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Engineering the Perfect Coffee Mug
Nerval's Lobster writes "From the annals of Really Important Science comes word that a research assistant who picked up his B.S. just seven months ago has invented a coffee mug designed to keep java at just the right piping-hot temperature for hours. Logan Maxwell, who got his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University in May, created the "Temperfect" mug as part of his senior design project for the College of Engineering. Most insulated mugs have two walls separated by a soft vacuum that insulates the temperature of a liquid inside from the temperature of the air outside. Maxwell's design has a third layer of insulation in a third wall wrapped around the inner basin of the mug. Inside is a chemical insulator that is solid at room temperature but melts into a liquid at 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The insulator – which Maxwell won't identify but swears is non-toxic – turns to liquid as it absorbs the extra heat of coffee poured into the mug at temperatures higher than 140 F, cooling it to a drinkable temperature quickly. As the heat of the coffee escapes, the insulating material releases heat through the inner wall of the mug to keep it hot as long as possible; a graph mapping the performance of a prototype shows it could keep a cup of coffee at between 128 F and 145 F for as long as 90 minutes. "Phase-change" coffee-mug insulation was patented during the 1960s, but has never been marketed because they are difficult and expensive to manufacture compared to simpler forms of insulation. While working on the Temperfect design, Maxwell met Belgian-born industrial designer Dean Verhoeven, president of consulting form Ancona Research, Inc., who had been working on a similar design and had already worked out how to manufacture a three-walled insulated mug cost effectively. The two co-founded a company called Joevo to manufacture the mugs." According to the Joevo Kickstarter page, you can get one starting at $40. For that much, I'd like a clever lid like this Contigo has.
This is just the same approach as Coffee Joulies, which is a former Kickstarter project. I have a bunch of these, they work well. No need for a custom mug.
The insulator – which Maxwell won't identify but swears is non-toxic
I think this is a case where it most certainly needs to be disclosed in an MSDS and/or patent filing (though more likely in the MSDS, as the patent filing is allowed to be vague).
It holds 800ml.
If you need insulation, you are drinking it too slow.
perhaps the ability to add an iv-drip
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
It's too tall and thin; it will tip over easily (not that it matters if it has a spill-proof lid, but still...).
A $40 coffee mug. Come here and let me slap you.
I just need it hot enough until I finish drinking it.
And having coffee sit around at 140 degree will eventually make it taste like shit.
It's a cool design and invention, but it's one that should be applied somewhere else.
This is just the same approach as Coffee Joulies, which is a former Kickstarter project. I have a bunch of these, they work well. No need for a custom mug.
Well, it's not quite the same as coffee joulies, for a number of reasons.
... you won't lose the integrated joulies. ... different name.
... but it's not breaking new ground.
First, it's integrated/built in.
Second, well
Third... uh
Seriously though, this is just an improvement on the thermos. A fancy improvement, and it might even be more effective
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
sounds ideal for /american style/ coffee; which has been criticised for being less than perfect.
espresso anyone?
It'll never sell to me. There are sunk costs involved. I have too much engineering invested in non-linear coffee consumption as cheap mugs and paper cups lose heat. Slowly at first, with much intake of the aroma. Then cautious sips, then normal sips, then fairly heavy consumption somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3rd of the way down. It ain't broke. I'm not fixing it. It works anywhere. No need to buy an expensive mug, take it with me everywhere, wash it, and worry about losing it.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Wait, what does the time of day have to do with thermodynamics? If the coffee and insulating material are both heated to the same temperature then there is no way it would cool things down *more* quickly than if there were no insulation at all. Especially if you rinse the mug out with some hot water first to add some heat to the system before putting the coffee in. There is no disadvantage to this system...
The unnamed insulator is Spam. Not sure if that makes it toxic or non-toxic, though.
-
Wet, rough, and wobbling all over? Oh god it burns...
Well, that is part of the appeal. It’s supposed to rapidly cool your coffee down to 140 degrees – the perfect tempura to drink it at – and hold it at that temperature.
Unless the "phase change" material is quite massive, making the mug heavy, there is no way that a thin layer can literally cool a piping hot drink enough to be useful, let alone act as a temperature maintainer. A well built thermal mug can also keep a hot liquid between 128 and 140F for 90 minutes. This smacks of a bit of a con. Well done, con.
My money is on Gallium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aolRO9eteSk
It melts at 30C and is actually non toxic. Maybe he alloys something with it to bump the melting point up a little, though, basic thermo tells me an alloy will melt at a lower temp.
Anyway, there are variations on this that aren't so nicely non-toxic due to components like: tin, bismuth, antimony and lead.
http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/thermo/thermo4.html
90 minutes is not "hours." It's not even plural; it's less than 2 hours.
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cool down your coffee.
