US 2009/0212069 A1 · BEVERAGE DISPENSER WITH LEVEL MEASURING APPARATUS AND DISPLAY

Abstract

A beverage dispenser (20) has a double-walled tubular, preferably cylindrical, sensor (22) that is immersed in liquid (23), such as coffee or tea, within an opaque, stainless steel container, or beverage dispenser (25) has a double-walled tubular sensor connected via two conductive paths (24, 26) to two inputs (28, 30), respectively, of a resistance measuring circuit (32) that measures the resistance between the two inputs (28, 30) to produce an electrical, direct current, resistance output signal that varies with changes in the instantaneous resistance between the two inputs (28, 30) The resistance output signal is connected to an input (34) of an electronic controller (40) The electronic controller (40) calculates the depth of the liquid (23) based on the magnitude of the resistance output signal applied to the input (34). The sensed and calculated level is then converted to display control output signals produced on a controller output terminal and connected to electronic display (44) to provide a visual indication of the level or quantity of beverage within the dispenser (20). Alternatively, resistance is measured between the interior of the beverage dispenser (20) and a sensor tube.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A beverage dispenser, comprising:

an insulted, opaque body for holding beverage with a closable top for receiving beverage directly from a brewer and a faucet attached to the body for dispensing beverage from within the body;
a double-walled tubular sensor located within the body with two conductive paths;
a resistance measuring circuit with two inputs respectively connected to the two conductive paths for measuring the resistance between the two inputs, said circuit producing an electrical, direct current, resistance output signal that varies with changes in the instantaneous resistance between the two inputs;
an electronic controller connected to the output signal, said controller calculating the depth of any liquid within the dispenser body based on the magnitude of the resistance output signal to produce a display control output signal representative of the depth of any beverage contained within the dispenser body;
and
an electronic display connected to the controller and responsive to the display control output signal to indicated a depth of any beverage contained within the dispenser body.

3 more elements

A beverage dispenser, comprising:

an insulted, opaque body for holding beverage with a closable top for receiving beverage directly from a brewer and a faucet attached to the body for dispensing beverage from within the body;
a split tube sensor with two elongate, semi-cylindrical, stainless steel sensor members, said sensor members being aligned and having flat, diametrical sides facing each other across an intermediate gap;
a resistance measuring circuit with two inputs respectively connected to the two sensor members for measuring the resistance between the two sensor members, said circuit producing an electrical, direct current, resistance output signal that varies with changes in the instantaneous resistance between the two inputs;
an electronic controller connected to the output signal, said controller calculating the depth of any liquid within the dispenser body based on the magnitude of the resistance output signal to produce a display control output signal representative of the depth of any beverage contained within the dispenser body;
and
an electronic display connected to the controller and responsive to the display control output signal to indicated a depth of any beverage contained within the dispenser body.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Beverage dispenser with level measuring apparatus and display

Life of this patent

Beverage dispenser with level measuring apparatus and display

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims16