JPH0460793A - Goods housing device for automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce upper invalid space and to simplify constitution since only one insertion port to a goods housing rack is required by performing the transportation of goods from a stocker to the goods housing rack by automatically judging the specification of the goods. CONSTITUTION:A stocker 4 is formed so as to be drawn out forward at the lower part of the housing 2 of an automatic vending machine 1. A carrier device 16 moving upward/downward is provided at the rear part of the stocker 4. Serpentine type goods carrier paths 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D on which the goods A on a cylinder are laminated and housed in line so as to be rolled movably are formed at the goods housing rack 5 provided at the upper part of the housing 2. On the upper terminals of the goods paths 6B, 6C, and 6D, opening/closing mechanisms 28B, 28C, and 28D are provided. Covers 28Ba, 28Ca, and 28Da form the rolling path of the goods in closed states, and the goods placed on a goods throw-in receiver 24b is rolled movably and arrives at the path 6A.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (b) Industrial application fields The present invention relates to a product storage device for a vending machine.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, a product storage shelf for storing transferable products is provided in the storage of the vending machine main body, and a product takeout port is provided on the front of the main body to allow the products in the product storage shelf to be removed based on sales instructions. In vending machines designed to deliver products to customers, a serpentine-type product storage shelf is generally used as a product storage shelf, which has multiple product aisles that bend and extend vertically to stack and store transferable products in a line. The stored products are loaded into the slot at the top of the product aisle and sent out one by one by the delivery device installed at the exit at the bottom of the product aisle, and then sent to the product chute at the bottom of the front of the main unit. It is configured to guide and send out to the exit, for example,
This is shown in Publication No. 64.

(c) Problems to be solved by the invention The product storage device for a vending machine in the prior art is as follows:
In order to increase the number of products stored, the product storage shelves are extended as far down as possible.

Therefore, in order to send the product sent out from the lower end of this product storage shelf to the product takeout port, the product takeout port must be located below the product storage shelf, and the product takeout port is provided at the front of the main unit. is at a very low position. For this reason,
Each time a customer takes out a product from the product outlet, the customer must bend at the waist and assume a cramped posture, and it is also difficult to confirm whether or not the product has been delivered into the product outlet.

In addition, in the case of this type of product storage shelf, products are refilled into each product aisle through the slot opened at the top, so
As the position of the input port becomes higher, it is impossible to insert products while looking directly into the product input port. For this reason, it takes a lot of time to put in the products, and there are problems such as putting the wrong product in a certain product aisle by mistake or putting the product in a state where it cannot be transferred.

Furthermore, since the number of products stored in each product aisle is almost the same, popular products sell out quickly, while unpopular products remain unsold. To improve this, it would be possible to increase the number of popular products stored and reduce the number of unpopular products stored, but with conventional equipment, the number of stored products does not change as a whole, and the number of stored products is adjusted according to the product type. Therefore, it was impossible to freely adjust the number of products stored.

In view of the above points, the present invention allows the product outlet to be provided relatively high on the front of the main body, and allows the administrator to accurately and easily replenish products.
To provide a product storage device for a vending machine that can freely adjust the number of stored products according to type.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a stocker for storing a plurality of types of products at once at the bottom of the main body, and allows the types of products to be determined by various methods, and takes out each product one by one from the stocker. After determining the type, the product is transported to the upper product storage shelf by a transport device, while the upper product storage shelves share a common input port, and a ramp runs from the input port to the entrance of each product aisle on the product storage shelf. An opening/closing mechanism is provided at the entrance of each product aisle, except for the entrance of the product aisle provided at the final tied end, and the opening/closing mechanism is used as part of the ramp and can be opened and closed depending on the product type to remove it from the stocker. The products are stored in a predetermined product aisle.

(E) Effect With the above configuration, the products stored in the stocker at the bottom of the main body are classified by type, transported by the transport device, and stored in the product passageway at the top. This allows the product outlet to be provided relatively high on the front surface of the main body. Further, when a product is taken out from the stocker, if the corresponding product aisle is full, the product is returned to the stocker. Therefore, the stocker can store various products at once by freely adjusting the ratio of the number of products stored according to the type. Additionally, replenishing stockers with products can be done more easily than in the past. Furthermore, the products transported to the input slot of the product storage shelf are
The product rolls down the ramp and is automatically stored in the designated product aisle.

