CN110555942B - Cargo discharging mechanism and vending machine - Google Patents

Abstract

The application relates to a shipment mechanism and vending machine, comprising: the delivery pipeline is characterized in that one end of the delivery pipeline is formed into an air inlet end, the other end of the delivery pipeline is formed into a delivery end, and the air inlet end is used for being communicated with the air source device; the goods pushing piece is arranged in the goods outlet pipeline and close to the air inlet end, and can move relative to the goods outlet pipeline; and the check ring is arranged at the shipment end and used for blocking the goods pushing piece from falling out of the shipment pipeline. Compared with the traditional mechanical structure goods pushing mode, the goods discharging mechanism adopting the air flow kinetic energy principle to work is simpler in structure, is beneficial to reducing design and manufacturing difficulties, can not cause mechanical failure problems such as jamming and the like, is beneficial to improving the service performance and reliability of the vending machine and improves the shopping experience of customers.

Description

Shipping agencies and vending machines

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the technical field of automatic vending equipment, and in particular to a delivery mechanism and a vending machine.

Background Art

Self-service vending machines are widely used in parks, shopping malls, supermarkets, amusement parks and other places due to their advantages of reducing labor costs (no need for sales staff) and selling goods conveniently and quickly. They have become a good medium between goods and customers. In self-service vending machines, various goods are placed in different aisles according to categories, and each aisle is equipped with a push mechanism. After customers choose their favorite goods, the push mechanism in the corresponding aisle pushes the corresponding number of goods out of the aisle and finally into the hands of customers.

However, the pushing mechanisms used in existing vending machines are usually designed as mechanical structures, such as motor + pulley transmission, cylinder + spring plate push, motor + screw rod push, etc. These pushing mechanisms have complex structures, are difficult to design and manufacture, and are prone to problems such as jamming, resulting in low reliability in use, affecting the performance of the self-service vending machine and the customer's purchasing experience.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a delivery mechanism and a vending machine, aiming to solve the problems of the prior art that the structure is complex, the reliability is low, and the purchasing experience is affected.

On the one hand, the present application provides a shipping mechanism, which includes:

A delivery pipeline, one end of which is formed as an air inlet end and the other end is formed as a delivery end, and the air inlet end is used to be connected to an air source device;

A pusher, which is disposed in the delivery pipe and close to the air inlet end, and is movable relative to the delivery pipe; and

A retaining ring is arranged at the delivery end and is used to prevent the pushing piece from escaping from the delivery pipe.

In one embodiment, the delivery pipe is a cylindrical tube body with both ends connected, and the pushing piece is a cylindrical body with one end open and the other end closed. The open end of the cylindrical body is arranged toward the air inlet end, and the closed end is arranged toward the delivery end. The outer wall of the cylindrical body is gap-matched with the inner wall of the cylindrical body.

In one of the embodiments, a first reinforcing rib is provided on the inner wall of the cylindrical body.

In one of the embodiments, a second reinforcing rib is further provided on the inner wall of the cylindrical body.

In one of the embodiments, a guide groove is provided on the inner wall of the delivery pipe, and a rolling body is provided on the outer wall of the pushing member, and the rolling body is arranged in the guide groove.

In one embodiment, the retaining ring includes a fixed ring segment and an assembly ring segment that are connected to each other, the outer diameter of the fixed ring segment is larger than the outer diameter of the assembly ring segment, and the outer diameter of the assembly ring segment is adapted to the inner tube diameter of the delivery end, so that the assembly ring segment can be inserted into the delivery end, and the end of the delivery end is against the end of the assembly ring segment.

In one of the embodiments, the fixed ring segment and the assembly ring segment are eccentrically arranged.

In one of the embodiments, the outer ring wall of the fixed ring segment is provided with a mounting ear and an assembly ear, the mounting ear is provided with a mounting hole, and the assembly ear is provided with a fixing hole.

In one of the embodiments, the delivery mechanism further includes a mounting seat and a material blocking assembly, wherein the mounting seat is disposed on the outer ring wall of the fixed ring segment, and the material blocking assembly is disposed on the mounting seat and can block or open the delivery end.

On the other hand, the present application also provides a vending machine, which includes the delivery mechanism as described above.

