Low power coin discrimination apparatus

G - Physics – 07 – D

Patent

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354/21, 133/5, 3

G07D 5/04 (2006.01) G07F 1/04 (2006.01)

Patent

CA 1336782

A low power coin discriminator accurately detects and identifies the denomination of a coin and uses that infor- mation to activate a parking meter, telephone, or vending ma- chine device. Initially the device is in a low power, dormant state. Insertion of a coin into the discriminator trips a limit switch which produces a wake-up pulse which turns on a micro- processor. The coin then falls upon a piezoelectric element, a sufficiently large signal from which causes the microproces- sor to activate an LED in a photoelectric sensor. A cellular urethane material covers the piezoelectric element and serves to dampen the oscillations that result from impact. The coin then moves through the photoelectric sensor which determines the net cross-sectional area of the coin. The microprocessor samples the output of the photoelectric sensor to detect the minimum of the light incident upon the sensor, which is at the point of maximum eclipse of the light beam. The microprocessor also samples the output of an integrator which integrates the output of the piezoelectric element to produce a numerical value proportional to the mass of the coin. If the output of the photoelectric sensor indicates that the cross-sectional area of the coin is within acceptable limits, then the mea- sured mass of the coin is also compared to the corresponding limits. If the coin passes both tests, then it is deemed to be valid, and its denomination is recorded in a conventional manner. Once the discrimination process is complete, the cir- cuit automatically returns to its original low power, dormant state. Since the major power consuming elements are only turned on for a brief period of time, the over-all power con- sumption of the discriminator is relatively low.

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