KR20120004397A - Device for rapidly refrigerating drinks - Google Patents

Abstract

       The present invention relates to a method of cooling a container (3) using a cooling gas, comprising the steps of placing the container (3) in an unsealed container (2) and liquefied cooling in a reservoir according to a gas flow rate of up to 200 mL per minute. Injecting a gas. The invention also relates to an apparatus which makes it possible to carry out the method described above.

Description

Method and apparatus for high speed cooling of beverages {DEVICE FOR RAPIDLY REFRIGERATING DRINKS}

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for fast cooling of beverages.

Many devices have been developed for cooling beverages to the ideal consumption temperature. Particularly, sparkling wines with an optimum consumption temperature of about 8 to 12 ° C, champagne or poisons such as vodka or cognac with a preferred consumption temperature of minus (-) (eg, -5 ° C to -10 ° C) Many coolers have been developed.

First, refrigerators and freezers exist. However, one of the major drawbacks of these devices is that they take several hours to cool the bottles. Therefore, this means that the beverage must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer for a sufficient time before it is consumed. This may not be possible. In particular, it may not be possible to maintain the optimum consumption temperature depending on the drink due to the problem of the storage room in which various drinks are stored in a restaurant or bar.

Moreover, if these drinks are kept in refrigerators or freezers for long periods of time to keep them fresh at all times, the consumption of electricity is unnecessarily high.

In general, a bottle of sparkling wine or champagne is a relatively thick glass bottle, the thickness of the bottle is not uniform throughout the bottle is not easy to heat exchange, so the temperature of the beverage content is not uniform.

In addition, in order to use a refrigerator or a freezer, power must be supplied so that they are not mobile cooling means. In such cases, it is suitable to use an isotherm bag system consisting of ice blocks or cooling gels that have been pre-cooled or cooled.

Therefore, there is a need for such a device that can fill these beverages as quickly and evenly as possible and preferably is easy to transport.

In general, the cooling device constitutes a storage box into which a bottle to be cooled is placed, and a cooling means is put in the storage box.

The use of chemical methods using one or more reagents, such as mixtures of water and urea or ammonium nitrate, which endothermicly react with each other, has been studied a lot.

This method requires a separate storage compartment and handles two or more reagents, which causes problems in terms of safety and convenience for the user.

Moreover, the reaction must take place in contact with the bottle to improve heat exchange performance. Therefore, the reaction product remains in the bottle and is likely to cause problems with the hygiene and safety of the end user.

So, manufacturers use gas. Such a device constitutes a cartridge for gas compressed in a liquefied state. The gas is injected into the reservoir, expanding and evaporating there, taking heat away from the surrounding medium, especially the liquid in the bottle, to cool it (evaporation enthalpy). Gas is released through the hole.

The compressed gas is injected through the coil surrounding the reservoir or directly into the reservoir to circulate directly in contact with the bottle to promote heat transfer and increase the cooling rate.

Such devices are described in US 2,805,556, FR 580,216, US 4,640,101, US 5,115,940, US 4,054,037 and FR 2,807,503.

However, these devices have difficulty in achieving a clear purpose for efficiency, reproducibility and quality.

First of all, these devices use a tank for liquefied cooling gas. The amount used for these gases (eg Freon gas or any other form of gas) should be used as little as possible due to economic and ecological problems. For this purpose, the heat exchange between the bottle and the liquefied gas should be optimized so that the amount of gas that evaporates is as close as possible to the amount of heat that must be removed from the bottle to lower the temperature.

In addition, this heat exchange should be optimized so that the temperature is lowered as quickly and homogeneously as possible.

For example, for a 75cl champagne bottle, a cooling time of 15 minutes to reduce the temperature of the bottle from 22 ° C to 12 ° C is very fast.

The present invention relates to a method for cooling a container with cooling gas in order to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, the method

Putting the container in an unsealed container,

-Injecting liquefied cooling gas into the reservoir at a flow rate of 200 mL / min or less.

The invention further relates to a device for cooling at least one container, the device being designed to receive a container and comprising a reservoir having one or more openings through which air can pass, wherein the reservoir contains a liquefied cooling gas. It is characterized by having at least one entry means to enable the entry means, the entry means being configured to allow gas to be injected in accordance with the method of the present invention.

In the above, it is preferable that the gas flow rate is 90 mL or less per minute, and more preferably, 60 mL or less per minute. It is preferred that the gas flow rate is substantially 45-50 mL per minute. Preferably, the gas flow rate is 30 to 35 mL or more per minute.

