Skeletal Appliance Base Structure for Nesting and Weight Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing appliance bases are difficult to store compactly due to nesting issues, are unnecessarily heavy, and require additional parts for stability, making them challenging to manufacture and store efficiently.
Innovation Solution
A skeletal frame appliance base with a 'U'-shaped structure, featuring index rings for stacking and a modular design allowing for adjustable support regions, fabricated from cast metal, structural plastic, or composites, providing enhanced structural integrity and reduced weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a typical pan base is manufactured as a separate component, then it can be assembled with other appliance components, but it is difficult to store compactly and cannot be stably stacked one on top of another
Solution Approach 1:
The appliance base is designed with a nested configuration where one base can be stacked inside another, creating a compact storage arrangement. This nesting capability allows multiple bases to be stored in a minimal space while maintaining stability during storage periods.
2Strength
If a typical pan base is designed with rolled edges and upstanding wall members, then it provides structural support, but it becomes unnecessarily heavy
Solution Approach 1:
The appliance base utilizes a thin-walled yet structurally optimized design that maintains necessary strength and rigidity while minimizing material usage. The base incorporates strategic reinforcement only where structurally required, allowing weight reduction without compromising load-bearing capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The base employs composite construction combining materials with different properties to achieve optimal strength-to-weight ratio. This allows the base to maintain structural integrity while significantly reducing overall weight compared to traditional solid metal pan bases.
3Strength
If a typical pan base is designed as a shallow structure with rolled edges, then it can support appliances, but it requires additional parts to fulfill its stabilizing role
Solution Approach 1:
The appliance base integrates multiple functions into a single unified structure, combining support, stability, and appliance-mating features in one component. This eliminates the need for separate stabilizing parts and simplifies the overall assembly while maintaining all necessary functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The base is designed as a multi-functional component that simultaneously provides structural support, stability, nesting capability, and appliance attachment features. This universal design allows a single base to fulfill multiple roles that previously required separate components.
Data Source
AI summary
An appliance base for an appliance for supporting the appliance during manufacture and use, with the appliance base including a skeletal outer frame structure including a generally elongate “U”-base rail member and first and second “U”-side rails extending outwardly from the first and second ends of the “U”-base rail at generally right angles therewith. The outer frame structure defines four corners and a support area intermediate the “U”-base rail member and the “U”-side rails. The appliance base includes an inner frame structure including an index ring disposed in substantially the center of the support area, a plurality of diagonally extending support members with a diagonal support member extending inwardly from each corner of the outer frame structure and fixed to the index ring, and a front rail member extending between diagonal cross members on a side opposite from the “U”-base rail member.