Electromotive cooking device with a coupling

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Solution Overview

Problem

In electromotive kitchen appliances, misalignment of coupling components during assembly leads to increased assembly difficulty, wear, and unwanted noise, which conventional solutions like damping materials or different material couplings are costly and complex to implement.

Innovation Solution

The use of a clutch with a plug-in piston and guide elements featuring curved surfaces, which correct initial misalignments and ensure proper insertion, eliminating the need for costly damping materials and simplifying the assembly process.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If conventional damping materials or different material couplings are used to reduce noise, then noise is reduced, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovenoiseVSAvoidcoupling structure complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The guide elements are designed with curved surfaces (spherical or ellipsoidal caps) that guide the plug-in piston during insertion. This curvature allows automatic alignment correction without requiring damping materials or complex multi-material constructions, thereby reducing noise while maintaining simple device structure.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #14Spheroidality (Curvature)

2Productivity

If coupling components are assembled with slight misalignment, then assembly is faster, but wear and noise increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveassembly speedVSAvoidcoupling durability
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The guide elements with curved surfaces perform preliminary alignment correction during the insertion process itself. As the plug-in piston slides along the curved guide surfaces, misalignment is automatically corrected before final engagement, ensuring proper alignment without requiring slower, more precise manual assembly procedures.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The guide elements act as intermediary components between the plug-in piston and the final coupled position. These guide elements mediate the insertion process by providing a controlled path that corrects misalignment, preventing direct harmful contact between misaligned toothings and ensuring reliable engagement.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If precise alignment of coupling components is ensured, then wear and noise are reduced, but assembly difficulty increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecoupling precisionVSAvoidassembly ease
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The guide elements with curved surfaces enable the coupling components to self-align during insertion. The geometry of the guide elements automatically guides the plug-in piston into the correct position, eliminating the need for external alignment tools or complex manual adjustment procedures while ensuring precise engagement.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentEP3328252B1Electromotive cooking device with a coupling
Publication Date: 2019.12.25 BSH HAUSGERATE GMBH
  • EP3328252B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3328252B1 patent drawingFigure 2

AI summary

The invention relates to an electromotive cooking device comprising a coupling that has a coupling part (10, 40) and a plug-in piston for transmitting a rotational movement from a motor output shaft to the rotational device. The coupling part comprises a plug-in opening (11, 41) for receiving at least one part of a plug-in piston (20, 50). A plurality of guide elements (13, 43) for the plug-in piston are arranged on said plug-in opening (11, 41) and each have a convex surface. Alternatively, or additionally, said plug-in piston comprises a crest (21) having a plurality of convex guide segments (23).