MXPA03004762A - Water dispensing system. - Google Patents

Abstract

A water dispensing system has collapsible water bags locatable on a stand above a water cooler. The water cooler may be of conventional form or any convenient form having a cooling reservoir. A conduit leads from the collapsible bag into the cooling reservoir and is provided with a control valve to control the flow of water into the reservoir. The stand may be locatable on the top of the water cooler and have a bowl to hold the water bag. A sharp extension of the conduit extends upwardly into the bowl to puncture the water bag when it is placed in the bowl. The bags may be provided with a peel-off cover for reasons of hygiene. The peel-off cover may be removed immediately before the bag is located in the bowl. Advantages of the collapsible bag water dispensing system include easy of location of the bag in the water cooler. Lids may be provided above both the bag and for the cooling reservoir to further enhance hygiene.

Description

WATER DISPATCH SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to a water dispensing system for domestic water coolers.

Previous Art Description Domestic water chillers are those chillers that are used in the home, small offices or in a bar environment. They are usually mounted alone and are supplied with water by means of large jugs of water that must be turned so that the neck of the jug and the nozzle of the jug are located inside the water receptacle. These bottles contain large amounts of water close to 5 gallons. It is not easy to flip one of these jugs to place them properly in the cooler, which is not easy for a small individual, and it is almost impossible. Other people who have trouble handling these jugs are people with back problems and elderly people for whom the provision of clean water is extremely important.

Even for a capable person, handling these jugs and placing them in the right way can be considered an art. The ability lies in spilling the least possible amount of water when turning the jug and placing it in position.

The jugs used in such receptacles are not only large but are made of a plastic material sufficiently stiff to maintain their shape and strong enough to hold "and protect the water without fear of breakage or puncture or dripping. Considerable plastic is used in said garrafones and are consequently costly as to re-sterilize and reuse them, and if they were thrown away by the user this would be a problem; The sterilization of the bottles to be reused is a problem in itself. In order to place the nozzle of the jug in the cooling receptacle, the bottles must necessarily have a neck. Sterilization by sterilizing agents is difficult due to the need to reach the interior parts of the bottle. Large amounts of liquid must be used and even then sterilization is not absolute. Sterilization by ultraviolet light is also possible but may give an incomplete result. Heat sterilization in plastic jugs is generally not possible.

Thus, although the conventional system of using plastic jugs in dispatchers to serve content in a controlled manner is well established, but has clear problems associated with the conventional system. The bottles are difficult to handle and the contents can be poured during their placement and the sterilization of the jugs for reuse is difficult.

The present inventor has covered these problems.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the invention provides a water dispenser that includes a cooler that has a cooling receptacle that is abstracted from above; a folding and sealed bag of water; a connector between said cooler and said bag including a receptacle for said bag, means for retaining the receptacle on the cooling receptacle of said cooler, a water conduit extending between the receptacle and the cooler, means inside said container for penetrate the bag when it is placed in said receptacle to allow water to flow in said duct, and valves to control the flow of water from the duct depending on the water level in the reservoir. It is worth mentioning that although it is convenient that the shape of the reservoir be round in its horizontal section, other configurations such as square or oval are possible.

The means for holding the reservoir on the cooler can be a support for the reservoir on the cooler. The support and the reservoir can be made from a single piece of plastic materials such as polyvinyl chlorine ethylene. The reservoir can have a shoulder near the shore to put a lid on it.

The means for penetrating the bag and allowing the water to flow into the duct may be a hollow extension that leaves the base of the inner surface and ends in a sharp point to pierce said bag. The hollow interior of the extension communicates on one side through the base of the reservoir with the conduit and on the other with the interior of the reservoir or when the bag is located inside the reservoir, with the inside of the bag. The means for draining the extension to communicate with the interior of the bags can be located sufficiently above said inner lower surface of the reservoir to give access to the interior.

The conduit may include a hollow cone having a closed appendage and an open one within the conduit of said base, the drainage means include at least one opening through the side wall of said cone. Alternatively, the draining means may be a stationary open pipe having a sharp top edge. Both the penetration efficiency and the drainage ability of the lower part of the reservoir can be advantageous if the upper part of said tube is at an angle.

