Beverage Cartridge Collar Geometry for Automatic Pressure Control
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beverage and food preparation systems require complex cartridge designs and preselected preparation parameters, including high pressures, which can be cumbersome and limit user convenience, especially for machines that need to produce a range of products with different pressure requirements.
Innovation Solution
The system uses a cartridge with a collar that interacts with the machine to determine pressure during preparation, featuring castellations for low pressure and a solid collar for high pressure, allowing the valve to open at specific pressures without user intervention, enabling automated pressure control for various beverage and food products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If complex cartridge designs with specific internal geometries are used to achieve desired beverage quality under high pressure, then beverage preparation quality is improved, but cartridge design complexity and material specification requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cartridge design is segmented into functional zones: a collar region for pressure determination and a brewing chamber for beverage preparation. This segmentation allows the collar to handle pressure control while the brewing chamber focuses on quality, reducing overall design complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention moves pressure determination from the internal 3D geometry of the brewing chamber to the external dimensional characteristics of the collar (such as collar height and outer diameter). This dimensional shift simplifies the internal brewing chamber design while maintaining pressure control capability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If preparation parameters are preselected by the operator, then flexibility in adjusting parameters is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to manual intervention requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The cartridge collar automatically determines the pressure parameter based on its own dimensional characteristics without requiring operator input. The system serves itself by encoding pressure information in the collar geometry, which the machine automatically reads and applies during brewing.
Solution Approach 2:
The machine measures the collar dimensions and uses this feedback to automatically set the brewing pressure. This closed-loop system eliminates manual parameter selection while maintaining adaptability to different beverage types.
3Reliability
If high pressure is used for espresso preparation, then beverage quality is improved, but the requirement for complex cartridge designs and material specifications worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The cartridge is divided into a collar section for pressure control and a brewing section for quality preparation. This allows the collar to be optimized for pressure containment while the brewing chamber uses materials optimized for beverage quality, reducing overall material specification complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Different parts of the cartridge have different material requirements: the collar needs pressure-resistant properties while the brewing chamber needs food-safe and flavor-preserving properties. This local differentiation reduces the need for uniformly high-spec materials throughout the entire cartridge.
4Ease of manufacture
If a single cartridge design is used for multiple beverage types, then ease of manufacture is improved, but adaptability to different pressure requirements deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The collar dimensions are made variable (different heights and outer diameters) to dynamically adapt to different beverage pressure requirements. This dynamic parameter adjustment allows a single basic cartridge design to serve multiple beverage types with different pressure needs.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the collar parameters (height, outer diameter, presence of gaps) to encode different pressure requirements. These parameter variations allow the same cartridge manufacturing process to produce cartridges suitable for different beverages, maintaining ease of manufacture while improving adaptability.
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 solution allows for the production of beverages and food products at a range of pressures without manual setting, simplifying the machine design and user operation, as the cartridge's geometry automatically adjusts the pressure, enhancing versatility and convenience.
Implementation Method 1
The piercing means are preferably provided with at least one means to provide a liquid flow path such that when the cartridge sealing means has been pierced liquid is able to flow from an interior of the cartridge, along the piercing means and into a chamber formed by the collar the sealing means and the upper surface of the piston.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure relates to improvements in beverage/food product preparation systems and in particular to beverage/food product preparation systems having machines of the type which use pre-packaged cartridges containing beverage or food ingredients. The cartridge (30) contains one or more beverage or food ingredients for use in a machine for preparing a beverage or food product from said ingredients. The cartridge (30) includes a base (34), an outlet aperture (37) in the base (34), and a collar (38) extending from the cartridge base (34) around the outlet aperture (37). The cartridge (30) is inserted into a holding receptacle (14) of a machine the collar (38) interacts with an element (65) of the machine and the collar (38) is configured to determine the pressure in the cartridge (30) during the preparation process.