System for carbonating fluid
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beverage preparation systems are inconvenient, wasteful, and inefficient, requiring multiple steps and equipment, and often result in plastic waste, while carbonation methods are inefficient and lead to loss of carbonation over time.
Innovation Solution
A system for creating custom beverages at home using a device with modules for filtration, carbonation, and flavor addition, featuring precise control over additive dispensing and carbonation, including a carbonation vessel design that maximizes contact time and pressure to maintain carbonation, and a modular design for easy cleaning and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If pressurized CO2 is released directly from a pressurized tank into a thin tube with a small opening for injection into water, then carbonation efficiency is improved through high velocity ejection and extreme agitation, but the system requires high pressure tanks (~1000 PSI) and precise control to prevent dangerous pressure buildup
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the injection system by using a long thin tube (3-6 inches length, 0.5-2mm inner diameter) to restrict CO2 flow. This geometric parameter change creates flow restriction that limits pressure buildup while maintaining high velocity ejection for effective carbonation, eliminating the need for complex pressure control systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The thin injection tube acts as an intermediary element between the CO2 source and the water. It mediates the pressure transmission by restricting flow through its small diameter and length, thereby controlling the carbonation process without requiring direct pressure regulation mechanisms.
2Reliability
If multiple separate devices are used for filtration, carbonation, and flavor addition, then each function can be optimized independently, but the overall system complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines filtration, carbonation, and flavor addition functions into a single integrated device. The housing contains all three modules in one unit, allowing independent optimization of each function while reducing overall system complexity and space requirements compared to separate devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is designed as a multi-functional system where a single unit performs filtration, carbonation, and flavor addition. This universal design allows the device to handle complete beverage preparation in one location, eliminating the need for multiple separate appliances.
3Ease of operation
If traditional beverage storage methods are used with multiple plastic vessels, then beverage availability is maintained, but significant plastic waste is generated
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service beverage creation at home using a single reusable vessel. Users can prepare multiple beverages in the same container by simply adding water and selecting different flavor cartridges, eliminating the need to store and dispose of multiple plastic beverage containers.
Solution Approach 2:
The design allows recovery and reuse of the main beverage container indefinitely. Only the consumable flavor cartridges are discarded, while the expensive and bulky plastic beverage vessels are recovered and reused continuously, significantly reducing plastic waste.
4Manufacturing precision
If precise dispensing of flavoring syrups is required for repeatable recipes, then beverage consistency is improved, but the system requires complex dispensing mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses pneumatic pressure from a compressed gas reservoir to dispense flavoring syrups through cartridges. This hydraulic/pneumatic mechanism provides precise and repeatable dispensing control without requiring complex mechanical dosing systems, achieving consistent flavor ratios through pressure-regulated flow.
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 system allows for convenient, efficient, and customizable beverage creation with minimal waste, maintaining carbonation through optimized pressure and contact time, and reducing plastic waste by using refillable cartridges.
Implementation Method 1
CO2 is able to escape out the bottom of the injection straw through a very small opening (~200 microns) into a vessel filled to ~85% of its volume with water... The tip of the injection straw through which the CO2 escapes is just barely below the surface of the water contained in the vessel. In this way, the CO2 is ejected at extremely high velocity from the straw's tip directly into the water to be carbonated. This high velocity ejection causes extreme agitation of the water, thereby facilitating the mixing and dissolution of the ejected CO2 with the water
Implementation Method 2
This high velocity ejection causes extreme agitation of the water, thereby facilitating the mixing and dissolution of the ejected CO2 with the water
Implementation Method 3
The injection straw's restriction of the CO2 flow rate also serves to increase the amount of time that it takes for the carbonation vessel to reach dangerous MPa levels, thereby allowing the use of a carbonation vessel with a lower MPa rating than that of the pressurized CO2 tank in which the CO2 is stored, despite there being no pressure regulator in the flow path between the two
Implementation Method 4
By being pointed downwards into the water, instead of upwards from below, or from the side, such a system makes use of CO2 gas's natural tendency to want to rise up through water (since CO2 gas is lighter than water). Because of this natural tendency of CO2 gas, a downward injection of CO2 into water will get approximately twice as much contact time between the CO2 bubbles and the water
Implementation Method 5
If the pressure in the carbonation vessel is increased (i.e. greater than the atmospheric pressure at which it started), this pressure also assists in the carbonation process, since it is essentially forcing the CO2 molecules into closer contact with the water molecules
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4A~4C
AI summary
A system for dispensing fluid is provided in which a first fluid cartridge and a second fluid cartridge each comprise a first spout at corresponding fluid outlets, and wherein a docking location is provided for docking each of the fluid cartridges such that the first spout is adjacent the second spout. The system may further comprise a drop sensor for detecting a number of drops dispensed from the fluid cartridges at a drop detection location. The docking location may define a specific orientation for any cartridge docked at the docking location, and the cartridges may be wedge shaped and may each taper towards their corresponding spouts. Also provided is a fluid cartridge comprising a cartridge housing, a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet above a fluid fill level, and a syphon for transporting fluid from inside the cartridge to the fluid outlet.