Juice extraction module for juicer

Abstract

A juice extraction module for a juicer is provided, which includes a container formed with a juice discharge port, a sieve positioned inside of the container, a screw positioned inside of the sieve to extract juice from a material, and a lid coupled to a top end of the container and formed with a input port through which the material is input. The juice extraction module includes a crushing portion formed on a top end of the screw to be narrowed upward, the crushing portion having a crushing blade formed thereon; and a crushing processing portion connected to the input port and formed in a bottom of the lid to be concave for accommodating the crushing portion.

Claims

1. A juice extraction module for a juicer, the juice extraction module including: a container comprising a juice discharge port; a sieve positioned inside of the container; a screw to extract juice from a material, the screw being rotatable about a rotational axis and having top and bottom portions vertically arranged along the rotational axis, the bottom portion of the screw being accommodated within the sieve and the top portion of the screw extending out of the sieve; a lid coupled to a top end of the container, the lid having: a top portion that includes an input port through which said material is input into the juice extraction module, and a bottom portion that receives said material from the input port, wherein the top portion of the screw has a spiral blade formed thereon and extends above a top end of the sieve to narrow toward a top end of the screw, wherein the bottom portion of the lid includes a screw accommodating portion configured to accommodate the top portion of the screw, wherein a first material processing zone in which said material is subjected to crushing, in use, is defined between the top portion of the screw and an interior surface of the lid above the top end of the sieve, wherein a second material processing zone in which said material is subjected to juicing, in use, is defined between the bottom portion of the screw and the sieve, wherein the input port is proportioned to accommodate material of up to a first diameter in size, the first diameter being greater than a shortest distance between the rotational axis of the screw and an inner circumferential edge at an entrance of the top end of the sieve, and wherein the input port is located above the entrance of the top end of the sieve and, when viewing the juice extraction module from a top plan view, partially overlaps with the entrance of the top end of the sieve such that a portion of the input port is outside a projected boundary of the entrance of the top end of the sieve.

2. The juice extraction module according to claim 1, wherein the first material processing zone reduces in size between its upstream and downstream ends.

3. The juice extraction module according to claim 1, wherein the screw is of unitary one-piece construction.

4. A juice extraction module for a juicer, which includes a container formed with a juice discharge port, a sieve positioned inside of the container, a screw positioned inside of the sieve to rotate about a rotational axis and extract juice from a material, and a lid coupled to a top end of the container and formed with an input port through which the material is input, the juice extraction module comprising: a top portion of the screw defining a crushing portion, the crushing portion comprising a crushing blade formed thereon; and a crushing processing portion connected to the input port and defined in a bottom portion of the lid, the crushing processing portion accommodating the crushing portion of the screw, an inner surface of the crushing processing portion including a crushing processing surface and a material guide surface, wherein the input port is an opening formed in a top portion of the lid, wherein the material guide surface continues from the input port and is inclined toward the rotational axis, whereby the material guide surface guides the material so that the material begins to be crushed by the crushing blade, and wherein the crushing blade crushes the material within the crushing processing portion formed in the bottom of the lid, in advance of the material reaching the sieve, and wherein the input port is located above an entrance of a top end of the sieve and, when viewing the juice extraction module from a top plan view, partially overlaps with the entrance of the top end of the sieve such that a portion of the input port is outside a projected boundary of the entrance of the top end of the sieve.

5. The juice extraction module according to claim 4, wherein the screw is of unitary one-piece construction.

6. A juice extraction module for a juicer, comprising: a container comprising a juice discharge port; a sieve positioned inside of the container; a screw positioned inside of the sieve to rotate about a rotational axis and extract juice from a material, a top portion of the screw defining a crushing portion which includes a crushing blade formed thereon; and a lid coupled to a top end of the container and comprising an input port through which the material is input, a bottom portion of the lid comprising a crushing processing portion connected to the input port, the crushing processing portion accommodating the crushing portion of the screw and having an inner surface that includes a crushing processing surface, wherein the input port is an opening formed in the lid, wherein the crushing blade crushes the material within the crushing processing portion formed in the bottom of the lid, in advance of the material reaching the sieve, and wherein the input port is located above an entrance of a top end of the sieve and, when viewing the juice extraction module from a top plan view, partially overlaps with the entrance of the top end of the sieve such that a portion of the input port is outside a projected boundary of the entrance of the top end of the sieve.

