CN112105879B

CN112105879B - Humidification and dehumidification process and apparatus for cooling beverages and other food products and manufacturing process

Info

Publication number: CN112105879B
Application number: CN201880092764.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: M·M·安东尼
Original assignee: M MAndongni
Current assignee: M MAndongni
Priority date: 2018-03-02
Filing date: 2018-03-02
Publication date: 2022-06-14
Anticipated expiration: 2038-03-02
Also published as: PH12020551365A1; EP3759409A1; IL277080A; SA520420055B1; KR20210005849A; ZA202005487B; CN112105879A; IL277080B1; CO2020012409A2; BR112020017698A2; KR102493522B1; RU2763797C1; MX2020009094A; CA3092626A1; JP2021519913A; AU2018410828B2; JP7360402B2; AU2018410828A1; IL277080B2; WO2019168492A1

Abstract

A novel self-cooling food product container apparatus (10) and process for making the same is disclosed. A self-cooling food product container (20) that incorporates a physical vapor delivery system to create a humidified cooling process for cooling a food product and a beverage product P. Methods of assembling and operating the apparatus (10) are also provided.

Description

Humidification and dehumidification process and apparatus for cooling beverages and other food products and manufacturing process

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of cooling food product containers and cooling beverage food product containers, and to processes for making such food product containers. More particularly, the present invention relates to food product containers and beverage food product containers for cooling food products (such as beverages); a method of cooling the food product; and methods of assembling and operating the apparatus. The terms "beverage," "food product," and "food product container contents" are considered equivalent for the purposes of this application and may be used interchangeably. The term "food product container" refers to any sealed and openable storage of food products for consumption.

Background

There have previously been a number of self-cooling beverage food product container devices for cooling the contents of a beverage or other food beverage food product container. These devices sometimes use flexible and deformable reservoirs or rigid reservoir sides to store the refrigerant for phase change cooling. Some prior art devices use desiccants and a vacuum that is activated to evaporate water at low pressure and absorb vapor into the desiccant. Other prior art devices use liquid refrigerant stored between pressure vessels to effect cooling by changing the refrigerant phase from a liquid to a gaseous state. The inventors of the present invention have invented various such devices and methods of making such devices. Several existing self-cooling food product container technologies rely on the evaporation of a refrigerant from a liquid phase to a vapor phase. Some rely solely on desiccants. Desiccant technology relies on the thermodynamic potential of the desiccant to absorb water from the vapor phase into the desiccant, thereby effecting evaporation of the water in a vacuum. These earlier inventions did not meet all of the needs of the beverage industry and these inventions did not use electrically powered heat transfer devices to cool the beverage. In fact, these inventions differ in structure so much from the present invention that one skilled in the art would not be able to transcend the present invention from the prior art without the inventive process. In seeking a cost-effective and functional apparatus for self-cooling beverage food product containers, the present inventors have conducted various experiments to arrive at the new method of the present invention. The following problems make cost-effective commercialization of all prior art devices prohibitive.

The prior art of using liquefied refrigerants fails to address practical problems in manufacturing and beverage plant operations that are critical to the success of self-cooling food product container programs. Some such prior art designs require a pressurized food product container to store liquid cryogen. The only liquid refrigerants that can be stored between commercially viable pressure tanks are HFCS, CFCS, hydrocarbons, ethers and other highly flammable low pressure gases. These gases are not commercially viable and lead to difficulties in implementing these techniques. Most commercial refrigerants deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming, and thus have been banned by the U.S. EPA and other regulatory agencies from direct discharge into the atmosphere of products that are self-cooling food product containers. EPA regulation, except co₂Furthermore, no refrigerant must be used in a self-cooling food product container and the design must be safe if used. Currently available refrigerants contribute to global warming and ozone depletion. Typically, these refrigerants are common refrigerants such as 134a and 152 a. In some cases, attempts have been made to use flammable gases such as butane and propane, but for a number of reasons the risk factor is high. First, the use of this technology in closed rooms can cause a variety of effects, including choking, poisoning, and the like. Second, the flammability of some refrigerants limits the number of food product containers that can be opened in a closed environment (e.g., during a party or in a vehicle). The inventors of the present invention have several patents on these prior art techniques, several of which have been tested and found that they are not suitable for commercial viability. In addition, the cost of the refrigerant is very high, cooling The cost cannot justify the use of refrigerant gas.

Examples of inventions using pressurized gas can be found in the following U.S. patents: 2,460,765, 3,494,143, 3,088,680, 4,319,464, 3,241,731, 8,033,132, 4,319,464, 3,852,975, 4,669,273, 3,494,141, 3,520,148, 3,636,726, 3,759,060, 3,597,937, 4,584,848, 3,417,573, 3,468,452, 654,174, 1,971,364, 5,655,384, 5,063,754, 3,919,856, 4,640,102, 3,881,321, 4,656,838, 3,862,548, 4,679,407, 4,688,395, 3,842,617, 3,803,867, 6,170,283, 5,704,222, and so on.

Using co₂The prior art of iso-low temperature refrigerants fails to address the practical problems of manufacturing and beverage plant operation that are critical to the success of self-cooling food product container programs. All of these prior art designs require very high pressure food product containers to store the cryogenic refrigerant. Some promise to use co₂Have implemented carbon traps (e.g., activated carbon and fullerene nanotubes) that store refrigerant in a carbon matrix. These added desiccant and activated carbon storage systems are too expensive for commercial implementation and the reduced pressure carbon and other absorption media can contaminate the beverage product. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the amount of such chemicals required. Low temperature self-cooling food product containers require the use of very high pressure containers with low temperature gases such as CO ₂Expensive food product containers made of high pressure materials (aluminum, steel or fiberglass) are required. They are inherently dangerous because the pressures involved are typically about 600psi or higher. Moreover, they are complex because the pressures involved are much higher than can be tolerated by conventional food product containers; examples of such prior art include the devices disclosed in U.S. patent No. 5,331,817, U.S. patent No. 5,394,703 issued to the present inventors, U.S. patent No. 5,131,239, U.S. patent No. 5,201,183, and U.S. patent No. 4,993,236.

Self-cooling desiccant-based food product containers require that the desiccant be stored between pre-made vacuums. When the vacuum between the two compartments is released, water vapour is drawn into the vacuum and then absorbed by the desiccant, and the heat of evaporation is carried away from the item being cooled and transferred to the desiccant for condensation. The heat removed by the evaporating water heats the desiccant and must not interact with the beverage, which would otherwise heat the beverage again. It is difficult to maintain a true vacuum in the desiccant chamber and the reservoir. Furthermore, the valves and actuating devices used in the prior art require rigid pins, knives, etc. The vacuum must be preserved for long periods of time and sometimes fails. The migration of moisture into the desiccant disrupts the cooling capacity. Furthermore, handling desiccant crystals and powders in a manner designed by the prior art is extremely difficult in a mass production environment where the desiccant must remain moisture free and contamination free within the pressurized beverage food product container. Therefore, better techniques are needed to handle these desiccants separately from the food product container. Furthermore, the endothermic potential of the desiccant decreases as the vacuum is released and evaporation begins, so this process is inherently inefficient and is limited by the amount of desiccant used.

Problems with vacuum, including difficulties in creating and maintaining the vacuum and inefficiencies in vacuum generation, have also been encountered in other areas. An early example can be found in the evolution of tomas a. edison bulbs. His first practical incandescent lamp included a carbonized bamboo filament contained within a vacuum glass bulb, for which he was patented in 1879. Although it can be said that such carbonized bamboo filaments push the world to a new age, their initial efficiency is very low. Then in 1904, europe invented tungsten instead of carbonized bamboo filaments, and in 1913, it was found that replacing the vacuum inside the bulb with an inert dry gas doubled its luminous efficiency. Although the technology in this area differs from current technology and the technical problems presented are quite different, this may be an example of the profound nature of replacing vacuum with dry gas to improve product efficiency.

Collectively, these prior art techniques are not cost-effective techniques, and they rely on very large and complex can designs associated with beverage food product containers that contain them. In fact, the desiccant to water ratio is about 3:1, and the volume loss ratio in such beverage food product containers is about 40%. Despite the recent 20 years of testing, the cost of the desiccant or adsorbent, the cost of the food product container, and the cost of the manufacturing process are prohibitive. Therefore, it would be advantageous to reduce the amount of these ingredients needed and to reconfigure the manufacturing process to separate the interior of the food product container from these chemicals.

Examples of devices using this technology can be found in the following U.S. patents: no. 4, No. 6, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5, No. 035, No. 230, No. 6, No. 902, No. 6, No. 3, No. 6, No. 2, No. 902, No. 4, No. 1, No. 6, No. 1, No. 5, No. 035, No. 230, No. 6, No. 1, No. 2, No. 1, No. 6, No. 2, No. 6, No. 1, No. 2, No. 1. U.S. patent No. 5,983,662 uses a sponge instead of a desiccant to cool the beverage.

The prior art also discloses chemically endothermic self-cooling food product containers. These containers rely on the use of a fixed stoichiometric reaction of chemicals to absorb heat from the food product container contents. U.S. patent nos. 3,970,068, 2,300,793, 2,620,788, 4,773,389, 3,561,424, 3,950,158, 3,887,346, 3,874,504, 4,753,085, 4,528,218, 5,626,022, 6,103,280 and many others cool beverage and food product containers using endothermic reactions to remove heat from the water.

Existing endothermic self-cooling food product containers rely on a stoichiometric mixture of a fixed amount of chemical to achieve a fixed amount of cooling. After the cooling process, the thermodynamic transport mechanism and cooling potential are exhausted and no further cooling can take place. In addition, the reaction products remain corrosive and acidic components in the form of bases and acids which can be harmful. For example, U.S. patent application publication No. US 2015/0354885AL shows a system for externally cooling a beverage containing a specific quantity of beverage. The system includes a cooling housing having an inner wall and an outer wall, the inner wall being made of a thermally conductive material that contacts at least a portion of a beverage holder, the cooling housing defining an interior compartment containing at least two separate, substantially non-toxic reactants that, when reacted with each other, cause an irreversible, entropy-increasing reaction that produces a substantially non-toxic product having a stoichiometry at least 3 times greater than the stoichiometry of the reactants, the at least two separate, substantially non-toxic reactants initially contained in the interior compartment, being separated from each other, and, when reacted with each other in the irreversible entropy-increasing reaction, causing a reduction in heat of the beverage within the beverage holder. Although the recovery system is not used to conserve the reactant stoichiometry, the system is of the same type disclosed in all prior art using a fixed cooling potential based on a fixed reactant stoichiometry. Further cooling using the electrically powered heat transport device is not disclosed.

The present invention differs from all mentioned prior art and provides a new type of cost-effective and thermodynamically simple and feasible heat transfer device for cooling beverages in food product containers by renewing the cooling potential of a fixed amount of reactants using electrokinetic regeneration of a drying gas. Numerous experiments and designs have been performed to obtain the current configuration of the disclosed invention.

Generally related U.S. patents that teach reaction cooling include: U.S. patent No. 4,319,464 to Dodd at 3 months 1982; U.S. patent No. 4,350,267 to nelson et al, 9 months 1982; U.S. patent No. 4,669,273 to Fischer et al, month 6, 1987; U.S. patent No. 4,802,343 to Rudick et al, 2 months 1989; U.S. patent No. 5,44,7039 to Allison at 9 months 1995; U.S. patent No. 5,845,501 to Stonehouse et al, month 12 1998; U.S. patent No. 6,065,300 to anthony 5 months 2000; U.S. patent No. 6,102,108 to silllince, 8.2000; U.S. patent No. 6,105,384 to joseph at 8 months 2000; U.S. patent No. 6,341,491 to Paine et al, 2002, month 1; U.S. patent No. 6,817,202 issued in month 11 of 2004; and U.S. patent No. 7,107,783 (anthony).

1.0Disadvantages of the prior art using an endothermic cooling system

a) The potential for solvation and subsequent cooling of the endothermic cooling system of the prior art is limited, since the solvation energy of the ionizable compound used is generally dependent on the temperature of the solvent (e.g. water). Water acts as a wetting liquid to ionize the chemical species and the ions recover the solvation energy, which becomes energetically inefficient as the solvent cools, making the extraction process exponentially slower, and therefore, these techniques do not take full advantage of the potential of available solvation energy. For example, to cool a 16oz beverage at 30 ° f, at least 127g of potassium chloride needs to be dissolved in about 380g of water. This is not feasible in self-cooling food product container technology which relies solely on this process. The present invention overcomes this drawback by means of an extremely dry gas. A dry gas with a dew point of 10 f to-150 f can readily absorb vapor from a liquid cooled to freezing. The drying gas only increases the dew point temperature, and the actual temperature measurement temperature of the drying gas is kept unchanged.

b) In addition, for cooling, the storage solute used for endothermic cooling in a solvent (such as water) requires a stoichiometric molar ratio to water. In all of the prior art, a fixed amount of cooling is achieved by irreversibly combining a fixed amount of water with a fixed amount of ionizable compounds (e.g., chlorides and nitrates). The solvated products of the endothermic reactants can produce acidic solutions and basic products such as hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, which are obtained by ionic dissolution of potassium chloride in water. This drawback is solved by a drying gas as a medium that forces the water to move from the cold solution to the vapour state, to dry the chemical compound and to offset the stoichiometric ratio of water to compound used and to renew in a reversible way the entropy-increasing reaction in the compartment formed by the inner sleeve member having protrusions that can be cooled again by requiring more water to dissolve. The protrusion allows one side of the inner sleeve member to receive the humidified liquid while the other side of the inner sleeve member acts as a dry gas evaporator. The drying gas carries away the heat of conversion of these solutes from solution. This has the advantage of regenerating ionizable compounds that can be reversibly reionized to undergo endothermic reactions by desalination and salting out processes that can only be performed with the dry gas acting as an intermediate transport means for evaporation.

c) Furthermore, the prior art requires the use of impermeable metals for the desiccant and the water chamber due to the need to maintain a true vacuum for long periods of time. In the present invention, even though aluminium may be used in the construction of the apparatus according to the invention, the part of the apparatus surrounding the food product is preferably made of a heat-shrinkable plastic material, such as injection stretch blow moulded polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and shrinkable polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which are inexpensive materials to interact with standard aluminium or steel food product containers. The implementation of such materials allows them to perform a mechanical function when subjected to the heat of vaporization and in fact to take advantage of this heat for mechanical work by increasing the volume of the dry gas chamber to create therein a rarefaction of a fixed volume of dry gas by virtue of the heat-shrinkable physical properties of the material.

d) Furthermore, the food product container itself is not modified in any frangible manner, and therefore the manufacturing process of the food product container is not affected by the method used to manufacture the apparatus of the present invention.

The present invention thus bypasses the stoichiometric limitations of the conventional methods of cooling products by endothermic reactions, and also bypasses the need for a true vacuum and other drawbacks, directly into the nature of the electrically powered steam and heat transfer devices that use a dry gas with a dew point temperature of 10 f to-150 f at low vapor pressure conditions, and the nature of the materials used to function in a beneficial manner.

2.0Shortcomings of the prior art using desiccant/vacuum cooling systems

a) Existing desiccant technology requires the storage of a permanent true vacuum in order to evaporate the water and effect cooling at low pressure. The present invention bypasses the step of storing a vacuum during the desiccant process and only uses the physical properties of the materials used in the present invention to create a thinning of the drying gas when needed. The drying gas starts the evaporation process and the evaporation process is enhanced by the thinning of the drying gas. In most cases, the material used to make the present invention is preferably made from a combination of heat-shrinkable plastic materials, such as injection stretch blow-molded heat-shrinkable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and heat-shrinkable polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which are inexpensive materials to interact with standard aluminum or steel food product containers. The implementation of such heat-shrinkable materials allows them to perform a mechanical function when subjected to the heat of vaporization and, in fact, to exploit this heat for mechanical work by expanding the volume of the dry gas chamber to produce rarefaction of the dry gas by exploiting the heat-shrinkable physical properties of the material. While aluminum can be used in many parts of its structure, the special feature for dry gas thinning requires such heat shrinkable plastic materials.

b) In addition, the prior art desiccant process creates a 100% partial pressure of evaporant (e.g., water) vapor in the cooling chamber when the vacuum is exposed to the cooling chamber. This presents a problem. The water vapor evaporated by the vacuum will reduce the vacuum and stop the process until the desiccant again begins to reduce the vapor pressure in the cooling chamber. Thus, this process is dependent on the rate at which the desiccant absorbs the vapor.

c) Furthermore, the water vapor evaporated by the vacuum of the prior art fills the cooling chamber and is able to contact the cooling surface and condense to transfer the heat of condensation from one part of the cooling chamber to another. The minimum operating temperature of the evaporated vapor is 32 f, which is the freezing point of water. The dew point temperature of the drying gas system used in the present invention is in the range of 10 f to-150 f, which is below the freezing point of water, so that evaporation of water vapor into the drying gas is not hindered by cooling and freezing. The drying gas dew point temperature rises due to evaporation, but does not heat the cooling chamber.

d) Furthermore, during the adsorption reaction, the heat of adsorption may heat the adsorbent material and the adsorbability of water is significantly reduced. As the drying gas heats up by carrying heat away from the vapour absorbent to lower its dew point temperature, it becomes more hygroscopic.

