Conveyor Oven Sandwich Door Pin-and-Socket Hinge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conveyor ovens with pivoting front access doors face challenges during shipping as the door handle protrudes upwardly, risking damage, and existing solutions do not facilitate easy detachment and reattachment for maintenance and cleaning.
Innovation Solution
A conveyor oven design featuring a deformable tubular seal and pin-and-socket hinge system that allows for secure pivoting and easy attachment/detachment of the sandwich door, with a rearwardly opening pin slot and arcuately curved socket for smooth operation and reduced risk of pin displacement during handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the sandwich door is attached during shipping, then the oven can be shipped in a compact configuration, but the door handle protrudes upwardly and risks damage
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge assembly is divided into separate components: a hinge body mounted on the oven case and a hinge arm attached to the door, connected by a removable pin. This segmentation allows the door to be easily detached for shipping protection while maintaining secure attachment during operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge pin is designed with a preliminary positioning feature that guides the pin into the hinge body before final insertion. This preliminary action ensures proper alignment and secure engagement when the door is attached, making the attachment process simple and reliable.
2Reliability
If the sandwich door is made detachable for shipping protection, then the handle damage risk is reduced, but the attachment and detachment process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The pin connection feature is extracted as a separate, removable element from the hinge mechanism. This allows the door to be detached by simply removing the pin without complex disassembly procedures, reducing the overall complexity while maintaining detachability for shipping protection.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of designing a complex locking mechanism that requires multiple steps to attach/detach, the invention inverts the approach by using a simple removable pin system where the default state is attached and detachment is achieved by removing the pin, simplifying the entire mechanism.
3Ease of operation
If the hinge pin can move freely in the socket, then the door can be easily detached, but the pin may drift rearwardly and compromise the pivoting function
Solution Approach 1:
A spring-loaded retainer acts as an intermediary between the pin and the hinge socket. The retainer holds the pin in its forward position during normal operation, preventing rearward drift, while allowing the pin to be easily removed when detachment is desired, thus maintaining both reliability and ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge socket is designed with a changing geometric profile that guides the pin during insertion and secures it in the forward position. The socket geometry transitions from an open rearward opening for easy insertion to a configuration that prevents rearward drift during operation, dynamically adapting to the pin's position.
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 solution ensures the door handle is protected during shipping, simplifies attachment and detachment, and maintains a secure and efficient pivoting mechanism while preventing heat loss, facilitating user-friendly maintenance and reducing the risk of damage.
Implementation Method 1
The seal extends around the periphery of the front port and treats the sandwich door and its attached pivot pin as a moveable workpiece
Implementation Method 2
incorporating an internal spring steel lattice. The deformable seal component is preferably adapted for treating the sandwich door and its attached pivot pin as a moveable workpiece. Upon a performance of door installation steps including manually moving the pivot pin to a position rearwardly overlying the rearward opening of the hinge's socket, the deformable seal advantageously forwardly biases the door for forwardly seating the pin within the socket's arcuately curved bearing surface or seat.
Data Source
AI summary
A conveyor oven including a baking case having front, longitudinal, and oppositely longitudinal walls, the baking case having longitudinal, oppositely longitudinal, and front ports wherein the front port has a longitudinal end and a rectangular periphery; a conveyor extending through the baking case; a mounting land extending along the front port's periphery; a conveyor access door fitted for covering the front port; a first pin and socket hinge operatively interconnecting the front wall and the longitudinal end of the conveyor access door, the hinge's socket having a rearward opening and further opening oppositely longitudinally; the oven further including a deformable seal positioned between the conveyor access door and the land, the seal being adapted for, upon positioning of the pin at the rearward opening, forwardly biasing the door and the pin, and forwardly seating said pin within the socket.