Patent Grant
10266384
The present invention relates to beverage dispensing appliances comprising several containers stored in a compartment, each container being connectable to a tapping column by means of corresponding keg connectors allowing rapid and easy connection of a beer keg to a dispensing line and to a pressurized gas line. It concerns in particular a dispensing appliance adapted for use with the new generation of beer keg designs, which are smaller and generally made of polymers.
When beer or malt based fermented beverages (collectively referred to herein as “beer”) are widely distributed stored in bottles and metal cans, there is a marked preference by the public for beers served directly on tap from a keg, referred to as draught (or draft) beer. Since draught beer was traditionally served in large volumes in public houses (pubs) and restaurants, large capacity re-usable metal kegs were traditionally used, typically 50 l kegs (=11 Imperial gallons). In recent years, however; a reduction of the kegs capacity offered on the market has been observed. There are two main factors explaining this trend.
First, brewers have developed various solutions for offering draught beer to particulars with specifically designed home appliances. It is clear that if 50 l kegs can be emptied reasonably rapidly in a pub, this is not the case for home appliances. Hence, smaller kegs of 5 to 15 l capacity were developed. Such home appliances are often referred to as “table top dispensers” because they are small enough to stand on top of a table.
Second, even in pubs, the tastes of the consumers have shifted from traditional lager beers towards special beers, with more specific flavours. This diversification of the types of beers offered for consumption in pubs has pushed brewers to store their special beers in smaller capacity kegs, ranging from 8 to 25 l kegs. Since such kegs are too large to stand on top of a counter, and probably too small to justify storing them in a basement far away from the tap, they are usually stored directly under the tapping column, usually in a refrigerated chamber. For this reason and by opposition to the expression “table top dispensers”, such dispensing systems used in pubs are often referred to as “under the counter dispensers”.
With the reduction of kegs capacity, however, the cost of packaging (=keg) per liter of beer sold increased accordingly. Alternative solutions to re-usable metal kegs, which need be cleaned and sterilized before each (re-) filling, had to be developed, typically replacing metal kegs by polymeric kegs made for example of PET and generally disposable and recyclable. Furthermore, pressure inside the container is usually raised by injecting pressurized CO2 into the container, because air upon contacting the beer would oxidize and degrade it too rapidly. To allow the use of pressurized air fed e.g., by an air compressor to drive the dispensing of draught beer, integrally blow-moulded bag-in-containers were developed, wherein the beer is contained in a flexible inner bag inserted in an outer, rigid container, and pressurized gas is injected into the space between the inner bag and outer container to collapse the inner bag and drive the beer out of the bag. As illustrative examples, integrally blowmoulded polymeric bag-in-containers are disclosed in WO2008129018, WO2008129016, WO2008129012, WO2008129015, or WO2008129013.
Regardless of its size, before use a beer keg must be connected to a dispensing line and to a source of pressurized gas. Home appliances have been designed with their own specific solution for rapidly connecting a dispensing line and a gas source to the interior of the kegs (cf. e.g., WO2012056018), U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,787, U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,012, or U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,901. In some cases, the source of pressurized gas is stored in the keg itself, but this solution is rather expensive and to date implementable with quite small kegs only (cf. e.g., WO9947451, WO2007/108684). In pubs, however, although the kegs designs have changed dramatically as discussed above, the same equipment as for large 50 l kegs is often still being used downstream from the keg all the way to the tap, including the keg connector, the dispensing line and gas duct, and draught column and tap. For example, conventional keg connectors are usually made of metal, are heavy, complex and expensive. Examples of conventional keg connectors are disclosed in WO9407791, U.S. Pat. No. 3,545,475, DE9109177U. They are ill-fitted for smaller polymeric kegs, typically of 8 to 25 l kegs. Some solutions have been proposed to replace conventional keg connectors with simpler connectors.
WO2007/108684 discloses a simplified keg connector comprising a single connection to a dispensing tube. The keg connector is designed without a connection to a pressurized gas tube because the pressurized gas source is stored in a container located inside the keg. Absent a connection to a pressurized gas source, the requirements, in particular mechanical, clamping, and sealing properties, on the keg connector are substantially reduced, and the size thereof could be reduced accordingly. Numerous connectors for coupling a single dispensing duct to a container comprising no pressurized gas connection have been disclosed in fields other than beer kegs, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,871,679, EP2012052, or WO200107819, but are not suitable for a quick connection of a beer keg to both a dispensing line and a pressurized gas source.
