Medicine grinder
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional medicine grinders have low grinding efficiency due to evenly spaced grinding edges, leading to accumulation and smoothness issues, and are difficult to disassemble for cleaning, causing drug mixing problems.
Innovation Solution
A medicine grinder design featuring a tubular ring burr and frustoconical burr with rough and fine grinding edges, where the frustoconical burr has recesses of varying capacities and uneven angular intervals, allowing for smoother operation and easy disassembly for cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple grinding edges are arranged at equi-angular intervals with equal capacity receiving spaces, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the grinding efficiency is low due to tablet accumulation and unsmooth rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies asymmetry by arranging the multiple recesses at unequal angular intervals around the frustoconical burr. Specifically, the angular interval between adjacent recesses varies, with some intervals being larger than others. This asymmetric arrangement prevents simultaneous filling of all receiving spaces, ensuring smooth rotation during operation while maintaining manufacturing feasibility.
2Ease of operation
If the grinder structure is integrated and compact, then the device is space-efficient, but it cannot be easily disassembled for cleaning, causing drug mixing problems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the grinder into distinct separable components: an upper assembly containing the frustoconical burr with multiple recesses, and a lower assembly containing the ring burr. These assemblies can be easily separated from each other, allowing thorough cleaning of each component individually to prevent drug mixing, while maintaining a compact integrated structure during operation.
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
Enhances grinding efficiency by accommodating tablets of varying sizes and prevents drug mixing by allowing for easy disassembly and cleaning, reducing the risk of adverse drug interactions.
Implementation Method 1
When the ring burr and the frustoconical burr rotate mutually relative to each other, tablets inserted into the receiving spaces are ground into powder
Data Source
AI summary
A medicine grinder has a grinding assembly having a ring burr and a frustoconical burr being mutually rotatable relative to each other. The ring burr is tubular. The frustoconical burr is disposed within the ring burr and has multiple rough grinding edges, multiple recesses, and a non-grinding portion. The multiple rough grinding edges surround a center of the frustoconical burr. Each one of the grinding edges spirally extends about the center of the frustoconical burr. The multiple recesses are divided by the multiple rough grinding edges. One of the multiple recesses has a capacity being larger than a capacity of each one of the other recesses to define a non-grinding portion. Therefore, multiple receiving spaces are formed between the frustoconical burr and the ring burr.