper 4 passes through the opening 1c of the top plate 1b of the bending stage 1, and passes through the cup holder 1a.
It hangs down close to the rear plate 4c.
is the rear wall 1 of the bend stage inside the vending machine body.
A magnet 5 is attached to the lower end of the plate 4c. A reed switch L is mounted on the rear wall 1d so as to face the magnet 5.

Note that when no external force is applied to the flapper 4, the guide plate 4a is biased by a spring (not shown) so that it is positioned as indicated by the solid line in the figure.

With the above configuration, when the cup 2 with a built-in bend stage is carried out by the cup carrying mechanism (not shown) of the vending machine main body, the guide plate 4a of the flapper 4 is pushed backward by the cup 2 during the carrying out process, but the cup holder is When reaching the position above 1a, the guide plate 4
a returns to its original position, and the flapper 4 is placed in the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. Therefore, the magnet 5 and the reed switch L come close to each other, and the reed switch L is turned on.

On the other hand, the customer bends My Cup 3 to stage 1.
When the My Cup 3 has a large diameter, the guide plate 4a of the flapper 4 is pushed by the My Cup 3, so the flapper 4 rotates to the position shown by the broken line, and the magnet 5 and the reed switch L move away from each other. , reed switch L is turned off. The flapper 4, the magnet 5, and the reed switch L constitute cup detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a personal cup. Furthermore, when My Cup 3 is removed from Bend Stage 1,
The flapper 4 automatically returns to the position shown by the solid line.

FIG. 2 shows the main parts of the control circuit of the vending machine of this invention, where _b1 is a cup detection circuit, _b2 is a cup motor control circuit, and _b3 is a vending control circuit.

In the cup detection circuit _b1 , the normally open contact (hereinafter referred to as the a contact) _L1 of the cup detection reed switch L shown in FIG. 1 and the relay XL are connected to the rectifier circuit 7.

In the cup motor control circuit b ₂ , the normally closed contact of relay XL (hereinafter referred to as b
It is called a contact point. ) XL ₁ and relay for cup detection output
A contact X ₃₂ of X ₃ and relay X ₃ are connected in series, and B contact XB ₁ and A contact XB 1 of relay XB are connected in parallel to both ends of B contact XL ₁ and A contact X _{32 ,} respectively. Connected.

In addition, when selling relay X ₃ 's b contact X ₃₁ ,
For example, a series circuit with the a contact TM ₃ of the program motor timer TM, which determines the timing for controlling the cup dispensing mechanism and solenoids for dispensing various raw materials such as coffee raw powder and sugar, controls the cup dispensing mechanism of the vending machine. A control motor (hereinafter referred to as cup motor) is connected to _M1 , and the series circuit between contact X ₃₁ and TM ₃ includes a cup motor.
The cup motor free-running contact MICAM, which turns on when _M1 starts, is connected in parallel. This contact
MICAM rotates the motor _M1 by a certain angle, turns off when the cup is finished being delivered, and automatically stops the motor _M1 .

In the vending control circuit _b3 , C/M is a coin detection and counting mechanism, and a signal indicating that vending is permitted is sent to the output terminals _S1 , _S2 ... according to the amount of coins inserted into the vending machine. Output. X ₁ and X ₂ are sales relays that control the delivery of the corresponding products,
X ₁₁ and X ₁₂ are the contacts of relay X ₁ , X ₂₁ and X ₂₂ are the relays
Contacts _X2 , _P1 and _P2 are push button switches for product selection, and XA and XB are auxiliary relays.

In the above circuit configuration, when the customer places his/her cup 3 on the cup holder 1a of the bending stage 1 before operating the product selection push button switch, the guide plate 4a is pushed by the cup 3 and the flapper 4
rotates to the position shown by the dotted line, the magnet 5 is separated, and the a contact _L1 of the reed switch L is turned off.
Therefore, relay XL becomes de-energized, so the b contact
XL ₁ is on. Before the start of sales operation, relay XB is energized through B contact TM ₄ of the motor timer and its A contact XB ₁ is on, and relay X ₃ is energized through contacts XL ₁ and XB _{1 and} its A contact X is turned on. ₃₂ is turned on, and b contact X ₃₁ is turned off.

Next, when coins are inserted into the vending machine and the vending operation starts, the coin detection mechanism C/M counts the inserted coins and outputs a sellable signal to the terminals S ₁ , S ₂
Output from When a customer selects a product and presses the product selection push button switch _P1 , for example, relay _X1 is energized and the a contact _X11 is turned on, and the auxiliary relay XA is energized and the a contact XA ₁ , XA ₂ is turned on.

As a result, relays X ₁ and XA are self-maintained in the excited state, a contact X ₁₂ b is turned off, and relay XB
is deactivated. Relay XB remains energized for a certain period of time due to capacitor discharge, and then becomes de-energized.

