JP3149554B2 - Vending machine with built-in microwave oven and its product transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a microwave oven built in a machine, a product dropped from a product rack based on a sales order, loaded into a microwave oven, heated, taken out of the microwave oven and placed at a product outlet. The present invention relates to a vending machine with a built-in microwave oven for sending out, and a merchandise transfer device incorporated in the machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a vending machine for frozen and refrigerated goods, a microwave oven is built in the machine, and goods delivered from a goods rack are carried into a microwave oven based on a sales order, thawed, cooked and then cooked. Vending machines adapted to take out and deliver to a product outlet are already known.

[0003] Further, as a product transport device in the vending machine, a microwave oven arranged in the machine separately to the left and right and a product lifter leading to a product outlet are linked to receive a product dropped and transported from a product rack. A microwave oven and a reversible horizontal conveyor for conveying to a product lifter have already been proposed by the same applicant as the present invention, for example, as Japanese Patent Application No. 3-296083.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of a vending machine with a built-in microwave oven as proposed above. In the figure, 1 is a main body case of the vending machine, and 2 is a product rack housed in a freezer of the main body case 1. (For example, spiral product rack),
Reference numeral 3 denotes a shooter for guiding a box-shaped product 4 taken out of the product rack 2 to a product outlet 5 with a door that opens at the center of the refrigerator, 6 denotes a microwave oven installed on the back side of a front outer door (not shown), 7
Is a product outlet opening to the front outside door at the middle position opposite to the microwave oven 6, 8 is a product lifter for receiving the cooked product and sending it to the product outlet 7, 9 is a microwave oven 6 arranged side by side. This is a reversible rotary horizontal conveyor which is linked to a product lifter 8 and disposed between the two. The horizontal conveyor stretches an endless transport belt between a pair of left and right belt pulleys and is driven by a reversible rotary motor. It is configured as a belt-type conveyor.

Here, the microwave oven 6 has a vertically movable door 6a at the entrance, and a conveyor 6b arranged in the room in cooperation with the horizontal conveyor 9. A product take-out window leading to the product take-out port 7 is provided at an upper portion of a cylindrical case defining a lifting path of the product lifter 8, and a horizontal conveyor 9 is provided at a lower side surface.
The lifting table 8 has an opening for the product, and a vertically movable table 8 driven by a chain mechanism.
a, and a shutter 8b that opens and closes the above-described product insertion port in conjunction with the table 8a. In order to fulfill the anti-theft function, the elevating table 8a is stopped at the upper end of the elevating path in the standby state for sale to block the product passage leading to the inside of the machine from the product outlet 7, and the shutter 8b is in this standby position for the product. The loading port is closed to prevent the product 4 dropped from the product rack 2 onto the horizontal conveyor 9 from accidentally jumping into the lifter case.

In this configuration, when the frozen product 4 is unloaded from the product rack 2 based on the sales command, the product 4 drops and lands on the horizontal conveyor 9 via the shooter 3 and the product outlet 4 (arrows I and II). ). Subsequently, after opening the door 6a of the microwave oven 6, the horizontal conveyor 9 and the conveyor 6b built in the microwave oven 6 are driven to the right in synchronization with each other, and the horizontal conveyor 9 is opened.
Is delivered to the conveyor 6b and carried into the microwave oven (arrow III). Here, door 6
After closing a and thawing and cooking the product, open the door 6a again,
The horizontal conveyors 9 and 6b are reversed and driven to the left to take out the cooked product from the microwave oven 6 and transport it to the product lifter 8 (arrow IV). On the other hand, at this time, the lifting table 8a of the product lifter 8 is lowered and is waiting to move to the product receiving position, and the product sent from the horizontal conveyor 9 is transferred to the lifting table 8a (arrow V). Subsequently, the lifting table 8a of the product lifter 8 moves up and sends out the product to the product outlet 7. This completes one sales operation and returns to the sales standby state again.

