USA Technologies Inc (USAT)

[bigjeza]

Nice study that shows the savings of vending misers.

www.tech.purdue.edu/orgs/eccd/Newsletter03F.pdf

Results
www.msoe.edu/orgs/focus/vending.htm


From:

Paper Summaries from the 2003 ASEE Annual Conference
The Energy Conversion and Conservation (ECC) Division


"On-Campus Comparison of Energy Saving Technologies for Vending Machines by Glenn Wrate, Emily
Blakemore, Jeremy Poling, and Lee Greguske, Milwaukee School of Engineering and Wisconsin Focus on
Energy
As part of the Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy Program, the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) investigated
two possible technologies to save energy involving vending machines. MSOE is interested in this research for two
reasons: involvement of our students in emerging technologies to save energy and to provide a service to our
community. Two soda vending machines were installed in the student lounge of the Science Building, each
equipped with a different energy-saving device. The first device tested was a Vending Miser™. This device detects
motion outside the machine, and if no activity is sensed, this device turns off the vending machine after a
compressor cycle is completed. If activity is sensed in front of the machine, or if the device calculates that the
compressor should run to keep the soda cool, the vending machine is turned back on. The other technology tested
uses electroluminescent (EL) panels in place of the traditional fluorescent lights. Surprisingly, lighting accounts for
approximately half of the energy used by a typical soda vending machine. The results of this comparison were
provided to Focus on Energy to determine if additional funding of either technology was warranted. The results
were also published on a student-developed web page. Since the study was performed with students, in a high traffic
area, this research was a wonderful vehicle to increase student interest in the energy efficiency area. This paper
documents the two technologies, the students’ response to the different technology, the methods used to compare the
technologies, and the development of the web page. In addition, suggestions for further work in the area are made,
and lessons learned on this project are discussed. It was found that while the amount of energy saved is small for an
individual machine, Wisconsin alone has over 75,000 of these machines, so the total energy savings can be can be
substantial."