CN110279298B

CN110279298B - Coffee machine and method of cleaning the milk froth preparation system of the coffee machine

Info

Publication number: CN110279298B
Application number: CN201910701859.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 吴银亮
Original assignee: Ningbo Bohe Electric Appliance Co ltd
Current assignee: Ningbo Shuijia Technology Co ltd
Priority date: 2019-07-31
Filing date: 2019-07-31
Publication date: 2021-02-02
Anticipated expiration: 2039-07-31
Also published as: CN110279298A

Abstract

The invention discloses a coffee machine and a cleaning method thereof. The coffee machine comprises a mixing chamber, a first boiler, a steam pipe, an air pipe and a milk pipe. The outlets of the air pipe and the milk pipe are connected with the mixing chamber. There is an outlet for milk froth output; the milk froth preparation system also includes a three-way valve, a first pressure-reducing pipe and a pressure-reducing chamber, the steam pipe is composed of a front section and a rear section, and the first boiler passes through the front section of the steam pipe and the three-way valve. The second port of the three-way valve is connected to the mixing chamber through the rear section of the steam pipe, and the third port of the three-way valve is connected to the inlet of the pressure-reducing chamber through the first pressure-reducing pipe. The steam of the boiler enters the decompression chamber, and after the temperature of the first boiler is reduced to the set value and the output is pure liquid hot water, the pure liquid hot water is input into the mixing chamber for cleaning. During cleaning, the coffee machine and the cleaning method thereof can prevent the steam from being directly sprayed from the outlet of the mixing chamber, and prevent the milk in the mixing chamber from flowing back to the air pipe and the steam pipe.

Description

Coffee machine and method for cleaning a milk foam preparation system of a coffee machine

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of coffee machines, in particular to a coffee machine with a milk foam preparation system and a method for cleaning the milk foam preparation system of the coffee machine.

Background

People are used to spread a layer of milk foam on the surface of coffee to enhance the taste when drinking the coffee, so that the coffee machine in the prior art is mostly provided with a milk foam preparation system to meet the needs of users.

The milk foam preparation system of the coffee machine in the prior art comprises a mixing cavity, a first boiler, a steam pipe, an air pipe, a milk conveying pipe and a milk tank, wherein the first boiler is communicated with the mixing cavity through the steam pipe, the milk tank is communicated with the mixing cavity through the milk conveying pipe, the outlet of the air pipe is also communicated with the mixing cavity, a trace air regulating valve is arranged on the air pipe, and the mixing cavity is provided with an outlet for outputting milk foam. Naturally, a coffee brewing system with a brewer and a second boiler is also provided as a coffee machine, the outlet of the second boiler being connected to the brewer for supplying hot water thereto for brewing coffee.

The working process of the milk foam preparation system is as follows: the first boiler generates steam, the steam is introduced into the mixing cavity, the mixing cavity is quickly filled with the steam and is discharged from the outlet of the mixing cavity, the mixing cavity forms negative pressure, trace air and milk are respectively sucked from the air pipe and the milk conveying pipe and are fully mixed with the steam in the mixing cavity, milk foam is formed, and finally the milk foam is discharged from the outlet of the mixing cavity.

After the foamed milk preparation system works for a period of time, the foamed milk preparation system needs to be cleaned to prevent the residual milk from being decomposed and deteriorated. The cleaning method in the prior art comprises the steps of pulling out a milk conveying pipe from a milk tank and inserting the milk conveying pipe into clear water, or pouring out milk in the milk tank into the clear water, starting a first boiler to enable steam to fill a mixing cavity and be discharged from an outlet, sucking the clear water by utilizing the negative pressure of the mixing cavity, and cleaning the milk conveying pipe and the mixing cavity.

The prior art coffee machine has the following drawbacks. When the milk foam preparation system is cleaned, high-temperature and high-pressure steam can be sprayed out from the outlet of the mixing cavity, so that a user can be scalded by splashing, and the user experience is reduced; in addition, in the cleaning process, as the steam pressure introduced into the mixing cavity is higher, part of milk in the brewer inevitably flows back to the air pipe; moreover, after the cleaning process is finished, the steam remained in the steam pipe can be condensed and depressurized, and part of milk in the mixing cavity is sucked into the steam pipe; therefore, the milk remained in the steam pipe and the air pipe is easy to be decomposed and scaled, so that the pipeline is blocked and bacteria are bred; finally, the brewing system of the coffee machine may be overheated due to the overheating of the second boiler in actual operation, which may also scald the user and reduce the user experience if the high-pressure steam of the second boiler is directly discharged.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to solve the technical problem of providing a coffee machine which can prevent steam from being directly sprayed out from an outlet of a mixing cavity and prevent milk in the mixing cavity from flowing back to an air pipe and a steam pipe when a milk foam preparation system is cleaned.

