Vending machine and operation method thereof

Abstract

The invention discloses a vending machine and an operation method thereof, the vending machine comprises a plurality of warehouse drawers arranged at intervals from top to bottom, and each warehouse drawer comprises one or more goods channels; the goods taking hopper can be driven to ascend and descend to the warehouse drawers to receive the goods to be sold; the height measuring device comprises a position sensor arranged on the goods taking hopper and sensing elements which are arranged on the warehouse drawers and can be sensed by the position sensor; and the control system is provided with a storage module. The method comprises the steps that the vending machine is controlled to execute height measurement operation for measuring the height of each warehouse drawer, and the height measurement operation comprises the steps that a goods taking bucket is driven to ascend and / or descend to each warehouse drawer from an initial position, and the ascending or descending height of the goods taking bucket to each warehouse drawer from the initial position is recorded. After the number and the structural layout of the warehouse drawers are adjusted, the height information of the warehouse drawers can be adaptively detected and obtained, and the flexibility is higher.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of vending machine technology, and in particular to a vending machine and its operating method. Background Technology

[0002] Vending machines are a type of commercial automation equipment that automatically dispenses goods based on inserted coins or electronic payment methods. They are not limited by time or location, saving manpower and facilitating transactions, and are often referred to as 24-hour mini-supermarkets. Traditional vending machines have multiple drawers spaced at intervals from top to bottom. Each drawer can have one or more product channels. The height information of each drawer is preset in the control system at the factory and is generally fixed and cannot be changed. When a merchant wants to change the number and layout of the drawers to sell seasonally varying items, such as replacing taller items like bottled water with shorter items like chewing gum or snacks, they can add a drawer to the existing two adjacent drawers or reduce the height of the existing two adjacent drawers, thus narrowing the distance between them. Correspondingly, when merchants want to sell taller items, they can pull out several drawers. This changes the internal layout of the vending machine's drawers, rendering the pre-programmed control system incompatible. This limits the variety of goods and sales strategies that can be adjusted, making it unsuitable for selling diverse products. Summary of the Invention

[0003] To address the aforementioned technical problems, the present invention aims to provide a vending machine and its operation method that can adaptively adjust the number and structural layout of the internal drawers of the vending machine.

[0004] To address the aforementioned technical problems, the present invention provides a method for operating an automatic vending machine. The vending machine is equipped with multiple drawers spaced apart from top to bottom and a dispensing hopper capable of rising and falling to each of the drawers to retrieve goods for sale. The operating method includes controlling the vending machine to perform a height measurement operation, which involves driving the dispensing hopper from an initial position to rise and / or fall to each of the drawers, and recording the height by which the dispensing hopper rises or falls from the initial position to each of the drawers.

[0005] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the measurement operation further includes: determining whether the picking hopper has risen or fallen to each of the respective cargo drawers.

[0006] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a position sensor carried by the retrieval hopper is used to determine whether the retrieval hopper has risen or fallen to each of the respective cargo drawers.

[0007] According to one embodiment of the invention, the measurement operation is set to be performed automatically upon the first operation of the vending machine.

[0008] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the measurement operation is configured to be performed in response to a request sent by the operator.

[0009] On the other hand, the present invention also provides an automatic vending machine, comprising: a storage cavity having a plurality of storage drawers therein, the plurality of storage drawers being spaced apart from top to bottom, each of the storage drawers including one or more channels for storing goods; a dispensing hopper, capable of being driven to rise and fall to each of the storage drawers to dispense goods for sale; a height measuring device for measuring the height of each of the storage drawers and including a position sensor disposed on the dispensing hopper and a sensing element disposed on each of the storage drawers and capable of being sensed by the position sensor; and a control system, the control system being signal-connected to the height measuring device, the control system having a storage module for recording the measurement results of the height measuring device.

[0010] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the position sensor is a Hall sensor, and each of the sensing elements is a metal component.

[0011] According to one embodiment of the present invention, it further includes a stepper motor, which is configured to drive the lifting and lowering movement of the picking hopper.

[0012] According to one embodiment of the present invention, there are multiple cargo drawers, the multiple cargo channels are arranged in a left-right direction, and the retrieval hopper is slidably disposed relative to the cargo drawers in a left-right direction.

[0013] According to one embodiment of the present invention, it further includes: a retrieval hopper support, wherein the retrieval hopper is slidably supported on the retrieval hopper support in a left-right direction.

