TW201905859A - Vending machine merchandise removal device - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a product delivering device for an automatic vending machine, the device being capable of detecting when a product is sold-out before a delivery operation of the product is carried out, and being capable of selling a product suspended via one or more product holding members without setting the feeding amount of each of the product holding members. Each hook (22) is attached to a chain (23) so as to be in a different state depending on whether a product is suspended thereon or not. A sold-out detection switch (28) for detecting the hook (22) in a state where a product is not suspended thereon is provided before a product delivery position. Thus, a sold-out product can be detected before the product delivery operation is carried out. Therefore, the product delivering device exhibits the advantage of being able to handle electronic money which cannot be refunded, and preventing a failure in selling caused by erroneous setting as it is not necessary to set the feeding amount depending on the product even when the product is suspended via one or more product holding members.

Description

   Product moving device of vending machine   

The present invention relates to a product carrying device for an automatic vending machine that sells products having various shapes and sizes, such as boxed or bagged snacks.

Conventionally, with regard to such a vending machine, a product carrying device for a vending machine is known, which includes: a plurality of hooks that suspend and hold a commodity; an endless chain that is installed at intervals from each other; and a chain that is hung around The pair of front and rear sprockets is made to move the hook holding the product forward by the rotation of the chain, and the product is released from the hook by the chain in the front sprocket to be reversed to drop the product to carry out the product. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)

With this product removal device, when the product hanging on the hook rises together with the hook in the reverse position of the chain, the lever contacting the product is pushed up to cause the micro switch to turn on. When it is dropped, the lever is lowered and the micro switch is turned off, thereby detecting the removal of the product and stopping the rotation of the chain. In this case, when the product is moved out, the chain rotation amount is also detected. Even if the chain rotation amount reaches the movement amount of a product, the lever is not used to open / close the micro switch. The product is judged sold out and the money is refunded.

    [Prior technical literature]         [Patent Literature]    

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-70552

However, in recent years, along with the spread of electronic money, there are also card readers (Writer) installed in vending machines so that products can be purchased using the electronic money payment method of IC cards. On the one hand, in the aforementioned conventional example, when money is invested to select a product, the unloading action is started, and the sold-out product is detected through the detection position of the lever through the hook of the unmaintained product to refund the money. However, because electronic money is paid at the stage after the product is selected, as in the previous example, if the product cannot be sold out without selecting the product and moving out, there will be no spot on the spot once the payment is made. The so-called refund cannot be used to solve the problem of electronic money.

In addition, when the depth of the product is large, etc., and it is impossible to hang one product on each hook, it is made to have one or two or more hooks interposed and each product is vacated with each other corresponding to the size of the product. Hanging is performed in intervals, but in this case, it is necessary to set a feed amount corresponding to one product. However, since such setting operations are performed manually, there may be cases where the setting is incorrect. For example, when the hook feed amount for one product is set to be shorter than the appropriate feed amount, it may result in When a single unloading operation unloads a plurality of products, and when the hook feed amount for one product is set to be longer than an appropriate feed amount, there is a problem that it is judged as sold out even though there is a next product .

The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems, and an object thereof is to provide a product unloading device of an automatic vending machine, which can detect the sold out product before the product unloading operation is performed, and even if the feeding of the product holding member is not set It is also possible to sell products that are hung in an intermediate manner with one or two or more product holding members.

In order to achieve the foregoing object, the present invention is to make a product carrying device for an automatic vending machine, comprising: a plurality of product holding members that hold the products; endless members that are installed at intervals between the product holding members at intervals; and A driving means for rotating the member, and each of the commodity holding members is moved in a predetermined direction by the rotation of the endless member, and the product is moved out by releasing the product from the product holding member at a predetermined product carry-out position, wherein the aforementioned products are held The component is installed on the endless member in a different state when the product is held and when the product is not held. A sold-out detection means is set in front of the aforementioned product removal position to detect the product holding member that maintains the state of the product or A product holding member that does not hold a product.

In this way, since the product holding member in the state of holding the product or the product holding member in the state of not holding the product is detected by the sold-out detection means in front of the product removal position, it can be detected before the product removal operation is performed. Detected item sold out. At that time, the rotation of the endless member continued even when the product holding member that has not detected the state of the product has been detected. When the predetermined upper limit is reached, it is determined to be sold out. For example, when a product with a large depth is sold, the product does not need to be set with the product even if the product is held in an intermediate manner with one or two product holding members. Corresponding feed.

