Self-heating hot beverage serving urn and method

• US 20020083840A1
• Filed: 04/24/2001
• Published: 07/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Food Equipment Technologies Company
• Original Assignee: Food Equipment Technologies Company
• Inventors: Lassota, Zbigniew G.
• Granted Patent: US 6,606,937 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 99/275
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/50 Urns with devices for keeping beverages hot or cool
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 41/0044 comprising heat or cold storing elements or material, i.e. energy transfer within the vessel
• CPC Class Codes: F24V 30/00 Apparatus or devices using heat produced by exothermal chemical reactions other than combustion
• CPC Class Codes: F28D 20/02 using latent heat
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/14 Thermal energy storage

Abstract

A self-heating urn (10) is provided with a warmer packs (18) which are rapidly heated during the brewing process and then gradually release their heat to the brewed beverage within the urn after it is removed from the brewing location to a serving location at which electrical powered for heating is not available. The warmer pack (18) are formed of ceramic materials, high density liquids, PCM'"'"'s or the like which are capable of being rapidly heated during the brewing process but then gradually release their heat to the beverage in the urn. Alternatively, the warmer packs (18) are removably mounted within a compartment (68) within the self-heating urn (10) and are heated apart from the brewing process and then inserted into the self-heating urn (10) when it is moved to a serving location.

Claims

1. A self-heating beverage urn, comprising:

an urn body with an outer housing protectively containing a liner

for storage of hot beverage, and a compartment for containing a heat pack; and

a heat pack within the compartment and in heat transferring relationship with the liner for transferring heat from the heat pack to the liner and any beverage contained within the liner.

2. The self-heating urn of claim 1 in which the compartment is located beneath the liner.

3. The self-heating urn of claim 1 in which the compartment has a doorway for receipt and removal of a heat pack.

4. The self-heating urn of claim 3 including a door for closing the doorway.

5. The self-heating urn of claim 3 in which the heat pack is a removable heat pack with structural integrity that is independent of external support by the compartment.

6. The self-heating urn of claim 1 in which

the heat pack is fixedly mounted within the compartment, and including

means for heating the heat pack while mounted within the compartment from an external source of power.

7. The self-heating urn of claim 6 in which the means for heating the heat pack includes means for transferring heating power from the outside of the urn body to the heat pack.

8. The self-heating urn of claim 6 in which the transferring means includes a metal, heat conductive bottom defining a bottom of the compartment supporting the heat pack.

9. The self-heating urn of claim 8 in which the transferring means includes a heat conductive leg extending from the compartment to a bottom of the body to transfer heat from the bottom to the interior of the compartment and the heat pack.

10. The self-heating urn of claim 6 in which the heating means includes an electrical heating element contained within the compartment.

11. The self-heating urn of claim 10 in which the heating means includes means mounted to an outside of the surface of the body for making electrical contact between the electrical heating element and a source of electrical power.

12. The self-heating urn of claim 11 including a brewer with an operative urn position for the urn to receive brewed beverage from the brewer and an electrical connector positioned relative to the operative urn position for making mating electrical connection with electrical contact making means of the urn automatically when the urn body is moved into the operative urn position.

13. The self-heating urn of claim 10 in which the heat pack includes a hollow ceramic-like, hollow body within which the electrical heating element is contained.

14. The self-heating urn of claim 6 in which the means for heating includes means for conveying microwave radiation to the heat pack from an external source.

15. The self-heating urn of claim 14 in which the coveying means include a non-metallic window to the compartment that is transparent to microwave energy.

16. The self-heating urn of claim 1 in which the heat pack is one of (a) a ceramic, (b) high density liquids within a liquid impervious case, (c) a phase-change material, and (d) a zeolite-like material.

17. The self-heating urn of claim 16 in which the heat pack includes a phase-change material that is one of (a) a hydrated salt, and b) a eutectic salt and including means to add water vapor to the phase change material to initiate an exothermic phase change reaction.

18. The self-heating urn of claim 16 in which the phase-change material is paraffin.

19. The self-heating urn of claim 16 in which the phase change material is a zeolite-like material and including means to add water vapor to the phase change material to initiate an exothermic phase-change reaction.

20. The self-heating urn of claim 16 in which the ceramic is a ceramic sandwich having an interior ceramic core with a relatively high rate of heat transfer contained within an outer envelope layer of ceramic of relatively low rate of heat transfer.

21. The self-heating urn of claim 20 including means for conveying heat directly to the ceramic core.

22. The self-heating urn of claim 1 in combination with a brewer having means for heating the heat pack during a brew cycle.

23. The self-heating urn of claim 22 in which the brewer includes one of (a) a radiant heater, (b) an electrical connector for powering an electrical heating element contained within the body, (c) a microwave heater, and (d) a heat conductive member in contact with a bottom surface of the body.

24. The self-heating urn of claim 1 in which the heat pack is removably mounted within the body and in combination with means for heating a heat pack when outside of the body.

26. The method of claim 25 in which the step of heating the heat pack includes only one of the steps of (a) providing an electrical heating element with electrical power, and (b) radiating the heat pack with microwave radiant energy.

27. The method of claim 26 in which the step of heating is actuated automatically when the urn is placed into an operative location relative to a brewer to receive freshly brewed beverage into the liner.

