Compact energy supply system in the snack-vending machine of the future

Problem

The Canadian technology company BMC Universal Technologies has developed a vending machine of the future that can sell more than just sweets. With a 42-inch touchscreen and a 65-inch programmable display on the back, targeted advertising can be displayed - based, for example, on the customer data that the vending machine collects from its users. That way, the gender or age of the customer can be recorded and used for better targeting.
However, the core of the vending machine is the interior: instead of simply selecting a specific product from a shelf, customers can have a customised package of ingredients delivered directly to them. The goods are sealed airtight in a bag right in front of the customer - everything is clearly visible through a viewing window at the front. The user can also have the ingredients of the selected varieties or information on nutrient content printed on the product. The challenge was to guide the numerous cables inside the complex vending machine safely and in a space-saving way.

Solution

Due to the many cables in the vending machine that move in different directions, it was necessary to find the most compact energy supply system possible. To move the sealed bags of sweets to the dispensing compartment every day in continuous operation, for example, many cables have to be guided safely. BMC Universal Technologies therefore decided to use several e-chains of the type E2.1, which not only save installation space in the tightly dimensioned media kiosk, but also allow safe and failure-free cable guidance thanks to their high stability. Tight bend radii also prevent the e-chains from getting in each other's way. Another decisive advantage: due to the large advertising spaces and the complex movements inside, the device requires a lot of power. To ensure that the innovative snack-vending machine can still be connected to the power supply using a standard wall plug, the energy required to guide the cables must also be kept to a minimum.