A beverage line cleaning apparatus and system

A beverage line cleaning apparatus comprising:

• an input water conduit connectable to a mains water supply;
• a rinsing water conduit and a cleaning fluid conduit, each said conduit being connected to the input water conduit in fluid communication and having at least one fluid control means configurable to either allow or prevent fluid in the respective conduit flowing to a shared output fluid conduit, wherein the output fluid conduit is configured to connect to at least one beverage line in fluid communication;
• at least one connector means for connecting the at least one beverage line to said output fluid conduit;
• a detergent dosing and mixing unit configured to provide a predefined amount of cleaning fluid into said output fluid conduit through the cleaning fluid conduit, said detergent dosing and mixing unit comprises a mixing chamber;
• at least one bypass fluid conduit configured to connect the output fluid conduit in fluid communication to the mixing chamber and having at least one bypass fluid control means configurable to either allow or prevent fluid in the output fluid conduit flowing to the mixing chamber;
• a pump means configured to cause flow of fluid through said rinsing water conduit and cleaning fluid conduit into the output fluid conduit, said pump means further configured to cause flow of at least a part of fluid directly from the output fluid conduit back into the mixing chamber;
• at least one sensor configured to generate parameter data representing a parameter of rinsing water, cleaning fluid and/or flushing fluid sucked back from the at least one beverage line into the mixing chamber;
• a controller configured to:
• receive the parameter data from the at least one sensor;
• based at least partly on the parameter data, determine to which to open or close the fluid control means based on real-time sensing of the parameter data.

A networked beverage line cleaning system comprising:

• a beverage line cleaning apparatus (100) including:
• an input water conduit connectable to a mains water supply;
• a rinsing water conduit and a cleaning fluid conduit, each said conduit being connected to the input water conduit in fluid communication and having at least one fluid control means configurable to either allow or prevent fluid in the respective conduit flowing to a shared output fluid conduit, wherein the output fluid conduit is configured to connect to at least one beverage line in fluid communication;
• at least one connector means for connecting the at least one beverage line to said output fluid conduit;
• a detergent dosing and mixing unit configured to provide a predefined amount of a cleaning fluid into said output fluid conduit through the cleaning fluid conduit, said detergent dosing and mixing unit comprises a mixing chamber;
• at least one bypass fluid conduit configured to connect the output fluid conduit in fluid communication to the mixing chamber and having at least one bypass fluid control means configurable to either allow or prevent fluid in the output fluid conduit flowing to the mixing chamber;
• pump means configured to cause flow of fluid through said rinsing water conduit and cleaning fluid conduit into the output fluid conduit, said pump means further configured to cause flow of at least a part of fluid directly from the output fluid conduit back into the mixing chamber;
• at least one sensor configured to generate parameter data representing a parameter of rinsing water, cleaning fluid and/or flushing fluid sucked back from the at least one beverage line into the mixing chamber;
• a controller configured to:
• receive the parameter data from the at least one sensor;
• based at least partly on the parameter data, determine to which to open or close the fluid control means based on real-time sensing of the parameter data;
• and
• a network connectivity module configured to transmit the parameter data over a network;
• a server remote from the beverage line cleaning apparatus and including:
• a module configured to connect the server to the network to receive the parameter data;
• a data repository configured to store the parameter data and data representing the beverage line cleaning standards associated with the beverage line;
• an analytics engine configured to analyze the parameter data to determine compliance with the beverage line cleaning quality standards;
• and
• a recommendation engine configured to:
• generate a recommendation or report based on the analytics engine analyzing the data;
• the recommendation representing whether a venue of the beverage line cleaning apparatus complied with the beverage line cleaning quality standards;
• and
• cause output of the recommendation to a related party.

