JPH0615351Y2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a vending machine in which a cup filled with a drink or food can be carried out with a lid attached.

[Conventional technology]

A so-called post-mix cup vending machine, in which various beverage ingredients of powder or syrup are cooked and mixed with water, hot water, etc. in a machine and poured into a cup, is preferred because it tastes better than canned beverages. It In the past, this drink in a cup was usually drunk immediately on the spot after purchase, but the number of cases of taking this cup home for quoting has recently increased, so that it is automatically stored in the machine to make it convenient to take home. It has also been proposed to attach the lid to the cup and then carry it out (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 57-46979). This cup vending machine has traditionally been a dedicated cup vending machine depending on the raw material, such as a hot and cold coffee cup vending machine that uses powdered raw materials and a cold cup vending machine for carbonated soft drinks that uses syrup. However, in order to respond to the improvement of sales efficiency of vending machines and the diversification of user's taste, the vending machine is shifting from a dedicated cup vending machine to a cup combination vending machine.
Vol. 8, No. 511-518). In this cup combination vending machine, various beverages such as coffee and juice can be provided in hot or cold form, and the amount of coffee and juice, or the amount of beverage to be carried out by hot and cold are different, Usually 6.
Different sizes of cups are available for 5 oz, 7 oz, 9 oz and 12 oz, the outer diameter of each mouth is, for example, 6.5 oz hot cup 72.8 mm, 7 oz hot cup 72.9 mm, 7 oz cold Cup 70.1mm,
9 ounce cold cup 76.8mm, 12 ounce cold cup 72.5mm.

In addition, boil the raw noodles stored in the cup in the machine,
Even in automatic noodle vending machines that pour hot water and dashi soup into different sizes, cups of different sizes such as large, small, large, medium, and small are prepared, and such noodles are not taken on the spot, but taken away or at another place. There is a need to attach a lid.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

If there are multiple sizes of cups in the vending machine as described above, the diameters of the cups naturally differ, so if you try to attach a lid to each cup, the same number of different types of lids Must be prepared. Therefore, since it is necessary to automatically carry out the lids corresponding to the various sizes of cups that are carried out according to the sales signal, the automatic carrying-out and mounting mechanism of the cups and the lids becomes extremely complicated, which makes practical application difficult. I have no choice.

An object of the present invention is to obtain an automatic vending machine that can automatically carry out a lid by attaching a lid to each of a plurality of types of cups having different sizes.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, the carry-out mechanism for a plurality of types of cups having different diameters and the curls formed on the outer peripheral edge of each mouth of the plurality of types of cups having different diameters are wrapped from the outside. One kind of lid discharge mechanism that has a plurality of locking parts of such a shape, a product dispensing mechanism for injecting a product into a cup, and a lid that has been discharged by the discharge mechanism above the cup into which the product has been injected. And a robot mechanism that pushes the cup onto the cup.

[Action]

In the present invention, the cup corresponding to the product selected by the purchaser is carried out from the cup carry-out mechanism, and after the beverage or food of the product is poured into the cup from the product pouring mechanism, the lid carried out from the lid carry-out mechanism is Grasp by the arm of the robot mechanism,
It is moved to the upper position of the cup that has finished injecting the product and pushed over the cup, and a locking part corresponding to the mouth of the cup among the locking parts provided on the lid is formed on the outer peripheral edge of the cup mouth The cup is fitted with the lid by being fitted to the outside of the curl.

〔Example〕

 Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a structural layout diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a product selection button of a vending machine, 2 is a coin mechanism, 3 is a control unit, 4 is a cup carry-out mechanism, 5 is a cup shooter, and 6 is a cover carry-out. Mechanism, 7 is a robot mechanism, 8 is a bend stage,
Reference numeral 9 is a beverage dispensing nozzle as a product dispensing mechanism.

The cup unloading mechanism 4 has two storage shelves 10 and 11, and the storage shelves 10 are stacked with, for example, 7 ounce cups 12, and the storage shelves 11 are stacked with, for example, 9 ounce cups 13. The cup unloading mechanism 4 may have various conventionally used structures.

The lid carry-out mechanism 6 has one lid storage shelf 14, inside which a kind of lid 15 is stacked, and at the outlet thereof, a lid holding / carrying-out mechanism 16 is provided. Holding / unloading mechanism 1
6 is, for example, a plurality of cams having spiral edges on the side are driven by a motor or an electromagnet, and the lowest lid is separated from the second lid by using the pitch of the lid windings stacked. It has a structure that can be thrown out.

