Animal Feeder Restrictor With Spring Clips
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional slow feeders for animals fail to effectively restrict feeding rate, often jamming or tilting, and are inconvenient to refill, leading to digestive, metabolic, and behavioral problems in animals due to rapid feeding.
Innovation Solution
A slow feeder design featuring a container with blind-ended slots and a removable feeding restrictor assembly that couples with a retaining element via spring clips, allowing the restrictor to move freely while preventing tilting and jamming, and allowing easy refilling by uncoupling the assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a feeding restrictor is secured to the container wall to prevent tilting and jamming, then reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to inconvenient refilling
Solution Approach 1:
The feeding restrictor assembly is divided into separable components: the restrictor itself and the retaining element with spring clips. This segmentation allows the restrictor to be easily removed for refilling while the retaining element remains secured to the container wall, maintaining both reliability and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring clips provide a dynamic retaining mechanism that allows easy attachment and detachment of the feeding restrictor. The springs enable quick engagement and release without tools, making refilling convenient while ensuring secure retention during feeding to prevent tilting and jamming.
2Ease of operation
If the feeding restrictor is allowed to move freely downwards as forage is consumed, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to jamming and tilting
Solution Approach 1:
The retaining element with spring clips acts as an intermediary between the feeding restrictor and the container wall. It provides guidance and support that prevents tilting and jamming while allowing the restrictor to move freely downwards as forage is consumed.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring clips change their mechanical state from compressed to relaxed as the restrictor moves downward, automatically adjusting to the changing position and maintaining reliable guidance throughout the feeding process without restricting movement.
3Reliability
If a removable rim is used to cover slot openings for security, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The retaining element with spring clips merges the functions of both the cover and the mounting mechanism into a single integrated component. This eliminates the need for a separate removable rim while maintaining security against animal removal and enabling easy refilling operations.
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
The design effectively reduces feeding rate, prevents jamming, and simplifies refilling, promoting natural feeding behavior and reducing health issues associated with rapid consumption.
Implementation Method 1
A removable feeding restrictor assembly which couples with a retaining element via spring clips
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~7
Figure 8~10
AI summary
A feeding apparatus includes a container for, in use, containing food for an animal. The container has a side wall through which a slot is defined, the slot extending between closed upper and lower ends of the slot. In use, a feeding restrictor rests on top of the food in the container. A retaining element is positioned outside the container and is movably engageable with an outer portion or surface of the container side wall. The feeding restrictor is coupled to the retaining element before the animal starts to feed, and moves downwardly, guided by the slot, as the animal eats the food. The feeding restrictor can then be uncoupled from the retaining element after the food is eaten, and withdrawn from the container to allow further food to be placed in the container.