1. Field of Invention
A double tank system and refrigerated compressor device for mixing water and carbon dioxide to produce a carbonated liquid within an inner tank, cooled by compressor coils attached to the inner tank, placed within the outer tank, with a vacuum or a highly insulated foam placed in a void between the inner tank and the outer tank, delivering the chilled carbonated water product to a faucet bank for mixing with a cooled beverage syrup, providing the carbonated beverage at a temperature at or below the freezing point of water, due to the enhanced cooling ability of the system and device.
2. Description of Prior Art
The following United States patents were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to a type of beverage dispenser having a compressor which delivers a produce at a reduced temperature or in a frozen state.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,150 to Nelson, a beverage is mixed with carbon dioxide and then through a chiller, then further delivered to the primary target of the invention, which is the faucet or dispenser, allowing ice into the cup, followed by the cooled beverage through the same faucet means. It contains no double tank system nor claim of delivering a liquid at or below 32 degrees F. A frozen beverage, which has entered a state of crushed ice is the delivery subject of the dispenser in U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,918 to Quartarone, which also utilizes an auger to lift the frozen product into an expulsion tube to deliver the frozen product to an outlet.
A single tank carbonator is disclosed in the beverage dispenser of U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,832 to Deininger, which is the common state of the prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,866,949 and 4,970,871 to Ridick demonstrate refrigerators with single tank carbonators incorporated within the refrigerator.
The present apparatus discloses an inner tank within an outer tank, with the refrigerant coils positioned on the outer surface of the inner tank, the inner tank and outer tank also being sealed within each other with a vacuum between the two tanks or some other insulation material, a pre-chiller or heat exchanger, and also incorporates syrup tubes within the inner tank for the pre-cooling of the syrup before being mixed with the carbonated liquid at the delivery faucet.
The current state of the beverage dispenser industry provides several mechanisms to provide a carbonated beverage to a customer by mixing water, carbon dioxide gas and a flavored syrup in a cooled environment with the mixed beverage delivered to one or more faucets on a counter top drink dispenser. The temperature of the dispensed beverage varies to a great extent, but no current machine is able to deliver the beverage to the faucet at or below freezing, the temperature of the beverage at the faucet being somewhere around 40 degrees. In addition, only so much liquid may be chilled by the current machines before the liquid being dispensed starts being delivered at even higher temperatures, exceeding the cooling capacity of the machines. Also significant in effecting these current machines in the environmental temperature surrounding the machines, outdoor dispensers being a greater challenge to regulate than indoor dispensers.
The present apparatus delivers the mixed soft drink beverage to the faucet at or below the freezing temperature of water which provides several benefits over the prior art. First, an advantage is gained by the beverage being less likely to melt the ice in a beverage glass upon dispensing the beverage, slowing the process of the ice turning to water which would dilute the beverage once dispensed. A second advantage is gained by the apparatus allowing for a greater volume of beverage being able to be dispensed at a lower temperature than the prior art devices because the inner tank of the double tank carbonator is not exposed to the environment surrounding the prior art carbonators, being insulated from the environment by either the vacuum in the void between the inner tank and outer tank or a highly insulating foam product. A third advantage lies in the cooling coils being contained within the same void as the inner tank, making the cooling coils transfer their cooling properties more efficiently to the inner tank and its contents than if the cooling coils were exposed to the environment of the prior art devices. This allows the refrigerant circulating system to run less often than the prior are systems, saving costs for energy required to operate the refrigerant circulating systems, which is the bulk of the cost of operation of these type of beverage dispensing units.
Noted in the apparatus is a distinction between diet syrup lines and sugared syrup lines. This is due to the effect of temperature on these ingredients. Sugared syrups may be chilled below the freezing point of water without effect on the diet syrup, to some extent, provided that the sugared syrup is not frozen. However, with diet syrup, especially when flavored with the current artificial sweetener ingredients, these sweeteners are broken down when chilled too close to the freezing point of water, and can alter the flavorings to the point of making these artificial sweeteners become bitter. Therefore, the diet syrup lines are channeled through a heat exchange unit, cooled by fresh water, prior to delivery to the faucet bank, while the sugared syrup lines are optionally channeled through syrup coils traversing the inner tanks, lowering the sugared syrup to a temperature similar to the carbonated water.
The primary objective of the apparatus is to provide a beverage dispensing apparatus which delivers a carbonated beverage to its faucets at or below the freezing point of water by providing the apparatus with an inner tank within an outer tank with cooling coils between the two tanks in an environment not affected by outside factors including heat, air pressure or adverse weather conditions.
