Frozen beverage dispensing manifold

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9131709-B2
Application number	US-201113152819-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2011
Priority date	Jun 4, 2010
Publication date	Sep 15, 2015
Grant date	Sep 15, 2015

Abstract

A frozen beverage dispensing unit includes a first replaceable frozen beverage module, a second replaceable frozen beverage module, a plumbing module, and a dispensing module. The dispensing module includes a programmable dispensing manifold for preparing frozen beverages in accordance with dispensing profiles. In an embodiment, a rotating turn table turns a beverage container in accordance with a dispensing profile. The dispensing profile includes instructions for layering of contents of different frozen beverage modules being placed in a beverage container. Moreover, the contents of different food add-in modules may also be added to the beverage container based on the selected dispensing profile.

First claim

We claim:

1. A frozen beverage dispensing unit, comprising:
a first replaceable frozen beverage module configured to hold a first frozen beverage;
a second replaceable frozen beverage module configured to hold a second frozen beverage;
a reversible variable speed turn table, the reversible variable speed turn table configured to hold a beverage container and rotate based on a beverage dispense profile; and
a dispensing module for dispensing a portion of the first frozen beverage and a portion of the second frozen beverage into the beverage container during rotation of the reversible variable speed turn table, the dispensed portions of the first and second frozen beverages creating layers in the beverage container.

2. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 1 , further comprising a plumbing module, the plumbing module configured to connect the first replaceable frozen beverage module and the second replaceable frozen beverage module to the dispensing module.

3. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 2 , wherein the first replaceable frozen beverage module, the second replaceable frozen beverage module, the reversible variable speed turn table, the dispensing module, and the plumbing module form a modular frozen beverage dispensing unit.

4. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 1 , further comprising an electrical pump.

5. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 1 , the dispensing module including a dispensing manifold having a plurality of dispensing nozzles.

6. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 1 , further comprising a control unit, the control unit executing beverage dispensing profiles, the beverage dispensing profiles including instructions for creating different frozen beverages.

7. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 6 , wherein the beverage dispensing profiles contain instructions for generating layers in a frozen beverage.

8. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 1 , further comprising at least one food add-in module.

9. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 8 , wherein the at least one food add-in module includes fruit in suspension.

10. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 7 , further comprising a touch screen display for executing dispensing profiles.

11. A method of providing a layered frozen beverage, comprising:
pumping a first frozen beverage from a first replaceable frozen beverage module;
pumping a second frozen beverage from a second replaceable frozen beverage module;
rotating a reversible variable speed turn table at a predetermined speed in a clockwise rotation based on a beverage dispense profile; and
dispensing from a dispensing module a portion of the first frozen beverage;
rotating the reversible variable speed turn table at the predetermined speed in a counter clockwise rotation based on the beverage dispense profile;
dispensing a portion of the second frozen beverage into a beverage container during the counter clockwise rotation of the reversible variable speed turn table,
wherein the dispensed portion of the first frozen beverage and the dispensed portion of the second frozen beverage are layered on top of each other forming the layered frozen beverage.

12. The method of providing a layered frozen beverage of claim 11 , wherein the portion of the first frozen beverage and the portion of the second frozen beverage are different in volume.

13. The method of providing a layered frozen beverage of claim 11 , further comprising receiving a beverage dispensing profile, the beverage dispensing profile including instructions for creating the layered frozen beverages.

14. The method of providing a layered frozen beverage of claim 13 , further comprising receiving a list of beverage dispensing profiles, each beverage dispensing profile including instructions for generating different style layers in a selected frozen beverage.

15. The method of providing a layered frozen beverage of claim 11 , further comprising dispensing at least one food add-in from a food add-in module.

16. The method of providing a layered frozen beverage of claim 15 , wherein the at least one food add-in module includes a fruit in suspension.

17. A frozen beverage dispensing system, comprising:
an input device for receiving a selection;
a first replaceable frozen beverage module, the first replaceable frozen beverage module configured to hold a first frozen beverage;
a second replaceable frozen beverage module, the second frozen beverage module configured to hold a second frozen beverage;
at least one food add-in module, the at least one food add-in module configured to hold solid food pieces;
a reversible variable speed turn table, the reversible variable speed turn table configured to hold a beverage container and rotate based on a beverage dispense profile; and
a dispensing module for dispensing a portion of the first frozen beverage, a portion of the second frozen beverage, and a portion of the solid food pieces into the beverage container during rotation of the reversible variable speed turn table, the dispensed portions creating at least three layers in the beverage container.

18. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 17 , further comprising a control unit, the control unit configured to execute beverage dispensing profiles, the beverage dispensing profiles including instructions for creating different frozen beverages.

19. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 18 , wherein the beverage dispensing profiles contain instructions for generating the layers in a selected frozen beverage.

20. The frozen beverage dispensing unit of claim 18 , wherein the beverage dispensing profiles further include instructions for controlling the speed of the reversible variable speed turn table as it rotates.

Assignees

• Hammonds Marcus
• Ro Alice
• Perry Marco
• Brunner Todd
• Bajpai Avi
• Pepsico Inc

Inventors

• Hammonds Marcus
• Ro Alice
• Perry Marco
• Brunner Todd
• Bajpai Avi

Classifications

• A23G9/281

  at the discharge end of freezing chambers · CPC title

• A23G9/282

  for dispensing multi-flavour ice-creams · CPC title

• A23G9/045 Primary

  of slush-ice, e.g. semi-frozen beverage · CPC title

• A23G9/283

  for filling containers with material · CPC title

• A23G9/48

  Composite products, e.g. layered {, laminated}, coated, filled · CPC title