Curved Squeegee Blade Design for Angled Surface and Crevice Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cleaning tools are inadequate for effectively reaching and cleaning the crevices of angled surfaces and flat surfaces, particularly in diverse applications such as household, animal troughs, industrial vats, glass tanks, and boats, due to limitations in flexibility and reach.
Innovation Solution
A tool featuring a rubber or silicon blade housed within a metal or plastic channel, attachable to a pole with adjustable angles, allowing for versatile cleaning of both angled and flat surfaces by enabling access to tight spaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional cleaning tools are used, then they can clean flat surfaces, but they cannot effectively reach and clean angled surfaces and crevices
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning tool is divided into distinct segments: a handle, a pole attachment interface, and a modular blade assembly. The blade can be separated from the channel, allowing users to replace or adjust blades for different cleaning scenarios. This segmentation enables the tool to adapt to various surface angles and crevice depths while maintaining ease of operation through simple assembly and disassembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The channel is designed with flexibility to conform to angled surfaces and irregular geometries. The blade within the channel can be positioned at different angles and depths, allowing dynamic adjustment to reach crevices of varying orientations. This dynamic capability enables effective cleaning on angled surfaces without compromising accessibility to tight spaces.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a rigid cleaning tool is used, then it provides structural stability, but it cannot access tight spaces and angled crevices
Solution Approach 1:
The tool combines a rigid pole attachment for structural stability with a flexible blade-channel assembly for adaptability. The rigid pole provides a stable base, while the segmented blade and channel components can be independently positioned to access tight spaces and angled crevices without compromising the overall structural integrity of the tool.
Solution Approach 2:
The channel is designed with flexible properties allowing it to conform to angled surfaces and reach into crevices while maintaining sufficient structural stability. The flexible channel can bend and adapt to irregular geometries, yet retains enough rigidity to support the blade and transmit cleaning forces effectively to the surfaces being cleaned.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a single-purpose cleaning tool is used, then it has simple design, but it cannot clean both angled surfaces and flat surfaces effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning tool is designed with universal functionality to clean both angled surfaces and flat surfaces. The blade-channel assembly can be positioned and oriented in multiple configurations, allowing a single tool to effectively clean diverse surfaces including angles, crevices, and flat areas. The pole attachment system enables the tool to reach various heights and angles, further enhancing its multi-surface cleaning capability without requiring multiple specialized tools.
Data Source
AI summary
An innovative improvement of the hand-held squeegee. A curved squeegee, allowing cleaning in the crevasses of acute, obtuse, or right angles as well as flat surfaces. Uses could include household deep cleaning, animal troughs, cylinders, buckets, boats, industrial vats with solvents, glass tanks and more. Created by an avid equestrian who was sick of scrubbing the disgusting algae out of her horse's water trough. This tool is no-touch way to clean edges of surfaces. Allows the user to utilize the tool in situations where edge and crevasse cleaning or scraping is desired especially if toxic, chemical, bacteria laden, moldy, or dirty material is present.