Cheese Packaging with Peelable Tabs and Rigid Gripper
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging devices for individual portions of cheese, such as those with integral sticks or gripping rods, compromise on tightness and ease of opening, and lack a playful design appealing to children.
Innovation Solution
A packaging device with a rigid, planar gripping means sealed on both faces, featuring 'peelable' tabs and a protruding outer zone for easy handling, combined with a flexible container structure that maintains product integrity and allows easy opening by detaching tabs, and optionally decorated for appeal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a gripping rod is entirely housed inside the packaging, then the packaging structure is simple, but the ease of operation deteriorates because the gripping means cannot be easily manipulated before opening
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is divided into two separate hollow shells (container and lid) that are sealed together, allowing the gripping means to be mounted on the container while maintaining a simple overall structure. This segmentation enables independent manipulation of the container before opening without complicating the entire packaging system.
Solution Approach 2:
The gripping means acts as an intermediary element that passes through the wall of the cavity, providing a manual engagement interface. This intermediary structure allows users to manipulate the packaging before opening by gripping the protruding portion, while the sealed connection between shells maintains structural simplicity.
2Reliability
If opening tabs are sealed to the gripping means, then the tightness deteriorates, but the ease of opening improves
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing structure is designed with local quality differentiation: the tabs are sealed to the gripping means in a manner that provides sufficient tightness for product protection, while the sealing strength is locally optimized to allow easy peeling during opening. The seal is strong enough to maintain integrity during storage and transport but weak enough to be detached by manual pulling.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing connection between tabs and gripping means is designed to be dynamically adjustable in terms of strength - strong during normal handling and storage to maintain tightness, but easily breakable during the opening action. This dynamic characteristic allows the same sealing structure to serve both protection and ease of opening functions.
3Ease of operation
If the gripping means protrudes beyond the tabs, then the ease of operation improves for external grasping, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping means extends in a new dimension beyond the plane of the tabs, creating a protruding portion that can be grasped from the exterior. This dimensional extension allows manual engagement without adding complex mechanical structures, as the protrusion itself serves as the gripping interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The gripping means serves multiple functions: it provides structural support for mounting the tabs, creates the protruding grasping surface, and maintains the sealed connection between components. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate gripping elements, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
4Ease of operation
If the gripping means is mounted through the wall of the cavity, then the ease of operation improves, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gripping means is pre-mounted on the container before the sealing operation. This preliminary action allows the gripping means to be positioned and secured with standard tolerances, avoiding the need for high-precision mounting through the sealed wall after assembly. The mounting is performed when the structure is more accessible and easier to work with.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of mounting the gripping means through the sealed wall from the interior (which would require high precision), the mounting is performed from the exterior by passing the gripping means through the wall. This inversion of the mounting sequence and direction simplifies the manufacturing process and reduces precision requirements.
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 enhances the sealing and integrity of the cheese product while enabling easy, one-handed opening and a playful design, ensuring the product remains sealed until opened and is resistant to compression and leakage.
Implementation Method 1
said gripping means has an inner zone integral with said product which has at least one through hole, so as to maximize the adhesion of said product to the two faces of said gripping means
Implementation Method 2
said tabs being sealed on the two respective faces of said gripping means, without penalizing its tightness or its ease of opening
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
The present invention relates to a device for packaging a food product such as an individual portion of cheese, and to a method of manufacturing this packaging device. A device (1) according to the invention comprises two containers (2 and 3) sealed together at two respective peripheral rims (2a and 3a) that these containers have in order together to delimit a wall of a closed cavity containing the product (4) to be packaged, these rims extending respectively towards the outside of the containers in the form of two opening tabs (2b and 3b) facing each other which can be detached from one another by pulling in order to open up the device by detaching the rims, the device comprising a means (5) for grasping the product which is mounted secured to the latter inside the cavity, the grasping means passing through the wall of the cavity by extending beyond the tabs, which are sealed onto the grasping means. According to the invention, the grasping means has a rigid structure that sticks to the product and a substantially flat geometry, the tabs being bonded to the respective two faces of the grasping means.