Rotating Dosing Assembly for Continuous Chocolate Mixture Feeding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dosing and feeding devices for fluid or pasty mixtures into moulds suffer from intermittent feeding, leading to productivity issues, wear, leakage, and contamination, requiring frequent maintenance and specialized checks.
Innovation Solution
A continuous dosing group with a rotating assembly of balanced cylindrical sectors and variable volume cavities, allowing for simultaneous and balanced feeding of multiple moulds, with a removable pouring plate for easy configuration and maintenance, reducing wear and downtime.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If an intermittent feeding device with alternating outlets is used, then the device structure is simple, but the productivity is reduced due to discontinuous feeding and product waiting times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous feeding by eliminating the intermittent alternating outlet mechanism. The feeding device maintains a constant flow of mixture into the moulds through a streamlined single outlet system, removing the cyclic opening/closing actions that caused discontinuity and waiting times, thereby achieving uninterrupted productive operation.
2Reliability
If a blade with reduced contact surface is used, then the device complexity is reduced, but wear increases and metal parts end up in the mixture causing contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the problematic blade component entirely from the feeding system. By eliminating the blade that contacted the mixture, the source of wear and contamination is extracted from the system, preventing metal particles from entering the mixture while also simplifying the overall device structure.
3Manufacturing precision
If a blade with reduced contact surface is used, then the device complexity is reduced, but leakage increases and dosing precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the blade component that caused leakage issues. By removing this element, the sealing integrity of the feeding system is improved, preventing mixture leakage and ensuring accurate dosing without requiring complex blade structures or adjustments.
4Ease of manufacture
If intermittent feeding is used, then the device structure is simple, but maintenance frequency increases due to wear and contamination risks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent achieves continuous feeding operation that eliminates the cyclic stress and wear associated with intermittent alternating outlets. This continuous operation mode, combined with the removal of the blade component, significantly extends the maintenance interval while keeping the device structure simple and easy to manufacture.
Data Source
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AI summary
A fluid mixture, for example, a chocolate-based mixture, is dosed and fed to forming moulds (2) through two cavities (30A)(30B) arranged on diametrically opposite sides of a longitudinal axis (11) and having respective opposite inlets (31); the cavities (30A)(30B) being rotated in unison and in a stepwise manner around the longitudinal axis (11) between an inlet opening (12) for the mixture and an outlet opening (13) for the mixture dosed while keeping the volume of both cavities (30A)(30B) unchanged, and filling one of the cavities with a predefined quantity of fluid mixture and simultaneously emptying the other cavity while keeping the cavities (30A)(30B) in angularly fixed positions around the longitudinal axis (11).