Handheld Device Engineering applied to a device capable of mixing and dispensing an A/B Resin.
Handheld device Engineering encompasses practically all industries. Shortly after a new technology is created design optimization is put into action, often working on making the device smaller. Once the device becomes smaller and portable, the ability to hold the device in the palm of your hand often becomes a desire. Today’s telephone is a perfect example of a technology that has gone through this exact optimization. Marketers and engineers got caught up in their own frenzy of miniaturization, where the cell phone got to the point of being too small. Engineering and Design optimization is a balance of many characteristics, to focus to heavily on one and not enough on others is a common mistake. However, it design optimization is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects while developing a new machine or product.
In the world of foam in-place packaging the need to deliver the packaging foam remotely had many applications. The engineering and development of the foam in-place packaging machine dispensed sealed plastic bags with expanding foam contained within them. This machine satisfied large packaging companies which required high volume capabilities. However, there also was a large market of packaging that involved much lower volume and required the ability to target the foam more remotely. Due to the lower demand and usage the system was also under much tighter cost constraints.
Many trade-offs presented a design that fit all the requirements for a portable system. When targeting foam remotely the plastic wrapper was manipulated manually by the user, this reduced the system size greatly. It was decided that the heaters and pump would reside with the 20 gallon containers and the foam delivery system would be what needed to be developed into a Hand held unit.
As it was an entirely new delivery system needed to be developed. The standalone machine used a relatively large servo motor and crank shaft system to manipulate the resin valves. This type of arrangement was far too expensive and heavy for a hand held unit. Utilizing a reversing ball screw and much smaller DC motor with gearbox enabled Adept to meet the hand held and cost requirements. Additional challenges like weight and handling were also addressed through careful and methodical component placement and balance whereby reducing operator fatigue while improving targeting efficiency.
Design and Analysis Overview:
- Ergonomic Design.
- Reverse Engineer Reciprocating Ballscrew.
- Helical Spur Gear Design.
- Design for manufacture, Maintenance and Assembly.
- Patent development and avoidance.
- Clutch design.
- Thermal Expansion, Clearance and Interference.
- Bearing Sizing.
- Servo motor sizing and control.
- Complex fluid flow paths.
- ANSI Y14.5 GTOL analysis.
Design Requirements:
- Regulate Temperatures, Pressures and Flow rates of resins prior to resin mixing.
- Fail safe Trigger operation.
- Control Weight distribution for proper ergonomics.
- Minimal space requirements.
- Allow for ease of operation and maintenance.
- Design for manufacture and assembly
