KR100348724B1 - Apparatus for taking out goods of an automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

Automatic, which can be carried out reliably and smoothly, regardless of the size and size of the container and the tightness and softness of the container, and the versatility of the vending machine can be reduced. Provided is a product taking out device of a vending machine.

At the time of sale, the product dispensing apparatus 1 of the vending machine 2 which carries out the goods S drawn downward from the product storage 6 in the vending machine main body 3 is the front door of the vending machine main body 3. The product which is installed below the sales opening 4a and the goods storage 6 which were installed in (4), extends upwards inclined front toward the sales opening 4a, and is withdrawn from the goods storage 6 ( The conveyor belt 12 arrange | positioned so that receipt of S) is possible, and the drive mechanism 20 which rotationally drives the conveyor belt 12 so that the goods S received at the time of sale are carried out to a sales opening are provided.

Description

Product taking out device of vending machine {APPARATUS FOR TAKING OUT GOODS OF AN AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINE}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product dispensing apparatus of a vending machine for discharging goods to a sales outlet provided at a relatively high position of the front door of the vending machine.

In recent years, a vending machine called a barrier free machine has been known, in which a merchandise purchaser is provided at a relatively high position of the front door in order to be able to take out merchandise purchased by the merchandise in a comfortable position without bending the waist. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 261572). This vending machine is partitioned side by side in the vending machine body side by side to store the goods, and between the goods storage and the front door, and the goods drawn out of each product storage box to the sales outlet The product carrying out apparatus is provided. The goods dispensing device is composed of a belt conveyor device, is installed on the rear side of the front door, extends horizontally to the left side than the right end of the main body of the vending machine, and extends vertically upward from the left end to the L-shaped conveyor belt. And hook hooks protruding perpendicular to the surface of the conveyor belt. At the time of sale, the goods withdrawn from the goods storage can be picked up and dropped onto the horizontal portion of the conveyor belt at a position below the vending machine main body. And it is carried out by the vertical part of a conveyor belt in the state caught by the latch of a conveyor belt, and is sent out to a sales outlet. By the above operation, the withdrawn goods are taken out to the sales outlet.

In recent years, the sale of PET bottle products with a capacity of 500 ml has been successful in vending machines, and the sale of such barrier free machines is also required. However, if the PET bottle product is to be taken out by the product dispensing apparatus of the conventional vending machine, the size is larger than the can product and the container is soft, so that the jam phenomenon occurs at the corner of the conveyor belt which changes the angle from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction. Easy to produce In order to prevent this, when the size of the whole product carrying-out apparatus including a conveyor belt is enlarged, there exists a possibility that goods of small size, such as a small diameter bottle goods, may not be carried out on the contrary. Moreover, since the depth of a vending machine becomes large by installing a goods carrying out device between a goods storage and a front door, it is against the request of the recent thinning.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and can be carried out reliably and smoothly regardless of the size or size of a container or a rigid and soft container at a sales outlet in which a product is installed at a relatively high position, thereby increasing versatility. At the same time, it is an object of the present invention to provide a product dispensing device for a vending machine that can reduce the depth of the vending machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a side sectional view of a vending machine equipped with a product discharging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side sectional view showing a product discharging device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>

1: Product Export Device

2: vending machine

3: vending machine body

4: Main door (front door)

4a: Sales Zone

6: product storage

7: goods passage

10: belt conveyor apparatus (conveying mechanism)

12: conveyor belt

12a: locking projection (locking means)

20: drive mechanism (drive means)

40: belt conveyor apparatus (conveying mechanism)

The invention according to claim 1 is a product dispensing device of a vending machine for carrying out a product drawn out from the product storage in the vending machine body at the time of sale, and is provided at the sales port provided in the front door of the vending machine main body and below the product storage box. It is provided in the inclined front upward direction toward a sales port, and is provided with the conveyance mechanism which can receive the goods drawn out from the goods storage, and conveys it to a sales outlet, and the drive means which drives a conveyance mechanism so that a product can be carried to a sales outlet at the time of sale. Characterized in that.

