AU597728B2

AU597728B2 - Apparatus for making and dispensing cold carbonated water

Info

Publication number: AU597728B2
Application number: AU79011/87A
Authority: AU
Inventors: William J. Black
Original assignee: Cornelius Co
Current assignee: Cornelius Co
Priority date: 1986-09-29
Filing date: 1987-09-28
Publication date: 1990-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 2007-09-28
Also published as: IT8722065A0; DE3732605A1; AU7901187A; IT1222764B; BR8704986A; GB8722162D0; NZ221902A; GB2198219A; GB2198219B

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act COMPLETE SPECIFICATION

(ORIGINAL)

~a Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority Related Art: sftioa49.&Md ua~der ladW- md 'Od ia OOmeC printb 1 1 4 t I* APPLICANT'S REFERENCE: 70429/AU Name(s) of Applicant(s): The Cornelius Company Address(es) of Applicant(s): One Cornelius Place, Highway 10 West, Anoka, Minnesota, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Address for Service is: PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys 367 Collins Street Melbourne 3000 AUSTRALIA Complete Specification for the invention entitled: MT-It APPARATUS FOR MAKING AND DISPENSING COLD CARBONATED WATER Our Ref 68837 POF Code: 1413/75459 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to applicant(s): 6003q/1 1 Li; Io APPARATUS FOR MAKING AND DISPENSING COLD CARBONATED WATER Thi-s invention pertains to f methe an apparatus for cooling and dispensing carbonated water utilizing first and second coolers supplied by a common refrigerant source; a first precooler of very high efficiency cools the water to about 45 'F (7 °C) and an ice bank final cooler cools the water to as close to freezing as is possible with great accuracy.

Prior and existing carbonated beverage coolers of high capacity have been devised. They typically have a relatively large compressor and a single evaporator. Some have plural compressors and evaporators.

One type of evaporator system puts the evaporator in direct contact with the water. This is S the most efficient of all cooling systems, but this system has suffered from failures due to freeze ups or else the dispensed water has been too warm. The crux of the problem with this type of cooling system is that it cannot be accurately controlled and as the water temperature approaches freezing and the unit eventually freezes up, and becomes plugged with ice or it bursts. In order to avoid these failures, users have set the water temperature higher and the device then dispenses warm drinks which are not acceptable to the soft drink entities or the consuming public. This S type of device was fairly popular in the 1940's and 1 9 50's, but has not seen significant use since then because of its history of failure and problems.

Ice bank refrigeration systems are now common and the most frequently used cooling systems in the cooling and dispensing of carbonated water and soft

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2 drinks. A typical ice bank beverage cooler is disclosed in R T Cornelius' US Patent 3,056,273. This type of cooler is very accurate and repetitive and it will cool a beverage to very close to freezing (32 °F or 0 reliably and without freeze up. However, the system sacrifices thermal efficiency and its dispensing capacity is limited by the amount of ice it has. This type of unit builds up its ice bank, and uses the inventory of ice to cool beverage. As the ice thickness on the evaporator builds up, the output of the refrigeration system decreases. The response of the refrigeration system to dispensing is slow and there's a considerable time lag before the compressor responds to dispensing and consumption of the ice bank.

Multiple compressor systems are well know and are typically used in semi-frozen drink dispensers.

o.O. An example is R T Cornelius' US Patent 3,608,779.

o Here, one compressor provides a discrete refrigerant supply for a precooler and a second compressor does the finish cooling of the semi-frozen product. The beverage is cooled well below freezing so there are few problems of control accuracy and/or repeatability.

9 Split evaporator systems are well known in 'Z%5 juice dispensers and a representative system is shown in J R McMillin's US Patent 3,898,861. In this type of system, the refrigerant from a single compressor is ,t divided between a juice reservoir and diluent water a. cooler. Each divided half of the split system tries to do the entire cooling of its constituent; ie concentrate or water, in one step. All of these systems suffer from occasional failure, be it freeze ups or concentrate spoilage.

iii -3- The type of water refrigeration presently being used by the large retailers of beverages, specifically the fast food stores, is a very large, bulky and expensive ice bank unit that may freeze several hundred pounds of ice in its ice bank. These devices take an inordinate amount of volume within the store. The size of these devices approaches the size of a sub-compact car.

