Bread Maker Mixing Container Curved Corners
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional automatic bread makers struggle to bake hard bread with a thick crust satisfactorily, often resulting in flour residue due to insufficient mixing and kneading when reducing water content, and excessive heating from extended mixer blade rotation times.
Innovation Solution
The automatic bread maker features a mixing container with enlarged curved corners and an elliptical side wall, along with a mixer blade that curves along these corners, ensuring efficient and even heating and mixing, reducing flour residue by guiding ingredients towards the center and minimizing build-up.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the water content in cooking ingredients is reduced to bake hard bread with thick crust, then the bread hardness and crust thickness are improved, but insufficient mixing and kneading occur resulting in flour residue
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing container features curved corner portions instead of sharp corners, and the mixer blade has a curved surface that conforms to the curved bottom and side walls. This curvature design allows the blade to effectively reach and mix ingredients in corner regions that would otherwise be dead zones, ensuring thorough mixing and kneading even with reduced water content in hard bread recipes.
Solution Approach 2:
The mixer blade is designed with different local characteristics - the curved surface portion specifically targets the curved corner regions for enhanced mixing, while other portions handle the main mixing volume. This localized design optimizes mixing effectiveness in critical areas without compromising overall mixing performance.
2Manufacturing precision
If the mixer blade rotates for extended periods to improve mixing, then mixing quality is improved, but excessive heating occurs during the extended rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The curved surface of the mixer blade and the curved corners of the mixing container create more efficient mixing patterns that reduce the time required for thorough mixing. The curved geometry promotes better material flow and distribution, achieving effective mixing in shorter periods and thereby reducing excessive heat generation from prolonged rotation.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional mixing container shapes are used, then manufacturing is simple, but flour residue builds up in corner portions
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing container is designed with curved bottom and side walls that meet at curved corner portions, eliminating sharp corners where flour residue would accumulate. This curved geometry ensures that all ingredients are effectively reached by the mixer blade, preventing flour residue build-up while remaining manufacturable using standard forming processes.
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
This configuration allows for effective suppression of flour residue and improved baking of hard bread with a thick crust, ensuring better mixing and even heating, thus enhancing the quality and satisfaction of the baked product.
Implementation Method 1
Heater 105 that heats heating chamber 101A is disposed around mixing container 104
Implementation Method 2
Mixer blade 106 that mixes and kneads cooking ingredients by rotating inside mixing container 104
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
An automatic bread maker of the present disclosure includes: a bottomed cylindrical heater case (3) that is disposed inside a machine main body (1) and serves as a heating chamber (1A); a lid body (4) opening and closing an upper opening of the heater case (3); a mixing container (6) that is held inside the heating chamber (1A) and houses cooking ingredients; a heater that heats the heating chamber (1A); a mixer blade (7) that mixes and kneads the cooking ingredients inside the mixing container (6) by rotating inside the mixing container (6); and a driver that generates rotary driving force of the mixer blade (7). The mixing container (6) includes a planar bottom wall (63), a cylindrical side wall, (64) and a curved corner part (65) that connects the bottom wall (63) and the side wall (64). A connection part (Cl) between the corner part (65) and the bottom wall (63) is positioned inside a rotation trajectory (Rl) of the mixer blade (7) in plain view.