WO2001029793A1

WO2001029793A1 - Vending machine having hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto

Info

Publication number: WO2001029793A1
Application number: PCT/KR2000/001185
Authority: WO
Inventors: Myeong Gi Peak
Original assignee: Myeong Gi Peak
Priority date: 1999-10-21
Filing date: 2000-10-20
Publication date: 2001-04-26
Also published as: AU7968600A; KR100342992B1; KR20010038000A

Abstract

Disclosed is a vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto, which may be equipped in rooms for various accommodations such as hotels, motels, inns, etc. The vending machine according to the invention includes a body having a cabinet configuration, a vending storage unit of a relatively low temperature arranged within the body for receiving beverages for sale and for delivering at least one of the beverages under predetermined delivery conditions, a cooling system having a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and an evaporator for supplying relatively cold air to the vending storage unit, cooling means arranged within the body for cooling the drinking water with cold refrigerant from the expansion valve of the cooling system under a predetermined temperature, heating means arranged adjacent the cooling means for heating the drinking water with hot refrigerant in the compressor of the cooling system over a predetermined temperature, and nozzles for dispensing the drinking water from the cooling means and the heating means. According to the present invention, the guests can be served with hot/cold drink water from a cooler unit and a heater unit of a filtering unit, while purchasing cool alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages from a vending storage unit as well.

Description

VENDING MACHINE HAVING HOT/COLD WATER DISPENSER INCORPORATED THERETO

Technical Field The present invention relates to a vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto, and more particularly to a vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto, which may be equipped in rooms of various accommodations for sleeping such as hotels, motels, inns, etc.

Background Art

In general, rooms for accommodations are equipped with refrigerators for providing guests with alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages for payment. The refrigerators are widely used since they can store alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages for a long period of time. These refrigerators equipped in the accommodating rooms store various kinds of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages so that guests can take out and drink different beverages at their own tastes and pay them when checking out.

However, most of these refrigerators do not provide a display function, and the guests can acknowledge stored items only after opening the doors of the refrigerators. Thus, these refrigerators can hardly attract the guests' visual interest, and sales of beverages may not be promoted. Also, being manufactured as household articles, these refrigerators are not suitable for storing beverages, which are served to guests in the accommodations.

Again, when the guests check out, employees of the accommodations in charge of a refrigerator should enter the guests' rooms to check the remaining beverages in the refrigerators, and then charge for the consumed beverages. When refrigerators contain various kinds of beverages with different prices, fee calculation may be complex. Sometimes fees may be erroneously calculated, and thus some amount of fees may not be charged, thereby causing a considerable amount of financial loss to the accommodators.

Therefore, a certain percentage of articles consumed via refrigerators is presently deducted as a loss. Some accommodators request guests to prepay a certain amount of cash for using a refrigerator when the guests check in, and then deduct a certain amount of money for consumed beverages from the prepayment and return the remainder when the guests check out.

Also, when the guests who drank beverages stored in the refrigerators do not remember exact amount of the consumed beverages, they should wait until the room servicemen check the remaining beverages. Then, the time loss is unavoidable for the guests. Sometimes, the guests may be ashamed when they remember wrong way and thus actual amount of moneys are different from their calculations. These drawbacks let many accommodators give up operating so-called a mini bar. Thus, guests staying at those accommodating facilities experience inconveniences of calling the room servicemen to order alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages when they want to drink these beverages. Actually, guests scarcely call the room servicemen to order alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages because they want to keep their privacy, and thus refrigerators are almost useless.

In turn, a terminal management system of automatically checking alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages consumed by guests is adopted by few accommodators. The terminal management system, however, costs high for its installation. Also, there may be problems that fees are calculated at the front, even though beverages are displaced at only a little distance due to clumsy handling by guests, thereby incurring disputes between guests and hotel employees. Furthermore, articles having non-standardized size cannot be stored.

