RU2599001C2 - Capsule for preparation of extracts - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: food industry.

SUBSTANCE: capsule for preparation of extracts from product contained in closed inner chamber (2), by passing pressurized fluid through said chamber (2), comprises main body (4), having shape of truncated cone, and peripheral flange (6) extending outward from larger base (8) of main body (4). Capsule additionally comprises annular tight covering element defined on capsule area (1), positioned between surface of flange (6) facing smaller base (10) of said main body (4), and smaller base (10) of said main body (4). Closing element (12) contains multiple separate blind holes (14), penetrating into closing element (12), so that closing element (12) is deformed under pressure during preparation of said extract.

EFFECT: invention provides reliable seal between injection cylinder of machine and capsule.

19 cl, 13 dwg

Description

Technical field

The invention relates to a capsule for preparing extracts from a product contained in a closed inner chamber by causing fluid to flow under pressure through said chamber, which comprises a truncated cone-shaped main body and a peripheral flange extending outward from the larger base of said main body.

State of the art

Single-serving capsules are known for preparing extracts from a product, such as coffee or tea, contained inside having a substantially truncated cone-shaped capsule, the larger base of which has an annular peripheral flange extending radially outward.

In this system for preparing extracts, the capsule is inserted into a machine having a cavity specially adapted to its shape. On the side corresponding to the larger base of the capsule, the machine has a wall provided with a plurality of piercing elements, while on the other side the machine has a water-injecting cylinder, the cavity of which mates with the outer shape of the truncated cone of the capsule. The injection cylinder is movable between the open position in which it is removed from the capsule and the injection position. Starting from the open position and with the capsule inserted in the machine, when the cylinder is in the injection position, it pierces the smaller base of the capsules with punching elements that open the passageways for the liquid. At the same time, the injection cylinder compresses the capsule relative to the wall on which its larger base rests due to the leading edge resting on the annular peripheral flange. This causes simultaneous piercing of the larger base, due to the action of the piercing elements, and immobilization of the capsule inside the machine to start preparing the extract.

In this position, hot water injection begins with a pressure of 1 to 20 bar. As a result of perforations in the smaller base and larger base of the capsule, hot water is passed through its inner chamber. Water flows through the inner chamber, entering through the smaller base and exiting through the larger base into the outlet collector channel into the cup, so that the water extracts the aromas of the product from which the extract is to be prepared.

The critical point of this system is the point of support of the cylinder on the capsule. During the preparation of the extract, water leaks can occur at this point, since proper water tightness is not obtained between the injection cylinder and the capsule due to high operating pressures. This leads to unsatisfactory operation of the machine, since water leaks accumulate inside it and, secondly, this lack of tightness directly affects the pressure with which the extract is brewed. Due to the inability to work at such a high pressure, the characteristics of the taste or intensity of the prepared extract directly deteriorate.

EP2303077 offers a partial solution to this problem. To this end, this document provides a 9 bar capsule containing a cup with a circumferential wall, a bottom covering the circumferential wall at the first end, and a flange extending outward from the circumferential wall, at the second end, opposite the bottom of the cup. The capsule also contains a lid connected to the flange. When using a capsule, the bottom, wall, and lid define a closed chamber containing the product to be extracted. Thus, in order to prevent water leakage between the injection cylinder and the capsule, the cup is also provided with a number of concentric circumferential ribs extending outward from the cup and which are made of the same material as the cup. However, this capsule, in particular when the ribs are provided on the flange, is sensitive to displacement between the injection cylinder and the capsule. Thus, when the leading edge of the cylinder is offset relative to the ribs, water can flow relatively easily at this location, which presents the previously mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objective of the invention is to provide a capsule for the preparation of extracts of the above type, guaranteeing a good seal between the injection cylinder of the machine and the capsule, regardless of the relative position between the two elements, and at the same time providing the possibility of brewing extracts with constant characteristics.

