Adjustable Transport Wheel for Beverage Containers
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing beverage filling systems with rotary designs face challenges in efficiently transporting containers of different formats due to complex mechanisms and high costs associated with adjusting transfer stars to accommodate varying container sizes, leading to reliability issues and inaccurate settings.
Innovation Solution
A transport wheel with a central connection and stacked discs, where at least one disc is adjustable relative to fixed discs, allowing for simplified adjustment of receiving regions via a rotary actuator, eliminating the need for scissor-like mechanisms and enabling accurate adaptation to different container formats while maintaining synchronicity with other system components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If transfer stars with changeable pocket size are used, then adaptability to different container formats is improved, but device complexity increases due to complex adjustment mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The transfer star is segmented into multiple adjustable pockets, where each pocket can be independently adjusted in size. This segmentation allows the system to adapt to different container formats while keeping the adjustment mechanism relatively simple, as each pocket operates independently rather than requiring complex coordinated movement of the entire structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The pockets are designed with dynamic adjustment capability, allowing them to change size during operation. The pockets can be adjusted between different size configurations to accommodate various container formats, transforming a static structure into a dynamic one that adapts to different requirements without requiring complete system replacement.
2Adaptability or versatility
If complex scissor-like mechanisms are used for pocket adjustment, then pocket size changeability is achieved, but reliability decreases due to self-locking issues
Solution Approach 1:
The problematic scissor-like mechanism has been extracted and replaced with a simpler adjustment system. The new design uses a more reliable mechanism that achieves the same pocket size changeability without the self-locking issues inherent in scissor-like structures, thereby improving overall system reliability while maintaining adaptability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If manual or actuator adjustment is used, then pocket size can be changed, but manufacturing precision is reduced due to tolerance accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment mechanism incorporates feedback elements that allow for precise positioning and verification of pocket locations. This feedback system enables the operator or control system to verify that pockets are correctly positioned after adjustment, compensating for potential tolerance accumulation and ensuring manufacturing precision is maintained even as pocket sizes are changed.
4Stability of the object's composition
If fixed pocket positions are maintained during adjustment, then synchronicity with other carousels is preserved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The adjustment mechanism employs asymmetric design principles where the method of maintaining pocket position differs from the method of adjusting pocket size. This asymmetric approach allows the system to achieve both goals - maintaining synchronicity through position preservation while enabling size adjustment - without requiring overly complex mechanisms that would be needed if symmetric approaches were used for both functions.
Data Source
AI summary
A device for transporting containers with a transport wheel, which includes: a central connection configured to fasten the transport wheel to a central rotational shaft, so that a rotation of the central rotational shaft about the rotational axis thereof is able to be transmitted to the transport wheel; a plurality of discs which are concentrically stacked one on top of the other relative to the rotational axis in the axial direction and which in each case have at least one recess, which jointly form a receiving region which is provided on an outer circumference of the transport wheel, wherein at least one of the discs is a fixed disc and at least one of the discs is an adjustment disc; and an adjustment mechanism which is configured to rotate the adjustment disc by an adjustment angle, whereby the size of the receiving region is adjustable.