Abstract:
A cooling system for packaged beverages includes a cabinet or housing which may be insulated. The housing has a door and may optionally include shelves. The user places a quantity of packaged beverages into the housing and, via a user interface of the system, identifies the package type and quantity of the packaged beverages in the housing. The system injects a measured amount of liquefied gas (e.g., liquid nitrogen) into the cabinet and prevents the door from opening for a predetermined period of time based on the package type and quantity selected by the user. The door is then unlocked, an optional alert may be sounded, and the user can open the door to remove some or all of the packaged beverages from the cabinet which have been cooled to between about 30 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Description:
[0001]    A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the reproduction of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
       CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0002]    This application claims priority to and hereby incorporates by reference in its entirety U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/870,114 entitled “EXPANDING GAS DIRECT IMPINGEMENT COOLING APPARATUS” filed on Aug. 26, 2013. 
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
       [0003]    Not Applicable 
       REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING OR COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX 
       [0004]    Not Applicable 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention relates generally to cooling food. More particularly, the invention pertains to cooling packages of beverages using very little electrical power. 
         [0006]    There are two options for cooling drinks on a large scale, large refrigerators or tubs of ice. Refrigerators cool packaged drinks (e.g., cans or bottles of a beverage) by storing the drinks in a refrigerator cabinet at a temperature between 32 degrees and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Refrigerators require a lot of space (enough to hold all of the drinks) and a lot of electricity. If the refrigeration cabinet is frequently opened, then the temperature inside the cabinet may not remain low enough to keep the drinks cool, and the refrigerator will use additional electricity. Tubs of ice cool drinks by immersing them at a temperature between about 0 and 20 degrees Fahrenheit for a time to cool the drinks to between about 32 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Tubs of ice may be left open, but the ice will quickly melt (i.e., warm), and additional ice will be required to maintain a cool environment for the drinks. This requires making ice on site which requires machinery and electricity, or brining ice to the site which may prove difficult logistically. 
         [0007]    For festivals or events in venues without adequate electricity, it is inefficient to bring in large refrigeration units and generators needed for refrigerating drinks. Similarly, bringing in an initial quantity and additional quantities of ice (or making additional ice with icemakers and generators) is also prohibitively inefficient, especially for longer events (e.g., multiple days). 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    Aspects of the present invention provide a cooling system for packaged beverages. The system includes a cabinet or housing which may be insulated. The housing has a door and may optionally include shelves. The user places a quantity of packaged beverages into the housing and, via a user interface of the system, identifies the package type and quantity of the packaged beverages in the housing. The system injects a measured amount of liquefied gas (e.g., liquid nitrogen) into the cabinet and prevents the door from opening for a predetermined period of time based on the package type and quantity selected by the user. The door is then unlocked, an optional alert may be sounded, and the user can open the door to remove some or all of the packaged beverages from the cabinet which have been cooled to between about 30 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. 
         [0009]    In another aspect, a cooling system includes a housing, a gasification manifold, a valve, and a controller. The housing is configured to receive a beverage package in a chamber defined therein. The housing includes a door and an electronically controlled lock. The electronically controlled lock is operable to prevent the door from opening when engaged. The gasification manifold is operable to receive liquefied gas from the reservoir and provide liquefied gas to the chamber. The valve is operable to provide liquefied gas to the gasification manifold from the reservoir when the valve is open and prevent flow of the liquefied gas from the reservoir to the gasification manifold when the valve is closed. The controller is operable to selectively open and close the valve and to selectively engage the electronically controlled lock to selectively prevent the door from opening. 
         [0010]    In another aspect, a cooling system includes a housing, a valve, and a controller. The housing is configured to receive a beverage package in a chamber defined therein. The housing includes a door and an electronically controlled lock. The electronically controlled lock is operable to prevent the door from opening when engaged. The valve is operable to provide the liquefied gas to the chamber from reservoir when the valve is open and prevent flow of liquefied gas from the reservoir to the chamber when the valve is closed. The controller is operable to selectively open and close the valve and to selectively engage the electronically controlled lock to selectively prevent the door from opening. The controller selectively engages in this engages the electronically controlled lock as a function of the beverage package. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a packaged beverage cooling system. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a wire-frame front perspective view of a packaged beverage cooling system. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a front plan view of a packaged beverage cooling system. 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a side plan view of a packaged beverage cooling system. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a rear plan view of a packaged beverage cooling system. 
       
    
    
       [0016]    Reference will now be made in detail to optional embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawing and in the description referring to the same or like parts. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    While the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and do not delimit the scope of the invention. 
