Food or beverage container sanitizing system
AssigneeRedi Technology, Inc.
InventorLaurence B. Sperry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sanitizing system for preventing the spread of harmful germs on food or beverage containers by utilizing a quick and compact UV sanitizing system. The doors of the pass-through chamber allow the customer to insert an un-sanitized container on the entry (“dirty”) side of the system, and the retail employee to remove the sanitized container from the exit (“clean”) side of the system without having to touch any other surface (doors, knobs, handles, etc.) than the container itself. The system utilizes movable UV light sources to minimize the time required for effective sanitizing.
Claims15
A food or beverage container sanitizing system, comprising:
- a housing;
- a chamber inside the housing having a top, one or more sides, and a bottom, the chamber being sized, dimensioned, and configured to envelope a food or beverage container;
- an access door providing access to the chamber when the access door is in an open state and blocking access to the chamber when the access door is in a closed state;
- a rotating base for rotating the food or beverage container within the chamber;
- and
- at least one UV light source disposed on an inner surface of the one or more sides of the chamber and configured to direct UV light at a predetermined intensity level and time duration onto a food or beverage container positioned inside the chamber in such a way as to result in sanitizing of surfaces of the food or beverage container;
- wherein when the access door is in the closed state a UV sanitation cycle is initiated using the UV light source and when the UV sanitation cycle is complete, the access door is moved to the open state;
- and
- wherein the housing rotates around the chamber and wherein the access door connected to the housing receives un-sanitized food or beverage container in a first position located on a first side of the chamber and rotates to a second position located on second side of the chamber to provide access to a sanitized food or beverage container.
A method for sanitizing a food or beverage container, the method comprising:
- providing a food or beverage container sanitizing system, comprising:
- a housing;
- a chamber inside the housing having a top, one or more sides, and a bottom, the chamber being sized, dimensioned, and configured to envelope a food or beverage container;
- an access door providing access to the chamber when the access door is in an open state and blocking access to the chamber when the access door is in a closed state;
- a rotating base for rotating the food or beverage container within the chamber;
- at least one UV light source disposed on an inner surface of one or more sides of the chamber and configured to direct UV light at a predetermined intensity level and time duration onto a food or beverage container positioned inside the chamber in such a way as to result in sanitizing of surfaces of the food or beverage container;
- wherein when the access door is in the closed state a UV sanitation cycle is initiated using the UV light source and when the UV sanitation cycle is complete, the access door is moved to the open state;
- and
- wherein the housing rotates around the chamber and wherein the access door connected to the housing receives un-sanitized food or beverage container in a first position located on a first side of the chamber and rotates to a second position located on second side of the chamber to provide access to a sanitized food or beverage container;
- inserting an un-sanitized food or beverage container into the chamber;
- initiating a UV sanitation cycle sanitizing the food or beverage container;
- and
- retrieving a now sanitized food or beverage container from the chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.