Cooling device for cooling beverages
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional freezers take too long to cool beverages, with standard 12-ounce cans taking up to 45 minutes to reach 45°F and larger containers like wine bottles taking even longer due to slower heat transfer rates.
Innovation Solution
A cooling device with a dense block of aluminum or aluminum alloy surrounds the beverage container, enhancing thermal conductivity to rapidly transfer heat and lower the temperature, with a cylindrical chamber design that maximizes contact area for efficient cooling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a beverage container is placed in a conventional freezer, then the beverage will eventually cool down, but the cooling process takes too long (45 minutes for a 12-ounce can, even longer for wine bottles)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a metal intermediary object (aluminum or copper bar) between the beverage container and the freezer environment. This intermediary has high thermal conductivity and acts as a heat transfer mediator, rapidly conducting heat from the beverage container to the freezer surroundings, thereby dramatically reducing cooling time while maintaining the conventional freezer setup
Solution Approach 2:
The metal bar is pre-cooled in the freezer before the beverage container is placed in the cooling device. This preliminary cooling of the intermediary component maximizes the temperature differential and heat transfer potential when the beverage is introduced, enabling faster initial cooling rates
2Ease of manufacture
If the beverage container is simply placed in a freezer, then the setup is simple, but the heat transfer rate is slow due to reliance on cold air convection alone
Solution Approach 1:
The metal bar serves as a thermal intermediary that bridges the beverage container and the freezer environment. It provides a direct solid-to-solid thermal pathway with high conductivity, replacing reliance on slow air convection while adding minimal structural complexity to the system
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal conductivity parameter of the heat transfer pathway by introducing high-conductivity metal materials. This parameter change transforms the heat transfer mechanism from slow air convection to rapid solid conduction, dramatically improving cooling efficiency without complicating the overall device structure
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 cooling device can chill a standard 12-ounce can in 2-3 minutes and a 750 mL wine bottle in 3-5 minutes, achieving faster temperature reduction and maintaining effectiveness after initial use.
Implementation Method 1
the strong thermal conductivity of the cooling device allows this process to occur more rapidly than if the heat transfer is only via the cold air in the freezer
Implementation Method 2
a thermal equilibration process immediately begins, and the temperature of the cooling device and the fluid inside the container immediately begin to converge
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling device for cooling a fluid includes first and second bodies each having a first end, a second end, a longitudinal axis, an inner face, an outer face, and two side faces connecting the inner and outer faces. When the first and second bodies are assembled together with the respective inner faces facing one another, the inner faces together define a cylindrical chamber with a cylinder axis that extends parallel to the longitudinal axes, with the cylindrical chamber having a first radius and extending substantially entirely around the cylinder axis in a circumferential direction, for receiving a container with a cylindrical portion having the first radius. Each of the first and second bodies is solid and is formed using a material or alloy with a thermal conductivity of at least 75 Wm−1K−1 when at zero degrees Fahrenheit that extends substantially uniformly throughout substantially the entire body.