[0014] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: The operating method involves measuring the height of each storage drawer to drive the dispensing hopper from an initial position to rise and / or fall to each drawer. The height of the dispensing hopper from the initial position to each drawer is recorded. Thus, even after adjustments to the number and layout of the storage drawers inside the vending machine, the actual height information of the drawers can be obtained. The control method updates as the number and layout of the storage drawers change, enabling adaptive adjustment of the vending machine's operation and providing greater flexibility.

[0015] Automated vending machines utilize position sensors on the dispensing hopper and sensing elements on the aisles of each drawer. When the number and layout of the drawers are adjusted, the control system controls the dispensing hopper to measure the height of each drawer, recording the actual height information. This allows the control system to automatically detect and acquire the height information of each drawer after adjustments to the internal layout. It can adapt to changes in the number and layout of drawers by merchants, facilitating the sale of different types of goods. It can flexibly and quickly adapt to changes in product types and different sales strategies, improving the operational efficiency of the vending machine. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a perspective view of an automatic vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A magnified view of a portion at point A shown in the image; Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A magnified view of section B shown in the image; Figure 4 This is a control principle diagram of the operation method of an automatic vending machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; The accompanying diagrams are labeled as follows: 100. Vending machines; 10. Body; 11. Storage cavity; 12. Cargo drawer; 121. Cargo channel; 13. Lifting rail; 14. Cabinet door; 20. Pick-up bin; 30. Height measuring device; 31. Position sensor; 32. Sensing element; 40. Control system; 41. Processor; 42. Storage module; 43. Limit sensor; 50. Stepper motor; 51. Synchronous belt; 60. Picking bucket support; 62. Translation track; 63. Servo motor. Detailed Implementation

[0017] It is readily understood that, based on the technical solution of this invention, those skilled in the art can propose various interchangeable structural methods and implementations without altering the essential spirit of the invention. Therefore, the following detailed embodiments and accompanying drawings are merely illustrative examples of the technical solution of this invention and should not be considered as the entirety of the invention or as limitations or restrictions on the technical solution of this invention.

[0018] according to Figures 1 to 3 As shown, one embodiment of the present invention provides a vending machine 100, which includes a body 10. The body 10 has a storage cavity 11 inside, and multiple product drawers 12 are arranged in the storage cavity 11 from top to bottom at intervals. Each product drawer 12 includes multiple product channels 121 for storing goods, and the multiple product channels 121 are evenly spaced along the left-right direction. A cabinet door 14 is installed on the front side of the body 10. A retrieval hopper 20 is installed inside the body 10. An active space is provided between the body 10 and the cabinet door 14 for the retrieval hopper 20 to move within the body 10. The retrieval hopper 20 is movably mounted on a retrieval hopper support 60 in the left-right direction. A stepper motor 50 is installed inside the body 10 to drive the retrieval hopper support 60 to rise and fall. A servo motor 63 is installed on the retrieval hopper support 60 to drive the retrieval hopper 20 to move in the left-right direction (see...). Figure 4 ).

[0019] Specifically, in combination Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, lifting tracks 13 extending vertically are provided on the left and right sides inside the machine body 10. The retrieval bucket support 60 has casters at both ends, allowing it to be movably mounted inside the machine body 10 and move vertically along the lifting tracks 13. A stepper motor 50 is installed at the lower part of the machine body 10. A drive wheel is mounted on the output shaft of the stepper motor 50, and a driven wheel is rotatably mounted at the upper part of the machine body 10. A synchronous belt 51 connects the drive wheel and the driven wheel, and the synchronous belt 51 is fixedly connected to the retrieval bucket support 60. In other embodiments, the stepper motor 50 can also use a lead screw and nut to drive the retrieval bucket support 60 to move vertically along the lifting tracks 13; the specific method is not limited.

[0020] When the stepper motor 50 starts, it drives the retrieval bucket support 60 to move up and down along the lifting track 13, thereby moving the retrieval bucket support 60 to the warehouse drawer 12 at different heights.

[0021] A retrieval bucket support 60 is provided with a translational track 62 extending in the left-right direction, and the retrieval bucket 20 is slidably mounted on the translational track 62. The retrieval bucket 20 can move along the translational track 62 so that it can move to the front of a certain aisle 121 of a certain layer of storage drawer 12 to retrieve goods. A servo motor 63 is provided on the retrieval bucket support 60 to drive the retrieval bucket 20 to move along the translational track 62. The servo motor 63 drives the retrieval bucket 20 to move along the translational track 62 through a transmission belt and a transmission wheel. A drive transmission wheel is mounted on the output shaft of the servo motor 63, and a driven transmission wheel is provided on the retrieval bucket support 60. A transmission belt connects the drive transmission wheel and the driven transmission wheel, and the transmission belt is fixedly connected to the retrieval bucket 20. In other embodiments, the retrieval bucket 20 and the servo motor 63 can also be connected by a screw and nut transmission method.

