Patent Application
20240221452
The present application relates to the technical field of meals-selling machines, in particular to a heating assembly and an automatic meals-selling machine.
Since most of the production processes of traditional delicious food are cumbersome and complicated, and it is difficult to carry out large-scale and standardized processing and sales, with the development of the times, labor costs and store rental costs are getting higher and higher, many traditional flavored delicious food have become increasingly rare, for example, it is reported that many old food restaurants in Hong Kong that have been operating for many years have closed due to high costs. In today's fast-paced lifestyle, automatic vending equipment is favored by people, but what is sold automatically is boxed fast food, and traditional flavored delicious food (such as marinated meat in baked bun, Chinese rolled dough and so on) are rarely introduced into automatic vending equipment. And fast food is generally heated by microwaves or a combination of microwaves and light waves, on the one hand, it has higher requirements for packaging materials, and the packaging materials are generally PP plastics, which are high in cost and pollute the environment; on the other hand, if the heating temperature of the above heating method is too high, it will produce substances that are harmful to human health.
The main purpose of the present application is to propose a heating assembly, aiming to obtain a heating assembly of an automatic meals-selling machine that can use different heating methods for different meals and is healthier, environmentally friendly and low-cost.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the heating assembly proposed in the present application is applied to the automatic meals-selling machine for heating meals. The automatic meals-selling machine includes a casing and a meals pickup assembly provided in the casing, and the meals pickup assembly is configured to send the meals to the heating assembly. The heating assembly includes:
In an embodiment, in response to that the heating assembly adopts the roasting heating, the vessel body is formed with a heating tank, a tank wall of the heating tank is provided with the meals inlet, and the heating body is provided on a surface of the vessel body facing away from the heating tank and/or inside the cover body.
In an embodiment, the vessel body includes a bottom plate and a side plate provided at a periphery of the bottom plate, and the bottom plate and the side plate are enclosed to form the heating tank; the side plate is provided with the meals inlet, and the cover body includes a cover plate and a coaming plate provided at a periphery of the cover plate; the coaming plate is provided with an avoidance hole, and the cover body is configured to cover with the vessel body; the side plate correspondingly is configured to cover the avoidance hole, and the coaming plate is configured to correspondingly cover the meals inlet.
In an embodiment, in response to that the heating assembly adopts the steam heating or the water-bath heating, the vessel body is a tube structure with one end open, the heating body is provided at the vessel body, and the vessel body is filled with a certain capacity of water; the cover body is provided with a meals storage portion facing towards the vessel body, the meals storage portion is provided with the meals inlet, and the meals storage portion is provided above the water or immersed in the water.
In an embodiment, the cover body further includes a top cover, and the meals storage portion is a tube structure with one end open; the top cover is configured to cover and connect with a edge of a opening of the meals storage portion, and a circumferential side of the meals storage portion is provided with the meals inlet; and a height of the meals storage portion is smaller than a depth of the vessel body.
In an embodiment, a surface of the meals storage portion facing towards a bottom of the vessel body is provided with a plurality of micropores, and the plurality of the micropores are provided at intervals.
The present application further proposes an automatic meals-selling machine, including:
In an embodiment, the meals pickup assembly includes a meals storage piece and a meals push rod; the meals storage piece is vertically movable relative to the meals storage rack, and the meals push rod is telescopically provided at one side of the meals storage piece; in response to that the meals storage piece is flush with the meals inlet, the meals push rod is configured to push meals on the meals storage piece into the heating assembly via the meals inlet.
In an embodiment, the meals pickup assembly further includes a hole puncher, the hole puncher is fixed above the meals storage piece, and a surface of the hole puncher facing towards the meals storage piece is provided with a needle to punch a hole in a packaging box of the meals on the meals storage piece.
In an embodiment, a plurality of the meals storage racks are provided, and the plurality of the meals storage racks are arranged side by side in the cold storage zone at intervals; a plurality of the meals pickup assemblies are provided and are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the meals storage racks, a plurality of the heating assemblies are provided and are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the meals pickup assemblies; a heating method of the heating assembly is at least two of the roasting heating, the water-bath heating and the steam heating.
In an embodiment, the heating assembly further includes a supply portion, and the supply portion is provided at the electronic control zone and is connected to the vessel body and/or the cover body by a pipe or a wire to realize a heating function of the vessel body and/or a heating function of the cover body.
The heating assembly of the technical solution according to the present application is applied to the automatic meals-selling machine, different from the light waves heating method or microwaves heating method in the existing structures, the heating assembly includes a vessel body and a cover body, the vessel body and the cover body cooperate to form a closed heating cavity, the cover body is movably provided relative to the vessel body to cover or open the vessel body, the heating body can be provided at the vessel body and/or the cover body, heating the meals by at least one method of roasting heating, water-bath heating and steam heating can significantly reduce the requirements for the outer surface materials of meals and effectively reduce cost, and the temperature will not be too high when heated in this way, the heating methods can be adapted to different types of the flavored snacks and meals, thus satisfying the combination of traditional food and automatic selling, and expanding the application scenarios. At the same time, depending on the different heating methods, one of the vessel body and the cover body is provided with a meals inlet, which is convenient for the meals pickup assembly to put the meals into the heating cavity via the meals inlet to simplify the operation process.
In order to explain the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the existing technology more clearly, the accompanying drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the existing technology will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, other accompanying drawings can be obtained based on the provided accompanying drawings without exerting creative efforts for those of ordinary skill in the art.
The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of the present application will be further described in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The technical solutions in the embodiments according to the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments according to the present application, and it is clear that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments according to the present application, and not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments in obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative labor fall within the scope of the present application.
