Us 20080089986

(19) United States

Song

US 20080089986Al

(12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/0089986 A1 (43) Pub. Date: Apr. 17, 2008

(54) COFFEE ROASTER AND CONTROLLING METHOD OF SAME

Eugene Song, Seoul (KR)

Foreign Application Priority Data

(76) Inventor:

Correspondence Address: FISH & ASSOCIATES, PC ROBERT D. FISH 2603 Main Street, Suite 1050 Irvine, CA 92614-6232

(21) Appl. No.: 11/608,025

(22) Filed: Dec. 7, 2006

(30)

Oct. 13, 2006 (KR) ...................... .. l0-2006-0099924

Publication Classi?cation

(51) Int. Cl. A23N 12/12 (2006.01) A23F 5/04 (2006.01) A23N 12/08 (2006.01)

(52) US. Cl. ........................... .. 426/466; 99/484; 99/486

(57) ABSTRACT

Contemplated fully automated coiTee roaster have signi? cantly reduced energy demands, use electrical heat as a heat source in a temperature-only driven program mode, and eliminate smoke and smell Within the roaster. Most prefer ably, contemplated fully automated roasters Will consume only about 10 percent of the energy as compared to known devices on a per kilogram basis of beans and require no operator experience.

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Time [Min_) 8 6 about B~l2 ETTaE 9~l4 €T2u5 l0~l6 19 MAX I

Patent Application Publication Apr. 17, 2008 Sheet 1 0f 18 US 2008/0089986 A1

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COFFEE ROASTER AND CONTROLLING METHOD OF SAME

[0001] This application claims priority to the Korean national patent application With the serial number 10-2006 0099924, Which Was ?led Oct. 13, 2006.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to a coffee roaster and con trolling methods of same, particularly, to a coffee roaster for economiZing in electric poWer only by using electrical heat as a heat source When roasting coffee beans, eliminating smoke by burning the smoke generated When roasting coffee beans Within the device itself and eliminating smell gener ated When roasting coffee beans, and a method of controlling the same, in Which an optimal method for roasting coffee beans is selected in advance and then preset in a micro computer of a control unit so that inexperienced users can easily roast coffee beans to an optimum state.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] In general, When using electric poWer as a heat source for roasting coffee beans, the heat source for roasting 1 kg of coffee beans needs 14 to 20 KW. Thus, if the Weight of coffee beans to be roasted is 1 kg or more, gas heating (for example, propane gas and LNG gas) is almost alWays used. HoWever, gas heating typically requires an expert to pre dictably roast coffee beans to an predetermined degree. [0004] Further, an important knoW-hoW for roasting coffee beans is to ?nd certain points When a ?rst crack sound is generated upon applying the heat to green beans, Wherein the ?rst crack sound is failed by reducing the heat after a While, and When the heat is further reduced after a second crack sound is generated again so that the beans have a desired color. [0005] As described above, since the technique of roasting coffee beans is largely depended upon the expert’s experi ence and skill to ?nd the points of the ?rst, second, and third crack sounds and requires increasing or reducing the heat While observing and heating the roasted coffee beans, it generally very dif?cult, if not even impossible for an inex perienced user to predictably and reliably roast coffee beans to a desired state. Even though neW machines for roasting coffee beans using hot air have been developed, resulting roasted coffee is often not satisfactory for the general public. Thus, the coffee roasting industry largely relies on expert roasters.

[0006] Further, When roasting the coffee beans, a consid erable amount of smoke is generated, Which is in heretofore knoWn devices typically discharged to the outside by install ing a smoke pipe, or eliminated by installing a large smoke collector (often 5 to 6 times larger as the roasting machine) above the device in combination With an after-bumer for burning the smoke collected in a smoke reserve tank (Which is also six or more times as large as the roasting machine). Therefore, a very large space is required to roast coffee beans using heretofore knoWn devices. Moreover, a smoke pipe is often essential to discharge the burned gas placing further restriction to general use. Consequently, coffee bean roasting is generally performed only in factories or smaller roasting operations, even When roasting a small amount (several kilogram) of coffee beans.

Apr. 17, 2008

[0007] Therefore, there is still a need to provide improved colfee roasting devices that Will alloW fully automated operation by an inexperienced user or even novice at sig ni?cantly reduced poWer consumption.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a coffee roaster Which can e?iciently roast coffee beans by using an electrical heater With very small poWer consumption and eliminate smoke and smell generated When roasting coffee beans, Whereby everyone can easily roast coffee beans in the optimum state While maintaining com fortable circumstances in a room.

[0009] It is another object of the present invention to provide a coffee roaster Which is provided With an equip ment for removing the smell and cooling the green beans instead of a separate large-siZed equipment so as to be installed at any places and circumstances, and Which is provided as a poWer saving automatic machine like home electronics so that everyone can easily use it. [0010] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a coffee roaster Which is made smaller for saving electricity, in Which an electric heater is appropriately dis posed so as to be capable of removing the smoke and providing the additional heating, and in Which an open air coil heater, a ceramic heater and sheath heater are disposed at the outside of a rotating drum, and in Which a halogen lamp heater for directly transferring heat to the beans is installed Within the drum to increase thermal e?iciency. [0011] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a coffee roaster in Which a curved re?ector is installed at the upper side of the halogen lamp heater to protect the halogen lamp heater and to re?ect light doWn Wardly. [0012] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a coffee roaster provided With a multi-step smoke eliminator assembly in Which a coil heater is Wound up in a spiral shape Within a ceramic base through Which smoke generated in the rotating drum is smoothly guided and then completely burned at high temperature (about 700~l000o C.) While passing along the heat coil. [0013] It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a coffee roaster in Which Water is injected into the rotating drum so that steam is generated by the heat of the rotating drum and the roasted beans, and the smoke is pushed out by the steam and then completely removed by a smoke eliminator and a deodoriZer (typically activated char coal ?lter). [0014] In order to accomplish these and other objects, a coffee roaster according to the present invention comprises a casing of a coffee roaster assembly; a rotating drum Which is installed in the casing to roast beans; a drum shield for surrounding an outer surface of the rotating drum; heating elements, including a halogen lamp heater Which is installed in the rotating drum to heat the rotating drum and beans, an open air coil heater assembly Which is installed at an upper part of the drum shield and a ceramic heater and a sheath heater Which are respectively installed at the sides of the drum shield; a ?rst sensor for bean temperature Which is disposed at an inside of the rotating drum to measure a temperature of the beans; a second sensor for drum tem perature Which measures an inner temperature of the rotating drum; a memory element for storing data values of tem peratures of the beans and the rotating drum, Which are

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Us 20080089986