JP3291344B2 - vending machine - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a so-called cup-type vending machine for supplying a beverage such as coffee in a cup.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a cup-type vending machine of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-199855 (G07F13 /
06) As shown in 06), a cup supply device for supplying a cup to the inside, a plurality of raw material supply devices containing each raw material such as coffee, milk, sugar and the like, and a diluting liquid supply for supplying a diluting liquid such as hot water or water. And an ice supply device for supplying ice. Then, the selling operation is started based on the operation of the customer to insert coins and bills, and the selection operation of the commodity, the cup is dropped from the cup supply device, and the cup is moved by the transfer device to a position where the raw material falls from each of the raw material supply devices. After transferring the raw material into the cup, then transfer the cup to a position where the diluent is supplied, and then supply the diluent,
Finally, the cup is transferred to a position where ice is supplied from the ice supply device, and the ice is put into the cup.

[0003] In this kind of vending machine, the ice supply device is usually constituted by an auger type ice machine for producing chip ice. This ice machine always stores a predetermined amount of produced ice in an ice storage, and in accordance with the selling operation,
When the cup is transferred to the predetermined position for supplying ice, the door for opening and closing the ice discharge port of the ice storage is opened for a predetermined time,
The ice was discharged from the ice outlet and dropped into the cup.

[0004]

However, since there is a distance from the ice maker to the cup, it takes some time for the ice discharged from the ice storage of the ice maker to fall into the cup. Also, there is a problem that the beverage in the cup splatters due to the force of the falling ice. Furthermore, since the stirrer for discharging ice is constantly rotating in the ice storage of the ice maker, when the amount of ice discharged per unit time is small, the corner of the ice in the ice storage can be removed and the ice can be removed from the ice storage. Ice is discharged smoothly, but when the amount of ice discharged per unit time is large, the freshly formed angular ice is discharged, making it difficult for the ice to be discharged from the ice storage. Therefore, in the conventional method of opening the ice discharge port of the ice storage for a certain period of time,
The amount of ice discharged into the cup becomes extremely unstable, and a fixed amount of ice cannot always be supplied into the cup. For this reason, there have been problems such as that the amount of ice is too small and the beverage becomes hot, and that the amount of ice is too large and the taste of the beverage becomes thin.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problem, and has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem. The purpose is to provide vending machines.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 opens a door to discharge ice,
Close the door to stop ice release and the ice outlet
Equipped with a shutter to accumulate ice released from
The output according to the accumulation height of the ice accumulated on the shutter.
Temporary holding container equipped with a sensor that outputs force voltage, and ice
A control device for controlling the discharge port and the temporary holding container.
The control device is configured to temporarily hold the container based on the output voltage.
Determines whether the amount of ice inside has reached the set amount,
The ice discharge port is closed when it reaches . In addition,
The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that ice exceeds the detection range of the sensor.
When setting the amount of ice released, the control
Calculate the amount of ice released per unit time based on the
The additional release time from the release amount per unit time of
It is characterized by the following.

[0007]

According to the vending machine of the present invention, ice is discharged from the ice maker 7 in accordance with the selling operation. The discharged ice enters the ice delivery device 22, which once holds the ice and sends it out into the cup 1. Therefore, by providing the ice sending device 22 with the sensor 39 for detecting the amount of ice, the held ice can be measured, and the ice discharge from the ice making machine 7 can be performed according to the measured value. , It is possible to stably supply a required amount of ice into the cup 1.

In the case where the cup 1 is transferred to supply the raw material, the diluent and the ice into the cup 1, the ice is discharged from the ice maker 7 until the cup 1 comes to the ice supply position, and an ice delivery device is provided. Since the ice is discharged from the ice making machine 7 after the cup 1 comes to a predetermined position, the ice can be sent to the cup 1 more quickly and the ice can be dropped. , Etc., can be suppressed.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. A vending machine (not shown) of the present invention includes a cup supply device 2 for supplying a cup 1 as shown in FIG. 1, a hot water tank 3 provided with a heating means such as a heater (not shown), sugar,
Powder storage devices 4, 5, and 6 as raw material supply devices each storing a raw material powder of cream and coffee, and an ice maker 7 are provided.

In the present embodiment, the cup supply device 2 moves the cup 1 at the lowermost end as shown in FIG.
It is sent to a predetermined sales position as indicated by a middle arrow. A hot water valve 8 is attached to the hot water tank 3, and a hot water supply pipe 11 extends from the hot water valve 8 to a mixing ball 9. Further, outlets 4A, 5A, and 6A are formed at the front lower end portions of the powder storage devices 4, 5, and 6, respectively, and are opened forward, and a powder is provided below each of the outlets 4A, 5A, and 6A. A shooter 12 is provided.

