Hermetic Sealing System for Fluid Containers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing containers for fluid substances, especially cosmetics and medical products, face challenges in ensuring a hermetic seal during filling and pump coupling, leading to potential contamination and high costs associated with controlled environments.
Innovation Solution
A container equipped with a vacuum-sealed, depressurized, or formless bag and multiple seals that allow for verification of the container's integrity during filling and pump coupling, ensuring a perfect seal even when the pump is not installed immediately.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional top-fill valves made of elastic material are used to seal the bag after filling, then the sealing process is simple, but the hermetic seal is not guaranteed especially when the bag is partially filled
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of the sealing system from elastic material under pressure to a rigid or semi-rigid structure that maintains its sealing geometry independently of filling pressure. The seal is designed to engage with the bag opening in a way that creates a hermetic barrier regardless of whether the bag is partially or fully filled, eliminating the dependency on optimal filling pressure for seal effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing system employs composite construction combining rigid structural elements with flexible sealing components. This allows the seal to maintain its shape and sealing force while accommodating the bag's deformation during filling and storage, achieving reliable hermetic sealing without requiring complex active control mechanisms.
2Reliability
If filling and pump coupling are performed simultaneously in a controlled environment, then fluid contamination is prevented, but costs and operational flexibility increase due to the need for controlled environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary sealing of the bag after filling before pump coupling occurs. The seal is established in advance during the filling process, creating a hermetic barrier that protects the fluid from contamination during subsequent handling, storage, and transport. This allows the pump to be coupled later in a non-controlled environment without compromising fluid integrity, thereby eliminating the need for continuous controlled environment requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing system acts as an intermediary barrier between the fluid and the external environment. By establishing this protective interface during filling, the system decouples the fluid protection function from the pump coupling operation, allowing these two steps to be separated in time and space without compromising fluid safety.
3Ease of operation
If elastic valves are used for bag closure, then the sealing mechanism is simple, but the seal fails when filling pressure is not optimal or the bag is only partially filled
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of relying on internal filling pressure to force the elastic valve against the bag opening (traditional approach), the patent inverts the sealing mechanism so that the seal engages and maintains contact through its structural design, independent of internal pressure. The sealing force is provided by the seal's own geometry and material properties rather than by the fluid pressure it is meant to contain.
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 provides a reliable and cost-effective method for maintaining the integrity of fluid substances by ensuring a hermetic seal during filling and storage, preventing contamination and reducing the need for expensive controlled environments.
Implementation Method 1
the provision, prior to filling, of a container with a bag from which the air has been removed (i.e. vacuum-sealed)
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
Container (1) of fluid substances, comprising a body (5) having a neck (6) delimiting an opening (7) for the access to a cavity (7A) of the body itself, and a containment element (8) having at least one deformable side wall located inside the cavity (7A) and intended to contain the fluid substance, the interior of the containment element (8) being coupled in a sealed manner to a collar (10) having at least one surface (10A) resting on the body (5) and a tubular member (12) extending from the bottom (13) thereof, the tubular member (12) defining a first passage (20) for the fluid substance in a use configuration, there being an insert (11) housed within the collar (10), the said insert being formed of a first part (11A) and a second part (11B), which are mutually connected by a first breakable portion (11C), there being a shutter (15) housed, in a sealed manner, inside the insert (11), the said shutter being formed of a first section (15A) and a second section (15B), which are mutually connected by a second breakable portion (15C), the second section (15B) comprising a surface (16), configured to cooperate, in a sealed manner, with the tubular member (12) when the second section (15B) is fitted onto the latter, and a breakable wall (18) which, when broken, permits access to the containment element (8).