Animal Supplement Container with Aperture Bridge and Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Domestically kept animals often face challenges in obtaining proper nutrition, leading to the need for additional supplements, and existing solutions are inefficient in coating food items like crickets with supplements without causing waste.
Innovation Solution
A supplement container design featuring a first container with a structure of apertures of varying sizes to mitigate excess content loss, a lid for easy access, and a second container for collecting excess supplements, allowing for efficient coating and minimizing waste through a manufacturing process like injection molding using transparent static-free materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If crickets are coated with supplements manually or using simple methods, then supplements can be applied to food items, but the process is inefficient and causes waste of excess supplement material
Solution Approach 1:
The device divides the coating process into distinct functional zones: a first container for holding the cricket food item, a second container for collecting excess supplement material, and a bridge structure with apertures connecting them. This segmentation allows the supplement to be applied only where needed while capturing excess material in the second container, thereby improving coating efficiency and reducing waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The device recovers excess supplement material by directing it into the second container through the bridge structure with apertures. Instead of wasting the excess supplement that falls during the coating process, the system captures and stores it for potential reuse, directly addressing the waste problem while maintaining efficient coating operation.
2Loss of substance
If a complex coating system is used to minimize waste, then supplement loss is reduced, but the device complexity increases and requires additional tools
Solution Approach 1:
The device merges multiple functions into an integrated structure: the first and second containers are positioned adjacent to each other with a bridge structure connecting them, forming a unified coating and collection system. This merging eliminates the need for separate tools and complex mechanisms, achieving waste reduction through a relatively simple combined structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The bridge structure with apertures serves multiple functions: it acts as a structural connector between containers, serves as a guide for supplement material flow, and functions as a sieve to separate excess material. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional components, maintaining simplicity while minimizing waste.
3Reliability
If supplements are applied to ensure proper nutrition for domestic animals, then animal health is improved, but the cost and amount of supplements required increases
Solution Approach 1:
The device recovers excess supplement material in the second container, allowing it to be reused in subsequent coating processes. This recovery mechanism ensures that supplements are applied reliably to ensure proper animal nutrition while significantly reducing the total quantity of supplement material required, as the recovered material can be reused rather than discarded.
Solution Approach 2:
The bridge structure with apertures provides visual and physical feedback about the coating process, allowing users to monitor and adjust supplement application in real-time. This feedback mechanism ensures adequate nutrition is provided while preventing excessive supplement usage, optimizing both reliability and quantity.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for use with animals can include a first container comprising a first end and a second end, wherein the first end comprises a first fastener located on a first surface of the first container and the second end comprises a second fastener positioned on a second surface of the first container, and wherein the first surface is different form the second surface; a first lid comprising a third end and a fourth end, wherein fourth end comprises a third fastener located on a surface of the first lid, wherein the first lid is configured to be coupled to the first end of the first container by coupling together the third fastener and the first fastener; and a second container including a fifth end and a sixth end, wherein the fifth end comprises a fourth fastener located on a third surface of the second container, wherein the sixth end comprises a fifth fastener located on a fourth surface of the second container, wherein the third surface is different from the fourth surface, and wherein the second container is configured to be coupled to the second end of the first container by coupling together the fourth fastener and the second fastener. Other embodiments are disclosed.