Flip-Top Closure Breakaway Tab for HDPE Tamper Evidence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packages with flexible materials like HDPE face challenges in forming effective locking and tamper-evident features due to material deformation, and there is a need for a closure system that provides tamper evidence while allowing recycling as a single piece.
Innovation Solution
A closure system with a flip-top cap and closure body that includes a retainer tab with a breakaway segment, which separates upon first use, providing tamper evidence and ensuring the package can be recycled as one piece, using a flexible material like HDPE by applying a load during installation to secure the breakaway segment within the closure body.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a breakaway segment is designed into the retainer tab to provide tamper evidence, then security against tampering is improved, but the closure becomes more complex and difficult to manufacture as a single piece
Solution Approach 1:
The retainer tab is segmented into a breakaway segment and a retained segment, allowing the tab to be divided into functional portions that serve different purposes: the breakaway segment provides tamper evidence while the retained segment maintains the locking function. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling tamper evidence without requiring the entire closure to be complex.
Solution Approach 2:
The breakaway segment is extracted as a separate functional element from the main closure body. This extracted segment can be easily removed or broken off to provide tamper evidence, while the remaining closure structure stays simple and suitable for single-piece manufacturing. The extraction principle allows the tamper evidence feature to be added without complicating the overall closure design.
2Adaptability or versatility
If locking features are formed in flexible materials like HDPE, then the closure can be made from recyclable materials, but the material deformation makes it difficult to form effective locking and tamper-evident features
Solution Approach 1:
The closure design incorporates localized rigid features (such as the breakaway segment geometry and retainer tab structure) within the flexible HDPE material. These local quality enhancements provide precise locking and tamper-evident functions despite the overall flexibility of the material. The local quality principle allows the flexible material to maintain its recyclability while achieving the necessary manufacturing precision for locking features.
Solution Approach 2:
The breakaway segment and retainer tab are designed with asymmetric geometries that exploit the directional properties of flexible materials. The asymmetric design creates specific stress concentrations and deformation patterns that enable reliable breakaway action and locking engagement, overcoming the general difficulty of forming precise features in flexible materials like HDPE.
Data Source
AI summary
A package includes a container and a closure coupled to the container to control release of product therefrom. The closure includes a closure body coupled to the container and a flip-top cap coupled to the closure body and configured to pivot relative to the closure cap between a closed position and an opened position.