Cardboard Tray Multi-Segment Flange Design for Tensioned Top Seal Foil
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for top sealing cardboard trays result in flanges that lose rigidity and tension, making them unsuitable for stacking and difficult to connect, and often require a flat horizontal circumferential flange that is challenging to achieve due to thickness differences, leading to suboptimal packaging performance.
Innovation Solution
A method where the top seal foil is adhered only to the first and second flange parts, with the third flange part securing the first flange part in place, creating a tensioned circumferential flange without height differences, allowing for reliable sealing and stacking, and using a double-folded first flange part to maintain tension and facilitate heat sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a horizontal peripheral flange is provided along the access opening of the tray and a foil is top sealed onto it, then the top seal foil is no longer under tension, but the top sealed cardboard trays cannot be stacked on top of each other
Solution Approach 1:
The flange is divided into multiple flange parts (first flange part, second flange part, third flange part) with different functions. The first and second flange parts provide foil attachment and tension, while the third flange part provides structural support and stacking capability. This segmentation allows each part to optimize for its specific function rather than compromising overall performance.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the flange structure are given different properties: the first and second flange parts are designed to be flexible and tensioned for foil attachment, while the third flange part is designed to be rigid and horizontal for stacking. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between maintaining foil tension and enabling stackability.
2Strength
If the top seal foil is adhered to a circumferential flange, then the cardboard tray loses rigidity, but the look and feel of the packaging is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The flange is segmented into multiple parts with different structural roles. The third flange part provides a rigid, flat horizontal surface that maintains tray shape and appearance, while the first and second flange parts are designed to work with the foil without compromising overall rigidity.
Solution Approach 2:
The third flange part is specifically designed to maintain rigidity and provide a flat surface for aesthetic purposes, while the first and second flange parts are designed to be more flexible for foil attachment. This local quality differentiation allows the tray to maintain both rigidity and proper appearance.
3Ease of manufacture
If overlapping flange parts are used to connect the flange parts of a cardboard tray, then connection is attempted, but the difference in thickness of the flange part itself and the overlapping flange portion makes top sealing difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of trying to make overlapping flange parts flat through complex folding and gluing operations, the invention inverts the approach by designing the third flange part to extend beyond the overlapping portions and provide the flat horizontal surface. This eliminates the need for precise flatness in overlapping regions and simplifies the manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The function of providing a flat horizontal surface for top sealing is extracted from the overlapping flange parts and assigned to the third flange part. This separation of functions allows the overlapping parts to focus on connection while the third part ensures flatness, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and manufacturing precision.
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 solution provides a strong, tensioned top seal that maintains rigidity and allows for easy stacking of sealed cardboard trays, while also enabling biodegradable packaging options and efficient heat sealing, enhancing the overall packaging performance.
Implementation Method 1
efficient heat sealing
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~4
AI summary
Cardboard tray folded from an unfolded sheet (1) of cardboard, comprising: a bottom wall (2) with a circumferential edge composed out of an even number of straight edges; wall parts (4) each arranged to a straight edge (3) of the bottom wall (2); first flange parts (6) alternately arranged to subsequent wall parts along the circumferential edge, which flange parts (6) are arranged to an edge of said wall part opposite of, and preferably parallel to, the respective straight edge of the bottom wall (2); wherein the first flange parts (6) comprise at least a first (8), a second (9), and a third (10) elongate flange part section, which are connected parallel and along an elongate edge to each other, wherein the first elongate flange part section (8) is arranged to the respective wall part (4).