Tamper-Evident Flip Cap with Rotational Opening Sequence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing closures with tamper-evidencing features and flip-top structures often operate independently, failing to ensure that the container contents cannot be accessed until the tamper-evident band is broken, as the flip-top structure can be opened without breaking the band.
Innovation Solution
A flip-top closure system where the flip-top structure is prevented from opening until the closure is rotated with respect to the container neck, causing the tamper-evident band to break first, ensuring that the contents remain sealed until the band is broken, featuring a hinge mechanism, safety lock, and frangible connections to secure the top structure's pivotal rotation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the flip-top structure is made independently operable, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability of tamper-evidencing deteriorates because the flip-top can be opened without breaking the tamper-evident band
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the flip-top structure and tamper-evident band into a single integrated system where the flip-top structure is coupled to the band through frangible connections. This integration ensures that opening the flip-top necessarily breaks the band, combining the ease of flip-top operation with the reliability of tamper-evidencing in one unified mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible connections are pre-configured to break before the flip-top can be fully opened. This preliminary action ensures that the tamper-evident band is broken as the first step in the opening sequence, preventing any scenario where the flip-top opens without band breakage, thus securing tamper-evidencing reliability before operation commences.
2Reliability
If the flip-top structure is integrated with the tamper-evident band, then reliability of tamper-evidencing is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional coupling mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The closure is segmented into distinct functional components (flip-top structure, tamper-evident band, frangible connections, hinge mechanism) that are coupled through defined interfaces. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function while maintaining overall system reliability, and the modular nature actually simplifies manufacturing and assembly compared to a fully integrated monolithic design.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure employs dynamic elements including the hinge mechanism that allows pivotal rotation of the flip-top structure, and the frangible connections that transition from a connected state to a broken state during operation. These dynamic features enable the system to adapt its configuration during opening, providing reliable tamper-evidencing through the sequential activation of mechanical states rather than static complex linkages.
3Reliability
If frangible connections are used to couple the flip-top and band, then reliability is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The frangible connections are designed as disposable, single-use elements that are intentionally created in a pre-stressed or pre-weakened state to fail at a predetermined moment. Rather than requiring high precision for repeated use, these connections are optimized for controlled single-cycle failure, allowing for simpler manufacturing processes that create intentional weakness points or stress concentrations that reliably break under normal opening forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The frangible connections utilize parameter changes in material properties or structural configuration to achieve reliable breaking. This may involve changing the material composition to create brittle sections, altering the geometric parameters to create stress concentration points, or modifying the connection geometry to ensure failure occurs at specific locations under predetermined loads, thereby reducing the need for extreme manufacturing precision across the entire component.
Data Source
AI summary
A closure includes a flip-top structure and a tamper-evident band. The flip-top structure is restricted from being opened because it interfaces against an underlying protrusion, such as a thread of a container's neck. To open the flip-top structure the closure is rotated with respect to the container neck. When the closure is rotated with respect to the container neck, the closure is configured such that the tamper-evident band breaks before the flip-top structure is permitted to rotate to an open position. Thus, the closure prevents accessing the container's contents until after the tamper-evident band is broken even with the addition of a flip-top structure.