WO9840703 discloses a connector for coupling a container containing chemicals to a dispensing line and a gas line. This connector is, however, bulky and oversized for connecting small beverage kegs of about 8 to 25 l capacity. EP1347936 discloses a small size keg connector comprising a connection to both a source of pressurized gas and a dispensing tube. The keg connector of EP1347936, however, is not connected to a closure of the keg, as it acts as a closure per se. Each new keg is sold with such connector already clamped into position with a new dispensing line coupled thereto. A keg connector concomitantly acting as closure is also disclosed in US2011210148 and US2008217362 but in these cases, the connectors are reversibly coupled to a container by a thread and can be removed therefrom and used with a new container. Closures acting also as connectors have been used extensively for “table top dispensers” such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,787, U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,012, WO2012056018, cited above, and the like. These, however, are not suitable for use in pubs, wherein kegs are to be coupled in fluid communication with corresponding dispensing tap columns in “under the counter dispensers”.
It is advantageous to store the containers in a refrigerated chamber, possibly located under the counter supporting the tap columns. Because of their size, conventional kegs are always used standing vertically when connected to a tap column. Indeed, they are designed with a bottom chime allowing their stable standing and they are so heavy that they cannot be handled easily. Furthermore the dispensing of beer stored in conventional kegs requires a hollow spear to penetrate deep into the beverage in order to allow the flow thereof through the spear upon increase of the pressure in the keg. If a keg were lying on its side, the spear would cease to be submerged under the level of beverage as soon as the keg would be about half empty; unless a flexible spear is used. Smaller kegs, however, are disadvantageous compared with larger kegs, because they occupy only a fraction of the height available in the storing compartment and fully occupied below the counter by larger kegs.
There remains a need in the art for under the counter appliances of the type used in pubs and restaurants, which are particularly adapted for smaller kegs of the order of 8 to 25 l capacity and usually made of polymeric material. The present invention proposes such dispensing appliance. These and other advantages of the present invention are discussed more in details in the following sections.
The present invention is defined in the appended independent claims. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. In particular, the present invention concerns a beverage dispensing device comprising:
In a preferred embodiment, the upstream portion of the dispensing tube and the downstream portion of the gas tube are each independently coupled to the keg connector with an angle comprised between 45 and 135° preferably, between 80 and 100°, with respect to the longitudinal axis, X1, when the keg connector is coupled to the container, such that the height, H2, preferably includes at least 20 cm of both the upstream portion of the dispensing tube and the downstream portion of the gas tube.
A keg connector according to the present invention is preferably re-usable several times with new containers, and can be reversibly coupled to containers. In particular it preferably comprises a platform structure defined by a perimeter and comprising an upper surface and a lower surface and being provided with a clamping system for reversibly coupling the keg connector to the closure of a keg, said clamping system comprising:
A keg connector according to the present invention is prefeably made of at least 60 wt. % of a polymer, preferably at least 80 wt. %, more preferably at least 95 wt. % of polymer.
In a preferred embodiment, each of the at least two containers are coupled to a keg connector, each connector being coupled to the same source of pressurized gas by means of a gas line provided with at least one valve. At least two keg connectors are preferably coupled to a single dispensing line (4) which is provided with at least one valve (4v), runs in the inner channel of the tapping column and engages in a single tapping valve. Alternatively, the tapping column may comprise more than one tapping valve, and at least two keg connectors can be coupled to a separate dispensing line, each running in the inner channel of the tapping column and engaging in a separate tapping valve.
The storing compartment can preferably contain at least three containers in their dispensing position, preferably at least four containers, and preferably comprises cooling means for cooling the containers stored in said compartment.
For easier handling, the containers can be light weight, if they are made of polymer, preferably PET. This option is also cheaper to produce and recycle, then metal kegs, which need be collected from all the different bars and restaurants for cleaning before refill, requiring an extensive transportation network. the containers are preferably pressure dispensing bag-in-containers.
The present invention is particularly adapted to containers having a height ratio, Ht/H1, of not more than 85%, preferably not more than 80%, more preferably not more than 75% or even not more than 70%, wherein Ht is the height of the container from the point of the bottom end most remote from the closure to the beginning of the shoulder region.
The height ratio, Ht/H1, is preferably at least 60%, preferably at least 65%, more preferably at least 70%, because with lower height ratios, a container would be so unstable that it would require specific means for securing it.
