JP2010146080A - Vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vending machine for saving on a power without impairing a sales merchandise display function. <P>SOLUTION: The vending machine is provided with a fluorescent lamp 4 for illuminating merchandise stored in a body case 1, and configured to turn off the fluorescent lamp 4 to save a power. A button 5 for lighting as a lighting means for lighting the fluorescent lamp 4 is installed in the neighborhood of a coin input port 33 and a paper money insertion port 35 in a control panel 3 arranged on the front face of an outside door 2, and even while the fluorescent lamp 4 is turned off to save a power, a user operates the button 5 for lighting to forcedly light the fluorescent lamp 4 so that merchandise is brightly illuminated. Thus, a sales merchandise display function is prevented from being damaged while turning off the illuminating lamp to save on a power. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vending machine, and more particularly to a vending machine in which a sales opportunity is not missed even when a lighting unit for a sales product display function is turned off to save power.

  As this type of vending machine, there is known a vending machine that enables direct viewing of products stored in a cabinet of a main body case. This vending machine is provided with an outer door and an inner door having large see-through windows on the front surface of a main body case formed as a heat-insulating housing, and a can for each column in the main body case. A product storage rack constructed by arranging a plurality of product columns arranged in a row in the front and rear, and left and right rows, and discharged from the product column at the front position of the product storage rack Equipped with a bucket unit for receiving goods, an XY transport mechanism that moves up and down, and left and right by mounting the bucket unit, and the XY transport mechanism moves in front of the selected product column based on a sales command. After accessing the bucket unit and transferring the product paid out from the product column to the bucket unit, the bucket unit is moved to the product outlet position of the outer door and the product It is configured to carry-out. And the illumination means (for example, fluorescent lamp) which illuminates the goods in a store | warehouse | chamber is provided in the right-and-left both ends and upper end of an outer door, The goods accommodated in the product rack are illuminated brightly by the illumination means, and the goods display function is improved. In some cases, a logo mark attached to the transparent window is illuminated by illumination means.

  In addition, a general vending machine that sells products such as canned beverages and beverages in plastic bottles is provided with an openable and closable outer door on the front surface of a main body case serving as a heat insulating casing, and the outer door includes a plurality of products. An exhibition room is formed to display a sample and display poster panels for advertisements of sales products. The front of this exhibition room is covered with a transparent panel so that the product sample and the poster panel can be seen, and advertisements, logo marks, etc. are displayed on a part of the transparent panel by printing, etc. The advertisement / logo mark is illuminated by illumination means (for example, a fluorescent lamp) to enhance the sales product display function. Furthermore, cup-type vending machines and cigarette vending machines that manufacture and sell beverages (for example, coffee) inside the main body case have enhanced sales merchandise display functions by illumination means. Here, the sales merchandise display function refers to a function that illuminates a sales merchandise or a product sample, an advertisement / logo mark, etc. with an illumination light, but is not limited thereto.

  By the way, in recent years, efforts have been made to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the amount of power used by commercial power sources, and to suppress the deterioration of the global environment such as global warming. There is a need for power saving. This power saving is carried out by turning off the illumination means for enhancing the sales merchandise display function according to the time zone, surrounding conditions (brightness), and the like. In this way, when the illumination means is turned off for power saving, the sales product display function is impaired, and the user may have difficulty in selecting the product. For this reason, there is known a vending machine that turns on the illumination means if there is a user even when the illumination means is turned off (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 7-296233 A

  In the vending machine disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is configured to detect that money has been inserted and to control lighting of the lighting means, so that the sales product display function is not impaired while saving power. Are better. However, since the goods and product samples in the warehouse are not brightly illuminated unless the money is inserted, there is a situation in which there is no favorite product despite the money being inserted. In this case, the user selects a product different from the favorite product or has a refund operation option, but in any case, the user cannot purchase the favorite product. When such a situation occurs repeatedly, there is a problem that the use of the vending machine may be avoided.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vending machine capable of solving the above-described problems and saving power without impairing the sales product display function.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a vending machine provided with illumination means for selling product display function, wherein the illumination means is turned off to save power. A lighting means for lighting is provided.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the lighting means is a lighting push button installed on the front surface of the outer door which is disposed on the front surface of the main body case so as to be freely opened and closed. It is characterized by.

The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in the vending machine according to claim 2, the lighting push button is installed on an operation panel provided with an insertion slot for coins or bills.

  According to the vending machine according to claim 1 of the present invention, in the vending machine provided with the illumination means for the sales merchandise display function, the illumination means is adapted to turn off the power, and the illumination means is operated by an external operation. By providing the lighting means to be turned on, even if the lighting means is in power-off mode, the user operates the lighting means to forcibly turn on the lighting means to exert the sales product display function, that is, the lighting means This makes it possible to provide a vending machine that saves power and does not impair the sales product display function, since the user can select the desired product by brightly illuminating at least the sales product and product sample. .

  Further, according to the vending machine according to claim 2 of the present invention, in the vending machine according to claim 1, the lighting means is installed on the front surface of the outer door arranged to be openable and closable on the front surface of the main body case. By using the push button for lighting, it is possible to obtain a vending machine that saves power and does not impair the sales product display function without significantly changing the design of the vending machine.

