A Next-Generation Mobile Food Dispensing Cart with Enhanced Heat Prevention and Automated Mixing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64229/8zwbyr52Keywords:
Mobile liquid food dispensing cart, Thermal insulation, Holding time, Stirring mechanism, Polyisocyanurate, Transient heat transferAbstract
The invention under consideration presents a mobile liquid food dispensing cart designed to address both mechanical inefficiency and thermal performance limitations commonly encountered in mobile food service systems. The device consists of a thermally insulated stainless-steel tank mounted on a wheeled base frame, a lid incorporating an integrated bearing-supported stirrer to maintain uniform temperature and consistency of the liquid, and an ergonomic handle post. The novelty of this study lies in the system-level integration of mechanical dispensing, fluid mixing, and analytically guided thermal design within a single mobile unit. From a mechanical perspective, an ergonomically actuated dispensing mechanism comprising a handlebar-mounted brake lever, Bowden cable, and spring-loaded normally closed valve enables controlled and hygienic dispensing. From a thermal perspective, the innovation extends beyond material selection to the analytical integration of insulation design with fluid thermal behavior under transient operating conditions. Heat loss from the stored liquid was evaluated by considering dominant heat-transfer mechanisms, including transient conduction through the tank and insulation layers and convection at the fluid–wall and external surfaces. A lumped-capacitance__based transient heat-transfer framework was employed to compare multiple insulation materials under identical geometric and ambient conditions. The results demonstrate that the proposed system can maintain liquid temperatures above the safe serving limit of 60 °C for over two hours, with polyisocyanurate insulation achieving the highest retention time of approximately 131 minutes. The combined mechanical–thermal design results in a passive, energy-efficient, hygienic, and self-sustained solution for mobile liquid food dispensing applications.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Om Kale, Tushar Bagade, Avinash Somatkar, Mahendra Uttam Gaikwad, Himadri Majumder (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
