JP2001222751A - Vending machine temperature controller - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To determine the operation mode of a heating device and a cooling device of a vending machine from the sales amount of a product, and to efficiently operate the heating device and the cooling device to save energy in the vending machine. It is. SOLUTION: The present invention relates to a sales quantity classifying means 31 for roughly classifying a product sales quantity from sales data of a product such as a unit of time, a weekday, a holiday, a week, and the like. Operating mode determining means for determining the operating mode of the device or the cooling device, and operating the heating device or the cooling device in accordance with the operating mode determined by the operating mode determining means to store the lowermost commodity 14 stored in the columns 13a, 13b. Appropriate temperature control means 3 for controlling to an appropriate temperature
1 is provided.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vending machine temperature control device, and more particularly to a vending machine operating a heating device or a cooling device or a heating device and a cooling device from sales data of products of the vending machine. The present invention relates to a vending machine temperature control device characterized by energy saving.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a vending machine 10 is provided with a substantially rectangular storage 11 as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, in which four product storages 12a and 12b are provided. ... is provided. Each of the commodity storages 12a, 12b... Has four columns 13a, 13b.
Is provided, and the product 14 to be sold is stored therein.

[0006] Commodity sensors 15a, 15b,... Are mounted close to the commodities 14 below the columns 13a, 13b,. I am going to send it.

[0004] A cooler 1 is provided below the product storage 12a.
7a, an interior fan 19a, and a cooler sensor 20a, an electric heater 18b and an interior fan 19b are provided below the product storage 12b, and a cooler 17c and an interior fan are provided below the product storage 12c. 19c, a cooler sensor 20c is provided, and an electric heater 18d,
An interior fan 19d is provided to heat the product 14 stored in each column 13a to an appropriate hot state temperature or to cool an appropriate cold state temperature.

[0005] A compressor 2 is provided below the storage 11.
2. A condenser 23 and an outside fan 24 are provided, and these are operated to cool the ambient temperature around the coolers 17a and 17c.

A heating device is constituted by the electric heaters 18b, the internal fan 19b, and the like, and a cooling device is constituted by the compressor 22, the condenser 23, the internal fan 19a, the external fan 24, and the like. Has become.

[0007] Further, a front door 25 is provided on the front upper portion of the storage 11, and product selection buttons 26a, 26 which are operated by pressing corresponding to the respective product storages 12a, 12b.
b, 26c... (26a, 26b are not shown) are attached.

Further, a product outlet 27 is provided at the lower part of the front of the storage 11 so that the purchased product 14 can be taken out.

The heating / cooling control device 16 is provided with a main control section 28 as shown in FIG. 10, and has a CPU, a ROM, a RAM and the like. The main controller 28 includes the commodity sensors 15a, 15b
..., cooler sensors 20a and 20c and product selection button 2
6a, 26b,... Are connected to each other, and a product temperature signal, a cooler temperature signal, a product selection button signal, and the like are sent to these.

The main controller 28 includes a compressor 22,
The outside fan 24, the electric heaters 18b, 18d, the inside fans 19a, 19b,... Are connected, and receive control signals obtained by processing a product temperature signal, a cooler temperature signal, a product selection button signal, etc., and operate the compressor 22 and the like. Control.

A description will be given of a method of controlling the commodity 14 stored in the columns 13a, 13b,... Of the vending machine 10 configured as described above to an appropriate temperature in a hot state and an appropriate temperature in a cold state. When the heating / cooling control device 16 receives the operation signal fd, the main control unit 28 receives the product temperature signal of each product sensor 15a and the cooler temperature signal of each cooler sensor 20a.

As shown in FIG. 11, the main control unit 28 receives a product temperature signal from the product sensors 15b and 15d operating in the hot mode, and the temperature Tc of the product 14 exceeds the upper limit temperature Th1.
(For example, 56 ° C.) (S10) In order to prevent the overheating, the power supply to the electric heaters 18b is stopped and turned off (S1).
Along with 1), the inside fan 18b ... supplies power for air supply.
Turn on (S12).