In the present invention, some embodiments of the present invention use plastic heat shrink vapor absorber technology. The dry gas is used to absorb the humidified liquid vapour from a compartment made of an inner sleeve member which may be at an ice cold temperature whilst reducing the dew point temperature of the dry gas (rather than its temperature). Unlike conventional desiccant systems of the prior art, such humidified liquid vapor is not easily condensed by the cooled surface. The humidified liquid vapour is maintained by the low vapour pressure of the dry gas and therefore does not condense back on the cooling surface. The plastic heat shrink vapor absorber absorbs vapor from the drying gas and eliminates the need for a true vacuum. Thus, any humidifying liquid may be used. For example, a humidified liquid such as dimethyl ether (which is a pressurized liquid) may be used, but it releases a vapour that can be immediately absorbed by the dry gas. In a sense, the dry gas acts as a locomotive vapor pressure cascade conductor that utilizes the electromotive force to transfer vapor from the liquid phase to the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber. As long as the vapor is not exposed to the cooling chamber, it is absorbed by the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber, which interacts more readily with the electrokinetic properties of the drying gas than direct vapor. For example, standard desiccants in air conditioners that use desiccant wheels take advantage of the benefits provided by dry gas to move moisture and regenerate. This is not in a vacuum And (4) completing. It is conceivable that the drying gas has interstitial van der waals forces (interfacial van de wall force) that keep the vapor in the form of tightly confined gaps more suitable for absorption by the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber. It has been shown that smaller pore size molecular sieves absorb vapor from the drying gas more readily than directly absorbing the vapor itself. This can be explained if one recognizes that the polar vapor molecules are mostly prone to electrostatic binding, forming a cascade chain towards the lower vapor pressure region, and thus exhibit the same viscous behavior as a fluid that cancels the polarity of the vapor molecules. The polarity of the wetting liquid (e.g., water) is required to drive the desiccant absorption process. This is for example considered as h in a non-polar gas₂、n₂、o₂And the like, which are double products of common gases. The drying gas prevents this polarity and therefore the electrostatics normally associated with the drying air electrostatically drives the process.

The present invention uses the heat of a plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber to activate the physical properties of the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber chamber wall, which is specifically designed to change its shape to create and create thinning by increasing the volume of the drying gas chamber storing a fixed amount of drying gas. Thus, there is no need to store a permanent vacuum, nor is there a need for a true vacuum.

Furthermore, as an additional advantage, the present invention uses a deformable simple seal comprising a sealed annular structure made of one of a suitable O-ring seal, metal band seal, rubber band seal, putty seal and sealing wax seal to cause actuation and perform the sealing function, and thus is not necessarily required even though pins, knives and other methods may still be used to introduce water vapor into the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber. There is no fear of loss of vacuum during storage. Thus, the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber and the sub-class of vapor absorbers used in the present invention do not necessarily have the best affinity for the humidification liquid vapor of the humidification liquid being used. Instead, they are optimized for delivering the humidified liquid vapor by a dry gas. Thus, while the prior art requires that the desiccant be tuned to absorb pure vapor, the present invention provides that the vapor absorber be tuned to absorb vapor in the dry gas.

Disclosure of Invention

Drying gas (e.g. substantially dry air, substantially dry CO)₂Substantially dry nitrogen and other substantially dry gases with very low dew point temperatures) can achieve extreme cooling as evidenced by weather patterns driven primarily by air humidity and the thermal energy available in the atmosphere. Not surprisingly, dry air can lead to severe ice and snow formation, which in turn leads to extreme weather patterns around the world. Therefore, lip balm for drying the lips gives a good sales in winter. From hurricanes to tornadoes to heavy snow storms and cold winter storms, nature provides an exclamatory electrically powered heat transfer device that can be mimicked to utilize humidification and dehumidification of air to help cool beverages and food products. The inventors theorize that the tremendous vacuum energy of the tornado is a result of the sudden condensation of water vapor after the dehumidification of moist dry air. The volume of water vapor is 1840 times the same weight of liquid water, so when a large cloud condenses, the volume is greatly reduced, creating a vacuum that looks like a tornado funnel cloud. No simple wind movement can produce such huge energy. Also, very dry air humidification can result in very cold temperatures, resulting in a storm. This is because the moisture is absorbed by the dry air and evaporates to remove heat from the surrounding environment, followed by saturation of the humid air, which again deposits vapour in the form of moisture in the cold environment, like snow and hail in the cold environment it creates.

The water has the optimal thermodynamic potential for cooling the food product. Water has the highest heat of vaporization and can therefore be used in conjunction with the electro-kinetic drying process and the regeneration process, which also rely on water molecules to cool the food product container. However, because of the high heat of evaporation of water, it does not readily evaporate, and therefore must be "attracted" to evaporate by appropriate means. Furthermore, when water is cooled, such as in endothermic reactions, and in desiccant evaporation systems, its evaporation becomes increasingly difficult. Thus, neither endothermic cooling nor the prior art conventional desiccant cooling systems by themselves have proven to be the most effective form of cooling food products (e.g., beverages). Combining drying gas conditioning with other cooling methods may use both basic substances, water and drying gas, to effectively increase the thermodynamic potential of cooling the food product.

The invention

The following definitions are generally used to describe some of the terms used in this disclosure to describe the invention.

By "food product container" is meant a food product container made of metal or plastic and containing a food product or beverage product for use in the present invention.

"food product" means any consumable substance, preferably a liquid beverage;

"inwardly facing" means pointing in the direction of the food product;

"outwardly facing" means pointing away from the food product;

"dew point temperature" refers to the temperature at which the vapor of the wetting liquid in the dried gas sample condenses into a wetting liquid at the same evaporation rate under constant air pressure.

For the purposes of this application, "inner sleeve member" refers to a cup-shaped container having a thin wall and made of one of plastic and metal.

For the purposes of this application, "clad sleeve member" refers to a cup-shaped container having a thin wall and made of one of plastic and metal.

For purposes of this application, "protruding" means

For the purposes of this application, "humidification liquid" refers to any liquid used to evaporate and cool itself.

"dry gas" shall mean a gas having a relatively low dew point temperature for a particular humidification liquid, which has a relatively low vapor partial pressure for the humidification liquid, which is close to vacuum less than 10 ° f for the humidification liquid dew point temperature. Thus, for a humidified liquid, the dry gas may be dry, while it is still a humid gas relative to another liquid.

For purposes of this application, "humidification liquid vapor" refers to the vapor of any humidification liquid.

For purposes of this application, "inwardly facing" refers to any structure that faces the side wall of the food product container. Thus, the inwardly facing undulations will form cells with the surface that they encircle and tangentially contact.

For purposes of this application, "outwardly facing" refers to any structure that faces away from the side wall of the food product container.

For purposes of this application, "protrusion" refers to any curvilinear and linear relief from a wall, including both inwardly and outwardly facing wall relief portions. Thus, the outward facing protrusion may form a compartment having a surface surrounding and contacting the outward facing protrusion, and the inward facing protrusion may form a compartment having a surface surrounding and contacting the inward facing protrusion.

For the purposes of this application, "heat transfer means" refers to the thermodynamics and electromotive force of heat exchange between substances;

for purposes of this application, "compartment" refers to the space defined by the protrusion and one of the food product container side wall and the cover sleeve member side wall.

For purposes of this application, "seal structure" refers to any structure that forms a seal between two walls.

For purposes of this application, "chamber" refers to a space that is sealed by one or more sealing structures.

For purposes of this application, "cup-shaped" refers to a structure shaped like a cup having a closed end and an opposite open end separated by a cylindrical wall.

For purposes of this application, "heat-shrinkable" is a material that forms a surface that is shrinkable by heat.

For the purposes of this application, "sealing portion" refers to a portion of a wall that can form a seal with another wall.

For purposes of this application, "wider" means larger in size;

for the purposes of this application, "pressure differential" refers to the pressure differential between two fluids separated by a dry gas seal, including the pressure differential due to the difference in gravitational height between the two said fluids. It is contemplated that either of these two fluids may be contained in one chamber and may have a higher pressure than the other.

For purposes of this application, "ion" refers to an atom or molecule having a non-zero net charge;

for the purposes of this application, "chemical compound" refers to any chemical compound that is capable of reacting with each other to endothermically cool and is capable of dissolving in a wetting liquid (e.g., water) to form ions from their elements or combinations of their elements and endothermically cool.

In the present application, an "inner sleeve member" refers to a thin-walled cylindrical structure, which may preferably take the form of a thin-walled cup, and may be a cylinder made of an impermeable barrier material (such as plastic and aluminum);

For the purposes of this application, "food product" means any consumable substance, preferably a liquid beverage;

"food product container" means any food product container made of metal or plastic that can store food or beverages;

for purposes of this application, "dry gas" refers to a gas that contains little or no humidification liquid, has a fairly low partial pressure of water vapor near vacuum, and has a dew point temperature below 10 ° f. Note that the dry gas itself may be liquefied;

for purposes of this application, "humid gas" refers to dry gas humidified to a water vapor pressure higher than that of the dry gas, with a dew point temperature higher than 10 ° f.

For the purposes of this application, "low vapor pressure medium" refers to any condition that results in a very rare medium (e.g., dry gas, vacuum) or a medium with a low vapor partial pressure;

for purposes of this application, a "dry gas chamber" is a functional structure that preferably contains and delivers dry gas and may hold other structures therein.

"PVC" refers to heat shrinkable polyvinyl chloride.

"PET" refers to heat shrinkable polyethylene terephthalate.

"ionizable" shall describe any compound that can be dissolved in water to form ions from its elements or combinations of its elements.

For purposes of this application, "vapor absorber" refers to any substance or combination of substances capable of absorbing a humidification liquid vapor as defined herein.

In the present application, a "plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber" refers to any substance or combination of substances capable of absorbing a humidifying liquid vapor and generating the heat of condensation of the humidifying liquid vapor to heat shrink a heat shrinkable plastic.

By "sealing wax" in this application is meant any wax that is insoluble in the wetting liquid.

By "hot wax" in this application is meant any wax having a melting point temperature at least above ambient temperature.

By "reactive chemical compound" is meant a hydrated compound that reacts with another compound to provide endothermic cooling and produce a humidified liquid by the reaction.

By "soluble chemical compound" is meant a compound that dissolves in the humidifying liquid and provides the endothermic cooling of the humidifying liquid by ionization thereof.

In this application, "upright" refers to a vertical orientation.

For orientation and clarity, it is assumed that the food product container is upright, vertically oriented, and that the bottom of the food product container is on a horizontal surface.

The present invention takes advantage of the thermodynamic potential for evaporation of a wetting liquid (e.g., water, a water-ethanol azeotrope, a dimethyl ether-water azeotrope, or a suitable liquid) and the ability of a substantially low vapor pressure medium (e.g., a dry gas) to force such evaporation from even a cold liquid. To this end, standard food product containers (e.g., cans or bottles) are provided. The food product container is preferably a cylindrical beverage food product container of standard design, with a standard food product release means and a standard food product release port.

First embodiment of the invention

In a first embodiment of the invention, a food product container is provided with one of a simple adhesive-backed metal or plastic strip that is attached to the food product container sidewall to provide a seal breaking structure. The seal breaking structure may also be inwardly provided as a notch formed in the side wall of the food product container, but preferably the seal breaking structure may be provided as a thick self-adhesive plastic strip that is attached to break the smoothness of the side wall of the food product container. The seal breaking structure is for breaking a seal formed by the dry gas seal on the sidewall of the food container.

A covered sleeve member seal is provided in the form of an annular structure made of cement and one of an O-ring seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal, and a sealing wax seal, and shaped in the form of a thin ring. Where the seal is a rubber band, it is of the type commonly used to hold together a plurality of objects, such as a stack of paper. Where the seal is an O-ring, it is typically a rubber seal of the type used for sealing between surfaces. The cover sleeve member seal surrounds the food product container sidewall and preferably has a cross-sectional dimension of less than 4 mm. Preferably, the cover sleeve member seal is expandable to form a tight sealing band around the food product container. If made of sealing wax, the cover sleeve member seal should be formed in place on the sidewall of the food product container, as defined herein. For example, when the seal is one of a rubber band and an O-ring, the ring diameter of the cover sleeve member seal is expandable and the cover sleeve member seal is circumferentially placed to tightly seam around the food product container top wall in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container and proximate to the food product container top wall.

A dry gas seal is also provided, also in the form of an annular structure made of one of an O-ring seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and a sealing wax seal, a cement, and shaped in the form of a thin ring. The dry gas seal surrounds the food product container side wall and, for its cross-sectional dimension, is preferably less than 4mm wide. When the dry gas seal is a rubber band, it is inflated to form a band around the side wall of the food product container. If made of sealing wax, a dry gas seal should be formed in place on the side wall of the food product container. When a rubber band is used, the dry gas seal is placed circumferentially to maintain a tight seal around the food product container sidewall in a plane at an angle to the food product container diametric plane. The minimum distal spacing of the dry gas seal below the cover sleeve member seal is preferably about 20 mm.

Prior to use of this apparatus, a seal-breaking structure is located between the dry gas seal and the sheathing sleeve member seal.

An inner sleeve member is provided and in a first embodiment is preferably made of a thin material such as plastic and aluminum, with an inner sleeve member wall having a wick material made of one of cotton, woven mesh, absorbent paper and absorbent cardboard, said core material being laminated to said inner sleeve member wall. Preferably, the inner sleeve member is made of a thin plastics material and is formed by compression moulding, heat shrinking and injection moulding.

The inner sleeve member has an inner sleeve member sidewall with surface protrusions (such as the protrusions shown in fig. 2, 12, 20, 21 and 22) on its inner and outer surfaces. The protrusions may be in the form of waves having inward facing protrusions and outward facing inward protrusions. The purpose of the inward facing protrusions and outward facing protrusions is to increase their strength and surface area and allow for the following:

a) when the outwardly facing protrusions form compartments against the food product container sidewalls, a variety of different chemical compounds can be stored between any of the outwardly facing protrusions. When the inward facing protrusions form a compartment against the covering sleeve member, more different chemicals may be stored between the inward facing protrusions.

b) A wetting liquid may be drawn between the protrusions to ionize the chemical compound and cool it. Dry gas may also pass freely through the compartment to evaporate the humidifying liquid.

c) The reactive chemicals that undergo endothermic reactions can be stored between different compartments and then mixed by deforming the compartments.

The uniform undulating protrusions of the inner sleeve member are shown in fig. 2, 12, 20, 21 and 22, which are merely examples of possible protrusions that may be formed on the inner sleeve member sidewall. For example, the inner sleeve member side wall may be injection molded with ribs protruding from its wall to form compartments for the same purpose. Various protruding shapes, such as the aforementioned protrusions, may be used to increase the surface area of the inner sleeve member. For example, the inwardly facing protrusions of the inner sleeve member may mate tangentially with the food product container side wall to form an outwardly facing compartment for holding a chemical compound consisting of the outwardly facing protrusions around the food product container side wall and to allow a wetting liquid contained in the outwardly facing compartment formed by the food product container side wall to enter therein and ionize the chemical compound endothermically dissolved therein and provide a first cooling of the product. The humidifying liquid (preferably water) may then be evaporated by the dry gas present in the outwardly facing compartment to be absorbed by the plastic heat shrink vapour absorbent to provide the second cooling means. The opposite configuration is also possible when the chemical compound is contained between the outward-facing protrusions against the side wall of the food container, the wetting liquid is held between the outer inward-facing protrusions and is allowed to enter between the outward-facing protrusions and cause endothermic cooling by solvation.

The inner sleeve member may also be fabricated with a protruding cylindrical wall that provides structural support and containment of the solution and allows the free passage of the dry gas to evaporate the humidifying liquid in the dry gas chamber. Preferably, the inner sleeve member is a heat shrinkable plastic sleeve having a wicking material attached to its surface to allow it to absorb the wetting liquid and contain sufficient wetting liquid by osmotic pressure without spillage.

In a first embodiment of the invention, the inner sleeve member circumferentially surrounds the food product container sidewall at least partially in the area below the dry gas seal and is held in place by use of one of glue, tape, and by friction with the food product container sidewall. Preferably, the inner sleeve member surrounds to partially encase the exposed surface of the food product container sidewall below the dry gas seal and extends to surround the food product container bottom edge as a cup-like structure.

A covered sleeve member is provided, preferably made of one of heat shrinkable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), to form a heat shrinkable thin-walled cup-shaped sleeve that fully or partially encases a food product container. Preferably, the cover sleeve member has a cover sleeve member sidewall that can take a variety of shapes, but must have a cylindrical sealing portion that allows it to sealingly mate with a portion of the food product container sidewall as described in the paragraphs and pages below.

The cover sleeve member side wall is the outer cover of the apparatus and covers the entire inner sleeve member and the sealed food product container containing the food product below the top wall of the food product container and partially forms the inwardly facing walls of the dry gas chamber and the wet liquid chamber wall. The cover sleeve member side walls are preferably made of a plastic material, (such as heat shrinkable PET and heat shrinkable PVC) that can be reshaped in these portions by heat shrinking when heat is applied to these portions. The cover sleeve member side wall preferably partially covers the food product container side wall and may extend to partially cover the food product container top wall. The cladding sleeve member side wall is adapted to snugly wrap around and enclose the inner sleeve member. Since the inner sleeve member has an outwardly facing projection in tangential contact with the inwardly facing surface of the cover sleeve member side wall, it forms part of a drying gas chamber which may have a plurality of compartments formed by the inwardly facing projections and the cover sleeve member side wall.

If the cover sleeve member side wall extends and covers most or all of the food product container top wall, an extended grip made from a simple plastic ring may be added and snapped to the food product container top wall seam to allow a user to grasp and rotate the extended grip to rotate the food product container relative to the cover sleeve member. As shown in fig. 17, the cover sleeve member may be constructed of support structures (e.g., channels and cavities) that allow it to have greater structural strength to prevent collapse upon application of a vacuum.

The cover sleeve member sidewall covers over the attached inner sleeve member and covers the food product container in whole or in part. The cover sleeve member sidewall has a cover sleeve member sealing portion that can be heat shrunk to shrink diameter to seal against the food product container sidewall to form a seal. It is contemplated that the covered sleeve member sidewall end is located at the covered sleeve member sealing portion, but it is contemplated that the covered sleeve member sidewall end may extend beyond the covered sleeve member sealing portion. When the cover sleeve member sealing portion is heat shrunk, the cover sleeve member sidewall applies pressure around and clamps around the surface of the cover sleeve member seal on the food container sidewall and also applies pressure around and clamps around the surface of the dry gas seal on the food container sidewall to form a humidified liquid chamber between the food container sidewall and the cover sleeve member sidewall.