It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, all directional indications (such as up, down, left, right, front, back or the like) are only used to explain the relative positional relationship, movement and so on between various components in a specific posture (as shown in the accompanying drawings). If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.
In the present application, unless otherwise clearly stated and limited, the terms “connection”, “fixed” and so on should be understood in a broad sense. For example, “fixed” can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection or an integral body; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; it can be an internal connection between two components or the interaction between two components, unless otherwise expressly limited. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.
In addition, in the present application, if there are descriptions involving “first”, “second” or the like, the descriptions of “first”, “second” or the like are only for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying the relative importance or implicitly indicating the quantity of the technical features indicated. Therefore, features defined as “first” and “second” may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of these features. In addition, the technical solutions of various embodiments can be combined with each other, but it must be based on that those of ordinary skill in the art can realize. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be realized, it should be considered that such combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the protection scope claimed by the present application.
The automatic selling machines currently on the market are generally fast food boxed meals or snacks. The present application proposes a heating assembly and an automatic meals-selling machine. The automatic meals-selling machine is mainly aimed at the automatic selling of traditional flavored snacks and meals, which comprehensively utilizes intelligent control modules and other methods to enable the classic traditional delicious food that the public loves to be passed down and make it convenient for users to eat authentic and affordable traditional delicious food. Here, traditional delicious food can be Chinese rolled dough, cold noodles, marinated meat in baked bun and various other handmade delicious food. Certainly, the automatic meals-selling machine can also be applied to automatic selling of fast food. Furthermore, by improving the heating assembly of the automatic meals-selling machine, the more environmentally friendly and low-cost automatic meals-selling machine is obtained.
Please refer to
Please refer to
It can be understood that in order to put the meals into the meals storage rack 30 in the casing 10 before selling, the casing 10 needs to have a meals storage door (not shown in figures), the meals storage door can be the front panel or the rear panel 111, and the meals storage door can be a whole body and is connected to the left side plate 113 or the right side plate 115 by rotating on one side; or the meals storage door can be a two-split structure, the two split bodies are rotatably connected to the left side plate 113 and the right side plate 115 respectively, thereby rotating the meals storage door to open the meals storage door and place the meals on the meals delivery rack. Certainly, in order to facilitate users to pick up meals, a meals outlet (not shown in figures) is provided on the front panel. Here, the material of the casing 10 can be metal or alloy, for example, iron, stainless steel, aluminum, etc., which has high structural strength, good corrosion resistance and a certain dead weight to ensure the stability of the automatic meals-selling machine 100. Certainly, the material of the casing 10 can also be other materials such as wood or plastic, which is not limited here. In an embodiment, one side of the outer shell 11 is a meals storage door, and a meals outlet is provided on the meals storage door. It can be understood that providing the front panel as the meals storage door, which is different from the existing panel that faces away from the meals outlet as a side where the meals are placed, can make all the internal structures install on the partition plate 13, the rear panel 111, the left side plate 113 and the right side plate 115, the structure is more compact, and the cooperation relationship of the meals pickup assembly 70 will not be affected because of frequent opening and closing of the meals storage door.
The partition plate 13 is connected to an inner wall of the outer shell 11. Specifically, two partition plates 13 are provided, and the two partition plates 13 are provided at intervals in the vertical direction, thereby dividing the accommodation space into a heating zone 10a, a cold storage zone 10b and an electronic control zone 10c, achieving segmentation of different zone, so that it can prevent the work and performance of various components from being affected, and improve the safety and efficiency of the overall structure. The meals storage rack 30 is placed at the cold storage zone 10b, and its storage space 30a is configured to place meals, when opening the meals storage door, the meals can be put into the storage space 30a one by one, and the meals are located in the cold storage zone 10b, which can achieve the purpose of keeping the meals refrigerated and fresh, thus improving the user's taste. The heating zone 10a is an zone for heating meals, the heating zone 10a is provided with a heating assembly 50, and the heating assembly 50 is configured to heat meals refrigerated in the cold storage zone 10b. The structure of the heating assembly 50 is different depending on different meals, for example, the heating assembly 50 can be roasting heating, water-bath heating, steam heating, etc., which can further improve the taste of meals and the user experience of freshly made and sold. The electronic control zone 10c is configured to provide the electric control assembly 90, such as the controller 93, battery or other electrical components, which can be electrically connected to the heating assembly 50 and the meals pickup assembly 70, thereby controlling them to realize various functions and ensuring the automatic operation function of the automatic meals-selling machine 100. Certainly, in order to realize the refrigeration function, a compressor 91 is also provided in the electronic control zone 10c. The electronic control zone 10c is provided at one end away from the heating zone 10a, which can also avoid being affected by overheating and improve safety. The function of the meals pickup assembly 70 is to move to the corresponding storage space 30a under the control program to obtain the meals, and then transport the meals to the heating zone 10a for heating, thus, the meals pickup assembly 70 moves back and forth between the cold storage zone 10b and the heating zone 10a. Certainly, depending on actual needs, more than two partition plates 13 can be further provided to form more independent spaces.
