Cleaning arrangement for capsule based beverage dispensers

A cleaning device for cleaning a capsule based beverage system is described. The cleaning device includes a body portion having an open end and configured to be located in the brewing chamber of the beverage system and a reservoir portion located at an opposed end to the open end of the body portion as well as a fluid jet forming portion in fluid communication with reservoir region. The cleaning device also includes a cleaning material holding portion located internally of the body portion for holding the cleaning material spaced apart from the fluid jet forming portion. The cleaning device is configured to allow water under pressure originating from the inlet arrangement of the beverage system to flow into the reservoir portion and to form a fluid jet from the fluid jet forming portion that impinges on cleaning material held in the cleaning material holding portion to create a cleaning solution to clean the brewing chamber and outlet arrangement of the beverage system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is the United States national phase of International Application No. PCT/IB2016/056668 filed Nov. 7, 2016, and claims priority to Australian Provisional Patent Application No. 2015904566 titled “CLEANING ARRANGEMENT FOR CAPSULE BASED BEVERAGE DISPENSERS” filed Nov. 6, 2015, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The following co-pending patent application is referred to in the following description:

PCT/IB2015/000878 titled “CLEANING DEVICE AND METHOD” and filed on 5 May 2015 claiming priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application Nos. 2014903817 and 2014901640.

The content of this application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the cleaning of beverage dispensing equipment. In a particular form, the present disclosure relates to the cleaning of automated capsule based beverage equipment.

BACKGROUND

In the co-pending patent application PCT/IB2015/000878 titled “CLEANING DEVICE AND METHOD” the Applicant has described a cleaning device for a capsule based beverage system comprising an open ended body that included a cleaning material holding portion where the cleaning material holding portion is configured to hold the cleaning material in a fixed relationship with respect to the body portion and where the body portion is configured to allow water under pressure originating from the inlet arrangement to flow through the body portion and to interact with the cleaning material to create a cleaning solution to clean the brewing chamber and outlet arrangement.

While this arrangement has worked more than satisfactorily, the Applicant has developed new enhancements which further improve the cleaning capability of the cleaning device or at least provide an alternative arrangement.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a cleaning device for cleaning a capsule based beverage system, the capsule based beverage system including a brewing chamber having a predetermined size and shape for receiving a beverage capsule, the brewing chamber including an inlet arrangement operable to introduce water at pressure into the beverage capsule received in the chamber and an outlet arrangement to deliver beverage from the beverage capsule, the cleaning device comprising:

a body portion having an open end and configured to be located in the brewing chamber;

a reservoir portion located at an opposed end to the open end of the body portion;

a fluid jet forming portion in fluid communication with reservoir region; and

a cleaning material holding portion located internally of the body portion for holding the cleaning material spaced apart from the fluid jet forming portion, wherein the cleaning device is configured to allow water under pressure originating from the inlet arrangement to flow into the reservoir portion and to form a fluid jet from the fluid jet forming portion that impinges on cleaning material held in the cleaning material holding portion to create a cleaning solution to clean the brewing chamber and outlet arrangement.

In another form, the reservoir portion is formed by a depressed wall portion located at the opposed end to the open end of the body portion.

In another form, the fluid jet forming portion is formed in the depressed wall portion of the reservoir portion.

In another form, the fluid jet forming portion includes one or more orifices formed in the depressed wall portion, the orifices configured to form a fluid jet from water originating in the reservoir portion.

In another form, the body portion includes an insert portion and a locating portion, the insert portion extending into the brewing chamber and the locating portion configured to engage with the brewing chamber to prevent movement of the body portion when water under pressure interacts with the cleaning material.

In another form, the insert portion generally conforms to or with the shape of the brewing chamber.

In another form, the cleaning material holding portion is configured to allow reloading of the cleaning material holding portion after use.

In another form, the cleaning material holding portion is a tablet holding region adapted to receive the cleaning material in tablet form.

In another form, the tablet holding region is configured to hold the tablet by press fitting the tablet into the tablet holding region.

In another form, the cleaning material holding portion is a capsule holding region adapted to receive the cleaning material in capsule form.

In another form, the capsule holding region is configured to hold the capsule by press fitting the capsule into the capsule holding region.

In another form, the body portion and the cleaning material holding portion are integrally formed in a unitary moulding.