The invention provides a coffee machine, which comprises a milk foam preparation system and a coffee brewing system, wherein the milk foam preparation system comprises a mixing cavity, a first boiler, a steam pipe, an air pipe and a milk conveying pipe, the outlets of the air pipe and the milk conveying pipe are communicated with the mixing cavity, and the mixing cavity is provided with an outlet for outputting milk foam; the milk foam preparation system further comprises a three-way valve, a first pressure reducing pipe and a pressure reducing cavity, the steam pipe is composed of a front section and a rear section, the first boiler is communicated with a first port of the three-way valve through the front section of the steam pipe, a second port of the three-way valve is communicated with the mixing cavity through the rear section of the steam pipe, and a third port of the three-way valve is communicated with an inlet of the pressure reducing cavity through the first pressure reducing pipe.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for cleaning a milk foam preparation system of a coffee maker, which can prevent steam from being directly sprayed from an outlet of a mixing chamber and prevent milk in the mixing chamber from flowing back to an air tube and a steam tube when the milk foam preparation system is cleaned.

Another technical solution of the present invention is to provide a method of cleaning a foamed milk preparation system of a coffee maker, comprising the steps of: before the cleaning, the first port and the third port of the three-way valve are communicated, so that steam of the first boiler enters the pressure reduction cavity through the first pressure reduction pipe to realize temperature reduction and pressure reduction, after the temperature of the first boiler is reduced to a set value and the steam is output to be pure liquid hot water, the first port and the second port of the three-way valve are communicated, and the pure liquid hot water is input into the mixing cavity to be cleaned.

Compared with the prior art, the coffee machine adopting the structure and the method for cleaning the milk foam preparation system of the coffee machine have the following advantages.

When the system works normally, the first port and the second port of the three-way valve are communicated, and the first boiler provides high-temperature and high-pressure steam to the mixing cavity normally, so that the high-temperature and high-pressure steam is mixed with milk and air to form milk foam, namely, the conventional function of the milk foam preparation system is ensured. When the boiler needs to be cleaned, the three-way valve is switched to enable the first boiler to be communicated with the pressure reduction cavity, and steam suddenly enters the large-volume pressure reduction cavity from the pipeline to gradually reduce the temperature and the pressure; when the temperature in the boiler is reduced and the steam is changed into pure liquid normal hot water, the three-way valve is reversed again, and the hot water without the steam is used for flushing the mixing cavity. Therefore, three benefits are realized, firstly, high-temperature and high-pressure steam is prevented from being directly discharged from the outlet of the mixing cavity, a user is prevented from being scalded, and the user experience is improved; secondly, the air pressure in the mixing cavity is effectively reduced during cleaning, and the milk is prevented from flowing back to the air pipe to cause pollution and blockage; thirdly, no steam exists in the steam pipe in the cleaning process, so that the defect that the negative pressure is caused by steam cooling and then the milk is sucked back is avoided; that is to say, the scheme overcomes the stubborn problem that the air pipe and the steam pipe reflux milk when steam is used for flushing in the prior art, effectively utilizes the steam pipeline of the system, reasonably cools and reduces the pressure to form normal-temperature hot water, does not add a new hot water pipeline, and has multiple functions, delicacy and reasonability.

The pressure reduction cavity structure is preferably formed by sealing and buckling a left cavity shell and a right cavity shell, a plurality of layers of partition plates are arranged in each cavity shell, the length of each partition plate is greater than the width of a single cavity shell but less than the total width of the two cavity shells, the height directions of each layer of partition plate of the left cavity shell and each layer of partition plate of the right cavity shell are staggered mutually, and all the partition plates of the left cavity shell and the right cavity shell form a plurality of continuous s-shaped pressure reduction channels in the pressure reduction cavity; like this, utilize about baffle at the intracavity part that steps down to separate continuous s shape passageway, under the prerequisite that does not increase the whole volume in step down chamber, effectively expanded the route of steam diffusion, slowed down steam transport's speed simultaneously, further strengthened cooling step down the effect.

Preferably, the milk foam preparation system further comprises a waste water pipe and a waste water box, and the outlet of the depressurization cavity is communicated with the waste water box through the waste water pipe; like this, steam has had the space of rationally accomodating the holding after the intracavity condensate water that steps down, needn't directly discharge outside the coffee machine at every turn, but stores up a certain amount back in the waste water box, and unified emission again, the event is convenient environmental protection more, further promotes user experience.

Preferably, the milk foam preparation system further comprises a milk tank, the milk conveying pipe is formed by sequentially communicating a front vertical pipe, a transverse pipe and a rear vertical pipe, the milk tank is communicated with an inlet of the front vertical pipe, and the rear vertical pipe is communicated with the mixing cavity; therefore, even if the milk tank is lower than the mixing cavity, hot water in the mixing cavity cannot flow back along the milk conveying pipe during cleaning due to the height difference of the milk conveying pipe, so that the milk in the milk tank and the milk conveying pipe is protected from being polluted by the hot water.

