Ice cream maker assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ice cream making assemblies for stand mixers face challenges in efficiently distributing fine ice crystals and air bubbles within the frozen dessert, leading to suboptimal texture and consistency, due to limitations in heat transfer and mixing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The ice cream making assembly incorporates a mixing bowl with a radiator fin unit and a phase-change medium, combined with a dasher featuring angled mixing arms and a drive assembly that rotates within the bowl, enhancing heat transfer and mixing efficiency to create a more uniform distribution of fine crystals and air bubbles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a conventional mixing bowl without radiator fins is used, then the structure is simpler, but heat transfer efficiency is insufficient leading to poor ice crystal distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing bowl is segmented into an outer bowl and an inner liner with a wall cavity between them. The radiator fin unit is inserted into this cavity, dividing the heat transfer path into multiple segments that work together. This segmentation allows the addition of complex heat transfer features (fins) without requiring complete redesign of the entire mixing bowl structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The radiator fin unit is nested within the wall cavity of the mixing bowl, which itself is nested within the outer bowl. The inner liner is nested within the outer bowl with the fin unit in between. This nested arrangement allows multiple functional elements to be integrated into a compact structure, improving heat transfer without proportionally increasing overall size or complexity.
2Productivity
If a dasher with straight mixing arms is used, then the structure is simpler, but mixing efficiency is insufficient leading to poor distribution of ice crystals and air bubbles
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing arms are designed with asymmetric angular orientations (first angle and second angle relative to the horizontal plane). This asymmetry creates more effective mixing patterns that distribute ice crystals and air bubbles more uniformly throughout the frozen dessert, improving productivity without requiring additional mixing arms or complex mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The dasher is designed to rotate within the mixing bowl, creating dynamic mixing action. The angled mixing arms create varying mixing intensities as they rotate, adapting the mixing action to different positions in the bowl. This dynamic approach improves mixing efficiency without requiring multiple stationary mixing elements.
3Temperature
If phase-change medium alone is used for cooling, then the system is simpler, but heat transfer is insufficient for optimal ice cream making
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system merges two approaches: phase-change cooling (using frozen medium in the wall cavity) and radiant cooling (using the radiator fin unit). These two cooling mechanisms work together synergistically, with the fin unit conducting heat from the inner liner to the frozen medium, creating an enhanced cooling system that is more effective than either approach alone.
Solution Approach 2:
The radiator fin unit acts as an intermediary between the inner liner and the phase-change medium. It provides an extended heat transfer surface that facilitates more efficient heat removal from the frozen dessert mixture to the cooling medium, improving cooling efficiency without requiring direct contact between the mixture and the frozen medium.
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 configuration results in improved texture and consistency of frozen desserts by increasing the distribution of fine ice crystals and air bubbles, enhancing the overall quality of the final product.
Implementation Method 1
a radiator fin unit (22) received within a portion of the wall cavity (18) and a phase-change medium (24) filling a further portion of the wall cavity (18) surrounding at least a portion of the radiator fin unit (22)
Implementation Method 2
a phase-change medium (24) filling a further portion of the wall cavity (18)
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
An ice cream making assembly (10) includes a mixing bowl (12) having an outer housing (14) and an inner liner (16) defining a wall cavity (18) therebetween. The mixing bowl (12) further includes a radiator fin unit (22) received within a portion of the wall cavity (18) and a phase-change medium (24) filling a further portion of the wall cavity (18) surrounding at least a portion of the radiator fin unit (22). The radiator fin unit (22) defines an outer chamfer extending generally along an outer cross-sectional profile of the wall cavity (18) and a tapered inner profile extending along inner cross-sectional profile of the wall cavity (18) and in at least partial contact with the inner liner (16). The assembly (10) further includes a dasher (34) including first and second mixing arms (46a, 46b) extending outwardly from an anchor end (42) of the axle (36) and upwardly and outwardly to generally follow an angled inner profile of the food-product receiving cavity (20) defined by the liner.