Bread Dispensing Chute With Expandable Opening for Hygienic Self-Service
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for dispensing loose food products, such as bread, often require operators to touch the products with their hands, leading to hygiene issues and inconvenience, especially when protective gloves are worn and then removed.
Innovation Solution
A device with a chute and inclined plane system that allows food to be dispensed without direct hand contact, using a lever-activated mechanism to move a flexible wall and enlarge an opening in the inclined plane, enabling the food to fall into a chute and be collected in a bag without manual handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the operator wears protective gloves to avoid hand contact with food, then hygiene is improved, but operation convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The device enables self-service dispensing where customers can independently obtain food products through the dispensing opening without operator intervention. The container and dispensing mechanism are designed to allow customers to select and retrieve products autonomously, eliminating the need for operators to wear gloves while maintaining hygiene.
Solution Approach 2:
The dispensing opening and chute structure serve as an intermediary mechanism between the operator and the food products. This intermediary system allows food to be transferred from the container to the customer without direct hand contact, resolving the contradiction between hygiene requirements and operational convenience.
2Reliability
If the operator uses tongs to pick up bread, then hygiene is improved, but operation simplicity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The device is designed to allow customers to directly access and take food products through the dispensing opening without requiring operators to use tongs or other tools. The simple container design with an opening enables direct customer interaction with the food while maintaining hygiene boundaries.
3Ease of operation
If the operator touches food with bare hands, then operation convenience is improved, but hygiene deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The dispensing opening and container structure act as an intermediary that separates the operator's hands from the food products. The operator can conveniently manage the container and opening mechanism without touching the food directly, while customers can still easily access the food through the opening, thus maintaining both hygiene and operational convenience.
4Extent of automation
If a lever mechanism is added to move the chute, then automation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The chute is designed with flexible material that can dynamically change its position and orientation in response to lever actuation. This dynamic design allows the chute to automatically adjust its configuration to facilitate food dispensing without requiring complex mechanical linkages or multiple moving parts, thus improving automation while limiting complexity increase.
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 hygiene by preventing direct hand contact with food products, allows self-service dispensing, and maintains product integrity, reducing the need for dedicated operators and protective gloves while maintaining product protection from dust and flies.
Implementation Method 1
due to the elasticity of the material of which such chute is made, move the wall 3 so as to deflect it
Implementation Method 2
allow the bread shaken by the accumulation means 5 to fall through the opening 12 of the plane 11 and be channeled along the chute 2
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
A device (1) for dispensing food products, such as bread and the like, comprising an inclined plane (11) that is adapted to convey a food product to chute means (2) adapted to dispense the food product, the inclined plane (11) being provided with an opening (12) arranged in a position that lies above the chute means (2), the chute means being blended in an inclined manner with a wall (3) to which means (5) for shaking the food product are connected, the inclined plane (11) abutting against the wall (3), means (4) for moving the chute means (2) and the wall (3) being provided in order to move the wall (3) away from the inclined plane (11) so as to enlarge the opening (12) of the inclined plane (11) in order to allow the fall of the food product by gravity onto the chute means (2).