Shell and Retainer Containment System for Dual Bottle Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional liquid storage bottles lack secure support and handling features, leading to instability and potential damage during transport, and often lack volume markings for fluid level indication, making it difficult to manage multiple bottles effectively.
Innovation Solution
A shell and retainer containment system comprising an outer shell with a base, sidewalls, and a top rim, along with an upper retainer, designed to securely hold and restrain multiple bottles while allowing access to their openings, featuring handles, forklift openings, and graduated windows for fluid level indication, ensuring stability and proper positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional bottles are used for liquid storage and transport, then they are simple in structure and easy to manufacture, but they lack secure support and handling features, leading to instability and potential damage during transport
Solution Approach 1:
The containment system is divided into distinct functional components: an outer shell providing structural support and protection, an upper retainer for securing bottles, and a base with support features. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function while maintaining overall system reliability during transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The outer shell serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support for the bottles, contains the upper retainer and base components, offers handling features (handles and forklift openings), and prevents spills through its enclosed design. This multi-functionality improves reliability without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Reliability
If conventional containers are used to hold and transport multiple bottles, then they provide basic containment, but they do not adequately support the bottles, causing damage to the bottles and spills
Solution Approach 1:
The base incorporates localized support features including elevated support sections positioned at specific locations to cradle bottle bottoms, and a sump section with spill collection capability. These localized quality enhancements provide targeted support where needed most, preventing bottle damage and spills without requiring complex overall restructuring.
Solution Approach 2:
The upper retainer is designed to secure bottles in place before transport begins, while the base provides pre-positioned support surfaces and spill containment features. This beforehand cushioning approach ensures bottles are protected from movement and potential spills before any damage can occur during transport.
3Ease of operation
If conventional containers are designed to either secure bottles or provide easy access to the bottles, but not both, then security is improved, but access convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The upper retainer is designed with openings that extract or remove the constraint of closed containment, providing access pathways to bottle openings. This allows users to access bottles for filling or dispensing while the retainer maintains security by preventing complete removal or unauthorized access, resolving the contradiction between security and ease of operation.
4Ease of manufacture
If bottles have rounded or angled bottoms, then they are easier to manufacture, but they prevent the bottles from being set firmly on a ground surface
Solution Approach 1:
The base acts as an intermediary between the bottle bottoms and the ground surface. It provides elevated support sections with flat contact surfaces that interface with the bottle bottoms, transferring the load stably to the ground. This mediator approach allows bottles to maintain their easy-to-manufacture rounded or angled bottoms while achieving firm, stable positioning through the base's engineered support surfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
A shell and retainer containment system for storing and transporting bottles, comprising an outer shell and an upper retainer. The outer shell includes a base, a number of sidewalls, and a top rim cooperatively forming a central cavity. The top rim includes a set of handles, a set of forklift fork openings for lifting the outer shell and retainer containment system via a forklift fork, and stacking geometry. The upper retainer secures the bottles in the central cavity and includes a brace and four corner reinforcements. The brace is positioned above the bottles and includes access openings for allowing access to bung openings of the bottles. The corner reinforcements extend upwards toward upper corners of the outer shell and include fastener openings for attaching the upper retainer to the outer shell via fasteners for securing the bottles in the central cavity.