Composite Food Casing With Spacer Sealing for Washable Mounting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing casings for food applications, particularly in the bakery industry, require complex molds and increased production costs due to the absence of a shaped gasket, necessitating a seal that prevents water and bacteria infiltration, while also needing a stand-out design for effective washing with high-pressure air jets.
Innovation Solution
A casing design featuring a polymeric body with spacers and metal bushings, combined with elastomeric collars and inserts, ensures a stand-out configuration and effective sealing without a shaped gasket, using spacers to raise the base surface and maintain contact with the machine frame, ensuring stability and ease of assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a shaped gasket is overmoulded into the casing base to ensure sealing, then sealing integrity is improved, but device complexity and production cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing function is segmented from the casing body by using a separate removable gasket component. This allows the gasket to be independently manufactured, inspected, and replaced without affecting the casing structure, thereby simplifying the mould design while maintaining sealing integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaped gasket is extracted as a separate removable component from the integrated overmoulded design. This extraction simplifies the casing mould while allowing the gasket to be manufactured separately and installed as needed, reducing overall device complexity while preserving sealing function.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the casing base is positioned close to the machine frame, then structural stability is improved, but washing effectiveness with high-pressure air jets deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The casing base positioning is made dynamic and adjustable through removable spacers. The base can be positioned at different distances from the machine frame depending on washing requirements, allowing optimization between structural stability during operation and washing accessibility when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacing between casing base and machine frame is controlled in the vertical dimension using adjustable spacers. This dimensional adjustment allows the base to be raised for effective high-pressure air jet washing while maintaining stability when positioned lower during operation.
3Ease of operation
If spacers are used to raise the base surface for stand-out configuration, then washing accessibility is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spacers are designed as multi-functional components that simultaneously provide mechanical support for the casing base, enable adjustable positioning for washing accessibility, and maintain structural alignment. This universality reduces the need for additional specialized components.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacers are designed as removable and reusable components. After washing operations, the spacers can be removed and reused for subsequent installations, rather than being single-use elements, thereby reducing overall component complexity and waste.
4Ease of operation
If integrated supports are designed into the casing to create stand-out configuration, then washing effectiveness is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support function is segmented from the integrated casing design and implemented as separate removable spacer components. This segmentation allows standard manufacturing processes to be used for both the casing and spacers independently, avoiding the need for complex integrated moulds and reducing production costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The support structures are extracted from the integrated casing design and implemented as separate spacer components. This extraction simplifies the casing manufacturing while allowing standard spacer production methods to be used, thereby reducing overall production costs while maintaining washing effectiveness.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Casing (10) of a support assembly for food applications, made of composite material and having a body (15), in turn provided with: - a housing portion (20) having a through-seat (25) inside which a bearing unit is seated, - a flange portion (30) for fixing the casing to a machine, having a base surface (35) and at least two through-holes (32) for housing elements for fixing the casing (10) to the machine, - at least two metal bushings (40) which are stably housed inside respective through-holes (32) and are coaxial therewith, the casing (1) also having: - at least two spacers (15), equal in number to the number of through-holes (32), applied on the base surface (35) of the flange portion (30) opposite the respective though-holes (32), wherein each of the spacers (5) in turn comprises a bushing (51) made of metallic material and a collar (52) made of elastomeric material, bushing (51) and collar (52) being coaxial with each other and stably connected together, - at least two inserts (60), equal in number to the number of spacers (5) and housed with interference inside the respective bushings (4) and inside the respective spacers (50).