EP0665970A1 - Coin transporting apparatus and method. - Google Patents

Abstract

Coin transporting apparatus comprises an inclined surface (4) down which coins move in use; and at least one coin processing station (7) positioned adjacent the surface downstream of the coin discriminator. The station (1) includes a first sensor (8) for sensing the presence of a coin and arranged on or adjacent to the surface (4), and an ejector (10) for ejecting a coin from the surface (4), wherein the sensor (8) senses in use the presence of a coin to determine when a coin is adjacent to the ejector, and wherein the ejector (10) is then activated depending on the characteristic determined by the coin discriminator.

Description

COIN TRANSPORTING APPARATUS AND METHOD

The present invention relates to a coin transporting apparatus. Coin transporting apparatus can be used in many different situations. For example, to transport coins for the purpose of counting the total value amount of a quantity of coins, or to split a quantity of coins into preset batch values. Such apparatus can also be used where there is a quantity of coins of mixed denominations to be sorted into quantities of the same denomination for putting into coin bags or the like and/or to transport the coins to a sensing station in order to respectively determine the presence of non-legal tender, for example foreign coins or tokens. The aforementioned can be combined in one apparatus.

Known coin transporting apparatus use a rotary wheel having a series of indentations in the edge thereof to collect a coin and transport the coin stepwise to a suitable sensing/validation/counting station by means of rotation of the wheel. Another known apparatus has the coins provided on a plane and guided by a blade or the like to an outlet where each coin is individually split off for sensing/validation/counting. By use of different blades, an element of preliminary sorting can optionally be introduced.

Another known arrangement is one in which coins are mechanically located in known, identifiable positions whilst being transported thus allowing coin validation and or ejection to be triggered at a known time(s) and or time interval(s) from a datum.

One of the problems with the aforementioned apparatus is that the throughput of coins is relatively slow. Whilst it is possible to speed up the movement of the coins, the possibility of jamming or incorrect or incomplete location of the coins limits the speed of movement of the coins. Another problem with the aforementioned apparatus is that it involves the use of complicated apparatus and that coins must be driven through the apparatus in such a manner that the positions thereof are known at certain times during the transporting operation, e.g. indexing. This has the result that the cost of such apparatus is generally high.

The cost of such a coin transporting apparatus could be considerably reduced if coins moved, e.g. rolled, down an inclined ramp instead of being actively transported through the apparatus. However, it has been found that the position of a coin along the ramp at a given time is unpredictable because coins do not move down the ramp with uniform speed, but generally accelerate down the ramp at a rate dependent upon the angle of inclination of the ramp. This therefore makes it very difficult to predict the position of a particular coin along the ramp at a given time.

A further problem arises in that the speed of coins moving or rolling down the ramp is also unpredictable as a result of non-uniformity of the coins rolling down the ramp, because of, for example, coins of different denominations or damaged or dirty coins. Indeed, coins may bounce down the ramp. Because the coins roll down the ramp at different rates, it is possible that coins roll down the ramp in bunches. This then produces the disadvantage that electromagnetic sensing pulses applied to a coin are influenced by the coins with which that coin is in proximity, which in turn makes the sensing of discrete coins in a bunch difficult.

According to the present invention, there is provided a coin transporting apparatus comprising an inclined surface down which coins move in use; coin discriminating means adjacent the surface for determining a characteristic of a coin moving down the surface; and at least one coin processing station positioned adjacent the surface downstream of the coin discriminating means, the station including a first sensor for sensing the presence of a coin and arranged on or adjacent to the surface, and an ejector for ejecting a coin from the surface, wherein the sensor senses in use the presence of a coin to determine when a coin is adjacent to the ejector, and wherein the ejector is then activated depending on the characteristic determined by the coin discriminating means.

This has the advantage that the coin sensing is not dependent upon the travel time of a coin along the surface, e.g. a ramp, and so it is not necessary to know the location of the coin at various times during its travel along the surface. Also, by locating the first sensor on or adjacent to the inclined surface, even if coins travel along the surface in a bunch, the gaps between the lower edges of adjacent coins allow the presence of discrete coins to still be detected.

Preferably, the inclined surface is in the form of a ramp down which coins roll in use. However, other forms of inclined surface could be used. For example, coins could slide down a sloping surface on their face. In this case, an additional guide is preferably provided to assist in preventing coins from moving too far away from a datum edge guide. Alternatively, the surface could be sloped in two directions. Preferably, the first sensor has a sensing position located less than a distance d from the rolling surface/ datum edge guide where d is the radius of the smallest coin to be sensed in the apparatus.

This enables all of the coins to be sensed by the apparatus to be discretely sensed even if travelling through the apparatus in one or more bunches.

Advantageously, the coin processing station further comprises a second sensor located above the first sensor. This has the advantage, particularly in the case of a ramp, that a coin can be sensed by the second sensor even if it should bounce on the rolling surface/datum edge guide of the ramp such that it is not detected by the first sensor located on or adjacent to the rolling or sliding surface of the ramp.

