Coupler for use in liquid heater and liquid heater
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing couplers for liquid heaters, such as electric kettles, face challenges in achieving precise coordination due to manufacturing deviations and deformation, leading to potential jamming and safety hazards, while their small size also complicates water drainage, risking electric shock.
Innovation Solution
A coupler design featuring a male and female connector with arced and gapped sections, a convex-hull shaped end wall, and guide baffles to prevent jamming and facilitate water drainage, ensuring precise alignment and reducing the risk of electric shock by directing water away from electrical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the coupler size is reduced to meet diversified design requirements, then the product design flexibility is improved, but the coordinating precision deteriorates due to manufacture deviation and deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The peripheral wall is segmented into arced sections and gapped sections. The arced sections provide coupling surfaces that accommodate manufacturing deviations, while the gapped sections create clearance zones that prevent jamming during relative rotation, thus maintaining coordinating precision despite size reduction
Solution Approach 2:
The end wall surface is designed with asymmetric convex-hull shape that is gradually lowered from center to periphery. This asymmetric geometry creates a self-aligning mechanism that compensates for manufacturing deviations and ensures precise coordination even in a compact coupler design
2Adaptability or versatility
If the coupler size is reduced, then the product design flexibility is improved, but the relative rotation between male and female connectors is more easily jammed
Solution Approach 1:
The peripheral wall is divided into arced sections that engage with the annular cylindrical wall and gapped sections that provide clearance. This segmentation allows smooth relative rotation by preventing continuous contact that would cause jamming, while still maintaining adequate coupling through the arced sections
Solution Approach 2:
The convex-hull shaped end wall surface is pre-designed with a gradual slope from center to periphery, creating a self-guiding feature that preliminarily aligns the connectors before engagement, preventing jamming during the rotation process
3Adaptability or versatility
If the coupler size is reduced and electrical parts are compacted, then the design flexibility is improved, but water drainage is delayed increasing electric shock risk
Solution Approach 1:
The end wall is segmented with multiple through holes that create multiple drainage pathways. This segmentation allows water to be rapidly expelled through multiple channels simultaneously, maintaining effective drainage even in a compact coupler design
Solution Approach 2:
The convex-hull shaped end wall surface is pre-designed with a downward slope from center to periphery, creating a self-draining surface that preliminarily directs water toward the through holes, facilitating rapid water expulsion before electrical components can be affected
Data Source
AI summary
A coupler for use in a liquid heater includes a male connector and a female socket connector. The male connector includes a connecting wall and an annular cylindrical wall formed around the connecting wall. The female socket connector comprises an end wall joined with the connecting wall of the male connector and a peripheral wall formed around the end wall and arranged perpendicularly to the end wall. The surface of the end wall joined with the connecting wall is gradually lowered from the center towards the periphery and is convex-hull shaped. The peripheral wall includes arced sections and gapped sections connected between two arced sections. When the male connector is coupled with the female socket connector, this allows the arced sections to be coupled with the annular cylindrical wall and forms no coupling between the gapped sections and the annular cylindrical wall.