As described above, the cover sleeve member may be rotatable relative to the food product container sidewall. Thus, advantageously, the dry gas seal and the cover sleeve member seal rotate in unison with the cover sleeve member relative to the food product container sidewall. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member side wall is deformed by compressive thermal contraction around the cover sleeve member seal to securely retain the cover sleeve member seal and sealingly rotate with the cover sleeve member. However, it is also envisioned that the cover sleeve member may be made of thin aluminum that may be rotationally formed and then formed to securely retain the cover sleeve member seal and rotate it sealingly with the cover sleeve member. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sidewall is partially deformed by compression about the dry gas seal to securely retain the dry gas seal and cause it to sealingly rotate with the cover sleeve member against the food container sidewall. However, it is also contemplated that the cover sleeve member may be made of thin aluminum that may be spin formed to securely retain and sealingly rotate with the cover sleeve member. It is also contemplated that the cover sleeve member seal is symmetrically positioned relative to the rotational force of the cover seal and may not rotate with the cover sleeve member, but still form a seal between the cover seal and the food product container sidewall. However, the dry gas seal is asymmetric with respect to the rotation of the cover sleeve member, and therefore it is contemplated that the dry gas seal must rotate with the cover sleeve member with respect to the food product container sidewall.

The cover sleeve member side walls may be heat shrinkable (if made from one of heat shrinkable PET or heat shrinkable PVC) or crimped and spun using rollers (if made from aluminum) to compress and seal against the cover sleeve member seal as described above. The side wall of the sheathing sleeve member may be reinforced by protrusions, for example by ribbing, providing undulations and circumferential grooves to provide strength, surface area, and allow various ionizable chemical compounds to be stored between any inwardly facing protrusions, and also allow dry gases and vapors to pass easily. The cover sleeve member sidewall has a cover sleeve member sealing portion for forming a sealing surface with a cover sleeve member seal. When collapsed to seal against the dry gas seal, the cover sleeve member sealing portion presses the dry gas seal against the food product container sidewall to form a fluid seal. When the cover sleeve member sealing portion is contracted to grip on and seal against the surface of the dry gas seal, it forms a rotatable seal between the food product container sidewall and the cover sleeve member. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member seal portion deforms about the cover sleeve member seal portion to securely retain and rotate the cover sleeve member seal with the cover sleeve member. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member side wall also partially deforms around the dry gas seal to securely retain the dry gas seal and allow it to sealingly rotate with the cover sleeve member when rotated. This provides an actuating means when the sheathing sleeve member is rotated.

The partially inward facing surface of the cover sleeve member sidewall, the dry gas seal, the cover sleeve member seal, and the partially outward facing surface of the food product container sidewall together form a humidified liquid chamber. The humidification liquid is hermetically stored between the humidification liquid chambers. It is contemplated that the humidifying liquid may also be a pressurized liquefied gas.

The cover sleeve member sidewall has a cover sleeve member restraining portion that pinches against the wick on the inner sleeve member to form a restricted vapor passage for the humidified liquid vapor and the dry gas to pass through in a controlled manner. When the inner sleeve member limiting portion is clamped around the surface of the wick, it forms a rotatably limited vapor passage. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member side wall, when rotated, slidingly rotates over the restricted steam passage without deforming or rotating the restricted steam passage and the inner sleeve member itself. The cover sleeve member is made with a cover sleeve member bottom wall sealingly connected to a cover sleeve member side wall. The cover sleeve member bottom wall is in turn sealingly connected to an inwardly projecting cover sleeve member annular wall, which preferably forms a frustoconical shape. The surrounding sleeve member annular wall may also take the form of a partially hemispherical dome shape, a cylindrical shape, and other forms such as an inverted frustoconical shape (i.e., having a closed end diameter at its top wall that is larger than its open end). The dry gas chamber is a chamber formed inside the sheathing sleeve member below the dry gas seal.

Thus, according to the first embodiment of the invention, the dry gas chamber is below the humidified liquids chamber and contains the food product container and the attached inner sleeve member. It is contemplated that the clad sleeve member may be made of spun or deep drawn aluminum and shaped to provide all of the sealing required for spin forming and rolling it into a part. In this case, the cover sleeve member annular wall may be made of one of injection stretch blow moulded heat shrinkable PET and polyolefin materials and PVC, and then connected to the cover sleeve member bottom wall by ultrasonic welding or gluing.

A thin-walled, open-ended support cylinder having a support cylinder bore near its top end is placed to rest at the opposite open end on the bottom wall of the cover sleeve member between the cover sleeve member side wall and the cover sleeve member annular wall and to contact the food product container bottom edge.

An annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber retaining space is defined within the dry gas chamber between the inner surface of the support cylinder, the inner surface of the annular wall of the cover sleeve member and the inner surface of the bottom wall of the cover sleeve member. An annular hot wax holding space is also defined in the drying gas chamber between the outer surface of the support cylinder, the inner surface of the annular wall of the cover sleeve member and the inner surface of the bottom wall of the cover sleeve member. The annular hot wax holding space may be filled with a suitable hot wax that melts in the temperature range of 70 ° f to 160 ° f. The support cylinder prevents the covering sleeve member bottom wall from collapsing and deforming relative to the food product container and also protects the hand of the user holding the device from overheating. The hot wax 138 may be removed and replaced with a dry gas.

Several cooling actuators and cooling provide actuator stages. The first is triggered when the cover sleeve member is rotated relative to the food product container sidewall, which causes the dry gas seal and the dry gas seal to seat over the seal breaking structure provided to allow fluid communication between exposed humidifying liquid from the humidifying liquid chamber and the dry gas chamber. A second cooled actuator and a second cooled actuator stage are also provided. The dry gas seal is preferably formed by a deformable annular structural seal in the form of a thin ring, preferably made of one of an O-ring seal, a metal seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and a sealing wax seal, a cement, with a deformable material being preferred. The cover sleeve member is pressed over the dry gas seal thereby deforming its shape, which allows the wetting liquid to leak from the wetting liquid chamber and into the dry gas chamber where it can ionize the chemical compound while evaporating into the dry gas. Good results are also obtained if the dry gas seal is made of a deformable structure, such as made of a thin metal strip coated with a sealing wax material or a sealing putty material.

The inner sleeve member is preferably manufactured with protrusions that, together with the food product container sidewall and the cover sleeve member sidewall, form compartments for providing strength, surface area, and allowing various different chemical compounds to be stored between any of the protrusions.

The annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space accommodates a plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent (such as silicone and the absorbent forms described in table 1). The annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber retaining space is a stretch-formed heat shrinkable portion that encases the sleeve member. If the covering sleeve member is made of aluminium, the annular wall of the covering sleeve member must be manufactured as a separate article made of one of heat-shrinkable PET and heat-shrinkable PVC and attached to the covering sleeve member bottom wall by means of a suitable glue. The surrounding sleeve member annular wall responds to the increase in temperature by deforming, contracting and flattening to increase the volume of the drying gas chamber. This deformation is caused by the heat of the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber as it absorbs the humidified liquid vapor from the dry gas.

The surrounding sleeve member annular wall is preferably shaped to intrude into the drying gas chamber volume. The protruding shape of the annular wall of the sheathing sleeve member is important to enhance the function of the device. The shape of the surrounding wall of the cover sleeve member may be an inverted cup, dome, and preferably any suitable shape that minimizes the volume of the equivalent cylindrical volume formed only by the side wall of the cover sleeve member having a flat bottom. The shape of the annular wall of the sheathing sleeve member must first minimize the volume of the drying gas chamber and then maximize its intrusion into the drying gas chamber during heating. In the example shown in the drawings, the shape of the annular wall of the cladding sleeve member forms an inverted cup-like shape and a dome shape. Advantageously, the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber maintains the space in fluid communication with the drying gas. When the device cooling actuator is activated, the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber heats the surrounding sleeve member annular wall. When heated, the surrounding wall of the sheathing sleeve member contracts and minimizes its area. The annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber retaining space shrinks and moves outwardly from the dome-shaped bottom wall of the food product container and causes the volume of the drying gas chamber to increase and create a substantial negative pressure on the drying gas. This reduces the partial pressure of steam in the dry gas and any humidified liquid steam in the dry gas chamber, thereby reducing the partial pressure of steam in the inner sleeve member.

It is contemplated that the inner sleeve member may also be made from one of press formed and deep drawn aluminum. It is contemplated that the side wall of the inner sleeve member may be laminated with a wicking material that is manufactured to contain only the wetting liquid without spilling the wetting liquid when received. The inward facing protrusions and outward facing protrusions may be formed by: the inner sleeve member side wall is first made cylindrical and then its cylindrical wall is placed over a mold and heat shrunk to form the inward facing protrusions and outward facing protrusions. Preferably, the inward facing protrusions tangentially contact the food product container sidewall, the outward facing protrusions forming a plurality of compartments with the food product container sidewall to contain the chemical compound or wetting liquid against the food product container sidewall. The outward facing protrusions also tangentially contact the cover sleeve member sidewall and the inward facing protrusions form a plurality of cells with the cover sleeve member sidewall to allow fluid communication with the drying gas.

In all embodiments, it is contemplated that the wall of the inner sleeve member wall may also be impregnated or laminated with an ionizable chemical compound that has a reversible endothermic entropy-increasing reaction with the humidifying liquid. When the inner sleeve member is heat shrunk into its shape on a mold, it can be heat shrunk into its shape by thermally spraying the inner sleeve member with a stream of particles of an ionizable chemical compound under high impact pressure. In all cases, the inner sleeve member must have a vapor passage formed by its outer surface wall and the surrounding sleeve member side wall to allow only vapor to pass through to the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber. This is readily accomplished by bundling the vapor wicking material over the restriction portion of the inner sleeve member where the film material forms the inner sleeve member.

Other methods of inserting an ionizable soluble salt into the inner sleeve member include using a soluble material, such as polyvinyl acetate (PVA), laminated to the outer wall of the inner sleeve member, and then attaching an ionizable chemical compound to the PVA layer. Other laminating materials (such as water soluble glue) may be used for this purpose. Preferably, the drying gas is provided in a drying gas chamber at a pressure below ambient atmospheric pressure.

Providing extremely dry gases, e.g. dry air and dry co₂. The dry gas can be stored at room temperature under moderate pressure. Dry gases can be readily produced using a pressure precipitation system or a cooling system or using a desiccant stack to remove humidified liquid vapor from a humid gas. The dry gas when stored within the dry gas chamber acts as if the dry gas chamber is evacuated in order to introduce the humidifying liquid into the dry gas chamber. This is because the dry gas has such a low vapor pressure of the humidification liquid that it can be said to be a partial humidification liquid vapor partial pressure of the vacuum). In a closed food product container, the drying gas cools by absorbing the humidifying liquid vapor from its environment when exposed to the humidifying liquid vapor, in the same manner as water evaporates when exposed to a vacuum. However, since the dry gas carries the wetting liquid vapor in the form of an electrostatically bound vapor within its molecular structure, it does not allow the wetting liquid vapor to readily condense on surfaces above its dew point temperature. This results in a heat transfer arrangement which can be understood if the conditions of the exhaust gases and their temperature versus pressure are compared. The dry gas has moisture component molecules that produce only a low partial humidified liquid vapor pressure as if its vapor were in a vacuum. This interstitial molecular screening of the dry gas potential is a measure of the relative dew point temperature with respect to the humidified liquid vapor, which is similar to the exhaust gas at room temperature at a negative temperature with respect to the humid gas. The partial vapor pressure of the humidified liquid vapor in the dry gas is very low, so when exposed to the dry gas, the moisture behaves as if suspended in a vacuum. Thus, in the practice of the invention, any action performed by the dry gas is equivalent to that which occurs in a vacuum environment for the wetting liquid vapour, except for the fact that the vacuum environment will evaporate the wetting liquid and the wetting liquid vapour may condense on a cold surface which is cooler than the vapour temperature. The drying gas is a powered transport device. The fact that the drying gas acts as a phonon with defined discrete units or quanta of vibrational mechanical energy This is clear. Phonons and electrons are two main types of elementary particle excitation, which are thermal energy centers that generate heat capacity. The removal of polar humidified liquid vapor molecules (e.g., water molecules in vapor form) into the dry gas is due to the electromotive heat transfer potential. Excess dry gas is known to alter airway reactivity and ion content in the tracheal side of rabbits (respir. physiol., 1997, month 7; 109(1): 65-72). In the paper entitled "properties of gas ions", it is shown that the negative ions in the drying gas are usually a cluster of molecules which, over a certain range of power and pressure, pass through a transition phase until, finally, the negative ions are actually electrons [ nature (95),230- & lt231/& gt (29.4.1915), doi:10.1038/095230b0]. In connection of electrical conduction in gas (university of Cambridge publishers), it is pointed out that the diffusion rate of negative ions is much greater than that of positive ions when the gas is dry, as compared to when the gas is wet. Thus, dry gas is an electrically powered heat transfer device. Thus, when referring to evaporation of the humidification liquid, the dry gas is inherently superior to vacuum and at any attainable surface temperature of the cooling device there is a low partial humidification liquid vapour pressure, especially if the relative dew point of the dry gas relative to the humidification liquid vapour is in the range below the formation of solids from the humidification liquid. In the case of steam, it is less than 32 ° f fahrenheit. In Polymer Electrokinetic Membranes (PEM), e.g.

A hydrophobic Teflon-like backbone with attached sulfonic acid end groups to transport moisture electrokinetically through the membrane was used. Polyvinyl acetate-containing membranes (PVA) are also used to filter ions from solution. The vapor pressure of the humidified liquid vapor is gradually changed in such chemicals to generate a flow of, for example,

the molecules of thirst (r) continuously draw the humidified liquid vapor deeper and deeper through their structure by electrokinetic heat transfer. Dry gas passing throughGenerating a spherical gradient of dry gas to deliver the wetting liquid vapor and equilibrating the vapor pressure of the wetting liquid vapor functions in a similar manner.

The potential for removing a humidifying liquid such as water from the dry gas will result in a dew point between 10 f and-150 f. Thus, any humidified liquid above these temperatures has a tendency to be absorbed by the dry gas below the dew point temperature. The potential for dry gases and specially designed wicking layers to absorb humidified liquid from a cold surface can be exploited through several cooling processes to create a continuous process that can achieve more efficient cooling that could otherwise be achieved through a desiccant and vacuum or stoichiometric endothermic reactions. For example, to cool a 16oz beverage at 30 ° f, using conventional prior art techniques requires dissolving at least 127g of potassium chloride in about 380g of water. This is not feasible in self-cooling food product container technology which relies on this process alone. The invention can use well below 100g of the ionizable compound (67g) of the humidification fluid in one mode and regenerate the ionizable compound for reuse. For example, ion exchange compounds and other types of electrochemical and electrokinetic membranes (e.g., PEM) absorb water vapor and preferentially transport protons through their structure to cool, thereby converting the liquid into a transported vapor. The inner sleeve member may be made of a similar material (e.g., ion exchange membrane material) to function in a manner similar to the transfer of water formed by the reaction of the chemical species in the wetting liquid chamber to further cool. The dry gas in the dry gas chamber may interact multiple times with the humidified liquid vapor in the dry gas chamber to humidify and further cool.

Assuming a beverage mass of m_bA heat capacity of c_pThe heat to be removed for producing the temperature change Δ t is given by

Q_c＝m_bc_pΔt，

To produce water with a relative humidity ratio x of 0.02, the temperature and initial humidity ratio x are the same as for water_s0.005 (H per kg of dry gas)₂Kilograms of O) the amount of water (kilograms per second) evaporated from the area exposed to the drying gas is given by the following empirical formula (2003 [ (]. 2003)The handbook of the society of heating, refrigeration and air Conditioning Engineers in the United states of America, the 2003 Ashrae handbook-HVAC Applications (Ashrae2003)), (Shah 1990,1992,2002))) gives:

where θ is (25+19v) and v is the airflow velocity.

As an example of the use of dry air, extensive calculations indicate that for an exposure area of about 225cm at an initial relative humidity of 0.005, the exposure area is approximately²(6 inch x 6 inch cooling matrix) was flowing at a flow rate of 1 meter/second for 45 seconds, with an approximate water removal rate equal to 0.158 grams/second. The total heat provided by the drying gas required to raise 7.8g of water from room temperature of 22 ℃ to steam is given by:

E_{general assembly}＝E_h+E_v

Wherein E is_hIs energy for heating water, and E_vIs the energy required to evaporate water at 100 c.

This corresponds to 17,615 joules of energy being removed from each cooling matrix with only dry gas. Cooling 453g (16 liquid oz.) of beverage from room temperature to 20 ℃ requires only 54,790 joules of energy. Thus, if no endothermic effect occurs, only two (2) secondary wicking layers may be needed in the cooling matrix, although more secondary wicking layers may be added. It is obvious that a large amount of thermodynamic potential is stored between the drying gases for removing heat h. Drying air, CO ₂And nitrogen have very similar thermodynamic behavior during humidification. Therefore, dry air is not the only gas that can be used for this purpose. Any suitable extreme drynessDried gas (e.g. dry co)₂) It is sufficient if its dew point can be sufficiently reduced to a thermodynamically acceptable level.

W.W. Mansfield, published in Nature, under the title "Effect of carbon dioxide on Evaporation of Water" (205,278(1965, 16.1); DOI:10.1038/205278A0) and Frank Sechrist, published in Nature, under the title "Influence of gas on Water evaporation Rate (199, 899-900; 1963, 31.8.50%) show that water containing dissolved carbon dioxide (or water surrounded by such gas) evaporates 15-50% faster than water in the presence of air alone. Thus, advantageously, CO₂The use of a drying gas (which has been found in carbonated beverages) or the like can positively increase the cooling capacity of the drying gas on water.

The present invention is different from all cited prior art and discloses a new technology for cooling bottles and cans (metal and plastic beverage food product containers) having a label-like structure, and an additional aspect of the invention is the gradual cooling of beverages in a variety of ways using an electro-thermal transfer device of steam. The manufacturing costs are now limited only by the cost of the cladding sleeve member, the cost of the inner sleeve member, the cost of the chemical components, and the cost of the process used to manufacture the device.