The robot mechanism 7 includes an arm portion 17 that swivels in a horizontal plane, a hand portion 18 that is attached to the tip of the arm portion 17 and has two fingers,
It has a drive unit 19 for the arm and the hand, and the hand 18 can rotate, move up and down, and open and close the fingers at the tip of the arm 17.

2a and 2b are a cross-sectional view and a plan view of an example of a cup lid used in the present invention. The lid 101 has a locking portion 104 having a diameter 103 with a center 103 on the inner side 102 of the lid 101. And a locking portion 105 having a diameter b are formed concentrically. The locking portion 104 is, for example, a 7 ounce cup 10.
6 (schematically indicated by broken lines), the locking portion 105 is adapted to fit on the outside of a cup 107 of, for example, 9 ounces. The locking portion projects from the surface of the lid, its direction is slightly inclined toward the center of the lid, and when pushed into the mouth of the cup, the curl 108 formed on the outer peripheral edge of the mouth of the cup is wrapped from the outside. It has become.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of another example of the lid, and the lid 101 has a locking portion 1 having a diameter a with a center 103 on one side 109 of the lid 101.
04, the locking portion 5 having a diameter b is formed on the other side 110 on a concentric circle. In this case, for example, the side 109 is inside the 7 ounce cup 106 and the 9 ounce cup 10
The side 110 is the inner side with respect to 7.

In the above example, one lid can be used for two sizes of cups, but the number of locking parts is not limited to two, and the number of locking parts corresponding to the number of cup sizes stored in the cup unloading mechanism should be provided. It can be used for various types of cups.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described.

When the purchaser inserts the required coin from the coin insertion slot of the coin mechanism 2 and presses one of the product selection buttons 1, a signal is input to the control unit 3, and if the sale is possible, the cup is unloaded from the control unit 3. A signal is given to the mechanism 4, and a cup corresponding to the selected product, for example, a 7 ounce cup 12 is thrown out from the storage rack 10 and is carried out to the bend stage 8 via the cup shooter 5. Beverage dispensing nozzle 9
A predetermined drink is poured into the cup. On the other hand, one lid 15 is ejected from the holding / delivering mechanism 16 of the lid delivering mechanism 6,
This lid is gripped by the fingers of the hand portion 18 of the robot mechanism 7 standing by therebelow (Fig. 4a). Then arm 1
7 rotates in the horizontal direction (FIG. 4b), and the lid 15 grasped by the hand 18 comes to a position right above the cup 12 so that the arm 1
7 is stopped (Fig. 4c). Next, the hand portion 18 is rotated vertically downward to push the lid 15 onto the mouth of the cup 12 (FIG. 4d), and the hand portion 18 is opened to complete the attachment of the lid 15. The arm portion 17 of the robot mechanism rotates again and stops below the lid discharge mechanism 15 to enter the standby state, while the cup 12 can be taken out by opening the door of the bend stage 8.

When the lid has locking portions on both sides as shown in FIG. 3, the hand portion 18 of the robot mechanism 7 is rotated 180 ° so that the locking portion side corresponding to the cup size faces downward. can do.

The robot mechanism does not have to be rotated in the horizontal plane as shown in the figure, but may be configured to be rotated in the vertical plane, and the lid mounting position is not inside the bend stage but outside the bend stage. Position, or place the beverage nozzle away from the bend stage,
By mounting the lid at a position distant from the beverage nozzle, the degree of freedom in the arrangement and structure of the robot mechanism can be increased.

[Effect of device]

According to the present invention, by sharing one type of lid for a plurality of types of cups having different calibers, the lid unloading mechanism and lid unloading control are simplified, and an automatic vending machine with automatic lid mounting is obtained. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural layout view of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2a and 2b are a sectional view and a plan view of an example of a lid used in the present invention, respectively.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of another example of the lid, and FIGS. 4A to 4D are explanatory views of a process of mounting the lid of the present invention. 1 ... Product selection button, 2 ... Coin mechanism, 3 ...
... Control unit, 4 ... Cup unloading mechanism, 5 ... Cup shooter, 6 ... Lid unloading mechanism, 7 ... Robot mechanism, 9 ...
Beverage extraction nozzle, 101 ... Lid, 104, 105 ... Locking part.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A carry-out mechanism for a plurality of types of cups having different diameters, and a plurality of locking portions shaped to wrap curls formed on the outer peripheral edges of the respective mouths of the plurality of types of cups having different diameters from the outside. With one type of lid, a merchandise ejection mechanism for injecting merchandise into the cup, and a robot mechanism for moving the lid ejected from the merchandise mechanism above the cup into which the merchandise is injected and pushing it onto the cup. A vending machine characterized by having and.