Abstract:
A dispenser with features for enhanced maintainability generally comprises a lower unit having therein an ice bin; an upper unit atop the lower unit for providing an interface for dispensing ice from the ice bin to the public; a conveyor having and inlet in the ice bin and an outlet in the upper unit; an ice distributor in a lower portion of the ice bin for conveying ice within the ice bin to the inlet; and a drive motor operably associated with the ice distributor, the drive motor being located in a space above the lower unit for ready access. A plurality of optical emitter assemblies are disposed upon a wall of the ice bin and a plurality of optical receiver assemblies are oppositely disposed upon a second wall of the ice bin. Each optical emitter assembly comprises an emitter housing and a selectively removable emitter body comprising an optical source. Each optical receiver assembly comprises a receiver housing and a selectively removable receiver body comprising an optical receiver. Modular flow control valves are adapted for substantially simultaneous electrical and fluid connection with mounting blocks on the upper unit.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to ice and beverage dispensers. More particularly, the invention relates to the improved arrangement and configuration of various generally known components of dispenser units for facilitating maintenance and preventing damage during ordinary operation. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Combination ice and beverage dispenser units, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,488 issued Jul. 27, 1993 to Strohmeyer et al., are now in common use for, among other reasons, their ability to provide the consuming public with a variety of beverage products, including ice, without waste of valuable commercial counter area. To further enhance this characteristic of combination dispensers, modular flow controllers, such as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/496,441 filed Feb. 2, 2000, have been developed to interface with multi-flavor beverage dispensing air-mix nozzles. Such valves are designed to be compact, in order to allow as many as possible to be utilized in the smallest of dispensers. They are also designed to be modularly replaceable in order to ensure that failure of one may be readily remedied, in the field, without necessity for intervention by a factory-level service technician. In order to enhance maintainability of such combination dispenser, efforts have been made to ensure that their various components are readily accessible in the case of failure, which is especially important in the case where a dispenser is built into a counter top. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,646 issued Nov. 3, 1998 to Schroeder et al. discloses a wheel for conveyance of ice to a delivery chute. In this patent, however, the wheel is placed at an angle, thereby allowing the drive motor therefor to be readily accessible at the front of the dispenser unit. Finally, redundancy is often built into dispenser units to ensure that single component failures do not immediately disrupt operation of the dispenser or cause more catastrophic damage. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,606 issued Sep. 30, 1997 to Schroeder et al. discloses the use of redundant optical sensors for determining the level of ice within an exemplary dispenser, thereby ensuring accurate measurement for interface with an automated ice delivery system. 
     It is an overriding object of the present invention to further develop and incorporate each of these principles into a combination ice and beverage dispenser unit that is extremely reliable in operation, yet highly-maintainable in case of component failure. It is, however, another object of the present invention, to extend such principles with regard for economy, eliminating redundancy where possible through better design. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the foregoing objects, the present invention—a dispenser with features for enhanced maintainability—generally comprises a lower unit having therein an ice bin; an upper unit atop the lower unit for providing an interface for dispensing ice from the ice bin to the public; a conveyor, such as an auger, belt, or the like, having an inlet in the ice bin and an outlet in the upper unit; an ice distributor, such as a wheel, agitator bar, or the like, in a lower portion of the ice bin for conveying ice within the ice bin to the inlet; and a drive motor operably associated with the ice distributor, the drive motor being located in a space above the lower unit for ready access. 
     In another embodiment, the dispenser includes a plurality of optical emitter assemblies disposed upon a first interior sidewall of the ice bin and a plurality of optical receiver assemblies oppositely disposed upon a second interior sidewall of the ice bin. Each optical emitter assembly comprises an emitter housing, dependently attached to the first interior sidewall and in fixed electrical communication with a control circuit, and an emitter body comprising an optical source. The emitter body is adapted for removable engagement with the emitter housing for establishing an electrical connection between the optical source and the control circuit. Likewise, each optical receiver assembly comprises a receiver housing, dependently attached to the second interior sidewall and in fixed electrical communication with the control circuit and a receiver body comprising an optical receiver. The receiver body is adapted for removable engagement with the receiver housing for establishing an electrical connection between the optical receiver and the control circuit. 
