NZ231499A - Post mix juice dispenser: reservoir automatically maintained at full level - Google Patents

Description

231499 Under the provisions of Regulation 23 (1) the . CfiWpfett Specification has been ante-dated to .?&.ac&£feL- 19 &L.

If'' -,tb Patents Form No. 5 Priority Dat«(s): •2F)- Jo$b- Complete Specif! cation Filed: Class; Publication Date; APR.tsa....

P.O. Journal. No: KZW ZEALAND PATENTS AC? 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION POST-KIX JUICE DISPENSING SYSJ&&* *^ 23»ovI989 o| We, THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, of 310 North Averrt Atlanta, Georgia 30313, United States of America, incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware, United States of America, hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, end the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: Postmix Juice Dispensing System BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention This invention relates to apparatus for reconstituting and dispensing juice, particularly orange juice.

Description of the Prior Art Postmix orange juice dispensing systems are known. Orange juice concentrate is distributed frozen. Restaurants remove concentrate from the freezer and thaw the concentrate in a cooler prior to dispensing. The restaurant has to estimate its juice requirements at least two days in advance and place sufficient concentrate in its cooler. If the restaurant's estimates are incorrect or if someone forgets, the restaurant will run out of thawed concentrate. Also, there is often a limited amount of cooler space available for thawing orange juice concentrate. When a restaurant runs out of thawed concentrate, measures are sometimes taken to quickly thaw frozen concentrate and such measures often are inefficient and ineffective and also sometimes affect the taste of the resulting product. Orange juice concentrate has typically been 3+1 concentrate. The present invention is useful with 5+1 concentrate. The reduced amount of water in 5 + 1 concentrate prevents a phase change or freezing, at typical freezer temperatures of -10°F to 0°F. The 5+1 concentrate at freezer temperatures does not readily flow by gravity. A container of 231 49 0°F product: can be inverted and no product will flow out. Also, the product is so thick that a pump's suction cannot pull product from the container. However, the product is still pliable. Previously available dispensing systems have had various disadvantages associated with them, and a need for a more efficient system has been recognised.

It is an object of this invention to provide a juice dispensing system for any juice or syrup which has been cooled but which has not experienced a phase change from liquid to solid.

Other systems for dispensing juice are disclosed in the applicant's New Zealand Patent Specification No. 222325, from which this specification has been divided, and which is incorporated herein by way of reference.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided apparatus for reconstituting and dispensing juice comprising: (a) a concentrate container; (b) a mixing chamber and a nozzle for dispensing a beverage therefrom; (c) a concentrate conduit extending from said container. (d) a water conduit extending into said mixing chamber; 231499 (e) a microcontroller; metering (f) /means for feeding a controlled volume of water through said water conduit into said mixing chamber, said means being connected to said microcontroller; (g) a concentrate reservoir and means for automatically maintaining said reservoir filled with concentrate, said concentrate conduit feeding concentrate from said concentrate container into said reservoir; (h) means for feeding a controlled volume of concentrate from said reservoir to said mixing chamber during dispensing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The present invention will be more fully understood from the description below when read in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein: FIG.l is a partly diagrammatic, partly schematic illustration of a postmix juice dispensing system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG.1 shows a dispensing system 100 for dispensing a finished juice beverage, in which the concentrate is fed to a vented reservoir 102. FIG 1 shows a water conduit 104 connected to a mixing chamber 103 and having a water fjJ.ow meter 105, a 231499 motorized control valve 106 operated by a D.C. stepping motor 108, and a solenoid controlled on-off valve 110.

FIG. 1 also shows a concentrate conduit 114 which feeds pliable concentrate from a flexible container 116 in a pressurized canister 118, through a heat exchanger 120 (including a heat source 99 and a recirculating soda water line 101), through a solenoid controlled on-off valve 122, to the reservoir 102. The reservoir 102 includes high and low level indicators 126 and 128, respectively, connected to a microcontroller 130, which opens and closes the on-off valve 122 in response to signals from the level indicators. A concentrate conduit 132 extends from the reservoir 102 to a flexible vane pump 134 (or a gerotor pump, for example), and then to the mixing chamber 103 where it mixes with the water to form a final beverage which is dispensed from a nozzle 136 into a cup 138.

In addition to the microcontroller 130 controlling the level of concentrate in the reservoir 102, it also controls the speed of a D.C. motor 140 with encoder 142 to control the concentrate flow rate, and it controls the water flow rate by controlling the motorized water control valve 106 in. response to signals from the water flow meter 105. The microcontroller 130 also controls a solenoid controlled, water on-off valve 110 in response to actuation of the dispensing system 100, such as by the cup 138 engaging a lever arm 152. 231499 While the preferred embodiment of this invention has been described in detail, it is to be understood that variations and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims. For example, this invention can be used with various juices other than the preferred orange juice. Also, the juice can be thawed juice, such as thawed 3 + 1 juice; that is, this invention is not limited to use with pliable 5 + 1 concentrate at freezer temperatures. Also, the preferred temperature ranges are only preferred, other freezer temperatures below 32°F can be used, the temperature can be raised to any desired temperature above 32°F. 23 I 499

Claims (9)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. Apparatus for reconstituting and dispensing juice comprising: (a) a concentrate container; (b) a mixing chamber and a nozzle for dispensing a beverage therefrom; ^ (c) a concentrate conduit extending from said v. container; (d) a water conduit extending into said mixing chamber; (e) a microcontroller; metering (f) /means for feeding a controlled volume of water through said water conduit into said mixing chamber, metering said/means being connected to said microcontroller; (g) a concentrate reservoir and means for automatically maintaining said reservoir filled with concentrate, said concentrate conduit feeding concentrate from ^ said concentrate container into said reservoir; (h) means for feeding a controlled volume of concentrate from said reservoir to said mixing chamber during dispensing. C

2. The apparatus as recited in Claim 1 wherein said water metering means comprises a water flow meter in said water line, a motorized control valve in said water line and said flow meter and motorised control valve being connected to. said microcontroller. - 7 - 231499 concentrate

3. The apparatus as recited in Claim 2 wherein said/feeding means comprises a pump connected to a D.C. motor with an encoder connected to said microcontroller.

4. The apparatus as recited in Claim 3 wherein said pump is a flexible vane pump. concentrate

5. The apparatus as recited in Claim 1 wherein said/feeding means comprises a pump connected to a D.C. motor with an encoder connected to said microcontroller.

6. A method for reconstituting and dispensing juice comprising: (a) feeding juice concentrate to a reservoir and automatically maintaining said reservoir filled with concentrate; (b) feeding a metered volume of juice concentrate from said reservoir to a mixing chamber; and (c) feeding a metered volume of water, in a predetermined ratio with respect to said metered volume of concentrate, to said mixing chamber.

7. The method as recited in Claim 6 wherein said concentrate feeding step comprises providing a pump in said concentrate conduit drawn by a D.C. motor having an encoder, controlling said D.C. motor by a microcontroller, and wherein said water 231499 feeding step comprises providing a water flow meter and a motorized control valve in said water conduit both connected to said microcontroller, and controlling said control valve to provide a predetermined ratio of concentrate to water to said mixing chamber.

8- Apparatus for reconstituting and dispensing juice as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as herein described in the accompanying drawing.

9. A method as claimed in Claim 6, substantially as herein described. THE COCA-COLA COMPANY by their Attorneys BALDWIN SON & CAREY 9