Coin Sorter

Design Proposal

The System

*I was not able to complete the project in the allotted time but the design and thought process behind it was rational and theoretically possible, which in itself still matters. I am positive that if I had another mere week I could fix the flaws in my design and create a working coin sorter.

The Hopper

The hopper is a trapezoid shaped piece of cardboard with walls on each side to act as barriers for the motor, switch, and wires which are inside of it. The motor has a nut attached to it, causing it to vibrate. This vibration, paired with the declining angle of the hopper, causes the coins to flow down and through a small coin slot one at a time. This leads them to the sorter.

The Sorter

The sorter is a declining spiral made out of cardboard. It has walls on both sides which act as barriers so that the coins do not shoot off of the subsystem. There are 4 intermittent holes in the cardboard which increase in size with each hole, allowing for only the smallest coin to drop as they progress along the track. The first hole is only large enough for a dime to fall through, which leads to where the dimes are collected. The second hole is only big enough for a penny to fall through, which leads to where the pennies are collected. The third hole is only big enough for a nickel to fall through, which leads to where the nickels are collected. The fourth hole is only big enough for a quarter to fall through, which leads to where the quarters are collected.

The Collector

The collector is a simple hollow tube in which a pull-out drawer is connected at the base. These tubes are connected to each hole in the sorting subsystem and travel straight down to the base, where there is a drawer that can be pulled out for coin retrieval.

Testing

Engineering Notebook