     In yet another embodiment, the dispenser is provided with modular flow control valves adapted for substantially simultaneous electrical and fluid connection with mounting blocks on the upper unit. In particular, an electrical connector is fixed in position upon each flow controller such that connection of a fluid connector on the flow controller with a corresponding fluid connector on the mounting block cause substantially simultaneous engagement of the flow controller&#39;s electrical connector with a corresponding electrical connector on the mounting block. 
     Finally, many other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts, especially in light of the foregoing discussions and the following drawings, exemplary detailed description and appended claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Although the scope of the present invention is much broader than any particular embodiment, a detailed description of the preferred embodiment follows together with illustrative figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like components, and wherein: 
     FIG. 1 shows, in perspective view, the enhanced ice and beverage dispenser exemplary of the preferred embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 shows, in perspective view, the dispenser of FIG. 1 with an upper lid opened for viewing of several internal components; 
     FIG. 3 shows, in a side cross-sectional view, several of the various internal components of the dispenser of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 4 shows, in an exploded partial perspective view, details of a portion of the conveyor of the dispenser of FIG. 1; FIG. 5 shows, in an exploded perspective view, an optical emitter (or detector) assembly of the dispenser of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 shows, in an exploded perspective view, details of a bearing assembly internal the dispenser of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 shows, in perspective view, the bearing assembly of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 8 shows, in a cross-sectional view taken along line  8 — 8  in FIG. 7, the bearing assembly of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 9 shows, in an exploded cross-sectional view taken along line  9 — 9  in FIG. 5, details of the assembly of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 10 shows, in collapsed cross-sectional view from the same perspective as that of FIG. 9, the assembly of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 11 shows, in perspective view a modular flow controller and a mounting block of the dispenser of FIG. 1; and 
     FIG. 12 shows the controller and mounting block of FIG. 11 as operably mated together. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Although those of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize many alternative embodiments, especially in light of the illustrations provided herein, this detailed description is exemplary of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the scope of which is limited only by the claims appended hereto. 
     Referring now to the Figures, an ice and beverage dispensing unit  20  is shown to generally comprise an upper unit  21  and a lower unit  55 , as is typical in the art as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,448 issued Jul. 27, 1993 to Strohmeyer et al. As particularly shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper unit  21  comprises a plurality of combination mixing and dispensing valves  22 , and ice dispensing nozzle  47  and a micro-controller based control circuit  52 . As also shown, the lower unit  55  houses an ice bin  64  atop a cold plate  95 . A plurality of inlets  63  is provided to an equal plurality of cooled product lines  62 , which enter through the outer housing  56  of the lower unit  55 , through the cold plate  95 , and are then routed to the combination mixing and dispensing valves  22 . Similarly, a plurality of inlets  61  is provided to an equal plurality of ambient temperature product lines  60 , which route directly to the combination mixing and dispensing valves  22 , which in the preferred embodiment comprise modular flow controllers  24  in combination with multi-flavor beverage dispensing air-mix nozzles  46 . As in other beverage dispensing units, depression of one of the plurality of beverage dispense membrane switches  23  activates the micro-controller based control circuit  52  to control metering of basic syrups and bonus flavors through the cooled and ambient temperature product lines  62 ,  60  and through the modular flow controllers  24  to the air-mix nozzles  46 . Likewise, a catch pan  57  is provided for the overflow of fluid products. In the present invention, however, the modular flow controllers  24  have been modified from prior embodiments in order to enhance their manner of interface with mounting blocks  39  to the ambient temperature product lines  60 , cooled product lines  62  and micro-controller based control circuit  52 . 
