Method to roast coffee beans

1 . A method to roast coffee beans in a room using a roasting system, the roasting system comprising a roasting apparatus, and the method comprises at least one roasting operation comprising:

obtaining, by the roasting apparatus, desired roasting data input of the at least one roasting operation, the desired data input determining at least:

a type of coffee beans to be roasted,

a quantity of coffee beans to be roasted per the at least one roasting operation or over a period of time, and

a level of roasting to be applied to the coffee beans, and

getting, by the roasting apparatus, access to:

information relative to the room, the room information comprising at least: local health and safety regulations, a volume of the room and a ventilation rate of the room,

information relative to the roasting apparatus, the roasting apparatus information comprising at least a quantity of each contaminant produced by the roasting apparatus during the at least one roasting operation of roasting a specific quantity of a specific type of coffee beans up to a specific roasting level, and

before initiating the at least one roasting operation:

determining, by the roasting apparatus, a concentration of each contaminant generated in the room during the at least one roasting operation from the obtained desired roasting data input and accessible information relative to the roasting apparatus and to the room,

for each contaminant, comparing the determined concentration of the contaminant generated in the room with a concentration of the contaminant authorised according to the local health and safety regulations,

if, for each contaminant, the determined concentration is inferior to the authorised concentration according to the local health and safety regulations, enabling the at least one roasting operation, and

if, for at least one contaminant, the determined concentration is superior to the authorised concentration according to the local health and safety regulations, displaying an alert.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein, based on the obtained desired roasting use data and on the accessible information relative to the roasting apparatus, the method comprises the step of obtaining the specific quantity of each contaminant produced along the at least one roasting operation.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein, if the system comprises a smoke treating unit, and based on the accessible information relative to the smoke treating unit, for each produced contaminant, the method comprises the step of applying the yield of reduction to the obtained quantity of the contaminant produced by the roasting apparatus along the at least one roasting operation and to obtain the quantity of the contaminant dispensed by the smoke treating unit.

4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein based on the accessible information relative to the ventilation rate and the room volume, for each contaminant, the method comprises the step of determining from the ventilation rate and from the obtained quantity of each contaminant dispensed by the system, the concentration of each contaminant present in the room during the at least one roasting operation.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of preventing the at least one roasting operation if, for at least one contaminant, the determined concentration is superior to the authorised concentration according to local health and safety regulations.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises the step of suggesting a modification of the at least one roasting operation if, for at least one contaminant, the determined concentration is superior to the authorised concentration according to local health and safety regulations.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein, if for at least one contaminant the determined concentration is superior to the authorised concentration according to local health and safety regulations, the method comprises the steps of:

calculating the quantity of beans to be roasted in order to get a quantity of specific components present in the room along the at least one roasting operation inferior to the authorised limits of the specific components according to local health and safety regulations, and

suggesting decreasing the quantity of beans introduced in the vessel down to that calculated quantity or suggest splitting the quantity of beans in several batches of the calculated quantity and suggest roasting the batches separately at defined intervals.

8 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein, if for at least one contaminant the determined concentration is superior to the authorised concentration according to local health and safety regulations, the method comprises the steps of:

calculating the maximum level of roasting to be applied to the beans in order to get a quantity of specific components present in the room along the at least one roasting operation inferior to the authorised limits of the specific components according to local health and safety regulations, and

suggesting decreasing the level of roasting to be applied to the beans down to that calculated maximum level.

9 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein, if for at least one contaminant the deduced concentration is superior to the authorised concentration according to local health and safety regulations, the method comprises the step of suggesting improving the filtering properties of the smoke treating unit, in particular by replacing the smoke treating unit by a more efficient unit and/or to increase the ventilation rate.

10 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the method comprises the steps of accessing to room information, the room information comprising the quantity of at least one specific component present in the room at the moment of initiating the desired roasting operation, and

wherein, if the calculated quantity of the at least one specific component present in the room along the roasting process is superior to the authorised limits of specific according to local health and safety regulations, the method comprises the step of evaluating if an interval of time before initiating roasting is necessary.

11 . The method according to claim 10 wherein the method comprises the steps of:

storing information about the previous roasting operations implemented inside the room including information about:

the quantity of at least some components produced during the previous roasting processes, and

the time the previous operations happened, and

calculating the time length necessary for the ventilation of the room to reduce the quantity of the produced components present in the room to enable a further roasting.

12 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the method comprises the steps of determining the concentration of each contaminant generated in the room during the roasting operation from at least information relative to the smoke treating unit, the information comprising at least the performance of reduction of the level of each contaminant by the smoke treating unit, and wherein the information is adjusted on account of the status of dirtiness of the smoke treating unit.

13 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the method comprises the steps of:

obtaining a desired daily roasting quantity of coffee beans, and

if the roasting operation is enabled, proposing a schedule of roasting operations over the day.

14 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the roasting system comprises:

a duct to connect the smoke outlet of the roasting apparatus or the outlet of the smoke treating unit, the duct being configured to divert contaminants away from the room, and

a device to close or open the duct, wherein, if for at least one contaminant the determined concentration is superior to the authorised concentration according to local health and safety regulations, the method comprises the step of opening the duct during the at least one roasting operation.

15 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the method comprises the steps of:

storing the determined concentration of each contaminant generated in the room during the at least one roasting operation with the obtained desired roasting data input, and

getting access to the stored determined concentration of each contaminant when identical roasting data input are obtained for at least one roasting operation.

16 . The method according to claim 1 wherein the method comprises the steps of actuating a safe mode operation of the roasting apparatus, wherein, when the mode is actuated, the method comprises the steps of:

getting access to pre-determined unsafe roasting data, and

preventing the input of the pre-determined unsafe roasting data.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the roasting system comprises a smoke treating unit configured to treat smoke produced by the roasting apparatus and to release the treated smoke in the room.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the accessible information, which is used by the roasting apparatus to determine the concentration of each contaminant generated in the room during at least one roasting operation, is further related to the smoke treating unit.