Patent Publication Number: US-2021169266-A1

Title: Automatic brewing system

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/665,761, filed May 2, 2018, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates to beverage brewers, and particularly to automated beverage brewers. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an automated beverage brewing system for forming a brewed beverage from a brewing substance at the selection of a user. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to the present disclosure, an automatic brewing system includes a brewer, a brewing-substance delivery system coupled to the brewer, and a water-delivery system coupled to the brewer. The brewer, brewing-substance delivery system and water-delivery system are stored in a housing. The brewing-substance delivery system delivers brewing substance into the brewer for combination with water supplied by the water-delivery system to form a brewed beverage. 
     In illustrative embodiments, the brewer includes a brew chamber, a filter, an upper piston, and a lower piston. Brewing substance is delivered into the brew chamber through a delivery window, and the upper piston closes the delivery window to block moisture from entering the brewing-substance delivery system during a brew cycle of the automatic brewing system. The lower piston is received in the filter and movable between a closed position blocking liquid from passing through the filter and an open position to allow liquid to pass through the filter. At least a portion of the filter is sloped to allow washing of used brewing substance off of the filter. 
     In illustrative embodiments, the brewing-substance delivery system includes hoppers, a dosing mechanism, and a delivery chute. The hoppers store various types of brewing substances used for brewing various beverages at the selection of a user. The dosing mechanism is adjustable to deliver brewing substance from the hopper containing the brewing substance used for the selected brew cycle through the delivery chute into the brew chamber. The dosing mechanism includes an index plate and a feed plate coupled to the index plate for movement therewith. The index plate rotates to position the feed plate relative to a selected hopper, and the feed plate passes brewing substance from the hoppers into the delivery chute. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present disclosure will be described hereafter with reference to the attached drawings which are given as a non-limiting example only, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a front perspective view of an automatic brewing system in accordance with the present disclosure showing that the automatic brewing system includes a brewer, a brewing-substance delivery system for delivering brewing substance into the brewer, and a water-delivery system for supplying water into the brewer to mix with the brewing substance to forma brewed beverage an suggesting that the components of the automatic brewing system are received in a housing; 
         FIG. 2  is a rear perspective view of the automatic brewing system of  FIG. 1  showing that the water-delivery system includes a water tank, pumps, and heaters; 
         FIG. 3  is an upper perspective view of the brewing-substance delivery system of  FIG. 1  showing that the brewing-substance delivery system includes hoppers for storing brewing substance, a dosing mechanism, and a delivery chute, and suggesting that the dosing mechanism transfers brewing substance from a selected hopper into the delivery chute to deliver the brewing substance into the brewer; 
         FIG. 4  is a side elevation view of the brewing-substance delivery system of  FIG. 3 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a side elevation view of the brewer of  FIG. 1  showing that the brewer includes a brew chamber, a filter movable relative to a lower end of the brew chamber, an upper piston movable relative to an upper portion of the brew chamber, and a lower piston movable relative to the filter; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the brewer of  FIG. 5  showing that the filter includes a side wall, a slanted filter screen coupled to the side wall to define an interior region of the filter, and a plug coupled to the filter screen, and suggesting that the lower piston is received in the interior region of the filter; 
         FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the lower piston of  FIG. 6 ; 
         FIG. 8  is a sectional view taken along line  8 - 8  in  FIG. 6 ; and 
         FIGS. 9-14  are a series of views illustrating a brew cycle of the automatic brewing system in accordance with the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     The exemplification set out herein illustrates embodiments of the disclosure that are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any manner Additional features of the present disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the disclosure as presently perceived. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     While the present disclosure may be susceptible to embodiment in different forms, there is shown in the drawings, and herein will be described in detail, embodiments with the understanding that the present description is to be considered an exemplification of the principles of the disclosure. The disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of structure, function, construction, or the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of various phrases and terms is meant to encompass the items or functions identified and equivalents thereof as well as additional items or functions. Unless limited otherwise, various phrases, terms, and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass all variations of such phrases and terms. Furthermore, and as described in subsequent paragraphs, the specific configurations illustrated in the drawings are intended to exemplify embodiments of the disclosure. However, other alternative structures, functions, and configurations are possible which are considered to be within the teachings of the present disclosure. Furthermore, unless otherwise indicated, the term “or” is to be considered inclusive. 