[0022] When the servo motor 63 starts, it drives the picking hopper 20 to move left and right along the translation track 62 on the picking hopper support 60, so that the picking hopper 20 can move between multiple channels 121 of the warehouse drawer 12. The picking hopper 20 can move to the front of a certain channel 121 to pick up the goods pushed out of that channel 121.

[0023] In other embodiments, the retrieval bucket support 60 and servo motor 63 may not be provided. The stepper motor 50 is directly connected to the retrieval bucket 20 for transmission. That is, the retrieval bucket 20 can be a long strip-shaped bucket extending in the left and right direction. Goods in one or more channels 121 of the warehouse drawer 12 of different heights can be retrieved through the retrieval bucket 20. There are no specific restrictions.

[0024] Combination Figure 4As shown, to facilitate the measurement of the height of the drawers 12 at different heights within the vending machine 10, and to obtain the actual height information of the drawers 12, so as to facilitate the precise movement of the retrieval hopper 20 to the corresponding drawer 12 for retrieving goods, the vending machine 100 also includes a height measuring device 30 and a control system 40. The height measuring device 30 is used to measure the height of each drawer 12 and includes a position sensor 31 arranged on the retrieval hopper 20 and a sensing element 32 arranged on each drawer 12 and capable of being sensed by the position sensor 31. The control system 40 is signal-connected to the height measuring device 30 and has a storage module 42 for recording the measurement results of the height measuring device 30. The position sensor 31 can be a Hall sensor, and the sensing element 32 can be a metal component, such as a magnet. The control system 40 includes a processor 41 and a storage module 42, and the control system 40 can be a PLC controller. In other embodiments, the position sensor 31 may also be a photoelectric position sensor 31, an optical fiber position sensor 31, a magnetic position sensor 31, etc., and the sensing element 32 may also be other sensors used in conjunction with the position sensor 31, such as photoelectric sensors, proximity switches, etc. The control system 40 may also be a microcontroller chip, and there are no specific limitations.

[0025] To facilitate limiting the travel of the retrieval hopper support 60 and prevent collisions during its vertical movement within the machine body 10, limit sensors 43 are installed at the lower and upper positions inside the machine body 10. The retrieval hopper support 60 has an initial position and a maximum position within the machine body 10. When the retrieval hopper support 60 is driven and moves to the maximum position at the upper part of the machine body 10, the limit sensor 43 at the upper part of the machine body 10 sends a detection signal back to the control system 40. The control system 40 then controls the retrieval hopper support 60 to immediately return to the initial position at the lower part of the machine body 10. In other embodiments, the control system 40 may also control the retrieval hopper support 60 to stop when it reaches the maximum position, waiting for a signal from the control system 40 to restart.

[0026] In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling the operation of the vending machine 100 is also provided. When the vending machine 100 is first run, the following method is executed: controlling the vending machine 100 to perform a height measurement operation to measure the height of each compartment drawer 12. The height measurement operation includes: driving the dispensing hopper 20 from an initial position to rise and / or fall to each compartment drawer 12, and recording the height by which the dispensing hopper 20 rises or falls from the initial position to each compartment drawer 12.

[0027] It should be noted that the initial operation of the vending machine 100 can be interpreted as follows: when multiple product drawers 12 are already installed in the storage cavity 11 inside the body 10 of the vending machine 100 and it is ready for its first operation; and after the user adjusts the number and structural layout of the product drawers 12 and is ready to start the machine. In other embodiments, this operation method can also be regarded as a self-test or reset procedure for the first start of the vending machine 100. That is, when the vending machine 100 is started for the first time, it can execute this operation method to drive the dispensing hopper 20 to detect and obtain the height information of each product drawer 12. Thus, in subsequent operation and use, the dispensing hopper 20 can accurately position itself at the corresponding product drawer 12 to receive goods dispensed from one or more channels 121 of the product drawer 12.

[0028] In other embodiments, the height measurement operation described above can also be configured to be performed in response to a request from a user or other operator. For example, a control panel or debugging interface can be provided on the door 14 of the vending machine 100. The user can manually operate the control panel or connect to the debugging interface via an external device to send an execution signal to the control system 40, thereby causing the control system 40 to control the vending machine 100 to perform the height measurement operation.

