WO1996027552A1

WO1996027552A1 - Refrigerated drinks dispenser

Info

Publication number: WO1996027552A1
Application number: PCT/GB1996/000543
Authority: WO
Inventors: Geoffrey Allan Whitnall
Original assignee: MATTHEW CLARK TAUNTON Ltd
Current assignee: MATTHEW CLARK TAUNTON Ltd
Priority date: 1995-03-08
Filing date: 1996-03-08
Publication date: 1996-09-12
Anticipated expiration: 1997-09-08
Also published as: GB9719073D0; GB9504640D0; GB2313437A; GB2313437B; AU4949396A

Abstract

A drinks dispenser suitable for holding a plurality of wine boxes, for example, is provided with a refrigeration unit (100) facilitating the cooling of wine dispensed from each of said plurality of wine boxes. The unit (100) comprises a generally upright cylindrical direct expansion tank (101) having a chamber (102) filled with refrigerant which exhausts as vapour through port (106) to be returned at the same pressure in liquid form through inlet port (115) of capillary tube (107). Temperature within chamber (102) is sensed by a thermostat sensor (not shown) inserted into the upper extend of blind bore tube (111). Liquid is chilled by passing through one of a plurality of cooling conduits (114, 115, 117) the interior bores of which are isolated from the refrigerant in chamber (102). Chilling liquid will inevitably lead to a rise in temperature of the refrigerant within chamber (102) and once a predetermined temperature is sensed a refrigeration pump associated with the direct expansion tank (100) will be actuated.

Description

"REFRIGERATED DRINKS DISPENSER"

This invention relates to a refrigerated drinks dispenser, and more particularly but not exclusively to a refrigerated drinks dispenser which in use is adapted to house at least one wine box from which refrigerated white wine is to be delivered.

Historically, wine has been packaged in 1 litre or 1.5 litre corked bottles. In a licensed house environment it is desirable that wine can be dispensed rapidly. Further, the sophisticated palate requires that white wine is chilled to below 7 degrees Celsius. A common method of dispensing wine rapidly is via an Optic (registered trade mark) inserted in the neck of an upturned bottle. Typically, bottles of white wine are held in a glass-fronted cabinet. This allows the air surrounding the bottles to be refrigerated, thereby maintaining the wine at a desired temperature. One disadvantage of this arrangement is that chilled air within the cabinet is allowed to escape when an empty bottle is replaced. A further disadvantage is that a bottle will need to rest in the cabinet until it is at the desired temperature before wine can be dispensed from it.

In recent years, wine containers comprising a plastics bladder held within a cardboard box have become commonplace. These wine boxes are advantageous compared to bottles in that they can hold a greater quantity of wine than a standard wine bottle, and by virtue of their regular shape occupy less space per volume of wine when arranged in close proximity. A further advantage of wine boxes is that as wine is dispensed, the bladder conforms to the volume of wine remaining. Air is not introduced into the bladder as is the case with a bottle. This prevents stored wine from coming into contact with air and avoids oxidisation of the wine.

A disadvantage of the wine box is that the outer container being generally corrugated cardboard acts as a good insulator. Consequently, chilling a box of wine in a refrigerated cabinet would take considerably longer than is the case with an equivalent volume of wine in a conventional glass bottle. However, wine boxes are advantageous in that they can be plumbed readily into a line and/or pump feed system. It would be possible to cool wine from a wine box by passing it through a drinks refrigeration unit of the type which is commonly used for lager. However, whilst lager may be allowed to sit in a feed line without noticable degradation of its quality, the nature of wine is such that this would be highly undesirable. There is therefore a need for a direct feed from a wine box to an outlet which cools wine to a desired temperature without requiring that the wine rests in the feed line.