There is a great need for a physically smaller, higher capacity beverage cooler that weighs less, costs less, and is more efficient and which uses less electricity per unit of produced cold beverage.

By the present invention there is provided apparatus for dispensing cooled carbonated water or a beverage containing cooled carbonated water including: a refrigeration system to supply a source of refrigerant to two heat exchanges in parallel, the two t S heat exchangers comprising: i r i) a precooling heat exchanger, and ii) an ice bank heat exchanger; a water conduit directing water from a source to one or more dispense valves via, in sequence, first the said precooling heat exchanger and then a second heat exchanger immersed in water in thermal contact with the ice bank formed by said ice bank heat exchanger, and a carbonator for said water located in said water conduit to the heat exchanger which is immersed in water in thermal contact with the ice bank.

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4 final cooler, both o wich ar-refrigat I from a common source.

By the present invention there is provi a post mix beverage apparatus including a) a refrigeration system to ply a source of condensed refrigera to two heat exchangers in para el, the two heat exchangers com sing i) a prec ling heat exchanger, and ii) an ce bank heat exchanger b) a w er conduit directing water from a ource to one or more dispense valves via, in sequence, first the precooler heat exchnager and then a heat exchanger immersed in water in thermal contact with **the ice bank.-- A method of making and dispensing cold carbonated water has the steps of providing a supply 0 B e of water, providing a single supply of condensed 0 0 refrigerant gas, discretely precooling the water in a first heat exchanger, routing a first portion of refrigerant over the first heat exchanger, transferring the precooled water to a discrete second heat exchanger of the ice bank type, discretely first '2,5 cooling the water in the ice bank exchanger, routing a second portion of refrigerant through the ice bank, carbonating the water, dispensing the water after the final cooling, discretely controlling the refrigerant portions, and condensing refrigerant if needed by either heat exchanger.

A method of cooling and providing cold water at a temperature just above freezing has the steps of providing a warm water supply, providing a single source of condensed refrigerant, discretely precooling TSV V

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the water to the range of 35°-50 °F (1-10 discretely routing a portion of the refrigerant into a first exchanger for the precooling, transferring precooled water to a discrete second heat exchanger, discretely routing a second portion of refrigerant to the second heat exchanger which is of the ice bank type, discretely final cooling the beverage down to just above freezing, and thereby providing cold water at just above freezing.

Apparatus for making and dispensing cold carbonated water, has a refrigeration high side, a water conduit, first discrete cooling structure for precooling the water, second discrete cooling structure of the ice bank type and downstream of the 'I first structure for final cooling of the water, a 0 carbonator, first refrigerant discharge branch with discrete supply and control valves to the first cooler structure, a second refrigerant discharge branch with *0 o discrete supply and control valves to the second cooler structure, and a control for starting and running the compressor when either cooling structure needs refrigerant.

°C Apparatus for cooling and dispensing cold water at a temperature just above freezing has a refrigerant high side, a water conduit, a discrete precooler, a discrete final cooler of the ice bank type, a first refrigerant discharge branch with discrete supply and control valves to the precooler, a second refrigerant discharge branch with discrete supply and control valves to the final cooler, discrete controls for the precooler and the final cooler, and a control to run the compressor if in the precooler or the final cooler needs refrigerant.

6 Many other advantages, features and additional objects of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and accompanying drawings in which the preferred embodiments incorporating the principles of the present invention are set forth and shown by way of illustrative examples of which FIGURE 1 is a schematic drawing of the water cooling and refrigeration system of the one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGURE 2 is a schematic drawing of a second embodiment of the invention.

According to the principles of the present invention, an apparatus for cooling and dispensing carbonated water is schematically shown in the drawing and is generally indicated by the numeral 10. The cooling apparatus has a refrigeration high side 12, a discrete first cooler which is hereafter referred to 110 as the precooler 14, a discrete second cooler which is hereafter referred to as the final cooler 16, and a water conduit 18 extending through the coolers 14, 16.

1 The refrigeration high side 12 is a conventional electromechanical refrigeration chassis with a compressor 20, a condenser coil 22, a condenser fan 24, a suction line 26, and a discharge line 28.

The high side 12 may be alongside the coolers 14, 16 in a singe structure, or the high side 12 may be a remote unit of the rooftop or behind the building types.

