Ceramic Food Container Seal With Gas Channels for Vapor Lock
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Solution Overview
Problem
Fired ceramic containers face challenges with non-uniform shrinkage during firing, leading to dimensional irregularities and poor sealing due to imperfections, which hinder effective preservation of food flavor and moisture, especially when used for storing, heating, and serving.
Innovation Solution
A ceramic container system with a heat-resistant, flexible silicon seal or concentric radially protruding ribs that accommodate non-uniform mating surfaces, allowing gas movement to prevent pressure buildup and vacuum formation, ensuring effective sealing and compatibility with microwave and dishwasher use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If fired ceramic containers are used for storing and heating food, then microwave compatibility and stain resistance are improved, but sealing effectiveness deteriorates due to non-uniform shrinkage and dimensional irregularities
Solution Approach 1:
A flexible seal member is introduced as an intermediary element between the container and lid mating surfaces. This seal accommodates the non-uniform dimensional irregularities inherent in fired ceramic components while still providing effective sealing. The flexible material deforms to conform to the imperfect surfaces, bridging the gap between the versatile ceramic material and the reliable sealing function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flexible seal member (such as a gasket or membrane) that can deform elastically to adapt to the non-uniform mating surfaces of fired ceramic components. This flexible element compensates for dimensional variations and shrinkage irregularities, maintaining sealing effectiveness despite the rigid, imperfect ceramic surfaces it bridges.
2Reliability
If conventional rigid seals are used with fired ceramic containers, then sealing is attempted, but the seal fails to accommodate non-uniform mating surfaces caused by shrinkage irregularities
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid seal is replaced with a flexible seal member that can deform to conform to non-uniform mating surfaces. This flexible element stretches and compresses to accommodate dimensional irregularities and shrinkage variations in the fired ceramic components, maintaining sealing reliability where rigid seals would fail.
Solution Approach 2:
The seal's physical parameters (shape, volume, position) are made variable through its flexibility, allowing it to adapt to the non-uniform mating surfaces. The seal can deform elastically under compression to fill gaps and conform to irregular surfaces, changing its geometry to match the imperfect ceramic interfaces it must seal.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate containers are used for storing, heating and serving food, then each function can be optimized, but device complexity and the number of containers increase
Solution Approach 1:
The fired ceramic container system is designed to perform multiple functions: storage in the refrigerator, heating in the microwave, and serving at the table. The same container and lid assembly with the flexible seal can withstand refrigeration temperatures, microwave heating, and table service, eliminating the need for separate specialized containers for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple container functions into a single unified system. The ceramic container with its flexible-sealed lid serves as both a storage container and a microwave-safe heating vessel, merging the functions of what would traditionally require separate plastic storage containers and glass or metal heating containers.
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 reliable seal for ceramic containers, allowing for the use of the same container for storing, heating, and serving food, maintaining food quality by preventing moisture loss and vapor lock, while being compatible with non-uniform surfaces and safe for microwave and dishwasher use.
Implementation Method 1
A ceramic lid and container system with a heat-resistant, flexible silicon seal
Implementation Method 2
The seal may comprise one or more channels to facilitate movement of a volume of gas across the channel of the seal. The channel in the seal prevents excessive pressure from building up when foods are heated within the container system, and also prevents of an excessive vacuum when hot gases within the interior of the container cool
Data Source
AI summary
A food container system and method of using same is provided for heating, storing or cooling food placed within a container. The container system facilitates heating of food without dehydration of the food, and it permits cooling of the food, such as, for example, cooling in a refrigerator or cooling at room temperature after removal from a heating oven or microwave, without vapor lock preventing or making difficult the removal of a lid from a container in which the food is heated or cooled. The system comprises, in one aspect, a ceramic lid and a ceramic container to receive the lid, and a seal having a channel there through and disposed intermediate the ceramic lid and the ceramic container. In one aspect, the seal may comprise a heat-resistant silicon material. In one aspect, the same container system may be used, for example, to heat a food placed in the container, to serve the food at a dining table, and to store the food, or the remaining unconsumed portion of the food, in a refrigerator for later reheating and consumption.