阅读说明：本技术 用于从水果和/或蔬菜中提取汁液的装置 (Device for extracting juice from fruits and/or vegetables ) 是由 劳伦·布尔德林 于 2020-03-05 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种用于从整个水果或蔬菜中提取汁液的装置,其包括：碗状部(6),其旨在收集水果或蔬菜的汁液,解构构件(5),其用于将水果或蔬菜解构,特别地,水果或蔬菜被整个地引入所述装置,加压构件,其旨在将解构之后获得的水果或蔬菜的成分压碎,以从水果或蔬菜中提取汁液,以及过滤构件,其旨在在加压期间将汁液与通过将水果或蔬菜解构得到的成分分离。解构构件固定于过滤构件,并且由单个滚筒(5)形成,滚筒(5)接收在由碗状部(6)限定的容积内。滚筒(5)是转动的。滚筒在其顶部限定有进行实际解构的功能区域,滚筒的外表面旨在与具有期望提取的汁液的水果或蔬菜接触,滚筒的底部由用作过滤部的功能区域形成。加压构件由固定地安装在装置内的中央芯(11)形成,中央芯(11)的外表面限定有蜗杆(12),用于借助于滚筒(5)的转动而将通过使水果或蔬菜解构得到的成分输入滚筒的底部,并且使成分以汁液穿过用作过滤部的功能区域径向排出并将汁液收集在碗状部(6)中的方式压靠滚筒(5)的功能区域。(An apparatus for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables, comprising: a bowl (6) intended to collect the juice of the fruit or vegetable, deconstruction means (5) for deconstructing the fruit or vegetable, in particular the fruit or vegetable being introduced in its entirety into the device, pressing means intended to crush the components of the fruit or vegetable obtained after deconstruction in order to extract the juice from the fruit or vegetable, and filtering means intended to separate the juice from the components obtained by deconstructing the fruit or vegetable during pressing. The deconstruction member is fixed to the filtering member and is formed by a single drum (5), the drum (5) being received within a volume defined by a bowl (6). The drum (5) is rotating. The drum defines, at its top, a functional area for the actual deconstruction, the outer surface of the drum being intended to come into contact with the fruit or vegetable with the juice desired to be extracted, and the bottom of the drum is formed by the functional area acting as a filter. The pressing means are formed by a central core (11) fixedly mounted inside the device, the outer surface of the central core (11) defining a worm (12) for feeding, by means of the rotation of the drum (5), the ingredients obtained by deconstructing the fruit or vegetable into the bottom of the drum and pressing them against the functional area of the drum (5) in such a way that the juice is radially discharged through the functional area acting as a filter and collects in the bowl (6).)

1. An apparatus for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables, comprising:

a bowl (6) intended to collect the juice of the fruit or vegetable,

deconstruction means (5, 9) for deconstructing said fruit or said vegetable, in particular said fruit or said vegetable is introduced entirely into said device,

-a pressing member (5, 10, 11) intended to crush the components of the fruit or the vegetable obtained after the deconstruction in order to extract the juice from the fruit or the vegetable,

and a filtering member (5, 10) intended to separate the juice from the components obtained by deconstruction of said fruit or said vegetable during pressurization,

the deconstruction member being fixed to the filter member, the assembly formed by the deconstruction member and the filter member forming a single drum (5) having rotational symmetry, the drum (5) being received in the bowl,

the method is characterized in that:

-the drum (5) is rotating, the drum (5) defining at its top an actual functional deconstruction area (9), the outer surface of the drum (5) being intended to be in contact with the fruit or the vegetable with the juice desired to be extracted, the bottom of the drum (5) being formed by a functional area (10) acting as a filter,

-the pressing member is formed by a central core (11) fixedly mounted inside the device, the central core (11) having rotational symmetry, the rotation axis of the central core (11) coinciding with the rotation axis of the drum (5), the outer surface of the central core (11) defining a worm (12) bounded by a substantially helical peripheral channel for the input of an ingredient obtained by deconstructing the fruit or vegetable into the bottom of the drum (5) as a result of the rotation of the drum (5) and pressing the ingredient against the functional area (10) of the drum (5) in such a way that the juice is radially discharged through the functional area (10) acting as filter and is collected in the bowl (6).

2. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to claim 1, characterized in that said deconstruction members are formed by cutting teeth forming a grating portion defining a functional area (9) of said drum (5).

3. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the inner wall of the drum (5) is provided with ribs (27), said ribs (27) being able to rotate the deconstructed fruit or vegetable in an optimal way.

4. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises a base (2), at the level of which base (2) said drum (5) and said bowl (6) are reversibly attached.

5. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that it further comprises a casing (7) for receiving the fruit or vegetable with the juice desired to be extracted, said casing being provided with at least one opening or through window at the level of which it is intended to come into contact with a functionally deconstructed area (9) of said drum (5).

6. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to claim 5, characterized in that said housing (7) for receiving and said bowl (6) form an integral assembly.

7. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 5 and 6, characterized in that said housing (7) for receiving is provided with a bottom (16) inclined towards said opening or through window.

8. Device for extracting the juice from the whole fruit or vegetable according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that at least a portion of the inner surface of the side wall of the housing (7) for receiving, in proximity to the opening or the through window, is provided with means for blocking the fruit or vegetable, typically formed by a vertical groove (15) projecting towards the inside of the housing.

9. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that said housing for receiving (7) has at least one lobe (13, 14) in the shape of a spiral volute centered on the axis of rotational symmetry of said drum (5) and of said core (11), said volute reaching the level of the functional area (9) of said drum (5), at the level of said functional area (9) said volute being exposed through said opening or said through window.

10. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 5 to 9, characterized in that it comprises an upper cover (17), said cover (17) covering integrally said housing (7) for receiving, except for an area (18) where the fruit can be introduced into said housing (7), but this area (18) is located at a distance from the functional area or grating portion (9) of said drum (5).

11. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 5 to 10, characterized in that said worm (12) formed at the periphery of said central core (11) defines two spirals, the pitch and depth of which decrease from the top region to the bottom region of said device.

12. Device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables according to any one of claims 5 to 11, characterized in that said drum (5) is rotated by means of an electric motor (3) or by other means, in particular manually.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to apparatus for extracting juice from fruits or vegetables, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to apparatus for extracting juice from apples, pears and the like.

The device is intended for home use, but may also be used in self-service.

Background

Devices for extracting juice from, in particular, fruits and vegetables, are conventionally formed by a crusher, intended to cut the fruit in question and form the pulp, and by a pressing member, typically formed by a rotating worm with a vertical or horizontal axis of rotation, able to extract the juice from the pulp thus formed.

More specifically, such a device comprises a container and a bowl able to receive the juice originating from the pressing member and separated from the worm by a filter. Typically, the pulp of the fruit being crushed is pushed by a rotating worm towards the bottom area of the device, which acts as a filter, to separate the juice from the fruit or vegetable pulp.

Although this type of device is more efficient than other prior art devices operating by means of a juicer, it has a number of drawbacks among which it can be mentioned that it is necessary to provide a worm of large diameter in order to be able to crush the whole fruit. Thus, these devices only accept pre-cut fruit pieces. When it is desired to treat whole fruit or vegetables, the motor which actuates the worm must provide significant torque to cause effective crushing of the whole fruit, which can have relatively high internal cohesion (inner cohesion) particularly in the case of apples, quince or potatoes.

Furthermore, more particularly for apples, the apples being crushed have a significant surface area in contact with air when the rotation of the worm is stopped, which accelerates the apple oxidation process, possibly making the juice obtained after crushing and filtering unsuitable for consumption.

In the more specific case of such devices for automatic dispensing purposes (i.e. in self-service), the prior art devices also suffer from the following dual problems: in addition to the ability to easily clean the various components of the device, there is also compactness of the device.

The difficult to optimize juice extraction rate also affects the application of these prior art techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to optimize the prior art device by: firstly simplifying the operations of crushing and pressing the fruit or vegetable and of subsequent extraction of the juice, then easing the operations of washing the different components forming such a device, and finally optimising the compactness of the device.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, contrary to the prior art, not crushing or cutting but grinding a fruit or vegetable having juice desired to be extracted, on the one hand, makes the pressing operation necessary for extracting juice easy, and on the other hand, can reduce in parallel the driving torque of the member ensuring effective pressing.

