The present invention relates to a paper sheet accumulating device and a control method of the paper sheet accumulating device.
For example, a banknote handling apparatus used as an automated teller machine (ATM) or the like, includes a banknote accumulating device in which banknotes, which are collected by the banknote handling apparatus, are stored. Such a banknote accumulating device includes an accumulating part in which banknotes are accumulated, and an impeller that sends banknotes to the accumulating part.
In the above-described banknote accumulating device, for example, accumulating banknotes, which have folds or wrinkles, causes the banknotes to be bulky in the accumulating part, which becomes a problem of a decrease in storage capacity of the accumulating part in accordance with a deformation state of the banknotes accumulated.
For this reason, in the banknote accumulating device of the related art, causing a pressing member to press the banknotes, which are accumulated in the accumulating part, suppresses a decrease in storage amount of the banknotes accumulated in the accumulating part. However, in this banknote accumulating device, the provision of the pressing member and a drive mechanism that drives the pressing member, has a disadvantage that the banknote accumulating device is increased in size and complicated in structure.
According to an aspect of the embodiments, a paper sheet accumulating device includes: an accumulating part in which paper sheets are accumulated;
an impeller that sends the paper sheets to the accumulating part; and a support mechanism that supports the impeller, wherein the support mechanism includes a first rotation shaft that supports the impeller rotatable, a support member provided with the first rotation shaft, a second rotation shaft that supports the support member rotatable in a direction of the support member moving toward and away from the accumulating part, and a biasing member that biases the support member in a direction of the impeller moving toward the paper sheets accumulated in the accumulating part.
The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention.
A description will be given below of details of an embodiment of a paper sheet accumulating device and a control method of the paper sheet accumulating device disclosed herein with reference to the drawings. Note that the paper sheet accumulating device and the control method of the paper sheet accumulating device disclosed herein, are not limited by the following embodiment.
[Structure of Banknote Handling Apparatus]
Further, in order to collect the banknotes 5 from the banknote handling apparatus 1, the banknote handling apparatus 1 includes a collecting part 17 that collects the banknotes 5 sent from the plurality of storing parts 14. As illustrated in
For convenience of explanation, when the banknote handling apparatus 1 is viewed from the accepting and dispensing part 11 in
[Structure of Banknote Accumulating Device]
The accumulating part 21 includes a pair of placing tables 27 on which the banknotes 5 are placed, a lift mechanism (not illustrated) that moves the pair of placing tables 27 up and down in the Z direction, and a pair of partitions 28 that partition a space where the banknotes 5 are accumulated.
The pair of the placing tables 27 are arranged horizontally (on an X-Y plane) at an interval along a longitudinal axis (X direction) of the banknotes 5 that are placed on the placing tables 27. The pair of the placing tables 27 have their respective one ends supported by the lift mechanism, and are intermittently moved down as the banknotes 5, which are sent from the impeller 22, are accumulated on the placing tables 27.
The pair of partitions 28 are arranged at an interval along a lateral axis (Y direction) of the banknotes 5 placed on the placing tables 27, the partitions 28 extending along the Z direction. The partitions 28 each have an opening 28a, in which the pair of the placing tables 27 are arranged and the pair of the placing tables 27 are moved up and down.
Further, on upper and lower sides of the accumulating part 21, an upper end detecting sensor 41 and a lower end detecting sensor 42 to be described later, are provided as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The blades 23 are each formed of a metal plate into a band shape, and have a plurality of bent portions 23a bent at intervals along a longitudinal axis of the blades 23, and a plurality of flat portions 23b formed on both sides of each of the bent portions 23a (between the bent portions 23a) (see
The blades 23 are each formed in a predetermined outer shape by, for example, punching a metal plate. After the punching work, a peripheral edge of each blade 23 is polished to be smoother, which prevents the blade 23 from damaging the banknotes 5 when coming into contact with the banknotes 5. Further, the blades 23 are each formed, by press work, in an approximately arc shape bent at the plurality of bent portions 23a. The blades 23 are each formed, for example, such that an interval between the plurality of bent portions 23a (a length of the flat portion 23b) gradually increases from the proximal end to a distal end. Such blades 23 having the plurality of bent portions 23a, allow the banknotes 5 to smoothly enter from the conveyance path 15a to between the blades 23 of the impellers 22, which in turn makes it possible to increase a success rate of transfer action of the banknotes 5 between the conveyance path 15a and the impellers 22.