In this embodiment, the heating assembly 50 includes a vessel body 51a, 51b, which is fixed to the heating zone 10a of the casing 10, specifically, the vessel body 51a, 51b is provided with a space accommodating a meals to be heated; the cover body 53a, 53b is movably provided at the outer shell 11, thus the cover body 53a, 53b is movably provided relative to the vessel body to cover or open the vessel body 51a, 51b. According to different heating methods, the heating body can be provided at the vessel body 51a, 51b and/or the cover body 53a and can heat meals. The vessel body 51a, 51b can be fixedly connected to the outer shell 11, for example, to the side shell plate, so that a certain distance is provided between the vessel body 51a, 51b and the partition plate 13, thus preventing excessive heat transfer to the cold storage zone 10b, and improving the cold storage effect of the cold storage zone 10b. When the cover body 53a, 53b covers with the vessel body 51a, 51b, the cover body 53a, 53b and the vessel body 51a, 51b cooperate to form a heating cavity, which triggers the heating of the meals placed in it. The movable setting of the cover body 53a, 53b can be realized by providing a driving cylinder, in an embodiment, a surface of the cover body 53a, 53b facing away from the vessel body 51a, 51b is connected to a piston body of the driving cylinder, the driving cylinder is fixed on the top shell and can realize the up and down reciprocating movement under the driving of the driving cylinder. Certainly, the driving cylinder can also be an electric motor or motor, etc., which can be connected with a transmission part that converts rotational motion into linear motion.
Here, the heating body is configured to realize at least one of roasting heating, water-bath heating and steam heating, and the corresponding heating method can be selected according to the different heated meals. For example, when the meals in the meals storage rack 30 are marinated meat in baked bun, the meat and baked bun can be placed separately or directly sandwiched together because the best taste of the cake is crispy, here, the heating method of the heating assembly 50 is chosen as roasting heating to improve the taste. When the meals in the meals storage rack 30 is cold noodles or Chinese rolled dough, since the cold noodles or Chinese rolled dough itself is eaten cold, there is no need for excessive heating temperatures, because the refrigerated dough will become slightly harder and affect the taste, therefore, the steam heating method is chosen, it only needs to be heated slightly to warm the cold noodles or Chinese rolled dough up to improve the taste and avoid being too cold to affect digestion at the same time. When the meals are porridge or soup, in order to avoid overdrying or insufficient heating temperature, the heating method is set to water-bath heating to increase the heating temperature without losing the original taste of the meals.
Here, the heating assembly 50 is applied to the automatic meals-selling machine 100, different from the light waves heating method or microwaves heating method in the existing structures, the heating body of the heating assembly 50 heats the meals by at least one method of roasting heating, water-bath heating and steam heating, which can significantly reduce the requirements for the outer surface materials of meals and effectively reduce cost; and the temperature will not be too high when heated in this way, the heating methods can be adapted to different types of the flavored snacks and meals, thus satisfying the combination of traditional food and automatic selling, and expanding the application scenarios. At the same time, depending on the different heating methods, one of the vessel body 51a, 51b and the cover body 53a, 53b is provided with a meals inlet 51a51, 53b11, which is convenient for the meals pickup assembly 70 to put the meals into the heating cavity via the meals inlet 51a51, 53b11 to simplify the operation process.
Please refer to
In this embodiment, when the heating method is roasting heating, the vessel body 51a, 51b is formed with the heating tank 51a1. For example, the heating assembly 50 can be a device of electric baking pan type, and the heating body is a resistance module, such as a resistance wire or an electromagnetic heating structure, which is provided at the surface of the vessel body 51a facing away the heating tank 51a1; after being powered on, the resistor generates heat and transfers the heat to the vessel body 51a, so that the heating tank 51a1 generates heat to heat the meals. Since the heating body of this heating method is provided on the surface facing away the heating tank 51a1, a meals inlet 51a51 is opened on the tank wall of the heating tank 51a1, so that the meals can directly enter the heating tank 51a1 via the meals inlet 51a51 and be closer to the heating element, thereby improving the heating effect. Under normal circumstances, the cover body 53a can be provided away from the vessel body 51a, and a sensor can be provided, when it is detected that the meals pickup assembly 70 transports the meals flush with the meals inlet 51a51, moving the meals into the heating tank 51a1, then controlling the cover body 53a to cover the heating tank 51a1, thereby triggering the heating body to generate heat. Since the roasting heating heats up quickly, the heating time here should not be too long, the optional range is 1 minute to 2 minutes to ensure a better taste. Certainly, in order to ensure the hygiene of meals, aluminum foil and other materials can be used outside the meals for packaging. Aluminum foil can be heated directly and will not produce harmful substances, thus effectively improving food safety. Certainly, according to needs, heating bodies can also be provided on both the vessel body 51a and the cover body 53a, thereby achieving double-sided heating and better heating effect.
Please continue to refer to
In this embodiment, in order to simplify the structure, the vessel body 51a includes the bottom plate 51a3 and the side plate 51a5 provided at the periphery of the bottom plate 51a3. The shape of the vessel body 51a is disc-shaped and matches the shape of the meals of bun and cake types to be heated, and the cover body 53a includes the cover plate 53a1 and the coaming plate 53a3. The shape of the cover plate 53a1 matches the shape of the bottom plate 51a3, so that the shape of the side plate 51a5 also matches the shape of the coaming plate 53a3, thus ensuring that the side plate 51a5 covers with the coaming plate 53a3. Here, a meals inlet 51a51 is provided on the side plate 51a5. Specifically, the meals inlet 51a51 extends directly from the edge of the side plate 51a5 away from the bottom plate 51a3 to the periphery of the bottom plate 51a3 in the vertical direction, thereby maximizing the depth of the meals inlet 51a51. The width of the meals inlet 51a51 can be set to match the size of the meals to be heated, so as to ensure that the meals smoothly enters the heating tank 51a1, thereby improving the heating efficiency. At the same time, in order to achieve closed heating, when the cover body 53a is covered with the vessel body 51a, the coaming plate 53a3 can cover the meals inlet 51a51 to prevent heat loss, thus improving heating effect. In order to further ensure the sealing of the cover, an avoidance hole 53a31 is opened at the position of the coaming plate 53a3 corresponding to the side plate 51a5. In this way, when covered and heated, the coaming plate 53a3 can be inserted into the meals inlet 51a51, and the side plate 51a5 can be inserted into the avoidance hole 53a31, thereby, the coaming plate 53a3 and the side plate 51a5 are on the same circumferential surface, further preventing heat loss and improving the heating effect.