[0029] It should be noted that the spacing of the aisles 121 in the storage drawer 12 is usually fixed and does not require adjustment; that is, the distance between two adjacent aisles 121 along the left-right direction is usually fixed. When the user adjusts the number and structural layout of the storage drawers 12, they usually pull out or push in an entire layer of storage drawers 12, for example, changing the original five-layer storage drawer 12 to a three-layer storage drawer 12. After the adjustment, the height of the two adjacent layers of storage drawers 12 changes, but the distance between one or more aisles 121 in each layer of storage drawer 12 is usually fixed.

[0030] Specifically, in the above embodiment of the vending machine 100, when the above operation method is executed, the control system 40 controls the stepper motor 50 to start, the stepper motor 50 drives the dispensing tray support 60 to rise from the initial position at the bottom of the machine body 10 and sense the sensing element 32 on the front side of the storage drawer 12 layer by layer, and sends the detection signal to the control system 40. After receiving the position signal fed back by the position sensor 31, the control system 40 records the current position information of the storage drawer 12 and stores it in the storage module 42.

[0031] In this embodiment, since the initial position of the dispensing hopper 20 is set to the lowest position inside the body 10, when the vending machine 100 is turned on for the first time, the limit sensor 43 located at the bottom inside the body 10 will feed back the initial position signal of the dispensing hopper 20 to the control system 40. After the control system 40 obtains the position signal of the dispensing hopper 20, it sends a control signal to the stepper motor 50, thereby driving the dispensing hopper support 60 to rise layer by layer. The position sensor 31 on the dispensing hopper 20 detects the position signal of the sensing element 32 of the storage drawer 12 layer by layer, and feeds back the position signal to the control system 40. The control system 40 receives and stores the actual position information of each layer of storage drawer 12. When the retrieval hopper 20 moves to the highest point inside the machine body 10, it means that the retrieval hopper 20 has completed all the height measurement operation steps of the cargo drawer 12. The limit sensor 43 located at the top inside the machine body 10 feeds back a position signal to the control system 40. The control system 40 sends a control signal to the stepper motor 50, and the stepper motor 50 controls the retrieval hopper 20 to return to the initial position.

[0032] Furthermore, the measurement operation also includes determining whether the retrieval hopper 20 has risen or fallen to the respective storage drawer 12. This determination can be made using the position sensor 31 carried by the retrieval hopper 20. Specifically, when the vending machine 100 is turned on for the first time and the dispensing hopper 20 is in its initial position, the position sensor 31 on the dispensing hopper 20 cannot detect the sensing element 32 on the storage drawer 12. Therefore, the signal fed back by the position sensor 31 on the dispensing hopper 20 to the control system 40 is different from the signal fed back by the sensing element 32. For example, when the position sensor 31 on the dispensing hopper 20 cannot detect the sensing element 32 on the storage drawer 12, it will feed back a "low level" signal to the control system 40. At this time, the control system 40 can determine that the dispensing hopper 20 is in its initial position. The control system 40 sends a control signal to the stepper motor 50, and the stepper motor 50 controls the dispensing hopper support 60 to rise along the lifting track 13. When the dispensing hopper 20 is driven to move to the storage drawer 12, the position sensor 31 on the dispensing hopper 20 can detect the sensing element 32 and will send a "high level" signal to the control system 40. Thus, the control system 40 can determine whether the dispensing hopper 20 is in its initial position, and can send a control signal to the stepper motor 50 to control whether the dispensing hopper 20 rises or falls. When the vending machine 100 is turned on for the first time and the dispensing hopper 20 is not in its initial position, the control system 40 can send a control signal to the stepper motor 50 to control the dispensing hopper 20 to fall and return to its initial position.

[0033] In other embodiments, the position sensor 31 can also feed back a binary digital signal, such as a "0" signal or a "1" signal, to the control system 40. For example, when the position sensor 31 on the retrieval hopper 20 does not detect the sensing element 32, it feeds back a "0" signal to the control system 40; when the position sensor 31 on the retrieval hopper 20 detects the sensing element 32, it feeds back a "1" signal to the control system 40. Thus, the control system 40 can determine whether the retrieval hopper 20 is in its initial position, and can then send a control signal to the stepper motor 50 to control whether the retrieval hopper 20 rises or falls. In addition, the position sensor 31 can also feed back changing magnetic field signals, current strength signals, etc., to the control system 40, depending on the type of position sensor used; no specific limitation is imposed.

