Biodegradable Tray With Truncated Cone Cup Beds
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging solutions for transporting dairy products in plastic cups lack mechanical stability, often causing cups to overturn and fall during transport, and fail to provide adequate protection against microclimate variations and microorganisms, while also being inefficient in terms of space usage and ecological impact.
Innovation Solution
A biodegradable secondary packaging system featuring a hollow prismatic body with symmetrically positioned cup beds and connections designed as hollow quadrilateral prisms and cuboids, forming truncated cone-shaped beds that securely fit and stabilize plastic cups, ensuring stability and compact storage, and made from environmentally friendly materials like paper pulp.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional plastic crates with star-form grid bottoms are used, then cup stability during transport is improved, but storage space efficiency deteriorates due to increased height requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The crate bottom is divided into multiple cup beds with individual partitions for each cup, creating segmented compartments that stabilize cups without requiring excessive height. Each partitioned bed independently secures a cup, preventing overturning while maintaining compact overall dimensions for efficient storage.
2Adaptability or versatility
If cardboard boxes with paper pulp inserts are used, then ecological requirements are met, but mechanical stability and cup protection deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The crate combines biodegradable outer shell material (cardboard or paper pulp) with reinforced partition structures made from high-strength biodegradable materials. This composite construction maintains ecological compatibility while providing the mechanical stability needed to prevent cup damage during transport.
3Reliability
If partitions connecting divider elements are added to GB2032886 design, then cup stability improves, but structural complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The partition walls are integrated directly into the divider elements, merging the functions of division and stabilization into a single structural component. This eliminates the need for separate partition pieces and complex assembly procedures, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining cup stability.
4Strength
If solid outer frames are used in DE102005002374 design, then structural strength improves, but storage efficiency deteriorates due to increased stacking space requirements
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of a solid outer frame throughout, structural reinforcement is applied locally only where needed for strength - specifically at the corners and along the perimeter - while the interior remains open with partitioned compartments. This localized reinforcement maintains structural integrity during stacking while minimizing overall volume for efficient storage.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~9
AI summary
A biodegradable crate for storing and transport of food products has a crate body (1), in the form of a hollow quadrilateral prism framed by a rectangular perimeter (2) with rounded corners, and with an end (18) folded downwards. Twenty identical cup beds (3) are distributed evenly and separated from one another by twelve integrally made prismatic divider elements (4), in the shape of hollow quadrilateral prisms with rounded vertices (5) and connections (10) in the shape of hollow cuboids with shorter flat sides (12) and longer concave sides (13), and with ratio of connection (10) and divider element (4) heights preferably made in a scale of 2:3. The cup beds (3) have the shape of truncated cones oriented so that their narrow sides form the bottom of the crate body (1), and the dimensions that are analogue to bottom parts of plastic cups (7).