Container for cooking foods

Solution Overview

Problem

High-quality non-stick coatings for cooking containers are expensive and difficult for consumers to identify, as there are no objective criteria to ensure the quality of the coating beyond price and advertising.

Innovation Solution

A metal cooking container with a high-quality non-stick coating applied only to the working surface areas, differentiated by color from a more economical coating on the sides, using the Mechanical Tiger Paw (MTP) test to ensure resistance values of 5 or more for the high-quality coating, which lasts longer than the economical coating.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a high-quality non-stick coating is applied to the entire container, then the resistance to scratching is improved, but the cost increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveresistance to scratchingVSAvoidcost

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies a first high-quality non-stick coating with greater resistance to scratching to the bottom wall and a second non-stick coating with lower resistance to scratching to the side walls. This local differentiation allows the container to have high scratch resistance where it is most needed (bottom surface that contacts food directly) while reducing manufacturing costs by using a less expensive coating on the side walls where scratch resistance is less critical.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Reliability

If a high-quality non-stick coating is applied, then the resistance to scratching is improved, but the cost increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvequality of non-stick coatingVSAvoidcost

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies a first high-quality non-stick coating with greater resistance to scratching to the bottom wall and a second non-stick coating with lower resistance to scratching to the side walls. This local differentiation allows the container to have high scratch resistance where it is most needed (bottom surface that contacts food directly) while reducing manufacturing costs by using a less expensive coating on the side walls where scratch resistance is less critical.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Reliability

If a high-quality non-stick coating is applied, then the resistance to scratching is improved, but the difficulty of detecting quality increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvequality of non-stick coatingVSAvoididentification of coating quality

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent provides that the first non-stick coating and the second non-stick coating are of different colors. This color differentiation allows consumers to easily identify which areas have the high-quality coating (bottom wall with first coating) and which have the standard coating (side walls with second coating), making quality detection simple and eliminating the need for expensive testing or expert evaluation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #32Color changes

Data Source

PatentUS10568457B2Container for cooking foods

Publication Date: 2020.02.25 BALLARINI PAOLO & FIGLI SPA

AI summary

The container for cooking food comprises a body (2) comprising a bottom wall (3) and at least one side wall (4) extending from the said bottom wall (3), at least one first non-stick coating (30) on at least part of the inside surface of the bottom wall (3), and at least one second non-stick coating (40) on at least part of the inside surface of the side wall (4); the first non-stick coating (30) differs from the second non-stick coating (40) and has greater resistance to scratching than the second non-stick coating (40).