A STUDY ON THE ENERGY CONSUMPTION OF A MECHATRONIC DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH A SPIRAL USED IN AN INNOVATIVE ENERGY-EFFICIENT VENDING MACHINE FOR URBAN USE.

The innovative energy-efficient vending machine for use in urban environment, called SVIEE-R, have been developed in the global context of reducing energy consumption and using alternative energies. In the design and prototype building phase of the SVIEE-R we analysed energy consumption for several models of the product delivery subsystem. In order to optimise the energy consumption for the product delivery subsystem we also considered the mechatronic delivery system with a spiral for packaged products. Building an energy efficient mechatronic delivery system allows to increase the lifetime of energy independent vending machines and concerning vending machines supplied from the public electricity grid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The use of modern design software allowed the analyse of the functioning of the mechatronic spiral systems from the design stage. The paper presents the research undertaken for the energy efficiency of the mechatronic spiral system using simulations of the operation validated through functional tests using a stand made by modern manufacturing technologies (laser cutting, 3D printing). The tests carried out were mainly aimed at evaluating the energy consumption of mechatronic spiral delivery systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]