Built-in Weight Elevator Using Air Bag Volume Change
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional built-in weight lifting and lowering mechanisms in electronic scales suffer from temporal abrasion, increased frictional resistance, heat generation, and frequent motor breakdown due to contact and sliding operations, leading to complex power transmission systems and enlarged apparatus, which hinder miniaturization and reliability.
Innovation Solution
A built-in weight lifting and lowering device utilizing a volume-variable container, such as an air bag, eliminates the need for rotating cams and sliding members, directly lifting and lowering the weight through volume changes or a simple lever mechanism, reducing friction and motor load.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rotating cam and sliding member mechanism is used to lift and lower the built-in weight, then the weight can be added and removed from the load measuring mechanism, but temporal abrasion occurs, frictional resistance increases, and motor breakdown becomes frequent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes the rotating cam and sliding member components from the weight lifting mechanism. By eliminating these complex mechanical transmission elements, the system achieves direct lifting of the built-in weight without contact and sliding operations, thereby preventing temporal abrasion and motor breakdown while simplifying the overall device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical cam-and-sliding-member system with a simplified direct-lift mechanism. This substitution eliminates the need for rotation-to-linear-motion conversion components, reducing frictional resistance and temporal abrasion, and improving motor reliability through a more straightforward mechanical system.
2Ease of operation
If contact and sliding operations are used in the weight lifting mechanism, then the built-in weight can be mechanically lifted and lowered, but temporal abrasion of components is generated and frictional resistance increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the cam and sliding member components that cause contact and sliding operations. By extracting these elements, the system eliminates temporal abrasion and reduces frictional resistance while maintaining the ease of operation for adding and removing the built-in weight through a simplified direct-lift mechanism.
3Reliability
If a complex power transmission system with rotating cam and sliding member is used, then the built-in weight can be lifted and lowered, but the apparatus becomes enlarged and complicated, hindering miniaturization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the rotating cam, sliding members, and associated power transmission components. This removal of unnecessary elements simplifies the apparatus structure, reduces its volume, and enables miniaturization while maintaining operational reliability through a more compact direct-lift mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a complex mechanism to convert rotational motion to linear motion for lifting the weight, the patent inverts the approach by directly lifting the weight without intermediate transmission components. This inversion simplifies the mechanical system, reduces apparatus volume, and facilitates miniaturization.
Data Source
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Figure 5~6(B)
AI summary
Reliability of an operation of a device that adds and removes a load of a built-in weight to and from a load measuring mechanism of a weighing apparatus is enhanced, and a mechanism of the device is simplified to realize cost reduction and miniaturization. A built-in weight 5 is latched in a weight holder 4 that performs a lifting and lowering operation to a fixed portion 3, usually the weight holder 4 is located in a lifted position by a repulsive force of the coil spring 7, and a side of a load receiver 10 has no load of the built-in weight 5. During calibration, air is supplied from an air supply and exhaust portion 2 to an air bag 9 to increase a volume of the air bag 9. At this point, the weight holder 4 is lowered against the repulsive force of the coil spring 7, and the built-in weight 5 is latched in the load receiver 10, thereby performing the calibration. After the calibration, an electromagnetic valve 12 is opened to exhaust the air from the air bag 9. As a result, the weight holder 4 is lifted by the repulsive force of the coil spring 7, and the weighing apparatus enters a usual weighing mode.