WO2011080022A1

WO2011080022A1 - Capsule for the preparation of a beverage

Info

Publication number: WO2011080022A1
Application number: PCT/EP2010/068736
Authority: WO
Inventors: Francesco Illy
Original assignee: Francesco Illy
Priority date: 2009-12-16
Filing date: 2010-12-02
Publication date: 2011-07-07
Also published as: ITMI20092201A1; IT1396947B1

Abstract

A capsule for the preparation of a beverage by introducing a liquid comprises a body (1) containing a product from which the beverage is extracted, the body (1) being provided on its internal surface with extraction grooves (6), having a width smaller than the average grain size of the product contained therein, that converge to the bottom towards delivery holes (8) that lead to a bottom nozzle (2). In such a capsule the extracting liquid need not pass through the whole product from top to bottom, since the extraction takes place in a substantially radial direction over the whole internal surface of the body (1) with a shorter path of the liquid, and this results in a much more homogeneous extraction of the beverage, a higher beverage quality and a greater product yield.

Description

CAPSULE FOR THE PREPARATION OF A BEVERAGE

The present invention relates to a capsule for the preparation of a beverage, typically coffee, and in particular to a capsule provided with extraction grooves on its internal surface. Specific reference will be made hereafter to a capsule containing ground coffee for the preparation of an espresso coffee, but it is clear that what is being said is applicable also when the capsule is intended for the preparation of a similar beverage (e.g. long coffee, tea, chocolate, etc.) and therefore the product it contains is different (e.g. soluble coffee, tea powder, chocolate powder, etc.).

Many types of capsules to be used in coffee machines are known in the art since a long time, and one of the most common capsules still widely in use is the capsule described in US patent No.4.136.202 granted in 1979. This capsule essentially consists of a frustoconical aluminium body with a closed dome top and an open base provided with a rim on which there is secured, by pinching or heat-sealing, an aluminium membrane that closes the capsule and is provided with weakening lines for a controlled opening. If the product contained in the capsule is not completely soluble, as in the case of ground coffee, there is also provided a filter arranged on the inside of the membrane, said filter having an adequate passage area for a correct extraction of the beverage.

To prepare the beverage, the capsule is introduced in a correspondingly shaped housing and locked therein by a locking member that leaves the capsule bottom membrane uncovered. Then the capsule is pierced at the top, preferably at a recess with a weakened bottom, by an injecting member that injects in the capsule a pressurised liquid, typically hot water, for the extraction of the beverage. The pressure of the liquid causes first a deformation and then the rupture of the membrane along the weakening lines whereby the beverage extracted by the liquid when passing through the product can flow down into a collecting vessel.

Other simpler versions of this type of capsule were later proposed, for example in EP 0512468 that shows a frustoconical capsule with a flat top and the membrane without filter and weakening lines to obtain a cheaper capsule. However, both in the original version and in the simplified one, this type of capsule has various drawbacks in manufacturing and use. A first drawback in manufacturing stems from the fact that the structure of the capsule body is not strong enough to withstand the internal pressure of the liquid during the beverage extraction phase, whereby it must be supported by the housing that to this purpose presents a correspondingly shaped seat. As a consequence, each housing can receive only a certain type of capsule and if the shape and/or size of the capsule changes, e.g. according to the nature and/or amount of the product contained therein, it is necessary to change also the corresponding housing.

A second drawback of the same kind results from the presence of the corner, between the side wall and the top, that is a point of concentration of structural stress when the capsule is pressurised. The presence of said corner therefore requires the use of a larger amount of material to obtain a capsule with a thickness sufficient to resist the stress, which means a more expensive capsule and an increse in waste.

A further drawback of this known capsule structure is due to the need of having an adequate extraction surface at the bottom, whether the filter be present or not, whereby the diameter of the capsule can not reach below a certain threshold.

A first drawback in use consists in the beverage extraction mode with the liquid that has to pass through the whole product from top to bottom. This means that as the liquid flows down through the capsule it is enriched in various substances and flavors that it extracts from the product, whereby its extracting capacity is progressively reduced. In other words, the portion of product at the top of the capsule is crossed by pure liquid, whereas the portion of product at the bottom of the capsule is crossed by a liquid that has already partially turned into the beverage meant to obtain and therefore said bottom portion is not fully exploited. This results in a waste of product and a nonuniform extraction of the beverage.

A second drawback in use derives from the fact that the opening of the capsule, i.e. the rupture of the membrane, is caused by the pressure of the extracting liquid but in turn the extraction of the beverage in terms of substances and flavors extracted from the product is affected by the pressure at which it is carried out. It is therefore difficult to achieve a perfect repeatability of the extraction process since the membrane rupture pressure may change depending on the membrane manufacturing tolerances and/or possible imperfections in the coupling with the capsule rim. Moreover, the membrane can rupture in an uncontrolled manner or only partially, giving rise to problems in the delivery of the beverage such as spurts or lateral pouring.