[0007]

However, with the above-mentioned conventional construction, if there is a disturbance in the landing posture of the goods carried out from the warehouse to the horizontal conveyor, the goods are transferred from the horizontal conveyor to the microwave oven. , And the following problems may occur during the heating process in the microwave oven.

[0008] (1) The goods 4 carried out from the goods rack 2 through the chute 3 and the goods outlet 4 fall freely on the horizontal conveyor 9, so that the landing position of the goods is irregular, and the landing position should be originally lying down. As shown in FIG. 7, a product to be conveyed may be conveyed toward the microwave oven 6 while standing upside down on the belt surface of the horizontal conveyor 9 as shown in FIG. Thus, as shown in FIG.
Is conveyed toward the conveyor 6b of the microwave oven 6, the tip corner of the product 4 falls into the gap g between the horizontal conveyor 9 serving as an opening / closing passage of the door 6a and the conveyor 6b on the microwave oven side, and the position thereof. In addition to causing transport troubles such as bridging of the product, the parallelism of the pulleys (driving side and driven side) of the horizontal conveyor may be slightly deviated, When the transfer belt receives a gripping force, the position of the conveyor belt gradually shifts and may be disengaged from the pulley.

(2) Even if the goods can be delivered between the conveyors without involving the above-mentioned goods bridge, if the goods posture when the goods are carried into the microwave oven 6 is upside down, the sideways posture (box) Since the irradiation area of the electron beam is smaller than in the case where the shaped product has a large area facing up and down), there is a problem that the product is carried out without being thawed sufficiently during a predetermined heating time. Furthermore, if the box-shaped product is not parallel to the conveyor belt even in the same sideways position, the width of the microwave oven and the width of the cooking chamber must be adjusted to the diagonal length of the box-shaped product in order to store the product in the microwave oven. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the size to the size corresponding to the size of the microwave oven, and therefore, the output and the external size of the microwave oven become unnecessarily large.

(3) On the other hand, since the inner wall (metal wall) of the cooking chamber of the microwave oven plays a role of a shield for preventing leakage of electromagnetic waves, the goods brought into the microwave oven are temporarily transferred to the conveyor of the microwave oven. When the product is placed and transported until it hits the peripheral wall at the back of the cooking chamber, the product is heated while being in close contact with the peripheral wall of the cooking chamber. For this reason, local heating unevenness occurs in a portion in close contact with the peripheral wall surface, causing a problem that thawing of the entire product is not performed on average.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to solve the above-mentioned problems and to control the attitude of a product carried out of a product rack and landed on a horizontal conveyor without causing a transport trouble. A vending machine product transfer device that can be loaded into a microwave oven in a stable position with high heating efficiency, and a microwave oven that can uniformly heat the entire product by preventing uneven heating of the product loaded into the microwave oven It is to provide a cooking chamber structure.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, there is provided a merchandise conveying apparatus, comprising: a rib-like projection for correcting a conveying posture of a product on a belt peripheral surface of a horizontal conveyor and pushing the product to a microwave oven. Shall be provided. Also, in order to correct a product inverted on a horizontal conveyor to a sideways posture in the middle of conveyance, in the present invention, the horizontal conveyor with rib-like projections is directed to a product lifter on the opposite side of the microwave oven before being loaded into the microwave oven. The rib projection is formed as a wedge-shaped projection having a tapered surface toward the product lifter. In this case, as a measure to prevent the product from being locked while being sandwiched between the rib-shaped projections of the horizontal conveyor and the product lifter, the input side of the product lifter should be directed toward the horizontal conveyor. There are embodiments in which a protruding tapered product attitude guide is provided.

Further, as a measure for preventing a trouble that the conveyor belt of the horizontal conveyor comes off from the belt pulley, a concave groove formed on the peripheral surface of the belt pulley is fitted to the entire peripheral area on the back side of the belt along the longitudinal direction of the horizontal conveyor. There is also a configuration in which linear guide ribs that meet each other are bulged. On the other hand, as a means for preventing uneven heating of the product in the microwave oven, in the present invention, on the peripheral wall of the cooking chamber of the microwave oven, there is provided a barricade member for preventing the product brought into the cooking chamber from adhering to the wall surface. Shall be provided.

