Movable Hood Rotation for Compact Animal Litter Box
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional animal litter boxes with rotatable hoods require significant space for setup and cleaning, making them unsuitable for locations with limited height, such as condominiums, and pose difficulties in easily removing fecal matter without scattering litter.
Innovation Solution
An animal litter box design featuring a movable hood that rotates 90 degrees, reducing the protruding height when open, and a linking mechanism that allows the hood to overlap with a fixed hood, enabling easy cleaning and maintenance without increasing the overall space requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a rotatable hood is installed on the excreta container to enable easy cleaning, then cleaning accessibility is improved, but the height space required for setup increases
Solution Approach 1:
The movable hood is designed to rotate horizontally around the excreta container rather than lifting vertically. This changes the movement dimension from vertical to horizontal, allowing the hood to be opened for cleaning without increasing the height space requirement. The hood rotates around the container body, bringing the opening to the front side while maintaining a compact vertical profile.
2Ease of operation
If a large opening is formed in the hood for easy cleaning, then cleaning accessibility is improved, but the hood structure becomes more complex and larger
Solution Approach 1:
The hood is divided into a fixed hood portion and a movable hood portion. The fixed hood remains stationary and structurally simple, while the movable hood portion rotates independently to provide cleaning access. This segmentation allows the opening to be created in the movable portion without complicating the overall hood structure, as each portion maintains a simple, compact design.
3Length of stationary object
If the movable hood rotates 90 degrees to reduce protruding height, then space efficiency is improved, but the linking mechanism complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The linking mechanism integrates the movable hood portion with the fixed hood portion through a rotation mechanism that combines both support and guidance functions. The linking portions include shafts that rotate within cavities, merging the rotational movement with the structural connection. This integrated design achieves the 90-degree rotation for compactness while keeping the mechanism relatively simple through the use of basic rotational joints.
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 design allows for easy removal and cleaning of fecal matter while maintaining a compact footprint, suitable for spaces with restricted height, ensuring effective litter box functionality and hygiene.
Implementation Method 1
an excreta container (2) having a liquid-permeable bottom portion (21)
Implementation Method 2
a liquid-absorbing sheet (32) which absorbs liquid that has passed through the bottom portion (21)
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
An animal toilet that can be easily cleaned and whose installation space does not increase even if a hood is moved. The animal toilet (1) has an excreta container (2), a lower container (3) having a drawer tray and an insertion opening for the drawer tray, and the hood (4). The hood (4) has a fixed hood (41) placed on the rear side of the excreta container (2), a movable hood (42) placed on the front side of the excreta container (2), and a pair of connection sections (43, 43) for pivotably attaching the movable hood (42). The movable hood (42) has an opening, and the opening and the insertion opening are arranged on the front side. When the movable hood (42) is changed from a closed state to an open state, the projection height T3 that is the difference between the height T1 of the highest point of the trajectory on which the movable hood (42) moves and the height T2 of the highest point of the animal toilet (1) with the movable hood (42) in the closed state is less than the height T4 of the movable hood (42).