Method for sanitizing water dispensed from a water dispenser having a reservoir

• US 9,034,183 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2012
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SIP Technologies LLC (S.I.P. Technologies)
• Original Assignee: SIP Technologies LLC (S.I.P. Technologies)
• Inventors: Davis, Kenneth A., Shelton, James J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Savage, Matthew O
• Application Number:
  US13/710,170
• Publication Number:
  US 20130161269A1
• Time in Patent Office: 890 Days
• Field of Search: 210/760, 222/190, 422/28, 422/29, 422/32
• US Class Current: 210/192
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2210/00002 Purifying means
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 2210/00013 Sterilising means
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 3/0035 the bottle or container being held upside down and not provided with a closure, e.g. a bottle screwed onto a base of a dispenser
• CPC Class Codes: B67D 3/0038 the liquid being stored in an intermediate container prior to dispensing
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/50 by addition or application of a germicide or by oligodynamic treatment C02F1/4606, C02F1/467, C02F1/76 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 1/78 with ozone C02F1/4672 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C02F 2201/78 Details relating to ozone treatment devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 261/42 Ozonizers

Abstract

A method and apparatus of sanitizing drinking water to be dispensed from a water dispenser having a reservoir includes the steps of providing the ozone gas generator that generates an ozone gas stream, transmitting the ozone gas stream from the generator to the water dispenser reservoir, mechanically breaking up the ozone gas stream inside the reservoir to produce ozone gas bubbles, and using the ozone gas bubbles to disinfect water in the reservoir. The ozone gas stream can be mechanically broken up using a pump such as, for example, an impeller type pump.

Claims

1. A method of sanitizing drinking water dispensed from a water dispenser having a water supply that includes an inverted bottle having a neck, wherein the neck is supported on and sealed to an anti-spill receiver formed on an upper end of a cabinet so that the neck extends downwardly, the neck defining a bottle opening that faces downwardly, wherein the anti-spill receiver has a bottom wall, a hollow probe including an upper end that is closed and a lower end that is open, wherein the lower end of the probe is fixed to the bottom wall of the receiver and includes first and second openings, wherein a sidewall of the probe includes a pair of second and third openings positioned between the upper and lower ends thereof, wherein the probe extends into the bottle opening, a reservoir below the anti-spill receiver, and wherein a hollow interior of the probe includes a vertical wall for defining a first flow passage into the bottle via the first and third openings and a second flow passage out of the bottle via the second and fourth openings, the method comprising the steps of:

a) providing an ozone gas generator that generates a combination of air and ozone gas;

b) providing a first flow line that carries said gas into the reservoir;

c) transmitting said gas from the generator into the reservoir via the first flow line;

d) forming a mixture of water and bubbles containing said gas at a location within the reservoir;

e) providing a second flow line extending from the reservoir into the first opening of the hollow probe such that a discharge end of the second flow line is positioned within the hollow probe in the first flow passage;

f) transmitting said mixture of water and bubbles from the reservoir into the first flow passage via the second flow line;

g) transferring said mixture of water and bubbles from the first flow passage into an interior of the bottle via the third opening; and

h) transferring water from the interior of the bottle to the reservoir via the fourth opening, second flow passage, and second opening.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the reservoir has a water surface and the first and second flow lines extend above and below the reservoir water surface.