Brewer pod holder
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coffee pod brewers struggle with inconsistency in coffee quality and flavor due to varying sizes and shapes of coffee pods, which affect the placement and saturation of heated water, leading to uneven brewing results.
Innovation Solution
A brewing chamber within a coffee pod holder is designed to accommodate multiple sizes and shapes of pods, ensuring even saturation with heated water through a radial permeation system and positioning members that center the pod, ensuring consistent brewing regardless of pod orientation or placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a standard brewing chamber is used, then the brewing process is simple, but coffee quality varies due to pod size and shape differences
Solution Approach 1:
The brewing chamber incorporates a flexible membrane that can dynamically adjust its shape and volume to accommodate different pod sizes and shapes. The membrane flexes and deforms to conform to the specific geometry of each pod, ensuring consistent water distribution and saturation regardless of pod variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the physical parameters of the brewing chamber by using a deformable membrane that alters the chamber's volume, shape, and pressure distribution. This allows the chamber to adapt its internal geometry to match different pod configurations, maintaining reliable brewing conditions across various pod types.
2Reliability
If heated water is delivered directly to the pod, then the brewing process is efficient, but uneven saturation occurs with varying pod placements
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible membrane creates locally adapted water distribution channels that conform to the specific pod geometry. Water is delivered through varying path lengths and pressures tailored to each local region of the pod, ensuring uniform saturation even when pods are placed in different orientations or positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane dynamically redistributes water flow based on pod placement and geometry. As the membrane flexes to accommodate different pod configurations, it automatically adjusts the water distribution pattern to maintain uniform saturation across the entire pod surface.
3Manufacturing precision
If the brewing chamber is designed for specific pod sizes, then brewing precision is high, but the device cannot accommodate multiple pod types
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible membrane brewing chamber serves multiple functions by adapting its geometry to accommodate various pod types, sizes, and shapes within a single chamber design. This universal approach eliminates the need for multiple specialized chambers while maintaining precise brewing conditions for each pod type.
Solution Approach 2:
The system maintains manufacturing precision by using a membrane that can change its physical parameters (shape, volume, pressure distribution) to match different pod types. This allows a single precisely-manufactured chamber to achieve precise brewing results across multiple pod configurations.
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 achieves uniform coffee brewing by ensuring thorough saturation of coffee pods with heated water, maintaining consistent quality and strength across brewing cycles, even with loosely or unevenly placed pods, and accommodating different pod designs.
Implementation Method 1
facilitates the radial permeation of the heated water to the outer periphery of the held pod, to assure that the pod becomes thoroughly saturated throughout its extent with heated water
Data Source
AI summary
This invention relates to a disposable single serving coffee pod brewing device that includes upper and lower brew chambers, forming a pod holding chamber therein, a diffuser device that disseminates the incoming hot water to the outer periphery of any located beverage pod, and a kicker assembly formed in the bottom brew chamber, that supports the beverage pod during a brewing cycle, and then achieves its discharge into a waste or other bin following a brew cycle.