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US 10,865,092 B1Granted
Modular beverage-dispensing assembly for a refrigerator appliance
AssigneeHaier US Appliance Solutions, Inc.
InventorsTyler Fitt, Steven Fox, Jacob Wells, Isabella Mari Cuasay, Griffin Maxwell
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A modular beverage-dispensing assembly, as provided herein, may include a housing, a compressed gas tank mounted to the housing, and a plurality of discrete beverage containers, and a multipath gas valve or multipath liquid valve for dispensing a liquid from one or more of the beverage containers.
Claims20
A modular beverage-dispensing assembly comprising:
- a housing;
- a compressed gas tank mounted to the housing;
- a plurality of discrete beverage containers supported on the housing;
- a multipath gas valve downstream from the compressed gas tank in selective upstream fluid communication with the plurality of discrete beverage containers to selectively direct a compressed gas from the compressed gas tank to one beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers;
- a pressure-release valve positioned in fluid communication between the multipath gas valve and the one beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers;
- a user interface attached to the housing;
- and
- an assembly controller operably coupled to the user interface and the pressure-release valve, the assembly controller being configured to initiate a dispensing operation comprising
- receiving a beverage-output signal from the user interface,
- determining a non-dispensing state subsequent to receiving the beverage-output signal, and
- actuating the pressure-release valve to open a ventilation path between the pressure-release valve and an ambient environment in response to determining the non-dispensing state.
8 more elements
A modular beverage-dispensing assembly comprising:
- a housing;
- a compressed gas tank mounted to the housing;
- a plurality of discrete beverage containers supported on the housing;
- a multipath liquid valve in selective downstream fluid communication with each beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers to selectively direct a liquid from one beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers;
- an outlet nozzle downstream from the multipath liquid valve to dispense a liquid received therefrom;
- a pressure-release valve positioned in fluid communication between the compressed gas tank and the one beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers
- a user interface attached to the housing;
- and
- an assembly controller operably coupled to the user interface and the pressure-release valve, the assembly controller being configured to initiate a dispensing operation comprising
- receiving a beverage-output signal from the user interface,
- determining a non-dispensing state subsequent to receiving the beverage-output signal, and
- actuating the pressure-release valve to open a ventilation path between the pressure-release valve and an ambient environment in response to determining the non-dispensing state.
9 more elements
A refrigerator appliance comprising:
- a cabinet defining a chilled chamber;
- a door attached to the cabinet to selectively restrict access to the chilled chamber;
- and
- a modular beverage-dispensing assembly selectively received within the chilled chamber, the modular beverage-dispensing assembly comprising
- a housing,
- a compressed gas tank mounted to the housing,
- a plurality of discrete beverage containers supported on the housing
- a multipath gas valve downstream from the compressed gas tank in selective upstream fluid communication with the plurality of discrete beverage containers to selectively direct a compressed gas from the compressed gas tank to one beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers;
- a multipath liquid valve in selective downstream fluid communication with each beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers to selectively direct a liquid from the one beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers,
- an outlet nozzle downstream from the multipath liquid valve to dispense a liquid received therefrom,
- a pressure-release valve positioned in fluid communication between the multipath gas valve and the one beverage container of the plurality of discrete beverage containers,
- a user interface attached to the housing, and
- an assembly controller operably coupled to the user interface and the pressure-release valve, the assembly controller being configured to initiate a dispensing operation comprising
- receiving a beverage-output signal from the user interface,
- determining a non-dispensing state subsequent to receiving the beverage-output signal, and
- actuating the pressure-release valve to open a ventilation path between the pressure-release valve and an ambient environment in response to determining the non-dispensing state.
13 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.