Beverage Dispensing Device with Mixing Chamber and Cooling Functionality

Abstract

A beverage dispensing device prepares and dispenses a beverage. The dispensing device includes a housing which has a beverage unit with a liquid inlet and a beverage outlet. The beverage unit has a receiving means for at least one container containing a unit dose of concentrated beverage ingredient to be dispensed, and an ingredient discharge. The beverage unit has a liquid line. The liquid line first section extends from the base liquid inlet to receiving means liquid inlet to guide base liquid into the unit dose of beverage ingredient through the beverage discharge into the liquid line second section that extends from the ingredient discharge to the beverage outlet. A mixing chamber is defined in the liquid line. Temperature regulating means are provided in the mixing chamber or in that the mixing chamber comprises an inlet for pressurized fluid for expanding said fluid in said mixing chamber.

Claims

1. A beverage dispensing device for preparing and dispensing a beverage comprising a housing comprising a beverage unit with a liquid inlet and a beverage outlet, the beverage unit comprising: receiving means for receiving at least one container containing a unit dose of concentrated ingredient of the beverage to be dispensed and comprising a ingredient discharge, and a liquid line connected to the liquid inlet, with the ingredient discharge and with the beverage outlet; a mixing chamber defined in the liquid line; temperature regulating means are provided in the mixing chamber; or the mixing chamber comprises an inlet for pressurized fluid for expanding said fluid in said mixing chamber.

2. The beverage dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein said temperature regulating means comprise cooling fins extending in the mixing chamber, said cooling fins connected to a heat exchanger for removing heat from the fins out of the mixing chamber.

3. The beverage dispensing device according to claim 2, comprising: a temperature sensor configured to measure the temperature in the mixing chamber in real-time; microprocessor and actuator assembly controlling the heat exchanger based on an input of the temperature sensor.

4. The beverage dispensing device according to claim 3, having a valve provided at a beverage outlet of the mixing chamber, the valve being controlled by an actuator electronically coupled to the microprocessor.

5. A beverage dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein said pressurized fluid inlet is connected or connectable to a source of pressurized fluid at a pressure of at least 0 0.5 bar higher, preferably at least 2 bar higher than the pressure reigning in the mixing chamber during mixing of an ingredient with a base liquid.

6. The beverage dispensing device according to claim 5, wherein said pressurized fluid inlet comprises a valve allowing controlled opening and closing of the inlet.

7. The beverage dispensing device according to claim 6, comprising: a temperature sensor configured to measure the temperature in the mixing chamber in real-time; a microprocessor and actuator assembly controlling the valve of the pressurized fluid inlet based on an input provided by the temperature sensor.

8. The beverage dispensing device according to claim 7, having a valve provided at a beverage outlet of the mixing chamber, the valve being controlled by an actuator electronically coupled to the microprocessor.

9. An ingredient container comprising at least two chambers separated by a wall, wherein a first ingredient chamber contains a unit dose of concentrated ingredient and comprises a liquid inlet sealed by a frangible lid or valve and an ingredient discharge fluidly closed by a valve and connecting the ingredient chamber with the second mixing chamber; the mixing chamber comprising a beverage outlet closed by a valve and contains an amount of pressurized gas at a pressure higher than the pressure reigning in the mixing chamber when the liquid inlet and the ingredient discharge are closed.

10. The ingredient container according to claim 9, wherein the valve closing the ingredient discharge is configured to open prior to opening the valve of the beverage outlet, thereby allowing expansion of the pressurized gas in the ingredient container.

11. The ingredient container according to claim 10, wherein the valve at the beverage outlet is a one way valve allowing a fluid stream from the mixing chamber through the beverage outlet.

12. The ingredient container according to claim 11, wherein the valve at the beverage outlet is actuated by a spring biasing the valve to an open position against the pressure inside the mixing chamber such that the valve opens upon a pressure drop inside the mixing chamber upon expansion of the pressurized gas therein.

