Portable frozen confection machine
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing frozen confection machines are large and commercial-grade, making them unsuitable for portable use in home or small party settings where convenience, portability, and easy storage are desired.
Innovation Solution
A portable frozen confection machine designed with a compact body, handle for easy transport, a hopper with a transparent lid for monitoring ice, a motor-driven paddle system for conditioning ice, and a spout for shaping the conditioned ice, featuring a blade with offset teeth to prevent ice buildup and a flexible shaping flap for user convenience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If commercial-grade frozen confection machines are used, then ice conditioning performance is improved, but device portability and storage ease deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The machine is divided into separable components including a removable hopper, detachable blade assembly, and modular housing sections. This segmentation allows the device to maintain full functionality while enabling easy disassembly for storage and transport, effectively resolving the contradiction between performance and portability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a compact folded design where the handle can be positioned in multiple configurations (extended for operation, folded for storage). This dimensional flexibility allows the machine to transition between a space-efficient stored state and an operational state with full functionality, addressing both portability and performance requirements.
2Productivity
If commercial-grade frozen confection machines are used, then ice conditioning performance is improved, but device complexity and storage space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The blade assembly is designed to nest within the hopper when not in use, and the handle can be folded into the body of the machine. This nested configuration minimizes storage space requirements while maintaining all functional components needed for effective ice conditioning, resolving the contradiction between performance and storage ease.
3Weight of moving object
If a compact portable design is used, then device portability and storage ease are improved, but ice conditioning capability may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The blade is designed with specifically positioned offset teeth that create localized high-shear zones for effective ice conditioning. This localized optimization ensures that despite the compact overall size, the critical ice-conditioning function performs at commercial-grade levels, resolving the contradiction between portability and capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The offset teeth geometry and their spacing are precisely engineered to optimize ice breaking efficiency within the compact form factor. By carefully adjusting these parameters, the machine achieves effective ice conditioning capability despite its portable size, maintaining performance while improving portability.
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 machine provides efficient and convenient ice conditioning, allowing for easy operation and storage, with improved user safety and reduced noise and vibration, enabling the production of high-quality frozen confections in various settings.
Implementation Method 1
a motor-driven paddle system for conditioning ice
Implementation Method 2
a blade with offset teeth to prevent ice buildup
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure extends to apparatuses, methods, and systems, for producing frozen confections and conditioning ice for use in frozen confections. A frozen confection machine includes a hopper portion for receiving ice into an interior, and a motor configured to rotate a drive shaft, a blade to condition the ice in the hopper during rotation of the motor. The frozen confection machine also includes a lid for selectively covering the interior of the hopper, a bias member for biasing the lid away from a closed position, and a switch for causing the motor to actuate in response to the lid being pressed to a closed position.