Dispensing – With recorder – register – indicator – signal or exhibitor – Totalizer for successive dispenser cycles
Patent
1996-02-07
1998-10-06
Kaufman, Joseph
Dispensing
With recorder, register, indicator, signal or exhibitor
Totalizer for successive dispenser cycles
222 40, 222 59, 222 71, B67D 522
Patent
active
058164480
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a system and device for dosing fluids, such as beverages, with a flow meter, such as an impeller flow meter, which is disposed in the dosing line with an electrically actuatable on-off valve, disposed in the dosing line downstream of the flow meter, used for dispensing or shutting off the fluid flow. An electric evaluation circuit is also used for outputting a switch-off signal (closing signal) to the on-off valve if a given flow quantity has passed through the flow meter.
Such known dosing devices have a low dosing accuracy. In particular when dosing beverages, for example when dispensing beverages at counters, higher dosing accuracies are required. Conventional flow meters, such as impeller, turbine or similar flow meters implementing rotation which are preferably used in connection with the present invention, typically have physical properties which lead to production and operation-dependent inaccuracies of the dosing. As a rule, the inaccuracies are a function of the structure of the flow meter itself, the properties of the fluid to be dosed, and the operating conditions. They can be traced back to friction, inertia, viscosity, flow control, flow rate, turbulences and the like. Errors due to fabrication tolerances of the order of magnitude of approximately .+-.5% are added to the system-dependent measuring errors.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention addresses the afore-mentioned problems by providing a dosing system and device with which higher dosing accuracies can be achieved.
The dosing system and device according to the present invention includes a sensor which senses the flow rate, e.g. given by the rotational frequency of the impeller, and transmits an electric sensor signal, corresponding to the flow rate, to the evaluation circuit and the evaluation circuit thereby supplies, to an on-off value, an electric switch-off signal (closing signal) if the sensor signal falls below a predetermined lower value or exceeds a predetermined upper value.
The dosing system and device of the present invention operates such that the on-off valve is kept open only if the flow meter operates within a given flow rate range. By defining the lower value and the upper value of this flow rate range, operation of the dosing device can take place such that an error curve will have minimal deviations from value 0. In contrast, if the flow rate falls below a given minimum value, or if it exceeds a given maximum value, the on-off valve is automatically closed. This allows closure of the on-off valve such that no fluid can be dispensed in ranges of the flow rate in which the dosing error would become too great. As a result, the operation-dependent dosing error can be significantly lowered compared to conventional dosing devices. Furthermore, the present invention also ensures that in the presence of foam, gas or air bubble formation, defect of the flow meter or the like, the dosing process is terminated since under such conditions the sensor signal representing the flow rate would fall under the given value and the on-off valve would be closed immediately to avoid the further dispensing of the fluid to be dosed. By way of example, the dosing process is cut off if the line between the flow meter and evaluation circuit is interrupted since, under this condition, a sensor signal within the given range can no longer be detected in the evaluation circuit. In the event of a power failure which could impair the accuracy of the dosing, the operation is interrupted. The use of flow meters comprising an impeller, turbine or similar element which is set into rotation by the streaming fluid is therefore of special interest within the scope of the invention because such flow meters can acquire a frequency signal to be used as a sensor signal in which the frequency is a measure of the flow rate of the fluid to be dosed. Thus, it is readily possible to determine, on the basis of the frequency, whether or not the rate has fallen below, or has exceeded, the predetermined li
REFERENCES:
patent: 3386620 (1968-06-01), Smith
patent: 4134423 (1979-01-01), Mayer
patent: 4199003 (1980-04-01), Goldsmith
patent: 4800492 (1989-01-01), Johnson et al.
patent: 5054650 (1991-10-01), Price
patent: 5086806 (1992-02-01), Engler et al.
patent: 5192000 (1993-03-01), Wandrick et al.
Patent Abstracts of Japan, vol. 9, No. 9 (P-327) 16 Jan. 1985 & JP,A,59 159 019 (Nakamura Kinzoku Kogyosho) 8 Sep. 1984, see abstract.
LandOfFree
Dosing device and system for accurate dosing of fluids does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Dosing device and system for accurate dosing of fluids, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dosing device and system for accurate dosing of fluids will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-69809