Hot Fill Container Corner Support Columns Vacuum Rigidity
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Hot fill beverage bottles require complex shapes and more material to accommodate contraction and vacuum forces, leading to increased production costs and reduced design freedom compared to cold fill bottles.
Innovation Solution
A lightweight beverage container design featuring support columns with raised mid-sections extending into body panels, providing increased rigidity and accommodating vacuum forces without complex shapes or excessive material usage, achieved by filling, cooling, and allowing the support columns to pull towards each other.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional hot fill bottle designs are used to accommodate vacuum forces, then container integrity is maintained, but device complexity and material usage increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The bottle body is segmented into multiple rigid panels connected by flexible vacuum panels, creating a modular structure that maintains overall integrity while allowing localized deformation. The support columns are also segmented with raised mid-sections that extend into adjacent panels, creating discrete structural elements rather than a monolithic complex shape.
Solution Approach 2:
The bottle combines rigid thermoplastic panels with flexible vacuum panels in a composite structure. The rigid panels provide structural strength and shape stability, while the flexible panels accommodate vacuum forces through controlled deformation, eliminating the need for overly complex overall bottle geometry.
2Reliability
If traditional hot fill bottle designs are used to accommodate vacuum forces, then container integrity is maintained, but material usage and production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the bottle into rigid and flexible panels, material can be strategically placed only where structural support is needed. The rigid panels use thicker material for strength, while flexible panels use thinner material that deforms to accommodate vacuum, reducing overall material consumption compared to uniformly thick complex designs.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the bottle have different material properties and thicknesses optimized for their specific functions. Rigid panels have higher material density and thickness for structural support, while flexible panels have lower material density and thickness for vacuum accommodation, eliminating waste of material in non-critical areas.
3Reliability
If traditional hot fill bottle designs are used, then vacuum forces are accommodated, but design freedom is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The segmentation into standardized rigid panels and flexible vacuum panels creates a modular design system. Once the basic panel and column modules are designed, they can be reconfigured for different bottle shapes, sizes, and aesthetic styles, greatly increasing design freedom compared to monolithic complex designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible vacuum panels are designed to dynamically deform in response to vacuum forces while rigid panels maintain structural integrity. This dynamic response allows the bottle to adapt to vacuum conditions without requiring a predetermined complex static shape, enabling greater design flexibility.
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 design achieves improved rigidity and reduced material usage, resulting in cost savings and maintaining container integrity while using less than 15 grams of material for a 250 milliliter bottle, with a material-to-size ratio of 1:17 or less.
Implementation Method 1
forming a vacuum within the container, and pulling the support columns towards each other
Implementation Method 2
the beverage may contract such that a vacuum forms within the enclosed container
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
Figure 6~7
AI summary
The present application provides a container for a beverage filled in a hot fill process. The container may include a finish, a body section, and a base. The body section may include a number of support columns and a number of body panels. Each of the support columns may include a first raised mid-section extending into a first body panel and a second raised mid-section extending into a second body panel.