Collapsible Container with Fold-Line Expansion and Abutment Lock
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current container trays used in the take-away food industry are inefficient to assemble, require complex manipulation, and pose hygiene risks due to sharp edges, leading to decreased serving efficiency and potential injuries for staff.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring collapsible walls with a fold line that rotates to expand, engaging with an abutment to maintain the expanded position without the need for tabs or complex manipulation, allowing easy assembly by pushing the walls inwardly until they engage with the abutment, and maintaining the expanded state with a load applied by the top and bottom structures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If serving personnel manually assemble trays by folding panels and inserting locking tabs, then the trays can be properly expanded, but the assembly process requires precision and care, decreasing serving efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The tray automatically expands when the bottom panel is pulled away from the top panel, without requiring manual folding or tab insertion. The side walls self-erect through a toggling motion driven by the separation of top and bottom panels, eliminating the need for precision manual assembly while ensuring reliable expansion
Solution Approach 2:
The side walls transition from a collapsed flat state to an expanded upright state through a dynamic toggling motion. This dynamic mechanism allows the tray to automatically assume its proper expanded configuration once the top and bottom panels are separated, ensuring reliable expansion without manual intervention
2Productivity
If trays are pre-assembled and stacked in bulk, then serving efficiency increases, but dedicated personnel resources are required for assembly and the stacked body takes up greater space
Solution Approach 1:
The tray transitions from a collapsed flat state to an expanded upright state through a dynamic toggling motion of the side walls. This allows the tray to maintain a compact flat form for storage and transport, then automatically expand to its functional form at the point of use, eliminating the need for pre-assembly while maintaining space efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The tray is designed as a single-piece molded structure that can be separated into top and bottom panels. This segmentation allows the tray to be stored in a collapsed flat state, then automatically reconfigure into its expanded functional state when the panels are pulled apart, providing both space efficiency and serving efficiency
3Ease of manufacture
If trays are made from cardboard, then they are recyclable and environmentally friendly, but the edges can be sharp and cause skin cuts to personnel
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is molded as a single-piece structure with integrated side walls that have rounded contours. This molding process inherently rounds the edges of cardboard panels, eliminating sharp edges while maintaining the recyclable cardboard material. The continuous molded structure prevents exposed raw edges that would otherwise be sharp
4Length of moving object
If the container expands from collapsed to expanded condition, then the top structure is spaced further from the bottom structure, but complex manipulation with tabs and slots is required
Solution Approach 1:
The container automatically expands when the bottom panel is pulled away from the top panel. The side walls self-erect through a toggling motion driven by the separation of panels, eliminating the need for manual folding or tab insertion. The expansion process requires no precision manipulation, only simple separation of the top and bottom panels
Solution Approach 2:
The side walls transition dynamically from a collapsed flat state to an expanded upright state through a toggling motion. This dynamic mechanism automatically achieves the proper spacing between top and bottom structures once the panels are separated, eliminating complex manual manipulation while ensuring reliable expansion
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 container can be quickly and effortlessly expanded, reducing assembly time, eliminating the need for complex manipulation, and preventing skin cuts from sharp edges, while maintaining structural integrity for short usage life cycles.
Implementation Method 1
a first of the plurality of walls comprising first and second sections that connect together at a fold line about which the first and second sections are rotatable between first wall collapsed and expanded conditions
Implementation Method 2
engagement of the first wall with the abutment arrests further rotation of the first section relative to the second section about the fold line in the first direction of rotation
Implementation Method 3
the first wall being maintained in the first wall expanded condition by a load applied to the first wall by the top and bottom structures that resists rotation of the first section relative to the second section in a second direction of rotation opposite to the first direction of rotation
Data Source
AI summary
A container, movable between collapsed and expanded conditions, has a plurality of walls connected between bottom and top structures. A first wall of the plurality of walls includes first and second sections that connect together at a fold line about which the sections are rotatable between first wall collapsed and expanded conditions. The first section is connected to the bottom structure and the second section is connected to the top structure. The first wall is expandable by rotation of the first section relative to the second section in a first direction of rotation about the fold line from the first wall collapsed condition and into engagement with an abutment at the first wall expanded condition which arrests further rotation of the first section relative to the second section. The first wall is maintained in the first wall expanded condition by a load applied to the first wall.