Certainly, in other embodiments, the vessel body 51a can also be in a plate shape without providing side plates 51a5, the coaming plate 53a3 does not need to open a hole, and the effect of closed heating can also be achieved.
Please refer to
In this embodiment, water can be heated into hot water by a resistance or an electromagnetic heating body, thereby achieving steam heating or water-bath heating to make heated meals taste better in a targeted manner and reduce heating costs. Here, it is mainly aimed at the meals of cold noodles or Chinese rolled dough type, which need to be kept soft and with a little humidity, so steam heating can be used. Specifically, the vessel body 51b has the tube structure with one end open, the water is contained in the vessel body 51b, that is, the vessel body 51b holds water, so that more hot water can be accommodated for heating. The water is heated into hot water by the heating pipe, which can produce water vapor, or introducing the hot water into the vessel body 51b directly. Therefore, correspondingly, the meals inlet 53b11 is provided on the cover body 53b, that is, the cover body 53b faces towards the meals storage portion 53b1 of the vessel body 51b, the meals storage portion 53b1 is not only provided with the meals inlet 53b11, but also provided with a space for holding meals. When the meals storage portion 53b1 is placed in the vessel body 51b, the surface of the meals storage portion 53b1 facing towards the hot water is provided in isolation from the hot water, that is, it is located above the hot water to achieve steam heating. When aiming at the meals of porridge or soup type, the storage portion 53b1 can be immersed in hot water, so that the meals are heated in the heat exchange with the hot water. Certainly, here, the meals all have packaging boxes, the packaging boxes here can be made of ordinary plastic, the material cost is low, which can effectively save production costs.
Different from the heating assembly 50 structure of the roasting heating method, in an embodiment, the cover body 53b further includes a top cover 53b3, and the meals storage portion 53b1 is a tube structure with one end open. The top cover 53b3 is configured to cover and connect with a edge of a opening of the meals storage portion 53b1, and a circumferential side of the meals storage portion 53b1 is provided with the meals inlet 53b11. A height of the meals storage portion 53b1 is smaller than a depth of the vessel body.
In this embodiment, the cover body 53b includes the top cover 53b3 and the meals storage portion 53b1, the structure of the meals storage portion 53b1 is also a tube structure, the meals inlet 53b11 is provided at the circumferential side, the top cover 53b3 is covered with and fixedly connected to the opening of the meals storage portion 53b1, thus forming a space for placing meals. In this way, when in use, the cover body 53b is away from the vessel body 51b; when the meals storage piece 71 moves to a position flush with the meals inlet 53b11, pushing the meals from the meals storage piece 71 into the cover body 53b by the meals push rod; when the cover body 53b detects the presence of meals, it can trigger the driving component to drive itself to move downward and cover with the opening of the heating tank 51b1 to trigger heating. Certainly, in order to achieve the steam heating, the height of the storage portion 53b1 is smaller than the depth of the vessel body 51b, thereby ensuring sufficient hot water storage and providing a better heating effect.
Certainly, for steam heating and water-bath heating, in order to facilitate processing, the structures of the heating assembly 50 of the steam heating method and water-bath heating method can be provided to be the same, and only the depth of water introduced into the vessel body 51b is different, that is, the vessel body 51b of steam heating has a water line of lower water level so that the packaging box of the meals does not come into contact with water, while the vessel body 51b of water-bath heating is provided with a water line of higher water level so that the packaging box of meals can enter in water. At the same time, the temperature of steam heating should not be too high, and a temperature detection module can be provided to keep the steam temperature at about 100° C., such as 105° C.; the heating duration can be set at 1 minute to 2 minutes, which can make the meals have a better taste. The duration of the water-bath heating should not be too long, just keep it at 2 minutes to 3 minutes, so that the meals are hot but not very hot, thus obtaining a better eating experience.
Please refer to
In this embodiment, in order to improve the heating effect, the surface of the meals storage portion 53b1 facing towards the bottom of the vessel body 51b is provided with the plurality of micropores, and the plurality of the micropores are provided at intervals. When performing water-bath heating, the setting of multiple micropores can increase the contact area between meals and hot water, thereby improving heating efficiency. When the heating is completed, when the cover body 53b moves upward and away from the hot water, the water in the meals storage portion 53b1 can also be drained out via the micropores, thus facilitating the smooth movement of the cover body 53b, reducing water spillage, improving the functional stability of the heating assembly 50, and reducing the impact on other components. The size and shape of the micropore can be set according to actual needs and are not limited here.
Please combine
In this embodiment, the supply portion varies according to different heating method. For example, when the heating method is roasting heating, the supply portion is a battery component or a circuit component and is connected to the roasting module provided at the vessel body 51b by the wire, and the circuit can be opened and closed under the control of the controller 93, thus achieving the power on or power off of the roasting module, thereby achieving the heating of the vessel body 51b. When the heating method is water-bath heating or steam heating, the supply portion can be a water tank 551 and a heating pipe, the water tank 551 is provided at the electronic control zone 10c and is passed into the vessel body 51b by the pipe. The heating pipe can be provided in the water tank 551 or provided in the vessel body 51b, so as to achieve the heating of the water and convert the water into hot water for heating. The supply portion is also electrically connected to the controller 93, thereby achieving the effect of automatically controlled heating and ensuring smooth meals storage.
