Beverage Capsule Rim Contact Element for Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Capsules for beverage preparation often experience suboptimal interaction with closing mechanisms, leading to leakage and inconsistent beverage quality across different apparatuses.
Innovation Solution
A capsule design featuring a contact element with distinct heights and orientations, forming an annular channel, which enhances compatibility with various beverage preparation apparatuses by forming a fluid-tight barrier and maintaining pressure resistance, even under varying fluid pressures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a contact element with uniform height is used on the rim structure, then the capsule structure is simple, but the interaction with closing mechanisms is suboptimal leading to leakage and inconsistent beverage quality
Solution Approach 1:
The contact element is designed with different heights in different regions: a first height in the intermediate region and a second height at the outer rim part. This local variation in geometry optimizes the interaction with different parts of the closing mechanism, ensuring reliable sealing and consistent beverage quality without requiring complex additional components.
2Reliability
If the contact element is positioned close to the edge of the rim structure, then the capsule structure is compact, but water leakage occurs between the closing mechanism and contact element
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of only adjusting the radial position of the contact element, the invention introduces a vertical dimension by varying the height of the contact element at different locations. The contact element protrudes with a first height from the intermediate region and a second height from the outer rim part, creating a stepped configuration that improves sealing without significantly increasing the capsule's radial footprint.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a single-height contact element is used, then the manufacturing process is simple, but the capsule is not compatible with different types of beverage apparatuses
Solution Approach 1:
The contact element incorporates local geometric variations with different heights suited for different apparatus types. The intermediate region has a first height optimized for certain apparatus configurations, while the outer rim part has a second height for compatibility with other apparatus designs, allowing a single capsule design to work across multiple beverage preparation systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-height contact element design enables the capsule to function compatibly with different types of beverage preparation apparatuses. By incorporating multiple height levels in one contact element structure, the capsule achieves universal compatibility without requiring different capsule variants for different machines.
4Reliability
If the contact element protrudes uniformly from the rim structure, then the annular channel formation is simple, but fluid-tight barrier formation is compromised under varying fluid pressures
Solution Approach 1:
The contact element features different heights at different locations: a first height in the intermediate region and a second height at the outer rim part. This local geometric variation creates an optimized annular channel configuration that maintains effective fluid-tight barrier formation under varying fluid pressures during beverage preparation.
Data Source
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AI summary
A capsule (10) for the preparation of a beverage, comprising a body (11), and a rim structure (12) having an edge (14) extending outwardly with respect to an outer surface of the body (11); and a contact element (13) which protrudes from a remaining portion of an upper surface (19) of the rim structure (12) thereby forming an annular channel (18) between the outer surface of the capsule body (11) and an inner side wall (17) of the contact element (13); the capsule (10) being configured to cooperate with a beverage preparation apparatus and characterised in that the contact element (13) is located at a predetermined distance away from the edge (14) of the rim structure (12).