Coca-Cola Japan's New Beverage Vending Machine Uses No Power for Daytime Cooling

As part of a project to develop super energy-efficient vending machines, Coca-Cola Japan Co. has successfully developed the "peak-shift" vending machine A011 jointly with Fuji Electric Retail Systems Co., a subsidiary of Fuji Electric Co., a major Japanese manufacturer of electrical machinery and appliances. The new machine shifts the consumption of electricity for cooling from daytime, which is usually the peak-time of electricity use, to night-time, when there is typically a surplus of electricity. The machine is able to keep products cool without consuming electricity for up to 16 hours.

Conventional vending machines cool only some of the beverage products using electricity in response to sales in order to limit power consumption, and the temperature in the machine slowly rises if electricity use for cooling stops for long. During the night, the newly designed machine cools all beverage products stored in it and has better thermal performance, which limits the temperature rise in the machine during the daytime. The machine has a higher insulation performance with more than the conventional vacuum insulation materials and a door designed to be more airtight.

Prior to a full market launch, the company carried out a field test for about two months starting on July 2 in the areas around Kumagaya in Saitama Prefecture and Tajimi in Gifu Prefecture, both of which are well known for their fiercely hot summer weather.

Related JFS article:
Coca-Cola to Actively Introduce Vending Machines with LED Lighting