Liquid Dispenser Containers with Equalized Refill Openings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Prior art refillable dairy product dispensers with different volumes face difficulties in refilling small-volume containers due to top openings being proportional to the container width, making it harder to refill small containers compared to large ones.
Innovation Solution
The design of the liquid dispenser features three containers with top openings of substantially equal area, achieved through transition sections that reduce or increase the container width at the top to match the middle container's opening size, ensuring consistent refilling ease across all containers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the opening size is made proportional to container width, then large containers have adequate opening size, but small containers become difficult to refill
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the opening size independent of container width. Instead of having openings proportional to container size, all containers have openings of substantially equal area (within 10-30% variation), creating a localized feature (opening) that maintains consistent refilling ease across different container volumes.
2Ease of operation
If transition sections are added to equalize opening areas, then refilling consistency is improved, but container structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The transition sections create a localized structural feature that equalizes opening areas. This local modification (adding transition sections at specific locations) achieves refilling consistency without requiring complete redesign of entire container structures.
Data Source
AI summary
A liquid dispenser has containers, sized, shaped and arranged to enclose different volumes but each of the containers has a top with a refill opening that is substantially the same as the top and openings of the other containers. The containers are provided with curving transition sections that taper the sides of the container to increase or decrease the width of the container to provide a smaller or large top sizes as needed.