7. The juice extraction module according to claim 6, wherein the screw is of unitary one-piece construction.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a juice extraction module for a juicer according to one embodiment of the present invention;

(2) FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the juice extraction module according to the embodiment of the present invention;

(3) FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a lid of the juice extraction module shown in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the lid taken along line A-A of FIG. 3;

(5) FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the lid taken along line B-B of FIG. 3; and

(6) FIG. 6 is a front view showing a screw having a crushing portion provided on a top end thereof as a portion of juice extraction module shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(7) Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(8) The following embodiments are provided only for illustrative purposes.

(9) Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments but may be implemented in other forms.

(10) In the drawings, the widths, lengths, thicknesses and the like of elements may be exaggerated for convenience of illustration.

(11) FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a juice extraction module for a juicer according to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the juice extraction module according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a lid of the juice extraction module shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the lid taken along line A-A of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the lid taken along line B-B of FIG. 3; and FIG. 6 is a front view showing a screw having a crushing portion provided on a top end thereof as a portion of juice extraction module shown in FIG. 1.

(12) Referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, a juice extraction module for a juicer according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a container 100 having a juice extraction space defined therein and having a juice discharge port 101 and a residue discharge port 102 respectively formed in one and another sides of an outer surface thereof, a sieve 200 installed inside of the container 100 to separate juice from material residues generated in juice extraction, a screw 300 installed inside of the sieve 200 to extract juice from the material, and a lid 400 installed to a top end of the container 100 and formed with an input port 410, through which a material is input.

(13) Although not shown, an opening/closing means for selectively opening and closing the juice discharge port 101 of the container 100 may be applied to the juice extraction module.

(14) As the opening/closing means, a cock valve may be used. The cock valve includes a valve body moving forward or backward in the juice discharge port 101, wherein a leading end of the valve body is preferably oriented toward the juice discharge port 101.

(15) In addition, the cock valve may include a juice discharge cock, which may be selectively connected to the juice discharge port 101 by the valve body.

(16) As a means for opening and closing the juice discharge port 101, a variety of means may be employed in addition to the above structure.

(17) A crushing portion 500 is formed on a top end of the screw 300 to have a shape narrowed upward.

(18) The crushing portion 500 has further a crushing blade 510 formed thereon, wherein the crushing blade 510 extends in the shape of a spiral having a width gradually narrowed upward, more preferably toward a top apex of the crushing portion 500.

(19) A central shaft 310 of the screw 300 may be formed on the top apex of the crushing portion 500.

(20) The lid 400 has a crushing processing portion 600 formed in a bottom thereof to be concave upward from a face coupled with the container 100 in order to accommodate the crushing portion 500.

(21) The crushing processing portion 600 has a shape gradually narrowed toward a top apex corresponding to the crushing portion 500.

(22) In addition, the top apex of the crushing processing portion 600 is formed with a shaft hole, into which the central shaft 310 of the screw 300 is rotatably fitted.

(23) While being connected with the input port 410, the crushing processing portion 600 cooperates with the crushing portion 500 to serve to crush the material input through the input port 410.

(24) The crushing blade 510 is inserted and positioned in the crushing processing portion 600, and the crushing blade 510 cooperates with a specific shape of an inner surface of the crushing processing portion 600 to crush the material.

(25) The input port 410 is offset toward one side with respect to a central axis of the screw 300 and simultaneously should have such a large bottom width W (or inner diameter) that a large-sized material such as an apple is allowed to be input without being chopped.

(26) The sieve 200 has the largest inner diameter at the top end thereof, and thus, a distance from the central axis of the screw 300 to the sieve 200 is set up to be largest at the top end of the sieve 200.

(27) The bottom width of the input port 410 is set up to be larger than the shortest distance from the central axis of the screw 300 to an inner circumferential surface of the top end of the sieve 200.

(28) Accordingly, as viewed from the top, a region of the input port 410 partially overlaps with a top end region of the sieve 200 and is out of the top end region of the sieve 200.

(29) Embodiments of the present invention have a large difference in that a conventional juicer has a small-sized input port so as to be generally positioned inside of a region of a sieve.

