Blender 2
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==How the System Functions Mechanically== | ==How the System Functions Mechanically== | ||
Revision as of 19:10, 1 February 2011
Contents |
Executive Summary
Bill of Materials
List of Components
| Part Number | Name | Quantity | Mass (g) | Function | Material | Manufacturing Process | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bottom Cover Screws | 2 | <1 | Join bottom and top covers | Steel | Cold forming, Thread rolling | -- |
| 2 | Fan Bracket Screws | 2 | <1 | Join fan bracket to bottom cover | Steel | Cold forming, Thread rolling | -- |
| 3 | Spring | 2 | <1 | Push motor brushes into rotor | Metal | Extrusion, coiled | -- |
| 4 | Motor Brush | 2 | <1 | Conduct electricity to rotor | Graphite | Forming, Sintering | -- |
| 5 | Fan Blade | 1 | 31 | Cool motor coils | Steel | Stamping | -- |
| 6 | Fan Washer | 1 | <1 | Distribute load to motor shaft | Steel | Stamped | -- |
| 7 | Fan Nut | 1 | <1 | Secure Fan Blade and Fan Washer to motor shaft | Steel | Cold forming, Threaded | -- |
| 8 | Bottom Cover | 1 | 158 | House motor and electronics | Plastic | Injection Molding | -- |
| 9 | Electrical Cord | 1 | 50 | Provide power to blender from electrical socket | Copper/Rubber | Extrusion | -- |
| 10 | Circuit Board | 1 | 21 | Motor power and speed control | Various | Assembled | -- |
| 11 | Fan Bracket | 1 | 63 | Bottom support for motor and motor shaft | Steel | Stamped | -- |
| 12 | Motor Brush Bracket | 2 | <1 | Holds Motor Brush and Spring in place and conducts electricity to Motor Brush | Metal | Stamped | -- |
| 13 | Motor Brush Bracket Board | 1 | <1 | Holds motor Brush Bracket in correct position and orietation | Masonite | Stamped | -- |
| 14 | Vibration Isolators | 2 | 6 | Reduce vibration from motor to outer casing | Rubber | Injection Molding | -- |
| 15 | Stator | 1 | 382 | Creates magnetic field for the rotor to interact with | Steel,Copper | Stamped, Coiled, Assembled | -- |
| 16 | Button Bracket | 1 | 57 | Support speed control buttons | Plastic | Injection Molding | -- |
| 17 | Speed Control Buttons | 6 | <1 | User interface to select blender speed | Plastic | Injection Molding | -- |
| 18 | Control Wafers | 6 | <1 | Changes blender speed by altering voltage in circuit board | Plastic | Stamped | -- |
| 19 | Wafer Spring | 1 | <1 | Resets button positions when Off or Pulse button is pressed | Steel | Extrusion, coiled | -- |
| 20 | Hi-Lo Switch | 1 | <1 | User interface to select high or low speed setting | Plastic/Metal | Injection molding, Stamped, Assembled | -- |
| 21 | Hi-Lo Switch Cover | 1 | <1 | Provides ergonomic surface to toggle Hi-Lo Switch | Plastic | Injection molding | -- |
| 22 | Circuit Board Screws | 4 | <1 | Attach circuit board to button bracket | Steel | Cold forming, Thread rolling | -- |
| 23 | Button Bracket Screws | 2 | <1 | Attach button bracket to top cover | Steel | Cold forming, Thread rolling | -- |
| 24 | Top Cover | 1 | 206 | House motor and electronics | Plastic | Injection molding | -- |
| 25 | Ice Cap | 1 | 22 | Cover hole in lid when not in use | Plastic | Injection molding | -- |
| 26 | Lid | 1 | 58 | Cover top of pitcher | Plastic | Injection molding | -- |
| 27 | Pitcher | 1 | 1286 | Contain materials to be blended | Glass | Molding | -- |
| 28 | Gasket | 1 | <1 | Seal interface between Pitcher and bottom cap | Rubber | Molding | -- |
| 29 | Blade Assembly | 1 | 58 | Blend materials through mechanical action | Steel | Stamped, Assembled | -- |
| 30 | Bottom Cap | 1 | 30 | Hold blade assembly and gasket and secure them to bottom of pitcher | Plastic | Injection molding | -- |
| 31 | Motor Rotor | 1 | 211 | Create shaft torque by creating an opposing magnetic field to the stator field and provide the motor shaft which the fan blade and blade assembly attach to. | Steel, Copper | Stamped, Coiled, machined, Assembled | -- |
| 32 | Bushing | 1 | <1 | Allow free rotation of the motor shaft in the mounting brackets | Plastic | Injection molding | -- |
| 33 | Bushing Bracket | 1 | <1 | Holds bushing in place on motor mounting brackets | Steel | Stamped | -- |
Stakeholders
Buyer (for restaurant/smoothie bar use):
- Inexpensive
- Reliable/long product lifespan
- Safe
- Energy efficient
User (restaurant/smoothie bar employee):
- Safe
- Blades should lock into place safely and should not spin when at risk of cutting the user.
