Drinking Bottle Closure With Self-Sealing Valve Insert
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Solution Overview
Problem
Reusable drinking bottles and their closures are difficult to clean, especially when used with sugar-containing beverages, due to increasing complexity in design, which hampers user convenience and hygiene.
Innovation Solution
A closure assembly for drinking bottles featuring a valve insert with a normally closed resilient self-sealing mechanism, actuator for user-activated rotation between closed and open configurations, and a retaining cap for easy disassembly and cleaning, combined with an antimicrobial coating to prevent contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the closure structure becomes more complex to provide various functions (self-sealing valve, actuator, rotatable mechanism), then the functionality and reliability are improved, but the ease of cleaning deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The closure is divided into separate components: a closure body, a rotatable valve insert with self-sealing mechanism, and a retaining cap. This segmentation allows each component to be cleaned separately, addressing the cleaning difficulty while maintaining the complex self-sealing functionality in the valve insert portion.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve insert containing the self-sealing mechanism is extracted as a removable component that can be taken out from the closure body for separate cleaning. The retaining cap provides easy access to remove the valve insert, enabling thorough cleaning of the complex sealing components without cleaning the entire closure structure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more components are added to achieve self-sealing and actuator functions, then the device functionality is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The self-sealing valve mechanism and the rotatable actuator are merged into a single integrated valve insert component. This consolidation achieves both self-sealing functionality and user actuation capability while minimizing the number of separate parts, as the valve insert itself rotates to control fluid flow between stored and dispensing states.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve insert serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the self-sealing mechanism, acts as the flow control valve, and functions as the rotatable actuator when grasped and rotated by the user. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated components for each function.
3Ease of operation
If the closure uses a rotatable valve insert with retaining cap for easy disassembly, then the ease of cleaning is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The closure structure enables user self-service disassembly through the retaining cap mechanism. The user can easily grasp the protruding retaining cap and rotate it to disengage the valve insert without requiring tools or complex manipulation, making the disassembly process intuitive and self-explanatory.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of requiring complex tool-based disassembly mechanisms, the design inverts the approach by making the retaining cap itself the gripping element. The cap protrudes outward and is designed to be grasped directly by fingers, reversing the typical approach where small internal features would require tools for manipulation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates quick and thorough cleaning of the bottle and closure, enhancing user convenience and hygiene by allowing easy disassembly and reassembly, while the antimicrobial coating minimizes germ accumulation.
Implementation Method 1
A normally closed resilient self-sealing valve is disposed within the valve insert
Implementation Method 2
combined with an antimicrobial coating to prevent contamination
Data Source
AI summary
A reusable drinking bottle having an improved, easily cleanable, closure adapted with a drinking spout. A closure body is adapted for mating engagement in covering relation with the open top formed in a drinking bottle. A valve insert places the interior volume of the drinking bottle in fluid communication with the exterior. An actuator is removably connected to the valve insert to allow for user actuated rotation thereof between closed and open configurations. A normally closed resilient self-sealing valve allows liquid to flow from the drinking bottle through the valve insert when configured to the open configuration. The valve insert is retained by a retaining cap in threaded engagement with the valve insert on the exterior of the base. The closure of the present invention contains only a small number of components and may be easily disassembled by the user to allow for cleaning.