Telescoping Convective Heat Chamber for Variable-Size Product Heating
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heating devices, such as convection ovens and hot water baths, are often large and inflexible, making them inefficient for heating a variety of sizes and quantities of thermoformable products simultaneously, leading to uneven heating and increased energy consumption.
Innovation Solution
A versatile, adjustable heat chamber apparatus with a telescoping design that allows for expansion or contraction of its size and airflow path, featuring a base and lid assembly with a rack system and heater, enabling the heating of multiple products of varying sizes in a single device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional heating devices are sized for the largest anticipated use, then they can accommodate large products, but they occupy excessive space and consume more energy than needed for smaller products
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the dynamics principle by making the heating chamber expandable and collapsible. The chamber can be expanded to accommodate large products and collapsed to reduce footprint when heating smaller products. This dynamic structural change allows a single device to adapt to various product sizes, resolving the contradiction between versatility and space occupation.
2Use of energy by stationary object
If conventional heating devices use fixed heated volume, then the chamber structure is simple, but they heat larger volume than required leading to increased energy consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable and collapsible chamber design allows the heated volume to be dynamically adjusted to match the actual product size. When heating smaller products, the chamber collapses to reduce the heated air volume, thereby reducing energy consumption. This dynamic volume adjustment resolves the contradiction between energy efficiency and structural simplicity.
3Temperature
If conventional ovens heat uniform temperature throughout, then temperature distribution is even, but they require large size and long heating time for various quantities
Solution Approach 1:
The dynamic chamber design allows the heating volume to be adjusted according to the quantity and size of products. When heating fewer or smaller products, the chamber collapses to reduce the air volume that needs to be heated, significantly reducing heating time while maintaining temperature uniformity through the convection fan. This resolves the contradiction between temperature uniformity and heating time.
4Productivity
If multiple products are heated simultaneously in fixed chamber, then productivity increases, but the chamber must be sized for the largest configuration reducing efficiency for smaller batches
Solution Approach 1:
The expandable chamber allows the device to accommodate multiple products when needed by expanding to a larger volume, and then collapsing to a smaller volume when heating fewer products. This dynamic adjustment ensures that energy is only consumed to heat the necessary volume, resolving the contradiction between productivity and energy consumption.
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 apparatus efficiently heats multiple products of different sizes by adjusting its chamber size and airflow, reducing energy consumption and space requirements while ensuring uniform heating.
Implementation Method 1
a heater assembly positioned within the apparatus adjacent to the rack assembly such that an outlet of the heater assembly is in communication with the first sub-chamber, whereby warmed air selectively discharged from the heater assembly flows through the first sub-chamber in a first direction and returns through the second sub-chamber in an opposite second direction
Data Source
AI summary
A heat chamber apparatus comprises a base assembly, a lid assembly operably installed on the base assembly, and a rack assembly and heater assembly incorporated in the base and/or lid assemblies, the base and lid assemblies being optionally telescopically engaged for selectively adjusting the interior space of the heat chamber, and the rack assembly separating the interior space into first and second sub-chambers and being optionally pivotable for selectively accessing the sub-chambers.