The spacing between the first and second sensors may be variable. This enables the spacing to be set in accordance with, for example, the angle of inclination of the ramp, in order to maximise the probability that the second sensor senses a coin which bounces on the ramp and is not sensed by the first sensor.

The first and/or second sensor may be of any conventional type, for example optical sensors, but preferably comprise electromagnetic sensors such as eddy current coils or Hall effect sensors.

In one example of the apparatus, five coin processing stations are provided spaced apart along the inclined surface.

The coin discriminating, means may be of any conventional form, for example comprising eddy current coils.

In some examples, the first and/or second sensor of a coin processing station may be positioned relative to the ejector such that a coin can be sensed and ejected at substantially the same position. In other examples, the first and/or second sensor may be positioned upstream of the ejector by an amount whereby a timed interval will pass between the coin being sensed by the first and/or second sensor and being in the vicinity of the ejector. However, in this latter case, the first and/or second sensor will be sufficiently close to the ejector such that the time of travel of the coin between the sensor and the ejector will not effect the accuracy of the coin ejection.

The apparatus can be used in a number of different ways. In a very simple application, the apparatus can be used for batching coins. In this application, coins are either rejected or fed to a storage location. For example, if the coin discrimination means determines that a coin does not constitute one which should be batched, then the ejector is not activated and the coin will simply pass to a reject position. Otherwise, the coin will be ejected into a batch.

In other applications, the coin transporting apparatus may form part of coin sorting apparatus in which two or more different types of coin can be sorted. Thus, the apparatus may include a number of coin processing stations spaced apart along the inclined surface; and control means responsive to the output from the coin discrimination means to cause an appropriate one of the coin processing stations to eject the coin as it passes.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a method of transporting coins comprises causing the coins to move down an inclined surface; determining a characteristic of a coin moving down the surface; and at a position downstream of the determining position, sensing the presence of a coin and ejecting the coin at a position adjacent the sensing position depending on the predetermined characteristic.

The step of sensing the presence of a coin preferably comprises sensing the leading or trailing edge of a coin.

This has the advantage of improving the accuracy with which the presence of a discrete coin can be sensed without confusion with coins travelling adjacent thereto.

An example of the present invention will be described in detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a schematic view of a coin validation apparatus embodying an aspect of the present invention; and

Figure 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a electromagnetic sensors of the apparatus of Figure 1 past which coins are travelling in a bunch.

A coin validation apparatus l embodying the present invention is provided with a pair of electromagnetic eddy current coin sensing coils 2 and a coin validator 3, for identifying the denomination of passing coins in known manner. The sensing coils 2 are arranged adjacent to an inclined ramp 4 along the rolling surface of which coins to be validated are maintained in a particular orientation (e.g. upright) such that they roll down the ramp 4 in the direction of arrow A shown in Figure l. The coins are introduced onto the ramp 4 by any suitable means such as a rotating disc, which is known in the art and will therefore not be described herein in greater detail. The coils 2 may be operated as described in PCT/GB 93/01724 incorporated herein by reference.

The sensing coils 2 are arranged at the upstream end of the ramp 4. The sensing coils 2 generate a magnetic pulse which induces eddy currents in a coin passing the sensing coils 2, and the eddy currents decay in a manner which depends upon the denomination of the coin. These decaying eddy currents are then detected by the sensing coils 2 which produce a signal for each passing coin which is passed to the validator 3, which compares the signal with reference values corresponding to known coin denominations stored therein in order to determine the denomination of each coin passing the sensing coils 2. The validator 3 is connected via a central processing unit (CPU) 5 to a control unit 6, which is in turn connected to five coin ejection units 7 arranged at the downstream part of the ramp 4 for ejecting a coin from the ramp 4 when actuated by the control means 6. Each ejection unit 7 comprises a first electromagnetic coin sensing coil 8, a second electromagnetic coin sensing coil 9 and an ejection solenoid 10. The first sensing coils 8 and the second sensing coils 9 are eddy current sensing coils. Each sensing coil 8 is arranged with its centre on the rolling surface of the ramp 4. Each second sensing coil 9 is spaced from the rolling surface of the ramp 4 such that it is located above the corresponding sensing coil 8, and each ejection solenoid 10 is arranged adjacent to the rolling surface of the ramp 4 and slightly downstream of the corresponding sensing coil 8. The arrangement of each sensing coil 8 and the corresponding further sensing coil 9 is shown in greater detail in Figure 2. The operation of the coin validation apparatus 1 will now be described.

The apparatus 1 is switched on and the sensing coils 2, 8, second sensing coils 9 and ejection solenoids 10 are reset. A batch of coins to be sorted into separate quantities according to denomination is then fed onto the ramp 4 such that the coins roll or slide on their edges down the ramp 4 under the influence of gravity.

