Circulating type food and drink transport apparatus

A circulating type transport apparatus comprising:

• an endless chain slidably moving on a circulating type transport path;
• a drive section for circulating the endless chain;
• and
• a management device for managing an expiration date of food and drink arranged on plate traveling on the endless chain, the management device including:
• a camera for capturing a two-dimensional code on a cylindrical base of the plate;
• a barcode scanner for analyzing the two-dimensional code captured by the camera and extracting a plate number;
• a management main body for receiving the plate number output from the barcode scanner and collectively managing the travel plates;
• and
• a DIO (Digital Input/Output) module, connected to a detection switch disposed on a downstream position of the camera and a discharge mechanism disposed on a downstream side of the detection switch, for performing bidirectional communication with the management main body, a separation distance between the camera and the detection switch being set to be shorter than a diameter Φ of the plate, and the DIO module having:
• notification means for transmitting a detection signal received from the detection switch to the management main body;
• and
• discharge means for operating the discharge mechanism based on a control signal received from the management main body,
• wherein the management main body includes:
• a travel management table TBL1 for managing an elapsed time from a start of travel for all the plates traveling on the circulating type transport path in relation to the plate number;
• a discharge table TBL2 for managing a discharge process time for the plates which elapsed time has exceed a predetermined value in relation to the plate number;
• a discharge flag FG for temporarily storing the fact that the plate which elapsed time has exceeded the predetermined value is detected;
• and
• a timer TMR for timing a time from when receiving the detection signal from the DIO module until operating the discharge mechanism.