NZ530769A

NZ530769A - Sealed flexible cartridge

Info

Publication number: NZ530769A
Application number: NZ530769A
Authority: NZ
Inventors: Alfred Yoakim; Petr Masek
Original assignee: Nestle Sa
Priority date: 2001-06-28
Filing date: 2002-05-07
Publication date: 2006-12-22
Also published as: TW590966B; WO2003002423A1; EP1273528B1; NO20035734L; ATE310683T1; US20040115310A1; CA2450701A1; ZA200400653B; DE60115221D1; CN1520372A; RU2004102208A; JP3896114B2; DK1273528T3; RU2291092C2; CN1520372B; DE60115221T2; EP1273528A1; MXPA03011894A; AR034662A1; ES2252113T3

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sealed flexible cartridge, designed to be extracted under pressure, containing a beverage-forming substance for the preparation of a beverage. The cartridge has first and second sheets of circular, oval or polygonal shape which leave between them a space for the substance and are welded together around their periphery. The first sheet is made of a material chosen from filter paper, a non-woven material and a semi-rigid material and the second sheet is made of a material chosen from filter paper, a non-woven material and a composite. The first sheet is such that it allows water at atmospheric pressure to pass through it or by piercing and the second sheet is such that it allows water to pass through it only if an overpressure of between 0.1 and 3 bar is achieved during extraction from the cartridge.

