Beverage Dispensing Valve Control for Rule-Compliant Pouring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Businesses that dispense alcoholic beverages face challenges in complying with dispensing rules, leading to fines, liability, wastage, and theft, due to reliance on personnel for monitoring and control, which is inefficient and prone to errors.
Innovation Solution
A beverage dispensing apparatus that uses authorization and activation data to control a valve electronically, allowing only authorized users to activate and deactivate the dispensing system within specified periods, tracks fluid dispensing, and provides reporting and diagnostic data to ensure compliance with dispensing rules and reduce wastage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If personnel are used to monitor and control beverage dispensing, then the system is simple to operate, but compliance reliability deteriorates due to human error and inefficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The beverage dispensing system performs self-monitoring and self-control of compliance rules automatically. The system tracks dispensing events, validates them against configured rules, and generates reports without requiring continuous human supervision, thereby maintaining operational simplicity while significantly improving compliance reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical human monitoring system with an electronic automated control system. Sensors, processors, and communication modules substitute for human personnel in monitoring and enforcing dispensing rules, eliminating human error while maintaining ease of use through automated operations
2Reliability
If additional supervisory employees are employed to ensure rule compliance, then compliance reliability improves, but device complexity and operational cost worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The beverage dispensing system performs multiple functions within a single integrated platform: it monitors dispensing events, validates compliance against multiple configurable rules, tracks inventory, generates reports, and communicates with various stakeholders. This multi-functionality achieves high compliance reliability without requiring multiple separate systems or personnel roles
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically configures compliance rules, monitors dispensing activities, validates transactions, and generates compliance reports without requiring supervisory employees. The automated self-service nature of the system achieves reliable compliance monitoring while maintaining simple system architecture
3Device complexity
If manual monitoring of dispensing rules is used, then the system remains simple, but loss of substance increases due to over-pours and theft
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors dispensing events and provides real-time feedback by validating each dispensing transaction against configured rules. The system tracks cumulative dispensing amounts, compares them against limits, and can alert or prevent further dispensing when thresholds are exceeded, thereby reducing over-pours and theft while maintaining simple operation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual monitoring with electronic sensors and processors that precisely measure and track beverage dispensing. This automated measurement and tracking system eliminates human error in monitoring, preventing over-pours and theft while keeping the system simple to operate
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 enhances accountability and reduces wastage and theft by ensuring that beverages are dispensed only when authorized and within valid periods, providing real-time monitoring and reporting, thus improving operational efficiency and profitability.
Implementation Method 1
The valve can be an electronic control valve, such as a solenoid valve, that opens or closes a beverage line to the beverage dispenser
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for control of beverage dispensing. In one aspect, authorization data specifying that a beverage dispensing node is authorized to be activated are received. Activation data that request activation of the node are also received, where activation of the node causes a valve that controls flow of fluid to a beverage dispenser to be opened. A determination is made that the activation data are associated with a user identifier for an enabled user, where an enabled user is a user that has been enabled to activate the node. In response to receipt of the authorization data and the activation data a valve that controls flow of fluid to the beverage dispenser is opened. Data (e.g., de-authorization or de-activation data) specifying that an activated beverage dispensing apparatus be de-activated can also be received. In response to receipt of the data, the valve can be closed.