JPS6143757B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a control device for a vending machine.

For example, in a vending machine that sells hot coffee and cold coffee, coffee powder, sugar, and milk powder are dissolved and mixed in hot water, and for this purpose a heater is installed to heat the water in a predetermined water tank 2. It is being This heater is
In order to get hot water quickly, the tank is separated into an upper and a lower half. In addition, in order to sell cold coffee, a motor compressor is used to freeze the water in another water tank and pass the hot coffee melted as described above through the cooling pipe installed in the water tank. is provided. Furthermore, an ice maker for making ice to be added to coffee when cold coffee is sold is also equipped with a motor compressor.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the main parts of this type of vending machine, in which 1a and 1b are heaters that separately heat the water in the hot water tank 2 in the upper half and the lower half, The temperature is controlled at an appropriate temperature of about 85° C. by bimetallic temperature sensors 3 and 4, respectively. 5 is an ice maker, and 7 is an ice amount detection switch, which is attached to the top of the ice maker 5. During ice making, the switch 7 is off and the motor compressor 6 is on, and when a predetermined amount of ice is made, the ice amount is detected. When the detection switch 7 turns on, the ice-making motor compressor 6
is off.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a water tank in which ice is stored to cool the coffee dissolved in hot water. A cooling pipe (not shown) is provided in this water tank, and by passing the coffee through this cooling pipe, the coffee is heated to a predetermined temperature. Cool until cool. 10 is a motor compressor that freezes the water in the water tank 8, and 9 is a temperature sensor that detects the temperature of the water (ice) in the water tank 8.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a conventional control circuit used in the device shown in FIG.
The motor compressors 6 and 10 are controlled individually and in random order by turning on and off the temperature sensors 3, 4 and 9 and the ice amount detection switch 7, respectively.

Therefore, for example, during the so-called set-up period after the vending machine is installed and ready for sale, the heaters 1a and 1b, the aquarium motor compressor, and the ice-making motor compressor 6 operate at the same time. Because of this, the starting current becomes large. Therefore, in order to support vending machines that handle a wide variety of products, there is a drawback that electrical work is required to change the contract current, that is, the outlet capacity to 20A or 30A, when installing the vending machine. Ta.

This invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides a priority order for the operation of the loads so as not to exceed the contracted current, even for vending machines equipped with various electrical loads in order to handle large and diverse products. The purpose is to provide a circuit that gives and controls the following.

Note that in this type of vending machine, sales of products vary depending on the season, and when setting up the machine, it is necessary to make the products available for sale as quickly as possible starting with the products that sell best. For example, in hot coffee and cold coffee vending machines,
For example, in winter, sales of cold coffee are lower than hot coffee, so it is necessary to prepare a large amount of hot water in the water tank 2 sooner than when making ice with an ice maker.

On the other hand, cold coffee sells well in the summer, so after securing the hot water necessary to melt coffee powder, etc., it is necessary to prioritize ice making with an ice maker.

Therefore, another object of the present invention is to shorten the setup period by allowing the startup priority of each device to be selected in accordance with the sales situation.
To enable a vending machine to be set in a state where it can be sold at an early stage.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 3, 3, 4, and 9 are temperature sensors similar to those shown in FIG. 1, and 7 is an ice amount detection switch.
9 and one terminal of the ice amount detection switch 7 are input ports 21, 22, 2 of the microcomputer 20.
3 and 24, and the other terminal is connected to a signal output port 25 that outputs a predetermined pulse signal. The microcomputer 20 contains a program that controls the starting order of the motor compressors 6, 10 and heaters 1a, 1b according to one of three modes A, B, and C as shown in FIG. 5a and b. It is equipped with

Note that in FIGS. 1 and 3, 3' is a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of hot water in the hot water tank 2, and its terminal is connected to the input port 21'.

30 is a mode selection switch as a mode setting means consisting of a slide switch that can select hot beverage priority mode A in winter, cold beverage priority mode B in summer, and indoor priority mode C in which hot and cold drinks sell equally. One of the contacts 31 that is turned on in B mode is connected to the input port 26 of the microcomputer 20, the contact 32 that is turned on in B mode is connected to the input port 27, and the other of the contacts 31 and 32 is connected to the signal input port 28. connected to.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the selection switch 30 turns on the contacts 31 and 32 by setting the knob 33 to any one of the positions A, B, and C.

