Sealed Drive Shaft Coupling for Quieter Food Processor Lids
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing culinary preparation accessories face issues with noise, heating, and difficult cleaning due to the axial bearing mounting of the drive shaft, and solutions that provide radial freedom result in poor axial guidance and food contamination during operation.
Innovation Solution
A culinary preparation accessory with a drive shaft passing through a lid opening, sealed by a flexible elastomeric lip seal allowing radial movement and axial stabilization, preventing food rise and facilitating engagement with the rotary tool.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If the drive shaft is mounted in a bearing with no radial freedom, then axial positioning is stable, but the bearing operates under stress generating noise and heating
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the bearing component entirely and extracts the radial freedom function from the axial positioning system. The drive shaft is mounted directly to the lid without a bearing, eliminating the source of noise and heating while maintaining axial positioning through the coupling mechanism between lid and container.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent separates radial movement freedom from axial positioning stability by allowing the drive shaft to move radially freely while maintaining stable axial positioning through the lid-container coupling. This segmentation enables independent optimization of each degree of freedom.
2Ease of manufacture
If the drive shaft passes through a large opening in the lid for cleaning access, then food evacuation is improved, but the shaft has great freedom of movement and is poorly guided axially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces the lid as an intermediary element that mediates between the drive shaft and container. The lid provides a coupling interface that guides the drive shaft axially during engagement while maintaining a large opening for cleaning access. The lid acts as the mediator that reconciles the conflicting requirements of open access and precise positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The lid is pre-positioned on the container before the drive shaft engagement, establishing the axial guidance path in advance. This preliminary positioning of the lid prepares the engagement interface, allowing the drive shaft to be guided correctly during the coupling operation.
3Ease of manufacture
If the drive shaft passes through a large opening in the lid, then cleaning is facilitated, but food can rise through the space during operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a sealing element that replicates the blocking function of a small opening while maintaining the physical structure of a large opening. The seal copies the food-blocking function without requiring the geometric constraint of a small opening, thus maintaining cleaning access while preventing food rise.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flexible sealing element (lip seal or O-ring) that can deform to close the gap between the drive shaft and lid opening. This flexible film selectively blocks the opening during operation to prevent food rise, while allowing the opening to remain physically large for cleaning access when the seal is retracted or removed.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution reduces noise and heating, simplifies lid engagement, and prevents food contamination while ensuring proper alignment and operation of the drive shaft, enhancing user safety and cleaning efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the seal is made of elastomeric material
Implementation Method 2
the seal is a flexible lip seal
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
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AI summary
A food preparation accessory intended for use with an attached motor housing, said accessory comprising a work container (1) closed by a lid (3), said lid (3) supporting a drive shaft (4) intended to couple on the one hand with said attached motor housing and on the other hand with a rotating tool (2) mounted for rotation on a guide shaft (10) disposed at the bottom of the work container (1), said drive shaft (4) passing through the lid (3) via an opening (61), the diameter of the opening (61) being greater than the diameter of the drive shaft (4) so that a space results allowing radial movement of the drive shaft (4) through the opening (61), characterized in that said space is closed by a sealing gasket (5).