Frozen Beverage Capsule Packaging for Freshness and Variable Dilution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current machine-based coffee brewing systems face issues with maintaining freshness, versatility in beverage potency and serving sizes, and recycling due to the use of dry solid or powder-based packaging, which leads to oxidation of flavor compounds, inefficient use of materials, and inconvenience in recycling.
Innovation Solution
A receptacle configured for insertion into an apparatus, containing frozen content made from coffee or tea extracts, packaged in a gas-impermeable, recyclable material, which can be perforated to allow injection of a heated liquid for melting and dilution, enabling the creation of a consumable liquid beverage with desired characteristics such as flavor, potency, and texture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If dry solid or powder-based packaging is used in machine-based brewing systems, then convenience and automation are improved, but freshness is lost due to oxidation of flavor compounds
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of the coffee from dry solid/powder to frozen liquid concentrate. This parameter change allows the coffee to be sealed in a frozen state, preventing oxidation, and then melted on-demand in the brewing system. The frozen state acts as a preservation mechanism that maintains freshness while still enabling convenient automated brewing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates an oxygen-barrier environment by sealing the coffee in a frozen state within a receptacle. The frozen liquid form, combined with the sealed receptacle design, effectively creates an inert-like environment that prevents oxygen contact and oxidation, thereby preserving flavor compounds while maintaining convenience.
2Ease of operation
If dry solid or powder-based packaging is used, then ease of operation is improved, but recycling becomes difficult due to contamination with coffee grounds and filters
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the filter and coffee grounds from the brewing system by using a frozen liquid concentrate that can be directly dispensed. This eliminates the contaminated components (filters and spent grounds) that normally prevent recycling, while maintaining the convenience of single-serving capsules.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a disposable receptacle design where the entire capsule is discarded after use. Since the coffee is already in liquid concentrate form frozen in the capsule, no additional filters or grounds remain to contaminate the receptacle, making it suitable for recycling programs despite being disposable.
3Productivity
If a finite sized package of dry solids is used, then productivity is improved through single-serving convenience, but versatility in beverage potency and serving sizes is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the beverage system dynamic by allowing variable dilution of the frozen liquid concentrate. The brewing system can adjust the amount of water added to the melted concentrate, enabling a single package to produce multiple serving sizes and potencies. This dynamic adjustment capability provides versatility while maintaining single-serving convenience.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables parameter changes in beverage concentration and volume by controlling the dilution ratio of the frozen concentrate. A single package of concentrated frozen liquid can be diluted to different extents to create various serving sizes and potencies, providing adaptability without sacrificing the efficiency of single-serving packaging.
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 solution provides a convenient and consistent method for producing high-quality beverages with desired taste, strength, volume, and texture, while being environmentally friendly by allowing for recycling of the packaging.
Implementation Method 1
facilitate the melting and/or diluting of the frozen contents
Implementation Method 2
packaged in a gas-impermeable, recyclable material
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for creating a consumable liquid food or beverage product from frozen contents. A container is configured for insertion into an apparatus. The container includes a frozen content, a receptacle defining an opening and a cavity for receiving and storing the frozen content, and a closure formed over the opening of the receptacle for sealing the frozen content within the cavity of the receptacle. The receptacle is perforable, and the container is configured for insertion into an apparatus that is configured to create a consumable liquid beverage from the frozen content within the container, such that the frozen content is extracted through a perforation created in the receptacle by the apparatus.