The water conduit 18 has an inlet end adapted to be connected to a bulk supply of water, such as a municipal supply or private well, and to a water pressure booster pump 32. The water conduit 18 ~1-I connectible to a dispensing valve 36. The water conduit 18 extends firstly through an elongate length of heat exchanger tube 38 in the precooler 14, and S 5 then through a final cool coil 40 in the final cooler 16. The water conduit 18 preferably extends through a carbonator 42 which is preferably upstream of the final cooler 16 and downstream of the precooler 14, or in between the coolers 14, 16.

The precooler 14 is of a high capacity, high efficiency type wherein the refrigerant gas is directly exposed to and placed in direct physical 4I contact with the heat exchanger tube 38 of the water conduit 18. The precooler 14 has a tube-in-tube heat I 113 exchanger 44 wherein an elongate outer refrigerant j tube 46 surrounds the water heat exchanger tube 38 and provides an elongate annular space 48 for precool refrigerant along the length of the heat exchange tube 38. A first refrigerant discharge branch 50 extends t'0 from a receiver 52 in the discharge line 28. The first branch 50 has a normally closed (NC) solenoid Soperated refrigerant supply valve 54, and a first thermal expansion refrigerant control valve 56 downstream of the supply valve 54. The heat exchanger S 25 44 has a T-shaped precooler water inlet 58 as is shown and a thermal transducer well in the precooler water inlet 58. The transducer 60 extends into the water heat exchanger tube 38 and within the refrigerant tube 46. The transducer 60 is operatively connected to open and close the first refrigerant supply valve 54.

A suction line temperature transducer 62 is on a discrete suction refrigerant outlet 64 from the precooler 14. The suction transducer 62 is operatively connected to open and close the refrigerant expansion valve 56 in response to the temperature of the refrigerant outlet 64.

A second discrete refrigerant branch 66 is connected to the discharge line 28 in parallel with the first branch 50. The second branch 66 connects j the discharge line 28 to an evaporator coil 68 for freezing an ice bank 70 in the final cooler 16, which is an ice bank type cooler having a reservoir 72 filled with ice water which is circulated by an agitator motor 74. The second brandch 66 has a discrete second normally closed (NC) refrigerant supply valve 76 and a thermostatic expansion refrigerant control valve 78 downstream of the supply valve 76. An ice bank control 80 in the final cooler 16 determines if the ice bank 70 is of sufficient size i or is too small. The ice bank control 80 is operatively connected to open and close the second Sbranch refrigerant supply valve 76 in response to the size of the ice bank 70. A temperature transducer 82 is on a discrete refrigerant outlet 84 from the ice bank coil 68. The transducer 82 is operatively connected to selectively open or close the second refrigerant control valve 78 in response to the temperature of the ice bank refrigerant outlet 84.

S 25 The carbonator 42 is supplied carbon dioxide gas at a regulated pressure for a gas bottle 86. A water level control 88 is operatively connected to turn the water pump 32 on and off to maintain a desired water level in the carbonator 32 under a propellent gas head of carbon dioxide gas in the carbonator 42.

The compressor 20 is provided with an on-off control 90 which is operatively connected to structure which will turn on the compressor 20 in response to 9 either warm water in the precooler 14 or the size of the ice bank 70 in the final cooler 16.

A first structure for turning on the compressor 20 is a vacuum switch 92 in the suction line 26. If either of the supply valves 54, 76 is opened, refrigerant will be eventually sent into the suction line 26 and the rising refrigerant pressure will cause the vacuum switch 92 to turn on the Scompressor 20. When both supply valves 54, 76 are closed, a significant low pressure will be pulled in the suction line 28 and cause the vacuum switch 92 to turn off the compressor. The vacuum switch 92 will usually be used with a remote high side 12.

A second structure for turning the compressor S 15 20 on and off is an optional control lead 94 which Ij connects the water temperature transducer and the ice h1 bank control 80 to an OR logic element 96-and thence 2 to the compressor control 90. This type of control I lead 94 will usually be used with an integral :c 20 construction of the high side 12 and coolers 14, 16 as a single unit. If either the incoming water temperature transducer 60 calls for refrigeration, or the ice bank control 68 calls for refrigeration, the compressor 20 will be turned on simultaneously with the opening of either refrigerant supply valve 54, 76.