(f) Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a conceptual side cross-sectional view of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. On the front of the vending machine main body 1, there is a front door 3 that opens and closes a storage compartment 2. Possibly supported.

A stocker 4 is provided at the lower part of the storage 2 of the vending machine main body 1 so as to be able to be pulled out forward.

Note that the stocker 4 stores products to be stored and sold, with the ratio of the number of products stored depending on the type being freely adjusted. In this example, there are four types of products A-tA21A31A.
4 will be described as a vending machine that sells product aisles 6A and 6B provided in the upper product storage shelf 5.

By adding 6G and 6D in more rows in the front-rear direction and in more rows in the left-right direction of the main body 1, even more types of products can be stored and sold.

The stocker 4 is formed into a box shape with an open top, and stores cylindrical transferable products A such as canned juice and canned beer.
It is designed so that a large number of them can be stacked and stored in a horizontal position. The bottom surface on which the product A is placed has a shelf 7 that slopes low toward the rear, and the shelf 7 has a rear end that extends further rearward than the rear plate 8 and is curved upward. A take-out part 9 is provided to which a cylindrical product A can be locked. Also,
An opening 10 through which one product A can pass is provided between the lower end of the rear plate 8 and the shelf 7, and the product A stored in the stocker 4 rolls on the shelf 7 and passes through the opening 10. Part 10 to take-out part 9
It is now possible to move to.

As shown in the rear view of the stocker 4 in FIG. 2 and the bottom view in FIG. A recess 11 is formed, and a clamping piece 20 of a conveying device 16, which will be described later, can enter into the recess 11.

On the other hand, rail members 12 and 12 are provided on both sides of the stocker 4 and extend in the front-rear direction, respectively, and rail support members 13 and 12 are provided on both sides of the storage 2 as shown in FIGS. By inserting and supporting the rail member 12.12 at .13, the stocker 4 can be pulled out to a predetermined position in front by holding the front handle 14. That is, open the front door 3 of the vending machine main body 1,
By holding the handle 14 provided on the front surface of the stocker 4 and pulling it forward, the upper opening of the stocker 4 can be opened sufficiently forward and upward. Thereby, when putting the product A into the stocker 4, it is possible to easily and quickly store a plurality of products at the same time using both hands into the opening at the top of the stocker, which opens wide by pulling it out forward.

Further, the stocker 4 is set at a predetermined storage position by pressing the front surface and moving it rearward.

As shown in FIG. 1, a sensor 15 is provided at the lower end of the rear plate 8 of the stocker 4 to detect the presence or absence of products and the type thereof. That is, in the present invention, the product A is a rolling product such as a can or bottle, and a bar code b representing the type is attached to the entire circumference of the product A as shown in FIG. 15 and sends it to a control circuit that will be described later.

In this case, the arrangement position of the sensor 15 is not limited to the lower end of the rear plate 8, and may be placed anywhere as long as it can monitor the product A, such as the take-out/input device 18. Further, the bar code b representing the type of product A is not limited to one end of the product A, as shown in FIG. 5, but may be attached to both ends. Alternatively, it may be attached to the end surface of the product A. Furthermore, the type of product A can be determined not only by barcode, but also by color, shape, and even weight, and various methods can be adopted.

