Multi-Reservoir Beverage Cartridge for Compact Drink Customization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional beverage dispensing systems require significant storage space for basic beverage components, which often need refrigeration and cannot be customized, limiting the variety and convenience of beverages offered.
Innovation Solution
A beverage mixture dispensing system utilizing a single detachable cartridge with multiple ingredient reservoirs and solvent reservoirs, allowing for the preparation and dispensing of various beverages based on predetermined chemical makeup, enabling customization and minimizing storage footprint.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If traditional beverage dispensing systems use basic beverage components (concentrates or syrups), then the system can dispense beverages, but the storage space required increases significantly and refrigeration is needed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the basic beverage component into multiple individual ingredient components (acids, salts, sweeteners, flavorings, colorings, etc.), each stored in separate reservoirs within a cartridge. This segmentation allows the system to store only the essential chemical ingredients needed to reconstruct beverages, significantly reducing storage space while enabling precise customization of each beverage's chemical composition.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of ingredient storage from pre-mixed concentrates to individual chemical ingredients. By storing ingredients in their concentrated chemical form rather than as prepared syrups, the system reduces storage volume while maintaining the ability to create diverse beverages through controlled mixing and dilution during dispensing.
2Adaptability or versatility
If each individual beverage requires its own unique basic beverage component, then beverage variety increases, but the storage footprint of the beverage dispensing system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal ingredient cartridge that can produce multiple different beverages through various combinations of the same set of chemical ingredients. Rather than storing separate concentrates for each beverage type, the system uses a single multi-functional cartridge containing acids, salts, sweeteners, flavorings, and colorings that can be combined in different proportions to create diverse beverages, thereby reducing storage footprint while maintaining beverage variety.
3Ease of operation
If traditional systems treat individual ingredients of each component as a group, then the system operation is simplified, but beverage customization is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by treating each chemical ingredient individually rather than as a grouped concentrate. Each ingredient reservoir can be independently controlled and dispensed in precise amounts, allowing the system to customize beverages by adjusting the quantity and combination of specific ingredients (such as varying acid levels or flavor concentrations) while maintaining simplified operation through automated control.
4Volume of stationary object
If concentrated ingredients are stored in a single detachable cartridge, then storage space is minimized, but the cartridge must contain multiple separate ingredient reservoirs increasing complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements the nested doll principle by placing multiple individual ingredient reservoirs inside a single cartridge housing. The cartridge serves as an outer container that nests multiple smaller reservoirs (for acids, salts, sweeteners, flavorings, colorings, and water), creating a compact integrated structure that minimizes storage footprint while organizing the complexity of multiple ingredients within a unified replaceable unit.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides a high degree of customization and variety with minimal waste, allowing for the production of a large library of beverages using a small number of ingredients, significantly reducing storage space and waste while maintaining a high level of reusability.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the plurality of ingredient reservoirs may store a concentrated ingredient, such as a concentrated liquid containing an pure ingredient suspended in a solvent, or molecular entities of the ingredient independently suspended in a solvent, such as liquid water.
Implementation Method 2
The ingredients from the cartridge and the solvents from the reservoirs can be combined in a mixing area of the beverage mixture dispensing system.
Data Source
AI summary
A cartridge and an associated beverage mixture dispensing system are disclosed. The cartridge is detachable from the associated beverage mixture dispensing system. The cartridge includes a casing and at least twenty ingredient reservoirs located within the casing and storing at least twenty respective ingredients. The cartridge also includes a dispensing interface for dispensing the at least twenty ingredients into the beverage mixture dispensing system. The at least twenty ingredient reservoirs include a first reservoir of a concentrated salt and a second reservoir of a concentrated food grade acid. The remaining ingredient reservoirs include additional concentrated ingredients. The beverage mixture dispensing system includes a solvent reservoir and a receiving interface for receiving the at least twenty ingredients from the cartridge. The beverage mixture dispensing system also includes a mixing area fluidly connected to the solvent reservoir and the at least twenty ingredient reservoirs.