Patent Application
20190328172
A beverage maker for the preparation of hot beverages is provided that includes a connector for an external power supply system having a first electrical power, at least one rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy having a second electrical power, a transformer that is electrically connected to the connector for an external power supply system and to the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy, and at least one electrical high-performance consumer for heating water, wherein the at least one electrical high-performance consumer has an electrical connection to the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy and is supplied with electrical energy by it. Very high powers can be permanently provided at the high-performance consumer by the beverage maker in accordance with the invention, with the external power supply system not being temporarily subjected to loads by high power peaks. A uniform consumption of relatively low electrical power from the external power supply system can rather take place to charge the at least one rechargeable storage unit of the beverage maker and to ensure that it is permanently suitable to provide high electrical powers to the high-performance consumer.
Apparatus for the preparation of beverages typically include a plurality of electrical consumers. In this respect, power-intensive consumers (e.g. heating units for boilers, heating units for steam boilers or for continuous-flow water heaters) are as a rule connected to the power supply at the primary side. Powers of several kilowatts are often required for the dispensing of hot beverages in this process. Water for tea is, for example, dispensed at speeds around 30 ml/s in coffee makers for gastronomy. A parallel dispensing of, for example, brewing water and also steam (e.g. to foam milk) additionally often takes place.
If the sum of the energy output at a specific point in time is taken from these consumers, it becomes clear that it is considerably above the typically available power of the power supply line at the installation sites. In central Europe, it e.g. amounts to around 3 kW with a typical domestic supply and on the use of a single phase. The dispensing of such large amounts of energy is thus only made possible in that large amounts of energy are buffered by means of quantities of hot water or of pressurized superheated water in boiler systems and steam boiler systems.
The brewing water of a coffee maker as a beverage maker has, for example, to be heated from an inflow water temperature (typically 15° C.) to 90° C. (brewing water temperature). An average cup of coffee contains 125 ml. An amount of energy of 40 kJ is thus required to brew a single cup. Assuming an average brewing time of 20 sec., a heating element (e.g. a continuous-flow water heater) is required for a beverage maker without an energy store (e.g. without a hot water reservoir) that can provide a heating power of approximately 2 kW without any support. If 200 ml of hot water is now simultaneously dispensed into a glass for tea water at a fast dispensing speed of 25 ml/s, a further 63.6 kJ of heating energy and thus 8 kW of heating power are required. It is understood that this electrical power of in total 10 kW cannot be drawn at a conventional single phase power system with a maximum power rating of 3 kW.
A possibility of solving this problem that is used in the prior art is represented by thermal energy buffers (e.g. in the form of hot water reservoirs). They are used, for example, in coffee makers with continuous-flow water heaters to reduce the amount of energy required directly on the dispensing of the beverage. Energy buffers such as hot water reservoirs have to be heated at the start of operation and emit thermal energy by radiation and convection during operation. It is a disadvantage in this respect that the thermal energy buffers have a high mass (e.g. a large water volume) and their stored (residual) energy is slowly output to the environment after the beverage maker has been switched off, e.g. after its daily end of operation. Large coffee makers here frequently have a water store of more than 2 liters reservoir content, which on its own already requires approximately 636 kJ of energy for the heating procedure of the water. This energy is lost after the coffee maker is switched off.
Electrical consumers are also integrated in beverage makers that are typically connected to the secondary side. Transformers or switching power supplies are required for the operation of these components and convert the line voltage at the primary side into low voltage. The switching power supply or the transformer here has to have a size dimensioned such that all the electrical consumers running in parallel can be simultaneously controlled. Since in particular DC motors have a much higher start-up power as their rated current, the transformers have to be considerably overdimensioned or an energy management in the central control unit of the beverage maker has to ensure that these switch-on times do not overlap and result in an overload of the switching power supply or transformer.
The electrical consumers can be low voltage consumers. The CPUs that control beverage makers work, for example, exclusively with low voltage (as a rule 3.3 V to 5 V). For safety reasons, such low voltage consumers in beverage makers are supplied with a DC low voltage of 12 V to 60 V. Transformers, power supply units and/or switching power supplies that transform the voltage at the primary side into a safety low voltage at the secondary side are used both the for the control and energizing of the consumers and for the electrical energy supply of low voltage components.
However, the higher the total power required by the beverage maker is, the higher the space requirements in the interior of the beverage maker to accommodate the transformers, power supply units and/or switching power supplies. The demands on these elements to satisfy the required safety standards furthermore also rise proportionally to the required power. It is therefore desirable to have as much space as possible available for such elements in the interior of the beverage maker with a predefined size of the beverage maker.
