Circular Hopper Gate Mechanism for Reducing Article Bouncing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Prolate ellipsoidal objects like baby carrots, gummies, and wieners bounce randomly inside chutes during high-speed weighing, causing bottlenecks in existing article processing apparatuses.
Innovation Solution
A circular arrangement of hoppers with a slide portion and gate mechanism that allows articles to temporarily stay and then freely fall into a discharge opening, minimizing contact with the chute and reducing bouncing by extending the slide surface and decreasing the angle of the slide path.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If articles slide down a traditional chute, then they can be discharged from the hopper, but prolate ellipsoidal objects bounce randomly causing bottlenecks during high-speed weighing
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the problematic chute component entirely from the system. Instead of using a traditional chute that causes random bouncing, the patent allows articles to freely fall through space from the hopper discharge opening to the weighing position, eliminating the source of bouncing and improving both weighing speed and flow stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a guide wall as an intermediary structure that defines a controlled falling space. This guide wall mediates between the hopper discharge and the weighing position, ensuring articles fall in a controlled manner without random bouncing, thus maintaining reliable article flow during high-speed weighing.
2Device complexity
If a traditional chute is used to discharge articles, then the structure can be simple, but the apparatus height becomes large
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the chute component entirely, replacing it with a free-fall mechanism guided by walls. This extraction eliminates the need for a long vertical chute structure, significantly reducing the apparatus height while maintaining structural simplicity through the use of compact hopper and guide wall components.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a vertical chute-based discharge mechanism to a horizontal free-fall space defined by guide walls. This dimensional change allows articles to fall freely in a controlled space rather than sliding down a vertical chute, reducing the vertical height requirement while maintaining discharge functionality.
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
Enables high-speed weighing while maintaining a low apparatus height, reducing bouncing and spillage, and optimizing cleanability and cost-effectiveness by minimizing chute size and height.
Implementation Method 1
a slide portion provided on a downstream side of the body portion, and having a slide surface extending continuously from the body portion; and a gate provided on the body portion to switch between a first state where the gate causes the article to stay in the body portion and a second state where the gate releases the staying of the article to cause the article to slide down from the body portion
Implementation Method 2
the slide portion has a length or an angle with respect to a horizontal direction of a path along which the article slides down the slide surface, takes off from a downstream end portion of the slide portion, freely falls in the space where the slide surface does not exist, and then reaches the discharge opening
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
In an article processing apparatus (1), a plurality of hoppers (12) are disposed in a circular shape and each of the plurality of hoppers (12) causes an article (100) received from an upstream side to temporarily stay and then discharges the article (100) toward a discharge opening (20) on a downstream side. Each of the hoppers (12) includes: a body portion (12A); a slide portion (12B) provided on a downstream side of the body portion (12A), and having a slide surface (120) extending continuously from the body portion (12A); and a gate (12C) provided on the body portion (12A) to switch between a first state where the gate (12C) causes the article (100) to stay in the body portion (12A) and a second state where the gate (12C) releases the staying of the article (100) to cause the article (100) to slide down from the body portion (12A). The slide portion (12B) has a length (L) or an angle (A) with respect to a horizontal direction (H) of a path along which the article (100) slides down the slide surface (120), takes off from a downstream end portion (120E) of the slide portion (12B), freely falls in a space (S) where the slide surface (120) does not exist, and then reaches the discharge opening (20), in the second state.