[0014]

According to the structure of the above-mentioned commodity transport apparatus, in the process of transporting the commodity arriving from the commodity rack and landing on the belt of the horizontal conveyor toward the microwave oven, the tip corner of the inverted commodity as shown in FIG. Even if the product falls into the gap between the horizontal conveyor and the conveyor with a built-in microwave oven and bridges, the rib-shaped projections that have moved around the back of the product forcibly push the product forward. The product is turned over in a hem-paying manner and changes to a side-down position, and is passed over the gap to a conveyor on the microwave oven side without fail.

Further, by driving the horizontal conveyor toward the product lifter located on the side opposite to the microwave oven before the product is introduced into the microwave oven, the products mounted on the belt can be moved through the product input port of the lifter. The shutter hits a closed shutter (the shutter is closed at this time as described with reference to FIG. 6), and is further pushed by the rib-shaped projections that have moved around from behind and pressed against the shutter surface. Thereby, the direction of the product whose landing posture on the horizontal conveyor is oblique is also corrected to the posture parallel to the belt of the horizontal conveyor.

Further, in this case, the rib-shaped projection is a wedge-shaped rib-shaped projection having a tapered surface toward the product lifter, and a tapered product attitude guide is provided on the product lifter side facing the horizontal conveyor. Thus, the product pressed against the product lifter is tilted forward by the function of the posture guide, so that the rib-shaped projections that have moved around are securely rubbed under the product. This eliminates the risk that the horizontal conveyor will be locked while the product is sandwiched between the product lifter and the rib-shaped protrusion.

When the horizontal conveyor is switched from the reverse rotation drive to the drive in the direction of the microwave oven, the product which has been inverted on the belt of the horizontal conveyor is stuck down sideways while maintaining a parallel posture with the legs being scooped. It is transferred to the microwave instead of the posture. Thereby, the goods can be smoothly transferred between the horizontal conveyor and the microwave oven while the goods are corrected to the correct posture during the transportation.

Further, a guide rib is formed along the longitudinal direction of the horizontal conveyor along the entire length of the back side of the belt so as to bulge into a groove formed on the peripheral surface of the belt pulley. The belt moves around while being guided along the groove.Therefore, there is some deviation in the parallelism between the pulleys, and the belt comes off the pulley even if external force such as handling in the width direction is applied to the belt during the product transport process. There is no danger that a stable transport state can be maintained at all times.

On the other hand, the barricade member provided on the peripheral wall in the cooking chamber of the microwave oven prevents the goods carried into the microwave oven from adhering to the peripheral wall surface of the cooking chamber, and is located at a position separated from the wall surface during heating. Holds and acts to prevent uneven heating of the product.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the drawings of the embodiment, the same members corresponding to FIGS. 6 and 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals. First, in FIGS. 1 and 2, the arrangement of the microwave oven 6, the product lifter 8, and the horizontal conveyor 9 is basically the same as that of FIG. 6, but the horizontal conveyor 9 is configured as described below. That is,
An endless belt 9c stretched between a pair of left and right pulleys 9a and 9b is driven in a forward direction and a reverse direction by a reversible motor 9d. The rib-like projections 9e are formed at regular intervals. The rib-like projection 9e is formed integrally with the belt 9c, and becomes a wedge-shaped projection having a tapered surface toward the product lifter 8 as shown in the figure.
Further, on the back side of the belt 9c, two right and left guide ribs 9f are formed to protrude over the entire circumference along the longitudinal direction thereof, and the guide ribs 9f are formed on the peripheral surfaces of the pulleys 9a and 9b. It is fitted around 9g and guided around.

