Coffee grinding machine configured to provide a dose of stratified ground coffee and associated method

Abstract

There is disclosed a coffee grinding machine for grinding coffee beans and forming a dose of ground coffee directly in a filter basket with a bottom layer of ground coffee having a first mean particle size and an adjacent layer of ground coffee having a second mean particle size, comprising: grinding members for grinding coffee beans, an electric motor for causing rotation of at least one grinding member with respect to another grinding member, and a device configured to cause, during grinding of coffee beans for forming dose, a variation of rotation speed of said electric motor between a first speed and a second speed, wherein either said second mean particle size is smaller than said first mean particle size and said first speed is greater than said second speed or said second mean particle size is greater than said first mean particle size and said first speed is lower than said second speed.

Claims

1. A coffee grinding machine for grinding coffee beans and forming a dose of ground coffee in a filter basket with a bottom layer of ground coffee having a first mean particle size and an adjacent layer of ground coffee having a second mean particle size, comprising: grinding members for grinding coffee beans, an electric motor for causing rotation of at least one grinding member with respect to another grinding member, a weighing member for calculating mass of the dose of ground coffee, and a processor, comprising processor circuitry, configured to execute instructions to cause, during uninterrupted grinding of coffee beans for forming dose, a variation of rotation speed of said electric motor between a first speed and a second speed depending on a mass of a first portion of a coffee dose which was ground at said first speed, wherein either said second mean particle size is smaller than said first mean particle size and said first speed is greater than said second speed or said second mean particle size is greater than said first mean particle size and said first speed is lower than said second speed.

2. The coffee grinding machine according to claim 1, further comprising a revolution counter for counting the number of revolutions of the grinding member with respect to the other grinding member, wherein said processor varies the speed from the first speed to the second speed depending on a set number of relative revolutions of said grinding member and said other grinding member.

3. The coffee grinding machine according to claim 1, further comprising a timer, wherein said processor varies the speed from the first speed to the second speed depending on a set time period calculated from start-up of the electric motor.

4. The coffee grinding machine according to claim 1, further comprising an interface for selecting a speed profile for grinding a dose of coffee.

5. The coffee grinding machine according to claim 1, further comprising an encoder for detecting the rotation speed of the electric motor.

6. The coffee grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the electric motor comprises a three-phase asynchronous motor and the configured to cause a variation of rotation speed of the electric motor comprises an inverter.

7. The coffee grinding machine according to claim 1, further comprising a frequency variator configured to cause a variation of rotation speed of the electric motor.

8. The coffee grinding machine according to claim 1, wherein the processor causes the variation of rotation speed of said electric motor during a single and continuous cycle of grinding of the coffee beans for forming the dose.

9. A method of operating a coffee grinding machine to obtain a dose of ground coffee, the method comprising: arranging in a filter basket a bottom layer of ground coffee having a first mean particle size and an adjacent layer of ground coffee having a second mean particle size, the first mean particle size being greater than the second mean particle size; determining mass of the dose of ground coffee; providing an interface for selection of a rotation speed profile; using processor circuitry to execute instructions stored on a non-transitory storage medium to control a first grinder member of the machine and a second grinder member of the machine whereby, in accordance with the selection, the first grinder member and the second grinder member are rotated at a first speed and then at a second speed depending on a mass of a first portion of a coffee dose which was ground at said first speed and according to the rotation speed profile during an uninterrupted cycle of grinding to obtain a dose of ground coffee in the filter basket.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising counting a number of revolutions of the first grinding member with respect to the second grinding member and varying the speed from the first speed to the second speed depending on a set number of relative revolutions of said first grinding member and said second grinding member.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising varying the speed from the first speed to the second speed depending on a set time period calculated from start-up of an electric motor.

12. The method according to claim 9, further comprising varying the speed from the first speed to the second speed depending on a mass of a first portion of a coffee dose which was ground at said first speed.

13. The method according to claim 9, further comprising rotating the first grinding member with respect to the second grinding member at the first speed and then at the second speed during a single and continuous cycle of the grinding for forming the dose.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising: providing the interface for selection of a distance profile; using the processor circuitry to execute the instructions to control the first grinder member of the machine and the second grinder member of the machine whereby, in accordance with the selection of the distance profile, the first grinder member and the second grinder member are variably displaced from one another according to the distance profile during the uninterrupted cycle of the grinding to obtain the dose of ground coffee in the filter basket.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein further comprising continually and/or stepwise adjusting a distance between the first grinding member and the second grinding member according to the distance profile.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) There now follows a detailed description of the invention, provided by way of a non-limiting example, to be read with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is graph showing an example of a particle size profile expressed on a logarithmic scale;