Note that, although the impellers 22 according to the present embodiment have the metal blades 23, resin blades may be used. The metal blades 23 are preferably made of metal because an appropriate pressing force can be easily applied by resilience of a metal plate.
[Structure of Support Mechanism]
Provided on the first rotation shaft 31 are the two impellers 22 that are arranged at an interval along an axis (X direction) of the first rotation shaft 31. The second rotation shaft 33 is disposed extending along the axis of the first rotation shaft 31, and is supported by a structure (not illustrated) of the banknote accumulating device 17. The support member 32 is provided with a detection piece 32a, which is used in detection of a pivot position by a position sensor 43 to be described later.
As the biasing member 34, a tension coil spring is used, for example, but a torsion coil that applies a rotation force about the second rotation shaft 33, may be used. The biasing member 34 has one end fixed to the support member 32 and the other end fixed to the structure of the banknote accumulating device 17. As described above, the support member 32 is biased around the second rotation shaft 33 by the biasing member 34 so as to allow the banknotes 5 to be accumulated while pressing the banknotes 5, which are accumulated in the accumulating part 21.
The banknote accumulating device 17 further includes the upper end detecting sensor 41 that detects an upper end position of the banknotes 5, which are accumulated in the accumulating part 21, the lower end detecting sensor 42 that detects a lower end position of the placing tables 27, and the position sensor 43 serving as a pivot detecting part, which detects that the support member 32 of the support mechanism 25 has pivoted on the second rotation shaft 33 to a predetermined pivot position. As the upper end detecting sensor 41, the lower end detecting sensor 42, and the position sensor 43, optical sensors are used, for example, the optical sensors each including a light emitter that emits detection light, and a light receiver that receives the detection light emitted by the light emitter. The upper end detecting sensor 41, the lower end detecting sensor 42, and the position sensor 43, are connected to the controller 16.
The upper end detecting sensor 41 is disposed on the upper side of the accumulating part 21, and detects the uppermost banknote 5 of the banknotes 5 accumulated on the placing tables 27. The lower end detecting sensor 42 is disposed on the lower side of the accumulating part 21, and detects the placing tables 27 when the placing tables 27 have intermittently moved down by the lift mechanism to the lower end.
As illustrated in
[Banknote Accumulating Action]
The placing tables 27 are initially located on the upper side of the accumulating part 21, and are intermittently moved down by a predetermined height every time a predetermined amount of banknotes 5 are accumulated. This allows the banknote accumulating device 17 to further accumulate the banknotes 5 on the placing tables 27 by an amount corresponding to the height, by which the placing tables 27 have been moved down, and repeat the down movement of the placing tables 27 and the accumulating action.
When the placing tables 27 are moved down to the lower end of the accumulating part 21, the lower end detecting sensor 42 detects the placing tables 27. Then, even after the lower end detecting sensor 42 detects the placing tables 27, the impellers 22 keep being driven to rotate, and the banknotes 5 keep being accumulated.
As the banknotes 5 are further accumulated, the height of the banknotes 5 accumulated in the accumulating part 21, gradually increases. At this time, the impellers 22 are biased by the biasing member 34 toward the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 via the support member 32, causing the blades 23 to press down the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 in the accumulation direction. Thus, even when the banknotes 5, which have deformations such as folds or wrinkles, are accumulated, the banknotes 5 are pressed down by the blades 23 of the impellers 22, so that a storage capacity of the accumulating part 21 is appropriately maintained without a decrease in storage capacity.