This problem is solved by means of a capsule for preparing extracts of the type indicated at the beginning, characterized in that it further comprises an annular sealing closing element provided in the region of said capsule contained between the surface of said flange facing the smaller base of said main body and the smaller base of said the main body, wherein said closing element comprises a plurality of individual blind holes penetrating into said closing element, m such that said closure element is deformable under pressure during the preparation of said extract.

In the context of the invention, pressure deformation during preparation of the extract refers to the pressure applied by the injection cylinder of the machine to the capsule to ensure a tight seal.

The individual blind openings of the capsule according to the invention work at different levels. Firstly, they weaken the cover element, contributing to its deformation to achieve improved water resistance. Another significant advantage of the openings, which are separate, is, in contrast to the concentric grooves of the prior art, in separate openings that do not allow the installation of fluid interaction between the closed space between the inner part of the injection cylinder with the capsule and the outer part, which facilitates the flow of water, since each hole is isolated from adjacent holes. In conclusion, since the holes are blind, where the closure is separate from the main body, watertightness is guaranteed on the pressure surfaces of the closure. Thus, proper water resistance is achieved during the preparation of the extract, regardless of the relative position between the capsule and the injection cylinder. As already explained above, this makes it possible to obtain an extract with constant characteristics regarding the taste or intensity of the extract.

The invention further includes several preferred features that are the subject of the dependent claims and the use of which will be demonstrated in the further detailed description of an embodiment of the invention.

In a particularly preferred manner, in the invention, at least the closure element is made of plastic material having a Vicat softening point in the range of 70 ° to 140 ° C. Surprisingly, during the development of the invention, it was noticed that the combination of individual blind holes, together with the use of plastic material having a softening temperature in the indicated range, caused such plastic deformation in the pressure region of the cylinder, which especially improves water resistance.

In one embodiment of the invention, a cover member is provided on a surface of said flange facing a smaller base of said main body. This configuration makes it possible to guarantee a high pressure of the injection cylinder on the capsule. When the injection cylinder is pressed against the flange of the capsule, the latter is supported with the opposite surface of the flange on a wall containing a plurality of piercing elements, thus it is easier to deform the closing element.

An additional object of the invention is to obtain an inexpensive capsule. For this purpose, the closure element is preferably made of the same material as said capsule.

Also, from the point of view of further reducing production costs, the closure element is integral with the specified capsule. This eliminates the presence of individual parts that must be assembled. The main body of the capsule can be manufactured using a single mold or die.

In order to guarantee a more uniform deformation of the closure element, in one embodiment, the holes have the same cross section, and in another embodiment, the holes have the same depth.

Alternatively, the cross-sectional size of the holes increases as the radial distance from the main body increases. For example, where the holes have a circular cross-section, the holes located near the center of the truncated cone-shaped main body have a smaller diameter than the holes located at a greater radial distance, namely more distant from the main body. Thereby, it is achieved that the material forming the closure element with holes with dimensions increasing with the radius of the distance from the main body has a similar density and, therefore, similar compressibility in any radius of the capping region.

Similarly, as an alternative, the depth of the holes may also vary, depending on the distance from the center at which they are located.

Particularly preferably, the depth of the openings is greater than 0.10 mm, from which a sufficiently large deformation is obtained to guarantee good sealing between the injection cylinder and the capsule.

Also, as an alternative, from the point of view of obtaining a more correct pattern of holes, the holes are preferably staggered. In addition, it also guarantees more uniform compressibility.

In the end, depending on the width of the closure element, it could happen that the displacement between the injection cylinder and the capsule would be excessive, so that part of the injection cylinder somewhere along the perimeter of the closure element slightly protrudes from its perimeter. Thus, to eliminate the risk of fluid leakage, preferably, the closure element is a cylinder having a smooth outer wall.

In one embodiment, the capsule comprises a gap between the closure element and the side wall of said main body, so that the closure element can be more easily deformed.

