Abstract:
A cup turret carousel includes a gear drive track around a periphery thereof, to be driven by a planetary gear rather than being driven from the central axis and thereby reduce cost and achieve greater accuracy in aligning a cup turret with the cup funnel throat for cup delivery. The drive gear is maintained in a in a fixed position relative to a cup funnel throat through which cups pass when dropped, so that the same drive assembly may be employed with cup turret carousels of different diameters.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/527,811 entitled “PLANETARY GEAR DRIVE CUP TURRET FOR CUP DROP UNIT IN BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINE” and filed on Aug. 26, 2011 (Attorney Docket CRAN01-00538). The content of the above-identified patent document is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present application relates generally to drive systems for a cup turret in beverage vending machines and, more specifically, to accurate and scalable cup turret drive systems. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Cup beverage vending machines, such as vending machines that dispense cups of hot beverages, often at least optionally provide a cup to the purchaser. Cups are stored in a rotatable cup turret, which holds multiple stacks of cups of the same or different sizes, and dropped from the turret to a delivery station, where a beverage is dispensed into the cup. Cup turret assemblies including multiple turrets are rotated to align an individual turret with the funnel throat through which a cup dispensed from the respective turret passes. 
         [0004]    Historically cup turret assemblies with multiple turrets have used a drive mechanism that operates on (provides driving force to) a central axis or pin in order to effect rotation. However, such drive mechanisms suffer from problems relating to (a) the accuracy of the angular position (the amount of rotation relative to a reference orientation) required to align a turret with the funnel throat, and (b) in cups turrets that dispense cups of different diameters or between two cup turrets that dispense cups of different diameters, accommodating differences in the distance between the central axis and the funnel throat. Various mechanisms proposed or implemented to address those issues have significantly increased the cost of the drive assembly and/or cu turret assembly. 
         [0005]    There is, therefore, a need in the art for an improved cup turret drive assembly in a cup beverage vending machine. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    A cup turret carousel includes a gear drive track around a periphery thereof, to be driven by a planetary gear rather than being driven from the central axis and thereby reduce cost and achieve greater accuracy in aligning a cup turret with the cup funnel throat for cup delivery. The drive gear is maintained in a in a fixed position relative to a cup funnel throat through which cups pass when dropped, so that the same drive assembly may be employed with cup turret carousels of different diameters. 
         [0007]    Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document: the terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation; the term “or,” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and the term “controller” means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation, such a device may be implemented in hardware, firmware or software, or some combination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of portions of an assembled cup turret planetary gear drive assembly for a cup drop unit within a cup beverage vending machine according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1  with the cup turret carousel support plate removed; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view similar to that of  FIG. 2 , but with a cover removed; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 , with a cup turret carousel and cup turret mounted thereon; 
           [0013]      FIGS. 5 and 6  depict portions of a drive mechanism within the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  illustrates an adjustable pin within the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 ; and 
           [0015]      FIG. 8  illustrates, from a bottom perspective, the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]      FIGS. 1 through 8 , discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged vending machine system. 
         [0017]    A cup turret carousel is driven by a planetary (peripheral) gear, so that a small gear (e.g., 20 teeth) drives a much larger gear track (e.g., 220 teeth) around a periphery of the cup turret carousel. This allows each cup turret to be aligned with the funnel throat much more accurately. No issue with speed of rotation is created; existing designs using a central drive typically need to be heavily geared down to drive slowly (e.g., 1-2 revolutions per minute). 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of portions of an assembled cup turret planetary gear drive assembly for a cup drop unit within a cup beverage vending machine according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The drive assembly  100  includes a turret carousel support plate  101  is mounted for rotation about a central axis. A drive gear  102  is located to drive a peripheral gear track on the cup turret carousel (not shown in  FIG. 1 ). 
         [0019]      FIGS. 2 and 3  are perspective views of the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1  with the cup turret carousel support plate removed in  FIG. 2  and with the cup turret carousel support plate, an external cover and portions of the drive system removed in  FIG. 3 . The cup funnel throat  103 , with adjustable cup guide mechanisms  104   a - 104   e  located around a periphery of the throat  103 , is shown, through which cups are dropped from a cup turret rotated to be positioned above the funnel throat. Cup guide mechanisms  104   a - 104   e  are adjustable in accordance with known structures and techniques, to accommodate cups of different diameters (e.g., 55 mm to 95 mm cups, or 2.5 inch to 3.75 inch cups). 
         [0020]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 , with a cup turret carousel and cup turret mounted thereon. Cup turret carousel  105  is supported by and, in the example shown, rotates freely around a projection  106  from the center of, the support plate  101  (only portions of which are visible in  FIG. 4 ). Cup turret carousel  105  includes a gear track  110  around a periphery thereof engaging with drive gear  102 . 
         [0021]    The cup turrets  107  are secured to and supported by the cup turret carousel  105 . In the example depicted, a central separator  108  and a peripheral housing  109  form four cup turrets  107 , each of which can hold one stack of cups. The cup turrets  107  may be configured to hold cups of the same size or of different sizes, or some permutation thereof (e.g., one turret for a first size, while the remaining three all hold cups of a second size different than the first). 
         [0022]      FIGS. 5 and 6  depict portions of a drive mechanism within the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 . A motor  111  drives the drive gear  102 . (A separate motor, also shown in  FIG. 5 , drives other movable components such as the adjustable guide mechanisms  104   a - 104   e  described above). In the example shown, the motor  111  drives a first gear on one side of the funnel throat  103 , which drives a large transfer gear  113  around the throat  103 , which then drives a transfer gear on the opposite side of throat  103 . Additional transfer shafts and gears  115 ,  116  and  117  then transfer the drive force to the drive gear  102 . This arrangement is used in the exemplary embodiment to position the motor in a space available given other physical requirements, and to maintain the drive gear in a fixed position relative to the throat despite adjustment of the point of rotation for the cup turret carousel  105  as described above. A microswitch  118  adjacent to the cup turret carousel  105  counts passage of ridges on the underside of the cup turret carousel to verify the angular orientation of the cup turret carousel  105 . The ridges may be spaced according to the number of cup stacks on the cup turret carousel  105 . 
         [0023]      FIG. 7  illustrates an adjustable pin within the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 . It is desirable to use the same drive assembly in cup beverage vending machines of different sizes—for example, in tabletop cup beverage vending machines as well as free-standing cup beverage vending machines. As will be apparent, the tabletop vending machine is small compared to the free-standing machine, and will use a smaller carousel having fewer cup turrets and holding fewer cups. For example, a small carousel of about 12 inches in diameter might support only 4 cup stacks, each in a separate turret. A larger carousel of 16 inches or more might support 10 cup turrets, depending on cup sizes (e.g., smaller cups for a 5 ounce beverage than for larger beverages). 
         [0024]    In the design of the present disclosure, cup turret carousels of different sizes are driven using the same drive assembly  100 . An adjustable pin  119  that may be moved closer to or further away from the center of funnel throat  103  allows the different size cup turret carousels to be mounted on the drive assembly, while keeping the position of the drive gear  102  fixed relative to the funnel throat  103 . 
         [0025]      FIG. 8  illustrates, from a bottom perspective, the cup turret planetary gear drive assembly of  FIG. 1 . The cup funnel  120  through which dropped cups pass is visible in this view. 
         [0026]    Although the present disclosure has been described with exemplary embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art. It is intended that the present disclosure encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.