Furthermore, here again in contrast to the prior art, instead of rotating the worm, which is very conventionally implemented, the worm is kept fixed, while the deconstruction member (in the specific case the grinding section) rotates together with the associated filter section.

These different structures and their mutual fixing pattern enable to considerably simplify the actual device and to make the different parts easier to clean.

Thus, according to the invention, the device for extracting juice from whole fruits or vegetables comprises:

a bowl, typically cylindrical or frustoconical, intended to collect the juice of the fruit or vegetable,

deconstruction means for deconstructing said fruit or vegetable, in particular introduced entirely into the device of the invention,

a pressing member intended to crush the components of the fruit or vegetable obtained after deconstruction, in order to extract the juice from the fruit or vegetable,

and a filtering member intended to separate the juice from the ingredients obtained by deconstruction of the fruit or vegetable during pressurization,

the deconstruction member is fixed to the filter member and the assembly formed by these two members forms a single drum with rotational symmetry, which is received in the bowl.

According to the invention:

the drum forming the deconstruction and filtering means, which is actuated by means of the rotation of an electric motor or manually, defines at its top an actual functional deconstruction area, the outer surface of which is intended to come into contact with the fruit or vegetable with the juice desired to be extracted, the lower part of which is formed by a functional area acting as a filtering portion,

the pressing member is formed by a central core fixedly mounted in the device, having rotational symmetry with its rotation axis coinciding with the rotation axis of the drum, the outer surface of which defines a worm delimited by a substantially helical peripheral channel, suitable for feeding, as a result of the rotation of said drum, the ingredients obtained by deconstructing the fruit or vegetable into the bottom of said drum, and for pressing them against the bottom of the drum in such a way that the juice is radially discharged through the filtering portion and collects in the bowl.

In other words, the invention does not comprise crushing anymore, but rather grating the fruit or vegetable having the juice desired to be extracted, which grating is produced by the rotation of a rotating drum, typically delimited at the top by a grating portion (thus conventionally perforated by through holes), the filaments resulting from this grating operation falling into a volume defined between said drum and a worm, these filaments being driven towards the bottom region of the drum, acting as a filter, by means of the rotation of the drum and the particular shape of the worm, at the level of which, due to the particular shape of the worm, an effective pressing of the filaments against the inner wall of the drum is performed to extract the juice, then allowing an effective collection of said juice in the associated bowl. Indeed, the fruit or vegetable is not introduced into the assembly formed by the drum and the worm, but is conveyed outside said drum at the level of the functional deconstruction area. Thus, the fruit or vegetable need not be cut into smaller sized pieces in advance.

Furthermore, the uniqueness of the components forming both the grinding section and the filtering section (in certain cases, formed by the drum) in turn limits the number of components of the device. The drum is fixed at the level of the motorized drive shaft by snapping and is therefore very easy to detach from the motorized drive shaft, in order to easily clean the drum.

As a result, the worm (in the particular case, frustoconical) is also attached and secured to the top of the bowl by snapping, screwing or interlocking, so that the worm can be detached from the device to allow cleaning of the worm.

According to a feature of the invention, the bowl is associated with a casing for receiving the fruit or vegetable, which is provided with at least one opening or through window at the level of which the fruit or vegetable is intended to come into contact with the top and outer wall of the drum, which acts as a grinding section. Advantageously, the housing is provided with a bottom inclined towards said opening in such a way that: the fruit or vegetable introduced into the housing naturally tends to come into contact with the grating portion only by gravity.

According to another characteristic of the invention, at least a portion of the inner surface of the side wall of the casing, in the vicinity of the opening or through window, is provided with a member for blocking the fruit or vegetable, typically formed by a vertical slot projecting towards the volume defined by said casing, able to block the fruit or vegetable against the grinding section in a manner that optimizes the grinding operation by means of the rotation of the drum.

Drawings

The foregoing features and advantages of the invention will now be discussed in the following non-limiting description of the specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a simplified perspective illustration of the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a simplified illustration of a sagittal cross-section of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a simplified exploded view of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a simplified top view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a simplified perspective view of a drum used in the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a simplified perspective view of a portion of the base of the bowl for use in the device of FIG. 1;

fig. 7 is a simplified perspective view of a portion of the lower base of the device of fig. 1.