Disclosure of the Invention

To solve the aforementioned problems, an object of the invention is to provide a vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto, which may be equipped in rooms for accommodations such as hotels, motels, inns, etc., so that guests can conveniently purchase alcoholic beverages such as beer together with side dishes or non-alcoholic beverages while being served with hot/cold drinking water in all seasons.

To achieve the above and other objects of the invention, there is provided a vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto for providing drinking water, comprising: a body having a cabinet configuration; a vending storage unit of a relatively low temperature arranged within the body for receiving beverages for sale and for delivering at least one of the beverages under predetermined delivery conditions; a cooling system having a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and an evaporator for supplying relatively cold air to the vending storage unit; cooling means arranged within the body for cooling the drinking water with cold refrigerant from the expansion valve of the cooling system under a predetermined temperature; heating means arranged adjacent to the cooling means for heating the drinking water with hot refrigerant in the compressor of the cooling system over a predetermined temperature; and nozzles for dispensing the drinking water from the cooling means and the heating means. It is preferable that the vending machine may further comprise filtering means within the body for filtering alien materials from the drinking water to provide the same for the cooling means and the heating means.

Here, the filtering means may preferably have a water tank arranged in the lower part; a motor pump for pumping the drinking water contained in the water tank; a pre-treating sediment filter for clearing alien materials and suspending materials from the drinking water being pumped from the motor pump; a preliminary carbon filter for clearing trihalometane containing chlorine contents and organic chemicals from the drinking water cleared by the pre-treating sediment filter; a membrane filter for clearing minute alien materials such as heavy metals and carcinogenic substances from the drinking water cleared by the preliminary carbon filter; and a post-treating carbon filter for clearing for clearing gas contents infiltrated into the drinking water dispensed from the membrane filter.

Also, it is preferable that the cooling means may have a cold water tank for receiving the filtered water from the carbon filter, the tank having a second heat exchange pipe in the bottom floor thereof for passing the cold refrigerant from the expansion valve to cool the received drinking water under a predetermined temperature; and an ultraviolet lamp arranged above the cold water tank for sterilizing the filtered water by the carbon filter.

The heating means may preferably have a hot water tank for receiving the filtered water from the carbon filter, the tank having first heat exchange pipe in the bottom floor thereof for passing the hot refrigerant from the compressor to heat the supplied drinking water over a predetermined temperature; and an ultraviolet lamp arranged above the hot water tank for sterilizing the filtered water by the carbon filter.

To achieve the objects of the present invention, there is also provided a vending machine with a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto having a water dispensing unit for providing drinking water, comprising: a body having a cabinet configuration; filtering means provided within the body for filtering alien materials in the drinking water and for dispensing the filtered drinking water; a vending storage unit of a relatively low temperature arranged within the body for receiving beverages for sale and for delivering at least one of the beverages under predetermined delivery conditions; a cooling system for supplying relatively cold air to the vending storage unit; and nozzles for dispensing the filtered drinking water by the filtering means.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a hot/cold water dispenser according to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a partial projective view of a container of the hot/cold water dispenser according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying out the Invention

As shown in FIG. 1, a vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto comprises a body 1 shaped as a rectangular cabinet having relatively low temperature spaces divided into upper and lower parts, each of the low temperature spaces has upper and lower entrance openings defined at one side thereof respectively A storage unit (not shown in the drawings) is provided withm the entrance openings to contain food and dnnk products under relatively low temperatures The upper entrance opening 5 is provided with a door 7, which is coupled to the edge of the upper entrance opening 5 with hinge pms (not shown) so as to be opened and shut. The lower entrance opening 5 is provided with a vending storage unit 9 for containing alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for sale, and with an vending door 1 1 which is coupled to the edge of the lower entrance opening 5 with hinge pins (not shown in the drawings) so as to be opened and shut At the right region adjacent the storage unit (not shown in the drawings), an exchange unit 13 is arranged for providing exchange conditions for de venng alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for sale

