Rigid-Shell Coffee Pad for Bypass-Free High-Flow Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing coffee machine pads face issues with shape retention under mechanical or hydraulic forces, leading to potential bypass effects and inconsistent beverage quality, particularly when preparing diverse coffee varieties like cappuccinos and latte macchiato, due to the need for precise placement and risk of crumpling or folding during use.
Innovation Solution
A coffee machine pad featuring a flexible first sheet and a rigid shell with a fluid collecting structure, where the sheets form a permeable filter barrier, ensuring the pad retains its shape and maintains a consistent coffee bed distribution, with a large outlet opening for unrestricted beverage flow and a dynamic seal to prevent bypass, allowing for precise control over beverage properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a flexible pad is used without a rigid shell, then the pad is easier to manufacture and simpler in structure, but the pad loses shape retention and allows bypass effects
Solution Approach 1:
The pad combines a flexible outer covering with an inner rigid form-retaining shell, creating a composite structure that integrates both flexibility and rigidity. The rigid shell maintains the coffee bed shape and prevents bypass, while the flexible covering allows easy placement and removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The pad uses a flexible outer shell that can deform during placement but contains a rigid inner structure for shape retention. This flexible-rigid combination allows the pad to be easily inserted while maintaining its functional shape during brewing.
2Manufacturing precision
If the outlet opening is small, then the beverage flow is restricted and extraction is improved, but the beverage volume is limited and flow rate is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The pad implements different outlet opening sizes at different locations: a small central outlet for controlled extraction and larger peripheral outlets for increased beverage volume. This local variation in opening size allows simultaneous optimization of extraction quality and productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The outlet structure is segmented into multiple openings of different sizes rather than a single opening. This segmentation allows independent optimization of flow control and volume output, with the small central opening providing precise extraction control and larger peripheral openings increasing overall beverage volume.
3Manufacturing precision
If the pad is manually adapted to the holder, then the placement precision is improved, but the ease of operation is reduced and user error increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pad's rigid shell provides self-aligning geometric features that automatically guide correct placement in the holder without requiring manual adjustment. The holder's guide structures work with the pad's shell to ensure proper positioning, eliminating the need for user intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The pad and holder are designed with pre-configured geometric compatibility features that prevent incorrect placement before the user can make an error. The rigid shell's shape and the holder's receiving structures are matched to ensure only correct orientation fits, preventing crumpling or folding.
4Reliability
If a rigid shell is added to the pad, then shape retention is improved and bypass is prevented, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The pad structure is segmented into distinct functional components: a flexible outer covering, a rigid form-retaining shell, and an inner coffee bed container. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured separately using appropriate processes and then assembled, reducing overall manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The pad uses a flexible outer shell that encapsulates the rigid inner structure. This flexible-rigid combination allows the rigid shell to provide shape retention while the flexible covering maintains manufacturability and simplicity, reducing the overall complexity burden of the rigid component.
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 consistent beverage quality and expanded coffee variety options by maintaining shape integrity, preventing bypass effects, and allowing for precise control over beverage properties, enabling the preparation of a larger volume of coffee with desired strength and intensity.
Implementation Method 1
the flexible first sheet and the second sheet each form a filter permeable to a fluid such as water and beverage which can pass and that forms a barrier for the beverage preparation product
Implementation Method 2
in a bottom of the shell there is provided a fluid collecting structure, such as channels that are in fluid connection with the outlet
Implementation Method 3
a dynamic seal to prevent bypass
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3
AI summary
Pad (1) including a covering filled with an extractable beverage preparation product. The covering comprises a flexible first sheet (8) and a rigid shell (10) which are connected to each other. The shell has at least one outlet opening (12). The pad is further equipped with a flexible second sheet (22) that is positioned on a bottom of the shell located between the product (6) 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 the beverage substantially unrestricted.