Powdered Nutrient Dispenser with Guillotine Valve
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Solution Overview
Problem
Consumers face inefficiencies when using bulk powdered nutritional food, as scooping out servings often results in spills and requires time-consuming cleanup.
Innovation Solution
A dispenser system that attaches to a larger container, featuring a metering device with a ball valve or guillotine mechanism to dispense single servings directly into a water container, minimizing spills and allowing for easy attachment and detachment of containers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If bulk powdered nutritional food is stored in a large container for multiple servings, then storage efficiency is improved, but spillage and cleanup time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The bulk container is divided into multiple individual single-serving containers, each hermetically sealed. This segmentation prevents spillage by containing each portion separately while maintaining bulk storage capacity through the assembly of multiple units.
Solution Approach 2:
A dispensing mechanism acts as an intermediary between the bulk storage and the user, automatically portioning and delivering single servings without manual handling. This eliminates spillage during the dispensing process while maintaining access to bulk quantities.
2Ease of operation
If bulk powdered nutritional food is manually scooped into bowls or cups, then single servings can be obtained, but time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The powdered nutritional food is pre-portioned into single-serving containers during manufacturing, eliminating the need for manual scooping and measurement at the point of use. Users simply need to open and dispense pre-measured portions.
Solution Approach 2:
The dispensing mechanism is designed for easy user operation, automatically portioning and delivering single servings with minimal user input. The system serves itself by mechanically dispensing the pre-portioned content without requiring manual scooping or measuring actions.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If a metering device is added to dispense single servings, then spillage is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The metering and dispensing functions are merged into a single integrated mechanism that handles pre-portioned containers. The device combines storage, portioning, and dispensing capabilities in one unit, reducing overall complexity compared to separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The dispensing device is designed to handle multiple single-serving containers of the same type through a standardized interface. The mechanism performs multiple functions (storage, portioning, dispensing) using a unified design that reduces complexity rather than requiring separate mechanisms for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
The dispenser disclosed herein serves a single serving of a powdered nutrient contained within a container having multi-servings of the powdered nutrient. The dispenser has a metering device that operates as a ball valve or guillotine to dispense a single serving of the powdered nutrient into a water container. The dispenser also has a support surface that can be lowered and raised back up in order to fit a water container under the metering device and a distal tip of the metering device into a mouth of the water container so that no powdered nutrient spills out of the water container during transfer of the powdered nutrient from the metering device to the water container.