Pumping system and method for a beverage production apparatus
AssigneeSociete des Produits Nestle S.A.
InventorsYoucef Ait Bouziad, Christian Jarisch, Alfred Yoakim, Renzo Moser
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Abstract
The present invention presents a pumping system (1) with a preheated reservoir (2), a main pump (4) for pumping a preheated liquid (3) from the reservoir (2), and pressurizing means (5) for pressurizing the reservoir (2). Preferably, the pressurizing means set an absolute pressure of 0.5 to 1 bar in the reservoir (2). The liquid (3) in the reservoir (2) can be heated up to 90° C. or more. The present invention achieves a nearly complete suppression of the phenomenon of cavitation at the main pump entrance, and thus achieves an increased pumping performance at elevated liquid temperatures.
Claims13
A pumping system for a beverage production apparatus, the pumping system comprising:
- a reservoir for storing and heating a liquid;
- a liquid supply configured to supply the liquid to the reservoir;
- a pressurizer for pressurizing the reservoir, the pressurizer is configured to pressurize the reservoir to an absolute pressure of 0.7 to 1.0 bar, the pressurizer is positioned downstream from the liquid supply, and the pressurizer is positioned upstream from the reservoir, wherein the pressurizer is an air pump;
- a plurality of beverage extraction units each configured to be operated independently to produce different beverages with different operation parameters;
- and
- a plurality of main pumps, wherein each of the plurality of main pumps is dedicated to a corresponding beverage extraction unit and is configured to pump the liquid from the reservoir and into the corresponding beverage extraction unit.
A pumping method for use in a beverage production apparatus, the method comprising:
- supplying a liquid from a liquid supply to a reservoir;
- heating the liquid in the reservoir;
- pressurizing the reservoir with an air pump positioned downstream from the liquid supply and positioned upstream from the reservoir, the air pump configured to pressurize the reservoir to an absolute pressure of 0.7 to 1.0 bar;
- pumping the liquid from the reservoir with a plurality of main pumps to a plurality of beverage extraction units, each of the plurality of pumps corresponding to a dedicated beverage extraction unit;
- and
- operating each of the plurality of beverage extraction units independently to produce different beverages with different operation parameters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.