Angled Tab Carrier Panel for Secure Article Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging solutions, such as cartons, face challenges in minimizing material usage while ensuring strength and security for transporting large weights of articles, particularly in retaining articles with varying shapes and sizes efficiently.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an engaging panel with angled tabs and apertures in a carrier structure, where the upper and lower plies of the panel have tabs that fold upward to securely engage articles, optimizing material usage and retention by adjusting the diameter and alignment of tabs to fit various article shapes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional cartons are used to carry multiple articles, then articles can be transported and stored, but material usage is excessive and strength is insufficient for holding large weights
Solution Approach 1:
The carton is divided into multiple panels with individual apertures for each article, allowing the structure to be optimized for each specific article while using minimal material. Each panel is segmented into specific regions (corner areas, end portions) that serve distinct functions, reducing unnecessary material usage while maintaining overall strength.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the panel have different properties: corner areas provide structural support and are folded to create angled edges for strength, while end portions are designed with tabs for article engagement. This localized optimization allows the carton to use material only where needed for specific functions, reducing overall material usage while maintaining strength where required.
2Reliability
If top gripping article carriers with apertures and tabs are used, then articles can be secured within the carton, but the structure becomes complex and material usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The corner area and end portions are merged into a single integrated panel structure, where the folded corner area creates angled edges that work together with the tabs to secure articles. This integration reduces the number of separate components needed while maintaining reliable article retention through the combined action of the folded structure and tabs.
Solution Approach 2:
The tabs are designed to be flexible and movable, allowing them to adapt to different article shapes and sizes. The tabs can be struck from the panel and displaced to engage articles, providing dynamic adjustment capability that simplifies the overall structure by eliminating the need for multiple fixed-size apertures or complex adjustment mechanisms.
3Quantity of substance
If cartons are designed to hold large weights of articles, then carrying capacity increases, but material usage and structural complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The panel utilizes the inherent properties of paperboard material in a composite-like structure, where the folded corner areas create rigid angled edges that work together with the flexible tabs. This approach maximizes the strength-to-weight ratio of the material, allowing the carton to hold large weights while using minimal material, as the folded structure creates mechanical advantage without adding material volume.
Data Source
AI summary
A package, a carrier for packaging one or more articles and a blank for forming the carrier are disclosed. The carrier comprises an engaging panel with at least one article-receiving aperture disposed in engagement with a part of an article. The engaging panel has a first side edge, a first end edge, a corner defined by the first side and end edges, and a corner area. The article-receiving aperture comprises a first engaging edge across the corner area from the corner. The corner area is defined at least partially by the first engaging edge, and end portions of each of the first side and end edges extending from the corner, respectively. The corner area is folded with respect to the remainder of the engaging panel such that the end portion of the first side edge is angled with respect to an adjoining portion of the first side edge. Also disclosed is a package comprising an article carrier and at least one article, the at least one article having an upwardly tapered upper portion, the carrier comprising an engaging panel comprising a first, upper, ply and a second, lower, ply, the lower ply including at least one lower aperture having an annular series of lower ply tabs formed around the at least one lower aperture, wherein the lower ply tabs are angled upwardly with respect to the engaging panel such that the lower ply tabs are in face-contacting engagement with the upper portion of the at least one article, the upper ply includes at least one upper aperture arranged substantially coaxially with the at least one lower aperture and has an annular series of upper ply tabs formed around the at least one upper aperture, the upper ply tabs are angled upwardly with respect to the engaging panel such that at least some of each of the upper ply tabs is in face-contacting engagement with a respective adjacent pair of the lower ply tabs.