In a second aspect, the present disclosure accordingly provides a method for cleaning a capsule based beverage system, the capsule based beverage system including a brewing chamber having a predetermined size and shape for receiving a beverage capsule, the brewing chamber including an inlet arrangement operable to introduce water at pressure into the beverage capsule received in the chamber and an outlet arrangement to deliver beverage from the beverage capsule, the method including:

inserting a cleaning device configured to be received into the brewing chamber, the cleaning device comprising an open-ended body that holds the cleaning material spaced apart from a fluid jet forming region of the cleaning device;

operating the beverage system to cause water at pressure to enter the brewing chamber by the inlet arrangement to form one or more fluid jets from the fluid jet forming region to impinge on the cleaning material to form a cleaning solution; and

operating the beverage system to cause the cleaning solution to be forced out of the outlet arrangement.

In another form, the cleaning device is reusable and further including reloading cleaning material into the cleaning device before inserting the cleaning device into the brewing chamber.

In another form, the cleaning material is in tablet form and reloading includes press fitting the tablet into a tablet holding region of the cleaning device.

In another form, the method further includes flushing the beverage system by operating the beverage system again following the initial operating of the beverage system to cause the cleaning solution to be forced out of the outlet arrangement prior to preparing a beverage.

In the following description, like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the figures.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Referring now toFIGS. 1ato 1f, there are shown various views of a cleaning device100for cleaning a capsule based beverage system in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

In this illustrative embodiment, cleaning device100is configured to clean the brewing chamber and outlet arrangement of Nespresso™, DeLonghi™ and Breville™ capsule or pod systems, including but not limited to, Pixie, Lattissima, Essenza, Maestria, CitiZ and Le Cube machines. Cleaning device100includes a body portion110having an open end115that is configured to be located in the brewing chamber in the same sense as a beverage capsule locates in the brewing chamber for making a beverage.

Cleaning device100further includes a reservoir portion170that is located at an opposed end to the open end115of body portion110and a fluid jet forming portion180in fluid communication with the reservoir portion170in addition to a cleaning material holding portion150that is located internally of the body portion110.

Body portion110includes a locating portion120to engage with the brewing chamber of the beverage system to prevent movement of the body portion110during the cleaning process. In this embodiment, locating portion120is formed as circular rim or lip121that seats or locates against the opening of the brewing chamber in a similar manner as the rim of the corresponding beverage capsule.

Body portion110further includes an insert portion130that extends into and generally conforms to the shape of the brewing chamber. In this illustrative embodiment, insert portion130is cup shaped and includes a number of longitudinally extending equally spaced external ribs131surrounding a tapered generally cylindrical wall portion132that in use extends into the brewing chamber from the lip121of body portion110and terminates in the reservoir portion170which is formed as an inwardly shaped depression or dimple in the end of insert portion130forming a depressed or indented wall portion171.

In this illustrative embodiment, cleaning material holding portion150is in the form of a quatrefoil shaped recess that forms a tablet holding region150in which a tablet200consisting of cleaning material may be press fitted into as best shown inFIGS. 4 and 5. Tablet holding region150is formed of a quatrefoil shaped wall portion151shaped to conform to the external profile of tablet200with the tablet200being supported internally within insert portion130by in this case four inwardly extending equally spaced nibs152that form a shelf or seating region upon which the tablet200is seated and retained.

In this illustrative embodiment, tablet200is of a quatrefoil shape and formed from relevant materials such as one or more of alkaline builders, ionic surfactants, sequestrants, tablet binders and disintegrants as required. In other embodiments, the cleaning material may be formed as a water soluble capsule incorporating cleaning materials contained in a gel-like film. In these embodiments, the cleaning material holding region would be a capsule holding region having a complementary size and shape to receive the cleaning material in capsule form.

Fluid jet forming portion180in this embodiment is formed from four spaced orifices181arranged in a cross configuration relative to the centre of the depressed wall portion171of the inwardly shaped depression that forms reservoir portion170. As would be appreciated, fluid jet forming portion180may be formed of any suitable number of orifices or openings as required depending on requirements. Although in this embodiment, orifices181are circular shaped it will be appreciated that other shapes such as slits or other non-regular shapes may be employed to assist in the jet forming action. In other embodiments, fluid jet forming portion180may consist of one or more inwardly extending tubes or channels that function as a nozzle to direct the jet of water towards the cleaning material.

