Child-Resistant Cap With Shape-Memory Skirt
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional child-resistant caps for pharmaceutical or nutritional products require fulcrum elements that can damage seals, occupy space, and limit design flexibility, making it difficult to create a cap that is both effective and space-efficient.
Innovation Solution
A child-resistant cap design featuring a top wall with a skirt and multiple slots and apertures that allows for removal without a fulcrum element, utilizing a shape-memory material and a dual configuration to securely engage and disengage from the container, allowing for easy removal and reattachment without damaging seals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If fulcrum elements are used to enable cap removal, then the cap can be removed from the container, but the fulcrum elements can damage seals and liners, occupy space, and limit design flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the fulcrum element entirely from the cap design. Instead of using a traditional fulcrum mechanism that risks damaging seals, the invention uses a membrane seal that directly interfaces with the container opening, eliminating the harmful fulcrum element while maintaining cap removal functionality through a different mechanism involving membrane deformation and engagement features.
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane seal acts as an intermediary between the cap and the container opening. Rather than using a rigid fulcrum element that directly contacts and damages seals, the flexible membrane deforms to engage with the container rim, providing a gentle intermediary interaction that prevents damage while enabling removal.
2Ease of operation
If fulcrum elements are used to enable cap removal, then the cap can be removed from the container, but the fulcrum elements occupy space and limit the size of seals and liners
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the fulcrum element that occupies valuable space within the cap assembly. By removing this component, the design achieves more efficient use of internal volume, allowing for larger or more extensive seal and liner configurations without compromising the cap removal function.
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane seal structure serves multiple functions simultaneously - it acts as both the sealing element and the engagement mechanism for removal. This self-service approach eliminates the need for separate fulcrum elements, maximizing the available space for seals and liners while maintaining operational capability.
3Ease of operation
If fulcrum elements are used to enable cap removal, then the cap can be removed from the container, but the fulcrum elements add design variables that limit creativity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the fulcrum element that introduces complex design variables. This simplification allows for more flexible and creative designs in other areas of the cap and container assembly, as the membrane seal system integrates multiple functions without requiring the additional design coordination needed for fulcrum mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane seal combines the sealing function and the removal engagement function into a single integrated structure. This merging eliminates the need for separate fulcrum elements and their associated design variables, allowing designers greater freedom in creating customized cap and container assemblies while maintaining operational effectiveness.
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 prevents children from opening the container while maintaining a compact design and minimizing damage to seals, ensuring secure engagement and easy operation.
Implementation Method 1
The cap may be formed from a shape-memory material that returns to a original configuration following deformation
Data Source
AI summary
A cap includes a top wall, an outer peripheral edge, a first section, and a second section. A skirt depends from the outer peripheral edge. The skirt includes an attached end, a free end, a plurality of slots, and a plurality of apertures. Each aperture is spaced-apart from the free end of the skirt. The top wall has a first configuration and a second configuration. When the top wall is in the first configuration, the first section is generally planer and the second section is generally arcuate. When the top wall is in the first configuration, the skirt extends generally perpendicularly to the first section to generally engage at least a portion of a container. When the top wall is in the second configuration, the free end of the skirt extends radially outwardly from the attached end thereof to allow the cap to be removed from the container.