WO2002009049A1

WO2002009049A1 - Products vending machine

Info

Publication number: WO2002009049A1
Application number: PCT/ES2001/000272
Authority: WO
Inventors: Teodor Akinfiev; Manuel Angel ARMADA RODRÍGUEZ; Pablo GONZÁLEZ DE SANTOS; Salvador Ros Torrecillas; Andrés Mauricio UQUILLAS LOAIZA
Original assignee: Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Científicas
Priority date: 2000-07-07
Filing date: 2001-07-06
Publication date: 2002-01-31
Also published as: AU2001269145A1

Abstract

Each storage chamber of the products vending machine has trays that can carry one product item and vertical guides. Trays located inside the same storage chamber have the same size. The trays are placed in such a way that they can move along the vertical guides and are joined together by a flexible connection. The distance between two adjacent trays is constant when the flexible connection is extended. The vertical guides are placed in such a way that their distance upward from the level of operation is bigger than the distance between the first and last trays when the flexible connections are in extended position and their distance downward from the level of operation is bigger than the width of all trays placed in a storage chamber.

Description

PRODUCT EXPENDING MACHINE

2. Technical Sector. This invention is related to the field of automation, and more specifically to the processes of supply, dispatch, vending and / or sale of products.

3. State of the Art. In known technical solutions [1-2] the following is commonly used.

Product vending apparatus composed of the body of the apparatus (1), within which they are, the product warehouse (2), disposed of one or more storage chambers (3) with the possibility of moving the product vertically, the system of transport capable of extracting the product (4) from the storage chambers (3) arranged at a constant level of operation to the dispatch box (5)

In this solution, the product parts are in contact with each other, with the risk of deforming or joining together, especially if stored at low temperatures. This is especially important in the case of handling food products, where it is necessary to store them for long periods.

In other solutions the product is in storage chambers maintaining a distance between one and the other, but in this case it is necessary to have an additional free space down the same dimension as the storage chamber, which allows moving this camera vertically to bring the product to the level of operation and be able to extract it. The drawback of this solution is the increase in the size of the machine. 1. Apparatus for heating and dispensing food. Patent Number US 5,522,310 Publication Date 4-06-1996 Inventor (s) Gary W. Black, David Garvey Int. CL G07F 11/00

2. Automatic Food Dispenser Patent Number US 5,144,879 Publication Date 8-08-1992 Inventor (s) Marión Alesi

Int. CL A47J 37/00, H05B 6/68, H05B 6/78

4. Description of the invention.

4.1. Brief description of the invention. Each storage chamber of the product vending device contains trays with the possibility of carrying a piece of product, vertical guides, the trays inside the same storage chamber have the same dimensions, the trays are placed with the possibility of movement along of the vertical guides, the trays are joined by a flexible connection, the distance between two adjacent trays is constant when the flexible connection is extended, the vertical guides are positioned so that their distance up from the operating level is greater than the distance between the first and the last tray when the flexible connections are in their extended position and their distance down from the operating level is greater than the thicknesses of all the trays arranged in a storage chamber.

4.2. Detailed description of the invention.

The objective of the invention is the simplification and technical improvement of product vending machines, reducing their size, increasing the quality and reliability of the product, guaranteeing the safety of the product during storage. To achieve these objectives, each storage chamber (3) of the machine contains trays (6) with the possibility of carrying a piece of product, vertical guides (7), the trays within the same storage chamber have the same dimensions, the trays (6) are placed with the possibility of movement along the vertical guides (7), the trays are joined by a flexible connection (8), the distance between two adjacent trays (6) is constant when the flexible connection (8) is extended, the vertical guides (7) are positioned so that their distance up from the operating level is greater than the distance between the first and last tray when the flexible connections (8) are in their extended position and its distance down from the level of operation is greater than the thicknesses of all the trays (6) arranged in a storage chamber (3).

This system of joining the trays (6) by means of flexible connections (8) allows to reduce the size of the storage chamber (3), because once the product has been removed from the tray it is possible to store the empty trays in a considerably smaller space because the distance between the trays is much smaller.

Additionally, the reliability and safety of the product are increased because the products are stored individually, avoiding contact between them and the pressure involved in storing them one on the other.

The body of the dispensing device is provided with a base box that determines its dimensions and a front door that allows maintenance and recharging of the product. Inside the device the following parts are distinguished:

The product store that contains one or more (for example three) storage chambers where the product is arranged in individual trays, allowing the product to be stored without being in contact with each other. The trays are connected to each other by means of flexible connections, for example cables. The last tray containing product, from top to bottom, is at a height which corresponds to the level of operation, which reaches the transport system to extract the product.

