Assembly for the cleaning and cooking of seafood and crustacea
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for cleaning seafood and crustacea, particularly crawfish, are inefficient and labor-intensive, requiring manual handling and leading to debris accumulation and loss during the cleaning process, with existing equipment not facilitating easy transfer to boiling pots and causing storage and transportation challenges due to non-nested designs.
Innovation Solution
A cleaning apparatus featuring a tapered container with a removably nested basket and a pipe with apertures creating a cyclonic water flow, allowing efficient debris removal and easy transfer of cleaned seafood to a boiling pot, while enabling nested storage and transportation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual cleaning methods are used, then flexibility and simplicity are maintained, but productivity is low and time consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning apparatus is divided into distinct functional modules: a container for holding seafood, a removable basket for containing the seafood, and a separate cleaning mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function efficiently while maintaining overall system simplicity and enabling easy maintenance or replacement of individual parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The apparatus combines multiple functions into a single integrated system: cleaning, draining, and transferring of seafood are all accomplished through one device. The cyclonic cleaner performs both washing and debris separation, while the removable basket facilitates easy transfer to cooking vessels, eliminating the need for separate manual operations.
2Loss of substance
If traditional cleaning buckets are used, then ease of manufacture is maintained, but loss of substance occurs due to debris accumulation and crawfish escape
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning apparatus extracts and separates debris from the cleaning process through the cyclonic action and removable basket design. Debris is efficiently removed from the water and seafood through the cyclonic separation mechanism, while the contained basket prevents crawfish from escaping during cleaning operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The removable basket acts as an intermediary between the cleaning process and the seafood. It contains the seafood during cleaning, prevents escape, and facilitates easy transfer to cooking vessels. The basket mediates the interaction between the cleaning mechanism and the seafood, ensuring minimal loss and simplified handling.
3Loss of time
If non-nested container designs are used, then ease of operation is maintained, but loss of time and space occur during storage and transportation
Solution Approach 1:
The apparatus components are designed to nest within each other: the removable basket fits inside the container, and the entire assembly can be stacked with other identical units. This nesting design significantly reduces storage and transportation space requirements while maintaining ease of assembly and disassembly through simple snap-fit or friction-based connections.
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 apparatus efficiently cleans seafood by creating a cyclonic water flow, reducing manual handling and debris loss, and allows for easy transfer and nested storage, enhancing the cleaning process and storage efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a pipe positioned in the container adjacent to the wall and having a plurality of apertures adapted to direct a flow of water toward a portion of the wall spaced from the pipe so as to create a cyclonic path in the container
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for cleaning and cooking seafood or crustacea has a container with an interior volume defined by a tapered wall, a basket removably received in the interior volume of the container, a pipe positioned adjacent to the wall of the container and having a plurality of apertures adapted to direct the flow of water through holes of the basket, and a connector fluidically connected to the pipe and having a portion extending outwardly of the tapered wall of the container. The basket is tapered so as to be nestable within the tapered wall of the container. The basket has an indentation with holes extending over the pipe. A pot is spaced from the container and nestably removably receives the basket therein.