In addition, because of that the packaging box with meals will be directly submerged in the water in the heating assembly 50 of the water-bath heating method, causing certain pollution to the water, the heating assembly 50 can be set to have a self-cleaning function. For example, the vessel body 51b is further connected to a drain pipe extending to the electronic control zone 10c, a sewage tank 553 is provided in the electronic control zone 10c, the vessel body 51b is automatically cleaned during the idle time of the automatic meals-selling machine 100 by the control of the controller 93, that is, opening the drain pipe to allow the internal water to flow into the sewage tank 553, and then closing the drain pipe and opening the water inlet pipe to add clean water to the vessel body 51b. The automatic cleaning time can be from 1 o'clock to 5 o'clock in the morning to reduce the impact on meals sales.
Please refer to
The structure of the casing 10 of the automatic meals-selling machine 100 also refers to the above-mentioned structure and will not be described in detail here.
In an embodiment, the meals storage rack 30 is provided with a plurality of storage spaces 30a evenly arranged in the circumferential direction and axial direction, and the meals pickup assembly 70 is partially provided at the middle of the meals storage rack 30. Specifically, the meals storage rack 30 includes a plurality of storage spaces 30a, the plurality of the storage spaces 30a are provided sequentially in the circumferential direction of the meals storage rack 30 and the axial direction of the meals storage rack 30, so that the storage space 30a of the meals storage rack 30 formed is provided in a ring shape. For convenience in placing meals and picking up meals, meals are usually not stored in the middle part, the space in this part is not fully utilized, the partial structure of the meals pickup assembly 70 is provided in the middle of the meals storage rack 30, thus reducing the space occupied by the meals pickup assembly 70, rationally using the free space, thereby reducing the lateral surface area of the automatic meals-selling machine 100, and reducing the occupation of horizontal space. In addition, in order to facilitate the placement of meals, the outer circumferential surface of the meals storage rack 30 is connected with the accommodation space, that is, the storage space 30a is connected with the cold storage zone 10b; when the meals storage door is open, meals can be placed via the opening connecting the storage space 30a and the cold storage zone 10b.
The automatic meals-selling machine 100 of the technical solution according to the present application includes the casing 10, the casing 10 is formed with the heating zone 10a, the cold storage zone and the electronic control zone 10c in the vertical direction, the heating assembly 50 is provided at the heating zone 10a, the meals storage rack 30 is provided at the cold storage zone, and the electric control assembly 90 is provided in the electronic control zone 10c. The cold storage zone 10b can keep the meals refrigerated and stored at the appropriate temperature, thus ensuring the freshness of the meals, the heating zone 10a is configured to heat the meals and is located above the cold storage zone 10b. According to the principle of heat moving upward, it can reduce the temperature impact on the cold storage zone 10b and save energy; at the same time, it can also stay away from the electric control assembly 90 and improve the usage performance of the electric control assembly 90. The overall layout of the casing 10 can make the internal space more regular, effectively reducing the expansion of the automatic meals-selling machine 100 in the lateral direction, thus reducing the cross-sectional area and reducing the occupation of the ground. At the same time, the meals storage rack 30 is provided with the plurality of storage spaces 30a evenly arranged along the circumferential direction and the axial direction for storing meals, thereby ensuring the storage capacity on the premise of saving space. The partial structure of the meals pickup assembly 70 is provided at the middle of the meals storage rack 30, thereby rationally utilizing the space where meals are not stored, reducing the occupation of additional space in the horizontal direction, further reducing the overall volume of the automatic meals-selling machine 100, and effectively saving space while ensuring the storage capacity of meals.
Please continue to refer to
In an embodiment, in order to further simplify the structure, the meals pushing piece 73 is fixed on the inner wall of the casing 10, for example, on the side shell plate, the meals pushing piece 73 is movably provided in the vertical direction and then can move to a position corresponding to a different storage space 30a. When the meals storage piece 71 is also flush with the storage space 30a correspondingly, the meals can be pushed onto the meals storage piece 71 to complete the meals pickup of the meals of the storage space 30a located on different layers in one vertical direction, thus reducing the usage of the meals pushing piece 73, further reducing the occupation of space, simplifying the structure, and reducing the volume.
In an embodiment, in order to further facilitate picking up meals and placing meals, the meals storage rack 30 is provided to be rotatable circumferentially relative to the casing 10. In this way, when the meals pickup assembly 70 is automatically picking up meals, it is also possible to realize the meals pickup of the meals at different layers and the meals pickup of the meals at different positions on the same layer by the rotating of the meals storage rack 30 and only providing one meals pushing piece 73, thus further reducing the setting of meals pushing piece 73, reducing the occupation of lateral space, and further more reducing the volume of the automatic meals-selling machine 100.
Please refer to
On the structural basis of the first driving member 75, in order to realize the movement and telescoping of the meals pushing piece 73, the meals pickup assembly 70 further includes a second driving member. Here, the meals pushing piece 73 is set to include a connecting head 731 and a pushing portion 733, the connecting head 731 is columnar and is connected to the driving shaft of the second driving member, and the pushing portion 733 is connected to one end of the connecting head 731 away from the second driving member. Since the automatic meals-selling machine 100 according to the present application is mainly aimed at traditional flavored snacks, such as marinated meat in baked bun, cold noodles or the like, the packaging structure is generally in a round shape, thus, the surface of the pushing portion 733 facing towards the meals storage rack 30 is provided as a curved surface 7331, which can well wrap the outer edge of the meals, thereby ensuring that the meals enters the meals storage piece 71 smoothly.