It is known that simply injecting a predetermined amount of gas is insufficient to obtain more cooling efficiency and homogeneity, and the injection flow rate of gas is an important parameter.

Without wishing to be bound by any theory, it is possible to control the flow rate of the cooling gas so that it can expand gradually throughout the gas injection, resulting in a more efficient cooling effect when compared to suddenly sufficient gas injection. It seems. Of course, the gas flow rate is determined by the purpose determined by the amount of the intended cooling and the conditions of the cooling time and by the characteristics of the cooling gas used.

It is known that injection at a flow rate of about 50 mL per minute has the potential to lower the temperature of the champagne bottle from 22 ° C to 12 ° C within 15 minutes.

Advantageously, it is desirable to allow the gas to be injected at a substantially constant flow rate for most of the gas injection time.

In the above, the container preferably contains various beverages, in particular alcoholic beverages, and more preferably a bottle of wine, in particular sparkling white wine or champagne.

The bin is advantageously a bin of thermally insulated isotherms, and the bin containing the container preferably has a residual free air volume of 60 cm 3 or less.

At least a portion of the gas entry means in the bin is open approximately 2/3 of the height from the bottom of the container, especially near the neck in case of bottles. Injecting gas at this height of the bottle provides better uniformity of cooling.

Alternatively, or in addition, more than one gas injection point can be configured in the device.

It is advantageous to configure at least one gas injection point in the high position of the device and at least one gas injection point in the low position.

It is also useful to construct two or more injection points located at the same height of the device and distributed around the reservoir.

The pressure loss in each entry passage of the gas from the gas supply device is substantially equal to the total pressure loss. In this way, each gas outlet in the bin delivers the same amount of cooling gas at the same flow rate.

According to the method and apparatus for fast cooling of a beverage according to the present invention, by adjusting the flow rate of the liquefied cooling gas injected into the storage box, it is possible to efficiently cool the temperature of the beverage contained in the container, It is possible to obtain very useful effects such as controlling the amount of consumption appropriately.

1 is a longitudinal side view of an apparatus according to the invention.
FIG. 2 is a longitudinal front view of the device of FIG. 1. FIG.

The cooling device 1 according to the invention shown in cross section in FIGS. 1 and 2 constitutes a bin 2 designed to receive such a bottle, such as a champagne bottle, which bin 2 is a cylindrical side wall. (4), bottom (5) and removable lid (6) is composed of mainly isothermal material.

The reservoir 2 is provided with a hole 7 through which air can pass, which hole 7 is formed across the side wall 4.

The bin 2 is installed on the base 8, and the lid 6 is coupled to the locking means 9 and the handle 10.

Since these elements are not the gist of the present invention, detailed description thereof will be omitted. And those skilled in the art will be able to use any known locking means.

The isotherm reservoir itself is known, but according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the bottle 3 is placed in the reservoir 2, the lid 6 is closed and the amount of remaining air in the reservoir 2 is reduced as much as possible. Will be tried.

In connection with cooling the bottle 3, the apparatus constitutes a cartridge 11 for liquefied cooling gas, which is contained in a dedicated housing 12.

The cartridge 11 is connected to a circuit device that injects the gas therein into the interior of the reservoir 2, and is adapted to allow fluid to communicate with the interior of the reservoir 2 and to allow the fluid to communicate therewith. The tube 13 formed across 4) is comprised.

According to a preferred aspect of the invention, the tube 13 is open at approximately two thirds of the height of the bottle 3, ie just below the neck of the bottle.

The cooling means constituting the tube 13 and the cartridge 11 through which the cooling gas is circulated are designed such that the cooling gas can be injected according to the characteristics of the flow rate controlled according to the present invention. Such means constitutes one or more flow rate control valves.

In this case, the illustrated example uses about 400 mL of liquefied cooling gas R134A contained in an aerosol can type cartridge 11 constituting an end having a hole of 0.25 mm without PGA.

This cartridge 11 offers the possibility of obtaining a gas flow rate of about 45 mL per minute for 8 to 10 minutes.

Of course, the required cooling condition differs depending on the type and amount of the gas to be injected. However, the parameters of the present invention allow to reduce the excessive consumption of gas to be used to remove the amount of heat required from the container and to optimize the use of the gas by approaching an ideal amount in theory.

For environmental reasons, the use of the gas R134A, a halogenated hydrocarbon of formula C2H2F₄, should be discontinued and other cooling gases replaced. The amount described here should be suitable to meet the set cooling objectives.

Several comparative tests were conducted aiming to lower the champagne bottles with initial temperatures of 22 ° C and 35 ° C to within a maximum of 12 ° C in about 15 minutes.