Next, the operation of transporting a product into the microwave oven according to the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. First, FIG. 1A shows a state in which a product 4 carried out of a product rack based on a sales command lands on a horizontal conveyor 9 through a product outlet 5 in an inverted posture. Here, in order to carry the product 4 into the microwave oven 6, first, as shown in FIG.
Is driven in the direction opposite to the microwave oven (arrow P).
As a result, the product 4 remains on the belt while the product lifter 8
6 (see FIG. 6), and is pressed against the shutter by the rib-shaped projection 9e that has moved around from behind. As a result, the posture of the product 4 that is standing upside down on the belt surface as indicated by the chain line is corrected so as to be in a direction parallel to the belt 9c. Since the surface of the rib-shaped protrusion 9e in contact with the product 4 has a tapered surface as described above, when the product 4 is pressed against the product lifter 8, the rib-shaped protrusion 9e rubs through the lower surface of the product and moves around. Therefore,
The horizontal conveyor 9 is not locked. Then, after driving the horizontal conveyor 9 in the direction of the arrow P by a predetermined stroke, when the direction is changed as shown in FIG. 3C and the horizontal conveyor 9 is driven in the direction of the arrow Q, the product leans on the entrance shutter of the product lifter 8. The product 4 in the inverted posture represented by the dashed line is in a posture of lying sideways on the belt 9c while maintaining a parallel posture with the belt 9c in a form in which the feet are scooped by the rib-shaped protrusions 9e that have moved around from the opposite direction. . The horizontal conveyor 9
(D), the door 6a of the microwave oven 6 is opened and the conveyor 6b in the microwave oven is driven synchronously with the horizontal conveyor 6b in accordance with the change of direction as shown in FIG. And is carried into the microwave oven. Also, in this delivery process, even if the tip of the product 4 comes into contact with the conveyor 6b and stops, the rib-like projections 9e that have moved around from behind forcefully push the product 4 forward. As a result, the product 4 gets over the gap between the conveyors and is surely carried into the microwave oven 6.

On the other hand, the belt 9c of the horizontal conveyor 9 has the guide rib 9f on the back side as shown in FIG.
The belt 9c is fitted and guided in the circumferential groove 9g of the belt 9b, so that even if there is a slight deviation in the parallelism between the pulleys or an improper handling force is applied to the belt in the width direction during the product transport process, the belt 9c Does not fall off the pulleys 9a and 9b,
The belt can be driven to rotate while maintaining a stable state.

Next, FIG. 4 shows an embodiment in which the product conveying apparatus described in the above embodiment is further improved. In this embodiment, a tapered product attitude guide 8c that protrudes toward the horizontal conveyor 9 on the wall surface of the shutter 8b at the entrance side of the product lifter 8 is additionally provided. That is, in the embodiment, when the product 4 is sandwiched between the product lifter 8 and the rib-shaped protrusion 9e of the horizontal conveyor 9 in the state shown in FIG. , The horizontal conveyor 9 may be locked. In this regard, if the product attitude guide 8c is provided as shown in FIG. 4, when the product 4 is pressed against the product lifter 8 from the state shown in FIG. 4A, the product 4 hits the tapered surface of the product attitude guide 8c. (B) as shown in FIG. Therefore, the trailing edge of the product 4 slightly rises from the belt 9c of the horizontal conveyor 9, and the tapered surface of the wedge-shaped rib-shaped projection 9e that has circulated into the gap enters. As a result, the rib-like projections 9e can slide under the product 4, and the locking of the horizontal conveyor 9 is reliably avoided.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the present invention relating to the structure of a cooking chamber of a microwave oven 6 mounted on a vending machine. That is, in the configuration of FIG. 5, a strip-shaped barricade member 6c is provided on the wall of the microwave oven 6 in the cooking chamber. The barricade member 6c holds the product 4 carried into the microwave oven 6 at a position separated from the peripheral wall surface of the cooking chamber as shown in the figure, and serves as a protective fence that prevents the product from being heated while being in close contact with the wall surface. Play a role. That is, the product 4 carried into the cooking chamber from the horizontal conveyor through the door 6a of the microwave oven 6.
Does not come into contact with the above-mentioned barricade member 6c and stops at that position while being carried deep into the room by the conveyor 6b, and does not directly adhere to the peripheral wall surface of the cooking chamber. Thereby, the whole product can be heated on average without uneven heating when the product 4 is thawed.

