Movable Dosing Element for Moisture-Resistant Cleaning Agent Metering
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dosing devices for pourable cleaning agents in dishwashers face issues with clumping due to moisture ingress, leading to clogging and incorrect metering, and require manual handling which can be cumbersome.
Innovation Solution
A dosing device with a movably arranged dosing element that can transition from a non-dosing to a dosing position, interrupting the fluidic connection between the storage and dosing chambers until in use, preventing clumping and ensuring accurate metering, and featuring a linear or twisting movement for easy operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the storage container continuously supplies cleaning agent to the dosing chamber, then the dosing chamber is always ready for operation, but moisture ingress causes clumping and clogging
Solution Approach 1:
The dosing chamber is pre-filled with cleaning agent before use, but the container is designed to interrupt supply before moisture can cause clumping. The movable closure member blocks the opening during storage, preventing moisture ingress while maintaining dosing readiness when activated.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable closure member proactively prevents moisture from reaching the cleaning agent in the dosing chamber by blocking the opening. This preliminary protective action occurs before moisture can cause harmful clumping effects, eliminating the problem rather than reacting to it.
2Ease of operation
If the container is designed with a movable closure member for automated operation, then user handling is simplified, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The closure member transitions from a static seal to a movable component that can be actuated by the drive device. This dynamic element opens to allow cleaning agent flow during dosing operations while remaining closed during storage, providing automated operation with minimal structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The drive device automatically actuates the movable closure member without user intervention. The system serves itself by using the motor-driven mechanism to open/close the closure member based on dosing requirements, eliminating manual handling while keeping the structure simple.
3Measurement precision
If the dosing chamber is separated from the storage chamber with a barrier, then dosing precision is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The container is divided into distinct storage chamber and dosing chamber sections separated by a barrier. This segmentation allows the dosing chamber to be precisely controlled and isolated from the larger storage chamber, enabling accurate metering of cleaning agent portions while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Dosing device for the metered introduction of a pourable cleaning agent into a treatment chamber (103) of a program-controlled cleaning device (100), in particular a dishwasher, with a storage container (9) used to store the cleaning agent and a motor-rotatably mounted support unit (6) which holds the storage container ( 9) interchangeably, the storage container (9) having a storage chamber (13) and a metering chamber (14) opening into a metering opening (23), the metering chamber (14) being provided by a metering element (22) which is inside the storage container (9) is movably mounted and transferable from a non-metering position to a metering position.