Egg Carton Handle Flanges for Impact Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Plastic egg cartons face challenges in protecting eggs from mechanical forces and environmental changes during handling, transportation, and storage, leading to egg damage, while also requiring cost-effective manufacturing and compatibility with existing handling equipment.
Innovation Solution
A plastic egg carton design featuring a thermoformed base tray with a 5x6 array of recessed cells and a mating lid tray, both with handle flanges for enhanced strength and ease of carrying, and a hinge connection for secure alignment, allowing for better protection and handling of eggs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flexible walls between cell pockets are used to protect eggs, then egg protection is improved, but the carton becomes more susceptible to impact forces during handling and transport
Solution Approach 1:
The carton is divided into individual cell pockets with flexible walls that can move independently. Each cell is segmented to absorb and distribute impact forces locally, preventing force transmission to adjacent eggs while maintaining individual egg protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible walls between cell pockets are designed with specific material properties and thickness parameters that allow them to deform under impact forces. This parameter optimization enables the walls to absorb impact energy through controlled deformation, protecting eggs from hard side impacts while maintaining structural integrity.
2Ease of operation
If handle flanges are added to the carton, then ease of handling is improved, but the carton dimensions may exceed standard case sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The handle flanges are positioned asymmetrically at opposite ends of the carton, optimized for hand grip geometry. This asymmetric placement provides ergonomic handling while the flange width is carefully controlled to maintain compatibility with standard case dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle flange dimensions are precisely controlled within specific parameter ranges. The flange width and protrusion distance are optimized to provide adequate grip surface area for easy handling while ensuring the overall carton footprint remains within standard case size specifications for existing handling equipment compatibility.
3Ease of manufacture
If the carton is designed for cost-effective manufacturing, then production cost is reduced, but egg protection during adverse mechanical forces may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The carton utilizes thin flexible plastic walls between cell pockets that provide effective egg protection at low material cost. These thin films are engineered to absorb impact forces through deformation, offering reliable egg protection while maintaining cost-effective manufacturing through minimal material usage.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall thickness and material properties are optimized within specific parameter ranges to achieve the minimum required protection level at lowest manufacturing cost. This parameter optimization ensures adequate egg protection during adverse mechanical forces while maintaining cost-effective production through efficient material utilization.
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 design provides improved egg protection and ease of handling, reducing damage during transportation and storage, while maintaining compatibility with standard case sizes and handling equipment, and accommodating various egg sizes.
Implementation Method 1
a thermoformed solid sheet of plastic comprising a top wall and a rectilinear array of recessed base cells arranged in rows and columns depending from the top wall
Data Source
AI summary
An egg carton having base and lid trays that when disposed in vertical alignment (with the lid tray on top of the base tray) form a closed egg carton. The base and lid trays each include a pair of mating handle components, such that when assembled to form a closed carton provide both enhanced strength and ease of carrying the assembled carton. The handles also facilitate handling of the base and lid trays separately during manufacture, packing and transport, and during and after filling the base with eggs. The new base, lid and carton assembly are particularly useful when adapted for holding more than a dozen eggs, for example when holding 30 or more eggs in a rectilinear array of egg cells (arranged in linear rows and transverse linear columns), such as a 5×6 array of egg cells. The lid may further include a labeling area above a select portion of the base cells, the labeling area comprising a flat panel top wall and a depending sidewall forming an empty interior cavity below the top wall, for insertion of labeling material.