JP4622202B2 - Vending machine control method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a control method for a vending machine, and more particularly to a control method for a vending machine that can be changed to an optimal control temperature in accordance with a cooling / heating operation mode and the number of installation stages of a product storage rack.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, in order to urge the vending machine users to purchase products, the outer door of the main body case and the heat insulating inner door are formed as see-through doors, so that the products in the warehouse and their sales operations can be seen from the outside. Various vending machines are provided. As an example of such a vending machine, for example, the applicant of the present application is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-302140. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional vending machine according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-302140.
[0003]
First, the overall configuration of the vending machine will be described with reference to FIG. The main body case 1 stores and preserves products and carries them out as necessary, and includes an outer door 2 having a transparent plate 2a and an inner door 3 having a transparent plate 3a so as to be freely opened and closed. . Further, the main body case 1 includes a product storage rack 4 in which racks 4a for storing products in a line in the front and rear are arranged in the upper and lower rows and the left and right rows.
[0004]
The product storage rack 4 includes a box rack 4a, a spiral rack (not shown), a conveyor rack (not shown), and the like formed so as to send out products forward based on a sales command. Each rack 4 a is mounted on a plurality of shelves 5 provided in the main body case 1.
[0005]
In addition, the inside of the main body case 1 is divided into, for example, an upper chamber 7 for hot beverages and a lower chamber 8 for cold beverages by a partition plate 6 as a heat insulating panel in order to classify the storage temperature range of the product. Has been. The partition position of the partition plate 6 can be changed as appropriate.
[0006]
The partition plate 6 is normally in a closed state, and is configured to open and secure a trajectory when an X-axis transport mechanism 9a described later moves up and down. Further, the partition plate 6 is always open in the summer when both the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 are cold chambers.
[0007]
Inside the inner door 3, an XY transport mechanism 9 is provided with the front surface of each rack 4a as the XY coordinate plane. As shown in FIG. 5, the XY transport mechanism 9 includes an X-axis transport mechanism that horizontally moves a bucket 10 that receives products delivered from the rack 4a, and a vertical movement of the X-axis transport mechanism. And a Y-axis transport mechanism that is controlled by a control unit (not shown).
[0008]
The X-axis transport mechanism includes an X-axis rail that movably supports the bucket 10, a left-right operation motor and timing belt that moves the bucket 10 left and right (X-axis direction), and a position detection sensor that detects the position of the bucket 10. And a plurality of slits for position detection by a position detection sensor, etc. provided on the X-axis rail.
[0009]
The Y-axis transport mechanism includes a pair of left and right Y-axis rails that slide-support the X-axis transport mechanism, a vertical movement motor that drives the X-axis transport mechanism up and down by driving a timing belt, and an X-axis that moves up and down. A number of position detection sensors for detecting the position of the transport mechanism and a number of slits for position detection by the position detection sensor are provided on the Y-axis rail.
[0010]
The bucket 10 that receives the product delivered from the rack 4a is moved to the vicinity of the lower center by the XY transport mechanism 9 formed as described above, and the outer door 2 is connected to the outer door 2 via the flapper 11 of the inner door 3. The product is configured to be taken out from the product outlet 12.
[0011]
The conventional vending machine configured as described above has one kind of preset control temperature for hot beverage and one kind of preset cold drink regardless of the compartment volume of each chamber 7 and 8. The heating / cooling operation is performed at the controlled temperature.
[0012]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, the chambers 7 and 8 are controlled at one set temperature regardless of the partition volume, and therefore the chambers 7 and 8 are considered in advance considering that the partition position of the partition plate 6 is changed. Load design (temperature control) is required when the maximum volume is reached.
[0013]
This means that depending on the partitioning position of the partition plate 6, for example, the volume of the cold beverage lower chamber 8 becomes small, resulting in a supercooling operation, and there is a problem that the energy saving effect is diminished. It was.