British Patent Publication No. 2 227 824 B (Paxman) disclosed a compact refrigerated cabinet in which wine fed from a wine box is passed through a cooling coil of a secondary refrigeration unit before being drawn from an outlet tap. In 'Paxman' the refrigeration unit comprises a heat-exchange tank containing a fluid medium (e.g. water). The heat-exchange tank is cooled by refrigerant which flows through a primary 'evaporator' coil extending therethrough. A secondary 'product' coil through which wine is caused to flow is disposed within the tank and fluid within the tank is circulated by a pump to facilitate heat exchange between the secondary and primary coils.

The temperature of the fluid medium is monitored, and when it rises above a preset level, a refrigeration pump is activated to cause refrigerant to flow through the primary coil and thereby cool the fluid medium. The refrigerant must cool the entire volume of the fluid medium to lower the temperature of the fluid surrounding the secondary coil to the desired level. If rapid cooling is required then the refrigeration circuit, i.e. that causing refrigerant to flow through the primary coil, must chill refrigerant to sub-zero temperatures. It will be understood that the heat removed from the refrigerant will have to be exhausted by the cooling circuit radiator. If heat is dissipated in a room it will contribute to overheating thereof. Also, this can lead to excessive operating temperatures within the cabinet. If a red wine box is also contained within the cabinet wine therefrom may be delivered at an undesirably high temperature.

The secondary 'product' coil is helically wound about a horizontal axis in the heat exchange tank and is believed to have a charge of about three wine glasses full at any given time. In between dispensing that charge is static and is able to cool over a period of time. If three glasses full is dispensed it is replaced by a fresh charge of uncooled wine from the associated wine box. Should more than three glasses full be dispensed then wine is caused to flow direct from the box to the glass with only a short time spent in the secondary coil generally insufficient to cool it to the desired temperature.

As wine drinking in public houses becomes increasingly popular it will be apparent that design limitations of 'Paxman' may become ever more irksome to bar staff and customers alike. To some extent the drawbacks of the secondary cooling system of 'Paxman' are mitigated by their production design having three secondary cooling circuits so that when the charge from one is dispensed staff can simply move on to another. Unfortunately, bar staff are renowned for quick service paying little heed to the temperature quality of the product they are serving and therefore cannot be relied upon to operate available refrigeration equipment in an optimum manner.

According to a first aspect of the invention a drinks dispenser comprises a housing adapted for the location therein of at least one drinks vessel and having in its interior a refrigeration unit comprising a direct expansion chamber substantially filled with liquefied refrigerant in which at least one cooling conduit is located so that opposite ends of the conduit open externally of the chamber with the interior of the conduit being isolated from the interior of the chamber, means for connecting the interior of the vessel to one said end of said conduit and drink outlet means connected to the other end of the conduit, the refrigeration unit further comprising a refrigeration pump which has inlet and outlet connections to the chamber and means for sensing the temperature of refrigerant within the chamber, which sensing means is adapted to actuate the pump at a predetermined refrigerant temperature, the arrangement being such that when drink from said vessel is caused to flow through said conduit the drink is cooled and a resulting increase in the temperature of the refrigerant will cause actuation of the pump when said predetermined temperature is reached.

Additionally, an accumulator is disposed in line between said outlet connection and said refrigeration pump thereby to ensure that only refrigerant vapour is received by the pump.

Typically, in use drink is dispensed under gravity feed through the cooling conduit of said refrigeration unit. The said cooling conduit may be provided by a generally upright helical coil within the chamber having its said one end disposed above the chamber and its said other end disposed below the chamber.

Preferably, the refrigeration unit is encased in high density insulating foam to form a construction block forming a load bearing element within said housing. More preferably, the housing comprises a refrigeration pump house toward the bottom thereof, said construction block is disposed on a shelf above said pump house, a bracket or like means secures the block in position, a cowling extends over and rests on the block and provides a shelf at the lower extent of said compartment on which in use the drinks vessel can rest, a pair of opposed side walls of the compartment are provided by two sprung panels which in position restrain said cowling, and a lower front panel of the housing has fitted thereto a drinks dispensing head forming part of said drinks outlet means.

