Pump-Dispensed Drinking Vessel for Temperature Control and Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional liquid containers fail to efficiently maintain liquid temperature and facilitate easy consumption, often requiring users to wait for the liquid to cool, and they are difficult to clean due to complex moving and sealing components.
Innovation Solution
A vessel design featuring a lower holding reservoir and an upper drinking reservoir with a pump mechanism that includes a liquid dispensing tube, allowing pressurized gas to be introduced to displace liquid from the holding reservoir into the drinking reservoir, thereby preventing leakage and spillage, and facilitating easy consumption and cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If conventional closed liquid containers are used, then the liquid temperature can be maintained, but the user must wait for the liquid to cool to a safe temperature before consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The container is divided into two separate reservoirs: a main holding reservoir for storing the bulk liquid and a smaller drinking reservoir for consumption. This segmentation allows the user to transfer only a portion of the liquid to the drinking reservoir, enabling temperature control and reducing waiting time while maintaining the temperature of the remaining liquid in the holding reservoir.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts a portion of the liquid from the main holding reservoir into a separate drinking reservoir. This extraction allows the user to have immediate access to a smaller amount of liquid that can be consumed without waiting for the entire container's liquid to cool down, thus resolving the time loss contradiction.
2Ease of operation
If conventional containers with complex pumps and valves are used, then liquid can be transferred, but the containers are difficult to clean effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The pump mechanism is extracted as a separate, removable component from the container system. This allows the pump to be easily detached and cleaned independently, eliminating the cleaning difficulty associated with integrated complex pump and valve systems while maintaining the liquid transfer capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The container system is segmented into removable components including the pump, valves, and reservoirs. This segmentation enables each component to be easily detached and cleaned separately, resolving the contradiction between operational capability and cleaning ease.
3Temperature
If insulated mugs are used, then the liquid temperature is maintained longer, but it becomes difficult to judge when the liquid is at a safe temperature to consume
Solution Approach 1:
The drinking reservoir acts as an intermediary between the insulated holding reservoir and the user's mouth. By transferring liquid to this intermediate reservoir, the user can allow it to cool separately and more quickly while the main insulated reservoir maintains the temperature of the remaining liquid, thus solving both the temperature maintenance and detection difficulties.
4Ease of operation
If conventional containers are used, then easy access to the main reservoir is provided, but spillage and leakage cannot be prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The drinking reservoir serves as an intermediary container that holds a portion of the liquid for consumption. By transferring liquid to this controlled intermediate reservoir with its own sealing mechanisms, the system prevents spillage and leakage while maintaining ease of access to the liquid for drinking.
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 allows for controlled temperature maintenance of liquids, minimizing spillage and enabling easy consumption by transferring the right amount of liquid to the drinking reservoir, while being easy to clean and operate with fewer parts, reducing the risk of contamination.
Implementation Method 1
the pump mechanism being activable for facilitating flow of a pressurized gas into the holding reservoir, whereby a liquid is displaceable from the holding reservoir through the liquid dispensing tube into the drinking reservoir
Data Source
AI summary
A vessel, such as an insulated container, for liquids having a lower portion sealed with an upper portion, such upper portion having a drinking reservoir for holding liquid which is pumped from the lower portion through a dispensing passage, such as a liquid dispensing tube, by a pump mechanism coupled with the upper portion. The pump mechanism is ergonomically operable by way of depressing a feature of the pump mechanism, e.g., by a single finger of the same hand holding the vessel. The upper portion, coupled with the pump mechanism, is redisposable on the lower portion, transposable in relation to any other lower portion, and retrofittable in relation to any other interfaceable pre-existing containers. The pump mechanism is optionally provided with a button or soft membrane. The components of the vessel are easily disassembled and reassembled for facilitating cleaning thereof.