A secure delivery system according to various aspects of the present technology comprises a transport box having a storage space, an environmental control unit, a plurality of electrical contacts, and a deployable receiving tray responsive to automated delivery systems. The transport box fits within an interior space of a delivery box having a GPS receiver that provides a geographic delivery location of the delivery box. The delivery box comprises a plurality of corresponding electrical contacts configured to be coupled to the electrical contacts of the transport box to provide power to the transport box. The delivery box may further comprise an electronic lock that is responsive to a delivery box controller circuit configured to operate the electronic lock.

Systems, apparatuses and methods are provided herein for thermal monitoring in a retail facility. A system for thermal monitoring in a retail facility comprises: a thermal sensor positioned in a predetermined location of a portion of the retail facility; a database for storing thermal images and thermal data obtained from the thermal sensor and known thermal profiles; and a control circuit configured to identify a thermal image obtained from the thermal sensor that deviates from an expected baseline thermal profile for the portion of the retail facility; and compare the thermal image to the known thermal profiles to determine at least one of estimated occupancy, temperature control unit efficiency, temperature control unit operation and whether a temperature-sensitive retail item has been abandoned.

A temperature-controlled vending machine able to apply a required temperature uniformly within itself includes a cabinet and a temperature control system fixed at the bottom of the cabinet. The temperature control system includes a water tank, a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator defining an air outlet, and a cross-flow fan. The cross-flow fan includes a plurality of fan blades opposite to the air outlet and a housing defining an air guiding exit. The cross-flow fan is able to circulate cool air expelled from the evaporator from the bottom of the cabinet to the top of the cabinet.

A refrigerated dispensing system is provided including an outer refrigerator cabinet and an interior, removable chassis that mounts a plurality of separately removable product storage and dispensing cartridges. While individual cartridges are removably positionable within slots on one or more shelves inside of the chassis, the entire chassis (with cartridges positioned thereon) may be removed from the outer refrigerator cabinet, as may be desirable in the event of a loss of power to the outer refrigerator cabinet. The shelves are preferably of a modular and reconfigurable design, thus allowing portions of the chassis (e.g., individual shelves or portions thereof) to be modified or replaced with alternative shelving or other storage devices to meet the current refrigerated product storage needs of any particular facility.

A climate-controlled vending machine is monitored using data analytics. The climate-controlled vending machine includes a primary storage unit for storing two or more items. A first slot of an item is determined to be available within a secondary storage unit of the climate-controlled vending machine. The secondary storage unit is a climate-controlled unit. A first item, of the two or more items within the primary storage unit, is transferred to the first slot of the secondary storage unit. The first item within the first slot of the secondary storage unit is altered to a first condition. A selection from a first user is received. In response to the reception of the selection of the first item, the first item is dispensed to the user from a dispensary unit, wherein the item is being of the first condition. The first slot is replenished with a replacement item from the primary storage.

The present invention provides a vending machine having a compartment whose preset internal temperature is lower than those of compartments in conventional commonly-used beverage vending machines, and yet being capable of limiting energy required for cooling the interiors of its compartments. A vending machine 1 for cooling and dispensing products has at least three compartments (right compartment 4, center compartment 5, and left compartment 6) which are defined by heat-insulated walls (partition walls) 3 and which are for cooling products contained therein. The right, center and left compartments 4, 5, 6 are disposed side by side in a row. The preset internal temperature for the center compartment 5, which lies between the right and left compartments 4, 6, is lower than those for the right and left compartments 4, 6.

A controller, when a normal cooling operation is being performed, forward-drives a lower-side and an upper-side in-box blower fans, thereby causing internal air cooled by an evaporator to circulate within a commodity storage box in such a way that it enters a rear face duct through a lower-side opening and is discharged from an upper-side opening, and when a cold-maintaining operation is being performed, stops driving the lower-side and the upper-side in-box blower fans, and when a cooling recovery operation is being performed, forward-drives the lower-side in-box blower fan and reverse-drives the upper-side in-box blower fan, thereby causing internal air cooled by the evaporator to enter the rear face duct through the lower-side opening and causing internal air to enter the rear face duct through the upper-side opening, and also causing internal air entered the rear face duct to be discharged from the intermediate opening.

A cooling arrangement for refrigerators is provided, which allows better control and temperature maintenance for beverage cans, which facilitates access to them without having to open other cooling chamber of the refrigerator and also prevents an abrupt shift of the cans which can generate overflows of the liquid contents when opening them.

A vending refrigerator for dispensing pharmaceutical products, such as vials, bottles, syringes, and the like, at a point of distribution, e.g., a doctor's office or pharmacy. The vending refrigerator comprises a first product dispenser for one type of packaging and a second product dispenser for a second type of packaging. The product can be removed from a dispenser drawer but cannot be placed back into the dispenser through the drawer. The product dispensers are filled through openings that are not accessible during normal operations, but that are accessible during refilling procedures. The refrigerator may include a shelf where products that are mistakenly pulled from the product dispenser or that contain multiple doses of their contents can be placed for temporary storage. In some embodiments, the refrigerator comprises a chilled compartment and a freezer compartment.

A vending machine for dispensing selected quantities of distinct perfumes comprises a plurality of containers (70) stored within an air-cooled compartment (3), each container filled with a distinct perfume, a plurality of independent perfume supply circuits assigned to circulation of each distinct perfume comprising one container (70) containing this distinct perfume, a pump (80) assigned to pumping this perfume, the pump connected by means of a flexible pipe (81) to the container (70) and by means of a flexible pipe (82) to one of an equivalent plurality of tubular needles (83) assigned to supplying this distinct perfume. Rotatable perfume bottling assembly units (50) comprising a circumferential arrangement of tubular needles (83) are provided with associated perfume bottle filling drive units (90) adapted to handle delivery of a desired distinct perfume from a specific container (70) into a bottle (41) in a perfume purchase operation.