Break-Open Package Pre-Weakened Areas Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Reducing the thickness of semi-rigid plastic material in single-dose break-open packages leads to inconsistent breakage and suboptimal product outflow, making it difficult to achieve precise and controlled dispensing.
Innovation Solution
A sealed single-dose break-open package design featuring a semi-rigid plastic sheet with a transverse main incision of varying depth, allowing progressive breakage and maintaining elasticity, along with pre-weakened areas to guide folding without breakage, ensuring controlled product release.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If the thickness of the first sheet of semi-rigid plastic material is reduced to decrease packaging material quantity and cost, then the total quantity of packaging material is reduced, but the breakage precision along the incision becomes inconsistent and product outflow becomes suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating pre-weakened areas with different degrees of weakening: the incision has variable depth (deeper in central portion, shallower at ends) and the pre-weakened areas have specific thickness reductions (30-70% of original thickness). This localized variation in material properties ensures that breakage occurs precisely at the intended locations even with reduced overall sheet thickness, resolving the contradiction between material reduction and breakage precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-forming weakened areas (incisions and pre-weakened zones) during the manufacturing process before the package is used. The incision with variable depth and pre-weakened areas are created in advance to guide and ensure precise breakage along the transverse direction, eliminating the need for thick material to achieve controlled breakage and enabling thin material to still provide reliable, precise opening.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the thickness of the first sheet of semi-rigid plastic material is reduced to reduce environmental impact, then the environmental impact is reduced, but folding the package does not always obtain precise breakage along the incision
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses local quality by creating specific weakened zones with controlled thickness reductions (30-70% of original) at predetermined locations. The incision has variable depth with maximum depth in the central portion and shallower depth at ends, creating localized stress concentration points that ensure reliable breakage occurs at the correct locations even with reduced overall material thickness, thus maintaining reliability while reducing environmental impact.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies parameter changes by modifying the physical parameters of the sheet material locally: the incision depth varies along its length (maximum in center, shallower at ends) and the pre-weakened areas have reduced thickness (30-70% of original). These parameter variations create predictable stress distribution patterns that ensure reliable breakage behavior with thinner material, resolving the contradiction between environmental impact and breakage reliability.
3Ease of operation
If pre-weakened areas are added to guide folding without breakage, then folding control is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-forming weakened areas (incisions and pre-weakened zones) during the manufacturing process. These features are created in advance to guide the folding action and ensure breakage occurs at the correct locations. The pre-weakened areas serve as built-in guides that direct the user's folding action without requiring additional external guides or complex mechanisms, thus improving ease of operation without significantly increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges multiple functions into the sheet material itself: the incision with variable depth serves both as a breaking guide and a folding guide, while the pre-weakened areas provide both structural guidance and controlled weakening. By combining these features directly into the packaging material rather than adding separate guiding components, the patent improves folding control while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
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
Ensures precise and intuitive control over product outflow, maintaining package integrity and allowing for adjustable dispensing rates while preventing accidental breakage, even with reduced material thickness.
Implementation Method 1
an incision obtained in the first sheet so as to guide a controlled breakage of the first sheet along the incision in order to cause the formation, through the first sheet itself, of an outlet opening for the product. The incision presents along its own length a variable depth in order to determine a progressive breakage of the first sheet along the incision itself
Implementation Method 2
The sheet of semi-rigid plastic material presents two pre-weakened areas, which are arranged on opposite sides of the main incision and determine a localized weakening of the sheet without involving the breakage of the sheet itself. Each pre-weakened area presents a thickness that is comprised between 30% and 70% of the initial thickness of the sheet
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4
AI summary
A sealed single-dose break-open package (1) presenting: a first sheet (2) of semi-rigid plastic material; a second sheet (3) of flexible plastic material superimposed on and sealed to the first sheet (2) to define a sealed pocket (4) containing a dose of a product (5); and an incision (6) obtained in the first sheet (2), so as to guide, following a folding of the package (1), a controlled breakage of the first sheet (2) along the incision (6); moreover, the first sheet (2) presents two pre-weakened areas (12), which are aligned with the incision (6), are arranged on opposite sides of the incision (6) at a given distance from the incision (6) itself, and determine a localized weakening of the first sheet (2), which, following a folding of the package (1), facilitates a folding of the first sheet (2) aligned with the incision (6), without at the same time determining any breakage of the first sheet (2).