[0034] In other embodiments, the initial position can also be set at the middle or other positions of the vending machine 100. When the initial position of the dispensing hopper 20 is set at the middle of the vending machine 100, when the vending machine 100 is first turned on, the control system 40 can send an upward control signal to the stepper motor 50, which drives the dispensing hopper support 60 to rise along the lifting track 13. Then, when the dispensing hopper support 60 reaches its highest position, the control system 40 sends a downward control signal to the stepper motor 50 based on the position signal fed back by the limit sensor 43 inside the upper part of the machine body 10, thereby controlling the stepper motor 50 to run in reverse. The stepper motor 50 drives the dispensing hopper support 60 to descend along the lifting track 13 until the dispensing hopper support 60 moves to its lowest position. At this point, the control system 40 sends a stop signal or a return-to-initial-position control signal to the stepper motor 50 based on the position signal fed back by the limit sensor 43 inside the lower part of the machine body 10. The specific implementation is not limited. Of course, the control system 40 can also control the dispensing hopper 20 to descend first and then ascend, which is also not limited.

[0035] according to Figure 1 and Figure 4As shown, when the vending machine 100 is first turned on, it performs the following steps: the dispensing hopper 20 is in the initial position, the control system 40 sends a control signal to the stepper motor 50, the stepper motor 50 drives the dispensing hopper support 60 to rise along the lifting track 13 to the first-level drawer 12, the position sensor 31 on the dispensing hopper 20 feeds back a position signal to the control system 40, the control system 40 sends a control signal to the servo motor 63, the servo motor 63 drives the dispensing hopper 20 to move along the translation track 62 one by one. The system detects the sensing elements at multiple cargo channels of the cargo drawer 12 and feeds back the position signals of each cargo channel 121 to the control system 40, where they are recorded and stored by the storage module 42 of the control system 40. For example, the first cargo channel of the first cargo drawer is (100, 10), the second cargo channel of the first cargo drawer is (100, 20), the third cargo channel of the second cargo drawer is (200, 30), and so on. Similar to coordinate values ​​(z, x), the system acquires and stores the specific position information of each cargo channel of each cargo drawer.

[0036] When the number and structural layout of the drawers 12 inside the vending machine 100 are changed, the height between two adjacent drawers 12 will change, but the spacing between the multiple channels 121 of each drawer 12 will not change. That is, the control system 40 only needs to obtain the height position information (z', x) of the channel 121 of each drawer 12 (or it can be understood as only needing to obtain the z' value). When the vending machine 100 is restarted, only the height measurement operation steps need to be performed again.

[0037] The technical scope of this invention is not limited to the contents of the above specification. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to the above embodiments without departing from the technical concept of this invention, and all such modifications and variations should fall within the protection scope of this invention.

Claims

1. A method for operating an automatic vending machine, the vending machine being equipped with a plurality of product drawers spaced apart from top to bottom and a dispensing hopper capable of being raised and lowered to each of the product drawers to receive goods to be sold, characterized in that, The operating method includes controlling the vending machine to perform a height measurement operation to measure the height of each of the compartment drawers. The height measurement operation includes: driving the dispensing bucket to rise and / or fall from an initial position to each of the compartment drawers, and recording the height by which the dispensing bucket rises or falls from the initial position to each of the compartment drawers.

2. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The measurement operation also includes determining whether the retrieval hopper has risen or fallen to the respective cargo drawer.

3. The control method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The position sensor carried by the retrieval hopper is used to determine whether the retrieval hopper has risen or fallen to the respective cargo drawer.

4. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The measurement operation is set to be performed automatically upon the first operation of the vending machine.

5. The control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The measurement operation is configured to be performed in response to a request sent by the operator.

6. An automatic vending machine, characterized in that, include: The storage cavity contains multiple storage drawers, which are spaced apart from top to bottom. Each storage drawer includes one or more channels for storing goods. The retrieval hopper can be driven to rise and fall to each of the aforementioned warehouse drawers to retrieve goods for sale; A height measuring device for measuring the height of each of the cargo drawers and including a position sensor arranged on the retrieval hopper and a sensing element arranged on each of the cargo drawers and capable of being sensed by the position sensor; as well as The control system is signal-connected to the height measuring device, and the control system has a storage module for recording the measurement results of the height measuring device.

7. The vending machine according to claim 6, characterized in that, The position sensor is a Hall sensor, and each of the sensing elements is a metal component.

8. The vending machine according to claim 6, characterized in that, Also includes: A stepper motor is connected to the retrieval hopper and drives the lifting and lowering motion of the retrieval hopper.

9. The vending machine according to claim 6, characterized in that, The number of each of the aforementioned cargo drawers is multiple, the multiple cargo channels are arranged in a left-right direction, and the retrieval hopper is slidably arranged relative to the cargo drawers in a left-right direction.

10. The vending machine according to claim 9, characterized in that, Also includes: A retrieval bucket support, wherein the retrieval bucket is slidably supported on the retrieval bucket support in the left-right direction.

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