Fractal Profile Food Container Wall for Grip and Heat Transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional food and beverage packaging is prone to collapse after opening, lacks grip, and requires additional tie elements for stability during transportation, leading to increased costs and environmental impact.
Innovation Solution
A food container with a fractal profile wall that allows inter-engagement of multiple containers without additional ties, providing increased surface area for better grip and heat transfer, and flexibility for easy disengagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If smooth packaging surfaces are used, then manufacturing is easier and material usage is reduced, but grip and handling become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by adding fractal surface patterns only to specific regions of the container where grip is needed, while maintaining smooth surfaces in other areas. This localized modification improves handling without significantly increasing manufacturing complexity or material usage.
Solution Approach 2:
The fractal surface patterns incorporate curved and rounded features that naturally improve grip by providing better contact points for fingers. The curved fractal elements conform to finger contours, enhancing handling ease while maintaining the overall container shape.
2Stability of the object's composition
If additional tie elements are used to hold multiple containers together, then stability during transportation is improved, but cost and environmental impact increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the container body with integrated interlocking features directly formed as part of the container wall structure. The fractal patterns create complementary male and female engagement features that eliminate the need for separate tie elements, reducing packaging complexity while maintaining stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The containers are designed with self-interlocking fractal features that automatically engage with each other when placed together. The complementary convex and concave fractal elements create automatic mechanical interlocking without requiring additional fastening mechanisms or assembly steps.
3Ease of operation
If container walls are made flexible for easy handling, then grip and manipulation improve, but structural integrity and protection capability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dynamic properties by designing the container wall with controlled flexibility that allows bending and deformation during handling, while the fractal reinforcement patterns prevent excessive deformation. The structure transitions between flexible and rigid states depending on the applied force magnitude.
Solution Approach 2:
The container wall combines materials or structural layers with different mechanical properties to achieve both flexibility and strength. The composite structure allows the wall to bend for easy handling while maintaining structural integrity for protection during transportation and storage.
4Ease of operation
If fractal surface patterns are added to increase surface area for grip, then handling improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fractal surface patterns are generated using iterative curvature-based algorithms that create self-similar rounded features. This mathematical approach allows complex three-dimensional fractal geometries to be manufactured using standard molding techniques, reducing the actual manufacturing complexity despite the intricate surface appearance.
Data Source
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AI summary
A container (10) for use, for example, for beverages, has a wall (12) with and external surface (14) and an internal wall (16) of substantially uniform thickness. The wall (12) has a fractal profile which provides a series of fractal elements (18-28) on the interior and exterior surfaces (14-16), forming pits (40) and bulges (42) in the profile of the wall and in which a pit (40) as seen from one of the exterior or interior surfaces (12, 14) forms a bulge (42) on the other of the exterior or interior surfaces (12, 14). The profile enables multiple containers to be coupled together by inter-engagement of pits and bulges on corresponding ones of the containers. The profile also improves grip, as well as heat transfer into and out of the container.