Electric household device
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electronic household appliances with treatment rooms, such as ovens and refrigerators, require frequent manual cleaning to maintain efficiency, which can be inconvenient and may lead to unnecessary or late cleaning due to reliance on time-based schedules rather than actual soiling levels.
Innovation Solution
An electronic household appliance equipped with an optical sensor system on a wall of the treatment room, featuring a radiation source and detector on the same side of a partially transparent plate, with a reflector inside the room, allowing for real-time detection of soiling levels by measuring radiation transmission and reflection, triggering automatic or manual cleaning as needed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If time-based cleaning schedules are used, then cleaning frequency is standardized, but cleaning timing accuracy deteriorates leading to unnecessary or late cleaning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical/time-based cleaning schedules with an optical sensing system that uses light transmission and reflection measurements to detect soiling levels. The radiation source emits light through a transparent plate, and the radiation detector measures transmitted and reflected light to determine contamination degree, substituting physical time-based scheduling with optical measurement-based detection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a transparent plate as an intermediary element between the radiation source/detector and the treatment room interior. This plate serves as both a window for optical measurement and a surface whose soiling condition directly indicates treatment room contamination, acting as a mediator that translates internal soiling into measurable optical properties.
2Productivity
If manual cleaning monitoring is used, then user control is maintained, but productivity deteriorates due to frequent manual intervention
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback system where the radiation detector continuously monitors light transmission and reflection through the transparent plate, providing real-time information about treatment room soiling levels. This feedback enables automatic or semi-automatic cleaning decisions, reducing manual intervention while maintaining user control through the cleaning activation based on detected soiling thresholds.
Solution Approach 2:
The optical sensor system enables the appliance to self-monitor its own soiling condition through the transparent plate, automatically detecting when cleaning is needed without requiring user inspection. The system serves itself by using the existing transparent plate as both a functional component and a sensing element, eliminating the need for separate monitoring devices.
3Measurement precision
If optical sensors are placed inside the treatment room, then detection accuracy is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the transparent plate serve multiple functions: it acts as a window for the treatment room, a structural component of the appliance, and simultaneously serves as the sensing surface for soiling detection. By making this single component multi-functional, the patent avoids adding separate sensors inside the treatment room, thereby maintaining manufacturing simplicity while achieving detection precision.
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
This solution enables precise, timely, and automatic detection of soiling, extending appliance lifespan, improving user convenience by preventing unnecessary cleaning and utilizing a compact, cost-effective design that can be retrofitted into existing appliances.
Implementation Method 1
The optical sensor system has at least one radiation source (34) for emitting electromagnetic radiation
Implementation Method 2
the wall has at least one plate (28) which is at least partially transparent to the electromagnetic radiation used by the optical sensor system
Implementation Method 3
a radiation reflector (38) is provided in/at the treatment room (12) opposite to the radiation-transmissive plate (28)... and the radiation detector (36) detects a radiation emitted from the radiation source (34), transmitted through the radiation-transmissive plate (28) and at the radiation reflector (38) electromagnetic radiation reflected
Data Source
Figure 1~3
Figure 4~7
AI summary
An electronic household appliance (10) has a treatment chamber (12) for treating goods, wherein the treatment chamber (12) is at least partially bounded by at least one wall (14, 16, 16a, 16b), and an optical sensor (30) for detecting an actual degree of soiling of the treatment chamber (12), which is provided on the at least one wall (14, 16, 16a, 16b) of the treatment chamber (12).The optical sensor (30) has at least one radiation source (34, 40) for emitting electromagnetic radiation and at least one radiation detector (36) for detecting electromagnetic radiation, and the at least one wall (14, 16, 16a, 16b) of the treatment room (12) has at least one plate (28, 28a, 28b, 29) that is at least partially transparent to the electromagnetic radiation used by the optical sensor (30) and that is at least partially exposed to contamination when the electronic household appliance (10) is used.