Patent ID: 8121727
Filing Date: 2012-02-21
Classification: G07F

Abstract:
1. A vending machine apparatus comprising: a housing defining an internal cavity; a plurality of article storage compartments positioned inside the internal cavity, each article storage compartment having an article passage opening in one side of the article storage compartment for allowing removal of articles stored inside the compartment; a cooling unit having a cold generating portion in thermal contact with one or more inside walls of the article storage compartments for cooling the inside of the article storage compartments; a plurality of displaceable thermal barriers, each displaceable thermal barrier positioned over an article passage opening so as to thermally separate the interior of the article storage compartment from the remainder of the interior of the internal cavity; an opener for opening and closing each displaceable thermal barrier independently from each other displaceable thermal barrier; an opening sensor to detect whether each thermal barrier has been opened by the opener; an article extractor for selectively removing an article from an article storage compartment; and a controller for automatically controlling the vacuum lift and automatically controlling the openers in response to a user's selection.