Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a reverse vending system and method for efficient automatic, safe and secure registration of a batch of objects such as used UBC's from a user, where the system comprises an inlet for unloading said batch of UBC's„a feeding unit for supplying UBC's to the recording unit, a recording unit to record certain characteristics of the UBCs and a printer unit and/or electronic payment transferring system.

Background of the Invention

A reverse vending machine (RVM) is a machine that accepts (counts, validates and classifies) used beverage containers (in the following referred to as "UBC's" - used beverage containers may also be referred to as "empties"). The UBC's are automatically identified and registered, typically by scanning the barcode or detecting other physical characteristics of the UBC ^' s such as collor and or material type. On the basis of the barcode information the UBC's are validated against a barcode database, which tells if the barcode triggers a refund of the UBC's and the UBC's are classified according to the information of the barcode database into different material fractions (e.g. clear PET, coloured PET, glass, aluminium and steel) making subsequent sorting of the UBC's into the different material fractions possible. If the barcode database triggers a refund, money (representing the returned deposit fee) is returned to the RVM user, typically in form of a voucher which is automatically dispensed by the RVM. This printed voucher can be redeemed in the shop where RVM's typically are located. The machines are widely distributed in places that have mandatory recycling laws or beverage container legislation. Beverage container deposit legislation are laws passed by city, state, province, or national governments that require that a deposit fee on soft drinks, water or alcoholic beverage containers be paid by the consumer when the beverage is being purchased. Beverage container deposit legislations are in force in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Germany, some states in Canada, some Australian states and some of the states in the US. However, with increasing focus on environmental issues deposit/refund legislation is expected to come into force in many more countries. Beverage container legislation can significantly increase UBC return- and recycling rates and reduce roadside litter. The deposit fee on each UBC has an effect on manufacturers, distributors and consumers motivating the consumers to return the UBC's in the shops, where the returned UBC's are counted and registered, typically in manually fed RVM's, or manually accepted by the cashier whereby the consumer gets the deposit fee back (refund). In many cases the UBC's are thereafter transported to central counting centres, where the UBC's are counted and registered once more and sorted into the different material fractions e.g. clear PET, coloured PET, glass, aluminium and steel. Based upon the counting and registration at the counting centre the manufacturers and/or distributors are invoiced for the deposit fee, which amount is collected by the shops. After counting and registration the refillable UBC's may be washed, rinsed and refilled and the non-refillable (disposable) UBC's are typically devaluated in e.g. compactors, shredders etc. and the residual products sent to recycling.

A batch is a quantity or number of UBC's coming at one time or taken together. Other synonyms for the term "batch" could be: group, lot, bunch, set, pack, portion or consignment.

The user is the user of the return vending system or process and the user may be a person, customer, consumer, recycler, etc. The object can be all reverse vending products such as used medicine packing, cardboard milk or juice containers, batteries or al other articles that can be part of a reverse vending process.

A system for processing of packages, such as recyclable UBC's, is known from WO 2006/125436 Al . In this system, UBC's are recorded, counted and sorted in a counting and sorting machine. The UBC's are automatically fed to the recording unit wherein the UBC's are registered. Large numbers of UBC's can be handled per time unit. Due to the high capacity of this system, it may be referred to as a high speed counting and sorting machine.

The footprint of the system disclosed in WO 2006/125436 is typically too large to be installed in grocery shops and supermarkets. Collectors of UBC's (i.e. grocery shops, supermarkets, gas stations etc.) must therefore settle for the known RVM's whereto the bottles must be manually fed singly and manually orientated correctly (bottom first normally). I.e. in a typical known RVM the consumer manually inserts the empty container into the receiving aperture, typically a horizontal in-feed system that allows the consumer to insert containers only one at a time. Even though RVM's are used widespread globally they do not constitute an effective solution for the consumer, because an RVM is very limited in capacity - both in the amount of recyclable UBC's which can be processed per time unit and the speed at which the user can (manually) feed UBC's one at a time to the machine. Waiting in line to reclaim the refund of several bags of UBC's by feeding an RVM with one dirty bottle at a time is probably not the most popular activity Saturday morning.

Object of the Invention

An object of the invention is therefore to provide a user friendly, efficient and safe handling of used objects such as UBC ^' s.

A further object of the invention is to achieve secure refund to the user.

Description of the Invention

The object can be fulfilled by a reverse vending system as described in the preamble to claim 1 and where the feeding unit comprises one or more rotating disks, at least one rotating disk delivers UBC'S to a conveyer, which conveyer transports UBC's to a recording unit for registration of UBC's, which registration of an object comprises registration, validation and classification of said object, means for locking the inlet during registration of said batch of UBC's, means for unlocking the inlet subsequent to registration of said batch of UBC's, and means for providing a refund to the user representing the deposit value of the registered batch of UBC's.

The object of the present invention concerns also a method comprising at least the following steps: a: a user opens the inlet,

b: the user performs unloading the batch of UBC's, into the inlet,

c: the system locks the inlet

d: the system start the feeding unit,

e: the system supplies the UBC's to the recording unit

f: the system performs registration, validation and classification of said UBC's g: the system activates a refund process and provides the refund to the user, h: the system unlocks the inlet.