The amount of gas injected is 500 mL from an aerosol-type cartridge with an exhaust valve with a slot of 0.25 mm diameter.

Injection was done at a single injection point on the side located about 6 cm from the bottom of the bottle.

The prototype was designed to have an amount of residual air of 56 cm 3.

The temperature of the wine was recorded by a sensor inserted into the bottle, after 15 minutes of cooling the wine was poured into a glass of 15cl and the temperature was measured in each glass.

The result table obtained is shown in Table 1 below.

Average cooling kinetics of champagne at initial storage temperatures of 22 ° C and 35 ° C (sensor is in the middle of the bottle),
Gas Cartridge: 500mL, Valve: 1x0.25mm Slot Housing Minutes Wine initial temperature 22 ℃ Wine initial temperature 35 ℃ cooler Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Standard Deviation Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Standard Deviation Average 0 21.9 21.9 21.9 21.9 0.0 34.9 34.9 34.8 34.9 0.1 22.3 One 21.2 21.3 21.3 21.3 0.1 34 34.2 33.9 34.0 0.2 21.8 2 20.9 21 21.0 21.0 0.1 33.9 33.9 33.8 33.9 0.1 21.2 3 20.4 20.8 20.8 20.7 0.2 33.8 33.6 33.5 33.6 0.2 20.5 4 19.8 20.5 20.5 20.3 0.4 32.5 32.9 32.2 32.5 0.4 19.9 5 19.1 20 19.7 19.6 0.5 32 32.2 31.8 32.0 0.2 19.4 6 18.3 19.3 18.2 18.6 0.6 30.5 30.9 30.1 30.5 0.4 18.9 7 17.5 18.6 17.0 17.7 0.8 29.5 29.9 29.2 29.5 0.4 18.4 8 16.4 17.6 15.9 16.6 0.9 28.5 28.9 28.2 28.5 0.4 18.0 9 15 16.6 14.8 15.5 1.0 27.1 27.6 26.8 27.2 0.4 17.6 10 13.1 15.7 12.0 13.6 1.9 25.5 25.9 25.1 25.5 0.4 17.2 11 11 14.8 10.9 12.2 2.2 23.6 23.8 22.9 23.4 0.5 16.8 12 9.15 13.5 8.9 10.5 2.6 21.5 21.9 21.1 21.5 0.4 16.4 13 8 11.3 7.2 8.8 2.2 19.2 19.8 19.1 19.4 0.4 16.0 14 6.5 8.5 6.1 7.0 1.3 17.6 17.9 17.2 17.6 0.4 15.6 15 4.9 6.6 4.8 5.4 1.0 16.8 17.1 16.4 16.8 0.4 15.2 16 16.2 16.5 16.0 16.2 0.3 17 15.7 15.9 15.1 15.6 0.4 18 15.2 15.3 14.9 15.1 0.2 19 14 14.2 13.8 14.0 0.2 20 10.9 11.1 10.5 10.8 0.3 Number of minutes to empty the aerosol 11 12 11 11 0.6 11 11 11 11 0.0 Glass 1 14.4 11.5 9.7 11.9 2.4 15.6 16.5 15.4 15.8 0.6 Glass 2 7.2 5.9 5.9 6.3 0.8 12.9 13.4 12.5 12.9 0.5 Glass 3 5.6 4.5 3.2 4.4 1.2 10.4 10.9 10.2 10.5 0.4 Glass 4 2.5 3.2 2.5 2.7 0.4 9.5 10.1 8.9 9.5 0.6 Glass 5 2.0 1.9 1.9 1.9 0.1 7.1 7.9 6.5 7.2 0.7 Difference between Glass 1 and Glass 5 12.4 9.6 7.8 9.9 1.0 8.5 8.6 8.9 8.7 0.2

The results show an efficiency of about 45 mL gas flow rate per minute that can quickly reach the required temperature.

Another test was done in a circle with two gas inlets, respectively, at the top and bottom of the bottle.

The test was conducted to cool sparkling wine bottles with an initial temperature of 22 ° C. using 400 mL of cooling gas.

      As can be seen, good performance has already been achieved by limiting the injection of gas at flow rates of up to about 200 mL per minute (series 1: 160 mL per minute).

     Better results were obtained at flow rates below 80 mL per minute (series 2: 66 mL per minute).

     Optimal conditions were achieved during Series 3 with flow rates of about 50 mL per minute, while lower satisfaction was achieved when flow rates were below 35 mL per minute (Series 4: 31 mL per minute).

     The above test was done on 75cl beverage bottles.