Description

<div class="application article clearfix" id="description"> 530769 Sealed flexible cartridge The present invention relates to a sealed flexible 5 cartridge, designed to be extracted under pressure, containing a substance for the preparation of a beverage chosen from roasted and ground coffee, soluble coffee, a mixture of ground coffee and soluble coffee, a chocolate product or any other dehydrated consumable 10 substance, consisting of a first and a second sheet of circular, oval or polygonal shape which leave between them a space for the substance and are welded together around their periphery, the first sheet being made of a material chosen from filter paper, a non-woven and a 15 semi-rigid material and the second sheet being made of a material chosen from filter paper, a non-woven and a composite. There are already on the market sealed cartridges which 20 open up owing to the effect of the rise in pressure. Patent EP 512 468 relates to such a cartridge: the problem with these cartridges is that they require a pointed extraction device to pierce the top of the cartridge and recessed and raised elements to allow the 25 bottom of the cartridge to be opened and thus allow the coffee to flow into the cup. There are also cartridges made of filter paper such as that forming the subject of Patent EP 272 432: the problem with these cartridges is that the water runs too quickly onto the bed of 30 coffee, without a large rise in pressure, resulting in a coffee without a good quantity of foam remaining thereon. 35 40 It is an object of the present invention to make available to the user a cartridge requiring for its extraction a less expensive and simpler device which nevertheless gives a coffee with a good amount of good-quality foam remaining. This object should kj.a_.read, intellectual property office of n.z. - 7 AUS 2006 RECEIVED -2- disjunctively with the further object of at least providing a useful alternative to known cartridges. 5 The present invention relates to a sealed cartridge comprising first and second sheet materials joined to form a space there between, and a beverage-forming substance for preparing a beverage located in the space 10 between the sheets, with the first material designed to admit water into the cartridge for extraction of the beverage from the beverage-forming substance, and the second material having properties to retain the water or beverage in the cartridge until an overpressure of 15 between 0.1 to 3 bar is achieved, at which overpressure the second material will allow the extracted beverage to exit the cartridge, wherein the first sheet material is selected from the group consisting of paper, a non-woven fiber, prescored plastic material and 20 combinations thereof and wherein the second sheet is selected from the group consisting of filter paper, non-woven fiber material, prescored plastic material and combinations thereof having a sufficiently tight mesh to retain water or beverage in the cartridge until 25 the overpressure is reached and allows the beverage to pass through it by effect of the fluid overpressure alone when the overpressure of between 0.1 to 3 bar is reached, thus resulting in a delay effect in the passage of the beverage through the second sheet after 30 water has been admitted into the capsule. The present invention therefore makes available a cartridge which is not homogeneous in terms of the material surrounding the substance to be extracted, 35 namely between the first and second sheet. The second sheet must retain the water so that the said water has time to wet and swell the coffee grains: this delay effect will give good extraction of the coffee and a intellectual property 40 | office of n.z. " 7 AUG 200$ RECEIVED -3- good foam. The duration of the delay effect will depend on the water feed pump, that is to say it will depend 5 on what the pressure rise in the cartridge will be. Normally, the delay effect for an overpressure of 1-3 bar is of the order of one second. Of course, it will be necessary nevertheless to provide a support plate under the second sheet of the cartridge during 10 extraction, on account of the rise in pressure. If the cartridge contains coffee, this is roasted and ground coffee either simply placed in the cartridge or compacted. The amount of coffee present may vary 15 between 5 and 10 g. If the first sheet is made of filter paper or a non-woven, the water will flow into the bed of coffee in the cartridge simply by gravity. On the other hand, if 20 the first sheet is made of a semi-rigid material, a piercing means will be required to open the said first sheet, for example with a device according to Patent EP 242 556. In the case of filter paper, a paper having a grammage of 15 to 30 g/m2 and a thickness of between 25 0.1 and 1 mm is used. In the case of a non-woven. 30 35 40 (Followed by page 3a) intellectual property office of n.z. - 7 AUG 2006 EECEIVEO -3a- polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate or polyurethane with a grammage of between 20 and 100 g/m2 is used. In the case of a semi-rigid material, 5 aluminium with a thickness of 20 to 100 microns, pure or multi-layer plastic optionally with an oxygen barrier layer, such as EVOH or PVDC, a multi-layer film such as cardboard, aluminium, plastic or cardboard or plastic optionally with an oxygen barrier layer such as 10 EVOH or PVDC is used. In a first embodiment, the second sheet comprises weakened regions which open when the pressure in the cartridge reaches a value of between 0.1 and 3 bar. The 15 expression "weakened regions" is understood to mean prescored regions. These may also be filter paper, non-woven or even plastic sheet. In a second embodiment, the second sheet is made of 20 filter paper or of a non-woven with a sufficiently tight mesh to allow water to pass through it only when a pressure of between 0.1 and 3 bar is reached. The expression "sufficiently tight mesh" is understood to mean a low air or water permeability. 25 In these two embodiments, the first sheet may be either made of filter paper and a non-woven or made of a semirigid material. In both cases, the cartridge must have exterior packaging, as it is not packaged in materials 30 forming an oxygen barrier. In a third embodiment, the second sheet is an aluminium/plastic composite. The expression "aluminium/ plastic composite" is understood to mean an aluminium 35 sheet with a prescored plastic sheet on top of it. In this case, if the first sheet is filter paper or a non-woven, an exterior packaging will be required. On the other hand, if the first sheet is made of the _s_emi-rigid material, the exterior packaging will be 40 (Followed by page 4) intellectual property office of n.z. 7 AUG 2006 EC WO 03/002423 - 4 - PCT/EP02/05064 unnecessary, since the aluminium/plastic layers prevent the passage of oxygen. In a fourth embodiment, the second sheet is composed of 5 a cover which is removed and of a layer made of filter paper or of a non-woven allowing water to pass through it at a pressure of between 0.1 and 3 bar. In the latter case too, exterior packaging is unnecessary. 10 In a fifth embodiment, the second sheet is made of filter paper or a non-woven coated with a layer of lacquer. In a sixth embodiment, the second sheet is made of a 15 non-woven which has undergone a heat treatment. The rest of the description is given with reference to the drawings in which: Figures 1 and 2 are schematic representations 2 0 of the cartridge according to the invention, in the first and second embodiments; Figure 3 is a schematic representation of the cartridge in one of the two first embodiments; Figure 4 is a schematic representation 25 according to the third embodiment; and Figure 5 is a schematic representation according to the fourth embodiment. In the cartridge (1) according to Figure 1, the roasted 30 and ground coffee (2) is packaged between a first sheet (3) made of filter paper and a second sheet (4) also made of filter paper. The two sheets are welded together at (5) around the periphery of the said cartridge. The first sheet allows water at atmospheric 35 pressure to pass through it, whereas the second sheet, also made of filter paper, includes weakened regions so that, during extraction, the coffee is firstly well wetted, then it swells well and the liquid coffee flows out only when an overpressure of the order of 1 bar is WO 03/002423 PCT/EP02/05064 - 5 - reached within the said cartridge. There is therefore a delay effect in the passage of the coffee, which results in a coffee having a good volume of high-quality foam, which remains. With this cartridge, it is 5 possible to use an extraction system without any point, simply with means for housing the cartridge in a well-sealed manner and for effecting the extraction. Figure 2 shows a cartridge (6) with ground and roasted 10 coffee (7) packaged between two sheets of non-woven. The first sheet (8) is a sheet of non-woven which allows water at atmospheric pressure to pass through it. The second sheet (9) is made of a non-woven with a tight mesh allowing water to pass through it when the 15 overpressure inside the cartridge reaches 1 bar. The two sheets are welded together around their periphery at (10) . It is possible to use the same extraction system as for the previous cartridge. 20 In the case of Figure 3, the cartridge (11) comprises a first sheet (12) made of a semi-rigid material of aluminium and a second sheet (13) made of filter paper. The roasted and ground coffee (14) is placed between these two sheets. These sheets are welded around their 25 periphery (15) . For extraction from this cartridge, a needle is required to pierce the first sheet, for example that forming the svibject of Patent EP 242 556. The sheet made of filter paper allows the coffee to pass through it when an overpressure of the order of 30 1 bar is reached in the cartridge during extraction. Figure 4 shows a cartridge (16) according to the third embodiment. The ground and roasted coffee (17) is packaged between a rigid first sheet made of aluminium 35 (18) and a composite formed from an aluminium sheet (19) and a prescored plastic sheet (20). The sheets (19) and (20) are welded to the sheet (18) at (21) . To pierce the sheet (18), the needle according to the aforementioned EP patent is required. The sheet (19) WO 03/002423 PCT/EP02/05064 - 6 - has a thickness such that it has no mechanical strength: its function is to be an oxygen barrier. The sheet (20) opens when the. overpressure in the cartridge reaches 1 bar. The benefit of this solution is that it 5 requires no exterior packaging. Figure 5 shows a cartridge (22) in its fourth embodiment. The ground and roasted coffee (24) is packaged between a rigid sheet (23) and a second sheet 10 formed from a filter paper layer (25) and a cover (26) . The sheets (25) and (26) are welded to the sheet (23) at (27) . For extraction, the cover (26) is removed and the said cartridge is placed in a device according to Patent EP 242 556. In this case too, it is unnecessary 15 to provide exterior packaging. Abbreviations: PVDC = polyvinylidene chloride; EVOH = ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer. -7- </div>

Claims

<div class="application article clearfix printTableText" id="claims"> Claims 5

1. A sealed cartridge comprising first and second sheet materials joined to form a space there between, and a beverage-forming substance for preparing a beverage located in the space between the sheets, with the first material designed to admit water into the 10 cartridge for extraction of the beverage from the beverage-forming substance, and the second material having properties to retain the water or beverage in the cartridge until an overpressure of between 0.1 to 3 bar is achieved, at which overpressure the second 15 material will allow the extracted beverage to exit the cartridge, wherein the first sheet material is selected from the group consisting of paper, a non-woven fiber, prescored plastic material and combinations thereof and wherein the second sheet is selected from the group 20 consisting of filter paper, non-woven fiber material, prescored plastic material and combinations thereof having a sufficiently tight mesh to retain water or beverage in the cartridge until the overpressure is reached and allows the beverage to pass through it by 25 effect of the fluid overpressure alone when the overpressure of between 0.1 to 3 bar is reached, thus resulting in a delay effect in the passage of the beverage through the second sheet after water has been admitted into the capsule. 30 35

2. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein the beverage-forming substance is roasted and ground coffee, soluble coffee, a chocolate beverage forming substance or a mixture thereof.

3. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein the first material is filter paper having a density of 15 to 30 g/m2 and a thickness between 0.1 to 1 mm or a non- woven fiber or plastic material having a density of 40 between 20 and 100 g/m2 so that it will permit w - 7 AU3 2006

RECEIVED -8- enter the cartridge by gravity flow. 5 4. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein the first material is aluminium having a thickness of 20 to 100 microns and is configured to allow puncturing by piercing means in order for water to be admitted into the cartridge. 0

5. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein the second sheet includes a removable cover.

6. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein both the first 15 and second sheets are made of a material that acts as an oxygen barrier so that no further packaging of the cartridge is required.

7. The cartridge of claim 1 wherein either or both of 20 the first and second sheets are not made of a material that acts as an oxygen barrier so that a further packaging of the cartridge is required to prevent oxygen deterioration of the beverage-forming substance. 25

8. The cartridge of claim 2 wherein the first and second sheet materials have a circular, oval, or polygonal shape and the substance is present in an amount of 5 to 10 grams. 30

9. The cartridge of claim 2 wherein the first and second materials are each made of filter paper.

10. The cartridge of claim 2 wherein the first and second materials each is a non-woven fiber or plastic 35 material. 40

11. The cartridge of claim 1, wherein the second sheet is made of a non-woven material having a tight intellectual property office of n.z. ~ 7 AUG 2006 received -9- mesh allowing water to pass through it when the overpressure inside the capsule reaches 1 bar. 5

12. The cartridge of claim 1, wherein the second sheet is made of a material having properties to retain the water or beverage in the cartridge when an overpressure of the order of 1 bar is reached within the cartridge 10 during extraction.

13. A sealed cartridge substantially as herein described with reference to any one or more of the accompanying drawings. 15

14. The cartridge of any one of claims 1 to 12, substantially as herein described. intellectual PROPERTY office OF n.z. - 7 AUG 2006 receiver </div>