Capsule with Pre-Slit Membrane for Controlled Infusion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Beverage preparation capsules face issues with filter destabilization and crater formation due to pressure, leading to poor mixing and incomplete soaking of the food product, and existing solutions often require physical contact to break the laminar membrane, which can result in uncontrolled opening and inefficient extraction.
Innovation Solution
A capsule design featuring a grooved structure on the base of the cup structure with a continuous circumferential pre-slit in the laminar membrane, allowing controlled breaking under pressure without physical contact, ensuring a gradual and complete opening for smooth extraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a filter is used in the capsule to filter the mixture, then the beverage can be extracted through the lower mouth, but the filter tends to destabilise and move internally due to pressure stresses
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule is divided into an upper chamber for food product and a lower chamber for filtration, separated by a laminar membrane. This segmentation allows the filter to remain stationary in the lower chamber while pressure builds in the upper chamber, preventing filter destabilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The laminar membrane is pre-positioned to separate the chambers before use. The membrane includes a pre-slit that will break under pressure, but until then maintains separation and filter stability. This preliminary arrangement prevents premature filter movement.
2Productivity
If water is injected into the upper chamber to soak the food product, then the liquid mixture is formed, but a crater forms in the food product volume creating channels for direct liquid evacuation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention introduces a vertical dimension to the infusion process by having water injected from above through the laminar membrane into the upper chamber. This top-down approach ensures water penetrates the food product uniformly from the beginning, preventing crater formation and ensuring complete soaking throughout the food volume.
3Ease of manufacture
If a sharp element is used to break the laminar membrane, then the membrane can be broken by physical contact, but this requires additional elements and physical contact to break the membrane
Solution Approach 1:
The laminar membrane is designed with a pre-slit that allows it to break itself under pressure without requiring external sharp elements. The membrane's own structure, with the pre-slit positioned to face the annular valley, enables self-breaking when pressure differential becomes sufficient, eliminating the need for additional breaking elements.
4Device complexity
If the laminar membrane includes incisions or notches to break without sharp elements, then physical contact is avoided, but this requires specific weakened areas in the membrane
Solution Approach 1:
The laminar membrane has uniform structure everywhere except at the pre-slit location, where it has a localized weakened area. This local quality change allows the membrane to break at a specific predetermined position (facing the annular valley) while maintaining strength elsewhere, achieving controlled breaking without sharp elements.
5Reliability
If both upper and lower chambers are initially isolated by a laminar membrane, then the membrane must break under pressure, but this requires reaching a specific pressure moment to break
Solution Approach 1:
The laminar membrane is pre-positioned with a pre-slit facing the annular valley before the capsule is used. This preliminary arrangement ensures that when pressure builds in the upper chamber, the membrane will break at the predetermined pre-slit location rather than randomly, achieving controlled opening at the optimal pressure moment.
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 capsule achieves a controlled and efficient infusion process with a rich, abundant cream emulsion, preventing irregular openings and ensuring complete fluid passage, while reducing plastic usage and manufacturing complexity.
Implementation Method 1
when the pressure inside the upper chamber increases, the laminar membrane breaks and then the liquid mixture of water and food product reaches the lower chamber
Implementation Method 2
a grooved structure on a first surface of a first annular plateau of a base of the cup structure, wherein said grooved structure interrupts the continuity of said first surface on which the laminar membrane is attached by means of a first welded attachment
Implementation Method 3
when water is introduced into the upper chamber, it soaks the food product
Implementation Method 4
the beverage moving from the upper chamber to the lower one travelling through two mazes of the filter
Data Source
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AI summary
The capsule for infusing a beverage comprises a structure in the form of a bowl (1) which includes a base (6), a lateral wall (9) and a mouth which is closed by a cover (3). A first objective of the invention is to reduce the amount of plastic material employed in the manufacture of the capsule; a second objective of the invention is to reduce the complexity of its manufacture; and a third objective of the invention is to achieve the opening of the capsule by means of the breaking of a laminar membrane (5) solely by means of an increase in the pressure of the liquid mixture within the capsule without physical contact of an additional element in order to break said laminar membrane (5) which separates a lower chamber from an upper chamber. All of the above enables an emulsion of the foodstuff (for example, coffee) with the formation of a long-lasting rich, abundant cream.