CN-117377416-B - Professional espresso machine

CN117377416BCN 117377416 BCN117377416 BCN 117377416BCN-117377416-B

Abstract

A beverage preparation machine comprising-at least one brewing assembly for producing a beverage by brewing a brewing substance with a brewing liquid, -a brewing liquid supply line for supplying a brewing liquid to the brewing assembly; and-an electronic control unit for controlling the operation of the beverage preparation machine, the brewing assembly comprising-a brewing liquid dispenser for dispensing the brewing liquid, and-a filter holder having one or more beverage dispensing mouths, the filter holder defining internally a brewing chamber that is fillable with a brewing substance to be brewed with the brewing liquid for preparing a beverage, and the filter holder being manually coupleable to the brewing liquid dispenser for receiving the brewing liquid therefrom, -a brewing liquid supply line comprising-a brewing liquid flow regulating system for regulating the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly, and-a brewing liquid flow meter for measuring and outputting an electrical output indicative of the amount of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly, the electronic control unit being designed to communicate with the brewing liquid flow meter for receiving the electrical output thereof and to provide electrical commands thereto, the electronic control unit being further configured to control the functional data required by the brewing liquid flow regulating system during a beverage preparation cycle and for example allowing to determine the presence of one or more brewing liquid flow regulating systems during the beverage preparation cycle, so as to perform a step of pre-brewing the brewing substance located in the brewing chamber with the brewing liquid, followed by a step of pressurizing the brewing chamber and a subsequent step of brewing the brewing substance located in the brewing chamber with the brewing liquid. The electronic control unit is further designed to perform the step of pressurizing the brewing chamber by-controlling the brewing liquid flow regulating system to increase the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly, -determining, based on the electrical output of the brewing liquid flow meter, whether the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly exhibits one or more first predetermined characteristics, wherein the one or more first predetermined characteristics are indicative of a state in which the brewing chamber is correctly filled with the brewing liquid, and-maintaining the brewing liquid flow regulating system in a predetermined steady operating state when it is determined that the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly exhibits the one or more first predetermined characteristics.

Inventors

Marco Ribelli
Diego Ivanti
Andrea Arigoni

Assignees

埃沃咖股份公司

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220325
Priority Date: 20210326

Claims (10)

1. A beverage preparation machine (1), comprising: -at least one brewing assembly (2) for producing a beverage by brewing a brewing substance with a brewing liquid; -a brewing liquid supply line (3) for supplying a brewing liquid to the brewing assembly (2), and -An electronic control unit (5) for controlling the operation of the beverage preparation machine (1); The brewing assembly (2) comprises: -a brewing liquid dispenser (6) for dispensing a brewing liquid, and -A filter holder (7) having one or more beverage dispensing nozzles (8), the filter holder defining internally a brewing chamber, the brewing chamber being fillable with a brewing substance, the brewing substance being brewed with a brewing liquid to prepare a beverage, and the filter holder being manually coupleable to the brewing liquid dispenser (6) to receive the brewing liquid therefrom; the brewing liquid supply line (3) comprises: -a brewing liquid flow rate adjustment system for adjusting the flow rate of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2), and -A brewing liquid flow meter (13), the measured amount of which is indicative of the amount of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2), and the brewing liquid flow meter output is indicative of the electrical output of the measured amount; The electronic control unit (5) is designed to communicate with the brewing liquid flow meter (13) to receive the electrical output of the brewing liquid flow meter and with the brewing liquid flow regulating system to provide electrical commands to the brewing liquid flow regulating system; The electronic control unit (5) is further designed to be configured to: -storing functional data required to control the brewing liquid flow regulating system during a beverage preparation cycle to allow determining the presence of one or more predetermined characteristics of the brewing liquid flow rate supplied to the brewing assembly (2) during a beverage preparation cycle, and -Controlling the brewing liquid flow regulating system during a beverage preparation cycle based on the stored functional data and the electrical output of the brewing liquid flow meter (13) to perform a step of pre-brewing the brewing substance located in the brewing chamber with the brewing liquid, followed by a step of pressurizing the brewing chamber and a subsequent step of brewing the brewing substance located in the brewing chamber with the brewing liquid; Characterized in that said electronic control unit (5) is further designed to perform the step of pressurizing said infusion chamber by: -controlling the brewing liquid flow rate adjustment system such that the flow rate of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) is increased; -determining, based on the electrical output of the brewing liquid flow meter (13), whether the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) exhibits one or more first predetermined characteristics, wherein the first predetermined characteristics are indicative of the presence of a state in which the brewing chamber is correctly filled with the brewing liquid, and -Maintaining the brewing liquid flow regulating system in a predetermined steady operating state when it is determined that the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) exhibits said one or more first predetermined characteristics.
2. Beverage preparation machine (1) according to claim 1, wherein the electronic control unit (5) is further designed to increase the flow of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) during the step of pressurizing the brewing chamber by open loop control of the brewing liquid flow regulating system.
3. The beverage preparation machine (1) according to claim 1, wherein the one or more first predetermined characteristics are defined by the flow of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) exhibiting one or more of exhibiting a maximum value or approaching a maximum value, starting to decrease after the maximum value has been exhibited, and the derivative of the flow of brewing liquid being within a predetermined range.
4. The beverage preparation machine (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the electronic control unit (5) is further designed to: -determining, based on the electrical output of the brewing liquid flow meter (13), whether the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) exhibits one or more second predetermined characteristics indicative of the presence of an appropriate state, to initiate the step of brewing with the brewing liquid a brewing substance located in the brewing chamber, and -Controlling the brewing liquid flow regulating system to start the step of brewing the brewing substance located in the brewing chamber with the brewing liquid when it is determined that the brewing liquid flow supplied to the brewing assembly (2) exhibits said one or more second predetermined characteristics.
5. The beverage preparation machine (1) according to claim 4, wherein the one or more second predetermined characteristics are defined by a flow rate of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) which assumes a minimum value, approaches a minimum value or starts to settle at a minimum value during a decrease after reaching a maximum value.
6. A beverage preparation machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the electronic control unit (5) is further designed to perform the step of brewing the brewing substance located in the brewing chamber with a brewing liquid by implementing a controlled brewing liquid flow brewing mode comprising: -controlling the brewing liquid flow rate adjustment system to counteract the natural tendency of the flow rate of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) to increase; -determining, based on an electrical output of the brewing liquid flow meter (13), whether the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) exhibits one or more third predetermined characteristics indicative of the flow of the brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) having been substantially stable; -when it is determined that the flow of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) exhibits the one or more third predetermined characteristics, controlling the brewing liquid flow adjustment system in a closed loop based on the electrical output of the brewing liquid flow meter (13) to keep the flow of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) stable.
7. The beverage preparation machine (1) according to claim 6, wherein the electronic control unit (5) is further designed to counter the natural tendency of the flow of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) to increase during the step of brewing a brewing substance located in the brewing chamber with brewing liquid by open loop controlling the brewing liquid flow regulating system.
8. The beverage preparation machine (1) according to claim 6, wherein the one or more third predetermined characteristics are defined by a variation of the flow of brewing liquid supplied to the brewing assembly (2) within a predetermined range.
9. Beverage preparation machine (1) according to claim 6, wherein the electronic control unit (5) is further designed to allow the step of brewing the brewing substance to be user customizable by selecting between the controlled brewing liquid flow brewing mode and a constant brewing liquid pressure brewing mode.
10. A beverage preparation machine (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the brewing liquid flow regulating system comprises an electronically controllable flow regulating solenoid valve (11) or an electronically controllable variable speed supply pump (9).

