Coffee machine
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional coffee machines in the HORECA sector are bulky, difficult to maintain, and lack modularity, leading to operational inefficiencies and prolonged downtime due to their integrated and compact design.
Innovation Solution
The coffee machine design separates the boiler and water supply components from the machine body, allowing them to be placed externally, with a removable and interchangeable supplying unit that simplifies maintenance and replacement, reducing the machine's size and weight while enabling easy access for maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the boiler and water supply components are integrated into the machine body, then the machine structure is compact and unified, but the machine dimensions become bulky and maintenance operations become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The coffee machine is divided into separate functional modules: the machine body housing the delivering assembly and the external supplying unit housing the boiler and pump. This segmentation allows each component to be independently accessed, maintained, and replaced without disassembling the entire machine, thereby resolving the contradiction between structural integration and maintenance accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The boiler and water supply pump are extracted from the machine body and placed in an external supplying unit. This extraction eliminates the need for operators to work in confined spaces within the machine body, making maintenance operations easier while preserving the compactness of the machine body itself.
2Quantity of substance
If the boiler volume is increased to support multiple delivering assemblies, then the water supply capacity is sufficient, but the machine dimensions become larger and more bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The supplying unit is positioned externally beneath the working surface rather than integrating the boiler within the machine body. This dimensional repositioning allows the boiler volume to be increased to support multiple delivering assemblies without increasing the footprint or visual bulk of the machine body, as the expanded capacity resides in a separate spatial dimension.
3Device complexity
If all machine components are integrated in a single block, then the machine structure is simplified, but the time required for maintenance and replacement operations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The supplying unit is designed with removable and interchangeable components, including the boiler and pump assembly, which can be quickly detached and replaced. This dynamic design allows maintenance operations to be performed rapidly by simply swapping out the supplying unit or its components, dramatically reducing maintenance downtime while keeping the overall machine structure relatively simple.
4Volume of stationary object
If the machine body is reduced in dimensions, then the machine is more compact and space-efficient, but access to internal components for maintenance becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The components requiring frequent maintenance (boiler, pump, gaskets, ducts) are extracted from the machine body and placed in the external supplying unit. This extraction maintains a compact machine body while ensuring that all maintenance-critical components are easily accessible in the external unit, eliminating the need to work in confined spaces within the reduced-size machine body.
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 design reduces the machine's dimensions, facilitates quick maintenance and component replacement, and allows for efficient operation with minimal downtime, even by unskilled users, enhancing productivity and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
The boiler is substantially a tank provided with usually electric heating means
Implementation Method 2
a water distribution pump supplying the water drawn from the boiler to the delivering assembly, for example at a pressure of about 8-9 bars
Implementation Method 3
The delivering assemblies are arranged such as to protrude above the supporting base, so that the delivered coffee falls in the demitasses by gravity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2A
AI summary
A coffee machine (100), particularly suitable to be used in catering establishments or the like, is described, comprising a machine body (10) provided with a delivering assembly (30) for delivering coffee, at least one boiler (20) designed to heat the water up to the working temperature and means (25) for drawing water from the boiler (20) and supplying the same to the delivering assembly (30). The boiler (20) is arranged outside of the machine body (10) and remotely therefrom such that the overall dimensions on the working surface are considerably reduced and a simple replacement or interchangeability of the various components is allowed.