Raising Toasters as Residence Devices - Lab Report Example

Lab (Toaster) Name University Affiliation Table of content 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..3 2.0 How a toaster functions………………………………………………………6 3.0 Dismantling a toaster…………………………………………………………4 4.0 Identification of materials used in making a toaster…………………………5 5.0 Reassembling a toaster……………………………………………………….6 6.0 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………8 7.0 References……………………………………………………………………9 Lab (Toaster) Introduction Toasters are home appliances mostly used in kitchen; they serve a purpose of warming or heating the food such as bread and bread like food. Therefore, they are categorized as heating appliances. Their main functions are to develop sufficient heat near a piece of bread or any other foodstuff that is being warmed. Toasters are not too expensive appliances, thus, they can be bought from various stores that stock home appliances (Travers, 1996).We have three types of toasters, toaster conveyer, pop-up toaster and toaster oven. These kinds of toasters do different tasks but their designs and material used to make them resemble at a great deal. Toasters are appliances that are used on daily basis but the users to an extent to not know how they work, assembled, repaired or dismantled. In most cases, toasters malfunction even more than any other appliances (Hirzel, 2014). Therefore, the users need to have basic knowledge on how to handle them. This paper shows how toasters function, assembled dissembled and the materials that are used to make these home appliances. How a toaster functions As mentioned earlier, most toasters function in the same manner. When using a toaster, a slice of bread or food is placed through a slot found on the top of the toaster and into the carriage. This carriage is lowered into the chassis by the use of the lever found on one side of the toaster. When the carriage reaches to the bottom, it fixes into position then automatically the internal switch is activated and then the heating process starts (Travers, B (1996) The internal parts of toasters have thermostats that determine the time it will take the electric current to be sent from the power cord to the heating component. These thermostats are set using knobs or the levers (Cerit, 2013).The process of heating continues but when the desired temperature is attained, the heating process stops and the solenoid switch the current off. Then the larch is unlocked and the carriage springs up to the former position. The person operating the toaster can now easily pick the food. That is how a toaster works. Dismantling the toaster Toasters as we have said tend to malfunction easily. The main reasons behind this problem are that toasters are typically built to be economically and temporary, there is non-repairable. Hence, the components used to built are irreplaceable. Secondly, toasters malfunction easily because of the dislodgment of the food particles in the inner parts hence, interfering with their operations (Travers, 1996). When a toaster starts bringing complications, it is better to dismantle it, repair, clean and reassemble it. The process of dismantling a toaster is as follows. Remove the outer plastic or metal covers, these outer casings are usually held in place by screws. Un-tighten the screws and careful put them a side (Wallace, 2014). When the casing is removed, the mica sheets of metals with nichrome wire wound on it would be exposed. Then remove the top piece of the metal frame (Hirzel, 2014). At this time, several strips of metals connecting the wires to an outside source of power hold the mica sheets. The nichrome wire should now be loose and movable however, they would be still together. When dismantling a toaster, one ought to be cautious because nichrome wires are delicate. The high temperature wires are normally stiff and tough; they may pull and break the delicate nichrome wires. It is important to note that the voltage inside the toasters is normally high and therefore dangerous. If not handled with care, one can easily be shocked or burned. In case a toaster is open and plugged in, it is advisable not to get in contact with the heating components (Cerit, 2013). Some of the problems encountered in dismantling toasters are; first, some screws used to attach the outer casing and the inner components get rust and this makes it hard to unscrew them. Secondly, the wires inside the components sometimes are cut during the process of separating the components. Lastly, some components break due to strains in process of separating them. Identification of materials used in making a toaster After dismantling the toaster, we found that various materials have been used to build it, and each material has different functions (Cerit, 2013). The nature of the materials includes plastic materials, metal materials, composite materials and polymer materials. For examples, the use of plastic materials in making the outer casing of the toaster is meant to insulate the entire system so that the users are not electrified when the equipment is in use. The wires connected inside the systems have also plastic covering to serve the same purpose. Moreover, the plastic materials are known to be light in weight and cheaper (Cerit, 2013). Plastic materials are also waterproof; hence, water cannot penetrate into the inner parts of the system and malfunction it. We discovered that most of the inner parts of the system are made of metal materials and alloys. Metals such as copper wires are meant to facilitate the conduction of electricity that should flow in various parts of the system. These electricity-conducting materials are well covered to reduce the risks of electric shock and explosions of