JP2014038532A - Retort food heating vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact and inexpensive retort food heating vending machine in which transfer means is simplified, while keeping the convenience of heating by a microwave oven such as only one commodity is heated and only the food inside of the commodity becomes warm and a commodity container does not get warm, therefore the commodity container is not hot when taking it by hand.SOLUTION: A retort food heating vending machine includes: a commodity storage for stacking and accommodating a number of commodities; a microwave oven having an inlet and an outlet for taking out/putting in commodities; a supply guide for introducing the commodity to the inlet of the microwave oven by gravity fall from an opening part at the lowermost end of the commodity storage; a commodity sending out box for introducing by gravity fall the commodity on which heating treatment is performed by the microwave oven and as a means helping the taking out of a buyer; a controller for controlling the supply guide and the microwave oven by a program predetermined in accordance with a request of the buyer; and a power source for supplying power to the microwave oven and the controller.

Description

The present invention relates to a vending machine that warms and sells a pack containing retort food with a microwave oven.

Conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 5, there are three techniques for handling retort food with vending machines. The first one is equipped with a steam generator, which directs the steam to the vending machine's storeroom to heat and keep it warm. Since the whole and the entire warehouse are heated, there is a disadvantage that power consumption is extremely large and large measures are required for heat insulation of the goods warehouse. Such a technique can be found in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2. The second one is equipped with a hot air generator, which guides the hot air to the vending machine's product warehouse and heats it to keep it warm. However, it has the same circumstances and drawbacks as the steam generator. Such a technique can be seen in US Pat.
The third one is equipped with a microwave oven, and always stores the product at room temperature. When the purchase request is made, the product is guided to the microwave oven and heated, so the power consumption is extremely small. There is a drawback that the transfer means takes up space because it has a conveyor means for transferring the product from the storehouse for storing the product into the microwave oven. Such a technique can be found in Patent Document 4 and Patent Document 5.

JP H09-293170 JP H09-305856 JP H10-116380 JP H09-297888 JP H10-79085

The object of the present invention is to take advantage of the convenience of heating in a microwave oven that heats only one product and heats only the food inside the product and does not heat the product container so that it is not hot when picking up the product. However, it is intended to provide a compact and inexpensive retort food heating vending machine with simplified transfer means.

The retort food heating vending machine of the present invention has a product storage for storing a large number of products,
A microwave oven with an inlet and outlet for putting in and out the product, a supply guide for introducing the product into the microwave oven by dropping from the opening at the bottom end of the product storage, and heating treatment in the microwave oven A product delivery box as a means for introducing the product by dropping by gravity and taking it out by the purchaser, and a controller for controlling the supply guide and the microwave by a predetermined program according to the purchaser's request; It has a power supply for the microwave and controller.

The invention according to claim 1 is a retort food heating vending machine, and a product storage box in which a plurality of storage chambers for storing a large number of products in piles are collected,
An inlet and an outlet for putting in and out the product, and a mounting base on which the product entering from the inlet is mounted for heating treatment, and the product falls according to gravity in the order of the inlet, the mounting base and the outlet. A supply guide for introducing products by dropping according to gravity from the opening at the lower end of the product storage to the entrance of the microwave oven, and the heating treatment is performed in the microwave oven. Further, the product delivery box as means for introducing the product by dropping according to gravity and taking it out by the purchaser, and the supply guide and the microwave oven are controlled by a predetermined program in accordance with the purchaser's request. And a power source for supplying power to the controller.

The invention according to claim 2 is the retort food heating vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the supply guide or the storage chamber has individual feeding means for dropping one by one without dropping simultaneously, The individual feeding means includes an upper product holder and a lower product holder for holding and holding two products that overlap each other, and when holding the product, both product holders are in a holding state. When the product is supplied to the microwave oven, only the lower product holder is not held. When the product is moved without being supplied to the microwave oven, only the upper product holder is not held. It is characterized by becoming a state.

The invention according to claim 3 is the retort food heating vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of products are sent from the product storage to the microwave oven, and the plurality of products are stored in the microwave oven. It is arranged on arrangement means arranged in a desired divided space, and the heating process can be performed collectively.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the retort food heating vending machine according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the commodity holder is a flat plate or a protrusion that linearly moves or rotates. It is characterized by that.

The invention according to claim 5 is the retort food heating vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the product storage room is configured such that the storage chamber is gathered around a rotation axis. The desired product is supplied to the microwave oven by aligning the desired storage chamber with the supply guide by rotation when requesting the purchase of the product.

