WO2020245855A1

WO2020245855A1 - Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality

Info

Publication number: WO2020245855A1
Application number: PCT/IT2020/050137
Authority: WO
Inventors: Giovanni IOVINE
Original assignee: Iovine Giovanni
Priority date: 2019-06-06
Filing date: 2020-06-01
Publication date: 2020-12-10
Also published as: IT201900001734U1; WO2020245855A4

Abstract

This invention consists of a capsule for the preparation of sauces, creams and drinks in general, through a particular system of pre-infusion which allows for obtaining sauces, creams, drinks, tea and coffee with superior organoleptic properties. The purpose of this invention is to create a pre-infusion system applied to all capsule through a controlled slowing of the infusion process that allows water to interact and mix perfectly inside the capsule in order to create a mixture with superior organoleptic characteristics but that allows the creation of sauces, creams and beverages in general, starting from granules or powder or leaves.

Description

IMPROVED CAPSULE WITH PRE-INFUSION SYSTEM AND

OPERATING MODALITY

This invention consists of a capsule for the preparation of sauces, creams and beverages in general through a particular pre-infusion system that allows for obtaining sauces, creams, beverages, tea and coffee with superior organoleptic properties.

Currently, the single-dose capsule beverage system is mainly used in the world of coffee but increasingly also in the preparation of sauces, creams, beverages and tea. Capsules are, in fact, the solution that perfectly combines quality and practicality, and for this reason they have undergone significant development in recent years. In any case, beyond their apparent simplicity, capsules contain a world of technology within themselves.

In general, if the capsules are not punctured, once inserted in a special location of an automatic or semi-automatic machine, the machine ensures that the container is appropriately perforated at one or more points on top, to allow the passage of hot water under pressure that, when mixed with the granular substance present in the capsule, allows the instant preparation of the beverage.

There are therefore many variants of capsules that use, depending on their intended purpose and the machine system with which they are associated, various technical methods that allow modalities of delivery through infusion or pre-infusion systems.

Within the capsules, once the water is injected, mixing takes place with the granules present therein through immediate and rapid pre-infusion or infusion processes that limit in each case the best mixing of the granules.

Among the industrial property rights describing the different methods relating to the capsules is French patent no. 2556323, which prescribes a capsule provided, at the bottom, with a sieving grid and equipped with a cap to ensure that the granules do not leak out when it is closed. Once the capsule has been placed in the machine, after removing the cap, the pressure exerted by the water will allow the beverage to escape.

The EP1344722 patent seeks to solve the problem of the preferential flow that could be created inside the capsule, inserting into the same two pierced disks directing the mixture, allowing, such at least is the intention, for collecting the outgoing infused product, preventing the capsule from clogging. The industrial property right EP0224297 provides for the creation of a capsule that should ensure a better filtration rate of the substance produced therein, through a particular filter positioned at the bottom of the capsule, shaped like a chalice, not flat, fixed to the side walls, creating collection chambers of different sizes that are positioned on a variable number of outlet holes to better regulate the desired pressure inside the capsule.

The W02010/ 106516 patent seeks to improve the filtration of the mixture by providing for the presence inside the capsule of two filter sheets, one upper and one lower, that delimit the porous material containment zone inside the capsule, while the bottom is characterised by four rays, forming a cross with four outlet routes.

In an attempt to limit the speed of coffee infusion, the MI2009A002201 patent provides for the creation of a capsule, without edges, with the inner surface featuring extraction grooves, equidistant, with progressively increasing width and depth from top to bottom that converge on the bottom towards delivery holes and that lead to a closed lower nozzle. It was intended in this way to delay the exit of the mixture from the machine by a few seconds to allow the water and granular substance present in it to interact longer and provide a superior beverage.

To slow down the infusion phase and create a better mixture, we find patents EP2409931 and EP2385921 that use systems that in various ways attempt better wetting, dissolution, foaming and/or extraction of the mixture.

The same patent no. 202019000001174 provides for the creation of a coffee capsule that allows a programmed slowing of the infusion process through the use of filter paper and an aluminium diskette capable of breaking under pressure, both positioned in such a way as to create a double infusion chamber.

All the devices illustrated feature critical issues that can be summarised as follows: the capsules generate an immediate infusion, thus generating an instantaneous pressure drop that initially prevents homogeneous impregnation and heating of the granular or powder substance present in it at the correct infusion temperature.

In addition, the systems used inside the capsules to slow down the infusion only partially solve the problems listed above as the presence of membranes as illustrated does not allow a good infusion process as the beverage is only partially mixed, with all the negative consequences affecting the quality of the beverage .

All the aforementioned industrial property rights provide for the creation of complex capsules to be produced with multiple elements present inside them with complex shapes and expensive membranes, and sometimes, for their proper functioning, require preparatory actions for their use by an operator.

