The Coca-cola Company

James Dalberg

Brian Bellamy Johnson

Jevawn Sebastian Roberts

A carbonated water dispenser comprises a carbonator with a water inlet and a carbonated water outlet. A backflow preventer module is fluidically coupled to the water inlet and comprises a check valve and a thermal mass flow meter. The thermal mass flow meter is configured to communicate a first signal based on a measured amount of heat transferred from a heater to a temperature sensor by a flow of a fluid through the backflow preventer module. A shut-off valve is fluidically coupled between the carbonated water outlet and a nozzle. The shut-off valve is configured to allow or prevent fluid flow from the carbonated water outlet to the nozzle base on a control signal. A controller is configured to detect a backflow condition based on the first signal and generate the control signal to configure the shut-off valve to prevent dispensing carbonated water upon detection of the backflow condition.

Backflow detection and mixing module with a thermal mass flow meter

A flow control module with a thermal mass flow meter is provided. The thermal mass flow meter facilitates measuring both a flow rate and a temperature of a fluid passing through the flow control module. Fluids may experience different flow characteristics at different temperature ranges. The flow control module includes a proportional control valve for selectively adjusting the flow rate of the fluid passing through the flow control module. Upon detecting that the temperature of the fluid is outside of a temperature range for the fluid, a controller is configured to load a different set of calibration parameters for controlling the operation of the proportional control valve to accommodate the different flow characteristics of the fluid at that temperature. Additionally, the controller is configured to detect bubbles using the thermal mass flow meter based upon the difference in thermal conductivity of gasses and liquids.

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Atlanta, GA, United States of America

James Dalberg