Confectionery Portion Packaging with Adhesive Tray Anchoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging solutions for confectionery products, such as cakes and pastry slices, fail to securely hold individual portions during transportation and consumption, often leading to damage and inadequate protection of the product's appearance and integrity, with excessive material usage and limited consumer convenience.
Innovation Solution
A packaging design featuring a base with raised sections and anchoring projections to securely hold trays, combined with adhesive food substances like carrageenan or pectin-based adhesives, allows for reliable retention and easy removal of confectionery portions, using a food polymer material and laminated cardboard for the trays and base, ensuring secure positioning and protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional packaging without removal means is used, then the packaging structure is simple, but the consumer cannot easily remove individual portions and must consume the entire package
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging base is divided into multiple independent cells, each capable of holding and releasing a single confectionery portion. This segmentation allows individual portions to be removed without affecting other portions, enabling easy consumer operation while maintaining a relatively simple overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging incorporates dynamic release mechanisms where portions can be easily removed from their cells through simple consumer action (such as pressing a release button or pulling a lever), transforming the static packaging into a dynamic system that adapts to consumer needs.
2Ease of operation
If pushers are used to remove portions, then portions can be transferred to trays, but the portions are likely to be damaged during the process
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging cells serve as intermediary holders that securely cradle the confectionery portions during storage and transport, and can be easily released without requiring external pushers or tools, thereby preventing damage while enabling easy transfer to consumer trays.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging structure itself provides the removal function through its designed release mechanisms, eliminating the need for separate pusher tools. The packaging structure serves both protective and removal functions, reducing the risk of damage associated with external tools.
3Reliability
If excessive packaging material is used, then the product is well protected, but the packaging becomes bulky and material-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging employs thin-walled but structurally sound cells that provide adequate protection for the confectionery portions without excessive material usage. The walls are designed to be thin yet sufficient to prevent damage during handling and transport, optimizing the protection-to-material ratio.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple portions are nested within a single compact packaging structure, with each portion held in its own cell. This nesting arrangement maximizes the use of available space and minimizes the overall packaging volume while maintaining adequate protection for each portion through the shared structural framework.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the packaging base is curved during carriage, then the packaging adapts to transport conditions, but the cake deforms due to lack of stiffening
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging base is segmented into multiple independent cells, each providing its own structural support for individual portions. This segmentation allows the overall packaging to be flexible and adaptable to transport conditions while each cell maintains the shape and integrity of the confectionery portions it holds.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging base combines flexible materials that allow curvature during transport with internal structural supports (such as ribs or rigid cell walls) that prevent cake deformation. This composite approach enables the packaging to adapt to transport conditions while maintaining product shape 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 packaging effectively secures confectionery products during transportation and facilitates easy, damage-free removal, enhancing both the product's integrity and consumer convenience while minimizing material usage.
Implementation Method 1
attached to a part of said underside by adhesive food substance
Data Source
AI summary
The group of inventions relates to the food industry, more specifically to embodiments of a packaging for pre-portioned confectionery goods consisting of one or a number of portions. A packaging for confectionery goods consisting of a number of portions comprises a lid and a base that is provided with at least one raised flat section for holding trays corresponding to the number of portions of the goods in question. Each tray has a means for the removal thereof from the packaging, in the form, for example, of a tongue situated on the side that faces the edge of the packaging base, and at least one tray anchoring projection with a widened part is provided on the base between each pair of adjacent trays. Furthermore, pairs of projections may be provided along the edges of the raised section to restrict the movement in a horizontal plane both of the tongues and of the trays with the confectionery goods. The trays are designed so that they can be attached to at least part of the base of the confectionery goods by means of an adhesive food substance. The technical effect of the invention is an increase in the reliability with which confectionery goods are secured inside a packaging, and an increase in the ease of handling of the confectionery goods by the user during consumption.