Automatic vending machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10451330-B2
Application number	US-201515537736-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 1, 2015
Priority date	Dec 19, 2014
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

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 T 1 inside the chamber becomes higher than upper-limit value TS u of set temperature range (S 1 →S 2 ). Then, when the lower space temperature T 1 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 (S 3 →S 4 ). Furthermore, when the lower space temperature T 1 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 (S 5 →S 6 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

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;
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; and
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 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,
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,
a circulation direction of the air inside the product storage chamber is the same for the partial cooling operation and the entire cooling operation,
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 cooler which is disposed in a vicinity of the lower opening part of the back-side duct and cools ambient air; 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,
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,
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, 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.

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 , 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.

Assignees

• Sanden Holdings Corp
• Coca Cola Co

Inventors

• Yanagisawa Yuuki
• Yamazaki Yasuhiro
• Nishiyama Takashi

Classifications

• F25D17/08

  using ducts · CPC title

• F25D17/06 Primary

  by forced circulation · CPC title

• F25D2317/063

  with air guides · CPC title

• F25D2317/0682

  Two or more fans · CPC title

• F25D2331/805

  Cans · CPC title