Interlocking Rack Basin for Containing Dishwasher Drips
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial dish and glassware racks used with wash-only dishwashers result in water dripping through the bottom, creating safety hazards and sanitation issues due to pooling on the floor, and substances passing through dollies, leading to potential spills and germ contamination.
Innovation Solution
A basin with a solid base and sides, designed to fit under commercial dish and glassware racks, intercepts drips and elevates the racks, featuring interlocking capabilities with standard rack dimensions and optional handle sections, and is made from heat-stable co-polymer plastic to prevent water and substance leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If racks have openings in the bottom and sides to allow water spray penetration during washing, then cleaning efficiency is improved, but water drips through the bottom onto the floor creating safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a floor mat as an intermediary component positioned between the rack openings and the floor. This mat captures and absorbs the water that drips through the rack bottom, preventing it from pooling on the floor and creating safety hazards, while still allowing the rack openings to remain open for effective cleaning
2Object-affected harmful factors
If racks are designed with solid bottoms to prevent water leakage, then floor safety is improved, but water cannot spray through during washing reducing cleaning effectiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The solution segments the water containment function from the rack structure itself by introducing a separate floor mat component. The rack maintains its open-bottom design for effective water spray penetration during washing, while the floor mat segment handles the water containment and prevention of floor pooling
3Ease of operation
If dollies have open frames for easy transport, then maneuverability is improved, but water and substances pass through onto the floor creating sanitation issues
Solution Approach 1:
The floor mat serves as an intermediary barrier beneath the dolly, capturing water and substances that pass through the open dolly frame during transport. This prevents contamination of the floor while maintaining the dolly's open-frame design for easy maneuverability
Data Source
AI summary
A basin which stackably interlocks with 20-inch square racks that hold dish and glassware washed in commercial dishwashers. The basin has substantially the exterior configuration of a commercial dishwasher rack and receives a plurality of dishwasher racks slacked above. The basin solid on its base and sides for prohibiting substances which drip down into it from racks stacked above from dripping onto the floor. The basin has circular indentations in the top surface or the base, trapping water and preventing it from sloshing from side to side of the basin when it is carried or moved. The basin may be loaded into a dolly used to transport commercial dishwasher racks, as the dollies typically have an open bottom. Thus, the basin can provide the water-catching function for racks loaded onto a dolly. Grooves in the basin's bottom surface permit stacking on top of a rack or other basins for storage.