According to the product dispensing apparatus of this vending machine, at the time of sale, the conveyance mechanism receives the goods withdrawn downward from the goods storage and is rotated and driven by the driving means, so that the received goods are inclined forward and upward toward the sales opening. Export. Thus, since the goods are simply taken out inclined forward and upward by the conveying mechanism toward the sales port, even when applied to a barrier free machine or the like having the sales port at a relatively high position, the angle is changed from the conventional horizontal direction to the vertical direction. Unlike a belt conveyor-type product dispensing apparatus which is exchanged out, a product can be smoothly taken out regardless of the size and size of a container and the rigidity and softness of a container, and the versatility can be improved. For the same reason, the dimension of the whole product carrying apparatus can be made smaller than the conventional L-shaped product carrying apparatus. In addition, in this product dispensing apparatus, since a conveyance mechanism is provided below the product storage in the vending machine main body, compared with the product discharging apparatus which installed the conventional conveyor belt between the front door and the product storage, The depth of the vending machine can be reduced while maintaining the storage efficiency.

In the above, it is preferable that a conveyance mechanism is comprised by a conveyor belt, and this conveyor belt is provided with the locking means which hangs goods from behind.

According to the product dispensing apparatus of this vending machine, since the product is fastened from the rear by the locking means provided on the conveyor belt, various products such as 500 ml PET bottles and cans, regardless of the size or size of the container and the rigidity and softness of the container, can be used. The goods can be taken out to the sales outlet reliably.

Further, in the above, the goods storage has a plurality of goods passages for storing goods arranged in the front and rear direction while extending in the vertical direction, these plurality of goods passages, the lower end of the goods passage on the rear side of the goods on the front side It is preferable to extend below the lower end of the passage.

According to the product dispensing apparatus of this vending machine, the product passage | route of the front and back can be arrange | positioned so that invalid space may become as small as possible in accordance with the inclination of a conveyance mechanism, and, accordingly, the product passage | route of a product storage box can be utilized effectively using the space in the vending machine main body. Many products can be stored by.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the product carrying out apparatus of the vending machine which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated, referring an accompanying drawing. Fig. 1 shows a vending machine 2 incorporating the product discharging device 1 of the present invention, and the vending machine 2 has almost circular cross-sections of can goods, bottle goods and PET bottle goods (S). ) Is stored sideways, and is a barrier free machine type which carries it out to a relatively high position. This vending machine 2 includes a vending machine main body 3 and a main door 4 as a front door for opening and closing the front face of the vending machine main body 3. The vending machine main body 3 is partitioned in the left-right direction by the some goods storage 6 (only one illustration) by the partition board which the inside is not shown in figure, and the heat insulation door 5 is provided in the front surface.

Each goods storage 6 is provided with the so-called serpentine-type goods passage 7 extended while meandering in the up-down direction, and the goods passage 7 is a front-back direction (left-right direction of FIG. 1). 5 rows are arranged. These goods passage 7 is arrange | positioned according to the inclination of the conveyor belt 12 mentioned later, Specifically, the lower end part of the goods row 7 of 2 rows of back side is lower than the lower end part of the goods path 7 of 3 rows of front side. Extends to position. As a result, the product passages 7 in the rear two rows can accommodate more goods S than the three rows in the front side. The product withdrawal mechanism 8 is provided in the lower end part of each goods channel | path 7, This product take-out mechanism 8 hold | maintains the goods S in the goods channel | path 7, at the time of sale, and at the time of sale Only the lowest goods S are operated to be drawn downward.

Below each goods storage 6, the belt conveyor apparatus 10 as a conveyance mechanism is provided. The belt conveyor apparatus 10 includes a conveyor frame 11 extending upwardly inclined forward, a conveyor belt 12 rotatably attached to the conveyor frame 11, and a drive for driving the conveyor belt 12. The drive mechanism 20 as a means is provided.

Front and rear sprockets 13 and 14 are attached to the front and rear ends of the conveyor frame 11, respectively, and these sprockets 13 and 14 are rotatable around a horizontal axis extending in the horizontal direction. The rear sprocket 14 has a double structure in which two sprockets (only one shown) are arranged coaxially side by side in the lateral direction (depth in the drawing direction), and one of them and the front sprocket 13 mesh with these teeth. The chain 15 hangs over it.

Moreover, the drive mechanism 20 is provided with the sprocket 21 rotatable about the horizontal axis extended in the left-right direction, and the drive motor 23 connected via the gear mechanism not shown in the sprocket 21, and the sprocket ( The chain 22 spans between 21 and the other of the rear sprocket 14 to engage these teeth. The vending machine 2 is equipped with the microcomputer not shown, At the time of sale, the drive motor 23 is driven by the drive signal from a microcomputer, and rotates the sprocket 21 counterclockwise in the figure, The front and rear sprockets 13 and 14 are rotated counterclockwise.

