Plastic Cap Inner Ring Recessed Portion Venting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional plastic caps with inner rings for screw engagement struggle to achieve both effective sealing and venting, particularly when used with bottles containing fruit juices that undergo secondary fermentation, leading to potential cap popping due to increased pressure.
Innovation Solution
A plastic cap design featuring an inner ring with a slender recessed portion that allows for outward expansion and deformation when pressure increases, combined with an outer ring and auxiliary protuberances for enhanced sealing and venting, allowing gas to escape without compromising the cap's structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the inner ring is thickly formed to maintain high sealing, then the sealing performance is improved, but the venting capability deteriorates because the inner ring cannot be easily deformed
Solution Approach 1:
The inner ring is segmented by forming a recessed portion that divides it into multiple sections. This segmentation allows the inner ring to deform more easily under pressure while maintaining adequate sealing, as the recessed portion acts as a hinge or flex point that enables controlled deformation without compromising the overall seal integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The recessed portion is strategically positioned at a specific location on the inner ring to create a localized area of reduced thickness and increased flexibility. This local modification allows the inner ring to maintain high sealing performance in most areas while providing a specific zone that can deform to enable venting when pressure increases.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the inner ring is thinly formed to enable easy deformation for venting, then the venting capability is improved, but the sealing performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly thinning the entire inner ring, the recessed portion creates a localized thin area that provides the necessary flexibility for venting. The majority of the inner ring maintains its original adequate thickness to ensure high sealing performance, thus resolving the contradiction between sealing and venting capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The recessed portion segments the inner ring structure, creating a specific deformation zone that can flex for venting while the rest of the ring structure remains sufficiently thick to maintain sealing. This segmentation allows different parts of the inner ring to serve different functions optimally.
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 cap effectively maintains high sealing performance while allowing for efficient gas venting, preventing cap popping and ensuring the cap remains securely attached to the bottle, even under elevated pressure conditions.
Implementation Method 1
when the pressure in the bottle is elevated... when the top panel of the cap is domed due to an increase in the pressure in the container
Implementation Method 2
the end of the inner ring deforms inward being pulled by the coupling portion... the inner ring is easily deformed upon doming since a slender recessed portion is formed
Data Source
AI summary
A plastic cap comprising a top panel and a skirt hanging down from the peripheral edge of the top panel, the inner surface of the top panel forming an inner ring that forms a seal upon coming into intimate contact with the inner surface of the wall of the mouth of a container, and the inner surface of skirt forming a screw thread that comes into engagement with a screw thread formed on the outer surface of the wall of the mouth of the container, wherein a slender recessed portion is formed in a number of at least one in the inner surface of said inner ring extending upward from an end thereof. The cap features both excellent sealing and excellent venting.