Coffee roasting apparatus, coffee brewing apparatus and coffee roasting method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11019839-B2
Application number	US-201515519169-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2015
Priority date	Oct 22, 2014
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A coffee roasting apparatus is disclosed comprising a compartment for holding coffee beans, a heating arrangement for heating the coffee beans in the compartment during a roasting process of the coffee beans, a volatile organic compound sensor for determining a total concentration of volatile organic compounds residing in the compartment, and a controller for controlling the heating arrangement. The controller is adapted to determine whether a rate of change in the total concentration of volatile organic compounds exceeds a predefined threshold and control the heating arrangement based on a determination that the rate of change in the total concentration of volatile organic compounds exceeds the predefined threshold. A coffee brewing apparatus including such a coffee roasting apparatus and a coffee roasting method are also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A coffee roasting apparatus comprising:
a compartment for holding coffee beans;
a heating arrangement for heating the coffee beans in said compartment during a roasting process of the coffee beans;
a volatile organic compound sensor for determining a total concentration of volatile organic compounds residing in said compartment; and
a controller for controlling the heating arrangement, wherein the controller is adapted to:
determine whether a rate of change in said total concentration of volatile organic compounds residing in said compartment exceeds a predefined threshold; and
control the heating arrangement based on a determination that said rate of change in said total concentration of volatile organic compounds residing in the compartment exceeds the predefined threshold.

2. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is adapted to control the heating arrangement in response to inputs from the volatile organic compound sensor.

3. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said rate of change exceeding the predefined threshold is indicative of a start of a first cracking phase of said coffee beans.

4. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said rate of change exceeding the predefined threshold is indicative of an end of a first cracking phase of said coffee beans.

5. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said rate of change exceeding the predefined threshold is indicative of a start of a second cracking phase of said coffee beans.

6. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is adapted to control the roasting process in a predetermined manner after said rate of change exceeding the predefined threshold.

7. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is adapted to control the heating arrangement in the predetermined manner by enabling the heating arrangement for a predefined time period.

8. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a timer, wherein the controller is responsive to said timer for enabling the heating arrangement for the predefined time period.

9. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface for defining a degree of roasting of the coffee beans, the controller being responsive to the user interface.

10. The coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the compartment comprises an inlet;
the heating arrangement comprises a hot air source coupled to said inlet; and
the coffee roasting apparatus further comprises a stirring element mounted in said compartment for stirring the coffee beans during the roasting process.

11. A coffee brewing apparatus including the coffee roasting apparatus of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Shi Jun
• Tan Jingwei
• Zhou Jun

Classifications

• A23N12/00 Primary

  Machines for cleaning, blanching, drying or roasting fruits or vegetables, e.g. coffee, cocoa, nuts (methods for treating, e.g. roasting, coffee or cocoa, A23F, A23G; cleaning, e.g. washing, or drying grain B02B1/00; separating solids from solids for cleaning B07B; cleaning in general B08B; heating devices per se, see the relevant classes, e.g. F24; drying machines in general F26B) · CPC title

• A23N12/08 Primary

  for drying or roasting (A23N12/06 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A23F5/04

  Methods of roasting coffee (machines therefor A23N12/00) · CPC title

• A47J31/42 Primary

  Beverage-making apparatus with incorporated grinding or roasting means for coffee {(coffee mills A47J42/00; coffee roasters in general A23N12/08)} · CPC title

• A23N12/125

  Accessories or details · CPC title