Desirably, the refrigeration unit comprises a plurality of cooling conduits each provided by a respective one of corresponding plurality of generally coaxially helically wound cooling pipes disposed within said chamber with each said conduit being associated in use with a corresponding one of a plurality of drinks vessels housed within said compartment.

Additionally, said compartment houses a drinks vessel unassociated with said refrigeration unit with said dispenser further comprising a feed circuit in the form of a tube having a feed end adapted to communicate with said unassociated drinks vessel and a delivery end from which in use unrefrigerated drink from that vessel can be dispensed and with the tube being insulated from said refrigeration unit. In which case said tube may be retained in said construction block remote from said refrigeration unit being insulated therefrom by the intervening high density insulating foam of the block.

It should be understood that the invention as hereinafter described is equally applicable to different structural configurations and for the dispensing of drink other that wine from containers or vessels of any desired form.

It is an object of the invention to provide a refrigerated drinks dispenser which overcomes some or all of the aforedescribeddisadvantages of existing dispenser arrangements and which may further provide for cooling of drink immediately prior to it being dispensed.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of the preferred embodiment with front panels thereof removed, and

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a refrigeration unit of the preferred embodiment.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is in the form of a wine box refrigerating dispenser as generally illustrated in Figure 1. The dispenser comprises a cabinet 1 having an outer open fronted galvanised sheet steel outer shell 2. A lower steel shelf 3 spanning a rearward portion of the cabinet 1 and a forwardly disposed panel (not shown) define an open backed pump house 4 in which a refrigeration pump plant (not shown) is housed. Forwardly of that panel but not shown is a light fitting to back light windows in a front panel carrying translucent advertising materials.

A construction block 5 made of high density polymer foam housing a refrigeration unit 100 is seated on the shelf 3 and retained in position by a bracket 6 attached to a back wall of the outer shell 2. A plastics cowling (not shown in detail) rests on the construction block 5 and is held in position by sprung side panels 8,9 respectively. A shelf 7 forming an upper part of the cowling co-operates with the side panels 8,9 and an upper wall of shell 2 to define a compartment within which wine boxes 10,11,12 and 13 can seat in side by side relationship.

The block 5 will generally be disposed centrally of the shelf 3 (not offset as herein illustrated) and may be of sufficient dimensions to extend along the entire shelf 3 if so desired. Typically, it is fabricated by introducing foaming polymer under high pressure into a jig mould retaining the refrigeration unit 100. To facilitate efficient manufacture a jig mould adapted separately to foam encase ten refrigeration units 100 can be used. Generally, the foam block 5 is surrounded by a plastics membrane, i.e. of bag form, which is used to effect rapid release from the jig mould and to protect the exterior surfaces of the foam.

Outlets 14,15,16,17 respectively of boxes 10,11,12,13 are in use connected by silicon walled pipes (not shown) extending through apertures in the cowling to corresponding feed pipe stubs 18,19,20,21 extending upwardly from the construction block 5. Feed pipe stubs 18,19,20 lead to respective cooling tubes of the refrigeration unit 100 having corresponding delivery pipe stubs 22,23,24 extending downwardly from block 5. Feed pipe 21 extends through the foam construction block 5 remote from refrigeration unit 100 and is further insulated therefrom by foam sheathing 25. A delivery pipe stub 26 communicates with feed stub 21. A front panel (not shown) of the cabinet 1 is provided at positions A,B,C,D with a corresponding plurality of dispensing heads of known type each of which is connected by silicon walled pipes to a corresponding one of delivery pipes 22,23,24,26.

Typically, boxes 10,11 and 12 contain white wine which will be chilled as it passes through refrigeration unit 100. Box 13 contains red wine which will be delivered through pipe stub 26 without having been cooled and will remain at room temperature. A decorative front panel (not shown) is fitted to the front of the cabinet 1.