During electrolyte intrusion, the dry gas may also transport water vapor from the cold solution, dehydrate these ionic solutions, and reactivate the solute to further utilize its thermodynamic potential. The dry gas not only cools, but also allows the stoichiometric imbalance of the reused solutes to further perform the cooling. The invention may be practiced with only dry gas and a dry gas chamber without chemicals. For example, the humidification liquid may be generated by a chemical reaction of hydration chemicals that are supplied to the water in the dry gas chamber. This generated humidification liquid may be evaporated and absorbed by the dry gas for further cooling. In addition, the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber keeps the dry gas in the dry gas chamber dry. The humidified liquid vapor absorbed by the dry gas can be absorbed into the plastic heat shrink vapor absorbent to reduce the vapor pressure of the humidified liquid chamber and further evaporate and cool the humidified liquid contained between the inner sleeve member and the side wall of the food product container, which in turn cools the food product.

The removal of the absorbed humidified liquid vapor from the wet dry gas by the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber allows the dry gas to be refurbished and reused without the need for large volumes of dry gas in the dry gas chamber and without the need for a vacuum. Thus, the present invention has several advantages in method and function over the evaporation systems, heat absorption systems, and desiccant vacuum systems disclosed in the prior art.

Second embodiment of the invention

Fig. 11, 12 and 20 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In a second embodiment of the invention, another method of using and operating the apparatus is reconfigured using the same elements used in the first embodiment. This time, the dry gas seal is moved further downward and placed to seal between the inward facing surface of the cladding sleeve member sidewall and the outward facing surface of the inner sleeve member sidewall bottom edge. Thus, the inner sleeve member, the dry gas seal, the cover sleeve member seal and the food product container partially form a humidified liquid chamber. The humidified liquid is held in a highly hydrated reactive chemical compound. Thus, the humidification liquid is released at a suitable position by the reaction of the reactive chemical compound having an endothermic reaction that produces water as the humidification liquid. The dry gas chamber is formed below a dry gas seal separate from the humidified liquid chamber. In this embodiment of the invention, the reactive chemical compound is stored between the two sides of the inner sleeve member in the compartment formed by the food product container side wall and the outwardly facing protrusion of the inner sleeve member. The reactive chemical compound may also be stored on the exterior of the inner sleeve member sidewall in a compartment formed by the inward facing protrusions of the cladding sleeve member sidewall and the inner sleeve member.

Third embodiment of the invention

A third embodiment of the invention is shown in fig. 15. In a third embodiment of the present invention, another method of using and operating the device 10 is reconfigured using the same elements used in the first embodiment. In a third embodiment of the invention, the dry gas seal is simply moved to seal between the inwardly facing surface of the top edge of the inner sleeve member sidewall and the outwardly facing surface of the food product container sidewall. The compartment formed between the food product container sidewall and the outwardly facing protrusion of the inner sleeve member is filled with a humidifying liquid. Book (I)

Fourth embodiment of the invention

Fig. 16 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In a fourth embodiment of the invention, another method of using and operating the device is reconfigured using the same elements used in the first embodiment. In a fourth embodiment of the invention, the dry gas seal is again moved to more than about half of the inward facing surface of the inner sleeve member sidewall to seal between the inward facing surface of the inner sleeve member sidewall top edge and the outward facing surface of the food product container sidewall as in the second embodiment. The humidifying liquid is filled into a compartment formed below the dry gas seal between the inward-facing surface of the outward-facing protrusion of the inner sleeve member and the outward-facing surface of the food product container sidewall. This allows the dissolved chemical compound to be filled into the compartment formed between the inward-facing surface of the outward-facing protrusion of the inner sleeve member and the outward-facing surface of the food product container sidewall above the dry gas seal.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of cooling a food product container that uses a novel heat transfer device to remove heat from the food product that uses a dry gas as an ionic recombining agent that causes the solute to reform from its ions in solution into its original non-ionic state for repeated use again multiple times for the purpose of cooling the food product container.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of assembling a self-cooling food product container containing a food product, such as a beverage, in a complete form with a dry gas heat transfer device to cool the food product container.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a self-cooling device for cooling a food product container, the complete form of the device using a conventional filled and sealed food product container that utilizes endothermic ionization of chemical compounds with water to further cool the food product.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for using humidification of substantially dry gases to evaporate water from a solution of ionized chemical compounds to regenerate the ionized compounds, again in non-ionic form, to further ionize the compounds to further endothermically cool a food product.

It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus for using humidification of substantially dry gases to evaporate water from a solution formed of reactive chemical compounds that undergo endothermic reactions to cool and produce a humidified liquid (such as water) and further cooling by evaporation using dry gases and a vapor absorbent.

A final object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which is thermodynamically simple, feasible and cost effective in removing heat from and thereby cooling a food product.

The above objects, and others, are achieved by the present invention as determined by a reading and explanation of the specification as a whole.

Thus, the present invention may achieve more cooling, including the following:

a) removing and evaporating water vapor from the cold solution to increase cooling;

b) dehydrating the ionized compounds back to their original ionizable compound state with the negative entropy of the solution so that they are used again for more cooling (conservation of ionizable compounds);

c) the heat of evaporation of the cold solution is removed, but any reversible conversion energy of the compounds in the ionic solution is also removed to prevent reheating caused by the reversal of the heat of formation of the ions in solution.

d) A drying gas is used to evaporate water vapor from the water of reaction to remove more heat and to clean the water vapor for further cooling.

e) The drying gas is automatically made thinner by deformation of the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space to increase the volume of the drying gas chamber and achieve thinning of the drying gas, and more evaporation of the humidifying liquid is achieved by lowering the vapor partial pressure of the humidifying liquid.

Heat transport device

The first heat transport device disclosed in the present invention uses substantially dry gas as a medium for regenerating the ionic state from a solution of humidifying liquid and ion-forming solute for reuse. This achieves the following:

a) cooling by ionizing the compound dissolved in the humidified liquid entering the dry gas chamber;

b) the ionizable compounds are reconstituted and reformed in reversible salting out of the humidifying liquid by further cooling of the dry gas to deplete the solvent and dry solutes in solution for reuse as more humidifying liquid enters the dry gas chamber, thereby achieving more of the same objectives by reusing demineralized regenerating solutes for further ionization and re-cooling and repeating the cooling cycle.

c) More cooling is obtained by evaporation of the humidified liquid of (a) or (b) by the drying gas.

The humidification liquid is preferably water and may also be a liquid having an ionization potential for ionizable chemical compounds or solutes.

By drying the gaseous medium (e.g. by drying the gas), the deposition of solutes removes the heat generated by desalination, since the humidified dry gaseous medium increases its dew point temperature without heating. Thus, there is no need to store stoichiometric amounts of solvent (e.g., a humidifying liquid) and ionizable compound (e.g., an ionizable compound) to cool the beverage. The humidifying liquid may exceed the ionizable compound, and the ionizable compound will ionize multiple times through multiple cycles of mineralization and desalination. If the solvation and desalination rates of such a solution are controlled, the dry gas will regenerate the solute for further solvation by removing the wetting liquid from such reaction at a controlled rate and substantially transport such water vapor for reuse without reheating the cooling surface. These ions release the same energy as they absorb from the destroyed wetting liquid ions. The efficiency is that bond energy from the destroyed molecules of the humidification liquid is directly transferred to the reforming energy of the humidification liquid vapor, which is either immediately transported away as vapor or absorbed and carried away by the dry gas humidification. An example of using water is shown:

When the product is an aqueous liquid, a portion of the product itself may be used as a wetting liquid (e.g., water) if the product itself does not react adversely with the solute. When the product is a semi-solid or solid, a separate liquid is provided, which is preferably simply a suitable wetting liquid.

A food product container is provided that contains a food product container having a release opening and a release opening arrangement. The food product container is preferably one of a metal can and a plastic bottle. Preferably, one of air, nitrogen and carbon dioxide is supplied as a dry gas. The dew point temperature of the drying gas relative to the humidifying liquid vapor is preferably below 10 f.

Drawings

Various other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following discussion of the drawings in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, wherein:

fig. 1 shows a food product container as a metal can secured to a cover sleeve member, the food product showing some details of the sealing portion of the cover sleeve member and some details of the top wall of the food product container. The curved arrows show that when the surface of the seal on the food product container is broken by the seal-breaking structure, the food product container can be rotated inwardly relative to the cover sleeve member, and vice versa, to initiate cooling.

FIG. 2 is an example of one form of an inner sleeve member having inwardly facing protrusions and outwardly facing protrusions. This increases the surface area of the inner sleeve member. The inner sleeve member side wall is shown impregnated with an ionizable chemical compound S. The inward facing protrusions and outward facing protrusions provide a simple means of storing chemicals and increasing surface area and strength, yet allowing dry gas to pass freely within the apparatus.

Fig. 3 shows a cross-section of the device according to the first embodiment before use. The food product container is shown as a metal can secured to the side wall of the cover sleeve member and showing some details of the sealing portion of the cover sleeve member and some details of the top wall of the food product container and the dry gas chamber. The humidifying liquid chamber is located above the dry gas chamber between the two seals. Showing an annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space and an annular hot wax holding space. An example coated sleeve member annular wall formed in an inverted cup-like shape is shown.

Figure 4 shows a cross-section of the apparatus after use of the cooling actuator. Note that the cross-section depends on where it is taken, since the protrusions may be at a minimum or maximum diameter, and in this case, they are at a minimum diameter. The wick is saturated with a humidifying liquid that endothermically dissolves the chemical compound to provide a first cooling means. The surrounding wall of the sheathing sleeve member has shrunk to a nearly flat plane and the volume of the surrounding plastic heat shrink vapor absorber retaining space has increased, creating a negative pressure on the drying gas chamber. Arrows indicate the flow of drying gas and steam into and out of the inwardly facing protrusions of the inner sleeve member to provide a second cooling means. The left side of the food apparatus shows a cross section of the inner sleeve member forming the inward facing protrusions containing the drying gas therein, while the right side of the apparatus shows a cross section of the inner sleeve member forming the outward facing protrusions containing the chemical compound in the drying gas chamber.

Figure 5 shows a cross-section of the device with the domed annular plastic heat shrink vapour absorbent retention space prior to use.

Figure 6 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the cladding sleeve member side wall showing details of the humidified liquid chamber, the dry gas chamber and the seal. Showing the seal breaking structure prior to use of the cooling actuator.

Figure 7 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the cladding sleeve member side wall showing details of the humidified liquid chamber, the dry gas chamber and the seal. The seal-breaking structure passes through the dry gas seal to activate the cooling actuator by leaking the humidifying liquid into the dry gas chamber.

Fig. 8 shows a cross-section of the device according to the first embodiment just after the cooling actuator has been used and the plastic heat-shrink vapour absorbent is still cooling. The surrounding sleeve member annular wall is shown as a truncated inverted cone cup shape for increasing the volume of the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space intrusion into the drying gas chamber.

Figure 9 shows a cross-section of the first embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention when the food product container is a bottle. The food product container is shown as a bottle.

Figure 10 shows a finger pressing on a deformable annular structure forming a dry gas seal to allow humidified liquid to leak into the dry gas chamber thereby saturating the inner sleeve member.

Fig. 11 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In fig. 11, the humidification liquid chamber is filled with hydrated reactive chemical compounds that produce humidification liquid through endothermic reactions with each other. A plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber is located between the inner sleeve member bottom wall and the cover sleeve member bottom wall. When the dry gas seal is broken by finger pressure, the coated sleeve member sidewall can be massaged by hand to mix and endothermically react the reactive chemical compounds and produce a first endothermic cooling, while producing a humidifying liquid. The humidified liquid vapor is absorbed by the dry gas and transported as before into the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D to cause a second cooling.

Fig. 12 shows the inner sleeve member surrounding the food product container sidewall and about to be inserted into the cover sleeve member.

Fig. 13 shows a cross section of an inner sleeve member wherein the inward and outward facing protrusions surrounding the food product container sidewall carry a dissolving chemical compound and a reactive chemical compound therein.

Fig. 14 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the humidifying liquid is shown surrounding the food product container sidewall, and the dry gas chamber surrounds the subassembly.

Fig. 15 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, it is shown that when the dry gas seal is broken, the humidification liquid enters the dry gas chamber and falls into the wick.

Fig. 16 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention in which the dry gas chamber surrounds the humidifying liquid chamber. The humidified liquid chamber is sealed by a dry gas seal at the center of the inner sleeve member side wall. A finger is shown pushing the dry gas seal to deform and allow the humidification liquid to enter the dry gas chamber in a manner similar to that shown in figure 15. The flow of the humidification liquid out of the humidification liquid chamber is caused by a pressure difference between the dry gas chamber and the humidification liquid chamber. When the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber heats up and deforms the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber holding space, it creates a negative pressure in the drying gas chamber. This draws the humidification liquid from the humidification liquid chamber to the dry gas chamber to saturate the dry gas chamber and cause endothermic and evaporative cooling.

Fig. 17 shows a partial cross-sectional view of the device 10 having a protrusion on the inner sleeve member and a support structure on the cover sleeve member.

FIG. 18 illustrates the method of manufacture of the present invention when heat shrinkable plastic is used to form the cover sleeve member.

FIG. 19 illustrates the method of manufacture of the present invention when aluminum is used to form the clad sleeve member.

Fig. 20 again shows a cross section of the food container wall surrounded by the inner sleeve member and the cover sleeve member. The inward facing protrusion and the outward facing protrusion are shown as carrying a set of separate dissolvable chemical compounds surrounding the sidewall of the food product container.

Fig. 21 shows an enlarged cross-sectional view of the device showing the deformation of the protrusions when the coated sleeve sidewall is massaged by hand to mix the reactive chemical compounds separated by the inward facing protrusions. The dissolved chemical compound is also shown in the compartment formed by the outward facing protrusion and the covering sleeve member being agitated to form a solution.

Figure 22 shows another form of projection as an example when the projection may act as a rib on the wall of the inner sleeve member.

Detailed Description

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Reference is now made to the drawings, wherein like features and characteristics of the present invention as illustrated in the various drawings are referred to by the same reference numerals. For purposes of orientation and clarity, it is assumed that the food product container 20 is in a vertical orientation and that the food product container 20 is in a normal resting orientation. The present invention takes advantage of the thermodynamic potential for evaporation of a wetting liquid hl (e.g., water or a suitable liquid) and the ability of a medium of substantially low vapor pressure (e.g., dry gas DG) to force such evaporation from even a cold liquid.

First embodiment of the invention

Referring to fig. 1-10, a standard food product container 20 is provided. The food product container 20 is preferably a cylindrical beverage food product container of standard design, having a standard food product release means 113 and a standard food product release port 112. The food product container 20 is provided with a seal-breaking feature 122 on the surface of the food product container sidewall 100, which may be a notch that does not break the food product container sidewall 100. The seal-breaking structure 122 may also be a simple self-adhesive protrusion that breaks the smoothness of the food product container sidewall 100 and thereby its sealing ability. The location 122 of the seal breaking structure should be provided accordingly below.

The covered sleeve member seal 121 is provided in the form of a thin ring structure made of one of an O-ring seal, a metal band seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and a sealing wax seal, and cement. Preferably, the over-sleeve member seal 121 is provided in the form of a looped rubber band, which is generally annular and is typically used to hold a plurality of objects together, such as a stack of papers. The diameter of the cover sleeve member seal 121 is preferably about 75% around the circumference of the food product container 20. The cross-sectional dimension of the surrounding sleeve member seal 121 is preferably less than 4 mm. The cover sleeve member seal 121 should form a tight seal around the food product container 20. The cover sleeve member seal 121 is placed circumferentially and tightly sealed around the food product container side wall 100 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20 and proximate the food product container top wall 107.

The dry gas seal 123 is preferably also provided in the form of an O-ring seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and sealing wax seal, a cement, and is shaped in the form of a thin ring, typically an annular structure. Preferably, the dry gas seal 123 is made of a sealing tape having a rectangular cross-section, such as is typical of rubber tapes used to hold multiple objects together. The cross-sectional dimension of the dry gas seal 123 is preferably less than 4 mm. The dry gas seal 123 is preferably inflatable to form a tight seal around the food product container 20. The dry gas seal 123 is placed in a plane that is circumferentially inclined at a small angle relative to the diametric plane of the food product container 20. A seal that is rectangular in cross-section is preferred, but not required, because a seal that is circular in cross-section will crawl across the diametric plane of the food product container 20 and tend to be symmetrical. The dry gas seal 123 is inclined at an angle relative to the diametric plane of the food product container 20 with a maximum distal spacing of about 20mm below the cover sleeve member seal 121. The maximum separation between the sheathing sleeve member seal 121 and the dry gas seal 123 is determined by the volume of space formed between the two seals at the completion of the apparatus, which will be determined later. Prior to use of the apparatus 10, the seal breaking structure 122 is located between the dry gas seal 123 and the cover sleeve member seal 121, and should be nearly tangential to the dry gas seal 123.

