Drink Cap Assembly With External Closure for Easy Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing drink containers with cap assemblies face difficulties in cleaning, especially when used with beverages containing sugar or particulates, as these substances can stick to and foul internal components, making it hard to maintain hygiene and cleanliness.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an operational assembly with an outlet closure and actuator that can be configured to an external position, allowing for easy cleaning by spacing the outlet closure away from the body of the cap assembly, and includes a lock-open feature for convenient drinking and venting, ensuring that the operational assembly is predominantly external to the drink container.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the operational assembly is positioned internally within the cap assembly, then the sealing function is improved, but the cleaning difficulty increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional design by positioning the operational assembly externally on the cap rather than internally. This allows the outlet closure to be accessed and cleaned easily from the outside while still performing the sealing function when closed, directly resolving the contradiction between sealing reliability and cleaning ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The operational assembly is extracted from the internal structure of the cap and positioned externally. This extraction allows the components to be easily accessible for cleaning while maintaining their sealing function, solving the contradiction between internal sealing effectiveness and external accessibility for maintenance.
2Reliability
If the outlet closure is positioned close to the body of the cap assembly, then the sealing effectiveness is improved, but the cleaning accessibility worsens
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of positioning the outlet closure deep inside the cap body, the design inverts the arrangement by placing it on the external surface of the cap. This allows the closure to be easily accessible for cleaning while still providing effective sealing when engaged with the drink outlet.
3Volume of moving object
If the operational assembly is integrated internally, then the device compactness is improved, but the cleaning ease deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The operational assembly is taken out from the internal integration and positioned externally on the cap. While this increases the overall footprint slightly, it dramatically improves cleaning accessibility by allowing users to easily reach and clean the components from the outside, resolving the contradiction between compactness and cleanability.
Data Source
AI summary
Drink containers include a liquid container and a cap assembly removably coupled to the liquid container. Cap assemblies include a body that defines a drink outlet for dispensing drink liquid, and an operational assembly that is operatively coupled to the body and that has at least an open configuration permitting drink liquid to be dispensed and a closed configuration restricting drink liquid from being dispensed. In some embodiments, the operational assembly also has a cleaning configuration in which portions of the operational assembly are spaced away from the body of the cap assembly for cleaning. In some embodiments, the operational assembly is positioned predominantly on the exterior of the body of the cap assembly.