WO1999002449A1

WO1999002449A1 - Dosing machine for the preparation of mixed drinks

Info

Publication number: WO1999002449A1
Application number: PCT/IT1998/000189
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giovanni Fazzi; Sergio Cecchelli; Sandro Borsalino
Original assignee: S.G.S. S.R.L.
Priority date: 1997-07-11
Filing date: 1998-07-08
Publication date: 1999-01-21
Also published as: IT1294820B1; ITFI970169A1; AU8240698A

Abstract

A dosing machine for the preparation of mixed drinks comprising a box-like support and protection structure (1), a number of tanks (5) holding different beverage kinds, feeding ducts (6) of the beverages from the tanks (5) to a container to be placed externally to the structure (1), beverage-dosing solenoid valves (15) connected to the ducts (6) and processor means for driving valves (15) as a function of programmable instructions. Each duct (6) feeds the beverage from the respective tank (5) to a dispensing station (3) wherein the container is placed, and the dosing valves (15) are placed, each on a respective duct, in a dosing assembly (7) upstream and nearby the dispensing station (3).

Description

TITLE DOSING MACHINE FOR THE PREPARATION OF MIXED DRINKS

DESCRIPTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dosing machine for the preparation of mixed drinks like cocktails, namely for use in public places.

Description of the Prior Art

When places like cafes, pubs, discotheques, and in general any public places where counters or the like for the delivery of drinks are provided, are crowded with people, the barman has the problem to succeed in fulfilling a lot of requests in a short time. This happens in particular when a large number of said requests concern mixed drinks, the preparation of which is often complicated and takes therefore a considerable amount of time.

An attempt of solving this problem has been made with the machine for the automatic production of cocktails disclosed in Italian patent application TP93A000002. This machine comprises a number of cooled tanks for various kinds of beverages, each having more than one outlet to feed different dispensing stations via a duct network. Each station can dispense one only cocktail kind to a container, to be placed in its correspondence, whereby there are as many stations as the cocktails which can be prepared. The beverage feeding and dosage are carried out by means of little dosing diaphragm pumps placed upstream from the containers and driven by a timed switch system.

This machine has a number of drawbacks. First of all it has a very large size, due to the feeding system configuration, which involves a high number of ducts and makes it necessary to provide a respective dispensing station for each preparable cocktail. Furthermore, the size considerably increases with the number of preparable cocktails, which then has to be limited.

Besides, the operation of the machine is very rigid, for the fact that it is not possible to prepare a higher number of cocktails than that of the provided stations and because a change of the programmed dosages, to vary the choice of the preparable cocktails, is very hard and complicated. Finally, the use of diaphragm pumps makes the operation of the machine annoyingly noisy. Summary of the Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine for the automatic preparation of cocktails which doesn't involve the above mentioned drawbacks, and which in particular has a simple structure and a flexible use.

T his object has been achieved with the dosing machine for the preparation of mixed drinks according to the present invention. It comprises a box- like supporting and protecting structure, a number of tanks holding different beverage kinds, means for feeding the beverages from the tanks to a container to be placed externally to the structure, means for dosing the beverages connected to the feeding means and processor means for driving the feeding means and the dosing means as a function of programmable instructions. The feeding means comprise a number of ducts, each of them to feed the beverage from the respective tank to a dispensing station wherein the container is placed, and the dosing means are placed each on a respective duct upstream from the dispensing station. Preferably said dosing means are placed in a dosing assembly nearby the dispensing station. Brief description of the drawings Other features and advantages of the dosing machine for the preparation of mixed drinks according to the present invention will be apparent from the following description of one of its embodiments, to be intended only as an example and not a limitation, with reference to the attached drawings in which:

- figure 1 shows a perspective view of the machine according to the invention;

- figure 2 is a side view of some components of the machine of figure 1 ;

- figure 3 shows a side view of a dosing assembly with solenoid valves, provided in the machine of figure 1 ;

- figure 4 is a schematic top plan view of the dosing assembly of figure 3 ; - figure 5 is a schematic view, like that of figure 4, of a dosing assembly having a line arrangement; figure 6 shows a flow chart illustrating the operation of the machine according to the invention. Description of the preferred embodiment With reference to figure 1, the dosing machine according to the invention comprises a box-like external structure 1, having supporting and protecting functions, with a mixed drink dispensing station, generally indicated at 3. The dispensing station is made up of a substantially parallelepiped shaped housing 2, formed in a front wall la of structure 1, with a support plane 2a for holding a container, e.g. a glass or a shaker, not shown, to be filled up with the desired mixed drink, namely a cocktail. A beverage dispensing nozzle extends from the inside of structure 1 through the top side of housing 2, in a substantially central position, and having the shape of a manifold 16, which will be described in detail hereinafter. With reference now also to figures from 2 to 4 , a number of pressurised tanks 5, two of which are shown as an example in figure 2, are placed externally to structure 1, possibly in a cooled area, each of them holding a different kind of beverage, alcoholic or not. The tanks are pressurised by way of a nitrogen circuit comprising a cylinder 8 in communication with the tanks via a hose 9, wherein control and check pressure gauges 10 are provided. For checking the liquid level inside the tanks each of them has a level probe, of a known type and not shown, the signal of which is transmitted to a check unit via wires 11.