Preferably, the milk foam preparation system further comprises a stop valve for controlling the on-off of the milk conveying pipe, so that the defect that milk is not conveyed to the mixing cavity due to inertia and negative pressure in the mixing cavity of the milk conveying pipe after the milk foam is prepared is avoided, and milk waste is avoided.

As still further preferred, the coffee brewing system comprises a brewer and a second boiler supplying hot water to the brewer, the second boiler being in communication with the pressure reducing chamber via a pressure relief valve; therefore, when the second boiler is overheated or the pressure of the brewing system is overhigh during coffee brewing, the pressure can be released to the pressure reduction cavity through the pressure release valve in time, high-pressure faults are avoided, and the running stability of the equipment is improved; and the decompression chamber is shared by the brewing system and the milk foam preparation system, so that the components are effectively integrated, the dual purposes are realized, and the utilization rate of the decompression chamber is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of the structure of the coffee machine of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic view of another angle of the coffee machine of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a coffee machine according to yet another aspect of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of an exploded structure of a pressure reducing chamber of the coffee maker of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic sectional view of the pressure reducing chamber of the coffee maker of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a schematic system diagram of the coffee maker of the present invention.

The device comprises a mixing cavity 1, a mixing cavity 2, a first boiler 3, a steam pipe 3.1, a front section 3.2, a rear section 4, an air pipe 5, a milk conveying pipe 5.1, a front vertical pipe 5.2, a transverse pipe 5.3, a rear vertical pipe 6, a three-way valve 7, a first pressure reducing pipe 8, a pressure reducing cavity 8.1, a left cavity shell 8.2, a right cavity shell 9, a partition plate 10, a pressure reducing channel 11, a waste water pipe 12, a waste water box 13, a milk tank 14, a stop valve 15, a second boiler 16, a pressure reducing valve 17, a transition pipe 18, a first three-way joint 19, a second pressure reducing pipe 20, a second three-way joint 21 and a vent pipe.

Detailed Description

The invention is further described with reference to the following figures and specific examples.

As shown in figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, the coffee maker of the present invention comprises a foamed milk preparation system and a coffee brewing system.

The milk foam preparation system comprises a mixing chamber 1, a first boiler 2, a steam pipe 3, an air pipe 4, a milk conveying pipe 5, a milk tank 13, a waste water pipe 11 and a waste water box 12.

The milk conveying pipe 5 is formed by sequentially communicating a front vertical pipe 5.1, a transverse pipe 5.2 and a rear vertical pipe 5.3, a milk tank 13 is communicated with an inlet of the front vertical pipe 5.1, and the rear vertical pipe 5.3 is communicated with the mixing cavity 1.

The outlet of the air pipe 4 is communicated with the mixing cavity 1, and the air pipe 4 is provided with a trace air regulating valve for regulating air inflow. The mixing chamber 1 is provided with an outlet for the milk foam to be output.

The milk foam preparation system further comprises a three-way valve 6, a first pressure reducing pipe 7 and a pressure reducing cavity 8, the steam pipe 3 is composed of a front section 3.1 and a rear section 3.2, the first boiler 2 is communicated with a first opening of the three-way valve 6 through the front section 3.1 of the steam pipe 3, a second opening of the three-way valve 6 is communicated with the mixing cavity 1 through the rear section 3.2 of the steam pipe 3, and a third opening of the three-way valve 6 is communicated with an inlet of the pressure reducing cavity 8 through the first pressure reducing pipe 7.

The pressure reduction cavity 8 is formed by hermetically buckling a left cavity shell 8.1 and a right cavity shell 8.2, a plurality of layers of partition plates 9 are arranged in each cavity shell, the length of each partition plate 9 is greater than the width of a single cavity shell but less than the total width of the two cavity shells, each layer of partition plate 9 of the left cavity shell 8.1 and each layer of partition plate 9 of the right cavity shell 8.2 are staggered in the height direction, and all the partition plates 9 of the left cavity shell and the right cavity shell form a plurality of continuous s-shaped pressure reduction channels 10 in the pressure reduction cavity 8. The outlet of the pressure reduction cavity 8 is communicated with a waste water box 12 through a waste water pipe 11.

The foamed milk preparation system further comprises a second three-way connection 20 and a shut-off valve 14 for controlling the opening and closing of the milk tube 5. Specifically, the front vertical pipe 5.1 and the transverse pipe 5.2 are respectively communicated with a first port and a second port of the second three-way joint 20, a third port of the second three-way joint 20 is communicated with a vent pipe 21, and the stop valve 14 is arranged on the vent pipe 21. Thus, opening the shut-off valve 14 allows the milk tank 13 to be vented to atmosphere, allowing milk to be returned to the milk tank 13.