(30) Also, the crushing processing portion 600 is formed to cover the entire bottom region of the input port 410 at the height of the crushing processing portion 600 connected to the bottom end of the input port 410.

(31) Further, the input port 410 is within a circle region having a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the crushing processing portion 600 with the central shaft 310 of the screw 300 as the center, and more preferably, is positioned to be offset within one side of semicircle regions into which the circle region is divided by a line passing through the central shaft 310.

(32) In addition, the inner surface of the crushing processing portion 600, particularly an inner crushing processing surface 610 is formed to be gradually close to the crushing blade 510 of the crushing portion 500 in a direction in which the crushing blade 510 runs from the bottom end of the input port 410.

(33) Accordingly, when the material is expelled out by the crushing blade 510, the material is held by the inner surface of the crushing processing portion 600, so that a lateral side of the material is crushed by the crushing blade 510, and the material is dragged into the crushing processing portion according to the rotation of the crushing portion.

(34) This provides an effect of automatically crushing the material even if a user inputs the material and then does not push the material again.

(35) The crushing portion 500 further has one or more auxiliary crushing blades formed thereon so that they assist the crushing blade 510 to crush the material more effectively.

(36) In such a case, the crushing blade 510 first crushes the material, and the auxiliary crushing blades may crush the material more finely.

(37) Also, as the material is dragged into the crushing processing portion, the force of pressing the screw downward is generated, so that there is an effect of suppressing the upward movement of the screw generated by permeation of material residues between a bottom surface of the screw and a floor surface of the container.

(38) As mentioned above, since a portion of the input port 410 extends out of the top end region of the sieve 200, a material guide surface 620 is provided on the inner surface of the crushing processing portion 600 so that the material input through the input port 410 can be guided to the sieve 200.

(39) That is, the material guide surface 620 is provided as an element for smoothly connecting the sieve 200 and the input port 410 extending to the outside to such an extent as to use an uncut apple as it is.

(40) Also, the material guide surface 620 continues from the input port 410 while overlapping with the input port 410 and is formed to be inclined toward the central axis of the crushing portion 500, thereby causing a lateral side of the material to begin to be crushed by the crushing blade 510.

(41) In order to improve crushing processibility, one or more milling blades 630 may be further formed on the crushing processing surface 610.

(42) In this embodiment, the plurality of milling blades 630 are spaced apart from each other and extend from an upper portion of the crushing processing surface 610 to a lower portion thereof, and each of the milling blades 630 is gradually close to the crushing blade 510 as it goes from the upper portion toward the lower portion.

(43) The crushing portion 500 passes over the top end of the container 100 and sieve 200 and is accommodated and positioned in the crushing processing portion 600 positioned in the lid 400. The crushing portion 500 and the crushing processing portion 600 cooperate with each other to fully crush the material input through the input port 410, thereby making it possible to smoothly extract juice from the material even if the user does not chop the material in advance.

(44) Since the juice is extracted from the material fully crushed as above in the sieve 200, there is an effect of preventing the sieve 200 from being deformed.

(45) In addition, a lateral side of the material is processed by the crushing blade 510, which can be performed only by forming the crushing portion 500 to have a length suitable for the height of the material. Thus, the protruding length of the screw blade need not extend in order to cut the material itself.

(46) Further, a sieve insertion step 420 may be formed in a bottom of the crushing processing portion 600 to be snugly fitted to the top end of the sieve 200.

(47) The bottom end of the material guide surface 620 meets the sieve insertion step 420 in a stepwise manner, wherein the bottom end of the material guide surface 620 is formed to conform to an inner surface of the top end of the sieve 200.

(48) Accordingly, the material crushed through the crushing processing portion 600 is smoothly guided into the sieve 200 along the material guide surface 620.

(49) The various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. All of the U.S. patents, U.S. patent application publications, U.S. patent applications, foreign patents, foreign patent applications and non-patent publications referred to in this specification and/or listed in the Application Data Sheet are incorporated herein by reference, in their entirety. Aspects of the embodiments can be modified, if necessary to employ concepts of the various patents, applications and publications to provide yet further embodiments.

(50) These and other changes can be made to the embodiments in light of the above-detailed description. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.