If the temperature Tc of the product 14 is equal to or lower than the upper limit temperature and equal to or higher than the lower limit temperature Th2 (for example, 54 ° C.), the electric heaters 18b are controlled so as to maintain the temperature of the product 14 in the columns 12b as it is. Is stopped and turned off, and at the same time, power is supplied for air supply to the internal fans 18b and continues to be turned on (S13).

Further, if the temperature Tc of the commodity 14 is equal to or lower than the lower limit temperature Th2, in order to eliminate insufficient heating, power is supplied to the electric heaters 18b.
Continue the operation of 8b… and continue to the product 14 of column 13b…
(S14) and (S15).

Further, as shown in FIG. 12, the main control unit 28 performs a cold operation of the commodity sensors 15a, 15c.
If the temperature Tc of the product 14 is equal to or lower than the lower limit temperature Tc1 (for example, 2 ° C.) (S20), the compressor 22 and the fan 18 in the refrigerator 18 prevent excessive cooling.
The operations of a and 18c are stopped (S21), (S22).

Further, if the temperature Tc of the product 14 is equal to or higher than the lower limit temperature and equal to or lower than the upper limit temperature Tc2 (for example, 6 ° C.), the goods 1
The power supply to the compressor 22 and the in-compartment fans 18a is stopped so as to maintain the temperature of the compressor No. 4 as it is (S23).

Further, if the temperature Tc of the product 14 is equal to or higher than the lower limit temperature Tc2 (S24), the compressor 22 is operated and the internal fans 19a are operated to prevent insufficient cooling of the product 14 (S25). , (S26).

By performing such control, the temperature of the product 14 stored in each column 13a can be set to an appropriate temperature in a hot state or a cold state.

However, in such heating and cooling control, although the temperature of the product 14 can be adjusted to an appropriate temperature, the temperature required for all the products 14 in the columns 13a. ,
There was a problem that it could not save energy because it exceeded 000kwh.

In addition, if the temperature of all products is adjusted to an appropriate temperature, there is a problem that the cream is separated quickly in coffee or the like, and the cream is not suitable for long-term storage.

Therefore, the present invention controls the required temperature of the product from the sales data of the product sold by the vending machine to an appropriate temperature, and controls the other products stored in the column to have an appropriate temperature according to the sales volume. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine temperature control device.

[0022]

According to the present invention, there is provided a sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying a product sales quantity from sales data of a product in units of hours, weekdays, holidays, and weeks.
An operation mode determining means for determining the operation mode of the heating device according to the division of the sales quantity classification means, and an operation mode of the heating device according to the operation mode determined by the operation mode determination means to control the lowermost product stored in the column to an appropriate temperature. Therefore, the vending machine can operate the electric heater with electric power according to the sales quantity of the product, thereby saving energy.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means, the electric heater is turned on in order to keep the temperature of the product to be sold within the optimum heating temperature range in a large number of sales. In the heating mass sales operation mode with -OFF control and the medium-volume sales number, the heating with ON-OFF control of the electric heater to keep the temperature of the product to be sold in a temperature range slightly wider than the heating optimum temperature range. In medium-volume sales operation mode and small-volume sales, in order to keep the temperature of the product to be sold in a temperature range slightly wider than the temperature range of medium-volume sales,
The electric heater is turned on and off, and a small-volume heating operation mode that forcibly enters a short off-time when the electric heater is turned on. Power is supplied to the electric heater with power saving corresponding to the sales volume of the product. Energy saving can be achieved.

Further, the invention according to claim 5 is based on a time unit,
Sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying product sales quantities from sales data of products on weekdays, holidays, weeks, etc .; operation mode determining means for determining the operation mode of the heating device by dividing the sales quantity classification means; The cooling mode is controlled by the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means, and the lowest temperature product stored in the column is controlled to the optimum temperature. Efficient operation can save energy in vending machines.

