Mobile racks for a kitchen environment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated food production systems lack efficient and automated solutions for temporary storage of food ingredients and completed food items, leading to inefficiencies in workflow and food safety.
Innovation Solution
A storage system comprising mobile racks with multiple bays, a frame with docks to guide and lock the racks, and bay sensors to detect the presence of food ingredients, enabling efficient storage and inventory management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual storage methods are used for food ingredients, then flexibility in movement is maintained, but operational efficiency and inventory management accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system employs mobile racks that can be dynamically moved between storage positions and retrieval positions, combining the flexibility of manual systems with automated tracking. The racks transition between static storage states and dynamic movement states, enabling efficient inventory management without requiring complete system automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-monitoring through sensors that automatically detect the presence and status of food ingredients in each bay. This automated detection and reporting capability eliminates the need for manual inventory checks while maintaining system simplicity, allowing the storage system to manage its own inventory status.
2Measurement precision
If automated storage systems are implemented, then inventory management accuracy is improved, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The storage system divides the monitoring function into discrete bay-level sensors, with each sensor independently detecting the status of individual bays. This segmentation allows for precise inventory tracking at each location while keeping each sensor unit simple and manageable, avoiding the need for a single complex centralized monitoring system.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensors serve multiple functions: detecting the presence of food ingredients, monitoring bay occupancy status, and providing data for inventory management. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized devices, simplifying the overall system while maintaining high measurement precision.
3Ease of operation
If mobile racks are used instead of fixed storage, then flexibility and accessibility are improved, but stability and security of stored items deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile racks are designed to be dynamically movable during operational phases but become statically stable when positioned at designated storage locations. The system transitions between mobile and stationary states, providing both accessibility during retrieval and stability during storage through controlled positioning.
Data Source
AI summary
Example systems and methods for storing food items may include a frame for retaining mobile racks having multiple bays. The frame includes a plurality of docks configured to guide one of the mobile racks to a storage position in the dock. The frame also includes a lock configured to selectively prevent movement of the mobile rack in the storage position. Additionally, the frame includes a plurality of bay sensors for each dock. The bay sensors are configured to detect a presence of a food ingredient stored in the bays of the mobile rack when the mobile rack is in the storage position.