EP 1849718 discloses a capsule containing a preparation for beverages having a conventional cylindrical shape with a lateral wall externally formed by alternating grooves and ribs, said elements being intended to facilitate the flow of the extracting liquid through the capsule. The longitudinal vertical notches formed in the internal wall in correspondence with the external ribs define portions of the capsule inside which part of the ground coffee is received. This means that said notches are very large and are unsuitable to perform either an extracting function or even their intended function since the presence of the ground coffee clearly hinders the flow of the liquid, whereby also such a capsule retains substantially all of the drawbacks explained above.

Therefore the object of the present invention is to provide a capsule which overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks.

This object is achieved by means of a capsule provided on its internal surface with extraction grooves, preferably having a width smaller than the average grain size of the product contained therein, that converge to the bottom towards delivery holes that lead to a bottom nozzle preferably closed by a membrane that can be removed prior to the extraction of the beverage. Other advantageous features are disclosed in the dependent claims, in particular a goblet-shaped body with a continuous, curved cornerless surface.

A first manufacturing advantage of the present capsule is the greater freedom of shape and size since the extraction surface extends over its internal side wall rather than at the bottom, whereby a given area of the extraction surface is obtained with a smaller capsule. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to have a bottom with a minimum diameter the capsule may take a narrower and sleeker shape, and it can be easily changed according to the nature and/or amount of the product it is intended to contain.

A second manufacturing advantage in the above-mentioned embodiment with a goblet-shaped body is that of not having points of stress concentration whereby the body structure can withstand the stress of the extraction process without external support from a correspondingly shaped housing. As a consequence, the housing can be unified for different types of capsules that share only the shape of the top portion where the extracting liquid is injected. Moreover, the optimal distribution of the stress allows to manufacture the body with the minimum required amount of material thus resulting in lower costs and smaller amounts of waste.

A first advantage in use of the capsule according to the present invention stems form the fact that the extracting liquid need not pass through the whole product from top to bottom, since the extraction takes place in a substantially radial direction over the whole internal surface of the capsule provided with grooves and with a shorter path of the liquid. This results in a much more homogeneous extraction of the beverage since each portion of the product is crossed substantially only by pure liquid, which means a higher beverage quality and a greater product yield (i.e. using a smaller amount of product to obtain the same amount of beverage).

A second advantage in use of this capsule is given by the high repeatability of the extraction process, since the extraction parameters are not affected by a variable factor such as the rupture of the bottom membrane which on the contrary is removed prior to carrying out the process, or is totally absent if the capsule is in turn packaged in an external wrapper. In this way, also the possible beverage delivery problems such as spurts or lateral pourings caused by an irregular rupture of the membrane are prevented.

These and other advantages and characteristics of the capsule according to the present invention will be clear to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof, with reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

Fig.l is a bottom perspective view of the capsule complete with top and bottom protective membranes;

Fig.2 is a top perspective view of the capsule when empty and without the protective membranes;

Fig.3 is an elevational sectional view of the capsule of Fig.2; and

Fig.4 is a top plan view of the capsule of Fig.2.

Referring to said figures, there is seen that a capsule according to the present invention consists of a body 1, preferably goblet-shaped, that has a bottom delivery nozzle 2 and a peripheral projecting rim 3 along its top opening. The body 1 is sealed at the top by a first protective membrane 4 sealed along rim 3 and, preferably, also by a second protective membrane 5 that closes the bottom of nozzle 2 but could also be absent or replaced by a plug integral with body 1. These membranes 4, 5 are secured on body 1 typically by gluing or heat-sealing and preferably have a pull-tab that makes removal easy for the user. Specifically, the bottom membrane 5 should be removed before use and in any case is preferably provided with weakening lines to allow an easy rupturing thereof by the beverage in case the user forgets to remove it. On the contrary, the top membrane 4 must not be removed before use because it serves to prevent a backflow of the extracting liquid towards the machine using the capsule; after use it can be removed for a convenient separation of the components of the exhausted capsule (coffee, body 1 and membrane 4 itself) at the time of disposal.

As clearly shown in figures 2 to 4, the internal surface of body 1 is provided with a plurality of equally spaced vertical grooves 6 extending from the top rim 3 to the bottom nozzle 2. These grooves 6 can be interrupted close to the bottom of body 1 by a step 7 that acts as a support region for a filter suitable to prevent particles of the product contained in the capsule from clogging holes 8 formed at the bottom end of grooves 6 to put the inside of body 1 in communication with the delivery nozzle 2.

