DESCRIPTION

The subject of this invention is a -filter fitted with a special sanitizing system, that can disinfect a water dispenser or other beverage dispenser.

In recent years, the number of beverage dispensing machines in use has increased, found largely in cafeteria-style food service with large water consumption, such as in restaurants, hotels, bars, community centers, and canteens.

These sorts of water dispensers (henceforward the term will be used in its broadest sense of

"beverage dispensing machine", not limited only to water) have construction and operating characteristics that have become standardized, which will not be included in the present description.

For these purposes, suffice it to say that all types of dispensers require a connection to the water lines and, in the more advanced versions, require a means to chill the beverage dispensed and allow the user to select the desired water temperature.

At the same time, any type of water dispenser must also include a specific filter designed to ensure the highest quality of the water, eliminating impurities, lime and other undesirable substances from the water.

The most commonly used types of filters are essentially:

mechanical filters, with a washable mesh screen or similar features, which capture the deposited impurities;

filters in a composite structure in active carbons, able to capture impurities of

0.5 micron and larger; sometimes such filters are combined with a UV bactericide;

filters with ultra-filtering membrane, with holes of around one thousandth of a micron;

reverse osmosis filters that also capture dissolved mineral salts, modifying the chemical and physical composition of the water.

Any type of filter must be submitted to ordinary maintenance which includes complete replacement after a certain time interval or after reaching a certain amount of dispensed water. Generally, it is recommended the replacement after 10,000 / 11,000 litres dispensed for standard filters (after 2,000 / 3,000 litres for smaller sizes); over this threshold, the exhausted filter ceases to work properly and could even release substances that could potentially contaminate the circuit and the beverages dispensed to the user.

This is why it is essential not only to replace this filter, but also submit the water dispenser to a careful sanitization, which must be done periodically (generally every 6 or 12 months, depending on where the dispenser is installed and how frequently it is used) or before installing a new filter.

Sanitizing is done using acid solutions which can also remove lime deposits and bacteria biofilms that build up in time; the most commonly used solutions (although natural products can also be used) are comprised of one or more of the following chemical substances: hydrogen peroxide, active chlorine in a number of compounds, phosphoric acid, ozone, active oxygen, quaternary ammonium salts, and other substances.

All these sanitizing products must be effective but must also be easily rinsed away to prevent disinfectant residue from being left on the dispenser when it is dispensing drinking water again.

In certain cases, the user can handle the sanitizing process on their own by purchasing a special kit that includes a sanitizing product cartridge to install temporarily in the place of the filter.

However, in view of the importance of the procedure, sanitizing frequently requires a- specialized technical service, which usually carries out the cleaning and sterilization of all the components in contact with the water by using a pump that injects the sanitizing solution into the water (similar to the method used to remove lime deposits from hot water heaters) or other methods.

Finally, the sanitizing procedure requires a certain amount of care and additional expenses, whether maintenance is performed directly by the user or in a technical service call.

The purpose of this invention is to circumvent at least a part of the difficulties described above by developing a filter with a sanitizing device built in.

This and other purposes, which will become clear below, are achieved in a sanitizing device incorporated into the usual water dispenser filter.

Additional features of the present invention will be better identified in the following description of a preferred form of construction, complying with the patent claims and illustrated in the appended drawings, provided by way of a non-limiting example, in which:

figure 1 represents a front view of the filter with incorporated sanitizer according to the invention;

figure 2, in the same view as figure 1, represents a cutaway of the sanitizing unit incorporated into the filter according to the invention;

figure 3 represents a cutaway view of the sanitizing unit incorporated into the filter, in the inactive position;

figure 4 shows a cutaway view of the sanitizing unit incorporated into the filter, in the active position;

figures 5.A and 5.B show, in the front view and in the cutaway view, the filter clamping cap with integrated sanitizer according to the invention. Below are the features of the invention, using the references provided in the drawings. With reference to figure 1, the number 1 indicates a filter designed to purify water issued from the dispenser, onto which a bayonet adaptor is inserted by means of an attachment head 6.

Inside the outer casing 1.1 of the said filter 1 is a customary filtration unit 2, through which the tap water flows as it enters into the filter through inlet 6.1 of the attachment head 6. As in prior art, after passing through the filtering unit 2, the purified water flows into chamber 3, surrounding this filtering unit 2; from here, it flows toward the user, flowing out from filter 1 through outlet 6.2 of the attachment head 6.