Description

[0035] With the intention of better showing the characteristics of the invention, hereafter, as example without any limitative character, some embodiments of a beverage dispensing device according to the invention are described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0036] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a first embodiment of a beverage dispensing device in accordance with the present invention;

[0037] FIG. 2 schematically represents an alternative embodiment of the beverage dispensing device according to the invention;

[0038] FIG. 3 schematically represents an ingredient container according to the present invention.

[0039] The a beverage dispenser 1 according to the invention, illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, is a beverage dispenser 1 of the type addressed as a home appliance, which is typically designed for home use to dispense one beverage per dispense cycle and which is configured as a table top appliance meaning it has a restricted height of about maximum 50 cm and a areal footprint of about maximum 2500 cm.sup.2.

[0040] The beverage dispenser comprises a housing 2 comprising a base liquid inlet 3 which is connected to a source 4 of a first base liquid source 5.

[0041] The dispenser beverage inlet 3 can for example be a pipe fitting which is suitable for connecting a source 4 to the beverage dispenser 1 or it can just be the inlet of a pipe or flexible tube used for flow of the base liquid 5 away from the source 4.

[0042] The base liquid 5 can be any product that could be used for composing a beverage, such as for example water, a malt-based beverage, a fermented beverage, beer, a cider based beverage or cider, a juice, a soft drink, milk, cream, coffee, tea or mixtures thereof, the base liquid source can either be non-carbonated or carbonated.

[0043] Depending on the type of the base liquid 5, the source 4 from which the beverage component 5 is supplied and in which the beverage component 5 is contained, can be for example a container, a plastic bag, a bottle, a keg or cask and so on.

[0044] The source 4 can be a pressurized vessel, containing a pressurized gas for driving the base liquid 5 out of the vessel.

[0045] In other cases the source 4 can comprise pumping means or separate gas bottles for that purpose, or the base liquid 5 can for example just leave the source 4 under the influence of gravity.

[0046] It is clear that all kinds of other commonly used elements, such as valves, switches, detectors, electronic or not electronic controller equipment in general are not represented in the drawings.

[0047] The source 4 is in this case connected to the inlet 3 by means of a liquid line 6, formed for example by a flexible or rigid tube or pipe 6.

[0048] Turning now to the housing of the dispensing device, the base liquid inlet is coupled to a liquid line 7 extending from the base liquid inlet to a beverage outlet through which a final beverage is to be dispensed.

[0049] The housing further comprises at least one container receiving means 8 for receiving an ingredient container 9 such as a pod or capsule comprising a unit dose of a beverage ingredient. The receiving means comprising an ingredient discharge through which the unit dose contained in the pod or capsule can be discharged in the fluid line upon dispensing.

[0050] The ingredient containers comprise exactly one unit dose of beverage ingredient and are therefore suited for preparing exactly one beverage allowing maximal flexibility to customize a beverage to be dispensed. The ingredient containers are preferably of the kind generally addressed as pods or capsules and will be referred to as such in the description below.

[0051] The pods or capsules preferably comprise a solid or liquid ingredient, varying from hop concentrates, fruit concentrates, sweeteners, bittering additives, concentrated spices, foaming promoters, concentrated malt-based liquids, concentrated fermented liquids, concentrated beer, colorants and or mixtures thereof.

[0052] In this case the liquid line comprises two sections 7a, 7b, a first extending from the base liquid inlet to a liquid inlet of the receiving means for guiding base liquid into the pod or capsule such as to discharge the unit dose beverage ingredient through the beverage discharge 10 into the second section of the liquid line extending from the ingredient discharge at the receiving means to the beverage outlet.

[0053] At a location downstream the ingredient discharge, a mixing chamber 11 is provided in the liquid line, which mixing chamber comprises a wall defining a chamber having a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet, both controlled by a valve.

[0054] According to the embodiment represented in FIG. 1, cooling means are provided in the mixing chamber in the form of cooling fins 12 made of a heat conductive material.

