Cleaning device for container
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning devices for containers, such as paper or resin cups, are large in scale, require complex mechanisms, and incur high maintenance costs, making them unsuitable for small-scale use and home environments, and they often fail to effectively clean residual beverage contents before reuse, leading to increased environmental and resource costs.
Innovation Solution
A compact cleaning device with a movable mounting table, elastic member, and integrated cleaning mechanism that jets cleaning liquid and compressed air to the inner faces of containers, using a control unit to manage the process and collect waste, ensuring space-saving and cost-effective cleaning without leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cleaning device with rotating brush and spray nozzle is used to clean beverage containers, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but the device complexity and risk of malfunction increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cleaning function from a complex rotating brush mechanism and implements it through a simple plunger that pushes cleaning elements along the container interior surface. This eliminates motors, bearings, and control systems while maintaining cleaning effectiveness through the straightforward plunging motion that forces cleaning elements against the container wall.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning device uses the beverage container itself as the cleaning chamber and relies on the container's geometry to guide the cleaning plunger. The container's own structure provides the pathway and positioning for the cleaning elements, eliminating the need for complex positioning mechanisms and control systems.
2Device complexity
If manual cleaning of beverage containers is performed, then device complexity is reduced, but cleaning quality and consistency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a plunger as an intermediary mechanism that translates simple vertical motion into effective cleaning action. The plunger carries cleaning elements and forces them against the container interior through controlled plunging motion, ensuring consistent contact pressure and coverage without requiring complex robotic manipulation or human dexterity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical cleaning systems (rotating brushes, multiple nozzles, articulated arms) with a simple linear plunging mechanism. This substitution maintains cleaning quality through the direct force application and controlled motion of the plunger while dramatically reducing mechanical complexity.
3Reliability
If cleaning solutions are sprayed at high pressure to improve cleaning effectiveness, then cleaning quality improves, but energy consumption and risk of container damage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses hydraulic principles by utilizing liquid beverage or water as the cleaning medium that flows through the plunger and over the cleaning elements. The fluid pressure generated by the plunging motion itself provides the necessary force for cleaning, eliminating the need for separate high-pressure pumping systems and reducing energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the cleaning approach from high-pressure spray to controlled fluid flow through a plunger mechanism. By adjusting the plunging speed and fluid flow rate rather than relying on high pressure, the system achieves effective cleaning with lower energy input and reduced risk of container damage.
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 device achieves efficient cleaning of container interiors while preventing liquid leakage, reducing device scale, maintenance needs, and costs, making it suitable for small-scale use and home environments.
Implementation Method 1
a cleaning element to contact an interior surface of the container
Implementation Method 2
a liquid stream to flush the cleaning element
Data Source
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AI summary
[Object] To provide a cleaning device for a container in which the device scale is made relatively small to achieve space saving, maintenance saving, and cost reduction and nevertheless cleaning liquid can be jetted to a container before its disposal, to clean the inside of the container, while preventing leakage of the cleaning liquid around the container. [Solving Means] A cleaning device for a container according to the present invention includes a mounting table that has a mounting face with which an opening edge of a circumferential wall portion of the container comes into contact, a housing that has installed thereon the mounting table for movement in the mounting direction, an elastic member that is installed in the housing and biases the mounting table in the mounting direction, a cleaning mechanism that is installed in the housing and jets cleaning liquid to the inner faces of the bottom portion and the circumferential wall portion of the container, and a control unit that jets the cleaning liquid to the inner faces of the bottom portion and the circumferential wall portion through the cleaning mechanism, when the mounting table has moved downward by a predetermined distance.