The vending door 1 1 is coupled with a transparent window 15 so that a certain region of the low temperature space, in which the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are stored, can be visually exposed to the outside Selection buttons 17 are provided above the transparent window 15 so that users can select desired alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverages for sale A delivery port 19 for delivering the selected alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages is provided under the transparent window 15 The delivery port 19 is provided with a slide door (not shown in the drawings), which can be automatically opened and closed by a control unit Also, a filtering unit 21 for filtering alien materials from drinking water to provide filtered water for the users is arranged in the body 1 adjacent to the vending door 1 1 The filtenng unit 21 is connected to a drinking water supply and to be supplied with water from an outer water pipe or a portable water tank The filtering unit 21 is provided with nozzles 23 for dispensing the drinking water into cups of the users The nozzles 23 are arranged within a drmkmg water dispensing space 25, which is defined in the front upper part of the filtering unit 21. A door 27 is provided around the opening of the drinking water dispensing space 25 to prevent alien materials from entering into the space 25 when the space 25 is not used for a long time. Also, the outlet nozzles 23 consist of a pair of nozzles so as to provide hot and cold drinking water according to desired water temperatures divided by a predetermined range.

The vending door 11 has a door sensor (not shown in the drawings) in the contacting parts for detecting opening/closing of the vending door 1 1 and generating an alert signal.

A display 29 is provided in the region adjacent to the exchange unit 13. The display 29 displays types of the exchange conditions and deliverable states to the users. Also, the display 29 counts number of delivered beverages and displays the counted number. In performing the aforementioned operations, the display 29 is controlled by a control unit (refer to FIG. 2) arranged within the body 1. In other words, at least one of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for sale stored within the body 1 is delivered in sequence according to the predetermined delivery conditions.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto according to the present invention.

The vending storage unit 9 has a rack unit 31 for receiving at least one of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in the descending direction and a control unit 33 for transmitting a delivering signal to the rack unit 31 according to the predetermined delivery conditions. The rack unit 31 delivers at least one of the alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages according to the delivering signal from the control unit 33. In this case, the control unit 33 controls the whole system. A delivery condition setting unit 35 is provided to randomly create delivery conditions of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Here, a rack sensor 37 is provided in the rack unit 31 to detect receipt and discharge of cans. The rack sensor 37 has a sellout sensor 39 and a discharge sensor 41. Again, the control unit 33 is connected to a driving unit 43 for opening and closing the delivery port 19. The driving unit 43 comprises a motor, an opening limit sensor, a closing limit sensor and a slide door, which are not shown for the sake of brevity. In turn, the exchange unit 13 has a cash reader 45 and a card reader 47. The cash reader 45 reads coins or paper moneys corresponding to the value of a selected beverage as an exchange condition for delivering the selected beverage, and transmits a delivery condition to the control unit 33. The card reader 47 reads cards such as magnetic card, IC card and laser card to check what amount of money is charged, and creates a delivery condition of the user corresponding to a delivery condition of the delivery condition setting unit 35 when the amount of charged money in the inserted card exceeds the value of a selected beverage. A certain amount of money can be inputted or charged into one of the cards such as magnetic card, IC card and laser card with the preference of the user, and a selected amount of money corresponding to the value of the delivered beverage can be deducted from the card. Alternatively, the user can demand exact calculation and refund of the card to an employee.