As the present invention allows for batch feeding of UBC's the user no longer needs to manually feed the reverse vending system with UBC's one by one. By locking the inlet during registration of the user's batch of UBC's it is ensured that batches from different users are not mixed up, because it is simply not possible to supply additional UBC's to the system while the UBC's from the user's batch are being registered. The only way for users to supply UBC's to the present return vending system is through the inlet. Registration of separate batches of UBC's that represents a monetary value requires some logistics to be able to distinguish the separate batches belonging to separate users in order to ensure that each user is provided with the exact monetary value (refund) of exactly his UBC's. The system according to the invention is thus provided with means to prevent UBC's from different batches being mixed together. In one embodiment of the invention the recording unit is automatically activated when the inlet is closed and/or locked. E.g. the user unloads a batch of UBC's and closes the inlet, for example by closing a hatch or pushing a button. This activity may initiate that the inlet is locked and/or secured. It may further provide that the feeding and recording units are activated.

The inlet comprises a hatch with a handle and wherein the inlet is locked by locking said hatch. The inlet preferably comprises at least one opening, i.e. a receiving aper- ture, where through a batch of UBC's can be unloaded. In one embodiment of the invention the inlet further comprises a hatch with a handle to be able to close the opening. Locking of the inlet is provided by locking the hatch, i.e. when the inlet / hatch is locked the user is unable to open the hatch and access the inlet. I.e. a batch of UBC's can be unloaded through the opening, such as a receiving aperture, behind the hatch. In another embodiment of the invention the inlet comprises one or more drawers. Equiva- lently locking of the inlet is provided by locking said one or more drawers. A batch of UBC's can then be unloaded into an open drawer. When closing the drawer the batch of UBC's is subsequently unloaded from the drawer. Preferably the inlet comprises a funnel that comprises an opening in one end that is large enough to enable a user to easily empty a batch of UBC's and an opening at the opposite end that allows passage of at least one object at a time. The inlet comprises one or more drawers and wherein the inlet is locked by locking at least one of said one or more drawers. Equivalently locking of the inlet is provided by locking said one or more drawers. A batch of UBC's can then be unloaded into an open drawer. When closing the drawer the batch of UBC's is subsequently unloaded from the drawer. Preferably the inlet comprises a funnel that comprises an opening in one end that is large enough to enable a user to easily empty a batch of UBC's and an opening at the opposite end that allows passage of at least one object at a time.

The inlet comprises a funnel for guiding UBC's from the inlet to the feeding unit. The funnel can have a relatively large opening just at the inlet and in that way it is possible to fill in a high number of UBC's and these can by the funnel be let directly to, for example, the centre part of a rotating disk and in that way maybe in an effective way place the UBC ^' s at a relatively larger part of the surface. That can lead to a more effective process when the disk starts rotating. Placing the UBC's in a one-layer stack can lead to a much faster kind of operation.

The recording unit and the feeding unit is automatically activated when the inlet is closed and/or locked, wherein activation of the recording unit is only possible when the inlet is closed and/or locked. This activation may be the required information to the system to indicate that registration of one batch is complete. Further, the inlet may be unlocked when the user activates a button / handle / key / switch or when the user col- lects the deposit / voucher.

In order to indicate that all UBC's of a batch are now filled into the machine, a signal has to be sent to the computer system saying that a batch is now to be counted. One possible way of generating the signal is simply to indicate when the door is locked, and the process has to be ended when the last UBC is counted. By a fast operating system the batch feeding can take place extremely fast and the waiting time outside the machine can be reduced to only very few seconds after the door is locked.

The system comprises activation means, such as a button, handle, key, or switch, for the user to activate in order to collect the refund wherein the refund is provided to the user in the form of a voucher / value coupon. The system comprises sensor for automatically unlocking the inlet and providing the refund, when the feeding unit is empty and the entire batch of UBC's is registered. In a further embodiment an unlocking of the door and printing of the voucher takes place fully automatically when an operation is finished. The system comprises means for reading the information of an electronic card, such as a credit card or debit card, further comprising means for fixing the electronic card during registration of the UBC's, wherein the inlet is unlocked when the electronic card is removed, wherein the refund is provided to the user by means of electronic transfer. Electronic cards may be supermarket specific cards where the return value (refund) that is applied to the card can only be redeemed in the specific supermarket (or chain of supermarkets). I.e. the reverse vending process may be that the user unloads his batch of UBC's, the user inserts a credit card in card reader, the inlet locks and the recording unit is activated. During registration of that batch of UBC's the credit card is fixed in the card reader. When all the UBC's have been registered the user is informed and he can remove his credit card and walk away and the system is ready for the next user. The return value (refund) of the batch of UBC's is transferred to the user's credit card as soon as possible.

