Cat Water Basin With Capacitive Drinking Detection and RFID Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cats are selective in choosing water receptacles and often ignore traditional water bowls, leading to dehydration issues, and existing drinking apparatuses lack effective tracking and monitoring of their drinking habits, especially for health conditions like diabetes and renal disease.
Innovation Solution
A drinking apparatus with a capacitive touch sensor and processor to detect drinking events, combined with an RFID reader for animal identification, and load cells for water measurement, which can track and monitor drinking habits accurately and efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional water bowls are used, then the apparatus is simple and easy to manufacture, but animals may ignore the water and drinking habits cannot be tracked
Solution Approach 1:
The drinking apparatus integrates multiple functions into a single device: water dispensing, capacitive touch sensing for drinking detection, RFID animal identification, and data tracking. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by making the apparatus sophisticated enough to reliably detect drinking while consolidating features that would otherwise require separate devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical drinking detection methods (such as weight sensors or physical contact sensors) with capacitive touch sensing technology. This substitution enables more reliable and sensitive detection of drinking events while reducing mechanical complexity and moving parts.
2Loss of information
If monitoring and tracking features are added to detect drinking habits, then health monitoring capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The apparatus automatically performs animal identification via RFID, detects drinking events via capacitive sensing, tracks consumption patterns, and stores data without requiring manual intervention. This self-service capability resolves the contradiction by enabling comprehensive drinking habit tracking while minimizing the complexity of user interaction and data management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors drinking events and provides feedback through data tracking and pattern recognition. This feedback mechanism enables health monitoring and early detection of drinking habit changes, resolving the information tracking requirement while using straightforward computational methods.
3Ease of operation
If the apparatus structure is simplified for easy cleaning, then ease of operation is improved, but detection accuracy may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The capacitive touch sensor is integrated into the base of the apparatus rather than requiring sensors on all water-contact surfaces. This extraction of the sensing function to a specific location simplifies the structures that need to be cleaned while maintaining detection precision through the high sensitivity of capacitive sensing.
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
The apparatus reliably detects drinking events, tracks individual animal consumption, and provides data for health monitoring, ensuring hydration needs are met, reducing dehydration risks and facilitating early detection of health issues.
Implementation Method 1
a capacitive touch sensor comprising a sense electrode disposed underneath the basin; and a processor coupled to the capacitive touch sensor and configured to determine a capacitance value of capacitance coupled to the sense electrode
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2d
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
A drinking apparatus for an animal such as a cat comprising: a basin for presenting water to an animal; a reservoir for storing water; and a conduit comprising a valve, the valve configured to allow water stored in the reservoir to flow into the basin in response to depletion of an amount or a level of water contained in the basin. At least a front inner portion of the basin has a hydrophobic surface to enable a convex surface of the water at an interface between the hydrophobic surface and the water.