Food Grinder Hopper Cover and Toolless Chamber Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric food grinders, such as coffee grinders, face issues with user inexperience leading to messes, inefficient operation, excessive wear, and lack of intuitive operation, as well as challenges in maintaining and repairing the devices due to inadequate design for customer use and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A food grinder with an automatically opening hopper cover, electronic display for user guidance, and tool-less assembly for easy maintenance, featuring a grinding mechanism with a fixed and rotary burr system that can be adjusted without tools, and a controller that ensures proper operation by detecting the hopper cover position and optimizing grinding time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the hopper cover remains closed during operation, then dust and fine particles are contained, but the user cannot easily load new ingredients
Solution Approach 1:
The hopper cover is automatically opened in advance before the grinding operation begins, allowing ingredients to be loaded without manual intervention. This preliminary action eliminates the need for users to manually open the cover while maintaining dust containment during the actual grinding process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically manages the hopper cover opening and closing operations without requiring user intervention. The motorized actuator opens the cover when ingredients need to be loaded and closes it automatically, allowing the system to serve itself and eliminating manual handling that could cause dust spillage.
2Manufacturing precision
If the grinding time is extended to ensure complete grinding, then grinding quality improves, but wear and tear on the grinding elements and motor increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses sensors to detect when the grinding is complete and automatically stops the motor, preventing unnecessary extended operation. This feedback mechanism ensures grinding quality is achieved while avoiding excessive wear by stopping precisely when the task is complete rather than running on a fixed extended timer.
Solution Approach 2:
The grinding time is dynamically adjusted based on the actual grinding progress and material properties rather than using a fixed predetermined time. The system adapts the operation duration to the specific needs of the material being ground, achieving complete grinding without unnecessary extension that would increase wear.
3Strength
If the grinder is designed with fixed assembly for durability, then structural integrity improves, but maintenance and repair become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The grinder is divided into modular segments including the hopper assembly, grinding chamber, and motor housing that can be independently removed and replaced. This segmentation maintains overall structural integrity while allowing easy access to individual components for maintenance and repair without requiring complete disassembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The hopper and grinding chamber are pre-assembled as complete modules that can be quickly removed together as a unit for maintenance. This preliminary assembly approach maintains structural integrity during operation while simplifying maintenance by allowing the entire grinding mechanism to be accessed as a single removable module.
4Volume of moving object
If the grinder size is reduced to save shelf space, then space efficiency improves, but the grinding mechanism may become less effective
Solution Approach 1:
The grinding burrs and adjustment mechanisms are nested within each other in a compact arrangement that maximizes the grinding chamber volume while minimizing the overall external dimensions. The adjustable burr system is integrated into the housing structure, allowing effective grinding mechanisms to fit into a smaller footprint suitable for retail display.
Solution Approach 2:
The grinding effectiveness is maintained by optimizing the internal three-dimensional arrangement of the grinding chamber and burrs rather than increasing external dimensions. The design uses vertical space and internal geometry to achieve effective grinding in a compact form factor that saves shelf space while maintaining productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A food ingredient grinder (30) having a grinding chamber (158) with an electrically powered grinding mechanism (130, 150, 154) has an ingredient hopper has a pivotally mounted cover (57) that is automatically moved between open and closed positions and a controller (202, 204, 208) responsive to a cover position sensor (81,82) failing to sense the cover in a closed position disables a start switch (212) from starting a grinding operation. The grinding chamber (156) is toolessly mounted to the top of a frame member (96) of the grinder to facilitate removal of the chamber for cleaning or replacement.