EP3982797A1

EP3982797A1 - Method and device for preparing a beverage, preferably milk froth or hot milk

Info

Publication number: EP3982797A1
Application number: EP20730227.4A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Adrian Steiner
Original assignee: Steiner AG Weggis
Current assignee: Steiner AG Weggis
Priority date: 2019-06-17
Filing date: 2020-05-29
Publication date: 2022-04-20
Also published as: JP7551661B2; CH716330A1; CN114025647A; US20220296031A1; JP2022537258A; AU2020295622A1; WO2020254092A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and to a device for producing milk froth, in particular for preparing beverages containing milk froth using coffee machines. The beverage, preferably cold milk, is at least partially introduced into a container (10) before the preparation. The introduced beverage, in the container (10) positioned on a placement surface (9*) of a station (9), is guided through at least one line (5), which leads away from the station (9), to a device for preparing preferably milk froth or hot milk. The beverage is subsequently led back into the container (10), and this circulation is repeated preferably until the beverage has a certain temperature and/or consistency. Using this method, a container can, in itself, be used by the operating personnel in a conventional way for the preparation of the beverage, because the beverage can thus be prepared manually and specifically in accordance with the desires of the guest, while the milk froth or the like can be produced and served with constant and high quality.

Description

Method and device for preparing a drink, preferably milk foam or hot milk

The invention relates to a method and a device for preparing a drink, preferably milk foam or hot milk according to the preamble of claim 1 and claim 6, respectively.

For the generation of steam, especially in a coffee machine, it is known, as disclosed in the publication DE 44 45 436, to supply steam from a simple valve as a manual operating unit to be controlled in terms of quantity. The steam release is mainly used for the preparation of milk-containing coffee specialties such as cappuccino, latte macchiato or milk coffee, and for the production of milk foam. The hot steam is supplied via a lance that is immersed in the milk in a cup or vessel, so that the milk is warmed up and the desired milk foam is produced by moving the cup up and down when the steam is introduced.

A device of this type is also disclosed in EP-A-1,501,398. It essentially consists of a steam generator and a compressed air source, as well as a steam supply line and a compressed air supply line connected to it, which is continued by the steam lance immersed in the milk. The mixing of the two media steam and air takes place before the steam lance. As a result, it is difficult to adapt the quality of the milk foam and to change it depending on the type of beverage to be prepared. Facilities of this type nowadays have to meet high requirements with regard to product quality, although their conditions of use and operating conditions often vary considerably from case to case.

The invention is based on the object of creating a method and a device of the type mentioned at the outset, in which fresh milk or the like is at least partially filled in a known manner into a vessel, such as a jug, and consequently, in particular, is produced Milk foam can be produced for a drink with the best quality. This object is achieved according to the invention by the features of claim 1 and claim 6, respectively.

With this method according to the invention, a vessel can be used by the operating personnel in a conventional manner for the preparation of the drink, because the drink can be prepared manually and for the guest's needs individually, and the milk foam or the like can be constant of the same and high quality are produced and served.

In this regard, the invention provides that the filled beverage in the vessel positioned on a floor space of a station is passed through at least one line leading away from the station to a device for the preparation of preferably milk foam or hot milk and back into the vessel and this circulation it is preferably repeated until the drink has a certain temperature and / or consistency.

This device is provided with a foam generation unit, which comprises at least one line leading away from the station, a pump sucking off and delivering milk or the like from the vessel, an air supply, at least one throttle and a heating means for the milk or the like that can be switched on or off. The circulating line is led back to the station and enables the prepared milk or the like to be routed back into the vessel.

In a preferred embodiment of this arrangement, the invention provides that this device is part of a coffee machine, which is placed invisibly below the table. As a result, the arrangement is practically invisible to the customer or consumer using it. Alternatively, the coffee machine equipped with the device can be placed on a counter or table in an easily accessible manner. This enables, inter alia, direct actuation of the coffee machine, which makes it easier to use. The invention and further advantages thereof are explained in more detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawing. Show it:

1 shows a hydraulic diagram of a device according to the invention with a station and a vessel placed thereon;

2 shows a longitudinal section of the station and the vessel placed on it with the passage openings closed;

3 shows the longitudinal section according to FIG. 2 with the passage openings opened;

4 shows a partial view of a service table with the station and the vessel placed on it and with a coffee machine indicated in the table furniture;

5 shows a schematically illustrated coffee machine with a station placed next to it and a vessel placed on it; and

6 shows a hydraulic diagram of a device according to the invention with a container for supplying the beverage. The device 1 shown in FIG. 1 for preparing a drink is built as a separate milk processing module or integrated in a coffee machine. With this device 1, hot milk, cold or hot milk foam or a milk mixture for cappuccino, latte macchiato, chocolate, vanilla - or other drinks are produced.

