US 12,409,424 B2
Gas infuser for liquids
Matthew C. Humphrey, Springfield, IL (US); Mark W. Bandixen, Springfield, IL (US); and John Tigo, Springfield, IL (US)
Assigned to Bunn-O-Matic Corporation, Springfield, IL (US)
Filed by BUNN-O-MATIC CORPORATION, Springfield, IL (US)
Filed on Apr. 3, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/295,161.
Application 18/295,161 is a continuation of application No. 16/968,328, granted, now 11,617,994, previously published as PCT/US2019/016781, filed on Feb. 6, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/644,026, filed on Mar. 16, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/628,035, filed on Feb. 8, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2023/0241562 A1, Aug. 3, 2023
Int. Cl. B01F 25/30 (2022.01); B01F 23/20 (2022.01); B01F 35/71 (2022.01); B01F 23/237 (2022.01); B01F 101/14 (2022.01)
CPC B01F 25/30 (2022.01) [B01F 23/29 (2022.01); B01F 35/7172 (2022.01); B01F 35/71805 (2022.01); B01F 23/237621 (2022.01); B01F 23/23765 (2022.01); B01F 2101/14 (2022.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A gas infuser for forming a gas-infused liquid, the gas infuser comprising:
a mixing chamber;
a liquid injector coupled to the mixing chamber and adapted to pass a liquid into the mixing chamber; and
a gas-volume controller coupled to the mixing chamber and configured to pass a gas into the mixing chamber for mixing with the liquid to form the gas-infused liquid, the gas-volume controller including a fitting defining a cavity between an inlet and an outlet spaced apart from the inlet and a plug arranged in the cavity between the inlet and the outlet, the outlet operatively coupled to the mixing chamber to pass the gas into the mixing chamber,
wherein at least one of an interior surface of the fitting and an exterior surface of the plug includes threads, a circuitous helical path is formed along the threads between the fitting and the plug to fluidly couple the inlet to the outlet, the gas-volume controller is configured to provide a flow rate of gas exiting the outlet for a set average pressure of the gas at the inlet, and the circuitous helical path is configured to regulate the flow rate of the gas exiting the outlet to be substantially constant such that the flow rate is substantially independent of pressure fluctuations from the set average pressure of the gas at the inlet.