Heating devices and methods which are particularly useful in vending machinesfor hot products. Products such as beverages contained in individualcontainers suchas cans are rapidly heated to serving temperature by induction heating fordelivery to acustomer. Various types of products with different heating characteristics arerapidlyheated without deleterious effects on the product by varying the power andtiming of theinductive heating. The type of product is identified by machine-readableindicia on thecontainer which are automatically scanned prior to heating. The productcontainers areagitated before, during and/or after heating to mix the contents anddistribute heatevenly. The containers are heated in a manner to safely heat the productwithoutoverheating or causing damage to the container. A power management protocolturnsoff non-essential components of the vending machine while the inductive heaterisenergized to permit the vending machine to operate on a standard 120 VAC, 15 Aelectrical circuit without overload.
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