Inner sleeve member 102 is provided with an inner sleeve member side wall 105 and an inner sleeve member bottom wall 106, and in the first embodiment, inner sleeve member 102 is preferably made of a thin impermeable one of stretch-formed heat-shrinkable polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and stretch-formed heat-shrinkable polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Other materials may be used depending on the manner in which inner sleeve member 102 is molded. The outwardly facing surface of inner sleeve member sidewall 105 is preferably lined with a flexible wick 140 made of a wicking material such as one of cotton, porous plastic, woven mesh, absorbent paper, and wool. Inner sleeve member side wall 105 may be laminated with a thin porous wick 140 made of absorbent paper to make its outwardly facing surface absorbent. Wick 140 must be thin to reduce its effect on the functioning of device 10 as a thermal mass. Inner sleeve member 102 may be initially formed with a cylindrical inner sleeve member sidewall 105, then lined with a wick 140, and then formed into various shapes by one of compression molding and heat shrinking to form protruding protrusions on its surface. Alternatively, its shape may be injection molded by placing wick 140 inside the mold sidewall to adhere to inner sleeve member sidewall 105. For example, inner sleeve member side wall 105 is preferably manufactured with inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104, respectively, on its wall to increase its surface area and provide strength, surface area, and to allow various chemical compounds to be stored between any of the protrusions, as shown in fig. 2, 12, 13, and 20. The number of protrusions must be more than one and can be any suitable number that allows the granular chemical to be stored between the protrusions. Fig. 2, 12, 20, 21 and 22 are merely examples of possible protrusions that may be formed on the inner sleeve member 102. For example, the inner sleeve member 102 may be injection molded with curved or linear ribs protruding from its wall as shown in FIG. 22 for the same purpose, i.e., to separate the inner sleeve member side walls 105 to store reactive compounds RCC of the plurality of chemical compounds S that can react with each other to provide endothermic cooling, and to store soluble chemical compounds DCC that can endothermically dissolve the various chemical compounds S in the wetting liquid HL. Various protruding shapes, such as the aforementioned protrusions, may be used to increase the strength and surface area of inner sleeve member 102. The protruding shape forms a channel for these protrusions (e.g., inward facing protrusion 103 and outward facing protrusion 104 as examples shown in fig. 2, 12, 20, 21, and 22) to provide strength to inner sleeve member 102 and also to allow dry gas DG to fill and saturate the outer surface of inner sleeve member 102 and, if desired, the inner surface of inner sleeve member 102. Preferably, the protruding protrusions of inner sleeve member 102 form channels along inner sleeve member sidewall 105, thereby also allowing dry gas DG to fill and saturate inner sleeve member 102. Preferably, inner sleeve member 102 is lined with a layer of wick 140 for absorbing the wetting liquid HL and containing a minimal volume of wetting liquid HL by osmotic pressure without spilling it. The inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104 of the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 must frictionally tangentially contact the food product container sidewall 100 to form a compartment between the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and the food product container sidewall 100.

The inner sleeve member sidewall 105 is circumferentially attached to frictionally tangentially contact the food product container sidewall 100 to at least partially encase the food product container sidewall 100 below the dry gas seal 123. Ultrasonic welding, glue and tape may also be used to hold the inner sleeve member side wall securely in place and form at least a distinct compartment with the food product container side wall 100. Preferably, the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 extends to partially envelope the exposed surface of the food product container sidewall 100 below the dry gas seal 123, but it is contemplated that the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 may also envelope and entirely surround the food product container sidewall 100 below the dry gas seal 123, and the inner sleeve member bottom wall 106 extends to envelope and surround the food product container dome-shaped bottom wall 22 as a cup-shaped sleeve structure. Inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104 should be robust and prevent inner sleeve member sidewall 105 from collapsing under reduced pressure.

A covered sleeve member 30 is provided. The cover sleeve member 30 is preferably made of one of a stretch-formed polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and other heat-shrinkable materials also in the form of a thin-walled cup-like structure that completely or partially surrounds and encloses the food product container 20. Preferably, the cover sleeve member 30 has a cover sleeve member sidewall 101 shaped to conform to the contour of the food product container sidewall 100. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 can take a variety of shapes, but must allow the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 to mate with portions of the food product container sidewall 100 in a manufacturing process as will be described below. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 fully or partially covers the sealed food product container 20 containing the food product P. The covered sleeve member side wall 101 is preferably made of one of a stretch-formed polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and other heat-shrinkable materials, however, the covered sleeve member side wall 101 may also be made as a deep-drawn container from a thin aluminum material and must be reshapeable by rotational forming and crimping to form a seal with the food product container 20. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 preferably partially covers the food product container side wall 100 and may extend to partially cover the food product container top wall 107. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 is a snug fit just over the inner sleeve member 102. If the cover sleeve member side wall 101 is extended and covers the food product container top wall 107, an extended grip 111 made of a simple plastic ring is provided to snap over the food product container top wall seam 114 to allow a user to grasp and rotate the extended grip 111 to rotate the food product container 20 relative to the cover sleeve member 30.

A cover sleeve member sidewall 101 covers over an inner sleeve member 102 and covers the food product container 20 in whole or in part. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 preferably partially covers the food product container side wall 100 and may extend to partially cover the food product container top wall 107. Cover sleeve member sidewall 101 has a cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 that can be heat shrunk to shrink diameter and seal against food product container sidewall 100 to form a cover sleeve member sidewall seal 109. As shown in fig. 17, the covered sleeve member sidewall 101 may be configured with support structures 25 (e.g., channels and cavities) that allow the covered sleeve member sidewall to have sufficient structural strength to prevent collapsing when the drying gas GS is made lean.

It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sidewall end 110 is located at the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108, but it is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sidewall end 110 may extend beyond the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108. When the covering sleeve member sealing portion 108 is heat-shrunk or formed by a mechanical means, the covering sleeve member side wall 101 is pinched around the surfaces of the covering sleeve member seal 121 and the dry gas seal 123 to form the humidifying liquid chamber W between the two seals, respectively. The humidification liquid HL is sealingly stored between the humidification liquid chambers w.

The cover sleeve member 30 is rotatable relative to the food product container sidewall 100. Thus, advantageously, the dry gas seal 123 and the cover sleeve member seal 121 rotate with the cover sleeve member 30 relative to the food product container sidewall 100. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 deforms by compressive contraction around the cover sleeve member seal 121 to securely retain the cover sleeve member seal 121 and sealingly rotate with the cover sleeve member 30. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 is partially deformed by compression contraction around the cover sleeve member seal 121 to securely retain the cover sleeve member seal 121 and allow it to sealingly rotate with the cover sleeve member 30. However, it is contemplated that the cover sleeve member seal 121 may not rotate with the cover sleeve member 30, but still form a seal. However, the dry gas seal 123 must rotate with the cover sleeve member 30 relative to the food product container sidewall 100.

Cover sleeve member sidewall 101 has a cover sleeve member sealing portion 109 that may be heat shrunk or mechanically formed to shrink and seal against food product container sidewall 100 as described above. When collapsed, the cover sleeve member side wall 101 also seals against the dry gas seal 123, pressing it against the food product container side wall 100 to form a seal. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 is partially deformed around the cover sleeve member seal 121 to securely retain the cover sleeve member seal 121 and rotate it with the cover sleeve member 30. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 also partially deforms around the dry gas seal 123 to securely retain the dry gas seal 123 and allow it to sealingly rotate with the cover sleeve member 30 when rotated. This provides a first cooling actuator theta as the cover sleeve member 30 rotates.

The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 has a cover sleeve member restriction portion 128 that may be heat shrunk or mechanically formed to clamp against a portion of the inner sleeve member 102 to form a restricted vapor passage 129a for the passage of humidified liquid HLHL vapor Vw and dry gas DG in a controlled manner. It is contemplated that when the cover sleeve member restraining portion 128 contracts, it grips around the surface of the inner sleeve member 102 and closes off any protrusions or projections to form the rotatably restrained steam channel 129 a. It is contemplated that, when rotated, the covered sleeve member sidewall 101 slidingly rotates over the restricted steam passage 129 a.

The cover sleeve member 30 has a cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 sealingly connected to the cover sleeve member side wall 101. The cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 is sealingly connected to an inwardly projecting cover sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding.

The cover sleeve member inner surface partially defines a dry gas chamber DGS that extends to cover the inner sleeve member and the space formed by the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130, the cover sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133.

It is contemplated that the clad sleeve member 101 may be made of one of spun aluminum, hydroformed aluminum, and deep drawn aluminum to provide all of the seals required. In this case, the cover sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 may be made of one of heat shrinkable PET and PVC materials and added to the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 by ultrasonic welding or gluing. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding.

As shown, a thin-walled open-ended support cylinder 132 having a support cylinder bore 137 near the top end may be placed to rest on the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 between the cover sleeve member side wall 101 and the cover sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 and act as a support member for the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 against the food product container 20 to prevent the contractive force from collapsing the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding.

An annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber retaining space 131 within the dry gas chamber DGS is formed between the space defined by the inner surface of support cylinder 132, the inner surface of the covering sleeve member shrinkable annular wall 133 and the inner surface of the covering sleeve member bottom wall 130. The annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space 131 is in fluid communication with the drying gas and is located within the DGS drying gas chamber. An annular hot wax holding space 136 is also formed in the dry gas chamber DGS between the outer surface of the support cylinder 132, the inner surface of the covering sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 and the inner surface of the covering sleeve member bottom wall 130. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding. The annular hot wax holding space 136 may optionally be filled with a suitable hot wax 138 that may melt in a temperature range of 70 ° f to 160 ° f to regulate exposure to the heat of the covering sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133. The support cylinder 132 prevents the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 from collapsing and deforming relative to the food product container 20.

A cooling actuator θ is provided when the cover sleeve member 30 rotates with the dry gas seal 123 and the dry gas seal 123 passes over the seal-breaking structure 122 to break the seal formed by the dry gas seal between the food product container sidewall 100 and the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 and expose the humidification liquid HL from the humidification liquid chamber W into the dry gas chamber.

The inner sleeve member 102 is preferably designed with inwardly facing protrusions 103 and outwardly facing protrusions 104, as shown in fig. 2, 12, 13 and 20, to form a pattern of compartments that surround the food product container sidewall 100. In this case, the inward facing protrusions 103 will be tangential to the food product container sidewall 100 and the outward facing protrusions 104 will be tangential to the covering sleeve member sidewall 101. This increases the strength and surface area of the inner sleeve member and allows a variety of different reactive chemical compounds RCC that undergo endothermic reactions and solubility chemical compounds DCC that dissolve endothermically to be stored in isolation from each other in the respective chambers formed between the protuberances as shown in FIG. 22. Each respective undulation is expected to serve as a storage means for a different chemical compound S that endothermically dissolves for cooling.

The annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space 131 accommodates a plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D such as silica gel, molecular sieve, clay desiccant (e.g., montmorillonite clay, calcium oxide, and calcium sulfide). The annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor-absorbent-retaining space 131 is preferably stretch-molded by one of thermoforming, injection-stretch-blow molding, and vacuum-molded when the covering sleeve member 30 is formed. The covered sleeve member contractible annular wall 133 responds to an increase in its temperature by deforming to increase the volume of the drying gas chamber DGS, thereby rarifying the drying gas contained therein. This deformation is caused by the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D heating and thus the surrounding sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 as it absorbs the humidified liquid HL vapor from the humidified dry gas DG in the dry gas chamber DGS. The drying gas chamber DGS is in fluid communication with the plastic heat shrink vapour absorbent D and the restricted vapour passage 129a, and therefore, advantageously, the annular plastic heat shrink vapour absorbent holding space 131 is in fluid communication with the drying gas chamber DGS and the interior of the inner sleeve member 102. When the cooling actuator θ is activated, the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D heats the covering sleeve member shrinkable annular wall 133. The covered sleeve member may protrude with a collapsible annular wall 133 and intrude into the dry gas chamber DGS. The shape of the protrusions is important to improve the cooling performance of the device. The shape of the protrusions formed by the annular wall 133 collapsible by the sheathing sleeve member may be an inverted cup-like shape, a dome shape, and preferably any suitable shape that minimizes the volume of the drying gas chamber DGS. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding.

The shape of the surrounding sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 must minimize dry gas chamber DGS and maximize its intrusion into dry gas chamber DGS. In the example shown in the drawings, the shape of the projection formed by covering the sleeve member contractible annular wall 133 is an inverted cup-like shape and a dome-like shape. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding. When heated, the covering sleeve member contractible annular wall 133 contracts and minimizes its area. The annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space 131 expands outward and increases in volume and maximizes the volume of the dry gas chamber DGS and creates a significantly lower pressure on the dry gas DG that is less than its initial pressure, which is preferably just below atmospheric ambient pressure. This causes the vapor pressure of the dry gas DG and any wetting liquid Vw in the dry gas chamber DGs to decrease.

The inner sleeve member 102 is preferably made of a plastic material, such as PET and PVC. If made of a non-plastic material, the protrusions of inner sleeve member 102 may also be formed by adding a water-insoluble glue to the wicking material to form inner sleeve member 102 and then molding the material into the desired shape as the glue dries. It is contemplated that the inner sleeve member 102 may be made with an outwardly facing protrusion 104 that may just receive the wetting liquid HL against the food product container sidewall 100 when received, and also receive the chemical compound S against the food product container sidewall 100.

To form inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104, the material used to make inner sleeve member 102 is placed over a mold and formed by one of heat shrinking (if made of a heat shrinkable material), injection molding (if made of a plastic material), and molding with glue (if made of a wicking material). Thus, the inner sleeve member 102 may have inwardly facing protrusions 103 and outwardly facing protrusions 104 that, when restrained by the food product container sidewall 100, may not only contain liquid, but also different chemical compounds S that may endothermically dissolve and cool or react endothermically through their solvation and produce a humidified liquid and a cooling. It is contemplated that the inner sleeve member 102 may also be formed of a moldable wick material (e.g., formed of cotton with added dryable insoluble glues).

A cardboard 134 is optionally provided (but not necessarily) which is glued to cover only the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 to act as an insulator and protect the consumer from possible burns from the heat generated by the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D. The paperboard 134 must be breathable and preferably have small paperboard holes 135 to allow gas to freely flow into and out of the atmosphere as the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holds the space walls 133 flat.

In all embodiments, it is contemplated that the wall and material interior of inner sleeve member 102 may be impregnated with an ionizable chemical compound S that has a reversible endothermic reaction with humidifying liquid HL. This may be accomplished by laminating the wall of inner sleeve member 102 with ionizable salts (e.g., potassium chloride, ammonium chloride, and ammonium nitrate) as well as other types of endothermic salts having endothermic ionization potentials. If made of heat shrinkable plastic materials such as PET and PVC, the inner sleeve member 102 can be formed into its final shape by thermal shrinking while coating it with the ionizable chemical compound S under high impact pressure by thermal spraying with a stream of particles of the ionizable chemical compound S for causing it to thermally shrink and form its shape on a mold. In all cases, the inner sleeve member 102 has wicks on its outwardly facing surface which must form restricted vapor passages 129a which, as will be described later, only allow the passage of the humidification liquid vapor Vw to the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D in the dry gas chamber DGS. This is readily accomplished by tying the wicking material over the inner sleeve member restraining portion 128 where the plastic film material forms the inner sleeve member 102.

Other methods of inserting an ionizable soluble chemical compound S (e.g., an endothermic salt) into the material of inner sleeve member 102 and into it include using a polyvinyl acetate layer (PVA) on the outer wall of inner sleeve member 102 and then attaching ionizable compound S to the PVA. Other laminates, such as a wetting liquid hl-soluble glue, can be used for this purpose.

Preferably, dry gas DG is provided within dry gas chamber DGS at ambient atmospheric pressure. The drying gas GS is provided by the drying gas source DGS and it fills the space between the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D and the inner sleeve member 102 in the drying gas chamber e.

Method of manufacturing the first embodiment

As shown in fig. 18 and 19, a method M of manufacturing the device is described herein. This manufacturing method M is generally applicable to all embodiments, except that some task ordering may be changed or cancelled as desired. A standard food product container 20 is provided. A cover sleeve member seal 121 is provided and the cover sleeve member seal 121 is placed circumferentially and tightly sealed around the food product container side wall 100 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20 and to band around the food product container top wall seam 114.

The dry gas seal 123 is provided as a rectangular seal similar to a rubber band and is inflated and placed in a plane inclined at a small angle relative to the diametric plane of the food product container sidewall 100 to have a maximum spacing of about 50mm and a minimum spacing of about 20mm below the cover sleeve member seal 121. Preferably, a plastic self-adhesive label forming the seal breaking structure 122 is provided and attached to the food product container sidewall 100 to lay inside and between the maximum separation gap between the dry gas seal 123 and the cover sleeve member seal 121.

An inner sleeve member 102 is provided and is circumferentially attached to at least partially cover the food product container sidewall 100 below the dry gas seal 123 using one of friction, glue, and double-sided tape.

The cover sleeve member 30 is provided as a cup-shaped structure having a straight cover sleeve member side wall 101 as shown in fig. 2. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 should be at least 50mm higher than the food product container 20 and should extend beyond the food product container top wall 107. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 is just adapted to cover and surround the inner sleeve member 102.

The support cylinder 132 is placed to rest on the support cylinder aperture 137 near the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 of the food product container 20 to form an annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorbent retention space 131 and an annular hot wax retention space 136. The thermal wax 138 is placed to fill the annular thermal wax holding space 136, and the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D is filled into the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space 131.

The food product container 20 with inner sleeve member 102, seal breaking structure 122, cover sleeve member seal 121 and dry gas seal 123 is inserted to rest on support cylinder 132 within cover sleeve member 30.

The cylindrical rod CR is provided with a through hole TH running through its length and a three-way fitting TFW attached to the through hole TH. The first input of three-way fitting TFW is connected by dry gas hose DGH to be in fluid communication with dry gas pressure tank DGC via dry gas valve DGV. A second input of the three-way fitting TFW is connected to the vacuum pump VP through a vacuum pump hose VPH via a vacuum valve Vv. The third input of the three-way fitting TFW is a humidification liquid valve HLV, which is connected to a humidification liquid valve HLT by a humidification liquid hose HLH.

The outer diameter of the cylindrical rod CR is made to fit precisely inside the covering sleeve member 30, and it is inserted into the open end of the covering sleeve member 30 by about 20mm, and the covering sleeve member 30 is heat-shrunk to seal around it. The humidification liquid valve HLV, the dry gas valve DGV, and the vacuum valve Vv are closed.

The dry gas valve DGV and the vacuum valve Vv, at a low pressure of about 1psig, are first opened to allow the dry gas GS to fill the interior of the sheathing sleeve member 30, thereby purging any moist air and gas within the sheathing sleeve member 30 using the vacuum pump VP. After a few seconds of purging, the dry gas valve DGV is closed to allow the vacuum pump VP to slightly rarefie the dry gas DG remaining in the clad sleeve member 30 to a pressure just below ambient atmospheric pressure. A shut-off valve may be provided for controlling the pressure, but the vacuum pump VP itself may be manufactured to provide the required rarefaction.

