Pop-Up Toaster Bread Tray Retention for Keep-Warm Toast
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pop-up toasters fail to effectively slow the cooling of toast after the toast cycle without requiring complex and costly changes to their structure and function.
Innovation Solution
A toaster design that incorporates a bread tray partial retaining mechanism, allowing the tray to remain in a position between the down and up positions after the toast cycle, utilizing a sliding tab or latch to retain the tray and maintain the toast within the housing, utilizing residual heat to keep the toast warm.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a keep-warm feature is added to retain the bread tray in the down position after the toast cycle, then the toast remains warm longer, but the device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the existing electromagnet and spring mechanism to automatically retain the bread tray in the down position after the toast cycle completes. The electromagnet remains energized briefly after the heating elements turn off, utilizing the existing components rather than adding new ones, thereby achieving the keep-warm function without significant structural changes
Solution Approach 2:
The control system pre-plans the electromagnet de-energization timing to occur after the heating cycle completes, automatically transitioning the bread tray from the toasting position to the retained position where the toast remains warm without requiring additional mechanical structures
2Ease of operation
If the bread tray returns to the up position after toasting, then the toast can be easily removed, but the toast rapidly cools down
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically controls the electromagnet's energization state, keeping it energized briefly after the heating cycle to retain the bread tray in the down position, then allowing the spring to automatically return the tray to the up position when the user activates the release mechanism, thus maintaining toast temperature while preserving ease of removal
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 the toast to remain warm by retaining it within the toaster's housing, reducing cooling speed without necessitating significant structural or functional changes to the conventional pop-up toaster design.
Implementation Method 1
one or more heating elements apply heat to the bread product, thereby toasting the bread product
Implementation Method 2
The energized electromagnet attracts a metal plate affixed to the lifter bracket, thereby retaining the bread tray in the down position
Implementation Method 3
The bread tray is movable between an up position and a down position and biased toward the up position
Data Source
AI summary
A toaster comprises a housing, at least one spring-loaded bread tray, one or more heating elements, a bread tray retaining mechanism, a bread tray partial retaining mechanism, and a lifter arm slot. The bread tray is movable between an up position and a down position and is biased toward the up position. The bread tray retaining mechanism selectively retains the bread tray in the down position while the toasting operation is in progress and releases the bread tray from the down position when the toasting operation is complete. The bread tray partial retaining mechanism selectively retains the bread tray in a position between the down position and the up position after the bread tray is released by the bread tray retaining mechanism. In one embodiment, the lifter arm slot comprises an upper portion and a lower portion, the lower portion being wider than the upper portion.