At the rear of the stocker 4, a conveying device 16 that moves in the vertical direction is disposed. This conveyance device 16 straddles between a pair of left and right rail members 17 that are vertically installed.
is provided to be movable up and down, and when the transport motor 41 (see FIG. 9) provided in the take-out/input device 18 is driven in the normal direction, the take-out/input device 18 moves upward, and when driven in the reverse direction, the take-out/input device 18 is moved downward. It is configured to move to.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the take-out and loading device [18] is provided with an arm portion 19 that extends and contracts forward, and a pair of clamping pieces 20 and 20 provided at the tip of this arm portion 19, and Loading device [1
The arm portion 19 is extended forward by the drive of the take-out/input device @ 42 (see Fig. 9) provided in the holding piece 20, 20.
can be advanced into the recess 11 of the take-out part 9 of the stocker 4, and after this, the clamping pieces 20 and 20 operate to clamp the product A in the take-out part 9 from above and below by the clamping pieces 20, 20. After clamping, the arm portion 19 is contracted while rotating upward, thereby making it possible to take out the product A from the stocker 4.

In addition, when putting the product A into the product inlet 24 of the product storage shelf 5 provided at the upper part of the storage 2, which will be described later, as shown in the top view of the product inlet in FIG. Due to the movement, the upper clamping pieces 20, 20
Extend the arm 19 while rotating the gripping piece 20 forward.
．． 20 into the recess 24a of the product input amount 24, the product A that was being clamped is placed on the product input amount 24b, and the clamping piece 2
After releasing the clamping of the product A by 0.20, the arm portion 19 is retracted and the clamping pieces 20, 20 are moved back.

In addition, when the conveyance system [16 is configured such that a plurality of product passages 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D of the stocker 4 and the product storage shelves 5 to be described later are arranged side by side in the left and right direction, the rail members 17 and 17 are arranged side by side. This can be achieved by configuring the take-out/input part [1g], which is located at the outermost side of the product storage shelf and is provided across the rail members 17 and 17, to be movable in the left and right directions.

25.26.27 is the take-out and input section! ! The lower position sensor 25 detects the position of the take-out/input unit M18 and stops the take-out/input unit M18 at a predetermined position. The position sensor 26 is provided to detect when the take-out/input device 18 comes to a position corresponding to the product return position of the stocker 4. Further, the upper position sensor 27 is provided to detect when the take-out/input device 18 has come to a position corresponding to a product inlet 24 of the product storage shelf 5, which will be described later.

The product storage shelf 5 provided in the upper part of the storage compartment 2 has circular arc-shaped running plates facing each other in the front and back, and by arranging them in the vertical direction, the product storage shelf 5 is bent and extends vertically to form a cylindrical shape. Serpentine-style product aisles 6A, 6B, 6. store product A stacked in a row so that they can be transferred. C and 6D are formed at the front and rear. This product aisle 6B, 6C, 6D
There are lids 28Ba, 28Ca, 2 at the upper ends of the
8Da and their lids 28Ba, 28Ca, 2
Solenoid 28Bb, 28Cb for opening and closing 8Da
, 28Db, opening/closing mechanism 28B, 28C, 2
80 are provided. On the other hand, the upper end of the product aisle 6A remains open. Lid 28Ba, 28Ca,
28Da forms a transfer route for product A in the closed state, and as will be described later, the products placed in the product input amount 24b of the product input port 24 are closed lids 28Ba, 28Ca,
28 Da and reaches the top of the product passage 6A.

Sensors 30A to 300 are placed at the top of each product aisle 6A to 5D to detect whether the product A is full or not, while the bottom end is used to lock the lowest product A and to store the product A based on sales instructions. Each of the sending devices f31A to 31D is provided to sequentially control sending out one device at a time.

As shown in FIG. 8, each of the product slots 24 of the product storage shelf 5 including the product passages 6A to 6D is formed with a product receiver 24b that extends rearward and curves upward. The product input amount 24b includes the aforementioned take-out and input section!
A recess 24a is formed into which eighteen clamping pieces 20, 20 can enter.

Furthermore, a product chute 32 serving as a product delivery device is provided at the bottom of the product storage shelf 5. This product shoot 3
2 is a delivery device f provided at the bottom of each product aisle 6A to 6D.
31A to 31D are provided so as to receive the fallen product A, and to guide and send it out to the product takeout port 33 in front.

The rear part is rotatably supported, and the front part can be moved up and down.