The description to this point corresponds substantially to a common filter of prior art. The object of the present invention consists of the presence of an additional chamber 4, located below filter 1, separated from the chamber 3 above by a partition wall 4.1 but located inside the outer casing 1.1.

This chamber 4, which will henceforth be called "disinfecting chamber", contains the chemical or natural substance that will sanitize the water dispenser.

When considered appropriate, the contents of the disinfecting chamber 4 are made to flow into chamber 3 with a special mechanism that causes the opening of a passage 4.2 on the partition wall 4.1. Subsequently, the sanitizing solution is diluted in the water present in chamber 3, issuing into the dispenser circuit down the line from filter 1 and disinfecting the water dispenser.

The attached drawings show, without limitation, one possible version of the opening mechanism of the said passage 4.2 on the partition wall 4.1.

This mechanism includes a pressure point 5 located outside on the wall below the disinfecting chamber 4. While acting on pressure point 5 (manually or with known means, such as a button or a lever), the lower wall of the disinfecting chamber 4 is pushed up, causing the same movement for a prick punch 5.1, located inside the disinfecting chamber

4- and which acts together with the said lower wall.

This prick punch 5.1 causes the breakage of a membrane 4.3 at a pre-set rupture pressure, dlowing the disinfecting solution to enter into chamber 3 through passage 4.2.

Ii the ideal variation of the invention, the mechanism described above, which starts the vater dispenser sanitization process, is activated after filter 1 is exhausted and before eplacing it with a new filter.

^■ lowever, it is possible to include a variation of the invention that makes it possible to lanitize the water dispenser before the filter 1 is exhausted, hi this variation, the αechanism that allows the sanitizing solution to enter chamber 3 from the disinfecting hamber 4 does not cause a breakage of the said membrane 4.3, but rather only opens it smporarily. The objective can be achieved by simply requiring that membrane 4.3 be a iembrane that can open and close, but is normally closed, instead of a membrane that iψtures at a pre-set pressure.

Vith this variation, after the sanitizing procedure is complete, filter 1 can resume its purification work while the disinfecting chamber 4, now emptied of its sanitizing solution, is again separated from the chamber 3 above, by reclosing the membrane 4.3 and, as a result, of the passage 4.2.

In lieu of the membrane that opens and closes, a more complicated solution not demonstrated in the appended drawings can include an actuator that uses elastic bands, which act like springs, to keep the passage 4.2 between the disinfecting chamber 4 and chamber 3 closed.

Another possibility is allowed by other variations with a momentary and reversible opening of the passage 4.2 can include the refilling of the disinfecting chamber 4 with another sanitizing solution, so as to allow a second sanitizing procedure during the life of filter 1 or until its exhaustion, before disconnecting filter 1 from the dispenser and replacing it with a new filter.

The disinfecting chamber 4 can be refilled through an external opening or equivalent means, or the design' can include that the entire disinfecting chamber can be removed from filter 1 and can be reconnected after replenishing the disinfecting solution.

As we can see from the description of the present invention, the main advantage of filter 1 fitted with the incorporated sanitizer lies in the simple and economic sanitizing process, performed directly by the user without the need for external technical services or temporary replacement of the filter with other kits purchased separately.

It is clear that numerous variations of filter 1 with the incorporated sanitizer are possible for a person of ordinary skill in the art without leaving the areas of novelty inherent in the inventive idea. It is also clear that in the practical use of the invention, the various components previously described may be replaced by technically equivalent elements.

For example, the invention may be designed for use of a sanitizing solution that can lend a certain colour, odour or taste to the disinfecting solution in the circuit of the water directed to the user, as well as this latter can more easily include when it terminates the sanitizing procedure and it is possible to have the water dispenser operate normally.

In one variation of the invention, shown in figures- 5.A and 5.B, filter 1 with the incorporated sanitizer can be fitted with special electronic instruments for the user. For example, as in prior art, the attachment head 6 can incorporate a meter to measure the water running through filter 1, information visible to the user on display 7, analogue or digital. With the same electronic means, the user can receive the warning (which may be an audio warning) of the need for filter replacement or incorrect filter installation.

This information can be processed using an RFID tag 8 for radio frequency identification of filter 1, inserted into the attachment head 6 and which exchanges information with the corresponding transponder located on the water dispenser.