Triangulation position-detection and integrated dispensing valve

• US 5,744,793 A
• Filed: 01/05/1996
• Issued: 04/28/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Electro-Pro, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Electro-Pro, Inc.
• Inventors: Skell, Eric D., Skell, Daniel G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Westin, Edward P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lee, John R.
• Application Number:
  US08/583,801
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 250/223 B, 250/222.1, 250/223 R, 250/221, 250/239, 250/559.29, 250/559.3, 250/559.31, 141/95, 141/198, 222/56, 222/640, 222/641, 222/644
• US Class Current: 250/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/1238 comprising means for detecting the liquid level in vessels to be filled, e.g. using ultrasonic waves, optical reflexion, probes
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 1/124 the flow being started or stopped by means actuated by the vessel to be filled, e.g. by switches, weighing
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/292 Light , e.g. infrared or ultraviolet
• CPC Class Codes: G01F 23/2921 for discrete levels
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/04 Systems determining the presence of a target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/46 Indirect determination of position data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 17/88 Lidar systems specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/481 Constructional features, e.g. arrangements of optical elements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/4811 common to transmitter and receiver

Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided to detect the position of an object, such as a container, in a target window using the concept of triangulation of energy radiation. A transmitter emits a pulse of energy in response to a periodic clock pulse which is at least partially reflected off the container positioned in the target window and into a receiver, forming an optical triangle. The signal produced by the receiver is checked to ensure that the energy indicative signal is synchronous with the periodic clock pulse to eliminate errant energy sources. The presence of a synchronous signal indicates the presence of an object in the target window wherein subsequent action may be taken, such as dispensing beverage and/or ice into a container within the target window. The invention is incorporated into a dispensing valve and may have the transmitter and receiver mounted vertically or horizontally. The invention is disclosed in an integrated, modular dispensing valve assembly incorporating all the components to accommodate easy retrofitting, and replacement of existing manually operated dispensing valves. The invention also includes the option of adding additional transmitter and receiver pairs to provide a level control to disable dispensing once the dispensed product reaches a given level in the container.

Claims

1. An automatic dispenser control which detects when a container is in a desired position and activates a dispenser comprising:

a clock producing constant periodic clock pulses;

a transmitter having an input and an output, said input receiving the periodic clock pulses and the output emitting pulses of energy responsive thereto along an axis of projection;

a receiver having an energy sensing input receiving the energy pulses along an axis of reflection, said receiver having an output providing an energy indicative signal;

the transmitter and receiver being orientated in a common plane and having said axes of projection and reflection extending out of said common plane and converging to a target intercept point associated with the desired position;

a synchronous checker producing a signal only when an energy indicative signal resulting from a given emitted energy pulse occurs substantially synchronously with the periodic clock pulse causing the given emitted energy pulse from the transmitter; and

wherein the production of the signal indicates the container is in position and activates the dispenser, and the absence of the signal indicates the container is no longer in position and deactivates the dispenser.

2. The control of claim 1 wherein the transmitter and receiver are mounted in a generally vertical plane.

3. The control of claim 1 wherein the transmitter and receiver are mounted in a generally horizontal plane.

4. The control of claim 1 incorporated into a dispensing valve comprising a mixing valve, a dispensing spigot and the automatic dispenser control, wherein the transmitter and receiver of the control are orientated adjacent the dispensing spigot having the axes of projection and reflection extending downwardly, and wherein the automatic dispensing control is connected to control the mixing valve of the dispensing valve.

5. The control of claim 1 incorporated into a dispensing machine having at least one dispensing valve comprising a mixing valve and a dispensing spigot, wherein the transmitter and receiver of the control are orientated adjacent the dispensing spigot and have the axes of projection and reflection extending downwardly, and wherein the automatic dispensing control is remotely mounted in the dispensing machine and is connected to control the mixing valve of the dispensing valve.