Referring now to Figure 2, the form and function of the refrigeration unit 100 will be further described. The unit 100 comprises a generally upright cylindrical direct expansion copper tank 101 typically 153 mm in diameter and 155 mm high. A direct expansion chamber 102 is defined by the cylindrical side wall 103, upper end wall 104 and lower end wall 105 of the tank 101. The chamber 102 is filled with liquefied refrigerant R134 and communicates with the refrigeration pump plant by means of an exhaust port 106 and inlet capillary tube 107. An accumulator 108 is disposed between the port 106 and the pump plant to prevent liquid refrigerant inadvertently flowing from the port 106 through exhaust pipe 109 from reaching the plant via pipe 110.

A hollow blind bore tube 111 extends through a central portion of end wall 105 toward the upper region of chamber 102. This tube 111 is adapted to receive a sensor of a thermostat (not shown) which is adapted to actuate the refrigeration pump plant when the temperature of the refrigerant in the upper region of chamber 102 is sensed to be within the range 2 to 6 degrees Celsius.

Direct expansion refrigeration is well known for plants installed in refrigerated holds of ships, for example. Typically, operation of such large scale pump plant is controlled by monitoring pressure in the coolant system thereof which is wholly impractical in this invention because of the small volumes of refrigerant used. This has been appreciated by the inventor who has adopted a temperature control system as aforedescribed.

It will be understood that the chamber 102 and accumulator 108 and communicating pipework are at the operating pressure of the coolant system of the refrigeration pump plant. Refrigerant is introduced into the system by first evacuating the system by connecting a vacuum line to bleed valve 112 which communicates with chamber 102 by means of filler tube 113 and then introducing refrigerant through the system to take the place of the vacuum. It will be appreciated that by leaving the system evacuated for a time it is possible to determine any degeneration of the vacuum thereby exposing leaks of soldered joints, pipe connections and so forth.

The direct expansion tank system operates in conventional manner with refrigerant maintaining a sub-ambient temperature in the chamber 102. A first cooling circuit is provided by an upright helically wound coil 114 disposed centrally of the chamber 102 and extending around an inlet port 115, provided by an open end of refrigerant capillary tube 107, and blind bore tube 111 of the thermostat sensor. The bore of coil 114 communicates at an inlet end thereof with inlet feed stub 20 and at an outlet end thereof with outlet stub 24. Second and third cooling tubes are provided respectively by concentric helically wound coils 116,117 communicating respectively with stubs 19,23 and 18,22. In use wine drawn from the corresponding box or other vessel will pass along one of the cooling tubes getting progressively cooler as it reaches the lower extent thereof. Typically, the coils 114,116,117 range from 2800mm to 3200mm in length of food quality stainless steel 3/8 inch (9.5mm) diameter tubing.

Refrigerant 134 is used because it is environmentally friendly. It is retained in the chamber nominally at 2 bar giving it a boiling point of zero degrees Celsius. As wine passes through one or other of the cooling tubes it will be cooled causing the refrigerant contained within the chamber 102 to heat. It will be understood that thermodynamics result in the refrigerant at the upper extent of chamber 102 being warmer than that at the lower extent.

When refrigerant adjacent upper end wall 104 boils, i.e. reaches zero degrees Celsius, it will vent through exhaust port 106. As the sensor detects that the refrigerant has risen to above 6 degrees Celcius it will activate the refrigeration pump plant which draws the refrigerant vapour from exhaust port 106 returning it to chamber 102 in liquefied form through inlet port 115. Pump action will continue until the sensor detects that chamber temperature has fallen to 2 degrees Celsius. It will be understood that the associated thermostat may be adjustable if desired and that its actuation range may be as desired depending on the type of drink that is to be dispensed.

By disposing the helical coils 114,116,117 of the three cooling tubes generally upright and allowing drink to be gravity fed therethrough then even if refrigerant adjacent the upper extent of chamber 102 is above the desired drinks delivery temperature that toward the lower region will not be. Consequently, although the refrigeration unit will be less efficient at cooling drinks when the refrigeration pump plant is first activated it will still be able to deliver drinks at the desired temperature. Also, a downward flow direction through coils 114,116,117 results in a much higher flow rate than that obtainable with horizontally extending product coils.

