Container Underlay Frame for Uniform Produce Shelf Height
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing transportation and presentation containers for food products, such as fruit and vegetables, often result in irregular shelf appearances due to varying container heights, leading to high capital investment when using rigid or collapsible plastic containers as shelf underlays, which are not used for their original purpose.
Innovation Solution
An underlay device with frame-like side walls and a reinforcing element, designed for stacking standard containers, provides a cost-effective solution to achieve a uniform shelf appearance by allowing containers to be placed on top of it, reducing capital investment and enhancing display properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If rigid or collapsible plastic containers are used as shelf underlays to achieve uniform shelf appearance, then the shelf appearance is improved, but the capital investment cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive reusable plastic containers with inexpensive disposable cardboard underlays. These underlays are used once to achieve uniform shelf appearance and then discarded, eliminating the need for costly capital investment in reusable container systems while maintaining the desired aesthetic effect.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a simplified copy of the container underlay function using cardboard instead of plastic. The cardboard underlay replicates the height-adjustment and appearance-unification function without requiring the complex reusable container infrastructure, thereby reducing capital investment.
2Adaptability or versatility
If containers of different heights are placed on shelves to accommodate various food products, then the adaptability is improved, but the shelf appearance uniformity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cardboard underlay acts as an intermediary element between the shelf and the container. It compensates for height differences by providing variable thickness underlays, allowing containers of different heights to be accommodated while maintaining a uniform top surface appearance on the shelf.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different thicknesses of cardboard underlays at different locations on the shelf. By matching the underlay thickness to the specific container height requirements at each location, uniform shelf appearance is achieved while accommodating various container sizes for different food products.
3Volume of moving object
If collapsible containers are folded up for storage to reduce volume, then the storage efficiency is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the need for collapsible container structures by using disposable cardboard underlays. These simple flat boards require no folding mechanisms or complex structures, yet achieve space-efficient storage by being discarded after single use, thereby reducing both volume and structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an underlay device (1) for a transportation and presentation container (12) for food, such as fruits and/or vegetables, wherein the transportation and presentation container (12) comprises a bottom part (13) and four side wall parts (14, 14′, 14″, 14″′), and the underlay device (1) has four sides walls (3, 3′, 3″, 3″′) arranged in a frame shape as an underlay frame (2) of the transportation and presentation container (12) and/or at least three side walls (17, 17′, 17″) having dimensions as an underlay apparatus (16) so that the bottom part (13) of the transportation container (12) can be placed on the underlay frame (2) or the underlay apparatus (16).