Apparatus for dispensing a beverage
AssigneeGrad ApS
InventorsMax Tomas Lundberg, Per Bergelin, Anders Bruus, Michael Skovbjerg, Ann-Marie Finn, Kenneth Holck Jakobsen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus for dispensing a beverage in which a bottle containing the beverage is placed in a cradle and a portion of the beverage flows into a heat exchanger in which the beverage is heated or cooled to a desired temperature. The heat exchanger may be divided into at least two zones with the beverage being heated or cooled to the desired temperature in an inlet zone and the beverage being maintained at the desired temperature in an outlet zone.
Claims34
Apparatus for dispensing a liquid, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing including
- a cradle structure adapted to receive a container containing the liquid and
- an inlet in the cradle structure arranged to receive liquid from the container;
- an outlet arranged to dispense the liquid from the housing;
- a heat exchanger arranged within the housing and divided into a first zone and a second zone with the first zone being in fluid communication with the inlet and the second zone being in fluid communication with the outlet, the first zone being in limited fluid communication with the second zone;
- and
- a temperature control element in thermal communication with the first zone and with the second zone,
- the first zone being adapted to alter a temperature of the liquid in the first zone to a temperature substantially equal to a target temperature and the second zone being adapted to maintain the liquid from the first zone at the temperature substantially equal to the target temperature.
Apparatus for dispensing a liquid, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing including
- a cradle structure adapted to receive a container containing the liquid and
- an inlet in the cradle structure arranged to receive liquid from the container;
- an outlet arranged to dispense the liquid from the housing;
- a heat exchanger arranged within the housing and divided into a first zone and a second zone with the first zone being in fluid communication with the inlet and the second zone being in fluid communication with the outlet, the first zone being in limited fluid communication with the second zone;
- and
- a temperature control element in thermal communication with the first zone and with the second zone,
- the first zone being adapted to alter a temperature of the liquid in the first zone to a temperature substantially equal to a target temperature and the second zone being adapted to maintain the liquid from the first zone at the temperature substantially equal to the target temperature,
- wherein the first zone is in limited fluid communication with the second zone through a single port between the first zone and the second zone and wherein the first zone comprises a plurality of parallel fins with adjacent pairs of fins defining channels open at both ends therebetween to define a plurality of parallel channels directing liquid in the first zone from the inlet to the single port in parallel,
- further comprising a temperature detector arranged to detect a detected temperature of liquid in the second zone and an indicator adapted to provide an indication of the detected temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.