JPH113464A - Automatic vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic vending machine which surely operates a plunger of a frozen solenoid without enlarging the solenoid. SOLUTION: This vending machine has item storing parts 82a and 82b which are arranged in front and back and mutually communicated, the rear storing part 82b has an inner door 812 that opens and closes it and a solenoid 813 which performs open control of the door 812, the door 812 is opened through control release of the solenoid 813 and an item in the part 82b is carried to the front storing part 82a. In such cases, it has an operating piece 816 which operates in accordance with the moving of a plunger 813a of the solenoid 813, an opening and closing detector 814 of the inner door which detects the moving of the plunger 813a based on the operation of the piece 816 and a controlling means which outputs a solenoid driving signal at least once to the solenoid 813 when the detector 814 does not detect the moving of the plunger 813a after energizing to the solenoid 813.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine having front and rear storage sections, and after selling the products in the front storage section, transporting the products in the rear storage section to the front storage section and selling them. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a vending machine of this kind, the applicant has already proposed an application according to Japanese Patent Application No. 8-54920.

This vending machine has a structure in which a large number of individually partitioned product storage rooms are arranged in a plurality of upper and lower stages, and the products stored in the product storage rooms are individually sold. In addition, this product storage room has two storage portions communicating with each other in the front and rear, and when selling products, first sell the product in the front storage portion, and after the product sale, it became empty. The product in the rear storage section is transported to the front storage section, and the transported product is sold next time.

In such a selling operation, a front door of the front storage unit has a small door for opening and closing the front storage unit, and a front surface of the rear storage unit has an inner door for opening and closing the front storage unit.
Products are sold by opening these doors.

[0005]

When selling products in the rear storage section of a conventional vending machine, the solenoid of the inner door is energized to operate the plunger of the solenoid, and the inner door is opened. Like that.

However, since the solenoid is energized only once, when the plunger of the solenoid freezes and the operation of moving the plunger is hindered,
This single energization has the problem that the ice cannot be removed and this problem cannot be solved.

On the other hand, in order to solve such a problem,
Although a method using a solenoid having a large suction force can be proposed, there is a problem that the solenoid becomes large and expensive due to the increase in the suction force.

An object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine in which a frozen plunger of a solenoid operates reliably without increasing the size of the solenoid.

[0009]

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 has a storage section for merchandise which is disposed in front and rear and communicates with each other, and which is opened and closed in a rear storage section. Having an inner door that opens and a solenoid that regulates the opening of this inner door,
In a vending machine in which the inner door opens due to the release of the solenoid restriction and goods in the rear storage section are transported to the front storage section, an operating piece that operates in accordance with the movement of the solenoid plunger, and a plunger based on the operation of the operating piece. An opening / closing detector for the inner door for detecting the movement, and control means for outputting a solenoid drive signal to the solenoid at least once when the opening / closing detector does not detect the movement of the plunger after energizing the solenoid.

If the plunger of the solenoid freezes and the movement of the plunger is hindered, the plunger may not move due to the freezing when the first solenoid drive signal is output.

In such a case, in the present invention, since the solenoid drive signal is output at least once thereafter, icing is released by energizing the solenoid thereafter, and the solenoid operates normally.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the open / close detector does not detect the movement of the operating piece after transmitting the drive signal to the solenoid a predetermined number of times, it sends an error display signal to the display. As a result, abnormality of the solenoid can be immediately confirmed.

[0013]

1 to 9 show an embodiment of a vending machine according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a front view of the vending machine, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the vending machine, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the product storage room, FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of the product storage room showing a state where the products are stored in the rear storage portion, and FIG. 5 is a product in which the products in the rear storage portion are conveyed to the front storage portion. Side sectional view,
6 is a block diagram showing a vending machine selling process and drive control related to the inner door control, FIG. 7 is a control flowchart relating to the vending machine selling process, FIG. 8 is a flowchart relating to the inner door control 1, and FIG. 2 of the flowchart related to inner door control
is there.

The mechanical structure of the vending machine according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. That is, in this vending machine, an inner box 2 having a front opening is provided in a vending machine main body 1 constituted by a vertically long heat insulating box, and the front opening of the vending machine main body 1 can be opened and closed by an outer door 3. The vending machine body 1 and inner box 2
The air cooled by the evaporator 6 in the blower 5 is circulated to the air duct 4 (FIG. 2).
, The inside of the refrigerator is cooled. A middle door 7 is provided at the front opening of the inner box 2, while a number of product storage rooms 8 are formed in a plurality of stages vertically and horizontally inside the inner box 2, and face each product storage room 8. The small door 9 of the product storage room 8 is installed at the position of the middle door 7. Each of the product storage rooms 8 is formed by incorporating a large number of wires 8a vertically and horizontally so that cool air can flow between the product storage rooms 8 adjacent to each other.

A coin slot 10, a bill slot 11, a return lever 12, a return slot 13,
On the other hand, a segment display 14 for displaying the amount of money to be inserted and the like are provided.
Is installed, and the sellable lamp 15a (FIG. 6) in the selection switch 15 is turned on or blinks. The vending machine also has a money handling device 16 shown in FIG. 6 for processing money inserted from the coin insertion slot 10 and the bill insertion slot 11.

