GB2453209A - Beverage dispense - Google Patents

Abstract

A post-mix dispense tap 1 for carbonated beverages such as lemonade, colas etc has a pair of valves 7,9 , preferably piston valves, arranged in parallel, and a manually operable tap handle 3 to open and close the valves 7,9. The valves 7,9 open to a mixing chamber 25 within a nozzle 27 and an apertured disc 35 promotes mixing of beverage components dispensed from the nozzle 27. Flowrates of the beverage components are determined by a control unit located remotely from the tap 1 to achieve a desired ratio in the dispensed product. The piston valves 7, 9 are biased towards a closed position and moved to an open position by the manual movement of the tap handle 3. The cam member 29 which raises the pistons may be configured so that the diluent valve 9 opens and closes after the valve 7 to reduce adhesion of syrup to the internal surfaces.

Description

BEVERAGE DISPENSE

This invention relates to apparatus for dispensing beverages. The invention has particular, but not exclusive application to apparatus for dispensing post-mix beverages such as lemonade, cola and the like by mixing a concentrate such as a syrup and a diluent such as carbonated water.

It is well known to mix a syrup and carbonated water in a pre-determined ratio for dispense of a post-mix carbonated beverage employing apparatus commonly referred to as a bar gun that can be held in the hand and has buttons or the like for manually operating individual valves to mix carbonated water and a syrup for dispensing a required post-mix carbonated beverage.

The present invention seeks to provide an alternative form of apparatus to meet different visual and operational requirements. More especially, it is a preferred aim of the present invention to provide apparatus that simulates the appearance and operation of a conventional dispense tap for alcoholic beverages such as beer, lager, cider and that might be described as a post-mix dispense tap for bars and the like.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a post-mix dispense tap comprising a manually operable tap handle configured to operate an on/off concentrate valve and an on/off diluent valve working in parallel for delivering a concentrate and diluent to a mixing chamber, wherein the tap is connected on the upstream side of the valves to a remotely located control valve unit for controlling the flow rates of the concentrate and diluent to achieve a desired ratio of concentrate and diluent in the dispensed beverage and wherein the mixing chamber is provided on the downstream side of the valves with a device for promoting mixing of the concentrate and diluent.

Preferably1 the concentrate valve and diluent valve comprise piston valves wherein the pistons rise and fall to open or close fluid ports and thus start or stop the flow of fluid. Flowrates and hence ratio control are set and controlled by the remote flow control valve unit. Use of pistons in this manner allows post-mix action to take place at the tap outlet where back-pressure effects are minimised and enables desired performance parameters to be met.

In at least one embodiment, the concentrate valve and diluent valve open and close together. In another embodiment, the diluent valve opens with and closes after the concentrate valve. In a further embodiment, the diluent valve opens before and closes after the concentrate valve.

Preferably, the tap is arranged to simulate substantially a beer tap or any other suitable format with optional aesthetic design applied. The tap may be mounted to a font' or column' for mounting to bar tops with branding and design options applied as required.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a post-mix dispense tap comprising a manually operable tap handle configured to operate an on/off concentrate valve and an on/off diluent valve for delivering a concentrate and diluent to a mixing chamber, wherein the tap is connected on the upstream side of the valves to a remotely located control valve unit for controlling the flow rates of the concentrate and diluent to achieve a desired ratio of concentrate and diluent in the dispensed beverage.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a post-mix dispense tap comprising a manually operable tap handle configured to operate a concentrate valve and a diluent valve working in parallel for delivering a concentrate and diluent to a mixing chamber, wherein the mixing chamber is provided on the downstream side of the valves with a device for promoting mixing of the concentrate and diluent.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manually operable post-mix dispense tap for dispensing a non-alcoholic product comprising a concentrate and a diluent, wherein the tap has the appearance of a tap for dispensing alcoholic beverages such as beer, lager, cider etc. According to a still further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a post-mix dispense tap comprising a manually operable tap handle configured to operate an on/off concentrate valve and an on/off diluent valve working in parallel and simultaneously for delivering a concentrate and diluent to a mixing chamber, wherein the tap is connected on the upstream side of the valves to a remotely located control valve unit for controlling the flow rates of the concentrate and diluent to achieve a desired ratio of concentrate and diluent in the dispensed beverage and wherein the mixing chamber is provided on the downstream side of the valves with a device for promoting mixing of the concentrate and diluent.

