Modular Smoker Structure for Smoke Retention and Airflow Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional smokers occupy significant space, require multiple parts, lose smoke during movement, infuse flavor indirectly, and lack airflow path control, often needing batteries and allowing embers to escape.
Innovation Solution
A modular smoker with a base and top portion, featuring a through bore and screen for combustible material, allowing smoke flow while blocking air from containers, and grooves for airflow, designed to fit on container rims.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional smokers use multiple separate parts (glass dome, smoke generator, wood chips), then they can generate smoke flavor, but they occupy significant space and require movement between components causing smoke loss
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the glass dome, smoke generator chamber, and wood chip holder into a single integrated smoker unit. The smoke generator is built directly into the base of the glass dome, eliminating the need for separate components and reducing smoke loss during assembly/disassembly operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The smoker is divided into functional segments (base with through-bore for combustion, glass dome for containment, rim for container placement) that work together as a unified system, allowing each component to serve multiple functions simultaneously.
2Reliability
If conventional smokers use enclosed glass domes to hold smoke, then smoke flavor can be infused, but air flow paths are blocked causing pressure buildup and preventing proper combustion
Solution Approach 1:
The glass dome incorporates a perforated or porous structure that allows air to flow through while containing smoke. This maintains proper oxygen supply for combustion and pressure equilibrium while preserving smoke flavor infusion.
Solution Approach 2:
The rim structure acts as an intermediary between the enclosed smoke chamber and the external environment, providing controlled air flow paths that maintain combustion stability without compromising smoke containment.
3Productivity
If conventional smokers place combustion chamber directly over container, then smoke infuses flavor directly, but embers can escape and safety is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The design uses the heat and smoke generation from the combustion chamber to create a controlled atmosphere for flavor infusion, while the rim and container placement strategy directs embers away from the container, converting the potential hazard into a beneficial direct-infusion mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The combustion chamber is positioned to extract and channel smoke through controlled paths toward the container, while separating the embers from the container area through the rim structure, preventing ember escape while maintaining flavor infusion efficiency.
4Reliability
If conventional smokers require batteries for electric smoke generators, then smoke can be generated consistently, but portability and simplicity are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The smoker utilizes the natural combustion properties of wood chips or alcohol-based fuels, requiring no external power source. The system is self-sufficient, using only the fuel material and ambient oxygen to generate smoke consistently.
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 modular design efficiently infuses smoke flavor, saves space, prevents smoke loss, and controls airflow, enhancing flavor infusion without batteries or embers escaping.
Implementation Method 1
The through bore of the base portion is configured to permit a flow of smoke from the combustible material out the through bore of the base portion
Implementation Method 2
the second end of the body member is configured to rest on a rim of a container to block the flow of air from the container
Implementation Method 3
the groove crosses the rim of the container to permit air to flow from inside the container to outside the container via the groove
Implementation Method 4
The through bore and the insert are configured to define a chamber for receiving a combustible material between the insert and the first end
Data Source
AI summary
A modular smoker includes a base portion having a through bore extending from a first end of the base portion to a second end of the base portion, wherein the through bore is configured to define a shelf between the first end and the second end, a top portion configured to be removably coupled with the base portion, wherein the top portion has a through bore extending from a first end of the top portion to an opposite second end of the top portion in a first direction, and a screen configured to be held on the shelf of the through bore between the first end and the second end of the base portion. The through bore of the base portion is configured to define a chamber for receiving a combustible material on the screen between the first end and the second end of the base portion, the through bore of the base portion is configured to permit a flow of smoke from the combustible material out the through bore of the base portion at the second end of the base portion, and the second end of the body member is configured to rest on a rim of a container to block the flow of air from the container where a surface of the second end of the body member contacts the rim.