Flexible high speed filling line for personalized beverage package mixes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11312604-B2
Application number	US-201816756277-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2018
Priority date	Oct 17, 2017
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

The present application provides a filling line for filling a container with one of a number of different beverages. The filling line may include a water circuit with a counter-pressure nozzle to fill the container with carbonated water and one or more micro-ingredient towers with a number of micro-ingredients therein positioned downstream of the counter-pressure nozzle to fill the container with the micro-ingredients.

First claim

We claim:

1. A filling line for filling a container with one of a number of different beverages, comprising:
a water circuit;
the water circuit comprising a counter-pressure nozzle to fill the container with carbonated water at a higher carbonation level than a capped beverage;
a sweetener circuit with a sweetener nozzle positioned downstream of the counter-pressure nozzle; and
one or more micro-ingredient towers with a plurality of micro-ingredients therein positioned downstream of the counter-pressure nozzle and the sweetener nozzle to fill the container with a plurality of micro-ingredients.

2. The filling line of claim 1 , further comprising a transfer line with the counter pressure nozzle and the one or more micro-ingredient towers positioned thereabout.

3. The filling line of claim 1 , wherein the water circuit comprises a still water line and a carbonated water line.

4. The filling line of claim 3 , wherein the carbonated water line comprises a recirculation line.

5. The filling line of claim 1 , wherein the counter-pressure nozzle comprises a dip tube extending into the container.

6. The filling line of claim 1 , wherein the counter-pressure nozzle comprises a rail for vertical movement above the container.

7. The filling line of claim 1 , wherein the one or more micro-ingredient towers comprise a loading section, a dispensing section, and a nozzle head.

8. The filling line of claim 7 , wherein the loading section comprises a plurality of loading trays with a plurality of micro-ingredient packages.

9. The filling line of claim 8 , wherein the dispensing section comprises a plurality of dispensing trays with a plurality of dispensing pouches.

10. The filling line of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of micro-ingredient packages is in fluid communication with the plurality of dispensing pouches.

11. The filling line of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of dispensing pouches is in fluid communication with the nozzle head.

12. The filling line of claim 7 , wherein the nozzle head comprises a plurality of dispensing needles.

13. The filling line of claim 1 , wherein the dispensing section comprises a sold out system.

Assignees

• Coca Cola Co

Inventors

• Mehta Anish
• Carpenter Gregg
• Spann Eric L
• Rahman Mamunur
• Patel Hitesh
• Patel Dinesh C
• Garcia Manuel I
• Ivanov Sergey Grey

Classifications

• B67C3/208

  specially adapted for adding small amounts of additional liquids, e.g. syrup · CPC title

• B67D1/0016

  the beverage being stored in an intermediate container before dispensing, i.e. pre-mix dispensers · CPC title

• B67D1/0406 Primary

  with means for carbonating the beverage, or for maintaining its carbonation (B67D1/0418 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B67C3/023 Primary

  Filling multiple liquids in a container (B67C3/208 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B67D1/0802

  Dip tubes · CPC title