Dosing device and system
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dosing devices for automatic washing machines face challenges in accurately dispensing tablets of active ingredients, particularly tablets with flat faces, due to issues such as wedging and jamming, and are often bulky or require complex mechanisms that occupy significant space.
Innovation Solution
A dosing device with a metering mechanism and agitation means that projects from the exit port to agitate tablets, preventing wedging and jamming, while maintaining a compact design, and is controlled by the washing machine's signals without internal power sources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If tablets are stored in a container inside the washing machine, then multiple doses can be delivered automatically, but tablets become wedged against each other due to moisture intake from the humid environment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a vibration mechanism that vibrates the container or tablet stack to prevent tablets from becoming wedged together. The vibration creates relative motion between tablets, disrupting the static friction and adhesion forces that cause jamming in humid environments, thereby maintaining reliable automatic dosing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes physical parameters such as tablet geometry (e.g., using spherical or cylindrical shapes instead of flat tablets) or container characteristics (e.g., surface texture, inclination angle) to reduce moisture-induced adhesion and prevent wedging, thereby improving dispensing reliability while maintaining automation.
2Manufacturing precision
If a rotating disc with guides is used to control tablet delivery, then tablets can be sorted and oriented, but the device becomes bulky and awkward to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts or eliminates the complex rotating disc with guides system and replaces it with a simpler mechanism such as a vibration-based sorting system or a simplified gravity-fed mechanism that achieves tablet orientation without requiring bulky mechanical structures, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining orientation control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical rotating disc system with an alternative mechanism such as vibration, airflow, or magnetic fields that can achieve tablet orientation and control with simpler, more compact components, reducing manufacturing complexity and device bulk.
3Reliability
If a feed chute and conveyor device are used to align tablets, then jams are reduced, but the dosing device takes up a lot of space inside the dishwasher
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses vibration mechanisms to align and feed tablets through the dosing device, replacing the need for large feed chutes and conveyor devices. The vibration maintains tablet flow and reduces jams while requiring minimal space, thereby achieving jam reduction without increasing device volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs curved or spherical tablet shapes combined with curved feeding paths that naturally guide tablets through the mechanism without requiring long linear feed chutes or complex conveyor systems, reducing the overall volume of the dosing device while maintaining reliable tablet flow and minimizing jams.
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
The solution effectively dispenses tablets without jamming, reduces device bulk, and simplifies construction by relying on machine signals, ensuring accurate and efficient delivery of active ingredients during washing cycles.
Implementation Method 1
an agitation means projecting from the metering mechanism to agitate at least one tablet in the vicinity of the exit port
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 2a
Figure 2b~2c
AI summary
The present invention relates to a dosing device (10) or system for dispensing a plurality of tablets (1), which each comprise at least one active ingredient for an automatic washing process, into an automatic washing machine, wherein the dosing device or system is for dispensing one or more, but not all, of the plurality of tablets (1) at once into the automatic washing machine, wherein the dosing device (10) or system comprises: a container (12) for storing the plurality of tablets, wherein the container comprises an exit port (14); an outlet for delivering the one or more tablets from the container into the automatic washing machine; and a metering mechanism (20) located between the exit port of the container and the outlet, and which is moveable between a first position in which the one or more tablets is receivable from the exit port of the container, and a second position in which the one or more tablets is deliverable to the outlet; wherein the dosing device or system further comprises an agitation means (40) projecting from the metering mechanism (20) to agitate at least one tablet in the vicinity of the exit port; preferably wherein the dosing device or system is for dispensing only one tablet at once.