Rotatable Blender Blade Assembly for Cutting and Ice Crushing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional blenders lack intuitive motor actuation mechanisms and have insufficient cutting and crushing capabilities, particularly struggling with efficiently processing diverse food items like ice.
Innovation Solution
A blender system with a rotatable blade assembly featuring a hub with radially extending cutting blades and a longitudinally extending crushing blade, oriented to switch leading and trailing surfaces based on rotation direction, and a lid with a hinged actuator lever that activates the motorized unit by intersecting with a slidable actuator shaft, preventing unwanted activation through spring-loaded mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional knobs or buttons are placed solely on the exterior face of the base for motor actuation, then the motor can be actuated, but the user must repeatedly move back and forth between the base and lid to check contents and determine if additional processing is necessary, reducing ease of operation
Solution Approach 1:
The actuator lever is positioned on the lid (vertical dimension) rather than solely on the base exterior face (horizontal dimension), allowing the user to operate the motor from the lid position where they can simultaneously observe the contents through the transparent portion of the lid
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional cutting blades are used in blenders, then the blades can chop food, but they are insufficient for performing diverse food processing operations including adequate crushing of ice and other food items
Solution Approach 1:
The blade assembly incorporates different blade types with different local properties: cutting blades with sharp edges for chopping soft foods, and crushing blades with blunt surfaces for crushing ice. Each blade type is optimized for its specific function, allowing the single assembly to perform diverse food processing operations effectively
Solution Approach 2:
The blade assembly is designed to perform multiple functions: cutting blades chop soft foods while crushing blades crush ice, allowing a single blade assembly to handle both cutting and crushing operations that would traditionally require separate mechanisms or multiple blade changes
Data Source
AI summary
A blender system includes a container having a rotatable blade assembly therein, a lid covering an open end of the container, and a base with a motorized unit. When the container is coupled with the base, the motorized unit is adapted to drive rotation of the rotatable blade assembly. The lid includes a hinged actuator lever adapted to actuate the motorized unit. A detent extends from the hinged actuator lever and passes through a series of apertures and presses against a slidable actuator shaft disposed in the container and maintained in its position by a spring force, thereby depressing a switch for the motorized unit. A rotatable blade system includes cutting blade(s) and crushing blade(s). The crushing blade extends longitudinally outwardly from a hub. When the hub rotates in a first direction or second direction opposite the first direction, a face of the crushing blade is leading or trailing, respectively.