A networked beverage line cleaning system comprising:

• a plurality of beverage line cleaning apparatus each including:
• an input water conduit connectable to a mains water supply;
• a rinsing water conduit and a cleaning fluid conduit, each said conduit being connected to the input water conduit in fluid communication and having at least one fluid control means configurable to either allow or prevent fluid in the respective conduit flowing to a shared output fluid conduit, wherein the output fluid conduit is configured to connect to at least one beverage line in fluid communication;
• at least one connector means for connecting the at least one beverage line to said output fluid conduit;
• a detergent dosing and mixing unit configured to provide a predefined amount of a cleaning fluid into said output fluid conduit through the cleaning fluid conduit;
• pump means configured to cause flow of mains water through said rinsing water conduit and cleaning fluid conduit into the output fluid conduit;
• at least one sensor configured to generate parameter data representing a parameter of fluid flowing along the cleaning fluid conduit and/or output fluid conduit;
• a network connectivity module configured to transmit the parameter data over a network;
• a server remote from the beverage line cleaning apparatus and including:
• a module configured to connect the server to the network to receive the parameter data from the plurality of beverage line cleaning apparatus;
• a data repository configured to store the parameter data;
• an analytics engine configured to analyze aggregate subsets of the parameter data to identify optimum beverage line cleaning quality standards;
• a recommendation engine configured to:
• generate a recommendation or report based on the analytics engine analyzing the data;
• and
• cause output of a user interface to a designated user of the recommendation or report.

A networked system for cleaning at least one beverage line comprising:

• a server including:
• a data repository configured to store cleaning instructions associated with a beverage line;
• and
• a module configured to connect the server to a network and transmit the cleaning instructions to a designated beverage line cleaning apparatus;
• and
• a beverage line cleaning apparatus remote from the server and configured for cleaning the beverage line, the beverage line cleaning apparatus including:
• an input water conduit connectable to a mains water supply;
• a rinsing water conduit and a cleaning fluid conduit, each said conduit being connected to the input water conduit in fluid communication and having at least one fluid control means configurable to either allow or prevent fluid in the respective conduit flowing to a shared output fluid conduit, wherein the output fluid conduit is configured to connect to at least one beverage line in fluid communication;
• at least one connector means for connecting the at least one beverage line to said output fluid conduit;
• a detergent dosing and mixing unit configured to provide a predefined amount of a cleaning fluid into said output fluid conduit through the cleaning fluid conduit;
• pump means configured to cause flow of mains water through said rinsing water conduit and cleaning fluid conduit into the output fluid conduit;
• at least one sensor configured to generate parameter data representing a parameter of fluid flowing along the cleaning fluid conduit and/or output fluid conduit;
• a controller configured to:
• receive the cleaning instructions over the network;
• and
• during cleaning of the beverage line, control to open or close the fluid control means based on the received cleaning instructions.

A networked beverage line cleaning system comprising:

• a beverage line cleaning apparatus configured for cleaning the beverage line, the beverage line cleaning apparatus comprising:
• an input water conduit connectable to a mains water supply;
• a rinsing water conduit and a cleaning fluid conduit, each said conduit being connected to the input water conduit in fluid communication and having at least one fluid control means configurable to either allow or prevent fluid in the respective conduit flowing to a shared output fluid conduit, wherein the output fluid conduit is configured to connect a beverage line in fluid communication;
• at least one connector means for connecting the at least one beverage line to said output fluid conduit;
• pump means configured to cause flow of fluid through said rinsing water conduit and cleaning fluid conduit into the output fluid conduit;
• at least one sensor configured to generate parameter data representing a parameter of fluid flowing along the cleaning fluid conduit and/or output fluid conduit;
• a beverage dispensing tap configured for dispensing a beverage through the beverage line, the dispensing tap and/or the beverage line comprising:
• a sensor configured to generate parameter data representing a parameter of fluid flowing therethrough;
• and
• a valve for controlling the flow of fluid therethrough,
• wherein the beverage line cleaning apparatus includes:
• a controller configured to:
• receive the parameter data from the at least one sensor;
• based at least partly on the parameter data, determine to open or close the valve based on real-time sensing of the parameter data.
• a network connectivity module configured to transmit an instruction to the dispensing tap and/or beverage line over a network to control the operation of the valve.