The invention also addresses the problem of preventing the capsule from accumulating fluid for the extract around its periphery, which would then remain inside the machine. To this end, in an alternative embodiment, the inner diameter of the said closing element coincides with the side wall of the specified main body, whereby the formation of places of accumulation of liquid is excluded.

Preferably, said closure element is suitable for compression by the injection cylinder of the extracting machine, forming a deformation, and in the radial direction, each of said openings of said closure element is smaller than the width of said deformation on the closure element in the radial direction, so where the deformation of the closure element is not large enough, it is fully guaranteed that fluid paths cannot form.

In order to guarantee the most possible predictable behavior, in one preferred embodiment, the holes have a cross section of one or more elements from the group formed by circles, ellipses, polygons with straight or curved sides, and particularly preferably the holes are in the form of a cylinder, pyramid, parallelepiped or their combinations.

Similarly, the invention also includes other detailed features shown in the detailed description of an embodiment of the invention and in the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Additional advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description, in which, without any limiting nature, preferred embodiments of the invention are disclosed with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a capsule of the invention.

FIG. 2A is a detailed view of the capsule closure member of FIG. 1 before deformation.

FIG. 2B is a detailed view of the capsule closure member of FIG. 1 after deformation.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the capsule of FIG. one.

FIG. 4A is a detailed sectional view of the flange region of the capsule of FIG. 1 in the open position of the cylinder of the machine.

FIG. 4B is a detailed sectional view of the flange region of the capsule of FIG. 1 in the injection position of the cylinder of the machine.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the capsule of FIG. 1 inside the machine for preparing extracts.

FIG. 6 is a section through a second embodiment of a capsule inside an extract preparation machine.

FIG. 7 is a section through a third embodiment of a capsule inside an extract preparation machine.

FIG. 8 is a detailed sectional view of a flange region of a fourth embodiment of a capsule in an open position of a machine cylinder.

In FIG. 9 shows various embodiments of the openings of the closure element.

In FIG. 10, 10A show another embodiment of the openings of the closure element.

Detailed Description of Embodiments

The capsule 1 in accordance with the invention is intended for the preparation of a separate portion of an extract from a product, such as, for example, coffee, tea or the like, contained in its interior, by passing a liquid under pressure, such as, for example, water, through the product. However, the invention is not limited to single-serving capsules, but can also be applied to multi-serving capsules by increasing the size of the capsule.

In particular, the capsule 1 is formed by a hollow main body 4 with the shape of a truncated cone, the smaller base 10 of which is closed, and the larger base 8 is open. To form a capsule 1, ready for consumption, the larger base 8 is sealed with a lid 18, which tightly seals the inner chamber 2 of the capsule 1 containing the product from which the extract is prepared.

Alternatively, in the case of reusable capsules, the main body 4 and the lid 18 define an inner chamber 2, which may be leaky. For example, in the case of reusable capsules, the lid 18 is placed in place by the user himself when preparing the extract after filling the inner chamber 2. Alternatively, as can be seen in FIG. 6, capsule 1 may be neither refillable nor leakproof.

Referring to FIG. 1-5, the peripheral flange 6 extends radially outward from the larger base 8 of the main body 4.

As mentioned previously, the main problem with conventional capsules is that during preparation of the extract, proper water tightness is not always achieved between the extract preparation machine 100 and capsule 1. Therefore, in the invention, it is assumed that capsule 1 contains a ring-tight the closing element 12, approximately in the area of the capsule 1, contained between the surface of the specified flange 6, facing the smaller base 10 of the main body 4, and the smaller base 10 of the main body a 4. This region corresponds to the visible region of the capsule 1, clearly visible in a perspective top view of FIG. 1. In this embodiment, a closing member 12 is provided on the flange 6.

In preparing the extract, the injection cylinder 102 of the machine 100 rests on this closing element 12. Then, in order to ensure proper sealing, it is assumed that the closing element 12 is provided with a plurality of separate blind holes 14 penetrating into the closing element 12 but not passing through it. Due to these openings 14, during the preparation of the extract, using the machine 100, the injection cylinder 102 applies such pressure to the closure element 12 to deform it and form a deformation 16, which is especially clearly seen in FIG. 2A and 2B.