Hot air HA from a heat source HG (e.g., a heat gun) is first directed to the location of the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 to shrink and grip around the surface of the dry gas seal 123 against the food product container sidewall 100, after which the hot air HA is removed. This seals the drying gas GS at a rarefied pressure in the drying gas chamber DGS below the drying gas seal 123.

Then, the dry gas valve DGV and the vacuum valve Vv are closed, and the humidification liquid valve HLV is opened to allow the humidification liquid HL to fill the annular space above the dry gas seal 123 between the food product container sidewall 100 and the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 to a level just below the cover sleeve member seal 121, and then closed.

Hot air HA from heat source HG is now directed into position over the overmold member sealing portion 108 to shrink and clamp the overmold seal 121 against the food product container sidewall 100, which is then removed. This seals the humidification liquid HL and forms a humidification liquid chamber W between the dry gas seal 123, the cover seal 121, the food product container side wall 100 and the cover sleeve member side wall 101.

Excess material of the cover sleeve member 30 above the food product container top wall seam 114, still attached to the cylindrical bar CR, is then cut away to form the cover sleeve member side wall end 110. The extended grip 111 is snapped onto the food product container top wall seam 114, serving as an extension of the food product container 20. The device 10 is now ready for use.

Method of operation of a device according to a first embodiment

It is contemplated that the cooling actuator theta is activated prior to use of the food product release device 113. However, if the food product release device 113 is driven prior to cooling the drive θ, it is expected that the pressure drop of the food product container 20 will relax the food product container side wall 100 and the dry gas seal 123 relative to the food product container side wall 100, so the apparatus 10 can still be activated as shown in fig. 10 by simply applying finger pressure 40 and pressing the cover sleeve member side wall 101 in the area of the dry gas seal 123 to deform the dry gas seal 123 and the food product container side wall 100 and allow the humidifying liquid HL to leak into the dry gas chamber DGS. In either case, due to the gravity pressure differential, the humidification liquid HL will fall from between the dry gas seal 123 and the food product container sidewall 100, thereby initiating cooling. Thus, when the food product release means 113 is used for the first time, second cooling actuation means are provided. When the cooling actuator θ is actuated, rotation of the cover sleeve member 30 with the cover sleeve member seal 121 and the dry gas seal 123 relative to the food product container sidewall 100 causes the seal breaking structure 122 to pass under the dry gas seal 123 and break the seal with the food product container sidewall 100 that contains the humidification liquid HL in the humidification liquid chamber W. The humidification liquid HL enters between the middle outwardly facing protrusions and dissolves the ionizable chemical compound S contained therein. This achieves a first endothermic cooling of the humidification liquid HL. Humidification liquid HL also permeates the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and the wick 140 absorbs humidification liquid. The dry gas DG absorbs the wetting liquid vapor Vw from the wick 140, and the evaporation of the wetting liquid vapor Vw effects a second further cooling of the wetting liquid HL. Further, when the kind of the soluble chemical compound DCC of the chemical compound S forms a solution and the humidified liquid is dried by the evaporation of the humidified liquid HL into the dry gas GS, the third cooling is achieved.

When the drying gas becomes wet and lowers its dew point temperature, the heat of vaporization H is carried away by the drying gas DG. Note that the temperature of the dry gas DG is not increased by this process because its dew point temperature takes away the heat of vaporization h of the humidification liquid HL. The higher dew point temperature of dry gas DG saturates dry gas chamber DGS and enters restricted vapor passage 129 a. Dry gas DG is a motor-driven transport device. The removal of polar water molecules in vapor form into the dry gas DG is due to the electromotive force heat transfer potential. Dry gas DG changes the reactivity of restricted vapor channel 129a (respir. physiol.) (1997, 7 months; 109(1): 65-72). The negative ions in dry gas DG attract the polar molecules of the humidified liquid HL in the restricted vapor passage 129 a. That is why people are more susceptible to electrostatic effects when air is dry.

The plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D may be one of a liquid, a gel and a solid which absorbs the humidifying liquid HL vapor Vw. The humidifying liquid HL may also be a pressurized liquid in equilibrium with its vapor, such as an ammonium solution, a dimethyl ether solution, and a carbonic acid solution. In this case, table 1 provides various combinations of plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbers D, dry gases GS, and humidifying liquids HL that can be used with the present invention.

When the drying gas GS humidified by the humidifying liquid vapor Vw enters through the restricted vapor passage 129a and is then absorbed into the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D through the supporting cylindrical holes 137 to be dehumidified, the vapor pressure thereof decreases, and the dew point temperature of the dehumidified drying gas GS is much lower than the dew point temperature of the humidified drying gas DG in the drying gas chamber DGS. The dehumidified dry gas DG in dry gas chamber DGS is again drawn in by the higher vapor pressure of dry gas chamber DGS and again absorbs more vapor and delivers it to plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D. The plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D is heated while absorbing the humidification liquid vapor Vw, and the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space wall 133 stretched by the pre-stretch forming responds to the increase in its temperature by deforming and area shrinking. When heated, the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber retaining space walls 133 shrink in surface area and move outwardly from food product container dome-shaped bottom 22, causing the volume of dry gas chamber DGS to increase and thereby creating a relatively low vapor pressure in a fixed amount of thinned dry gas DG in dry gas chamber DGS. This further lowers the vapor pressure of the dry gas DG in the DGS dry gas chamber, and any wetting liquid vapor Vw in the DGS dry gas chamber is drawn into the dry gas DG for evaporation. This deformation of the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retention space walls 133 continues as more heat of vaporization h continues to be generated, causing the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retention space walls 133 to preferably flatten and thus increase in volume relative to the original volume of the drying gas chamber DGS.

To prevent collapse and deformation of the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130, the support cylinder 132 absorbs the compressive force of the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorbent retention space walls 133 against the food product container bottom edge 21 and prevents deformation of the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130. Thus, the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber keeps the space walls 133 flattened without affecting the structure of the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130. The deformation and flattening of annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space walls 133 causes the volume of dry gas chamber DGS to increase and, due to the presence of a fixed amount of dry gas DG in dry gas chamber DGS, a lower pressure is generated inside dry gas chamber DGS. The annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retaining space 131 also becomes larger by flattening of the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retaining space walls 133. This allows the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D to continuously shift, move, fall, and stretch over the flat annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent-retaining space walls 133. This stretching agitates the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D and makes it more effective because it has a greater surface area. Further, it is preferable that when the dry gas DG is stored between the dry gas chambers DGs, it is preferably at atmospheric pressure. The negative pressure generated on dry gas DG causes more absorption of humidification liquid vapor Vw into dry gas DG by evaporation of humidification liquid HL. The expansion of the vaporized humidifying liquid HL as a result of the humidifying liquid HL in the drying gas chamber DGS by a factor of about 1840 to the humidifying liquid vapor Vw increases the relative vapor pressure of the drying gas chamber DGS with respect to the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent retention space 131. Therefore, it is advantageous that the humidification liquid vapor Vw in the dry gas chamber DGS should naturally enter the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D. Thus, the dry gas DG is an electrically powered heat transfer device for the humidified liquid vapor Vw into the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D without the need for a true vacuum.

When the dry gas DG delivers the humidified liquid vapor Vw into the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D, the actual temperature thereof rises due to the heat generated by the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D. The heat from the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D is partially absorbed by the dry gas DG and its dew point temperature is lowered even more. This causes the dry gas DG to migrate again into the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D and collect more of the wetting liquid vapor Vw from the dry gas chamber DGs. Cooling continues in this manner, dehydrating the ionizable compounds on the DGS dry gas chamber. Ionizable compounds are not absolutely essential for the working of the invention, but they improve the cooling efficiency, since the dry gas DG will absorb the humidification liquid vapor Vw from even the cold humidification liquid HL. The final source of the heat of evaporation h is the food product P cooled by this method. "salinizing" the DGS drying gas chamber by drying the chemical compounds S back to their original form (if used) enables the chemical compounds to be reused for further cooling. The dry gas DG is dried by means of the plastic heat-shrinking vapor absorber D so that it is likewise reusable for further cooling.

Further, the deforming movement of the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space wall 133 causes the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D to move and expand to allow the unexposed plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D to function and achieve the absorption of the wetting liquid vapor Vw into the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D. It is contemplated that an endothermic thermal wax 138, such as a conventional candle wax, may be placed in the annular thermal wax-retaining space 136 between the support cylinder 132 and the covering sleeve member side wall 101 to absorb the heat of vaporization h from the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber D and store the heat of vaporization h. However, it has been found that this is only effective when a large amount of the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D is used for a large food product container 20 having a volume exceeding 20 oz.

Further, the cover sleeve member 30 may be formed of a shrinkable material (e.g., TPX formed from a combination of plastic materials known as polymethylpentene and glass beads)^TM) As a result, the resulting covered sleeve member 30 will be able to quickly release the absorbed heat of vaporization h through its structure and quickly radiate the heat of vaporization h into the atmosphere. In addition, the deforming motion of the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber retaining space walls 133 causes the atmosphere therein to absorb heat from the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D and, if used, to remove the heat through the carton holes 137 or directly to the atmosphere as the heated volume of air beneath the flattened annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber retaining space walls 133 is expelled.

Paperboard 134 is provided, but is not required. Preferably (but not necessarily), the paperboard 134 is made to fit over and cover the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 and is bonded to the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 to protect the consumer from possible burns. The paperboard 134 has a small central paperboard hole 135 for allowing gas to flow freely into the atmosphere as the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber keeps the space walls 133 flattened.

In all embodiments, it is contemplated that the walls and materials used to form inner sleeve member 102 may be laminated with an ionizable chemical compound S that has a reversible endothermic reaction with humidification liquid HL.

Preferably, dry gas DG is provided within dry gas chamber DGS at ambient atmospheric pressure. The drying gas GS is provided by the drying gas source DGS and it fills the drying gas chamber DGS and the empty space between the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D and the inner sleeve member 102.

Second embodiment of the invention

Referring to fig. 11, 12 and 13, a standard food product container 20 is provided. As before, the food product container 20 is preferably a cylindrical beverage container of standard design with a standard food product release 112.

As shown in fig. 10 and 11 and fig. 12, as before, the sheathing sleeve member seal 121 is provided in the form of a thin ring structure made of cement, and one of an O-ring seal, a metal band seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and a sealing wax seal. Preferably, the over-sleeve member seal 121 is provided in the form of an annular band, typically in the shape of an O-ring. The cross-sectional dimension of the over sleeve member seal 121 is preferably less than 4 mm. The cover sleeve member seal 121 should form a tight seal around the food product container top wall seam 114. The cover sleeve member seal 121 is placed circumferentially and tightly sealed around the food product container side wall 100 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20 and adjacent the food product container top wall 107 to sit around the food product container top wall seam 114.

As before, as in the first embodiment, an inner sleeve member 102 is provided having an inner sleeve member side wall 105 and an inner sleeve member bottom wall 106, and as in the first embodiment, the inner sleeve member 102 is preferably made of a thin impermeable one of heat shrinkable stretch formed polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and heat shrinkable stretch formed polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Other materials may be used depending on the manner in which inner sleeve member 102 is molded.

As before, the inner sleeve member 102 may be initially formed with a cylindrical inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and then formed into various shapes by one of compression molding and heat shrinking to form protruding protrusions on its surface. Alternatively, the shape may be injection molded or compression molded.

As before, the inner sleeve member side wall 105 is preferably manufactured with inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104 on its wall, respectively, to increase its surface area, provide strength, surface area, and allow various different reactive chemical compounds RCC to be stored between the individual protrusions, as shown in fig. 13. The number of protrusions must be more than one so that at least the reactive chemical compound RCC can be used with the device 10. Various protruding shapes of inner sleeve member sidewall 105 (such as the aforementioned protrusions) may be used to increase the strength and surface area of inner sleeve member 102. The protruding shape forms a compartment with protrusions (e.g., inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104 shown as examples in fig. 11, 12, 13, and 20) to provide strength to the inner sleeve member 102 and also to allow a reactive chemical compound RCC to be placed therein and dry gas DG to fill and saturate the inner sleeve member. Preferably, the protruding protrusions of inner sleeve member 102 form compartments on inner sleeve member sidewall 105 to also allow dry gas DG to interact with reactive chemical compound RCC. The inward facing protrusions 103 of the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 must frictionally tangentially contact the food product container sidewall 100 to form a compartment for the reactive chemical compound RCC between the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and the food product container sidewall 100.

The inner sleeve member sidewall 105 is circumferentially attached to frictionally tangentially contact the food product container sidewall 100 to at least partially wrap the food product container sidewall 100 below the wrapping sleeve member seal 121. Grease, soft pliable glues and waxes may also be used to hold them firmly in place and form at least distinct compartments with the food product container sidewall 100. Preferably, inner sleeve member sidewall 105 extends to partially cover the exposed surface of food product container sidewall 100 below the wrapping sleeve member seal 121 as much as possible.

As before, the dry gas seal 123 is preferably also provided in the form of an O-ring seal, a metal band seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and sealing wax seal, a cement, and is shaped in the form of a thin ring, typically an annular structure. The dry gas seal 123 is disposed circumferentially and tightly sealed about the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20 and proximate the inner sleeve member sidewall lower edge 24. The maximum distal spacing between the cover sleeve member seal 121 and the dry gas seal 123 is optimal for this form of operation of the invention. When placed around inner sleeve member sidewall lower edge 24, the outer diameter of dry gas seal 123 should be slightly larger than the outer diameter of outwardly facing protrusion 104 of inner sleeve member 102. This allows a proper seal to be formed with the sheathing sleeve member 30 by the dry gas seal 123.

As before, it is contemplated that the inner sleeve member side wall 105 may also envelope and entirely surround the food product container side wall 100 below the dry gas seal 123, and the inner sleeve member bottom wall 106 extends to envelope and surround the food product container dome-shaped bottom wall 22 as a cup-shaped sleeve structure.

As before, the inwardly facing protrusions 103 of the inner sleeve member 102 are preferably tangentially held tightly against the food product container sidewall 100 by friction. Again, the outward facing protrusion 104 and the food product container sidewall 100 form a collection of distinct compartments with the food product container sidewall 100. The inward facing protrusion 103 and the covered sleeve member side wall 101 also form a collection of different compartments above the dry gas seal 123. The compartment formed by the outwardly facing protrusion 104 and the food product container side wall 100 is filled with a reactive chemical compound RCC selected from the group of pairs of hydrated chemical compounds S, which react endothermically to produce the humidifying liquid HL to be used by the apparatus 10. Each of a selected pair of reactive chemical compounds RCC is disposed in an adjacent compartment formed by the outward facing protrusion 104 and the food product container sidewall 100.

A covered sleeve member 30 is provided. The cover sleeve member 30 is made of one of stretch-formed polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyvinyl chloride (polyethylene terephthalate or PVC), and other materials in the form of a thin-walled cup-shaped sleeve (e.g., deep-drawn aluminum) that wholly or partially surrounds and encloses the food product container 20. Preferably, cover sleeve member 30 has a cover sleeve member sidewall 101 that may fit snugly over inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and has a shape that follows the contour of food product container sidewall 100. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 may take a variety of shapes, but must allow the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 to sealingly mate with portions of the food product container sidewall 100 to retain and form a seal with the dry gas seal 123 and the cover sleeve member seal 121 when so formed, as will be described below.

The cover sleeve member side wall 101 wholly or partially covers the sealed food product container 20 containing the food product P to which the inner sleeve member 102 is attached. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 preferably partially covers the food product container side wall 100 and may extend to partially cover the food product container top wall 107. The covering sleeve member side wall 101 may be made of various types of materials, but is preferably a heat shrinkable plastic such as PET and PVC. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 may also be made of aluminum as a deep-drawn container and must be reshapeable by rotational forming and crimping to form a seal with the food product container 20.

As before, the cover sleeve member 30 has a cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 sealingly connected to the cover sleeve member side wall 101. The cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 is sealingly connected to an inwardly projecting cover sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding.

As previously mentioned, it is contemplated that the clad sleeve member 101 may be made from aluminum that is spun or deep drawn and shaped to provide all of the sealing required by spinning and rolling it into multiple parts. In this case, the covering sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 may be made of a heat shrinkable PET or PVC material and added to the covering sleeve member bottom wall 130 by ultrasonic welding or gluing. If desired, a support cylinder 132 having a thin-walled end opening with a support cylinder bore 137 near its top end is placed to rest at the opposite open end on the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 between the cover sleeve member side wall 101 and the cover sleeve member annular wall 133 and to contact the food product container 20. If the cover sleeve member side wall 101 is sufficiently strong, the support cylinder 132 is not necessary.

Also as previously described, an annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retention space 131 within the cover sleeve member 30 is formed between the space defined by the inner surface of the support cylinder 132, the inner surface of the cover sleeve member shrinkable annular wall 133 and the inner surface of the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130. The annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber retaining space 131 is filled with plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D up to the height of the overwrap sleeve member shrinkable annular wall 133.

An annular hot wax retaining space 136 is also formed in the cover sleeve member 30 between the outer surface of the support cylinder 132, the inner surface of the cover sleeve member side wall 102 and the inner surface of the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130. The annular hot wax holding space 136 may optionally be filled to the height of the support cylinder 132 with a suitable hot wax 138 that may melt in a temperature range of 70 ° F to 160 ° F. The support cylinder 132 prevents the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 from collapsing and deforming relative to the food product container 20.

When the cover sleeve member is placed over the food product container 20 and the attached inner sleeve member 102, the inner sleeve member bottom wall 106 rests on the support cylinder 137 and the outward facing protrusions 104 on the inner sleeve member side wall 105 tangentially contact the cover sleeve member side wall 101 to form a compartment between the walls. A cover sleeve member sidewall 101 covers over an attached inner sleeve member 102 and covers, in whole or in part, the food product container sidewall 100. As shown in fig. 13 and 20, the inward facing protrusion 103 and the cover sleeve member side wall 101 form a collection of distinct compartments above the dry gas seal 123. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 preferably partially covers the food product container side wall 100 and may extend to partially cover the food product container top wall 107.