The water bag can be of a food grade polyethylene sheet, and with enough force to retain the necessary volume of water. The bag can be formed by two sealed polyethylene sheets.

A waterproof seal is provided between the extension and the conduit and between the reservoir and the extension where the extension passes through the base of the reservoir. The seal at the base of the reservoir can help prevent water from dripping from the bag into the reservoir and running down the cooler further down.

The polyethylene film can have a thickness between 2-5 thousand preferably about 3 thousand.

The film can be heat sealed around the edges and the bottom of the bag. The top of the bag can be opened before the bag is refilled using filling machinery that holds the top of the bag to be sealed later.

Alternatively, the empty bag can be sealed along a significant extension of its upper part leaving only a small part to allow it to be filled with a pipette. The small opening is easy to seal once the bag has been filled.

For reasons of hygiene, water bags may have a removable cover that is removed before placing the bag in the reservoir. Preferably the bag has a handle on top. The valve means for controlling the flow of water is a ball faucet valve in the cooler and a cover for the cooler is provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS An inclusion of the invention that will now be described for example and as reference to the illustrations where: FIG. 1 shows an illustration of a conventional water cooler as known in the prior art; FIG. 2 shows a water dispensing system according to the invention; FIG. 3 shows a connector and support with a one-piece reservoir in the water cooler.

FIG. 4 A and 4 B shows a Bag with an empty and filled removable cover respectively; FIG. 5 shows a cone-shaped extension for a conduit in more detail; and FIG. 6 shows another suitable extension for the conduit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED INCLUSION A conventional water cooler 10 is shown in FIG. 1 said water cooler includes a notch 12 which is commonly high enough to stand alone with an access cover 14 accessible to the user who wishes to draw water therefrom. The cooler 10 has a cooling reservoir 16 within the groove 12, open from above and with cooling springs 18 around it. A water jug 20 is shown resting on a plate 22 on the surface of the cooler. The plate 22 has a simple opening 24 through which the neck 26 of the bottle 20 exits to be located in and on the cooler reservoir 16. the nozzle 27 of the bottle is located just below the desired level of water for the bottle. the reservoir cooler.

In operation, the water is retained in the bottle 20 by atmospheric pressure until sufficient water is drawn from through the dispenser 14 of the cooler 16 to reduce the level of water in the cooler reservoir 16 below the nozzle 27 of the bottle 20. when this happens, the air enters the bottle 20 and the water moves to the cooler reservoir 16 until the water level reaches the nozzle 27 of the bottle 20.

The operation of the water dispensing system of the invention is similar to the prior art. FIG. 2 shows an inclusion of the system according to the invention including a notch 12 for the water cooler 10 similar to the conventional one. However, the system of FIG. 2 includes a folding bag 30 and a tray 32 for the bag. FIG. 3 shows a perspective of the notch 12 and of the plate 32. The water is provided to the reservoir 16 in a manner similar to the water in the foldable water bag 30. The bag 30 is located in the plate 32 which is made of rigid plastic materials. The plastic material can be food grade, for example PVC. The plate 32 has a skirt 34 which acts as a support for locating the plate on the surface of the groove 12.

A conventional water cooler such as 10 is often provided with a pipe-shaped notch in parallel. However, it is convenient that the plate 32 for the bags 30 has a hemispherical shape so that it is easy to clean. Due to these facts, although there are no limitations on the shape of the plate 32 and the skirt 34, it may be convenient that both the plate and the skirt have a shape as illustrated.

The skirt 34 may be in a conventional manner to stand on the notch 12 but, when the notch 12 is taken from a conventional cooler it has a rectangular or square shape at the top and it may be desirable that the base of the skirt 34 conform to the shape although the plate is preferably circular in its horizontal section. The circular part of the lid of the tray 32 can be joined smoothly with the square base of the skirt 34.

The edge of the plate 32 can have a bend 54 where the circular lid 56 is placed. The lid 56 can protect the bag from dust, debris and bacteria when installed in the tray 32.

The skirt can have internal and external rib reinforcement.