In this first embodiment shown in FIG. 1-4B, the closure member 12 is a cylindrical ring which is provided on the surface of the flange 6 facing the smaller base 10 of the main body 4. This ring is made of the same material as the capsule 1 and is inseparable from it. This facilitates the manufacture, for example, by molding from plastic materials or food rubber, greatly reducing production costs. Plastic materials suitable for this application are, for example, bioplastics, polyethylenes, polystyrenes, polypropylenes, polyamides or others. In this embodiment shown in FIG. 1-5, low density polyethylene, more commonly known as LDPE, having a Vicat softening point of 80 ° C in accordance with an ISO 306 test was used. It has been observed that, preferably, at water temperatures of about 90 ° C during the preparation process, a combination of holes 14 and a plastic closure element 12 having a Vicat softening temperature ranging from 70 ° to 140 ° C, plastic deformation of the closure element 12 is achieved, essentially improving water resistance.

It can also be seen in the drawing that the openings 14 are formed in such a way that the mold for manufacturing the main body 4 of the capsule 1 is particularly simple since it does not require complex ejector devices of the mold.

In this embodiment, the width of the ring, namely the difference between its outer radius and its inner radius, is at least 1.5 mm. However, this dimension can extend over the entire flange 6. It has also been found that the majority of satisfactory results in terms of deformation are obtained for holes 14 having a depth of over 0.1 mm up to a maximum of 0.9 mm. As can be seen in the drawings, the depth in this case is constant. However, as an alternative, the depth may increase with radius. In conclusion, it is preferable for a minimum gap between holes 14 to be varied from 0.10 to 0.9 mm.

In FIG. 1-5, it can also be seen that the holes 14 have the same circular cross-section, with the same depth, and are preferably staggered (see FIG. 2) so that there is a minimum gap between the holes 14.

As an alternative, it should not be ruled out that the holes 14 can have the same geometric shape, but, nevertheless, their size increases radially, i.e. the larger the distance from the main body 4, the larger the size of the corresponding hole 14. Due to this feature, it is also possible to achieve a constant wall thickness between the holes 14, regardless of the radial distance, which ensures uniform deformation at any point along the radius of the closing element 12. In addition to Moreover, this feature can be combined with a checkerboard layout.

The purpose of the holes 14 is to weaken the closure member 12, thereby deforming it under the pressure of the injection cylinder 102. As can be seen in FIG. 9A-9I, the cross section of these holes 14 may be one or more elements from the group formed by circles, ellipses, polygons with straight or curved sides. For example, the cross section of the holes 14 may be round, square, triangular or octagonal (see Fig. 9A-9D, respectively). However, the cross section may contain other polygons not shown in the drawings, such as a pentagon, hexagon or the like.

In FIG. 10, 10A show another possible embodiment of the holes 14 by crossing cylinders very close to each other.

These holes 14, likewise, may have a three-dimensional shape of a cylinder, pyramid, parallelepiped, or even combinations thereof. For example, combinations may be, for example, a cylinder with a conical or cylindrical countersink, or a cone or a truncated cone with a cylindrical countersink. These possible combinations can be seen in FIG. 9G and 9I. In particular, the countersink combinations provide the ability to obtain a deformation that is not proportional to the compression applied by the injection cylinder 102.

Initially, the deformation of the closure element 12 may be elastic or plastic. For example, in the case shown in FIG. 1-5, in particular, when the closure member 12 is made of an injected plastic material, the deformation of the closure member 12 will preferably be plastic. Thus, the deformation 16 will be constant as soon as the injection cylinder 102 moves from the injection position of FIG. 4B to the open position.

