Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – With means to move supply means and/or receiver to – from or... – Relatively receding filling tube and receiver engaging means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-25
2001-05-29
Douglas, Steven O. (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
With means to move supply means and/or receiver to, from or...
Relatively receding filling tube and receiver engaging means
C141S192000, C141S002000, C141S018000, C141S356000, C222S146600
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237652
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to the automated dispensing of a carbonated beverage into open containers.
The present invention arose during ongoing efforts by the inventor to improve carbonated beverage dispensing systems. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,363 entitled “Apparatus For Dispensing A Carbonated Beverage With Minimal Foaming”, issuing on Feb. 18, 1997, and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,732 issuing on Oct. 22, 1996, both incorporated herein by reference, the inventor discloses systems for dispensing carbonated beverage, such as beer or soda, into an open container. The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,363 discloses the bottom filling of carbonated beverage into an open container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,732 discloses the use of a bar code reader to read indicia on the open container when placed beneath the nozzle that indicates the volume of the open container in order to automate the dispensing procedure, and preferably various aspects of on site accounting and inventory procedures. In these systems, the carbonated beverage is dispensed from a nozzle that has an outlet port placed near the bottom of the open container, i.e. the open container is bottom filled. In addition to bottom filling, these systems control the dispensing pressure of the carbonated beverage as well as its temperature in order to minimize foaming. In the above incorporated U.S. patents, the dispensing pressure is controlled by maintaining the pressure of the carbonated beverage to be dispensed at atmospheric pressure. In particular, the carbonated beverage is held in a vented chamber prior to dispensing in order to maintain the pressure at or near atmospheric pressure. The carbonated beverage in the vented chamber is cooled by circulating chilled air around the chamber.
As discussed in the above incorporated patents, carbonated beverage often foams while being dispensed into the serving container using conventional tap filling dispensing systems. As a consequence, personnel operating the dispenser must fill the serving container until the level of foam reaches the brim and then wait for the foam to settle before adding additional carbonated beverage. In some instances, several iterations of this process must occur before the container is filled with liquid to the proper serving level. “Topping Off” necessitated by the foaming of the beverage prolongs the dispensing operation and impedes the ability to ftilly automate the dispensing of carbonated beverages. Nevertheless, many establishments have push button activated taps which automatically dispense measured quantities of carbonated beverage into different sized containers, such as glasses, mugs and pitchers. Normally, this automated equipment only partially fills the serving container and the user must still manually “top off” the container after the foam from the automated step settles in order to dispense the proper serving quantity.
The system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,363, which uses a vented chamber prior to dispensing the carbonated beverage in order to maintain the pressure in the chamber at or near atmospheric pressure, is particularly well-suited for large volume operations, such as sports arenas, stadiums or other such venues. However, in venues with lower serving volumes, carbonated beverage remaining in the vented chamber may lose some carbonation or become flat.
Also, in many applications, it is desirable to control the amount of foaming rather than simply minimize the amount of foaming. For example, when pouring beer, the presentation of the beer and the head in the open container affects the drinkability of the beer along with its serving temperature. This is also generally true of carbonated sort drinks.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is a pressurized carbonated beverage dispensing system that dispenses carbonated beverage automatically in a controlled manner into an open container. The invention preferably controls the characteristics of the dispensing carbonated beverage in order to achieve or nearly achieve a desired presentation without wasting carbonated beverage.
More specifically, the invention is a system and method for dispensing carbonated beverage through a bottom filling nozzle into an open container. The carbonated beverage remains pressurized until immediately before the valve is opened and the carbonated beverage dispenses from the nozzle into the open container. In many applications, it has been found that it is desirable to maintain the carbonated beverage at a pressure substantially higher than atmospheric pressure prior to dispensing the carbonated beverage so that the beverage does not lose carbonation before serving. In other words, the carbonated beverage should be held in the system at an optimum pressure for maintaining carbonation over long periods of time. It is desirable to control the temperature of the pressurized carbonated beverage, and it is important to reduce the pressure of the carbonated beverage within the dispensing nozzle prior to dispensing the carbonated beverage from the nozzle into the open container. Once the pressure of the carbonated beverage is reduced to the optimum dispensing pressure, the dispensing valve in the nozzle is opened for a predetermined time period in order to fill the open container with the desired amount of carbonated beverage. The system preferably uses a pressure sensor to monitor the pressure of the carbonated beverage before (and during) dispensing.
Several alternatives are disclosed for reducing the pressure of the carbonated beverage contained in the nozzle prior to opening the valve. For example, inasmuch as the carbonated beverage is generally an incompressible beverage, an electronically controlled bladder, or similar mechanism, can be actuated to slightly expand the size of the volume containing the pressurized carbonated beverage in the nozzle in order to reduce the pressure in the nozzle immediately prior to opening the valve to dispense the carbonated beverage into the open container. It may be desirable to provide a flow restriction device between the source of the pressurized carbonated beverage and the nozzle in order to ensure that pressure within the nozzle does not recover before the open container is filled and the valve is closed. In some systems, it might be desirable to provide a small vent to the atmosphere in order to facilitate pressure reduction in the nozzle when the valve is open.
Normally, the pressure of the carbonated beverage in the nozzle should be able to recover to the initial pressure (which is substantially higher than atmospheric pressure) before initiating a dispensing cycle for filling a subsequent open container, although this is not necessary when the pressure is monitored by a pressure sensor. With precise knowledge of the dispensing pressure, the system accurately determines the amount of carbonated beverage dispensing into the open container by opening the valve for a pre-selected period of time.
As should be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is capable of efficiently dispensing carbonated beverage at a desired temperature with a desired presentation in an automated manner. In addition, the invention maintains the carbonated beverage in a pressurized state until immediately prior to dispensing the carbonated beverage, which is desirable in order to control the amount of carbonation within the beverage prior to dispensing the beverage.
The presentation of the dispensed beverage can be uniquely controlled, as described above, by controlling the temperature of the carbonated beverage, the dispensing pressure, the flow characteristics (e.g., flow rate, valve flutter, etc.) of the carbonated beverage exiting the nozzle, and the relative position of the open container relative to the nozzle outlet port when filling the open container. In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is possible to automate each of these functions. Other features and advantages of the invention should be apparent to those skilled in the art upon inspecting the drawings and reviewing the f
Dispensing Systems, Inc.
Douglas Steven O.
Haas George E.
Quarles & Brady
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