ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,479,712, issued on Nov. 25, was assigned to Heineken Supply Chain B.V. (Amsterdam).
"Flow detection circuit" was invented by Edwin Johannes Cornelis Griffioen (Amsterdam) and Johannes Adriaan Dronkert (Nieuw-Vennep, Netherlands).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A dispensing system for a beverage comprises in a tap system a bore for housing a duct. Along the bore, close to or on the duct, at least two electrodes are provided such that at least at some locations along the duct, the two electrodes are provided opposite to one another with the duct in between, thus constituting a capacitor. An oscillating signal is provided to one electrode and...