Patent Application
20210069656
The present invention relates to a gas liquid infusion system, e.g., for mixing, infusing or carbonating beverage liquids (such as coffee, tea, milk, soda, beer, wine, spirits and industrial fluids) with a gas (such as nitrogen (N2), or carbon dioxide (CO2), or a blend of N2 and CO2).
The following dispensing systems are known in the art and dispense infused coffee through their proprietary mixing devices without any monitoring/controlling and data communication means.
Shortcomings of the Above Mentioned Devices:
The above mentioned systems lack the following:
There is a need in the industry for a better way to infuse gas and liquid for dispensing beverages in restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and convenience stores, etc.
In summary, the present invention provides smart infusion systems that utilize available devices like one or more pressure sensors, liquid detection devices, flow meters, gas fittings/orifices, and electronics control boards to monitor and control the desired outputs of the mixtures. They also provide data communication through local networks or IoT devices for either technical or business data collection and analysis; it also provides the means to troubleshoot, monitor and control the systems remotely.
By way of example, and according to some embodiments, the present invention may include, or take the form of, an in-line gas liquid infusion smart system featuring a controller having a signal processer configured to
The in-line gas liquid infusion smart system may include one or more of the following features:
The controller may be configured to provide the corresponding signaling as control signaling to control components of the in-line gas liquid infusion smart system in order to dispense the non-infused liquid and the gas-infused mixture from the dispense point, as well as data communication signaling to the remote controller.
The in-line gas liquid infusion smart system may include the remote controller that is configured to:
the controller may be configured to receive the remote controller signaling and determine the corresponding signaling to dispense the non-infused liquid and the gas-infused mixture from the dispense point, based upon the remote controller signaling received, e.g., including changing the one or more of the parameters or settings related to the operation of the components in the in-line gas liquid infusion smart system.
The controller may be configured to exchange the signaling and the corresponding signaling with the remote controller through a local network gateway to a cloud server, including exchanging the data communication signaling.
The parameters or settings may include gas-liquid infusion settings, pump operating parameters, dispense information and system parameters.
The pump operating parameters may include speed, voltage, current and pressure of a pump providing the non-infused liquid to a gas liquid absorption device (GLAD);
the dispense information may include a pour time stamp and a type of drink of the gas-infused mixture dispensed, and a keg change of a liquid or gas processed; and
the system parameters may include a gas pressure and a liquid pressure of the liquid or gas processed and a mode of operation of the in-line gas liquid infusion smart system.
The remote controller may be configured to
The remote controller may be configured to
The remote controller may be configured to
The gas-infused mixture may be a gas-infused beverage; the gas may include nitrogen (N2), carbon dioxide (CO2) or a blend of both; and the gas-infused beverage may include an N2 infused beverage, a CO2 infused beverage, or a blended N2 and CO2 infused beverage.
The gas-infused mixture may be a gas-infused beverage; the non-infused liquid may include coffee, tea, milk, beer, soda, juice, water, beer, wine, or spirit; and the gas-infused beverage may include a gas-infused coffee, tea, milk, beer, soda, juice, water, beer, wine, or spirit beverage.
The in-line gas liquid infusion smart system may be an industrial system; and the gas-infused mixture may be a gas-infused industrial mixture having a desired ratio of one or more gases and/or liquids for an industrial process application.
The components may include a GLAD configured to receive the non-infused liquid from a liquid source, receive one or more gases from one or more gas sources, and provide the gas-infused mixture to the dispense point.
The liquid source may include a pump, including a motor driven or air driven diaphragm pump, configured to pump the non-infused liquid to the GLAD, including where the motor driven or air driven diaphragm pump responds to the control signaling and pumps the non-infused liquid to the GLAD.
The components may include a gas solenoid valve configured to provide a gas from a gas source for driving the gas driven diaphragm pump, including where the gas solenoid valve responds to the control signaling and provides the gas from the gas source for driving the gas driven diaphragm pump.
The components may include a gas pressure sensor configured to provide gas pressure sensor signaling containing information about the pressure of the gas provided for driving the gas driven diaphragm pump, including where the gas pressure sensor provides the gas pressure sensor signaling to the controller.
The components may include tubing configured to provide and recycle an exhaust gas provided from the gas driven diaphragm pump to a gas source providing the gases.
The components may include one or more gas solenoid valves configured to provide the one or more gases from the one or more gas sources to the GLAD, including where the one or more gas solenoid valves responds to the control signaling and provides the one or more gases from the one or more gas sources to the GLAD.
The components may include one or more gas pressure sensors configured to provide gas pressure sensor signaling containing information about one or more gas pressures of the one or more gases provided to the GLAD, including where the one or more gas pressure sensors provides the gas pressure sensor signaling containing information about the one or more gas pressures of the one or more gases provided to the GLAD to the controller.
The components system may include a non-infused liquid solenoid valve configured to provide the non-infused liquid from the GLAD to the dispense point, and may also include a mixture solenoid valve configured to provide the gas-infused mixture to the dispense point, including where the non-infused liquid solenoid valve respond to the control signaling and provides the non-infused liquid from the GLAD to the dispense point, and also including where the mixture solenoid valve responds to the control signaling and provides the gas-infused mixture to the dispense point.