[0025]

As described above, according to the structure of the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (1) According to the configuration of the commodity transport apparatus described in claims 1 to 4 of the present invention, a commodity that has been brought out of a commodity rack and landed in an irregular posture by being inverted on a horizontal conveyor, for example,
The posture can be corrected to a stable sideways posture that does not cause a transport trouble such as a bridge in the transporting process to be carried into the microwave oven, and can be delivered to the conveyor on the microwave oven side, thereby improving the reliability of the product transport operation.

(2) By adopting the configuration of claim 5 of the present invention, it is possible to avoid troubles such as the belt of the horizontal conveyor coming off unexpectedly during operation. (3) By adopting the configuration of claim 6 of the present invention with respect to the microwave oven mounted in the machine, the product brought into the microwave oven is not heated while being in close contact with the wall surface. During heating, the entire product can be heated on average while suppressing local uneven heating of the product.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an entire product transport device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the horizontal conveyor in FIG.

FIGS. 3A to 3D are explanatory diagrams of an operation of carrying goods into a microwave oven in FIG. 1, wherein FIGS.

4A and 4B are explanatory diagrams of the configuration and operation of an improved embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 4A is a diagram showing a state immediately before pressing a product against a product lifter during transportation, and FIG. Figure showing the state where the rib-shaped protrusions of the horizontal conveyor are rubbed off

FIG. 5 is a view showing an internal structure of a microwave oven according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein (a) is a longitudinal side view of the microwave oven,
(B) is a cross-sectional plan view

FIG. 6 is a conventional configuration diagram of a vending machine with a built-in microwave oven to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state of occurrence of a transport trouble generated in a process of carrying goods into a microwave oven by the configuration of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Commodity rack 6 Microwave oven 6a Door 6b Conveyor 6c Barricade member 7 Commodity outlet 8 Commodity lifter 8c Commodity attitude guide 9 Horizontal conveyor 9a Pulley 9b Pulley 9c Belt 9e Rib-shaped protrusion 9f Guide rib 9g Concave groove

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vending machine product in which a microwave oven is built in the machine, and a product carried out of a product rack based on a sales command is carried into a microwave oven, heated, taken out of the microwave oven, and sent out to a product outlet. A reversible reversing device that links a microwave oven, which is separated and installed on the left and right, with a product lifter that leads to a product outlet, receives products dropped from a product rack, and conveys them to the microwave oven and the product lifter. A vending machine with a built-in microwave oven, characterized in that a rib-shaped projection is provided on the peripheral surface of the belt of the horizontal conveyor to correct the conveying posture of the product and push it to the microwave oven. Product transport device. 2. The goods conveying device according to claim 1, wherein after the goods carried out of the goods rack are delivered to the horizontal conveyor, the horizontal conveyor with the rib-like projections is moved to the opposite side of the microwave oven before being carried into the microwave oven. A product transport device for a vending machine with a built-in microwave oven, which is driven toward a product lifter. 3. The vending machine with a built-in microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein the rib projection is a wedge-shaped projection having a tapered surface toward the product lifter. Transport device. 4. A vending machine with a built-in microwave oven according to claim 1, wherein a product attitude guide with a taper protruding toward a horizontal conveyor is provided on the input port side of the product lifter. Goods transport equipment. 5. The product conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the linear conveyor mating with the concave groove formed on the peripheral surface of the belt pulley is formed in the entire peripheral area on the back side of the belt along the longitudinal direction of the horizontal conveyor. A product conveying device for a vending machine with a built-in microwave oven, characterized in that a guide rib is formed to bulge. 6. A vending machine having a built-in microwave oven, wherein a product carried out of a product rack based on a sales command is carried into a microwave oven, heated, then taken out of the microwave oven and sent out to a product take-out port. On the surrounding wall of the cooking room,
A vending machine with a built-in microwave oven, comprising a barricade member for preventing a product brought into a cooking chamber from adhering to a wall surface.