     As shown in FIG. 3, the ice and beverage dispensing unit  20  also comprises an ice distributor  66 , which in this preferred embodiment is a wheel, agitator bar, or the like, at the base of ice bin  64  for directing ice from ice bin  64  to a recess  68  at the base of ice conveyor  49 , which in this preferred embodiment is an auger, belt, or the like. As in prior embodiments, deflection of ice dispense switch  118  causes activation of conveyor motor  50  to draw ice from the recess  68  through the ice conveyor  49  to the conveyor top housing  51  and out ice dispensing nozzle  47 . Deflection of switch  118  also causes activation of gear motor  54  to operate ice distributor  66  for the supply of ice from within the various locations of ice bin  64  to recess  68 , which may be formed separately or as part of a ice distributor shroud  67 . The gear motor  54  may also, of course, be operated independently of switch  118  on, for example, a timer mechanism, to allow disruption of the ice within the ice bin  64  by an agitator bar  71 . In this manner, freezing together of the ice may be prevented during extended periods between dispense operations. In the present invention, however, various modifications of the prior art have been effected in order to allow the gear motor  54  to be positioned in the intermediate space  53  between the upper unit  21  and lower unit  55 . In this manner, the area allotted for ice bin  64  is maximized while still allowing access to gear motor  54  for maintenance purposes. Likewise, in order to operate the conveyor motor  50  at an optimum speed, thereby preventing repeated, pulsed starts and stops by the user, an ice dispense speed membrane switch  48  is also provided in the present invention. This switch  48 , in communication with the micro-controller based control circuit  52 , preferably allows the user to select from either FAST, MEDIUM or SLOW dispense rates upon activation of switch  118 . Those of ordinary skill in the art, however, will recognize the many substantially equivalent alternatives as may be implemented. 
     As in other prior dispensing units, an ice bin access lid  58  is provided through the outer housing  56  of lower unit  55  to the interior of ice bin housing  65 . As has also been previously implemented, a plurality of optical emitter assemblies  72  and corresponding optical detector assemblies  73  are provided in strategic locations of ice bin housing  65  to monitor the level of ice within ice bin  64 . In the present invention, however, the optical emitter and detector assemblies  72 ,  73  have been modularized to allow their selective employment and easy maintenance in case of failure. For example, while prior embodiments have utilized as may as six pairs for redundancy reasons, the preferred implementation now dispenses with the redundancy requirement. In embodiments where the ice bin  64  is in communication with an automated ice delivery system through, for example, ice supply conduit  59 , only three emitter-detector assembly pairs  72 , 73  are required. Likewise, in embodiments wherein ice is manually loaded through ice bin access lid  58 , only two emitter-detector assembly pairs  72 ,  73  are required to indicate to the user the level of ice within ice bin  64 . 
     Referring now to the remaining Figures, details of the various improvements of the present invention are now provided. Although described in the context of a combination ice and beverage dispensing unit  20 , it to be appreciated that various aspects of the improvements disclosed herein may be employed singly or in combination with other of the aspects. For example, the enhanced interface between the modular flow controllers  24  and mounting blocks  39  will greatly simplify maintenance of any beverage dispensing unit whether or not the unit has an ice dispensing capability. Likewise, the improved arrangement of components enabling the location of gear motor  54  within the intermediate space  53  atop the lower unit  55  is beneficial for the maintenance of many ice dispensing units whether or not they include a beverage dispensing capability. On the other hand, it will also be appreciated that the combination of the various aspects of the present invention goes far to produce an overall result of a highly maintainable combination ice and beverage dispensing unit  20 . 
