Slidable Cup Support for Multi-Height Beverage Dispensing Machines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Beverage dispensing machines often struggle to accommodate user-receptacles of different heights, limiting their versatility in dispensing beverages into both short and tall cups without requiring significant reconfiguration or increased footprint.
Innovation Solution
A beverage dispensing machine with a movable user-receptacle support body that can adjust between positions for short and tall cups, utilizing a connection means extending along the bottom part of the external front face to facilitate easy switching between cup sizes, and incorporating a capsule handling device with parts that move parallel to the external lateral side faces for efficient capsule extraction and brewing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the machine uses a fixed cup support position, then the structure is simple and compact, but it cannot accommodate user-receptacles of different heights
Solution Approach 1:
The cup support body is made movable along the front face of the machine housing, transitioning from a fixed position to a dynamic adjustable position. This allows the support to be repositioned vertically to accommodate different cup heights while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The support body is separated from the fixed housing structure and implemented as an independent movable component. This segmentation allows the support to be adjusted independently without affecting the entire machine structure, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and structural simplicity.
2Area of stationary object
If the machine is made movable to adapt to different environments, then the footprint is reduced, but the stability and ease of operation may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The machine is divided into a stationary housing and a movable support body. Only the support body needs to be movable to accommodate different cup sizes, while the main housing remains stable. This partial movability reduces the effective footprint for different cup configurations without compromising the overall stability of the machine.
Solution Approach 2:
The support body incorporates dynamic positioning capability along the front face, allowing it to be moved and fixed at different positions. This dynamic feature enables the machine to adapt to different cup heights while maintaining operational stability during beverage dispensing.
3Ease of operation
If the connection means extends along the bottom part of the front face, then the support body can be easily repositioned, but the machine's width increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of extending the connection means horizontally across the front face, the connection is arranged vertically along the bottom part of the front face. This dimensional change allows the support body to be repositioned vertically without increasing the machine's width, maintaining a compact horizontal footprint while enabling easy repositioning.
Data Source
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AI summary
A machine (1) for dispensing a beverage (84) comprises: an external housing (10,30,30',40,50,60) having an external front face (10); a beverage outlet (11) located on the external front face (10); a user-receptacle support body (65) movable between a first position for placing on the body (65) a short user-receptacle (3) under the outlet (11) and a second position for placing a large user-receptacle (4) under the outlet (11); and a connection means (68,69,69a) for connecting the user-receptacle support body (65) to the external front face (10). The user-receptacle support body (65) has a connector (66a,66b) that is connected or connectable to the connection means (68,69,69a) to maintain the user-receptacle body (65) in the first and second positions. The connection means (68,69,69a) has a direction (68') that extends generally along a bottom part (10a) of the external front face (10) so that the user-receptacle support body (65) is movable with its connector (66a,66b) in connection with the connection means (68,69,69a) from the first position into the second position and vice versa along the direction (68') extending along the bottom part (10a).