(3) FIG. 2a shows a schematic illustration of a dose of ground coffee obtained with a standard particle size profile, in a filter basket inserted inside a portafilter;

(4) FIG. 2b shows a schematic representation of a dose of ground coffee obtained with a particle size profile modified according to the present invention, in a filter basket inserted inside a portafilter;

(5) FIG. 3 shows a graph of two particle size profiles on a linear scale, obtained at two different grinding speeds;

(6) FIG. 4 is a graph of two particle size profiles on a linear scale, the first being obtained at a constant speed and the second being obtained by combining the ground product produced by two different speeds;

(7) FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a coffee grinding machine according to embodiments of the present invention; and

(8) FIG. 6 is an illustration of some components of the machine according to FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) FIG. 1, which has already been briefly commented on above, is a graph showing an example of a granulometric profile of a dose of coffee powder. The curve which represents the particle size profile is called a bimodal profile. The high peak (on the right, relating to the larger size particles) is called first modal while the low peak (on the left, relating to smaller size particles) is called second modal.

(10) The Applicant has conducted research and has surprisingly found that a coffee grinding machine able to modify the particle size curve so as to increase the amplitude of the bell corresponding to the first modal (the higher peak on the right in FIG. 1) reduces the sensitivity of the coffee grinding machine. In other words, increasing the amplitude of the first modal reduces the need to have to adjust the particle size when there is variation in the coffee inside the hopper.

(11) The Applicant has conducted further research and has surprisingly discovered that arranging the ground product inside the filter basket in a suitable manner may further reduce this sensitivity. In particular, it has been shown that a better behaviour is obtained by arranging the larger particles at the bottom and the finer particles at the top.

(12) The Applicant has realized that a coffee grinding machine able to vary the particle size curve during grinding of a dose is able to reduce the sensitivity of the coffee grinder and achieve both objects.

(13) According to a first embodiment of the present invention, the coffee grinding machine comprises grinding members, the distance of which is adjustable and varies during the grinding of a dose. Preferably, the distance between the grinding members can be adjusted electrically by means of an actuator (for example an electric motor or a linear actuator, for example a piston 8) and a suitable control circuit.

(14) With a coffee grinding machine according to the first embodiment, it is possible to perform grinding of the dose D by varying (during grinding of the dose) the distance between the grinding members (stepwise or continuously) to obtain a ground product with a first wider mode. In fact it was found that, when the distance between the grinders is reduced, the first modal moves towards the finer particles and, when the distance is increased, the first modal moves towards the larger particles.

(15) Therefore, for example, a coffee grinding machine which produces a first part of the dose of powder with a greater distance between the grinders and the remaining part with a smaller distance between the grinders, overall would generate a ground product with a wider bell of the first modal. Therefore, overall, starting with a certain distance between the grinders and reducing this distance during grinding of a dose, a ground product with a wider bell of the first mode is obtained.

(16) The variation of the distance between the grinders during grinding of a dose F may be continuous or stepwise. With a coffee grinding machine according to the first embodiment, it is also possible to provide, for example, a first layer of ground product using a greater distance to obtain larger particles and a second layer using a smaller distance to obtain finer particles. Obviously, it is possible to obtain more than two layers or also, as mentioned above, a continuous variation by varying the distance between the grinders continuously during the grinding of a dose D (single, double or multiple).

(17) The dose D shown in the figure is obtained by grinding the beans without varying the distance between the grinders. In FIG. 2a the distribution of the ground product inside the filter is random and not controlled.

(18) In FIG. 2b there is a distribution inside the filter suitably controlled using a coffee machine according to the present invention. In particular, the bottom layer is characterized by particles which on average are bigger and the top layer is characterized by particles which on average are smaller. The bottom layer is obtained by keeping the grinders at a greater distance than the distance at which the grinders are situated during the second part of the dose grinding operation, where the top layer with on average finer particles is obtained.

(19) According to another embodiment of the present invention, the coffee grinding machine is configured so as to vary the particle size during the grinding of a dose by means of variation of the relative rotation speed of the grinding members. The expression relative rotation is understood as meaning a rotation of one member with respect to another one. Typically one grinding member remains stationary and another grinding member is rotating.

(20) FIG. 3 shows the influence of the rotation speed of the grinders in relation to the size of the particles. In particular, FIG. 3 shows two particle size curves obtained by keeping a constant distance between the grinders and by varying the rotation speed. Differently from FIG. 1, the curves in FIG. 3 are on a linear scale so as to highlight the differences on the first modal.

(21) As can be seen, at the lower speed, the first mode is displaced to the left and its relative amount is reduced to the advantage of the second mode.

(22) At the higher speed, the first mode moves to the right and increases its relative amount.

