GB2625475A

GB2625475A - Beverage-dispensing system

Info

Publication number: GB2625475A
Application number: GB2404240.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ryan Antony
Original assignee: Aquapress Dispense Ltd; Ronald Garry Mckay
Current assignee: Aquapress Dispense Ltd; Ronald Garry Mckay
Priority date: 2024-03-25
Filing date: 2024-03-25
Publication date: 2024-06-19
Also published as: GB202404240D0

Abstract

Pressurised water 12 is supplied to a vessel 24 at least partly filled with a working fluid 25 (e.g., a gas such as air or a liquid such as water). This liquid piston compresses the working fluid 25 for output through the outlet 32 and to a beverage container (18, Figs. 1 and 3) thereby to supply beverage (e.g., via tap 22, Fig. 1). Alternatively, the working fluid 25 may displace gas or solids from a vessel. A pressure regulator (16, Fig. 1) may be used to determine when compressed working fluid 25 is expelled via the outlet 32. When water 42 reaches the top, e.g., float 48, the vessel 24 may be reset/recycled by draining water 42 through drain 44 and taking in air through inlet valve 46. Two vessels 24a,b may be used alternatingly such that while one 24a is supplying pressurised working fluid 25 (supply mode), the other 24b may be reset/recycled (drain mode). A three-way supply valve 27 may be used to route water to one 24a or the other 24b vessel. The vessel 24 may have no partition between the water 42 and working fluid 25.

Description

Intellectual Property Office Application No G132404240.0 RTM Date:10 May 2024 The following terms are registered trade marks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document: Sankey Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.gov.uk/ipo Beverage-Dispensing System The present invention is concerned with dispensing of beverages.

It is a common practice to pressurise a beverage container and connect it to an outlet controlled by a tap or valve, so that opening the tap causes the beverage to be dispensed through the outlet. This type of arrangement is commonplace in bars and public houses, where beer is stored in a cellar in a keg which is pressurised sufficiently to propel the beer up from the cellar level to a beer tap on the bar. Pressure in the keg needs to be maintained while the level of the beverage in it falls, and commonly this is done using compressed gas. Typically this propellant gas is carbon dioxide, although nitrogen is also used, as are combinations of both gases.

Pressurising a beverage in order to dispense it is not only useful on a commercial premises. The same principle is applicable also to small-scale systems for domestic use.

The use of pre-pressurised gaseous propellants is problematic. Carbon dioxide, the most common choice, is of course an important greenhouse gas. Its use in this context involves carbon dioxide being vented to the atmosphere, which is ecologically highly disadvantageous. In recent years carbon dioxide supply in the UK has sometimes been uncertain and prices have been high. Cylinders used for supply of gas, be it carbon dioxide or nitrogen, in sufficient quantity are heavy and cumbersome, so that their delivery to, and retrieval from, cellars is an onerous task. There are also safety implications in manual handing of the heavy cylinders which can cause injuries. Given the high pressures at which gases are delivered, cylinder failure can be explosive and highly dangerous. Release of propellant gas in confined spaces such as cellars creates risk of asphyxiation.

FR2411797A1, Georges Gruffy, discloses a beer storage system having a container, seemingly in the form of a bag to judge from the drawings, having two compartments, one containing beer and one being for connection to a city water supply. Pressure created by the city water supply enables drawing of the beer.

EP2025640A1, Carlsberg Breweries AS, discloses a cooling device for beverages in which a collapsible beer container is housed in a thermally insulating container closable by means of a lid. The container is connectable through a hose to a tap (water source) to pressurise the interior of the container and hence the beer inside the collapsible container.

EP0513205A1, AG Patents Ltd., concerns a disposable beverage container with a rigid outer bottle containing an impermeable flexible bag containing a beverage to be dispensed. The bottle is connectable to a source of pressurised fluid to pressurise the beverage.

The prior art described above provides examples of beverage containers connectable directly to a water supply to pressurise them. But in commercial premises serving multiple beverages, direct connection (and subsequent disconnection) of numerous beverage containers such as kegs to the mains supply may be problematic, given that a single leakage could create a costly flood.

A separate problem with the above prior art systems involving provision of water to the container used to store the beverage is that when the beverage has been dispensed, one is left with a container filled with water. Either this needs to be disposed of, or the heavy, water-filled container needs to be moved elsewhere for reuse or disposal, either option being potentially troublesome.

