Vending Machine

• US 20180274842A1
• Filed: 12/01/2015
• Published: 09/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sanden Retail Systems Corporation (Qingdao Huatong State-Owned Capital Operation (Group) Co., Ltd.), The Coca-Cola Company
• Original Assignee: Sanden Holdings Corp (Qingdao Huatong State-Owned Capital Operation (Group) Co., Ltd.), The Coca-Cola Company
• Inventors: YANAGISAWA, Yuuki, Yamazaki, Yasuhiro, Nishiyama, Takashi
• Granted Patent: US 10,451,330 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 17/06 by forced circulation
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 17/08 using ducts
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2317/063 with air guides
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2317/067 characterised by air ducts
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2317/0682 Two or more fans
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2317/0684 the fans allowing rotation in reverse direction
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2331/803 Bottles
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2331/805 Cans
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2700/12 Sensors measuring the inside temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 29/005 Mounting of control devices
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 31/007 Bottles or cans
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/105 Heating or cooling means, for temperature and humidity control, for the conditioning of articles and their storage dispensers for food articles requiring a processing by temperature treatment or conditioning before they are ready for dispensing G07F17/0064

Abstract

Automatic vending machine which cools products for sale. Sale of products not in an appropriate temperature state is prevented. A cooling device executes a partial cooling operation for cooling the product located on a lower side of the plurality of products stored in a product storage chamber when lower space temperature T1 inside the chamber becomes higher than upper-limit value TS_u of set temperature range (S1→S2). Then, when the lower space temperature T1 is decreased to a lower-limit value TS_L of the set temperature range, the automatic vending machine executes an entire cooling operation for cooling all the plurality of products (S3→S4). Furthermore, when the lower space temperature T1 becomes higher than upper-limit value TS_u of the set temperature range during execution of the entire cooling operation, the automatic vending machine stops the entire cooling operation to execute the partial cooling operation (S5→S6).

Claims

1. An automatic vending machine which vertically arrays and stores a plurality of products inside a product storage chamber and sequentially dispenses the products starting with the product located at a lowermost part, the automatic vending machine comprising:

a cooling device which cools the inside of the product storage chamber;

a lower part temperature measuring unit which measures a temperature of a lower space inside the product storage chamber; and

a control unit which controls operation of the cooling device, and is able to selectively executes partial cooling operation for cooling the product located on a lower side of the plurality of products and entire cooling operation for cooling all the plurality of products,

wherein when the temperature of the lower space inside the product storage chamber becomes higher than a set temperature range, the control unit executes the partial cooling operation to maintain the temperature of the lower space inside the product storage chamber within the set temperature range.

2. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein

the control unit makes switching from the partial cooling operation to the entire cooling operation after the temperature of the lower space inside the product storage chamber is decreased to the set temperature range due to the execution of the partial cooling operation.

3. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein

the control unit stops the entire cooling operation to execute the partial cooling operation when the temperature of the lower space inside the product storage chamber becomes higher than the set temperature range during the execution of the entire cooling operation or when there is a possibility that the temperature of the lower space inside the product storage chamber becomes higher than the set temperature range during the execution of the entire cooling operation.

4. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising

a back-side duct which is disposed inside the product storage chamber on a back side thereof and extends heightwise of the product storage chamber,

wherein the cooling device is configured so as to cool the inside of the product storage chamber by cooling air inside the product storage chamber while circulating the air through the back-side duct, and

a circulation direction of the air inside the product storage chamber is reversed between when the partial cooling operation is performed and when the entire cooling operation is performed.

5. The automatic vending machine according to claim 4, wherein

the cooling device includes:

a circulating fan which circulates the air inside the product storage chamber; and

a cooler which cools the air, inside the product storage chamber, circulated by the circulating fan, and

the control unit reverses a rotation direction of the circulating fan between when the partial cooling operation is performed and when the entire cooling operation is performed.

6. The automatic vending machine according to claim 4, wherein

the back-side duct has:

an upper opening part which opens at an upper part inside the product storage chamber;

a lower opening part which opens at a lower part inside the product storage chamber; and

a middle opening part which opens at a middle part between the upper part and the lower part inside the product storage chamber,

the cooling device includes;

a circulating fan which circulates the air inside the product storage chamber; and

a cooler which is disposed in a vicinity of the lower opening part of the back-side duct and cools ambient air,

the air inside the product storage chamber circulates in the partial cooling operation so as to flow into the back-side duct from the middle opening part, pass through the back-side duct, flow out from the lower opening part, and thereafter flow into the back-side duct from the middle opening part again, and

the air inside the product storage chamber circulates in the entire cooling operation so as to flow into the back-side duct from the lower opening part, pass through the back-side duct, flow out from the upper opening part, and thereafter flow into the back-side duct from the lower opening part again.

7. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, further comprising

a back-side duct which is disposed on a back side inside the product storage chamber and extends heightwise of the product storage chamber,

wherein the cooling device is configured so as to cool the plurality of products by cooling air inside the product storage chamber while circulating the air through the back-side duct, and

a circulation direction of the air inside the product storage chamber is the same for the partial cooling operation and the entire cooling operation.

8. The automatic vending machine according to claim 7, wherein

the back-side duct has:

an upper opening part which opens at an upper part inside the product storage chamber;

a lower opening part which opens at a lower part inside the product storage chamber; and

a middle opening part which opens at a middle part between the upper part and the lower part inside the product storage chamber,

the cooling device includes;

a circulating fan which circulates the air inside the product storage chamber; and

a cooler which is disposed in a vicinity of the lower opening part of the back-side duct and cools ambient air,

the air inside the product storage chamber circulates in the partial cooling operation so as to flow into the back-side duct from the middle opening part, pass through the back-side duct, flow out from the lower opening part, and thereafter flow into the back-side duct from the middle opening part again, and

the air inside the product storage chamber circulates in the entire cooling operation so as to flow into the back-side duct from the upper opening part, pass through the back-side duct, flow out from the lower opening part, and thereafter flow into the back-side duct from the upper opening part again.

9. The automatic vending machine according to claim 8, wherein

the cooling device includes:

a first circulating fan which is disposed in a vicinity of the cooler; and

a second circulating fan which is disposed in a vicinity of the upper opening part of the back-side duct, and

the control unit drives only the first circulating fan in the partial cooling operation and drives the first circulating fan and the second circulating fan in the entire cooling operation.

10. The automatic vending machine according to claim 1, wherein

the products are bottled beverages, and

the set temperature range is a temperature range in which the bottled beverages are in a supercooled state.