The new Swiss Unica Pro - Page 6
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Shakespeare (original poster)
- Supporter ♡
JRising wrote:I've gotta admit, what I'm curious about is what this little round thing is...
image
I'm thinking it's a cup heater... A little induction coil under the top of the machine to heat the top panel because the super efficient induction coils for the hydraulics of the machine won't be radiating out enough wasted energy to keep the top of the machine warm.
After realizing that this wan't part of the cup warming system. JRising had a thought it might be an inductive coil.
If not for the cup warming, Then what?
Unica shared that many parts used are off the shelf components. And we are all aware of the advantages of this approach.
There have been many posts speculating on how the Unica Pro supplies instantaneous hot water to the the group. I even thought myself they might have configured an induction heater somehow.
Knowing that it may be an off shelf part and with some extraordinary luck in my google search.
I came across the manufacturer of this round component.
I requested permission from 'Unica Coffee GmbH' to share this information.
It's a model 'Flow Through Heater 2' manufactured by the 'Ferro Techniek BV' in
-The Netherlands.
A unique high pressure thick filter throw through water heater. Used to replace boiler and thermal block heaters.
And with amazing efficiency and energy savings. Instantaneously heated water is received.
https://www.ferrotechniek.com/thick-fil ... gh-heaters
Through this correspondence, additional information was kindly shared by Unica .
""The thick film heater from FT is in our concept just a preheating stage which brings the water to the set temperature with an accuracy of +/- 2 degrees Celsius. The stabilization of the temperature happens in our own developed brewing group with an accuracy of +/-0.5 degree Celsius.
The hot water which comes out of the hot water wand is just heated by the FT heater.
Heating the cup tray we use a standard resistance heating foil.""
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dockoelboto
impressive find! Very interesting technology. I do appreciate the effort for efficiency.
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dockoelboto
Also from the Ferro Techniek website:
TNO Life Cycle Analysis
An independent company compared the energy & resources used by a Ferro Techniek flow through heater to make 10,000 cups of hot water, such as for coffee. This was compared with the traditional methods of a boiler, a thermal block and the theoretical minimum possible to carry out this task.
Would at least suggest it should be durable.
TNO Life Cycle Analysis
An independent company compared the energy & resources used by a Ferro Techniek flow through heater to make 10,000 cups of hot water, such as for coffee. This was compared with the traditional methods of a boiler, a thermal block and the theoretical minimum possible to carry out this task.
Would at least suggest it should be durable.
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pizzaman383
- Supporter ❤
Using what is arguably a long path thermoblock to preheat water is a solid design.
Curtis
LMWDP #551
“Taste every shot before adding milk!”
LMWDP #551
“Taste every shot before adding milk!”
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Shakespeare (original poster)
- Supporter ♡
Exactly..dockoelboto wrote:Also from the Ferro Techniek website:
TNO Life Cycle Analysis
An independent company compared the energy & resources used by a Ferro Techniek flow through heater to make 10,000 cups of hot water, such as for coffee. This was compared with the traditional methods of a boiler, a thermal block and the theoretical minimum possible to carry out this task.
Would at least suggest it should be durable.
Additionally with this device, a 'standby mode' isn't necessary to speed up hot water flow.
And not mentioned..this relatively small (off-the-shelf) device can be easily replaced when needed.
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dockoelboto
The unknown will be longevity and service at least in the USA. Given what information is slowly becoming available my guess is the machine will both be very durable and hopefully, if most items are "off the self", service will be widely available.
The biggest issue would be the electronics and display. The UI seems very quick and relatively straightforward. I will be curious to learn how you create recipes.
The biggest issue would be the electronics and display. The UI seems very quick and relatively straightforward. I will be curious to learn how you create recipes.
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Shakespeare (original poster)
- Supporter ♡
There isn't an enormous amount of information on new recipe creations.dockoelboto wrote:The biggest issue would be the electronics and display. The UI seems very quick and relatively straightforward. I will be curious to learn how you create recipes.
Obviously there is the ability the hand input an individual recipe using the display.
There will be an a coordinated APP. that is presently being designed to facilitate the various activities of the Unica Pro..
Included will be a fully integrated recipe design section to develop and share your recipes with your machine and others owners.
The Unica organization is also creating a network of roasters to offer their coffees
And develop their own special Unica coffee recipes for each individual coffee offered.
These recipes will be shared again through the App or installed easily using the port in front of the machine.
Also hopefully in the future there will be a recipe network to share with others.
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dockoelboto
Thanks for the info! The display seems fairly small so creating recipes on the display would seem challenging. An APP makes a lot of sense. I'm a home roaster so the ability to add my own recipe for my own roasts is appealing.
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Tobsn
Nice conversation here.
Just discovered this thread and that you using some of my picture I posted in a German forum.
At least I know now where the heating element is coming from. Good job.
Maybe I can also add some input. Using the Unica Pro since 11 month.
Just discovered this thread and that you using some of my picture I posted in a German forum.
At least I know now where the heating element is coming from. Good job.
Maybe I can also add some input. Using the Unica Pro since 11 month.
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