JPS598869B2 - Vending machine control circuit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a control method for a vending machine having a hot water tank for heating and storing water, such as a coffee vending machine, and a heater and a cooler, such as an ice maker for cooling water and making ice. Regarding circuits.

This type of vending machine is designed to sell hot and cold drinks.

In fact, it is desirable to sell many cold drinks in the summer and many hot drinks in the winter, and to have high temperatures.

In this case, a large-capacity heater is provided as a heating device, and a large-capacity electric compressor is provided as a cooling device.

Therefore, it is desired to avoid simultaneous operation in terms of power and equipment, and to control the two in a well-balanced manner.

Moreover, it is necessary to be able to cope with changes in the amount of hot water or ice used when the sales volume of hot and cold drinks differs depending on the season or the location where the vending machine is installed.

The present invention aims to satisfy these conditions and compensate for the drawbacks of the prior art.

For example, a coffee vending machine, which generally has a hot water tank and an ice maker, can sell hot coffee (hereinafter referred to as hot) and cold coffee (hereinafter referred to as cold) in one vending machine, and customers can purchase hot or cold coffee. The product is selected by pressing the product selection button, and the products are sold according to the selection.

Sales volume varies depending on the season, with cold products selling more in the summer and hot products selling more in the winter.

By the way, according to the conventional sales circuit shown in Fig. 1, first, the contact of the hot water tank is normally closed, and when the heater H is continuously energized due to some abnormality in the hot water tank and the temperature rises too high, the contact is opened to open the dry cooking state. It is equipped with a thermostat for detecting excessive temperature rise.

In addition, the contact is normally closed (first state), and the contact is opened when the hot water temperature reaches the specified keep-warm temperature (second state). When the minimum permissible sales temperature lower than the insulation temperature is reached, the contact opens (first state) and closes (second state).The low temperature thermostat (first temperature detector) TH3 and the water in the hot water tank are constant! It is equipped with a level detection switch SW1, etc. whose contacts are closed when the level is held above the level.

The ice maker has a water level detection switch SW2 that closes the contact when the ice maker's reservoir is filled with water at a certain level, and a water level detection switch SW2 that detects the amount of ice stock and changes the contact from open (first state) to closed (second state) when the ice maker's reservoir is full. The ice level switch (cooling state detector) SW3 is provided.

Furthermore, a sold-out relay xSS and a sold-out display lamp L2 are provided, which are energized when the water temperature and ice-making state are in a standby state, and an auxiliary relay XM is provided for alternately operating the heater circuit H and the ice-making machine circuit M. .

Next, when explaining the order of operation, the names of switches, relays, etc. will be omitted and only the symbols will be used.

Assume that when the power is first turned on, the temperature of the hot water tank is low and there is no water in the ice maker.

In this state, TH1, SW1, and TH2 are closed, and TH
3 is open, the heater circuit H is energized via the b contact XM2 of XM.

After that, when the water temperature reaches the lowest allowable sales temperature, TH3 closes, and on the other hand, if the water level in the ice maker reservoir reaches a certain level and SW2 closes, THI SWI
XSS is excited through SW2 TH3.

When XSS is excited, its a contact XSS1 closes TH1
-SW1 -SW2 XSSt XM SW3
is energized, XM is energized, and accordingly, the b contact XMz of XM inserted in the H circuit opens, cutting off the energization of M, and the a contact XM1 closes, so that the energization is switched to the ice maker circuit M.

In the ice maker circuit M, when SW3 is opened, that is, when the ice stock is full, XM is de-energized and turned off, and the heater circuit H is turned off.
Switch to .

To summarize, the H is energized until the lowest temperature at which hot water or hot water can be sold, but after that, the M is energized preferentially.

Therefore, this control circuit is suitable when cold sales are large.

If the surrounding heated water tank island temperature rises excessively due to dry heating, etc. (T
HI open), the water in the hot water tank has not reached a certain water level (SW, open), the hot water temperature in the hot water tank has not reached the selling temperature (TH2 open), the water in the ice maker reservoir has reached a certain water level. In any case, such as when the product is not sold out (SW2 is open), the sold-out indicator lamp L2 lights up.