In this device 1, a floor space 9 'is preferably provided on a service table or in the case of a coffee machine for a vessel 10 that can be placed thereon by hand. A metal milk jug is used as the vessel 10. A milk jug or a porcelain jug or a cup or the like could also be used. This vessel 10 can be lifted off the station 9 or placed on top of it, with appropriate centering means, for example, enabling centering bolts for an exact positioning of the vessel on the station.

In the method according to the invention, the filled drink is in the vessel 10 positioned on the shelf 9 of a station 9 through a line 5 leading away from the station 9 to the device 1 for the preparation of preferably cold or hot milk foam or hot milk and then it is returned led into the vessel 10. This circulation of the beverage to be prepared from the vessel through the line, the device and back to the vessel is repeated automatically, preferably until the beverage has a certain temperature and / or consistency. In principle, however, this could also be controlled as a function of time and / or quantity. This foam generation unit 3 of the device 1 for heating the milk or for generating cold or hot milk foam consists essentially of a line 5 leading away from the station 9 at the table, a temperature sensor 21, a throttle 14 from a pump 13 conveying the beverage and an air supply 12 arranged upstream or downstream of it. Subsequently, a connection element 16, connected to the steam line 22 and leading at right angles into the line 5, for the supply of steam, a temperature meter 17 and a milk foam consistency meter 18 are arranged. The line 5 is then led back to the station 9.

This milk foam consistency meter 18 is advantageously formed by an electrical sensor in which the electrical conductivity or the electrical resistance of the milk foam flowing through is measured. However, this knife 18 could also be dispensed with and, in order to achieve a desired consistency of the frothy beverage, the temperature could be determined with the temperature meter 17 and the speed of the pump 13 could be adapted from this temperature by a regulation or control system that a target temperature and thus this desired consistency is set. The latter could, however, also be achieved by controlling the amount of air supplied via the air supply 12 with a proportional valve 12 '. This device 1 comprises a heating device with a steam line 22 for heating the beverage, for example by means of steam, which can be supplied in a controlled manner by a boiler, which is not illustrated in more detail. The steam line 22 leads via a shut-off valve 32, which is actuated by a corresponding control, and a check valve 33 in a line 5 of the foam generating unit 3 that circulates the milk or the like. The hot steam is introduced through this steam line 22 into the beverage flowing through the line 5, that the drink is heated up quickly.

The device 1 also shows a water feed for cleaning with a supply line 19 leading into the line 5, a filter unit 15 and a valve 35. In addition, for this cleaning, a two-way valve 23 is provided for a loop of the line 5 through an additional line 6 with a cleaning agent feed 19 and also a check valve 26.

When cleaning the foam generation unit 3, the line 5 and the vessel 10, the valves 35, 23 are switched so that water is sucked into the line 5 by means of the pump 13 and a circuit through the line 6 with the detergent supply 19, for example with cleaning medication tablets 19 ', through the line 5, the vessel 10 and back again through the pump 13 into the line 6 and so that the water is circulated. At the end of the cleaning process, the two-way valve 24 can be opened and the cleaning water flows away into a collecting container 37.

Advantageously, cleaning is often carried out only with water without switching on the line 6, in which case the water circulates via the line 5 through the foam generation unit 3 and the vessel 10 and is then passed into the collecting container 37. According to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the vessel 10 shown in the lower part contains a wall and a base 10 ′ with two passage openings 11, 1 T running next to one another and a closing element 20. This closing element 20 is composed of a vertical axis 25 pretensioned by means of a compression spring 34, a closing element 31 fastened to the top of this, and a protruding inlet 36 and outlet 35 for the passage openings 11, 11 'corresponding to the latter. There are also corresponding sealing elements 37, 38 arranged in the base 10 ', which ensure that the vessel is tight when the drink is filled therein and is on the station.

