VENDING MACHINE

摘要

There is provided a vending machine that prevents a commodity receptacle from being damaged and a commodity from slipping out thereof by a shock due to falling even if a commodity receptacle undergoes free fall without requiring a complicated structure for preventing the commodity receptacle from undergoing free fall. When it is detected that the fall velocity of a bucket 60 falling due to disconnection of power supply to a second motor 72a of a bucket moving mechanism 70 is equal to or greater than a predetermined speed, a braking force for decelerating the fall velocity of the bucket 60 is intermittently generated and thereby the bucket 60 can be lowered to the lowest point at a speed slower than free fall. This configuration prevents the bucket 60 from being damaged and a commodity from slipping out thereof by a shock due to falling and does not require a complicated structure for preventing the bucket 60 from undergoing free fall. Additionally, the bucket 60 is not locked, and thus the bucket 60 can be manually moved during maintenance work for restarting the vending operation.

主权项

1. A vending machine comprising: a plurality of commodity columns arranged in a vertical direction of a vending machine body; a commodity receptacle for receiving a commodity from the commodity column; and a moving mechanism that moves the commodity receptacle in the vertical direction by a motor, wherein the moving mechanism moves the commodity receptacle to any commodity column, the commodity receptacle receives the commodity from the commodity column, the moving mechanism moves the commodity receptacle having received the commodity to a commodity take-out port, and the commodity is delivered to the commodity take-out port from the commodity receptacle, the vending machine comprising:
a fall detection means of detecting a fall velocity of the commodity receptacle falling due to disconnection of power supply to the motor of the moving mechanism; a braking force generating means of generating a braking force for decelerating the fall velocity of the commodity receptacle; and a control unit of causing the braking force generating means to intermittently or continuously generate the braking force when the fall velocity detection means detects that the fall velocity of the commodity receptacle is equal to or greater than a predetermined speed.