Super-Automatic Espresso Maker With Separate Grinding and Brewing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Super-automatic espresso coffee makers fail to produce coffee of the same quality as manual machines due to inconsistent brewing conditions and residual coffee residue mixing with freshly ground coffee, leading to suboptimal brewing results.
Innovation Solution
A super-automatic coffee maker design featuring a vertically movable piston with a filter-holder element and a grinder integrated into the machine, allowing for precise control over coffee grinding and brewing pressure, along with an electronic control unit to manage the brewing process, ensuring consistent quality and cleanliness between brewing cycles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a super-automatic coffee maker uses a vertically sliding piston with a single cup-shaped container for grinding and brewing, then continuous automatic coffee preparation is enabled, but residual coffee residue mixes with freshly ground coffee leading to suboptimal brewing quality
Solution Approach 1:
The single cup-shaped container is divided into two separate containers: a first cup-shaped container for grinding coffee beans and a second cup-shaped container for brewing. This segmentation prevents mixing of residual coffee with freshly ground coffee, ensuring consistent brewing quality while maintaining continuous automatic operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The brewing function is extracted from the grinding container and placed in a separate second cup-shaped container. The piston is modified to have a first head for pressing coffee in the first container and a second head for brewing in the second container, separating the grinding and brewing processes to eliminate contamination from residual coffee.
2Ease of operation
If a super-automatic coffee maker uses a fixed filter-holder element, then ease of operation is improved, but the ability to maintain optimal brewing conditions for different coffee types is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The filter-holder element is made movable relative to the piston, allowing it to be positioned at different heights. This enables adjustment of the filter-holder position to accommodate different coffee types and brewing requirements while maintaining ease of operation through a simple movable design rather than complex mechanisms.
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
Enables continuous production of high-quality espresso coffee by ensuring precise grinding and brewing conditions, maintaining cleanliness between cycles, and allowing for selection of coffee quantity and type, thus matching the quality of manual machines.
Implementation Method 1
a water circulation circuit, supplied by mains water and attached at least to one heating boiler for the production of hot water
Implementation Method 2
the water heated in the boiler or in the exchanger to the pre-set and constant temperature is made to circulate by means of the circulation circuit
Implementation Method 3
the piston is automatically and gradually lowered towards the cup containing the dose of ground coffee, so that, when the piston is in the completely lowered position, the dose of ground coffee is pressed against a corresponding striking block, with constant pressure
Implementation Method 4
by means of the piston with the dose of coffee, the hot water is introduced through automatic opening of a solenoid valve inserted in the hot water pipes, with consequent passage of the hot water through the ground coffee and obtaining of a cup of espresso coffee
Data Source
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AI summary
Super-automatic coffee maker for the preparation of espresso coffee continuously and with the possibility of selecting the quantity and type of espresso coffee desired, thus obtaining an espresso coffee of high quality and flavour. Machine comprising a vertical piston (2) adapted to press the coffee, ground in a grinder, into collection and brewing means (3), applicable in a removable way in the lower part of the coffee maker, in an underlying position and coinciding with said piston (2), to determine the espresso coffee which is then supplied through said means. At the end of each brewing, said collection and brewing means (3) are removed and the used pod contained in them is then ejected, and they are cleaned manually, with subsequent application of said means in the lower part of the machine, to perform a subsequent operating cycle.