According to the present invention, it is possible to detect the sold-out of a product before the product is moved out, so that it can also correspond to electronic money that cannot be refunded, which can improve the convenience of users using electronic money for payment. In addition, even when the product is held in an intermediate manner with one or two or more product holding members, there is no need to set a feed amount corresponding to the product, and there is an advantage that a poor sale does not occur due to an incorrect setting. .

20‧‧‧ Goods removal device

22‧‧‧ hook

22e‧‧‧Spring

23‧‧‧Chain

24‧‧‧Sprocket

25‧‧‧Motor

26‧‧‧Feed detection switch

27‧‧‧Remove detection switch

28‧‧‧ sold out detection switch

A, B‧‧‧ Goods

FIG. 1 is a front view of an automatic vending machine having a product storage column according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of a vending machine

Fig. 3 is a right side view of the main part of the product carrying device

FIG. 4 is a left side view of the main part of the product carrying device

Figure 5 is a right side view of the hook and chain

FIG. 6 is a front cross-sectional view of a product carrying device

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the hook

Figure 8 is a side view of the feed amount detection switch

Fig. 9 is a block diagram showing a control system

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the control unit

FIG. 11 is a right side view showing the main part of the operation of the product carry-out device

FIG. 12 is a left side view showing the main part of the operation of the product carry-out device

FIG. 13 is a right side view showing the main part of the operation of the product carry-out device

FIG. 14 is a right side view showing the main part of the operation of the product carry-out device

FIG. 15 is a right side view showing the main part of the operation of the product carry-out device

FIG. 16 is a right side view showing the main part of the operation of the product carry-out device

FIG. 17 is a right side view showing a main part of a modification of the hook

1 to 16 show a product carrying device of an automatic vending machine that displays products having various shapes and sizes, such as boxed or bagged confectionery, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

This vending machine is provided with: a part of the front part forming a transparent vending machine body 10; a plurality of product carrying-out devices 20 arranged above the vending machine body 10; and a product that stores products carried out from each of the product carrying-out devices 20 A bucket 30; a bucket moving mechanism 40 that moves the product carrying bucket 30 in the up-down direction and the left-right direction; and a control unit 50 that controls the operation of each product carrying-out device 20.

The vending machine body 10 is opened at the front, and the front opening is formed to be opened and closed by an outer door 11. A transparent glass window 11a is provided on a portion other than the front lower portion and the side portion of the outer door 11 so that the inside of the vending machine body 10 can be viewed from the outside through the glass window 11a. In addition, a bill input port 12, a coin input port 13, an amount display unit 14, a coin return port 15, a product selection operation unit 16, a card reader 17, and a product takeout port 18 are provided on the front of the vending machine body 10. A product storage 19 is provided in the vending machine body 10, and each product carry-out device 20 is arranged in the product storage 19.

The product carrying-out device 20 is provided in the product storage 19 in the up-down direction and the width direction, and is configured to carry out, for example, a bag-shaped product A containing food such as snacks. The product carrying device 20 includes: a device body 21 extending in the front-rear direction; hooks 22 as a plurality of product holding members that suspend and hold the product A under the device body 21; and each of the hooks 22 is spaced apart from each other for installation as no reason A chain 23 of a chain member; a pair of sprocket 24 around the chain 23; a motor 25 as a driving means for rotating the sprocket 23; a feed detection switch 26 for detecting the feed of the chain 23; A carry-out detection switch 27 that detects the carrying out of the commodity A; and a sold-out detection switch 28 that detects the sold-out of the commodity A.

The device body 21 has a pair of side plates 21a facing each other with a gap in the width direction, and disposed between each side plate 21a: a chain 23 to which each hook 22 is mounted; each sprocket 24; a motor 25 and a sold-out detection Switch 28. Moreover, the lower end between each side plate 21a has an opening, and the lower end side of the hook 22 below the opening part is located outside.

The hook 22 is composed of a mounting portion 22a mounted on the chain 23 and a hook-shaped suspension portion 22b formed below the mounting portion 22a. The width of the suspension portion 22b is narrower than the width of the mounting portion 22a. In the mounting portion 22a, the first engaging hole 22c and the second engaging hole 22d for mounting on the chain 23 are provided at intervals in the front-rear direction.

