Communion Tray Corner Cup Openings to Reduce Contamination
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Solution Overview
Problem
The current communion water distribution tray design allows for the potential spread of infectious diseases as drips from empty cups can fall into cups containing unconsumed liquid, posing a risk of transmitting illnesses among congregants.
Innovation Solution
The tray cover is redesigned with empty cup disposal openings moved to the corners instead of the center, reducing the risk of contamination by making it less convenient to dispose of cups over filled ones, and incorporating 34 cup apertures instead of 36 to maintain functionality while minimizing disease transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If empty cup disposal openings are positioned in the center of the tray cover, then congregants can easily dispose of empty cups, but drips from empty cups can fall into cups containing unconsumed liquid, increasing the risk of disease transmission
Solution Approach 1:
The disposal openings are moved from the center (one-dimensional central location) to the corners (two-dimensional peripheral locations), changing the spatial dimension and arrangement of the openings to eliminate the harmful effect while maintaining functionality
Solution Approach 2:
The symmetric central positioning of disposal openings is replaced with asymmetric corner positioning, creating an uneven distribution that prevents drips from reaching central cup locations while maintaining ease of disposal operation
2Quantity of substance
If the tray cover is configured with 36 circular apertures, then all congregants can have access to cups, but moving disposal openings to corners reduces the number of apertures to 34
Solution Approach 1:
The number of apertures is changed from 36 to 34, and their positions are reconfigured, to eliminate the harmful contamination risk while maintaining sufficient quantity for congregant needs
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention solves the problem of possible contamination of unconsumed liquid contained by communion cups that remain in the circular apertures of the cup array of the tray cover. The problem has been solved by moving the empty cup disposal openings from their current central locations in the tray cover to the four corners thereof. The new configuration makes it awkward for a congregant to dispose of his cup by reaching over cups containing unconsumed liquid. Although the improved tray cover is configured to hold 34 cups rather than 36, the loss of capacity of 2 cups is considered to be an acceptable compromise for decreasing the spread of disease causing organisms.