The powder shooter 12 has an upper surface on each outlet 4
A, 5A, and 6A open below, and the lower end converges and opens above the mixing ball 9. Then, the beverage supply pipe 13 extends downward from the mixing ball 9,
The lower end is opened above the cup 1 in the selling position.

The ice making machine 7 is cooled by a cooling device (not shown) and supplied with a cooling cylinder 1 to which ice making water is supplied.
6, a rotating blade (auger) not shown is inserted concentrically, and the ice layer formed on the inner surface of the cooling cylinder 16 is scraped upward by rotating the auger by the motor 7M by the motor 7M, and compressed to form a chip-like shape. This is a so-called auger-type ice making machine that generates ice blocks and stores a predetermined amount of generated ice in an ice storage 17 at the upper end. The ice storage 17 is provided with a stirrer (not shown) that rotates together with the auger and stirs the ice in the ice storage 17. Further, an ice discharge port 18 is formed in a lower side surface of the ice storage 17. ing. The ice discharge port 18 is closed by a door 19 so as to be openable and closable, and the opening and closing of the door 19 is controlled by a control device 21 constituted by a microcomputer.

An ice delivery device 22 of the present invention is mounted outside the door 19 of the ice discharge port 18. The ice discharging device 22 is attached to a cover 23 that covers the ice discharging port 18 and the door 19, an inner hollow cylindrical ice shooter 24 that extends downward from a lower end of the cover 23, and a lower end opening of the ice shooter 24. And a temporary holding container 26.

The temporary holding container 26 is made of a steel plate and has an inner hollow rectangular cylindrical shape, and is inclined at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal as shown in FIG.
The lower end of the ice shooter 24 is inserted into and is connected to the ice shooter 24. The lower end opening 28 of the temporary holding container 26 is located above the cup 1 at the selling position. A gear motor 3 is provided on the lower surface of the temporary holding container 26.
1, a plate-shaped shutter 32 that opens and closes the lower end opening 28 from below is rotatably mounted.

A cam 33 is attached to the output shaft of the gear motor 31. A link 34 is rotatably connected to the cam 33, and the link 34 is rotatably connected to an arm 36 fixed to the lower surface of the shutter 32. Have been. Cam 33
A cam switch 37 is slidably in contact with the step-like side surface of, and the output of the cam switch 37 is input to the control device 21. The gear motor 31 is controlled by the control device 21 based on the output of the cam switch 37, and rotationally drives the shutter 32 to a horizontal position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 2 and an inclined position indicated by a broken line in FIG.

When ice is discharged from the ice discharge port 18 of the ice maker 7 in a horizontal state in which the shutter 32 of the temporary holding container 26 closes the lower end opening 28, the discharged ice falls in the ice chute 24. From the upper end opening 27 to the temporary holding container 26
Inside, and collects on the shutter 32. When the gear motor 31 rotates the cam 33 clockwise in FIG. 3, the shutter 32 tilts as shown by the broken line, opens the lower end opening 28, and sends out ice.

A capacitance type sensor 39 is attached to the side surface of the temporary holding container 26 at a position, for example, about 10 cm above the lower end opening 28. The sensor 39 is disposed facing the inside of the temporary holding container 26 through a not-shown through hole formed in the side surface of the temporary holding container 26, and its output voltage changes according to the distance from the article (here, ice). I do. That is, as described above, ice is discharged from the ice making machine 7 and accumulates on the shutter 32 to increase the amount thereof. When the upper end approaches the sensor 39, the output voltage (as shown in FIG. V) changes. In this case, the output voltage of the sensor 39 hardly changes up to the height of 0 to A (the weight of ice at the height of A is 30 g in this case), but the height of A to B (the height of B The output voltage increases substantially linearly up to 70 g), and does not change again after the height B. Therefore, at the heights A and B, the amount of ice in the temporary holding container 26 can be detected by the output voltage of the sensor 39. And this sensor 39
Is output to the control device 21.

The operation of the vending machine of the present invention having the above configuration will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a program for controlling the opening and closing of the door 19 and the shutter 32 of the control device 21. Assuming that the customer has inserted coins or banknotes and, for example, has selected a small amount of iced coffee (6 oz), the optimal ice requirement is 50 g.
And the control device 21 stores a required amount of 50 g. Then, the vending machine starts a vending operation, and the cup 1 is sent from the cup supply device 2 to the vending position (inside the vending machine (not shown)) as described above. The outlets 4A, 5A of the powder storage devices 4, 5, 6
From A and 6A, a predetermined amount of each raw material powder of sugar, cream and coffee is discharged and supplied into the mixing ball 9 from the powder shooter 12. Furthermore, hot water valve 8 of hot water tank 3
Is opened, and hot water is supplied to the mixing ball 9 via the hot water supply pipe 11. These are stirred in the mixing ball 9, and the coffee (beverage) produced thereby is supplied to the cup 1 by the beverage supply pipe 13.

