Frozen Beverage Cup Structure for Faster, More Uniform Freezing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing frozen beverage devices are limited in their ability to efficiently freeze a wide range of beverages, including alcoholic ones, and often result in uneven freezing, making it difficult to consume the remaining beverage and complicating cleaning due to the melting refrigerant's pressure on the flexible inner wall, which causes the cup to constrict and bulge.
Innovation Solution
A device with an outer and inner wall sealed to form refrigerant cavities, filled with a coolant that can be cooled below the liquid's freezing point, featuring semi-closed columns for increased heat transfer and a stabilizing rim to prevent deformation, allowing for faster freezing and easier consumption by maintaining the cup's shape and facilitating cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a flexible inner wall is used to allow the cup to deform during freezing, then the cup can adapt to the melting refrigerant's pressure, but the cup becomes constricted and bulged making cleaning difficult and consumption difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into two separate walls: an inner wall that contacts the beverage and an outer wall that provides structural support. The space between them forms refrigerant cavities. This segmentation allows the outer wall to maintain structural integrity while the inner wall can deform slightly during freezing, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and ease of cleaning.
Solution Approach 2:
The refrigerant cavities act as an intermediary layer between the inner and outer walls. This intermediate space allows the melting refrigerant to exert pressure without directly transmitting it to the inner wall, preventing constriction and bulging that would make cleaning and consumption difficult.
2Productivity
If conventional freezing devices are used, then they can freeze beverages, but they result in uneven freezing and long freezing times
Solution Approach 1:
The refrigerant cavity is divided into multiple semi-closed columns surrounded by the inner wall. This segmentation increases the surface area for heat transfer between the refrigerant and the beverage, enabling faster and more uniform freezing throughout the liquid.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single centralized refrigerant cavity to multiple distributed columnar cavities surrounding the inner wall. This dimensional redistribution of the refrigerant space enhances heat transfer efficiency and achieves uniform freezing across the entire beverage volume.
3Adaptability or versatility
If alcoholic beverages are frozen using conventional devices, then they can be frozen, but the freezing process is inefficient and the range of beverages is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The device is designed with a universal freezing mechanism that can handle various types of beverages including alcoholic ones. The multiple refrigerant cavities and increased heat transfer surface area enable efficient freezing of beverages with different freezing points, making the device versatile and productive across a wide range of applications.
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 device achieves faster freezing times, easier consumption, and improved cleaning by maintaining the cup's shape and preventing constriction, allowing for a wider range of frozen beverages to be produced efficiently and effectively.
Implementation Method 1
the refrigerant material being cooled below a freezing temperature of the liquid, to at least partially-freeze the liquid to form a semi-frozen slurry and/or frozen particles
Implementation Method 2
enabling heat transfer from the liquid to the refrigerant material
Data Source
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AI summary
A frozen beverage device to convert a liquid beverage into a semi-frozen or frozen form has inner and outer walls forming at least one refrigerant cavity containing a refrigerant material with a freezing point below the freezing point of the liquid, the refrigerant material occupying at least 60% of the volume of the refrigerant cavity. The walls of the device can be squeezed to accelerate the heat transfer from the liquid to the refrigerant material; and the device may be placed in a squeezing apparatus. Where the device is to be disposable, the device can be placed in a flexible sheath or outer container before being squeezed to protect the device and/or insulate the user from the refrigerant material. A freezing spoon or stirrer can be used to assist, or accelerate, the freezing process.