A cooling system 49 is provided to supply cold air to the vending storage unit 9 and to the storage unit. The cooling system 49 comprises an evaporator 51 , which is an inside heat exchanger for converting relatively hot air to cold air, a compressor 53 for compressing and carrying cold refrigerant to the evaporator 51 so that the heat can be exchanged to hot gas refrigerant, a condenser 55, which is an outside heat exchanger for heat-exchanging the hot gas refrigerant to cold refrigerant under high pressure, an expansion valve 56 for lowering the pressure of the cold refrigerant. Each of the evaporator 51 and the condenser 55 has a blower fan 57, respectively, for converting temperature of the refrigerant. A refrigerant pipe (not shown in the drawings) is arranged between the aforementioned components to introduce flow of the refrigerant. Either the storage unit or the vending storage unit 9 is provided inside of a temperature adjustment sensor 59 for controlling temperature of the vending storage unit 9. In this case, the hot refrigerant under high pressure compressed by the compressor 53 is introduced into first heat exchange pipe 78 arranged on the bottom floor of a hot water tank 77 of the filtering unit 21 to heat the filtered drinking water contained therein. The cold refrigerant under low pressure from the expansion valve 56 is introduced into a second heat exchange pipe 80 arranged on the bottom floor of a cold water tank 79, thereby cooling the filtered drinking water contained therein. As shown in FIG. 3, The filtering unit 21 has a motor pump 63 for pumping drink water contained in the water tank placed in the lower part thereof, a pre-treatmg sediment filter 65 for clearing relatively large particles of alien materials or suspending materials over 5 microns from the drinking water pumped from the motor pump 63, a preliminary carbon filter 67 for performing absorption to clear tπhalometane containing chlorine contents and organic chemicals from the drinking water cleared by the pre- treating sediment filter 65, a membrane filter 69 for clearing minute alien materials such as various heavy metals and carcinogenic substances from the drinking water cleared by the preliminary carbon filter 67, and a post-treating carbon filter 71 for clearing gas contents infiltrated in the drinking water being dispensed from the membrane filter 69 to revive peculiar taste of natural water. The carbon filter 71 is connected to an ultraviolet lamp 73 for sterilizing the purified drinking water to disinfect any microscopic organisms. Under the ultraviolet lamp 73, a heat exchanging unit 75 is arranged for cooling the drinking water. Here, the heat exchanging unit 75 uses cold air from the cooling system 49 Also, a solenoid valve 76 is arranged between the motor pump 63 and the water tank 61, which is controlled by the control unit 33 to selectively receive the drinking water from an outer supply.

As shown in FIG. 4, the heat exchanging unit 75 has a cooler unit 81 and a heater unit 83. The cooler unit 81 has a cold water tank 79 for receiving the drinking water once contained in the water tank 61 and purified from germs and minute alien materials by means of the sediment filter 65, the preliminary carbon filter 67, the membrane filter 69 and the carbon filter 71, and a second heat exchange pipe 80 arranged on the bottom floor of the cold water tank 79 for cooling the drinking water in the cold water tank 79 under a certain temperature by cold refrigerant generated from the expansion valve 56 of the cooling system 49. The heater unit 83 has a hot water tank 77 for receiving the drinking water, which was once contained in the water tank 61 and purified from germs and minute alien materials by means of the sediment filter 65, and first heat exchange pipe 78 arranged on the bottom floor of the hot water tank 77 for cooling the drinking water in the cold water tank 77 over a certain temperature by refrigerant generated from the compressor 53 of the cooling system 49. Each of the heater unit 83 and the cooler unit 81 is provided in the upper part thereof with an ultraviolet lamp 73 for sterilizing any microscopic organisms, which may exist in the hot and cold water tanks 77, 79.

The vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto, which serves as a water purifier according to the present invention can be equipped in rooms for accommodations. Guests can insert cashes such as coins or paper moneys, or a card such as a magnetic card, an IC card or a laser card charged with a certain amount of money into the exchange unit 13 by themselves to take out beverages stored in the rack unit 31 of the vending storage unit 9 without calling employees from the front. In this case, the card can be purchased at the front. For example, when guests insert cashes such as coins or paper moneys into the cash reader 45, the control unit 33 calculates the inserted cashes to determine whether or not they meet the delivering conditions and then causes the selection buttons 17 to light approval lamps of deliverable beverages Then, the guests input delivery order to the control unit 33 of the vending storage unit 9, considering the selection buttons 17, which displays approval and preferred beverages The control unit 33 recognizes the delivery order and controls the rack unit 31 storing beverage cans to deliver selected beverage cans from the rack

Again, when the guests insert magnetic cards charged with a certain amount of money into the card reader 47, the card reader 47 reads the card and transmits the value to the control unit 33 The control unit 33 promptly calculates the amount of money remaining in the card and then causes the selection buttons 33 to light approval lamps When the guests push selected buttons, the control unit 33 controls the rack unit 31 to deliver cans from the selected racks

