Self-heating container

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present invention feature a self-heating or self-cooling container that is simple in design. The container includes an outer container body, an inner container body, a reactant vessel, a breakable barrier, and a breaking device. The outer container body defines a first chamber and includes a first reactant. The inner container body defines a second chamber. The inner container body is disposed within the first chamber and hold a substance to be heated or cooled. The reactant vessel is provided within the first chamber underneath the inner container body. The reactant vessel contains a second reactant capable of reacting with the first reactant to generate an exothermic or endothermic reaction. The breakable barrier covers the reactant vessel. The breaking device is disposed within the first chamber between the inner container body and the reactant vessel. The breaking device is capable of breaking the barrier to release the second reactant into the first chamber to mix and react with the first reactant when activated.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE [0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 736,485, entitled “Self-Heating Container”, filed Nov. 14, 2005, which is herein referenced and incorporated in its entirety.BACKGROUND [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a container, and more particularly, to a self-heating container. [0004] 2. Background of the Invention [0005] For today's on-the-go consumer society, it would be convenient for consumers to be able to heat beverages, such as coffee, tea, or milk, and food products, such as soup, quickly without having access to any conventional source of heat. Consumers would be able to have hot cup of coffee anytime, anywhere regardless of whether there is a coffee maker, kettle, or a microwave. [0006] Self-heating technology has been around for a while. A typical self-heating technology employs an exothermic reaction using two reagents, where one reagent is a solid material such as calcium oxid...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The invention is a container with a self-heating or self-cooling function. It includes an outer container body, an inner container body, and a reactant vessel. The outer container body has a first reactant, the inner container body has a substance to be heated or cooled, and the reactant vessel has a second reactant that can react with the first reactant to generate heat or cooling. The container also includes a breaking device that can release the second reactant into the first chamber to mix and react with the first reactant when activated. The containers are simple in design and cost-efficient to manufacture."

Problems solved by technology

A disadvantage of this container is that in assembly, placing and securing the membrane, which is a critical step, can be complicated, and sophisticated testing steps would be required to ensure that the seal is secure, Filling the lower compartment with water must be done with precision as any water present in the vicinity of the seal can adversely effect the quality of the seal.

A disadvantage of this container is that assembly is quite complicated.

A disadvantage of this container is that it requires many of the parts to be sealed.

Seals can be easily broken when the container undergoes a temperature change, jeopardizing the integrity of the container.

The container of the '879 patent has a complex design and too many parts.

Although various self-heating technology and self-heating container designs have been around for a while, self-heating containers have not be widely commercialized in the marketplace.

This is because none of the existing designs are sufficiently simple to enable manufacturing at a reasonable cost.

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