Reverse Vending Machine Product

Overview

A reverse vending machine is the collection end of a bottle-deposit system: it takes back empty beverage containers, verifies each one is a genuine deposit article that has not already been redeemed, destroys or secures it against re-redemption, and refunds the deposit. In markets like Germany, Norway, and the Baltics, deposit return rates above 90% rest on these machines standing in nearly every supermarket. A typical unit is installed through-wall: the Front Fascia faces the shop floor while the bins sit in the backroom.

Accepting a container

The customer feeds one container into the Feed Opening, a moulded throat sized for anything from a 0.1 L can to a 3 L bottle but not a hand. The Intake Rollers, driven by a reversible Intake Gearmotor, pull the container in and spin it about its axis. Two Intake Photoeye photoeyes pace the flow, and the Singulation Gate blocks the classic fraud of feeding containers tied on a string for repeated refunds. Anything the machine cannot accept is driven back out through the Reject Gate.

Recognition

Refund fraud is the central design problem, so the Recognition System system checks four independent properties in under a second. The Barcode Camera Ring reads the EAN barcode anywhere on the spinning container through mirrors and multiple CMOS Image Sensor cameras. The Shape Camera profiles the silhouette against the registered article's geometry — a deposit barcode glued to a different bottle fails this check. The Metal Detector confirms material class and separates aluminium from steel, and the Weight Check rejects containers still holding liquid. The Recognition Processor fuses all four against the national deposit article register; in barcode-marked systems such as the German DPG scheme it also validates the security ink marking.

Every acceptance is reported through the Clearing Modem to the deposit clearing house, which is how retailers settle deposits among themselves and how duplicate redemption is detected system-wide.

Compaction and sorting

Accepted containers ride the Container Transport belts — at full rate the machine processes about 45 containers per minute — to the Diverter Paddle, which makes the key routing decision: one-way PET and cans go to the crusher, refillable glass goes around it.

The Compactor serves two purposes. The counter-rotating Crusher Rollers, driven by a 750 W Crusher Motor through a reduction Helical Gear Pair, flatten containers to roughly a quarter of their volume — which multiplies bin capacity and cuts collection logistics — and a crushed container visibly cannot be redeemed twice. The Jam Sensor watches motor current and auto-reverses on jams inside the hardened Crusher Housing.

Downstream, servo-driven Sorting Gate drop each item into its stream: the PET Bin holds 1,000–1,500 crushed bottles, the Can Bin collects flattened cans (already split by metal type), and intact refillables stack on the Glass Table for return to the bottler. Each path carries a Fill-Level Sensor so backroom staff are paged before a full bin stops the machine — downtime at peak hours directly costs the store customer goodwill.

Refund and session flow

The LCD Panel shows a running count and deposit total as containers are accepted, with audio confirmation per item through the Speaker. When the customer presses finish, the Voucher Printer issues a barcoded voucher — printed by the Voucher Printhead and cut free by the Voucher Cutter — redeemable at any till in the store. Most machines also offer a donation button that routes the refund to charity, and newer fleets support app-based digital payout. The Main Control PC journals every session, so the voucher barcode is single-use and reconciled against the till.

Service

Design throughput only matters if the machine stays clean: sticky residue is constant, so intake, transport, and recognition chambers are built for daily wipe-down, and the Sound Insulation keeps the crusher near 60 dB(A) so the machine can stand next to the checkout lanes. High-volume sites replace the single bins with backroom table systems fed by the same machine through the wall.