GB2142315A - Apparatus for dispensing a mixture of fruit juice concentrate and fresh water - Google Patents

Abstract

Dispensing apparatus (1) for dispensing fruit drinks comprises a housing the upper part of which is a cool box (2) and which at a lower part has a support (3) for a drinking vessel (4). Received in the cool box (2) is a cardboard box (6) containing a plastics bag (7) of fruit juice concentrate. The plastics bag (7) has a dispensing pipe (8) which is acted upon by a peristaltic pump (9). A fresh water conduit (10) is connected to a water main and has its discharge opening adjacent the free end of the dispensing pipe (8). A shut-off valve in the fresh water conduit (10) and a motor driving the peristaltic pump (9) are jointly actuable and when so actuated cause fruit juice concentrate and fresh water to be introduced into the drinking vessel (4) and mixed therein by turbulence. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for dispensing a mixture of fruit juice concentrate and fresh water The invention relates to apparatus for dispensing a mixture of fruit juice concentrate and fresh water.

Dispensing apparatus for this purpose has been previously proposed and usually comprises either a mixing container in which fruit juice concentrate and fresh water are brought together and mixed or an external container in which fruit juice concentrate is mixed with fresh water, the mixture subsequently being introduced into a container of the apparatus.

In both kinds of apparatus, the mixture is kept constantly in movement in order to ensure that it is homogeneous. If, in the mixture were stored in a condition of being at rest, over a prolonged period of time, the fruit juice constituents of the fruit juice concentrate would settle in the course of time.

It has been found however that the continuous movement of the mixture has a detrimental effect on the quality of the dispensed fruit juice.

That is primarily because the mixture comes into contact with oxygen, with the continuous movement further promoting the supply of oxygen. On the one hand, the vitamins in the mixture are attacked by the oxygen, while on the other hand, the mixture suffers from a rapid ageing process, due to the supply of oxygen.

Apart from that, the dispensing apparatus in question is unduly complicated in construction and therefore expensive, and a further disadvantage is that a not inconsiderable amount of cleaning work is required to maintain strict hygiene.

It has also been proposed for a plastics bag of ready to drink fruit juice, which is disposed in a cardboard container, to be fitted into a refrigerated housing, the plastics bag having a dispensing pipe which projects out of the housing. Disposed below the chamber is a support for a drinking vessel, and a device for clamping off the dispensing pipe. By releasing the clamping device, the dispensing pipe can be opened to allow fruit juice to run into a prepared drinking vessel. The plastics bag can be filled with the fruit juice under absolutely sterile conditions and, as no air can penetrate into the plastics bag when the fruit juice is dispensed, the sterile conditions are maintained until the plastics bag is completely emptied. After the plastics bag is empty, the plastics bag, together with the cardboard container, is removed from the apparatus and replaced by a full bag.

Such a mode of dispensing ready to drink fruit juice completely does away with expensive cleaning operations, as the fruit juice does not come into contact with components of the apparatus.

However, although such apparatus has been found to be the most successful and acceptable, the dimensions of such apparatus increase in direct dependency on the capacity of the plastics bag. In other words, the number of drinks which such dispensing apparatus can dispense is unduly restricted as the external dimensions of such apparatus must be kept relatively small, for many different reasons.

According to the invention, there is provided apparatus for dispensing a mixture of fruit juice concentrate and fresh water, the apparatus comprising a parallelepiped cool box which is closable and disposed in an upper region of the apparatus; a support disposed below the cool box for a drinking vessel; a plastics bag containing fruit juice concentrate, enclosed in a cardboard container, provided with a dispensing pipe and received in the cool box; a peristaltic pump having a rotor and a stator with the dispensing pipe engaged therebetween; a fresh water conduit connected to a water main and having a discharge opening located adjacent the free end of the dispensing pipe; and control means for controlling flow of water through the fresh water conduit.

Thus, first of all, the per se known way in which the fruit juice concentrate is stored ensures that the fruit juice concentrate is kept under sterile conditions until the plastics bag is completely empty. By virtue of the fruit juice concentrate being stored under sterile conditions, it remains unchanged from the microbiological point of view, over a long period of time, whereby it does not deteriorate and remains in a fresh condition.

The step of mixing the fruit juice concentrate and fresh water is effected only in the drinking vessel as the dispensing pipe of the plastics bage which contains the fruit juice concentrate, and the fresh water conduit, are taken in parallel to each other and the two components only come together in the drinking vessel. The turbulence which is produced when the fruit juice concentrate and the fresh water are introduced into the drinking vessel are entirely adequate to provide for thorough mixing of the two components. As the fruit juice when mixed in that way is then usually immediately consumed, there is no need for the fruit juice, in the ready-to-drink condition, to be kept in movement over a long period of time, and thus no drop in the quality thereof.

A further advantage obtainable by the invention is that the expensive operation of cleaning flow and dispensing conduit is unnecessary as, when the plastics bag is empty, it is removed in its entirety and replaced by a fresh, full plastics bag so that the drink is always dispensed under absolutely hygienic conditions.

