A brewing unit for a piston coffee machine is designed as a spindle brewing unit with an outer spindle and inner spindle, and with a brewing slide as a brewing chamber, two piston units in the form of a showerhead and a plunger, a drive motor, and at least one gearing mechanism.

Provided is a coffee powder stirrer that includes a lid. The top of the lid is provided with a through hole. A supporting rod is inserted through the through hole. The top of the supporting rod is connected to an operating member. A spring is provided between the operating member and the lid. The spring is sleeved on the supporting rod. A stirring assembly is provided in a cavity of the lid, and is secured to the bottom of the supporting rod. The lid is engaged with a coffee powder box so as to prevent coffee power from spilling out of the coffee powder box in a stirring process. The supporting rod pushes the stirring assembly to break up caked coffee powder. The cooperation between the spring and the operating member fulfills the restoration of the stirring assembly and facilitates rapid breakup of the caked and glutinous coffee powder.

A coffee brewer contains a brewing unit in which coffee grounds having been poured in are compressed by a plunger driven by an actuator. Heated water flows through the compressed coffee grounds. A control device controls the actuator in accordance with signals of an angle of rotation sensor. The control device first moves the plunger against a stop in an ejection position to calibrate the sensor, then moves the plunger by a predetermined distance in a downwards direction into a pouring-in position. Afterwards the control device moves the plunger by a second distance into the brewing position, a length of the predetermined distance and the second distance corresponds to a number of pulses of the sensor which are stored in the memory. The control device subsequently moves the plunger by a third distance back into the ejection position in which the coffee grounds are removed from the plunger.

An apparatus to prepare beverages comprises a brewing chamber 3 movable by driving means 5, 6 along a vertical path, a first piston 7 and a second piston 9 movable within the brewing chamber 3, a hopper 25 to feed coffee powder to the brewing chamber and a discharge device 21 to discharge a spent coffee cake; the hopper 25 is pivotally mounted in the apparatus to obtain a desired distribution of coffee powder in the chamber.

The present invention relates to a proportional emulsion valve (1), configured to be used inside a fluid treatment machine, comprising a main body (2) in which an inlet duct (3) is defined, operatively connectable to the hydraulic circuit of a fluid treatment machine and configured to allow the entrance into said valve (1) of a fluid at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, and an outlet duct (4) operatively connectable to the hydraulic circuit of the machine and configured for the expulsion of the fluid from the valve (1), the inlet duct (3) and said outlet duct (4) being in fluid communication one another, the valve (1) comprising a slider (7) selectively positionable in an opening position, in which it allows the fluid communication between the inlet duct (3) and the outlet duct (4), and being selectively positionable, against the pressure exerted by a fluid when it is contained in the inlet duct (3), in a closing position in which the fluid communication between the inlet duct (3) and the outlet duct (4) is interrupted due to direct or indirect action of the slider (7), the slider (7) being operatively connected to an actuating system (9) comprising a driving element (10) configured to selectively exercise on the slider (7) a desired closing force (11) which tends to bring it towards the closing position; the driving element (10) is configured to exert the closing force (11) on the slider (7) through an elastic element (12) interposed between the driving element (10) and the slider (7) and configured to elastically force the slider (7) towards the closing position.

An apparatus to prepare beverages comprises a brewing chamber 3 movable by driving device 5, 6 along a vertical path, a first piston 7 and a second piston 9 movable within the brewing chamber 3, a hopper 25 to feed coffee powder to the brewing chamber and a discharge device 21 to discharge a spent coffee cake; the hopper 25 is pivotally mounted in the apparatus to obtain a desired distribution of coffee powder in the chamber.

A coffee machine including a controller, an infusion cylinder that can be loaded with a ground coffee dose, an ejection piston slidably supported inside the infusion cylinder, a closing piston engageable in the infusion cylinder to create a closed infusion chamber for the ground coffee dose, delimited between a lateral wall of the infusion cylinder, the ejection piston and the closing piston. Electrical actuation moves the infusion cylinder between a lower travel limit stop, where the ground coffee dose is loaded, and an upper travel limit stop where the infusion process occurs, an adjuster for positioning the upper travel limit stop based on the size of the loaded ground coffee dose, so that in the position of the upper travel limit stop, the infusion chamber has a volume sufficient to contain the ground coffee dose without compressing it.

A collection container to collect exhausted powder material discharged by a brewing device in a beverage preparation machine. The collection container has a receiving zone to receive the exhausted powder material and is provided with conveying means operable to convey the exhausted powder material so as to spread it inside the collection container and reduce its piling up in the receiving zone.

An apparatus for preparing a beverage comprises a decoction device (5) which comprises a decoction body (50) with a chamber Avail (53) inside which a decoction chamber (54) extends axially between a pair of bottoms (51,52) lying opposite each other. The chamber wall is provided locally with a filling opening (55) for admitting into the decoction chamber at least one ingredient for the beverage to be prepared. The decoction device is coupled to drive means which during operation impart a preparation cycle to the decoction device. A first bottom (51) moves closer to a second bottom (51) here in a first direction from a first starting position. Between a second and a third state the decoction body (50) performs a displacement in the first direction in order to carry the inlet opening (55) outside the decoction chamber. In a third ejecting state the first bottom lies outside the decoction body.

A beverage machine that brews beverages from a beverage pod is described. The pod is container with a top surface and a bottom surface connected by a sidewall that form a cylinder. The pod contains whole brewing elements that can be ground into sub-elements by the brewing system for brewing into a beverage. The pod is actuatable between an open state and a closed state by a breaking system of the beverage machine. In the closed state the brewing elements are contained and in the open state the elements are released. The pod includes a failure mechanism on the sidewall that is engineered to fail when the pod is actuated by a breaking mechanism of the beverage machine. When actuated the failure mechanism fails such that the beverage pod can be pulled into a top portion and a bottom portion to release the brewing elements.