An aim of the present invention is to provide a means of using a pressurised water supply to facilitate dispensing of beverages, which overcomes one or more of these problems.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is a beverage-supply system comprising a working-fluid source for supplying a working fluid at pressure above atmospheric to a beverage container, the working-fluid source comprising a vessel which is at least partly filled with a working fluid in use, the vessel having a water inlet connectable to a source of pressurised water and a working-fluid outlet, so that as water is supplied to the vessel, the working fluid is pressurised for output through the working-fluid outlet.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is a working-fluid source for supplying a working fluid at pressure above atmospheric, the working-fluid source comprising a vessel which is at least partly filled with a working fluid in use, the vessel having a water inlet connectable to a source of pressurised water and a working-fluid outlet, so that as water is supplied to the vessel, the working fluid is pressurised for output through the working-fluid outlet. The working fluid may be used to displace and liquid, gas or even solid from a vessel.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a beverage-supply system according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic and sectional representation of a working-fluid source according to the present invention; and Figure 3 is a schematic and sectional representation of a beverage container according to the present invention.

The main components of a beverage-dispensing system according to the invention are represented in Figure 1. A working-fluid source 10 receives pressurised water through a water inlet 12 and uses it to pressurise a working fluid which is supplied through a conduit 14 via a pressure regulator 16 to a beverage container 18, which is thereby pressurised sufficiently to propel beverage from the beverage container 18 through a beverage line 20 to a tap (or taps) 22 from which the beverage is dispensed.

Looking at the components of the system in more detail, the working-fluid source 10 represented in Figure 2 comprises at least one vessel 24. In fact the present embodiment comprises first and second vessels 24a, 24b each defining a respective internal volume 25a, 25b. The water inlet 12 is connected to a source of pressurised water, which may be the mains water supply (the public water supply). The inlet 12 leads to a supply valve 27 which, in this embodiment, is a three-way valve configured to selectively (a) direct the water to inlet 28a of the first vessel 24a; (b) direct the water to inlet 28b of the second vessel 24b; and (c) disconnect the water supply, which in this example is done by connecting the inlet 12 to a closed line 30. The inlets 28a, 28b are each in a lower region of their respective vessels 24a, 24b.

The inlets 28a, 28b may be provided with respective one-way valves arranged to prevent egress of water from the vessels 24a, 24b by these routes, although these are not shown and are not functionally essential.

Each vessel 24a, 24b has a respective working-fluid outlet 32a, 32b leading via a respective non-return valve 34a, 34b to a junction 36 where the working-fluid outlets 32a, 32b meet and continue as the conduit 14. The working-fluid outlets 32a, 32b are each in an upper region of their respective vessels.

In the present embodiment, the working fluid is air. The invention may be implemented using other working fluids. Water may be used for this purpose in certain embodiments.

Water 42a, 42b from the mains supply displaces the working fluid in the vessel 24a, 24b and so raises its pressure. It is not necessary, in the vessel 24a, 24b, to physically separate the water 42a, 42b from the working fluid (air). The water pools at the bottom of the internal volume 25a, 25b of the vessel. Only the working fluid (air) reaches the working-fluid outlet 32a, 32b, thanks to its positioning in an upper region of the vessel 24a, 24b, above water level 38a, 38b. As the water level 38a, 38b rises, the air in the region above the water is compressed. When pressure in the vessel 24a, 24b reaches a threshold determined by the pressure regulator 16, pressurised air begins to be expelled via the working fluid outlet 32a, 32b.

The vessels 24a, 24b must periodically be emptied of water. This needs to be done before the water level 38a, 38b reaches the level of the working-fluid outlet 32a, 32b. A mechanism is provided which is triggered by the water level 38a, 38b reaching a threshold height and which, in response (a) opens a drain valve 44a, 44b in a lower region of the vessel 24a, 24b to allow the water 42a, 42b to flow out, (b) opens an air inlet valve 46a, 46b to admit air to the vessel 24a, 24b, and (c) switches the supply valve 27, from supply of water to one of the vessels 24a, 24b to supply of water to the other. When the relevant vessel 24a, 24b has drained of water, its drain valve 44a, 44b and its air inlet valve 46a, 46b are closed before it begins to fill with water again.

The drain valves 44a, 44b may be configured to permit draining of the water but prevent ingress of water to the vessels 24a, 24b by this route. The air inlet valves 46a, 46b may be formed as one-way valves to permit ingress of air in response to reduced pressure in the vessels 24a, 24b but resist egress of air by these routes.

The vessels 24a, 24b thus each go through a repeated cycle of (a) filling with water and supplying pressurised air and then (b) draining and refilling with air. The first and second vessels 24a, 24b are in this respect out of phase -while one is being supplied with water to provide compressed air, the other is in the drain-and-refill phase. Hence for at least some of the time that one vessel 24a, 24b is draining, the other is able to supply working fluid.