Due to their internal circuits, beverage makers from the prior art are furthermore not suitable to generate an electrical heating power during operation via an external power supply system (grid operation) that exceeds the maximum drawable power of the external power supply system.
A number of electrical consumers in beverage makers from the prior art are often only in operation for a few seconds with peak currents of even shorter times in part for the dispensing of a hot beverage. Switching power supplies and/or transformers have to be designed for these high currents even though they are as a rule only in use for very brief periods. In addition to the construction space of the machine, this also increases the required use of resources to manufacture such transformers.
It is furthermore not allowed to generate short heating power peaks (e.g. at a water heater) in a rapid manner without restrictions in known beverage makers in grid operation since current pulses are required for this purpose that can be switched very fast. The reason for this is that the current pulses that can be switched fast have repercussions on the grid voltage. The repercussion on the power supply system in turn causes different illumination levels (flickers) in lamps in the power supply system. Limit values and tests for these effects are described in standards (e.g. DIN EN 61000-3-3).
There is thus a need for a beverage maker that can provide an electrical output power for high-performance consumers (e.g. a heating unit) that is higher than the electrical power drawable at a maximum from the external power supply system in a permanent and sparing manner.
The comfort in operation of beverage makers is furthermore becoming more and more important for users. The beverage makers should thus be able to be switched on, operated, switched off, and reachable at all times remotely or via a time switch at a desired point in time. Additional small transformers or switching power supplies that permanently supply the control of the beverage maker with energy for a “wake-on-LAN” have to be used to lower the power consumption in the standby state of the beverage maker for this purpose. There is thus additionally a need in the prior art for a beverage maker that does not have to take any power from the power supply system in the standby state and that thus relieves the pressure on the power supply system in this state. Such beverage makers should additionally also be reachable at all times (independently of the current switch-on state) for a remote service even without a defined ON state.
DE 10 2007 012 231 B3 describes a mobile hot water heater, wherein hot water is provided in a storage container by the energy from a combination of a fuel cell and a rechargeable battery. The rechargeable battery here provides the required energy for a short-term, high energy requirement and the fuel cell is used to recharge the rechargeable battery. This hot water heater has a high weight due to the integrated water tank and a lot of energy additionally has to be used to heat the water in the water tank to the desired temperature. This energy is output to the environment at the end of operation and is thus lost, i.e. is no longer available for the preparation of beverages.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,010 A likewise describes a mobile beverage maker, wherein hot water is provided in a storage container by the energy from a rechargeable battery, a power system, a cigarette lighter, a wind generator, or a solar module. It is disadvantageous here that the beverage maker has a high weight due to the water storage container and the water inside the tank first has to be laboriously heated by the energy source so that the beverage maker is ready to use. The energy contained in the heated water is lost after a break in use of the beverage maker.
EP 1 852 043 A describes a coffee maker that is autonomously operated without an external power source from power from rechargeable batteries and fuel cells.
DE 10 2008 052 190 A1 describes a beverage maker that can be operated (autonomously) independently of the external power supply system and that includes a continuous-flow water heater to heat water, wherein the continuous-flow water heater draws electrical energy exclusively from a rechargeable battery. The rechargeable battery has a higher discharge power (more than 500 W) in comparison with the charge power (approximately 50 W). The brewing time in rechargeable battery operation is thereby comparable with a brewing time in grid operation. This beverage maker, however, has the disadvantage that it can be operated either only by energy from an external power supply system (grid operation) or by energy from a rechargeable battery (rechargeable battery operation). The heating power applied at the continuous-flow water heater is thus limited in amount and in duration by the rechargeable battery, which can above all result in insufficient heating power at the continuous-flow water heater in high (very frequent) dispensing periods over a long period and thus in quality losses of the prepared beverage, up to operation failures.
Starting from this, it was the object of the present invention to provide a beverage maker that can be configured in a construction that is as compact as possible and that allows very high electrical powers for high-performance electrical consumers to heat water to be provided without high temporary load peaks on the external power supply system.
In accordance with the invention, a beverage maker for preparing hot beverages is provided comprising
The beverage maker in accordance with the invention is characterized in that it can also generate very high heating powers at the high-performance electrical consumer for heating water at short notice and in so doing does not require any energy store in the form of a hot water reservoir. In other words, limited amounts of hot water can be provided in a very short time without high-mass energy stores (water reservoirs, mass storage in general, etc.) being necessary. The beverage maker in accordance with the invention therefore does not have any energy losses due to high-mass thermal energy stores and can thus be operated with more energy economy (and thus also more ecologically) than conventional beverage makers that require such high-mass energy stores. The beverage maker can furthermore be implemented in a more compact construction.