In the vending machine configured as described above, each of the commodity storage rooms 8 is divided into two parts in the front and rear, and this structure will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The product storage room 8 has a front and rear partition door mechanism 81. The partition door mechanism 81 forms storage sections 82a and 82b for storing the product A in the front and rear.
The partition door mechanism 81 is provided with a substantially gate-shaped support frame 8.
11 has an inner door 812 pivotally supported, and each storage unit 82b is opened and closed by rotating the inner door 812 up and down. A torsion coil spring 812b is wound around the rotating shaft 812a to urge the inner door 812 in the opening direction. On the other hand, an inner door solenoid 813 is provided to regulate the rotation of the inner door 812 in the opening direction, and an inner door open / close detector (a microswitch in this embodiment) for detecting the driving state of the solenoid 813
814.

The solenoid 813 is connected to the plunger 8
A hook piece 815b having a hook claw 815a at the tip and a substantially L-shaped operating piece 816 are attached to 13a. This hook claw 815 a faces a locking hole 815 c protruding from the back surface of the inner door 812,
When the tip of the plunger 813a is at the lower position, the hooking claw 815a is locked in the locking hole 815c and the inner door 812 is locked.
Is maintained in a closed state. Conversely, when it is at a higher position, the hook 815a is disengaged from the locking hole 815c, and the inner door 812 can be opened. On the other hand, the operating piece 816 has its tip facing the open / close detector 814,
The open / close detector 814 does not detect the drive of the solenoid 813 when the leading end of the switch 13a is at the lower position, and conversely detects the drive of the solenoid 813 when it is at the upper position.

In the product storage room 8 divided into two parts by the partition door mechanism 81, a transport device 83 for placing and moving the product A is provided. The transport device 83 includes a product placing means 831 and a coil spring 832.

The commodity placing means 831 has a dish-shaped commodity tray 831a, and the commodity A is placed on the commodity tray 831a.
Is to be placed. In addition, this product tray 8
The two sides of the product tray 831a are fitted on the center of the product tray 831a, and the connecting tube 831c is further inserted into the product storing room 8. Are penetrated by the track wire 831d arranged before and after. Thereby, the product tray 831a is moved to the front and rear storage sections 82a,
It is slidable over 82b. The guide rail 831b and the track wire 831d are connected and fixed to support plates 841 and 842 arranged in front and behind the product storage room 8.

The coil spring 832 is disposed between the connecting cylinder 831c and the support plate 842 on the rear side of the product storage chamber 8, and has a track wire 831d penetrated therein to urge the product tray 831a forward. It is supposed to.
Thus, when the product tray 831a is waiting in the rear storage unit 82b (FIG. 4), the product tray 831a
Is pressed against the back of the closed inner door 812,
On the other hand, when the inner door 812 is opened (FIG. 5), the inner door 812 is pushed out to the front storage portion 82a by the urging force of the coil spring 832.

A small door 9 for opening and closing the front storage section 82a is provided in front of the front storage section 82a. Although the details of the small door 9 are omitted, a solenoid (not shown) that regulates the movement of the small door 9 in the opening direction as in the case of the inner door 812 described above, and an opening and closing (not shown) that detects the opening operation of the small door 9 It has a detector (micro switch), and the small door is opened by energizing this solenoid.

In the vending machine configured as described above, the sales control circuit and the drive control circuit of the inner door 812 are shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. This drive control is performed by CPUs 200 and 210 having a microcomputer configuration.
The CPU 200 has a timer 201 and a counter 202. In addition, the CPU 200 receives signals from the money handling apparatus 16, the return lever 12, the external remote controller 100, and the selection switch 15, and based on these signals, displays a segment through the display driving circuit 221 and the sellable light driving circuit 222. In addition to controlling the driving of the container 14 and the sellable lamp 15a, a control signal is sent to the CPU 210. Further, a detection signal of the inner door open / close detector 814 is input to the CPU 210 to drive and control the inner door solenoid 813 via the inner door solenoid drive circuit 224, and the CPU 200 detects / non-detects the inner door open / close detector 814. Data and the like are transmitted.

The operation of selling a product in the drive control circuit will be described with reference to FIG. First, it is determined whether or not payment has been made in the sales standby state, and if there has been payment, the payment amount is displayed on the segment display 14 (S1, S2). As a result, the sellable lamp 15a of the commodity storage room 8 that can be selected within the payment range is turned on (S3). Next, when the return lever 12 is operated, the balance is returned and the sale ends (S4, S5). However, when the selection switch 15 of the lit product storage room 8 is selected, the selected product storage room is selected. 8 flashes, and the reduced amount obtained by subtracting the price of the selected product from the deposit amount is displayed on the segment display 1.
4, the small door of the selected product storage room 8 is controlled (S6 to S9).

In this small door control, as described above, the small door 9
While having an open / close detector (not shown) for detecting the open / close of
The small door 9 is opened and closed by energizing and de-energizing a solenoid (not shown). That is, the solenoid of the selected product storage room 8 is energized and the small door 9 is opened. Thereafter, the merchandise is taken out from the front storage section 82a, and then the small door 9 is closed, thereby terminating the small door control.