28. The method of claim 27 in which the step of heating is controlled automatically by a controller of the brewer.

29. The method of claim 26 in which the step of heating is performed by applying electrical power to the electrical heating element when the electrical heating element is located externally of the heat pack and heat is conveyed to the heat pack by conduction from the heating element to the heat pack.

30. The method of claim 26 in which the step of heating is performed by applying electrical power to the electrical heating element when the electrical heating element is located within the heat pack.

31. The method of claim 25 in which the heat pack is one of (a) a ceramic, (b) high density liquids within a liquid impervious case, (c) a phase-change material, and (d) a zeolite-like material.

32. The method of claim 25 in which the step of heating the heat pack is performed relatively quickly and the step of coveying heat from the heat pack to the beverage is performed relatively slowly.

33. The method of claim 25 in which the step of conveying includes the step of hydrating the phase change material that performs to create an exothermic phase change of the material after the material has been heated.

34. The method of claim 25 in which the step of conveying includes the step of hydrating a zeolite-like material when in a dehydrated form and the step of heating results in dehydrating the zeolite-like material to change it to a dehydrated form.

35. The method of claim 33 in which the step of heating includes directly heating a core of a ceramic sandwich having a ceramic outer layer enveloping the core and having a thermal conductivity greater than that of the ceramic outer layer.

36. The method of claim 35 in which the core is an electrical heating element contained within the ceramic outer enveloping layer.

37. The method of claim 35 in which the core is a ceramic material having a thermal characteristic relative to the ceramic material of the outer layer enabling the core to be heated relatively rapidly compared to the ceramic material of the outer layer.

38. The method of claim 37 in which the step of heating includes the step of relatively rapidly heating the core and the step of conveying includes the step of relatively slowly conveying heat from the core through the outer layer to the beverage.

39. The method of claim 25 including the step of selectively heating the heat pack to different temperatures associated with different quantities of hot beverage being added to the liner.

40. The method of claim 39 in which the different quantities are added to the liner in response to manual selections at a beverage providing apparatus of different quantities of beverage and the beverage providing apparatus automatically heats the heat pack to the different temperatures in response to the manual selections of the associated quantities of beverage while the selected quantity is being added to the liner.

41. The method of claim 39 in which the different temperatures are achieved by performing one of the steps of (a) changing the duration that electrical power is provided to a heat source having a fixed heat output, and (2) changing the heat output during a heating period of fixed duration.

25. A method of self-heating a beverage urn with beverage contained within a liner when removed from any source of power, comprising the steps of:

heating a heat pack contained within the urn and in thermal communication with the liner at a first location where hot beverage is added to the liner using an electrical power available for heating the heat pack at the first location;

moving the urn to a second location remote from the first location after the hot beverage has been added; and

heating the beverage at the remote location solely by the step of conveying heat from the heat pack to the liner and the hot beverage contained within the liner.

42. A method of self-heating a beverage urn with beverage contained within a liner when removed from any source of power, comprising the steps of:

heating a heat pack when separated from the urn using electrical power;

installing the heat pack into a heat pack compartment within the urn and in thermal communication with the liner after the heat pack has been heated to a preselected temperature; and

heating the beverage solely by the step of conveying heat from the heat pack to the liner and the hot beverage contained within the liner.

43. The method of claim 42 in which the step of heating is performed at a first location where hot beverage is added to the liner using an electrical power available for heating the heat pack at the first location.

44. The method of claim 43 including the step of

moving the urn to a second location remote from the first location after the hot beverage has been added, and in which

the step of heating the beverage is performed at the second location.

45. The method of claim 42 in which the step of heating the heat pack includes only one of the steps of (a) providing an electrical heating element with electrical power, and (b) radiating the heat pack with microwave radiant energy.

46. The method of claim 45 in which the step of heating is performed by applying electrical power to the electrical heating element when the electrical heating element is located within the heat pack.

47. The method of claim 42 in which the heat pack is one of (a) a ceramic, (b) high density liquids within a liquid impervious case, (c) a phase-change material, and (d) a zeolite-like material.

48. The method of claim 42 in which the step of heating the heat pack is performed relatively quickly and the step of coveying heat from the heat pack to the beverage is performed relatively slowly.

49. The method of claim 42 in which the step of conveying includes the step of hydrating the phase change material that performs to create an exothermic phase change of the material after the material has been heated.

50. The method of claim 42 in which the step of conveying includes the step of hydrating a zeolite-like material when in a dehydrated form and the step of heating results in dehydrating the zeolite-like material to change it to a dehydrated form.

51. The method of claim 42 in which the step of heating includes directly heating a core of a ceramic sandwich having a ceramic outer layer enveloping the core and having a thermal conductivity greater than that of the ceramic outer layer.

52. The method of claim 51 in which the core is an electrical heating element contained within the ceramic outer enveloping layer.

53. The method of claim 51 in which the core is a ceramic material having a thermal characteristic relative to the ceramic material of the outer layer enabling the core to be heated relatively rapidly compared to the ceramic material of the outer layer.

54. The method of claim 53 in which the step of heating includes the step of relatively rapidly heating the core and the step of conveying includes the step of relatively slowly conveying heat from the core through the outer layer to the beverage.

55. The method of claim 42 including the step of selectively heating the heat pack to different temperatures associated with different quantities of hot beverage being added to the liner.

56. The method of claim 55 in which the different temperatures are achieved by performing one of the steps of (a) changing the duration that electrical power is provided to a heat source having a fixed heat output, and (2) changing the heat output during a heating period of fixed duration.