Drain Clearing Device with Expandable Debris Containment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing manual drain clearing devices often result in a mess around the drain area due to debris dripping or falling off the elongated shaft during removal, requiring users to handle the debris manually.
Innovation Solution
A drain clearing device featuring an elongated shaft with barbs and a collecting member that transitions from a collapsed to an extended position, surrounding the shaft to contain debris, along with a spool mechanism for easy assembly and disposal, allowing for mess-free removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If debris is collected on the elongated shaft during drain clearing, then the drain is cleared effectively, but debris drips or falls off during removal creating a mess
Solution Approach 1:
The collecting member is nested around the elongated shaft in a collapsed state during insertion, then expands to surround and contain the shaft with debris during removal. This nesting approach allows the collecting member to transition from a compact insertion state to an expanded containment state, preventing debris from falling off while maintaining ease of insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The collecting member is made of flexible material that can deform and expand. When the elongated shaft is pulled from the drain, the flexible collecting member expands to surround the shaft and contains the debris, preventing it from dripping or falling off. The flexibility allows the collecting member to adapt to the shaft's movement while maintaining containment.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the collecting member is extended to surround the shaft, then debris containment is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The collecting member transitions from a static collapsed state during insertion to a dynamic expanded state during removal. This dynamic behavior allows the collecting member to automatically adjust its configuration based on the operational phase, providing debris containment only when needed while maintaining simplicity during insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The collecting member is divided into multiple segments or sections that can independently move relative to each other. This segmentation allows the collecting member to expand and contract in a controlled manner, surrounding the shaft during removal while remaining compact during insertion, thereby managing complexity through modular design.
3Ease of operation
If the collecting member is made collapsible for easy insertion, then ease of operation is improved, but the reliability of debris containment may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The collecting member is pre-configured in a collapsed state for easy insertion into the drain. Once inserted and the shaft is loaded with debris, the collecting member transitions to an extended state to provide reliable containment during removal. This preliminary configuration ensures both ease of insertion and reliable debris containment at the appropriate operational stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The collecting member's dynamic collapse and expansion mechanism ensures reliable debris containment when extended, while maintaining ease of insertion when collapsed. The transition between states is designed to occur at the optimal moment, ensuring that the collecting member provides sufficient containment force when needed without compromising insertion ease.
Data Source
AI summary
A drain clearing device includes an elongated shaft having a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The elongated shaft has a first set of barbs spaced apart along a length of the shaft on a first side of the shaft between the first and second ends and a second set of barbs spaced apart along the length of the shaft on a second side of the shaft between the first and second ends. The drain clearing device further includes a collecting member having a fixed end and a free end. The fixed end is coupled to the elongated shaft proximate the first end and the free end is movable relative to the fixed end from a collapsed position to an extended position, in which the elongated shaft is substantially surrounded by the collecting member. The collecting member is configured to contain debris from a drain.