Rotatable Button Cell Battery Dispenser with Indexing Lock
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing button cell battery dispenser packages face issues with battery spillage, pilferage, and inadvertent loss due to flexibility and free rotation, leading to increased complexity and cost in design and manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A button cell battery dispenser package with a multi-panel display card and a rotatable cover, where the cover's peripheral flange is sandwiched between the panels, and indexing features such as projections and cutouts prevent free rotation, ensuring secure containment and easy dispensing of batteries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a flexible display card and rotatable plastic casing are used, then the package can be compact and easy to manufacture, but the package can be bent creating gaps that allow batteries to spill or be pilfered
Solution Approach 1:
The package is divided into separate components: a rigid base, a rotatable cover, and a door assembly. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the rigid base provides secure containment while the rotatable cover enables easy battery access without compromising the overall security.
Solution Approach 2:
The package uses composite construction combining rigid base material with rotatable cover material. This composite approach allows the package to maintain rigidity for security while enabling controlled rotation for dispensing, resolving the contradiction between flexibility for manufacturing and rigidity for security.
2Ease of operation
If the plastic casing can rotate freely, then batteries can be easily accessed, but individual batteries can inadvertently move into alignment with the discharge outlet and fall out
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is designed with controlled rotational capability - it can rotate freely enough to allow easy battery access, but the door assembly provides dynamic control to prevent unintended rotation. The door acts as a gate that blocks the discharge outlet unless intentionally opened, creating a dynamic security mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The door assembly serves as an intermediary between the rotatable cover and the discharge outlet. It mediates the rotation function by allowing controlled access while preventing inadvertent battery disposal. The door is the intermediate element that reconciles the conflicting needs of easy access and secure containment.
3Reliability
If a rigid cover with adhesive layer and lockable push element is used, then batteries are securely contained, but the dispenser contains more components, assembly is more complicated and packaging cost is greater
Solution Approach 1:
The door assembly merges multiple functions into a single component: it provides security by blocking the discharge outlet, enables controlled access when opened, and eliminates the need for separate lockable push elements. This merging reduces the total number of components while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The door assembly is a multi-functional element that serves as both a security mechanism and an access control device. It replaces the need for separate adhesive layers, lockable push elements, and rotation control mechanisms, providing universal functionality that reduces overall device complexity.
4Reliability
If a plastic backing with peripheral lip is interposed between cover and card, then batteries are prevented from spilling, but the package has more components and assembly is more complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The door assembly merges the containment function with the access mechanism. By integrating the door into the cover assembly, the package eliminates the need for separate plastic backings with peripheral lips, reducing component count while maintaining the spill prevention function.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is a button cell battery dispensing package (10) including a display card with front panel (12) and rear panel (30) and a flanged cover rotatably disposed with its flange (60) between the front and rear panels (1230). The cover (50) has blisters forming cavities (54) in which the batteries are disposed, with the blisters (56) protruding through an opening in the front panel. The cover (50) has one or more rearward projections (52) that can project into the cutouts (48) in the rear panel (30), to prevent free rotation of the cover (50) and hold a cavity in position adjacent to a battery access opening (36) to facilitate removal of a battery from the cavity (54). The cover (50) can be manually rotated by the user to sequentially index cavities into position adjacent to a battery access opening. The package (10) can include a door that can be closed to retain a cell in a cavity (54) adjacent to the battery access opening or opened to allow removal of the battery.