Resilient Hopper Wall for Coin Feeder Jamming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coin handling equipment, such as hopper coin feeders, face challenges in efficiently sorting and counting mixed batches of coins with varying thicknesses, leading to issues like jamming and inaccurate sorting due to 'piggyback' coins, which is not suitable for retail settings where operation must be easy and fault-free.
Innovation Solution
A horizontal disc-type hopper coin feeder with a resilient, flexibly designed hopper wall and band system that ensures coins are presented individually to the discriminator, using a coin pushing member and band deflecting bearings to prevent jamming and allow passage of multiple coins, along with a coin chute and diverter unit for accurate sorting and rejection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a stationary rigid cylindrical hopper wall with a stepped lower edge is used to define a coin outlet gap, then coins can be scraped off the top layer and only coins with thickness less than the gap height can pass, but this limits the types of coins that can be fed and allows piggyback coins to pass through causing inaccurate sorting
Solution Approach 1:
The hopper wall is made resilient and flexible instead of rigid, allowing it to dynamically adapt its shape. The wall flexes outward under centrifugal force to accommodate coins of varying thicknesses, and spring-loaded fingers actively push coins through the outlet gap, ensuring that only single coins pass through while preventing piggyback coins from being fed to the discriminator.
2Productivity
If coins are carried by a rotating disc at high angular velocity, then large quantities of coins can be handled quickly, but this causes centrifugal force to push coins against the hopper wall and can lead to jamming when coins of different thicknesses are mixed
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains high angular velocity for productivity but changes the physical state of the hopper wall from rigid to flexible. The resilient wall flexes outward under centrifugal force to accommodate mixed thickness coins, preventing jamming while allowing high-speed operation to continue.
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient hopper wall automatically flexes outward in response to centrifugal force generated during rotation, and spring-loaded fingers automatically push coins through the outlet gap. The system self-regulates to prevent jamming without external intervention, maintaining reliability during high-speed operation.
3Reliability
If a resilient flexibly designed hopper wall is used to allow passage of multiple coins and prevent jamming, then reliability is improved, but the complexity of the hopper structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The hopper wall is constructed as a resilient flexible shell that can flex outward under centrifugal force. This flexible structure replaces complex rigid mechanisms with a simpler elastic element that automatically adapts to varying coin thicknesses, preventing jamming while maintaining relatively simple overall structure.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables efficient, accurate sorting and counting of coins by preventing jamming and ensuring single-layer presentation, even with mixed batches, and allows for easy operation in retail settings by minimizing the risk of 'piggyback' coins and handling oversize or foreign items effectively.
Implementation Method 1
When in use, the coins are carried by the rotating disc they tend to move outwardly under the influence of centrifugal force to impact the wall
Implementation Method 2
a resilient band closely adjacent to the margin of the upper face of the upper disc... coins are carried round by the upper disc, gripped between the band and the upper disc
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A hopper coin feeder (1) comprises upper and lower hopper discs (18, 25). A flexible hopper wall (17) of diabolo shape cooperates with the upper disc (18) to control the feeding of coins by a coin pushing member (35) to the outer margin of the disc (18) where they are gripped between an annular band (33) and the disc (18) to be conveyed past a coin discriminator (61). Any coins or debris that drop from the edge of upper disc (18) are caught on the lower disc (25) and pass to a reject chute (132) and coin payout cup (12). An active coin delivery chute and diverter (80), Figure 10, comprises a reciprocable plate (81) having a finger (82) which controls whether a coin fed from the upper disc (18) passes down the chute or is rejected onto the lower disc (25). Coins that pass down the chute enter a bowl (89) of a double-disc coin conveying assembly (5) that conveys a coin from the bowl (89) to a LIFO coin stacks (3) of a coin storage unit (1). Oversize coins that enter the chute can be directed through the bowl (89), and through aligned apertures (8) in the coin conveying discs, to pass into a coin outlet (10) also leading to the payout cup (12).