Isn't that the selling point? To use the inner insulator to remove some of the excess heat, bringing it down to a perfect temperature? And once they're in thermal equilibrium, using further outer layers of insulation to maintain the two inner layers roughly in equilibrium?
Who needs that? Doesn't everyone on this site tend to slam the caffeine down as quickly as possible?
My guess is the mystery insulator material is beeswax. At least, the temperatures are about right, it's non-toxic, and doesn't oxidize AFAIK.
The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
As others have pointed you - you missed the point.
It cools to 140, and then holds near 140 for as long as possible, because 140 is the optimal coffee temperature -- or so sayeth the coffee gods.
That said, I spent a lot of time explaining to people with the "new aluminum beer bottles" that "gets cold faster!" also means "gets warm faster" for all the same reasons.
What a piker.
Just line your coffee mug with plutonium. That'll keep it warm.
I called it.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I just set my ceramic mug on top of my Apple Airport, that seems to keep it warm.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
This is precisely one thing that irks me about living in the US. People get the coffee culture completely wrong, they even say things like "let's grab a coffee". In civilized countries, you never *walk* around with a coffee. You sit down, spend 10 focused minutes on an espresso and maybe conversation and then go on doing things with both hands. Walking around holding some significant fraction of gallon of coffee is just pointless - you get gorilla arm, you never enjoy coffee and you never enjoy a real break.
Seems relevant.
http://www.tidbitsfortechs.com/2013/10/a-techs-guide-to-a-decent-cup-of-coffee/
Nobodies Prefect
Tidbits for Techs Technology Blog
A slightly more subtle than glaringly obvious example of the No True Scotsman fallacy.
If by "lumps of stainless steel" you mean Joulies, you missed that the Joulies have phase-change-material inside - probably the same stuff as this mug. This is why I said it was the same trick.
While I enjoy the same things you stated, I don't really see how you "can't take coffee seriously" if you ever do these things. As a working individual, there are times when I simply don't have the time to sit down and chat for a while. But I sure as hell would love to be able to have a hot cup of coffee as I walk to a meeting or something.
I should have read more about these things since they appear to be wax filled lumps of stainless steel instead of just stainless steel.
No cup of coffee should need to sit around more than 30 minutes. If you're doing hours of reading or socializing, you should be having more than one cup, sized appropriately to your preferences and tolerance.
Hell, part of the social ritual is the host refilling the beverage, a demonstration of their ability to provide an abundance to a guest.
I think you clearly validated their hyperbole regarding U.S. work culture. As someone who is also pressured by work to a degree of questionable ethical limits, I'm a bit disappoint to see another person standing up for the work place culture that is demonstrably wrong (not entirely about the coffee thing, but with regards to hustle and bustle).
there are times when I simply don't have the time to sit down and chat for a while
I really don't understand how one could interpret that to mean that I *never* have time to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. Or whatever beverage I like. There are plenty of times at work where I'll take 10-20 minutes and enjoy a cup of green tea while just relaxing. But occasionally, I may have a meeting that I have to go, immediately following an hour or two of trying to work through some bugs in code. In that three hour block, I would like some coffee, but there aren't any breaks possible.
Maybe you guys never really go to cafes or coffee shops, but in my home town, there are around 6 starbucks at various locations, and they are almost always full to the brim of people sitting, relaxing, and enjoying a hot drink. And that's usually the same picture I see at most starbucks and coffee shops in general.
It is definitely easy to cherry pick the occasions when working individuals unfortunately don't have time to stop and enjoy a cup of coffee, but then again, I find that cherry picking is usually the basis for most arguments i read...
I'll never understand the fascination with beverage container designs that encourage spilling. Ever since getting a Highwave Hotjo several years ago, I've been able to keep coffee (or masala tea more often these days) next to my electronics projects all day. Its shape resists spilling and it even has a nonskid mat on the bottom. I've had mine for, gosh, probably six or seven years and it's still as good as new.
Temperature stability seems likle a great idea, but this vessel design only seems well-suited for an automotive cupholder.
My God, it's Full of Source!
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Wait, what does the time of day have to do with thermodynamics?
Thermodynamics is already being blamed for the heat death of the universe, even though that hasn't happened yet. It tends to drink a lot, which can leave it hung over in the morning sometimes.
I am also an espresso drinker, so I would not use it for coffee, but I see it could be useful for tea.
If everything I owned passed these tests, I'd probably only own a single nuclear waste disposal unit.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
This is.
From Cliff Stoll's Acme Klein Bottles
mark "wish it wasn't quite that expensive...."
Wax has been used for phase change cooling for quite some time. Any ways, a wiki link: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraffin_wax And, a table of (candle) wax melting points: http://www.nuscentscandle.com/melt-point-and-pour-candle-wax-temperature-chart/ You just have to account for the expansion, as always.