Folded Membrane Check Valve for High-Flow Fluid Containers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional inflatable packaging systems face issues with misalignment of pre-printed check valve features due to heat sealing, requiring specialized equipment and resulting in restricted fluid flow and longer inflation times.
Innovation Solution
A check valve design that eliminates the need for pre-printing and specialized registration, using flexible membranes bonded to form an impermeable fluid separation, allowing for higher fluid flow rates and faster inflation by eliminating the need for continuous seals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If pre-printed check valve features are used in conventional inflatable packaging systems, then the manufacturing process can be standardized, but misalignment occurs due to heat sealing deformation and specialized registration equipment is required
Solution Approach 1:
The check valve features are formed on the plastic sheets before heat sealing, but the actual valve functionality is activated after sealing by inserting a valve-forming element. This preliminary formation of features without final valve assembly avoids misalignment issues during heat sealing while maintaining standardization.
Solution Approach 2:
A valve-forming element is introduced as an intermediary component that creates the check valve structure after heat sealing. This element acts as a mediator between the pre-formed features on the plastic sheets and the functional check valve, eliminating the need for precise registration equipment while ensuring proper valve formation.
2Reliability
If conventional check valve designs with heat sealing elements are used, then proper connection between inflatable channel and air chamber is achieved, but fluid flow is significantly restricted at the valve inlet
Solution Approach 1:
The check valve structure is segmented into separate functional zones: a valve body portion formed from the plastic sheet and a valve-forming element inserted afterward. This segmentation allows the connection structure to be reliably formed by heat sealing while the flow path is optimized separately by the inserted element, preventing flow restriction.
Solution Approach 2:
The check valve employs a dynamic sealing mechanism where the valve-forming element can move or deform in response to fluid pressure. This dynamic behavior allows the valve to maintain reliable sealing when closed while providing an open flow path when pressurized, thereby increasing inflation speed without compromising connection reliability.
3Manufacturing precision
If pre-printing and electronic registration are used in conventional check valve manufacturing, then valve features can be positioned, but specialized forming equipment is required and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The plastic sheets themselves serve as the positioning substrate for check valve features, eliminating the need for separate registration equipment. The sheets' existing structure and dimensions provide the reference framework, allowing standard manufacturing equipment to be used while maintaining positioning accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using complex pre-printing and registration equipment to position valve features, the invention inverts the approach by forming basic features on standard sheets and then using a simple inserted element to create the functional valve. This reverses the conventional sequence and eliminates specialized equipment while maintaining precision.
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 solution reduces manufacturing complexity and costs, enabling inflatable packaging systems to inflate at least twice as fast as conventional systems, with improved fluid flow and reduced material waste.
Implementation Method 1
The sheets are typically oriented one on top of the other, then joined by heat sealing along the periphery and at various locations within the periphery
Implementation Method 2
The check valves physically separate the opening of each inflatable chamber from a common inflatable channel. When the packaging system is inflated, the common inflatable channel receives pressurized fluid at one end of the channel and uniformly distributes that fluid to each chamber through the valves.
Data Source
AI summary
A fluid container has a first and second flexible membrane forming at least one chamber, a channel configured to receive pressurized inert gas, and one or more check valve assemblies disposed therebetween. The one or more check valve assemblies is formed from a continuous third flexible membrane folded at an apex, and configured to provide the flow of pressurized fluid in one direction upon inflation, from the channel to the at least one chamber, while restricting flow in the opposite direction. The one or more check valve assemblies are characterized in that they do not require pre-printing or electronic registering, thus allowing for an inflation flow rate of at least twice that of conventional inflatable packaging systems.