Weighing Machine Chute with Radially Spaced Outlets
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Weighing machines in the packaging industry lack control over product flow to buckets, leading to overflow when one bucket is disabled, as the delivery chutes do not effectively manage product distribution.
Innovation Solution
A chute assembly with a downwardly sloping passage and radially and angularly spaced outlet portion, featuring upwardly extending side walls and a sloping floor, is designed to direct product flow under gravity, with each chute associated with a bucket to prevent overflow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the delivery chutes have minimal control over product flow to buckets, then the device complexity is reduced, but product overflow occurs when a bucket is disabled
Solution Approach 1:
The chute outlet portions are made movable relative to the buckets, allowing the system to dynamically adapt product flow distribution. When a bucket is disabled, the outlet portions can be repositioned to redirect product flow away from the disabled bucket, preventing overflow while maintaining simple overall device architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The chute assembly is divided into multiple outlet portions, each associated with a specific bucket. This segmentation allows independent control of product flow to each bucket, so that when one bucket is disabled, only its corresponding outlet portion needs to be adjusted or deactivated, while other outlets continue to function normally.
2Ease of operation
If the chute outlet portion is positioned directly over the bucket, then product flow control is simplified, but product may overflow onto the weighing mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The outlet portions are positioned not only radially outward from the central axis but also at multiple angular positions around the axis. This angular displacement in the circumferential dimension allows product to be delivered to buckets without directly overhanging the central weighing mechanism, preventing product overflow onto sensitive weighing components while maintaining simple operational control.
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 chute assembly ensures controlled product distribution, preventing overflow by guiding product flow effectively to the buckets, even if one is disabled, thereby improving the weighing machine's operational efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
the passage being downwardly sloping toward the outlet portion so that product will move along the passage under the influence of gravity
Data Source
AI summary
A weighing machine (10) that may be scales employed in the packaging industry to deliver batches of product to a packaging machine below the weighing machine (10). The weighing machine (10) has a plurality of troughs (19) along which the product passes and that extend downwardly away from a generally central upright longitudinal axis (11). Each trough (19) extends downwardly from an inlet portion (21) to an outlet portion (22), with the outlet portion (22) spaced radially and angularly from the inlet portion (21) relative to the axis (11).