The above operation order is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2, and the operation process is shown in the time chart of FIG.

As can be seen from the time chart, it is not possible to adjust the time from when the vending machine is turned on until the vending machine is ready to sell hot or cold as necessary.

For example, in the winter, a large amount of hot water was required and it was not possible to sell the product at high temperatures.

This is because until TH3 is turned on and SW3 is turned on, the hot water tank is heated only to the lowest temperature at which hot beverages can be sold, resulting in the problem that the temperature of hot beverages becomes low and lukewarm.

Also, when selling hot water, we use hot water from a hot water tank.
When selling cold coffee, for example, a small amount of hot water is used from a hot water tank to melt the ingredients, and ice is added from an ice maker to keep the temperature low. It was difficult to respond to changes in the amount of hot water and ice used depending on the installation location.

From this point of view, the present invention eliminates the above-mentioned defects and provides a control circuit that can satisfy the above conditions.

To do this, we follow the conventional control circuit that gives priority to cold, and then add a changeover switch (priority setting device) SW,i that gives priority to the ice maker circuit and the heater, as well as a thermostat for adjusting the temperature of the hot water tank. Relay X for hot water heater to detect whether TH2 status is on or off
H is provided, and XM is connected via b contact XH1 of this relay XH.
The circuit is cut off and the ice maker circuit is switched to the heater circuit, giving priority to the heater circuit in order to cope with the winter season when demand for hot ice cream is high, for example.

An embodiment of the control circuit will be described below with reference to FIG.

As can be seen at a glance, the difference from Figure 1 is that after the temperature control thermostat TH2 inserted in the heater H circuit, there is a priority changeover switch SW4 connected in parallel to the series circuit of the heater H and the B contact XM2 of XM, and a heater priority switch. Connect the series circuit with relay XH, and connect b contact XH1 of heater priority relay XH to the circuit of relay XM for switching between ice maker circuit M and heater H.
are inserted in series.

In other words, the ice maker relay is configured so that it can be detected whether H is on or not, and the ice maker relay is configured so that it can be detected whether or not H is on, regardless of the low temperature switch TH3. I'm trying to prevent XM from working.

Therefore, when the selector switch SW4 is not closed, the operation is the same as before, and priority is given to the ice maker circuit.

The sequence of operations when the selector switch SW4 is turned on will be described below.

For example, if you turn on switch SW4 during the winter season when a large amount of hot food is sold, as long as SW4 is closed and temperature control thermostat TH2 is closed, TRI-TK will be activated.
2 -SW4 -XH is energized, XH is excited and XH
Since the b contact XH1 of is opened, <XM, which is related to the ice making state, that is, the ice level switch SW3, is cut off.

Therefore, the heater H is energized via the b contact XM2 of XM.

Also, when the hot water tank is heated, the thermostat TH3, which had been open until then, closes and energizes the sold-out relay XSS.
Its a contact XSS. The circuit that was designed to excite the ice maker relay XM via the circuit and switch to the ice maker M circuit is no longer relevant.

Therefore, the heater H is energized until the hot water tank reaches the keep-warm temperature, which eliminates the need to sell lukewarm water and shortens the time required to reach the keep-warm temperature.

Only while the hot water tank reaches the heat retention temperature and the temperature control thermostat TH2 is open, the ice maker circuit M is automatically switched to the ice maker circuit M via XM under the condition that the ice maker is not full.

The flowchart is shown in FIG. 4, and as can be seen from the time chart in FIG. 6, the hot priority circuit is activated by turning on the changeover switch SW4, and hot water can be sold immediately after the power is turned on.

During the summer when cold sales are high, switching switch SW4 is turned off to provide the above-mentioned cold priority circuit.

