Ice cream machine having an auxiliary evaporator tank
OwnerHarold F. Rossinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ice cream machine for cooling liquid ice cream into frozen ice cream includes an evaporator having a cylindrical cooling tank and an auxiliary tank. The auxiliary tank ensures that the cylindrical cooling tank is flooded with liquid refrigerant during normal operation. The flooding of the cylindrical cooling tank provides more efficient and even cooling in an interior cooling chamber. The more efficient cooling allows the ice cream machine to utilize a smaller compressor, thereby reducing the cost and energy consumption of the ice cream machine. The auxiliary tank can be a coil of tubing or a cylindrical container positioned above the cylindrical cooling tank.
Claims26
An ice cream machine, comprising:
- a cylindrical evaporator having a refrigerant input, and a refrigerant output, the cylindrical evaporator having an interior surface defining a cooling chamber, the cooling chamber having an ice cream input and an ice cream output;
- an evaporator reservoir having a reservoir input and a reservoir output, the reservoir input being coupled to the refrigerant output;
- a compressor having a compressor input coupled to the reservoir output and a compressor output;
- and
- a condenser having a condenser input coupled to the compressor output and a condenser output coupled to the refrigerant input, whereby the refrigerant includes a liquid in the cylindrical evaporator, the refrigerant accumulating as a vapor in the evaporator reservoir, thereby providing superior cooling in the cylindrical evaporator.
A cooling system for cooling a foodstuff, the cooling a system comprising:
- a compressor;
- an evaporator in the shape of a hollow cylinder, the evaporator having a refrigerant a input and a refrigerant output, the evaporator having an inside surface defining a cooling chamber for chilling the foodstuff, the evaporator having an outside surface, the inside surface and the outside surface defining an evaporator chamber;
- and
- an auxiliary evaporator means, for receiving a liquid refrigerant from the refrigerant output of the evaporator and providing a vapor refrigerant to the compressor, the compressor receiving the vapor refrigerant and providing the liquid refrigerant to the refrigerant input of the evaporator, whereby superior cooling of the foodstuff in the evaporator is attained by completely filling the evaporator with the liquid refrigerant.
An improved ice cream freezing machine including a tubular evaporator having a refrigerant input at a bottom side of the evaporator, and a a refrigerant output at a top side of the evaporator, the tubular evaporator having an interior surface defining an interior cooling chamber, and an exterior surface, the interior surface and the exterior surface defining an evaporator chamber having a volume, the cooling chamber having an ice cream input and an ice cream output, a compressor having a compressor input and a compressor output, and a condenser having a condenser input coupled to the a compressor output and a condenser output coupled to the refrigerant input, the improvement comprising:
- an evaporator reservoir having a reservoir input coupled to the refrigerant output, and a reservoir output coupled to the compressor input, the refrigerant including a liquid in the tubular evaporator, the refrigerant accumulating as a vapor in the evaporator reservoir, thereby providing superior cooling in the cooling chamber.
A method of making ice cream in an ice cream machine, the ice cream machine including:
- an evaporator having a refrigerant input, and a refrigerant output, the evaporator including an interior surface defining a cooling chamber, the cooling chamber having an ice cream input and an ice cream output, the evaporator having an outside surface, the outside surface and the inside surface defining an evaporator chamber, the refrigerant input and the refrigerant output being in fluid communication with the evaporator chamber, the ice cream machine also including:
- an evaporator reservoir having a reservoir input and a reservoir output, the reservoir input being coupled to the refrigerant output, the method comprising:
- providing ice cream mix to the ice cream input of the cooling chamber;
- cooling the ice cream mix in the cooling chamber to create frozen ice cream, wherein the cooling is achieved by providing refrigerant in liquid form surrounding the cooling chamber in the evaporator, the refrigerant accumulating as a vapor in the evaporator reservoir thereby providing superior cooling.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.