IP Library Granted Patent US 11,634,242
Granted Patent B1
US 11,634,242 · App. 17/893,843 · Granted Apr 25, 2023

Cleaning, filling, and capping containers

Inventors: Jason Dibble (Cornelius, NC); Marc Haydt (Lehighton, PA); Zach Hilton (Belmont, NC)
Assignee: Boomerang Water, LLC
B65B7/2835B67C3/2642B67C7/004B67C2007/006B67C2007/0066
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,634,242
App. No.
17/893,843
Granted
Apr 25, 2023
Kind
B1
Abstract

Systems and methods for filling and sealing a container can include a housing having an opening for receiving containers, a rotary assembly including mount assemblies disposed in the housing, the rotary assembly operable to rotate the of mount assemblies about a central axis, a washing station, a filling station, a steam injector, and cap setter disposed in the housing.

Claims (23)

1. An apparatus for filling and sealing a container, the apparatus comprising:

a portable housing having an opening for receiving containers;

a rotary assembly disposed in the housing, the rotary assembly comprising a plurality of mount assemblies, each mount assembly configured to hold a set of the containers, the rotary assembly operable to rotate the plurality of mount assemblies about a central axis of the rotary assembly;

a washing station disposed in the housing;

a filling station disposed in the housing;

a steam injector disposed in the housing, the steam injector comprising:

an inline steam generator operable to heat water to steam; and

discharge piping coupled to the inline steam generator to receive steam from the inline steam generator and configured to inject equal amounts of steam onto each cap of a set of caps as a set of containers of a mount assembly approaches or is aligned with the steam injector; and

a capping station disposed in the housing; and

a water heating system disposed in the housing, the water heating system comprising:

an immersion heater installed directly into a hot water holding tank, and

a distribution manifold having a lower thermal conductivity than a water heater, the distribution manifold being external to the hot water holding tank,

wherein the steam injector comprises a steam injector manifold having a plurality of dispensing ports, the steam injector is configured to provide an equal pressure drop across the plurality of dispensing ports, and wherein the plurality of dispensing ports have different orifice diameters to maintain an equal pressure drop across the plurality of dispensing ports.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the washing station comprises multiple washing stations disposed in the housing.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of dispensing ports comprises a plurality of nozzles.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the orifice diameter of the dispensing port closest to the steam generator is smaller than the orifice diameters of the other dispensing ports and the orifice diameters of the other dispensing ports increase with distance from the inline steam generator.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the steam injector comprises valves to provide an equal pressure drop across the plurality of dispensing ports.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a maximum pressure provided by the inline steam generator is less than 15 psi.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the inline steam generator is operable to provide a steam temperature of between 230° F. and 260° F.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface on the exterior of the housing.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the user interface comprises a display that displays system data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the system data comprises total cycles run on the machine after installation.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the user interface allows for individual control of each of the washing station, filling station, steam injector, capping station, and water heating system.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 24, 2022
From: DIBBLE, JASON; HAYDT, MARC; HILTON, ZACH
To: BOOMERANG WATER, LLC
Reel/Frame 060879/0811 →
Continuity (1)
Continuation 17549134 · Dec 13, 2021
Cited By (3)
US 12,344,425 US 12,371,207 US 12,428,177