Wine or champagne preservation and dispensing apparatus

• US 20030213814A1
• Filed: 06/16/2003
• Published: 11/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vin Valet, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Vin Valet, Inc.
• Inventors: McGuire, Timothy C., Phelps, Johne, Deller, Robert R., Lydon, Justin R., OʼConnor, Daniel N.
• Granted Patent: US 6,913,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 222/146.6
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2253/102 Carbon
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2256/10 Nitrogen
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2257/104 Oxygen
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 2259/4525 for storage and dispensing systems
• CPC Class Codes: B01D 53/0446 Means for feeding or distributing gases
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/04 Apparatus utilising compressed air or other gas acting directly or indirectly on beverages in storage containers
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0406 with means for carbonating the beverage, or for maintaining its carbonation B67D1/0418 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0829 Keg connection means
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0858 using compression systems
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0869 using solid state elements, e.g. Peltier cells
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/0885 Means for dispensing under specific atmospheric conditions, e.g. under inert gas
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2001/0481 Single inert gas, e.g. N2
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 7/0266 by gas acting directly on the liquid
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 21/02 using Peltier effect; using Nernst-Ettinghausen effect
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 17/042 Air treating means within refrigerated spaces air conditioning in general F24F
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2331/803 Bottles
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2700/12 Sensors measuring the inside temperature
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 31/007 Bottles or cans

Abstract

An apparatus for preserving and dispensing wine or champagne. The apparatus provides a housing having a container support for holding wine or champagne bottles, a plurality of removable stoppers for insertion in the bottles, a nitrogen generator for generating a nitrogen rich gas from air, a nitrogen storage tank for storing the generated nitrogen rich gas, a cooling system for cooling certain bottles and dispensers for providing wine or champagne from the bottles to a user. The nitrogen generator draws in ambient air, adsorbs the oxygen from the air and stores nitrogen rich gas in the nitrogen storage tank. The nitrogen storage tank supplies the nitrogen rich gas to the bottles for preserving the wine or champagne. The stoppers include a nitrogen line and a supply line. The nitrogen line communicates nitrogen rich gas into the bottles and the supply line communicates wine or champagne from the bottles to the dispensers.

Claims

1. A wine or champagne preservation and dispensing apparatus comprising:

an enclosed housing adapted to receive a plurality of wine or champagne containers;

a plurality of stoppers, each stopper including a fluid communication member removably attachable to a sealing member, said sealing member adapted to sealingly engage an opening in one of the containers;

a plurality of dispensers connected to the housing;

a plurality of liquid communication lines, each said liquid communication line connected to one of the dispensers and adapted to be fluidly connected to one of the stoppers;

an automatic nitrogen generator connected to said housing which draws in ambient air through the housing and generates nitrogen rich gas, said nitrogen generator including a manifold having a plurality of outlets; and

a plurality of nitrogen communication lines, each said nitrogen communication line connected to one of said outlets on the manifold and adapted to be fluidly connected to one of the stoppers to direct the generated nitrogen rich gas into said container sealed by said stopper to preserve wine or champagne in said container.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, which includes a container support mounted in said housing which includes a plurality of container receptacles for receiving the containers of wine or champagne.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, which includes a cooling member mounted in the housing adjacent to the container support.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nitrogen generator includes a nitrogen storage tank for temporarily storing the nitrogen rich gas generated by the automatic nitrogen generator.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nitrogen generator includes a pressure retaining valve which opens at a preset pressure.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the preset pressure is approximately 110 psig.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nitrogen generator includes a pressure reducer fluidly connected to the nitrogen communication lines which reduces the pressure of the nitrogen rich gas directed to the containers to a preset pressure.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said preset pressure is approximately 2 psig to approximately 10 psig.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nitrogen generator includes a carbon molecular sieve which adsorbs oxygen from the ambient air to generate the nitrogen rich gas.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nitrogen generator includes a pressure controller which activates the air compressor at a first defined pressure and deactivates the air compressor at a second defined pressure.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first defined pressure is approximately less then one-half of the second defined pressure.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nitrogen generator includes a port for filling a removable nigtron canister.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the nitrogen generator includes a pressure retaining valve fluidly connected to the carbon molecular sieve which opens at preset pressure, a pressure controller connected to the air compressor for activating and deactivating the air compressor based on defined pressure limits, a nitrogen storage tank for storing generated nitrogen rich gas, and a pressure reducer for reducing the pressure of the nitrogen rich gas exiting the nitrogen storage tank.

14. A wine or champagne preservation and dispensing apparatus comprising:

an enclosed housing adapted to hold at least one container of wine or champagne;

at least one dispenser attached to the housing;

at least one liquid communication line connected to the dispenser and adapted to be fluidly connected to the container;

an automatic nitrogen generator attached to the housing which draws in ambient air through the housing to generate a nitrogen rich gas;

a cooling unit including a circulating fan attached to the housing which generates and distributes cool air into the housing to cool the container in the housing; and

at least one nitrogen communication line connected to the nitrogen generator and adapted to be fluidly connected to the container to direct the generated nitrogen rich gas to said container to preserve wine or champagne in the container.

15. A portable wine or champagne preservation and dispensing apparatus which is adapted to function in conjunction with a second wine or champagne preservation and dispensing apparatus, said portable apparatus comprising:

a portable frame;

at least one container securing member attached to said frame for securely and removably holding a wine or champagne container adjacent to the frame;

at least one dispenser attached to the frame;

at least one liquid communication line connected to the dispenser;

a nitrogen storage tank receiving port attached to the frame for receiving a nitrogen storage tank which is adapted to be filled by a nitrogen generator in the second wine or champagne preservation and dispensing apparatus;

at least one nitrogen communication line connected to the nitrogen storage tank receiving port; and

a stopper adapted to sealingly engage an opening in the wine or champagne container, said stopper including a first port adapted to receive the nitrogen communication line to direct nitrogen rich gas from the nitrogen storage tank receiving port into the wine or champagne container to preserve wine or champagne in the container, and a second port adapted to receive the liquid communication line to direct wine or champagne from the container to the dispenser when the dispenser is activated.