Fermentation Ingredient Dosing with Staged Pump Supply
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fermentation and aging apparatuses face challenges in efficiently introducing and extracting ingredients, particularly fermentation accelerators, which can lead to uneven extraction rates and quality deviations in homemade beverages.
Innovation Solution
A fermentation and aging apparatus with a controller that manages a primary fluid supply operation, an idle period, and a secondary fluid supply operation to ensure accurate and complete introduction of ingredients into the fermentation container, utilizing a pump and flow rate control valve to optimize ingredient extraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a single continuous fluid supply operation is used to introduce ingredients into the fermentation container, then the process is simple and quick, but the extraction rate of fermentation accelerators is uneven and quality deviations occur
Solution Approach 1:
The fluid supply operation is divided into multiple discrete stages: a first fluid supply operation introduces fluid and ingredients into the fermentation container, followed by a second fluid supply operation that continues the introduction process. This segmentation allows different extraction conditions to be applied at different times, improving both efficiency and uniformity of ingredient extraction.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements periodic fluid supply operations with intermittent pauses between the first and second supply operations. This periodic action allows the system to maintain pressure differential for efficient extraction while preventing saturation and ensuring uniform ingredient introduction, resolving the contradiction between speed and quality.
2Productivity
If fluid supply pressure is continuously high to maximize ingredient extraction, then extraction rate improves, but quality deviations and uneven extraction occur
Solution Approach 1:
The fluid supply pressure is dynamically adjusted through controlled supply operations rather than maintained at a constant high level. The system applies pressure differentials during fluid supply operations to maximize extraction, then pauses to allow equilibrium, creating a dynamic pressure regime that improves both extraction rate and consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The first fluid supply operation performs preliminary ingredient extraction under controlled pressure, preparing the system for the second supply operation. This preliminary action ensures that ingredients are introduced systematically, preventing sudden pressure spikes that could cause uneven extraction while maintaining high overall extraction efficiency.
3Loss of time
If the pump operates continuously without interruption to supply fluid, then the process is fast, but ingredient extraction becomes uneven and quality control deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The pump operates in periodic cycles with distinct first and second fluid supply operations separated by controlled pauses. This periodic operation maintains relatively short total processing time while ensuring uniform ingredient extraction, as the pauses allow pressure equalization and prevent saturation effects that would occur with continuous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The continuous pump operation is segmented into discrete supply phases with intentional interruptions. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high productivity by minimizing pause duration while ensuring quality control through pressure differential management during each supply phase, resolving the time-quality trade-off.
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 approach maximizes the extraction rate of fermentation accelerators and minimizes quality deviations in beverages by ensuring consistent ingredient introduction, improving user satisfaction and beverage quality.
Implementation Method 1
a pump disposed in a first channel between the tank and the ingredient accommodator
Implementation Method 2
a fermentation container forming a space in which a beverage is made
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A fermentation and aging apparatus may include a tank, a fermentation container, an ingredient accommodator having at least a portion of ingredients for making a beverage accommodated therein, a pump, and a controller that controls the pump such that the portion of ingredients accommodated in the ingredient accommodator may be introduced into the fermentation container while the beverage is made. The controller may control the pump according to a primary fluid supply operation of turning on the pump to introduce fluid accommodated in the tank into the ingredient accommodator and to introduce the fluid and the portion of ingredients into the fermentation container, an operation of turning off the pump during a predetermined idle period, and a secondary fluid supply operation of turning on the pump to introduce the fluid accommodated in the tank into the ingredient accommodator and to introduce ingredients remaining in the ingredient accommodator and the fluid into the fermentation container.