         [0018]    To facilitate the understanding of the embodiments described herein, a number of terms are defined below. The terms defined herein have meanings as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the areas relevant to the present invention. Terms such as “a,” “an,” and “the” are not intended to refer to only a singular entity, but rather include the general class of which a specific example may be used for illustration. The terminology herein is used to describe specific embodiments of the invention, but their usage does not delimit the invention, except as set forth in the claims. 
         [0019]    As described herein, an upright position is considered to be the position of apparatus components while in proper operation or in a natural resting position as described herein. Vertical, horizontal, above, below, side, top, bottom and other orientation terms are described with respect to this upright position during operation unless otherwise specified. The term “when” is used to specify orientation for relative positions of components, not as a temporal limitation of the claims or apparatus described and claimed herein unless otherwise specified. The terms “above”, “below”, “over”, and “under” mean “having an elevation or vertical height greater or lesser than” and are not intended to imply that one object or component is directly over or under another object or component. 
         [0020]    The phrase “in one embodiment,” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may. Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or states. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. 
         [0021]    The terms “coupled” and “connected” mean at least either a direct electrical connection between the connected items or an indirect connection through one or more passive or active intermediary devices. 
         [0022]    The term “circuit” means at least either a single component or a multiplicity of components, either active and/or passive, that are coupled together to provide a desired function. 
         [0023]    Terms such as “providing,” “processing,” “supplying,” “determining,” “calculating” or the like may refer at least to an action of a computer system, computer program, signal processor, logic or alternative analog or digital electronic device that may be transformative of signals represented as physical quantities, whether automatically or manually initiated. 
         [0024]    Referring to  FIGS. 1-5 , a cooling system  100  includes a housing  102 , a gasification manifold  104 , a valve  106 , and a controller  108 . The housing  102  is configured to receive a beverage package. The beverage package may be anything from a single can or bottle to a case of cans or bottles (e.g., 24 individual cans or bottles). Further, the beverage package may be a plurality of packs (e.g., 12 individual cans or bottles) or cases (e.g., 24 individual cans or bottles). The housing  102  defines a chamber  110  therein which ultimately receives the beverage package. In one embodiment, the housing  102  has insulated stainless steel walls that are approximately 35 mm thick. The walls may be vacuum insulated. The housing  102  further comprises a door  120  and an electronically controlled lock  122 . The electronically controlled lock  122  is operable to prevent the door  120  from opening when engaged. In one embodiment, the electronically controlled lock  122  is a solenoid operable to protrude from an edge of the door  122  into a cabinet of the housing  102 . In another embodiment, the electronically controlled lock  122  includes a motor operable to rotate a latch into a locked position or out of the locked position. In one embodiment, the chamber  110  is substantially cubic to promote uniform cooling of beverage packages within the chamber  110 . That is, the chamber  110  may have a height  150 , a width  152 , and a depth  154  that are relatively similar. In one embodiment, the chamber  110  has an inset to house a venturi exhaust system, such that the depth  154  and height  150  are slightly reduced at a back of the housing  102 . In this embodiment, the height  150 , width  152 , and depth  154  are each approximately 600 mm excluding the inset such that the total volume of the chamber  110  is approximately ⅛ of a cubic meter. In this embodiment, the 
         [0025]    The gasification manifold  104  is operable to receive liquefied gas from a reservoir (e.g., a liquid nitrogen tank) and provide liquefied gas to the chamber  110 . In one embodiment, the reservoir is a liquid nitrogen vessel storing liquid nitrogen (LN2) at approximately −196 Celsius. In one embodiment, the gasification manifold  104  is annular (e.g., ring-shaped) and located at a top  156  of the chamber  110 . In one embodiment, the gasification manifold  104  has an outer diameter  160  that is between approximately 60% and 75% of the width  152  of the top  156  of the chamber  110 . In one embodiment, the gasification manifold includes a plurality of spray nozzles  180 . The spray nozzles  180  are operable to convert the liquefied gas (e.g., liquid nitrogen) to a mist which immediately atomizes and evaporates, cooling the chamber  110 . In one embodiment, the spray nozzles  180  are mounted at approximately 30° with respect to a plane defined by the top  156  of the chamber  110 . The spray nozzles  180  are angled inward to spray toward a center of the chamber  110 . 