On the other hand, the control device 21 determines in step S1 that the door 1
9, the ice discharge port 18 is opened, and in step S2, based on the output of the sensor 39, it is determined whether or not the amount of ice in the temporary holding container 26 has reached the set amount. Here, since the required amount is 50 g between 30 g and 70 g (height between A and B), the control device 21 sets this required amount as a set amount as it is, When it is detected that the amount of ice accumulated in the ice 26 has reached the set amount, the process proceeds to step S3, and based on the elapsed time from the opening of the ice discharge port 18 to the point when the ice discharge amount becomes 50 g, the ice per unit time is calculated. Is calculated.

Next, in step S4, the required amount (50
The additional discharge time is calculated from the difference between g) and the set amount (50 g). In this case, since the difference is 0, the additional discharge time is 0. Therefore, in the next step S5, the elapse of the additional discharge time is determined. Here, the process immediately proceeds to step S6,
The ice discharge port 18 is closed by the door 19. Thus, even if the amount of ice released from the ice discharge port 18 per unit time is unstable, a required amount of 50 g of ice is accumulated in the temporary holding container 26.

Then, the controller 21 opens the shutter 32 as described above by the gear motor 31 in step S7, and discharges the ice accumulated on the shutter 32 into the cup 1 as shown in step S8. And step S
At 9, the shutter 32 is closed, and the supply of ice is terminated.

Here, if a larger amount of iced coffee (12 oz) is selected by the customer, the optimal required amount of ice is 100 g. With such an amount of ice, the accumulated height in the temporary holding container 26 exceeds the height of B, so that it is difficult to directly detect the amount of ice with the sensor 39. In such a case, the control device 21 stores the required amount of 100 g and at the same time sets, for example, 70 g as the set amount. When the sensor 39 detects that the amount of ice accumulated in the temporary holding container 26 has reached the set amount, the process proceeds to step S3, and the elapsed time from the opening of the ice discharge port 18 to the point when the ice discharge amount reaches 70 g. Calculates the amount of ice released per unit time based on.

Next, in step S4, the required amount (100
g) and the set amount (70 g), the additional release time is calculated. Here, the difference is 30 g, and the additional release time is calculated by dividing this 30 g by the release amount per unit time. Set to 5 seconds. Next, step S5
Then, it is determined whether or not the additional discharge time (1.5 seconds) has elapsed, and after elapse, the process proceeds to step S 6, and the ice discharge port 18 is closed by the door 19. As a result, a required amount of 100 g of ice is accumulated in the temporary holding container 26. In particular, in this case, ice can be measured by one opening and closing of the ice discharge port 18, so that quick supply of ice can be realized.

Here, the flowchart of FIG. 6 shows another embodiment relating to the opening / closing control of the door 19 and the shutter 32 of the control device 21. The operation will be described below. Assuming that a coin or a bill is inserted by a customer and, for example, a small amount of iced coffee (6 oz) is selected as described above, the required amount of ice is 50 g.
Therefore, the control device 21 stores 50 g as the required amount. In addition, it is assumed that the control device 21 sets the same 50 g as a set amount described later. Then, the vending machine starts the same vending operation as described above.

Next, in step S10, the control device 21 opens the ice discharge port 18 by the door 19, and in step S11, based on the output of the sensor 39, the amount of ice in the temporary holding container 26 becomes the set amount (50 g). It is determined whether or not it has reached. When the sensor 39 detects that the amount of ice accumulated in the temporary holding container 26 has reached the set amount, the process proceeds to step S1.
Proceeding to 2, the set amount detected by the sensor 39 is reset from the difference between the required amount (50 g) and the set amount (50 g). Here, since the required amount is equal to the set amount, the set amount reset is zero.

Next, in step S13, the ice discharge port 18 is closed by the door 19, and in step S14, the shutter 32 is opened by the gear motor 31 as described above, and in step S15
As shown in FIG.
g) into cup 1. Then, step S16
The shutter 32 is closed at step S17, 1 is added to the number of operations n (initial value 0) in step S17, and it is determined whether or not the number of operations n is 2 in step S18. If not, step S
Returning to step S10, the ice discharge port 18 is once again opened. However, in this case, since the reset amount is 0, steps S11 to S11 are performed.
Proceeding to step S13, the ice discharge port 18 is immediately closed.
Thereafter, the shutter 32 is similarly opened, but there is no additional ice discharge to the cup 1 since no ice is accumulated here. Then, in step S16, the shutter 32 is closed, and in step S17, 1 is added to n (here, 1).
Then, it is determined whether or not n is 2. Here, since n is 2 at the second time, the supply of ice is terminated.