[0014]
In addition, since the temperature load to be controlled also changes depending on the number of column stages stored in each of the chambers 7 and 8, that is, the number of stored products, the design with the maximum load is required in this case as well, and the actual number of column stages is When the amount is small, the operation is overloaded, and the energy saving effect is reduced.
[0015]
Furthermore, in the case of these overload operations, for example, products that are too cold will be sold, so in order to prevent this, the service person or the like is so-called each time at the location of the vending machine. There is a problem that it is necessary to correct the set temperature again with the keyboard, which is very time-consuming.
[0016]
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a control method for a vending machine that can be changed to an optimal control temperature according to the cooling / heating operation mode and the number of installation stages of the product storage rack. Objective.
[0017]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above-described object, a control method for a vending machine according to the present invention is a control of a vending machine in which a product storage rack is arranged in each room partitioned by a partition plate, and each room is cooled or heated. In the method, the arrangement configuration of the product storage racks is detected by measuring the number of stages of the product storage racks arranged in each chamber, and the optimum load is determined for each of various rack arrangement configurations at the time of cooling setting or heating setting. The control temperature suitable for the detected rack arrangement configuration is selected from the temperature table created by obtaining the control temperature that can be operated in advance so that each room is cooled or heated at the selected control temperature. To drive.
[0018]
Therefore, the heating / cooling control temperature of each room can be optimally changed according to various rack configurations with different control loads, so that overload operation can be prevented and the energy saving effect can be enhanced. It is no longer necessary to modify the set control temperature at the location, and products with appropriate temperatures can be sold reliably.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a control method for a vending machine according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.
[0020]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control device of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the interior is partitioned by a partition plate, and FIG. 3 is according to the number of column stages. A chart showing the set control temperature table, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the control operation. In the following description, members that are the same as or correspond to those already described are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted or simplified.
[0021]
The overall configuration of the vending machine is the same as that of the prior art shown in FIG. 5, and the interior of the cabinet partitioned by the partition plate 6 is as schematically shown in FIG. Next, the main part of the control device of the vending machine will be described with reference to FIG. The main control unit 15 controls the entire vending machine and is connected to the main body control unit 16 through a communication line 17. The main body control unit 16 controls the XY transport mechanism 9 and the partition plate opening / closing mechanism 22 for opening and closing the partition plate 6. The ROM 16a of the main body control unit 16 stores data of a control temperature table (see FIG. 3) described later.
[0022]
The configuration of the XY transport mechanism 9 is the same as that of the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the XY transport mechanism 9 includes an X-axis transport mechanism 9a and a Y-axis transport mechanism 9b. The X-axis transport mechanism 9a includes an X-axis rail (not shown) that movably supports the bucket 10, a left-right operation motor 18 that moves the bucket 10 left and right (X-axis direction), and a timing belt (not shown). And a number of position detection sensors 19 for detecting the position of the bucket 10 and a plurality of slits (not shown) for position detection by the position detection sensors 19 provided on the X-axis rail.
[0023]
The Y-axis transport mechanism 9b drives the X-axis transport mechanism 9a by driving a pair of left and right Y-axis rails (not shown) that slide-support the X-axis transport mechanism 9a and a timing belt (not shown). A vertical movement motor 20 that drives up and down, a position detection sensor 21 that detects the position of the up and down X-axis transport mechanism 9a, and a number of slits for position detection by the position detection sensor 21 (see FIG. (Not shown).
[0024]
Next, the control temperature table will be described with reference to FIG. Depending on the position of the partition plate 6 partitioning the interior and the number of installation stages of the rack 4a, that is, the arrangement configuration of the rack 4a in the entire interior, the volume of the chambers 7 and 8 and the number of products stored should be controlled. Temperature load changes.
[0025]
Therefore, FIG. 3 shows a temperature table created by experimentally obtaining in advance a control temperature that can be operated at an optimum load according to the type of products sold for each rack configuration during cold setting and hot setting. It is. Here, the cold setting refers to the case where the partition plate 6 is opened and the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 are set cold, and the hot setting refers to the compartment being partitioned by the partition plate 6 and the upper chamber. 7 is a heating setting, and the lower chamber 8 is a cooling setting. 3, k are the number of stages of the rack 4a, T is a subscript representing the upper chamber 7, and B is a subscript representing the lower chamber 8.