That is, the product chute 32 is provided between the lower part of the upper product storage shelf 5 and the upper part of the lower stocker 4, and receives the product A delivered from each product outlet @6A to 6D to the product takeout port 33. The front part of the product chute 32 can be easily moved when the stocker 4 is pulled out forward by being provided with a low inclination toward the front so as to guide and deliver the product. It can be moved upward so that drawing out of the stocker 4 is not obstructed.

In addition, in this embodiment, the product chute 3 is used as the product delivery device.
2, an endless belt type carry-out shelf extending in the front-rear direction is provided between the lower part of the upper product storage shelf 5 and the upper part of the lower stocker 4, and each product in the upper product storage W5 is installed. When receiving the product A delivered from the passages 6A to 6D, the endless belt may be rotated to carry it forward and deliver it to the product outlet 33.

The product outlet 33 is provided in the vertically intermediate portion of the front door 3, which is the front surface of the main body 1, corresponding to the lower part of the upper product storage shelf 5, and the product output port 33 is provided at the rear of the front door 3, which corresponds to the lower part of the upper product storage shelf 5. A delivery door 34 that can be opened by A is provided, and an outlet door 35 that can be opened forward is provided at the front.

As described above, in this embodiment, the product intake opening 33 can be provided at approximately the middle position of the vending machine main body l, so that the customer can take out the product in a very comfortable posture.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram for controlling the drive of the conveyance device 16, and 40 is a control section composed of a microcomputer, which includes the conveyance motor 41, the take-out/input drive device 42, and the sensors 15, 25-27, 30A to 30D are connected to each other, and the opening/closing mechanisms 28B to 28D, the transport motor 41, and the take-out/loading drive device 42 are controlled based on the signal input from each sensor.

The operation of this configuration is achieved by program control of the control section 40, and this operation will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Upon starting the operation, the control unit 40 first determines whether or not the take-out/input device 111g is located at a predetermined standby position based on a signal from the lower position sensor 25. An initial setting operation is performed in which the unloading/unloading device 18 is moved to a predetermined standby position detected by the lower position sensor 25 by driving in the reverse direction (100).

Next, the control unit 40 determines whether the product A is present in the stocker 4 by determining the presence or absence of a signal from the sensor 15 (101). As a result, if the product A does not exist in the stocker 4 (N of 101), the process here ends and moves to another routine. If the product A exists in the stocker 4 (Y in 101), it is determined whether the product A is A1 by comparing the signal from the sensor 15 with a pre-stored code (102), and As a result, for product A (102 Y), sensor 3OA
The presence or absence of a signal from is checked (103).

As a result, there is no signal from the sensor 30A and the product aisle 6A
If the product 80 is not full (N in 103), the contents of the memory area are reset (104), and then the ejection/input device M42 of the ejection/input device 1i18 is driven (105).
).

By driving this unloading/loading drive device 42, the unloading/loading group!
! 18 extends the arm portion 19 forward as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, advances the open clamping pieces 20 and 20 corresponding to the recess 11 of the take-out portion 9 of the stocker 4, and then
The product A1 in the take-out section 9 is removed by clamping the clamping pieces 20, 20.
to hold. After this clamping, the take-out/input drive device 42
While rotating the clamping pieces 20, 20 upward, the arm portion 19 is retracted to take out the product A□ from the take-out portion 9, and the product A□ is stopped in the state shown in FIG. 7 (105).

When the take-out operation of the product A□ by the take-out and throw-in drive device 42 is completed, the control section 40 drives the transport motor 41 in the take-out and throw-in device 18 to rotate normally. Due to the forward rotation of the transport motor 41, the take-out/input device i18 starts upward movement (
106).

Next, the control device 40 monitors the output of the sensor 27 to determine the presence or absence of the take-out/input device 107.
), the take-out/input device 18 is connected to the product inlet 24 of the product storage shelf 5
It is detected that the transport motor 41 has been reached (Y in 107), and the transport motor 41 is stopped (108).