A secondary objective of the apparatus is to provide a more economically efficient method and space convenient component arrangement for pre-cooling the components being mixed into a carbonated beverage prior to their being combined and delivered to the faucet to enhance the efficiency of the beverage dispenser for lower the cost of operation. A third objective would be to provide the apparatus in a counter top embodiment for restaurant and concession use which is less effected by the surrounding environment of the location of the apparatus.
The following drawings are submitted with this utility patent application.
a is a side view of a syrup tube.
b is a side cross section of the syrup tube.
An apparatus for delivering a carbonated beverage at or near the freezing point of water, connected to a fresh water line, a carbon dioxide gas tank and a beverage syrup container which blends the fresh water, carbon dioxide gas and beverage syrup together for dispensing a cold soft drink is shown in
As further defined, the water circulating system 200, shown in
As the carbonated liquid in mixed within the inner tank 20 and the temperature reaches the freezing point of water, an ice bank will be formed within the inner tank 20. The temperature sensing means 60, again indicated in
The refrigerant circulating system 100 is further defined in
The double tank carbonator 10 is further defined in
The hub 40 has a plurality of holes 42, a first hole 42a accepting the compressed gas line 302 from the carbon dioxide cylinder 300 introducing carbon dioxide gas into the inner tank 20, a second hole 42b accepting the soda water inlet line 205 connected to the water inlet tube 220 forming a J-tube 222 within the inner tank 20, a third hole 42c accepting the soda water outlet line 206, and a fourth hole 42d provided for pressure relief. The J-tube 222, the compressed gas line 302 and the soda water outlet line 206 are directed to the lower end 24 of the inner tank 20. In the alternative, any of the lines running through the hub 40 may be introduced by direct line to the inner tank without passing through the hub, by penetration of the outer tank and inner tank.
The heat exchange unit 70, shown in
Each of the syrup coils 80, shown in
Most preferably the double tank carbonator 10 is made entirely of stainless steel, which is demonstrated to have the desired thermal qualities sought in the apparatus. The cooling coils 50 are preferably copper which is attached by soldering the formed copper to the inner tank 20. The hub 40 is best presented as a stainless steel hub with the plurality of holes 42 machined through the hub 40 leading into the inner tank 20. The heat exchange unit 70 would preferably be made of stainless steel or another metal which would not be subject to corrosion and would have the thermal qualities required to operated the apparatus efficiently. The syrup coils 80 would also be made of similar metal materials with the interior surface 83 of the syrup coils 80 having a smooth surface or inner lining that would be resistant to a buildup of syrup over time.
The water lines and syrup lines within the apparatus would be best suited if made from stainless steel or copper with like metal couplings, although the current art uses flexible plastic hoses to connect most syrup containers and carbon dioxide cylinders to soft drink dispensers. Flexible plastic hoses would be sufficient for the lines connecting the external carbon dioxide cylinder and the external syrup containers to the apparatus, but likely not sufficient to be use for connecting the inner components of the apparatus.
It is also preferred that the inner tank 20 and outer tank 30 be a cylindrical shape with the upper end 22 and lower end 24 of the inner tank 20 and the upper end 32 and the lower end 34 of the outer tank 30 being domed, which is preferred in the art for stability of the tanks under the pressure of a vacuum or under the pressure of a highly insulating expansion foam filling the void 14 between the inner tank 20 and outer tank 30.
In addition to its implementation into the apparatus, the double tank carbonator 10 may by itself be incorporated into current art soft drink dispensing devices and is therefore independently made part of the specification. This independent embodiment of the double tank carbonator 10 comprises the inner tank 20 suspended with the outer tank 30, the void 14 between the inner tank and outer tank again being occupied by a vacuum or highly insulating expansion foam, with the double tank carbonator 10 having the hub 40 accepting the third fresh water line 204 and the compressed gas line 302 from the carbon dioxide cylinder 300, and having a soda water outlet line 206 connecting to a faucet bank 350. Syrup coils 80 may be integrated within the double tank carbonator 10 with a syrup inlet 81 connecting to the syrup lines 186, 188 and a syrup outlet 86 connecting the syrup coil 80 to the faucet bank 350. The cooling coils 50 located with the void 14 may be connected to an outside refrigerant circulating system 100 with the temperature sensing means 60, housed within a sealed channel 62 penetrating through the outer tank 30 and inner tank 20, controlling the refrigerant circulating system 100. The fluid level probe 65, contained within the perforated inner cylinder 46, inserted through the central opening 44 of the hub 40, may be integrated with any fresh water line to control the flow of fresh water into the inner tank 20.
While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Provisional Patent Application No. 60/428,333 filed Nov. 22, 2002.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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60428333 | Nov 2002 | US |