[0026]
Next, the control operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the power of the vending machine is turned on or the inner door 3 is opened / closed, it is normally a time when a product filling operation is performed. Therefore, when the main control unit 15 detects this operation (step S10), X The -Y transport mechanism 9 is operated, and the configuration of the rack 4a is detected by the position detection sensors 19 and 21 (step S11). As the rack configuration detecting means, for example, the means shown in the second embodiment according to Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-264597 by the applicant of the present application can be used.
[0027]
In the detection of the rack configuration in step S11, as shown in FIG. 2, the number of stages of racks 4a in the upper chamber 7 is N, and the number of stages of racks 4a in the lower chamber 8 is n. At this time, when the partition plate 6 is opened and the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 are set cold, the temperature table shown in FIG. 3 is set to t (N + n) (step S12).
[0028]
Then, the temperature table in the upper chamber 7 at the time of hot setting is set to t (TN) (step S13), and the temperature table in the lower chamber 8 at the time of hot setting is further set to t (Bn) and waits ( Step S14, Step S15).
[0029]
As described above, according to the control method of the vending machine according to this embodiment, the heating / cooling control of the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 according to various rack configurations at the time of cold setting and hot setting. Since the temperature can be changed optimally, it is possible to prevent overload operation and increase the energy saving effect. Also, there is no need to modify the set control temperature at the location of the vending machine. it can.
[0030]
In the above-described embodiment, the vending machine control method according to the present invention is applied to the vending machine in which the interior of the warehouse is partitioned into the upper chamber 7 and the lower chamber 8 by the partition plate 6. However, the present invention can be similarly applied to vending machines configured in other sections.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the control method of the vending machine according to the present invention, the control method of the vending machine in which the product storage rack is arranged in each room partitioned by the partition plate and the respective rooms are cooled or heated. In the above, the arrangement configuration of the product storage racks arranged in the respective chambers is detected, and the control temperature that can be operated at the optimum load is obtained in advance for each of the various rack arrangement configurations at the time of cooling setting or heating setting. Since a control temperature suitable for the detected rack arrangement configuration is selected from the temperature table, and each room is operated to be cooled or heated at the selected control temperature, an overload operation is prevented. The energy-saving effect can be enhanced, and there is no need to modify the set control temperature at the vending machine location. .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a control device of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the interior of the warehouse is partitioned by a partition plate.
FIG. 3 is a chart showing a control temperature table set according to the number of column stages.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control operation.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a conventional vending machine.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body case 2 Outer door 2a, 3a Transparent board 3 Inner door 4 Goods storage rack 4a Rack 5 Shelf 6 Partition plate 7 Upper chamber 8 Lower chamber 9 XY conveyance mechanism 9a X-axis conveyance mechanism 9b Y-axis conveyance mechanism N Upper chamber Rack stage number n Lower indoor rack stage number 10 Bucket 11 Flapper 12 Product outlet 15 Main controller 16 Main body controller 16a ROM
17 Communication Line 18 Left / Right Operation Motor 19 Position Detection Sensor 20 Up / Down Operation Motor 21 Position Detection Sensor 22 Partition Plate Open / Close Mechanism

Claims (1)

In the control method of the vending machine in which the product storage rack is arranged in each room partitioned by the partition plate, and each room is cooled or heated,
Detecting the arrangement configuration of the product storage racks by measuring the number of stages of the product storage racks arranged in each chamber,
For each of the various rack arrangement configurations at the time of cooling setting or heating setting, select a control temperature suitable for the detected rack arrangement configuration from a temperature table created in advance by obtaining a control temperature that can be operated at an optimum load,
A control method for a vending machine, characterized in that the operation is performed so that each room is cooled or heated at the selected control temperature.

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