Patent Application
20170325609
The present invention relates to portable temperature controlled mug for various liquids present in the mug or in disposable cup. More particularly, the invention relates to allowing temperature of the liquid in the mug or in the disposable to be hot or cold cup when placed in the mug and to increase or decrease over wide temperature range while precisely holding at set temperature.
In past, various temperature controlled mugs have been designed and patented, but not all of them allow changing the temperature from cold to hot or hot to cold with very wide range. Other liquid temperature controlled mugs also known as coffee temperature controlled mugs have temperature settings usually on the hot side. Some of them take very long time to get to required temperature. Also battery life is limited and usually last only 2-4 hours max.
Recently there was beverage temperature control apparatus/housing introduced using thermoelectric cooler with very wide temperature range, but it comes with limitation that it cannot be carried in your palm's grip and hence not completely handy or portable just like any other portable mug. Plus the beverage container needs to be exact size as per housing to obtain maximum thermal transfer efficiency.
Certain temperature controlled mugs are designed using nano heaters which consume less power and last battery longer. But it limits from increasing the temperature of the liquid quick enough to the required temperature. Also these kinds of mugs cannot maintain temperature on cold side.
All the above mug designs or the housing design have limitation that they are not able to leave the liquid in the disposable cup and control the temperature. They either have to pour the liquid in the mug supplied or have container size exactly match to size of housing. None of the housing designed using thermoelectric coolers are size of coffee mug.
Hence a need exist where temperature of the mug can be controlled widely from cold to hot or hot to cold so the same mug can be used as cold or hot beverage server which fits in your palm's grip just like any other beverage mug. Using disposable cup directly without having to pour liquid in the mug and maintain temperature avoids washing mug everytime it is used.
The temperature controlled mug can have wired or wireless contact type battery charger as an accessory for automobile and desktop charger for remote uses like in home and offices. It also has voice activated temperature settings which helps to set, increase or decrease the temperature. Voice activated temperature can be additional feature which will help increase or decrease temperature during driving. It also has power button, up and down button with LED screen for temperature settings.
The present invention comprises of a thermoelectric cooler combined with heater element. Liquid if poured hotter than the required temperature, thermoelectric cooler (Peltier Cooler) using electricity will turn its surface cold making the hot liquid to cool down until the set temperature is reached. If cold liquid is poured, either the thermoelectric cooler or heater or both thermoelectric cooler and heater are turned ON to raise the temperature of liquid to the set temperature. This time the current through thermoelectric cooler is in reverse direction, meaning the current direction is switched to thermoelectric cooler so the surface which usually gets cold will now get hot. Heater on the other hand is used based on ambient temperature and humidity. Detachable metal vase/container inside the mug is retracted by magnets placed underneath the metal container. This way metal container can be removed for washing purposes whenever necessary. In the metal container goes the disposable cup, which when placed in metal container can maintain, raise or decrease temperature of the liquid.
Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements and in which:
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claims.
In an embodiment, the temperature controlled mug, charging accessories and functions like voice activated control and use of disposable cups are discussed herein. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the subject that the present invention may be practised without these specific details.
The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.
The present invention will now be described by referencing the appended figures representing preferred embodiments.
Mug also has OLED display (20), UP button (21), DOWN button (21A) and power button (22) for controls. Above the OLED screen is the opening for microphone 36 for voice activated controls. The mug has wireless contact with charger (Automobile Charger and Desktop charger). The charging base (23) has two circuit connection positive and negative supply (23A) and magnet (24) in center for proximity sensing. This magnet activates the circuit on the charger so the power is turned ON.
The metal container (13) inside the mug is removable was washing purposes if necessary. Three magnets (13A) placed underneath the metal container (13) confirm the alignment and helps tightly securing the base of metal container to the thermal unit. Most important, the powerful magnets are used for better thermal contact. For better thermal transfer between metal container and thermal unit, thermal pad (15A) is added on the top of the thermal unit. Refer
Block diagram shown in
Battery charger is needed to charge the onboard battery of temperature control mug and supply power to mug incase of low battery to maintain the operation.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62335470 | May 2016 | US |
