Composite Wine Stoppers with Elastic Head for Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional stoppers for effervescent liquids, such as Champagne wines, face challenges in maintaining good sealing properties over time due to limitations in cork supply and the inability of synthetic materials to ensure effective sealing with traditional wire-hooders.
Innovation Solution
A stopper design featuring a composite head with elastically deformable upper and lower parts and a rigid intermediate body, made from materials like elastomers or thermoplastic elastomers, which allows for compression and elastic recovery to maintain axial contact with the bottle neck, ensuring long-term sealing and compatibility with conventional wire-hooders.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If synthetic material is used for the stopper body, then productivity increases and cork supply limitations are overcome, but sealing properties deteriorate over time
Solution Approach 1:
The stopper combines synthetic material body with natural cork elements (cork dust mixed with binding agent in the sealing portion, and natural cork washer). This composite structure allows the bulk of the stopper to be made from abundant synthetic material while the sealing portions utilize natural cork's superior sealing properties, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and sealing reliability.
2Ease of manufacture
If the head part is compressed by the wire cage machine, then the wire cage can be tightened properly, but the head part loses volume and may not return to original shape
Solution Approach 1:
The head part is designed with specific material properties (elastically deformable material) and structural parameters (thickness, composition ratio of cork dust and binding agent) that enable it to undergo temporary compression during wire cage installation and then recover its shape. The material parameters are selected to provide sufficient elasticity for shape recovery while allowing controlled compression during manufacturing.
3Reliability
If natural cork is used for the entire stopper, then sealing properties are maintained, but supply limitations and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using natural cork throughout the entire stopper, the invention applies natural cork components only where sealing is critical (the sealing portion at the bottom and the washer at the top), while the main body of the stopper is made from synthetic material. This local application of natural cork maintains sealing reliability while significantly increasing production capacity and reducing costs.
4Ease of operation
If the stopper head is made entirely of elastic material, then compression and recovery are improved, but stability over time deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The stopper head combines elastic material (for compression and recovery) with cork dust and binding agent (for stability). The sealing portion specifically uses a mixture of cork dust and binding agent that provides both elastic properties for compression recovery and stable sealing characteristics over time, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and sealing stability.
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 stopper design achieves reliable and sustained sealing properties between the stopper and the bottle neck, preventing cork expulsion and facilitating easy handling, while being compatible with traditional cork stopper systems.
Implementation Method 1
each having an elastic deformability greater than that of the intermediate body
Implementation Method 2
the elastic deformability of the upper and lower parts of the head ensures good sealing properties at the bottle neck under the compression exerted by the wire cage. Indeed, in response to this compression, the upper and lower parts of the head tend, through elasticity, to return to their initial volume
Implementation Method 3
a part that is pushed into the neck of the bottle in a compressed state, called the sealing part
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The stopper (10) for sealing the neck (12) of a liquid bottle comprises a head (14) designed to protrude from the bottle neck and a foot (16) designed to be inserted into said neck. The head (14) comprises an intermediate body (24), and upper and lower portions (26, 28) arranged axially at least partially on either side of the intermediate body (24). Each of said upper and lower portions (26, 28) is made at least partially of an elastically deformable material and has a compressibility greater than the compressibility of the intermediate body (24).