The components may include a liquid flow sensor arranged between the motor driven pump and the pressurized liquid container/bag-in-box (BIB)/bottle configured to provide liquid flow sensor signaling containing information about the liquid flow from the pressurized liquid container/bag-in-box (BIB)/bottle to the motor driven pump, including including where the liquid flow sensor provides the liquid flow sensor signaling to the controller.
By way of further example, and according to some embodiments, the present invention may include, or take the form of, a controller for an in-line gas liquid infusion smart system, featuring a signal processer configured to:
The drawing, which is not necessarily drawn to scale, includes the following Figures:
Similar parts or components in Figures are labeled with similar reference numerals and labels for consistency. Every lead line and associated reference label for every element is not included in every Figure of the drawing to reduce clutter in the drawing as a whole.
In general,
Below are some examples of a list of information that the infusion plumbing systems can transfer to the cloud server:
Based on information collected on the server/cloud, infusion plumbing system usage information can be calculated for business analysis and technical troubleshooting. The following are some of the examples for business analysis data:
The following are some of the examples for technical troubleshooting data:
In particular, and by way of example,
In operation, and by way of example, the smart controller like element 12 in
In
In operation, and by way of example, the smart controller like element 11 (
In contrast to that shown in
The apparatus 100 may include other signal processor circuits, circuitry, or components 11b that do not form part of the underlying invention, e.g., including input/output modules/modems, one or more memory modules (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc.), data, address and control busing architecture, etc.
By way of example, the in-line gas liquid infusion smart systems 10, 30, 60 are used for providing gas (N2, CO2, N2+CO2) infused beverages such as coffee, tea, milk, beer, soda, juice, water, beer, wine, spirit, etc. These in-line gas liquid infusion smart systems 10, 30, 60 can also be used to mix different gases and/or liquids to a desired ratio for industrial process applications.
By way of further example, the in-line gas liquid infusion smart system 10, 30, 60 may include, or take the form of, a commercial beverage dispensing machine in restaurants, coffee shops, bars, and convenience stores, etc., as well as an industrial dispensing machine.
GLAD like element 32 are known in the art, and the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular type or kind thereof either now known or later developed in the future.
By way of example, see patent application Ser. No. 16/875,490, filed 15 May 2020 (Docket no. 911-005.098-2 (F-FLJ-X0033US01), which claims benefit to provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/848,148, filed 15 May 2019, which is assigned to the assignee of the instant application, and which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
By way of example, see patent application Ser. No. 16/830,960, filed 26 Mar. 2020 (Docket no. 911-005.097-2 (F-FLJ-X0032US01), which claims benefit to provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/823,841, filed 26 Mar. 2019, which is assigned to the assignee of the instant application and discloses an example of a GLAD, and which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
By way of further example, see also Ser. No. 15/938,512, filed 28 Mar. 2018 (Docket no. 911-005.094-2 (F-FLJ-X0029US01), which claims benefit to Ser. No. 62/477,745, filed 28 Mar. 2017, entitled “Gas/liquid infusion system with intelligent level management and adjustable absorption output,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
By way of still further example, see also U.S. Pat. No. 9,033,315, issued 19 May 2015 (Docket no. 911-005.065-2 (M-FLJ-1101US01), entitled “Adjustable in-line on demand carbonator chamber for beverage applications,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Dispense points like element 38 are known in the art, and the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular type or kind thereof either now known or later developed in the future.
By way of example, and according to some embodiments, the dispense point 38 may include a dispense point controller configured to receive the control signaling from the controller 11 to implement dispense point functionality related to dispensing the non-infused liquid and the gas-infused mixture, and also configured to provide dispense point controller signaling to the controller 11 containing information about the dispense point controller functionality implemented and related to dispensing the non-infused liquid and the gas-infused mixture.
Liquid and gas pressure sensors and liquid flow sensors are known in the art, and the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular type or kind thereof either now known or later developed in the future.
Solenoid valves are known in the art, and the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular type or kind thereof either now known or later developed in the future.
Motor driven pumps, infusion tank/vessels, etc. are also known in the art, and the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to any particular type or kind thereof either now known or later developed in the future.
The embodiments shown and described in detail herein are provided by way of example only; and the scope of the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular configurations, dimensionalities, and/or design details of these parts or elements included herein. In other words, one skilled in the art would appreciate that design changes to these embodiments may be made and such that the resulting embodiments would be different than the embodiments disclosed herein, but would still be within the overall spirit of the present invention.
It should be understood that, unless stated otherwise herein, any of the features, characteristics, alternatives or modifications described regarding a particular embodiment herein may also be applied, used, or incorporated with any other embodiment described herein.
Although the invention has been described and illustrated with respect to exemplary embodiments thereof, the foregoing and various other additions and omissions may be made therein and thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
This application claims benefit to provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/896,795, filed 6 Sep. 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62896795 | Sep 2019 | US |