     Terms including beverage, brewed, brewing, brewing substance, brewed liquid, and brewed beverage as may be used herein are intended to be broadly defined as including, but not limited to, the brewing of coffee, tea and any other beverages. This broad interpretation is also intended to include, but is not limited to any process of dispensing, infusing, steeping, reconstituting, diluting, dissolving, saturating or passing a liquid through or otherwise mixing or combining a brewing substance with a liquid such as water without limitation to the temperature of such liquid unless specified. This broad interpretation is also intended to include, but is not limited to, brewing substances such as ground coffee, tea, liquid beverage concentrate, powdered beverage concentrate, flaked, granular, freeze dried or other forms of materials including liquid, gel, crystal or other forms of beverage or food materials to obtain a desired beverage or other food product. Beverage brewing substances will be described in the present application and generally will be referred to as “coffee”. However, it should be understood that the term brewing substance should be broadly interpreted regardless of reference to brewing substance or coffee. 
     The foregoing terms as well as other terms should be broadly interpreted throughout this application to include all known as well as all hereafter discovered versions, equivalents, variations and other forms of the abovementioned terms as well as other terms. The present disclosure is intended to be broadly interpreted and not limited. 
     One embodiment of an automatic brewing system  10  in accordance with the present disclosure is shown in  FIG. 1 . Automatic brewing system  10  includes a brewer  12 , a brewing-substance delivery system  14 , and a water-delivery system  16 . In the illustrative embodiment, the components of automatic brewing system  10  are stored in a housing  18 . A brewing substance is delivered into brewer  12  from brewing-substance delivery system  14  for mixing with water from water-delivery system  16  to form a brewed beverage as part of a brew cycle of automatic brewing system  10 . The brewed beverage is delivered into a container  11  of a user of automatic brewing system  10 , and used brewing substance is collected in a waste bin  19  to reset automatic brewing system  10  for a subsequent brew cycle. 
     Water-delivery system  16  includes a water tank  22 , a brew pump  24 , in-line heaters  26 , and a wash pump  28  as shown in  FIG. 2 . Water is selectively supplied to tank  22  through an inlet valve  21  according to readings from high and low level sensors coupled to tank  22 . Brew pump  24  forces water from tank  22  through in-line heaters  26  to heat the water and deliver the heated water to brewer  12  to mix with the brewing substance and form the brewed beverage. A selector valve  23  selectively directs water to various portions of brewer  12  for forming the brewed beverage and for clearing used brewing substance from brewer  12 . Wash pump  28  supplies water to brewer  12  for clearing the used brewing substance out of brewer  12 . A flowmeter  25  tracks the amount of water supplied to brewer  12  for forming the brewed beverage. A pressure valve  27  allows water to feed back into tank  22  from in-line heaters  26  when the pressure is above a threshold value. A spray-head valve  29  selectively allows water to flow through an upper portion of brewer  12 . 
     Brewing-substance delivery system  14  includes hoppers  32 , a dosing mechanism  34 , and a delivery chute  36  each coupled to a support plate  38  as shown in  FIG. 3 . Hoppers store various types of brewing substances, such as pre-ground tea or coffee, used for brewing various beverages at the selection of a user. Dosing mechanism  34  is adjustable to deliver brewing substance from one of hoppers  32  containing the brewing substance used for the selected brew cycle through chute  36  into brewer  12 . Dosing mechanism  34  includes an index plate  31  and a feed plate  33  coupled to index plate  31  for movement therewith as suggested in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . A motor  35  rotates index plate  31  relative to support plate  38  to position feed plate  33  relative to a selected hopper  32 , and a motor  37  rotates feed plate  33  relative to index plate  31  to pass brewing substance from hopper  32  into chute  36 . 