Please refer to
Please refer to
Here, three meals storage racks 30 are provided in the casing 10, the storage space 30a of one meals storage rack 30 is smaller than the storage space 30a of the other two meals storage racks 30 and can be configured to store the baked buns of marinated meat in baked bun. However, the storage space 30a of other meals storage racks 30 is larger and can be configured to place meals of cold noodles, Chinese rolled dough and porridge and soup types, which can be eaten with the marinated meat in baked bun, thereby greatly improving the buyer's purchasing experience, and increasing the selectivity in purchasing meals. The automatic meals-selling machine 100 according to the present application includes a combination of a rotating meals storage rack 30, a lifting meals storage piece 71 and a telescopic meals pushing piece 73, which saves space. Compared with selling machines of similar volume on the market, the storage capacity of the automatic meals-selling machine 100 according to the present application is two to three times the storage capacity of the selling machines of similar volume on the market.
It can be understood that the heating assembly 50 is provided above the meals storage rack 30, during the up and down movement of the meals storage piece 71, the meals can be picked up in the meals pickup passage 30b, the meals can be moved into the heating cavity in the heating zone 10a. Here, the meals pickup assembly 70 further includes a meals push rod (not shown in figures), the meals push rod is telescopically provided at one side of the meals storage piece 71; and in response to that the meals storage piece 71 is flush with the meals inlet 51a51, 53b11, the meals push rod is configured to push meals on the meals storage piece 71 into the heating assembly 50 via the meals inlet 51a51, 53b11.
The structural settings of the meals push rod can be the same as structure of the above-mentioned meals pushing piece 73, which facilitates processing and can simplify the structure. The meals pushing direction of the meals push rod is opposite to the meals pushing direction of the meals pushing piece 73, the meals pushing piece 73 is provided on the rear panel 111 and pushes the meals from the storage space 30a toward the direction of the front panel onto the meals storage piece 71, the meals push rod is provided on the front panel, and in response to that the meals storage piece 71 is flush with the meals inlet 51a51, 53b11, pushing the meals toward the direction of the rear panel 111 into the meals inlet 51a51, 53b11 by the meals push rod. In this way, the heating assembly 50 is provided at the upper and rear position of the meals storage rack 30 and can be far away from the front panel, so that excessive heat will not be generated at the meals outlet, thereby improving the protection for users. Certainly, in other embodiments, the meals pushing piece 73 can also be provided at the front panel, and the meals push rod can be provided at the rear panel 111. In an embodiments, transfer components of other structures, such as manipulators or clamping components, is provided to transfer the meals to the heating assembly 50.
Please refer to
In this embodiment, in order to further improve the heating effect, when the heating assembly 50 is in the steam heating mode, the corresponding meals pickup assembly 70 further includes the hole puncher 79, which is provided above the meals storage piece 71. Specifically, the hole puncher 79 can be provided on the driving component of the meals storage piece 71 and between the two screw rods 77; when the meals storage piece 71 moves up and down as the screw rod 77 rotates, the hole puncher 79 is fixed; when the distance between the meals storage piece 71 and the hole puncher 79 reaches a certain preset distance, the needle 791 of the hole puncher 79 can come into contact with the packaging box with meals and thereby punch a hole in the packaging box with meals and it can move downward to a position corresponding to the cover body 53a to push the packaging box with meals after the punching. In this way, during steam heating, the contact area between the steam and the meals can be increased, thereby making the heating of meals more efficient and having a better heating taste.
Please continue to refer to
In this embodiment, when two or more than two meals storage racks 30 and meals pickup assemblies 70 are provided, one of the heating methods and the types of meals are the same. In this way, a plurality of heating assemblies 50 are provided and are provided in one-to-one correspondence with the meals pickup assemblies 70; the structures of the plurality of heating assemblies 50 are all the same, for example, they are all the roasting heating for meals of cake types, or the water-bath heating for porridge and soups types, or the steam heating for cold noodles and Chinese rolled dough types. When a plurality of meals are purchased, the heating efficiency and meals delivery efficiency can be effectively improved, and user experience is improved. Further, in order to provide a better purchasing experience, the automatic meals-selling machine 100 places different types of meals in different meal storage racks 30, which can satisfy the user's free choice of set menu of meals. Here, aiming at the matching habits of traditional snacks, the meals are set to be at least two of the porridge and soup types, marinated meat in baked bun types, cold noodles and Chinese rolled dough types, so the heating assembly 50 corresponds to at least two of roasting heating, water-bath heating or steam heating, to provide targeted heating methods, thus improving the taste of meals and user experience.
In an embodiment, when three meals storage racks 30 are provided, the three heating assemblies 50 are the heating structures of the above three heating methods, thereby providing more meals matching options, and ensuring heating effects. In this way, the vessel body 51a, 51b of the three heating assemblies 50 can be connected to the casing 10 by a connecting plate 57, and a certain distance is provided between the partition plate 13 and the top shell to facilitate heat dissipation. At the same time, between two adjacent vessel bodies 51a, 51b, the connecting plate 57 is provided with a heat dissipation hole 571 to dissipate the heat of the vessel body 51a, 51b upward via the heat dissipation hole 571, reducing the probability of being transferred to the cold storage zone 10b, which is more conducive to the preservation of meals and the heat dissipation of the heating zone 10a.
Please combine
In order to better limit the position of meals, a meals delivery box 83 is generally provided at a position corresponding to the meals outlet, the meals delivery box 83 is provided with a meals delivery space 831, and the meals is pushed into the meals delivery space 831 to prevent the meals from falling to other locations. In an embodiment, the automatic meals-selling machine 100 is also provided with a meals delivery-and-transfer device 60, the meals delivery-and-transfer device 60 is provided between the meals pickup assembly 70 and the meals delivery box 83, and the meals delivery-and-transfer device 60 is configured to put the heated meals into the meals delivery box 83.
