Textured Auger Dough Rounder for Uniform Ball Formation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dough rounders with smooth auger surfaces fail to provide sufficient resistance, resulting in loose, non-uniform dough balls with air inside, especially when the dough is dried out and crusty.
Innovation Solution
The dough rounder features a textured auger ramp with radial grooves or cone-shaped spurs that provide resistance to the dough's movement, ensuring a tight molding action and eliminating sanitation issues by avoiding small depressions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a smooth auger surface is used, then the device is easy to manufacture and clean, but the dough ball formation is poor resulting in loose, non-uniform balls with air inside
Solution Approach 1:
The auger surface is modified with localized features (radial grooves or cone-shaped spurs) at specific locations where dough contact occurs. These localized texturing features provide the necessary resistance and molding action without requiring the entire auger surface to be complex, thus improving dough ball uniformity while maintaining relatively simple manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The surface parameters of the auger are changed from smooth to textured by introducing radial grooves or cone-shaped spurs. This parameter change (surface texture) provides the necessary friction and resistance to improve dough ball formation while the features are designed to be manufacturable using standard machining processes.
2Manufacturing precision
If small depressions are used for texturing, then dough grip is improved, but sanitation is compromised due to residue accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of creating depressions that trap residue, the invention uses protruding cone-shaped spurs or radial grooves that allow dough to be gripped without creating sanitation problems. The surface features are designed to be self-cleaning or easy to clean, inverting the conventional approach of using deep depressions for grip.
Solution Approach 2:
The textured surface provides a controlled porous-like structure through radial grooves or cone-shaped spurs that allow dough interaction while maintaining cleanliness. The feature geometry prevents residue accumulation compared to traditional smooth surfaces, addressing both dough grip and sanitation concerns.
3Force
If the auger surface is textured with radial grooves or spurs, then dough resistance and molding action are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The auger surface is segmented into discrete features (radial grooves or cone-shaped spurs) rather than a continuous complex surface. This segmentation allows for simpler manufacturing while providing sufficient dough grip and resistance, as the discrete features can be easily produced using standard machining operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The texturing features are applied locally at the critical contact zones between the auger and dough, rather than requiring the entire auger structure to be complex. This localized approach maintains simple overall device structure while providing the necessary force and resistance where needed.
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 textured surface ensures the formation of tight, compact dough balls with minimal air and simplifies the cleaning process by reducing the risk of dough residue accumulation.
Implementation Method 1
The textured surface 38 provides resistance to the movement of the dough up the ramp 24 by producing a braking action on the motion of the dough 2
Data Source
AI summary
A dough rounder with a base, motor, drum, and auger. The auger is mounted to the base and the drum is mounted to rotate about the auger. The auger has a hollow cylinder and a spiral ramp fixed to the outer surface of the cylinder. The upper surface of the ramp is textured for gripping the dough. In one embodiment, the ramp upper surface is textured by a plurality of spurs.