Beverage preparation device and beverage machine
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current beverage preparation devices require complex designs with mixer wheels and multiple components, leading to increased costs, assembly, and maintenance challenges, while also being inefficient in dissolving instant powders in liquid media.
Innovation Solution
A beverage preparation device with a mixing chamber featuring two flush-in connections for liquid media, eliminating the need for mixer wheels and additional drive motors, utilizing the mechanical forces from injected jets of liquid to dissolve instant powders in a vortex, and incorporating a seal-free design for easy manufacturing and cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a mixer wheel and drive motor are used for dissolving instant powder, then mixing performance is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical mixer wheel and drive motor system with a fluid dynamic system using two counter-directional liquid jets. The kinetic energy of the jets creates a vortex that mixes and dissolves the instant powder, eliminating the need for mechanical rotating components and their associated drives.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses hydraulic principles by injecting two streams of liquid medium through nozzles in opposite directions. The fluid pressure and flow rate are controlled to generate sufficient mechanical force through vortex formation to achieve effective mixing and dissolving of the powder without mechanical contact.
2Productivity
If multiple components like mixer wheels and drive motors are added, then mixing capability is enhanced, but maintenance requirements and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the mixer wheel and drive motor components from the system entirely. By using only fluid injection through simple nozzles, the design eliminates parts that require maintenance such as bearings, seals, and electrical connections associated with motors.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the liquid medium itself to perform the mixing function. The fluid jets self-generate the mechanical action needed for dissolution through their counter-directional flow, requiring no external drive mechanisms or moving parts that would need servicing.
3Ease of manufacture
If a seal-free design is implemented, then ease of cleaning and manufacturing is improved, but potential leakage risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing chamber appears to be designed as a removable, disposable, or easily replaceable component. This allows the chamber to be manufactured without complex sealing systems, facilitating simple cleaning or complete replacement if leakage occurs, rather than requiring meticulous seal maintenance.
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
The solution reduces costs and maintenance by simplifying the device structure, ensuring efficient dissolving of instant powders without additional drive components, and facilitating easy cleaning and assembly, while maintaining effective mixing and dissolving performance.
Implementation Method 1
The instant powder is dissolved in the media by the two liquid media (mainly cold or hot water) and the mechanical forces created by the injection
Implementation Method 2
the mixing chamber comprising at least two flush-in connections for the respective injection of a jet of a liquid medium into the mixing chamber
Data Source
AI summary
A beverage preparation device for preparing instant beverages has a conveyor system, a mixing chamber, at least one pump, at least one heat exchanger, at least one valve and a control device. The mixing chamber has at least two flush-in connections arranged at a distance from one another in the direction of a chamber axis of the mixing chamber. The mixing chamber has chamber sections arranged one behind the other, with inner diameters decreasing from the inlet to the outlet of the mixing chamber. The chamber sections are all formed with conical inner surfaces and the mixing chamber comprises a free of mixer/mixing wheels, asymmetrical structure with a first chamber and a second chamber arranged one behind the other. A chamber axis of the first chamber and a chamber axis of the second chamber are offset from one another and thus arranged eccentrically from one another.