Wet Food Pod Feeder With De-Lidding and Sealed Disposal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional automatic animal feeder systems are limited to dispensing dry foods, failing to provide the health benefits of wet food, require constant human engagement, and lack features for ensuring food freshness, odor control, self-disposal, and adaptive feeding based on pet preferences.
Innovation Solution
An automatic animal feeding system with a food canister and dispenser that stores and dispenses prepackaged wet pet food pods, featuring a rotating assembly, de-lidding mechanism, and disposal compartment, controlled by a computing device to learn pet preferences and adapt feeding patterns, with minimal human intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional automatic animal feeder systems are used, then dry food dispensing is achieved, but wet food health benefits are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The automatic feeding system is designed to handle multiple food types including wet food in pouches and dry kibble, making it universally applicable to different pet nutrition needs while maintaining automated dispensing reliability for each food type
2Ease of operation
If manual feeding process is used, then food preparation is simple, but human engagement is required constantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-service by automatically measuring, dispensing, and cleaning up after pet meals without human intervention. The automated portion control, dispensing mechanism, and waste disposal features enable the system to serve itself while maintaining operational simplicity
3Ease of operation
If wet food is stored in open containers, then accessibility is improved, but freshness is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The wet food pouch is nested within a protective outer container or pouch that seals the food. This nested structure allows the inner food pouch to remain sealed and fresh while the outer container provides structural support and enables automated handling without compromising food accessibility or freshness
4Device complexity
If wet food is dispensed without containment, then dispensing is simple, but odor control is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The wet food is contained within a flexible pouch or film structure that can be sealed and opened automatically. This flexible containment maintains food freshness, controls odor emission, while still allowing simple automated dispensing through cutting or opening mechanisms
5Ease of operation
If opened food pods are disposed manually, then disposal is simple, but self-disposal capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically disposes of used food pods through self-service mechanisms including automated waste compartment transfer, sealing of used pouches, and disposal into designated waste areas, eliminating the need for manual intervention while keeping the process simple
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 system efficiently dispenses and disposes of wet pet food pods while preserving freshness, reducing odor, and adapting to pet preferences, offering healthier feeding with minimal human interaction.
Implementation Method 1
The food pod is gravity fed from the food canister into the food pod holder when the food pod holder coaxial aligns with the food pod at the radial distance
Data Source
AI summary
An automatic animal feeding system is provided. Embodiments of the automatic animal feeding system include an automatic food dispenser and a food canister storing food pods. The automatic food dispenser couples to the food canister, receives a food pod form the food canister, removes a cover or lid from the food pod, presents the opened food pod for pet consumption, disposes of the food pod into a disposal compartment that is sealed off from the ambient air, and implements other steps of an automatic feeding process. Aspects of the automatic feeding process can be efficiently implemented, for example, by actuating two motors based on data received from sensors of the automatic animal feeding system. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a compact, control-efficient, self-cleaning automatic animal feeding system that can continuously personalize feeding patterns or feed a pet with little to no human intervention over a period of time.