Made-to-Measure Packaging with Integrated Wedging and Digital Slicing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging methods for transporting objects without original packaging require large boxes and significant amounts of filler and cushioning, leading to increased costs and ecological imbalance.
Innovation Solution
A method for digitally designing and manufacturing made-to-measure packaging that optimizes the use of materials by recognizing the object, determining its family and sub-family, identifying wedging areas, and decomposing the packaging into complementary layers for assembly from sheet materials, eliminating the need for filler and cushioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a large box is used to hold the object and fill empty spaces, then the object is securely packaged, but the quantity of filler and cushioning material increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging is divided into multiple functional zones: rigid walls for structural support, flexible walls for adaptability, and integrated wedging areas for stabilization. This segmentation eliminates the need for separate filler materials while maintaining packaging security.
Solution Approach 2:
The wedging areas are merged directly into the packaging structure rather than being separate components. The flexible wall can transform to create these wedging areas, combining the functions of packaging and stabilization into a single integrated structure that reduces material usage.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the packaging is designed to accommodate different object sizes, then versatility is improved, but the packaging size must be large enough for the largest object
Solution Approach 1:
The packaging incorporates a flexible wall that can dynamically transform its shape and volume to adapt to different object sizes. This dynamic capability allows the same packaging to securely hold various objects without requiring the maximum volume needed for the largest object, thus improving versatility while reducing overall packaging volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging design provides universal adaptability through its flexible wall mechanism that can configure itself for different object types and sizes. The integrated wedging areas serve multiple functions including stabilization, cushioning, and space optimization, allowing one packaging design to serve multiple purposes across different packaging scenarios.
3Reliability
If filler and cushioning materials are used to fill voids, then the object is protected during transport, but costs and ecological impact increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the need for separate filler and cushioning materials by integrating their protective functions directly into the packaging structure through flexible walls and wedging areas. This extraction of unnecessary materials reduces both cost and ecological impact while maintaining protection reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging applies different material properties locally: rigid walls provide structural strength where needed, flexible walls provide adaptability and transformation capability, and wedging areas provide stabilization. This localized quality distribution achieves effective protection without requiring abundant filler materials throughout the entire packaging volume.
Data Source
AI summary
The method for digitally designing and manufacturing made-to-measure packaging for an object includes recognizing the object; automatically determining the family of objects to which the object belongs; automatically determining a sub-family to which the object belongs according to the morphology of the object; evaluating the dimensions of the object; determining the packaging model of which the internal volumetric space is capable of containing the object; identifying, locating, defining and quantifying the preferred wedging areas; creating a 3D digital design of the packaging and its preferred wedging areas; digitally decomposing the packaging and its preferred wedging areas by creating different complementary elementary layers by means of digital slicing; reproducing the different layers by cutting a suitable material in sheet form in order to obtain strata, and subsequently stacking and/or juxtaposing, positioning, assembling and securing the different strata to form the packaging.