Stepped Juice Centrifuge Sieve to Minimize Heel Vibration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing centrifuges face issues with vibrations due to residual plant product heels, which require a clearance between the pusher and sieve, leading to unbalanced rotation and inefficient processing, especially when handling whole fruits and vegetables without prior cutting.
Innovation Solution
A centrifuge design featuring a sieve with a stepped solid bottom, allowing whole plant products to be processed without cutting, reducing heel size and preventing vibrations by ensuring the pusher and sieve fit complementarily, thereby minimizing heel formation and maintaining stable operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a clearance is maintained between the pusher and rotating sieve to prevent damage, then the pusher and sieve are protected from rubbing and damage, but heels of plant products accumulate on the sieve surface causing unbalanced rotation and vibrations
Solution Approach 1:
The bottom of the sieve is divided into multiple stepped levels instead of a single flat surface. This segmentation allows the pusher to effectively process plant material down to the final level, minimizing heel accumulation that would cause unbalanced rotation and vibrations during operation.
2Volume of moving object
If the chute section is made relatively small to accommodate the centrifuge design, then the device can be compact, but the section of the chute is limited in size which may restrict processing capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The stepped bottom structure utilizes the vertical dimension by creating multiple levels at different heights. This allows the chute to maintain a compact horizontal footprint while effectively processing material through multiple elevation levels, thereby maintaining processing capacity without increasing the overall device volume.
3Ease of manufacture
If the bottom of the sieve is made flat to simplify the structure, then the centrifuge is easier to manufacture, but heels of plant products accumulate causing vibrations during rotation
Solution Approach 1:
The bottom is segmented into multiple stepped levels rather than being completely flat. This segmentation prevents heel accumulation by providing progressively lower surfaces for the pusher to process material, eliminating vibrations while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through the use of standardized stepped configurations.
4Productivity
If the radial wall is perforated to allow juice passage, then juice extraction efficiency is improved, but fibers and pulp may pass through reducing juice purity
Solution Approach 1:
The radial wall features selectively positioned and sized perforations that are optimized for specific functions: larger openings facilitate efficient juice passage while smaller or strategically placed openings restrict fiber and pulp passage. This local variation in perforation characteristics simultaneously achieves high extraction efficiency and maintains juice purity.
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
Enables efficient juice extraction from whole fruits and vegetables without prior cutting, reducing user time and maintaining centrifuge stability by minimizing heel formation and vibrations, allowing for larger chute sections and easier operation.
Implementation Method 1
The sieve is placed in suspension in the tank while being supported and driven in rotation around the axis X-X' by means of the drive shaft. The products thus grated are then expelled, by centrifugation, towards and through the radial wall in order to extract their juice.
Implementation Method 2
The pusher pushes the plant products into the sieve resting against a bottom of the sieve. The vegetable products are pressed against this bottom by the pusher while being grated by this same bottom so as to extract the juice from these products.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2c
AI summary
Apparatus has a tank fixed in a base (2) enclosing an electric motor from which extends a rotating drive shaft (7). A strainer (4) is set in the tank and supported and spun by the driver shaft. The strainer has radial wall perforated by holes (16) and solid bottom (11). A food pusher (6) is inserted in an entry spout (5) to hold the food product against the bottom of the strainer, extracting the juice of the food product to be collected in the tank located underneath the strainer.