Patent Application
20080083780
Reference is made in the description to the following briefly described drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding elements:
The following describes various aspects of the present invention, which may stand alone or be combined. A dispensing system 10 is first described, which includes a disposable package 12 for a liquid to be dispensed. Also described is a disposable mixer 14 used to mix the liquid with a mixing fluid, such as plain or carbonated water. Also, a disposable tube 18 is described that includes a device for effectively preventing dripping problems. In operation, when the package 12 is effectively empty, the package 12, mixer 14, and tube 18 are discarded and replaced.
A pump 16 pumps the liquid from the package 12 toward mixer 14. The liquid is pumped through the tube 18, which is coupled to the package 12 directly or through a fitment 13 or any suitable coupling approach. Although a canoe-shaped fitment is shown, any other suitable shape may be used. Tube 18 is also coupled directly or indirectly to the mixer 14.
Also shown in
The ice/water bath 22 may be formed by creating an ice bank 32 by freezing water around an evaporator of a conventional refrigeration system. A compressor 34 and condenser 36 of such a system are shown schematically in
A controller 44, which may comprise, without limitation, a microcontroller or microprocessor based control system, is used to control operation of the dispenser 10. The controller 44 is coupled to the valves 24 and 26, the pump 16, the refrigeration system, and to a user interface 46. User interface 46 may be one or more switches or other input devices used to receive requests for dispenses. For example, if a carbonated beverage is requested, controller 44 controls soda valve 26 and pump 16 to dispense the proper amounts of liquid from package 12 and soda water to form the finished drink. Controller 44 may also receive inputs related to options for mixing and ratio accuracies, among other control functions. These inputs may be provided through user interface 46 or any other suitable interface (such as, without limitation, from a hand-held electronic device).
The soda (carbonated water) may be generated at a remote carbonator, or in a carbonator located within the dispenser 10. Also, the carbonator could be located within the ice/water bath 22 or other cold source.
As shown, mixer 14 includes a mixing fluid inlet 50, a liquid inlet 52, and a mixed fluid outlet 54. Mixing fluid inlet 50 is covered by a tamper evident seal 56, which may include a tab 58 for facilitating easy removal. Similarly, outlet 54 covered by a tamper evident seal 60, which may include a tab 62 for facilitating easy removal before dispensing. Tabs 58 and 62 are examples only, and may be omitted, or any other device may be used to facilitate easy removal of the tamper evident seals 56 and 60. In operation, the tamper evident seals 56 and 60 are removed, and the inlet 50 is coupled to the mixing fluid of the dispenser 10, for example, line 28 or line 30 of
Mixer 14 is shown with only one mixing fluid inlet 50. However, it should be understood that this is an example only, and more than one such inlets may be provided (for example, and without limitation, one for carbonated water and one for plain water). Each of any such multiple inlets is covered with a tamper evident seal.
The mixer 14 preferably includes a mixing chamber 64 in which the liquid from package 12 is mixed with plain or carbonated water. However, mixer 14 may be any suitable device that facilitates formation of a finished drink. For example, and without limitation, mixer 14 may be a nozzle that receives the liquid and the water, and keeps them separate until they are discharged from the nozzle for mixing in air or in the receptacle into which they are dispensed. Furthermore, the outlet 54 of the mixer 14 may discharge directly into the receptacle (e.g., a cup), or into a nozzle or other intermediate device.
The package 12, the mixer 14, and the tube 18 are preferably coupled together and shipped to the customer for use in this combined arrangement. The tamper evident seals 56 and 60 provide the security of tamper evidence.
The mixer 14 may be, without limitation, a mixer such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/869,122, filed Jun. 16, 2004, and entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A MIXING ASSEMBLY,” which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Another aspect of the present invention involves the prevention of leaking from the tube 18 during storage, use, or replacement of spent packages 12. When the liquid in package 12 is depleted, the package must be removed and replaced with a new package 12. Unfortunately, during this process, liquid remnant in the spent package and tube often leaks out of the tube. Also, when loading a new package, dripping can occur. Prior art attempts to address this dripping problem (other than in the above-referenced, commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/085,370) involve the use of manually operated check valves at the end of the tube. These are unsatisfactory, however, because of their cost, and because the users often forget to open them, causing pump failures or significant messes, or do not understand to close them, rendering them useless against the dripping problem they were intended to solve. Moreover, it is important to prevent dripping even after a package is installed, for example when a dispenser is idle.
To address the dripping problem, one aspect of the present invention involves coupling a self-sealing dispensing valve to the tube 18. The self-sealing dispensing valve may be any suitable self-sealing dispensing valve, but in a particular embodiment is a valve such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,236, issued on May 25, 1993 to Brown et al., and entitled “DISPENSING VALVE FOR PACKAGING.” That patent is herein incorporated, in its entirety, by reference. Such a self-sealing dispensing valve allows liquid to be dispensed during pumping operations without restricting flow, because it has a relatively low opening pressure and negligible pressure drop across the valve. And, once pumping ceases, the self-sealing dispensing valve automatically seals, thus providing a relatively sharp cut-off and preventing leaking and dripping, both while the package 12 and tube 18 are installed in the dispenser and while they are being removed and loaded into the dispenser, without the need for any action by the user. The self-sealing dispensing valve may be formed from a resiliently flexible material, and in particular may be formed from a silicone rubber that is substantially inert. For illustration only, and without limitation, in one example the tube inside diameter is about 10 millimeters, and the self-sealing dispensing valve should be able to seal against an internal pressure of about 75 pounds per square inch in a 2.5 gallon flexible bag of liquid. Particular approaches, without limitation, for coupling the self-sealing dispensing valve to tube 18 are provided in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/085,370, filed Mar. 21, 2005, and entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PUMPING AND DISPENSING,” which, as mentioned above, is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Although it is preferable to include the self-sealing dispensing valve, it may be omitted. In such case, the fitment 74 may be used to couple the tube 18 to the mixer 14, or the tube 18 may be coupled to the mixer 14 in any other suitable approach. For example, and without limitation, the tube 18 may be stretched over inlet 52, which may be sized to accommodate such coupling.
Although the dispenser 10 shown in
The package 12 may be located within the dispenser 10, as shown in
The pump 16 may be a peristaltic pump such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/085,370, filed Mar. 21, 2005, and entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PUMPING AND DISPENSING,” which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Furthermore, provision may be made for dispensing additional flavorings, such as, without limitation, cherry or vanilla. Such flavors are often referred to as “bonus flavors,” and, without limitation, may be coupled directly to the mixer 14, for example through an additional inlet, or may be discharged into the receptacle in parallel with the discharge 54 of mixer 14.
Within this description, coupling includes both direct coupling of elements, and coupling indirectly through intermediate elements.
The particular embodiments and descriptions provided herein are illustrative examples only, and features and advantages of each example may be interchanged with, or added to the features and advantages in the other embodiments and examples herein. Moreover, as examples, they are meant to be without limitation as to other possible embodiments, are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention to any particular described detail, and the scope of the invention is meant to be broader than any example. Also, the present invention has several aspects, as described above, and they may stand alone, or be combined with some or all of the other aspects.
And, in general, although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, alterations, substitutions, additions and modifications can be made without departing from the intended scope of the invention, as defined in the following claims.
