Collapsible Container Wall Structure for Low-Force Watertight Folding
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional collapsible containers face issues with leakage, increased force requirements for expansion and collapse, and lack of optimal hardness and flexibility, making them impractical for use by individuals with limited mobility or dexterity.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible container design featuring a rigid top ring, base, and intermediate rings with a flexible wall over-molded to these components, incorporating a central corrugated area with living hinges and stress relief areas, allowing for easy folding and expansion with minimal force, and accommodating two materials of differing hardness for improved usability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the container uses a flexible wall made of a single material, then the manufacturing process is simpler, but the optimal hardness to softness ratio cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible wall is constructed using two different materials with distinct properties: a first material forming the main body providing structural integrity, and a second material forming the corrugated portion providing flexibility and collapse capability. This composite construction allows optimization of both hardness and softness ratios while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through co-molding or over-molding processes.
2Volume of moving object
If the container diameter is reduced, then the container becomes more compact for storage, but the force required to collapse or expand the container increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The container incorporates a flexible wall with corrugated portions that act as expansion joints, allowing the container to collapse and expand with minimal force. The corrugated structure provides mechanical advantage by distributing the collapse force across multiple folding sections, enabling easy operation even in compact containers with reduced diameter.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the physical parameters of the wall structure by introducing corrugations with specific geometric characteristics (depth, spacing, profile). These parameter changes create living hinges that reduce the force required for collapse while maintaining structural integrity, solving the problem of high force requirements in compact containers.
3Ease of operation
If the container uses a flexible plastic material for the body, then the container can collapse, but the thin wall sections invert into an inside-out position during telescopic movement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible wall with corrugated portions that fold in a controlled manner during collapse. The corrugated structure guides the folding motion along predetermined lines, preventing the wall sections from inverting inside-out. The rigid rings provide structural support that maintains the correct orientation of wall sections while allowing the necessary flexibility for collapse.
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 design provides a practical, watertight, and easy-to-use container that can be collapsed compactly for storage, expanded incrementally, and is suitable for individuals with limited dexterity, while maintaining a vertical sidewall configuration for better functionality.
Implementation Method 1
a flexible wall (18) peripherally fixed to said base, said top ring, and said one or more intermediate rings; wherein said collapsible container is adjustable between an expanded position with the top ring spaced upward from said base and forming a container interior, and a collapsed position with said top ring surrounding said base
Implementation Method 2
incorporating a central corrugated area with living hinges and stress relief areas, allowing for easy folding and expansion
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~8
AI summary
A collapsible container (10) comprising a rigid base (12), a rigid top ring (14), and rigid intermediate rings (16) extending therebetween. A flexible peripheral wall (18) is intimately bonded to the base (12), top ring (14), and intermediate rings (16), to form wall sections (32) comprising alternating sections of flexible material and flexible material intimately bonded to the intermediate rings (16), whereby the container (10) is adjustable between an expanded position with the top ring (14) spaced upward from said base (12) and forming a container interior, and a collapsed position with said top ring (14) surrounding said base (12) in outwardly spaced substantially concentric relation thereto.