Food Container with Translucent Opening for Gas Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for checking the internal atmosphere of sealed containers, such as those made of multilayer laminates including aluminum foil, are not applicable as these materials are not translucent to light, leading to waste and inefficiency in quality and safety assessments.
Innovation Solution
A container manufacturing method using a multilayer structure with a gas-tight and non-translucent aluminum layer and a weldable plastic layer, where openings are created in the aluminum layer and covered with a translucent material to allow non-destructive gas detection using laser light, enabling the analysis of internal gas content without compromising gas-tightness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a non-translucent material (aluminum foil) is used to provide gas-tight properties, then gas-tightness is improved, but light cannot pass through for detection purposes
Solution Approach 1:
The container wall is segmented into two functional zones: a non-translucent aluminum foil portion for gas-tight sealing and a translucent opening portion for light detection. This segmentation allows each zone to fulfill its specific function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The container exhibits local quality variation where different portions have different optical properties. The aluminum foil portion provides gas-tightness while the opening portion provides light translucency. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by allowing both gas-tightness and light detection to coexist in different locations of the same container.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If openings are created in the aluminum layer for light detection, then light detection capability is improved, but gas-tightness may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
A translucent covering material acts as an intermediary element that allows light to pass through while maintaining the gas-tight barrier function. This mediator material bridges the contradiction by enabling both light detection and gas-tightness simultaneously at the opening location.
Solution Approach 2:
The container uses a composite structure combining aluminum foil (for gas-tightness) with translucent covering material (for light detection). This composite approach allows the container to exhibit both gas-tight properties and light translucency at the openings, resolving the contradiction between these two requirements.
3Ease of operation
If traditional puncturing methods are used to check internal atmosphere, then detection is simple, but product and package waste increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical puncturing method is replaced with an optical detection system. Light is directed through the translucent opening into the container headspace, and the interaction of light with gas molecules is measured to determine gas composition. This substitution eliminates the need for physical penetration, preventing product and package waste while maintaining detection capability.
4Reliability
If laser light is directed through the container wall for gas detection, then non-destructive detection is enabled, but the method is not applicable to non-translucent materials
Solution Approach 1:
The container structure is segmented to include a dedicated translucent opening portion that specifically accommodates the optical detection system. This segmentation makes the non-destructive laser detection method applicable to containers with aluminum foil by providing a specialized zone for light transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The container is designed with local quality differentiation where the opening portion has specific optical properties (translucency) required for laser detection. This local adaptation allows the versatile application of non-destructive optical detection methods to containers that primarily use non-translucent materials like aluminum foil.
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
Enables cost-effective and efficient non-destructive detection of gas content within sealed containers, maintaining gas-tight properties while allowing for larger openings and reducing the need for additional costly production steps, thus improving the assessment of internal atmospheres in containers made from non-translucent materials.
Implementation Method 1
a laser source is used to direct light through the container wall and into (the headspace of) the package. Scattered light enters the package and interacts with gas inside the package. By measuring, in a position outside of the package, an absorption signal of the light that exits the package it is possible to measure e.g. the concentration of oxygen gas inside the package
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention concerns a container for food products or other sensitive products, said container being made of a material that intends to provide the container with gas-tight properties and that comprises a layer that exhibits no or only a low translucence to light. The invention is characterized in that at least one opening is provided in the layer with no or low light translucence such as to allow light for non-destructive detection of gas inside the container to enter and exit through said at least one opening. The invention also concerns a method for detecting gas inside a sealed container of the above type and a method for manufacturing of a container of the above type from blanks of a cardboard based material. The invention also concerns a production system comprising an apparatus for filling containers of the above type with a product and an apparatus for sealing the filled containers, wherein the system further comprises an apparatus for carrying out the method for detecting gas inside the sealed container.