| 摘要 |
The present invention provides sy stems, methods, and apparatuses for energy management in store or dispense equipment for food and/or beverages. Such store or dispense equipment may allow for food and/or beverages to be heated, cooled, or maintained near the ambient temperature, or a combination thereof. The store or dispense equipment may include vending machines, appliances, coolers, dispensers such as food dispensers and beverage dispensers (e.g., fountain drink dispenser), and other iike electrical equipment. Demand data may be retrieved from the vending machine, appliance, cooler, dispenser, or other store or dispense equipment. Demand data may include saies. usage, and/or occupancy information for the respect vending machines, appliances, coolers, dispensers, and other store or dispense equipment. This demand data may then analyzed to determine whether there are demand patterns such that there are opportunities for energy conservation or energy management. If there are opportunities for energy conservation or energy management, an instruction set may be prepared, where the instruction set is based at least in part on this analyzed data. The instruction set is loaded onto the vending machine, appliance, or other equipment, w hich operates in accordance with the instruction set. While the following embodiments of the present invention maybe discussed w ith respect to a vending machine for illustrative purposes, they are equally applicable to appliances, coolers, dispensers, and other store or dispense equipment. |