     The use of an ice distributor  66 , such as the illustrated wheel, for the conveyance of ice within an ice bin is exemplified in the art by U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,646 issued Nov. 3, 1998 to Schroeder et al. (“the &#39;646 patent”). By this reference, the full disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,646 is incorporated herein as though now set forth in its entirety. As shown in the single &#39;646 patent, the gear motor for driving such a wheel is typically located adjacent and beneath the wheel in order to avoid a long shaft length. In this manner, binding of the shaft is prevented. As shown in the &#39;646 patent, prior embodiments have placed the wheel in an upright position in order to allow easier access to the gear motor, for maintenance and/or replacement, than would be possible in embodiments where the gear motor is at the very base of the ice bin beneath a horizontally positioned wheel. In order to maximize the area available for storage of ice within the ice bin  64 , however, it is desirable that the wheel be placed in a horizontal plane with the gear motor  54  being placed in the relatively accessible intermediate space  53  between the upper unit  21  and the lower unit  55 . Unfortunately, in such an embodiment the weight of the ice within the ice bin  64  upon the ice distributor  66  creates a strong transverse moment arm upon shaft  69 . This results in a need to ensure accurate alignment of the shaft  69  with the coupling  70  to the gear motor  54 . The present invention overcomes this limitation, however, by the provision of a novel bearing assembly  96  cast within the cold plate  95  beneath the ice distributor  66 . As will be better understood further herein, this unique bearing assembly  96  provides several degrees of freedom for shaft  69  to align with the motor coupling  70 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 6, the bearing assembly  96  is shown with the lower most portion of shaft  69  in an exploded view. As shown in the Figure, the bearing assembly  96  is mounted upon a stainless steel carrier  97 , which comprises an upper flange  98  and a lower flange  99  with an annular groove  100  therebetween. The flanged stainless steel carrier  97  is cast within cold plate  95  directly beneath the center of the ice distributor  66 . Although those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize many alternatives, such as screws or bolts, casting the flanged carrier  97  within the cold plate  95  eliminates any concern that bacteria and the like might collect within the threads of other mounting hardware. 
     The stainless steel carrier  97  is provided with female threading  101  at an upper neck extending out of and above the cold plate  95  for interface with corresponding male threading  105  of a polyacetal socket  102 , as shown in FIG.  7 . As shown in FIG. 8, the interior of the polyacetal socket  102  is shaped to form a lower socket cavity  103 . Female threading  104  is provided on the interior, top portion of the polyacetal socket  102  for interface with corresponding male threading  112  of polyacetal cap  110 . As also shown in FIG. 8, an upper socket cavity  111  is formed in the lower portion of the polyacetal cap  110 . 
     The shaft  69  may thus be inserted through an orifice  113  in the polyacetal cap  110  and mated with a polyacetal bearing  106 , which is secured to shaft  69  by insertion of a press pin through bore  108  in bearing  106  and bore  107  through shaft  69 . Polyacetal cap  110  may then be screwed onto the polyacetal socket  102  securing the bearing  106 , and consequently the lower portion of shaft  69 , within the bearing assembly  96 . Because the orifice  113  is slightly greater in diameter than shaft  69 , the shaft may be tilted up to several degrees for alignment with the coupling  70  to gear motor  54 . Finally, although those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other designs may be implemented, it is preferred that the socket  102  and bearing  106  comprise a material such as polyacetal in order to prevent the necessity of lubricants in the bearing assembly  96 , which might contaminate the ice within the ice bin  64 . 
     Previous embodiments of ice dispensers have included means for sensing and controlling the level of ice within the ice bin. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,606 issued Sep. 30, 1997 to Schoeder et al. (“the &#39;606 patent”) discloses an apparatus for monitoring and controlling the level of ice in an ice storage container that includes an emitter mounted within the ice storage container and a detector mounted directly opposite from the emitter. By this reference, the full disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,606 is incorporated herein as though now set forth in its entirety. As described in the &#39;606 patent, the optical emitter assembly  72  and the optical detector assembly  73  of the present invention operate to detect the level of ice within ice bin  64 . In this manner, a low ice condition may be indicated through the micro-controller based control circuit  52  to the ice and beverage unit&#39;s operator and/or ice may be automatically routed to the ice bin  64  from an ice delivery system in communication with ice supply conduit  59  through the ice bin access lid  58 . Exemplary of such an automated ice delivery system is that disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/411,457 filed Oct. 1, 1999 (“the &#39;457 application”). By this reference, the full disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/411,457 is incorporated herein as though now set forth in its entirety. 