In this way, when MyCup 3 is used, when the sales operation starts, relay XB becomes de-energized, its contact XB ₁ turns off, and contact XB ₂ turns on, so that relay X ₃ continues to operate from before the sales operation started. The device is kept in an excited state, and the placement of the cup is memorized. For this reason, the B contact X ₃₁ of the relay X ₃ is turned off, so the A contact TM ₃ , which commands the cup ejection of the motor timer TM, which starts operating when the contact XA ₂ is turned on, starts the beverage supply. Even though it is turned on first, the cup motor M ₁
is cut off from the power supply bus M and is not driven, and the built-in cup 2 is not carried out. B contact X31 of relay X3
constitutes a prohibited circuit.

Next, a case where the built-in cup 2 is used will be explained.

Before the start of the selling operation, if the paper cup 2 is waiting to be dropped without the paper cup 3 being placed in the bending stage 1, the flapper 4 will not rotate and the a contact _L1 of the reed switch L will be closed. turns on. As a result, relay XL is energized, its b contact XL ₁ is turned off, and relay X ₃ is not energized.

Move to sales operation and relay as described above.
Even if XB is de-energized and its contact XB ₁ is turned off and its contact XB ₂ is turned on, in this case the relay
Since the a contact X ₃₂ of X ₃ itself is off, the relay X ₃ is not energized as expected.

Thus, when the paper cup 2 is used, the relay _X3 is maintained in a de-energized state and the b contact _X31 is turned on.

As the sales operation progresses as described above, relay XA
When the motor is self-maintained in the excited state, the a contact XA ₂ is turned on and the motor timer TM is started. Then, the a-contact TM ₂ is turned on and is self-held, and the drive of the motor timer TM is continued, so that the a-contact TM ₃ is turned on at a predetermined time and commands the ejection of the cup. Since B contact X ₃₁ is on, cup motor M ₁ starts, and A contact M ₁ CAM
is turned on to continue driving the cup motor _M1 , and the built-in cup 2 is carried out to the bending stage 1. Contact TM3 and contact M1CAM constitute a drive circuit for the cup motor.

During the process of unloading the built-in cup 2, the flapper 4 is pressed and the reed switch L is temporarily turned off, indicating that the cup is present, and the relay XL is activated accordingly.
There is _a period in which _contact XL ₁ is on, but relay is never excited.
In other words, even if the cup relay XL indicates that a cup is present after the sales operation has started, the relay _X3 does not read this, so unless the cup is placed on the bending stage before the sale starts, the built-in cup will be taken out.

The above shows the process up to cup delivery, but the motor timer TM continues to instruct the beverage supply means (not shown) to supply the selected product beverage to the built-in cup on the bend stage or to the personal cup, and when the supply is finished. , 1 sales cycle is completed, contact point
TM ₂ and TM ₄ return to their original states and the motor timer
Stop TM. During this one sales cycle, relays X ₁ , X ₂ , XA in sales control circuit b ₃
etc. are contacts for resetting the motor timer TM.
As TM ₁ is temporarily turned off, everything is reset and back up for the next sales cycle.

In the above embodiment, a mechanism for detecting the displacement of the flapper for guiding the built-in cup to the bending stage was used as the cup detection means, but the present invention is not limited to this.
Appropriate means such as an optical method or a gravimetric method can be used.

Effects of the Invention As described in detail above, the present invention detects whether or not a customer's own personal cup is placed on the bending stage before the start of sales, and uses the detection result of the detection means to detect whether or not a customer's personal cup is placed on the bending stage. Since the removal of the built-in cup is controlled, it is possible to sell both the built-in cup and the customer's own personal cup.Sales using the personal cup can be done by simply placing the cup on the bending stage. This has the effect of simplifying purchasing operations for customers who use MyCup.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a cup detection mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a control circuit used in the present invention. 1...Bend stage, 2...Built-in cup, 3
...My cup, 4...Flapper, 5...Magnet, L...Reed switch, X ₃ ...Cup detection output relay, TM...Timer motor, _M1 ...
...Cup motor, XB...Relay.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Cup detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a cup on the bending stage, and when the cup detection means detects the absence of a cup when a product selection operation is performed and a sales operation is started. a drive circuit for driving a cup motor for transporting cups in the vending machine to a bending stage; a prohibiting circuit for prohibiting driving of the cup motor when the cup detection means detects the presence of a cup; and a prohibition circuit for prohibiting driving of the cup motor when the cup is on the bending stage. 1. A control device for a cup-type vending machine, comprising a device for supplying a beverage to a bending stage. 2. In the device according to claim 1,
A control device for a cup-type vending machine comprising a mechanism in which a cup detection means detects the displacement of a movable flapper that guides a built-in cup to a bending stage.