Isothermal Meal Trolley RFID Layout for Tray Orientation Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing meal tray transport systems in hospital environments face challenges in ensuring accurate electronic identification and localization of meal trays regardless of their orientation within the trolley compartments, leading to potential errors in food hygiene and safety.
Innovation Solution
An isothermal trolley equipped with an insulating partition and support means for meal trays, featuring antennas connected to a central processing unit and display screen for reading RFID tags on meal trays, allowing for orientation-independent identification and localization, along with individual electrical heating elements and data input for nutritional data acquisition.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If paper meal cards are used for identification, then meal tray identification is simple and low-cost, but the system is unreliable as cards can be lost, exchanged, or affected by environmental conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical paper-based identification system with an electronic RFID radio frequency identification system. Radio tags are embedded in meal trays and read by antennas in the trolley, eliminating physical cards that can be lost or damaged while providing reliable electronic identification and tracking of meal trays throughout the distribution process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates an electronic digital copy of meal tray information stored in RFID tags, which can be read and transmitted without physical contact. This electronic copy contains all necessary identification and composition data, replacing the need for physical paper cards while enabling more reliable and versatile data access and tracking.
2Reliability
If RFID tags are equipped on meal trays for electronic identification, then identification reliability improves, but reading accuracy deteriorates when trays are positioned in different orientations within compartments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the identification system into multiple independent reading zones, with antennas positioned at different locations within each compartment. This segmentation ensures that regardless of which orientation a meal tray is placed in, at least one antenna will be in optimal position to read the RFID tag, thereby maintaining reading accuracy across all possible tray orientations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds spatial dimensionality to the reading system by positioning antennas at multiple locations and orientations within compartments. This multi-dimensional antenna arrangement ensures comprehensive coverage of all possible meal tray positions and orientations, allowing reliable reading from any dimensional orientation of the tray within the compartment space.
3Temperature
If compartmentalized trolleys are used for hot and cold meals, then food temperature control is maintained, but the system cannot accommodate asymmetrical meal trays with different cell configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs compartments with universal adaptability to accommodate different meal tray configurations including symmetrical and asymmetrical designs. The compartments can receive various cell arrangements (small-large, large-small, identical cells) while maintaining temperature control, making the system versatile for different meal compositions and tray designs without sacrificing thermal management capability.
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
Ensures precise identification and localization of meal trays, enhances food safety by eliminating paper-based systems, and optimizes heating control for meal trays, improving operational efficiency and reducing errors in meal distribution.
Implementation Method 1
the partition is equipped at each reception level of a meal tray, with an antenna for a radio tag carried by said meal tray between the cells of the meal tray
Implementation Method 2
an insulating partition delimiting on either side a cold compartment and a hot compartment
Implementation Method 3
the hot compartment is equipped with a series of individual electrical heating elements for each hot part of the meal trays
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4
AI summary
The trolley has an insulated casing interiorly defining a housing. Supporting units are arranged in the housing for maintaining lunch trays at different superimposed levels at interior of the housing. An insulated separation partition (7) has a communication antenna (21) for a radio-frequency identification tag carried by the corresponding tray between a large grid (12) and a small grid (13) of the tray for permitting reading of the tag irrespective of a positioning direction of the tray at the interior of the housing. The antenna is connected to a CPU connected to a display screen (27).