     Although the optical emitter assembly  72  and optical detector assembly  73  each operate as disclosed in the &#39;606 patent, the assemblies  72 ,  73  of the present invention differ in that they are easily replaceable. In this manner, redundancy requirements are eliminated, greatly reducing cost to the end user. According to the present invention, instead of a unitary construction for the assemblies  72 ,  73 , a two-part assembly is provided for each. As will be better understood further herein, provision within each assembly  72 ,  73  is made to ensure that an emitter assembly  72  is not mistaken for a detector assembly  73  and vice versa. In particular, a system of keys and alignment slots is provided unique to each assembly in order that a user may only mate emitter components with the emitter assembly  72  and detector components with the detector assembly  73 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 9, in particular, an optical emitter assembly  72  is detailed as exemplary of both the optical emitter assembly  72  and optical detector assembly  73 . It is to be understood, however, that the relative alignment of the keys and alignment slots now described should be different for the two assemblies  72 ,  73 , while the remaining components are substantially identical. As shown in the Figure, each assembly generally comprises a body assembly  115  for operative mating with a housing assembly  116 . The body assembly  115  generally comprises a header assembly  80  permanently mated with an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (“ABS”) body  87 . Likewise, the housing assembly  116  generally comprises a plurality of female sockets  77  permanently mated within an ABS housing  74 . As generally shown in FIG. 5, the housing  74  is inserted through an emitter or detector orifice  93  in the ice bin housing  65  and secured thereto with a nut  94  or other similar mounting hardware. Wire leads  79 , which are crimped or soldered  78  within the female sockets  77 , are then permanently connected to the micro-controller based control circuit  52 . Annular female threading  75  is preferably provided on housing  74  for this purpose. As is shown in FIG. 9, recesses  114  are provided for receipt of the female sockets  77 , which are preferably held in place with an epoxy to thereby help form a seal of the mounting orifice  93 . 
     Each header assembly  80  generally comprises a printed circuit (“PC”) board substrate for mounting of a light emitting diode (“LED”)  82 , in the case of an optical emitter assembly  72 , or a photodetector, in the case of an optical detector assembly  73 . The anode  83  or cathode of the LED  82  are then soldered  84  to the PC board  81 . Electrical connection is thereby made between the LED  82  and a plurality of male plugs  85 , which are arranged in accordance with the positioning of an alignment slot  86  and key  90  as well as the alignment of alignment slot  89  and key  76  in the body  74  to interface with female sockets  77 . A standoff  117  is provided to cause the LED  82  or photodetector to protrude through an emitter orifice  88  or detector orifice, as appropriate. The header assembly  80  is preferably epoxied into the ABS body  87  such that when the body assembly  115  is mated with the housing assembly  116  a complete seal is made of the orifice  93  in the ice bin housing  65 . To further ensure that this seal is made, a plurality of annular grooves  91  are provided about body  87  for provision of a plurality of polymeric O-rings  92 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, a blank body  87  may be produced wherein orifice  88  is either nonexistent or filled with epoxy so that the emitter and/or detector mounting orifices  93  may be sealed without the necessity of providing the more expensive header assembly  80  and components thereon. In this case one blank body  87  would be configured with alignment slot  89  corresponding to the location of key  76  of the optical emitter assembly  72  and another configuration of the blank body  87  would have its alignment slot  89  corresponding to the location of key  76  of the optical detector assembly  73 . While those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that it is also possible for a general plug to be configured for the emitter and/or detector mounting orifices  93 , it is desirable that the ice bin housing  65  be factory provided with at least the housing assembly  116  as now described in order that wiring  79  may be connected to the micro-controller based control circuit  52  by factory personnel rather than field service technicians. This compromise will allow users to later add automated ice supply systems, which generally require additional emitter and detector pairs, without requiring removal and replacement of the ice bin housing  65  or modification involving wiring to the control circuit  52 . Likewise, it is not necessary to provide the expensive header assembly  80  to those users that do not wish to have the capability to interface to such an automated system. In the case of users already implementing automated systems, the modular design of the housing assembly  116  and body assembly  115  facilitate maintenance and repair inasmuch as the service technician is required only to remove the body assembly  115  from the housing assembly  116 , by simply pulling the two apart, and replacing it with another, by pushing a new body assembly  115  into the housing assembly  116 . Because no soldering is required, the chance for damage to the microcontroller based control circuit  52  and/or an intermittent electrical connection is greatly diminished. The overall result is enhanced reliability and increased user options at an economical price. 
