Blending Container Lip Engagement for Secure Automated Mixing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing food processing systems face challenges in blending heterogeneous materials and maintaining high-quality products without user intervention, particularly in ensuring proper mixing and rotation of containers during processing.
Innovation Solution
An automated food processing system with a container design featuring a lip portion and base portion that engages with a blade assembly, restricting rotation and translational motion, and a container platform that pivots to facilitate blending, ensuring secure engagement and efficient processing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If a container is used in an automated food processing system, then the processing can be automated, but it is difficult to properly blend heterogeneous materials and maintain high quality product
Solution Approach 1:
The container lip includes multiple engagement features (first, second, and third engagement features) that can selectively engage with corresponding features on the blade assembly. This allows the system to adjust engagement parameters to match different container types and blending requirements, maintaining product quality while enabling automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement features create a mechanical feedback system where the lip and blade assembly must properly align and engage. This physical feedback ensures that containers are correctly positioned and secured before blending, providing automatic quality control without user intervention.
2Manufacturing precision
If the container is secured during blending, then blending quality improves, but the container structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The container lip features an asymmetric configuration with engagement features positioned at specific locations and orientations. This asymmetric design provides precise mechanical engagement with the blade assembly, ensuring consistent container positioning and secure attachment during blending, thereby improving blending quality without requiring overly complex structures.
3Reliability
If engagement features are added to the lip portion, then container security during rotation improves, but the lip portion complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The engagement features on the lip are segmented into distinct functional elements (first engagement feature, second engagement feature, third engagement feature). Each segment serves a specific purpose in securing the container to the blade assembly, distributing the security function across multiple simple elements rather than one complex feature.
Data Source
AI summary
A container includes a body including a lip portion, a base portion, and a wall structure extending between the lip portion and the base portion. The wall structure and the base portion define a cavity. The lip portion extends outwards from the wall structure. The body is configured to be received in a container receptacle defined within a container platform of a blending apparatus when the container platform is in a first position. The lip portion includes one or more engagement features to sealingly engage with a corresponding engagement feature of a blade assembly of the blending apparatus, restrict rotation of the container during rotation of blades of the blade assembly, and restrict translational motion of the lip portion relative to the surface of the container receptacle during rotation of the container platform from the first position to a second position or during rotation of the blades.