The aforedescribed refrigeration unit 100 permits rapid cooling of wine passing directly through the coils 114,116,117. There is no need to provide coils of sufficient interior volume to hold a large charge of drink awaiting dispensing.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A drinks dispenser comprising a housing (1) adapted for the location therein of at least one drinks vessel (10,11,12) and having in its interior a refrigeration unit (100) comprising a chamber (102) substantially filled with a fluid in which at least one cooling conduit (114,116,117) is located so that opposite ends (18,19,20,22,23,24) of the conduit (114,116,117) open externally of the chamber (102) with the interior of the conduit (114,116,117) being isolated from the interior of the chamber (102), means for connecting the interior of the vessel (10,11,12) to one said end (18,19,20) of said conduit and drink outlet means connected to the other end (22,23,24) of the conduit (114,116,117), and means for sensing the temperature of the fluid within the chamber (102), which sensing means is adapted to actuate a pump at a predetermined fluid temperature; characterised in that the chamber (102) is a direct expansion chamber, the fluid contained in the chamber (102) is a refrigerant, and the pump is a refrigeration pump which has inlet (107) and outlet (109) connections to the chamber (102), the arrangement being such that when drink from said vessel (10,11,12) is caused to flow through said conduit (114,116,117) the drink is cooled and a resulting increase in the temperature of the refrigerant will cause actuation of the pump when said predetermined temperature is reached.

2. A dispenser in accordance with claim 1, characterised in that an accumulator (108) is disposed in line between said outlet connection (109) and said refrigeration pump thereby to ensure that only refrigerant vapour is received by the pump.

3. A dispenser in accordance with claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that in use drink is dispensed under gravity feed through the cooling conduit (114,116,117) of said refrigeration unit (100).

4. A dispenser in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said cooling conduit (114,116,117) is provided by a generally upright helical coil within the chamber (102) having its said one end (18,19,20) disposed above the chamber (102) and its said other end (22,23,24) disposed below the chamber (102).

5. A dispenser in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the refrigeration unit (100) is encased in high density insulating foam to form a construction block (5) forming a load bearing element within said housing (1).

6. A dispenser in accordance with claim 5, characterised in that the housing (1) comprises a refrigeration pump house (4) toward the bottom thereof, said construction block (5) is disposed on a shelf (3) above said pump house (4) , a bracket

(6) or like means secures the block (5) in position, a cowling extends over and rests on the block (5) and provides a shelf

(7) at the lower extent of said compartment on which in use the drinks vessel can rest (10,11,12,13), a pair of opposed side walls of the compartment are provided by two sprung panels (8,9) which in position restrain said cowling, and a lower front panel of the housing (1) has fitted thereto a drinks dispensing head forming part of said drinks outlet means.

7. A dispenser in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the refrigeration unit (100) comprises a plurality of cooling conduits (114,116,117) each provided by a respective one of corresponding plurality of generally coaxially helically wound cooling pipes (114,116,117) disposed within said chamber (102) with each said conduit (114,116,117) being associated in use with a corresponding one of a plurality of drinks vessels (10,11,12) housed within said compartment.

8. A dispenser in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said compartment houses a drinks vessel (13) unassociated with said refrigeration unit (100) with said dispenser further comprising a feed circuit in the form of a tube (21) having a feed end adapted to communicate with said unassociated drinks vessel (13) and a delivery end (26) from which in use unrefrigerated drink from that vessel (13) can be dispensed and with the tube (21) being insulated from said refrigeration unit (100).

9. A dispenser in accordance with claim 8 and claim 5, characterised in that said tube (21) is retained in said construction block (5) remote from said refrigeration unit (100) being insulated therefrom by the intervening high density insulating foam of the block (5).