In a further embodiment of the system according to the invention one recording unit is connected to a plurality of separate inlets. As the recording unit may be quite expensive and may have a substantial footprint (as compared to an RVM) it may be utilized more efficiently by having separate inlets. I.e. the users have several inlets wherein UBC's can be unloaded, i.e. two different users may unload concurrently in two different and separate inlets. But both these inlets may be connected to the same recording unit. The system comprises means for distinguishing between UBC's from the two inlets. There may be one feeding unit for each inlet or one common feeding unit for the inlets. Preferably the system may be connected to a computer network whereby the status and registration statistics of the system may be monitored centrally.

In an alternative embodiment for the invention the system comprises a receiving receptacle comprising a cylinder, which cylinder comprises a piston, which piston is moved by at least one actuator, which actuator moves the piston inside the receiving cylinder between a first and a second end position, which receptacle further comprises an annular rotating ring located at the upper edge of the receptacle. Herby the footprint of the receptacle is relatively limited in relation to the variable volume and the number of UCB s that can be rotated and moved up unto a conveyer where the UBC's can be sorted into different groups. Especially, if the piston is working automatically so that the level of the piston is depending on the actual volume of UBC's at the piston, a highly effective system can be achieved. An alternative possibility is always letting the piston be placed as low as possible during the filling up of the volume. As soon as the process starts then the piston will move into a position where the items easily can be moved unto the conveyer. By continuously moving the piston upwards, there will always be UBC's that will be moved unto the conveyer and, in that way, removed. In fact the volume can be as big as a half cubic meter, and the efficiency of the system can be so high that half a cubic meter of UBC's will be removed in a very short time which probably is less than two minutes. The receptacle comprises an annular rotating ring located at the upper edge of the receptacle. By placing a rotating ring at the upper position of the piston, it is possible to let the piston be non-rotating and let the ring perform all the rotation. It is also possible to let both the ring and the piston rotate or in some situations, it could be necessary to let the piston rotate in the opposite direction. The use of the ring placed close to a barrier can let the UBC's rotate in a way where the UBC's are forced outwards, and as soon as they pass one or more openings toward a conveyer they fall out of the receptacle onto a conveyer placed close to the receptacle where the conveyer will perform further transportation to the recording unit. The ring can be mostly horizontally flat, but in some situation, if the speed of the UBC's towards the conveyor band is to be increased, also a ring that is conical, so the UBC's are being directed outwards towards the conveyor automatically, can be used.

Description of the Drawing

The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to various embodiments of the invention illustrated in the drawings wherein

Fig. 1 is an illustrative perspective view of one embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is a close-up of the inlet in fig. 1, and

Figs. 3a)-d) show different process steps when using an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of the Invention Fig. 1 is an illustrative perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of the system. A user 1 is located in front of the system which comprises an inlet 2 with a hatch 3. The hatch 3 has a handle for the user 1 to grab when opening the hatch 3. A wall 5 separates the inlet 2 of the system from the recording unit 4. This wall 5 ensures that the user's only access to the return vending system is by means of the inlet 2. There is a feeding unit between the wall 5 and the recording unit 4, but it is not visible in fig. 1. A sorting unit 11 behind the recording unit 4 can sort UBC's according to type, such as metal, plastic, glass, etc., subsequent to registration in the recording unit 5.

Fig. 2 is a close-up of part of fig. 1 providing a more detailed view of the inlet 2. A control panel is now visible over the hatch 3 comprising two buttons 21 (start and stop), an outlet 22 for the refund voucher, a card reader 23, and a monitor 24 for providing information to the user 1. In a typical process for reclaiming the deposit of a batch of UBC's the user 1 opens the hatch 3 and unloads the batch of UBC's into an opening / receiving aperture under the hatch (not visible in figs. 1 and 2). After closing the hatch 3 the registration process is initiated by the user 1 by activating a start button 21. This button activation set off the recording unit 4 and locks the hatch 3. With the hatch 3 locked the user 1 (or other users) is prevented from accessing the reverse vending system and the batch of UBC's can be registered without being mixed up with UBC's from other batches or users. When all UBC's from the user's batch have been registered, i.e. when the feeding unit is empty, a voucher representing the monetary value (refund) of the batch is provided to the user 1 through outlet 22, e.g. by means of a printer printing a receipt. Information about the status of the recording process can be provided to the user 1 by means of the monitor 24. The return vending process may stop when the feeding unit is empty and all UBC's in the batch are registered in the recording unit 4. The refund can then be automatically provided to the user. Reclaiming the refund voucher can also be provided by having the user 1 pushing a stop button 21.

Initiation of the return vending process may also be provided by the user inserting his electronic card in the card reader 23. The electronic card may be secured in the card reader 23 during the registration process. When the process is completed the batch refund is electronically transferred to the card and the user 1 can withdraw the card from the card reader 23.

This process is also partly illustrated in figs. 3a-3d, however only illustrating an inlet and a feeding unit 7. The inlet is again provided with a hatch 3 with a handle 3'. The feeding unit 7 is based in two rotating disks 8 that align UBC's singly on a conveyor 9 for feeding a recording unit (not visible in fig. 3). In fig. 3a bottles 6 have been loaded through the open hatch 3. In fig. 3b the hatch 3 is closed and locked and the bottles 6 are forwarded onto the feeding unit 8 via chute 10.