Laundry Additive Injection with Floater-Controlled Dosing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing laundry treatment machines face challenges in uniformly injecting additives, such as anti-scale agents, into solvents during the washing process, leading to inefficient use and potential excessive consumption of additives due to lack of control over injection timing and quantity.
Innovation Solution
An additive injecting apparatus with a main body, additive container, nozzle, and floater that opens and closes a communicating hole based on solvent flow, ensuring additives are injected only when necessary, using a floater with specific gravity greater than the solvent to manage the injection process effectively.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If additives are injected continuously without control, then the solvent flow path is consistently protected, but excessive consumption of additives occurs and uniform injection is not achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic injection action through the floater mechanism that opens and closes the communicating hole based on solvent flow. The additive is injected in periodic pulses corresponding to solvent flow cycles rather than continuously, achieving both reliable protection and reduced consumption. The floater rises with solvent flow to open the hole for injection, then closes it when flow decreases, creating a periodic injection pattern.
Solution Approach 2:
The floater acts as a feedback mechanism that responds to solvent flow conditions. When solvent flows, the floater rises to open the communicating hole, allowing additive injection. When flow decreases, the floater closes the hole, stopping injection. This feedback control ensures additive is injected only when needed, preventing excessive consumption while maintaining reliable protection.
2Ease of manufacture
If additives are injected at once in large amounts, then the injection process is simple, but uniform distribution is not achieved and effectiveness is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The periodic opening and closing of the communicating hole by the floater mechanism divides the additive injection into multiple small pulses over time, replacing a single large-volume injection. This periodic action ensures uniform distribution of additive throughout the solvent flow path while maintaining operational simplicity through automatic floater-driven control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the additive injection process into multiple small incremental doses delivered through periodic opening of the communicating hole, rather than one large injection. The floater mechanism controls the timing and portioning of additive release, achieving uniform distribution through segmented delivery while keeping the overall system simple.
3Manufacturing precision
If a complex injection control system is used, then uniform injection can be achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The floater mechanism is a self-service control system that automatically responds to solvent flow conditions without external control. The floater rises and falls with solvent flow to automatically open and close the communicating hole, achieving uniform additive injection through self-regulating buoyancy-based control rather than complex external mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The floater acts as an intermediary mechanism between the solvent flow and the additive injection. It translates solvent flow conditions into controlled opening/closing of the communicating hole, providing simple mechanical mediation that achieves uniform injection without complex control systems. The floater mediates between the driving force (solvent flow) and the controlled action (additive release).
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 apparatus ensures uniform injection of additives, preventing excessive consumption and optimizing additive use by injecting only when the solvent flows, thereby maintaining appropriate concentrations and reducing waste.
Implementation Method 1
a floater (140) disposed in the main body (110) to open or close the communicating hole (131) by rising and falling according to the flow of the solvent
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are an additive injection apparatus and a laundry treatment machine including the same. The additive injection apparatus includes a main body, and additive container, a nozzle, and a floater. The main body is disposed on a path along which a solvent flows and includes an inlet and an outlet for receiving and discharging the solvent, respectively. The additive container holds an additive. The nozzle has a communicating hole for communicating between the main body and the additive container. The floater is disposed in the main body, and rises and falls according to the flow of the solvent to open and close the communicating hole.