Silent Automated Game Feeder Linear Actuator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automated game feeders are noisy, causing game animals to be startled and frightened away, which undermines their effectiveness in attracting animals to a predetermined location for hunting.
Innovation Solution
An automated game feeder that uses a battery-powered linear actuator with a quiet servo motor to open and close a dispensing gate, allowing for silent operation and programmable feeding schedules, ensuring that feed is dispensed at predetermined intervals without startling the animals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If motorized feeders are used to automatically open and close the hopper trapdoor, then automation is improved, but noise increases and game animals are scared away
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the motorized mechanism from the trapdoor assembly entirely. Instead of having the trapdoor attached to and operated by the hopper motor, the trapdoor is detached and operated independently by a separate linear actuator mounted on the ground, extracting the noise source from the animal-attracting function
Solution Approach 2:
A linear actuator with a quiet servo motor serves as an intermediary device between the control system and the trapdoor. This intermediary provides the necessary automated operation while generating minimal noise, resolving the contradiction between automation and silence
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a linear actuator with servo motor is used to open and close the dispensing gate, then noise is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The linear actuator is designed to be ground-mounted and self-contained, with its own servo motor and control circuitry. It independently operates the trapdoor without requiring complex integration with the hopper mechanism, simplifying the overall system while maintaining quiet operation
Solution Approach 2:
The feeding system is segmented into independent functional modules: the hopper for feed storage, the linear actuator for trapdoor operation, and the control system. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, reducing overall complexity while achieving the desired quiet automated operation
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 feeder effectively dispenses feed in silence, maintaining animal presence and increasing the likelihood of successful hunting by ensuring consistent feeding schedules and minimizing noise disturbance.
Implementation Method 1
a linear actuator having a servo motor that is very quiet when extending a rod configured to open or close the dispensing gate
Implementation Method 2
The bottom wall defines a dispensing opening that, when open, allows feed to be dispensed onto the ground
Data Source
AI summary
An automated game feeder that is virtually silent includes a hopper for holding feed, a bottom wall thereof defining a dispensing opening that, when open, allows feed to be dispensed. A dispensing gate is pivotally mounted to the bottom wall of the dispensing gate being operative to move, when actuated, between a closed configuration covering the dispensing opening and an open figuration allowing the feed to flow out of the hopper. A digital timer is electrically connected to the dispensing gate and programmable to determine when to open and close the dispensing gate. To maintain virtual silence, the deer feeder may include a linear actuator electrically connected to the dispensing gate and timer, the linear actuator having a servo motor that is very quiet when extending a rod configured to open or close the dispensing gate. When actuated, the linear actuator operates the gate according to an array of pivotal couplings.