Fluid mixing system for mixing components for a fluid product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10933385-B2
Application number	US-201916508236-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2019
Priority date	Jul 10, 2018
Publication date	Mar 2, 2021
Grant date	Mar 2, 2021

Abstract

Fluid mixing system for mixing components for a fluid product comprising a mixing regulator for mixing the components and a feed comprising at least two separate conduits, where a base component can be supplied to the mixing regulator in a first conduit and a component to be admixed in a second conduit, where a first sensor for determining the concentration of a chemical compound in the component to be admixed and a Brix sensor for determining a Brix value of the component to be admixed are disposed upstream of the mixing regulator in the second conduit and where a control unit is provided which can control the mixing process of the components by the mixing regulator in dependence of the concentration measured and the Brix value measured.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fluid mixing system for mixing components for a fluid product comprising a mixing regulator for mixing said components and a feed comprising at least two separate conduits, wherein a base component can be supplied to said mixing regulator in a first conduit and a component to be admixed in a second conduit, where a first sensor for determining the concentration of a chemical compound in said component to be admixed and a Brix sensor for determining a Brix value of said component to be admixed are disposed upstream of said mixing regulator in said second conduit, and where a control unit is provided which controls a mixing process of said components by said mixing regulator in dependence of the concentration measured and the Brix value measured upstream of the mixing regulator.

2. The fluid mixing system according to claim 1 , wherein said first sensor is a spectroscopic sensor or comprises a spectroscopic sensor.

3. The fluid mixing system according to claim 2 , wherein said spectroscopic sensor is adapted to detect signals of chemical compounds in at least two wavelength ranges in infrared range.

4. The fluid mixing system according to claim 1 , wherein said second conduit leads from a buffer tank to said mixing regulator, and said first sensor and said Brix sensor are arranged a distance to said buffer tank which corresponds to at least half the length measured along said conduit.

5. A filling system for filling a fluid product, into a container with at least one filling station which can fill said product into said container, and a fluid mixing system comprising a mixing regulator for mixing said components and a feed comprising at least two separate conduits, wherein a base component can be supplied to said mixing regulator in a first conduit and a component to be admixed in a second conduit, where a first sensor for determining the concentration of a chemical compound in said component to be admixed and a Brix sensor for determining a Brix value of said component to be admixed are disposed upstream of said mixing regulator in said second conduit, and where a control unit is provided which can control a mixing process of said components by said mixing regulator in dependence of the concentration measured and the Brix value measured upstream of the mixing regulator, wherein said fluid mixing system is connected to said filling station and can supply the product to said filling station.

6. The filling system according to claim 5 , wherein a buffer tank is arranged downstream of said fluid mixing system and upstream of said filling station, wherein ready-mixed product can be supplied from said fluid mixing system to said buffer tank and remain in said buffer tank until the ready-mixed product is supplied to said filling station to be filled into a container.

7. A mixing method for a fluid product which consists of at least two components using a fluid mixing system, where a mixing regulator of said fluid mixing system mixes a base component, which is supplied to said mixing regulator from a first conduit of said fluid mixing system, and a component to be admixed, which is supplied to said mixing regulator from a second conduit of said fluid mixing system, and a control unit of said fluid mixing system controls said mixing regulator in dependence of a concentration of a chemical compound in said component to be admixed which was measured by a first sensor disposed in said second conduit and a Brix value in said component to be admixed which was measured by a Brix sensor disposed in said second conduit upstream of the mixing regulator.

8. The mixing method according to claim 7 , wherein said control unit controls said mixing regulator in real time in dependence of the concentration of the chemical compound measured and the Brix value measured.

9. The mixing method according to claim 7 , wherein a quantity of component to be admixed corresponding to the Brix value and a quantity of the base component are each summed up separately by said control unit and wherein said control unit controls said mixing regulator such that the sum of the quantity of component to be admixed and the quantity of said base component corresponds to an intended target value.

10. The mixing method according to claim 9 , wherein a value of the summed up quantity of component to be admixed and a value of the summed up quantity of said base component are reduced to a basic value after a predetermined time interval and/or after usage of a predetermined quantity of said base component and/or said component to be admixed.

11. The mixing method according claim 7 , wherein said first sensor is or comprises a spectroscopic sensor and measures a quantity of said chemical compound by measuring emission behavior of said component to be admixed.

12. The mixing method according to claim 11 , wherein said spectroscopic sensor measures the emission behavior in at least two wavelength ranges in infrared range.

13. The mixing method according to claim 7 , wherein said base component is water and said component to be admixed is a fluid syrup.

14. The mixing method according to one of the claim 7 , wherein said Brix sensor measures a Brix value of a flavoring chemical compound in said component to be admixed, and said first sensor measures a presence and quantity of at least one other chemical compound that can affect a value measured by said Brix sensor.

15. The mixing method according to claim 14 , wherein, for controlling said mixing regulator, said control unit corrects the value measured by said Brix sensor based on a value measured by said first sensor and uses the corrected value of the Brix sensor for controlling said mixing regulator.

Assignees

• Krones Ag

Inventors

• Engel Erwin

Classifications

• B01F35/8821

  involving controlling · CPC title

• B01F35/2132 Primary

  Concentration, pH, pOH, p(ION) or oxygen-demand (B01F35/2133 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B01F35/82

  by adding a material to be mixed to a mixture in response to a detected feature, e.g. density, radioactivity, consumed power or colour · CPC title

• B01F23/09 Primary

  Mixing systems, i.e. flow charts or diagrams for components having more than two different of undetermined agglomeration states, e.g. supercritical states · CPC title

• B01F35/2202

  Controlling the mixing process by feed-back, i.e. a measured parameter of the mixture is measured, compared with the set-value and the feed values are corrected · CPC title