Implementing the embodiments of the present invention will have the following beneficial effects:

The delivery mechanism of this scheme is applied to the self-service vending machine to realize the automatic pushing of the goods selected by the customer to the pickup port. Specifically, the delivery mechanism includes a delivery pipe, the interior of the delivery pipe is used to hold the goods; it can be understood that the lumen of the pickup pipe forms a delivery channel. The pusher can be movably installed in the delivery channel and arranged close to the air inlet end, so that more goods can be placed in the delivery channel between the pusher and the delivery end, which is conducive to improving the storage capacity of the goods of the delivery mechanism. When working, the air inlet end of the delivery pipeline is connected to the air source device, and the air source device introduces airflow into the air inlet end; the airflow acts on the pusher, and the kinetic energy of the airflow is effectively converted into mechanical energy, thereby pushing the pusher to move in the delivery channel, so that the pusher can push the goods placed in the delivery channel out from the delivery end, so that the goods fall to the pickup port for customers to take. And because the retaining ring is pre-installed at the delivery end, the pusher will not fall out of the delivery pipe under the limiting effect of the retaining ring, thereby ensuring its reliability and safety. At this point, compared with the traditional mechanical structure pushing method, the shipping mechanism structure of this application that uses the airflow kinetic energy principle is simpler, which is conducive to reducing the difficulty of design and manufacturing, and will not cause mechanical failures such as jamming. It is conducive to improving the performance and reliability of the vending machine and enhancing the customer shopping experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

Among them: 10, shipping pipe; 11, air inlet end; 12, shipping end; 20, pushing piece; 21, first reinforcing rib; 22, second reinforcing rib; 30, retaining ring; 31, fixing ring section; 311, mounting ear; 312, mounting hole; 313, assembly ear; 314, fixing hole; 32, assembly ring section; 40, mounting seat; 50, material blocking assembly.

FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a delivery mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of FIG. 1 from another rearward viewing angle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described more fully below with reference to the relevant drawings. The preferred embodiments of the present invention are given in the drawings. However, the present invention can be implemented in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. On the contrary, the purpose of providing these embodiments is to make the understanding of the disclosure of the present invention more thorough and comprehensive.

It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" another element, it may be directly on the other element or there may be a central element. When an element is considered to be "connected to" another element, it may be directly connected to the other element or there may be a central element at the same time. The terms "vertical", "horizontal", "left", "right" and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art of the present invention. The terms used herein in the specification of the present invention are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. The term "and/or" used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more related listed items.

The present application provides a vending machine, which can be a fully automatic or semi-automatic vending machine. Specifically, in this solution, a fully automatic vending machine is preferably used, which can automatically complete information interaction with customers without human intervention, and complete a series of transaction behaviors such as product selection, fee settlement, and shipment.

In the basic scheme, the vending machine at least includes a frame, a delivery mechanism and a material blocking mechanism. The delivery mechanism is installed at a preset position in the frame. As shown in FIG1 , the function of the material blocking mechanism is to block the delivery end 12 of the delivery mechanism when it is not in operation (i.e., when no customer purchases goods) to prevent the goods from falling; and when a customer purchases goods, the delivery end 12 of the delivery mechanism is opened to allow a suitable number of goods to fall from the delivery mechanism to the pickup port, so that the customer can obtain the goods normally.

It is understandable that in order to enrich the variety of goods and thus improve the vending capacity of the vending machine, the number of the above-mentioned shipping mechanisms and material blocking mechanisms can be two or more, and the two can be assembled one by one, forming a solution in which each shipping mechanism sells one product, thereby meeting the purchasing needs of more different consumers.

Please continue to refer to Figures 1 and 2. In one embodiment of the present scheme, the delivery mechanism includes: a delivery pipe 10, a pusher 20 and a retaining ring 30. One end of the delivery pipe 10 is formed as an air inlet end 11, and the other end is formed as a delivery end 12. The air inlet end 11 is used to connect with the air source device; the pusher 20 is arranged in the delivery pipe 10 and close to the air inlet end 11, and the pusher 20 can move relative to the delivery pipe 10; the retaining ring 30 is arranged at the delivery end 12 to prevent the pusher 20 from escaping from the delivery pipe 10.

Implementing the embodiments of the present invention will have the following beneficial effects:

