Cold Beverage Maker Drive Body With Supported Evaporator Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cold beverage makers face issues with evaporator sagging due to overweight loads, leading to deformation and poor sealing, and safety hazards from detachable scrapers in the ice-making chamber.
Innovation Solution
A drive body comprising a drive housing and evaporator end cover with a docking mechanism, including a convex frontal portion with a contact switch, support ribs, and a sealing ring system for enhanced stability and safety, along with a handle design for easy handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If copper tubes are provided fully on the evaporator, then the evaporator can be mounted horizontally or vertically, but the weight becomes large causing the evaporator to sag and deform
Solution Approach 1:
The evaporator is divided into multiple sections with copper tubes only at critical locations (inlet and outlet ends) rather than covering the entire length. This segmentation maintains the necessary thermal exchange areas while significantly reducing the overall weight and preventing sagging deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
Copper tubes are concentrated at specific locations where thermal exchange is most critical (inlet and outlet areas), while other sections use alternative materials or structures. This local quality approach ensures adequate heat transfer performance with minimal weight.
2Ease of manufacture
If the evaporator is mounted horizontally with conventional screwed connection, then the evaporator can be installed easily, but the heavy weight causes sagging and deformation leading to poor sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The conventional screwed mechanical connection is replaced with a snap-fit or insertion-based mounting system. The evaporator is inserted into a dedicated groove structure that provides both mechanical support and sealing, eliminating the need for screws while ensuring reliable sealing even under the weight of the evaporator.
Solution Approach 2:
A groove structure acts as an intermediary element between the evaporator and the mounting surface. This groove provides both structural support to prevent sagging and incorporates sealing features to ensure leak-free operation, mediating between the heavy evaporator and the mounting interface.
3Ease of operation
If the ice-making chamber is made detachable with a scraper, then the chamber can be removed for cleaning, but safety hazards arise from the detachable scraper
Solution Approach 1:
The scraper function is merged with the detachable ice-making chamber itself. The chamber incorporates built-in scraping capabilities, so when the chamber is removed for cleaning, the scraping function is automatically removed as well, eliminating the safety hazard of a separate detachable scraper while maintaining cleaning accessibility.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides a drive body for a cold beverage maker, including a drive housing and an evaporator end cover, where an evaporator port for allowing an internal component of an evaporator to pass through is formed in the evaporator end cover; the drive housing includes a head portion and a control portion; for embedding of the evaporator end cover, an end cover groove is formed in the head portion; a component port corresponding to the evaporator port is formed in a bottom of the end cover groove; the evaporator end cover is provided with a convex frontal portion; a contact switch is provided in the convex frontal portion; the convex frontal portion is provided with a trigger travel hole corresponding to the contact switch. The present disclosure is assembled conveniently, with the stable structure and the high safety in use.