Here, if a larger amount of iced coffee (12 oz) is selected by the customer as described above, the optimum required amount of ice is 100 g. With such an amount of ice, the accumulated height in the temporary holding container 26 exceeds the height of the B, so that it is difficult to directly detect the amount of ice by the sensor 39. In such a case, the control device 21 sets the required amount to 100 g.
When the sensor 39 detects in step S11 that the amount of ice accumulated in the temporary holding container 26 has reached the set amount (50 g), the process proceeds to step S12, where the required amount (100 g) and the set amount ( Sensor 3 from the difference of 50g)
The next set amount detected by 9 is reset. In this case, since the required amount is 100 g and the set amount is 50 g, the set amount reset is 50 g.

Next, in step S13, the ice discharge port 18 is closed by the door 19, and in step S14, the shutter 32 is opened by the gear motor 31 as described above, and the flow proceeds to step S15.
As shown in FIG.
g) into cup 1 (first release). Then, in step S16, the shutter 32 is closed.
In step S17, 1 is added to the number of operations n (initial value 0),
In step S18, it is determined whether or not the number of operations n has become two. Here, since this is the first time, the process returns to step S10, and the ice discharge port 18 is opened again. Then, when the sensor 39 detects the set amount 50g reset in step S11,
Proceeding to step S12, the same process is performed up to step S14, the shutter 32 is opened, and the second ice release to the cup 1 is performed. Then, in step S16, the shutter 32
Is closed, and 1 is added to n (here, 1) in step S17, and it is determined whether or not n is 2 in step S19.
Therefore, the ice supply operation ends.

Thus, a required amount of 100 g of ice is supplied into the cup 1. In particular, in this case, since it is accurately measured and sent out each time, although it is divided into a plurality of times, the accuracy of the ice supplied to the cup 1 is improved.

As described above, according to the present invention, ice can be measured by the temporary holding container 26 and then sent out to the cup 1, so that the amount of ice discharged from the ice making machine 7 per unit time is not sufficient. Even if it is stable, it is possible to always supply the optimum constant amount of ice to the cup 1. Therefore, variations in the taste of the beverage to be sold can be prevented, and a delicious beverage can always be sold. Further, the ice discharged from the ice maker 7 is temporarily held in the temporarily
, The ice can be prevented from vigorously falling into the cup 1 as in the prior art, and the scattering of the beverage in the cup 1 can be reduced.

In the embodiment, the cup 1 is sent to the selling position and each raw material or hot water is guided there. However, the present invention is not limited to this. May be received one after another. In particular, in this case, ice can be discharged from the ice making machine 7 while the cup 1 is being transferred to the ice supply position, and the ice can be held in the temporary holding container 26 in a predetermined amount. Ice can be supplied quickly, and the sales time can be shortened.

In the embodiment, the sensor of the capacitance type is used as the sensor 39. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the weight of ice on the shutter 32 is directly detected, or the amount (height) of ice is detected by light. The present invention is effective even if a semiconductor optical sensor for detecting the pressure is used.

[0033]

As described in detail above, according to the vending machine of the present invention, the ice discharged from the ice maker according to the selling operation,
Since the beverage is temporarily held by the ice delivery device and then delivered into the cup, splashing of the beverage due to falling of ice can be suppressed. In particular, by providing a sensor for detecting the amount of ice in the ice delivery device, it is possible to measure the ice held there, and to control the discharge of ice from the ice maker in accordance with the measured value. Thereby, it is possible to always supply an optimum required amount of ice into the cup. As a result, it is possible to always sell delicious beverages.

In the case of transferring the cup to supply the raw material, the diluent and the ice into the cup, the ice is discharged from the ice maker until the cup reaches the ice supply position, and the ice is discharged into the ice delivery device. Since it can be held and placed, there is also an effect that ice can be quickly delivered to the cup.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of each device provided in a vending machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a temporary holding container.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional side view of a temporary holding container.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship between the accumulation height (weight) of ice and the output voltage of a sensor.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a program of a control device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing another program of the control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 cup 7 ice machine 18 ice discharge port 19 door 21 control device 22 ice delivery device 26 temporary holding container 39 shutter

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. The door is opened to release ice, and the door is closed to remove ice.
An ice discharge port for ending discharge, and
A shutter for accumulating ice
Output voltage according to the accumulation height of ice accumulated on the
A temporary holding container provided with a sensor for outputting, and the ice discharge
A control device for controlling the mouth and the temporary holding container.
The control device is configured to perform the temporary holding based on the output voltage.
Determine whether the amount of ice in the container has reached the set amount and set
A vending machine , wherein the ice discharge port is closed when the amount reaches the amount . 2. The release of ice beyond the detection range of the sensor.
When setting the output, The control unit is configured to control a unit of ice based on an elapsed time of ice release.
Calculate the amount of release per hour and calculate the release per unit time.
Claims characterized by setting additional release time from output
Item 5. The vending machine according to Item 1.