In addition, operation is even possible with the beverage maker in accordance with the invention in the case of a low or unreliable grid supply since the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can bridge a low grid supply or phases of undersupply via the external grid. In this connection, it is also ensured by the beverage maker in accordance with the invention that the provision of (hot) drinks is also possible without downtimes in phases of high (highly frequent) beverage dispensing.
Voltage fluctuations (“flicker”) in the external power supply system can furthermore be avoided since the at least one high-performance electrical consumer does not draw its electrical energy for heating water of the beverage maker in accordance with the invention directly from the external power supply system, but rather internally via the at least one rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy. The rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy exerts a uniform load on the power supply system during its charging procedure and fast heating power peaks only put a load on the rechargeable storage unit, but not on the external power supply system. To this extent, the rechargeable storage unit has a compensating effect (“buffer effect”) with respect to the external power supply system.
The beverage maker in accordance with the invention can be characterized in that the connector for the electrical power supply system
The beverage maker can include at least one charge regulator that is suitable to convert voltage applied to the connector for an external power supply system such that the at least one electrical energy store (optionally also at least one further electrical energy store) can be charged. The charge regulator can have an electrical connection to the connector for an external power supply system. The charge regulator can furthermore have an electrical connection to the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy. In addition, the charge regulator can be suitable to convert AC voltage into DC voltage, optionally into a pulsating or smoothed DC voltage.
A preferred embodiment is characterized in that the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy is suitable to provide DC voltage, in particular a voltage from 5 to 100 V, preferably from 10 to 60 V, particularly preferably from 15 to 42 V (safety low voltage), and in particular a safety low voltage in the range from 24 to 40 V. This has the advantage that there is much less risk for the involved persons on the operation and also on the servicing of the beverage maker of being exposed to an electric shock that is hazardous to health. As a result, safety is improved for service engineers in the event of a repair measure at the beverage maker and the measures for the electrical insulation of the beverage maker fall dramatically. If, for example, it is desired to operate a high-performance electrical consumer for heating water in the low voltage range only over an external power supply system and not over a rechargeable energy store for electrical energy, several kilowatts would thus be required in the low voltage range and thus very large transformers would be required. An integration of such transformers is not necessary in accordance with the invention, whereby the costs for the beverage maker can be lowered, the beverage maker can be configured as more compact, and heating powers that considerably exceed the maximum possible heating power of transformed grid voltage can be drawn.
In a preferred embodiment, the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy is suitable to output an electrical power that corresponds to at least 1.5 times, preferably at least 2 times, particularly preferably at least 4 times, very particularly preferably at least 6 times, in particular at least 8 times, optionally at least 10 times, the first electrical power.
The rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can furthermore be suitable to provide an electrical power of more than 0.75 kW, preferably at least 2 kW, particularly preferably at least 6 kW, very particularly preferably at least 12 kW, in particular at least 20 kW, optionally at least 30 kW.
The rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can furthermore have a storage capacity that is suitable to carry out one to five, preferably one to four, particularly preferably two to three, brewing cycles before a recharging of the rechargeable storage unit becomes necessary.
The storage capacity of the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can amount to more than 0 and less than 100 Wh, preferably 1 to 8 Wh, particularly preferably 2 to 60 Wh, in particular 3 to 22 Wh,
In an exemplary embodiment, the storage unit has a dimensioning of 2000 W×20 s=40 kWs. This means a storage capacity of approximately 0.5 Ah (12 Wh) with a 24 V voltage supply. This storage capacity is sufficient to supply at least one high-performance electrical consumer for heating water for a plurality of consecutive preparations of hot beverages (brewing cycles) with electricity.
As a further example, a heating energy of approximately 11 kJ is required for the preparation of an espresso having 35 ml of water that has to be heated from 15° to 90° C. This corresponds to a required capacity of the storage unit of 3 Wh. The preparation of 250 ml of water for tea that is likewise heated by way of example from 15° C. to 90° C. can be named as a further example. A capacity of the storage unit of around 22 Wh would be required for one beverage for this purpose. The charging of the storage unit in particular takes place during pauses and secondary times and can also take place during the preparation of the hot beverage (i.e. can additionally be supported by the grid supply at this point in time). Since the dispensing of water for tea takes place very fast in relation to coffee beverages (without secondary times such as the supply of the brewing unit with ground coffee), a larger storage may be necessary here in dependence on the embodiment to dispense a certain number of beverages. This would then be a multiple of the exemplary 22 Wh (e.g. over 100 Wh for the dispensing of 5 beverages consecutively).
The rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can be selected from the group comprising an electrical rechargeable storage unit, an electrochemical rechargeable storage unit, and combinations thereof, is preferably selected from the group comprising a rechargeable battery, a reverse fuel cell, a capacitor, and combinations thereof, and is particularly preferably selected from the group comprising an Li-ion battery, a lead acid battery, a supercapacitor, and combinations thereof.
The at least one rechargeable storage unit is advantageously replaceable and is preferably replaceably arranged in, at or next to the beverage maker. Particularly in the case of foreseeably long operating times (peak operating times), it is advantageous if the rechargeable storage unit can be replaced with a rechargeable storage unit having a greater capacity or with further storage elements for electrical energy. The machine can thus be ideally configured for a plurality of customers and this store can be expanded for a smaller group of customers for whom the beverage maker has to withstand longer peak operating times without interruption.
The beverage maker can furthermore include at least one further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy that is preferably electrically connected to the connector for an external power supply system via a further transformer.
The at least one further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can further be electrically connected to the at least one rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy.
The further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can furthermore be suitable to provide DC voltage, in particular a voltage from 5 to 100 V, preferably from 10 to 60 V, particularly preferably from 15 to 42 V (safety low voltage), in particular a safety low voltage in the range from 24 to 40 V.
In addition, the further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can be suitable to output an electrical power that is larger than 0 and less than 75%, preferably less than 50%, particularly preferably less than 25%, very particularly preferably less than 15%, in particular less than 12%, optionally less than 10%, of the first electrical power.
The further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can furthermore be suitable to output an electrical power that is greater than 0 and less than 1 kW, preferably 0.2 to 0.9 kW, particularly preferably 0.3 to 0.8 kW, very particularly preferably 0.4 to 0.7 kW, in particular 0.5 to 0.6 kW.
In a preferred embodiment, the further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy has a storage capacity that is higher than the storage capacity of the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy, preferably a storage capacity of at least 10 Wh, preferably at least 50 Wh, particularly preferably at least 500 Wh, very particularly preferably at least 1 kWh, in particular at least 5 kWh. This makes it possible to charge the further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy (e.g. a lead acid battery) slowly while short-term, very high electrical powers can be drawn from the storage unit for electrical energy (e.g. a lithium ion battery or an electrical capacitor) (that can be completely charged faster).
The at least one further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can, however, generally also have the same features as the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy that is included in accordance with the invention in the beverage maker.
The further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy can thus also be selected from the group comprising an electrical rechargeable storage unit, an electrochemical rechargeable storage unit, and combinations thereof, is preferably selected from the group comprising a rechargeable battery, a reverse fuel cell, a capacitor, and combinations thereof, and is particularly preferably selected from the group comprising an Li-ion battery, a lead acid battery, a supercapacitor, and combinations thereof.
It is possible that the further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy is an electrochemical rechargeable storage unit (e.g. a rechargeable battery and/or a reverse fuel cell) and that the rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy is an electrical rechargeable storage unit (e.g. a capacitor).
It is advantageous if the beverage maker can be operated at a charge power up to 3 kW, preferably in the region from 1 kW to 1.3 kW, since the beverage maker can thus also be sufficiently supplied with approximately 1300 W (in Japan) and 1500 watts (in the USA) in countries with low single-phase grid supplies (e.g. 100 V in Japan or 120 V in the USA) with maximum dispensing power. It would thus be possible, for example, with an exemplary power rating of 1 kW to buffer the heating energy of 2 kW in each case for 20 seconds over a cycle of one minute. A beverage could thus be prepared at a ratio of supplied power to output power of ⅓ every 20 seconds and 20+40 seconds could be used for the charging of the store. 3 kW heating power would thus even be theoretically possible, but a certain amount of residual energy is also required for the other consumers. The consumption of electrical energy for various electrical consumers of a beverage maker is shown by way of example in Table 1.