The chain 23 is composed of a plurality of link pieces 23a and a plurality of link pins 23b that rotatably link the link pieces 23a to each other. One end side of each link pin 23b is formed to extend a predetermined length outward in the width direction of the link piece 23a. The first engaging hole 22c and the second engaging hole 22d of the hook 22 are engaged with one end side of a part of the connecting pin 23b, so that the hook 22 can be rotatably mounted on the chain 23. In this case, the first engaging hole 22c is formed in a circular hole shape having the same inner diameter as the connecting pin 23b so as to engage with the connecting pin 23b rotatably, and the second engaging hole 22d is formed as another connecting pin 23b. Long hole that can move radially. That is, the hook 22 is rotatably mounted on the chain 23 around the connecting pin 23b engaged with the first engaging hole 22c, and is locked by the connecting pin 23b engaged with the second engaging hole 22d. The rotation is restricted at one end or the other end of the second engaging hole 22d. In addition, the hook 22 is energized in a direction of rotation by a spring 22e provided between the hook 22b and the connecting pin 23b. As shown in FIG. 5, the hook 22 rotates against the spring 22e while the product A is hung, and the mounting portion 22a One end side is lowered, and the hook 22 is rotated by the spring 22e in a state where the product A is not hung, so that the one end side of the mounting portion 22a is raised.

Each sprocket 24 has six tooth portions 24a provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the sprocket 24, and is rotatably mounted on the front end side and the rear end side of the device main body 21 via a support shaft 24b, respectively. Each sprocket 24 rotates together with the chain 23 through each tooth portion 24a being engaged between each connecting pin 23b of the chain 23.

The motor 25 is connected to the rear sprocket 24 (the position of the motor 25 is not shown), and the chain 23 is driven by rotating the rear sprocket 24.

The feed amount detection switch 26 is a conventional micro switch arranged on the front and rear sprocket 24 sides, and the lever 26 b of the contact portion 26 a of the push switch is transmitted to rotate integrally with the sprocket 24 coaxially. The cam disc 26c moves up and down to open / close. The cam disc 26c has two cam protrusions 26d arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the cam disc 26c. When the cam disc 26c rotates with the sprocket 24, the cam protrusion 26d lowers the lever 26b as shown in FIG. 8 (a) Pressing causes the contact portion 26a to be pressed, and the feed amount detection switch 26 is turned on. As shown in FIG. 8 (b), when the cam protrusion 26d deviates from the lever 26b, the lever 26b returns to the original position, the contact portion 26a is released, and the feed amount detection switch 26 is turned off. In this embodiment, since the hooks 22 are arranged every three connecting pins 23b of the chain 23, the interval between each cam protrusion 26d is the amount of the tooth portions 24a of the three sprocket 24 (the amount of the three connecting pins 23b). The single opening / closing action of the feed amount detection switch 26 corresponds to the feed amount of one hook 22.

The carry-out detection switch 27 is formed by a conventional micro switch arranged on one side of the device body 21, and the lever 27b of the contact portion 27a of the switch is pressed to move up and down through the product A held by the hook 22 To turn on / off. In other words, when the hook 22 holding the commodity A rises at the reverse position of the chain 23, the lever 27b is pushed up by the commodity A to press the contact portion 27a, and the carry-out detection switch 27 turns on. When A is detached from the hook 22 and dropped, the lever 27b is lowered to release the pressing of the contact portion 27a, and the carry-out detection switch 27 is turned off.

The sold-out detection switch 28 is composed of a conventional micro-switch arranged in the device body 21, and the hook 22 in the state of hanging the product A is passed without contacting the contact portion 28a of the switch, and the product is not hung. The hook 22 in the state of A is in contact with the contact portion 28a, the contact portion 28a is pressed by the hook 22, and the sold-out detection switch 28 is turned on.

The product conveyance bucket 30 is arranged in a space between the rear side of the outer door 11 and each product carry-out device 20, and is moved in the up-down direction and the left-right direction by the conveyance bucket moving mechanism 40.

The bucket moving mechanism 40 is composed of a first driving section 41 that moves the product carrying bucket 30 in the left-right direction and a pair of left and right second driving sections 42 that moves the first driving section 41 in the vertical direction. Each second drive The sections 42 are disposed on both sides in the width direction in the vending machine body 10. The first driving unit 41 supports the product conveyance bucket 30 so as to be movable by a guide rail (not shown) extending in the left-right direction, and moves the product conveyance bucket 30 along the guide rail in the left-right direction by a motor (not shown). The second driving section 42 supports the first driving section 41 so as to be movable by a guide rail 42a extending in the up-down direction, and moves the product conveying bucket 30 in the up-down direction along the guide rail 42a by a motor (not shown).