As each coin 11 passes the sensing coils 2 at the upstream part of the ramp 4, its denomination is identified by means of the sensing coils 2 in combination with the validator 3, and a train of signals corresponding to the denomination of each coin and the order in which it passes the sensing coils 2 is passed to the CPU 5. As each coin 11 then reaches the coin ejection units 7, the coin sensing coils 8 and 9 of each ejection unit 7 senses the leading or trailing edge of each coin 11 rolling down the rolling surface of the ramp 4.

Any coin 11 bouncing on the ramp 4 such that it is temporarily no longer in direct contact with the rolling surface of the ramp 4 is detected by the corresponding second sensing coil 9 at that location. Each second sensing coil 9 is spaced from the rolling surface of the ramp 4 by an amount which maximises the probability of that further sensing coil 9 detecting the presence of a coin bouncing on the ramp .

The connection between the CPU 5 through the control unit 6 to the coin ejection units 7 enables the sensing carried out at each ejection unit 7 to be correlated with the information regarding the denomination of each coin rolling down the ramp 4 and the order in which it rolls down the ramp 4. Thus when the presence of a coin of a particular denomination is sensed when the coin is adjacent to the particular ejection unit 7 for ejecting coins of that denomination, the control means 6 actuates the corresponding ejection solenoid 10 to eject the coin from the ramp 4 into a coin slot, container, further transport path or the like (not shown) for that denomination. When a coin is ejected from the ramp 4, a signal is fed to the CPU 5 to update the information stored therein relating to the denomination and order of the coins rolling down the ramp 4.

Figure 2 shows a particular situation in which three coins 11 travel in a bunch along the ramp 4. Because each of the coin sensing coils 8 is arranged with its centre on the rolling surface of the ramp 4, even if two coins 11 are in touching contact with each other, the gap between the lower portions of adjacent coins 11 on the rolling surface of the ramp 4 can be detected by the coil 8, so that discrete coins 11 can be detected even when they are rolling down the ramp 4 in a bunch. It will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to the detailed embodiment described above, and that many modifications and variations of the invention are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the embodiment describes a coin validation apparatus 1 in which coins of different denominations are sorted according to the respective denominations of the coins, whereas it is possible to feed coins of a single denomination through the apparatus 1 in order to sort the coins into predetermined quantities. Also, the number of ejection units 7 is not limited to five, and any suitable number of ejection units 7 may be used. Furthermore, the spacing between the first sensing coils 8 and the second sensing coils 9 is not limited to that shown in Figure 2, and the spacing therebetween may be varied in accordance with the angle of inclination of the ramp 4. Similarly, the position of the solenoid 10 may be upstream relative to the coils 8 and 9 or centrally located therebetween. In addition, the embodiment described shows a separate validator 3, CPU 5 and control means 6, whereas it is possible to combine all three components into a single microprocessor. Although the centre of coil 8 is shown on the rolling surface of the ramp, it may be raised or lowered relative to that surface up to about the radius of the smallest coin in use. It is also possible the electromagnetic detector coil(s) could be shaped to enhance the benefit provided by positioning the detection point where maximum length between coin circumference should occur. Alternatively, Hall effect transducers, optical or other conventional detectors could be used. Likewise, the solenoid ejectors used in the example could be replaced by, for example, air jets.

The term "coin" should be construed broadly, such as a form of money or the like, e.g. tokens, currency coins etc.

Claims

1. Coin transporting apparatus comprising an inclined surface (4) down which coins move in use; coin discriminating means (2) adjacent the surface for determining a characteristic of a coin moving down the surface; and at least one coin processing station (7) positioned adjacent the surface downstream of the coin discriminating means, the station including a first sensor (8) for sensing the presence of a coin and arranged on or adjacent to the surface, and an ejector (10) for ejecting a coin from the surface, wherein the sensor (8) senses in use the presence of a coin to determine when a coin is adjacent to the ejector, and wherein the ejector (10) is then activated depending on the characteristic determined by the coin discriminating means.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surface (4) is adapted to enable coins to roll therealong.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the first sensor (8) comprises an electromagnetic sensor.

4. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first sensor (8) is located less than a distance d from a datum surface where "d" is the radius of the smallest coin to be sensed.

5. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at the coin processing station (7) , a second sensor (9) is provided above the first sensor (8) .

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the spacing between the first and second sensors (8,9) is variable.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the second sensor (9) is an electromagnetic sensor.

8. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first and/or second sensor (8,9) is adapted to sense an excitation in a coin.

9. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the ejector (10) comprises a solenoid ejector.

10. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first and/or second sensors (8,9) are positioned relative to the ejector (10) such that a coin can be sensed and ejected at substantially the same position.

11. Apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, the apparatus including a number of coin processing stations (7) spaced apart along the inclined surface (4); and control means (5,6) responsive to the output from the coin discrimination means to cause an appropriate one of the coin processing stations to eject the coin as it passes.

12. A method of transporting coins comprising causing the coins to move down an inclined surface; determining a characteristic of a coin moving down the surface; and at a position downstream of the determining position, sensing the presence of a coin and ejecting the coin at a position adjacent the sensing position depending on the predetermined characteristic.

13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the sensing step comprises sensing the leading or trailing edge of a coin.