  According to the vending machine according to claim 3 of the present invention, in the vending machine according to claim 2, the lighting push button is installed on an operation panel provided with an insertion slot for coins or bills. As a result, the user can perform an operation for purchasing the product in one place, and a user unfamiliar with the vending machine also inserts money (or recorded cash information as electronic money) By holding the IC card over the antenna portion), it is possible to notice that there is a lighting push button by visually observing the operation panel.

  Hereinafter, a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an overall configuration of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a main part of the operation panel of the vending machine shown in FIG. is there.

  In the figure, 1 is a main body case formed as a rectangular parallelepiped heat-insulating housing with the front of the vending machine open, and 2 is a single-opening type provided on the front of the main body case 1 so as to be opened and closed by a hinge mechanism (not shown). The outer door 2 has a see-through window 21 covered with a transparent member so that a product housed in the case of the main body case 1 can be visually recognized, and the operation panel 3 is provided at one corner of the right end. Is provided. The operation panel 3 includes a ten-key push button 31 as an input unit for designating a purchased product with a combination of numeric keys, a liquid crystal display 32 for displaying sales information above the ten-key push button 31, and a coin slot 33 below the liquid crystal display 32. , A return lever 34 and a bill insertion slot 35 are arranged side by side, and a lighting push button 5 is provided below the return lever 34 and the bill insertion slot 35. This lighting push button 5 constitutes lighting means according to the present invention. In addition, 36 is a door lock device (key groove), 37 is a coin return port, 38 is a product outlet, and this product outlet 38 is covered with an outlet door that opens and closes in a single-open manner. Although not shown, in the vending machine equipped with electronic money instead of cash, the operation panel 3 is provided with an antenna unit that holds an IC card that records cash information.

  Between the main body case 1 and the outer door 2, there is provided an inner door that closes the front opening of the main body case 1 (in the figure, hidden behind the outer door 2 and cannot be seen). And has a see-through window covered with a transparent member so that a product stored in the cabinet of the main body case 1 can be visually recognized. Thus, the heat insulation performance is maintained by covering the front opening of the main body case 1 with the inner door 3 and the outer door 2 with a double transparent member. A plurality of stages of product storage racks 11 are vertically arranged in the cabinet of the main body case 1 so as to be able to be drawn forward, and each product storage rack 11 is provided with a plurality of rows of product storage passages in the horizontal direction by partition walls 12. (Product column) 13 is formed, and the product is stored in the product storage passage 13 in a line in the front-rear direction. On the floor surface of the product storage passage 13, an endless flat belt having a support plate that is wrapped around a front pulley and a rear pulley and that supports the last product and prevents tilting is laid, and the front pulley A driven gear driven by a bucket unit described later is connected to the motor. A gate mechanism for opening and closing the gate plate 14 is provided in the front area of the partition wall 12 forming the wall surface of the product storage passage 13, and this gate mechanism is also configured to be driven by a bucket unit described later. In this example, the inside of the refrigerator is formed as a cold exclusive chamber, a cooling unit (an evaporator of the refrigerator) is installed at the lower portion of the refrigerator, and the cooling unit is a compressor or condenser installed in the machine chamber at the bottom of the main body case 1. It is connected with pipes. In addition, there is also a type in which the inside of the warehouse is divided into a hot room and a cold room by dividing it vertically by a heat insulating partition plate and sells hot products and cold products. In this case, the hot room has a heating unit (heater) ) Is disposed.

  An orthogonal coordinate system in which a bucket unit for receiving a product delivered from a product storage passage (product column) 13 is assembled in a space between the front end of the product storage rack 11 and the inner door in the main body case 1. XY transport mechanism is provided. As for the XY transport mechanism, the Y transport mechanism is disposed at both left and right ends of the main body case 1, the X transport mechanism is bridged over these Y transport mechanisms, and the bucket unit is assembled to the X transport mechanism. In the standby state, the bucket unit is assembled, but the X transport mechanism is not visible from the see-through window 21 of the outer door 2 (does not obstruct product viewing), and is lowered to the home position (standby position). . The bucket unit is equipped with an electric drive mechanism and drive gear as a power source for driving the gate mechanism and driven gear of the product column 13, and the bucket unit is positioned in front of the product column 13. Power is transmitted to the gate mechanism and the driven gear by the drive mechanism and drive gear mounted on the bucket unit so as to pay out the goods. Therefore, the gate mechanism and the driven gear constitute a product dispensing device.