The invention according to claim 6 is the retort food heating vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the mounting table is inclined obliquely from a substantially horizontal state after the heating process. The product is slid down from the mounting table and transferred to the product delivery box.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the retort food warming vending machine according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the controller notifies the management center of management data of the number of sales and the number of inventory. Or a transmission / reception means for receiving an instruction from the management center.

The invention according to claim 8 is a retort product for use in the retort food heating vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, and is housed in an insulated container that does not pass heat through a microwave. It is characterized by being.

The invention according to claim 9 is the retort product according to claim 8, further comprising an inner container for storing food inside the heat insulating container, wherein water is filled between the inner container and the heat insulating container, It is composed of a material that is impermeable to water and a metal film or mesh that is impermeable to microwaves irradiated by the microwave oven.

Since it is configured as described above, the retort food heating vending machine according to the present invention introduces a product according to the purchaser's request into the microwave oven mounting base by gravity drop through the supply guide, and performs predetermined heating. After the temperature treatment, the product is extracted from the mounting base into the product delivery box by gravity, so the product storage, microwave oven, and product delivery box are connected side by side in the direction of gravity, so the transfer means is simple and compact. And it can be configured at low cost.

It is a figure which shows one embodiment of the retort food heating vending machine which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows one embodiment of the flow of a process of the retort food heating vending machine which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows one embodiment of the supply guide of the retort food heating vending machine which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows another embodiment of the retort food heating vending machine which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the pack of the retort food convenient to use for the retort food heating vending machine which concerns on this invention.

The retort food heating vending machine of the present invention has a product storage for storing a large number of products,
A microwave oven with an inlet and outlet for putting in products, a supply guide for introducing products by gravity drop into the entrance of the microwave oven from the opening at the bottom of the product storage, and products heated in the microwave oven A product delivery box as a means for introducing the product by gravity drop and providing it to the purchaser, a controller for controlling the supply guide and the microwave oven according to a program predetermined in accordance with the purchaser's request, and a microwave oven A power supply is provided to the controller. This will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a retort food heating vending machine according to the present invention.
The retort food warming vending machine 100 includes a product storage box 110 having a vertically long storage room for storing products having a pack form containing retort foods vertically stacked for each product type, and on the upper side. An inlet that is an opening for introducing the product, a mounting base on which the product is placed and heated, and a microwave generator for sending microwaves to the product at a desired time and intensity, and further below Between the microwave oven 130 having an outlet for delivering the product from the mounting table after the heating is completed, and the product storage 110 and the microwave oven 130. Supply guide 120 to be introduced into the latter, a product delivery box as a means for introducing the product by gravity drop from the outlet of the microwave oven 130 and taking it out of the purchaser, supply guide 120 and electron lens And a controller 150 and a power supply 160 for supplying the microwave oven 130 and the controller 150 for controlling the combined predetermined program buyer requests and 130.

The product storage 110 has a large number of vertically long storage chambers 111. In the figure, they are gathered in the horizontal and depth directions (two-dimensional), and a large number of the same type of products are stored vertically in each storage chamber 111. In this figure, when a product is inserted from the upper opening of the storage chamber 111, the product falls in the storage chamber 111 and is stacked. Of course, there is a means for holding the product at the bottom of the storage chamber 111.
The storage chambers 111 of the commodity storage 110 may be arranged in one row or one column (one dimension) without being arranged two-dimensionally. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the storage chamber 111 of the commodity storage 110 may be configured around the rotation shaft 401. In this case, the storage chamber 111 that stores the product requested by the purchaser at the entrance of the microwave oven 130 is aligned by rotation, and the product is introduced into the microwave oven.

Returning to FIG. 1, the supply guide 120 located between the product storage 110 and the microwave oven 130 drops the products one by one according to gravity from the storage chamber 111 that stores the products requested by the purchaser. Supply to the side. As a single-feed means for dropping multiple items one by one without dropping at the same time, the product has two product holders for holding and holding the product by separating the product by approximately the thickness of the product pack, and holding the lower product If the tool is in the position to hold the product and the upper product holder is not in the position to hold the product, the product will drop and the two will stop in this space. after that,
The upper product holder is in a position to hold the product, and the purchase request causes the lower product holder not to be in the position to hold the product. As a result, the lower product falls to the microwave oven side. The upper product does not fall because the upper product holder is in a position to hold the product. Thereafter, the lower product holder returns to the position for pressing the product, and the upper product holder is not in the position for pressing the product. In this way, the product falls and two of them stop in this space. In this way, single feeding that falls one by one is achieved. In the case of FIG. 1, the individual feeding means may be provided in the supply guide 120, but may be provided at the lower end of each storage chamber 111. The former has an individual feeding means facing the opening surface at the lower end of each storage chamber 111.
Further, when a plurality of units are supplied at the same time and it is desired to process them simultaneously, it is possible to make the individual feeding means correspond to this. For example, when sending two pieces at the same time, the upper product holder can be moved up and down so that the distance between the lower product holder and the upper product holder is set to a size that allows two. Alternatively, even in the above-described individual feeding means, the supply is performed twice continuously one by one, or the supply is performed one by one from a plurality of storage chambers 111 storing a plurality of the same product types, and is collectively processed in a microwave oven. It may be. In this case, an arrangement means such as a sorting guide may be provided so that a plurality of products are arranged in a desired space in the microwave oven. This is expediently a section guide which is arranged in the next available place if one is already in supply.
Needless to say, a processing space in which a plurality of pieces enter is also necessary on the microwave oven side.