The control section 50 is composed of a microcomputer, and is connected to the product selection operation section 16, the feed amount detection switch 26, the carry-out detection switch 27, and the sold-out detection switch 28. The control unit 50 memorizes whether the product is sold out and the upper limit number N1 of the number of times of detection of the hook feed amount. In this case, the upper limit number N1 may be set to, for example, the number of all the hooks 22 mounted on one chain 23, or may be set to a predetermined number of times (for example, 6 times) less than the number of all the hooks 22.

In the automatic vending machine configured as described above, when money is invested and an arbitrary product is selected by the product selection operation unit 16, the product conveyance bucket 30 is moved to the product carry-out device corresponding to the selected product by the conveyance bucket moving mechanism 40. 20. The product A is unloaded from the product unloading device 20 and is stored in the product transfer bucket 30. Next, the product conveyance hopper 30 containing the product A is moved to the product conveyance outlet 18 by the conveyance hopper moving mechanism 40, so that the product A in the product conveyance hopper 30 is carried out to the product take-out outlet 18.

Further, in the product carrying-out device 20, the hook 22 holding the product A is moved forward by the rotation of the chain 23, and at the same time, the product A is released from the hook 22 by the reversal of the chain 23 in the front sprocket 24, and falls, Product A is carried out.

Here, the operation of the control unit 50 when the product is carried out by the product carrying-out device 20 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 10. Here, the case where each hook 22 is hung one by one product A is shown.

First, when a product is selected by the product selection operation unit 16 (S1), it is determined whether or not the selected product is sold out (S2). If the product is sold out, the process returns to step S1. In the case where it is determined not to be sold out in step S2, the motor 25 is rotated (S3), and the chain 23 is rotated. Here, before the feed amount detection switch 26 is turned on / off, that is, before the feed amount of one hook 22 is detected (S4), as shown in FIG. 11, the hook 22 holding the commodity A on the chain 23 is held. As shown in FIG. 12, the lever 27b is pushed up due to the product A and the carry-out detection switch 27 is turned on (S5). As shown in FIG. 13, the product A is disengaged from the hook 22 and dropped. When the carry-out detection switch 27 is turned off (S6), the detection number N of the hook feed amount is set to the initial value "0" (S7). Here, if the feed amount of one hook 22 is detected (S8) and the sold-out detection switch 28 is not turned on (S9), the motor 25 is stopped (S10), and the process returns to step S1 to wait for a sale.

In addition, before the carry-out detection switch 27 is turned on in step S5 described above and a feed amount of one portion of the hook 22 is detected in step S4, for example, an abnormal situation in which the product A is not hung from the hook 22 or the like is removed, then The motor 25 is stopped (S11), and an unloading error state is established (S12). Then, after the carry-out detection switch 27 is turned on in the aforementioned step S5, before the carry-out detection switch 27 is turned off in step S6 and the feed amount of one portion of the hook 22 is detected in step S4, for example, a commodity occurs When A is caught without carrying out an abnormal situation such as dropping, the motor 25 is stopped (S11), and an abnormal carrying out error state is obtained (S12).

In addition, when the feed amount of one portion of the hook 22 is detected in the aforementioned step S8, as shown in FIG. 14, there is no product A in the next hook 22, and the sold-out detection switch 28 is turned on in step S9. The number of times of detection of the hook feed amount N is increased by "1" (S13). If the number of times of detection N does not reach the upper limit number N1 (S14), the rotation of the motor 25 is continued as it is, and the process returns to step S8. After that, the operations of steps S8, S9, S13, and S14 are repeated. In step S9, it is determined that the sold-out detection switch 28 is turned on each time, and the detection number N of the hook feed amount reaches the upper limit number N1 in step S14. The system stops the motor 25 (S15) and determines that it is sold out (S16).

In addition, as shown in FIG. 15, a product B having a large depth is hung with one hook 22 interposed therebetween with an interval corresponding to the size of the product B. As shown in FIG. 16, the product B is not hung. The hook 22 causes the contact portion 28a of the sold-out detection switch 28 to be pressed. In the case where the sold-out detection switch 28 is turned on in step S9, it is caused by the detection number N of the hook feed amount plus "1" (S13 ), If the detection number N does not reach the upper limit number N1 (S14), the motor 25 continues to rotate as it is and returns to step S8, but if the next hook 22 hangs the commodity B, then in step S9, the sold-out detection switch Since 28 is not turned on, the motor 25 is stopped without being determined to be sold out (S10), and the process returns to step S1 to enter a wait-for-sale state.

