Elastomeric Container Pressure Shield With Variable-Thickness Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing scalable bags and containers with integrated seals lack sufficient leak resistance, especially when subjected to internal pressures, and often require external clasps or additional structures for sealing, which are inconvenient and costly.
Innovation Solution
An elastomeric container with an integrated leak-resistant seal and pressure shield, featuring press-fit elements with varying thickness profiles and geometries that enhance sealing force without additional material, providing a significant increase in leak resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional seal designs are used in scalable bags, then the container can be closed, but leak resistance is insufficient especially when subjected to internal pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the seal and pressure shield into a single integrated elastomeric component with varying thickness profiles. The thicker portion forms the seal while the thinner portion forms the pressure shield, eliminating the need for separate clamps or additional sealing structures. This merging achieves high leak resistance (300-400% improvement) without increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The seal element features non-uniform thickness distribution with a thicker portion (0.5-2.0mm) at the sealing interface and a thinner portion (0.1-0.5mm) forming the pressure shield. This local variation in material distribution optimizes both sealing force and pressure resistance in different regions of the same component.
2Reliability
If external clasps or additional structures are added to improve sealing, then leak resistance improves, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the pressure shield function directly into the seal element itself, creating a single-component solution. The elastomeric seal includes both the sealing portion and the pressure shield portion as integral parts, eliminating the need for external clasps, clips, or additional sealing structures that would increase device complexity and component count.
3Reliability
If rigid plastic material with high rigidity (Shore D scale) is used for seals, then leak resistance improves, but manufacturing precision decreases due to extrusion imperfections
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from rigid plastic (Shore D scale) to elastomeric material (Shore A scale, 20-80 durometer). This parameter change allows the seal to achieve leak resistance through elastic deformation and conformability rather than rigid structural integrity, thereby reducing sensitivity to extrusion thickness variations and improving manufacturing precision.
4Ease of operation
If slider mechanisms are added to enable opening/closing, then ease of operation improves, but leak resistance deteriorates due to slider opening leaks and choking hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the slider mechanism entirely from the design. Instead, the elastomeric seal with its varying thickness profile provides sufficient elastic compliance to allow manual opening and closing through direct finger manipulation of the seal edges, eliminating the need for sliders while maintaining both ease of operation and leak resistance.
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 integrated seal and pressure shield design achieves at least a 300% improvement in leak resistance over conventional designs, allowing the container to withstand internal pressures without external clasps, while being easy to clean and reusable.
Implementation Method 1
An elastomeric container includes a top wall and a bottom wall that each include an elastomer... A seal that includes the elastomer... The profile of an upper surface of the bottom press-fit element corresponds with a profile of a lower surface of the top press-fit element
Data Source
AI summary
An elastomeric container includes a top wall and a bottom wall that surround an inner volume and that define a plane therebetween. An axis extends through the plane between the top wall and the bottom wall. A seal includes a bottom press-fit element and a top press-fit element. A bottom pressure shield is disposed between the bottom press-fit element and the inner volume. A top pressure shield is disposed between the top press-fit element and the inner volume. In cross section, a thickness of the top pressure shield continuously increases along an entire top pressure shield inner surface in a direction parallel to the axis and away from the top wall, and, in cross section, a thickness of the bottom pressure shield continuously decreases along at least a portion of an entire bottom pressure shield inner surface in the direction parallel to the axis and toward the bottom wall.