The filter could also extend upwards along the wall to cover grooves 6 in case their width would be such as to allow the penetration of grains of product, yet while remaining always under 2 mm. In such an instance the extraction would take place through the filter and grooves 6 would be used to convey the beverage towards the delivery nozzle 2. It should be noted, however, that the presence of the filter, and therefore of step 7, may be required or not depending on the type of product contained in the capsule and/or on the width of grooves 6.

In fact, as mentioned above, the width of grooves 6 is preferably smaller than the average grain size of the product contained in the capsule such that it is possible to carry out the extraction of the beverage directly into grooves 6 even without the filter. In the case of ground coffee the average grain size corresponds to about 0,40 mm, whereby in said case grooves 6 have a width preferably of 0,20 mm but more generally said width may range from 0,05 mm to 0,30 mm. Although grooves 6 are depicted in the figures with a constant width, it would also be possible to make them with a width progressively increasing from top to bottom to facilitate the downflow of the beverage extracted in the top portion of body 1 which adds up to that extracted in the bottom portion.

To this purpose it is also possible to act on the depth of grooves 6, which in fact in Fig.3 are depicted with a depth progressively increasing from top to bottom. Said depth indicatively changes from a value equal to the width to a value three times the width, namely in the present case between 0,20 mm and 0,60 mm, but more generally said depth may range from 0,05 mm to 0,80 mm.

It should be noted that since body 1 is usually not filled with product up to the brim, also to prevent problems in sealing the top membrane 4, and since the liquid is in any case injected lower than the top rim 3, grooves 6 could also have an initial depth and/or width that is substantially nothing, i.e. they could start below rim 3, even at a distance of 10-15 mm.

Thanks to the absence of corners, body 1 can be advantageously manufactured by molding a rigid plastic material at a minimum cost but nothing prevents the adoption of other shapes different from the above-described goblet shape, possibly even with corners as in the conventional frustoconical shape. It should also be noted that the use of a rigid plastic material allows to achieve an effective oxygen barrier effect such as not to require a further external wrapper nor the use of aluminium for the capsule body, as occurred in conventional capsules.

It is clear that the above-described and illustrated embodiment of the capsule according to the invention is just an example susceptible of various modifications. In particular, the number, shape, size and arrangement of grooves 6 can freely change according to manufacturing needs, for example by making them oblique or in a spiral to increase the area of the extraction surface without changing the capsule height.

Similarly, also the number, shape, size and arrangement of holes 8 can change according to grooves 6 and nozzle 2 could also be shaped with a lateral outlet or even provided with two lateral outlets in the case of a capsule containing a double dose of product for the simultaneous delivery of two beverages to two adjacent vessels.

Claims

1. Capsule comprising a body (1) containing a product for the preparation of a beverage by introducing a liquid for the extraction of said beverage, wherein said body (1) is provided on its internal surface with grooves (6) having a width smaller than 2 mm.

2. Capsule according to claim 1, wherein the grooves (6) have a width smaller than an average grain size of the product contained therein.

3. Capsule according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the body (1) comprises a bottom nozzle (2) and delivery holes (8) that lead to said bottom nozzle (2), the grooves (6) converging to the bottom of the body (1) towards said delivery holes (8).

4. Capsule according to claim 3, further comprising a removable membrane (5) closing the bottom nozzle (2), said membrane (5) being preferably provided with weakening lines.

5. Capsule according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the body (1) has a cornerless shape.

6. Capsule according to the preceding claim, wherein the body (1) is goblet- shaped.

7. Capsule according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the grooves (6) are equally spaced and identical to each other.

8. Capsule according to any of claims 3 to 7, wherein the grooves (6) extend from a top edge (3) of the body (1) to the bottom nozzle (2).

9. Capsule according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the grooves (6) have a width and/or a depth progressively increasing from top to bottom of the body (1).

10. Capsule according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the grooves (6) have a width between 0,05 mm and 0,30 mm, preferably 0,20 mm.

11. Capsule according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the grooves (6) have a depth between 0,05 mm and 0,80 mm, preferably 0,60 mm.

12. Capsule according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a step (7) interrupting the grooves (6) close to the bottom of the body (1), said step (7) acting as a support region for a filter.

13. Capsule according to any of the preceding claims, wherein it further includes a filter that covers the delivery holes (8) and/or the grooves (6).

14. Capsule comprising a body (1) adapted to contain a product for the preparation of a beverage by introducing a liquid for the extraction of said beverage, wherein said body (1) is provided on its internal surface with grooves (6) and comprises a bottom nozzle (2) and delivery holes (8) that lead to said bottom nozzle (2), said grooves (6) converging to the bottom of the body (1) towards said delivery holes (8).

15. Capsule according to claim 14, wherein the grooves (6) have a width between 0,05 mm and 0,30 mm, preferably 0,20 mm, and have a depth between 0,05 mm and 0,80 mm, preferably 0,60 mm.