As before, the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 fits just over the inner sleeve member 102 and should just tangentially contact the dry gas seal 123. As before, the covered sleeve member sidewall 101 has a covered sleeve member sealing portion 118 that is then diametrically contracted to form a seal between the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and the covered sleeve member sidewall 101. This seal serves to seal the dry gas GS diluted to just below atmospheric pressure, thereby forming a dry gas chamber DGS below the dry gas seal 123 containing the support cylinder 132, the annular hot wax holding space 136 containing the hot wax 138 therein, the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorbent holding space 131 containing the plastic heat shrink vapor absorbent D therein.

Preferably, more reactive chemical compound RCC is then placed in the compartment thus formed by inward facing protrusion 103 and the covering sleeve member side wall 101. These compartments are adjacent to the reactive chemical compound RCC that has been placed in the compartment formed by the outward facing protrusion 104 and the food product container sidewall 100. Of course, the inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104 may be used to store a single and different kind of reactive chemical compound RCC selected in pairs, respectively. Thus, more than one reactive chemical compound pair RCC may be used with the apparatus 10. Preferably, the various reactive chemical compounds RCC capable of reacting endothermically with each other are selected from the group consisting of ₂·8H₂O(s) and NH₄SCN(s), and NH₄NO₃(s) and NH₄Species selected in the pair of cl(s). These reactive chemical compounds RCC have a humidifying liquid HL stored between their hydrated structures.

The humidification liquid chamber w is thus formed above the dry gas seal 123, with an inward facing protrusion 103 and an outward facing protrusion 104 that accommodate the reactive chemical compound RCC with water therein as the humidification liquid HL. To avoid premature reaction, pairs of reactive chemical compounds RCC that can react with each other are placed in different outward facing protrusions 104 separated by inward facing protrusions 103, respectively. The same is true for reactive chemical compounds placed in different inward-facing protrusions 103 separated by outward-facing protrusions 104, respectively.

A dry gas GS that is thinned to just below atmospheric pressure is provided to further fill and purge the cover sleeve member 30. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 has a cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 that is diametrically contractible to seal over the cover seal 121 and form a seal with the cover sleeve member sidewall seal 109. When contracted in diameter, the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 forms a seal with the cover seal 121 between the food product container top wall seam 114 and the cover sleeve member 30 to isolate the humidified liquids chamber W from the atmosphere.

As before, it is contemplated that the covered sleeve member sidewall end 110 is located at the covered sleeve member sealing portion 108, but it is contemplated that the covered sleeve member sidewall end 110 may extend beyond the covered sleeve member sealing portion 108.

If the containment sleeve member sealing portion 108 is made of a heat shrinkable material, it may be heated and heat shrunk, or roll formed with a roll former, to shrink in diameter and seal against the containment seal 121 against the food product container top wall seam 114 and contain the rarefied dry gas GS therein.

Fig. 13 shows a separate arrangement of the active chemical compound RCC in the humidification liquid chamber W.

Method of manufacturing the second embodiment

A standard food product container 20 is provided.

As before, a dry gas seal 123 is provided and is first placed circumferentially and sealingly around the food product container side wall 100 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20 and to band and seal around the inner sleeve member side wall bottom edge 24.

As previously described, inner sleeve member 102 is preferably provided as a cylindrical structure having inwardly facing protrusions 103 and outwardly facing protrusions 104. The inward facing protrusion 103 should have a diameter that is a snug fit just above the food product container sidewall 100. Accordingly, the inner sleeve member 102 slides over the food product container sidewall 100 to seat over the dry gas seal 123 and is circumferentially attached to at least partially cover the food product container sidewall 100 above the dry gas seal 123.

Then, the desired kind of reactive chemical compound RCC is filled into the respective outwardly facing protrusions 104 forming the respective chambers.

As before, the cover sleeve member seal 121 is disposed in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20, and is placed circumferentially and closely around the food product container side wall 100, and so as to be banded around the food container top wall seam 114.

As before, a cover sleeve member 30 is provided. The length of the cover sleeve member side wall 101 should be greater than the length of the food product container 20, in fact, for manufacturing purposes, it preferably extends at least 50mm beyond the food product container top wall 107.

To avoid repetition, as before, a support cylinder 132 (not shown as an absolutely necessary example) may be placed resting on the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 with the support cylinder aperture 137 adjacent the food product container 20 to form an annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber retaining space 131 and an annular hot wax retaining space 136. A hot wax 138 (not shown as an absolutely necessary example) is placed to fill the annular hot wax holding space 136. The plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D is filled into the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent-retaining space 131.

The subassembly of food product container 20, inner sleeve member 102, cover sleeve member seal 121, and dry gas seal 123 are just frictionally seated against cover sleeve member sidewall 101 with inner sleeve member bottom wall 106 spaced above plastic heat shrink vapor absorbent D. Then, the desired kind of reactive chemical compound RCC is filled into the respective inwardly facing raised portions 103 that form the respective chambers with the covering sleeve member side wall 101.

As before, a cylindrical rod CR is provided. The humidification liquid valve HLV, the dry gas valve DGV, and the vacuum valve Vv are closed.

The dry gas valve DGV and the vacuum valve Vv at a low pressure of about 1psig are first opened to allow dry gas GS to fill the interior of the cover sleeve member 30, thereby purging any humid air and gas within the cover sleeve member 30 using the vacuum pump VP. After a few seconds of purging, the dry gas valve DGV is closed to allow the vacuum pump VP to slightly rarefie the dry gas DG remaining in the clad sleeve member 30 to a pressure just below ambient atmospheric pressure. The hot air HA from the heat source HG is first directed to the position of the cover sleeve member side wall 118 with the cover sleeve member sealing portion 119 to heat shrink its diameter to form a seal between the cover sleeve member side walls 100 against the dry gas seal 123 and to seal the dry gas seal 123 against the inner sleeve member side wall 105, after which the hot air HA is removed. This traps the drying gas GS in a rarefied state in the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D below the drying gas seal 123.

As before, if made of heat shrinkable plastic, the hot air HA is then directed to the location of the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 of the cover sleeve member side wall 101 to shrink and clamp the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 around the surface of the cover sleeve member seal 121 to clamp and form a seal against the food container top wall seam 114, after which the hot air HA is removed. This seals the humidification liquid chamber W with the thinned dry gas GS.

If made from deep drawn and spun aluminum, the forming rollers from the roll former RFM are directed to the location of the food product covering sleeve member sealing portion 108 covering the sleeve member side wall 101 to contract and pinch the covering sleeve member sealing portion 108 around the surface of the covering sleeve member seal 121 to seal against the food container top wall seam 114.

Thus, the dry gas GS at the thinned pressure is now sealed within the humidification liquid chamber w and within the dry gas chamber DGS, and also permeates into the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D. Then, the dry gas valve DGV and the vacuum valve Vv are closed. As before, the extra material of the cover sleeve member 30 that is still attached to the cylindrical rod CR is cut to produce the cover sleeve member sidewall end 110. The device 10 is now ready for use.

Method of operating an apparatus

The cooling actuator 40 is activated by deforming the dry gas seal 123 using the finger pressure f to achieve fluid communication between the humidification liquid chamber W and the dry gas chamber DGS. It is contemplated that the cooling activation device 40 is activated prior to use of the food product release device 113. However, if the food product release device 113 is actuated prior to cooling the actuation device, it is expected that the pressure drop of the food product container 20 will cause the food product container sidewall 100 to become relaxed and the grip of the dry gas seal 123 to be relaxed relative to the inner sleeve member sidewall 105, so that fluid communication between the humidified liquid chamber W, the dry gas chamber DGS and the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D will be achieved.

The cover sleeve member side wall 101 can then be massaged by hand against the inner sleeve member side wall 105 to cause the reactive chemical compounds RCC in the humidification liquid chamber W to react with each other, thereby endothermically cooling and simultaneously producing the humidification liquid HL. The massage deforms the inwardly facing protrusions and outwardly facing protrusions 104 of inner sleeve member 102 to allow reactive chemical compounds RCC to mix and react with each other, thereby cooling the first cooling means of the supply device 10 by an endothermic reaction, while providing means to generate the humidifying liquid HL for the second cooling means.

The thinning of the dry gas GS will force the humidification liquid HL produced by the reaction to evaporate as the humidification liquid vapor Vw into the dry gas dg. The dry gas DG absorbs the wetting liquid vapor Vw, which lowers the dew point temperature of the dry gas DG, and the dry gas becomes a humid gas in the third cooling device of the apparatus 10. When the humidifying liquid becomes wet and lowers its dew point temperature, the dry gas DG takes away additional heat of evaporation h from the humidifying liquid HL. The higher dew point temperature of the drying gas DG saturates the drying gas chamber DGs and is absorbed by the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D in the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space 131. The plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D becomes hot while absorbing the humidification liquid vapor Vw, and the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space wall 133 stretched by stretch forming responds to an increase in its temperature by deforming and shrinking its area.

As before, when heated, the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber retaining space walls 133 shrink their surface area and move outwardly away from the food product container dome-shaped bottom wall 22, causing the volumes of the dry gas chamber DGS and the humidified liquids chamber W to increase, thereby producing a relatively low vapor pressure in a fixed amount of thinned dry gas DG in the dry gas chamber DGS. This reduces the vapor pressure of the drying gas DG in the drying gas chamber DGS. The pressure in the DGS dry gas chamber is now lower and it will absorb more of the wetting liquid vapour Vw to continue the cooling process.

Further, the deforming movement of the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space wall 133 causes the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D to move and expand to allow the unexposed plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D to function and effect the absorption of the humidifying liquid vapor Vw into the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D, and provides a second cooling means by the evaporation of the humidifying liquid HL produced by the reaction.

Third embodiment of the invention

Referring to fig. 15, a standard food product container 20 is provided. This embodiment is but another form of the first and second embodiments having the same elements. The difference between this third embodiment and the first embodiment is that a dry gas seal 123 is made at the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and the inner sleeve member sidewall top edge 105a of the food product container sidewall 100.

As before, the cover sleeve member seal 121 is provided in the form of a thin ring structure made of one of an O-ring seal, a metal ring seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and a sealing wax seal, and cement, as described in the first embodiment of the present invention. The cover sleeve member seal 121 should be expandable to form a tight seal around the food product container 20. The ring diameter of the wrapping sleeve member seal 121 is placed circumferentially and tightly sealed around the food product container top wall seam 114 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20.

As before, a dry gas seal 123 as described in the first embodiment of the invention is provided, which is preferably also in the form of an O-ring seal, a metal band seal, a rubber band seal, a putty seal and sealing wax seal, a cement, and is shaped in the form of a thin ring, typically an annular structure. The dry gas seal 123 is placed circumferentially and tightly sealed around the food product container sidewall 100 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20, and is spaced about 20mm from the cover sleeve member seal 121.

As before, the thin cup shaped inner sleeve member 102 is provided with an inner sleeve member side wall 105 and an inner sleeve member bottom wall 106. The inner sleeve member 102 is a thin-walled cup-shaped structure having an inner sleeve member side wall 105 and an inner sleeve member bottom wall 106 that surrounds the food product container side wall 100 forming an annular gap with the food product container side wall 100.

As before, the inner sleeve member 102 is preferably formed of an injection molded plastic material, such as PET and PVC. The inner sleeve member 102 may also be formed as a thin deep drawn aluminum cup. Inner sleeve member 102 may also be injection molded, however, it is contemplated that inner sleeve member 102 is made from a heat shrinkable plastic material (e.g., PET and PVC). As such, inner sleeve member 102 should be high enough to surround food product container bottom dome wall 22 with inner sleeve member side wall 105 covering a substantial portion of food product container side wall 100 and inner sleeve member top edge 105a just above dry gas seal 123. The inner sleeve member sidewall 105 is shrunk in diameter and grips over the dry gas seal 123 to form a fluid seal between the food product container sidewalls 100. The inner surface of the inner sleeve member side wall 105, the dry gas seal 123, the outward surface of the food product container side wall 100, the outward surface of the food product dome bottom wall 22, and the inner surface of the inner sleeve member bottom wall 106 form a humidifying liquid chamber W filled with humidifying liquid HL to partially surround the food product container side wall 100 and to surround the food product dome bottom wall 22. The humidification liquid fills the humidification liquid chamber W until just below the dry gas seal 123. Thus, when the inner sleeve member 102 is heat shrunk or crimped to seal over the dry gas seal 123, the dry gas seal 123 forms a seal between the inner sleeve member side wall 105 and the portion of the food product container side wall 100 to form a sealed humidification liquid chamber W containing the humidification liquid HL. The humidifying liquid HL thus partly surrounds the food container bottom dome-shaped wall 22 and the food container side wall 100.

As before, wick 140 is optionally provided, but is not required. Wick 140 is bonded to the outwardly facing wall of inner sleeve member side wall 105 as previously described.

As before, the surrounding sleeve member side wall 101 has a surrounding sleeve member sealing portion 118 which is constricted in diameter to form a restricted vapor passage 119a in the wick 140 against the inner sleeve member side wall 105. Compression of the cover sleeve member sealing portion 118 also causes the dry gas seal 123 to seal between the inner sleeve member sidewall 105 and the food product container sidewall 100.

As before, when the diameter of the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 shrinks, it forms a cover sleeve member seal 109 with the cover seal 121 and clamps around the food container top wall seam 114 to form the dry gas chamber DGS. The dry gas chamber DGS extends between the outer facing surfaces of the cover sleeve member seal 121, the cover sleeve member sidewall 101, the food container sidewall 100 partially above the dry gas seal 123, the dry gas seal 123 and the inner sleeve member 102. Inside the DGS dry gas chamber, a dry gas DG is provided, preferably just under ambient atmospheric pressure.

As before, the cover sleeve member 30 has a cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 sealingly connected to the cover sleeve member side wall 101. A cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 is sealingly connected to an inwardly projecting cover sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding.

The food product container 20 is preferably a cylindrical beverage container of standard design having a standard food product release device 113 and a standard food product release port 112.

A covered sleeve member 30 is provided. The covered sleeve member 30 as previously described is preferably made of one of stretch-formed, stretch-blow-molded PET and PVC to form a heat-shrinkable covered sleeve member 30 in the form of a thin-walled cup-shaped sleeve, but it may also be formed of deep-drawn thin-walled aluminum. The cover sleeve member 30 has a cover sleeve member sidewall 101 that wholly or partially surrounds the food product container 20 with an inner sleeve member 102 attached to the food product container sidewall 100. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 may take a variety of shapes to impart strength thereto, but must allow the cover sleeve member sidewall 101 to mate with portions of the food product container sidewall 100 as will be described below. The cover sleeve member sidewall 101 fully or partially covers the sealed food product container 20 containing the food product P. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 may be made of other plastic materials that shrink when heat is applied to a surface. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 preferably partially covers the food product container side wall 100 and may extend to partially cover the food product container top wall 107. The covering sleeve member side wall 101 just slidingly engages and circumferentially surrounds the wick 140 on the inner sleeve member 102. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 preferably partially covers the food product container side wall 100 and may extend to partially cover the food product container top wall 107. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member side wall end 110 is located at the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108, but it is contemplated that the cover sleeve member side wall end 110 may extend beyond the cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 and above the food product container top wall 107. When cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 is contracted, it clamps around the surface of inner sleeve member 102 and forms an annular dry gas chamber DGS defined by dry gas seal 123, cover sleeve member seal 121, and a portion of food product container sidewall 100 and a portion of the surface of the cover sleeve member sidewall.

The cover sleeve member 30 protects the inner sleeve member 102. When the covered sleeve member sidewall 101 is heat shrunk, it should not grip around the surface of the inner sleeve member 102, but rather must allow the wetting liquid vapor Vw to pass between the covered sleeve member sidewall 101 and the outwardly facing inner sleeve member sidewall 105. It is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sealing portion 118 partially deforms around the inner sleeve member 102 to securely retain the inner sleeve member and provide a restricted steam passage 119 a.

The outwardly facing surface of inner sleeve member sidewall 105, dry gas seal 123 and the inwardly facing surface of partially encasing sleeve member 30 form a dry gas chamber DGS. The outwardly facing surface of the food product container sidewall 100, the covering sleeve member seal 121 and the inwardly facing surface of the portion of the food product container sidewall 101 form a humidified liquid chamber w.

The cover sleeve member 30 has a cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 sealingly connected to the cover sleeve member side wall 101. The cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 is sealingly connected to an inwardly projecting cover sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133. The covered sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is flexible and may respond to pressure changes by collapsing or expanding. The covering sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is filled with a plastic heat shrink vapor absorbent D, which is filled to the level of the covering sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133. The inner surface of the cover sleeve member 30 below the cover sleeve member seal 121 forms a dry gas chamber DGS containing the dry gas GS.

It is contemplated that the clad sleeve member 101 may be made of spun or deep drawn aluminum and shaped to provide all of the sealing required by spinning and rolling it into a part. In this case, the covering sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 may be made of a heat shrinkable PET or PVC material and added to the covering sleeve member bottom wall 130 by ultrasonic welding or gluing. If desired, a support cylinder 132 having a thin-walled end opening with a support cylinder bore 137 near its top end, positioned as previously described, is placed to rest at the opposite open end on the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 between the cover sleeve member side wall 101 and the cover sleeve member annular wall 133, and to contact the inner sleeve member bottom wall 105. If the cover sleeve member side wall 101 is sufficiently strong, the support cylinder 132 is not necessary.

An annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber retaining space 131 within the dry gas chamber DGS is formed between the space defined by the inner surface of support cylinder 132, the inner surface of the covering sleeve member shrinkable annular wall 133 and the inner surface of the covering sleeve member bottom wall 130. The annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space 131 is in fluid communication with and within the dry gas chamber DGS. An annular hot wax holding space 136 is formed in the dry gas chamber DGS between the outer surface of the support cylinder 132, the inner surface of the cover sleeve member sidewall 102 and the inner surface of the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130. Annular hot wax holding space 136 may optionally be filled with a suitable hot wax 138 that may melt at a temperature in the range of 70 ° f to 160 ° f. The support cylinder 132 prevents the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 from collapsing and deforming relative to the food product container 20.

When the covering sleeve member side wall 101 is pressed down at the position of the dry gas seal 123 with the finger f to deform it and expose the humidification liquid HL from the humidification liquid chamber W into the dry gas chamber e, the cooling actuator 40 is provided.

It is contemplated that inner sleeve member 102 may have a shape and form that facilitates an increased surface area to facilitate evaporation in dry gas chamber DGS. It is contemplated that ionizable compound S is selected from the class of endothermically dissolving soluble chemical compound DCC, which may be disposed within inwardly facing protrusion 103 of inner sleeve member 102 as previously described. This may be accomplished by injecting the ionizable dissolving chemical compound DCC into the outwardly facing surface of the inner sleeve member 102 as previously described. The restricted vapor passage 119a is formed by clamping the surrounding sleeve member sealing portion 118 to the wick 140.

The annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space 131 accommodates a plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D such as silica gel, molecular sieve, clay desiccant (e.g., montmorillonite clay, calcium oxide, and calcium sulfide). The annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor-absorbent-retaining space 131 is formed by stretching a heat-shrinkable material, including various forms of heat-shrinkable PET and various forms of heat-shrinkable PVC. The shrinkable annular wall 133 of the covering sleeve member responds to heat by deforming and shrinking its surface area. Advantageously, the surface area of the annular wall 133 that the sheathing sleeve member is shrinkable shrinks and tends to flatten out as heat is received from the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber to increase the volume of the drying gas chamber DGS. This deformation is caused by heating of the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D as it absorbs the humidified liquid HL vapor Vw from the humidified dry gas DG in the DGS dry gas chamber. The drying gas GS in the drying gas chamber DGS is in fluid communication with the plastic heat shrink vapour absorbent D and the restricted vapour passage 119a, and therefore, advantageously, the annular plastic heat shrink vapour absorbent holding space 131 is in fluid communication with the outer wall of the inner sleeve member 102.

The shape of the surrounding sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 must minimize the drying gas chamber DGS before it is heated, and therefore its intrusion into the drying gas chamber DGS must be designed to maximize and increase the volume of the drying gas chamber DGS. In the example shown in fig. 1, the shape of the surrounding sleeve member collapsible annular wall 133 is an inverted cup shape. However, the shrinkable ring shape of the cover sleeve member may take a variety of shapes, as shown in the figures.

When heated, the covering sleeve member contractible annular wall 133 contracts and minimizes its area. The annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space 131 expands and moves outward and increases the volume of the drying gas chamber DGS to create a much smaller pressure on the drying gas DG than its initial pressure, which is preferably just below ambient atmospheric pressure. This reduces the vapor pressure of the dry gas DG and any vapor in the dry gas chamber DGs and, therefore, reduces the vapor pressure in inner sleeve member 102. Accordingly, it is contemplated that the cover sleeve member sidewall 100 may be designed with annular or lateral protrusions for reinforcing the cover sleeve member sidewall and preventing it from collapsing under the rarefaction forces generated by the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D. For example, the inward facing protrusions 103 and outward facing protrusions 104 shown in fig. 2 may be sufficient to provide all of the strength and surface area required to support the cover sleeve member sidewall 100 from the rarefied pressures generated by the plastic heat shrink vapor absorber D. It is contemplated that the humidification liquid chamber W can be made to just contain enough humidification liquid HL, and not to overflow when receiving the humidification liquid HL.

As before, the outwardly facing surface of inner sleeve member 102 forms part of the dry gas chamber DGS. This surface may also be delaminated with the ionizable compound S when the inner sleeve member is heat shrunk to form its shape by: the inner sleeve member is thermally sprayed with a stream of particles of an ionizable compound carried by heated air at high impact pressure as the inner sleeve member thermally contracts to form its shape on the mold. Dry gas DG, preferably at a pressure just below atmospheric ambient, is provided inside dry gas chamber DGS and also fills the dry gas chamber DGS and creates a slight pressure differential between the dry gas chamber DGS (lower pressure) and the humidified liquids chamber W.

Fig. 16 shows the apparatus 10 according to the fourth embodiment when the cooling means F are actuated.

Method of manufacturing the third embodiment

This method is essentially the same as the steps required for the first embodiment, with only slight differences, providing a standard food product container 20.

As before, a cover sleeve member seal 121 is provided, and the cover sleeve member seal 121 is expanded and placed circumferentially and tightly around the food product container side wall 100 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20, and to be banded around the food product container top wall seam 114.

As before, the dry gas seal 123 is disposed and inflated about 20mm below the cover sleeve member seal 121 in a plane parallel to the diametric plane of the food product container 20 and is placed circumferentially and tightly around the food product container top wall 107 to band around the food product container side wall 100.

The inner sleeve member 102 is provided in the form of a cup-shaped sleeve as previously described to frictionally wrap and fit over the food container sidewall 100 and merely encase the dry gas seal 123. A wick 140 is optionally provided and bonded to the outwardly facing wall of inner sleeve member side wall 105 as before.

Humidification liquid HL is poured into inner sleeve member 102 to fill humidification liquid chamber W between the food product container and inner sleeve member 102 until just below dry gas seal 123.

The hot air HA is first directed to the inner sleeve member 102 at the location of the dry gas seal 123 to shrink and clamp the inner sleeve member 102 partially around the surface of the dry gas seal 123, after which the hot air HA is removed. This seals the humidification liquid HL and forms a sealed humidification liquid chamber W formed by the annular gap between the food product container and the inner sleeve member 102 until just below the dry gas seal 123.

As before, the cover sleeve member 30 is provided as a cup-like structure having a straight cover sleeve member side wall 101 as shown in fig. 2.

As before, the cover sleeve member side wall 101 should be taller than the food product container 20 and should extend at least 50mm beyond the food product container top wall 107. The cover sleeve member side wall 101 fits just over the inner sleeve member 102.

As before, the support cylinder 132 is placed to rest on the support cylinder aperture 137 on the cover sleeve member bottom wall 130 adjacent the food product container 20 to form an annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber retaining space 131 and an annular hot wax retaining space 136. As before, the hot wax 138 is placed to fill the annular hot wax holding space 136 and to accommodate the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent D filled in the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space 131.

As before, the food product container 20 with inner sleeve member 102, attached inner sleeve member 102, cover sleeve member seal 121 and dry gas seal 123 is inserted to rest on the support cylinder 132 within the cover sleeve member 30.

As before, the cylindrical rod CR is provided with a through hole TH running through its length and a three-way fitting TFW attached to the through hole TH. As before, the first input of three-way fitting TFW is connected by dry gas hose DGH to be in fluid communication with dry gas pressure tank DGC via dry gas valve DGV. As before, the second input of the three-way fitting TFW is connected to the vacuum pump VP through a vacuum pump hose VPH via a vacuum valve Vv. As before, the third input of the three-way fitting TFW is connected via a humidification liquid valve HLV through a humidification liquid tank HLT.

As before, the outer diameter of the cylindrical rod CR is made to fit precisely inside the covering sleeve member 30, and it is inserted into the open end of the covering sleeve member 30 by about 20mm, and the covering sleeve member 30 is heat-shrunk to seal around it. The humidification liquid valve HLV, the dry gas valve DGV and the vacuum valve Vv are closed.

As previously described, the dry gas valve DGV and the vacuum valve Vv, regulated at a low pressure of about 1psig, are first opened to allow dry gas GS to fill the interior of the cover sleeve member 30, thereby purging the inner sleeve member 102, the dry gas chamber DGS, and any humid air and gas in the interior of the cover sleeve member 30 with the vacuum pump VP. After a few seconds of purging, the dry gas valve DGV is closed to allow the vacuum pump VP to slightly rarefie the dry gas DG remaining in the clad sleeve member 30 to a pressure just below ambient atmospheric pressure. A shut-off valve may be provided for controlling the pressure, but the vacuum pump VP itself may be manufactured to provide the required rarefaction.

Hot air HA from heat source HS is now directed to the location of food product cover sleeve member sealing portion 108 of cover sleeve member sidewall 101 to shrink and clamp around cover seal 121, after which the hot air HA is removed. This seals within the drying gas chamber DGS and forms the drying gas GS.

The additional material of the covered sleeve member 30 attached to the cylindrical rod CR is then severed to produce a covered sleeve member sidewall end 110. The device 10 is now ready for use.

Method for operating a device

It is contemplated that the cooling actuator 40 is activated by the pressure of the finger f to deform the dry gas seal 123 prior to use of the food product release device 113. However, if the food product release device 113 is used prior to cooling the actuating device 40, it is expected that the pressure drop due to the lack of a seal in the food product P and in the carbonated food product container 20 will cause the food product container side wall 100 to relax, compromising the integrity of the seal formed by the dry gas seal 123 between the inner sleeve member 102 and the cover sleeve member side wall 101, and that a slight rarefaction of the dry gas GS will create a pressure differential between the dry gas chamber DGS (lower pressure) and the humidified liquids chamber w. In either case of the cooling actuator 40, the humidification liquid HL will naturally cause the humidification liquid vapor Vw to evaporate from the humidification liquid chamber W into the dry gas chamber DGS. A slight thinning of the drying gas GS will result in a pressure difference between the drying gas chamber DGS (lower pressure) and the wetting liquid chamber w. In either case of the cooling actuator 40, the humidification liquid vapor Vw will naturally be forced to evaporate and enter the dry gas chamber DGS by the pressure difference between the dry gas chamber DGS and the humidification liquid chamber w. This starts the cooling process by evaporation of the humidified liquid vapour Vw into the dry gas GS. The same happens when the food product release means 113 is used before cooling the actuating means 40. When the carbonation pressure is released from the food product P, the retention of the dry gas seal 123 on the food product container sidewall 100 is weakened and a slight rarefaction of the dry gas GS will result in a pressure difference between the dry gas chamber DGS (lower pressure) and the humidified liquids chamber w. In either case of the cooling actuator 40, the wetting liquid vapour Vw will naturally be forced into the dry gas chamber DGS. The humidified liquid vapor Vw passes into the dry gas chamber DGs containing therein the dry gas DG. The dry gas chamber DGS is expected to contain chemical compound S. This achieves further endothermic cooling. The dry gas GS evaporates the humidification liquid HL into the humidification liquid vapor Vw, and evaporative cooling occurs. The dry gas DG absorbs the wetting liquid vapor Vw, which lowers the dew point temperature of the dry gas DG, and it becomes a humid gas. When the drying gas DG becomes moist and lowers its dew point temperature, the heat of vaporization H is carried away by the drying gas. As before, the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D becomes hot while absorbing the humidification liquid vapor Vw, and the annular plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent holding space wall 133, which is tensioned by stretch forming, responds to an increase in its temperature by deforming and shrinking its area.

As before, when heated, the annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space walls 133 shrink in surface area and move outwardly from the food product container dome-shaped bottom 22, causing the volume of the dry gas chamber DGS to increase and thereby creating a relatively low vapor pressure in a fixed amount of rarefied dry gas DG in the dry gas chamber DGS. This reduces the vapor pressure of the drying gas DG in the drying gas chamber DGS. The pressure within the DGS dry gas chamber is now lower and so the wetting liquid vapour Vw is drawn into the DGS dry gas chamber at an increased rate. This deformation of the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retention space walls 133 continues as more heat of vaporization h continues to be generated, and causes the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retention space walls 133 to tend to flatten and thus increase in volume relative to the original volume of the drying gas chamber DGS. The deformation and flattening of annular plastic heat shrink vapor absorber holding space walls 133 causes the volume of dry gas chamber DGS to increase and, due to the presence of a fixed amount of dry gas DG in dry gas chamber DGS, a lower pressure is generated inside dry gas chamber DGS. The annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retaining space 131 also becomes larger by flattening of the annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorbent retaining space walls 133. As before, this causes the plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber D to continuously shift, move, fall and stretch over the flat annular plastic heat shrinkable vapor absorber retaining space walls 133. This stretching agitates the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D and makes it more effective because it has a greater surface area. Therefore, the dry gas DG is an electrically powered heat transfer device for humidifying the humidifying liquid vapor Vw into the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D without requiring vacuum.

The combination of the humidifying liquid HL and the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorber D is summarized in table 1 below:

figure 16 shows another form of the third embodiment in which the dry gas seal 123 is located approximately midway along the side wall 100 of the food product container to free space above the humidified liquids chamber to accommodate the soluble chemical compound DCC above the dry gas seal 123. Fig. 16 also shows an outwardly heat-shrinkable projection 141 forming the bottom wall of the inner sleeve member 102. The heat-shrinkable protruding part 141 is an example of a structure protruding outward with respect to the food product container 20, which increases the volume of the dry gas chamber DGS while it decreases the volume of the humidifying liquid chamber W when heated by the plastic heat-shrinkable vapor absorbent D. It acts as a pump for the wetting liquid HL to rise and interact with the soluble chemical compound DCC to provide endothermic cooling by their solvation. At the same time, the dry gas DG will evaporate the humidification liquid HL into the humidification liquid vapor Vw and achieve even more cooling by evaporation. Thus, by adjusting the amount of wetting liquid HL pumped into the soluble chemical compound DCC and the evaporation rate of the wetting liquid HL, the drying and dissolution of the soluble chemical compound DCC can be adjusted to provide repeated cooling using the same amount of chemical to repeat the solvation process and cooling.

Claims

1. A self-cooling device (10) comprising:

a food product container (20), the food product container (20) having a food product container wall (100) with a food product container wall outward surface;

a first chamber connected to the food product container (20) and containing a humidifying liquid;

a second chamber extending over at least a portion of and in thermal communication with the food product container wall outward surface, wherein the second chamber contains a drying gas;

a barrier structure sealing the first chamber from the second chamber;

and a humidification liquid release mechanism for opening fluid communication between the first chamber and the second chamber at the barrier structure such that operation of the humidification liquid release mechanism releases at least a portion of the humidification liquid into the second chamber.

2. The apparatus (10) of claim 1, wherein the food product container (20) includes a product release opening (112) and a product release mechanism (113) for operating to release the food product through the product release opening (112).

3. The apparatus (10) of claim 2, wherein the food product container (20) has a cylindrical food product container side wall and a food product container top wall (107) and a food product container bottom wall (22), wherein the food product container top wall (107) includes the product release opening (112).

4. The apparatus (10) of claim 3, wherein the second chamber extends above the bottom wall (22) of the food product container (20).

5. The apparatus (10) of claim 4, comprising a cover sleeve member (101), said cover sleeve member (101) having a cover sleeve member wall that is substantially impermeable to liquid, vapor, and gas, said cover sleeve member wall being spaced outwardly from said food product container wall (100) at a distance and having a cover sleeve member sealing portion (108), said cover sleeve member sealing portion (108) being rotatably sealable to said food product container wall (100) and defining an enclosed space between said food product container wall (100) and said cover sleeve member (101) that houses and defines said first and second chambers and houses said barrier structure between said first and second chambers.

6. The apparatus (10) of claim 5, further comprising an extended grip portion (111), the extended grip portion (111) extending upwardly above the cover sleeve member (101), wherein the cover sleeve member (101) is rotatable relative to the food product container wall (100), and wherein the barrier structure comprises an annular structure within the enclosed space that is in sealing contact with the food product container wall (100) and the cover sleeve member (101) and is slidable relative to the food product container wall (100), and wherein the humidifying liquid release mechanism comprises a protrusion (103) on the food product container wall (100), the protrusion (103) being wider than the annular structure and being rotatably aligned with the annular structure;

Such that gripping the extended grip (111) and gripping the cover sleeve member (101) and rotating the extended grip (111) relative to the cover sleeve member (101) and thus rotating the food product container (20) moves the annular structure relative to the protrusion (103) to a position where the annular structure extends over the protrusion (103) to open fluid communication between the first and second chambers.

7. The device (10) according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the second chamber further contains an endothermic chemical compound.

8. The apparatus (10) of claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the barrier structure comprises a dry gas seal (123), the dry gas seal (123) extending circumferentially around the food product container wall (100) and spaced a distance below the cover sleeve member sealing portion (108) such that the first chamber is defined above the dry gas seal (123) and the second chamber is defined below the dry gas seal (123),

the apparatus further comprises an inner sleeve member (102), the inner sleeve member (102) being provided in the second chamber between the food product container wall (100) and the cover sleeve member (101), the inner sleeve member (102) being injected with an endothermic chemical compound.

9. The device (10) according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the endothermic chemical compound is potassium chloride, ammonium chloride or ammonium nitrate.

10. The apparatus (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the humidifying liquid comprises water or dimethyl ether.

11. The apparatus (10) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the drying gas comprises one of substantially dry air, substantially dry nitrogen, and substantially dry carbon dioxide.

12. The apparatus (10) of claim 1, wherein the food product container is a can or a bottle.

13. The device (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the pressure in the second chamber is lower than ambient atmospheric pressure and lower than the pressure in the first chamber.

14. The apparatus (10) of any preceding claim, wherein the dry gas has a dew point of less than-10 ° F at ambient atmospheric pressure.

15. A method, comprising:

providing a food product container (20), the food product container (20) having a food product container wall (100) with a food product container wall outward-facing surface;

forming a first chamber connected to the food product container (20) and containing a humidifying liquid;

Forming a second chamber extending over and in thermal communication with at least a portion of the food product container wall outward surface, the second chamber containing a drying gas;

providing a barrier structure that seals the first chamber from the second chamber; and

providing a humidification liquid release mechanism for opening fluid communication between the first chamber and the second chamber at the barrier structure such that operation of the humidification liquid release mechanism releases at least a portion of the humidification liquid into the second chamber.