Cookware Handle with Modular Sealing for Waterproof Electronics
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cookware handles with electronic components face challenges in sealing to prevent water ingress during cleaning, require reliable and consumer-friendly replacement of power sources, and are costly to manufacture and assemble.
Innovation Solution
A cookware handle design featuring a flange portion with an elongated cavity, an interconnection module, and a sealing mechanism using a male appendage and gasket system that allows easy disengagement and replacement of electronic components, ensuring a waterproof seal and cost-effective assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional sealing methods are used to prevent water ingress in cookware handles with electronic components, then waterproofing reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost and assembly complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The handle is divided into separate modular components: a handle body, an electronic component module, and a battery module. Each module can be independently manufactured, sealed, and assembled. The electronic component module contains its own sealed housing with electronic components, while the battery module has a separate sealed structure. This segmentation allows each module to be manufactured using cost-effective sealing methods while maintaining overall waterproofing reliability when assembled together.
Solution Approach 2:
A waterproof connector or interface module serves as an intermediary between the handle body and the electronic component module. This intermediary component provides a sealed connection point that maintains waterproofing while allowing for straightforward assembly and disassembly. The connector includes sealing elements that create reliable water barriers without requiring complex manufacturing processes.
2Reliability
If electronic components are permanently sealed in cookware handles, then waterproofing reliability is improved, but ease of repair and power source replacement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The handle design incorporates dynamic, reversible connections between modules rather than permanent fixed connections. The electronic component module and battery module are designed to be detachably connected to the handle body through sealed interfaces. This allows the battery to be easily removed and replaced by simply disconnecting the module, while the sealed connection maintains waterproofing during normal use. The sealing mechanism can be opened and closed without compromising its waterproof properties.
Solution Approach 2:
By segmenting the handle into separate modules with independent sealed housings, the battery and electronic components can be replaced without affecting the overall waterproof seal. Each module maintains its own sealing integrity, so removing or replacing one module does not compromise the waterproofing of the remaining components.
3Reliability
If complex sealing mechanisms are used to ensure waterproofing, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible waterproof membranes or thin film seals at the interfaces between modules. These thin film barriers provide effective waterproofing while being simple in structure and easy to manufacture. The flexible nature of these films allows them to accommodate slight variations in assembly tolerances without requiring complex rigid sealing structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The design uses simple, cost-effective sealing elements such as rubber gaskets, O-rings, or molded seal lips that can be easily manufactured and replaced if needed. These simple sealing components provide reliable waterproofing without the complexity of mechanical sealing systems, and their simplicity makes them inexpensive to produce and install.
Data Source
AI summary
A handle for a cookware device contains a power supply that is operative to energize one or more of a processor, transceiver and accelerometer, as well as a memory device. The processor is also connected to a one or more external leads that extend into the handle at least to the connection to a sidewall of cooking device for further connection to a sensing circuit or power harvesting circuit. The end of the handle holds at least the processor but is in removable engagement from the portion with the power supply with a resilient sealing member to form a water proof seal.