Patent Application
20140000718
The disclosure relates to indication of water temperature for chemical product dispensing applications.
Many commercial operations, such as those in the restaurant and hospitality industries, utilize cleaning, disinfecting, and/or sanitizing solutions in their daily operations. These so-called “use solutions” are often produced on-site by diluting a concentrated chemical product to produce a use solution having a desired concentration. Manual or automated chemical product dispensers may be utilized to dispense the chemical product and a diluent (e.g., water) to create a use solution.
In general, the disclosure is directed to a temperature sensitive feedback mechanism that indicates one or more temperature ranges for a diluent flowing through a conduit. The temperature sensitive feedback mechanism may be used to indicate water temperature in chemical dispensing applications.
In one example, the disclosure is directed to a system, comprising a chemical product dispenser that dispenses one or more chemical products, a heat conductive inlet conduit that delivers a diluent to the chemical product dispenser, and having a surface temperature that changes based on the temperature of the diluent flowing through the conduit, and a temperature sensitive feedback mechanism mounted on the conduit that provides visually readable feedback regarding the temperature of the diluent, the temperature sensitive feedback mechanism including one or more temperature sensitive elements that change color based on the surface temperature of the inlet conduit, wherein at least one of the one or more temperature sensitive elements is calibrated to exhibit a first predetermined color when the surface temperature of the inlet conduit is within a target temperature range.
In another example, the disclosure is directed to a method comprising providing a temperature sensitive feedback mechanism having one or more temperature sensitive color changing elements that provide visually readable feedback regarding the temperature of a diluent on a diluent conduit that provides the diluent to a chemical product dispenser, manually starting a flow of the diluent to the chemical product dispenser, viewing the visually readable feedback regarding the temperature of the diluent, if the visually readable feedback indicates that a temperature target is not satisfied manually adjusting the diluent temperature until the visually readable feedback indicates that the diluent temperature satisfies the target.
In another example, the disclosure is directed to a system, comprising a chemical product dispenser that dispenses one or more chemical products, the chemical product dispenser including a housing having a window therein, a heat conductive inlet conduit that delivers a diluent to the chemical product dispenser, and having a surface temperature that changes based on the temperature of the diluent flowing through the conduit, and a temperature sensitive feedback mechanism mounted on the inlet conduit and viewable through the window in the housing that provides visually readable feedback regarding the temperature of the diluent, the temperature sensitive feedback mechanism including one or more temperature sensitive elements that change color based on the surface temperature of the inlet conduit.
The details of one or more examples are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
The use solution container 110 may include any of a sink, bucket, pail, bottle, or other container into which a use solution is to be dispensed. Container 110 may be the end use container from which the use solution is actually used, or it may be an intermediate container into which the use solution is dispensed and subsequently transferred to one or more other containers. In other examples, container 110 may include a dish machine, clothes washing machine, or any other type of cleaning machine into which a use solution is to be dispensed.
In the event that container 110 is a cleaning machine, the cleaning machine may include a controller that governs operation of the cleaning machine. For example, the controller may be communicatively connected with a control panel, pumps, heaters, motors, valves and/or other electronically controlled elements used during operation of one or more cleaning machine cycles. The controller may include a memory that stores various programmed instructions executed by controller to manage operation of the cleaning machine.
Dispenser 108 may be a manual, automated, or semi-automated dispenser. In an example of a manual dispenser, dispenser 108 may dispense a detergent, cleaning product, disinfectant and/or sanitizer into a sink, bucket, pail, bottle, dish machine, etc. In an example of an automated dispenser, dispenser 108 may include a dispenser controller that governs operation of the dispenser 108. Dispenser controller may include a memory that stores various programmed instructions executed by dispenser controller to manage dispensation of the one or more chemical products. Dispenser controller may be communicatively connected with cleaning machine controller (if present) or otherwise connected to receive operating information from the cleaning machine so as to control addition of the one or more chemical products to the cleaning machine at appropriate times during one or more cleaning cycles. For example, dispenser 108 may dispense a detergent during a wash cycle, and may dispense a rinse agent during a rinse cycle.
In some examples, the chemical product loaded into dispenser 108 may take the form of a solid block of chemical product concentrate. The chemical product concentrate may also take the form of pellets, tablets, granules, or other shape. A chemical product concentrate may be dispensed by dissolving and/or eroding the solid chemical product concentrate with the diluent. The amount of chemical product dispensed may be controlled by, for example, application of the diluent to the chemical product concentrate for a specified period of time, by weight, by measuring the concentration of the chemical product in the resulting use solution, or by any other means for determining when the appropriate amount of chemical product has been dispensed.
In the example of a manual chemical product dispenser, an operator may initiate flow of the diluent to the dispenser 108 by turning on a faucet or valve 106. This causes diluent (e.g., water) to flow into chemical product dispenser 108 via inlet conduit 104 in the direction indicated by the arrows.
