Airtight Coffee Container Venting for Fermentation Gas Pressure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing airtight storage containers for coffee beans are inadequate as they fail to maintain a hermetic seal due to pressure increases from coffee bean fermentation, leading to interaction with oxygen and moisture, which compromises freshness.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring a first seal valve with a spring-activated shutter and a second non-return valve, such as a duckbill check valve, that allows air to escape while preventing external air from entering, ensuring a hermetic seal and maintaining freshness by managing pressure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a rubber cap is used to seal the opening in the cover, then the opening can be sealed, but the seal fails when interior pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure due to coffee bean fermentation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic sealing mechanism where the lid can move vertically relative to the container body. When internal pressure increases, the lid rises to open the sealing interface, allowing gas escape. When pressure equalizes, the lid returns to its original position to restore the seal. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction between maintaining seal reliability and adapting to pressure changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing mechanism changes its operational state based on pressure parameters. At normal pressure, the lid maintains contact with the container rim for sealing. When pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure, the lid displacement changes the sealing interface state, opening the seal to release pressure. This parameter-based state change allows the system to adapt between sealed and vented conditions.
2Reliability
If the container is completely sealed to prevent oxygen and moisture interaction, then freshness is maintained, but fermentation gases cannot escape causing pressure buildup
Solution Approach 1:
The patent converts the harmful effect of fermentation gas production into a useful function. The pressure buildup from fermentation is transformed into the driving force that automatically opens the seal when needed. The system benefits from the fermentation pressure by using it to activate the venting mechanism, thereby converting a harmful factor into a beneficial automatic control signal.
Solution Approach 2:
The container performs self-regulation of internal pressure without external intervention. When fermentation gases increase pressure, the lid automatically rises to vent the excess pressure. When pressure equalizes, the lid automatically returns to seal the container. This self-service mechanism maintains freshness while managing pressure buildup through autonomous operation.
3Stress or pressure
If the lid is allowed to move freely to relieve pressure, then pressure is managed, but the hermetic seal is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The lid's movement is dynamically controlled based on pressure conditions rather than being freely movable. The lid rises only when internal pressure exceeds atmospheric pressure, and returns when pressure equalizes. This controlled dynamics ensures the seal remains intact during normal conditions while allowing pressure relief when necessary, resolving the contradiction between seal integrity and pressure management.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The container effectively maintains airtight conditions by allowing pressure relief through the non-return valve, preventing external air from entering and keeping coffee beans fresh by managing pressure increases from fermentation gases.
Implementation Method 1
a spring interposed between the button and an outer face of a partition wall of the lid member. The spring normally urges the button outwardly and away from the partition wall thereby to hold the shutter in tight sealing contact
Implementation Method 2
The second, non-return valve is disposed in the second opening of the lid member to permit air to actively flow out of the storage chamber of the container body upon reaching a predetermined degree of pressure, and to prevent environmental air from being drawn into the storage chamber
Implementation Method 3
the second non-return valve is directed to a duckbill check valve with one end having a seam line to flex open to permit air to pass through and to close to prevent backflow
Data Source
AI summary
A container includes a container body, a lid member, a first seal valve and a second non-return valve. The lid member is superimposable on the container body to form a storage chamber in the container, and defines therein a first opening and a second opening. The first seal valve is disposed on the lid member, normally seals the first opening of the lid member, and is operable to unseal the first opening of the lid member. The second, non-return valve is disposed in the second opening of the lid member to permit air to actively flow out of the storage chamber of the container body upon reaching a predetermined degree of pressure, and to prevent environmental air from being drawn into the storage chamber.