Coin Feeding Device With Guide And Gripping Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coin feeding devices struggle to feed out coins one by one when dealing with multiple coin diameters that are significantly different, often resulting in simultaneous discharge of smaller coins.
Innovation Solution
A coin feeding device with a rotatable disk having protrusions, a guide to direct coins upward, and a taking-out unit with gripping members that synchronize with the disk's rotation to grip and release coins, ensuring only one coin is discharged at a time, using a cam mechanism to manage coin size variations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single protrusion on the rotary disk catches coins to move them upward, then the coin feeding mechanism is simple, but multiple small coins may be caught by one protrusion causing simultaneous discharge
Solution Approach 1:
A guide member is introduced as an intermediary component between the protrusion and the coins. The guide member has a guide surface that contacts the coin and guides it along a specific path, ensuring that only one coin can be properly positioned on the protrusion at a time. The guide surface acts as a mediator that prevents multiple small coins from being simultaneously caught by the same protrusion, thereby resolving the reliability issue without significantly increasing device complexity.
2Reliability
If the guide member contacts the coin to guide it, then coin discharge control is improved, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The guide member is designed to perform multiple functions: it guides the coin along the protrusion, prevents multiple coins from being caught simultaneously, and maintains proper coin orientation. By consolidating these functions into a single component rather than using separate elements for each function, the overall structural complexity is minimized while achieving reliable coin discharge control.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the protrusion catches multiple small coins, then the feeding mechanism can handle various coin sizes, but simultaneous discharge of multiple coins occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The guide member has a specifically designed guide surface with particular geometric properties that create a localized contact point with the coin. This local quality ensures that only one coin can be properly positioned and guided by the protrusion at any given time, regardless of the coin's size. The guide surface's shape and position are optimized to maintain adaptability to different coin sizes while preventing multiple coins from being simultaneously caught.
Data Source
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AI summary
A coin feeding device (for example, feeding unit 20) includes: a disk 22 having a plurality of protrusions 22b at a surface, the disk 22 disposed so as to be rotatable in a tilted state and configured to catch coins by the protrusions 22b to move the coins upward while rotating; a cover 21 configured to form a space for storing a coin between the cover 21 and the surface of the disk 22; a guide 26 configured to guide a peripheral edge of a coin such that a part of the coin having been caught by each protrusion 22b and moved upward protrudes from the disk 22; and a taking-out unit (for example, taking-out mechanism 28) configured to grip only one coin protruding from the disk 22, remove the coin from the disk 22, and discharge the coin to outside of the disk 22.