JP3146799B2 - 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 serpentine vending machine for selling cans and bottles as cold or hot products.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Serpentine type vending machines are well known as vending machines for selling cans and bottles. In this serpentine type vending machine, a multi-layered serpentine type bend rack in which a plurality of product passages are arranged in front and rear rows in a cabinet of a cabinet serving as a heat insulating housing (a bend mechanism is provided at a lower end of a meandering product passage, and each sale is provided. The products stored in a row are dropped and carried one by one from the bottom.)
And store and sell different types of products for each product path.

[0003] In addition, an inclined rail plate called a top tray is laid between the bend rack and a product insertion port that opens to the front of the cabinet in connection with the upper end of each product passage. , 1 from the product slot
The products placed one by one are rolled on the top tray and dropped into the product path. Further, an evaporator, an electric heater and a fan in the refrigerator are installed at the bottom of the refrigerator to heat and cool the refrigerator according to a hot or cold sales mode.

[0004]

The above-mentioned conventional serpentine type vending machine has the following problems in terms of the number of stored products and the efficiency of the replenishment work route. That is, the number of stored products in each product path of the bend rack is determined according to the total length of the product path and the top tray connected thereto. On the other hand, vending machines that sell different types of products at the same time have significantly different sales numbers depending on the type of product. According to the sales results of vending machines, even vending machines with a selection of about 20 products sell well There are several types of products, and these top-selling products, which account for more than 50% of sales, are sold out sooner than other products. For this reason, it is necessary to frequently replenish merchandise with a short cycle (commodity replenishment cycle) for hot-selling commodities, which complicates the replenishment management of vending machines.

In recent years, vending machines have been reduced in thickness due to the problem of road occupation (for serpentine-type bend racks, the meandering of product passages has been reduced, and the gap between columns arranged in front and rear rows has been reduced. (To reduce the depth of the cabinet as much as possible), which limits the number of items stored in the bend rack and shortens the product supply cycle. In addition, if the product is sold out frequently, the operating rate of the vending machine also decreases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems. In particular, the number of hot-selling products can be greatly increased to extend the product replenishment cycle and increase the sales operation rate. , Together with cooling in the refrigerator,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a serpentine vending machine capable of saving electric power used for heating.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a multi-layer serpentine type bend rack in which a plurality of product passages are arranged in front and rear in a cabinet of a cabinet serving as an insulated housing, and a cooling or cooling inside the cabinet. In a vending machine provided with a heating device, a partition wall made of a heat-insulating material is provided on the upper side of the inside of a cabinet of a cabinet, and the product stocker is partitioned from a lower inner space in which a bend rack is arranged by the middle partition wall. A product outlet is provided in the partitioning wall for aligning and sending out replenished products from the product stocker to the product path of the bend rack, and a heat shield for allowing the product to pass through the open end face of the product outlet. A shutter is provided.

In the above construction, a product stocker in which a large number of products are stored collectively in advance (a dedicated stocker is prepared or a carton case made of cardboard for distribution is used) is defined at the top of the refrigerator. When the bottom of the stocker is opened after being set in the space, the replenished commodities stored in the stocker are sent out to the merchandise passage arranged in the last row of the bend rack in a self-weight drop manner through the merchandise outlet of the partition wall. This product supply operation is performed in accordance with the progress of product sales.

[0008] Therefore, by allocating the best selling products to the product aisle in the last row of the bend rack and storing a large number of such products in the product stocker, it is not necessary to frequently carry out product replenishment work in a short cycle. In addition, since the frequency of sold out products is reduced, the operating rate of the vending machine is increased. The storage space for the product stocker in the upper part of the storage is adiabatically separated from the lower storage space in which the bend rack, the cooling and heating device are installed and the partition wall, so that it is stored in the stocker. The product is not added as a heat load of the cooling and heating device in the refrigerator. Moreover,
When the product stocker becomes empty, the heat shielding shutter provided at the product passage exit of the partition wall closes. As a result, the amount of electric power consumed by the internal cooling and heating device can be reduced. In addition,
The replenished commodities stored in the commodities stocker are sent out of the stocker and cooled or heated to a suitable temperature for sale during the standby organization staying in the bend rack, so that there is no problem in sales.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a vending machine cabinet made as an insulated housing, 2 denotes a front door, 3 denotes a product outlet opening to the front door 2, and a serpentine type bend rack 4, A shooter 5 that guides the goods carried out of the bend rack 4 to the goods outlet 3, a cooler for cooling the inside of the refrigerator (evaporator of a refrigerator) 6, a heater 7 for heating the inside of the refrigerator, a fan 8 inside the refrigerator, and the like are housed therein. I have. Further, the bend rack 4 is connected to four rows of meandering product passages 4a to 4d arranged in front and rear, a bend mechanism 9 provided at the lower end of each of the product passages 4a to 4d, and an upper end of each of the product passages 4a to 4d. It is configured as a multiplex type rack comprising a top tray 4e bridged between the product tray and the front side, and stores and sells different types of products 10 for each product passage. The selling operation of such a serpentine type bend rack is well known, and the description thereof is omitted here.