Next, the control device 40 controls the take-out/input drive device! 42 is activated to input the product into the product input amount 24b (109)
.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, by driving the take-out/input drive device 42, the holding pieces 20, 20 holding the product 80 are moved forward while extending the arm portion 19. When the clamping piece 20.20 advances to the recess 24a of the product input amount 24b of the product input port 24, the clamping piece 20.20 opens and releases the clamping of the product A1, and the product A□ is transferred to the product input amount 24b. Load and place. The product A placed in the product input amount 24b rolls on the closed lids 28Ba, 28Ca, and 28Da of the opening/closing mechanisms 28B to 28D and falls into the product aisle 6A. After loading the product A1, the clamping pieces 20, 20 remain open and retreat due to the contraction of the arm 19, and the loading/unloading device is installed! ! 42, the operation of inserting the product A1 is completed and stopped.

Next, the control device 40 drives the transport motor 41 in the reverse direction to take out and load the group! ! 18 is lowered (110). It is determined by the output of the sensor 25 that the take-out/input device 18 has reached a predetermined standby position corresponding to the take-out part 9 of the stocker 4 (111), and the transport motor 41 is stopped (112).
Return to process 101.

On the other hand, the product A appearing in the take-out section 9 in the stocker 4 is
2 (Y in 113), if the product aisle 6B is empty and there is no signal from the sensor 30B (114ON), the opening/closing mechanism 28B is driven to open the lid 28Ba (115)
. Thereafter, by executing the processes 104 to 109 described above, the product A2 appearing in the take-out section 9 is transferred to the product input frame 24.
Place it on b. As a result, product A is
2 is from the product input bone 24b to the lid 28Da, 28ACa
It rolls on top and falls into the product aisle 6B. Thereafter, the processes 110 to 112 described above are executed and the process returns to process 101.

In the same way, product A appeared in the take-out section 9 of the stocker 4.
is A, (116 Y), and there is space in product aisle 6C.
If there is no signal from sensor 30C (N of 117),
Drive the opening/closing mechanism 28C to open the lid 28Ca (118
). In addition, if the product A appearing in the take-out section 9 of the stocker 4 is A1 (Y in 119), the product passage 6D is empty, and there is no signal from the sensor 300 (~ in 120), the opening/closing mechanism 280 is driven. and open the lid 28Da (121)
. Thereafter, by executing processes 104 to 112, respectively, the product A can be stored in the product aisle 6C, and the product A can be stored in the product aisle 6D.

By the way, if the product A exists in the stocker 4, but the product A that appears in the takeout section 9 is not A□ to A4 (N of 102, 113, 116, 119), or
The product A that appears in the takeout section 9 is one of A, ~A4, but if there is a signal from the corresponding sensor 30A~30D and the corresponding product aisle 6A~6D is full of products, then (1
03,114°117.120 Y), in order to change the product type appearing in the take-out section 9, the following product circulation operation is performed.

That is, the control device 40 determines whether the product circulation operation has reached 10 times by checking the contents of one memo (122), and if it has reached 10 times, the process ends. 10
If the number of times has not been reached (N of 122), the contents of the memory river are incremented by 1 (123), and the take-out/input drive device 42 in the take-out/input device 18 is driven to remove the product A from the take-out section 9 of the stocker 4. (124), and drives the transport motor 41 in normal rotation (125).

Then, by monitoring the signal from sensor 26,
It is determined that the take-out/input device 18 has reached the position for returning the product to the stocker 4 (126), and the drive of the transport motor 41 in the take-out/input device 18 is stopped (108).

Thereafter, the product A is returned to the stocker 4 by driving the take-out/input drive device 42 (109).

That is, as shown in FIG.
A product return passage 52 having a product input port 51 similar to the product input port 24 is formed. Therefore, when the control unit 40 detects that the take-out/input unit M18 has reached the position corresponding to the product input port 51, the control unit 40 stops the take-out/input device 18 and receives the product A into the product input port 24 of the product storage shelf 5. Return product A to product return aisle 5 in exactly the same way as it was handed over.
The receiver is passed to the product input slot 51 of No. 2.

As a result, the product A falls onto the shelf 7 through the product return path 52. In this case, if you do not want the product A to fall onto the shelf 7, as shown in FIG.
Product passages 54, 55, and 56 may be further provided between the product passage 53 and the product passage 53, which also serves as the input amount of replenishing products, between the product passage 52 and the shelf section 7.

