The invention relates generally to electrical equipment for use on aircraft, and more particularly, to electrical coffee maker systems for use in aircraft galleys.
Passenger aircraft fly routinely across oceans and continents. Passengers and crew spend several hours and more on board those aircraft. Passenger and crew comfort and efficiency depend to a great degree on the availability of hot food and beverages in flight, and passenger aircraft routinely include galleys and similar preparation areas for such food and beverages.
Many people enjoy hot coffee; for some it's a near necessity. Aircraft galleys have thus for some time included coffee maker systems designed to brew and dispense coffee to passengers and crew. Such existing coffee maker systems are typically less than ideal, though, for a variety of reasons.
Many such prior art systems are little changed from systems used on the ground in fixed installations. Brewed coffee drips into an open-topped pot placed under a dispenser. Such pots are sometimes not fixed in place, though, which creates an obvious spillage hazard, e.g., if someone bumps against the pot in the crowded aircraft galley or if the aircraft encounters turbulence or other motions that might cause coffee to spill out of the pot.
Some such open pot systems include apparatus for fixing their coffee pots in place while the coffee is being dispensed into them. When the coffee is in the pot, the pot can then be removed from the coffee maker so that the coffee can be served out to the passengers and crew. Such open pot systems are still less than ideal, though, because coffee can spill out of the pots' open tops either while the pots are in place in the coffee maker or while the pots are being moved around the cabin.
Other systems for brewing coffee on board aircraft include sealed pressure vessels or the like. Water is heated inside these pressure vessels and dispensed as coffee into pots for service. Such pressure vessel systems tend to be heavy and bulky, though, which is particularly disadvantageous on board aircraft, where any added weight leads directly to increased fuel consumption and thereby to increased operating costs. Pressure vessel systems can also present explosion hazards, and reliable mechanisms must be provided to vent pressure safely to prevent overpressure conditions inside the pressure vessels. Pressure vessel systems thus tend to be heavy and complex, expensive to operate, and difficult to maintain.
Other known systems require frequent and difficult maintenance. This makes such systems unreliable, and much time and expense can be involved in keeping these systems in reliable operation. A poorly designed or maintained system can ground even a multi-engine jumbo jet while one of its coffee makers is being serviced. This is a very expensive way to serve coffee.
It would be desirable, therefore, if new coffee maker systems could be developed in which coffee is dispensed into serving pots or the like through closed lids with very limited openings. Those pots should also be fixed into the coffee makers for added safety. Such systems, should, if possible, avoid the weight, expense, and reliability problems of known pressure vessel systems. A new onboard coffee maker system should be reliable and easy to maintain without taking airplanes out of service for frequent and extended maintenance. Lastly, a new aircraft coffee maker should be easy to use, and should produce good coffee the people will enjoy drinking. This document describes novel coffee maker assemblies that provide these and other advantages.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds