Patent Publication Number: US-2019191922-A1

Title: Cleaning and sanitizing device for steam lances of coffee machines

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to a cleaning and sanitizing device for steam lances of coffee machines, mainly, though not exclusively, of a type in professional use. 
     The present invention is a cleaning and sanitizing device which enables cleaning steaming lances present in coffee machines for professional and domestic use, said device comprising a water or steam treatment group which is dispensed starting from the higher part of the steam pipe in the direction of the lower part, at the steam dispensing head. 
     The cleaning and sanitizing device according to the invention obviates the problematic issues inherent to the maintaining in hygienically correct conditions of the steam lances, which are normally cleaned using means that is entirely inadequate. 
     The present invention is advantageously applied in the sector of accessories for coffee machines and in particular in the sector of steam lances. 
     PRIOR ART 
     It is known that coffee machines, especially professional-level ones used in public businesses such as those used in bars and restaurants, but likewise also coffee machines for domestic use, are generally provided with a steam lance which enables heating liquids and foaming milk. 
     It is also known that milk and in particular the fats contained in the milk, with long use of the steam lance, tend to deposit and become layered on the steam lance. 
     In fact, during the foaming, the heat produced by the steam lance changes the milk, which forms encrustations especially on the external surface of the steam lance, being in direct contact with the heating surface of the steam lance and the milk jugs. 
     These encrustations deposit on the outlet spout of the steam lance and especially on the external surface thereof, becoming a prime target for the growth and development of bacteria. 
     Consequently operators, such as bar staff or other people using these coffee machines, are forced to carry out manual cleaning operations. 
     For a professional worker it is good practice to clean the steam lance after each use with a dedicated cloth, to rinse it before and after each milk foaming cycle and frequently rinse the milk jugs, but this is not sufficient to guarantee the efficiency and cleanliness thereof day after day. 
     To eliminate all the external and internal residues on the steam lance it would be necessary, and this is what bar staff or operators in the sector do today, to cyclically use a specific detergent which dissolves the encrustations, so as to remove the risk of bacterial development, and increase the quality of the steam dispensed, which is, as is well-known, very important for the creation of the micro-texturing of creamy milk. 
     As can be intuited, all these operations involve a considerable amount of time, inconvenient when one considers the frequency of intervention that is necessary, i.e. at each use, and even this does not guarantee perfect sanitizing, as the cloths and sponges used for cleaning in turn constitute a potentially damaging source for bacteriological proliferation in a hot-moist environment, with all the well-known negative consequences which compromise each treatment. 
     In turn the traditional cleaning of the steam lances, while insufficient as mentioned in the foregoing from the point of view of sanitizing, involves machine halts necessary for the cleaning operations, causing, overall, a drawback for the customers, which is reflected negatively on the commercial concern&#39;s income. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention makes available a cleaning and sanitizing device for steam lances for coffee machines which enables automating the cleaning treatment by cleaning and sanitizing the steam lances, thus creating a condition able to eliminate or at least reduce the above-described drawbacks. 
     The invention in particular provides a sanitizing device for steam lances which is simple to construct, can possibly be integratable in existing machines, and especially is simple and rapid to use, so that the treatments can be carried out with rapidity while guaranteeing the requirement of efficiency in results, especially from the point of view of the cleaning and sanitizing. 
     The main aim of the invention is to guarantee high-level cleaning treatments by means of cleaning and sanitizing, as the use of jets of water and/or steam is included, directed from above the stem towards the dispensing head. 
     This is obtained by means of a cleaning and sanitizing device for steam lances of coffee machines, the characteristics of which are described in the main claim. 
     The dependent claims of the present solution delineate advantageous embodiments of the invention. 