     Brewer  12  includes a brew chamber  42 , a filter  44 , an upper piston  46 , and a lower piston  48  as shown in  FIG. 5 . Brew chamber  42  includes a cylindrical side wall  52  having open upper and lower ends, a delivery window  54  formed through side wall  52  adjacent the upper end, and a wash port  56  coupled to side wall  52  adjacent the lower end. Upper piston  46  closes the upper end of brew chamber  42  and is selectively axially movable relative to brew chamber  42  using a motor  45 . Filter  44  and lower piston  48  close the lower end of brew chamber  42  and are each selectively axially movable relative to brew chamber  42  using lifters  41 ,  43 , respectively. 
     Filter  44  includes a cylindrical side wall  62  sized to be received in brew chamber  42 , a slanted filter screen  64  coupled to side wall  62  to define an interior region  68  of filter  44 , and a plug  66  coupled to filter screen  64  as shown in  FIG. 6 . Lower piston  48  includes a body  72 , a slanted top  74 , and a hole  76  (sometimes called a dispense port) extending through body  72  as shown in  FIG. 7 . Lower piston  48  is sized to be received in filter  44  as shown in  FIG. 8 . Top wall  74  engages with filter screen  64  and plug  66  engages with hole  76  to block liquid from passing out of the lower end of brew chamber  42  when lower piston  48  is in a closed position. Lower piston  48  is movable relative to an open position relative to filter  44  where top wall is spaced apart from filter screen  64  and plug  66  is spaced apart from hole  76  to allow brewed beverage to pass through filter screen  64  and hole  76  to a dispense tube  49  for dispensing the brewed beverage to container  11 . 
     In one illustrative embodiment of a brew cycle of automatic brewing system  10 , brewing substance is delivered by brewing-substance delivery system  14  into brew chamber  42  through delivery window  54 , and the upper piston  46  moves to close delivery window  54  to block moisture from entering brewing-substance delivery system  14  as suggested in  FIGS. 9 and 10 . Upper piston  46  also closes a vapor vent  58  to seal brew chamber  42 . Heated water is supplied through a spray head of upper piston  46  and/or through an injection port  51  into brew chamber  42  for mixing with the brewing substance as suggested in  FIG. 10 . A gas pump  47  provides a pressurized gas, such as air or nitrogen, into brew chamber  42  to circulate the brewing system through the water and aid formation of the brewed beverage. 
     Lower piston  48  is moved to the opened position by lifter  43  to dispense the brewed beverage into container  11  as suggested in  FIG. 11 . Filter  44  is lowered by lifter  41  to expose wash port  56 , and water is supplied through the spray head of upper piston  46  and/or through injection port  51  into brew chamber  42  for clearing used brewing substance off of filter  44  and out of brew chamber  42  as suggested in  FIG. 12 . Filter  44  engages with lower piston  48  during the wash phase to block wash water from passing through dispense tube  49 . Upper piston  46  is raised to expose vapor vent  58  and allow residual steam to pass out of brew chamber  42  as suggested in  FIG. 13 . Filter  44  and lower piston  48  are raised to the closed position to reset automatic brewing system  10  for another brew cycle as suggested in  FIG. 14 . Upper piston  46  is raised to expose delivery window  54  at the start of the next brew cycle to allow brewing substance to enter brew chamber  42 . 
     In illustrative embodiments, a controller is used to operate automatic brewing system  10  and can include a user interface for selecting various aspects of the brew process, such as the type of brewing substance, the strength of the brewed beverage, the amount of brewed beverage, and other parameters. 
     While the present disclosure describes various exemplary embodiments, the disclosure is not so limited. To the contrary, the disclosure is intended to cover various modifications, uses, adaptations, and equivalent arrangements based on the principles disclosed. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within at least the known or customary practice within the art to which it pertains. It is envisioned that those skilled in the art may devise various modifications and equivalent structures and functions without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as recited in the following claims. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.