US-12616333-B2 - Cartridge extraction unit for water purifier

US12616333B2US 12616333 B2US12616333 B2US 12616333B2US-12616333-B2

Abstract

A beverage dispenser comprising: a cartridge receiving chamber 108 , the chamber comprising a water inlet 112 and a treated water outlet 114 configured to connect to a cartridge water inlet and a treated water cartridge outlet of a water treatment cartridge, respectively; a cartridge seat 116 , slidingly displaceable within the cartridge receiving chamber 108 between a cartridge operative position in which the cartridge water inlet and the treated water cartridge outlet establish a fluid communication with the water inlet and the treated water outlet of said chamber, respectively, and a cartridge extraction position in which the cartridge water inlet and the treated water cartridge outlet are disengaged from the water inlet and the treated water outlet of the chamber, respectively, the cartridge seat configured to engage a seat-receiving location formed at an external wall portion of said cartridge when received within the cartridge receiving chamber; and a user accessible actuation member 120 switchable between a locked position and an unlocked position, the actuation member being configured to slidingly displace the cartridge seat between said cartridge operative position, corresponding to said locked position, and said cartridge extraction position that corresponds to said unlocked position.

Inventors

Omer Ben Baruch
Eyal Krystal
Dany Ascher
Orly Nahum

Assignees

STRAUSS WATER LTD

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210701
Priority Date: 20200701

Claims (18)