The coffee brewing system comprises a brewer and a second boiler 15 for supplying hot water to the brewer, the second boiler 15 being in communication with the pressure reducing chamber 8 via a pressure relief valve 16. Specifically, the inlet of the second boiler 15 is communicated with the first port of the first three-way joint 18 through the transition pipe 17, the second port of the first three-way joint 18 is communicated with the water inlet pipe and the water pump, the third port of the first three-way joint 18 is provided with a one-way valve core with a pressure spring, that is, the third port of the first three-way joint 18 forms a valve body of the pressure relief valve 16, and the third port of the first three-way joint 18 is communicated with the pressure reduction cavity 8 through the second pressure reduction pipe 19.

The method for cleaning the milk foam preparation system of the coffee machine comprises the following steps: before cleaning, the first port and the third port of the three-way valve 6 are communicated, so that steam of the first boiler 2 enters the pressure reduction cavity 8 through the first pressure reduction pipe 7 to realize temperature reduction and pressure reduction, after the temperature of the first boiler 2 is reduced to a set value such as 98 ℃, pure liquid hot water without steam is output, the first port and the second port of the three-way valve 6 are communicated, and the pure liquid hot water is input into the mixing cavity 1 to be cleaned.

It is known that the first boiler 2 is provided with a temperature sensor which is in signal connection with the main controller of the coffee machine, which is in signal connection with the various valve bodies of the coffee machine, such as the three-way valve and the shut-off valve 14.

Claims

1. A coffee machine comprises a milk foam preparation system and a coffee brewing system, wherein the milk foam preparation system comprises a mixing cavity (1), a first boiler (2), a steam pipe (3), an air pipe (4) and a milk conveying pipe (5), the outlets of the air pipe (4) and the milk conveying pipe (5) are communicated with the mixing cavity (1), and the mixing cavity (1) is provided with an outlet for outputting milk foam; the method is characterized in that: the milk foam preparation system further comprises a three-way valve (6), a first pressure reducing pipe (7) and a pressure reducing cavity (8), the steam pipe (3) is composed of a front section (3.1) and a rear section (3.2), the first boiler (2) is communicated with a first port of the three-way valve (6) through the front section (3.1) of the steam pipe (3), a second port of the three-way valve (6) is communicated with the mixing cavity (1) through the rear section (3.2) of the steam pipe (3), and a third port of the three-way valve (6) is communicated with an inlet of the pressure reducing cavity (8) through the first pressure reducing pipe (7);

the pressure reduction cavity (8) is formed by hermetically buckling a left cavity shell (8.1) and a right cavity shell (8.2), a plurality of layers of partition plates (9) are arranged in each cavity shell, the length of each partition plate (9) is greater than the width of a single cavity shell but less than the total width of the two cavity shells, each layer of partition plate (9) of the left cavity shell (8.1) and each layer of partition plate (9) of the right cavity shell (8.2) are staggered in the height direction, and all the partition plates (9) of the left cavity shell and the right cavity shell form a plurality of continuous s-shaped pressure reduction channels (10) in the pressure reduction cavity (8);

before the cleaning, a first port and a third port of the three-way valve (6) are communicated, so that steam of the first boiler (2) enters the pressure reduction cavity (8) through the first pressure reduction pipe (7) to realize temperature reduction and pressure reduction, after the temperature of the first boiler (2) is reduced to a set value and is output to be pure liquid hot water, the first port and the second port of the three-way valve (6) are communicated, and the pure liquid hot water is input into the mixing cavity (1) to be cleaned.

2. A coffee machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: the milk foam preparation system also comprises a waste water pipe (11) and a waste water box (12), and the outlet of the pressure reduction cavity (8) is communicated with the waste water box (12) through the waste water pipe (11).

3. A coffee machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: the milk foam preparation system further comprises a milk tank (13), the milk conveying pipe (5) is formed by sequentially communicating a front vertical pipe (5.1), a transverse pipe (5.2) and a rear vertical pipe (5.3), the milk tank (13) is communicated with an inlet of the front vertical pipe (5.1), and the rear vertical pipe (5.3) is communicated with the mixing cavity (1).

4. A coffee machine according to claim 3, characterized in that: the milk foam preparation system also comprises a stop valve (14) for controlling the on-off of the milk conveying pipe (5).

5. A coffee machine according to claim 1, characterized in that: the coffee brewing system comprises a brewer and a second boiler (15) for supplying hot water to the brewer, the second boiler (15) being in communication with the pressure reducing chamber (8) via a pressure relief valve (16).