Here, when the IC card, laser card or the magnetic card has a certain amount of remains, the guests can be refunded at the front

Again, the guests can be served with hot/cold drinking water via the cooler unit 81 and the heater unit 83 of the heat exchanging unit 75, which is basically served when the guests stay m rooms

In turn, the control unit 33 checks the existence of beverage cans by the sellout sensor 39, and causes the selection buttons 17 to show a sellout indication and restricts selection input onto the selection buttons 17 when the rack unit 31 has no beverage cans

Also, the control unit 33 checks opening/closing of the vending door 11 and generates an anti-theft siren or alarm when the door 1 1 is opened without any approval

According to the vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto of the invention, the guests can be served with hot/cold drink water from a cooler unit and a heater unit of a filtering unit, while purchasing cool alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages from a vending storage unit as well. The beverages stored in the vending storage unit are visually exposed to the guests, thereby maximizing the purchasing desire of the guests. Also, it is not required to check articles at the time of checkout, thereby enabling the managers to reduce unnecessary employees and save cost. Furthermore, management conditions can be improved by enhancing the purchasing desire of the guests.

Again, the vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto of the invention performs a calculating functions, thereby easing management and accounting.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the best modes thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

What Is Claimed Is:

1. A vending machine having a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto for providing dnnking water, the vending machine comprising- a body having a cabinet configuration; a vending storage unit of a relatively low temperature arranged within the body for receiving beverages for sale and for dehvenng at least one of the beverages under predetermined delivery conditions; a cooling system having a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and an evaporator for supplying relatively cold air to the vending storage unit; cooling means arranged within the body for cooling the drinking water with cold refrigerant from the expansion valve of the cooling system under a predetermined temperature; heating means arranged adjacent the cooling means for heating the drinking water with hot refrigerant in the compressor of the cooling system over a predetermined temperature; and nozzles for dispensing the drinking water from the cooling means and the heating means

2 The vending machine according to claim 1 , further comprising filtering means within the body for filtering alien materials from the drinking water to provide the same to the cooling means and to the heating means

3 The vending machine according to claim 2, wherein the filtenng means comprises a water tank arranged in the lower part, a motor pump for pumping the drinking water contained in the water tank; a pre-treating sediment filter for clearing alien materials and suspending materials from the drinking water being pumped from the motor pump; a preliminary carbon filter for clearing trihalometane containing chlorine contents and organic chemicals from the drinking water cleared by the pre-treating sediment filter; a membrane filter for clearing minute alien materials such as heavy metals and carcinogenic substances from the drinking water cleared by the preliminary carbon filter; and a post-treating carbon filter for clearing for clearing gas contents infiltrated into the drinking water dispensed from the membrane filter.

4. The vending machine according to claim 3, wherein the cooling means comprises: a cold water tank for receiving the filtered water from the carbon filter, the tank having a second heat exchange pipe in the bottom floor thereof for passing the cold refrigerant from the expansion valve to cool the received drinking water under a predetermined temperature; and an ultraviolet lamp arranged above the cold water tank for sterilizing the filtered water by the carbon filter.

5. The vending machine according to claim 3, wherein the heating means comprises: a hot water tank for receiving the filtered water from the carbon filter, the tank having first heat exchange pipe in the bottom floor thereof for passing the hot refrigerant from the compressor to heat the supplied drinking water over a predetermined temperature; and an ultraviolet lamp arranged above the hot water tank for sterilizing the filtered water by the carbon filter.

6. A vending machine with a hot/cold water dispenser incorporated thereto having a water dispensing unit for providing drinking water, the vending machine comprising: a body having a cabinet configuration; filtering means provided within the body for filtering alien materials in the drinking water and for dispensing the filtered drinking water; a vending storage unit of a relatively low temperature arranged within the body for receiving beverages for sale and for delivering at least one of the beverages under predetermined delivery conditions; a cooling system for supplying relatively cold air to the vending storage unit; and nozzles for dispensing the filtered drinking water by the filtering means.