Further, in the invention according to claims 6, 7 and 8, the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means is such that the cooling device is turned on in order to keep the temperature of the product to be sold within the optimum cooling temperature range when the number of products sold is large. Cooling mass sales operation mode that controls OFF and controls the cooling fan to operate most of the time when the cooling device is OFF, and in the case of medium-volume sales, the temperature of the product to be sold falls within the optimal cooling temperature range In order to cool
ON-OFF control, and the fan in the refrigerator controls the cooling unit OFF operation rate to be lower than the mass sales operation rate. Turn on the cooling device to keep the temperature within the optimal cooling temperature range
-OFF control, and the inside fan has a cooling small volume sales operation mode that lowers the operation rate of the cooling device at the time of OFF than the above-mentioned medium-volume sales operation rate. The vending machine can be operated efficiently with energy saving.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a vending machine temperature controller according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The heating and cooling control device 30 of the vending machine 10 of the present invention is basically the same as the heating and cooling control device 16 of the conventional vending machine 10, so that the heating and cooling of the conventional vending machine 10 is performed. The same parts as those of the control device 16 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the heating and cooling control device 30 of the vending machine 10 of the present invention will be described.

The heating / cooling control device 3 of the vending machine 10
As shown in FIG. 1, the CPU 0 includes a main controller 31 having a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, a timer, and the like.
... cooler sensors 20a and 20c and product selection button 26
a, 26b..., a cooler temperature signal, a product selection button signal, and the like.

The main controller 31 includes a compressor 22,
The outside fan 24, the electric heaters 18b, 18d, the inside fans 19a, 19b,... Are connected, and are controlled by processing a product temperature signal, a cooler temperature signal, a product selection button signal, and the like to control these operations. Has become.

In the heating / cooling control device 30 of the vending machine 10 configured as described above, the products to be sold from each column 13a by the product selection button signals of the product selection buttons 26a, 26b. 14 and the RAM of the main control unit 31 in three-hour units as shown in FIGS.
(S30).

This writing is divided on a daily basis (S3
1) It is determined whether it is a weekday such as a month or a fire, or a holiday such as a Saturday, Sunday, or another holiday (S32). The sales volume on weekdays and holidays is separately written for each day of the week in the RAM (S
33), (S34).

In this way, the sales volume every three hours at each installation location of the vending machine 10 is accurately grasped.

FIG. 3 shows the sales data thus written.
As shown in the table below, the sales volume is roughly represented as "mass sales" when the sales volume is 6 or more, "medium sales" when 4 or 5, and "small sales" when the sales volume is 3 or less. So that the outline can be easily grasped.

Each product storage 12 for this mass sale etc.
electric heaters 18b, 18d for heating and cooling a, 12b,.
The operation modes of the compressor 22, the interior fans 19a, 19b, etc. are determined and written into the RAM.

When the operation mode is the heating mass sales operation mode in which the heating operation is performed, as shown in FIG. 5A, the electric heaters 18b are turned on for 6 minutes and turned off for 3 minutes, and the column 13b is turned off. The reference heating of the commodity 14 at the bottom of ... is 55 ° C. Then, the commodity sensor 15 is set so that the lower limit temperature of the commodity 14 falls within the range of 54 ° C. and the upper limit temperature falls within the range of 56 ° C.
It is controlled by the detected temperature of b ...

The temperature of the upper product 14 is lowered by 0.2 ° C. from the reference heating, and the temperature of the upper product 14 is further reduced.
Was lowered by 0.4 ° C. from the reference heating, and the temperature of the products 14 in the upper layer to be laminated could be sequentially lowered to the minus side.

During this time, the inside fans 19b are operated at all times so that the heated air of the electric heaters 18b is sent to the product storage 12b.

When the operation mode is the heating medium-volume sales operation mode, as shown in FIG. 5B, the electric heaters 18b are turned on for 10 minutes and turned off for 4 minutes, and the electric heaters 18b are turned off.
, The reference heating of the commodity 14 at the bottom of the column 13b is set to 55 ° C.

The lower limit temperature of the product 14 is 53.5.
The temperature is controlled by the detected temperature of the commodity sensor 15b so that the upper limit temperature is within the range of 56.5.

Further, the temperature of the upper product 14 is lowered by 0.4 ° C. from the reference heating 55 ° C. Further, the temperature of the upper product 14 is lowered by 0.8 ° C. from the reference heating, so that the upper product 14 is lowered. Was sequentially reduced to the minus side.