6. The control of claim 1 further comprising a signal strength detector receiving the energy indicative signal generated by the receiver and producing a signal strength signal when the energy indicative signal bears a predetermined relationship to a predetermined parameter, and wherein the synchronous checker is further defined as producing a synchronous signal when the signal strength signal occurs substantially synchronously with the periodic clock pulse.

7. The control of claim 1 wherein said transmitter emits pulses of energy having the same periodicity as the clock pulses.

8. The control of claim 1 wherein said transmitter and receiver are mounted so that said axes of projection and reflection each subtend a mounting angle measured from said common plane, the mounting angle being selected to establish the target intercept point with respect to the common plane.

9. The control of claim 8 wherein the transmitter and receiver are mounted such that the mounting angle of the transmitter is not equal to the mounting angle of the receiver.

10. The control of claim 1 wherein the transmitter and the receiver are mounted a mounting distance apart in said common plane, the mounting distance being selected to establish the target intercept point with respect to the common plane.

11. The control of claim 1 wherein the transmitter is a light emitting diode.

12. The control of claim 1 wherein said transmitter provides pulses of energy having a radiation pattern and said receiver senses the pulses of energy within a sensing pattern, and wherein the radiation and sensing patterns are each measured by an included angle and together define a target window containing the target intercept point, the target window having a size dependent on the radiation and sensing patterns.

13. The control of claim 12 wherein the transmitter has a cone shaped radiation pattern and the receiver has a cone shaped sensing pattern and wherein the target window is a volumetric shape of intersecting cones.

14. The control of claim 12 wherein said transmitter and receiver are mounted to control the included angle and form a target window of desired size.

15. The control of claim 12 wherein at least one of the transmitter and receiver is situated in an orifice to reduce the included angle to focus the radiation pattern or the sensing pattern.

16. The control of claim 1 wherein the transmitter and receiver are mounted such that the pulse of energy is focused and is emitted into the container and reflects off an inside wall of the container to the receiver.

17. The control of claim 16 wherein the transmitter and receiver are connected to a dispenser enable/disable to control a level of dispensed product into the container.

18. The control of claim 1 further comprising at least a second transmitter and receiver pair sequentially enabled with the first transmitter and receiver, wherein the second transmitter and receiver pair are mounted such that a pulse of energy is focused and is emitted into the container and reflects off an inside wall of the container to the receiver.

19. The control of claim 18 wherein the second transmitter and receiver pair is connected to a dispenser enable/disable to control a level of dispensed product into the container.

20. In a beverage dispensing valve assembly having a mixing valve, an actuating solenoid, a dispensing spigot, and a power input, wherein power supplied from the power input to the actuating solenoid actuates the mixing valve to dispense a beverage from the dispensing spigot, the improvement comprising an integrated control connected to the power input and the actuating solenoid, the control comprising at least one transmitter and receiver pair oriented in a generally horizontal plane such that a transmission from a transmitter converges with a line of reception from a receiver at a target window, and a control circuit connected to the transmitter and receiver pair, the control circuit periodically activating the transmitter and periodically monitoring the receiver to indicate the presence of a container in the target window when a reflected transmission is detected substantially synchronously with the activation of the transmitter thereby indicating the container is in a desired position and activating the dispenser, and indicating the absence of the container when the monitored receiver does not detect at least one reflected transmission thereby indicating the container is no longer in position and deactivating the dispenser.

21. The improvement of claim 20 wherein the control comprises three transmitters.

22. The improvement of claim 20 wherein the control comprises three receivers.

23. A method of retrofitting a dispensing machine having manually operated dispensing valves with container-sensing dispensing valves to create an automatic dispensing machine comprising the steps of:

(1) removing the cover from the manually operated dispensing valve;

(2) disconnecting the power supply from the manually operated dispensing valve;

(3) removing the manually operated dispensing valve;