         [0026]    The valve  106  is operable to provide the liquefied gas to the gasification manifold  104  from the reservoir when the valve  106  is open and prevent flow of the liquefied gas from the reservoir to the gasification manifold  104  when the valve  106  is closed. In one embodiment, the valve  106  is an electronically actuated solenoid valve for use with liquid nitrogen. In one embodiment, the cooling system  100  further includes a regulator. Alternatively, the regulator may be integral with the liquefied gas reservoir. In one embodiment, the regulator communicates the liquefied gas from the reservoir to the valve  122  or from the valve  122  to the chamber  110  at approximately one bar of pressure in a rate of approximately 0.5 liters per minute. When the housing  102  and chamber  110  are already cooled form a previous cooling cycle, the flow rate may be reduced to 0.25 liters per minute. The chamber  110  generally cools to approximately −40 Celsius during a cooling cycle, and beverage packages continue cooling for approximately 5-10 minutes after removal from the chamber  110  following the cooling cycle. 
         [0027]    The controller  108  is operable to selectively open and close the valve  106  to control flow of the liquefied gas from the reservoir to the chamber  110 . The controller  108  is further operable to selectively engage the electronically controlled lock  122  to selectively prevent the door  120  from opening. In one embodiment, the controller  108  selectively engages the electronically controlled lock  122  such that the door  120  is prevented from opening while the valve  106  is open. The controller  108  may further prevent the door  120  from opening for a predetermined period of time after opening the valve  106 . In one embodiment, the predetermined period of time is determined as a function of the beverage package. In one embodiment, the controller selectively engages and disengages the electronically controlled lock  122  as a function of the beverage package. This predetermined period of time determined as a function of the beverage package determines the minimum beverage package cooling time within the chamber  110 . In one embodiment, an open time of the valve  106  is constant regardless of the beverage package type or quantity. In another embodiment, the open time of the valve  106  is determined as a function of the beverage package. In one embodiment, the cooling system  100  further includes a temperature probe  202  disposed in the chamber  110  operable to provide temperature data to the controller  108 . The controller  108  may prevent opening the door via the electronically controlled lock  122  until temperature inside the chamber has normalized as determined from the temperature data from the temperature probe  202 . 
         [0028]    In one embodiment, the cooling system  100  further includes a user interface  130 . The user interface  130  is operable to receive beverage package data from a user. The beverage package data is indicative of a type and a quantity of the beverage package in the chamber  110 . For example, the type of the beverage package may be glass bottles, aluminum bottles, or aluminum cans. The tide may further include container size. The beverage package quantity may be a number of 12 packs or cases, or a total number of individual packages. As described above, the controller  108  engages and disengages the electronically controlled lock  122  as a function of the beverage package type and quantity received via the user interface  130  to enforce a minimum cooling time based on the beverage package type and quantity. In one embodiment, the user interface  130  is a touchscreen interface that asks the user to select between package type (e.g., 12 ounce glass bottle or 12 ounce aluminum can) and select a quantity (e.g., number of 12 packs in the chamber  110 ). When the user selects the quantity, the controller  108  actuates the electronically controlled lock  122 , opens the valve  106  for a standardized open time, and subsequently disengages the electronically controlled lock  122  after a predetermined period of time corresponding to the type and quantity of beverage package entered by the user. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the controller  108  and the user interface  130  are integral, but it is contemplated within the scope of the claims that the controller  108  may be separate from the user interface  130 . Further, although the user interface  130  shown herein is a touchscreen, the user interface  130  may include, for example, fixed buttons corresponding to a type and quantity of standard package. In one embodiment, the predetermined period of time that the controller  108  maintains the electronically controlled lock  122  in the locked state (i.e., engaged) ranges between 45 seconds and 240 seconds depending on package type and quantity entered by the user via the user interface  130 . 
         [0029]    In one embodiment, the cooling system  100  further includes a fan  140  configured to draw gases (e.g., the now gaseous, evaporated liquid nitrogen) from the chamber  110  and an exhaust the gases outside of the chamber  110  when activated. In one embodiment, the controller  108  activates the fan  140  whenever the door  122  is open. In one embodiment, the fan  110  is configured as a Venturi exhaust system by flowing air through a secondary chamber  142  having a constriction where the secondary chamber  142  is in fluid communication with the chamber  110 . In one embodiment, the killing system  100  further includes a duct  144  configured to fluidly connect to the secondary chamber  142  (e.g., indirectly to the fan  140 ). The duct  144  is operable to conduct gases drawn from the chamber  110  by the fan  142  a location remote from the housing  102  (and chamber  110 ). In one embodiment, the predetermined period of time during which the controller  108  maintains the door  120  in a locked state to allow for cooling of the beverage package may be extended by, for example, 10 seconds while the controller  108  actuates the fan  140  to evacuate the now gaseous liquid nitrogen (i.e., LN2) from the chamber  110 . 