In the station 9 there are line connections 45 for connecting the passage openings 11, 11 'to the lines 5 and a lifting device 46 with a plunger 47 is provided, which is vertically adjustable and on the lower end of the vertical axis 25 in the vessel 10 strikes. This plunger 47 can be adjusted in two positions controlled by the lifting device 46 and has the effect that the closing element 31 of the closing element 20 inside the housing via this vertical axis 25 into a closed or open position, as can be seen in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , is positionable. This compression spring 34 acting on the vertical axis 25 enables the closing element 31 to be automatically moved into the closed position with the vertical axis 25 and so that the vessel is always closed when the drink is not to be circulated. Thus, a certain selectable amount of cold milk or a milk mixture can preferably be filled into this jug shown as a vessel 10, depending on requirements. After placing the jug on station 9, the cold milk is sucked out of it and circulated to the Example prepared with cold or hot milk foam. In this way, excellent milk foam can be produced within seconds. The operating personnel can thus prepare the drinks more quickly than if they had to manually produce the milk or the like with a conventional steam lance inserted into the jug in the coffee machine. In addition, a person who orders a drink and stands next to the table does not see and also does not perceive that, for example, milk foam is being produced in the jug standing on the station 9

In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 4, the device 1 according to the invention is housed as a separate milk preparation module and also a coffee machine 27 and an associated refrigerator 27 'in a table furniture 28. A station 9 connected to the device 1 is mounted on a table top 29. The coffee machine 27 explained below has an outlet, which cannot be seen, above the table top 29, which can be provided on a column or the like. In addition, the superheated steam required in the device 1 is advantageously generated in the coffee machine 27, which steam is connected to one another by a steam supply line not shown in detail

5 shows a variant in which the coffee machine 27 is free-standing on a shelf 39 'of a counter 39, a table or the like and this station 9 with the vessel 10 that can be placed on it are arranged next to the coffee machine 27, in which the not visible Device 1 is integrated in the coffee machine 27. Of the coffee machine 27 shown in principle, its housing 41, on the front side of this one or the outlets 42 for the coffee, on the top side Coffee bean container 44 and below a drip tray 43 can be seen, on which a cup or the like can be placed for filling coffee and / or milk or milk foam. In addition to the coffee machine 27 or the drip tray 43, this station 9, which is provided with the lines of the device 1 into the interior of the housing 41 of the coffee machine 27, is also advantageously placed laterally.

This method according to the invention or this device for this milk heating can be used or integrated both in a milk module as a separate unit or in a coffee machine as explained above, in particular for producing cappuccino or other hot milk beverages.

In a further variant according to FIG. 6, the drink is not supplied from a container 10 that can be put down, but from a container 61 in a manner known per se to a device which is designed similarly to that according to FIG. 1, and from this one There is a connection to an outlet 71, under which, for example, a cup can be placed. The milk is sucked in through a suction line 65 by a controllable pump 64, for example a gear pump. In addition, the pump 64 is preceded by an air supply line 63 with a switchable air control valve 66 and hot steam is conveyed transversely into this passage opening 65 through two steam lines 67 each provided with a shut-off valve 68 and a non-return valve 69 only one steam line 67 could be provided. In addition, throttles 71 are advantageously provided in line 65 downstream of pump 64. According to the invention, the beverage is fed from the line 65 leading away from the container 61 into the foam generation unit 60 for the preparation of the beverage, preferably milk foam or hot milk, from this via a line 65 into a chamber 62 and back again into the foam generation unit 60 , and this circulation is preferably repeated until the beverage has a certain temperature and / or consistency, and consequently the beverage is directed to the outlet 73. For this purpose, a two-way valve 72 is arranged in line 65 upstream and downstream of pump 64, through which the beverage is fed either via line 65 into chamber 62 for this circulation or this loop or directly to outlet 73 . From this chamber 62, the cold or hot milk mixture is then sucked in again via the two-way valve 72 by the pump 64 and, as the case may be, passed again either into the chamber 62 or to the outlet 73. The chamber 62 is preferably dimensioned in such a way that the beverage portion to be prepared corresponds approximately at least to that portion which is required for the cup or container provided at the outlet 73. This drink portion is determined by a controlled opening or closing of a valve 74 in the line 65.