When such small door control is completed, as shown in FIG. 7, one is subtracted from the number of products (two) in the selected product storage room 8, and the number of remaining products and the product storage room 8 are subtracted. , And a time (delay time; for example, 5 minutes) until the inner door control of the product storage room 8 is performed is set in the timer 201 (S14 to S16). The delay time can be arbitrarily changed by the external remote controller 100. Next, when there is a balance more than the commodity price, the process returns to step 3 and waits for the operation of the return lever 12 or the selection switch 15 (S4, S6). When the selection switch 15 is pressed, the small door control is performed again. Sell the product A. When the balance becomes less than the commodity price, the balance is forcibly refunded. The selling operation is completed by such control.

Next, the premise processing operation of the inner door control set by the timer in the above-described sales operation flow will be described with reference to FIG. That is, it is determined whether or not it is in the sales standby state, and it is further determined whether or not there is a set number in the product storage room 8 (S1, S2). If there is a product storage room 8 with a number set in this determination, it is determined whether or not the delay time set in the timer 201 has elapsed, and further, whether or not the transport condition of the rear storage unit 82b is satisfied. S3, S4).
Here, the transfer condition of the rear storage section 82b means that the small door 9 is surely closed, and when this condition is satisfied, the main door control main processing operation is performed.

This processing operation of the inner door control will be described with reference to FIG. In this processing operation, first, the solenoid 813 of the selected product storage room 8 is energized for 2 seconds (S5, S6). The energization of the solenoid 813 causes the plunger 813a to move upward,
5a is disengaged from the locking hole 815c, and the inner door 812 is opened. On the other hand, the upward movement of the plunger 813a also moves the operation piece 816 upward, presses the actuator of the open / close detector 814, and detects the drive of the solenoid 813 (the product in the rear storage portion 82b is carried out to the front side. (A carry-out signal).) When the carry-out signal is input, the solenoid 813 is turned off, and it is determined whether five seconds have elapsed since the start of the inner door control, and the inner door control is ended after the lapse of five seconds (S7 to S9).

On the other hand, if the carry-out signal has not been input yet in step 7, the solenoid 813 is stopped for 2 seconds, and the solenoid 813 is energized again for 2 seconds, and the carry-out signal is input. Is determined (S
10 to S14). Here, when the carry-out signal is input, the solenoid 813 is turned off in the same manner as described above (S1).
5) Go to step 9 to end the inner door control. On the other hand, when the carry-out signal is not input even when the solenoid 813 is energized, the solenoid 813 is turned off, and the fact that the solenoid 813 is abnormal is displayed through the segment display 14 (S16, S17).

When the inner door control of one product storage room 8 as described above is completed, the process returns to step 1 again, and the other product storage rooms 8 requiring the inner door control are sequentially controlled in the same manner. The product A in the storage section 82b is transported to the front storage section 82a,
It will be ready for the next sale.

According to the present embodiment, in this inner door control, when the inner door 812 is opened, the solenoid 813 can be driven a plurality of times, so that the temperature of the inside of the inner box 2 is low and the plunger 813a of the solenoid 813 freezes. However, even if there is a malfunction, the subsequent solenoid 81
The icing is released by energizing 3, and the solenoid 813 operates normally.

[0032]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, even when the plunger of the solenoid is frozen, the solenoid is driven a plurality of times, so that the frozen state of the plunger is released. You. Therefore, the inner door can be reliably opened and closed without increasing the suction force of the solenoid.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the open / close detector does not detect the movement of the plunger after transmitting the drive signal to the solenoid a predetermined number of times, the error display signal is transmitted to the display. , The abnormality of the solenoid can be immediately confirmed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a vending machine.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a vending machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a product storage room.

FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of a product storage room showing a state in which products are stored in a rear storage unit.

FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view showing a state in which a product in a rear storage unit is transported to a front storage unit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a vending machine vending process and drive control related to inner door control.

FIG. 7 is a control flowchart relating to vending machine sales processing.

FIG. 8 is a first flowchart of the inner door control.

FIG. 9 is a second flowchart of the inner door control.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... vending machine, 8 ... product storage room, 14 ... segment display, 812 ... inner door, 813 ... solenoid, 813 a ...
Plunger, 814: inner door open / close detector, 816: operating piece, 200, 210: CPU.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A storage section for commodities which is disposed in front of and behind and communicates with each other, and a rear storage section has an inner door for opening and closing the same and a solenoid for restricting the opening of the inner door, and the restriction of the solenoid is released. The vending machine in which the inner door is opened and the goods in the rear storage section are conveyed to the front storage section, an operating piece that operates in accordance with the movement of the plunger of the solenoid, and movement of the plunger based on the operation of the operating piece. And a control means for outputting a solenoid drive signal to the solenoid at least once when the solenoid does not detect movement of the operating piece after energizing the solenoid. Vending machine characterized by the following. 2. The control means sends an error display signal to a display when the open / close detector does not detect the movement of the plunger after sending a drive signal to the solenoid a predetermined number of times. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein: