Pivotable Cutter Housing for Granulator Mill Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing granulators face challenges in cleaning, particularly due to the design of the cutter housing, which makes it difficult to remove residual plastic particles and poses safety risks during the cleaning process.
Innovation Solution
The granulator mill is designed with a pivotably arranged cutter housing that can be tilted from its normal operating position to a cleaning position, allowing the opening to face downwards, facilitating the use of gravity and compressed air for effective cleaning, and enabling safer operation by minimizing the risk of plastic particles hitting the user.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the cutter housing is designed with a fixed horizontal lower part for structural stability, then the structural stability is improved, but the cleaning difficulty increases because gravity keeps plastic particles in the lower part and manual cleaning with compressed air may hit the user's face
Solution Approach 1:
The cutter housing is made dynamically reconfigurable through a pivotable upper part that can be tilted from a horizontal operating position to a downward-facing cleaning position. This dynamic adjustment allows the housing to adapt between two functional states: stable during operation and accessible during cleaning, resolving the contradiction between structural stability and cleaning ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning accessibility is improved by changing the spatial orientation of the cutter housing from a fixed horizontal configuration to a tilted configuration where the opening faces downwards. This dimensional change in orientation allows gravity to assist cleaning and prevents plastic particles from projecting toward the user's face, while the pivot mechanism maintains structural stability during operation.
2Ease of operation
If the cutter housing opening faces upwards during operation for easy material loading, then the ease of operation is improved, but the safety risk increases during cleaning because plastic particles may be blown towards the user's face
Solution Approach 1:
The cutter housing incorporates a pivotable upper part that dynamically changes its orientation between an upward-facing position for easy material loading and a downward-facing position for safe cleaning. This dynamic reconfiguration eliminates the safety hazard of plastic particles being blown toward the user's face during cleaning while maintaining ease of operation during normal use.
3Ease of operation
If the upper part of the cutter housing is made openable for cleaning access, then the cleaning accessibility is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional pivot mechanisms and detachable connections
Solution Approach 1:
The upper part of the cutter housing is made pivotable rather than completely detachable, providing a balanced solution between accessibility and complexity. The pivot mechanism allows the upper part to be tilted to a cleaning position where the opening faces downwards, improving cleaning accessibility while avoiding the complexity of multiple detachable connections and reassembly procedures.
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
This design enhances the ease and safety of cleaning the granulator mill, ensuring thorough removal of residual granules and improving operational safety by directing debris away from the user.
Implementation Method 1
allowing the opening to face downwards, facilitating the use of gravity and compressed air for effective cleaning
Implementation Method 2
facilitating the use of gravity and compressed air for effective cleaning
Data Source
AI summary
Granulator mill (1) comprising a frame (10), a cutter housing (20) with a granule chamber (22) comprising at least one non-rotatable blade (24) inside the granule chamber (22), and further comprising a rotatable rotor (30) arranged inside the granule chamber (22). The rotor (30) comprises blades (32, 34) which are arranged for cooperation with the non-rotatable blade (24) for granulating waste material to granules. A normal (n) to a first opening (26a) of the granule chamber (22) is pointing substantially vertically upwards in the normal position of use of said granulator mill (1), and characterising is that the cutter housing (20) is pivotably arranged at the frame (10) by means of a first pivot means (28), for pivoting the cutter housing (20) between the normal position of use and a cleaning position. In the cleaning position, the normal (n) of the first opening (26a) of the granule chamber (22) points towards a surface plane of the substrate.