Subsequently, the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 are sufficiently pressed by the blades 23 of the impellers 22, and as the height of the banknotes 5, which are accumulated in the accumulating part 21, gradually increases, the impellers 22 gradually move upward. Therefore, the support member 32, which supports the impellers 22, is gradually pivoted on the second rotation shaft 33 from the horizontal position to the predetermined pivot position. At this time, the position sensor 43 detects that the support member 32 has pivoted to the predetermined pivot position, and the controller 16 stops the drive mechanism 26 on the basis of the detection result of the position sensor 43 to stop the rotation drive of the impellers 22 and terminate the accumulating action of the banknotes 5.
As described above, the impellers 22 can gradually separate from the accumulating part 21 in proportion to the storage amount of the banknotes 5, which are accumulated in the accumulating part 21, and it is therefore possible to cause the impellers 22 to press the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 with a constant pressing force and to suppress the occurrence of the banknotes 5 jamming in the accumulating part 21, that is, the occurrence of a jam. Further, the use of both the biasing force of the biasing member 34 and the weight of the impellers 22 to cause the impellers 22 to press the banknotes 5, makes it possible to simplify the structure for pressing the banknotes. Further, since the controller 16 stops the rotation drive of the impellers 22 on the basis of the detection result of the position sensor 43, it is possible to avoid the impellers 22 applying an excessive pressing force to the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 and to cause the impellers 22 to press the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 with a constant pressing force. Further, according to the present embodiment, since the banknotes 5 are pressed by the two impellers 22 arranged at an interval along the longitudinal axis of the banknotes 5 accumulated to appropriately press the banknotes 5 over the longitudinal axis of the banknotes 5, it is possible to satisfactorily accumulate the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21.
Subsequently, the banknote accumulating device 17 causes a conveyance mechanism (not illustrated) to convey the banknotes 5, which are accumulated on the placing tables 27, to remove the banknotes 5 from the placing tables 27. After the banknotes 5 are removed from the placing tables 27, the banknote accumulating device 17 causes the support member 32 supporting the impellers 22 to return to the initial position, by the biasing force of the biasing member 34, to move the placing tables 27 to the upper side of the accumulating part 21, allowing the banknote accumulating device 17 to start the accumulating action again.
[Control Processing of Banknote Accumulating Device]
The controller 16 determines whether the position sensor 43 has detected that the support member 32 for the impellers 22 has pivoted to the predetermined pivot position (Step S4). In Step S4, when the controller 16 determines that it has not detected yet that the support member 32 has pivoted to the predetermined pivot position (No), the controller 16 returns to Step S4 and repeats the determination. In Step S4, when the controller 16 determines that the support member 32 has pivoted to the predetermined pivot position (Yes), the controller 16 stops the rotation drive of the impellers 22 to terminate the accumulating action for the banknotes 5 (Step S5).
For example, after the lower end detecting sensor 42 detects the placing tables 27, the controller 16 may perform control to detect whether a predetermined number of banknotes 5 have been sent to the accumulating part 21 by the impellers 22 and determine that, when the predetermined number or more of the banknotes 5 have been sent to the accumulating part 21, there is a risk of, for example, the banknotes 5 jamming in the accumulating part 21 to terminate the accumulating action even when the pivot of the support member 32 is not detected by the position sensor 43. This makes it possible to suppress the occurrence of, for example, the banknotes 5 jamming in the accumulating part 21 in a state where the position sensor 43 has not detected yet that the support member 32 has pivoted to the predetermined pivot position.
[Control Method of Banknote Accumulating Device]
A control method of the banknote accumulating device 17 configured as described above, includes causing the impellers 22 to send the banknotes 5 to the accumulating part 21, and accumulating the banknotes 5 on the placing tables 27 of the accumulating part 21 and causing the lower end detecting sensor 42 to detect that the placing tables 27 have reached the lower end with the accumulation of the banknotes 5. Further, this control method includes causing the position sensor 43 serving as the pivot detecting part to detect that the support member 32 has pivoted on the second rotation shaft 33 to the predetermined pivot position, using the support mechanism 25 having the first rotation shaft 31, the support member 32, the second rotation shaft 33, and the biasing member 34.
