Automated Container Emptying Mechanism for Rod-Shaped Products
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing devices for emptying containers filled with rod-shaped products are cumbersome and imprecise, requiring separate adjustments for each component and significant operator expertise to adapt to different product formats, leading to a time-consuming and imprecise format change process.
Innovation Solution
The device features automated and mechanically connectable movable parts for the cassette, storage area, and emptying magazine, allowing for synchronized adjustments without separate drives, ensuring precise format changes through coupled components and a common front and rear wall design for seamless adaptation to various product formats.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If separate adjustment mechanisms are provided for each component (cassette, storage area, emptying magazine), then each component can be independently adjusted to different product formats, but the device complexity increases and the adjustment process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate adjustment mechanisms into a single centralized adjustment mechanism. The cassette, storage area, and emptying magazine are all coupled to the same adjustment mechanism, allowing them to be adjusted simultaneously and synchronously when the product format changes. This eliminates the need for separate drives and adjustment mechanisms for each component, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining adaptability to different product formats.
2Adaptability or versatility
If separate adjustment mechanisms are provided for each component, then each component can be independently adjusted, but the adjustment process requires significant operator expertise and becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the adjustment mechanisms and coupling all format-dependent components to a single adjustment mechanism, the patent enables simultaneous adjustment of the cassette, storage area, and emptying magazine. This synchronized adjustment eliminates the need for sequential manual adjustments of each component, significantly reducing the time required for format changes and minimizing the need for operator expertise.
3Device complexity
If movable parts are designed to be mechanically connectable for synchronized adjustment, then the structure is simplified and design effort is reduced, but the mechanism for mechanical connection must be precisely designed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a centralized adjustment mechanism with coupled components that are mechanically connected to move synchronously. This design simplifies the overall structure by eliminating redundant drives and mechanisms, while the mechanical coupling ensures that all components are adjusted uniformly. The precise design of the mechanical connection is achieved through the coordinated coupling of the cassette, storage area, and emptying magazine to the same adjustment mechanism, ensuring synchronized movement without requiring excessive manufacturing precision in individual components.
Data Source
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AI summary
The device has a storage region (18) for receiving rod-shaped products from containers. A removing device is arranged below a supply device for removing an emptied container. Components based on product formats, such as cartridge (22), storage region and emptying magazine (19), comprise movable parts for adaptation to the different product formats. The movable parts are formed by the cartridge, the storage region and the emptying magazine in an automated and mechanically coupled manner. A drive for adjusting the movable parts is assigned to the storage region. An independent claim is also included for a method for consecutive emptying of containers filled with rod-shaped products.