A respective liquid feeding duct 6 upwardly extends from each tank, having an intake tube 6a which is immersed in the liquid itself so as to draw it out in correspondence to the bottom of the tank. Ducts 6 converge to a dosing assembly, generally indicated at 7 and shown in detail in figures 3 and 4, placed immediately upstream from dispensing station 3 and above housing 2. In particular, in the depicted embodiment, sixteen feeding ducts 6, as many as the tanks associated to the machine, converge to dosing assembly 7.

Dosing assembly 7 is made of a support frame 12, comprising a polygonal plate 13 horizontally placed in correspondence to the top side of housing 2. A central hole 17 is formed in plate 13, for engaging with manifold 16, having a generically cylindrical shape and placed with its axis in a vertical position, so as to partially extend through plate 13, as above said, inside housing 2. Uprights 14 stand up from the sides of plate 13 to support a number of solenoid valves 15 perimetrally placed along the outline of plate 13 , each connected to a feeding duct 6. In the depicted embodiment plate 13 has a substantially squared shape, with sixteen valves 15 placed in a number of four for each side. Each feeding duct 6 is connected to the inlet of the respective valve, joining frame 12 in a substantially radial direction. A respective dispensing duct 18 extends from the outlet of each valve, inwardly with respect to frame 12, and radially reaches manifold 16. This has a plurality of axial channels 19, in this case in a number of sixteen as well, to house dispensing ducts 18 and allow their outflow within housing 2 and then inside the container placed therein.

Valves 15 are driven by an electronic processor, not shown, to which also level checking probes of tanks 5 and a system with photoelectric cells 20, to detect the presence of a container inside housing 2, are connected.

In front wall la of structure 1 a control board 4 is placed above housing 2, to allow the programming and checking of the processor and of the operations which the machine can carry out. A switch 21 is also provided for the powering of the electric feed system of the machine. In particular control board 4 comprises an upper panel 4a wherein a keyboard is provided for the processor programming, i. e. to preliminarily set the mixed drinks which the machine can prepare. Upper panel 4a also comprises a series of warning lights, checking the liquid level in the tanks, and a numeric display to indicate in real time the actual amount of dispensed beverage. A lower panel 4b, placed in close proximity to dispensing station 3, comprises instead a group of keys for the selection, at the moment of the user's request, of the drink to be mixed. The machine according to the invention operates in the following way. First of all it is necessary to decide which are the mixed drinks the machine will have to dispense, on the basis of the frequency of their requests by the clients. As a consequence, the component beverages have to be chosen and tanks 5 have to be filled therewith. The processor has then to be programmed for configuring the machine, so as to associate the pressure of a respective key in panel 4b of board 4 to the accomplishment of a definite sequence of timed openings and closings of respective valves 15, the opening time of each valve determining the right proportioned dosage of each beverage as a part of the chosen drink.

This operation has to be carried out when the machine is set up, but at any time and in a easy way it is possible to change the configuration for preparing different drink mixes.

Once the machine has been configured, with tanks 15 filled and pressurised by means of the nitrogen system, it is ready for use. The barman, after placing a suitable container inside housing 2, presses the key of panel 4b which corresponds to the drink asked for by the client. As a consequence, the processor drives the opening of valves 15 corresponding to the tanks holding the component beverages of the drink. Thanks to the pressure generated by the nitrogen system, the liquid in the respective tank 5 is fed through ducts 6 and 18, flowing out of manifold 16 into the container in housing 2. The closing of each valve, when the programmed opening time has elapsed, stops the dispensing of the beverage, determining the presence in the container of the right dose which is required for each component .

A typical operating scheme of the machine is shown as an example in the flow chart of figure 6, which is clearly readable and understandable and therefore is not described in detail. It shows how the processor automatically operates the programmed driving sequence of the valves (block A) to dispense the drink which has been asked for. Thanks to photoelectric cells 20 it is possible to provide a stop of the process (boxes B) when the presence of a container is not detected, to avoid accidental liquid wastes .