Each of the storage chambers is provided with an actuator to give vertical mobility to the set of trays. This vertical mobility can be achieved by a combination of the action of gravity and the action of the actuator. The vertical movement of the trays is guaranteed by means of guides that can be two or more cylindrical tubes in each chamber. The length of the linear guides upwards of the operating level must be greater than the sum of the distances between all the trays arranged inside the storage chamber when the flexible connection between the trays is extended, that is, when the storage chamber is completely full of product, while the length of the linear guides down the operating level should be greater than the sum of the thicknesses of all trays, that is, when the storage chamber is completely empty. This makes the height of the storage chamber down from the operating level less than the height of the storage chamber up from the operating level. This notably helps to reduce the size of the product store and thereby reduce the size of the device.

The transport system is provided with sufficient degrees of freedom, 3 for example, to be able to take the product from the product warehouse to the height and depth of the operating level to the dispatch box, placed on the front of the device. a suitable height for the user to remove the product. The transport system is additionally provided with a terminal element (for example a clamp), which helps to hold the product while it is being transported (for example with an additional degree of freedom).

The dispatch box has two doors, one that allows user access to extract the product and an additional one that locks when the first one is opened to prevent objects from entering the interior of the device. OPERATING PROCESS

The transport system moves until its terminal element is entered into the warehouse and placed in the position where the product is located, the terminal element takes the product, extracts it from the storage chamber and takes it to the dispatch box. The fastening of the product through the terminal element ensures that the product does not suffer any alteration during its journey.

Once the product has been removed, the storage chamber tray located at the operating level is empty, the actuator corresponding to the storage chamber is activated and its action allows the set of trays connected to each other to move vertically downwards with the Gravity action aid, until the next tray containing product is placed on the operating level. Vertical linear guides guarantee the desired direction of this displacement. The empty trays are stacked in the lower part of the storage chamber, below the level of operation, these trays remain connected to each other, but the distance between them is now shorter as there is no product contained in them.

The product recharge process in the dispensing device is carried out by opening the front door of the device body. The actuator arranged for each storage chamber is operated by carrying the empty trays upwards of the operating level, until the flexible connections are in their extended position and the distance between the trays of sufficient capacity to fill them with product manually.

It is possible that: the flexible connection is a type of chain and that the trays are joined by no less than two chains; the chains that join two adjacent trays contain two links of identical length joined by a cylindrical joint with a degree of rotational freedom, each link is linked to its corresponding tray by means of a cylindrical joint with a degree of rotational freedom, and the three axes corresponding to each of these joints are parallel to each other and parallel to the horizontal plane; each pair of adjacent links in the chains have a lock that limits its opening angle to a value less than its self-locking angle; the attachment points of the links of the chains of union of a tray with the two adjacent trays do not coincide in the same vertical; the vertical guides are completely cylindrical and are mounted with the possibility of rotating on the cylinder axis and are provided with one or more actuators; the vertical guides have a spiral protrusion, the trays have the corresponding response part and this spiral protrusion is arranged only from the operating level upwards with a length greater than the distance between the first and the last tray when their flexible connections are extended .

5. Detailed description of the drawings (if applicable).

1 Device body

2 Product warehouse

3 Storage chamber

4 Product 5 Dispatch Box

6 Trays

7 Vertical guides

8 Flexible connection.

6. Example of embodiment of the invention.

Example 1. A pre-cooked food dispenser device that is stored frozen provided with the following:

A selector will allow the user to choose the type of food desired.

A product store that must keep the product, in this case frozen food, at very low temperatures to ensure its preservation. The warehouse must guarantee a tight seal so as not to allow heat losses that may alter the food. In the front part of the warehouse there are access gates, whereby the terminal element of the transport system enters to extract the product and guarantees a tight seal once the terminal element leaves the warehouse containing the product. It is possible to achieve the vertical movement of the trays for example through the interaction of an actuator and gravity. The actuator moves for example a pulley located in the upper part of the storage chamber which is provided with a cable attached to the upper tray (the first tray). Thus, when the actuator rotates so as to unwind the cable, the tray assembly will be moved downwards and, conversely, when the actuator rotates by winding the cable, the tray assembly will move vertically upwards.

In addition, inside the warehouse, the storage chambers are arranged so that their operation is optimal even at very low temperatures. It is important to prevent the trays and the two vertical linear guides from sticking together. This is achieved, for example, by providing a rotational movement to the cylindrical linear guides by means of an additional actuator in each storage chamber. The two linear guides do not necessarily rotate at the same speed, but they are operated by means of a transmission system that connects them to the actuator.

With the product removed from the warehouse, the two actuators of the corresponding storage chamber are operated to move the trays down until the next tray containing product is positioned at the operating level.