The ribs 58 are provided to the interior of the skirt and are wider in the. lower part than in the upper part to form a foot 60 for the skirt 34. the foot or rest 60 lies on the upper part of the cooler 10 outwardly of the plate 22 which is commonly provided for use in chillers using jugs.

In the lower part of the plate 32 a hollow needle 36 is located to perforate the bag 30 placed in the plate 32 to extract water therefrom. The hollow needle 36 may have several constructions as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 that will be discussed later. The only consideration of the hollow needle is that it is sharp enough to pierce the bag 30 either by the weight of the bag or when a downward pressure is exerted on the bag, and has a draining port or ports 38 at a level to drain all the water from the bag 30.

The water that is drained from the bag 30 through the draining ports 38 is brought down through a conduit 40 to the cooler reservoir 16 of the cooler 10. By draining the water from the bag 30, the atmospheric pressure will act on the same to collapse instead of reducing the pressure inside and retain the water. Therefore, a control valve 42 is provided to prevent the water from escaping continuously. The control valve can be a ball valve. When the level of the water cooler reservoir 16 lowers, the float 44 also lowers to allow the flow of water from the conduit 40 into the cooler reservoir.

A system according to the invention that can diminish some of the problems associated with the conventional system shown in FIG. 1 while the use of conventional water coolers 10 with its notch 12, reservoir cooler 16 and access cover 14. it is possible to provide other coolers with cooler reservoir. As long as the coolant reservoir is below the bag 30, the design of the cooler is not important.

One of the main problems of the prior art water dispenser is hygiene. A conventional dispensing system is shown in FIG. 1 suffers from several problems since water jugs 20 are very expensive to reuse. Then, the water bottles 20 have to be sterilized to be reused. Said sterilization is expensive and not entirely reliable. But still, if the user does not keep the water cooler clean, bacteria and fungi appear and the user blames the water supplier who can suffer considerable damages due to demands. When a lot the user can change the water provider.

The water bags 30 of the present invention are less expensive than the jugs 20 and can be pulled after use. The water bags 30 are made of food-grade polyethylene with sufficient strength to provide support when filled with water. The thickness of the sheet can be 3 thousand. The polyethylene can be of the same thickness as that used for milk bags. Of course it is possible to vary the strength and thickness depending on the size of the bag used. The proper design of the bag is similar to that of the bags for department stores but with a curve at the base to enter the plate 32. These bags can be heat sealed at the base on each side (see FIGS.4A and 4B) . For use as water bags in the present invention, the bags 30 can be heat sealed 70 to the sides and the base.

If the bags 30 are filled by a pipette, then an additional heat seal 74 is required at the top leaving only a small opening 78 for inserting the pipette. The small opening 78 is subsequently sealed.

On the other hand, there is special filling machinery for bags that do not have a superior seal. The water is emptied into the open bags, means for joining the ends of the bag are provided and subsequently sealed.

For its hygiene during storage, transport of the bags 30 can be provided with an outer cover or panels 50 (see FIG. 4) that can be detached from the bags 30 just before use. The bags 30 together with the removable panels 50 can be transported in grids that do not require sterilization because they only come in contact with the release panels 50. the release panels 50 are provided in unique panels on each side of the bag 30 but more can be used panels per flat space as long as they meet to cover the surface of the bag.

Another problem associated with conventional water jugs 20 is that they are difficult for many people to handle. They must be turned and placed head-first in the central opening of the water cooler tray 22 with a fast and precise movement to prevent it from spilling. When the jugs 20 are full they are very heavy and it is almost impossible for some people to put them in the cooler.

In contrast, the bags 30 can have a handle 52 for easy handling. They can be lifted from a position on the platter 32 without fear of breaking or spilling. The water does not leave the bag until it is pierced by the hollow needle 36. The duct 40 connects down with the needle 36 extending through the bottom of the plate 32. the connection between the duct 40 and the projection 60 of the needle 36 may be by means of a screw connection. A food grade seal 63 is provided between the conduit and toward the tongue or projection 61. the seal 63 includes a seal washer around the projection 61 below the tray 32. the washer can alleviate leakage of the tray that may come from the bag inside the dish and that is not sterile.