If two or more clients contemporaneously ask for the same mixed drink, it is possible to dispense multiple dosages simply by pressing a corresponding key in panel 4b. In this way the machine will automatically dispense the amount that precisely satisfies the number of requests to a container having a suitable capacity. Besides, panel 4b can advantageously have keys for operating a non-programmed dispensing of the single beverages and for the drainage of the ducts from the tanks to the dispensing station.

The above mentioned container can be simply a glass, when the preparation of the drink asked for does not involve the shaking of the mix, or more often a common shaker. If provided for the preparation of specific mixed drinks, a suitable amount of ice will be preliminarily placed inside the container.

The compact structure of dosing assembly 7 and the fact that a single dispensing station is provided, make the dimensions of the machine very low, thus allowing the machine to be installed even where a limited space is available. The structure of the liquid dispensing nozzle, with manifold 16 that prevents the mixing in its inside of the beverages flowing out of respective ducts 18, avoids any pollution due to previous preparations, with consequent change of the tastes. In fact, each duct always dispenses one only determined beverage kind.

The pressurised feeding system with solenoid valves permits to avoid the use of dosing pumps, this involving clear advantages in terms of building simplicity and reliability, with lower operation and maintenance costs, the operation being furthermore quite noiseless.

It will be apparent then that the machine according to the invention provides a fully satisfactory solution to the above mentioned problems, thanks namely to the compactness of its building and to the flexibility of its operation.

Many variations and/or modifications can be brought to the dosing machine for the preparation of mixed drinks according to the present invention. A first variation concerns the structure of dosing assembly 7. When for encumbrance reasons a narrow and elongated shape is preferred for the machine, the dosing assembly, as shown in figure 5, can have a lined arrangement of all valves 15 along one side of a support frame 22, with respective dispensing ducts 18 converging to centrally placed manifold 16. Another variation involves the provision of a money- counter device for automatic payments, to make the machine self-service. The device is of a known type and is connected to the processor in a way which is known as well to an expert of the field. In this case, the client can directly select the desired mixed drink and, after payment of the required amount, operate the dispensing thereof.

These and other variations and/or modifications that can be brought to the machine according to the invention fall within the scope of the invention itself as stated in the appended claims .

Claims

1. Dosing machine for the preparation of mixed drinks, comprising a box-like supporting and protecting structure (1) , a number of tanks (5) holding different kinds of beverages, placed outside said structure (1), means (6, 8, 9, 18) for feeding said beverages from said tanks to a container to be placed externally to said structure (1), and means (15) for dosing said beverages, connected to said feeding means, characterised m that said feeding means comprise a number of feeding ducts (6) each of them to feed the beverage from the respective tank (5) to a dispensing station (3) wherein said container is placed, said dosing means (15) being placed each on a respective of said feeding ducts (6) upstream from said dispensing station (3), processor means for driving said feeding means and said dosing means as a function of programmable instructions being provided.

2. The machine according to claim 1, wherein said dosing means (15) are placed m a dosing assembly (7) positioned near said dispensing station (3) .

3. The machine according to claim 2, wherein said dosing assembly (7) comprises a support frame (12) with a polygonal plate (13) placed above said housing (2), and said dosing means comprise solenoid valves (15) perimetrally supported by said plate (13) and driven by said processor means, the inlet and the outlet of each valve (15) being respectively connected to one of said feeding ducts (6) and to a dispensing duct (18) towards said dispensing station (3) .

4. The machine according to claim 3, wherein said plate (13) centrally supports a manifold (16) extending from above within said housing (2), a plurality of channels (19) being axially formed in said manifold (16) for housing said dispensing ducts (18) .

5. The machine according to claim 1, wherein said feeding means comprise a pneumatic circuit (8, 9) communicating with said tanks (5) to keep them pressurised.

6. The machine according to claim 5, wherein said pneumatic circuit (8, 9) is nitrogen fed.

7. The machine according to claim 1, wherein said dispensing station (3) is placed in correspondence to a housing (2) frontally formed in said structure (1) .

8. The machine according to claim 1, wherein keyboard means (4) are externally placed on said structure (1) for programming and driving said processor means.

9. The machine according to claim 1, wherein means for checking the liquid level inside said tanks (5) are provided and comprise warning lights externally placed on said structure (1) .

10. The machine according to claim 2, wherein in said dosing assembly (7) said dosing means comprise solenoid valves (15) supported along one side of a support frame (12) and driven by said processor means, the inlet and the outlet of each valve (15) being respectively connected to one of said feeding ducts (6) and to a dispensing duct (18) towards said dispensing station (3) .

11. The machine according to claim 1, comprising also a money-counter unit for automatic payments.