Furthermore, a temperature meter 17 or a consistency meter 18 for the milk foam is arranged in the foam generation unit 60, which can cause the two-way valves 72 to switch depending on the measurement by a corresponding control. This device according to FIG. 6 is integrated in a coffee machine or in a separate milk foam generator and it enables the production of high quality milk foam in the cold or hot state. Of course, the invention could also be explained by other exemplary embodiments. So instead of a steam source as heating means the beverage can be heated differently, for example by means of a known flow heater or the like. The at least one or the two passage openings provided in the vessel could also be arranged in the side wall of the same.

In principle, instead of the passage openings and the closing element in the vessel, tubes could also be used which would be immersed in the vessel. These hoses would then have the same effect

Provide closing valves.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. A method for preparing a drink, preferably milk foam or hot milk, in which the drink, preferably cold milk, is at least partially filled into a vessel (10) before preparation, or the drink is removed from a container (61) is supplied, characterized in that

the filled beverage in the vessel (10) positioned on a shelf (9 ') of a station (9) through at least one line (5, 65) leading away from the station (9) or from the container (61) to a device for the preparation of milk foam or hot milk is preferably fed back into the vessel (10) or into a chamber (62), and this circulation is preferably repeated until the drink has a certain temperature and / or consistency.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the beverage from at least one passage opening (11) preferably provided in the bottom of the vessel (10) into the line (5) and through at least one second passage opening (11 ') back into the Vessel (10) is passed

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that

when the vessel (10) is placed on the floor space (9 ') of the station (9), preferably on a service table or in the case of a coffee machine (27), the at least one passage opening (11) is automatically connected to the line (5), with A closing element (20) is arranged in the vessel, which opens or closes the passage of the beverage from or into the vessel.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that

by means of a device integrated in the service table or in the coffee machine, the drink sucked out of the vessel (10) is processed and / or heated to prepare it into a foam-containing drink, preferably milk foam, and then conveyed back into the vessel (10), and this circulation is repeated until the drink has a certain temperature and / or consistency.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that

To achieve a desired consistency of the frothy beverage, preferably the milk foam, the temperature of the same is measured and the pump speed is adjusted on the basis of this by a regulator or controller such that a target temperature and thus this desired consistency is set becomes.

6. Device for performing the method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that

a foam generation unit (3, 60) is provided which has at least one line (5, 65) leading away from the station (9) or the container (61), a line (5, 65) leading the milk or the like out of the vessel (10) or from the container ( 61) a suction and delivery pump (13, 64), an air supply (12, 63) arranged before or after this, at least one throttle (14, 71) and a heating means for the milk or the like, the line (5, 65 ) is guided back to the station (8) or into at least one chamber (62) and enables the milk to be prepared or the like to be guided back into the vessel (10) or into the chamber (62).

7. Device according to claim 6, characterized in that by placing the vessel (10) on the footprint (9 ') of the station (9) in a certain position an automatic tight connection with the at least one line (5) of the Foam generation unit (3) is produced, a closing element (20) being arranged in the vessel, which can be actuated by a lifting device (46) with a plunger (47).

8. Device according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that

A steam line (22) of a heating device (2) is provided as heating means with a connecting element (16) leading transversely into the line (5), the heating device (2) having a boiler (20) which generates hot water vapor which is passed through it Steam line (22) is passed into this line (5) circulating the milk or the like.

9. Device according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that

the foam generation unit (3) and / or the heating device (2) of the device (1) are integrated as a separate device or in a coffee machine (27), this separate device or the coffee machine (27) being invisible in a service table or on a counter ( 39) or the like are placed.

10. Device according to one of claims 6 to 9, characterized in that

a temperature meter (17) and / or a consistency meter (18) for the milk foam are arranged in the foam generation unit (3), by means of which the milk flowing through the line (5) can be measured or determined, with the consistency meter being the electrical conductivity - The speed or the electrical resistance of the milk foam flowing through is evaluated.

1 1. A vessel for a device according to any one of claims 6 to 10, characterized in that

at least one, preferably two, provided in the vessel (10) transit, passage openings (11, 1 1 ') are provided _"which for connection to in each case a line (5) serving the device (1), wherein a Schliessor- gan (20 ) is arranged, which opens or closes the at least one passage opening (11, 11 ') and thus the passage of the beverage to be prepared from or into the vessel.

12. Vessel according to claim 11, characterized in that the closing element (20) consists of a vertical axis (25) pretensioned by means of a compression spring (34), a closing element (31) fastened to the top, and protruding elements corresponding to the latter Inlet (36) and outlet (35) in the vessel (10) for the passage openings (11, 11 ').