During this time, the inside fans 19b... Always operate in the same manner as in the heating mass sales operation mode, and the electric heaters 18b.
Is sent to the product storages 12b.

In this manner, the power in the heating medium-volume sales operation mode is greatly increased by increasing the ON / OFF intervals of the electric heaters 18b...
Energy saving of about 0% was achieved.

When the operation mode is the heating small-volume sales operation mode, as shown in FIG. 5C, the electric heaters 18b... Turn off the minute, and the bottom product 1 in column 13b ...
The reference heating of No. 4 is set to 55 ° C., the lower limit temperature is set to 53 ° C., and the upper limit temperature is set to 57 ° C.

Further, the temperature of the upper product 14 is lowered by 0.5 ° C. from the reference heating, and the temperature of the upper product 14 is further reduced.
The temperature of the product is lowered by 1.0 ° C from the standard heating, so the upper product 1
4 can be sequentially reduced to the minus side.

.. Are operated continuously in the same manner as in the heating mass sales operation mode or the like.
Are sent to the product storages 12b.

As described above, the electric power in the heating small-volume sales operation mode is larger than the electric power in the heating mass sales operation mode by increasing the ON / OFF interval of the electric heaters 18b.
Energy saving of about% was achieved.

The temperature drop from the reference temperature to the upper stage was obtained experimentally.
8b, and the temperature leak at the top is increased.

If the operation mode is the cooling mass sales operation mode in which the cooling operation is performed, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), when the temperature of the coolers 17a falls below -12.degree. When the temperature of the coolers 17a becomes 6 ° C. or more, the compressor 22 is turned on for 6 minutes.

Are turned off when the compressor 22 is turned off, and are turned on when the temperature of the coolers 17a becomes 0.degree. C. or more.
Becomes

When the cold air is sent to the product 14 stored in the column 13a in this manner, the lowest product 14 has the reference cold temperature of 4 ° C., the lower limit temperature of 2 ° C. and the upper limit temperature of 6 ° C. be able to.

Further, the temperature of the product 14 at the upper stage of the product 14 could be raised by 0.3 ° C. from the reference cold temperature, and the temperature of the product 14 at the upper stage of the product 14 could be raised by 0.6 ° C. from the reference cold temperature. .

When the operation mode is the cooling-in-volume sales operation mode, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the temperature of the coolers 17a.
The compressor 22 is turned on for 5.5 minutes when the coolers 17a..

.. Are turned off when the compressor 22 is turned off, and are turned on when the temperature of the cooler 17a becomes 1.5 ° C. or higher. The lower limit temperature is set to 2 ° C. or more and the upper limit temperature is set to 6 ° C. or less.

In this way, the cool air is sent to the goods 14 stored in the columns 13a..., The reference temperature of the goods 14 at the lowermost stage is set at 4 ° C., and the upper temperature of the goods 14 is raised from the reference cold temperature to 0.6 ° C. Then, the temperature of the upper stage of the product 14 is increased from the reference cold temperature by 1.2 ° C. to the plus side.

In this manner, the operation of the inside fans 19a is controlled, and the electric power in the cooling-volume sales operation mode is compared with the electric power in the cooling-mass sales operation mode to turn on and off the compressor 22.
The energy savings have been achieved by increasing the distance between them by about 10% as a whole.

When the operation mode is the cooling small-volume sales operation mode, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), when the temperature of the coolers 17a.
The compressor 22 is turned on for 5 minutes when the cooler 17a becomes 6 ° C. or higher for 5 minutes.

.. Are turned off when the compressor 22 is turned off, and are turned on when the temperature of the coolers 17a becomes 3 ° C. or more.
I do.

In this way, the cool air is sent to the products 14 stored in the columns 13a, and the lowest products 14 are set to the reference temperature of 4 ° C., the lower limit temperature of the products 14 is set to 2 ° C., and the upper limit temperature is set to 6 ° C. .