Detailed Description

The juice extraction device of the present invention has been shown in connection with fig. 1 and 2, which are respectively a perspective view and a sagittal cross-sectional view.

In the example shown, the device is intended to operate automatically in self-service. If desired, the device may be associated with payment means typically employed in conventional beverage vending machines and the like. In certain cases, the device is intended to allow apple juice to be produced from the whole apple.

Basically, the device comprises a base (1) integrated with a conventional electric motor (3), the electric motor (3) having a vertical shaft (4) emerging upwards from the base (2), the base (2) being intended to removably receive several elements described below.

The motor (3) is intended to rotate the drum (5) and is intended to fulfil a number of functions as described below.

The base (2) first receives a bowl (6), the bowl (6) being intended to collect, in specific situations, juice originating from the whole apple introduced at the level of the top receiving shell (7). The casing (7) and the bowl (6) are advantageously integral and are typically made of plastic material (for example polycarbonate) by moulding or other means.

The juice collection bowl (6) has in certain cases a cylindrical or upwardly open frustoconical shape.

According to a feature of the invention, the deconstruction of the fruit (in the specific case apple) is ensured by means of the cutting teeth forming the grating part (in fact forming the top (9) of the drum (5)) as can be observed in fig. 3.

In the example, the drum (5) has a substantially upwardly open frustoconical shape. It is reversibly attached at the level of the drive shaft (4) by interlocking in the vertical direction with a splined shaft that ensures its rotation.

As can be seen in particular in fig. 2 and 3, the turning drum (5) has the axis of rotational symmetry of the bowl (6) as the axis of rotation.

According to a further characteristic of the invention, the bottom of the drum (5) defines a filtering portion (10) intended to filter the combination (allocation) formed by the deconstruction of the apples and the juice in the lower region of the device following the operation of pressing against the inner wall of said filtering portion under the action of a central core (11) described below.

The drum (5) thus has two distinct regions, respectively a top region (9) serving as a grinding section and a bottom region (10) serving as a filtering section, which are contiguous to each other. The so defined active area of the drum is typically made of stainless steel. Thereby, the top and bottom areas are easy to clean. These differential areas are typically obtained by cutting, stamping, forming and welding.

Firstly, in order to allow the filaments (filament) obtained by grinding the apples to advance towards the pressing area, i.e. the bottom area of the drum (5), the device also comprises a fixed (i.e. non-rotating) central core (11) also having rotational symmetry, having an axis of rotation coinciding with the axis of rotation of the drum (5) and having an outer surface defining a worm (12). The shell of the core (11) is also substantially frustoconical, flaring upwards, and is configured so as to define two functional areas (9) and (10) in which the side walls of the core (11) are substantially parallel to the drum (5).

As can be observed for example in fig. 3, the core (11) can be removably attached to the top of the receiving housing (7), for example by screwing on an upper cover (17) interlocked on the receiving housing (7). The core is advantageously made of plastic material (for example thermoplastic polyimide) by injection moulding.

A worm (12) defined on the outer surface of the core (11) is able to convey the filaments obtained by grinding the apples towards the bottom region of the device due to the rotation of the drum (5) (anticlockwise in the case of the shape of the example given the fruit receiving housing (7)).

More specifically, the speed of advance of the filament towards the lower zone of the device is determined by the worm screw, in particular by the pitch and depth of the teeth of the helix defined by the worm screw. Thus, in the upper part of the core (11), the rate imparted by the worm screw is determined to be greater than the rate of the filaments produced by the grinding section (9), which displaces the filaments towards the bottom while avoiding the filaments obtained by grinding to be pressurized. In the bottom, however, the speed imparted by the worm decreases, which performs the pressing of the thread against the filtering area (10) of the drum (5). As an example, the worm (12) is formed in its top by two spirals with a pitch of 90 mm and a depth of 8 mm. In the bottom of the device, the pitch is reduced to 50 mm and the depth of the helix is gradually reduced to 4 mm.

