Modular Mold with Interchangeable Containers for Versatile Baking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional muffin pans lack versatility and ease of use, as they often have fixed cup shapes and sizes, making it difficult to vary recipes and handle individual cups, which can lead to uneven baking and storage issues.
Innovation Solution
A modular mold design with a holder featuring a through-opening with both straight and curved portions, allowing for the use of different shaped and sized containers without adapters, ensuring even heat distribution and easy handling and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multi-cup molds have fixed cups incorporated into the holder, then several cakes can be made simultaneously, but unmolding is difficult and cups cannot be handled separately
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is divided into two separable parts: a holder and individual cups. The cups can be removed from the holder after baking, allowing easy unmolding while maintaining the ability to produce multiple cakes simultaneously. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling both high productivity and ease of operation.
2Ease of operation
If multi-cup molds have removable cups, then handling is easier, but only one type of cup per holder is possible, limiting variety
Solution Approach 1:
The holder is designed with a universal receiving structure that can accommodate multiple types of cups with different shapes and volumes. The through-openings are configured to accept various cup geometries, allowing users to mix and match different cup types in a single holder, thus achieving both ease of handling and shape variety.
3Ease of manufacture
If conventional molds use stamped sheet metal construction, then manufacturing is simple, but heat distribution is uneven causing overcooking at contact points
Solution Approach 1:
An air gap is introduced as an intermediary between the cup bottom and the holder base. This gap prevents direct thermal contact, allowing heat to distribute more evenly around the cup through convection and radiation rather than concentrated conduction at contact points, thereby improving baking uniformity while maintaining simple manufacturing.
Data Source
AI summary
The subject-matter of the invention is a mold intended for preparing food, in particular pastries, comprising—a holder comprising a receiving structure, enhancers and at least one through-opening having an edge;at least one type A removable container intended to be inserted into the opening;at least one type B removable container intended to be inserted into the opening;the type A and type B removable containers having different geometries and cavities with different volumes.