In the use and operation of the apparatus M 4 fe ic f of the present invention, warm water to be cooled is provided via the inlet 30 to the water conduit 18. Water flowing into 3O the precooler 14 warms up the incoming water transducer 60 which in turn opens the first refrigerant supply valve 54. A first portion of condensed refrigerant from the receiver 52 flows through the open refrigerant control valve 56 and into @L 0A.0

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the refrigerant tube 46 and directly upon and over and along the water precool heat exchanger tube 38. The temperatur- of the refrigerant outlet 64 will gradually decrease and as the temperature sensed by the refrigerant outlet transducer 62 reaches a predetermined low temperature, the control valve 56 will be modulated to control the quantity of refrigerant passing through the precooler 14 as a function of the refrigerant temperature of the outlet 64. Precooled water flows out of the precooler 14 at i a nominal temperature in the range of 35-50 °F (1-10 0 The range of variation can quite easily be controlled closed, for example 40-45 OF (4.5-7.2 j- Regardless, the water temperature is sufficiently high enough above freezing so that there is absolutely no probability of a freeze-up in the precooler 14. The Smajority of the water cooling is done in the precooler 14 and the precooled water temperature is brought to a temperature that is as low as the control envelope S 20 will allow. The precooling is done with the refrigerant directly upon the water tube 38 and is of 4 the highest efficiency and highest cooling rate possible with a given compressor 20. The precooled water is transferred into the carbonator 42 at about 45 "F (7 and is carbonated at about 50 PSIG carbonation pressure which easily gives a nominal carbonation in excess of 5 volumes. The carbonated water is then further transferred while under the carbonation pressure, into the final cooling coil wherein the water is final cooled to as close to freezing or 32 "F (0 as is possible. The minor portion of the cooling is done in the final cooler 16 and again there is no possibility of freeze up because of the ice bank 70 and the ice water being used I i between the final cooler evaporator 68 and the final cooling water coil When the final cooler 16 has done a quantity of final cooling, the ice bank 70 will have been reduced in size and the ice bank control 80 will sense that the ice bank 70 is too small. The ice bank control 80 will open the refrigerant supply valve 76 and a second portion of condensed refrigerant will flow from the receiver 52 through the supply valve 76 I and the control valve 78 and through the ice bank coil 68. The transducer 82 monitors the temperature of the C final cooler refrigerant outlet 84 and modulates the control valve 78 accordingly to provide an optimal flow of refrigerant.

r 15 It has been explained that either the precooler 14 or the final cooler 16, can turn on the compressor 20. Both the precooler 14 and the final cooler 16 can also concurrently call for refrigeration and both refrigerant supply valves 54, 76 can be concurrently opened. In this circumstance the o° refrigerant control valves 56, 78 portion out the refrigerant in order to produce the greatest possible o1 cooling of water.

The carbonated water being dispensed out of i4 '2 the dispensing valve 36 is usually about 10-15 °F (5-8 colder than when it is carbonated. The carbonation pressure and therefore the propellent pressure is higher than the carbonation saturation pressure at the dispensing valve 36. This phenomena enables the apparatus 10 to very effectively be placed in a basement or lower level and to propel carbonated water to a dispensing valve 36 located at a higher elevation. The apparatus 10 is ideally suited for very high volume beverage retailers where the -i 12 dispensing valve 36 is on a warm level, the precooler 14 and final cooler 16 are in a lower level, and the high side 12 is on the roof or outside of the building.

In the second embodiment illustrated in Figure 2, like components are given like reference numerals. One of the major differences are that the carbonator 42 is located upstream of the precooler 44. This enables more consistent carbonation to be obtained compared to the arrangement shown in Figure 1 as the water inlet temperature is usually more even than the precooler outlet temperature, which very much depends on the water throughput rate. Furthermore because the water is warmer, higher CO 2 pressures are required to obtain the necessary levels of absorption, Sand this increases the pressure of carbonated water in the system to enhance propulsion of water through the system and the outlet valves.

A second major change is the location of the water transducer 60 on the outlet to the precooler rather than on the inlet. This prevents the S' refrigeration system from fast cycling on and off, -thus lengthening its life in service. It also slows down the reaction time of the precooler when water starts to flow.

A third major change is the switch 96 which is now prioritised, so that it normally sits in the position shown in the drawing. In this position va'-e S76 is open and valve 54 is closed, thus the ice bank 70 is built up under the control of the thermostat However if transducer 60 senses warm water the switch 96 is operated to cut off current to valve 76, which closes, and to electrify valve 54 which opens to 13 direct all of the refrigerant to the precooler coil 48.