In addition, there are the Italian patents 202019000001172, 202019000001174 and 202019000001176 that in different ways regulate the pre-infusion modalities .

The purpose of this invention is to create a pre infusion system applied to a capsule that solves all the critical issues highlighted above and goes beyond the innovations of previous patents through a controlled slowing of the infusion process that allows water to interact and mix perfectly inside the capsule in order to create a mixture with superior organoleptic characteristics but that allows the creation of sauces, creams and beverages in general, starting from granules or powder or leaves. For this reason, the capsule features a series of methods that allow for achieving the intended purpose.

The capsule, in fact, is equipped, among other components, with a support, a pressure reducer, consisting of a support of plastic or of materials similar to it, that can be produced, as will be seen in its different forms and different functions, to lengthen or reduce the infusion times.

This allows, once the infusion has started, for filtering more slowly the mixture that has been created and to slow it down, restrict its output, channelling it, depending on the surface of the diskette used, in one or more directions inside the capsule .

The supports that can be used inside the capsule have, without limitation, different shapes and characteristics that, as mentioned, ensure different infusion times: in the first form the surface of the diskette will not have holes for a maximum extension of the infusion time, in the second form the surface will be microperforated, for an average slowing of the infusion time, while in the third representation the disk has a hole that allows minimum slowing of the infusion time.

Extending the time of the infusion phase in which the powder or granulate absorbs water increases the extraction of water-soluble substances present therein and allows them to remain for a longer time at high temperatures that, like proteins, would be denatured if this process did not take place, resulting in the loss of their essential organoleptic characteristics. Using these components and in the case of fixed closure of the aluminium disk, moreover, the capsule will not need any closure cap to be positioned in the lower part of the outlet channel.

The interaction of the support with the other capsule components will allow even better control of the granulate mixture and the speed of the ejection of the mixture .

This model will now be described, by way of illustration, according to a preferred embodiment thereof that is not intended to be in any way limiting, with particular reference to the figures and drawings attached, taking into account that all the embodiments used, notwithstanding their functionality, may vary in size and shape without this limiting this invention :

figure 1 shows the improved capsule in exploded mode with details of the different surfaces of the diskette acting as a pressure reducer;

figure 2 shows the improved capsule in exploded mode ;

figure 3 shows the improved capsule with the surface of the diskette closed acting as a pressure reducer, showing the flow of the mixture ;

figure 4 shows the improved capsule with the surface of the microperforated diskette acting as a pressure reducer, showing the flow of the mixture ;

figure 5 shows the improved capsule with the surface of the diskette pierced, acting as a pressure reducer, showing the flow of the mixture .

figure 6 shows an alternative version of the improved capsule with the diskette-shaped plastic support with a uniform surface resting on the teeth at the bottom.

figure 7 shows an alternative version of the improved capsule with the diskette-shaped plastic support with a microperforated surface resting on the teeth at the bottom,

figure 8 shows an alternative version of the improved capsule with the diskette-shaped plastic support with pierced surface resting on the teeth on the bottom.

The capsule is equipped at the top with a closure cap (101), fixed on the edges of the circumference (102) and which, once pierced by the machine, allows the diffusion of water inside the capsule. Water that begins to accumulate in a first empty chamber (103) created in the gap between the upper closure cap (101) and a pierced top (104), positioned in the middle of the capsule above the granulate/powder (B) fixed along its circumference (105) . The pierced top (104) can be eliminated in an alternative version. The water then, through the pierced top (104), slowly penetrates the granulate/powder, blending itself and creating the mixture. A mixture that is then further filtered and purified through a disk of filter paper/fabric (106), or of equivalent material. Filter paper (106) that can be fixed or resting along the circumference of the capsule (107) and that allows the passage of the mixture. The paper/filter (106) may be replaced by certain types of aluminium granules which slow down the filtration effect of the mixture or even eliminated .

Below the membrane (106) is placed a plastic support (108) which in alternative forms of production may have a uniform surface (109A) that does not allow the mixture/granules (B) to pass through it, a microperforated surface - with small holes or slots - (109B), allowing the mixture/granules (B) to pass through it slowly, or a surface with a single hole (109C) that allows the mixture/granules (B) to easily pass through the support. In all cases the support (108) has the function of reducing the pressure exerted by the mixture inside the capsule, allowing a slowed infusion.

The support (108) features at the base a series of teeth (110) separated discretely. The support (108) that is positioned at the bottom of the capsule in a dedicated slot (111) that keeps it well fixed and stationary and that creates a channel (112) between the support (108) and the wall (113) across which the mixture passes. Furthermore, the arrangement of the teeth (110) allows the mixture/granulate (B) , through the spaces (114), to penetrate below the support (108) and flow to the bottom of the capsule.

An additional diskette (115) of aluminium, or material with the same characteristics, fixed or resting, may be placed on the bottom of the capsule on the lower edge (116) .