The invention in each of its aspects will now be described in more detail with reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing which shows a vertical section through a post-mix dispense tap embodying the invention.

The drawing shows a post mix dispense tap 1 having a tap handle 3 pivotally mounted on a tap body 5 for operating a pair of dispense valves 7,9. One of the valves is connected to a source of concentrate such as syrup and the other valve is connected to a source of diluent such as carbonated water for dispensing a non-alcoholic beverage such as lemonade, cola etc. Each valve 7,9 is similar and the following description of the valve 7 applies equally to the valve 9. As shown the valve 7 includes a piston 11 arranged for vertical sliding movement within the tap body 5. The piston 11 has a head 13 at one end provided with a sealing ring 15 engageable with a valve seat 17 to close a port 19 under the biasing of a spring 21 to isolate a valve chamber 23 from a mixing chamber 25 within dispense nozzle 27. The valve chamber 23 is connected to the syrup source via a suitable syrup line (not shown). The other end of the piston 11 is pivotally connected to a cam member 29 slidably received in the tap handle 3 and biased towards the piston 11 by a spring 31. The cam member 29 is responsive to pivotal movement of the tap handle 3 away from the vertical position shown to raise the piston 11 against the biasing of the spring 21 to open the port 19 and allow concentrate to flow from the valve chamber 23 to the mixing chamber 25. The piston 11 is lowered to close the port 19 when the tap handle 3 returns to the vertical position.

The mixing chamber 25 is separated from outlet 33 of the dispense nozzle 27 by a mixing disc 35 provided with apertures 37 for promoting mixing of the syrup and carbonated water admitted to the mixing chamber 25 for dispense into a glass or similar receptacle (not shown) placed below the nozzle 27. The apertures 37 may be of the same or different sizes and may be arranged in a regular or random pattern. The nozzle 27 and mixing disc 35 are configured for mixing the two fluid components (syrup and carbonated water) within specified parameters whilst retaining carbonation and foam height limits. In a modification (not shown) more than one mixing disc may be provided.

In use, both pistons 11 are operated in parallel in response to pivotal movement of the tap handle 3 so that both valves simultaneously open to deliver syrup and carbonated water to the mixing chamber 25 when the tap handle 3 is pivoted away from the vertical position and simultaneously close to cut-off the flow of syrup and carbonated water to the mixing chamber 2 when the tap handle 3 is pivoted back to the vertical position.

Use of pistons 11 in this manner allows post-mix' action to take place at the nozzle 27 or outlet 33 where back-pressure effects are minimised and enables the performance parameters specified to be met.

In a modification (not shown) the cam members may be configured so that the valve 9 for the carbonated water opens with and closes after the valve 7 so that the mixing chamber 25 is flushed with carbonated water to remove syrup from internal surfaces of the mixing chamber 25, mixing disc 35 and nozzle 27 ("post flush"). In another modification (not shown) the cam members may be configured so that the valve 9 for the carbonated water opens before and closes with the valve 7 so that the mixing chamber 25 is flushed with carbonated water to reduce adhesion of syrup to internal surfaces of the mixing chamber 25, mixing disc 35 and nozzle 27 ("pre flush"). In another modification (not shown) the cam members may be configured so that the valve 9 for the carbonated water opens before ("pre flush") and closes after the valve 7 ("post flush").

Flowrates of the two fluid components and hence ratio control of the final product are set and controlled by a remote flow control unit (now shown) connected to the syrup line and carbonated water line upstream of the dispense tap 1. Remote location of the flow control unit simplifies the construction and installation of the tap 1. Flowrates may be adjusted on set-up, for example by a service engineer, and the unit can be configured to restrict access and prevent unauthorised changes to the flowrates of the two fluid components. The unit may monitor throughput of syrup and/or concentrate and may record and/or store throughput for checking performance of the unit and for stock purposes. Stored data may be retrieved locally, for example by a hand held reader, or remotely, for example via an internet connection.

