Humidification process and apparatus for chilling beverages and food products and process of manufacturing the same
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing self-cooling beverage container technologies face challenges due to the use of ozone-depleting and global warming refrigerants, flammable gases, and complex designs requiring pressurized containers and desiccants, which are costly and inefficient, and often result in contamination risks and high manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
A method using extremely dry gases, such as air, to cool beverages by humidifying the gas with the beverage's water, eliminating the need for refrigerants, desiccants, and heat exchangers, and utilizing a simple, cost-effective design that absorbs heat through the evaporation of water into the dry gas stream.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If refrigerants are used for cooling beverages, then cooling effect is achieved, but environmental harm (ozone depletion and global warming) occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates harmful refrigerants from the cooling system. Instead of using conventional refrigerants that cause ozone depletion and global warming, the system uses water vapor generated from the beverage itself, completely removing the harmful substance while maintaining the cooling function through evaporative cooling of the extracted water vapor.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the water content naturally present in beverages into a beneficial cooling agent. By utilizing the water vapor that would otherwise be lost or require harmful refrigerants to cool, the system transforms a neutral substance into an effective cooling medium that eliminates environmental harm while achieving the desired temperature reduction.
2Temperature
If desiccants are used to absorb water for cooling, then cooling effect is achieved, but contamination risk and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates desiccants from the cooling system. Instead of using desiccant materials that pose contamination risks, the system directly utilizes water vapor from the beverage through evaporation, removing the intermediary desiccant component that could potentially contaminate the beverage while maintaining the cooling effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The beverage's own water content serves as the cooling agent through natural evaporation. The system enables the beverage to cool itself by utilizing its inherent water molecules, eliminating the need for external desiccants that could contaminate the product, thereby achieving self-service cooling without contamination risk.
3Temperature
If pressurized containers and complex designs are used, then cooling function is achieved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates complex pressurized container designs, heat exchangers, and intricate mechanical components. By using simple evaporative cooling of water vapor from the beverage, the system achieves cooling without requiring complex pressurized structures, significantly reducing device complexity and manufacturing costs while maintaining the cooling function.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces complex mechanical cooling systems (pressurized containers, heat exchangers, moving parts) with a passive thermodynamic process based on evaporation and condensation. This substitution of mechanical complexity with a natural phase-change process simplifies the overall system design while achieving the same cooling effect.
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 approach provides a cost-effective, thermodynamically simple, and safe method for cooling beverages without the need for refrigerants or desiccants, reducing manufacturing costs and eliminating contamination risks, while effectively removing heat from the beverage using the thermodynamic potential of dry gases.
Implementation Method 1
utilizing a simple, cost-effective design that absorbs heat through the evaporation of water into the dry gas stream
Implementation Method 2
A method using extremely dry gases, such as air, to cool beverages by humidifying the gas with the beverage's water
Implementation Method 3
cool beverages by humidifying the gas with the beverage's water
Data Source
AI summary
A novel self-cooling food and beverage container and a process for manufacturing the same is disclosed. A self-cooling beverage and food container using a substantive humidification cooling process within said food and beverage container for cooling food and beverage products is disclosed. Methods of assembling and operating the apparatus are disclosed.