Method and apparatus for metering beverage concentrates

Claim 2

Method for automatically metering out a consumption unit or a multiple thereof of a beverage concentrate, particularly one of high and variable viscosity in a beverage dispensing or vending machine, said consumption unit having a volume X or a multiple thereof, whereby the metering is accomplished from a reservoir (1) forming a disposable unit (1-3) with a metering appendix (3), said metering appendix co-operating with force-exerting means (14-19; 56-67; 94, 95) integral with the body of the beverage dispensing or vending machine, said force-exerting means being shaped in such a way as to tally with and receive said metering appendix by simple insertion without disassemblage of said force-exerting means or distortion of said metering appendix, characterized by at an appropriate start signal automatically and pulsatingly engaging said metering appendix by said force-exerting means, such as to meter out the beverage concentrate in a series of consecutive pulses, each pulse corresponding with the metering out of a volume Y, and stopping at an appropriate stop signal, when the number of pulses has reached a number N, or a multiple thereof, said number N corresponding to the desired volume X of beverage concentrate, N being equal to X/Y and at least six.

Claim 3

Apparatus for applying the method of claim 1 for accurately metering out a consumption unit or multiple thereof of beverage concentrate, in particular one of high and variable viscosity when installed in a beverage dispensing or vending machine, said consumption unit having a volume X and being incrementally adjustable by increments of volume Y, comprising in operative co-operation: a disposable container (1-3) consisting of a reservoir (1) with beverage concentrate, integral with a metering appendix (3) at least partially of resilient elastic material, said appendix being provided with a first non-return valve (9; 10; 105) opening to the outside, and a second non-return valve (7; 104,106) opening to the inside, force-exerting means (14-19; 56-67; 94, 95) responsive to an appropriate start signal for automatically exerting a pulsating force on the resilient portion of the metering appendix (3), such as to alternatingly decrease and restore the volume between the two valves (7, 9, 10; 104,105; 106,109), while these continue to be in open communication with each other, said force-exerting means being integral with the body (14; 51; 87) of said dispensing or vending machine and being shaped in such a way as to tally with and receive said metering appendix by simple insertion without disassemblage of said force-exerting means or distortion of said metering appendix, characterized by: means (17; 23; 24; 40, 41, 47; 80-84) for detecting and counting the number of exertions of said force-exerting means, and means (44, 45), responsive to an appropriate stop signal for stopping the dispensing when the count is equal to a desired number N, respectively a multiple thereof, while N=X/Y, means (47) for producing said stop signal, the arrangement being such that on each pulse an accurately metered volume Y of the beverage concentrate leaves the appendix through the first valve and subsequently an equal volume enters said appendix from the container through the second valve, the volume X being at least six times the volume Y.

Claim 4

Apparatus as claimed in claim 2 for dispensing coffee and tea concentrate, adapted to dispense 2-12 cm 3 concentrate per consumption unit.

Claim 5

Apparatus as claimed in claim 3 for dispensing coffee and tea concentrate, adapted to produce 5 to 50 pulses per second.

Claim 6

Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2 to 4, provided with means by virtue of which the number of pulses produced is always an integer.

Claim 7

Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2 to 5, characterized by means (48-50) for forming three alternative sets of signals, being one (50) in which concentrate is dispensed for one consumption unit, one (49) in which concentrate is dispensed for a whole number of consumption units, and one (48) in which the volume of concentrate metered out can be varied at will.

Claim 8

Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, for dispensing coffee concentrate and tea concentrate, adapted to dispense the concentrate in a period of time of 1-2 seconds.

Claim 9

Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2 to 7, including means (15, 16, 17, 20, 20', 21; 64, 72-76; 101, 102) for alternatingly changing the volume of the dosing appendix (3) at each pulse by exerting a force perpendicular to the extract stream.

Claim 10

Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2 to 8, including means for effecting the alternating change in volume at each pulse by exerting a force in the direction of the extract stream.

Claim 11

Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 9, including means (87-95) for an electromagnetic interaction between an electromagnetic force (92) exerting system, integral with the body (87) of the dispensing or vending machine, and a magnetizable or magnetic system (93) integral with the elastic portion (94, 95) of the metering appendix.

Claim 12

Apparatus as claimed in any of the claims 2 to 10, characterized in that the responsiveness of the valve (9, 10; 105, 109) of the metering appendix opening to the outside ranges between 400 and 550 millibar, preferably between 250 and 300 millibar and the responsiveness of the valve (7; 104,106) opening to the inside ranges between 0.1 and 4.0 millibar, preferably between 2 and 4 millibar.

Claim 13

Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2 to 11, characterized in that the metering appendix (3) is shaped as a tube.

Claim 14

Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2 to 12, in which use is made of a disposable container (1-3) for storing and transporting beverage concentrate and for dispensing increments of the concentrate when installed in said dispensing, said container (1-3) comprising a reservoir (1) for beverage concentrate, a metering appendix (3) being at least partly resilient flexible and thereby adapted to be squeezed by a pulsating squeezing device (14-19; 56-67; 94, 95) in a dispensing machine whereupon a required number of increments of beverage concentrate will be metered out of said container (2) through said metering outlet, said metering appendix furthermore having one end (4) permanently connected to said reservoir characterized by said metering appendix (3) being in communication with said reservoir (1) via a non-return valve (7; 104, 106) with a sensitivity of 0.1-30 millibar, opening into said metering appendix, said dispensing appendix having an opposite free dispensing end, formed by an outwardly opening, non-return valve (9, 10; 105, 109) with a sensitivity of 40-500 millibar, which has a normally closed dispensing outlet.

Claim 15

Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the sensitivity of the non-return valve (7, 104, 106) opening into said metering appendix is 0.5-4 millibar, and the sensitivity of the outwardly opening non-return valve (9, 10; 105, 109) is 250-300 millibar.

Claim 16

Apparatus according to any one of the claims 13 to 14 whereby the metering appendix (3) has the shape of a tube.

Claim 17

Apparatus as claimed in any one of the claims 2-15, in which use is made of a container (1) with a metering appendix (3), comprising an elastomer tube (8) suitable for use in the process according to claim 2 and as a part of the apparatus according to claim 7 characterized by said tube, having a wall thickness of F-3 mm and a shore D hardness of 20-80.

Claim 18

Apparatus according to claim 16, whereby the wall thickness is 1-2 mm and the shore D hardness is 30-60.

Claim 19

Apparatus according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that the non-return valve (7, 104, 106) opening into said appendix (3) has a sensitivity of 0.1-30 millibar and the outwardly opening non-return valve (9, 10; 105, 109) has a sensitivity of 40-500 millibar.

Claim 20

Apparatus according to claim 18, whereby the non-return valve (7; 104, 106) opening into said metering appendix (3) has a sensitivity of 0.5-4 millibar and the outwardly opening non-return valve (9, 10; 105, 109) has a sensitivity of 250-300 millibar.

Claim 21

Apparatus as in any one of the claims 2-12, characterized in that said means (47) for producing said stop signal include means (48-50) for manually presetting and storing said number N or multiple thereof and means for comparing said manual preset number and the number of exertions to produce said appropriate stop signal.

Claim 22

Apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said detecting and counting means includes a pulse counter (47).

Claim 23

Apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said force exerting means includes a rotary member (17; 80) and said detecting and counting means (23, 24, 47; 81, 82, 83) for detecting the rotations of said member to produce a train of pulses includes means (47) for counting said pulses.

Claim 24

Apparatus as claimed in claim 22, wherein said means for setting includes switch means (48) for setting any of a plurality of numbers.

Claim 25

Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, including means (47) for producing said appropriate start and stop signals.