Beverage dispensing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10676339-B2
Application number	US-201715845766-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2017
Priority date	Dec 18, 2017
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

A method of determining a sold-out state of a beverage dispenser is provided. The method includes providing a beverage dispenser including a pump having a gas exhaust port, a dispensing valve, and a sensor disposed on the pump gas exhaust port. The method may include activating the beverage dispenser to dispense a beverage through the dispensing valve and during the activating, sensing a gas exhaust pattern of the pump. The method may also include generating a signal based on the sensed gas exhaust pattern and determining whether the beverage dispenser is in a normal-pour state or a sold-out state. The method may also include providing feedback about the sold-out state to a user interface of the beverage dispenser.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A sensing apparatus for a beverage dispenser, comprising:
a sensor housing having an interior area fluidly connected to a pump gas exhaust port; and
a sensor positioned within the interior area,
wherein the sensor detects a characteristic of an exhaust gas flowing through the gas exhaust port, the characteristic selected from the group consisting of exhaust gas flow rate, exhaust gas sound, and exhaust gas flow duration,
wherein the sensor generates a first signal based on the detected characteristic, the first signal being representative of a first supply condition that indicates a filled pump, and
wherein the sensor generates a second signal based on the detected characteristic, the second signal being representative of a second supply condition that indicates an empty pump.

2. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor activation device disposed in a channel, the channel connecting the interior area to the pump exhaust port, wherein the sensor activation device interacts with the sensor to generate one of the first and the second signal.

3. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor is selected from a group consisting of a microphone, a flow-meter, an electromagnetic device, and an electromechanical device.

4. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump supplies a beverage concentrate.

5. The sensing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pump is a compressed-gas powered positive displacement pump.

6. A method of determining a sold-out state of a beverage dispenser, the method comprising:
providing a beverage dispenser including:
a pump having a gas exhaust port,
a dispensing valve, and
a sensor disposed on the pump gas exhaust port;

activating the beverage dispenser to dispense a beverage through the dispensing valve;
during the activating, sensing a gas exhaust pattern of the pump;
generating a signal based on the sensed gas exhaust pattern,
wherein the signal is a first signal based on a first gas exhaust pattern representative of a filled state of a concentrate container or a second signal based on a second gas exhaust pattern representative of a sold-out state of the concentrate container, and
wherein the first signal has a higher frequency than the second signal; and
determining whether the beverage dispenser is in a sold-out state.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein a control module is configured to receive the first and the second signal, and
wherein the control module determines a state of the concentration container based on the received signal.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the state of the beverage dispenser comprises comparing the signal to a stored signal using an algorithm.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising providing feedback about the sold-out state to a user interface of the beverage dispenser.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the sensor is selected from a group consisting of a microphone, a flow-meter, an electromagnetic device, and an electromechanical device.

11. A beverage dispensing system comprising:
a beverage dispenser including a pump;
a sensor connected to a gas exhaust port of the pump to generate a first signal representative of a first supply condition of the pump and a second signal representative of a second supply condition of the pump,
wherein the first supply condition is a filled state and the second supply condition is an empty state, and
wherein the sensor detects a characteristic of an exhaust gas flowing through the gas exhaust port, the characteristic selected from the group consisting of exhaust gas flow rate, exhaust gas sound, and exhaust gas flow duration;
a control module configured to communicate with the sensor;
a user interface in communication with the control module configured to provide feedback to a user,
wherein the feedback comprises a sold-out state of the beverage dispenser.

12. The beverage dispensing system of claim 11 , wherein the control module is configured to determine a state of the beverage dispenser based on the generated signal using an algorithm.

13. The beverage dispensing system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor is contained within an interior area of a sensor housing, the sensor housing having an interior area fluidly connected to the pump gas exhaust port.

14. The beverage dispensing system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor includes an activation portion that activates the sensor to generate one of the first and the second signal.

15. The beverage dispensing system of claim 11 , further comprising a pressure supply source, a diluent supply source, and a beverage concentrate source connected to the beverage dispenser.

16. The beverage dispensing system of claim 11 , wherein the first supply condition represents a partially full pump.

17. The beverage dispensing system of claim 11 , wherein the sensor is a microphone, a flow-meter, or an electro-mechanical device.

Assignees

• Pepsico Inc

Inventors

• Karol Sam
• Balstad Robert W
• Romano Anthony
• Pravato Alberto
• Roncato Alessandro

Classifications

• B67D1/1247 Primary

  Means for detecting the presence or absence of liquid · CPC title

• B67D1/0057

  Carbonators · CPC title

• B67D1/0021

  the components being mixed at the time of dispensing, i.e. post-mix dispensers · CPC title

• B67D2210/00091

  Bar management means · CPC title

• B67D1/1211

  Flow rate sensor · CPC title