BEVERAGE CHILLER

DISPOSITIF REFRIGERANT

English Abstract

The present invention provides an improved beverage chiller (10) comprising at
least two interconnected canisters (11, 12) each
canister defining a chamber (50) for refrigerant, said chamber including a
plurality of pipes (20) extending along the length of the chamber
for the flow of beverage therethrough, each canister including flow control
means to Insure flow of beverage up and down the refrigerant
chamber in a plurality of cooling passes, said refrigerant chambers being
pressure balanced and arranged to be coupled to a source of
refrigeration via a thermostatic expansion valve (56).

French Abstract

Cette invention a trait à un dispositif réfrigérant amélioré pour boissons (10) comportant au moins deux caissons interconnectés (11, 12), délimitant chacun une enceinte (50) pour frigorigène, cette enceinte comprenant plusieurs tuyaux (20) déployés sur toute sa longueur et destinés à assurer l'écoulement de la boisson. Chaque caisson est pourvu de mécanismes de commande du débit afin de faire monter et descendre la boisson à l'intérieur de l'enceinte réfrigérante par plusieurs conduits de refroidissement. Ces enceintes réfrigérantes, qui sont à pression régulée, sont agencées de manière à être raccordées à une source cryogénique via un détendeur thermostatique (56).

Claims

-7-
THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS:
1. A beverage chiller comprising at least two interconnected canisters, each
canister
defining a chamber for refrigerant, said chamber including a plurality of
pipes extending
along the length of the chamber for the flow of beverage therethrough, each
canister
including a flow control means to ensure flow of beverage up and down the
refrigerant
chamber in a plurality of cooling passes, said refrigerant chambers being
pressure balanced
and arranged to be coupled to a source of refrigeration via a thermostatic
expansion valve,
said at least two canisters being interconnected such that the beverage
completes its
cooling passes in one canister before completing further cooling passes in the
second
canister.
2. The beverage chiller according to claim 1 wherein said flow control means
is
provided at each end of each canister to ensure flow of beverage up and down
the
refrigerant chamber in a plurality of cooling passes.
3. The beverage chiller according to claim 2 wherein said flow control means
comprises a partitioned plate provided at each end of each canister.
4. The beverage chiller according to claim 1 wherein each of said chambers is
coupled
to a source of refrigerant and an evaporator pressure regulator valve.
5. The beverage chiller according to claim 1 wherein said refrigerant chambers
of said
canisters are interconnected at three points along the length of the canister
where a first
connection is a suction connection that is in turn coupled to a compressor of
a refrigeration
circuit, a second connection is a balancing pipe that ensures pressure balance
between said
canisters, and a third connection is a thermal expansion valve feed
connection.
6. The beverage chiller according to claim 1 wherein each canister is mounted
such
that its principal axis lies in a vertical plane.
7. The beverage chiller according to claim 1 wherein said plurality of pipes
of each
chamber are arranged in an array which is parallel to the principal axis of
the canister.

Description

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BEVERAGE CHILLER
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to beverage chiliers.
There is a need to chill carbonated and non-carbonated bulk beverages
such as, for example, beer and wine. In some situations there is a requirement
to produce a constant flow of chilled beverage at a temperature of as low as 2
to
3°C at a flow rate of up to 50 litres per hour. These parameters place
demanding requirements on suitable equipment.
One known technique for chilling bulk beverages is to pass the beverage
through a continually refrigerated ice bag. However this technique suffers
from
a limitation on the flow rate which can be achieved whilst maintaining the
desired chilled temperatures.
Another known beverage chiller is a product known as TEMPRITE. In this
product, the beverage passes through a single spiral coil that is immersed in
refrigerant. In order to ensure a constant level of refrigerant this product
uses a
float in conjunction with a cartridge valve. However a shortcoming with this
equipment is that it requires frequent ongoing maintenance with the ensuing
cost associated with servicing. For example, the float and cartridge valve
control
utilised in the product is prone to sticking in an open position or leaking
after a
period of use. If such conditions are left unchecked, flooding of the
refrigerant
into the compressor can occur and can lead to compressor failure.
Such problems have brought about the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, there is provided a beverage chiller
comprising at least two interconnected canisters, each canister defining a
chamber
for refrigerant, said chamber including a plurality of pipes extending along
the
length of the chamber for the flow of beverage therethrough, each canister
including flow control means to ensure flow of beverage up and down the
. 30 refrigerant chamber in a plurality of cooling passes, said refrigerant
chambers
being pressure balanced and arranged to be coupled to a source of
refrigeration via a thermostatic expansion valve.