It is possible that the flexible connections joining the trays are for example chain type, located symmetrically around the tray. Between two adjacent trays these chains will have two links of equal length joined by cylindrical joints as well as the union of each link with their respective tray. The axes of these joints will be parallel to each other and parallel to the horizontal plane. The maximum opening between the links is limited to a certain point by means of a fastener for example, to avoid a possible self-locking position of the chain and to guarantee a constant distance to which the chains can be extended. The chains that join a tray with the two adjacent trays do not fall on the same vertical line to prevent them from being locked or locked during operation.

For product refilling it is possible to reposition the trays above the operating level by winding the cable that connects to the upper tray by operating the actuator in the proper direction.

It is possible to provide a microwave oven that defrosts and heats food to the temperature of consumption.

It is possible to provide a dispatch box with a front door that opens allowing the customer to remove food ready for consumption and a back door through which the transport system enters the product. This rear door is automatically locked when the customer opens the front door, to prevent the entry of unwanted objects into the machine.

It is possible to provide a discard tank where food is not suitable for consumption because it has suffered some alteration inside the device.

A transport system that must extract the product from the warehouse, take it to the microwave oven, remove it from the oven and then take it to the dispatch box. If the route between the product leaving the warehouse and arriving at the dispatch box is carried out in a time greater than a stipulated minimum time, the product must be discarded due to the risk of not being in adequate conditions of consumption. In this case the product is taken to a discard tank.

Example 2. A pre-cooked food dispenser device that is stored frozen, equal to the previous example, except for the way to achieve the vertical movement of the trays inside the storage chamber.

In this case it is possible that the linear guides have a spiral protuberance, for example a conventional threading, from the operating level upwards, while the trays will have as many holes as linear guides, with the corresponding response part to the spiral protuberance, that is to say a thread, to allow the passage of the vertical linear guides. In this example it is possible to achieve the effect of non-adhesion between the trays and the linear guides and the vertical movement of the trays by means of a single actuator that moves the linear guides at the same speed.

To recharge the product, it is possible to reposition all the trays upwards from the operating level by operating the actuator so that the trays are coupled in the linear guides, maintaining the same distance between them so that the chains that connect adjacent trays are extended up to the maximum position allowed by the fixer. It is possible to form the start of the spiral protrusion of the linear guides at the level of the conical level of operation so as to facilitate the coupling of the trays in the guides. It is important that the upper tray (the first tray) never exceeds the operating level below to prevent the tray assembly from disconnecting from the top of the linear guides.

Claims

7. Claims.

1.- Product vending apparatus composed of the body of the apparatus, within which they are, the product store, in turn composed of one or more storage chambers with the possibility of moving the products vertically, the transport system capable of Extracting the product from the storage chambers arranged at a constant level of operation to the dispatch box, this dispensing device is distinguished by the fact that each storage chamber contains trays with the possibility of carrying a piece of product, vertical guides, the trays within the same storage chamber have the same dimensions, the trays are placed with the possibility of movement along the vertical guides, the trays are joined by a flexible connection, the distance between two adjacent trays is constant when the flexible connection is extended, the vertical guides are positioned so that their distance up from the level of operation is greater than the distance between the first and last tray when the flexible connections are in their extended position and their distance down from the level of operation is greater than the thicknesses of all trays arranged in a storage chamber.

2.- A device like the one described in number 1 that is distinguished by the fact that the flexible connection is a type of chain and each tray is joined by no less than two chains.

3.- A device like the one described in numbers 1 and 2 that is distinguished by the fact that the chains that join two adjacent trays contain two links of identical length joined by a cylindrical joint with a degree of rotational freedom, each link is joined with its corresponding tray by means of a cylindrical joint with a degree of rotational freedom, and the three axes corresponding to each of these joints are parallel to each other and parallel to the horizontal plane.

4.- A device like the one described in numbers 1-3 that is distinguished by the fact that each pair of adjacent links in the chains have an insurance that limits its opening angle to a value smaller than its self-locking angle.

5.- A device like the one described in numbers 1-4 that is distinguished by the fact that the attachment points of the links of the chains of union of a tray with the two adjacent trays do not coincide in the same vertical.

6.- A device like the one described in numbers 1-5 that is distinguished by the fact that the vertical guides are completely cylindrical and are mounted with the possibility of rotating on the cylinder axis and are provided with one or more actuators.

7.- A device like the one described in number 6 that is distinguished by the fact that the vertical guides have a spiral protrusion, the trays have the corresponding response part and this spiral protrusion is arranged only from the upward level of operation with a length greater than the distance between the first and the last tray when its flexible connections are extended.