Beverage Dispenser Sweetener Blending for Custom Calorie Levels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional post-mix beverage dispensing systems face challenges in providing a wide variety of flavors and customizable nutritional levels while maintaining a compact footprint, often resulting in undesirable flavors and wasted product due to limited ingredient control.
Innovation Solution
A beverage dispenser with a user interface for selecting nutritional levels and a controller that activates pumping or metering devices to dispense specific combinations of sweeteners and ingredients based on pre-defined recipes, ensuring consistent flavor profiles and customizable calorie content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional post-mix beverage dispensing systems are used, then a wide variety of flavors and customizable nutritional levels can be provided, but the system requires a large footprint and results in undesirable flavors and product waste due to limited ingredient control
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the beverage dispensing system into multiple independent syrup stations, each capable of dispensing different syrup types (caloric, non-caloric, low-calorie). This segmentation allows the system to provide customizable nutritional levels while maintaining a compact footprint, as each station operates independently with its own controlled dispensing mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic control mechanisms including flow meters, pressure sensors, and programmable logic controllers that continuously monitor and adjust syrup dispensing in real-time. This dynamic control enables precise ingredient management, preventing product waste and ensuring consistent flavor profiles across different nutritional level selections.
2Adaptability or versatility
If traditional post-mix beverage dispensing systems are used, then a wide variety of flavors and customizable nutritional levels can be provided, but undesirable flavors and wasted product occur due to limited ingredient control
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms through flow meters that measure syrup dispensing volume, pressure sensors that monitor dispensing pressure, and programmable logic controllers that adjust dispensing parameters in real-time based on measured values. This closed-loop feedback control ensures precise ingredient management, prevents over-dispensing, and eliminates product waste while maintaining consistent flavor profiles across different nutritional level selections.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic control mechanisms that continuously monitor and adjust syrup dispensing in real-time based on actual flow conditions. This dynamic adjustment prevents both under-dispensing (which would result in poor flavor) and over-dispensing (which would cause product waste), ensuring optimal ingredient management for all beverage formulations.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple sweetener sources are used to provide customizable nutritive levels, then consumer choice and product quality are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs a programmable logic controller that serves multiple functions: it controls all pumping or metering devices, manages recipe selections for different nutritional levels, coordinates flow meter readings, and adjusts dispensing parameters in real-time. This universal controller consolidates the complexity of multiple devices into a single intelligent management system, making the operation transparent to the consumer while enabling precise control over caloric, non-caloric, and low-calorie sweetener combinations.
Data Source
AI summary
A dispenser is configured to dispense food products at varying nutritive levels by dispensing a combination of sweeteners in a predetermined ratio from a plurality of sweetener sources. Using a predetermined combination of sweeteners in a predetermined ratio for a selected nutritive level for a given product ensures that the dispensed product will have a desirable flavor profile while at the same time providing increased consumer choice. A combination of caloric, mid-calorie, low calorie, and/or non-caloric sweeteners may be dispensed to produce a food product with a specified caloric level or nutritive level. For a given nutritive level selected, the product dispenser may dispense different combinations of sweeteners and/or different ratios of sweeteners for different brands or products to be dispensed. Likewise, for a given brand or product, the product dispenser may dispense different combinations of sweeteners and/or different ratios of sweeteners for different selected nutritive levels.