In FIG. 4A and 4B, it will be seen in detail that, particularly preferably in the radial direction, the openings 14 of the closure member 12 are smaller than the deformation width 16 of the closure member 12, which corresponds to the thickness of the support surface 112 of the injection cylinder on the closure member 12. This feature ensures that, although the abutment surface 112 does not completely cover the sequence of openings 14, a fluid passage cannot be formed to facilitate fluid leakage, with the disadvantages already mentioned.

Another feature of this embodiment is the presence of a space 22 between the closing element 12 and the side wall 20, which contributes to the deformation of the surface by the injection cylinder 102. In particular, the space allows lateral deformation of the formed ring both inward and outward.

It can also be seen in the drawing that, preferably, the closure element 12 is a cylinder having a smooth outer wall, which prevents even with a greater guarantee the leakage of liquid in case of excessive displacement between the capsule 1 and the injection cylinder 102.

Hereinafter and referring to FIG. 4A-5, a detailed explanation will be given to the operation of the first embodiment of the capsule of the invention. The machine 100 has a fluid injection pump 104 for supplying fluid to the injection cylinder 102. The capsule 1 is inserted into the interior of the injection cylinder 102. In FIG. 4A or 5 shows the moment before moving to the injection position. In particular, the injection cylinder 102 approached the flange 6 of the capsule 1 and began to pierce the smaller base 10 of the capsule 1 by means of punching elements 110. On the side of the larger base 8, the machine 100 has a support wall 106 provided with a plurality of piercing elements 114 for piercing the cap 18 of the capsule 1 into the injection position of the injection cylinder 102. Moreover, this support wall 106 has a plurality of outlet passages 108 for the prepared extract.

When the cylinder moves from the position shown in FIG. 5 to the injection position of the injection cylinder 102 shown in FIG. 4B, the abutment surface 112 of the injection cylinder 102 pushes the capsule 1 through the flange 6 until it rests on the wall 106 of the machine 100. When the flange 6 rests on the wall, the injection cylinder has not yet reached the end of its stroke, so from now on deformation begins on the closing element 12, with the appearance of deformation 16. Finally, when the cylinder reaches the end of its stroke, namely the injection position, the closing element 12 is pressed and deformed between the injection cylinder 102 and the supporting wall 106 by whereby waterproof sealing is obtained between the injection cylinder 102 and the capsule 1, as shown in FIG. 4B.

From this position, the pump 104 begins to inject water. Thanks to hermetic corking, water can only flow through perforations in the smaller base 10 and exit through the lid 18 of the capsule 1, passing through the inner chamber 2.

As soon as the liquid saturated with the extractable product contained in the chamber 2 exits through the cover 18, it reaches the passages 108 and now flows outward in the form of an extract through the nozzle of a machine not shown in the drawings.

The advantages of the capsule 1 in accordance with the invention can be understood from FIG. 3. In particular, a top view of the closure element 12 is visible, and the dashed circle shows the region to which the injection cylinder 102 is applied. The latter, when the capsule 1 is compressed during preparation of the extract, leaves deformation 16. It can be seen from the drawing that it is eccentric with respect to the closing element 12. However, capping is guaranteed due to the fact that the deformation width 16 is always larger than the size of each of the holes 14 in the radial direction. Also, since the holes are blind and separate, the passage for the fluid cannot be formed either radially or tangentially, thus ensuring the waterproofness of the assembly.

In FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of a capsule 1 according to the invention. The first characteristic feature is that the inner diameter of the closing element 12 coincides with the side wall 20 of the main body 4, which eliminates undesirable accumulation of fluid inside the capsule 1.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the capsule 1 is not waterproof and has a plurality of inlets 24 and outlets 26 allowing the extraction fluid to flow. Due to this, in this case, it is not absolutely necessary for the machine 100 to pierce the smaller base 10 and the cover 18.

The embodiment shown in this drawing is made from a combination of high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE). In particular, the material consists of 15% HDPE having a Vicat softening point of 128 ° C and 85% LDPE having a Vicat softening point of 80 ° C.

