Drink cooler
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Description of Product
The device is used for cooling carbonated beverages quickly. It works for a single can or 12 ounce glass bottle, and can cool a beverage down to 33 degrees Fahrenheit in between 2 and 6 minutes, depending on the beverage and container. The device is about the size of a small toaster and runs off of an AC power supply. The majority of the device is taken up by a reservoir chamber with a spinning roller. All electronics, controls, and actuation mechanisms are beneath or behind the reservoir, sealed away from moisture. Cooling is accomplished by forced convection between the beverage and an ice water slurry. Before operation, the device is filled with ice and water, creating a slurry near 33 degrees Fahrenheit. A single motor spins a roller and turns a small turbine. The roller is a long metal shaft which runs the length of the device. It has a plastic coating to prevent corrosion, and has rubber rings at regular intervals along its length. These rubber rings are what contact the beverage container and force it into motion. The roller spins the beverage at a fixed rate for a set time interval. The time interval is set by a simple microcontroller which takes an input from a four-way switch. This switch is changed by mechanical motion of a rotating dial, which is the user control interface. This allows the switching of the device from off to one of three time intervals: 2 minutes, 4 minutes, and 6 minutes. Setting the dial to one of the three time settings turns the device on for that prescribed amount of time. The motor driven turbine is four flanges projecting from a plastic disk, which spins forcing water from the reservoir up a pipe and out a spout at the top of the device. Though the water does not exit under high pressure or velocity, the spinning of the beverage container causes it to move with high relative velocity to the beverage, thus increasing the effects of the forced convection. The reservoir has a clear plastic lid to seal it during the chilling process, and the latch of the lid triggers a limit switch to prevent the device from running while it is open.