- User should not be at risk of electric shock.
- Easy to clean
- Lightweight
- Blends quickly and to the desired consistency without need to shake or manually stir contents
- Different speed functions for different uses
- Crushes ice quickly and effectively
- Simple operation and assembly
- Pours without making a mess
- Contents do not spill out of top during use
- Quiet operation
- Easy to assemble
- Stable, difficult to accidentally knock down
- Sturdy, won’t break if dropped
Home user (Same needs as restaurant user and buyer with the following additional needs):
- Visually appealing
- Child-safe
Manufacturer:
- Minimum number of parts
- Easily manufactured parts
- Easy to assemble
Shipper:
- Lightweight
- Compact
How the Product is Used
User Studies
How the System Functions Mechanically
The blender works by spinning a blade in a glass container to chop up and liquefy fruits, vegetables, etc. An electric AC motor is used to spin this blade. It uses an AC motor because it is plugged into an outlet and transforming AC to DC adds extra space and cost to the product. An AC motor works by switching the polarities of the electromagnets in the stator making the rotor, which has a constant polarity, rotate where the north pole of the rotor “follows” the switching south pole of the stator and vice-versa for the south pole of the rotor. This motor is likely geared to reduce speed and increase the torque of the blade.
The buttons on the front panel change the speed of the blade. This is likely accomplished by having the switches activate more or less coils in the AC motor. If there are more coils activated in the motor, the speed is reduced but the torque is increased.
The blending material is blended by moving liquid around and creating a vortex. The liquid around the vortex moves the unblended material around and it falls into the open space created by the vortex. This vortex leads straight to the blade, which chops up the material and pushes it away. The material keeps circulating in this way until it is stopped.
Design for Manufacturing
Oster makes several different kinds of blenders, offering a variety of speed settings, shapes, and sizes. The designers did a good job creating versatile parts that could be used for multiple types of blenders. For instance, the speed controlling system could easily work for any of their push-button 8, 10, 12, or 16 speed models. The motor assemblies are most likely almost identical in all 19 of their current products. Also, the few screws that were found int he blender, are almost definitely standard parts that could be used for any of their appliances. Having standardized parts not only helps take advantage of economies of scale by buying in bulk, but also helps the assembly line workers by having less clutter and fewer choices at each station, and helps from a material flow and supply chain standpoint.
In addition to creating standardized parts, the designers at Oster also eliminated most superfluous connector pieces. This is both good and bad. The designers used a few screws, but also made use of rivets and tabs. These definitely help keep the part count down, but at the same time requires each line worker to be familiar with several different fastening techniques. Furthermore, a large portion of components in the blender were stamped sheet steel. This is smart for two reasons. First, once again, standardizd materials like the sheets of steel are better to buy in bulk. Also, stamping is one of the easiest, and most efficient ways to manufacture components. The dies are relatively low investments considering their lifetime, and the stamping machines can be loaded up with several dies at once to efficiently mass produce parts.
Overall, the design was fairly well designed for manufacturing. The parts could easily be stacked on top of eachother on an assembly line. The one major exception to this, was the speed controllers. While it is great that the control system can be used for multiple models, there are much simpler ways to accomplish the same thing. The controller sub-assembly consists of a variety of wafers cut into very specific shapes that must be put in the key holder in a specific order. If one wafer were forgotten on the line, then one of the speeds would not work and the entire blender would have to be taken apart. A simple circuit board, outsourced to another company, would allow for a multiple speed blender, and would make the assembly process significantly less complicated.
