Rotational Mold Discs With Interlocking Asymmetric Profiles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rotational molds in the food industry, particularly for bakery products like biscuits and crackers, face challenges in increasing production capacity without incurring significant costs or compromising product standardization due to mold deformation and inefficient design, leading to non-uniform product sizes and increased maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
A rotational mold design featuring specially shaped mold discs that interlock without gaps, allowing for increased capacity and ease of assembly, disassembly, and cleaning, while maintaining consistent product size and shape through a lock-and-key mechanism of peak and trough points on the lateral surfaces, eliminating the need for slotting on the metal drum.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple manufacturing is carried out to increase production capacity, then productivity increases, but device complexity and investment costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is divided into multiple independent mold discs that can be separately manufactured and assembled. Each disc contains multiple mold cavities, allowing the system to scale by adding or removing discs rather than redesigning the entire mold assembly. This segmentation enables flexible capacity adjustment without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from traditional single-plane mold arrangements to a multi-dimensional stacked configuration where mold discs are arranged vertically along the rotational axis. This dimensional change allows multiple manufacturing stations to occupy different spatial positions along the rotation path, increasing productivity without requiring proportional increases in horizontal space or overall device complexity.
2Productivity
If traditional rotational molds are used continuously, then productivity is maintained, but mold deformation occurs leading to loss of shaping function and increased maintenance costs
Solution Approach 1:
By dividing the mold into separate discs, the invention isolates deformation risks to individual discs rather than the entire mold assembly. When deformation occurs, only the affected disc needs to be replaced or repaired, not the complete mold system. This segmentation maintains continuous productivity while reducing the impact of reliability issues on overall manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The modular disc design enables easy replacement of deformed or worn discs with new or refurbished ones. Rather than discarding the entire mold system, individual discs can be recovered, regenerated, or swapped out quickly, minimizing downtime and maintaining continuous production capability while managing wear and deformation.
3Ease of manufacture
If monolithic molds are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but capacity increase and cleaning efficiency are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The mold system is segmented into multiple identical or configurable discs that can be manufactured using standardized processes. Each disc can be produced independently using the same manufacturing methods, maintaining ease of manufacture while allowing capacity to scale by simply adding more discs to the assembly.
4Productivity
If mold discs are juxtaposed without space, then production capacity increases, but assembly difficulty and potential deformation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mold discs feature asymmetric contact surfaces with complementary peak and trough profiles. These asymmetric geometries create a mechanical interlocking mechanism where peaks on one disc fit into troughs on adjacent discs, providing self-alignment and secure positioning. This asymmetric design enables tight juxtaposition for maximum capacity while maintaining assembly ease through the self-guiding interlocking features.
Data Source
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AI summary
Present invention relates to a rotational mold used in the food industry especially in manufacturing bakery products such as biscuits, crackers, and etc., wherein said rotational mold has mold cavities shaping the soft dough and mold discs on which said mold cavities are disposed and wherein said rotational mold enables manufacturing food with a standard and increased capacity by virtue of the fact that the contact surfaces of the mold discs are specially shaped with respect to the shape of the mold cavities and that the mold discs are juxtaposed without leaving a space (so that the discs are in mesh with each other).