Fluted Cardboard Packaging for Beneficial Insects
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current packaging for auxiliary insects and mites in biological control is costly and resource-intensive due to the need for expensive tools and large quantities of solid cardboard for producing openings, which are necessary for protection and release.
Innovation Solution
A packaging design using compressed lateral strips and fluted material with grooves, allowing for the production of openings without the need for high-pressure cutting tools, and a manufacturing method involving cutting out a sheet of fluted material and gluing layers to create an internal space for the auxiliaries, which reduces material usage and production costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If solid cardboard packaging with openings is used to protect and release auxiliary insects, then the auxiliaries are protected and can be released, but expensive high-pressure cutting tools and large quantities of material are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses fluted cardboard material where the flutes themselves create numerous small openings throughout the packaging structure. This porous structure allows auxiliary insects to escape naturally without requiring additional cutting operations, while still providing protection when compressed. The fluted structure inherently provides both protection and release functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the cardboard from solid to fluted/compressed structure. By altering the density and configuration of the material, it creates a structure that can transition from a protective closed state to a release-permeable state, eliminating the need for separate opening mechanisms and expensive cutting tools.
2Reliability
If solid cardboard is used for packaging, then protection is provided, but large quantities of raw material are required resulting in high cost and large mass
Solution Approach 1:
The fluted cardboard structure creates a porous network where air and small insects can pass through. The flutes form natural channels and openings without requiring additional material for creating holes, thus reducing overall material consumption while maintaining protective and release functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging uses a composite structure combining fluted cardboard layers with natural release properties. This composite approach allows the material to serve multiple functions (protection, ventilation, and release) simultaneously, reducing the need for additional components and material quantity.
3Ease of operation
If openings are made in solid cardboard, then auxiliaries can exit, but expensive high-pressure cutting tools are required due to small outlet size
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of creating a few large openings requiring precision cutting, the fluted structure provides numerous small natural openings throughout the packaging. These openings are formed by the fluting process itself rather than requiring separate high-pressure cutting operations, significantly reducing tooling costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The fluted cardboard structure self-generates the necessary openings through its manufacturing process. The flutes inherently create permeable pathways that allow auxiliary insects to escape, eliminating the need for separate opening-creation operations and expensive specialized cutting tools.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to packaging for protecting and releasing beneficial insects and/or mites, including: an upper layer, an intermediate layer, a lower layer, said layers being stacked and assembled in said order, said packaging including an internal space provided in the intermediate layer thereof, delimited on all sides by walls of said layers, said packaging being characterized in that said intermediate layer includes at least one sheet of fluted material the flutes of which define openings communicating between the internal space of the packaging and the outside. The present invention also relates to a plate including a plurality of packaging units, as well as to a method for manufacturing said packaging.