The delivery mechanism of this scheme is applied to the self-service vending machine to realize the automatic pushing of the goods selected by the customer to the pickup port. Specifically, the delivery mechanism includes a delivery pipe 10, the interior of the delivery pipe 10 is used to hold the goods; it can be understood that the lumen of the pickup pipe forms a delivery channel. The pusher 20 can be movably installed in the delivery channel and arranged close to the air inlet end 11, so that more goods can be placed in the delivery channel between the pusher 20 and the delivery end 12, which is conducive to improving the storage capacity of the goods of the delivery mechanism. When working, the air inlet end 11 of the delivery pipe 10 is connected to the air source device, and the air source device introduces airflow into the air inlet end 11; the airflow acts on the pusher 20, effectively converting the kinetic energy of the airflow into mechanical energy, thereby pushing the pusher 20 to move in the delivery channel, so that the pusher 20 can push the goods placed in the delivery channel out from the delivery end 12, so that the goods fall to the pickup port for customers to take. And because the retaining ring 30 is pre-installed at the delivery end 12, the pusher 20 will not fall out of the delivery pipe 10 under the limiting effect of the retaining ring 30, thereby ensuring its reliability and safety. So far, compared with the traditional mechanical structure pushing method, the delivery mechanism structure of the present application using the kinetic energy principle of airflow is simpler, which is conducive to reducing the difficulty of design and manufacturing, and will not cause mechanical failures such as jamming, which is conducive to improving the performance and reliability of the vending machine and improving the customer shopping experience.

In one embodiment, the delivery channel 10 is a cylindrical tube body with two ends connected, and the cylindrical tube body is installed in a horizontal or approximately horizontal posture inside the vending machine. It is more preferred to use a cylindrical tube body as the cargo channel because the tube cavity with a circular cross-section is more suitable for placing commodities of various shapes and has higher versatility. Of course, in other embodiments, the delivery channel 10 can also be, but not limited to, a square tube body, a triangular tube body, etc.

The pusher 20 is a cylindrical body with one end open and the other end closed. The open end of the cylindrical body is arranged toward the air inlet end 11, and the closed end is arranged toward the delivery end 12. The outer wall of the cylindrical body and the inner wall of the cylindrical body are gap-matched. Therefore, when the airflow enters the delivery pipe 10 from the air inlet end 11, the air is gradually compressed in the narrow space. Since the other spaces are basically in a closed state, there is only a small matching gap between the pusher 20 and the delivery pipe 10, and the air begins to leak from the small gap. In this way, the pusher 20 can be pushed toward the direction of the goods with the help of the power of the airflow, and finally the goods are pushed out of the delivery pipe 10.

In addition, the pusher 20 is designed as a cylindrical body with one end open, and the inner concave cavity formed by it can increase the contact area with the airflow, that is, obtain more airflow driving force, so that the pusher 20 is easier to be pushed. In addition, the cylindrical body and the cylindrical tube have a certain annular contact area, which can play a certain guiding role in the movement of the pusher 20, avoiding the pusher 20 from moving skewed and jamming, resulting in the inability to push out the goods normally.

Please continue to refer to Figure 2. In particular, a first reinforcing rib 21 is provided on the inner wall of the cylindrical body. A second reinforcing rib 22 is also provided on the inner wall of the cylindrical body. In order to facilitate the movement of the push piece, the wall thickness of the cylindrical body is designed to be thinner, and in order to ensure sufficient structural strength, it is necessary to make a first reinforcing rib 21 or a second reinforcing rib 22 on the inner wall of the cylindrical body; a more preferred implementation method is to make a plurality of first reinforcing ribs 21 and second reinforcing ribs 22 at the same time, and make the first reinforcing ribs 21 and the second reinforcing ribs 22 intersect and arrange the entire inner wall, so as to further improve the structural strength of the push piece. In summary, by designing and making the first reinforcing rib 21 and the second reinforcing rib 22 on the push piece 20, its fundamental purpose is to take into account both the weight (the weight is as small as possible) and the structural strength of the push piece 20.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, the inner wall of the delivery pipe 10 is provided with a guide groove, and the outer wall of the pusher 20 is provided with a rolling body, and the rolling body is arranged in the guide groove. In this way, when the airflow pushes the pusher 20 to move in the delivery pipe 10, the rolling body rolls in the guide groove, which can not only reduce the contact friction resistance between the pusher 20 and the delivery pipe 10, but also make the pusher 20 move stably and smoothly, and prevent the problem of jamming.

Please continue to refer to FIG. 1 . In one embodiment, the retaining ring 30 includes a fixed ring segment 31 and an assembly ring segment 32 connected to each other. The outer diameter of the fixed ring segment 31 is larger than the outer diameter of the assembly ring segment 32. The outer diameter of the assembly ring segment 32 matches the inner diameter of the delivery end 12, so that the assembly ring segment 32 can be inserted into the delivery end 12, and the end of the delivery end 12 abuts against the end of the assembly ring segment 32. In this way, the retaining ring 30 and the delivery pipe 10 are assembled in a simple manner, the connection is reliable, and it is easy to assemble and disassemble, which is convenient for later maintenance and replacement.