In this way, according to this embodiment, each hook 22 is mounted on the chain 23 in such a manner that the state when the product is suspended is different from that when the product is not hung, and a state to detect the state of the unsuspended product is set in front of the product removal position. The sold-out detection switch 28 of the hook 22 can detect the sold-out of the product before the product is moved out. As a result, since the product is selected by the product selection operation unit 16, even if it is intended to purchase the product from the card reader 17 in electronic money, the electronic money payment processing will not be performed when the product is sold out. Refund processing of electronic money can improve the convenience of users using electronic money to pay.

In addition, even in the case of the hook 22 that detects the state of the unsuspended product, the chain 23 continues to rotate, and under the hook 22 that does not detect the state of the suspended product, the number of detections has reached a predetermined upper limit. The situation is determined to be sold out. Therefore, for example, in the case of selling a product B with a large depth, it is not necessary to set the feed amount corresponding to the product even when the product B is hung in an intermediate manner with one or two or more hooks. , Which has the advantage of not causing poor sales due to incorrect settings.

In addition, each hook 22 can be freely mounted on the chain 23 in such a manner that the rotation position of the hanging product is different from that of the unsuspended product, so that the sold-out detection can be easily performed by the rotating state of the hook 22 .

In this case, since the hook 22 is energized in a predetermined rotation direction by the spring 22e, the hook 22 is rotated in a position where the product is not hung, so the hook 22 can be reliably rotated in a position where the product is not hung. .

In addition, since the hook 22 is rotatably supported by the connecting pin 23b of the chain 23, there is no need to separately provide a member for rotatably supporting the hook 22, and the structure can be simplified.

In addition, in the foregoing embodiment, the spring 22e is used to energize the hook 22 in a predetermined rotation direction. However, as shown in a modified example of FIG. 17, for example, a part of the hook 22 is shown as a chain line in the figure. The weight 22 is enlarged, and the hook 22 is formed so that the position of the center of gravity G is on the opposite side of the other link pin 23b compared to the link pin 23b as one of the rotation centers. The position of the state of the hanging product turns.

In the foregoing embodiment, the hook 22 is used to detect the state of the unsuspended product by the sold-out detection switch 28. However, the hook may be configured to detect the state of the suspended product.

Furthermore, in the aforementioned embodiment, the hook 22 is rotatably mounted on the chain 23, but it may be mounted so that it can move up and down freely.

In the foregoing embodiment, it is shown that the products A and B are suspended and held by the hooks 22 as the product holding members. However, the present invention can also be applied to, for example, making a chain extending in the up-down direction and attaching the chain to the chain. The product is held on a plate-shaped product holding member, and the product is released from the product holding member by reversing the product holding member at the lower end of the chain (a so-called chain hoist type product storage column).

Claims (8)

    A product carrying-out device for an automatic vending machine is provided with: a plurality of product holding members that hold the products; endless members that are spaced from each other and are installed at intervals; and a driving means for rotating the endless members, Each product holding member is moved in a predetermined direction by the rotation of the endless member, and the product is carried out by releasing the product from the product holding member at a predetermined product carry-out position. When the product is not in the same state as when the product is not maintained, it is installed on the endless member. A sold-out detection means is set in front of the aforementioned product removal position to detect the product holding member that maintains the state of the product or the product that does not hold the product. The product holding member of the state.         For example, if the product carrying-out device of the automatic vending machine of claim 1 is used, the condition of the product holding member holding the state of the product or the product holding member not holding the state of the product is detected by the sold-out detection means described above. When the endless member rotates and the number of detections by the sold-out detection means reaches a predetermined upper limit, it is judged as sold out.         For example, the item removal device of the vending machine of claim 1 or 2, wherein the aforementioned sold-out detection means is constituted by a switch that contacts the product holding member that holds the product or the product holding member that does not hold the product. .         In the item carrying-out device of the automatic vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, each of the aforementioned product holding members can be rotated freely so that the rotational position is different between a state where the product is held and a state where the product is not held. Ground is mounted on the endless member.         For example, the product carrying-out device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 4, wherein each of the aforementioned product holding members is configured to be held in a state where the product is held or is not holding the product by energizing the spring in a predetermined rotation direction. The position of the state turns.         The product carrying-out device of the automatic vending machine according to claim 3, wherein each of the product holding members is configured to rotate by its own weight in a position where the product is held or a position where the product is not held.         The product carrying-out device of the vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the aforementioned endless member is formed by a chain, and each of the product holding members is supported to be rotated by a connecting pin connecting the chain pieces to each other. freely.         The item carrying device of the vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein each of the aforementioned item holding members is formed to hold the item in a suspended manner.