VENDING MACHINE FOR FRUIT JUICE AND CONTROLLING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20080028943A1
• Filed: 06/21/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Chang Seok Lee
• Original Assignee: Chang Seok Lee
• Inventors: Lee, Chang Seok
• Application Number:
  US11/766,252
• Publication Number:
  US 20080028943A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 99/282
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 19/02 Citrus fruit squeezers; Other fruit juice extracting devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/00 Coin-freed apparatus for controlling dispensing or fluids, semiliquids or granular material from reservoirs

Abstract

An automatic vending machine for fruit juice and a control method thereof. The vending machine includes a main body having both a fruit storage unit for storing fresh fruit in a refrigerated state and a fruit feeding unit for feeding stored fresh fruit in the main body; a rotary arm unit having two rotary arms that rotate in opposite directions such that the fresh fruit, fed by the fruit feeding unit, is seated and held by the two rotary arms; a fruit cutting unit installed below the rotary arm unit and having a blade for cutting the fruit, held by the two rotary arms, into two pieces when the fruit is moved downwards; a fruit crushing unit installed below the fruit cutting unit and having two crushing bars, which are placed vertically and crush the fruit pieces held by the two rotary arms to make fruit juice when the two rotary arms holding the respective fruit pieces are rotated downwards and move downwards; and a control unit for recognizing an input bill or an input coin and controlling the vending machine in accordance with manipulation of a user.

Claims

1. An automatic vending machine for fruit juice, comprising:

a main body, standing upright on a support surface and provided therein with a fruit storage unit for storing fresh fruit in a refrigerated state and a fruit feeding unit for feeding stored fresh fruit in the main body;

a rotary arm unit installed at a predetermined location inside the main body and comprising two rotary arms that rotate in opposite directions such that the fresh fruit, fed by the fruit feeding unit, is seated and held by the rotary arms;

a fruit cutting unit installed below the rotary arm unit and provided with a blade for cutting the fruit, held by the two rotary arms, into two pieces when the fruit is moved downwards;

a fruit crushing unit installed below the fruit cutting unit and provided with two crushing bars, which are placed vertically and crush the fruit pieces held by the two rotary arms to make fruit juice when the two rotary arms holding the respective fruit pieces are rotated downwards and move downwards; and

a control unit provided on the main body at a predetermined location and recognizing an input bill or an input coin and controlling the vending machine in accordance with manipulation of a user.

2. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, wherein the main body comprises a transparent part for allowing a user to see an interior of the main body.

3. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, further comprising:

a filtering unit installed below the fruit crushing unit and provided with a filtering net for removing a solid fraction from the fruit juice;

a peel discharge tray provided on a sidewall of the fruit crushing unit and discharging peels of the fruit, crushed by the crushing unit and remaining on fruit holders of the two rotary arms; and

a fruit juice discharge unit installed below the filtering unit and provided with a juice discharge hopper for guiding the fruit juice from the filtering net to a cup placed below the hopper.

4. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, wherein the rotary arm unit comprises the two rotary arms placed at respective locations spaced apart from each other;

and a rotary arm base for supporting the two rotary arms, the rotary arm base being movably installed in the main body.

5. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, wherein the two rotary arms are placed at respective locations spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, a lower end of each of the rotary arms is coupled to a drive shaft of a first drive unit, thus receiving rotating force from the drive shaft, an upper end of each of the rotary arms is provided with a bowl-shaped fruit holder for seating fresh fruit therein, and the fruit holder is provided with a gripper for holding and discharging the fresh fruit.

6. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 4, wherein the rotary arm unit comprises:

a first drive unit for rotating the two rotary arms in opposite directions; and

a second drive unit for moving the rotary arm base, to which the two rotary arms are securely mounted, upwards and downwards.

7. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, wherein the fruit cutting unit comprises:

the blade for cutting the fruit, held by the two rotary arms, into two pieces; and

a blade holder for holding the blade.

8. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls a first drive unit such that first and second rotary arms are rotated inwards until the rotary arms face each other, thus holding the fruit;

controls a second drive unit such that a rotary arm base, to which the first and second rotary arms are securely mounted, is moved downwards, thus cutting the fruit, held by the first and second rotary arms, into two pieces using the blade placed below the rotary arm base;

controls the first drive unit such that the first and second rotary arms are rotated downwards until the rotary arms are oriented in vertical directions; and

controls the second drive unit such that the rotary arm base is moved downwards, so that the two cut pieces of fruit, held in respective ends of the first and second rotary arms, are crushed by the crushing bars, vertically placed below the rotary arm base, thus making fresh fruit juice.

9. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, wherein the control unit comprises a transmission terminal unit electrically connected to a remote data transmission module, thus transmitting information about a kind and amount of sold fresh fruit and an operational state of the vending machine to a terminal of a manager, located at a place distant from the vending machine, and receiving a command signal output from the terminal of the manager and controlling the vending machine in accordance with the command signal, so that the manager remotely monitors and remotely controls the operation of the vending machine.

15. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 1, wherein, to separately store different kinds of fresh fruit in the fruit storage unit of the main body, a partition wall is provided in the fruit storage unit, thus dividing the fruit storage unit into a first storage part and a second storage part, wherein each of the first storage part and the second storage part is provided with the fruit feeding unit for feeding stored fresh fruit, thus allowing a consumer to select a first kind of fresh fruit, a second kind of fresh fruit, or a mixture of the first and second kinds of fresh fruit.

16. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 4, wherein the two rotary arms are placed at respective locations spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, a lower end of each of the rotary arms is coupled to a drive shaft of a first drive unit, thus receiving rotating force from the drive shaft, an upper end of each of the rotary arms is provided with a bowl-shaped fruit holder for seating fresh fruit therein, and the fruit holder is provided with a gripper for holding and discharging the fresh fruit.

17. The automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 8, wherein the control unit comprises a transmission terminal unit electrically connected to a remote data transmission module, thus transmitting information about a kind and amount of sold fresh fruit and an operational state of the vending machine to a terminal of a manager, located at a place distant from the vending machine, and receiving a command signal output from the terminal of the manager and controlling the vending machine in accordance with the command signal, so that the manager remotely monitors and remotely controls the operation of the vending machine.

10. A method of controlling an automatic vending machine for fruit juice, comprising:

determining a value of an input bill or coin, a kind and amount of fresh fruit selected by a consumer and a presence of a cup;

when a cup and selected fresh fruit are present in the vending machine, feeding the selected fruit, cutting the fruit into two pieces while holing the fruit, crushing the two pieces of the cut fruit into fruit juice, discharging peels of the crushed fruit and returning rotary arms to original positions thereof; and

transmitting information about the kind and amount of sold fruit juice to a terminal, located at a place distant from the vending machine, and receiving a control signal output from the terminal and controlling the vending machine according to the input control signal.

11. A method of controlling an automatic vending machine for fruit juice, the vending machine comprising first and second rotary arms rotated in opposite directions to hold fed fresh fruit, a rotary arm base supporting the first and second rotary arms thereon and movably installed in a main body of the vending machine, a blade installed between the two rotary arms, a first drive unit for rotating the first and second rotary arms in opposite directions, a second drive unit for moving the rotary arm base upwards and downwards, two crushing bars vertically oriented below the first and second rotary arms such that the crushing bars correspond to the first and second rotary arms, respectively, a filtering net placed below the crushing bars and removing a solid fraction from fruit juice, a peel discharge tray for discharging peels of crushed fruit remaining on the first and second rotary arms, and a control unit electrically connected to the first and second rotary arms and controlling the first and second rotary arms, the method comprising:

determining whether fruit is dropped into a fruit holder of the first rotary arm, and when fruit has been dropped into the fruit holder of the first rotary arm, operating a gripper of the first rotary arm to hold the fruit, and operating the first drive unit to rotate the first and second rotary arms inwards, thus holding the fruit between the first and second rotary arms;

operating the second drive unit to move the rotary arm base downwards, thus moving the first and second rotary arms holding the fruit downwards, and cutting the fruit into two pieces using the blade placed below the rotary arm base; and

controlling the first drive unit such that the facing first and second rotary arms are rotated downwards to be oriented vertically, and controlling the second drive unit such that the rotary arm base is moved downwards, and the pieces of the cut fresh fruit, held by the first and second rotary arms, are crushed between the first and second rotary arms and the crushing bars, thus making fruit juice.

12. The method of controlling an automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 11, wherein the control unit transmits information about the kind and amount of sold fresh fruit and the operational state of the vending machine to a terminal of a manager, located at a place distant from the vending machine, through both a transmission terminal unit and a remote data transmission module;

the manager transmits a control signal to the control unit by manipulating an input unit of the terminal; and

the control unit receives the controls signal both through the remote data transmission module and through the transmission terminal unit and controls the vending machine in accordance with the control signal.

13. The method of controlling an automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 11, further comprising:

operating the second drive unit to move the first and second rotary arms upwards and, at the same time, operating the first drive unit to rotate the first and second rotary arms outwards, and releasing holding force of the grippers to discharge the peels of the crushed fruit onto the peel discharge tray.

14. The method of controlling an automatic vending machine for fruit juice according to claim 11, further comprising:

determining whether or not the interior of a fruit crushing unit is clean, and when the interior of the fruit crushing unit is not clean, operating a water pump to wash the interior of the fruit crushing unit.