Control according to this control method is performed to continue the rotation drive of the impellers 22 even after the lower end detecting sensor 42 detects the placing tables 27, and stop, when the position sensor 43 detects that the support member 32 has pivoted to the predetermined pivot position, the rotation drive of the impellers 22.
As described above, the banknote accumulating device 17 according the embodiment includes the support mechanism 25 including the first rotation shaft 31 that supports the impellers 22 rotatable, the support member 32 provided with the first rotation shaft 31, the second rotation shaft 33 that supports the support member 32 rotatable in a direction of the support member 32 moving toward and away from the accumulating part 21, and the biasing member 34 that biases the support member 32 in a direction of the impellers 22 moving toward the banknotes 5 accumulated in the accumulating part 21. Accordingly, the impellers 22 can gradually separate from the accumulating part 21 in proportion to the storage amount of the banknotes 5 accumulated in the accumulating part 21, and it is therefore possible to cause the impellers 22 to press the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 with a constant pressing force and to suppress the occurrence of, for example, the banknotes 5 jamming in the accumulating part 21 due to excessive pressing of the banknotes 5.
Therefore, according to the banknote accumulating device 17, even when the banknotes 5, which have deformations such as folds or wrinkles, are accumulated, causing the impellers 22 to press the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 makes it possible to suppress a decrease in storage amount of the banknotes 5, which are accumulated in the accumulating part 21, in accordance with a deformation state of the banknotes 5. In addition, causing the impellers 22 to press the banknotes 5 makes it possible to simplify the structure for suppressing a decrease in storage amount of the banknotes 5, which are accumulated in the accumulating part 21, and to reduce the whole size of the banknote accumulating device 17.
Further, in the banknote accumulating device 17 according to the embodiment, the controller 16 performs control to continue to the rotation drive of the impellers 22 when the lower end detecting sensor 42 detects that the placing tables have reached the lower end with the accumulation of the banknotes 5 and to stop the rotation drive of the impellers 22 when the position sensor 43 detects that the support member 32 has pivoted to the predetermined pivot position. This prevents the impellers 22 from applying an excessive pressing force to the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21, and allows the impellers 22 to press the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 with a constant pressing force.
Further, the impellers 22 included in the banknote accumulating device 17 according to the embodiment, have the plurality of blades 23 each formed of a metal plate, and the plurality of blades 23 have resilience to press the banknotes 5 accumulated in the accumulating part 21. Accordingly, a sufficient pressing force for pressing the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 can be obtained, so that a decrease in the storage capacity of the accumulating part 21 can be further suppressed.
Further, the plurality of blades 23 of the impellers 22 in the banknote accumulating device 17 according to the embodiment, have the plurality of bent portions 23a bent at intervals along the longitudinal axis of the blades 23, and the plurality of flat portions 23b formed on both sides of each of the bent portions. This allows the metal blades 23 to press the surface of the banknotes 5 in the accumulating part 21 using the flat portions 23b (plane) between the bent portions 23a.
With the paper sheet accumulating device according to the aspect of the present disclosure, a structure for suppressing a decrease in storage amount of the paper sheets accumulated in the accumulating part can be simplified.
All examples and conditional language provided herein are intended for the pedagogical purposes of aiding the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to further the art, and are not to be construed as limitations to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although one or more embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This application is a continuation application of International Application PCT/JP2018/006318, filed on Feb. 21, 2018 and designating the U.S., the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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4718655 | Okayama | Jan 1988 | A |
9517911 | Xia | Dec 2016 | B2 |
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Entry |
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Japanese Office Action, dated Jun. 28, 2021, in corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-501911 (5 pp.). |
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Japanese Office Action, dated Jul. 6, 2021, in corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-501911 (5 pp.). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20200369488 A1 | Nov 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2018/006318 | Feb 2018 | US |
Child | 16989060 | US |