Dual-Chamber Container Design for Moisture-Sensitive Product Storage

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing containers fail to maintain a constant humidity level within the atmosphere, leading to moisture-sensitive products like teas and spices losing their aroma, taste, and consistency due to local humidity gradients and external influences.

Innovation Solution

A container with a cubic external shape and a cylindrical internal space for products, featuring atmosphere connection channels and a separate compartment for a moisture-regulating agent, where the partition wall allows for controlled humidity exchange using odorless stainless steel or coated mesh, ensuring a uniform humidity level without external influence.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If a closed container is used to store moisture-sensitive products, then external atmospheric influences are blocked, but local humidity gradients form inside the container causing products to lose their aroma and taste

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveexternal atmospheric influencesVSAvoidhumidity uniformity
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The container is divided into two separate internal spaces: a product storage space and a humidity control agent space. These spaces are separated by a partition wall with controlled atmosphere connection elements, allowing humidity exchange while preventing direct contact between products and humidity control agents. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling humidity control without creating harmful local gradients.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A partition wall with controlled atmosphere connection elements (channels, bridges, or recesses) acts as an intermediary between the product storage space and the humidity control agent space. This intermediary structure enables controlled humidity exchange while preventing direct contact, thereby maintaining humidity uniformity throughout the container without allowing external atmospheric influences to affect the products.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If humidity control agents are placed directly with products, then optimal humidity is maintained, but product quality deteriorates due to direct exposure to control agents

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehumidity control effectivenessVSAvoiddirect exposure to control agents
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The container internally separates the product storage function from the humidity control function by creating distinct spaces. The product storage space remains free of direct contact with humidity control agents, while still benefiting from their humidity-regulating effect through the controlled atmosphere connection elements in the partition wall.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The partition wall serves as an intermediary barrier that allows humidity control agents to exert their effect on the product atmosphere without direct contact. The atmosphere connection elements (channels, bridges, or recesses) in the partition wall mediate the humidity exchange, ensuring product quality is maintained while humidity control effectiveness is achieved.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Ease of operation

If a transparent container is used for visual inspection, then product monitoring is improved, but humidity control becomes less effective due to material permeability

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvevisual inspection capabilityVSAvoidhumidity control stability
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The container uses transparent materials selectively: the outer container walls are transparent for visual inspection, while the internal partition wall can be made of metal or coated mesh that is less permeable to humidity. This segmentation of material properties allows the container to simultaneously provide visual monitoring capability and effective humidity control.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The container employs composite material construction, combining transparent materials (for visual inspection) with metal or coated mesh materials (for humidity control). The partition wall may use odorless stainless steel or precious metal coatings that provide both structural integrity and controlled permeability, resolving the contradiction between transparency and humidity control effectiveness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #40Composite materials

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

The container maintains optimal humidity levels within the internal atmosphere, preventing moisture-sensitive products from degrading and ensuring their aroma and taste are preserved by eliminating local humidity gradients and external atmospheric influences.

Implementation Method 1

the partition wall with the atmosphere-connecting recesses, holes, channels or the like passing through it is installed between the interior space for storage of the moisture-sensitive product and the at least one interior space for accommodating the moisture-regulating agent

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectDiffusion: Diffusion

Data Source

PatentEP3303175B1Container for storing moisture level-sensitive products
Publication Date: 2019.11.27 PYAR LTD
  • EP3303175B1 patent drawingFigure 1~1b
  • EP3303175B1 patent drawingFigure 2~2b
  • EP3303175B1 patent drawingFigure 3~3b

AI summary

The invention relates to a container (100) for storing moisture level-sensitive products (5) in which at least two adjacent internal chambers (2, 3) are provided, the two atmospheres (20, 30) present therein being combined via a plurality of atmosphere connection and exchange elements, in particular atmosphere connection and exchange bridges (AVAB), into a uniform overall internal atmosphere (230) which has only a certain moisture level without local moisture gradients and which cannot be influenced by the external atmosphere (Aa), wherein one (2) of the two internal chambers (2, 3), namely the one which is provided for receiving and storing the moisture level-sensitive product (5), preferably has a substantially cubic shape with planar internal walls (201 to 204) or a cylindrically concave shape with a closed wall (200) and a substantially larger volume than the at least one other flat internal chamber (3) which can also be sealingly closed from the external atmosphere (Aa), has a relatively smaller volume and is provided for receiving and storing a moisture-regulating product (4).