(4) installing a container-sensing dispensing valve having an integrated control for detecting the presence and absence of a container under the dispensing valve and activating the dispenser according to the detection, the integrated control comprising at least one transmitter and receiver pair oriented in a generally horizontal plane such that a transmission from a transmitter converges with a line of reception from a receiver at a target window below the dispensing valve, and a control circuit connected to the transmitter and receiver pair, the control circuit periodically activating the transmitter and periodically monitoring the receiver to indicate the presence of the container in the target window when a reflected transmission is detected substantially synchronously with the activation of the transmitter thereby indicating the container is in position and activating the dispenser, and indicating the absence of the container when the monitored receiver does not detect one or more reflected transmissions, thereby indicating the container is no longer in position and deactivating the dispenser;

(5) connecting the existing power supply from the dispensing machine to the container-sensing dispensing valve; and

(6) installing the cover on the container-sensing dispensing valve.

24. A triangulation position detector for detecting the presence of an object within a predetermined target window comprising:

a clock producing constant periodic clock pulses;

a transmitter having an input and an output, said input receiving the periodic clock pulses and the output emitting pulses of energy responsive thereto along an axis of projection;

a receiver having an energy sensing input receiving the energy pulses along an axis of reflection, said receiver having an output providing an energy indicative signal;

a synchronous checker producing a signal only when an energy indicative signal resulting from a given emitted energy pulse occurs substantially synchronously with the periodic clock pulse causing the given emitted energy pulse; and

wherein the production of the signal indicates the object is in position and the absence of the signal indicates the object is no longer in position.

25. The detector of claim 24 wherein the transmitter and receiver are orientated in a common plane and have said axes of projection and reflection extending out of said common plane and converging to a target intercept point associated with the desired position.

26. The detector of claim 24 further comprising a signal strength detector receiving the energy indicative signal generated by the receiver and producing a signal strength signal when the energy indicative signal bears a predetermined relationship to a predetermined parameter, and wherein the synchronous checker is further defined as producing a synchronous signal when the signal strength signal occurs substantially synchronously with the periodic clock pulse.

27. The detector of claim 24 wherein said clock pulses have a pulse width and wherein said transmitter emits pulses of energy having a time of emission equal to the pulse width of the clock pulses.

28. A method of detecting the presence of a container under a dispensing spigot and automatically dispensing a product into the container in response to container detection, said method comprising the steps of:

arranging a transmitter and a receiver in a common plane so that an axis of projection of the transmitter and an axis of reflection of the receiver converge at a target intercept point in a target window;

producing constant periodic clock pulses;

emitting pulses of energy from the transmitter in response to the periodic clock pulses;

placing the container within the target window to reflect at least a portion of the pulses of energy toward the receiver;

receiving the reflected pulses of energy at the receiver and creating responsive energy indicative signals;

producing a signal only when an energy indicative signal resulting from a given emitted energy pulse occurs substantially synchronously with the periodic clock pulse causing the given emitted energy pulse; and

activating a dispenser in response to the signal and deactivating the dispenser in response to the absence of the signal.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of delaying the synchronous signal for a given period of time to ensure the container is in place below the dispensing spigot.

30. The method of claim 28 further comprising the step of comparing the energy indicative signal to a predetermined parameter for producing a synchronous signal when the energy indicative signal bears a predetermined relationship to the parameter to ensure the container is sufficiently within the target window.

31. A method of detecting the presence of an object comprising the steps of:

arranging a transmitter and a receiver in a common plane so that an axis of projection of the transmitter and an axis of reflection of the receiver converge at a target intercept point in a target window;

producing constant periodic clock pulses;

emitting pulses of energy from the transmitter in response to the periodic clock pulses;

placing the object within the target window to reflect at least a portion of the pulses of energy toward the receiver;

receiving the reflected pulses of energy at the receiver and creating responsive energy indicative signals;

producing a signal only when an energy indicative signal resulting from a given emitted energy pulse occurs substantially synchronously with the periodic clock pulse causing the given emitted energy pulse;

indicating the presence of the object in response to the signal; and

resetting said indication whenever an energy indicative signal occurs other than substantially synchronously with a periodic clock pulse.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising the step of comparing the energy indicative signal to a predetermined parameter to ensure the object is sufficiently within the target window.