fire. Moreover, iron or steel metals are used for framework and support. Moreover, they are preferred from other metals because they have high melting point hence, good for internal components that conduct a lot of heat when the toasters are functioning. Metals such as aluminum and cooper are not electromagnetic, when the current flows in wires, the wires do not emit electro-magnetic radiations. Otherwise, when electromagnetic materials are used, they can cause the whole system not to function. However, unlike the plastic materials, some metals parts are too expensive (Hirzel, 2014). In fact, they are the ones that make some of these appliances to be costly. Other materials used to build toasters are composite materials or polymers. They are made up of mixtures of various original compounds and have desired characteristics (Cerit, 2013).These composite materials have several chemical compounds blended. Such materials tend to do special functions in such home appliances. Some parts of the toasters are made of polymers. Some are designed for insulation purposes while others are meant for aesthetic value; they make the outward look of the equipment look appealing (Huggler &Peter, 1996). Some of these composite materials can be substitute to other expensive materials; they can play the same role other materials such as plastic do. Reassembling the toaster Toasters are designed in a way that they can be assembled by hand. The components parts are designed to allow easy assembling. The metal sheets are connected with series of tabs that are fitted into small slots and folded over just by hands. This tends to allow the metals sheets to be quickly fixed together. In assembling the components of toasters, the assemblers make some holes on the metal sheets (Travers, 1996). These punched holes allow easy fixing of wires, rods or even metal pieces through the space into their right locations. Putting the mica sheets into the stamped metal regions is another activity done in the assembly process (Wallace, 2014). It involves sliding the mica plates down at the same time threading the wires. The whole process of assembling is indeed tedious because toasters have many parts that ought to be put together and function properly (Cerit, 2013). One way of simplifying this task of assembling is automating the process; this will not only save time, but also labor. In assembling the toaster, we joined the top metal bracket that holds the mica sheets that joined with heating wires. We made some holes in one corner of the plastic casing to allow the wires to penetrate (Hirzel, 2014). We installed the controllers, which the modern toasters need, its main purposes is to drive the relay to switch between toasting patterns. This would read the button, then display test on some LCD thus, receiving commands. We then mounted the test controller unit (TCU), the connectors, and switches. Afterwards, we mounted the assembled components into a plastic box. We drilled a hole on the top corner of the plastic box to give room for the LCD to be seen when it is correctly mounted. We also drilled four holes in the box that matched up with the holes in the corners of the carrier board. After completing the assembling of the TCU, we connected it to the toaster. Now the system was ready to switch on the power to test if it worked (Cerit, 2013). The display had to blink and the LCD that was on the carrier board should light up at the same time. At this process of testing whether the toaster is functioning or not, we pushed the toaster lever down and observed the heating coils inside (Hirzel, 2014). The top or the bottom of this component had to turn red. This means that the component is functioning. As seen, the process of reassembling the toaster is long. This is because toasters are made of different components that should be fixed together properly for the whole thing to work. One problem that is encountered during the process of assembling toasters is that the process is designed for hand assembling (Huggler& Peter, 1996). It is manual, therefore, a tiresome process. Secondly, the parts and materials that make up a toaster are small. This was hard for us to do handle them faster (Hirzel, 2014). Another problem is that when assembling, the assemblers should have the knowledge of identifying the right materials to be used in different parts. Conclusion The process of building toasters as home appliances is just like building other appliances. Materials are assembled, they are selected and shaped into desired manner and fixed together to come up with a hole unit. However, the assembling process is a bit tedious because it is done manual. Modern day’s technologies have now paved way for the automation of the entire process. A process that could take hours with manual can now take minutes to be completed by the use of automation. Dismantling of the equipment has also its challenges but with the right tools to do this task, it has become more safe and has reduce loses that are normally incurred. The materials used in making various parts of toasters are of different kinds and this has enhanced the construction of such complicate appliance to be used in homes. References Alphin, Elaine Marie. Toasters. Minneapolis: Caroirhoda Books, 1998. Cerit, E. (2013). . Engineer & the Machinery Magazine, (646), 12-21. Hirzel, A. (2014). The basics of amorphous-iron motors. Machine Design, 86(6), 38-43. Huggler; Peter E. (1996)"Assembly for Toaster Appliance." United States Patent and Trademark Office  Patent no. 59,01,639 Wallace, D. (2014). The importance of equipment BOM. Retrieved From http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/10689/equipment-bom Travers, B (1996) World of Invention: Detroit: Gale Research Inc Read More