Inductive heating method with indicia sensing

Abstract

Heating devices and methods which are particularly useful in vending machines for hot products. Products such as beverages contained in individual containers such as cans are rapidly heated to serving temperature by induction heating for delivery to a customer. Various types of products with different heating characteristics are rapidly heated without deleterious effects on the product by varying the power and timing of the inductive heating. The type of product is identified by indicia on the container which are automatically scanned prior to heating. The product containers may be agitated before, during and/or after heating to mix the contents and distribute heat evenly. The containers are heated in a manner to safely heat the product without overheating or causing damage to the container. A power management protocol turns off non-essential components of the vending machine while the inductive heater is energized to permit the vending machine to operate on a standard 120 VAC, 15 A electrical circuit without overload.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary vending machine of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the overall operation of the vending machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the inductive heating device used in the vending machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the inductive heating device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic drawing showing the major components of the vending machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a food container with indicia and the indicia scanner of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for a power management feature of the vending machine of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the indicia, weight and temperature sensing functions of the vending machine of FIG. 1.

Claims

1. A method of vending a food item comprising: storing a plurality of types of food items contained in containers in a vending machine, each container having indicia thereon to identify the type of food item contained therein, each type of food item stored in a designated area for that food item type in the vending machine;when a food item type is selected by a consumer for vending, dispensing a selected container from the area that corresponds to the area for storage of said selected food item type;reading the indicia on the selected container to determine whether the indicia on the selected container corresponds to the indicia for the type of food item selected by the consumer; andif the indicia on the selected container corresponds to the indicia for the type of food item selected by the consumer, heating the selected container and the food item contained therein with a heating device contained in the vending machine.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein if the indicia on the selected container does not correspond to the indicia for the selected type of food item, diverting the selected container to a holding bin.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising dispensing the food item contained in the container to the consumer after heating.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said heating comprises induction heating.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein, if the indicia on the selected container does not correspond to the indicia for the selected type of food item, selecting another container from the area that corresponds to the area for storage of said selected food item type.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising reading the indicia on the replacement container to determine whether the indicia on the replacement container corresponds to the indicia for the type of food item selected by the consumer.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said heating comprises a predetermined heating profile for the selected type of food item.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein heating in accordance with the predetermined heating profile causes the food item in the selected container to be heated from ambient temperature to about 140° F. in about 45 seconds or less.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the selected food item has a specific heat approximately equal to that of water.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the selected food item is a coffee beverage.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the selected food item has a specific heat less than that of water.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the selected food item is hot chocolate.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising weighing the selected container prior to said heating to provide a sensed weight of the selected container.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein if the sensed weight of the container is below a preselected weight, diverting the selected container to a holding bin.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising, if the selected container is diverted to the holding bin, selecting a replacement container from the area that corresponds to the area for storage of said selected food item type.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein said heating comprises heating the container and the food item contained therein based on the sensed weight of the selected container.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising sensing the temperature of the selected container before said heating.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising sensing the temperature of the selected container during said heating.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising terminating said heating when a predetermined temperature is sensed by said sensing of the temperature of the selected container.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the container comprises a label and the indicia comprises the color of the label.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the background color of the label comprises the indicia.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the indicia comprises machine-readable indicia.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising machine reading the machine-readable indicia.