Cantilevered Weighing Pan Hook Engagement Mechanism
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Solution Overview
Problem
Laboratory balances with cantilever-supported weighing pans face challenges in easily and securely engaging and releasing the weighing pan from the load-receiving part of the weighing cell, requiring diligence and potentially leading to incorrect connections.
Innovation Solution
A laboratory balance design featuring a weighing pan with L-shaped sidebars and a hook-shaped portion that engages a suspension pin, assisted by a guiding portion and a seating element, allowing for easy installation and removal by sliding contact, ensuring secure engagement and minimizing the risk of incorrect alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the weighing pan is connected to the load-receiving part with a simple connection, then the device complexity is reduced, but the reliability of secure engagement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The connection structure employs asymmetric geometry where the U-shaped engagement element on the weighing pan fits specifically with the corresponding asymmetric profile on the load-receiving part. This asymmetric design ensures that the weighing pan can only be engaged in the correct orientation, preventing incorrect connections while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement mechanism uses a nested configuration where the U-shaped engagement element on the weighing pan fits inside or around a corresponding receiving structure on the load-receiving part. This nesting arrangement provides secure engagement through geometric interlocking while keeping the connection structure compact and simple.
2Ease of operation
If the weighing pan engagement mechanism is simplified, then the ease of operation is improved, but the manufacturing precision requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The U-shaped engagement element is pre-formed with precise geometry during manufacturing, embedding the alignment function into the component itself. This preliminary action ensures that when the weighing pan is installed, the pre-configured engagement element automatically aligns with the load-receiving part, reducing the need for high precision during the actual installation operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The U-shaped engagement element acts as an intermediary component that mediates between the weighing pan and the load-receiving part. This intermediate structure provides geometric guidance and tolerance compensation, allowing easier operation by users while the precision requirements are absorbed by the engineered geometry of the engagement element itself.
3Ease of manufacture
If the weighing pan has a passage opening in the weighing chamber floor, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but object-generated harmful factors worsen due to spilled material dropping into the base compartment
Solution Approach 1:
The passage opening that previously existed in the weighing chamber floor has been completely removed (taken out) from the design. The weighing chamber floor is now continuous and solid, eliminating the pathway through which spilled material could drop into the base compartment. This extraction of the harmful feature (passage opening) resolves the contamination issue while maintaining ease of manufacture through a simpler, continuous floor structure.
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
Facilitates effortless and secure engagement and disengagement of the weighing pan, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring accurate weight measurements by aligning the pan correctly with the load-receiving structure.
Implementation Method 1
The weight force is measured by the weighing cell using a known electro-mechanical principle
Implementation Method 2
the longitudinal rearward-directed extremity of the vertical leg of each of the two sidebars further includes a downward-facing guiding portion located to the rear of the hook-shaped portion and sloping upwards from the hook-shaped portion whereby, through sliding contact between the guiding portion and the suspension pin, the hook-shaped portion is guidable to seat itself in an engaged position on the suspension pin
Data Source
AI summary
A laboratory balance (1) has a weighing pan (14) in a weighing chamber (10). A rear wall (4) separates the weighing chamber separates from a housing (11) that contains a weighing cell (12) with a load-receiving structure (13). A suspension pin (27) extends in a transverse direction of the load-receiving structure. The weighing pan is engaged with the load-receiving structure through at least one passage opening (31) in the rear wall. Two spaced-apart sidebars (29) of the weighing pan are held together by a connecting member (30). Each sidebar has an L-shaped configuration with a horizontal foot portion (55) and a vertical leg portion (56). A hook-shaped portion (64) of the vertical leg is seated on the suspension pin, through sliding contact between the suspension pin and a guiding portion (65) that extends from the hook-shaped portion away from the horizontal foot portion, sloping upwardly.