Innovative Brewing Unit Design for Variable Beverage Volumes
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Summary
Problems
Existing brewing units for automatic beverage machines lack the ability to handle variable brewing chamber volumes and multiple doses or beverage qualities in a single operation, leading to inefficiencies and increased mechanical stress on the motor shaft.
Innovation solutions
A brewing unit with a rotating mechanism featuring a seat, piston, and counter-piston, controlled by cam members that allow for multiple brewing positions and volumes, effectively managing brewing chamber stresses without auxiliary blocking members, thus enabling the production of different beverage qualities and quantities without torsional stress on the motor shaft.
TRIZ Analysis
Specific contradictions:
General conflict description:
Principle concept:
If a brewing unit uses a motor assembly to actuate the opening and closing mechanism of the brewing chamber, then the brewing chamber can be opened and closed for beverage preparation, but the pressure forces generated during brewing create torsional stress on the motor shaft, reducing reliability
Why choose this principle:
The patent extracts the force-bearing function from the motor assembly by introducing a separate blocking device that independently supports the brewing chamber during pressure generation. The motor assembly retains only the opening/closing actuation function, while the blocking device handles the pressure forces, eliminating torsional stress on the motor shaft.
Principle concept:
If a brewing unit uses a motor assembly to actuate the opening and closing mechanism of the brewing chamber, then the brewing chamber can be opened and closed for beverage preparation, but the pressure forces generated during brewing create torsional stress on the motor shaft, reducing reliability
Why choose this principle:
The blocking device acts as an intermediary between the brewing chamber and the motor assembly. It mediates the force transmission by providing a separate load path for pressure forces, preventing them from reaching the motor shaft while still allowing the motor to control the brewing chamber positioning.
Application Domain
Data Source
AI summary:
A brewing unit with a rotating mechanism featuring a seat, piston, and counter-piston, controlled by cam members that allow for multiple brewing positions and volumes, effectively managing brewing chamber stresses without auxiliary blocking members, thus enabling the production of different beverage qualities and quantities without torsional stress on the motor shaft.
Abstract
A brewing unit includes a seat capable of a rotation movement, in which a piston is slidably received. A counter-piston co-operates with the seat and the piston to define a brewing chamber. Moreover, cam members are provided to control movements of the seat, the piston, and the counter-piston. The seat, the piston and the counter-piston can assume with respect to one another at least one position of charging of a product for preparation of the beverage, at least two distinct brewing positions which correspond two different volumes of the brewing chamber, and a position for discharging the spent product.