Anti-Choke Cap With Air Flow Passages
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing caps for containers, particularly those designed for infant and children's food products, lack effective tamper-evident mechanisms, air passage features, and safe disconnection mechanisms, posing choking hazards and difficulties in breathing if accidentally swallowed, and do not facilitate easy handling or removal from the airway.
Innovation Solution
The cap design incorporates top-to-bottom air flow passages and outer wall openings that allow air to flow through the cap, even if it becomes lodged in the airway, with a tamper-evident ring that remains attached to the cap to prevent swallowing, and textured surfaces for manual and machine handling, ensuring the cap can be securely tightened and removed from a container without posing a choking hazard.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the cap is made with traditional solid structure for security, then it prevents contamination effectively, but it creates choking hazard and blocks airway if accidentally swallowed
Solution Approach 1:
The cap incorporates a porous or permeable structure with numerous small air passages distributed throughout the cap body. These passages allow air to pass through the cap material itself, enabling breathability while maintaining the cap's structural integrity and seal function. The porous structure ensures that even if the cap is swallowed, air can continue to flow through it, preventing asphyxiation.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap is divided into multiple functional segments including an outer wall, inner wall, tamper-evident ring, and air passage channels. The air passage system is segmented into multiple independent pathways that distribute airflow throughout the cap structure, ensuring that blockage of one pathway does not prevent breathing through the cap.
2Loss of information
If the cap is designed with tamper evident ring that breaks on removal, then it indicates container opening, but the broken ring ends may injure the user
Solution Approach 1:
The tamper-evident ring acts as an intermediary element between the cap and the container opening. When the cap is removed, the ring breaks at predetermined weak points to indicate tampering, but the ring remains attached to the cap body through retaining features. This prevents the broken ring ends from becoming loose and injuring the user, while still providing clear tamper evidence.
Solution Approach 2:
The tamper-evident ring is pre-configured with predetermined break points and retaining features during manufacturing. The breaking action is planned and controlled to occur at specific locations that provide clear visual indication of tampering while the retaining features ensure the ring stays attached to the cap, preventing injury risks.
3Ease of manufacture
If the cap has smooth surface for easy manufacturing, then it simplifies production, but it reduces grip and handling capability
Solution Approach 1:
The cap incorporates localized surface features such as ribs, grooves, or textured patterns at specific locations on the outer surface. These local modifications provide enhanced grip and handling capability without requiring complete redesign of the entire cap structure. The surface features are integrated into the molding process, maintaining ease of manufacture while improving operational characteristics.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If the cap uses minimal frangible elements to reduce injury risk, then it lowers choking hazard, but it reduces tamper evident functionality
Solution Approach 1:
The tamper-evident ring serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides tamper evidence when it breaks, acts as a barrier to prevent cap removal without breaking, and remains attached to the cap through retaining features to prevent injury. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate tamper-evident mechanisms and reduces the number of frangible elements required.
Data Source
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AI summary
Air flow passages through the cap (10) enable one, who accidentally swallowed the cap (10), to breathe/pass air through the cap (10). Some air passages extend top (20) to bottom (22). Openings (42) in the outer side wall (24), and an air flow path across the cap (10), allow air to enter the cap (10) on a first side, flow transversely through the cap (10), and exit an opposing side. The top-to-bottom air flow passages, and the air flow path across the cap (10), including the openings (42) in the outer wall of the cap (10), collectively support air flow through the cap (10), thus through the person's airway, if/when the cap (10) becomes accidentally lodged in a person's airway. The openings (42) can be used to engage and extract an accidentally swallowed cap (10). Elements of an optional tamper evident ring (62A, 62B) remain attached to the cap (10) after the cap (10) is removed from the container.