As described in the above solution, the function of the retaining ring 30 is to allow the commodity to be pushed out and prevent the pushing member 20 from falling out of the delivery channel 10. To achieve this purpose, in one embodiment, the fixed ring segment 31 and the assembly ring segment 32 are eccentrically arranged. The eccentric design is adopted, that is, the inner ring wall of the retaining ring is a non-plain wall and is formed with a partial convex structure, and the convex structure plays a role of blocking and limiting the pushing member 20, thereby achieving the above technical effect.

Please continue to refer to FIG. 1. In one embodiment, the outer ring wall of the fixed ring segment 31 is provided with a mounting ear 311 and an assembly ear 313. The mounting ear 311 is provided with a mounting hole 312, and the assembly ear 313 is provided with a fixing hole 314. By providing the mounting ear 311 and opening the mounting hole 312 on the mounting ear 311 so as to be opposite to the screw hole preset on the cargo lane mounting plate, a bolt is passed through the mounting hole 312 and screwed to the screw hole, so that the fixed ring segment 31 can be connected and fixed to the cargo lane mounting plate, thereby improving the structural stability and working reliability of the delivery mechanism.

In addition, an assembly ear 313 is provided on the outer ring wall of the fixed ring segment 31, and the assembly ear 313 is provided with a fixing hole 314. The assembly ear 313 is used to connect with the wiring board, so that the fixed magnetic body obtains electrical energy from the wiring board. It can be understood that the wiring board is connected to the control board of the vending machine, and the control board transmits the electrical energy of the power supply to the wiring board.

In addition, based on any of the above embodiments, the delivery mechanism further includes a mounting seat 40 and a material blocking assembly 50, wherein the mounting seat 40 is disposed on the outer ring wall of the fixed ring segment 31, and the material blocking assembly 50 is disposed on the mounting seat 40 and can block or open the delivery end 12. In this way, the material blocking assembly 50 can be stably mounted on the retaining ring 30 through the mounting seat 40, and when the vending machine is in a non-working state (when no customer is purchasing goods), the delivery end 12 is blocked to prevent goods from accidentally falling out and causing economic losses.

The technical features of the above-described embodiments may be arbitrarily combined. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of this specification.

The above-mentioned embodiments only express several implementation methods of the present invention, and the description thereof is relatively specific and detailed, but it cannot be understood as limiting the scope of the patent application. It should be pointed out that, for a person of ordinary skill in the art, several variations and improvements can be made without departing from the concept of the present invention, and these all belong to the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the patent of the present invention shall be subject to the attached claims.

Claims (4)

1. A shipment mechanism, comprising:

The delivery pipeline is characterized in that one end of the delivery pipeline is formed into an air inlet end, the other end of the delivery pipeline is formed into a delivery end, and the air inlet end is used for being communicated with the air source device;

A pushing member disposed in the delivery conduit and disposed adjacent the air inlet end, the pushing member being movable relative to the delivery conduit, and

The check ring is arranged at the delivery end and used for blocking the goods pushing piece from falling out of the delivery pipeline;

The retainer ring comprises a fixed ring section and an assembling ring section which are connected with each other, the outer diameter of the fixed ring section is larger than that of the assembling ring section, the outer diameter of the assembling ring section is matched with the inner pipe diameter of the delivery end, so that the assembling ring section can be inserted into the delivery end, and the end part of the delivery end abuts against the end part of the assembling ring section;

The fixed ring section and the assembly ring section are eccentrically arranged;

The goods delivery pipeline is a cylindrical pipe body with two through ends, the goods pushing piece is a cylindrical barrel body with one end open and the other end closed, the open end of the cylindrical barrel body is arranged towards the air inlet end, the closed end of the cylindrical barrel body is arranged towards the goods delivery end, and the outer barrel wall of the cylindrical barrel body is in clearance fit with the inner barrel wall of the cylindrical pipe body;

the inner wall of the goods delivery pipeline is provided with a guide groove, the outer wall of the goods pushing piece is provided with a rolling body, and the rolling body is arranged in the guide groove;

the outer ring wall of the fixed ring section is provided with a mounting lug and an assembly lug, the mounting lug is provided with a mounting hole, and the assembly lug is provided with a fixing hole;

the shipment mechanism still includes the mount pad and keeps off the material subassembly, the mount pad set up in on the outer lane wall of retainer plate section, keep off the material subassembly set up in on the mount pad and can shutoff or open the shipment end.

2. The shipment mechanism of claim 1, wherein the inner wall of the cylindrical shell is provided with a first reinforcing rib.

3. The shipment mechanism of claim 2, wherein the inner wall of the cylindrical shell is further provided with a second reinforcing rib.

4. A vending machine comprising a delivery mechanism as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3.