Disposable Beverage Capsule Exit Openings for Consistent Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beverage preparation systems with hermetically sealed capsules suffer from undesired variations in beverage strength due to preferential fluid paths and unpredictable exit openings, leading to inconsistent taste and quality.
Innovation Solution
A disposable capsule with a displaceable body that controls the creation of pre-determined exit openings, ensuring consistent beverage extraction by interacting with the material barrier, which is chemically inert and designed to prevent environmental contamination, allowing for precise timing, spatial distribution, and dimension of exit openings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If exit openings are formed by fluid pressure in existing capsule systems, then the capsule structure remains simple and hermetically sealed, but the number, position and size of exit openings are formed by chance leading to preferential fluid paths and inconsistent beverage strength
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-forming exit openings in the capsule lid before the capsule is used. The openings are created during capsule manufacturing rather than during beverage preparation, ensuring consistent number, position, and size of exit openings. This preliminary structuring eliminates the randomness of pressure-formed openings while maintaining capsule simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the capsule lid into multiple discrete exit openings with specific positions and sizes. Rather than having a single large opening or relying on random pressure-formed holes, the lid is segmented into predetermined openings that control fluid flow paths uniformly, preventing preferential paths and ensuring consistent beverage extraction.
2Reliability
If hermetically sealed capsules are used to preserve extractable product quality, then product deterioration is prevented, but preferential fluid paths develop during extraction leading to undesired beverage strength variations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines preliminary action with hermetic sealing by pre-forming exit openings in the sealed capsule lid during manufacturing. This allows the capsule to remain hermetically sealed during storage and transport, preserving product quality, while the pre-formed openings ensure uniform fluid paths are established from the start, preventing preferential paths during extraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating specific exit openings at predetermined locations in the capsule lid with controlled sizes and positions. This localized structuring ensures that fluid extraction occurs through specific pathways designed to distribute flow uniformly across the extractable product, preventing preferential paths while maintaining overall capsule hermeticity.
3Productivity
If multiple lid piercing means are used to create exit openings, then beverage drainage is enabled, but the unpredictable formation of openings causes variations in beverage strength from one capsule to another
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the need for lid piercing means by pre-forming exit openings during capsule manufacturing. The openings are created beforehand with precise control over number, position, and size, ensuring consistent beverage strength across all capsules while maintaining efficient drainage pathways for rapid beverage extraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the function of creating exit openings from the beverage preparation process itself and transfers it to the capsule manufacturing process. By taking out the opening-formation function from the extraction moment and performing it beforehand, the system achieves both efficient drainage and consistent beverage strength without requiring multiple piercing means during use.
Data Source
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AI summary
System and method for preparing a predetermined quantity of beverage suitable for consumption using an extractable product. The system comprises: at least one disposable capsule; an apparatus comprising a fluid dispensing device for supplying an amount of fluid to the at least one capsule, a receptacle for accommodating the at least one capsule, and an outlet arrangement for supplying the beverage to a container, such as a cup. The at least one disposable capsule comprises a material barrier for enclosing an inner space comprising the extractable product. The disposable capsule further comprises a displaceable body conceived to interact with the material barrier for discontinuing at least an exit area thereof for enabling passage of the at least a portion of the beverage away from the capsule.