In some examples, chemical product dispensing may require that the water temperature meets a target temperature or falls within a specified range to ensure proper chemical product dilution and/or to meet governmental or regulatory requirements. In the case of automated or partially automated dispensers, the amount of chemical product dissolved/eroded at certain water temperatures may be calibrated into the dispenser. The dispenser may thus control the approximate amount of chemical product dispensed by, for example, controlling the amount of time that the diluent is applied to the chemical product concentrate.
To help ensure that the temperature of the diluent entering chemical product dispenser 108 meets a target temperature or falls within a target temperature range, temperature sensitive feedback mechanism 120, visually readable by a user, may be mounted or positioned on a heat conducting diluent conduit, such as inlet conduit 104. For example, the conduit 104 may be made from a metal or other heat conducting material suitable for delivering potable water. Heat conducting conduit 104 changes temperature with the temperature of the diluent flowing through it. In turn, the temperature sensitive feedback mechanism 120 senses the surface temperature of the conduit, and thus indirectly senses the temperature of the diluent being delivered to dispenser 108.
Temperature feedback mechanism 120 may be implemented in any number of ways. In one example, temperature sensitive feedback mechanism 120 includes one or more temperature sensitive elements. For example, the temperature sensitive elements may include temperature sensitive, color changing elements. The one or more temperature sensitive, color changing elements may be used to provide visually readable feedback to the user concerning the temperature of the diluent being delivered to the dispenser. For example, the one or more temperature sensitive, color changing elements may provide visual feedback to the user that the diluent is at a target temperature, that the diluent is within a target temperature range, that the diluent satisfies a target temperature threshold, or other visually readable feedback concerning the temperature of the diluent.
In some examples, the one or more temperature sensitive, color changing elements may include temperature sensitive Thermochromic Liquid Crystal (TLC) elements. Example TLC elements are available from LCR Hallcrest of Glenview, Illinois. The one or more temperature sensitive, color changing elements may also include, for example, leuco dyes, hyper-color metals, thermochromic inks, thermochromic papers, thermochromic polymers, or other types of temperature sensitive compounds, thermally sensitive coatings, any combination thereof, etc.
Label 120 senses and displays the temperature range of the surface to which it is adhered. Each of the one or more elements 132, 134, 136 changes color with the temperature of the surface, passing through various colors in sequence (e.g., orange, yellow, green, blue) before turning black at a higher temperature. The one or more elements 132, 134, 136 may be calibrated so that the element exhibiting a predefined color represents the temperature range of the water flowing through the conduit. In this example, the color changes are reversible and the colors will be observed in the reverse order upon cooling.
For example, element 132 may be calibrated to be “green” (or other chosen color) when the water temperature is within a range of approximately 85-114 degrees Fahrenheit; element 134 may be calibrated to be green (or other chosen color) when the water temperature is within a range of approximately 115-130 degrees Fahrenheit; and element 136 may be calibrated to be green (or other chosen color) when the water temperature is within a range of approximately 131-160 degrees Fahrenheit. It shall be understood, however, that label 120 of
Label 120 may also include one or more icons, e.g., icons 142, 144, and 146, each associated with one of the temperature sensitive elements, e.g., elements 132, 134, and 136, respectively. In this example, a water temperature in the range indicated by element 132 means that the water flowing through the conduit is too cold for accurate dispensation of the chemical product. Icon 142 (such as a snowflake or similar cold-related icon) associated with element 132 provides a further indication to the user that, when the temperature falls within the range indicated by element 132, the water is too cold. This gives visually readable feedback to the user that the water flowing through the conduit is too cold and that the user should adjust the temperature (e.g., using the faucet controls 106) until the water temperature falls within the proper range as indicated by element 134.
A water temperature in the range indicated by element 136 means that the water flowing through the conduit is too hot for effective and/or efficient dispensation of the chemical product. Icon 146 (such as a flame or similar heat-related icon) provides further indication to the user that, when the temperature falls within the range indicated by element 136, the water temperature is too hot. This gives visually readable feedback to the user that the water flowing through the conduit is too hot and that the user should adjust the temperature (e.g., using the faucet controls 106) until the water temperature falls within the proper range as indicated by element 134.
A water temperature in the range indicated by element 134 means that the water flowing through the conduit is in the proper range for relatively effective and/or efficient dispensation of the chemical product. Icon 144 (such as a smiley face or similar affirmation icon) provides further indication to the user that, when the water temperature falls within the range indicated by element 134, the water temperature is in the proper range for accurate dispensing of the chemical product(s). This gives visually readable feedback to the user that no adjustments to the water temperature are currently required.
In other examples, the relative temperature ranges may be indicated with text, (e.g., “cold”, “OK”, or “hot”); with numerical temperature indications (e.g., “85-114”, “115-130” or “131-160”); or by any other means of indicating the appropriateness of the temperature. Again, although three temperature sensitive elements are shown, label 120 may include, one, two, three, or more temperature sensitive elements, and the disclosure is not limited in this respect.
Although a specific temperature sensitive label 120 is shown in
Various examples have been described. These and other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.
