Food warming tray
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing food warming trays suffer from adhesive exposure leading to weathering, lack of thermal insulation, and heat transfer to the tabletop, causing scorching and reduced service life.
Innovation Solution
A food warming tray design featuring a groove with a shielding bar that seals the heating wire and adhesive, forming a closed space to prevent adhesive weathering and heat transfer, while providing a stable mounting position for the heating wire.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If adhesive is used to bond heating wire to tray bottom, then heating wire is secured in position, but adhesive is exposed to outside and easily weathered, affecting service life
Solution Approach 1:
The shielding bar serves as an intermediary component that covers and protects the exposed adhesive and heating wire. It acts as a physical barrier between the adhesive and the external environment, preventing weathering while allowing the adhesive to perform its bonding function securely holding the heating wire to the tray bottom.
Solution Approach 2:
The shielding bar functions as a protective shell or cover that encloses the vulnerable adhesive and heating wire components. This shell structure provides environmental protection while maintaining the functional integrity of the underlying components.
2Power
If heating wire is placed directly on tray bottom, then heating is efficient, but heat is transferred to tabletop causing scorching
Solution Approach 1:
The shielding bar acts as a thermal intermediary or insulating barrier between the heating wire and the tabletop. It mediates the heat transfer process by providing thermal resistance, allowing the heating wire to maintain high temperature for efficient heating while preventing excessive heat from reaching and scorching the tabletop surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The shielding bar converts the potentially harmful effect of heat transfer into a beneficial thermal insulation function. By blocking direct heat transfer to the tabletop, it protects the surface while the heating wire continues to generate heat efficiently for warming food.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If supporting convex points are provided to prevent direct contact with tabletop, then scorching is avoided, but height is limited and heat can still be transferred
Solution Approach 1:
The shielding bar provides a more effective thermal intermediary compared to simple convex points. It creates a continuous or near-continuous insulating barrier that significantly reduces heat transfer to the tabletop, while the convex points provide additional mechanical support and spacing.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution combines multiple protective elements - the shielding bar material (providing thermal insulation) working in conjunction with the convex points (providing mechanical support and air gap). This composite approach of combining different protective mechanisms enhances both scorching prevention and heat transfer reduction.
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 design effectively prevents adhesive weathering, reduces heat transfer to the tabletop, ensures stable heating, and facilitates easy maintenance by sealing the heating wire, extending the tray's service life and maintaining a clean environment.
Implementation Method 1
By using the heating principle of resistance, it controls the heating power by means of a thermostat
Implementation Method 2
the shielding bar can work as an effective thermal insulation to prevent the heat of the heating wire from being transferred to the tabletop
Implementation Method 3
The heating wire is bonded to the shielding bar and side walls of the groove by means of an adhesive
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a food warming tray, which includes a warmer pad and a shielding bar. The warmer pad is configured to hold external tableware. Specifically, a groove is provided at the bottom of the warmer pad, and a heating wire is provided in the groove. The shielding bar is arranged at the outlet of the groove to seal the heating wire in the groove. The heating wire is bonded to the shielding bar and side walls of the groove by means of an adhesive. The food warming tray utilizes a combination of the groove and the shielding bar to seal the adhesive between the groove and the shielding bar, forming a closed space to prevent adhesive weathering from direct exposure. The shielding bar can work as an effective thermal insulation to prevent the heat of the heating wire from being transferred to the tabletop and thereby avoiding scorching.