Foam Packing Tray With Fluted Sidewalls for Cone Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packing trays fail to adequately protect fragile hollow conical objects like ice cream cones from mechanical forces during transportation and storage, leading to breakage, and are often costly and heavy, increasing shipping and manufacturing costs.
Innovation Solution
A plastic foam packing tray with recessed elongated pockets featuring a floating bottom and flexible, fluted sidewalls that dissipate external forces, accommodate cone variations, and include angled floating pads and end bumpers to absorb pressure, allowing the cones to move and reducing stress, while the foot support and trim flanges provide additional shock absorption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional rigid packing trays are used, then structural strength is improved, but weight and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a foam tray with fluted sidewalls that act as flexible protective structures. These flutes can deform elastically under external pressure to absorb impact forces while maintaining overall structural integrity, providing protection without requiring heavy rigid materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The foam material itself provides inherent cushioning properties before impact occurs. The closed-cell foam structure is designed to compress and dissipate energy during impact events, protecting the cones from breakage without requiring additional heavy cushioning materials.
2Strength
If traditional rigid packing trays are used, then structural strength is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from rigid plastic to foam material, which provides equivalent or superior protection through energy absorption mechanisms while being more cost-effective to manufacture. The foam structure achieves structural strength through material properties rather than complex rigid geometries.
Solution Approach 2:
The fluted sidewall design creates a flexible protective shell that can be easily formed from foam material through simple molding processes, reducing manufacturing complexity and cost compared to rigid trays requiring precise mechanical joints and reinforcements.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If foam packing trays with fluted sidewalls are used, then protection from mechanical forces is improved, but tray weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fluted sidewalls create a flexible protective structure that dissipates impact forces through elastic deformation of the foam material. This flexible shell approach provides superior impact protection compared to rigid trays of equivalent weight, or equivalently, provides the same protection at lower weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The foam material provides inherent cushioning that activates during impact events, absorbing mechanical forces before they can reach the cones. This beforehand cushioning effect protects against drops and impacts while maintaining lightweight construction.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If foam packing trays with fluted sidewalls are used, then protection from mechanical forces is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from rigid material parameters to foam material parameters, enabling protection through material compliance and energy absorption. This parameter change allows for simpler molding processes and reduces the need for secondary operations, assembly steps, or reinforcement structures, thereby lowering manufacturing cost while improving protection.
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 tray effectively reduces breakage by distributing pressure and accommodating cone size variations, while being lightweight and cost-effective, thus enhancing protection and reducing shipping and manufacturing costs.
Implementation Method 1
The tray is made of a plastic foam material that is lightweight yet provides sufficient protection from mechanical forces
Implementation Method 2
capable of absorbing and dissipating external applied forces to protect the enclosed conical objects from breakage
Implementation Method 3
The sidewalls are fluted to accommodate variations in cone diameters, allowing the tray to flex and adapt to different object sizes
Implementation Method 4
The floating bottom includes two separate floating bottom portions... an angled floating pad, disposed between the bottom floating pad and one end of the pocket... to relieve pressure at both ends
Data Source
AI summary
Packing tray for protecting fragile hollow conical objects, such as conical ice cream cones, which allows a stack of such conical objects to be held securely in a pocket of the packing tray, and which allows a plurality of stacked trays and objects to be packaged in cartons. The packing tray is a plastic foam sheet having a top wall and one or more recessed elongated pockets extending downwardly from the top wall, each pocket holding a stack of conical objects. Each pocket includes a floating bottom and flexible and fluted sidewall pleats for dissipating exterior applied forces and snugly engaging a stack of cones held in the pocket, thereby improving product protection, in a relatively low cost and lighter weight construction.