ECE Department
College of Engineering
ECE 4600: Capstone Design I
Coin Sorter
Instructor: Dr. Syed M. Mahmud
Objective: To design a system where you can dump coins into
the machine and the Coin Detection Sorter is capable of
identifying each coin. The device will then sort each coin, record
how many of each coin was given, and calculate the total
amount the coins are worth. T
Theory of Operations: This device will sort coins into their
respective dominators through mechanical means. LEDs and
photodiode detectors will also be used to detect where the coin
is in the sorting process. When the coin sorter is powered on,
the hopper will continuously rotate and wait for coins to be
placed in the machine. The hopper will take each coin
individually and feed them into the coin detection process. This
is where the inductor becomes useful. The device will measure
the disturbance in the electromagnetic field produced by each
coin’s unique metallic composition. After the device recognizes
the coin, it will be dispensed into the proper gate and accounted
for to calculate the total amount. The amount of coins detected
and the total amount will be displayed using an LCD display.
Zeinab Beydoun, Sean Shin, Troy Gauthier
Schematic Diagram:
1. The user drops a bunch of coins into the hopper.
2. The CD with the 4 slots catches a coin. Each slot is large enough to hold a
quarter, which is essentially the largest coin possible.
3. Once the coin is picked up by the hopper it will flow through the track.
4. Then pass through the id circuit, where identification of the coin is read. Arduino
will take a reading and decide which coin is.
5. Then will open the correct solenoid which then will get dropped into its
corresponding container.
Discussions of the Experimental Results:
Flow-Chart of the Software Code
Design Alternatives: Our Group could have included a thermal
printer to print a receipt with a barcode that could be redeemed
for cash value or deposited into an AM account if this were
implemented at a bank.
Key Points for Selecting Your Design: Considering that we
don’t have much time the semester, our better option was to just
stick to a coin sorting and counting machine. Our coin machine
will also allow you to sort and count which ends up giving you a
total amount. The implemented design is smaller than usual
coin counters and sorters. Having a flow through design allows
us to have a coin sorters machine which is able to handle wet
coins,
Pictures of the Working Prototypes:
Constraints from Regulating Bodies on the Project::
• LCD failed last second, solder joints on the inside broke
meaning that the user must open up the serial monitor to get
total amount of dollars..
• 5v power supply had to be removed because it was causing
to much noise, no 5v power supply must be added.
• Motor does not generate lots of torque therefore gets easily
jammed meaning that the user must drop the coins correctly
into the hopper.
• Id circuit is very susceptible to noise.
• The angle of the track must be about 70 degrees
Fall-2016
For the hopper, there
were incidents of jamming occurring due to a welding issue. Every so often a coin
would get stuck in between the hopper and the welded steel. This was corrected by
adding a flexible metal material between the gap to hold the coins properly. After
adding this, the gap was avoided and the coins were able to be individually filtered by
the hopper.
The 5V DC power supply gave some issues within the identifying process. Early in
our test runs, we discovered that this power supply was creating noise that would
interfere with our induction values. These corrupted values would throw off the
software and cause issues in identifying which coin was going through. It is important
that the disturbance caused by each coin was known so that we knew which coin was
passing through. To correct this error, we swapped the power supply with another to
eliminate the noise.
Conclusions: The Coin Sorter Detector can significantly
reduce the time it takes to count and sort coins. Many
currencies have coins that amount to different values depending
on the coin. These coins each have different metallic
compositions that allows us to identify each coin. In the United
States, coins are very abundant and only amount to small
values, which only makes it a headache to count and add up
coins. The Coin Sorter Detector can be implemented to simplify
this process by simply dumping your coins in and waiting for the
device to count your coins, sort them, and give you the total
value of the coins. Our product works well in identifying and
sorting these coins. However, there is still room for improvement
that could further improve our device. One improvement that
could be made is the total time it takes to count the coins. Our
project is restricted to operate at a certain speed to avoid
jamming, misidentified coins, and proper sorting. Future
products could design a mechanical set-up that allows them to
increase the speed of the process and possibly add in an
identifying mechanism with the light sensors. Overall, the project
was a success in detecting and sorting coins.
Related Patents:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,411
2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,527 .
3. U.S Pat. No. 9,235,945
References
1. "Coin Detector And Counter." Best Microcontroller Projects.
N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.
2. "How It Works." How It Works | Ryedale Coin. N.p., n.d. Web.
12 Dec. 2016.