The disk (115) of aluminium or materials with the same characteristics thus has the function of creating a further enclosure before the outlet chamber (117) which can be constructed, depending on the requirements and duration of the desired infusion, of variable height.

Having crossed the disk (115) the mixture thus created will continue to be mixed inside the capsule, exerting an increasing pressure on the disk (115), bending it until it breaks, carrying the well-mixed beverage into the outlet chamber (117) . This pre-infusion process will then allow a creamy beverage to escape from the nozzle (118) due to the elapsed time and the pressure exerted inside the capsule.

So the capsule, in its preferred construction as described above, will then be provided with a first chamber (103) formed by the gap between the top cap (101) and the perforated top (104) positioned in the intermediate part thereof. The mixture will then pass through a filter paper/aluminium disk (106) meeting on its path towards the outlet the plastic support (108), which, depending on its implementation, will have a variable surface (109A, 109B or 109C) that will further slow its speed by routing it to the channel (112) . The mixture/granulate (B) accumulates in the watertight chamber (116) where it will continue to be mixed, it will push on the fixed aluminium disk (115) until it breaks it, pushing the mixture into the outlet chamber (112) and consequently to the exterior. The same process will occur where a soluble solution is inserted inside the capsule so that, in a second form of representation, depending on the slowing of the infusion time to be achieved, it will be possible to eliminate the support (108) . In addition, if one wants to make beverages from powder or water-soluble products, it is possible to remove the filter paper disk (106), leaving the disk (108) at the bottom of the capsule (108) . In this way, the filter paper not being required, the soluble material inside the watertight chamber, due to the slowed pre-infusion, will create a beverage with superior organoleptic characteristics .

In addition, the disk (115), depending on the infusion times desired, can be made alternatively with a downward deformation or with an invitation to cut.

Notwithstanding the technical and functional characteristics of the surface of the support (108), in an alternative form (fig. 6, 7 and 8) it is possible to achieve the same technical result by creating the teeth (110) on the bottom of the capsule and resting on the aforementioned teeth the support (108) without the presence of the teeth (110) .

This invention has been described in relation to its functionalities by way of illustration, but is not limited to them, and it is therefore understood that variations and/or modifications, including in relation to the shapes, dimensions and measurements of the invention, as well as the arrangement of the components that make it up, can be made without losing the protective envelope of the same.

Claims

1. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, featuring:

a) a gap created between the top closure cap (101) and a pierced top (104), fixed along the circumference (105) and positioned above the granulate/powder (B) ; b) a diskette (106) of filter paper/ fabric, or material with the same characteristics;

c) a plastic support (108) with a series of teeth (110) separated discretely at the base that is positioned at the bottom of the capsule in a special slot (111) that keeps it well fixed and stationary;

(d) a diskette (115) of aluminium, or material having the same characteristics;

e) an output chamber of variable height positioned below the diskette (115) .

2. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claim 1), wherein the disk of filter paper/fabric (106), or material with the same characteristics, is fixed along the circumference of the capsule (107) .

3. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claim 1), wherein, in an alternative embodiment, the disk (106) of filter paper/ fabric, or material having the same characteristics, rests along the circumference of the capsule (107) .

4. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claim 1), wherein the plastic support (108), in a first embodiment, has a uniform surface (109A) so as to allow the granulate/mixture (B) to pass through it very slowly.

5. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claims 1) and 4), wherein the plastic support (108), in a second embodiment, has a microperforated surface (109B) so as to allow the granulate/mixture (B) to pass through it slowly.

6. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claim 1) and 4), wherein the plastic support (108), in a third embodiment, has a pierced surface (109C) so as to allow the granulate/mixture (B) to pass through it easily.

7. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claim 1), wherein the diskette (115) in aluminium or material having the same characteristics, is fixed onto the lower edge

(116) of the capsule.

8. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claims 1) and 7), wherein the diskette (115) rests on the lower edge (116) of the capsule.

9. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claims 1), 4), 5) and 6), in an alternative embodiment, the teeth (110) are positioned on the bottom of the capsule and the support (108), devoid of teeth, rests on them.

10. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in claims above, wherein in an alternative embodiment, alternatively or cumulatively, the perforated top (104) and the paper/ filter/aluminium diskette (106) can be eliminated .

11. Improved capsule with pre-infusion system and operating modality, as in previous claims, wherein the machine, having pierced the upper cap (101) will inject water into the capsule, passing through the pierced top (104) and reaching the granulate (B) to create the mixture that will then pass through the disk (106) and, having accumulated, will push on the support (108), alternatively characterized by the surfaces (109A, 109B and 109C) and then accumulate and push on the disk (115) until it breaks, thus carrying the well-dissolved and emulsified mixture to an outlet chamber (117) and then to the exterior through the outlet channel (118) .