70×1.17 Wh=82 Wh of energy would thus be necessary by way of example for e.g. 70 cups an hour for the low voltage consumers without a heater system. A 24 V storage module with 3.4 Ah would thus be necessary by way of example. If beverages such as milk coffee or cappuccino are prepared, additional electrical components (e.g. milk pumps or further valves) are required together with the exemplary consumers listed above. The further rechargeable storage unit should in this case optionally also be dimensioned such that sufficient energy is available for e.g. one hour of peak operation if it is not possible to regenerate this storage unit with energy in the short break times between the beverages.
The basic supply of the beverage maker with electrical power for a display unit (display), a control unit, or electrical sensors can also take place via the or via a further rechargeable storage unit. Electrical voltages of 5 V to 24 V are typically customary here. These electrical voltages can be directly provided from the rechargeable storage unit or electrical voltage regulators can be interposed to adapt the voltage.
In a preferred embodiment, the beverage maker is characterized in that the at least one high-power electrical consumer for heating water is not supplied with heat energy to heat water by a hot water container. This embodiment is advantageous since the beverage maker can thus be provided in a small construction and the heat energy required for the heating for the hot water container is not lost after switching off the beverage maker.
The at least one high-performance electrical consumer for heating water can have an electrical power consumption that corresponds to at least 1.5 times, preferably at least 2 times, particularly preferably at least 4 times, very particularly preferably at least 6 times, in particular at least 8 times, optionally at least 10 times, the first electrical power.
If a plurality of high-performance consumers are present in the beverage maker and if these high-performance consumers are electrically controlled in parallel (that is, at the same time), the sum of the electrical powers of these high-performance consumers can have the above-described minimal electrical power consumption.
The at least one high-performance electrical consumer for heating water can furthermore comprise or consist of a continuous-flow water heater, preferably a continuous-flow water heater having a heating system selected from the group comprising a thick-film heating system, a thin-film heating system, a blank film heating system, blank wire heating systems, an infrared radiation heating system, a microwave radiation heating system, a water condensation heating system and combinations thereof. The advantage of a continuous flow water heater is that it enables simple maintenance and descaling in comparison with other heating units. This is very comfortable for the user and reduces the time in which the beverage maker cannot be used for maintenance reasons. On the use of low voltages of up to 100 V, in particular for the operation of blank wire continuous-flow water heater systems, the required insulation distances can thus also be shortened.
The beverage maker can have at least one temperature sensor, wherein the at least one temperature sensor, preferably,
The beverage maker can have at least one flow sensor, wherein the at least one flow sensor, preferably,
The beverage maker can include at least one low-power consumer, optionally a plurality of low-power consumers, wherein the at least one low-power consumer is preferably selected from the group comprising a coffee grinder, a brewer motor for pressing ground coffee, a pump, a valve, a central control unit, an operating unit, and combinations thereof.
The at least one low-power consumer is furthermore preferably electrically connected to a further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy (e.g. to one having the above-named features) and is in particular supplied with electrical energy by it.
The beverage maker can include at least one control electronics system, wherein the control electronics system is preferably suitable
The above-named properties of the control electronics system naturally apply accordingly to each further rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy that is included in the beverage maker in accordance with the invention.
If the control electronics system of the beverage maker is connected to the (further) rechargeable storage unit for electrical energy, software updates are e.g. also possible remotely without the beverage maker having to be connected to the power supply or having to be switched on. The energy supplier can furthermore e.g. invoke information for influencing the charge state at the beverage maker via the power cord and/or can influence it in dependence on the energy availability.
The use of a beverage maker in accordance with the invention for preparing a hot beverage is furthermore proposed.
To clarify the use of and to hereby provide notice to the public, the phrases “at least one of <A>, <B>, . . . and <N>” or “at least one of <A>, <B>, <N>, or combinations thereof” or “<A>, <B>, . . . and/or <N>” are defined by the Applicant in the broadest sense, superseding any other implied definitions hereinbefore or hereinafter unless expressly asserted by the Applicant to the contrary, to mean one or more elements selected from the group comprising A, B, . . . and N. In other words, the phrases mean any combination of one or more of the elements A, B, or N including any one element alone or the one element in combination with one or more of the other elements which may also include, in combination, additional elements not listed. Unless otherwise indicated or the context suggests otherwise, as used herein, “a” or “an” means “at least one” or “one or more.”
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2017 200 950.0 | Jan 2017 | DE | national |
This application is a 371 nationalization of international patent application PCT/EP2018/051062 filed Jan. 17, 2018, which claims priority under 35 USC § 119 to Germany patent application 10 2017 200 950.0 filed Jan. 20, 2017. The entire contents of each of the above-identified applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2018/051062 | 1/17/2018 | WO | 00 |
