Portable Can Dispenser With Ice Cooling and Tube Feed
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional beverage dispensers require electrical power for refrigeration and involve user effort to search and retrieve beverages, leading to inefficiencies in cooling and accessibility.
Innovation Solution
A portable cooler and dispenser device with internal tubes for beverage cans, utilizing a cooling media like ice and a can catcher mechanism to maintain temperature and facilitate easy dispensing without electrical power, featuring a cylindrical design with a slidable cover for access and removal of cans.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional dispensers use electrical power for refrigeration, then beverages can be kept chilled, but the device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the electrical refrigeration system with a passive mechanical cooling system using ice as the cooling medium. The ice is placed in a chamber that thermally contacts the beverage cans, providing refrigeration without electrical power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the phase transition of ice (solid to liquid) as it melts to absorb heat from the beverage cans. This phase change process provides continuous cooling as long as ice remains in the cooling chamber, maintaining beverage temperature without requiring energy input.
2Ease of operation
If users manually search and retrieve beverages from storage, then accessibility is achieved, but user effort and time consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-organizes beverages in individual compartments or slots within the storage chamber, allowing users to quickly locate and retrieve specific beverages without searching through ice or disorganized storage. The compartments are arranged for easy access from the front.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage chamber is divided into multiple compartments or slots, each capable of holding individual beverage cans. This segmentation allows for organized storage and quick visual identification of beverages, reducing the time to find and retrieve the desired item.
3Temperature
If cooling media is added to cool beverages, then temperature control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cooling function from a complex mechanical refrigeration system and implements it through a simple ice chamber. The ice is placed in a dedicated cooling chamber that thermally contacts the beverages, providing effective cooling with minimal structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the storage function and cooling function into a single integrated system. The beverage storage chambers are thermally coupled with the ice cooling chamber, so that storage and cooling occur simultaneously in the same structure, reducing overall device complexity.
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 effectively keeps beverages chilled and allows for easy, efficient dispensing of canned beverages, maintaining temperature and reducing user effort, suitable for portable use without the need for electrical power.
Implementation Method 1
The cooler portion has a space internally for cooling media to be added and used to cool the beverage cans within the internal tubes
Implementation Method 2
the unloaded position of the puck portion creates a seal of the termination of each of the plurality of cylindrical tubes to create an air cushion within each of the cylindrical tubes to slow a descent of a beverage can inserted thereto
Data Source
AI summary
Exemplary embodiments include a device that may serve as a drink dispenser for beverage cans. The device may be shaped like a keg. The device may include a portion to contain, cool, and dispense the beverage cans and a portion to contain ice to provide cooling, as well as contain additional beverage containers. The device may include up to five tubes with each tube capable of containing up to four beverage containers in the form of cans. A dispensing mechanism may be located at the lower end of each tube to dispense the beverage cans form the device. The tube structure may provide for cooling of the beverage containers within each tube. The device may be portable and may have a cart that can be used for transportation of the device. The device may be detachable from the cart.