Storage Bag Joined Center Portion Temperature Uniformity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible storage bags for colostrum often face challenges in maintaining uniform temperature distribution, leading to overheating of contents near the bag walls, and existing access methods can compromise sterility and create messes when sampling or adding substances.
Innovation Solution
A flexible storage bag design with a thermally welded or joined center portion and a self-healing injection port, allowing for improved temperature consistency and sterile access without opening the spout.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the bag walls are thin and flexible for easy handling and storage, then ease of operation is improved, but temperature uniformity deteriorates causing overheating of contents near the walls
Solution Approach 1:
The bag is divided into multiple sections by internal partitions that create separate compartments. This segmentation increases the distance between the colostrum and the bag walls, reducing direct heat transfer and improving temperature uniformity while maintaining the flexibility and ease of handling of the thin bag material.
2Ease of operation
If the spout cap is opened for sampling or adding substances, then access to contents is improved, but sterility and contamination control deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
A needle or syringe is used as an intermediary tool to access the bag contents through the sealed spout cap. The needle pierces the cap membrane, allowing sampling or addition of substances without opening the cap, thereby maintaining sterility and preventing contamination while still providing access to the contents.
3Temperature
If heating time is extended to heat center contents, then temperature uniformity is improved, but energy efficiency and time consumption deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the bag into smaller compartments with internal partitions, the maximum distance from any point of colostrum to the nearest bag wall is reduced. This allows heat to reach the center contents more quickly during pasteurization, achieving temperature uniformity in a shorter time without extending the heating cycle.
4Quantity of substance
If bag capacity is increased to reduce number of bags, then productivity is improved, but temperature control and heating efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The bag incorporates internal partitions that divide the large capacity bag into multiple smaller compartments. This allows the bag to maintain high capacity while ensuring that no colostrum is located too far from the heated bag walls, preserving heating efficiency and temperature control even in large-volume bags.
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 joined center portion enhances temperature uniformity by 25-45% and allows precise volume measurement, while the self-healing port enables sterile sampling or addition without contamination, improving handling and storage efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a center portion of the front and back walls are thermally bonded together to form a joined center portion
Implementation Method 2
a self-healing injection port is provided at the spout
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible and collapsible liquid storage bag comprising front and back walls formed from a sheet material is described wherein a front wall and a back wall are joined along a perimeter of the bag and are also joined at a joined center portion proximate the centers of the respective front and back sheets. The bags are typically used in the storage, heat-treatment and dispensing of bovine colostrum.