On the other hand, the conveyor belt 12 spans between the rotary shafts of the front and rear sprockets 13 and 14, and rotates counterclockwise in accordance with the counterclockwise rotation of the sprockets 13 and 14 at the time of sale. Moreover, the conveyor belt 12 has many locking projections 12a as locking means which protrude from the surface. These locking projections 12a are provided on the conveyor belt 12 at equal intervals. The product S drawn out from the product passage 7 by the product taking-out mechanism 8 at the time of sale falls on the conveyor belt 12, and is then caught in the rear by the locking projection 12a. It is conveyed forward by the counterclockwise rotation of (12).

Moreover, the heat insulation door 5 is equipped with the carrying out opening 5a which opens toward the front end of the conveyor frame 11, and the carrying out door 5b which opens and closes the carrying out opening 5a. At the time of sale, the goods S conveyed by the conveyor belt 12 are sent out to the main door 4 side through the outlet 5a while opening the outlet door 5b.

On the other hand, the main door 4 has a sales opening 4a that opens to the front center portion, a sales opening door 4b for opening and closing the sales opening 4a, and a product support plate provided below the sales opening 4a. (4c) is provided. The sales door 4b is provided at a position facing the outlet 5a, and is composed of a transparent resin plate having a cross-section &quot; u &quot; shape, and the upper end portion thereof is rotatably attached to the main door 4; It is. The merchandise support plate 4c has a front wall, a bottom wall, and sidewalls, and constitutes a sales outlet box which is opened upward with the rear wall 4d of the main door 4, and at the delivery outlet 5a at the time of sale. The sent-out goods S are received by this sales outlet box.

Moreover, the cooling unit 30 is provided below the belt conveyor apparatus 10. The cooling unit 30 includes an evaporator 31 disposed on the bottom wall 6a of the goods storage 6 and a condenser 33 disposed in a space below the internal circulation fan 32 and the bottom wall 6a. And an exhaust fan 34, a compressor 35, and the like. In this cooling unit 30, the evaporator 31 and the internal circulation fan 32 are arrange | positioned in the space of the front side below that according to the inclination of the inclination front upper direction of the belt conveyor apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. On the other hand, in the conventional vending machine provided with the chute of inclined front downward, the evaporator and the internal circulation fan are arrange | positioned at the rear side of the lower space of the goods storage underneath according to the inclination of the inclination front upper of a chute. Thus, in the cooling unit 30 of this embodiment, the position of the evaporator 31 and the in-vehicle circulation fan 32 differs back and forth compared with the thing of the conventional vending machine provided with the chute of the slope front downward. Except for this, the configuration is the same.

Hereinafter, the carrying out operation | movement of the goods S at the time of sale in the goods carrying apparatus 1 of this embodiment is demonstrated. At the time of sale, when the commodity purchaser selects the commodity S to purchase, the drive motor 23 of the drive mechanism 20 is driven by the drive signal from the microcomputer, whereby the drive motor 23 sprockets 21. ) And the chain 22 are rotated counterclockwise. In conjunction with this rotation, the front and rear sprockets 13 and 14 and the chain 15 rotate counterclockwise, and the conveyor belt 12 also rotates counterclockwise.

When the goods extraction mechanism 8 pulls out the lowest goods S of the goods passages 7 in the state in which the conveyor belt 12 is rotated, the drawn goods S are transferred to the conveyor belt 12. It falls on and is located between any two engaging protrusions 12a and 12a of the conveyor belt 12. As shown in FIG. Thereafter, by being caught from the rear by the locking projections 12a on the rear side, the product S is conveyed upward by the conveyor belt 12 and is forwarded from the front end thereof. The goods S sent out from the conveyor belt 12 drop into the sales outlet box while opening the discharge door 5b and are picked up there. As described above, the carrying out operation of the product S is completed. As a result, the product purchaser can open the sales door 4b and take out the goods S from the sales opening 4a.