For a fuller understanding of the nature of the present invention, reference is made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
As shown in
Typically, 50 liter kegs (8) generally made of metal are used in such conventional dispensing units. Such kegs cannot be lifted or otherwise handled easily; and they are usually rolled over the rim of their bottom base to bring them in front of the storing compartment (11) and positioned vertically. A keg connector is used to couple both gas line (6) and dispensing line (4). With the wide-spreading use of containers of smaller capacity, it is clear that the volume of the storing compartment (11) is not efficiently taken advantage of if such smaller kegs are arranged vertically like the larger 50 liter kegs. The containers used in a dispensing device according to the present invention typically have a capacity of 8 to 25 l and are generally made of polymers such as PET as discussed in the introduction. As illustrated in
The shoulder region (8s) can be in the shape of a circularly symmetric ellipsoidal cap (i.e., having an axis of revolution or, in other words, having a circular open edge), preferably a spherical cap. With blow-moulded, polymeric containers, the bottom end (8e) can also have a similarly circularly symmetric ellipsoidal cap, the shoulder ellipsoidal cap and the bottom end ellipsoidal cap sandwiching the cylindrical body portion (8b).
According to the present invention, the storing compartment is designed for storing more than one such keg in a more or less horizontal dispensing position, corresponding to a position wherein the longitudinal axis, X1, of each container forms a storing angle of ±30° (i.e., comprised between −30° and +30° with respect to the top plane, π, preferably comprised between ±10°, more preferably ±5°, most preferably substantially parallel to the plane, π.
As illustrated in
Because of the substantial weight of the liquid beverage, the force F2=F2, 1 when the container is full is substantially larger than the force F2=F2, 0 when the container is nearly empty. Consequently, a container (81) can be stable when full, because F1±d1<F2, 1×d2, but will tilt and fall down when nearly empty because F1±d1>F2, 0×d2. Such tilting is more pronounced with polymeric containers (81) which are very lightweight compared with the usually metal keg connectors traditionally used in pubs and restaurants. To stabilize the containers when stored substantially horizontally, the left hand side member, F1×d1, of the tilting moment balance must be reduced, by reducing the value of F1 and/or d1. To this effect, it is essential for the present invention that the keg connector (1) does not extend too far beyond the level of the closure. As illustrated in
As discussed above, the container comprises:
With such geometry, the tilting axis of a container is generally located at the level where the cylindrical body meets the shoulder region, as shown in
In order to further reduce the value of the distance, d1, it is preferred that the height, H2, includes at least 20 cm of the upstream portion (4u) of the dispensing line (4) and of the downstream portion (6d) of the gas line (6). This can be achieved by orienting the upstream portion (4u) of the dispensing line and the downstream portion (6d) of the gas line (6) are each independently coupled to the keg connector with an angle comprised between 45 and 135° preferably, between 80 and 100°, with respect to the longitudinal axis, X1, when the keg connector is coupled to the container. For example, the keg connectors illustrated in
In order to further decrease the value of the left hand side member, F1×d1, of the tilting moment balance, the weight of the keg connector (1) can be reduced by replacing metal, which is traditionally used in conventional keg connectors, by polymers for part or the whole of the keg connector. In a preferred embodiment, the keg connector is made of at least 60 wt. % of polymer, preferably at least 80 wt. %, more preferably at least 95 wt. % of polymer. Polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polyurethane, and the like can be used pure, blended, and/or reinforced with fibres.
Referring to
Examples of keg connectors suitable for the present invention are disclosed e.g., in WO2014057099 (cf. present
The keg connectors of
Closures (10) suitable for the present invention are described e.g., in WO2009/090225, WO2009/090224, WO2009/090223, WO2012004223, the contents of which are included herein in their entirety by reference. The closure (10) generally comprises a skirt provided with coupling means for reversibly coupling to the neck region (8n) of the container by means of a thread, bayonet or snap features. The skirt defines a lower rim below which the protrusions (13p) can engage to clamp the keg connector to the closure. As discussed supra, it is, however, preferred to clamp the clamping legs below an annular flange (8f) integrally part of the container (cf.
The storing compartment (11) can be so designed as to contain two containers in their dispensing position as shown in
As shown in
In the embodiment illustrated in
In the embodiment illustrated in
The dispensing device of the present invention is adapted to the new evolution of smaller, lightweight containers used to dispense fermented beverages such as beer and other carbonated beverages. Handling of the containers is greatly facilitated and capacity of storage of the containers is optimized with the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14181401 | Aug 2014 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2015/067969 | 8/4/2015 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2016/026693 | 2/25/2016 | WO | A |
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