Another simpler switch /emptying mechanism, is that once float switches water pressure/supply to other vessel, the lack of pressure allows air in through 46, so long as 44 open. The weight of water drains via gravity. Simply put -the ball cock/float only has to trigger water pressure/supply to flip to other vessel and open 44. 46 doesn't need to open, but will do so automatically.

The supply valve 27 may be controlled in response to air pressure in the system, to disconnect the water supply when a certain pressure is reached, so that the working-fluid source 10 functions only when required. Wastage of mains water is thus avoided. *(As it's a closed system, water will stop prior to 27 due to back pressure unless taps 22 are opened)* For this purpose, pressure may be sensed upstream of the pressure regulator 26, to provide a controlled pressure to it, or downstream of the pressure regulator 26, so that the working-fluid source 10 is activated only when pressure supplied to the beverage container 18 is below a threshold.

The mechanism used to control opening and closing of the drain valves 44a, 44b, the air inlet valves 46a, 46b and the supply valve 26 is in this embodiment actuated mechanically by floats 48a, 48b arranged to be raised when the water level 38a, 38b in the relevant vessel 24a, 24b reaches the threshold height.

The drain valves 44a, 44b lead to a tank 50 (see Figure 1) such as the cold-water tank of a commercial venue, from which the water will be reused, so that water need not be wasted. If this is not possible, then the drained water can be sent to drain in certain commercial set-ups or domestically.

In the beverage container 18, the working fluid is separated from the beverage 52 so that the two fluids will not be mixed. The example beverage container 18 depicted in Figure 3 is in the form of a beer keg having a container vessel 54 whose interior is partitioned by a membrane 56 into two separate and non-communicating regions-a working-fluid region 58 and a beverage-containing region 60. The membrane 56 is flexible so that the volumes of the two regions 58, 60 are not fixed. Its is connected to the container vessel 54 around the circumference of vessel 54. Pressure in the working-fluid region 58 is thus transmitted to the beverage-containing region 60. As the beverage 52 is dispensed through the beverage line 20 and the beverage-containing region 60 empties, the working-fluid region 58 correspondingly expands.

The beverage container 18 has a connector 62 to form (a) a working-fluid connection for supply of working fluid from the conduit 14 to the working-fluid region 58 and (b) a beverage-supply connection for supply of the beverage 52 from the beverage-containing region 60 to the beverage line 20. The connector 62 is threadedly received on a neck of the container vessel 54 and can be removed for cleaning and refilling of the beverage container 18. These aspects are not depicted in detail herein but are in themselves conventional. The well-known Sankey-type coupler may be used.. The depicted beverage container 18 has a neck at only one end, but in other embodiments these may be provided at both ends.

In the present embodiment, a route for supply of working fluid to the working-fluid region 60 is provided by virtue of a double-walled structure. Outside the container vessel 54 is an outer vessel 68 and a passage 70 between the two conducts the working fluid via a transfer inlet 72 to the working-fluid region 60. The route for supply of working fluid to the working-fluid region 60 may in other embodiments simply comprise a tube.

While Figure 1 shows a single beverage container 18, a commercial installation will typically comprise multiple beverage containers 18 supplied with working fluid from a common working-fluid source 10 and supplying beverages to respective taps 22. The beverage containers 18 and the working-fluid source 10 may be housed in the cellar of a bar or public house, for example, with the taps 22 of course being on the bar. Working-fluid source 10 may alternatively be housed higher in the building to allow drainage of water into a non-pressurised cold water tank. But the invention may also be implemented in small-scale domestic installations, where the facility to use easily available mains water to provide the pressure needed for delivery of the beverage is highly advantageous.

The present system can make us of conventional keg couplers and plumbing, so that users with experience of conventional cellar systems will not require new skills, and its operation is straightforward, requires no additional steps to be taken by staff compared with existing systems based on pressurised gas.