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Preferably the canisters are interconnected such that the beverage
completes its cooling passes in one canister before completing further cooling
passes in the second canister.
Preferably a flow control means is provided at each end of each canister
to ensure flow of beverage up and down the refrigerant chamber in a plurality
of
cooling passes. It is further preferable that the flow control means comprises
a
partitioned plate provided at each end of each canister.
It is further preferable that each of the chambers is coupled to a source of
refrigerant and an evaporator pressure regulator valve.
Preferably the refrigerant chambers of the canisters are interconnected at
three points along the length of the canister where a first connection is a
suction
connection that is in turn coupled to a compressor of a refrigeration circuit,
a
second connection is a balancing pipe that ensures pressure balance between
said canisters, and a third connection is a thermal expansion valve feed
connection.
It is also preferable that the pipes of each chamber are arranged in an
array which is parallel to the principal axis of the canister.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
By way of example, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will
now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a side elevation view of a preferred embodiment of a
beverage chiller according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a plan view of the beverage chiller depicted in Figure 1; and
Figures 3 and 4 are plan views of upper and lower directional flow plates
utilised in the preferred embodiment of the beverage chiller.
DISCUSSION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The beverage chiller 10 illustrated in the accompanying drawings
comprises two stainless steel canisters 11 and 12, of approximately 100
millimetres (~ 4 inches) in diameter and 350 millimetres {= 73.5 inches) in
length. Each canister 11, 12 preferably houses thirty two stainless steel
pipes
20 of relatively small bore that are arranged in an array which is parallel to
the
principal axis of the canister. The pipes 20 are of 4.8 millimetres {3/16
inch)

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nominal bore and approximately 300 millimetres (~ 12 inches) in length and are
supported at either end by directional flow plates 21, 22. The directional
flow
. plates 21, 22 are provided with thirty two small holes 23 and the ends of
the
pipes 20 are welded into these holes. The upper flow plate 21 has its upper
surtace 26 segmented into five compartments 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 by upwardly
projecting and radially extending baffles 27. The lower plate 22 has its lower
surtace 28 segmented into four compartments 35, 36, 37, 38 by radially
extending baffles 29. Each plate 21, 22 is welded to the interior of the
canister
11 or 12 at a position approximately 10 millimetres (~ 0.5 inch) below the top
and bottom of the canister. The canisters are closed and sealed at both ends
40, 41. Five segments 43 are individually welded to the upwardly projecting
baffles 27 to seal the upper end 40 of each of the canisters, whilst four
segments
44 are individually welded to the downwardly projecting baffles 29 to seal the
lower end 41 of each of the canisters.
The cavities 50 that house the pipes 20 between the directional flow
plates 21, 22 of the canisters contain refrigerant and are coupled to a
standard
refrigeration circuit which includes a source of refrigerant and an evaporator
pressure regulator valve. It is understood that the design and operation of
the
refrigeration circuit would be well known to those skilled in this art and
therefore
it is not described in detail in this specification.
As shown in Figure 1, the refrigerant cavities 50 of canisters 11, 12 are
interconnected at three points 53, 54, 56 along the length of the canisters.
The
upper connection 53 is a suction connection that is in turn coupled to the
compressor of the refrigeration circuit. The central connection 54 is a
balancing
pipe that ensures pressure and refrigerant level balance between the canisters
11, 12. The lower connection 56 is a T.X. (Thermostatic Expansion) valve feed
connection. The T.X. valve temperature control is located at a point
approximately 300 millimetres (= 12 inches) along on the upper connection 53
on the suction pipe to the compressor.