In this way, the product A that appears in the take-out section 9 of the stocker 4 is transferred to the transport device! 16, the operation of taking it out and putting it back into the stocker 4 is repeated, and when the number of times reaches 10 times in a row (
122 Y), even if a product filling request is issued from the product aisles 6A to 6D, the product storage shelf 5 is not filled from the stocker 4.
The product replenishment process ends once.

However, while repeating the return operation to product stocker 4, 1
When the product replenishment operation from the stocker 4 to the product storage shelf 5 is actually performed, the contents of the memory are reset in the process of executing the processes 104 to 112.
Continue product replenishment processing.

(g) As described in detail, according to the present invention, the product outlet can be provided relatively high on the front surface of the main body, so when taking out the product from the product outlet, it is difficult to bend at the waist and take a cramped posture. This eliminates the need for product removal, making it easy to take out the product, and also making it extremely easy to check the presence or absence of the product in the product take-out port.

In addition, since the administrator can load products by placing them in the stocker at the bottom, the product is placed at a lower position, allowing the operator to work while looking directly into the loading section, and preventing incorrect product loading. Loading work can be performed reliably and extremely easily without stretching.

In addition, since the transfer of products from the lower stocker to the upper product storage shelf is performed automatically by determining the type, it is possible to store products all at once in the stocker regardless of type, and it is possible to store products in bulk regardless of type. The number of products stored can be freely adjusted depending on the sales of the products.

Furthermore, since there is only one slot for inserting products into the product storage shelf, it is possible to reduce the useless upper space when a plurality of product passages are provided, and to simplify the structure of the slot.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 is a vertical side view of the vending machine, Figure 2 is a rear view of the stocker at the bottom of the vending machine, and Figure 3 is a part for taking out products from the stocker. Fig. 4 is a vertical side view of the vending machine with the front door removed and the lower stocker pulled out forward; Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of the product; Figures 6 and 7 are explanatory diagrams of the product removal operation, and Figure 8
The figure is a top view of the product input receiving section provided at the entrance of the product aisle at the top of the vending machine, and Figure 9 is a block diagram of the control unit.
FIG. 10 is an operation flowchart of the control section, and FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional conceptual diagram showing another example of the configuration of the stocker. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Vending machine main body, 2...Storage, 4...Lower stocker, 5.Upper product storage shelf, 15...Product identification sensor, 16...Transport device, I8...・Takeover input device, 25-27...Position sensor, 28B-28D
...Opening/closing mechanism, 28Ba~28Da-Lid, 28Bb
-28Db - Solenoid, 30A to 30D... Product detection sensor, 40... Control unit. Agent Patent Attorney Crest Makoto Japan Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] A product storage shelf with a plurality of product passages for storing various products by type is provided in the storage of the main body, and products in the product storage shelf are sent to a product takeout port provided on the front of the main body based on sales instructions. In the vending machine, the storage compartment is divided into upper and lower halves, and the upper part is provided with the product storage shelf, and the lower part is provided with a stocker for storing products all at once regardless of type, and the product storage shelf is provided with a stocker that can be pulled out from the warehouse. , an opening/closing mechanism is provided at the entrance of each of the product aisles, and the opening/closing mechanism is used to form a ramp connecting the only product input port to the entrance of each of the product aisles, while detecting the presence or absence of products in each of the product aisles. a second sensor for determining the presence or absence and type of a product to be taken out from the stocker; a second sensor for taking out a product from the stocker and returning it to the stocker or storing it in the product storage shelf; a conveyance device for
A shortage of products in the product aisle is determined based on the first sensor output, and a type of product to be taken out from the stocker is determined based on the second sensor output, and the product is of the shortage product type. a control unit that drives and controls the opening/closing mechanism to store the product in the corresponding product aisle if applicable, and controls the transport device to return the product to the stocker if the product does not correspond to the shortage product type; A product storage device for a vending machine characterized by being provided with.