Choke-Resistant Closure With Multi-Directional Ventilation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing food and beverage container closures pose a choking hazard, especially to infants and toddlers, and lack sufficient ventilation to ensure airflow when obstructed in the airway, and there is a need for a tamper-evident mechanism that does not add to the choking risk.
Innovation Solution
A closure design featuring multiple ventilation passages oriented in various directions to ensure airflow regardless of orientation, combined with a tamper-evident band that indicates unsealing without detaching and posing a choking hazard.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a closure is designed with multiple ventilation passages to ensure airflow when obstructed in the airway, then the safety against choking hazard is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The closure is divided into multiple independent ventilation passages (first vertical passage, second vertical passages, and horizontal passages) that are segmented throughout the cap member. This segmentation ensures that if one passage is obstructed, air can still flow through other passages, thereby improving safety against choking hazard while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The invention adds dimensional diversity by incorporating both vertical ventilation passages (extending from top to bottom surfaces) and horizontal ventilation passages (extending between side surfaces). This multi-dimensional arrangement of passages ensures airflow capability from multiple directions, improving reliability without excessive complexity increase
2Loss of information
If a tamper-evident band is added to indicate unsealing, then the ability to detect misuse is improved, but the choking hazard risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tamper-evident band is merged with the closure structure through connection elements that attach the band to the cap member. This integration ensures the band remains connected to the closure after removal from the container, preventing the band from becoming a separate choking hazard while maintaining its function to detect misuse through conformation changes
Solution Approach 2:
The tamper-evident band utilizes conformation changes (such as color changes or shape changes) to indicate whether the closure has been improperly removed from the container. This visual indication system improves the ability to detect misuse without adding physical components that could pose choking hazards
3Reliability
If ventilation passages are configured to allow airflow in multiple orientations, then the reliability of airflow provision is improved, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ventilation system is segmented into multiple passages oriented in different directions (vertical and horizontal). This segmentation allows each passage to be manufactured with standard precision while the collective arrangement provides multi-orientation airflow capability, improving reliability without requiring excessive precision in any single passage
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 closure design allows continuous airflow even when obstructed and provides a clear indication of unsealing without creating additional choking hazards, enhancing safety by ensuring airflow and preventing misuse.
Implementation Method 1
a first vertical ventilation passage extending in a straight vertical line between the peripheral wall and the handling member, the first vertical ventilation passage for conveying air through a top end of the closure, between the top and peripheral walls, and through a bottom end of the closure bottom
Data Source
AI summary
A closure includes: a cap member for engaging a fitment; a handling member wall encircling the cap member; and septa connecting the cap and handling members and providing an interior space between them. The handling member can include an upper rim smaller than its lower rim, and multiple openings, providing structures for allowing air flow into or out of the interior space. The openings and rims are aligned to provide multiple ventilation passageways traveling in: straight, vertical directions; straight, horizontal directions; indirect horizontal directions; or indirect transverse pathways that include vertical and horizontal orientations.The closure can include a tamper-evident band for indicating the closure has disengaged from the fitment. The band can comprise indentations defining segments that the tamper-evident band can separate into when the closure disengages, and connecting elements that keep the intact tamper-evident band, and its separated segments, connected to the closure.