In this embodiment, a bracket 61 is configured to fix a cabin 63, the bracket 61 is connected to the outer shell 11, and the cabin 63 is specifically provided between the meals storage piece 71 and the meals delivery box 83 and is configured to receive heated meals and deliver the heated meals into the meals delivery box 83. The cabin 63 includes a frame body 631, the frame body 631 is roughly in the shape of a cuboid or a cube and is provided with six surfaces, a movable bottom plate 633 can be movably provided on the surface of the frame body 631, and the two cooperate to form a storage cavity. Certainly, the frame body 631 can also be a cylinder or other shape. The storage cavity is provided with a fixed opening 6311 facing towards the meals storage piece 71 for receiving meals. At the same time, the bracket 61 can drive the cabin 63 to lift up and down, so that it can move within the plane where the meals pickup assembly 70 is located and the meals delivery space 831 of the meals delivery box 83. In this way, a sensor is provided at the cabin 63; when the meals are detected to be put into the storage cavity, the cabin 63 is firstly moved downward into the meals delivery space 831, then the movable bottom plate 633 will automatically open the bottom surface of the frame body 631, thereby allowing the meals to fall into the meals delivery space 831. Here, the movable connection of the movable bottom plate 633 can be a rotational connection or a sliding connection, thereby enabling rotation or translation to open the bottom surface of the frame body 631, which is not limited here.
In this way, the cabin 63 can control the movable bottom plate 633 to open the bottom surface of the frame body 631 after entering the meals delivery space 831, so that the meals will not fall from a high place when the meal is delivered, ensuring the integrity of the meals effectively, improving the purchasing experience; and the transfer structure is simple and requires low driving precision of the movable bottom plate 633 and the cabin 63 to ensure fast meals delivery.
Please continue to refer to
Please refer to
In an embodiment, the side rod 6371 moving towards the side of the frame body 631 is provided as the first side rod 6373, and the side rod 6371 moving toward the opposite side is provided as the second side rod 6375. In order to further simplify the structure of the cabin 63 and reduce the number of drive assemblies 635, a telescopic piece 6377 is configured to connect two adjacent side rods 6371 moving toward the same side. When the movable bottom plate 633 needs to carry meals, the telescopic piece 6377 can extend to maintain a distance between two adjacent side rods 6371; when delivering food, the telescopic piece 6377 can be contracted or folded when the side rod 6371 is moving, so as to reduce the distance between the two side rods 6371. When the driving assembly 635 drives the first side rod 6373 located in the middle position, the first side rod 6373 compresses the telescopic piece 6377 to reduce the distance between the first side rod 6373 and the adjacent first side rod 6373 until the adjacent first side rod 6373 is pushed and moved, and so on, thereby realizing the open state of the movable bottom plate 633. The setting of this structure is similar to a device for opening and closing curtains, there is no need for each side rod 6371 to be provided with a driving assembly 635, so that the purpose of quickly opening or closing the side of the frame body 631 and bottom of the frame body 631 can be achieved with fewer driving assemblies 635, thereby effectively saving material costs and energy consumption. The telescopic piece 6377 can be two metal bars that are hinged to each other, and the two metal bars are also hingedly connected to the side rods 6371 connected to them respectively; certainly, it can also be a structure such as a telescopic rod, which is not limited here.
Please refer to
In an embodiment, in order to transfer more meals at one time, a plurality of bottom plates 633 can be provided. The plurality of movable bottom plates 633 are provided at intervals in a direction from the bottom surface of the frame body 631 to the top surface of the frame body 631, thereby dividing the storage cavity into a plurality of layers, each layer can store meals, thus effectively increasing the storage capacity of meals.
Please combine
In this embodiment, since a plurality of meals need to be delivered together, in order to improve the meals delivery efficiency, the bracket 61 is extended along the arrangement direction of the meals storage rack 30, and the cabin 63 can be provided movably along the extending direction, that is, the cabin 63 can be provided movably among a plurality of meals storage racks 30 and a plurality of heating assemblies 50. Specifically, the moving method can be a driving structure in which the motor is combined with the screw rod 77, or other structures such as a conveyor belt can be selected for driving. The setting of this structure allows that when the user selects at least two meals, the cabin 63 moves to at least two heating assemblies 50, after receiving the corresponding meals; when the plurality of movable bottom plates 633 are provided, putting different meals on the movable bottom plates 633 of different layers; at this time, the storage cavity can be divided into spaces of different sizes according to the volume of meals to reduce the accumulation or squeezing of meals while meeting the storage needs of meals, thus ensuring the integrity and appearance of meals, and improving the purchasing experience. When only one movable bottom plate 633 is provided, the meals can be placed on the same movable bottom plate 633 and transferred together, and the structure is simple.
Please refer to
Please refer to
In this embodiment, in order to adapt to traditional flavored snacks and meals, the packaging of the automatic meals-selling machine 100 is different from existing fast food boxes; the meals do not have packaging that can be easily carried, and based on the fact that the meals will be slightly hot to the touch after being heated, a packaging device 80 is provided, which can automatically pick up the packaging bags and put the packaging bags into the meals delivery space 831; the meals placed in the meals delivery space 831 from the cabin 63 of the meals delivery-and-transfer device 60 is packaged, and the user can directly lift the packaging bag when picking up the meals without directly touching the meals, thereby reducing the chance of being burned and effectively improving the consumer experience. At the same time, on the structural basis with or without heating assembly 50, the structure of the plurality of meals storage racks 30 is provided; when a plurality of meals are delivered at the same time, the cabin 63 can greatly improve the meals delivery efficiency, and the packing device 80 can also pack a plurality of meals, which is a good solution to the situation where it is inconvenient to carry due to the large variety of meals when purchasing a plurality of different meals at the same time, thus increasing the chance of purchasing a variety of set menu of meals, which are also healthier and more hygienic, thus improving convenience and safety.
