Adaptive Piston for Food Processing Chamber
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Solution Overview
Problem
In food processing machines, the absence of constant contact between the piston's lateral surface and the conveyance chamber's inner wall due to varying cross-section dimensions leads to product residue and maintenance issues, resulting in incomplete processing and product loss.
Innovation Solution
The piston is designed with an elastic lateral portion that automatically expands or contracts to maintain contact with the chamber's inner surface, ensuring continuous engagement and easy disassembly for cleaning, using elastic annular bodies or peripheral springs to adapt to cross-section variations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the piston is dimensioned according to the minimum dimension of the conveyance chamber, then the piston can move through the entire chamber, but the lateral surface of the piston is not constantly in contact with the inner side wall, resulting in product residue and cleaning problems
Solution Approach 1:
The piston is designed with a variable cross-sectional area that can dynamically adapt to the changing cross-section of the conveyance chamber. The piston includes a first portion with a first cross-sectional area and a second portion with a second cross-sectional area, allowing it to maintain contact with the chamber walls throughout its movement while being dimensioned for the minimum dimension chamber.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the conveyance chamber has variations in transverse cross-section, then the chamber can accommodate different product shapes, but the piston cannot maintain constant contact with the chamber wall, leading to product loss
Solution Approach 1:
The piston's variable cross-sectional design allows it to adapt dynamically to chambers with varying cross-sections. The first and second portions of the piston have different cross-sectional areas that correspond to different sections of the conveyance chamber, ensuring continuous wall contact and preventing product residue even when the chamber cross-section varies.
3Device complexity
If the piston is made as a simple cylindrical body, then the construction is simple, but it cannot ensure complete contact with the chamber wall throughout movement
Solution Approach 1:
The piston is segmented into a first portion and a second portion, each with different cross-sectional areas. This segmentation allows the piston to maintain contact with chambers of varying cross-sections while keeping the overall structure relatively simple and maintaining processing completeness.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design ensures complete processing of food products by preventing residue and facilitating optimal cleaning and hygiene, as the piston remains in contact with the chamber walls throughout its movement, enhancing the machine's reliability and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The piston is provided with a lateral portion, which is adapted to be able to undergo an automatic expansion or contraction, with respect to a longitudinal axis of the piston, by way of its sliding on the inner surface of the conveyance chamber
Data Source
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AI summary
A machine for processing food products, which comprises a chamber (1) for conveying food products to be processed in which a pusher (2) is accommodated and is provided with a piston (3) that can be actuated for translational motion along a movement direction (3a) in order to push the food products toward an output end of the conveyance chamber (1); the conveyance chamber (1) has at least one variation in the dimension of its transverse cross-section with respect to the movement direction (3a); the pusher (2) has means for adjusting its transverse dimension with respect to the movement direction (3a) which are adapted to produce an automatic expansion or contraction of at least one lateral portion (4) of the piston (3), with respect to a longitudinal axis (3b) of the piston (3) which is substantially parallel to the aforementioned movement direction (3a).