Further, the upper temperature of the product 14 is raised by 1 ° C. from the reference cold temperature, and the upper temperature of the product 14 is further raised by 2 ° C. from the reference cold temperature.

As described above, the power in the small-volume cooling operation mode is larger than the power in the large-volume cooling operation mode by increasing the interval between ON and OFF of the compressor 22 to about 20
We are trying to save energy by about%.

The vending machine 10 having the operation mode determined as described above is installed in a building such as an office or a factory, and when the vending machine 10 is operated for the first time, the product 14 is used when heating.
Is controlled so as to be in a temperature range of 54 ° C. to 56 ° C., and at the time of cooling, the temperature of the product 14 is controlled so as to be in a temperature range of 2 ° C. to 6 ° C.

When the product 14 is sold during this operation period, the sales quantity data of each column 13a... Every three hours is collected as shown in FIG. 3, and whether the product sales is a mass sale as shown in FIG. Decide if it's a sale or a small sale.

On the basis of this sales volume, the next day, column 13a
.. Operate in the cooling small-volume sales operation mode from 0:00 to 9:00 as shown in FIG.
Operate in the cooling mass sales operation mode as shown in (a),
From 15:00 to 24:00, the operation is performed in the cooling small-volume sales operation mode as shown in FIG. 6C. Column 13
b ... operate in the heating small-volume sales operation mode from 0:00 to 12:00 as shown in FIG. 5 (c), and heating mass sales operation from 12:00 to 15:00 as shown in FIG. 5 (a). The operation is performed in the small-volume heating operation mode from 15:00 to 24:00 as shown in FIG. 5C.

In this way, the vending machine 10 can be
According to the sales results of this company, it is operated in the optimal operation mode that saves energy and can be reduced to about 2,800 kwh / year throughout the year, and can be reduced by about 200 kwh / year compared to the conventional power control.

This operation mode is created from the results of one day as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. However, by averaging the sales data for two days as shown in FIG. 7, an operation mode with higher accuracy can be created. .

This performance data is further stored for one week, two weeks,
By collecting sales data for three weeks and four weeks, dividing the data by day of the week, and taking an average value, a high-precision operation mode can be created.

It should be noted that the time division and the like are determined according to the sales results and the like, and are optimal, for example, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours,
The time may be divided.

The accumulated data may be for one week, two weeks, or the like, or may be such that the first week is deleted for the fifth week, and the first week is sequentially moved up and the fifth week is registered for the fourth week so that the season does not affect the season. May be used to obtain the average value data.

Further, in each operation mode, the operation time and the stop time of the electric heater, the compressor and the fan in the refrigerator are changed in consideration of the amount of the product to be sold regardless of the above embodiment, and the product to be sold always has the optimum temperature. I think it will be necessary to modify it to maintain Further, although the description has been made on the assumption that the product storage is fixed, one product storage may be provided with an electric heater and a cooler, and these may be switched to perform heating control or cooling control.

[0070]

[Effect of the Invention] The invention of each claim is based on a unit of time, a unit of weekday,
Sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying product sales quantities from sales data of products on a holiday basis, weekly basis, etc., operation mode determining means for determining the operation mode of the heating device by dividing the sales quantity classification means, and this operation mode The heating device is operated in accordance with the operation mode determined by the determining means, and the lowest temperature product stored in the column is controlled to have an appropriate temperature. Thus, the electric heater can be operated to save energy.

Furthermore, the higher the products stacked on each column are, the lower the temperature is, the lower the room temperature is. Therefore, long-term preservation of the upper products, which takes a long time to sell, becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a vending machine heating / cooling control device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the write operation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of sales results of a vending machine in units of three hours.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of sales division created based on sales data in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a heating operation mode employed in the vending machine heating / cooling control device of the present invention, wherein (a) is a heating large sales amount operation mode, and (b) is a heating sales amount operation mode. , (C)
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a heating small-sales amount operation mode.

FIG. 6 shows a cooling operation mode adopted in the vending machine heating / cooling control device of the present invention, wherein (a) is a cooling / increased sales amount operation mode, (b) is a cooling sales amount operation mode,
(C) is an explanatory view showing a cooling small sales amount operation mode.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of sales results of vending machines for several days.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a generally used vending machine from which a front door and the like are removed.

9 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 8 cut along the line IX-IX and viewed in the direction of the arrow.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an outline of a generally used vending machine heating / cooling control device.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a heating operation control of a generally used vending machine.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an example of cooling operation control of a generally used vending machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Vending machine 11 Storage 12a, 12b, 12c, 12d Commodity storage 13a, 13b, 13c, 13d Column 14 Commodity 15a, 15b, 15c, 15d Commodity sensor 16, 30 Heating / cooling control device 17a, 17c Cooler 18b, 18d Electric heater 19a, 19b, 19c, 19d Internal fan 20a, 20c Cooler sensor 22 Compressor 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d Product selection button 28, 31 Main control unit

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 21, 2000 (200.4.2
1)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Claims]

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0022

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0022]

According to the present invention, there is provided a sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying a product sales quantity from sales data of a product in units of hours, weekdays, holidays, and weeks.
An operation mode determining means for determining the operation mode of the heating device according to the division of the sales quantity classification means, and an operation mode of the heating device according to the operation mode determined by the operation mode determination means to control the lowermost product stored in the column to an appropriate temperature. And an appropriate temperature control means for controlling the electric heater so that the electric heater can be operated by the electric power according to the sales quantity of the product in the vending machine, thereby saving energy.

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0023

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0023] Claims 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7
The invention of the invention is characterized in that the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means is a heating mass sales operation mode in which the electric heater is ON-OFF controlled in order to keep the temperature of the product to be sold within the heating optimum temperature range in a large number of sales, In medium-volume sales, the heating medium-volume sales operation mode in which the electric heater is ON-OFF controlled to keep the temperature of the product to be sold within a temperature range slightly wider than the heating optimum temperature range, In order to keep the temperature of the product to be sold in a temperature range slightly wider than the temperature range for medium-volume sales, control the ON / OFF of the electric heater and forcibly put a short OFF time when the electric heater is ON, for small-volume heating Since the electric heater is configured with the operation mode, power can be supplied to the electric heater with power saving corresponding to the sales amount of the product, and energy saving can be achieved.

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0024

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Further, the invention according to claim 8 is a unit of time,
Sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying product sales quantities from sales data of products on weekdays, holidays, weeks, etc .; operation mode determining means for determining the operation mode of the heating device by dividing the sales quantity classification means; The cooling mode is controlled by the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means, and the lowest temperature product stored in the column is controlled to the optimum temperature. Efficient operation can save energy in vending machines.

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0025

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Further, claims 9, 10, 11, 12, 1
According to the inventions of 3 and 14, the operation mode determined by the operation mode determination means is such that, in the case of a large number of products sold, the cooling device is ON-OFF controlled so that the temperature of the product to be sold falls within the optimum cooling temperature range, Is a cooling mass sales operation mode that controls the cooling device to operate most of the time when it is OFF, and a medium-volume sales unit that controls the cooling device ON-OFF so that the temperature of the product to be sold falls within the optimal cooling temperature range. In addition, in the refrigerator, the cooling fan reduces the operation rate when the cooling device is OFF to a lower level than the mass sales operation rate. In order to be within the range, the cooling device is ON-OFF controlled, and the fan in the refrigerator is configured from the cooling small volume sales operation mode that lowers the operation rate when the cooling device is OFF than the above medium volume sales operation rate. Cooling equipment, luck in the warehouse Can be operated by energy saving vending machines perform efficiently.

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0070

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[0070]

According to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh aspects of the present invention.
According to the invention, the sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying the product sales quantity from the sales data of the product in units of hours, weekdays, holidays, weeks, etc., and the operation mode of the heating device is determined by the division of the sales quantity classifying means. A vending machine comprising: an operation mode determining means; and an appropriate temperature control means for controlling the operation of the heating device according to the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means and controlling the lowermost product stored in the column to have an appropriate temperature. It is possible to operate the electric heater with electric power according to the sales volume of the product to save energy. The invention according to claims 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 is a sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying product sales quantities from sales data of products such as hourly, weekday, holiday and weekly units. The operation mode determining means for determining the operation mode of the heating device by the division of the sales quantity classification means, and the operation of the cooling device is controlled by the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means, and the lowest product stored in the column is optimized. Since an appropriate temperature control means for controlling the temperature to be attained is provided, the operation of the cooling device and the fan in the refrigerator can be efficiently performed, and the energy saving of the vending machine can be achieved.