(23) The variation in speed is preferably obtained by means of a suitable electronic speed regulator for electric motors. Many devices of this type, which vary depending on the type of motor used, are commercially available. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the coffee grinding machine comprises a three-phase asynchronous motor and, for the speed control, an inverter or any known frequency variator.

(24) According to an embodiment of the present invention, the coffee grinding machine performs grinding of the dose at a variable speed (stepwise and/or continuously) to obtain a dose of ground product with a first modal which is wider than normal.

(25) In fact, as regards the above comments, when the rotation speed is reduced, the first mode moves to the left, and, when the rotation speed is increased, the first mode moves to the right. Therefore, for example, a coffee grinding machine according to the invention may be configured so as to provide a part of the powder dose at high speed and the other part at low speed. The dose thus obtained overall would comprise a ground product where the bell of the first modal is wider.

(26) FIG. 4 is a graph showing a comparison of two particle size curves. In particular, the figure shows a first particle size curve obtained at a single speed (broken line) and a second particle size curve obtained at two speeds. The particle size curve which is obtained by combining the powders obtained from the two grinding operations performed at different speeds shows a greater dispersion (greater standard deviation) than the curve which produces the same overall head loss, obtained, however, by performing grinding at a constant speed.

(27) According to the present invention, advantageously, it is possible to create, for example, a first layer (bottom layer) of ground product at a higher speed so as to obtain larger particles and a second layer (top layer) at a slower speed to obtain finer particles. Particles belonging to the continuous line curve shown in FIG. 3 would be deposited in the first layer, while particles belonging to the broken line curve are deposited in the second layer. Obviously, it is possible to obtain more than two layers or also a continuous variation by varying the speed continuously.

(28) According to the Applicant, the increase in the amplitude of the bell corresponding to the first mode modifies the organoleptic aspect of the beverage. As is known, in fact, the particle size profile is responsible for the amount of beverage dispensed, for the same dispensing time and therefore flowrate. In fact, the coffee powder results in a head loss or pressure drop which determines the flowrate of the beverage.

(29) According to the invention it is instead possible to exceed the limits of the known coffee grinding machines and generate more particle size curves with the same head loss. For example, the two curves shown in FIG. 4 are characterized by two different amplitudes of the bell for the first modal.

(30) This means that, although the two curves shown in FIG. 4, result in the same infusion time, the different size of the particles results in a different contact area between water and coffee powder and therefore a different solubility.

(31) The choice of stratification of the particles alters the overall load loss. Arranging the two curves shown in FIG. 3 in the reverse order results in two different head losses and therefore two different beverages. The wetting mode of the coffee powder inside the filter also results in different drainage during the extraction cycle.

(32) FIG. 5 shows in very schematic form the main components of a coffee grinding machine 1 according to embodiments of the present invention: 2 denotes the electric motor for the relative rotation of the grinders 3 or for displacing the grinders 3; 4 denotes the inverter for controlling the speed of the motor; 5 denotes a control unit and 6 denotes an encoder (optional) for detecting the speed.

(33) FIG. 5 also shows in schematic form the path followed by the coffee to be ground as far as the filter basket FT housed inside a portafilter PF.

(34) According to embodiments, the variation of the speed/distance of the grinders may be performed by the bartender via a suitable interface 7 (FIG. 6). The interface 7 may comprise for example a pushbutton (or a plurality of pushbuttons) for selecting a predetermined rotation speed, a predetermined distance between the grinders, a rotation speed profile and a distance profile between the grinders. The interface may instead comprise a rotatable knob for selecting (continuously or stepwise) a plurality of rotation speeds (or distances between the grinders) or a touch screen for choosing from among various options/speeds which are available. The interface 7 is connected to the inverter 4 (directly or via other devices, for example the CPU 5) for modifying the power supply frequency of the motor and therefore the speed of the latter. Advantageously, it is possible to provide the option of selecting a rotation speed from among those offered by the manufacturer or a speed chosen by the user. Advantageously, it is possible to provide a memory for storing rotation speed values and/or speed profiles for grinding a dose (single, double or multiple) not at a constant speed but at two (or more) different speeds or at speeds which continuously vary.

(35) As previously stated, the coffee grinding machine further comprises a weighing member for calculating the mass of the dose of ground coffee. FIG. 6 shows weighing member 8. The speed variation device 4 is configured to vary the speed from the first speed to the second speed depending on a mass of a first portion of a coffee dose which was ground at said first speed.

(36) The control unit 5 therefore imparts to the inverter 4 the rotation speed for the motor 2. The system may operate both in an open loop, i.e. without measuring the actual rotation speed of the motor, or in a closed loop, i.e. by detecting the speed of the motor using a dedicated device, for example the encoder 6.