SYSTEM FOR PREPARING BEVERAGES

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to systems for preparing beverages, and in particular relates to systems comprising machines and prepackaged charges suitable to cooperate among themselves.

State of the art of the invention

Are known to the state of the art several systems of machines and prepackaged charges suitably designed to cooperate with each other and provide the best possible operating conditions for the realization of the beverage desired by the user in the most simple and effective way.

Among the various options, in the document EP1723047 filed by the same applicant, it is described a prepackaged charge which is perforated by an impervious means of perforation, which obstructs the passage of the drink up to the dilatation of the hole which is formed in the wall of the capsule. To improve the delivery of this type of system, it was subsequently realized by the same applicant the system described in EP2094133, in which around the area of perforation of the capsule are arranged sealing means; this solution minimizes the alternative routes for the dispensed fluid, thus improving the quality of the extraction.

Of course, this leads to greater complexity in the construction of dispensing assembly, which must be realized with material inserts suitable to allow a front sealing relative to the wall of the capsule. Normally these sealing means are realized by means of plastic materials relatively more flexible, so as to adapt to the substantially flat surface of the bottom of the container body of the prepackaged charge. These materials are clearly subject to wear, and their effectiveness from the point of view of the seal will degrade as time goes by.

The aim of the present invention is therefore a prepackaged charge provided with a container body adapted to cooperate with the dispensing unit of an espresso machine or the like, in which the seal is realized with simple and effective means, which do not require special workings and which have a marked resistance to wear, and which allow effectively the coupling between the container body of the prepackaged charge and the infusion chamber of the dispensing unit. A further aim of the present invention is to provide a system comprising prepackaged charges and dispensing unit that is capable of providing a unique mating, thereby preventing to introduce into the infusion chamber prepackaged charges whose container body is not offering specified features. In Italian patent No. 1387051 of the same applicant is disclosed a system of this type; in this case, it has been verified in the research that led to the present invention, the possibility that the coding means simultaneously fulfill a further function, namely that of sealing with respect to the area of perforation.

Object of the invention Object of the present invention is therefore a system, comprising a prepackaged charge of coffee powder or the like, provided with a container body substantially formed by a continuous side wall and a bottom wall, said bottom wall being provided, at a given distance from the peripheral edge of said wall, of at least one annular flange projecting axially for at least 1/10 of the height of said side wall, and having a frustoconical section tapered towards the free end of said flange, and a dispensing unit comprising an infusion chamber, having a shape complementary to that of the container body of said prepackaged charge, whose bottom wall is centrally provided with perforation means and with a dispensing duct of the infusion, such perforation means being surrounded by at least one annular groove complementary to the annular flange projecting axially from the bottom wall of the container body of said prepackaged charge.

This system, besides ensuring an effective seal with no need to use different materials to realize the infusion chamber of the dispensing unit, has the advantage of providing an effective coding system for the utilization of the coffee machine. In fact, if the charge does not show prepackaged the bottom wall able to mate conveniently to the bottom wall of the infusion chamber, the delivery does not take place optimally, since the machine is not put in condition to work at its best .

In a different embodiment, there are provided two concentric annular flanges projecting axially from the bottom wall of the container body of the charge prepackaged, and two corresponding annular grooves realized on the bottom wall of the infusion chamber, so as to further optimize the sealing effect; that of course allows to increase the variety of encryption of prepackaged charges. For example, a dispenser group can be provided with two annular grooves on the bottom wall, and can therefore accept the charges prepackaged equipped with a single axial flange, as well as those provided with two axial flanges. The two flanges and the corresponding grooves may have respective sizes different from each other.

Brief description of the drawings

Further advantages and features of the system according to the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the same, carried out, by way of example and not limiting thereto, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view from below of the container body of a prepackaged charge of the system according to the present invention; and Figure 2 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the container body of the prepackaged charge inserted in the dosing unit of the system according to the present invention.

Description of an embodiment of the invention In figure 1 is illustrated, designated by the numeral 10, the container body of the prepackaged charge of the system according to the present invention. This container body includes a side wall 12, a projecting radial flange 1 1 , and a bottom wall 13. At the center of the bottom wall 13 is provided an operculum 131 pierceable by suitable means, not shown in the figure. From the bottom wall, at a given distance between the trailing edge and the center of the same wall, protrudes an annular axial flange 133, which will be better illustrated and described below.

In Figure 2 is illustrated a section of an embodiment of the system according to the present invention; to same parts correspond same numbers. The container body 10 described above is coupled with the dispensing unit 20, provided with an infusion chamber 21 , equipped with a bottom wall 22 which includes at its center the perforation means, in the case the punch 223, in the vicinity of which the dispensing duct 221 is placed, which duct allows the flow of the beverage produced. On the bottom wall 22 of the infusion chamber 21 is formed an annular groove 222 intended to accommodate the annular flange 133 projecting from the bottom wall 13 of the container body 10. The annular groove has a section substantially frustoconical, matching the section of the flange 133. In the figure, the punch 223 has punctured the operculum 131 . The bottom wall 13 of the container body 10 has centrally an operculum 131 suitable to perforation of the punch 223, appropriately placed at the center of a plurality of fins 132 which, in a way per se known, give rigidity to the bottom wall 13 with the exception of said operculum 131 . Above the inner face of the bottom wall 13 is positioned a layer of filter material 134. The operation of the system according to the present invention will become evident from the following. The charge prepackaged with the container body 10 is intended to couple correctly only with an infusion chamber 21 , which includes the annular groove 222 adapted to receive the flange 133. The cooperation between the flange 133 and the groove 222 will cause the infusion, once passed "the valve effect" of the punch 223 pitched into the operculum 131 , do not expand throughout the infusion chamber 21 , but being preferably directed towards the delivery conduit 221 . The seal created by the insertion of the flange 133 in the groove 222 of the infusion chamber is constructively simpler and technically more effective than a face seal of the type described in EP2094133, since they do not need the use of different materials to obtain the proper seal.

In order to ensure that the seal be effective, the flange 133 must have a consistent size, at least 1/10 of the height of the side wall of the container body, and the groove 222 must have a depth complementary to the dimensions of the flange 133. In addition, the frustoconical complementary shape of the flange 133 and the groove 222 favors the graft and thus improves the sealing capability. Advantageously, the maximum cross section of the flange, and consequently of the groove, is not less than 1/20 of the diameter of the bottom wall 13 of the container body 10.

It goes without saying that this type of infusion chamber is arranged to cooperate with capsules that ensure this type of seal; a capsule lacking of the axial flange of which the container body 10 is instead provided, would have in fact those problems of "explosion" that already the prior art would have highlighted. The result would be that the machine would not be able to provide the same result from the point of view of product quality. This causes that the coupling between the flange of the capsule and the groove of the infusion chamber constitutes not only an effective sealing means, but also a valid encoding system, capable of effectively exclude the use the product which is not encoded. The advantage, compared to the previous patent of the applicant, lies in the fact that this coding system also presents a strictly functional feature, which improves the performance of the machine in combination with the prepackaged charge.

Of course, both the sealing capacity that the possibilities of encoding are greatly improved if it is added a second annular flange projecting axially, which can have the same dimensions both in height and section than the first, as well as these dimensions may be greater.