Container Weighing with Holding Levers for Fast Accurate Centering
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing weighing devices for containers in pharmaceutical, chemical, and health sectors face challenges in achieving fast and precise measurements due to vibration-induced instability and incorrect centering, leading to inaccurate weight readings, especially when filling and weighing operations are combined.
Innovation Solution
A weighing device with a body and holding levers that symmetrically surround the axis of introduction, allowing for the container to be held and centered during weighing, using a mechanism where holding levers rotate between inactive and holding positions to stabilize and secure the container, ensuring precise and rapid weight measurement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the rack is moved rapidly toward the weighing device for fast weighing operations, then the weighing speed increases, but the container becomes unstable and difficult to center, leading to incorrect weight measurements
Solution Approach 1:
The holding levers are positioned in advance within the compartment to receive and stabilize the container immediately upon its arrival from the rack. The levers are pre-configured in a retracted position that allows quick container insertion, then automatically engage to center and stabilize the container before weighing begins, eliminating the need for manual adjustment during the weighing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The holding levers act as an intermediary mechanism between the moving container and the stationary weighing device. They provide a transition zone that absorbs the container's motion and stabilizes it, mediating the conflict between rapid movement and precise measurement by gradually bringing the container to rest in the correct position.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the seating of the weighing device is made larger than the container to accommodate it, then the container can be housed, but the container cannot be properly centered and stabilized, causing weighing inaccuracies
Solution Approach 1:
The holding levers are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing them to adapt their position dynamically. They can be retracted to accommodate containers of various sizes and shapes, then extended or rotated into position to engage with specific features of the container (such as the rim or flange) for precise centering and stabilization, making the system both versatile and precise.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of making the entire seating precise and restrictive, the patent applies precision locally at the points where the holding levers contact the container. The seating itself can be larger and more accommodating, while the holding levers provide localized constriction and centering forces exactly where needed on the container surface, achieving both accommodation and precision.
3Measurement precision
If adjustments are made to position the container in the weighing device, then the container can be centered, but vibrations are introduced that cause incorrect weight measurements and require waiting time
Solution Approach 1:
The holding levers are designed to automatically perform the centering function without requiring external adjustment mechanisms. As the container is inserted into the compartment, the holding levers self-actuate through spring force or gravitational action to engage with the container and pull it into the correct centered position, eliminating the need for separate adjustment operations that would introduce vibrations and delay the process.
Solution Approach 2:
The centering action is performed preliminarily and continuously by the holding levers as soon as the container enters the compartment, before the weighing measurement begins. This preliminary stabilization ensures that by the time the weighing process starts, the container is already centered and stable, eliminating the need for post-positioning adjustments and their associated vibrations and waiting times.
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~6
Figure 7~8
AI summary
A weighing device to weigh at least one container (27) suitable to contain one or more substances, comprising weighing means (19) and a body (11) connected to the weighing means (19) and in which a compartment (28) is defined, configured to temporarily house the container (27) and provided with an aperture (18) defining a passage gap for the introduction of the container (27) inside the compartment (28) along an axis of introduction (X), in which the body (11) also comprises a plurality of holding levers (14) to hold the container (27) inside the compartment (28).