Beverage Machine Horizontal Heating Coil to Reduce Water Bypass
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Solution Overview
Problem
Beverage forming systems often experience inefficient heating due to the orientation of heating elements, allowing water to bypass the heating coils, resulting in inconsistent temperature and reduced heating effectiveness.
Innovation Solution
A beverage machine with a heater tank featuring a horizontally oriented heating element coil, positioned within a U-shaped trough, ensures that incoming water directly contacts the heating element, minimizing bypass and enhancing heating consistency by directing liquid flow perpendicular to the coil's longitudinal axis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a vertically oriented heating element is used in the heater tank, then the device complexity is reduced, but water bypasses the heating coils resulting in inconsistent temperature and reduced heating effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional vertical heating element orientation to a horizontal orientation. The heating element is configured with its longitudinal axis extending horizontally across the heater tank, perpendicular to the vertical water flow direction. This inversion ensures that water must pass through or alongside the heating coils rather than bypassing them, thereby improving heating effectiveness and temperature consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating element is positioned in a different spatial dimension relative to the water flow. Instead of vertical alignment with flow, the heating element extends horizontally across the tank, creating a perpendicular arrangement. This dimensional change maximizes the interaction surface between water and heating coils, ensuring thorough heating while maintaining a relatively simple device structure.
2Reliability
If the heating element is positioned away from the tank walls, then heating uniformity improves, but the space utilization decreases and heating efficiency is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element is strategically positioned within a U-shaped trough or channel formed in the bottom wall of the heater tank. This localized positioning allows the heating coils to be in close proximity to the tank walls and incoming water flow, maximizing heat transfer efficiency. The U-shaped trough creates a specific local geometry that concentrates water flow around the heating element, ensuring both efficient energy use and consistent heating.
3Reliability
If the inlet directs water away from the heating element, then the device complexity is reduced, but water bypasses the heating element resulting in inconsistent temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The inlet configuration is inverted from conventional designs that direct water away from or parallel to the heating element. Instead, the inlet is positioned and angled to direct water flow directly toward the horizontally extending heating element. This inversion ensures immediate contact between incoming water and the heating coils, eliminating bypass and ensuring consistent heating from the moment water enters the tank.
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 configuration provides more consistent and effective heating of water, reducing bypass and ensuring that water exiting the heater tank is at a stable temperature, improving the overall performance of the beverage forming process.
Implementation Method 1
a heating element at least partially in the chamber arranged to heat liquid in the chamber
Implementation Method 2
where the heating element is an electrical resistance heating element
Data Source
AI summary
A beverage machine having a heater tank with a horizontally oriented heating element. The heating element may be arranged as a helical coil with a longitudinal axis arranged horizontally in the heater tank. A bottom wall of the heater tank may define a concave shape at the interior of the heater tank, and the heating element may be at least partially arranged within the concave shape, e.g., with a longitudinal axis of the coil extending along a central portion of the bottom wall. An inlet to the heater tank may be arranged at the bottom wall, e.g., in the central portion of the bottom wall, and may direct liquid at the heating element.