Coin Hopper Rotating Wheel Blade Guide Edge Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional coin hoppers face issues with wear and tear of control plates due to friction, leading to operational inefficiencies and high replacement costs, especially when handling coins of different thicknesses and sizes.
Innovation Solution
A coin hopper design featuring a rotating wheel with radially spaced, curved coin-pushing blades and coin-receiving spaces that guide coins into a funnel-shaped coin box, eliminating the need for an extra control plate and incorporating a leaf spring coin ejector to prevent jamming, allowing for smooth dispensing without additional structural components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a control plate is used to guide coins to the coin outlet, then coin guidance is improved, but the control plate wears out quickly due to friction and impact
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the control plate component entirely from the system. Instead of using a separate control plate to guide coins, the guide edges are integrated directly into the housing structure, eliminating the wearing part and solving the durability problem while maintaining coin guidance functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The guidance function previously performed by the separate control plate is merged into the housing structure itself. The guide edges are formed as integral parts of the housing, combining the housing and guidance functions into a single structural element that cannot wear out independently
2Productivity
If the rotating wheel rotates at high speed to increase dispensing efficiency, then productivity is improved, but the pressure plates and control plate wear quickly due to heavy impact
Solution Approach 1:
By removing the control plate and pressure plate assembly, the invention eliminates the components that were subject to heavy impact and wear during high-speed operation. The direct push mechanism transfers force more efficiently without intermediate components that can fail
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using pressure plates to push coins from below and relying on a control plate to guide them, the invention inverts the approach by using guide edges to direct coins and a single push member to deliver them, reversing the traditional force application and guidance sequence
3Ease of operation
If spring members are used to support pressure plates for coin pushing, then coin pushing function is improved, but stress concentration and elastic fatigue occur causing retracting function failure
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the spring members and pressure plate assembly entirely, replacing them with a direct push mechanism. This eliminates the elastic components that were subject to repeated stress cycles and fatigue, solving the reliability problem while maintaining the coin pushing function through a simpler mechanical arrangement
4Reliability
If a coin lever is provided to remove overlapped coins, then coin jamming is prevented, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The coin lever function is merged with the push member and guide edge structure. The guide edges naturally separate overlapped coins during the pushing motion, and the push member itself can adjust to prevent jamming, combining multiple functions into fewer components and reducing overall structural complexity
Data Source
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AI summary
A coin hopper includes a hopper body including a housing having an accommodation chamber defined in a funnel-shaped coin box thereof and a coin outlet for guiding coins out of the accommodation chamber individually, a rotating wheel having multiple coin-pushing blades radially and equiangularly extended from a wheel base thereof and a coin-receiving space defined between each two adjacent coin-pushing blades, each coin-pushing blade having an abutment edge extending along one lateral side thereof for stopping one coin in one coin-receiving space and a pushing edge extending along an opposite lateral side thereof, a power drive adapted for rotating the rotating wheel to let coins be ruffled by the coin-pushing blades and forced into the coin-receiving spaces and then guided by the arc-shaped abutment edges to move out of each coin-receiving space upwardly toward the coin outlet one after another, and a coin-dispensing mechanism including a spring-loaded lever for pushing coins out of the coin outlet individually.