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US 12,478,077 B2Granted
Rapidly cooling food and drinks
AssigneeColdSnap, Corp.
InventorsMatthew Fonte, John Heymans, Nicholas Fonte, Benjamin Fichera
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods have demonstrated the capability of rapidly cooling the contents of pods containing the ingredients for food and drinks.
Claims28
A machine for producing a single serving of a cooled food or drink, the machine comprising:
- an evaporator defining a receptacle for receiving ingredients for producing the single serving of the cooled food or drink, the evaporator comprising:
- a first inlet for fluid connection to a refrigeration system of the machine;
- a first outlet for fluid connection to the refrigerant system;
- a first refrigerant path extending through the evaporator from the first inlet to the first outlet for flowing refrigerant of the refrigerant system through a first portion of the evaporator;
- a second inlet for fluid connection to the refrigeration system;
- a second outlet for fluid connection to the refrigerant system;
- and
- a second refrigerant path extending through the evaporator from the second inlet to the second outlet for flowing refrigerant of the refrigerant system through a second portion of the evaporator;
- and
- a motor configured to move the first portion of the evaporator relative to the second portion of the evaporator between (i) an open configuration in which a pod containing the ingredients can be inserted into the evaporator and removed from the evaporator, and (ii) a closed configuration in which the pod containing the ingredients is held in a fixed axial position in the evaporator,
- wherein the refrigeration system is operable to pump refrigerant through the first and second refrigerant paths to cool the ingredients to assist in producing the single serving of the cooled food or drink when the evaporator is in the closed configuration and the pod containing the ingredients is held in the fixed axial position in the evaporator.
8 more elements
A machine for producing a single serving of a cooled food or drink, the machine comprising a refrigeration system comprising:
- an evaporator defining a receptacle for receiving ingredients to produce the single serving of the cooled food or drink, the evaporator comprising:
- a first refrigerant path extending from a first inlet of the evaporator to a first outlet of the evaporator;
- and
- a second refrigerant path extending from a second inlet of the evaporator to a second outlet of the evaporator, the first refrigerant path being separate from the second refrigerant path;
- and
- a compressor operable to pump refrigerant through the first and second refrigerant paths to cool the receptacle to assist in producing the single serving of the cooled food or drink from the ingredients,
- wherein the first and second inlets of the evaporator are disposed on a first lateral side of the evaporator, and the first and second outlets of the evaporator are disposed on a second lateral side of the evaporator opposite to the first lateral side,
- wherein the first refrigerant path comprises a plurality of first flow channels extending in a direction parallel to a longitudinal axis of the evaporator, and the second refrigerant path comprises a plurality of second flow channels extending in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the evaporator.
5 more elements
A method for producing a single serving of a cooled food or drink, the method comprising:
- inserting a pod containing ingredients for producing the single serving of the cooled food or drink into a receptacle defined by an evaporator of a machine while the evaporator is in an open configuration;
- moving, by a first motor of the machine, the evaporator from the open configuration to a closed configuration to hold the pod in a fixed axial position in the receptacle of the evaporator;
- and
- while the pod is held in the fixed axial position in the evaporator:
- pumping, by a compressor of the machine, refrigerant through a first refrigerant path of the evaporator of the machine from a first inlet of the evaporator to a first outlet of the evaporator;
- pumping, by the compressor, refrigerant through a second refrigerant path of the evaporator from a second inlet of the evaporator to a second outlet of the evaporator, the first refrigerant path being separate from the second refrigerant path;
- cooling the ingredients within the pod by transferring heat from the ingredients to the refrigerant pumped through the first refrigerant path and the second refrigerant path;
- and
- producing the single serving of the cooled food or drink from the cooled ingredients.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.