Please combine
The meals delivery box 83 is the structure of the meals delivery box 83 described above, and is provided directly opposite the meals outlet to facilitate the user to pick up meals via the meals outlet. In an embodiment, the opening shape of the meals delivery box 83 matches the open state of the packaging bag, and the bag pickup piece 85 is movably provided relative to the fixed seat. That is, the bag pickup piece 85 is movably provided on the partition plate 13, therefore, the bag pickup piece 85 can move back and forth between the bag storage box 81 and the meals delivery box 83, and can also open the packaging bag in folded state to package the meals. Specifically, the bag pickup piece 85 can be a manipulator, an adsorption piece or the like.
Please combine
In an embodiment, in order to improve the stability of the bag pickup piece 85 for absorbing packaging bags, the bag pickup piece 85 further includes a connecting arm 855, two supporting arms 851 are provided and are respectively connected to both ends of the connecting arm 855, thereby increasing the contact area between the sucker 853 and the packaging bag, and effectively improving the adsorption stability. Certainly, a plurality of suckers 853 can be provided on each support arm 851, thereby further improving the adsorption capacity of the bag pickup piece 85, and preventing the packaging bag from falling during the transfer process. Here, the support arm 851 of the bag pickup piece 85 is provided between the bag storage box 81 and the meals delivery box 83, and the support arm 851 is facing towards the meals delivery box 83. That is, the connecting arm 855 is facing towards the bag storage box 81, the bag pickup piece 85 can be translated in the direction facing towards the bag storage box 81 and then moved downward, so that the sucker 853 absorbs and fixes the packaging bag, then moves upward to leave the bag storage box 81, and then moves toward the meals delivery box 83. Since the opening of the meals delivery box 83 faces upward, in order to reduce the interference between the bag pickup piece 85 and the meals delivery-and-transfer device 60, the meals delivery box 83 needs to be rotated, so that the meals delivery box 83 rotates 90 degrees with the center axis perpendicular to the front panel as the axis, that is, rotates 90 degrees counterclockwise, thus making the opening of the meals delivery box 83 face toward the support arm 851. At the same time, the support arm 851 is provided to be rotatable, the support arm 851 rotates 90 degrees around the rotation axis 84 to make its size matches the opening size of the meals delivery box 83, thus enabling the end of the support arm 851 to enter the meals delivery space 831 to put the packaging bag into the meals delivery box 83, which is simple and convenient and effectively improves the efficiency of transferring the packaging bag.
Please refer to
In an embodiment, in order to achieve a better fixing effect, the fixing portion provided at the meals delivery box 83 is a sucker 853. The sucker 853 is also connected to a vacuum pumping device, thereby, the adsorption and release of the packaging bag can be realized under the control of the controller 93. Here, when the bag pickup piece 85 puts the packaging bag into the meals delivery space 831, the bag pickup piece 85 moves to the place where the fixing portion adsorbs the other surface of the packaging bag facing away bag pickup piece 85. In this way, the bag pickup piece 85 then moves in reverse direction so that the packaging bag opens under the dragging of the fixing portion and the support arm 851, the bag pickup piece 85 moves to the side opposite to the meals delivery box 83. Here, both sides of the meals delivery box 83 are provided with fixing portions; that is, when the fixing portions are also ventilated to absorb the packaging bags, the bag pickup piece 85 can close the ventilation to release the adsorption of the packaging bags, and then withdraws from the meals delivery box 83 and returns to a state of waiting for bag pickup. Then, the meals delivery-and-transfer device 60 puts the meals from its storage cavity into the packaging bag to complete the packaging.
Please refer to
In order to facilitate picking up meals, in an embodiment, since the opening of the meals delivery box 83 faces upward, the meals delivery box 83 can also be provided rotatably relative to the fixed base; that is, the partition plate 13 is provided to be rotatable. The rotation here is the rotation that relative to the casing 10 facing towards the front panel, so that the opening of the meals delivery box 83 is exposed at the meals outlet, which facilitates users to directly pick up meals and improves the convenience of picking up meals. When the meals pickup is completed, the meals delivery box 83 automatically returns back into the casing 10 and can seal the meals outlet to prevent external dust from entering and contaminating the meals, thereby improving safety.
Please combine
The meals delivery box 83 is provided to be rotatable relative to the partition plate 13 to facilitate the placement of packaging bags. A baffle 837 is connected to the surface of the meals delivery box 83 facing towards the meals outlet, and a gap is provided between the baffle and the meals delivery box 83 to facilitate the placement of components that drive the meals delivery box 83 to rotate. The baffle 837 is provided to be able to close the meals outlet, that is, the baffle 837 matches the size and shape of the meals outlet; the baffle 837 can be rotatably provided relative to the casing 10 driven by the driving components, so that when meals need to be delivered, the baffle 837 flips toward the outside of the casing 10, thus causing the meal box to also rotate, so that the opening of the meals delivery box 83 is exposed, making it convenient to pick up meals.
The above are only some embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application. Under the concept of the present application, any equivalent structure transformation made by using the description and accompanying drawings of the present application, or directly or indirectly applied in other related technical fields, is included within the scope of the present application.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202111207153.X | Oct 2021 | CN | national |
The present application is a continuation application of International Application No. PCT/CN2022/113101, filed on Aug. 17, 2022, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202111207153.X, filed on Oct. 15, 2021. The disclosures of the above-mentioned applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2022/113101 | Aug 2022 | WO |
| Child | 18604218 | US |