Fourthly, the beverage oncentrate may be supplied from a source 100 through a cooling coil 101 in water bath 72 before being supplied to a plurality of valves 103.

This apparatus 10 and method are extremely effective. Initial testing indicates that this apparatus 10 and method will provide as much cold carbonated water as currently used units of four times the size of the apparatus 10. More specifically, this apparatus 10 and method with a 50 pound (23 kg) ice bank 70 will provide more cold carbonated water than a 91 kg currently used ice bank unit of current state of t"C 15 the art construction. The apparatus 10 and method of this invention are extremely useful in retailing environments wherein the dispensing may be done on any one or all of random draw during off times or slack business hours, heavy repetitive draw cycles during lunch, dinner and other peak business times, or continuous flow for production of gallonage of S' carbonated water.

Although other advantages may be found and realised and various modifications may be suggested by 25 those versed in the art, it should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon, all such embodiments as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

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Claims

1. Apparatus for dispensing cooled carbonated water or a beverage containing cooled carbonated water including a) a refrigeration system to supply a source of refrigerant to two heat exchangers in parallel, the two heat exchangers comprising i) a precooling heat exchanger, and ii) an ice bank heat exchanger; b) a water conduit directing water from a ,,,source to one or more dispense valves via, in sequence, first the said precooling heat exchanger and then a second heat exchanger immersed in water in thermal contact with the ice bank formed by said ice bank heat exchanger, and c) a carbonator for said water located in said water conduit prior to the entry of the water conduit to the heat exchanger S 20 which is immersed in water in thermal Itz 'contact with the ice bank.

2. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, in which the Srefrigeration system has a refrigeration high side having a single compressor, a condenser, a suction line to the compressor, and a discharge line from the condenser; the precooling heat exchanger has means for applying refrigerant in direct and high efficiency contact and thermal exchange relationship with a surface of said water conduit; the second heat exchanger provides final cooling of the water or beverage to a serving temperature; a first refrigerant discharge branch extends from the discharge line to the precooling heat exchanger, said first discharge D.r: branch having a first refrigerant valve means for normally closing said first discharge branch and for portioning refrigerant therethrough; a aecond refrigerant discharge branch extends from the discharge line to the ice bank heat exchanger, said second discharge branch having a second refrigerant valve means for normally closing said first discharge branch and for portioning refrigerant therethrough; first and second refrigerant suction branches are provided to the suction line from the precooling heat exchanger and ice bank heat exchanger respectively; and means are provided for starting and running the compressor when either the precooling heat exchanger e or the ice bank heat exchanger requests refrigerant. 15

3. Apparatus as claimed in Claims 1 or 2, o« including an electrical compressor start control connected to be responsive first to means for sensing the temperature of water in or adjacent the precooling heat exchanger, and secondly to means for sensing the o0" 20 size of the ice bank in the ice bank heat exchanger.

4. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which said precooling heat exchanger has the water t conduit inside of a tubular precool refrigerant evaporator.

5. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 4 including a thermal transducer operatively connected to the first J ,refrigerant valve means, said transducer extending into the water conduit and inside of the precool evaporator.

6. Apparatus as claimed in Claim 5, wherein said transducer is connected in parallel to said first refrigerant valve means and to said compressor starting and running means. r -16-

7. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 6 in which said first refrigerant valve means in operatively connected to a water temperature transducer within or adjacent the precooling heat exchanger, said water temperature transducer being in heat exchange relationship with the water conduit which is extending through the precooling heat exchanger, and in which said first refrigerant value means is also operatively connected to a discrete refrigerant thermal transducer on a discrete precool refrigerant outlet from the precooling heat exchanger.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2 to 7 in which the second refrigerant valve means is operatively connected to an ice bank control in or adjacent the ice bank heat exchanger, and in which the second refrigerant valve means is operatively connected to a refrigerant temperature thermal transducer in heat exchange relationship with a discrete final cooling refrigeration outlet from the ice bank heat exchanger. S9. Apparatus according to claim i, substantially as lc herein before described with reference to the accompanying Sdrawings. DATED: 7 FEBRUARY, 1990 PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK Attorneys For: THE CORNELIUS COMPANY AB