Compact token dispenser for Dutchband BV

Abstract

This master thesis explains the development of an improvement for Dutchband’s token dispenser. Dutchband is a young company, which develops products to increase efficiency in the event world, such as the tokens or coins as replacement for money and wristbands to replace the traditional admission tickets. The token is used in different places, at small events it is possible to break the tokens of the string manually and sell them, but once the numbers of visitors increase, as is the case on a major event such as Lowlands or Sensation, this can be automated. For instance by using one of the three machines Dutchband has developed. Pin dispenser Cash dispenser Hand dispenser All machines work with the same principle to dispense the tokens. Inside these machines, the rolls of tokens are mounted, unrolled and broken off automatically. For the hand version there is a person sitting in a booth takes care of the payment and manages the machine with a few buttons. To create an even faster and cheaper service, the pin and cash machine do this fully automatically, reducing cost of labour. Currently the machines can only dispense tokens in a multitude of five or four tokens. Since the cash machine only accepts standard euro bills there is a problem with payment for certain token rates. To solve this problem the cash machines needs to become more flexible and able to provide every amount of tokens instead of the multitude of 5. This makes possible to remain using the machine in the future. The product developed in this graduation project is created to cut the tokens in multitudes of one token. The main problem was divided into three sub problems Separating; the physical separation of the tokens from the string, this resulted in a specially designed cutting devices which bends and cuts the token Propulsion; unrolling the string to the correct amount of tokens and feeding it in to the machine so it can be broken off, this resulted in a new system, to count the tokens as they pass and check how many tokens are still in stock. Aligning; crucial in dispensing the tokens without unwanted damage, this resulted in a new approach to correct errors in aligning, by comparing the length of the individual tokens, travelled distance by the token string and actual distance from sensor to break line and correcting accordingly. After the three main problems had been developed into three different concepts they are combined into a full functioning prototype to demonstrate its ability to cut tokens, which provided a satisfactory result.