Plastic Container Mold for Banner Placement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current plastic container manufacturing systems for food products, particularly dairy items, face inefficiencies due to the need for specialized tools and molds, leading to material waste and limited flexibility in production, as they require specific banner cuts and molds, resulting in high production costs and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A system for manufacturing pairs of containers with a cylindrical upper portion and spherical lower portion, allowing for standard banner placement and use of standard molds, reducing material waste and enabling production on standard FFS machines, with a mold that rotates to accommodate different sizes and shapes, minimizing material usage and production costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a frustoconical upper portion is used in the vessel, then the container can be sealed with a lid, but a specialized banana-shaped banner cut is required and material waste increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of cutting the banner to match the frustoconical shape (banana-shaped), the invention inverts the approach by making the banner rectangular and modifying the vessel geometry. The vessel now has a cylindrical upper portion with a flat annular surface that perfectly accommodates a rectangular banner, eliminating the need for complex curved cuts and reducing material waste significantly.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the vessel's upper portion from frustoconical to cylindrical, creating a flat annular surface. This parameter change allows the banner to be cut in a simple rectangular shape rather than a complex banana-shaped curve, reducing material waste while maintaining the sealing capability through the flat surface design.
2Reliability
If a frustoconical vessel configuration is used, then the container can be sealed, but specialized molds and tools are required increasing device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The invention makes the vessel configuration universal by using a cylindrical upper portion with a flat annular surface that can accommodate standard rectangular banners and work with conventional flat-bed molds. This eliminates the need for specialized banana-shaped tools and molds, allowing the same equipment to produce various container sizes and shapes, thereby reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of adapting the banner and tools to match the frustoconical shape, the invention inverts the approach by designing the vessel with a cylindrical upper portion that accommodates standard rectangular banners and conventional molds. This inversion eliminates the need for specialized equipment while maintaining sealing capability.
3Ease of manufacture
If mold opening is greater than distance between formed vessels, then demolding is possible, but material waste between rows increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges adjacent vessels by joining pairs of containers with a common laminar lid, allowing them to be formed and demolded together. This pairing approach enables the use of smaller mold openings that fit between adjacent vessels, eliminating the need for large gaps and reducing material waste between rows while maintaining demolding capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the demolding approach from horizontal separation to vertical ejection. By designing the mold opening to occur in the vertical dimension through the spherical lower portion, the system allows demolding without requiring large horizontal gaps between vessels, thereby reducing material waste in the horizontal plane.
4Adaptability or versatility
If standard FFS machines are used, then production flexibility increases, but specialized banner placement is required for frustoconical vessels
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the vessel upper portion to cylindrical with a flat annular surface, which allows standard rectangular banners to be placed using conventional flat-bed placement mechanisms. This parameter change enables the use of standard FFS machines with their existing banner placement capabilities, providing both production flexibility and ease of manufacture.
Data Source
Figure 1~4
Figure 5a~5c
Figure 6a~6c
AI summary
The container comprises a vessel (1) made of plastic material, a laminar closing lid (2) and a decorative perimeter banner (3). The vessel (1) comprises: a cylindrical upper portion (11), with a constant cross section, shaping a fastening surface of the perimeter banner (3); and a spherical lower portion (12) with a maximum diameter (D) greater than the diameter (d) of the cylindrical upper portion (11). The system for manufacturing the container comprises a mold (4) for shaping pairs of adjacent vessels (1) and has an opening range (A), for demolding the containers, lesser than the distance (B) between two adjacent vessels (1), and substantially equal to the difference between the maximum diameter (D) of the spherical lower portion (12) and the diameter (d) of the cylindrical portion (11) of the vessel.