Segmented Dripless Dog Bowl for Spill Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pet drinking bowls often result in excessive water spillage and trails due to dogs splashing and moving with water on their snouts, ears, or tongues, requiring constant cleanup by owners.
Innovation Solution
A dripless water bowl design with a sealable upper and lower portion, featuring an animal access chamber with specific diameter, depth, and water height ratios, and a pressure plug to control liquid access, preventing excess water from spilling or trailing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional open water bowl is used, then the animal has easy access to water, but excessive water spillage and trails occur
Solution Approach 1:
The bowl is divided into two functional sections: an accessible drinking area where the animal can easily reach water, and a contained overflow section that captures excess water. This segmentation allows the animal to maintain easy access while preventing spillage through the separate containment mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
A barrier or partition structure acts as an intermediary element between the drinking area and the surrounding environment. This barrier allows the animal to access water freely while intercepting and containing excess water or drool before it can spill onto the floor, thus mediating between ease of access and spill prevention.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If a container with limited water access is used to prevent spillage, then water trail formation is reduced, but the animal's access to water is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The container is segmented into a primary drinking zone with full animal access and a secondary containment zone that limits water exposure. The animal can freely access the primary zone while the secondary zone captures any excess water, thus maintaining ease of access while preventing water trails.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the container have different functional qualities: the drinking area has open access properties for ease of operation, while the overflow or containment area has restricted access properties to prevent water trail formation. This local differentiation of qualities allows both contradictory requirements to be satisfied in different parts of the system.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a bowl design that accommodates different animal sizes is used, then versatility is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bowl incorporates universal design features such as adjustable components, scalable dimensions, or modular elements that allow the same basic structure to accommodate animals of various sizes. This multi-functionality enables a single device design to serve multiple purposes and user types without requiring completely different bowl configurations for each animal size.
Solution Approach 2:
The bowl design incorporates variable parameters such as adjustable barrier heights, removable inserts, or scalable components that can be modified to match different animal sizes. By changing these parameters rather than redesigning the entire structure, the system achieves versatility while minimizing the increase in overall device complexity.
Data Source
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AI summary
An improved drip preventing container for dispensing limited amounts of a liquid to an animal which is adaptable for use with animals, such as dogs, having breeds of different sizes. The drip preventing container for dispensing limited amounts of a liquid to an animal generally comprises a top portion which can be configured to be useful for different sized animals and is constructed and arranged to engage a bottom portion. The drip preventing container further contains an animal access chamber constructed and arranged to prevent large amounts of water from being stored within the chamber and for reducing splashing water from exiting the device while the animal is drinking.