Beverage Capsule Filters for Uniform Extraction Without Piercing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beverage preparation systems using hermetically sealed capsules often experience preferential fluid paths, leading to variations in beverage strength and potential spills due to piercing mechanisms, which affect reproducibility and product integrity.
Innovation Solution
The system employs entrance and exit filters within the capsule, allowing fluid supply and beverage drainage without piercing, ensuring homogeneous wetting and extraction, and maintaining capsule integrity by adapting filter parameters for high tear strength and low flow resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If piercing mechanisms are used to create entrance and exit openings in the capsule, then fluid can be supplied and beverage can drain, but preferential fluid paths occur leading to variations in beverage strength
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule lid and bottom are made porous to allow fluid passage without piercing, creating uniform flow distribution across the entire surface area. This eliminates preferential fluid paths that occur with concentrated piercing openings, ensuring consistent beverage strength while maintaining efficient preparation.
Solution Approach 2:
The single piercing opening is segmented into multiple distributed porous regions across the lid and bottom surfaces. This segmentation distributes the fluid flow across many small pathways rather than one concentrated path, preventing preferential flow and ensuring uniform extraction.
2Ease of operation
If piercing mechanisms are used to create exit openings, then beverage can drain from the capsule, but capsule integrity is compromised leading to potential spills
Solution Approach 1:
The lid is made porous to allow beverage drainage while maintaining structural integrity. The porous structure provides numerous small exit pathways that distribute flow evenly, preventing the concentration of stress that would occur at piercing points, thus eliminating spills while ensuring complete drainage.
Solution Approach 2:
The piercing mechanism is completely removed from the system. Instead of creating openings by force, the capsule is designed with inherent porous pathways that allow fluid passage without mechanical damage, eliminating the source of integrity problems.
3Reliability
If the exit filter has high tear strength to prevent piercing, then capsule integrity is maintained, but flow resistance may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The lid is made porous with controlled pore size and distribution to balance structural strength and fluid permeability. The porous structure provides high tear strength while maintaining low flow resistance through the distributed network of pores, eliminating the need for separate exit filters.
Solution Approach 2:
The lid uses composite material construction combining materials with different properties to achieve both high tear strength and appropriate porosity. This allows the lid to resist piercing forces while providing sufficient fluid passage without increasing flow resistance.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enhances beverage strength reproducibility, reduces spills, and improves the quality of beverages like coffee by filtering oils, thereby improving consumer health and product consistency.
Implementation Method 1
The capsule (2) comprises an entrance filter (34) positioned at a first end (14) of the capsule (2)... and an exit filter (36) arranged at a second, open end (18) of the capsule (2)... providing the fluid to the extractable product within the capsule without piercing the capsule
Implementation Method 2
During beverage preparation the entrance area of such hermetically sealed capsule is pierced, hence providing at least one entrance opening for supplying the fluid under pressure to the exchangeable product in the inner space of the capsule through the entrance opening. Providing the fluid under pressure to the inner space causes the pressure in the inner space of the capsule to rise.
Data Source
Figure 1a
Figure 1b
Figure 1c
AI summary
The invention relates to a system, method and capsule for preparing a predetermined quantity of beverage suitable for consumption using an extractable product. The system comprises an exchangeable capsule, and an apparatus comprising a receptacle for holding the exchangeable capsule, and a fluid dispensing device for supplying a fluid to the exchangeable capsule. The exchangeable capsule comprises a circumferential wall, a bottom, and a lid. The wall, bottom and lid enclose an inner space comprising the extractable product. The receptacle comprises bottom piercing means intended for piercing an entrance area of an alternative capsule for creating at least one entrance opening for supplying the fluid to the extractable product. The entrance area of the capsule according to the invention comprises an entrance filter for supplying the fluid to the extractable product there through. In use, the entrance filter is positioned at a distance from the bottom piercing means, such that the capsule of the system is not pierced by the bottom piercing means.