Description

Professional espresso machine Citation of related applications The present patent application claims priority from italian patent application nos. 102021000007517 and 102021000007541, filed on 3/26 of 2021, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field The present invention relates generally to beverage preparation machines, and in particular to machines capable of brewing hot beverages with pressurized hot water through brewing substances, such as coffee-based beverages (e.g. espresso, instant coffee, espresso, or "freshly brewed" coffee, etc.), tea-based beverages, or barley or other cereal-based beverages. The invention finds advantageous, but not exclusive, application in automatic or semiautomatic espresso machines, to which the following description refers, for the sake of descriptive convenience, without losing its generality. Background As is well known, coffee is of great interest to the public and the catering industry (also called ho.re.ca, which is an acronym for english words in hotels, restaurants, cafes). Interest in such beverages has steadily grown among consumers, as has beverages dedicated to this flavor and experience, but this has been a crisis. In fact, over the last 40 years, the consumption of coffee has increased from 8 tens of millions of packets of 60kg of coffee to 1.6 tens of packets of 60kg of coffee, and the millennium generation has contributed to this increase, even in the traditional markets and in the less mature markets where the coffee industry has developed from scratch, such as in china or the far east. Today, the focus in this field is on "upscaling" (i.e. the tendency of consumers to purchase high-priced quality products) and "specialization", whereas espresso coffee occupies 10% of the value of a large chain business. In the field of professional espresso machines, there are different techniques for controlling the coffee brewing process in order to ensure a good quality of the dispensed product. Some of these techniques are described, for example, in EP1867262B1, EP2313182B1, EP2313183B1, EP2575561B1, EP2642906B1, EP2991530B1, EP3364826A1, WO2015/124592A1 and US2015/110935 A1. In particular, WO2015/124592A1 discloses a coffee machine comprising at least one hydraulic brewing line comprising at least one water supply pump, at least one boiler hydraulically cascade-connected to the water supply pump, at least one brewing assembly hydraulically cascade-connected to the boiler such that hot water flows through the brewing assembly at a flow rate to perform a brewing cycle, means for regulating the flow rate of water, means for measuring the flow rate of water, and a feedback controller connected to the regulating means and the measuring means and configured to measure in real time the current value of the flow rate of water measured by the measuring means and a corresponding reference value, and configured to control the regulating means so as to eliminate any deviation of the current value of the flow rate of water from the corresponding reference value of the flow rate of water. US2015/110935A1 relates to regulating the flow in an espresso machine during a multi-stage brewing process comprising a pre-brewing stage and an extraction stage. During the pre-brewing phase, the ground coffee is slowly pre-wetted and/or deaerated with a first volume of water delivered at a first flow rate. During the extraction phase, a second volume of water is delivered at a second flow rate to extract espresso coffee, wherein the second volume of water is delivered at a pressure generally greater than the first volume. The second flow rate is greater than the first flow rate. The flow, volume and pressure are regulated by an espresso machine that includes a flow regulating assembly that includes first and second flow paths and first and second valves. The coffer may vary the flow, volume and pressure of the water throughout the brewing process by opening, closing or otherwise adjusting at least one valve. EP2575561B1 discloses a beverage dispenser comprising a first hydraulic circuit comprising a water source, a first pump, first water heating means, brewing means selected from brewing chambers and capsules, having inlet means and outlet means, beverage collecting means for collecting brewed beverage leaving said brewing means and for dispensing said beverage to a container. The beverage dispenser further comprises a second hydraulic circuit comprising a second pump and a second water heating device, the outlet of which is connected to the first hydraulic circuit at a position downstream of the brewing device with respect to the water flow in the first circuit. The first hydraulic circuit further comprises means for maintaining the pressure in the brewing device substantially constant for a preset time, which pressure is smaller than the opening pressure of the brewing device. The applicant has experienced that the professional espresso machine described in