Collapsible multi-purpose containers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing containers for indoor and outdoor use, such as coolers and bins, are often rigid and bulky, making them difficult to store and transport while maintaining durability, thermal insulation, and watertightness.
Innovation Solution
Collapsible containers with a nested shell and insert structure, featuring a stiff middle tier and flexible tiers that can expand and collapse, providing thermal insulation and stability, and allowing for compact storage and transport.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If containers are made rigid and stiff to maintain durability and shape, then structural strength is improved, but storage and transport difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The container wall is divided into multiple collapsible tiers or sections that can independently fold or collapse. Each tier contains reinforcing elements that maintain structural integrity during use, but allow the entire structure to collapse compactly for storage, resolving the contradiction between strength and storability.
Solution Approach 2:
The collapsible container can be nested within itself or within another container when collapsed. The tiered structure allows inner sections to fold into outer sections, achieving compact storage while maintaining full structural strength when expanded through the nested reinforcement system.
2Ease of operation
If containers are made collapsible to improve storage and transport ease, then storage and transport ease is improved, but structural strength deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The wall structure is segmented into tiers with reinforcing elements distributed throughout. These reinforcements are positioned to provide strength during use but allow controlled collapse during storage, maintaining structural integrity while enabling collapsibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The container uses flexible yet strong wall materials that can withstand structural loads during use but allow controlled folding and collapsing. The flexible shell maintains durability through its material properties while enabling the collapse function for easy storage.
3Temperature
If thermal insulation is added to containers, then thermal insulation performance is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The thermal insulation function is merged with the existing collapsible wall structure. Insulation layers are integrated into the tiered wall design, utilizing the same collapsible mechanism for both structural and thermal functions, thereby improving insulation without significantly increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support, enables collapsibility for storage, and delivers thermal insulation. This multi-functionality reduces overall device complexity by combining what would otherwise be separate systems into a unified design.
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 collapsible design allows for efficient use and storage of containers while maintaining durability and thermal insulation, enabling them to be compactly stored and transported while maintaining their functional integrity.
Implementation Method 1
providing an air space between the insert container and shell to serve as a thermally insulating layer between the interior of the insert container and the ambient outside the shell
Data Source
AI summary
Collapsible indoor and outdoor containers having a collapsible wall section with shape-retaining characteristics are disclosed. In particular, collapsible coolers, fish bins, and wheeled vertical bins are provided. The collapsible wall section may include foldable tiers of a flexible material, each tier having at least one stable, relatively expanded position and at least one stable, relatively collapsed position; and an intervening, non-folding tier composed of a different, relatively stiff or rigid material. The coolers, fish bins, and wheeled vertical bins are each advantageously provided with a collapsible insert container that nests within and collapses together with a shell of the respective container, the respective wall folds of the shell and insert meshing together to result in a combined collapsed vertical dimension as small or nearly as small as that of the collapsed shell alone.