The structure and function of the microwave oven 130 are not much different from those commonly used. Since the product falls by gravity and is supplied and discharged, an inlet 131 that is an opening on the supply side, an outlet 132 that is an opening on the discharge side, and a mounting base 133 on which the supplied product is mounted for processing. And the inlet 131, the mounting base 133, and the outlet 132 are arranged in the order in which the goods move according to gravity. Of course, the microwave oven 130 includes a microwave generator and other means as a microwave oven. When the heating process is completed, for example, the mounting table 133 is tilted downward, and as a result, the product slides down from the mounting table 133 and falls into the product delivery box 140.

The merchandise delivery box 140 has a space for the dropped merchandise to enter. The merchandise delivery box 140 has a take-out opening 141 and an opening / closing lid 142 that normally closes other items from entering.

The controller 150 supplies a purchase request of the purchaser (instructed by a product selection button or the like) and a pre-programmed predetermined operation (supplying the product to the microwave oven and performing heating processing in the microwave oven). 120 and the microwave oven 130, in addition to not shown, to manage the number of items sold and inventory by the product counter 110 or the product counter provided in the supply guide, and to notify the management center of the result, or It is convenient to provide a transmission / reception means 151 for receiving instructions from the management center.

The power source 160 mainly supplies power to the controller 150 and the microwave oven 130. A power source is also required for the operation of the product holder of the supply guide and the operation of the mounting base 133 of the microwave oven, but it is also possible to supply power via the controller 150. Similarly, power can be supplied to the microwave oven via the controller 150. In any case, except for the main power switch of the retort food heating vending machine 100, the controller 150 supplies and stops power.

In the example of FIGS. 1 and 4, the product storage 110, the supply guide 120, the microwave oven 130, and the product delivery box 140 are arranged on a straight line along the gravity, but are not necessarily arranged on the straight line. Of course, it is only necessary that the products are arranged in the order in which they fall due to gravity.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a processing flow of the retort food heating vending machine according to the present invention. Here, one storage chamber 111 is shown, but usually a plurality of storage chambers 111 are assembled as shown in FIG. In the storage chamber 111, a large number of the same kind of products 201 are stored. Below that, the individual feeding means 202 provided in the supply guide 120 is shown. An upper product holder 203 and a lower product holder 204 are shown. The individual feeding means 202 is a means for transferring the goods one by one, and the operation has been described above. The product 201 is guided to the microwave oven 130, heated on the mounting table 133, and then dropped into the product delivery box 140. In this figure, since the mounting table 133 is inclined, the product 201 slides down on the mounting table 133.

