Rotating Star Wheel Hardness Tester with Recessed Specimen Receptacles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hardness testing devices for tablets and similar specimens are inefficient due to the need for extensive computational effort and time-consuming processes to align and position test specimens correctly, as well as limitations in support surface utilization.
Innovation Solution
A device featuring a support surface designed as a recess of a transport star with a horizontally parallel spindle axis, allowing for quick specimen alignment and measurement, and a jaw arrangement that moves specimens in a circular path to facilitate easy loading and unloading, with self-cleaning mechanisms to minimize contamination and errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single test table design is used, then the device structure is simple, but the specimen feeding and alignment process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The single test table is segmented into multiple recesses (at least three recesses) that can simultaneously hold multiple specimens. This allows parallel processing of multiple specimens without requiring sequential loading, thereby increasing productivity while maintaining a relatively simple overall device structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The test table is made rotatable about a vertical axis, transforming it from a static to a dynamic component. This rotation capability enables quick access to different specimens stored in different recesses, eliminating time-consuming manual loading and alignment operations while keeping the device structure simple.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the test table is moved to load a test specimen, then the specimen can be replaced, but the testing process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple specimens are pre-loaded into different recesses of the test table before the testing sequence begins. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for time-consuming specimen loading during the testing process, as specimens are already positioned and ready for immediate testing when the table rotates to the appropriate position.
3Ease of operation
If feeding devices are used to load test specimens, then the test table can be loaded, but the process becomes time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The complex feeding device mechanism is extracted and replaced by a simpler approach: specimens are manually or pre-positioned placed into recesses of the rotatable test table. This eliminates the need for complex automated feeding mechanisms while maintaining ease of operation and significantly reducing loading time through the rotational access capability.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a device for carrying out a hardness test (1) on test bodies (2), comprising a support surface (3) for receiving the test body (2), a pressure piston (4) and a counter bearing (5) which are arranged above the support surface (3), and a spindle (6). The pressure piston (4) and the counter bearing (5) can be moved relative to each other, said spindle (6) being designed to move the pressure piston (4) in the direction of the counter bearing (5). The test body (2) is located between the pressure piston (4) and the counter bearing (5) during use, and the force exerted by the pressure piston (4) and the counter bearing (5) when pressed together or a variable which is proportional to said force can be measured by means of a force measuring device (7) and used to determine the hardness of the test body (2). The invention further relates to a method for carrying out a hardness test on test bodies, such as tablets, pills, oblongs, sugar-coated pills, capsules, or the like, on a support surface, for example a support surface of a transport star wheel, using a jaw arrangement to be closed and to be opened, said jaw arrangement comprising two opposing jaw units, each of which has a contact surface which faces the respective other jaw unit.