The carbonated water may be delivered to the remote flow control device in a circuit for re-circulating the carbonated water that includes a carbonator or other suitable device to maintain carbonation levels in the carbonated water. The circuit may include a cooler for cooling the carbonated water. The carbonator may be located in the cooler. Chilled water or sub-zero glycol solution may be employed in a cooling circuit for cooling of fluid lines up to the remote flow control unit and/or for trace' cooling of fluid lines from the remote flow control unit up to the tap for ultimate casual drink performance. The tap may be provided with means for illuminating parts or features of the tap such as branding. The tap may be provided with detachable elements with external designs and materials that can be replaced to change the appearance of the tap.

The tap 1 simulates the appearance of a beer tap and may be mounted on a counter top fitting such as a font or column for mounting on a bar top or similar location. In this embodiment, the tap body 5 is provided with a mounting bracket 39 and the lines for the fluid components are concealed from view by routing through the bracket 39.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment above-described. For example, the tap may include more than two piston valves for connecting additional syrup and/or diluent lines. For example two syrup lines and one diluent line may be provided with pivotal movement of the tap in one direction from a closed vertical position dispensing a mixture of diluent with one of the syrups and pivotal movement in the opposite direction from the closed vertical position dispensing a mixture of diluent with the other syrup. Other combinations will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Although the tap has been described for dispensing a carbonated beverage, it may be used to dispense a non-carbonated beverage, for example a fruit juice, by mixing concentrate with still water.

Claims (18)

1. A post-mix dispense tap comprises a manually operable tap handle configured to operate an on/off concentrate valve and an on/off diluent valve working in parallel for delivering a concentrate and diluent to a mixing chamber, wherein the tap is connected on the upstream side of the valves to a remotely located control valve Unit for controlling the flow rates of the concentrate and diluent to achieve a desired ratio of concentrate and diluent in the dispensed beverage and wherein the mixing chamber is provided on the downstream side of the valves with a device for promoting mixing of the concentrate and diluent.

2. A post-mix dispense tap according to claim 1 wherein, the concentrate valve and diluent valve comprise piston valves.

3. A post-mix dispense tap according to claim 2 wherein, each piston valve comprises a piston biased towards a closed position and movable to an open position against the biasing by pivotal movement of the tap handle.

4. A post-mix dispense tap according to claim 3 wherein, pivotal movement of the tap handle is transmitted to the piston of each piston valve by a respective cam member.

5. A post-mix dispense tap according to any preceding claim wherein, the concentrate and diluent valves open and close together.

6. A post-mix dispense tap according to any of claims 1 to 4 wherein, the diluent valve opens with and closes after the concentrate valve.

7. A post-mix dispense tap according to any of claims 1 to 4 wherein, the diluent valve opens before and closes with the concentrate valve.

8. A post-mix dispense tap according to any of claims 1 to 4 wherein, the diluent valve opens before and closes alter the concentrate valve.

9. A post-mix dispense tap according to any preceding claim wherein, diluent is supplied to the control valve unit in a diluent re-circulation circuit for re-circulating diluent.

10. A post-mix dispense tap according to claim 9 wherein the re-circulation circuit includes a cooler for cooling the diluent.

11. A post-mix dispense tap according to claim 9 or claim 10 wherein, the diluent is carbonated and the re-circulation circuit includes a carbonator.

12. A post-mix dispense tap according to any preceding claim wherein, the mixing device comprises at least one disc provided with apertures.

13. A post-mix dispense tap according to any preceding claim wherein, the mixing chamber and mixing device are provided in a dispense nozzle having an outlet for dispense of post-mix beverage.

14. A post-mix dispense tap according to any preceding claim wherein, the dispense tap resembles a beer tap.

15. A post-mix dispense tap according to any preceding claim wherein, a coolant circuit is provided for cooling concentrate and diluent lines up to the tap.

16. A post-mix dispense tap according to any preceding claim wherein, the tap is provided with means for illuminating parts or features of the tap.

17. A post-mix tap according to any preceding claim wherein, the tap is provided with detachable elements with external designs and materials that can be replaced to change the appearance of the tap.

18. A post-mix dispense tap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.