Further, a stocker storage space 12 partitioned by a partition wall 11 of a heat insulating wall (heat insulating material) is defined in an upper part of the cabinet 1 (above the bend rack 4). The partitioning partition 11 is provided with a hopper-shaped product outlet 13 that opens toward the top tray of the product passage 4d arranged in the last row of the bend rack 4, and as shown in FIG. The product outlet 1 is provided with a heat shielding shutter 14 made of a flexible rubber sheet or the like.
3 is closed. In the space 12, a product stocker 15 (for example, a cardboard carton case) containing a large number of products collectively is stored and set.

Further, a product detection switch 16 is provided opposite to the product outlet 13 to detect the presence or absence of a product passing through the outlet passage. A product supply indicator lamp illuminated by the switch operation signal is provided on the front door 2. It is juxtaposed to the arranged product selection button (not shown). In the above configuration, the supply of the goods to the goods path 4d (the hot selling goods are assigned to this goods path) arranged in the last row of the bend rack 4 is performed as follows. In other words, initially, the merchandise is inserted from the front merchandise insertion port, and each of the merchandise paths 4a to 4d
The product 10 is loaded in a full state. Further, the product passage 4d is stored in the stocker storage space 12 in the upper part of the refrigerator.
Are stored in the product stocker 15 and stocked.

In this case, a product stocker (for example, a carton case) containing a product in the stocker storage space 12.
To set 15, first, the lid of a carton case made of cardboard, in which a large number of products 10 are housed in an aligned state, is cut off with a cutter, and the open surface is directed downward (in this case, the products roll out of the case. The underlaying plate is applied so as not to be placed) and set on the partition wall 11 (after setting, the underlaying plate is removed). As a result, the products 10 stored in the product stocker 15 are pushed down by the heat-insulating shutters 14 while being kept aligned from the product outlets 13 of the partitioning walls 11, and fall one by one under their own weight, and are located below them. The bend rack 4 rolls on the top tray 4e and is dropped and stored in the commodity passage 4d arranged in the last row of the bend rack 4. Then, each time a product is sold from the product passage 4d in accordance with the progress of product sales, a new product 10 is sequentially supplied from the product stocker 15 to the product passage 4d each time.

On the other hand, in the lower internal space in which the bend rack 4 is housed, the cool air cooled by the cooler 6 or the warm air heated by the heater 7 is circulated by the internal fan 8 as shown by a dotted arrow. The bend rack 4 is kept cool or heated at a suitable temperature for sale. In this case, since the stocker storage space 12 is insulated and isolated from the lower internal space with the partition 11 interposed therebetween, the replenishment products stored in the stocker 15 are not cooled or heated. In other words, the replenishment products in the stocker storage space
It does not result in a thermal load on the heater, which can significantly reduce power consumption. The goods delivered from the stocker 15 are cooled and heated to an appropriate temperature for sale during the standby period while staying in the bend rack 4.

Then, the sale of goods proceeds, and the goods stocker 1
When the item 5 becomes empty, there is no product passing through the product outlet 13 and the product detection switch 16 is operated, and the product replenishment display lamp is turned on by the operation signal and a sign of "necessity of product replenishment" is issued. With the thermal insulation shutter 1
4 closes the opening end face of the product outlet 13 to prevent cold and warm air in the refrigerator from leaking into the stocker storage space 12. Even if the product stocker 15 becomes empty, the bend rack 4
Since the stocked goods remain in the goods passage 4d, the goods are not immediately sold out.
If the next supply product is put into the stocker 15 and set in the stocker storage space 12 while 0 remains, the product can be sold continuously without being sold out. In addition, as for the hot-selling products, the storage capacity is increased by the amount of a large number of replenished commodities that are stocked in the upper space in the warehouse at the same time, so that frequent replenishment of commodities is not required, and the route efficiency in the merchandise management can be improved.

[0015]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) For a specific merchandise aisle in a serpentine type bend rack, when the number of commodities decreases with the progress of sales, the number of commodities corresponding to the decrease from the merchandise stocker accommodating a large number of commodities is increased each time. Is automatically replenished. Therefore, if a high-selling product with a high sales turnover is allocated to the product aisle, the product replenishment cycle can be extended and the need for frequent product replenishment work can be obviated. In addition to raising the occupancy rate, it can also significantly improve route efficiency in product management.

(2) Further, the stocker storage space is insulated and isolated from the space in the lower warehouse where the bend rack is housed with the partition wall interposed therebetween, so that the replenished products stored in the product stocker can be cooled in the warehouse. It is not added as the heat load of the heating device. As a result, the power consumption of the cooling and heating devices can be greatly reduced and energy can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a product outlet of the partition wall in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cabinet 4 Bend rack 4d Product passage in the last row 11 Partition wall 12 Stocker storage space 13 Product outlet 14 Heat shielding shutter 15 Product stocker

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vending machine provided with a multiplex type serpentine type bend rack in which a plurality of product passages are arranged in front and rear rows in a cabinet of a cabinet serving as a heat insulating casing and a cooling or heating device in the cabinet. A partition wall made of a heat insulating material is provided on an upper side, and a storage space for a product stocker partitioned from a lower internal space in which a bend rack is arranged is formed by the partition wall. A vending machine, comprising: a product outlet for arranging and feeding replenished products from a stocker to a product path of a bend rack; and a heat shielding shutter provided at an opening end face of the product outlet to allow the product to pass therethrough.