Coffee maker with features for rapid and/or multiple extraction processes, and associated systems
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coffee makers fail to combine low cost with high speed and efficient use of coffee beans while producing flavorful, non-bitter coffee, due to resource scarcity and impracticality for busy environments.
Innovation Solution
A coffee making system that utilizes multiple extractions and high pressure differentials to extract coffee from a single set of grinds, allowing for rapid brewing with less coffee required, using a brew chamber and coffee chamber configuration with a filter device and pressure differential device to control the extraction process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If multiple extractions are performed from a single set of grinds, then coffee bean usage efficiency is improved and cost is reduced, but device complexity increases due to additional chambers and pressure differential mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The brewing system is divided into multiple extraction chambers that can process coffee grinds sequentially. Each chamber performs a separate extraction cycle, allowing the same coffee grounds to be used multiple times across different chambers, thereby improving coffee bean usage efficiency while distributing the complexity across modular components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested chamber configuration where extraction chambers are arranged in series, with each chamber containing brewing components within another chamber. This nesting allows multiple extraction processes to occur in a compact arrangement, reducing overall device footprint while enabling repeated use of coffee grounds across nested chambers.
2Productivity
If high pressure differentials are used for rapid extraction, then brewing speed is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines multiple extraction chambers into a single integrated system where the pressure differential mechanism serves all chambers simultaneously. By merging the extraction processes, the patent achieves rapid brewing across multiple chambers using a single pressure application, improving overall brewing speed while distributing energy consumption across the combined system rather than requiring separate high-energy processes for each chamber.
3Manufacturing precision
If finer grinds are used for multiple extractions, then flavor extraction is improved and bitterness is reduced, but the likelihood of over-extraction and clogging increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each extraction chamber is designed with locally optimized characteristics, including varying filter pore sizes and chamber volumes tailored to the specific extraction stage. Finer grinds are processed in chambers with appropriate filter specifications that prevent clogging, while maintaining high flavor extraction efficiency. This local optimization allows the system to use fine grinds for multiple extractions without compromising reliability.
4Manufacturing precision
If long extraction processes are used to maximize flavor, then coffee quality is improved, but brewing time increases making it impractical for busy environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous extraction across multiple chambers where coffee grounds are transferred sequentially from one chamber to the next. Each chamber performs extraction simultaneously, creating a continuous process that maximizes flavor extraction without requiring sequential processing. This continuity allows long extraction processes to occur in parallel across multiple chambers, maintaining high coffee quality while reducing total brewing time.
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 system produces flavorful coffee with reduced bitterness and lower coffee bean usage, achieving efficient brewing and cost-effectiveness by using finer grinds and multiple extractions, which reduces the likelihood of bitterness and enhances flavor extraction.
Implementation Method 1
a pressure differential device (1005) configured to produce a pressure differential between the brew chamber (110) and the coffee chamber (120)
Implementation Method 2
a filter device (130) positioned between the brew chamber (110) and the coffee chamber (120)
Data Source
AI summary
Coffee makers with features for rapid and/or multiple extraction processes, and associated systems and methods, are shown. A representative method for brewing coffee includes placing ground coffee on a filter element of a brew chamber, directing heated water into the brew chamber and in contact with the ground coffee and, during a first phase, brewing coffee in the brew chamber without subjecting the coffee to a pressure differential of at least 150 torr between the brew chamber and a coffee chamber to which the brew chamber is coupled, the coffee chamber having a capacity of 200 mL or more. The representative method further includes, during a second phase, extracting the coffee from the brew chamber through the filter element and into the coffee chamber via a pressure differential of at least 150 torr between the brew chamber and the coffee chamber.