In FIG. 3, the individual feeding means 202 has a space in which two of the products 201 enter vertically, and there are openings on the top and bottom, and the cross section is as shown on the right side of the figure. The upper product holder 203 and the lower product holder 204 hold or release the product 201 by lateral movement or rotational movement. If the auxiliary product projections 203A and 204A are provided on the opposite side of the upper product holder 203 and the lower product holder 204, they can be effectively pressed and released. The product holder can take the form of a flat plate or a protrusion, and can be held and not held (opened) by linear movement or rotational movement.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a retort food pack convenient for use in the retort food heating vending machine according to the present invention.
In the retort food vending machine, the purchaser may or may not want to warm, but a switch for selecting the warmer is provided, and whether or not to warm is performed through the controller 150.
When heating, whether purchased on the spot or taken home, the purchaser must have a warm product in his hand. Heating with a microwave oven warms foods containing moisture directly, so it can be achieved that it is not hot even if it is held by hand in a container that does not pass heat through microwaves (heat insulation). Therefore, a container made of a heat insulating material through which microwaves pass becomes a container that meets such requirements. In 5-A, the food containing moisture is directly heated by microwaves. The container may be made of foamed polystyrene or the like, or may be made of a heat insulating structure in which an air layer 502 is formed by inserting a zigzag partition 501 like a cardboard structure between two layers of polystyrene. . 5-B is a container having an inner container 504 made of a metal film such as aluminum, or a net 503 and a film that does not allow water to pass through (inhibit) microwaves inside the container of 5-A. The water is used between the inner container 504 and the outer container. Of course, the food is stored in the inner container 504. The microwave warms the water between the containers and does not reach the food inside the metal film or net 503, so that direct heating of the food does not occur, resulting in indirect heating by warming the water.
The outer container won't heat up, so it won't heat up even if you hold it. In 5-A and 5-B, food that can be eaten as it is by opening the lid with a bowl or box-like container is shown, but in 5-C, it is a container that is suitable for side dishes and can be opened in other containers. This is the case of the container to be used. An air layer is provided between the inner container and the outer container containing food, or the outer container itself is made of a heat insulating material.
In addition, since the heat insulation container is kept warm without being cooled, there is also an advantage that it can be kept warm even when it is taken home. Further, it is convenient to provide the container with means for easily making a hole for removing the heated water vapor or a hole for removing excess water before eating. In addition, it is good to provide the lid | cover with adhesion or a fastener stop with a tape so that opening of a container can be performed easily. In addition, the heat insulation container is not hot, so it cannot be checked how to warm up. If a part without a heat insulating material is provided in part and a temperature-sensitive discoloration body is provided here, the warmed state can be seen by the color change.

As described above, the retort food heating vending machine according to the present invention has a simple transfer means, can be configured compactly and inexpensively, and can heat only food with less power in a short time at the time of sales request, Since the container can be kept warm, the industrial utility is extremely high.

100 Retort Food Warming Vending Machine 110 Commodity Storage 111 Storage Room 120 Supply Guide 130 Microwave 131 Inlet 132 Outlet 133 Mount Stand 140 Commodity Delivery Box 141 Outlet 142 Opening / Closing Cover

150 Controller 151 Transmission / reception means 160 Power supply 201 Goods 202 Goods holding tool 203A, 204A Product holding tool 203 Auxiliary protrusion 204 Product holding tool 401 Lower rotating shaft 501 Partition 502 Air layer 503 Metal film or net 504 Inner container

Claims (9)

A product storage that collects a plurality of storage rooms for storing a large number of products,
An inlet and an outlet for putting in and out the product, and a mounting base on which the product entering from the inlet is mounted for heating treatment, and the product falls according to gravity in the order of the inlet, the mounting base and the outlet. A supply guide for introducing products by dropping according to gravity from the opening at the lower end of the product storage to the entrance of the microwave oven, and the heating treatment is performed in the microwave oven. Further, the product delivery box as means for introducing the product by dropping according to gravity and taking it out by the purchaser, and the supply guide and the microwave oven are controlled by a predetermined program in accordance with the purchaser's request. A retort food heating vending machine comprising: a controller for power supply, a microwave oven, and a power supply for supplying to the controller. The supply guide or the storage chamber has individual feeding means for dropping a plurality of pieces one by one without dropping at the same time, and the individual feeding means holds the upper product for holding and holding two products stacked one above the other. When holding the product, both product holders are in a holding state, and when supplying the product to the microwave oven, only the lower product holder is not The retort food heating vending machine according to claim 1, wherein when the product is in a holding state and is moved without being supplied to the microwave oven, only the upper product holder is in a non-holding state. A plurality of products are sent from the product storage to the microwave oven, the plurality of products are arranged on an arrangement unit arranged in a desired partitioned space in the microwave oven, and the heating process is performed collectively. The retort food warming vending machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by being able to do so. The retort food heating vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the product holder is a flat plate or a protrusion that moves linearly or rotates. In the product storage, the storage chambers are gathered around a rotation axis, and the desired storage chamber is aligned with the supply guide by rotation when the purchase of the product is requested. The retort food heating vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the vending machine is supplied. The said mounting base tilts diagonally from the substantially horizontal state after the said heating process, The said goods slide down from the said mounting base, and are moved to the said product delivery box, Any one of Claim 1-5 A retort food heating vending machine according to claim 1. 7. The controller according to claim 1, further comprising transmission / reception means for informing the management center of management data for the sales quantity and the inventory quantity, or for receiving an instruction from the management center. Retort food heating vending machine as described in 1. The retort product for use in the retort food heating vending machine according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the retort product is stored in a heat-insulating container through which microwaves are not passed. An inner container for storing food is provided inside the heat insulating container, and water is filled between the inner container and the heat insulating container, and the inner container is configured to pass the material that does not pass water and the microwave irradiated by the microwave oven. 9. The retort product according to claim 8, wherein the retort product is composed of a non-metallic film or net.

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