IPC분류정보
국가/구분 |
United States(US) Patent
등록
|
국제특허분류(IPC7판) |
|
출원번호 |
US-0654400
(2009-12-18)
|
등록번호 |
US-8459178
(2013-06-11)
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발명자
/ 주소 |
|
출원인 / 주소 |
|
대리인 / 주소 |
|
인용정보 |
피인용 횟수 :
2 인용 특허 :
14 |
초록
▼
An automatically controllable commercial system for brewing a consistently high quality cold brewed beverage from a supply of purified water, optionally sweetening the brewed beverage, and dispensing the cold brewed beverage is provided. The system of the present invention includes automatically con
An automatically controllable commercial system for brewing a consistently high quality cold brewed beverage from a supply of purified water, optionally sweetening the brewed beverage, and dispensing the cold brewed beverage is provided. The system of the present invention includes automatically controllable integrated components for purifying the water supplied to brew the beverage and for maintaining the system in a sanitary condition that can be serviced on site or from a remote location. The present invention further provides an automated, commercial scale method for brewing tea from real tea leaves and naturally sweetening the tea to produce cold sweet tea with the high quality taste of homemade sweet tea.
대표청구항
▼
1. A system for controllably and automatically producing on a commercial scale a high quality cold tea beverage that can be dispensed in a sweetened or in an unsweetened condition, comprising, substantially completely contained within a controlled access cabinet means: a. a tea brewing system compon
1. A system for controllably and automatically producing on a commercial scale a high quality cold tea beverage that can be dispensed in a sweetened or in an unsweetened condition, comprising, substantially completely contained within a controlled access cabinet means: a. a tea brewing system component configured to automatically and controllably brew a high quality tea beverage directly from a controlled supply of fresh tea leaves and purified water and to hold and maintain the high quality tea beverage in a cold condition until dispensed, and comprising a plurality of tea leaf reservoirs comprising containers, wherein a first end of each said container is designed to register with a corresponding access means in said cabinet means to receive a supply of fresh tea leaves and a second, opposed end of each said container is configured to dispense automatically a selected quantity of fresh tea leaves; and a brew basket mounted to be automatically movable from a position to receive an automatically dispensed selected quantity of fresh tea leaves from a second end of a tea leaf reservoir to a position aligned with an automatic tea brewing means to brew automatically said high quality tea beverage with water from said water purification system component and then to an inverted position wherein used tea leaves are dumped after brewingb. a sweetener system component fluidically integral with said tea brewing system and configured to hold and maintain a supply of a liquid sweetener comprising naturally occurring sweeteners in a cold condition;c. a water purification system component and a sanitizing system component, each said component being fluidically integral with said tea brewing system component and said sweetener system component, wherein said water purification system component comprises filter means, disinfecting means, and reverse osmosis purification means designed to provide a supply of purified water to said tea brewing system component to brew said high quality tea beverage, and wherein said sanitizing system component comprises ozone generation means to produce ozonated water from said purified water and means for automatically directing ozonated water through said tea brewing system component and said sweetener system component to sanitize said tea brewing system component and said sweetener system component when said system is not automatically and controllably producing or dispensing said high quality cold tea beverage; andd. a programmable system controller designed to be programmed to automatically control and operate said system components whereby said high quality cold tea beverage is consistently produced on a commercial scale. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein said tea brewing system component comprises: a. a tea receptor fluidically connected to said automatic tea brewing means to receive and temporarily hold the brewed high quality tea beverage; andb. one or more tea reservoirs fluidically connected to said tea receptor and to a source of pressurized gas whereby the brewed high quality tea beverage is moved from the tea receptor to a tea reservoir, wherein said one or more tea reservoirs and said supply of sweetener are positioned within a chiller portion of said cabinet means to maintain said brewed tea and said sweetener in a cold condition at an optimum temperature. 3. The system of claim 1, further comprising dispenser means located outside said cabinet means and fluidically connected to said tea brewing system component and said sweetener system component configured to selectively deliver automatically a desired quantity of cold brewed high quality cold tea beverage from said tea brewing system component or a predetermined quantity of cold sweetener from said sweetener system component concurrently with a desired quantity of said brewed high quality tea beverage. 4. The system of claim 3, further comprising fluid connection and actuation means for fluidically and controllably connecting said tea brewing system component, said water purification system component, said sweetener system component, said sanitizing system component, and said dispenser means to automatically move loose tea leaves, brew tea with purified water, dispense cold brewed tea, dispense cold brewed tea and sweetener, and move ozonated water through said system. 5. The system of claim 4, further comprising actuation and control means programmable to activate and control activation of said tea brewing system component, said sweetener system component, said water purification system component, and said sanitizing system component to consistently produce a high quality cold unsweetened or sweetened tea beverage. 6. The system of claim 5, wherein said controlled access cabinet, means is configured to mount and hold in compact functional arrangement at least said tea brewing system component, said sweetener system component, said water purification system component, said sanitizing system component, said fluid connection and actuation means, and said actuation and control means. 7. The system of claim 2, further comprising a track supporting and automatically controlling movement of said brew basket from engagement in a receive position with a selected tea leaf reservoir to receive loose tea leaves to a brew position in alignment with said automatic tea brewing means to provide said loose tea leaves for use in brewing said high quality tea beverage, wherein said track is automatically actuatable to move the brew basket from said receive position to said brew position to said inverted position to dump the tea leaves after said high quality tea beverage has been brewed, and then back to a receive position. 8. The system of claim 1, further comprising drain means located within said cabinet means to receive used tea leaves, brewed tea, sweetener, or water to be discarded and ozonated water used to sanitize said system. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein said water purification system components means filter means comprises an automatic sediment filter and said disinfecting means comprises an ultraviolet disinfectant system. 10. The system described in claim 2, wherein the brew basket comprises a water permeable receptacle configured to activatably engage said tea leaf reservoir to dispense a predetermined quantity of loose tea leaves and then to activatably engage said automatic tea brewing means after the loose tea leaves have been dispensed into the receptacle. 11. The system described in claim 2, wherein said tea receptor includes actuatable valve means programmable to open or close in response to the position of said brew basket in fluid contact with said automatic tea brewing means. 12. The system described in claim 11, wherein said tea receptor further comprises selectively actuatable three way valve means for providing a separate fluid connection with each of three tea reservoirs, wherein said actuatable three way valve means may be actuated to direct high quality brewed tea to a selected tea reservoir. 13. The system described in claim 4, further including system pressurizing means for moving purified or ozonated water, brewed iced tea, and sweetener through said system. 14. The system described in claim 1, wherein said sanitizing system component is configured to direct said ozonated water through the system in response to a programmable timed signal. 15. The system described in claim 5, wherein said controlled access cabinet means includes display panel means connected to said actuation and control means for communicating information relating to the operation and status of the brewing and dispensing system. 16. The system described in claim 3, wherein said dispenser means includes a fluid connection with a selected tea reservoir and a fluid connection with said sweetener system component, and said dispenser is programmable and actuatable to activate one or both of said fluid connections to selectively dispense either unsweetened tea or sweetened tea. 17. The system described in claim 2, wherein said system further comprises drain means for directing used tea leaves, tea, sweetener, and sanitizing fluids out of the system. 18. The system described in claim 2, wherein said plurality of tea leaf reservoirs comprises three separate containers and each of said containers holds a different variety of tea.
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