  In the vending machine having such a configuration, when a product is selected by operating the ten-key push button 31 after the money is inserted, a sales command is given to the XY transport mechanism. Based on the sales command, the XY transport mechanism moves from the home position (standby position) and accesses the front position of the product column 13 designated (selected) by facing the bucket unit, that is, a drive mounted on the bucket unit. Power is transmitted to the gate mechanism and driven gear of the product column 13 by the mechanism and the drive gear, and the gate plate 14 is opened and closed so as to retract from the product passage, and the belt is advanced by one product to execute the delivery of the product. The product delivered from the product column 13 is received (in the bucket unit). When the product is received in the bucket unit, the transmission to the power by the drive mechanism and the drive gear is released, whereby the gate plate 14 returns to the original position and prevents the next sale product from falling. Thereafter, the XY transport mechanism moves downward so that the bucket unit faces the position of the product take-out port 38 and carries the product received in the bucket unit to the product take-out port 38. After the commodity is carried out from the bucket unit to the commodity outlet 38, the XY transport mechanism moves downward again to return to the home position and ends the sales operation.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 4 denotes a fluorescent lamp installed behind the outer door 2, and the fluorescent lamp 4 is configured as an illumination means for illuminating a product housed in the main body case 1. In the figure, the fluorescent lamp 4 is installed on the upper surface of the outer door 2 and the left side surface as viewed from the front, but it can also be provided on the right side surface as viewed from the front. In addition, an illuminating means for illuminating the product can be installed in the main body case 1. In this case, a light emitting diode that does not generate heat is suitable as the illuminating means. The fluorescent lamp 4 brightly illuminates the product stored in the warehouse to assist the user in selecting the product and to help the user to understand that the vending machine is operating from a remote location. It plays a part in sales promotion. However, as part of efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the amount of electricity used by the commercial power source and to suppress the deterioration of the global environment such as global warming, the fluorescent lamp 4 is turned off (for a predetermined time including daytime). Band or 24 hours). When the fluorescent lamp 4 is turned off in this manner, the interior of the cabinet becomes dark, so that the sales product display function is impaired and it is difficult for the user to visually recognize the product stored in the warehouse when selecting the product.

  In this respect, in the vending machine according to the embodiment of the present invention, the operation panel 3 is provided with the lighting push button 5, and the fluorescent lamp 4 is temporarily turned on by operating the lighting push button 5. The product stored in the cabinet can be illuminated brightly, and the sales product display function of the fluorescent lamp 4 can be exhibited. Therefore, the user can check the brightly illuminated product by operating the lighting push button 5 and select the product using the numeric keypad push button 31. In this case, since the lighting push button 5 is installed on the operation panel 3, it is possible to easily know the existence of the lighting push button 5 even if the user is not accustomed. This is because the user looks at the operation panel 3 when searching for a place where money is inserted for purchasing a product. In this way, when the user looks at the operation panel 3 in order to search for a place where money is inserted, the lighting push button 5 installed in the vicinity of the money insertion place is naturally noticed. You can know the existence. A sticker for notifying the presence of the lighting push button 5 can be attached or displayed on the liquid crystal display 32.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the vending machine provided with the illumination means (fluorescent lamp 4) for the sales merchandise display function, the illumination means (fluorescent lamp 4) is turned off to save power. By providing the lighting means (lighting push button 5) for turning on the lighting means (fluorescent lamp 4), the user can turn on the lighting means (lighting push button 5) even when the lighting means (fluorescent lamp 4) is turned off. By operating the button 5), the illumination means (fluorescent lamp 4) is forcibly turned on to exhibit the sales merchandise display function, that is, at least a product or a product sample can be brightly illuminated by the illumination means (fluorescent lamp 4). As a result, it is possible to provide a vending machine that saves power and does not impair the sales product display function.

  The present invention is a vending machine according to the embodiment shown in the drawings, that is, products such as canned beverages and plastic bottled beverages stored in a warehouse are visually recognized through the transparent windows of the outer door and the inner door. Not only the vending machines that have been made, but also the display of product samples such as canned beverages and beverages in plastic bottles on the outer door that can be freely opened and closed on the front of the main body case as a heat-insulating enclosure It can also be applied to vending machines equipped with exhibition rooms for displaying poster panels, or cup-type vending machines or tobacco vending machines that manufacture and sell beverages (for example, coffee) inside the main body case. is there. Further, the lighting means for turning on the lighting means (fluorescent lamp 4) by an external operation is not limited to the contact-type lighting pushbutton 5, and a non-contact type sensor can be used, and an input unit for specifying a purchased product is provided. In the case of the touch panel system, the lighting means can be turned on on the panel surface. Further, a combination of operation members installed on the operation panel 3, for example, a combination of two numeric keys of the numeric keypad 31 Alternatively, a combination of a specific numeric key and the return lever 34 can be operated simultaneously, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiment.

1 is a front view of the overall configuration of a vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is principal part explanatory drawing which expanded and showed the principal part of the operation panel in the vending machine of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Body case 2 Outer door 3 Operation panel 4 Fluorescent lamp (illumination means)
5 Lighting means (lighting push button)
21 perspective window 31 numeric keypad 32 liquid crystal display 33 coin insertion slot 34 return lever 35 bill insertion slot 36 door lock device 37 coin return slot 38 commodity outlet

Claims (3)

A vending machine provided with lighting means for displaying a merchandise for sale, and provided with lighting means for turning on the lighting means by an external operation in a vending machine configured to turn off the lighting means. . 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the lighting means is a lighting push button installed on the front surface of the outer door that is openably and closably disposed on the front surface of the main body case. The vending machine according to claim 2, wherein the lighting push button is installed on an operation panel provided with an insertion slot for coins or bills.

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