[Procedure amendment 7]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] 0071

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Further, according to the invention of each claim, the higher the products stacked on the column, the lower the temperature is near normal temperature, so that long-term preservation of the upper products, which take a long time to sell, becomes possible.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. Sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying merchandise sales quantity based on sales data of merchandise such as hourly, weekday, holiday, weekly, etc., and the operation mode of the heating device by dividing the sales quantity classifying means. Operating mode determining means for determining the operation mode, and an appropriate temperature control means for controlling the operation of the heating device in accordance with the operating mode determined by the operating mode determining means and controlling the lowermost product stored in the column to have an appropriate temperature. A vending machine temperature control device, characterized in that: 2. The operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means is a heating mass sales operation mode in which the electric heater is ON-OFF controlled so that the temperature of the product to be sold is within an optimum heating temperature range in a large number of sales. For medium-volume sales, heating medium-volume sales operation mode in which the electric heater is turned on and off to keep the temperature of the product to be sold within a temperature range slightly wider than the optimum heating temperature range, In terms of the number, in order to keep the temperature of the product to be sold within a temperature range slightly wider than the temperature range for medium-volume sales, ON-OFF control of the electric heater and forcible insertion of a short OFF time when the electric heater is ON are added. The vending machine temperature control device according to claim 1, wherein the vending machine temperature control device comprises: 3. The heating mass sales operation mode, the heating medium sales operation mode, and the heating small sales operation mode are arranged such that the fans in the refrigerator are continuously operated to sequentially stack products from the bottom of each column to the top. 3. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein a temperature difference is provided so as to lower the temperature of the product, and a temperature control capable of increasing the temperature difference is performed by widening an optimum heating temperature range. Temperature control device. 4. The vending machine temperature control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the optimum heating temperature range is approximately 54 ° C. to 56 ° C. 5. A sales quantity classifying means for roughly classifying merchandise sales quantity based on merchandise sales data such as hourly, weekday, holiday, weekly, etc., and the operation mode of the cooling device is determined by the classification of the sales quantity classifying means. Means for determining an operation mode to be determined, and suitable temperature control means for controlling the operation of the cooling device in accordance with the operation mode determined by the operation mode determining means and controlling the lowermost product stored in the column to have an optimum temperature. A vending machine temperature controller. 6. The operation mode determined by the operation mode determination means is such that in a large number of products sold, the cooling device is ON-OFF controlled so that the temperature of the product to be sold falls within the optimum cooling temperature range, and In the mass cooling sales operation mode, which controls the cooling unit to operate most of the time when it is turned off, and in medium-volume sales, the cooling unit is turned on and off so that the temperature of the sold product falls within the optimal cooling temperature range. In addition, the fan inside the refrigerator reduces the operating rate of the cooling device when it is OFF, lowering the operating rate of mass sales above, and in the small-volume sales mode, the temperature of the product to be sold is adjusted to the optimal cooling temperature range. A cooling small volume sales operation mode in which the cooling device is controlled to be ON-OFF and the cooling fan is turned off when the cooling device is turned off to be lower than the above-mentioned medium volume sales operation ratio. A contract characterized by being The vending machine temperature controller according to claim 5. 7. The cooling mass sales operation mode, the cooling mass sales operation mode, and the cooling small sales operation mode, wherein the operation rate of the fan in the refrigerator is lowered to sequentially stack the products from the bottom of each column on the upper side. 7. The vending machine temperature control device according to claim 6, wherein the temperature is increased and the temperature difference is increased. 8. The vending machine temperature control device according to claim 5, wherein the optimum cooling temperature range is approximately 2 ° C. to 6 ° C.