US 4,941,593 AGranted

Cleaning system for beverage delivery conduits

OwnerRobert C. Hicks, Raymond M. Benyakerinventors

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Abstract

Cleaning equipment is connected to automatically clean conduits which deliver beer from a keg to a spigot. An operator may manually commence the cleaning operation by controlling valves connected to the keg and to a source of water. The spigot is then manually opened by the operator to permit the water to flow through the conduits being cleaned and dispensed at the spigot. The water pressure at the entrance to the conduits creates a vacuum effect to cause a chemical solution to be mixed with the water in accordance with the amount of water pressure. A gauge measures the water back pressure at the entrance to the conduits. The amount of chemical concentration in the solution may be determined when the cleaning equipment is installed from systems involving different numbers of conduits having different back pressure levels.

Claims8

Dependent claims

In combination with a beverage delivery system for delivering a beverage for a beverage source through conduits to a dispenser, an automatic cleaning system connected to said beverage delivery system to permit selective cleaning of said conduits comprising:

a. A source of pressurized water,
b. Multiple shuttle valves connected to said conduits for selectively connecting said beverage source to said dispenser through said conduits to permit beverage to be dispensed during a normal operation of said beverage delivery and to block the passage from said beverage source to said conduits during said cleaning operation,
c. a source of cleaning solution,
d. means for selectively connecting said pressurized water to cause water to flow through said conduits and said dispenser during said cleaning operation,
e. means connecting said source of cleaning solution to cause a predetermined amount of cleaning solution to be mixed with the water flowing through said conduits,
f. said predetermined amount of cleaning solution corresponding to the pressure of the water entering said conduits, and
g. means to measure the pressure of the water and the cleaning solution entering the conduits during the cleaning operation, the means to measure the pressure comprising a pressure gauge which provides information to effect a change of concentration of the cleaning solution.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.