Referring now toFIGS. 2 and 3, it is illustrative to review the operation of a capsule based beverage system500which is shown in a sectional figurative view in order to depict the operation of the system. In this example, capsule based beverage system500is of the type suitable for use with Nespresso™ type capsules. As would be appreciated, the principles of operation are similar to other capsule based beverage systems. Capsule based beverage system500includes an inlet arrangement510which delivers hot water to the brewing chamber520(as shown by the right extending arrow) and an outlet arrangement530through which the beverage is dispensed (as shown by the downwardly extending arrow).

Brewing chamber is configured as a retractable cup521having at its base one or more cutting or piercing elements540which on insertion of capsule400and closing of cup531functions to pierce the base of beverage capsule400(as best seen inFIG. 3) and press the capsule400against screen550which comprises a series of regular spaced apertures551and inwardly extending piercing elements552that function to pierce the foil cap of the capsule400. In this manner, on closing of retractable cup531a sealed brewing chamber520is formed consisting of the capsule400whose bottom and top regions have been pierced. Hot water under pressure is then introduced via the inlet arrangement510of the beverage dispenser500. This hot water, delivered at typical temperatures of 90° C.-95° C. and pressures ranging from 15 bar-19 bar is forced through capsule400as result creating the beverage which is dispensed by outlet arrangement530.

In other examples of capsule based beverage systems, the cup531is stationary and the screen550is actuated to move towards the cup531to form the brewing chamber520.

Referring now toFIGS. 4 to 6, in order to clean capsule based beverage system500, a user would first load cleaning device100by, in this example, inserting and press fitting a tablet200into the cleaning material holding portion150of the cleaning device100as shown inFIG. 4. Following loading of the cleaning device100, it may then be inserted in the brewing chamber520as per a standard capsule. The brewing chamber520is then sealed by, in this example, closing cup521towards screen550and the beverage dispenser500is operated to fill the brewing chamber520with hot water under pressure via the inlet arrangement510of the beverage dispenser500.

This hot water, delivered at typical temperatures of 90° C.-95° C., flows into the reservoir portion170of cleaning device100where it accumulates and then flows through orifices181of the fluid jet forming portion180under pressure to form a number of higher pressure water jets which then impinge on the tablet200which is being held spaced apart from the tablet holding region150of cleaning device100. This jet action causes the tablet200to dissolve and create the cleaning solution that cleans the brewing chamber520and outlet arrangement530.

Cleaning device100may then be removed from the brewing chamber520similarly to an equivalent used beverage capsule400. Optionally, a user may elect to additionally flush the brewing chamber520by operating the beverage dispenser500without a capsule before preparing a beverage.

As would be appreciated, the fluid jets formed by cleaning device100assist in ensuring that the cleaning material, in this case tablet200, fully dissolves which improves the cleaning action due to the cleaning solution being of the correct concentration and further reducing the requirement for flushing any undissolved cleaning solution. Cleaning device100may then be re-used as required by simply reloading, in this case by press fitting a tablet200into the cleaning device100, as described above.

In other embodiments, the cleaning device would be purchased or provided preloaded. In other embodiments, the cleaning device would be disposable and incorporate the cleaning material either attached to, or forming part of the body, in a single use form.

Referring now toFIGS. 7ato 7f, there are shown various views of a cleaning device700for Caffitaly™ or K-Fee™ capsule based beverage systems. As such, cleaning device700is suitable for cleaning the brewing chamber and outlet arrangement of a Caffitaly™ capsule or pod system such as models, including but not limited to, S01HS, S03, S04, S05, S06HS and S14 and variants produced for private labels such as for the American coffee chain Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf as well as K-Fee™ capsule based beverage system such as models including, but not limited to,580,583and585.

Cleaning device700includes a generally circularly shaped open-ended body portion710that is configured to be located in the brewing chamber in the same sense that a capsule based beverage capsule would locate in the brewing chamber for making a beverage. Cleaning device further includes a reservoir portion770that is located at an opposed end to the open end715of body portion710and a fluid jet forming portion780in fluid communication with the reservoir portion770. Body portion710includes an internally located tablet holding region750configured in this embodiment to accept and hold cleaning material in tablet form.