[0055] The cooling fins preferably protruded in the mixing chamber in a pattern such as to prevent the liquid stream comprising the base liquid and the beverage ingredient to flow directly from the mixing chamber liquid inlet to the mixing chamber liquid outlet, and hence allowing creating turbulences in the liquid stream when in the mixing chamber, thereby promoting mixing of the unit dose beverage ingredient with the base liquid.

[0056] The cooling fins are coupled to a heat exchanger 13 provided outside the mixing chamber to discharge heat from the mixing chamber to the environment, whereby the heat exchanger can comprise a peltier element (the cooling fins coupled to the cold side of the peltier element) or a heat exchanger based on compression and expansion of a gas to provide cooling. In both cases the heat exchanger is electrically driven.

[0057] As represented in FIG. 1 it is preferred that a temperature sensor 14 is provided in the mixing chamber, which sensor is configured to measure the temperature in the mixing chamber in real-time during dispensing; and that a microprocessor and actuator assembly 15 are provided in the housing of the dispensing device controlling the heat exchanger based on an input of the temperature sensor.

[0058] The microprocessor preferably also controls the valve at the liquid outlet of the mixing chamber based on the input of the temperature sensor such that the mixing chamber outlet is opened only when the beverage mixture therein has a temperature within a desired range for dispensing the beverage.

[0059] In the embodiment according to FIG. 2, mixing chamber comprises a pressurized fluid inlet 16 coupled to a source of pressurized fluid 17 such as CO.sub.2, N.sub.2 or N.sub.2O through a pressure valve, whereby the fluid stored in the source of pressurized gas is maintained at a pressure of at least 0,5 bar higher, preferably at least 2 bar higher than the pressure reigning in the mixing chamber during mixing when the valve at the outlet of the mixing chamber is open and the mixing chamber is in fluid communication with the ambient. The pressure reigning the mixing chamber in that case being comprised between 0,1 and 1 bar overpressure in view of the ambient.

[0060] Clearly the pressure in the source of pressurized fluid much higher, increasing the expansion of the fluid when entering the mixing chamber and thereby increasing the cooling capacity in the mixing chamber.

[0061] The expansion of a small volume of pressurized gas in the mixing chamber will have a cooling effect on the beverage in the mixing chamber allowing compensating any excessive heat of the beverage due to mixing of the cooled base liquid with the more warm beverage ingredient.

[0062] The source of pressurized gas can either be a metal high pressure cartridge comprising liquid food grade CO.sub.2, N.sub.2 or N.sub.2O readily available on the market or can be a plastic cartridge comprising food grade CO.sub.2, N.sub.2 or N.sub.2O at lower pressures of between 4 and 2 bar.

[0063] According to another alternative embodiment, the mixing chamber is unitary with the pod or capsule. In this case the pod or capsule comprises at least two chambers 18a, 18b separated by a wall, wherein a first ingredient chamber contains a unit dose of concentrated ingredient 19 and comprises a liquid inlet sealed by a frangible lid or valve and an ingredient discharge fluidly closed by a valve and connecting the ingredient chamber with the second mixing chamber; the mixing chamber comprising a beverage outlet closed by a valve and contains an amount of pressurized gas 20 at a pressure higher than the pressure reigning in the mixing chamber when the liquid inlet and the ingredient discharge are closed.

[0064] The valve 21 closing the ingredient discharge is hereby configured to open prior to opening the valve of the beverage outlet, thereby allowing expansion of the pressurized gas in the ingredient container.

[0065] This can be achieved by making the valve actuated by a spring 22 biasing the valve to an open position against the pressure inside the mixing chamber which exceeds the pressure outside the mixing chamber such that the valve opens upon a pressure drop inside the mixing chamber which pressure drop is a result of the expansion of the pressurized gas in the container when the ingredient discharge valve is opened.

[0066] The pressurized gas in the closed mixing chamber is preferably maintained at a pressure ranging between 2 and 4 bar.