Container Adapter With Removable Seal For Hygienic Mixing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing container systems for storing and preparing liquid or powder formulations face challenges such as contamination risks, limited preservation time, and adaptability issues, particularly in ensuring hygiene and safety during the preparation and distribution of food or non-food products.
Innovation Solution
An adapter system that can be mounted on a container, featuring a tank with a first opening for transferring a product into the container and a movable sealing means that can be activated to allow the product to flow out, while also providing a second opening for connecting the container to the atmosphere, ensuring optimal preservation and hygiene during product distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a pre-filled disposable container with a removable tight membrane is used, then the product can be stored and distributed, but the length of time the mixture is preserved is very limited
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into two separate compartments: a tank for storing the formulation and a container for holding the diluent liquid. This segmentation allows the formulation to be preserved in the sealed tank for extended periods while only mixing occurs when needed, thereby extending preservation time while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The formulation is pre-filled and sealed in the tank before use. This preliminary action allows the product to be stored in a ready-to-use state with extended preservation time, and the sealing means maintains this preservation until the moment of activation when the user opens the sealing to mix with the liquid in the container.
2Reliability
If a tank suitable to contain powder is used in feeding bottles, then the product can be stored, but elements are present that prevent or restrict the dispersion of the product into the container or from the container to the atmosphere
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing means is designed to be completely removable from the tank opening. When activated, the sealing means is taken out entirely, allowing direct access from the tank to the container without any obstructing elements, thereby enabling complete and unrestricted dispersion of the formulation while maintaining containment during storage.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of having a valve or opening mechanism that remains in place during dispensing, the invention inverts the approach by using a removable sealing means that is completely absent during the mixing phase. This inversion ensures no elements prevent product dispersion while the sealing means provides reliable containment when closed.
3Reliability
If a container with two compartments is used, then the formulation and liquid can be stored separately, but the device is difficult to market on a large scale since it is not adaptable to a large number of currently known containers
Solution Approach 1:
The adapter is designed with a universal interface that can be mounted on various types of containers. The sealing means is configured to seal the opening of different container types, allowing the same tank assembly to work with multiple container formats, thereby achieving both separate storage reliability and broad container adaptability for large-scale marketing.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention concerns an adapter (1) which is suitable to be mounted on and to cooperate with the neck (7) of a container (3) in order to allow a product contained in the adapter (1) to flow out into the interior of said container (3), said adaptor including:at least one tank (4) which is suitable to contain said product, said tank (4) having a first opening (2) which is suitable to transfer said product from the tank (4) into the interior of the container (3),a single-use or reversible movable means for sealingly closing (5) the first opening (2),a means for activating (25) the movable means for sealingly closing (5) so as to allow said movable means for sealingly closing (5) to open and said product contained in the tank to flow out into the interior of the container (3).The present invention also relates to a container comprising said adapter and to a method for preparing and/or serving a liquid.