Beverage Machine Sliding Module Design to Reduce Contact Wear
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Beverage preparation machines with movable components suffer from wear, reduced user-friendliness, and increased maintenance costs due to mutual contact surface wear and incorrect positioning, especially when components support each other during movement, such as when filled with liquids or used portion capsules.
Innovation Solution
A compact beverage preparation machine design where components can be moved relative to each other and the housing with a receiving module that can be pulled out and pushed back horizontally, using sliders with a lower sliding coefficient and hardness to prevent unnecessary effort, scratching, and wear, and guided by rails for stable and defined movements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If components are made movable relative to each other and the housing to achieve compactness, then space utilization is improved, but wear of mutual contact surfaces and reduced user-friendliness occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces sliders as intermediary elements between movable components (drip tray, cup pedestal, water tank) and the housing. These sliders act as mediators that reduce direct contact and friction between the movable components and the housing surfaces, thereby minimizing wear while maintaining the compact movable design. The sliders are specifically designed with low sliding coefficients and appropriate hardness to prevent scratching of the base surfaces.
2Device complexity
If components support each other during movement to reduce structural complexity, then device complexity is reduced, but wear and incorrect positioning increase due to loaded contact surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The sliders serve as intermediary elements that facilitate smooth movement of supported components without transferring excessive wear to the supporting surfaces. By introducing this intermediate layer, the system maintains structural simplicity while improving positioning accuracy and reducing wear even under loaded conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent specifies particular parameters for the sliders including low sliding coefficient and controlled hardness. These parameter changes optimize the friction and wear characteristics of the contact surfaces, enabling components to move smoothly while maintaining precise positioning and minimizing wear even when supporting loaded components.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If sliders with lower hardness than the base surface are used to prevent scratching, then protection of the base is improved, but the sliding coefficient must be optimized to prevent excessive effort
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the physical parameters of the sliders, specifically selecting materials with appropriate hardness lower than the base surface to prevent scratching, while simultaneously ensuring the sliding coefficient remains low. This parameter optimization allows the sliders to protect the base surfaces from damage while requiring minimal force for moving the components.
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
Ensures constant user-friendly and low-wear movement of components throughout the machine's service life, reducing maintenance costs and improving operational reliability by preventing component misalignment and wear.
Implementation Method 1
The slider on the base has a lower sliding coefficient than the underside of the receiving module body, preventing unnecessary effort when pulling out and pushing in
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
Figure 6
AI summary
A beverage-making machine 1 of the type according to the invention is designed in the form of a beverage-making machine for making a beverage from a single-serve capsule and has the following components: a brewing chamber in which to insert the single-serve capsule; a beverage outlet 5, from which the beverage brewed in the brewing chamber passes into a drinking vessel positioned therebeneath; a housing 2, having a front portion 10 determined by the position of the beverage outlet 5; and an accommodating module for accommodating a liquid or a used-up single-serve capsule, wherein the accommodating module can be pulled horizontally out of the front portion 10 of the beverage-making machine 1, and pushed horizontally back into the same, wherein one component of the beverage-making machine (1) forms an underlying surface, and the accommodating module is carried by the underlying surface as it is being pulled out and pushed in. The beverage-making machine 1 is characterized in that the accommodating module has an accommodating-module body (10) and at least one sliding element (16), which is fastened on an underside of the accommodating-module body (10) and which has a smaller sliding coefficient on the underlying surface than does the underside of the accommodating-module body (10) and has a lower level of hardness than the surface area of the underlying surface.