1 . A beverage dispenser comprising: a housing having a cartridge receiving chamber, the chamber comprising a water inlet and a treated water outlet configured to connect to a cartridge water inlet and a treated water cartridge outlet of a water treatment cartridge, respectively; a cartridge seat, slidingly displaceable within the cartridge receiving chamber between a cartridge operative position in which the cartridge water inlet and the treated water cartridge outlet establish a fluid communication with the water inlet and the treated water outlet of said chamber, respectively, and a cartridge extraction position in which the cartridge water inlet and the treated water cartridge outlet are disengaged from the water inlet and the treated water outlet of the chamber, respectively, the cartridge seat configured to engage a seat-receiving location formed at an external wall portion of said cartridge when received within the cartridge receiving chamber; and a user accessible actuation member associated with the cartridge seat and switchable between a locked position and an unlocked position, the actuation member being configured to slidingly displace the cartridge seat between said cartridge operative position, corresponding to said locked position, and said cartridge extraction position that corresponds to said unlocked position, wherein said user accessible actuation member is a lever associated with the cartridge seat via a movement translation mechanism, the movement transition mechanism comprises a cogwheel, rotationally held between a first, vertically displaceable toothed rack associated or being part of the lever, and a second, toothed rack that is formed on a surface of the cartridge seat, whereby displacement of the lever between the locked position and the unlocked position causes downward vertical displacement of the first rack to rotate the cogwheel, thereby causing upward vertical displacement of the second rack to axially slidingly displace the cartridge seat between the cartridge operative position and the cartridge extraction position.
2 . The beverage dispenser of claim 1 , wherein the cartridge extraction position is vertically displaced from the cartridge operative position along a longitudinal axis of the cartridge receiving chamber.
3 . The beverage dispenser of claim 2 , wherein the cartridge receiving chamber comprises a top opening configured to permit insertion and extraction of the cartridge from the cartridge receiving chamber.
4 . The beverage dispenser of claim 3 , wherein, when the cartridge is received with the cartridge chamber and the cartridge seat is at its cartridge operative position, a top external surface of the cartridge is flush with or below a rim of the cartridge receiving chamber, and when the cartridge seat is at its cartridge extraction position, the top surface of the cartridge chamber protrudes above said rim.
5 . The beverage dispenser of claim 1 , wherein in the locked position, the lever extends across a cartridge insertion opening of the cartridge receiving chamber.
6 . The beverage dispenser of claim 5 , wherein in the unlocked position, the lever is angled with respect to a plane defined by the cartridge insertion opening.
7 . The beverage dispenser of claim 1 , wherein the lever comprises a locking latch configured, when the lever is in its locked position, to be releasably received within a latch-receiving location formed at a rim of the cartridge receiving chamber.
8 . The beverage dispenser of claim 1 , wherein the lever comprises a locking latch configured, when the lever is in its locked position, to be releasably received within a latch-receiving location formed at the housing.
9 . The beverage dispenser of claim 7 , wherein the lever comprises a user-accessible handle configured for disengaging the locking latch from the latch-receiving location.
10 . A cartridge extraction unit configured for fitting into a cartridge receiving chamber of a beverage dispenser, the cartridge extraction unit comprising: a cartridge seat configured to slidingly displace within the cartridge receiving chamber between a cartridge operative position in which a water inlet of the cartridge and a treated water outlet of the cartridge establish a fluid communication with a water inlet and a treated water outlet of said chamber, respectively, and a cartridge extraction position in which the cartridge water inlet and the treated water cartridge outlet are disengaged from the water inlet and the treated water outlet of the chamber, respectively, the cartridge seat configured to engage a seat-receiving location formed at an external wall portion of said cartridge when received within the cartridge receiving chamber; and a user-accessible actuation member associated with the cartridge seat and switchable between a locked position and an unlocked position, the actuation member being configured to slidingly displace the cartridge seat between said cartridge operative position, corresponding to said locked position, and said cartridge extraction position that corresponds to said unlocked position, wherein said user-accessible actuation member is a lever associated with the cartridge seat via a movement translation mechanism, the movement transition mechanism comprises a cogwheel, rotationally held between a first, vertically displaceable toothed rack associated or being part of the lever, and a second, toothed rack that is formed on a surface of the cartridge seat, whereby displacement of the lever between the locked position and the unlocked position causes downward vertical displacement of the first rack to rotate the cogwheel, thereby causing upward vertical displacement of the second rack to axially slidingly displace the cartridge seat between the cartridge operative position and the cartridge extraction position.
11 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 10 , wherein the cartridge extraction position is vertically displaced from the cartridge operative position along a longitudinal axis of the cartridge receiving chamber.
12 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 11 , wherein the cartridge receiving chamber comprises a top opening configured to permit insertion and extraction of the cartridge from the cartridge receiving chamber.
13 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 12 , wherein, when the cartridge is received with the cartridge chamber and the cartridge seat is at its cartridge operative position, a top external surface of the cartridge is flush with or below a rim of the cartridge receiving chamber, and when the cartridge seat is at its cartridge extraction position, the top surface of the cartridge chamber protrudes above said rim.
14 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 10 , wherein in the locked position, the lever extends across a cartridge insertion opening of the cartridge receiving chamber.
15 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 14 , wherein in the unlocked position, the lever is angled with respect to a plane defined by the cartridge insertion opening.
16 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 10 , wherein the lever comprises a locking latch configured, when the lever is in its locked position, to be releasably received within a latch-receiving location formed at a rim of the cartridge receiving chamber.
17 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 10 , wherein the lever comprises a locking latch configured, when the lever is in its locked position, to be releasably received within a latch-receiving location formed at a housing.
18 . The cartridge extraction unit of claim 16 , wherein the lever comprises a user-accessible handle configured for disengaging the locking latch from the latch-receiving location.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a National Stage Application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 and claims the benefit of International Application No. PCT/IL2021/050814, filed Jul. 1, 2021, which claims priority to Israel Patent Application No. 275788, filed Jul. 1, 2020. The disclosure of the foregoing application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD The present disclosure concerns beverage dispensers of the kind that comprise exchangeable water treatment cartridges, more specifically the dispensers having a unit for extracting the cartridge. BACKGROUND Beverage dispensers which dispense water-based beverages typically comprise one or more water treatment cartridges for treating source water to remove various contaminants therefrom. Such cartridges typically need to be replaced after a predetermined number of liters that pass through the cartridge and/or after a predetermined number of filtering cycles. When the dispenser is designed to be compact, e.g. for domestic use, the cartridge typically fits into a limited space within the dispenser, causing the cartridge to have limited user-accessibility for its replacement. GENERAL DESCRIPTION According to this disclosure, there is provided a mechanism for extracting a water treatment cartridge from a beverage dispenser, enabling a user to easily remove the cartridge from the dispenser and replace it by a fresh cartridge. Thus, according to a first aspect of this disclosure, there is provided a beverage dispenser that comprises a housing having a cartridge receiving chamber, the chamber comprises a water inlet and a treated water outlet configured to connect to a cartridge water inlet and a treated water cartridge outlet of a water treatment cartridge, respectively. The cartridge receiving chamber is fitted with a cartridge seat, that is slidingly displaceable within the cartridge receiving chamber between a cartridge operative position in which the cartridge water inlet and the treated water cartridge outlet establish fluid communication with the water inlet and the treated water outlet of said chamber, respectively, and a cartridge extraction position in which the cartridge water inlet and the treated water cartridge outlet are disengaged from the water inlet and the treated water outlet of the chamber, respectively. The cartridge seat is configured to engage a seat-receiving location formed at an external wall portion of the cartridge when it is received within the cartridge receiving chamber. A user accessible actuation member is associated with the cartridge seat and is switchable between a locked position and an unlocked position, the actuation member being configured to slidingly displace the cartridge seat between said cartridge operative position, corresponding to said locked position, and said cartridge extraction position that corresponds to said unlocked position. Thus, once a water treatment cartridge is inserted into the cartridge receiving chamber, the cartridge seat engages the seat-receiving location of the cartridge, and couples the seat with the cartridge. Displacement of the actuation member by the user between its locked and unlocked positions causes the cartridge seat to slidingly displace from its cartridge operative position to its cartridge extraction position, hence displacing the cartridge associated therewith to enable a user to access the cartridge and extract it from the cartridge receiving chamber for replacement. In the text below an arbitrary directionality is used in reference to cartridge and/or the cartridge receiving chamber. The term “top” is arbitrarily applied to the upper side of the cartridge or the chamber that faces the user. Consistent therewith an element-relating frame of reference includes a vertical direction that extends between the top side and the opposite, bottom side of the cartridge. Typically, the cartridge extraction position is vertically displaced from the cartridge operative position along a longitudinal axis of the cartridge receiving chamber. However, it is also contemplated that the cartridge receiving chamber may be positioned horizontally or angularly within the dispenser—in such cases, the cartridge extraction position will be horizontally or angularly displaced from the cartridge operative position along a longitudinal axis of the cartridge receiving chamber. The cartridge receiving chamber may, by some embodiments, comprise a top opening that is configured to permit insertion and extraction of the cartridge from the cartridge receiving chamber. The opening is typically dimensioned to be slightly larger than the largest diameter of the cartridge to be inserted into the chamber and match the cross-sectional shape of the cartridge. In order to prevent unintentional extraction of the cartridge from the cartridge receiving chamber during operation of the cartridge, the cartridge is typically received within the chamber when the cartridge seat is at