         [0030]    In one embodiment, the cooling system  100  further includes a battery  190  and at least one solar cell  192 . The solar cell  192  and battery  190  are supported by the housing  102 . The battery  190  is configured to provide power to the controller  108 . The solar cell  192  is configured to charge the battery  190 . This enables the cooling system  100  to be used in remote locations without access to electricity, and reduces a caterer&#39;s reliance on outside systems, gasoline supplies, etc. In one embodiment, the battery  190  is a 12 volt battery which will provide about 18 hours of continuous operation when fully charged. The battery  190  may be charged by the solar cell  192 , or may be charged before deploying the cooling system  100  to a site. The battery  190  may be recharged or replaced on site by other methods such as swapping the battery  190  with a fully charged battery, connecting the battery  190  to generator power via a charger, or connecting the battery  190  to a vehicle electrical system. 
         [0031]    In one embodiment, the cooling system  100  further includes a temperature probe  202  and a temperature gauge  204 . The temperature probe  202  is within the chamber  110 , and the temperature gauge  204  is visible on the outside of the housing  102 . In one embodiment, the temperature gauge  204  is integral with the user interface  130 . In one embodiment, the chamber  110  reaches a −40 Celsius temperature immediately after introduction of the liquefied gas into the chamber  110 . The temperature may normalize somewhat during the cooling cycle, but the temperature in the chamber  110  will generally not increase significantly during the beverage package cooling cycle (which generally will not exceed 240 seconds). Thus, even after removal from the chamber  110 , the beverage package may continue to cool for approximately 5-10 minutes in a phenomenon similar to (i.e., converse to) microwaving food. That is, in practice, the packaging of the beverage is relatively mildly affected by the cooling cycle while the liquid center of the beverage become very cold (sometimes partially freezing), and the temperature of beverage normalizes throughout after removal from the chamber  110  over the course of the next 5-20 minutes. 
         [0032]    It will be understood by those of skill in the art that providing data to the system or the user interface may be accomplished by clicking (via a mouse or touchpad) on a particular object or area of an object displayed by the user interface, or by touching the displayed object in the case of a touchscreen implementation. 
         [0033]    It will be understood by those of skill in the art that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques (e.g., data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof). Likewise, the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both, depending on the application and functionality. Moreover, the various logical blocks, modules, and circuits described herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor (e.g., microprocessor, conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, state machine or combination of computing devices), a digital signal processor (“DSP”), an application specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”), a field programmable gate array (“FPGA”) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. Similarly, steps of a method or process described herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. 
         [0034]    A controller, processor, computing device, client computing device or computer, such as described herein, includes at least one or more processors or processing units and a system memory. The controller may also include at least some form of computer readable media. By way of example and not limitation, computer readable media may include computer storage media and communication media. Computer readable storage media may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology that enables storage of information, such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Communication media may embody computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and include any information delivery media. Those skilled in the art should be familiar with the modulated data signal, which has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. Combinations of any of the above are also included within the scope of computer readable media. As used herein, server is not intended to refer to a single computer or computing device. In implementation, a server will generally include an edge server, a plurality of data servers, a storage database (e.g., a large scale RAID array), and various networking components. It is contemplated that these devices or functions may also be implemented in virtual machines and spread across multiple physical computing devices. 
         [0035]    This written description uses examples to disclose the invention and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims. 
         [0036]    It will be understood that the particular embodiments described herein are shown by way of illustration and not as limitations of the invention. The principal features of this invention may be employed in various embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize numerous equivalents to the specific procedures described herein. Such equivalents are considered to be within the scope of this invention and are covered by the claims. 
         [0037]    All of the compositions and/or methods disclosed and claimed herein may be made and/or executed without undue experimentation in light of the present disclosure. While the compositions and methods of this invention have been described in terms of the embodiments included herein, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that variations may be applied to the compositions and/or methods and in the steps or in the sequence of steps of the method described herein without departing from the concept, spirit, and scope of the invention. All such similar substitutes and modifications apparent to those skilled in the art are deemed to be within the spirit, scope, and concept of the invention as defined by the appended claims. 
         [0038]    Thus, although there have been described particular embodiments of the present invention of a new and useful EXPANDING GAS DIRECT IMPINGEMENT COOLING APPARATUS it is not intended that such references be construed as limitations upon the scope of this invention except as set forth in the following claims.