The conduit 40 leads downward to the cooling reservoir 16. It enters the reservoir 16 to the side to provide the reservoir 16 with a cover 62 to inhibit the ingress of dust, debris or bacteria. The flow of water in the conduit 40 is controlled through a ball valve 42 previously described.

The needle 36 is cone-shaped and is shown in FIG. 5 the cone has a hollow cavity 64 and drainage ports 38 on its conical surface. Drain ports 38 provide drainage conduits 68 leading to hollow cavity 64.

The height of drainage port 38 on the bottom of tray 32 is important. When the bag 30 is perforated by the appendix of the cone 36, the weight of the bag containing the water acts to force the bag down so that the opening formed by the appendix of the cone 36 tends to be stretched over part of the cone. This is good because when stretching the bag in the widest part of the cone tends to form a seal with the cone. However, it is possible that there is a small wrinkle of the bag around the cone. In particular edges you can flip around the cone. For this reason, it is not suitable to place the drain 66 immediately adjacent the bas4e of the tray 32 because it can be interrupted by an inverted part of the bag 30. It is also not appropriate to place the drain 38 too high that the water remains in the bag under the the drainage ports. Drain ports 38 should be located as low as reasonably possible without endangering the edges of the bag. It is believed that drainage ports can be located at a height of 0.25 cm to 1 cm. On the base of the platter although other heights are possible. Preferably, the drainage port should be between 0.25 to 0.5 cm. On the bottom of the platter.

When the needle 36 is as shown in FIG. 6 similar considerations have to be applied. Since the needle tube 36 does not widen towards the base, there may be less wrinkles of the bag around the tube but this is set aside by the fact that the seal between the bag and the tube may be less good than in FIG. 5. Although there may be less wrinkles around the tube. The tilt port 70 of the tube should not be brought near the base of the tray so that water drips into the tray between the tube and the bag. If water drips into the tray 32 of the bag 30, it will come into contact with non-sterile areas. If such water drips from the dish to the cooler 16 it could contaminate the water. For this reason, several precautions have been taken to prevent contamination. An effort has been made to provide a good seal between the bag and the needle 36 where, if it is a cone or a hollow tube, a seal has been provided under the tray to prevent dripping of any water into the dish and the lid 62 provides for the water cooler 16.

Claims (12)

1. - a water dispensing system that includes: a cooler that has a reservoir that can be filled from above; a foldable and sealed plastic bag; a connector between the cooler and the bag that includes a receptacle for the bag; a dispenser for holding the bag on the cooling reservoir of said cooler, the dispenser and the receptacle are one piece of rigid plastic material; means within the receptacle for piercing the bag when the bag is placed inside said receptacle to allow water to flow in said passage; Y Valve means for controlling the water flow of said conduit depending on the water level in said reservoir.

2. - A water dispensing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the plastic material is polyvinylchloroethylene.

3. - a dispensing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said duct has a hollow extension protruding from the lower internal surface of said receptacle to end at a pointed end for drilling said bag for communication on one side with the duct and on the other side through at least one of the drainage holes with the inside of the bag.

4. - a water dispensing system as claimed in claim 3 wherein said conduit has means for draining water from the lower part of the bag.

5. - a water dispensing system as claimed in claim 4 wherein said inlet extends sufficiently above said inner surface of the receptacle to give access to the interior of the bag.

6. - a dispensing system claimed in claim 5 wherein said conduit includes a hollow cone and a pointed and closed appendage and an open one within the conduit through the base, said means includes at least one opening through said lateral wall of the conduit. cone.

7. - a water dispensing system as claimed in claim 6 wherein a sepal is provided between the extension and said conduit.

8. - a water dispensing system claimed in the claim 1 wherein said bag is made of a polyethylene sheet with food grade or classification.

9. - a water dispensing system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the polyethylene film has a measure of 2000. To 5 thousand.

10. - a water dispensing system as claimed in claim 8 wherein said bag has a removable cover which is removed before placing the bag in the receptacle.

11. - a water dispensing system as claimed in claim 8 wherein the bag has a handle at the upper end thereof.

12. - a water dispensing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the valve means for controlling the flow in the conduit is a ball tap valve in the cooling receptacle.