     It is likewise desired that the modular flow controllers  24  be replaceable as simply as possibly. As shown in FIG. 11, each modular flow controller  24  is adapted to interface with a mounting block  39 . While the flow controller  24  and mounting block  39  of the present invention are essentially the same as that described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/496,441 filed Feb. 2, 2000, the full disclosure of which is by this reference incorporated herein as though now set forth in its entirety, additional provision is added in the present invention to further facilitate coupling and decoupling of the flow controllers  24  to and from their respective mounting blocks  39 . 
     As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, and described in the &#39;441 application, each modular flow controller  24  generally comprises a valve assembly  25  and flow control assembly  33 . The valve assembly  25  in turn comprises a solenoid actuated valve  26  contained within an inductor shroud  27  by valve retainer  28 . A manifold outlet  29  enables flow from the flow control assembly  33  to a nozzle connector fitting  30 , which is retained in place by sliding element  31 . A male electric connector  32  is provided for controlling communication with the micro-controller based control circuit  52  through the mounting block  39 , as will be better understood further herein. 
     As also described in the &#39;441 application, the flow control assembly generally comprises a flow control body  34  having a drink integrity lock  36  for restricting access to a provided adjustment means within the body  34 . A female fluid coupling  35  is provided for interface with a corresponding male fluid coupling  42  on the mounting block  39 . According to the improvement of the present invention, however, the male electric connector  32  of the valve assembly  25  and female fluid coupling  35  of the flow control assembly  33  are fixedly positioned to interface simultaneously with a female electric connector  44  and the male fluid coupling  42 , respectively, fixedly attached to the mounting block  39 . In this manner, a user may remove a modular flow controller  24  from a mounting block  39  by simply turning off fluid cut-off valve  43 , removing flow controller securing bracket  45  from the guide bores  38  and  41  of the mounting block  39  and flow control assembly  33  and thereafter simply pulling the modular controller  24  assembly apart form the mounting block  39 . As a result of the simultaneous disconnection of the electrical connectors  32 ,  44  with the fluid couplings  35 ,  42  the chance for damage to the electrical connection by pulling of wires or the like is eliminated. This improvement prevents costly factory repair of the mixing and dispensing valves  22  due to careless replacement of the modular flow controllers  24 . To replace the modular flow controller  24 , the process is simply repeated starting with the simultaneous fluid and electrical connection followed by the insertion of the securing bracket  45  into guide bores  41  and  38  and ending with the opening of fluid cut-off valve  43 . 
     While the foregoing description is exemplary of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts will recognize the many variations, alterations, modifications, substitutions and the like as are readily possible, especially in light of this description, the accompanying drawings and claims drawn thereto. In any case, because the scope of the present invention is much broader than any particular embodiment, the foregoing detailed description should not be construed as a limitation of the scope of the present invention, which is limited only by the claims appended hereto.