A preferred embodiment of the invention provides that a shut-off valve disposed in the fresh water conduit and a motor of the peristaltic pump are connected to a common switching member.

Such an arrangement provides that, during a dispensing period, the apparatus only ever supplies a given amount of fruit juice concentrate and a predetermined amount of fresh water. Therefore, the level of concentration of the ready-to-drink fruit juice is always the same, during all dispensing periods, thereby providing for a uniform standard of quality.

It is advantageous for a cooling unit to be associated with the fresh water conduit.

By virtue of being able directly to cool the fresh water, the temperature of the dispensed fruit juice can be determined, within wide limits.

Although the fruit juice concentrate in the cool box is cooled, it will be appreciated that in most cases the temperature of the drink would be too high, due to the admixing of water at different temperatures.

The invention is diagrammatically illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a perspective view of apparatus for dispensing fruit juice according to the invention, with a cool box in an open condition; and Figure 2 shows a block circuit diagram of the apparatus of Fig. 1.

The dispensing apparatus illustrated in Fig.

1, for a fruit juice mixed from a fruit juice concentrate which is not in a ready-to-drink condition, and fresh water, substantially comprises a parellelpipedal housing 1, the upper portion of which is in the form of a cool box 2 while the lower portion has a support 3 for a drinking vessel 4.

The cool box 2 can be closed by a door 5.

Fitted into he cool box 2 is a cardboard container 6 which in turn accommodates a plastics bag 7 filled with fruit juice concentrate.

The plastics bag 7 is provided with a dispensing pipe 8 which is engaged between the stator and the rotor of a peristaltic pump 9.

The dispensing apparatus 1 is provided with a fresh water conduit 10 which can be connected to a water main and the discharge opening of which is adjacent to the free end of the dispensing pipe 8 of the plastics bag 7.

The dispensing pipe 8, and also the discharge opening of the fresh water conduit 10, are surrounded by a funnel-shaped screening member 11 to hide them from view. Neither the fruit juice concentrate nor the fresh water comes into contact with the screening member 11.

As can be clearly seen from the block circuit diagram of the dispensing apparatus shown in Fig. 2, a cooling unit 12 is associated with the fresh water conduit 10. The cooling unit 12, which is operated by way of the same compressor 1 3 which also operates a cooling unit (not shown) of the cool box 2, makes it possible for the fresh waer supplied also to be cooled, in addition to cooling of the fruit juice concentrate, whereby it is possible to control the desired temperature of the fruit juice dispensed.

The block circuit diagram in Fig. 2 also very clearly shows that a quantitative flow meter 14 can be incorporated in the fresh water conduit 10. The flow meter 1 4 may be combined with a shut-off valve.

The shut-off valve and the motor of the peristaltic pump 9 are actuable by way of a common switch 15, that is to say, during a dispensing period, an amount of fruit juice concentrate, which depends on the period of time for which the pump 9 is switched on, and an amount of fruit juice, which depends on the presetting of the flow meter 14, are introduced into the drinking vessel 4. Therefore, the ratio of mixing of the fruit juice concentrate and the fresh water is absolutely constant, which in turn means that the composition of the mixed fruit juice is always the same.

The switch 1 5 for the motor of the peristaltic pump 9 and the shut-off valve in the fresh water conduit 10 may be in the form of a mechanically actuable switch, but it is also possible for the switch 1 5 to be activated by the insertion of a coin in a coin slot.

Claims (9)

1. Apparatus for dispensing a mixture of fruit juice concentrate and fresh water, the apparatus comprising a parallelepipedal cool box which is closable and disposed in an upper region of the apparatus; a support disposed below the cool box for a drinking vessel; a plastics bag containing fruit juice concentrate, enclosed in a cardboard container, provided with a dispensing pipe and received in the cool box; a peristaltic pump having a rotor and a stator with the dispensing pipe engaged therebetween; a fresh water conduit connected to a water main and having a discharge opening located adjacent the free end of the dispensing pipe; and control means for controlling flow of water through the fresh water conduit.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, in which the control means includes a quantitative flow meter installed in the fresh water conduit.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which a cooling unit is associated with the fresh water conduit.

4. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the free end of the dispensing pipe and the discharge opening of the fresh water conduit are surrounded by a funnel-like vision-screening member.

5. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the control means includes a shut-off valve disposed in the fresh water conduit, the peristaltic pump is driven by a motor and the shut-off valve and the motor are connected to a common switching member.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which the common switching member is a mechanically actuable switch.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5, in which the common switching member is a switch actuable by insertion of a coin.

8. Apparatus according to claim 3 or any one of claims 4 to 7 when appendant to claim 3, in which the unit of the fresh water conduit and a cooling unit of the cool box are actuable by way of a common compressor.

9. Apparatus for dispensing a mixture of fruit juice concentrate and fresh water substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings.