Engineers introduce 'beans' to cool and then maintain hot beverage temps
May 3, 2011 by Bob Yirka 
(PhysOrg.com) -- Buddies and mechanical engineers, Dave Petrillo and Dave Jackson, have, thanks to Kickstart.com, begun a business selling the Coffee Joulie (clearly a play on the word for joule, a unit of energy, and jewel, the stuff you wear as bling), a stainless steel bean they’ve invented that will first cool a hot drink, then maintain it at a consistent 140°F (60° Celsius) temperature for up to five hours if the container is kept closed.
Generally used with more than one “bean” at a time, Coffee Joulies have a special secret ingredient inside of them that works first as a heat sink; absorbing heat from the hot coffee or other beverage that surrounds them, until reaching 140F°, at which point the secret ingredient melts causing it to reverse course and to then start working as a heat source as the absorbed heat is radiated back into the beverage as the secret ingredient slowly solidifies once again.
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The Dave’s as they’re called, won’t let on what exactly is inside the beans, but they claim its safe enough to ingest. They refer to it as a “non-toxic phase change material.” The outer cover is all stainless steel, which they say is the same grade as that used for cutlery, which they point out, has a very long safety record as a means for both the drinking of hot beverages and for stirring them.
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Coffee Joulies cool your coffee to a drinkable temperature in under 90 seconds.
A natural question might be to ask if the beans might work for cold beverages as well, as a replacement for ice cubes, but that question has not been addressed thus far. At this point it would seem unlikely as there is no indication that the special ingredient inside the beans would absorb and hold any more of a chill than freezing anything else and dumping it in your cup.
At any rate, to use Coffee Joulies, once on the market that is, coffee drinkers would place a few of them in a cup, pour in their hot beverage of choice, wait a moment for the beans to cool, then commence to drinking. Afterwards, the beans could be washed the same way as other stainless steel utensils, though they likely would only need a little rinsing. No word yet on whether the phase-change material inside the beans degrade over time, and if so, how long it might take.
More information: http://www.joulies.com/
© 2010 PhysOrg.com
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May 03, 2011
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May 03, 2011
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No, they would not (at least these specific beans anyways).
The phase change material holds the temperature where it is because the temperature of the phase change material at the time of the phase change is a constant.
In this case, the stuff in the Joulie would first begin melting (as the temperature of the coffee is above its melting/freezing temp of ~60oC) and would steal heat from the coffee to do this (endothermic process).
Once the temperature got down to the melting/freezing temperature, the now melted liquid in the Joulie would begin to solidify (an exothermic process) holding the temp constant until all of the phase change material was frozen. The temperature would then continue to decline as normal.
May 03, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
My guess is that they both hit 130 deg at about the same time. The Joulie won't keep your coffee hot longer in ABSOLUTE time... it will just cool the coffee down to a drinkable temp and KEEP it there.
May 03, 2011
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May 03, 2011
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In this "dynamic" model, I guess I'd have to expect the coffee REMNANT to remain hot LONGER than the control in absolute time, if it is consumed at the same rate with respect to temperature.
That's brilliant!
May 03, 2011
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That's what I was thinking.
But sodium acetate tends to supercool easily, in which case it will melt and then not release the heat back by re-crystallizing below the melting point. That's how heat pads work - they have supercooled sodium acetate inside, and the crystallization is started by clicking a small steel disc.
They have to add some sort of permanent seed crystal in the bean to start the process every time. Perhaps that's the secret ingredient.
May 03, 2011
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May 03, 2011
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excellent comments! I would also add that a major source of cooling for hot coffee is evaporation (highly endothermic process). So, all other things being equal, adding these things would cool the coffee off, decreasing the amount of evaporation, therefore holding heat for longer. Of course a thermos with a lid works well too.
May 03, 2011
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What they should do (Version 2.0) is to incorporate the material into a fixed capsule in the bottom and/or walls of the cup.
And, if they want a market for this, they'd better be able to produce it cheaper than an insulated mug.
Personally, I drink my coffee to quickly for it to get cold in the first place.
May 03, 2011
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The data relation of phase transition temperatures for the 'hidden' core seems to correlate well with:
https://secure.wi...7s_metal
Glad to deconstruct this mystery :}
May 03, 2011
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Seriously. Last thing I want in the morning is a chipped tooth...or asphyxiation.
I agree, while this new tech is interesting I'd rather not have the hazard of a metal bean in my coffee.
May 03, 2011
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My biggest problem with insulated mugs and thermoses is the unfortunate side-effect of scalding my tongue/mouth/throat by trying to drink the hot drink before it had sufficiently cooled down.
May 03, 2011
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Cleverish mechanism I suppose, which may be useful in other areas, but as far as coffee goes it seems like a useless gimmick.
May 03, 2011
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May 03, 2011
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May 03, 2011
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It would cool the drink / soup down to a level that you could consume it easily and then would help hold the temp to a reasonable level for longer, assuming that you were consuming it at a regular pace based on it being at a comfortable temp.
Another way to put it would be, for a lunch break drop one into your hot soup in a thermos and eat without scalding early in your lunch period.
May 04, 2011
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May 05, 2011
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I would say not... at least not in the sense of replacing the vacuum layer with this Joulie material. The reason is simply that, if you did, MOST of the heat absorbed by the Joulie layer would be released into the ROOM, not the beverage, because the room is colder than the beverage.
Location matters. When the Joulie is IN the beverage, it's a thermodynamic buffer. When it's BETWEEN the beverage and the rest of the universe, it's just a conductor.
May 07, 2011
Rank: 2 / 5 (1)
'pats self on shoulder and nods in agreement'
May 10, 2011
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May 10, 2011
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You should pay attention to what the Joulies actually do. Not only do they hold the temperature steady at a good, warm drinking temperature, but it brings the temperature down faster so it can be consumed sooner after brewing.
If anything, these devices allow the beverage to be consumed sooner, leaving more of your "delicate aromatics" unspoiled when the drink is ingested.
May 11, 2011
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