When the filaments reach the level of the bottom region of the device, and are typically flush with the bowl (6) in the vertical direction, the cooperation of the core (11) with the inner wall of the drum (5) at the level of the filtering region (10) of the drum (5) generates a pressurization of the filaments and, as a corollary, an extraction of the juice that can pass through the filter and be collected in the bowl (6).

According to a characteristic of the invention, in a particular case, the fruit receiving casing (7) has two flaps (13, 14) in the shape of spiral volutes (coiled volumes), centred on the axis of rotational symmetry of the other elements forming the device. The two volutes reach the level of the top area (9) of the drum, where they are both exposed through the through-window in the following manner: allowing the apples to cooperate with the functional grinding section of the drum at this height. In the example, the device may process two apples simultaneously due to the presence of two petals.

Furthermore, a portion of the inner wall of said petals (13, 14) is provided with vertical protruding grooves (15), which vertical protruding grooves (15) block the apples and automatically abut them against the top (9) of the drum forming the grinding section due to the rotation of the drum (5). Furthermore, as can be fully observed in fig. 2, the lower base or bottom (16) of the receiving casing (7) is inclined towards the drum (5).

Thereby, any need for manual operation or additional pushers in order to achieve deconstruction of the apple and production of juice under optimum safety conditions is avoided, since the operator no longer needs to put their hand into the apple receiving housing, automatically causing the correct positioning of the fruit in contact with the grating portion (9) purely by gravity, the specific shape of the receiving housing (7) and the presence of the grooves or vertical ridges (15).

Advantageously, and in order to optimize safety, the device of the invention comprises an upper cover (17), the upper cover (17) covering the receiving casing (7) as a whole, except for an area (18) where the fruit can be introduced into the casing (7), but this area (18) is located at a distance from the functional area or grinding section (9) of the drum (5). The cover is maintained fixed to the receiving housing (7) by means of a rotating latch (20) sandwiched between the housing (7) and the cover (17). The latch enables the lid (17) to be quickly removed from the drum (5) and the integral assembly of the housing (7) and bowl (6) without tools, allowing for easier cleaning.

Due to the fixing mode of the drum (5), the core (11) and the components forming the receiving casing (7) and the bowl-shaped part (6) on the base part (2), the disassembly and the assembly of the drum and the core can be very easily carried out, and the cleaning of the drum and the core can be very easily carried out.

Furthermore, thanks to the particular reduction in the volume separating the outer surface of the core (11) from the inner wall of the drum (5), the surface area of the apple filaments obtained by grinding, which may come into contact with air, is reduced, thus reducing the oxidation of these filaments in the event of interruption of the pressing treatment.

According to an advantageous feature of the invention, the lower base of the bowl (6) defines a circular chute (spout) (21) communicating with a member (19) through a mouth (22) formed in said chute, the member (19) being intended to collect and direct the juice towards an area such as a receiving cup.

According to another advantageous feature of the invention, the bottom flange (23) of the drum (5) is provided with through holes (24) to discharge the fruit pulp from which the juice has been extracted (see fig. 5). The pulp, still pushed by the worm (12), continues to travel through two other holes (25) (see fig. 7) formed in the lower and central parts of the bowl (6) to be discharged outside the bowl, and is then collected by two chutes (26) driving the pulp into a collection tank.

Advantageously, the juice discharge opening (22) and the pulp discharge opening (25) formed in the bottom of the bowl (6) are separated by a wall originating from the bowl and a wall originating from the bottom flange of the drum forming a baffle to avoid mixing the juice with the pulp during the juice and pulp discharge phase.

Furthermore, and in order to achieve a better rotation of the deconstructed fruit, the drum (5) is provided with radially projecting ribs (27) on its inner wall, as can be fully observed in fig. 5.

It can be appreciated that the advantages of the device of the invention are firstly due to the relatively simple structure of the device, which enables to optimize the extraction of the juice from fruits and vegetables (such as in particular apples, pears, quince, etc., or even potatoes), in particular in self-service, to the very easy cleaning of the different components, and more particularly to the fact that the outer surface of the central core has the shape of a worm, the drum ensuring the dual function of a grinding section and a filtering section, respectively, and finally the bowl being advantageously integrated with the whole fruit receiving casing. Furthermore, the whole fruit or vegetable can be processed without having to be cut into smaller-sized pieces beforehand.