Nestable Cone Placement Device for Plant Trays
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Solution Overview
Problem
The labor-intensive and costly process of introducing nestable cones into plant tray recesses, particularly with gauze cones that are difficult to handle due to their flexibility and weight, limits efficient substrate removal during repotting and restricts gardener options for substrate composition.
Innovation Solution
A device with a movable frame and support surface, featuring a head and stack stop, allows for the automated introduction of nestable cones into plant tray recesses by engaging the wall section of the first cone and using a relative movement to position and release the cones into the tray, ensuring reliable and efficient placement, even for gauze cones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If nestable cones are introduced manually into plant tray recesses, then placement can be done with simple equipment, but the process is labor-intensive and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The device employs dynamic elements including a movable head that can approach and retract from the cone stack, and a movable support surface that can raise and lower. These dynamic components enable automated cone extraction and placement without requiring complex fixed machinery, thus improving productivity while maintaining equipment simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to automatically extract cones from the nested stack and place them into tray recesses without manual intervention. The head automatically engages with cone wall sections, and the coordinated movement of the head and support surface enables self-service operation, eliminating labor-intensive manual handling.
2Reliability
If gauze cones are used for complete substrate removal, then substrate can be fully removed during repotting, but the cones are difficult to handle due to flexibility and light weight
Solution Approach 1:
The head acts as an intermediary mechanism between the operator and the delicate gauze cones. By engaging with the cone wall sections through a controlled approach and engagement process, the head can securely grasp flexible, lightweight cones without causing damage, thus enabling reliable handling of materials that would otherwise be difficult to manipulate.
Solution Approach 2:
The head is designed with multiple engagement points that can interact with different wall sections of the cone. This segmentation of the engagement mechanism allows for distributed contact with the flexible cone surface, providing secure grasping of lightweight gauze cones while maintaining ease of operation.
3Extent of automation
If the head engages the wall section of the first cone to extract it from the stack, then automated extraction is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The head is designed as a multi-functional component that can engage with cone wall sections, apply extraction forces, and position cones into tray recesses. This universal design allows a single component to perform multiple operations in the automated extraction process, achieving automation without proportionally increasing overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The device utilizes the existing nested structure of the cones themselves as part of the extraction mechanism. By engaging the wall section of the outermost cone and using the nested arrangement, the system achieves automated extraction where each extracted cone reveals the next, simplifying the overall extraction process despite the automated control requirements.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for providing nestable cones to a plant tray that includes recesses. For quickly and effectively carrying this out, use is made of a device, which comprises i) a head and ii) a support surface for a stack of cones, wherein a first wall section of a first cone is engaged by the head and the remainder of the stack of cones is stopped by means of a stack stop, after which the engaged cone is released.