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The end segments 43, 44 are welded against the adjacent outer edges of
the baffles 27, 29 to define segmented compartments 30 to 34 and 35 to 38 at
each end of the canisters 11, 12. As shown in Figure 2, one compartment 30 at
the top of each canister has an opening which constitutes the beverage inlet
61
and beverage outlet 62. The compartments 34 are interconnected by a bridge
65.
In use the beverage to be chilled enters the first canister 11 via the inlet
61 into compartment 30. The beverage then flows down the four small bore
pipes 20 contained in segment 30 to reach the compartment 35 defined by the
lower directional flow plate 22. The beverage then flows up the four pipes to
reach the upper compartment 31. It then flows down four pipes to reach
compartment 36, back up to compartment 32, down to compartment 37, up to
compartment 33, down to compartment 38 until it reaches upper compartment
34 from where it proceeds to the second canister 12 via bridge 65 where the
circulation operation is repeated.
As the beverage passes through the chiller in each canister, it is passed
through four single pipes concurrently and then returns to a separate set of
four
pipes that are all identical in size. Consequently, the beverage is passed
through eight sets of four pipes in each canister. This lengthy and convoluted
route for the beverage to pass is contained within the source of refrigerant
which
means that there is an enormous opportunity for heat exchange between the
refrigerant and the beverage. Consequently, the beverage chiller has the
capacity to chill beverages to the desired temperatures of 2 to 3°C
whilst
providing a flow rate of 50 litres an hour. The design of the beverage chiller
provides a heat exchanger of high efficiency which allows the performance
criteria to be reached with a very compact unit that is very efficient in the
use of
powe r.
This system is designed to operate on a variety of refrigerants and
especially 134A or R12.
Each canister is mounted with its axis vertical and filled to 75% of full
capacity with refrigerant. The T.X. valve controls throughput of refrigerant
whilst
at the same time acting as a level control. A T.X. valve is a simpler and more

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efficient means of controlling refrigerant levels than the complicated float
valve
that is currently used. The beverage chiller can be incorporated into a
refrigeration circuit or could be simply coupled to an existing refrigeration
system.
5 Overleaf are results of a test programme in which water was supplied into
the beverage chiller at temperature of 17.5°C and a l0oz glass was
drawn off
every 20 seconds for one hour. The temperature of each glass of water drawn
off was noted as ranging from 0.7°C to 2.9°C at a delivery of
51.2 litres per hour
(~ 11.25 gallons per hour).

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9c c qc
No. Temp. No. Temp. No. Temp. No. Temp. No. Temp. No. Temp.
1. 0.8 31. 2.3 61. f.8 91. 1.6 121.i.7 151. 1.7
2. 0.7 32. 2.3 62. 1.8 92. i .7 122.1.6 152. 1.7
3. 0. 33. 2.3 63. 1.8 93. 1.6 123.1.6 153. 1.6
B
4. 1.1 34. 2.2 64. 1.8 94. 1.6 124.1.6 154. 1.7
5. 1.6 35. 2.2 65. 1.8 95. 1.6 125.1.7 155. 1.7
6. 1.8 2.3 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.7
7. 2.0 2.3 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.7
8. 2.1 2.3 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.7
9. 2.1 2.3 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.7
10. 2.1 40. 2.3 70. 1.8 100. 1.6 130.1.7 160. 1.7
11. 2.1 2.3 1.9 1.6 1.6 1.7
1 2.2 2.2 1.9 1.6 1.7 1.7
2.
13. 2.3 2.2 1.9 1.6 1.7 1.7
14. 2.3 2.1 1.9 1.6 1.6 1.7
15. 2.3 2.0 1.9 1.5 1.6 1.7
16. 2.4 1.8 1.9 1.6 1.7 1.6
17. 2.4 1.8 1.9 1.7 t.7 1.7
18. 2.4 2.0 1.9 1.7 1.8 1.8
19. 2.5 2.0 1.9 1.6 1.7 1.7
20. 2.6 50. 2.2 80. 1.9 110. 1.6 140.1.7 170. 1.7
21. 2.5 2.1 2.0 1.6 1.7 1.7
22. 2.6 1.9 2.0 1.6 1.7 1.7
23. 2.7 1.9 2.0 1.6 1.7 1.8
24. 2.7 1.8 2.0 1.7 1.7 1.8
25. 2.8 1.7 2.1 1.6 1.8 1.7
26. 2.8 1.7 1.9 1.6 1.7 1.8
27. 2.9 1.7 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.8
28. 2.9 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.8
29. 2.6 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7 1.7
30. 2.5 60. 1.8 90. 1.7 120. 1.7 150.1.6 180. 1.7
Supply Water at 17.5°C
1 x 10 oz. Glass samples every 20 seconds for 1 hour.
Total 180 Glasses (1 B00 fluid ounces) = 11.25 Gallons = 51.2 litres
SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)

Representative Drawing