Hot beverage dispensing system
AssigneeAutomatic Bar Controls, Inc.
InventorsJames M. Tuyls, Charles E. Bennett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This invention provides a system and a method of economically dispensing hot beverages at precise temperature ranges in a continuous manner suitable for large-scale high-volume usage. An on-demand heater is used to heat water to a preset temperature range. The hot water is circulated to a dispensing head and recirculated back to the heater by a recirculation pump to provide a continuous flow of hot water. A supply of beverage concentrate is flowed into the dispensing head by a peristaltic pump. Upon activation of a button, the hot water is flowed into a nozzle of the dispensing head to create a vortex-like flow. The beverage concentrate is injected into the vortex-like flow and mixed with the hot water to form the hot beverage which is dispensed from the dispensing head.
Claims25
A system for dispensing hot beverages comprising:
- a water heater for producing hot water;
- a water pump coupled downstream of the water heater;
- a dispensing device coupled downstream of the water pump;
- a recirculation line coupled between the dispensing device and the water heater;
- a source of beverage concentrate;
- and
- a beverage concentrate pump coupled between the beverage concentrate source and the dispensing device.
A system for dispensing hot beverages comprising:
- means for heating a fluid;
- a fluid pump coupled downstream of the heating means;
- a dispensing device coupled downstream of the fluid pump;
- a recirculation line coupled between the dispensing device and the heating means;
- and
- means for supplying at least one source of beverage concentrate to the dispensing device.
A method of dispensing a hot beverage from a dispensing device upon activation of a switch comprising the steps of:
- heating water substantially to a preset temperature;
- flowing the heated water into the dispensing device upon activation of the switch to form a vortex-like flow in the dispensing device;
- and
- flowing a beverage concentrate into the vortex-like flow of the heated water to mix the beverage concentrate with the heated water in the dispensing device to form the hot beverage and discharge the hot beverage out of the dispensing device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.