However, the test was also performed on a container with a capacity of 4cl beverage. Here, the optimum flow rate for the best efficient cooling was when the flow rate of the cooling gas was 45-50 mL per minute, where the time required to cool this amount of beverage using about 100 mL of cooling gas was 2 minutes. It was soon.

      The table below shows the results of cooling four tubes containing 4cl vodka with an initial temperature of 22 ° C. The amount of cooling gas used was 100 mL and the temperature was measured after 2 minutes.

Effect of Flow Rate on Simultaneous Cooling of 4 Tubes Within 2 Minutes
Dual injection and reduction of connector diameter. Amount of gas injected: 100 mL Valve: 1 x 0.25 mm Valve: 1 x 0.33 mm tube Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Standard Deviation Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Standard Deviation One -1.1 -1.9 -1.3 -1.4 0.4 0.5 0.9 0.1 0.5 0.4 2 -1.9 -One -0.9 -1.3 0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.5 -0.5 0.1 3 -1.3 -1.3 -1.6 -1.4 0.2 -1.4 -1.2 -1.9 -1.5 0.4 4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.3 -0.5 0.2 -0.8 -0.1 -0.3 -0.4 0.4 Valve: 1 x 0.51 mm Valve: 2x 0.51 mm tube Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Standard Deviation Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Standard Deviation One 4.2 3.9 4.7 4.3 0.4 7.8 7.1 7.2 7.4 0.4 2 4.2 4 3.1 3.8 0.6 6.5 4.4 5.1 5.3 1.1 3 2.4 2.5 2.7 2.5 0.2 5.1 4.4 4.8 4.8 0.4 4 4.9 4.1 4.4 4.5 0.4 6.1 5.8 5.9 5.9 0.2

     The best cooling performance was obtained with a 0.25 mm valve with a gas flow rate of about 50 mL per minute.

     Although specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it is obvious that the present invention is not limited thereto and can be made by any technique corresponding to the above means or a combination thereof within the scope of the present invention. . Another example of a gas that may be used is HFO1234Ze.

1: cooling unit 2: storage box
3: bottle 7: hole
11: cartridge 13: tube

Claims (16)

Placing the container in an unsealed bin (2);
Injecting liquefied cooling gas into the reservoir at a gas flow rate of less than 200 mL per minute
And cooling the container (3) with cooling gas.
The method of claim 1,
A method of cooling a container (3) with a cooling gas, characterized in that the gas flow rate is 90 mL or less per minute.
The method of claim 2,
A method of cooling a container (3) with a cooling gas, characterized in that the gas flow rate is 60 mL or less per minute.
The method of claim 3,
A method of cooling a container (3) with a cooling gas, characterized in that the gas flow rate is substantially 45-50 mL per minute.
5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A method of cooling a container (3) with a cooling gas, characterized in that the gas flow rate is greater than 30-35 mL per minute.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A method of cooling a container (3) with cooling gas, characterized in that the gas is injected at a constant flow rate for most of the gas injection time.
One or more containers designed to hold the container 3, having one or more openings 7 to allow air to pass therethrough, and constituting a storage box equipped with one or more means for entering liquefied cooling gas. In the apparatus (1) for cooling (3),
Apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3), characterized in that the entry means are formed such that gas can be injected according to the method of any one of claims 1-6.
The method of claim 7, wherein
Apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3), characterized in that the container (3) comprises many beverages and alcoholic beverages.
The method of claim 8,
Apparatus (1) for cooling the container (3), characterized in that the container (3) is a wine bottle, a sparkling white wine bottle or a champagne bottle.
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9,
Apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3), characterized in that the storage box (2) is an isotherm storage box which is thermally insulated from the outside.
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10,
An apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3), characterized in that the reservoir (2) containing the container (3) has a residual free air amount of 60 cm 3 or less.
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11,
The container 3 is characterized in that at least a portion of the entry means for introducing gas into the reservoir 2 is open at a height of two thirds from the bottom of the container and near the neck in the case of bottle 3. Cooling device (1).
The method according to any one of claims 7 to 12,
Apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3), characterized in that the reservoir (2) has at least two gas injection points.
The method of claim 13,
Apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3) characterized in that at least one gas injection point is configured at a high position and at least one gas injection point is configured at a low position.
The method according to claim 13 or 14,
Apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3), characterized in that two or more gas injection points are located at the same height and are distributed around the reservoir.
The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15,
An apparatus (1) for cooling a container (3), characterized in that the pressure loss in each gas inlet passage from the gas supply source is equivalent to the total pressure loss.

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