Food processor with adjustable blade assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional food processors lack an efficient mechanism to adjust the cutting thickness of food items, limiting their versatility in producing cut food items of varying thicknesses.
Innovation Solution
A food processor design featuring a rotating disk that is upwardly and downwardly movable relative to a cutting blade, with a user-operated pin and lever mechanism allowing for adjustable cutting positions, and a blade assembly with a flange that fits into slots on the rotating disk to change the cutting thickness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a conventional fixed blade assembly is used, then the structure is simple, but the cutting thickness cannot be adjusted
Solution Approach 1:
The blade assembly is designed with a movable rotating disk that can be adjusted to different positions relative to the cutting blade. The disk includes multiple slots that engage with a flange on the blade assembly, allowing the user to change the cutting thickness by moving the disk to different slots. This dynamic adjustment mechanism transforms a static structure into an adaptable one, resolving the contradiction between simplicity and adjustability.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotating disk is segmented with multiple slots at different positions, each slot corresponding to a specific cutting thickness. This segmentation allows the blade assembly to offer discrete adjustment options, providing versatility in cutting thickness while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure through modular slot design.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the rotating disk is made movable to adjust cutting positions, then cutting versatility is improved, but the locking mechanism complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanism utilizes the rotation of the blade assembly itself to engage and disengage the locking feature. As the blade assembly rotates, the flange automatically engages with the appropriate slot on the rotating disk, locking it in place without requiring a separate locking action. This self-locking mechanism reduces complexity while maintaining the ability to adjust cutting positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The flange on the blade assembly acts as an intermediary element between the rotating disk and the blade itself. The flange engages with the slots on the rotating disk, transmitting the locking function without requiring a complex separate locking mechanism. This intermediary simplifies the overall locking system while enabling precise position control.
Data Source
AI summary
A food processor includes a bowl with a removable lid. Food items are advanced into the bowl through a feed tube formed in the lid where they are cut by a blade assembly. A rotating disk is adjustable relative to the blade assembly to vary the thickness of the food items cut by the blade assembly.