Soap and soap dispenser assembly with such soap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing soap dispenser assemblies fail to ensure reliable dispensing of soap as the connection between the soap and the dispenser weakens, leading to incomplete dispensing due to the transition from a circumferential to a bottom surface, especially with ring-shaped soap designs.
Innovation Solution
A soap dispenser assembly featuring stacked ring-shaped soap pieces with specific alignment and locking profiles that maintain rotational coupling, ensuring continuous contact with the knife-blade module for efficient scraping, and a biasing module to facilitate consistent dispensing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single ring-shaped piece of soap is used with key indentations on the circumferential surface, then the soap can be rotationally coupled to the soap holder, but the rotational coupling fails when the soap is nearly depleted as the key indentations can no longer engage properly
Solution Approach 1:
The soap is divided into multiple ring-shaped pieces stacked together, where each piece has locking profiles on both top and bottom surfaces. This segmentation ensures that at least one locking profile remains engaged with the soap holder throughout the dispensing process, even as individual pieces are depleted and removed from the stack.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple ring-shaped soap pieces are stacked nested within the soap holder, with each piece capable of rotational coupling to the holder and to adjacent pieces. This nested arrangement allows the system to maintain rotational coupling functionality as pieces are used and removed from the stack.
2Ease of operation
If the transition between the lower surface and the circumferential surface of the piece of soap is rounded, then the soap structure is smoother, but this further increases the problem of blade failure to scrape the bottom of the soap
Solution Approach 1:
The blade is positioned to engage with the bottom surface of the soap stack before dispensing begins, and the stacked arrangement ensures that the blade consistently contacts the exposed bottom surface of the lowest piece throughout the dispensing process, maintaining scraping effectiveness despite the rounded transition geometry.
3Reliability
If multiple stacked pieces of soap are used with locking profiles, then rotational coupling is maintained throughout dispensing, but the device structure becomes more complex with alignment and locking profiles
Solution Approach 1:
The locking profiles serve multiple functions: they provide rotational coupling between adjacent soap pieces, maintain engagement with the soap holder, and enable the stacked arrangement to function as a unified dispensing unit. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate coupling mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment profile and locking profile features are integrated into the soap pieces themselves rather than being separate components. The profiles are formed as part of the soap manufacturing process, combining the coupling and locking functions into the basic soap structure.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1C
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to a soap dispenser assembly comprising a soap dispenser and at least two pieces of soap. The at least two pieces of soap each comprises a top surface and a bottom surface and can be stacked thereby rotationally coupling the pieces of soap in at least one direction via locking profiles. The soap dispenser comprises a soap holder arranged to contain, and rotationally couple, the pieces of soap in a stacked position, a knife-blade module and a biasing module. The top surface of an upper most piece of soap interfaces with the biasing module. The bottom surface of a lower most piece of soap interfaces with the knife-blade module. The biasing module is arranged to bias the at least two pieces of soap towards the knife-blade module. The knife-blade module comprises at least one blade arranged to scrape the bottom surface of the second piece of soap upon rotation of the soap holder with the at least two pieces of soap relative to the knife-blade module.