     In the invention, along the final channeling of the steam lance, i.e. upstream of the head and the immersion sector of the lance in the liquid, a substantially cylindrical sleeve is installed, internally hollow and closed about the conduit in the upper part thereof, said cylindrical body being intercepted by a conduit carrying hot water and/or steam commanded by the mechanically- or electromechanically activated opening and closing device, or the like, suitable for the same aim. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will be evident from reading the following description of an embodiment of the invention by way of non-limiting example with the aid of the figures illustrated in the appended tables of drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view showing, in a section along a vertical median plane thereof, a steam lance provided with the cleaning and sanitizing means according to the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic view showing a detail in cross section along a vertical median plane thereof, a steam lance provided with cleaning and sanitizing means in second embodiment thereof; 
         FIGS. 3 and 4  are schematic views showing the steam lance and the direction of the sanitizing jets respectively in the first and second embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
     With reference to the appended figures, and firstly in particular  FIG. 1 , reference number  10  generally denotes a steam lance for heating liquids, for example water, or for foaming milk, or for other uses which are normally carried out by bar staff in combination with a coffee machine. 
     The steam lance  10  is substantially constituted by a tubular conduit  11  superiorly engaged, by means of a joint, to the coffee machine and at a lower end of which the steam head  12  is arranged, from which the steam exits. The head  12  is suitable for being immersed in the liquid to be heated, such as water or milk, contained in a recipient. 
     The tubular conduit  11  of the steam lance  10  has at least a lower portion, a substantially rectilinear conformation, i.e. straight, and it is the lower portion of the lance that is immersed, together with the head  12 , in the liquid to be heated or foamed, and which is therefore subject to the above-mentioned drawbacks. 
     According to the invention, a cleaning and sanitizing sleeve  13  is installed superiorly of the lower foaming portion of the tubular conduit  11 , which comprises: an upper collar  14 , which adheres to the circumference of the tubular conduit, inferiorly of which an annular cavity  15  is fashioned, open in a downwards direction, creating a conveying zone directed towards the lower part of the conduit in the direction of the head  12 . 
     An auxiliary cleaning and sanitizing conduit  16  is inserted at the upper collar  14 , which conduit  16  follows the tubular conduit  11  in the high part and which opens into the cavity  15  through one or more holes  17  for injection of hot water and/or steam fashioned in the collar and having a radial arrangement with respect to the centre of the axis. 
     The cleaning and sanitizing conduit  16  is supplied from a water tank or from the same boiler as the coffee machine, or by another, possibly autonomous, boiler, and the sanitizing conduit  16  is intercepted at the collar  14  by retaining means  18  commandable by a special command device of a mechanical type or an electromechanical type according to versions. 
     These mechanical or electromechanical command devices comprise: 
     a) in a first case, a valve of a manual type commanded by a manually-activated button  19  possibly located internally of a special grip  20 , as is visible in  FIGS. 1 and 3 , 
     b) in a second case, a solenoid valve  21  commanded by an electrical-pulse micro-switch  22 , as is visible in  FIGS. 2 and 4 . 
     In both cases the conduit  16  which opens internally of the cavity  15  inferiorly of the collar  14  is able on the operator&#39;s command to dispense jets of water and/or steam directed towards the outlet of the cavity, striking the lower part of the tubular conduit  11  up to the steam head  12  located on the lower end. 
     From the operating point of view, the dispensing of jets of hot water and/or steam imparted by manual pressure on the button  19  or on the micro-switch  22  produces the effect of dispensing, on the tubular conduit  11 , the quantity of hot water and/or steam necessary for cleaning and complete sanitizing of the steam lance  10 , which in this way will always be ready for use without having recourse to the traditional anti-hygienic manual treatments using cloths or sponges. 
     Further embodiments include a manifold  23 , or another like distributor of an annular type facilitating the distribution of the water and/or steam and extending throughout the whole circumference of the chamber  15 , is inserted at the mouth of the conduit  16  internally of the chamber  15 , i.e. at the outlet of the hole/s  17 , said manifold comprising a plurality of holes  17 , which open towards the annular chamber  15 . 
     The invention has been described in the above with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof. However it is clear that the invention is susceptible to numerous variants which fall within the scope thereof, and which are technically equivalent.