Rotary Blade Nut Chopper for Uniform Size Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Chopping nuts is a difficult and time-consuming process due to their rounded and oddly shaped nature, making it challenging to achieve uniform size, and existing methods like using a kitchen knife or electronic food processors often result in uneven chopping and safety hazards from rolling nuts.
Innovation Solution
A nut chopper with an upper hopper, lower collector, and a grate with parallel blades supported on an axle, allowing for controlled chopping by rotating the blades through the grate, which can be adjusted for coarse or fine chopping by changing the direction of rotation and using a grate with varying slot widths to separate chopped nut sizes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a kitchen knife is used to chop nuts on a cutting board, then the chopping process can be performed with simple equipment, but the process is time-consuming and produces uneven chopping results
Solution Approach 1:
The device divides the chopping function into multiple blades arranged in a circular pattern around a central axis, allowing simultaneous contact with multiple nuts at once. This segmentation of the chopping action across multiple blade elements enables parallel processing of multiple nuts, significantly increasing productivity while maintaining uniform chopping results through the systematic arrangement of blades.
Solution Approach 2:
The cranking mechanism produces periodic rotational motion that repeatedly brings blades into contact with nuts in batches. This periodic action allows continuous processing of nuts through repeated cycles of loading, chopping, and ejection, maintaining high productivity while the periodic nature ensures consistent chopping depth and uniformity across all nuts.
2Ease of manufacture
If a kitchen knife is used to chop nuts, then equipment simplicity is maintained, but uniformity of chopping size is poor due to rounded and oddly shaped nuts
Solution Approach 1:
The device employs blades with specifically designed local properties including sharp edges, appropriate lengths, and strategic positioning at different radial distances from the center. Each blade is optimized for its specific location, with longer blades handling outer nuts and shorter blades handling inner nuts, ensuring uniform chopping across nuts of varying shapes and sizes while maintaining overall equipment simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from linear knife motion to three-dimensional rotational blade motion around a central axis. This dimensional change allows blades to approach nuts from multiple angles and heights simultaneously, effectively handling the rounded and irregular shapes of nuts to produce uniform chopping results that cannot be achieved with traditional linear knife cutting.
3Productivity
If electronic food processors are used to chop nuts, then chopping speed is improved, but uniformity of chopping size is still difficult to ensure
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs preliminary sorting and positioning of nuts as they are fed into the hopper, arranging them in a systematic pattern around the central axis before chopping begins. This preliminary arrangement ensures that nuts are optimally positioned for uniform chopping by the rotating blades, addressing the uniformity problem while maintaining high processing speed through continuous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the complex high-speed rotating blade system of electronic food processors with a simpler manual cranking mechanism that provides controlled, deliberate blade motion. This mechanical substitution allows for more controlled and uniform chopping action while maintaining adequate productivity through continuous batch processing, eliminating the uniformity problems associated with electronic processors.
4Ease of manufacture
If nuts are chopped manually with a knife, then equipment simplicity is maintained, but safety hazards arise from rolling nuts
Solution Approach 1:
The device confines nuts within a three-dimensional hopper and collection chamber structure, eliminating the two-dimensional cutting board surface where nuts previously rolled away. The vertical arrangement with hopper above and collection area below, combined with blade rotation through the nut mass, prevents lateral rolling motion and contains all chopping action within a safe, enclosed space while maintaining equipment simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The device introduces a hopper and collection chamber as intermediary structures between the user and the chopping action. These intermediaries contain the nuts and blades within a enclosed space, preventing nuts from rolling away and eliminating safety hazards associated with exposed cutting surfaces, while the overall device remains mechanically simple and easy to manufacture.
Data Source
AI summary
A nut chopper includes an upper hopper, a lower container, and a grate positioned between the hopper and container. A series of parallel blades supported on an axle and coupled to a crank is positioned so that the blades may be rotated through the grate. As the blades pass through the grate, they chop the nuts that are in the path of the blades. Once individual nuts are chopped into sizes that are smaller than the width of the openings formed in the grate, the chopped portions will fall through the grate and into the container.