41 is a relay for controlling the heater 1a, 42 is a relay for controlling the heater 1b, 43 is a relay for controlling the ice-making motor compressor 6, 44 is a relay for controlling the motor compressor 10 for the water tank 8, and each relay is the output terminal 5 of the microcomputer 20
1, 52, 53, and 54, respectively. Figure 4 shows heaters 1a, 1b and motor compressor 6.
and 10 drive circuits are shown, 41a to 4
4a is a normally open contact of each relay 41-44.

In the above configuration, when the vending machine is installed and the power is turned on, the contents of the RAM are cleared, the microcomputer is initialized, and all products are sold out or stopped.

In step 01.02, the aquarium motor compressor 10 is first turned on, and the temperature TC of the water in the aquarium 8 detected by the temperature sensor 9 is, for example, TC _1.
The water in the water tank 8 is cooled until it reaches =6°C.
This means that a large amount of heat is required to freeze all of the cooling water in the water tank 8, for example about 4 hours after startup, but the cooling water can be cooled to the predetermined temperature TC ₁ = 6°C without waiting for it to freeze. If this is done, it will be possible to sell small volumes of cold coffee, so first, the water in the water tank 8 is cooled to, for example, about 6°C.

If the mode selection switch 30 is currently switched to mode A, the contact 31 is turned on,
A signal is applied to the input port 26 to select mode A of FIG. 5a in the microcomputer 20, and the process proceeds to step A1.

Then, the temperature TH in the hot water tank 2 is detected by the temperature sensor 3', and if the temperature TH is below the sold-out release temperature TH ₁ = 70°C, the process goes to A2 and relay 41 is detected.
is turned on, the heater 1a is turned on, and the water temperature in the upper half of the hot water tank 2 is increased. This heating boils the water needed to melt and mix the coffee powder, sugar, and milk powder.

When the water temperature in the hot water tank 2 reaches 70°C, proceed to step A3, cancel the sold-out status of hot coffee (described as H product in Figure 5 a), and proceed to step A3.
Proceeding to step 4, the state of the temperature sensor 3 is determined.

Then, it is determined whether the temperature sensor 3 is on or off. If the temperature inside the hot water tank 2 is low and the sensor 3 is on, a signal is applied to the input port 21, and the process proceeds to step A5, where the relay 41 is turned on and the contact 41 is turned on.
a is turned on, the heater 1a is heated, and the water in the upper half of the hot water tank 2 is heated. This operation continues while the temperature sensor 3 is on. Even if the other temperature sensors 4 are on and the ice amount detection switch 7 is off, steps A6 and subsequent steps will not be executed, so the relays 42 and 43 will be off and the heater 1b,
Motor compressors 6 and 10 do not operate.

Therefore, power is supplied from the power supply only to the heater 1a.

By the above-described operations, first preparations are made for selling hot coffee.

For example, the water temperature in the upper half of hot water tank 2 is 85℃.
When this temperature is reached, the temperature sensor 3 is turned off, the process proceeds to step A6, the relay 41 is turned off, and the heating by the heater 1a ends. The process then proceeds to step A7, where it is determined whether the temperature sensor 4 is on or off. If the temperature of the lower half of the hot water tank 2 is below 80°C, the temperature sensor 4 is turned on, and the process proceeds to step A8, where the relay 42 is turned on, the heater 1b is energized, and the hot water tank 2 is turned on. The water in the lower half of is heated by this heater 1b.

In this case, as in the case described above, even if the ice amount detection switch 7 is turned off, step A11 is not executed and the relay 43 is turned off, so that the motor compressor 6 is not operated at the same time.

When the temperature of the water in the lower half of the hot water tank 2 reaches the set value and the temperature sensor 4 is turned off, a negative determination is made in step A7, the relay 42 is turned off, and the process proceeds to step A10, where the ice amount detection switch 7 is turned off. A determination of the state is made.

When the ice in the ice maker 5 has not reached the predetermined amount, the ice amount detection switch 7 is turned off, and a negative determination is made in step A10, and the process proceeds to step A11, where the relay 43 is turned on and the contact 43a is turned on. Then, the motor compressor 6 of the ice maker 5 is started and ice is made.

Mode A is a mode used when the vending machine is installed in the winter when hot drinks sell well, and hot water is always given priority over ice.

As described above, the heaters 1a, 1b and the motor compressor 6 are operated one by one to prevent a large starting current from flowing.

Next, when the power switch is turned on with the mode selection switch 30 set to B mode, a signal is applied to the input port 27, and the step
After the operation of 01.02, the B mode program is selected.