In this illustrative embodiment, body portion710includes a locating portion720that engages with the brewing chamber of the beverage system to prevent movement of body portion710during the cleaning process. Similar to cleaning device100, locating portion720is formed as circular rim or lip721extending around the open-end715of body portion710that seats or locates against the opening of the brewing chamber in a similar manner as the rim of the corresponding beverage capsule would. Body portion710further includes an insert portion730that extends into the brewing chamber and which generally conforms to the shape of the brewing chamber that it extends into.

In this illustrative embodiment, insert portion730is formed as cylindrical wall731extending in use into the brewing chamber from locating portion720and terminating in a number of radially spaced fins732that extend part way to the centre of insert portion730surrounding reservoir portion770which is formed as an inwardly shaped depression or dimple in the end of insert portion730. In this manner, the insert portion730is formed generally having a tapered cylindrical outer profile of similar size and configuration as compared to an equivalent capsule of the respective capsule based beverage system. Fluid jet forming portion780in this embodiment is formed from four spaced orifices or openings781arranged in a cross configuration in the wall771of the inwardly shaped depression that forms reservoir portion770.

Tablet holding region750is formed with a tablet conforming peripheral wall or skirt portion753extending upwardly from the bottom of insert portion730to receive the tablet. To facilitate the seating or locating of the cleaning tablet, tablet holding region750incorporates four inwardly extending nibs or abutment portions754spaced at right angles to each other. As a result, tablet holding region750is arranged to be spaced apart from the orifices780. In this illustrative embodiment, peripheral wall portion753is of a quatrefoil shape to receive a corresponding quatrefoil shaped tablet. As would be appreciated, the peripheral wall portion753may be sized and shaped to receive any correspondingly shaped tablet.

In operation, in order to clean a capsule based beverage system, a user would first load cleaning device700by, in this example, a tablet being press fitted into tablet holding region750. As referred to above, nibs754assist in ensuring that the tablet is spaced apart from the fluid jet forming portion180. Cleaning device700is then inserted in the brewing chamber as per a standard capsule.

The brewing chamber is then sealed in accordance with the standard operating procedure of the beverage dispenser and the beverage dispenser is operated to fill the brewing chamber with hot water under pressure via the inlet arrangement of the beverage dispenser. This hot water, delivered at typical temperatures of 90° C.-95° C. and pressures ranging from 15 bar-19 bar, flows into reservoir portion770where it accumulates and then flows through orifices781of the fluid jet forming portion780under pressure to form a number of higher pressure water jets which then impinge on the tablet200which is being held spaced apart from the tablet holding region750of cleaning device700.

As discussed previously, this jet action causes the tablet200to dissolve and create the cleaning solution that cleans the brewing chamber520and outlet arrangement530of the beverage dispensing system.

The cleaning device may then be removed from the brewing chamber similarly to an equivalent used beverage capsule. Optionally, a user may elect to additionally flush the brewing chamber by operating the beverage dispenser without a capsule before preparing a beverage.

While in the above-described embodiments, the cleaning device is formed as a unitary moulding of a suitable food grade plastic such as polypropylene or low density polyethylene, in other embodiments a cleaning device may be formed of a more flexible material such as silicone rubber or the like which may be suitable for more frequent use such as in a hospitality setting.

While in the above-described embodiments, a quatrefoil shaped tablet is employed in other embodiments other shapes such as square, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, hexagonal etc may be used or alternatively non-regular shaped tablets optimised for the particular cleaning conditions may be adopted.

In one example, the table has a thickness of 6 mm and a circumscribed diameter or outside perimeter of 20 mm. For a quatrefoil shape such as tablet200the resulting volume is 1324 mm3, while for a trefoil shape such as petal1050, the equivalent volume is 1149 mm3. In this manner, the volume of the cleaning material may be modified by the selection of the tablet shape.

In other embodiments, the shape of the cleaning tablet may signify its strength or type so that a user when requiring a particular type of cleaning operation would select a cleaning device having a tablet holding region having a complementary size and shape to the required tablet.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention is not restricted in its use to the particular application described. Neither is the present invention restricted in its preferred embodiment with regard to the particular elements and/or features described or depicted herein. It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth and defined by the following claims.