Pad with a relatively large outlet opening comprising a soluble beverage preparation product for use in a coffee machine
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coffee machine pads are prone to deformation and fluid bypass due to soft materials, leading to inconsistent beverage quality and difficulty in achieving high pressure drops, especially when preparing beverages with separate layers like cappuccinos and latte macchiato.
Innovation Solution
A coffee machine pad with a flexible first sheet and a rigid shell, featuring a large outlet opening and a fluid collecting structure, which allows for a high pressure drop and prevents bypass, enabling the preparation of beverages with visual separate layers by ensuring a secure fluid seal and uniform extraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If soft pillow-shaped pads made from filtering material are used, then the pads are easy to manufacture and flexible, but they deform under hydraulic forces, lose homogeneity, and allow fluid bypass
Solution Approach 1:
The pad is divided into multiple functional layers: a rigid support structure (grid or walls) that maintains shape, a soluble beverage ingredient layer, and filtering material layers. This segmentation allows each layer to perform its specific function - the rigid structure prevents deformation while the filtering layers enable beverage extraction, resolving the contradiction between manufacturability and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The pad combines different materials with complementary properties: rigid structural elements (plastic grid or walls) provide mechanical stability, while porous filtering materials (paper or non-woven fabric) enable fluid passage and filtration. This composite structure maintains pad shape under pressure while allowing reliable beverage preparation, overcoming the limitations of soft single-material pads.
2Reliability
If the outlet opening is made small to prevent bypass, then fluid seal is improved, but beverage flow is restricted and volume is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The outlet structure features localized flow control elements: a small outlet opening in the rigid wall provides precise fluid seal and pressure control, while the internal fluid collecting structure (channels or reservoir) distributes beverage flow efficiently. This local quality differentiation allows the small opening to maintain seal reliability without restricting overall beverage volume, as the internal structure optimizes flow paths.
3Manufacturing precision
If high pressure is applied to achieve high pressure drop, then extraction quality is improved, but soft pads deform and allow bypass
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid grid structure or walls are pre-formed to provide mechanical support before beverage preparation begins. This preliminary structural reinforcement prevents pad deformation when high pressure is applied during extraction, allowing high pressure drop to be achieved for quality extraction without compromising pad shape stability or causing bypass.
4Reliability
If manual adaptation of pad edges is required to achieve fluid seal, then sealing is improved, but operation becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid grid structure or walls provide self-aligning features that automatically position the pad correctly in the holder without manual intervention. The structured geometry ensures proper orientation and sealing contact, making the system self-servicing and eliminating the need for users to manually adapt pad edges, thus improving both reliability and ease of operation.
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 pad ensures a stable and reproducible beverage with high dry matter content and consistent taste, allowing for the preparation of complex coffee varieties like cappuccinos and latte macchiato by maintaining a high pressure drop and preventing fluid bypass.
Implementation Method 1
The first sheet and the second sheet each form a filter that allows an aqueous fluid, including water, and the beverage to pass and that forms a barrier for the beverage preparation product
Implementation Method 2
an aqueous fluid under pressure is supplied to the first sheet of the pad the aqueous fluid flows through the first sheet to the beverage preparation product
Data Source
AI summary
Pad including a covering filled with a soluble beverage preparation product. The covering comprises a flexible first sheet and a rigid shell which are connected to each other. The shell has at least one outlet opening. The pad is further equipped with a flexible second sheet that is positioned on a bottom of the shell located between the product and the shell. The first sheet and the second sheet each form a filter that allows an aqueous fluid, including water, and the beverage to pass and that forms a barrier for the product. The at least one outlet opening preferably has a diameter of a sufficient size for passing beverage substantially unrestricted.