According to the control circuit according to the present invention, the control circuit includes a heater for heating sales products or raw materials, and a cooler for cooling the sold products or raw materials.
Warm and cold products? In a vending machine that sells both products, the temperature of the product or raw material heated by the heater is detected, and when the temperature reaches a preset minimum allowable sales temperature, the output is changed from the first state to the second state. a first temperature sensor that changes the temperature between two states; a second temperature sensor that changes the output from the second state to the second state when a heat retention temperature preset higher than the minimum sales allowable temperature is reached; and the temperature sensor that is cooled by the cooler. a cooling state detector that detects the cooling state of a sales product or raw material and changes the output from a first state to a second state when the state reaches a predetermined sales permissible state; and a cooling state detector that gives priority to energization of the heater and cooler. A priority setting device that switches and sets the order to either the heater or the cooler, and when this priority setting device is set to the heater priority side, when the second temperature sensor is in the first state. energizes the heater regardless of the state of the other detectors, and
When the temperature detector is in the second state, power is switched to the cooler until the cooling state detector is in the second state, and when the priority setting device is set to the cooler priority side, the When one temperature sensor is in the first state, the heater is energized regardless of the state of the other detectors, and the first temperature sensor is in the second state and the cooling state detector is in the first state. In some cases, the energization is switched to the cooler regardless of the state of the second temperature sensor, and when the first temperature sensor is in the second state and the cooling state detector is in the second state, the second temperature is changed. It is a simple additional component that includes an energization priority switching circuit that switches energization to the heater again until the detector returns to the second state, and the amount of hot water used can be changed by operating the changeover switch SW4. It can respond to changes in the amount of ice used and fully demonstrate its functions.

It also solves the problem of low temperatures during hot sales.
In addition, the power supply capacity is the same as the conventional one, so the time required for hot selling after turning on the power can be shortened.

In the explanation, we talked about coffee vending machines, but it is applicable not only to those with a hot water tank and an ice maker, but also to those with a hot water tank and a cold water machine. It can also be applied to tea machines, etc.

Naturally, the illustrated control circuit can also be constructed from an electronic circuit.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 shows the control circuit of a conventional vending machine, and Figure 2 shows the control circuit of a conventional vending machine.
3 is a control circuit of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a flowchart in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is a time chart in FIG. 1, and FIG. Time chart. TH1: Thermostat for preventing excessive temperature rise, TH2: Thermostat for temperature adjustment, TH3: Thermostat for low temperature, SW,: Low water level switch for hot water tank, SW2: Low water level switch for ice maker, SW3: Ice level switch, SW4: Heater, ice maker priority switch, H: Heater, M: Ice maker circuit, XH, XSS, XM: Auxiliary relay, L2: Sold out indicator lamp.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In a vending machine that is equipped with a heater that heats products or raw materials for sale and a cooler that cools them, and that sells both hot and cold products, the temperature of each product or raw material heated by the heater is detected. a first temperature detector that changes the output from the first state to the second state when the temperature reaches a preset minimum sales allowable temperature; and a first temperature detector that changes the output from the first state to the second state when the temperature reaches a preset minimum sales allowable temperature; a second temperature detector that changes the output from the first state to the second state, and detects the cooling state of the sales product or raw material cooled by the cooler, and outputs the output when the state reaches a predetermined sales permissible state. a cooling state detector for changing the state from the first state to the second state; a priority setting device for switching and setting the energization priority order of the heater and the cooler to either the heater or the cooler; When set to the priority side, when the second temperature sensor is in the first state, the heater is energized regardless of the states of other detectors, and the second temperature sensor is in the second state. When the cooling state detector is in the second state, power is switched to the cooler until the cooling state detector is in the second state, and when the priority setting device is set to the cooler priority side, the first temperature detector is in the first state. When the first temperature sensor is in the second state and the cooling state detector is in the first state, the heater is energized regardless of the states of other detectors, and when the first temperature sensor is in the second state and the cooling state detector is in the first state, a second temperature is detected. Regardless of the state of the cooler, when the first temperature sensor is in the second state and the cooling state detector is in the second state, the second temperature sensor is in the second state. 1. A control circuit for a vending machine, comprising: an energization priority switching circuit configured to switch energization to the heater again until .