Damper Opening Mechanism With Elastic Biasing for Quiet Operation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional cooking devices with a damper opening/closing mechanism face challenges in achieving secure operation and reducing collision noise, especially when the mounting position varies among individual devices, due to high temperatures and humidities, which prevent the use of rubber packings and result in inefficient heating times for one-stage cooking.
Innovation Solution
A damper opening/closing mechanism that includes a damper swinging about a shaft, an actuating lever, a reciprocating part, and elastic members such as torsion springs to absorb positional gaps and reduce noise by elastically biasing the actuating lever, allowing for secure operation and installation in compact spaces without the need for packings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a motor is installed at a position apart from the damper due to high temperatures, then the motor can operate safely, but the mounting position varies among devices making secure operation difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The opening/closing mechanism is divided into modular components: a motor housing unit that can be mounted separately from the damper, connected via a transmission mechanism. This allows the motor to be positioned in a cooler area while still actuating the damper through a linkage system, ensuring reliable operation without thermal damage to the motor.
Solution Approach 2:
A transmission mechanism acts as an intermediary between the motor and the damper. This intermediary component transmits the motor's rotational motion to the damper while allowing spatial separation between the motor and damper, enabling the motor to be mounted in a thermally safe position while maintaining secure damper operation.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If rubber packings are used to reduce collision noise, then noise is reduced, but they cannot be used due to high temperatures and humidities
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using heat-sensitive rubber packings, the invention employs a metallic damper blade with integrated sealing edges that can withstand high temperatures. The sealing function is achieved through precision-machined contact surfaces rather than deformable rubber materials, eliminating the temperature constraint while maintaining noise reduction capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing approach transitions from using soft, temperature-sensitive rubber materials to using rigid, heat-resistant metallic surfaces with precisely controlled geometric parameters. The sealing effectiveness is achieved through optimized contact surface geometry and fit tolerance rather than material elasticity, allowing operation in high-temperature environments.
3Productivity
If the damper is provided in the circulation path to shorten heating time, then heating efficiency is improved, but the circulation path comes to high temperatures requiring the motor to be installed apart
Solution Approach 1:
The circulation path is segmented into a hot zone containing the damper and a cool zone containing the motor. The damper is positioned directly in the hot circulation path to enable rapid airflow control and heating, while the motor is separated into the cool zone, connected through a thermal barrier or insulated linkage, allowing the damper to optimize heating performance without compromising motor reliability.
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 mechanism ensures secure and noise-reduced operation of the damper, even at high temperatures, by absorbing positional gaps and reducing impacts through elastic forces, enabling efficient heating by allowing the damper to fully open and close the flow passage, thus addressing the inefficiencies in one-stage cooking.
Implementation Method 1
elastic members which are attached to the reciprocating part and positioned on forward-and-backward both sides in a swinging direction of the actuating lever and moreover which elastically bias the actuating lever along with reciprocative motions of the reciprocating part
Implementation Method 2
the elastic force of the elastic members can be made to act on the actuating lever. Therefore, even if there arises a positional gap between the center of the reciprocation range of the reciprocating part and the center of the swing range of the damper during the assembly, any operational gap between the reciprocating part and the damper due to the positional gap can be absorbed by deformation of the elastic members
Data Source
AI summary
A damper opening/closing mechanism includes: a damper which swings about a shaft to open and close a flow passage; an actuating lever which swings so as to swing the damper about the shaft; a reciprocating part which moves reciprocatively; and elastic members which are attached to the reciprocating part and positioned on forward-and-backward both sides in a swinging direction of the actuating lever and moreover which elastically bias the actuating lever along with reciprocative motions of the reciprocating part.