Frozen product dispensing systems and methods
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Solution Overview
Problem
Frozen product dispensers face challenges in maintaining consistent refrigeration and freezing conditions due to sensor failures and erroneous readings, which can lead to suboptimal product quality.
Innovation Solution
A refrigeration device with a controller that uses temperature sensors to regulate the expansion valve, employing a dual-range validation system to distinguish between accurate and inaccurate temperature readings, and switching between broader and narrower acceptable ranges based on specific time intervals and duty cycles, ensuring robust refrigeration control even under adverse conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single fixed temperature range is used for sensor validation, then the control system is simple to implement, but it cannot adapt to different operational phases and may reject valid readings or accept erroneous ones
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic validation by switching between a first temperature range during a first time interval and a second temperature range during a second time interval. This temporal dynamic allows the system to adapt its acceptance criteria based on the operational phase, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and complexity by using time-based state transitions rather than complex multi-parameter validation logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary validation by establishing appropriate temperature ranges before each operational phase begins. By pre-defining acceptable ranges for different time intervals, the system prepares the validation criteria in advance, avoiding the need for complex real-time decision-making while maintaining high adaptability to different operational conditions.
2Measurement precision
If tight tolerances are used for sensor readings, then measurement precision is high, but correct readings may be rejected under normal variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by making the validation tolerance dynamic rather than static. During the first time interval, a first temperature range is used that accommodates normal operational variations, preventing false rejections of valid readings. During the second time interval, a second temperature range provides tighter validation. This temporal adaptation allows the system to maintain both high precision when needed and high reliability during normal operation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system relies on sensor readings outside expected norms, then it can operate under adverse conditions, but product quality may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements beforehand cushioning by establishing fallback control logic that activates when sensor readings fall outside expected norms. Rather than allowing erroneous readings to directly impact product quality, the system has pre-prepared alternative control strategies that cushion against the harmful effects of bad data. This allows continuous operation under adverse conditions while maintaining product quality through compensatory control actions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system converts the potentially harmful situation of sensor failures into a beneficial outcome by using the detection of out-of-range readings as a trigger for alternative control logic. What would normally be a harmful condition (erroneous sensor data) becomes a useful signal that activates specialized fallback modes designed to maintain product quality even when primary sensors are compromised.
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
This solution enhances the reliability of refrigeration control by early detection of sensor offset errors, maintaining product quality and consistency by adapting to potential sensor failures and ensuring continued operation with alternative control methods.
Implementation Method 1
an evaporator for cooling the freezing chamber to a temperature sufficient to permit freezing of the product
Implementation Method 2
an expansion valve coupled to the evaporator for regulating the flow of refrigerant through the evaporator
Implementation Method 3
a sensor for sensing the temperature of the refrigerant flowing through the expansion valve and generating a sensed temperature signal corresponding to the sensed temperature
Implementation Method 4
a controller that receives the sensed temperature signal from the sensor and controls the operation of the expansion valve to control the flow of refrigerant through the evaporator to cool the freezing chamber
Implementation Method 5
a freezing chamber for freezing a product; an evaporator for cooling the freezing chamber to a temperature sufficient to permit freezing of the product
Data Source
AI summary
An improved frozen product dispenser wherein a product is placed into a cooled hopper and the product is then fed from the hopper into a freezing and dispensing chamber where it is frozen and dispensed. Applicants have further created improved methods and apparatuses for to control the refrigeration and freezing systems of the exemplary frozen product machines are disclosed herein.