Cardboard Product Support with Hinge Panels for Machine Erection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing product support systems, particularly in packaging, face challenges in maintaining product alignment during shipping and display, especially in high-speed, high-volume settings, and there is a need for environmentally friendly alternatives to molded plastic supports.
Innovation Solution
A machine-erectable product support made from cardboard or paperboard, featuring a structure with hinge panels and openings for pin-assisted erection, allowing conversion from a flat to a 3D configuration, which can be securely attached and used within outer packages to maintain product alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a moulded plastic product support is used to locate products in a desired position, then product alignment and stability are improved, but environmental friendliness and recyclability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces durable moulded plastic supports with disposable cardboard or paperboard supports that can be easily erected and then discarded with the packaging. This resolves the contradiction by using a material (cardboard/paperboard) that is environmentally friendly and recyclable, while still providing the necessary product alignment function during its brief service life in the packaging.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and properties of the support material from rigid plastic to flexible cardboard/paperboard that can be transformed from a flat configuration to an erected 3D configuration. This parameter change (from flat to erected) enables the support to provide stable product alignment while being made from environmentally friendly materials.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a cardboard or paperboard product support integral with the outer package is used, then environmental friendliness is improved, but ease of machine erection and productivity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the product support from the outer package, making it a separate insertable component rather than an integral part. This segmentation allows the support to be pre-formed and then quickly inserted into the package by machines, significantly improving erection speed and productivity while maintaining environmental friendliness through the use of cardboard or paperboard.
Solution Approach 2:
The product support is prepared in advance in a flat configuration with pre-defined hinge panels and opening patterns. This preliminary preparation enables rapid machine erection by simply inserting the pre-formed support into the package and erecting it, rather than forming it during the packaging process, thus improving productivity.
3Productivity
If a machine-erectable product support with hinge panels and openings is used, then productivity and erection speed are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The product support is designed to be self-erecting through its hinge panel structure. When inserted into the package, the support automatically erects itself by folding along the hinge panels, requiring minimal machine intervention. This self-service mechanism simplifies the overall erection system while maintaining high productivity, as the complexity is built into the support structure itself rather than requiring complex external erection equipment.
Data Source
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AI summary
A machine erectable product support (1) comprises at least one product support defining structure (3) including a top panel (5) a bottom panel (7) and a longitudinal side wall panel (9). The product support defining structure (3) defines, in the erected product support (1), one or more product locating pockets (11). The top panel (5) comprises cutlines and foldlines (15, 17) defining a plurality of hinge panels (13) hingedly attaching a first portion (6) of the top panel (5) to a second portion (8) of the top panel (5) to enable the first portion (6) to be rotated relative to the second portion (8) to erect the product support defining structure (3) during erection of the product support (1). The bottom panel (7) comprises one or more openings, each opening being registered with a respective portion of the top panel (5) when the product support defining structure (3) is in a flat configuration to facilitate erection of the product support.