In this mode B, the state of the temperature sensor 3' is first determined in step B1, and if YES, the relay 41 and the contact 41a are turned on, the heater 1a is energized, and the temperature in the hot water tank 2 is raised to a predetermined temperature. In this case, even if the temperature sensor 4 is on and the ice amount detection switch 7 is off, unless the condition TH>TH ₁ is satisfied, steps B3 and subsequent steps will not be executed, so the relays 42 and 43 will not be turned on, and the heater 1b , the motor compressor 6 is not supplied with power.

After that, the temperature in the upper half of the hot water tank increases,
If TH > TH ₁ , the heater 1a is turned off in steps B3 and B4, and the process proceeds to step B5, where the ice amount detection switch 7 is judged, and when the switch 7 is off, the process proceeds to step B6, where the relay 43,
By turning on the contact 43a, the motor compressor 6
Start up and start making ice.

When the ice making is completed and the ice amount detection switch 7 is turned on, the cold coffee sold-out condition is canceled and the process proceeds to step B8, where the motor compressor 6 is turned off.
Further, the process proceeds to B9, where the temperature sensor 3 is determined, and if it is off, the heater 1a is energized again to reheat the water in the upper half of the hot water tank 2.

When the water in the upper half is heated to a predetermined temperature (85°C) and the temperature sensor 3 is turned off, step B
11, the heater 1a is turned off, and the process goes to step B12, where the temperature sensor 4 is determined, the relay 42 and the contact 42a are turned on, and the heater 1b is energized.

This mode B is a mode for when the vending machine is installed in the summer when cold drinks are popular, and only the minimum amount of hot water is first made to dissolve and mix the powdered ingredients such as coffee powder. Prioritize making ice with an ice maker, then boil water for hot coffee.

Next, when mode selection switch C is switched, contacts 31 and 32 are both off and no signals are applied to input ports 26 and 27, so mode C program is selected and step C1 Proceed to.

In this mode C, first, step C1,
At C2, the water is heated to the temperature TH ₁ (=70°C) by the heater 1a, the hot coffee is released, and the process proceeds to steps C4 and C5, where the heater 1a is further heated and the upper half of the hot water tank 2 is heated. Heat to 85°C.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to step C7, where the ice-making motor compressor 6 is driven to make ice, and then the heater 1b is heated.

Mode C is selected when the vending machine is installed in a building or the like where hot coffee and cold coffee sell at the same rate.

After the vending machine is set up in either mode as described above, it shifts to the normal operation shown in FIG. 5b, and the motor compressor 10 for the water tank 8, the heater 1a for the hot water tank, Ice maker motor compressor 6, hot water tank heater 1
Each device is driven in the order of b. Note that the motor compressor 10 of the water tank 8 is turned off when the water in the water tank 8 freezes and the temperature falls below 0°C.

As mentioned above, the present invention provides a vending machine equipped with a plurality of heaters and compressors, in which the heaters and compressors are activated individually in a predetermined order when the vending machine is powered on, thereby making installation of the vending machine easier. At times, large currents do not flow through all devices at the same time.
15A), there is no need for power supply construction to increase the current, large-capacity vending machines can be installed at low cost, and the startup order of devices can be changed. It is possible to carry out setup commensurate with product sales and move to actual sales operations in a short period of time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a heater and compressor in a vending machine, Fig. 2 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a conventional control circuit used in the vending machine shown in Fig. 1, and Figs. 5 is a control circuit diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 5a and 5b are flowcharts showing various modes used in the circuit of FIG. 3, and FIG.
The figure is a front view showing an example of a mode selection switch. 1a, 1b... Heater, 2... Hot water tank,
3, 4... Temperature sensor (for hot water tank), 5...
Ice maker, 6... Motor compressor for ice maker, 7
... Ice amount detection switch, 8 ... Water tank, 9 ... Temperature sensor, 10 ... Motor compressor for water tank, 1
1...Temperature sensor, 20...Microcomputer, 21-24...Input port, 25...Signal output port.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of electrical loads that individually heat or cool a plurality of types of thermal loads, a temperature sensor that separately detects the temperature of each thermal load, and a system that determines the operating order of the plurality of electrical loads. A mode setting means that changes according to the sales of the product, and a mode setting means that receives signals from each temperature sensor according to the selection of the mode setting means, and at least immediately after the power is turned on, each mode is changed in a predetermined order corresponding to the selected mode. A control device for a vending machine, comprising a control circuit that operates electrical loads one by one.