In a third embodiment of the capsule 1 shown in FIG. 7, it can be seen that the closure element 12 can be placed at any point in the region of the capsule 1 contained between the surface of the flange 6 facing the smaller base 10 of the main body 4 and the smaller base 10 of the main body 4. In this particular case, the closure element 12 is integrally formed with a smaller base 10 of the main body 4, namely, protrudes outward in an annular manner from said smaller base 10. This configuration provides the advantage that the fluid is held near the perforations made by punching E elements 110 that facilitates a proper direction of the water into the interior of the chamber 2.

In FIG. 8 shows a fourth embodiment of a capsule 1. In this case, the closure member 12 is a ring separate from the capsule 1. Its inner diameter is the same as the outer diameter of the truncated cone-shaped portion of the capsule 1. In this case, the closure element 12 is made of highly deformable material such as polyurethane foam. The figure will be clear that the holes 14, as in the previous embodiments, are separate and blind to prevent leakage of the liquid from which the extract is prepared.

In this figure, it can be seen that the thickness of the supporting surface 112 of the injection cylinder 102 is larger than the size of the holes 14. Thus, it is achieved that any possible displacement between the injection cylinder 102 and the capsule will not cause the passage of fluid, resulting in water loss during preparation of the extract.

Claims (19)

1. A capsule for preparing extracts from a product contained in a closed inner chamber (2) by passing liquid under pressure through said chamber (2), which contains a main body (4) having the shape of a truncated cone and a peripheral flange (6), extending outward from the larger base (8) of said main body (4), characterized in that it further comprises an annular sealed closing element (12) provided on an area of said capsule (1) located between the surface of said flange (6), facing adjacent to the smaller base (10) of said main body (4), and the smaller base (10) of said main body (4), said closing element (12) containing a plurality of separate blind holes (14) penetrating into said closing element (12) ) so that said closure element (12) is deformable under pressure during the preparation of said extract. 2. A capsule according to claim 1, characterized in that at least said closing element (12) is made of plastic material having a Vicat softening temperature of from 70 to 140 ° C. 3. A capsule according to claim 1, characterized in that said closing element (12) is provided on the surface of said flange (6) facing the smaller base (10) of said main body (4). 4. A capsule according to claim 1, characterized in that said closing element (12) is made of the same material as said capsule (1). 5. A capsule according to claim 4, characterized in that said closing element (12) is integral with said capsule (1). 6. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that the said holes (14) have the same cross section. 7. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that the holes (14) have a cross section, the dimensions of which increase with increasing radial distance from the specified main body (4). 8. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that said holes (14) have the same depth. 9. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that said holes (14) have a depth increasing with a radial distance. 10. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that the depth of these holes (14) is greater than 0.10 mm 11. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that the said holes (14) are staggered. 12. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that the said closing element (12) is a cylinder having a smooth outer wall. 13. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that it contains a space (22) between the closing element (12) and the side wall (20) of the specified main body (4). 14. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that the inner diameter of the specified closing element (12) coincides with the side wall (20) of the specified main body (4). 15. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that the said closing element (12) is made with the possibility of compression by the injection cylinder (102) of the machine (100) for the preparation of extracts forming a deformation (16), while in the radial direction each of these holes (14) closes element (12) is less than the width of the specified deformation (16) on the closing element (12) in the radial direction. 16. The capsule according to any one of paragraphs. 1-5, characterized in that said holes (14) have a cross section of one or more elements from the group comprising circles, ellipses, polygons with straight or curved sides. 17. A capsule according to claim 16, characterized in that said openings (14) are in the form of a cylinder, a pyramid, a parallelepiped, or combinations thereof. 18. A capsule according to claim 1, characterized in that at least said closing element (12) is made of plastic material having a Vicat softening point of 70 to 140 ° C, and said closing element (12) is provided on the surface said flange (6) facing the smaller base (10) of said main body (4). 19. A capsule according to claim 18, characterized in that said closing element (12) is made of the same material as said capsule (1).

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