The embodiments depicted and described serve only as examples of the manner in which the invention can be implemented. Numerous variations and modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the invention according to the appended claims. For example, whereas the illustrated embodiment uses a pair of vessels 24a, 24b, other embodiments may have only a single such vessel as depicted in Figure 1, or may have three or more vessels An air reservoir may be incorporated in the working-fluid supply system to provide compliance and to sustain pressure. The vessel 24 may incorporate an element, such as a piston or flexible membrane, to separate the working fluid from the beverage. The working fluid could be something other than air, be it another gas, perhaps circulating in a closed loop, or a liquid which may be water. Control of the cycle of filling and emptying the vessel 24a, 24b through the supply valve 26, the air inlet valves 46a, 46b and the drain valves 44a, 44b may be purely mechanically implemented, or may involve the use of an electronic controller responding to signals from sensors.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A beverage-supply system comprising a working-fluid source for supplying a working fluid at pressure above atmospheric to a beverage container, the working-fluid source comprising a vessel which is at least partly filled with a working fluid in use, the vessel having a water inlet connectable to a source of pressurised water and a working-fluid outlet, so that as water is supplied to the vessel, the working fluid is pressurised for output through the working-fluid outlet.
2. A beverage-supply system as claimed in claim 1 in which the working fluid is air.
3. A beverage-supply system as claimed in any claim 1 or claim 2 in which the working-fluid outlet is connected to a one-way valve arranged to permit the working fluid to flow out of the vessel through the working-fluid outlet and to prevent the working fluid from flowing into the vessel through the
4. A beverage-supply system as claimed in any preceding claim in which the working-fluid outlet is connected to a pressure regulator for providing working fluid to the beverage container at a controlled pressure.
5. A beverage-supply system as claimed in any preceding claim in which the vessel forms an internal cavity which has no partition between the working fluid and the water, and in which the working-fluid outlet is disposed in an upper region of the internal cavity.
6. A beverage-supply system as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 in which the vessel forms an internal cavity which has a partition between the working fluid and the water.
7. A beverage-supply system as claimed in any preceding claim in which the working-fluid source further comprises a supply valve controlling supply of water to the vessel, a drain valve controlling a route for draining of water from the vessel, a working-fluid inlet valve controlling a route for entry of the working fluid to the vessel, and a controller responsive to water level in the vessel to operate the vessel cyclically in at least two different modes: a supply mode in which the drain valve is closed, the working fluid inlet valve is closed, and the supply valve is open to supply water to the vessel; a drain mode, activated in response to water level in the vessel being above a threshold height, in which the supply valve is closed to cut off water supply to the vessel, the working-fluid inlet valve is open to permit entry of the working fluid to the vessel, and the drain valve is open to permit water to drain from the vessel.
8.A beverage-supply system as claimed in claim 6 in which the controller comprises a float in the vessel to be raised by the water therein.
9. A beverage-supply system as claimed in claim 6 or claim 7 comprising a second vessel which is at least partly filled with a working fluid in use, the second vessel having a second water inlet connectable to a source of pressurised water and a second working-fluid outlet, so that as water is supplied to the second vessel, the working fluid is pressurised and is output through the second working-fluid outlet, the second vessel being provided with a second drain valve controlling a route for draining of water from the second vessel, and a second working-fluid inlet valve controlling a route for entry of the working fluid to the second vessel, the second vessel being operable under the control of the controller cyclically in at least two different modes: a supply mode in which the second drain valve is closed, the second working-fluid inlet valve is closed, and the second supply valve is open to supply water to the second vessel; a drain mode, activated in response to water level in the second vessel being above a threshold height, in which the second supply valve is closed to cut off water supply to the second vessel, the second working-fluid inlet valve is open to permit entry of the working fluid to the second vessel, and the second drain valve is open to permit water to drain from the second vessel.
10. A beverage-supply system as claimed in claim 9 in which the controller is configured such that for at least some of the time that the vessel is in the drain mode, the second vessel is in the supply mode, and for at least some of the time that the second vessel is in the drain mode, the vessel is in the supply 10 mode.
11. A beverage-supply system as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising a beverage container whose interior is partitioned into a working-fluid region and a beverage-containing region, the partition being movable or flexible so that pressure in the working-fluid region is transmitted to the beverage-containing region, the working-fluid region being connected to the working-fluid outlet to receive working fluid from the working-fluid source and the beverage-containing region being connectable via a tap to a beverage-dispensing outlet.
12. A beverage-supply system as claimed in claim 11 in which the partition is a flexible membrane.
13. A method of supplying a beverage comprising providing a vessel which is at least partly filled with a working fluid, connecting the vessel to a source of pressurised water to pressurise the working fluid, supplying the working fluid via a conduit to a beverage container to pressurise a beverage in the beverage container, and dispensing the beverage via a beverage-dispensing outlet.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which the working fluid is air.
15. A method as claimed in claim 14 comprising providing the beverage container with an internal partition which divides its interior into a working-fluid region and a beverage-containing region, the partition being movable or flexible so that pressure in the working-fluid region is transmitted to the beverage-containing region, the working-fluid region being supplied with the pressurised working fluid to pressurise the beverage.
16. A method as claimed in any of claims 13 to 15 comprising regulating working fluid pressure by use of a pressure regulator in the conduit.