As described above, according to the product carrying-out apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the goods S drawn out from the goods passage 7 of the goods storage 6 at the time of sale are conveyed to the conveyor belt 12 at the time of sale. It is conveyed upward inclined front toward the sales port 4a, and is carried out to a sales box box. Thus, since the goods S are simply taken out inclined forward and upward to the conveyor belt 12 toward the sales port 4a, when applied to the barrier free machine etc. provided with the sales port 4a in a comparatively high position. Even in the case of a belt conveyor-type goods carrying out device which changes the angle from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction, even if the goods S are smooth and soft, regardless of the size or size of the container, the goods S can be smoothly taken out. It is possible to increase the versatility. In addition, since the goods S are caught from the rear by the locking projections 12a of the conveyor belt 12 at the time of carrying out, various products S, such as 500 ml of PET bottle goods and can goods, are sold. I can take it out with reliable).

Moreover, since the belt conveyor apparatus 10 may be simply arrange | positioned, the dimension of the whole goods carrying apparatus 1 can be made smaller than the conventional L-shaped goods carrying apparatus. In addition, in this goods dispensing apparatus 1, since the conveyor belt 12 is provided below the goods storage 6 in the vending machine main body 3, a conventional conveyor belt is inserted between a front door and a goods storage. The depth of the vending machine 1 can be made small compared with the product carrying-out apparatus which installed.

In addition, the five rows of goods passages 7 are arranged such that the lower ends of the two rows of goods passages 7 are lower than the lower ends of the front three rows of goods passages 7 in accordance with the inclination of the conveyor belt 12. have. Thereby, the invalid space can be made as small as possible, and the space in the vending machine main body 3 can be effectively used to store many goods S by the goods passage 7 of the goods storage 6. Moreover, since the evaporator 31 and the internal circulation fan 32 are arrange | positioned in front of the lower side of the conveyor belt 12 according to the inclination of the conveyor belt 12, the storage of goods S like a conventional vending machine is accommodated. The number can be secured.

Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the goods removal apparatus 1 provided with the one belt conveyor apparatus 10 extended upwardly inclined front was demonstrated, the number of belt conveyor apparatuses is not limited to one, but is shown in FIG. As shown, two belt conveyor apparatuses 10 and 40 may be used in combination. This product carrying apparatus 1 is shorter than the thing of the said embodiment, and it is comparatively arrange | positioned horizontally near the front end part of this belt conveyor apparatus 10 arrange | positioned at the gentle inclination, and this belt conveyor apparatus 10. FIG. The short belt conveyor apparatus 40 is provided. By doing in this way, the height of the whole belt conveyor apparatus 12, 40 can be made lower than the said embodiment. As a result, the storage number of the goods S in the goods storage 6 can be increased by extending the front goods path | pass 7 to the lower side.

In addition, when the sales opening 4a is to be installed at a position higher than the position shown in Fig. 1, the longer belt conveyor apparatus 10 may be inclined greatly, and the two belt conveyor apparatuses may be inverted. It may be configured in combination with a へ '' shape. The conveying mechanism is not limited to the belt conveyor device, but a conveying screw mechanism or the like may be used, for example, and conveys the product S drawn out from the product passage 7 in the inclined front direction toward the sales port 4a. Any configuration may be used.

In addition, although the above-mentioned embodiment demonstrated the example which applied the goods carrying out apparatus 1 to the vending machine provided with the goods passage of a serpentine recognition, the form of the goods passage of a vending machine is not limited to this, for example, The product passage of the slant self-type product, the product passage extending horizontally in the front-back direction, or the like may be used, or the product drawn out downward from the product passage may be guided by the conveyor belt.

As described above, according to the product dispensing apparatus of the vending machine of the present invention, it is possible to reliably and smoothly carry out the merchandise having the product placed at a relatively high position regardless of the size and the size of the container, firmly and smoothly. In addition, the depth of the vending machine can be reduced.

Claims (3)

As a product taking out device of the vending machine which carries out the goods drawn out from the goods storage in the vending machine body at the time of sale, A sales outlet provided in the front door of the vending machine main body, A transport mechanism provided below the goods storage inclined forward and upward toward the sales opening, receiving the goods withdrawn from the storage, and transporting them to the sales storage; And a drive means for driving the conveying mechanism to carry out the product to the selling port at the time of sale. The product dispensing apparatus of the vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the conveying mechanism is constituted by a conveyor belt, and the conveyor belt includes a locking means for hanging the product from the rear side. The product storage container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the product storage container has a plurality of product passages for storing the goods arranged in the front-rear direction while being extended in the vertical direction, and the plurality of product passages are located in the rear of the product passage. A product dispensing apparatus for a vending machine, wherein the lower end portion extends downward from the lower end portion of the front product passage.