Disposable foaming device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for producing fluid foams, such as milk foam, face challenges in achieving controlled and repeatable foaming while maintaining stability, often requiring complex configurations and time-consuming cleaning processes.
Innovation Solution
A disposable foaming device with a concentric inner and outer cylinder design, where the inner cylinder is rotatable, creating a gap for shear stress to emulsify the air and fluid mixture, and a machine to control parameters like air flow, temperature, and rotational speed, eliminating the need for cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a rotating whisk or complex mixing arrangement is used to produce milk foam, then foaming can be achieved, but the device requires cleaning operations and becomes cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a disposable foaming device where the entire foaming compartment is discarded after a single use. This eliminates cleaning operations completely while maintaining the necessary mixing functionality through a simple cylindrical geometry with internal ribs, resolving the contradiction between ease of cleaning and device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the mixing function from complex rotating whisk mechanisms and implements it through a simple stationary cylindrical compartment with internal ribs that create turbulence during fluid injection. This simplifies the device structure while maintaining effective foaming capability
2Manufacturing precision
If high shear stress is applied through rotating cylinders to produce controlled foam, then foaming control is improved, but the device becomes complex and requires frequent cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
By making the foaming compartment disposable, the patent can use optimized internal rib structures that provide precise shear stress control during foaming without worrying about cleaning or reusability. This resolves the contradiction by allowing precision engineering in a single-use context
Solution Approach 2:
The foaming compartment is segmented into multiple sections with ribs at different positions and angles, creating controlled turbulence and shear stress zones. This segmentation provides precise foaming control while maintaining a relatively simple overall cylindrical structure
3Productivity
If a static mixer or rotating whisk is used in pressurized systems, then foam production is achieved, but regulation and control become complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The disposable nature of the foaming compartment allows for optimized internal geometry that naturally controls foam regulation through its rib structure, eliminating the need for complex regulation mechanisms while maintaining high productivity
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 device produces high-quality, stable fluid foam efficiently and reliably without the need for cleaning, as it uses shear stress to emulsify and expand the air-fluid mixture, ensuring consistent foaming results.
Implementation Method 1
the mixture of air and fluid 1 is driven in between under certain level of shear stress so that it allows the mixture of air and fluid 1 to be emulsified
Implementation Method 2
the mixture of air and fluid 1 is emulsified when driven through the gap 13
Implementation Method 3
the container compartment 20 is pressurized by incoming air 14' so that the fluid 1 is driven into the foaming compartment 20
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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AI summary
Disposable foaming device (100) for foaming a fluid (1) comprising a container compartment (20) and a foaming compartment (10), the container compartment (20) being pressurized by primary incoming air (14') so that the fluid (1) is driven into the foaming compartment (20), wherein the foaming compartment (20) is provided with secondary incoming air (15') to be mixed with the fluid (1) coming from the container compartment (20), the foaming compartment (10) being designed in such a way that the mixture of air and fluid (1) is moved under certain level of shear stress calculated so that it allows the mixture of air and fluid (1) to be emulsified in the foaming compartment (10). Typically, the foaming compartment (20) comprises an inner cylinder (11) and an outer cylinder (12), the inner cylinder (11) and the outer cylinder (12) being arranged concentrically so that a gap (13) is formed between them, the inner cylinder (11) being rotatable with respect to the outer cylinder (12), such that the mixture of fluid (1) and air is emulsified when driven through the gap (13).