Inverted Flexible Pouch with Valved Cap for Food Packaging
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional food packaging, especially for sour cream, faces challenges such as liquid separation and contamination due to fracturing during transport and storage, leading to an undesirable consumer experience.
Innovation Solution
A flexible pouch with a spout fitment and valved cap assembly that allows for inverted storage and dispensing, preventing liquid separation and contamination by maintaining product stability and controlling dispensing pressure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sour cream is stored in conventional upright containers, then the product can be easily accessed, but liquid separates and accumulates at the bottom causing fracturing and contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The container is inverted during storage and dispensing, with the dispensing end positioned at the bottom. This inversion prevents liquid from separating and accumulating at the bottom, maintaining product homogeneity and preventing fracturing while enabling controlled dispensing through the valve mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
A valve mechanism is introduced as an intermediary between the product and the external environment. The valve controls dispensing by opening only when pressure is applied, preventing free drainage and contamination while allowing controlled product release, thus resolving the contradiction between stability and dispensing convenience.
2Force
If pressure is applied to plastic squeeze bottles to dispense product, then dispensing force is sufficient, but vacuum is created drawing air and contaminants inside
Solution Approach 1:
The valve acts as an intermediary that prevents direct communication between the internal vacuum space and the external environment. When pressure is applied for dispensing, the valve opens to allow product flow but remains closed during pressure release, preventing air and contaminants from entering the container.
Solution Approach 2:
The harmful vacuum effect is extracted or eliminated by using a flexible pouch design that can deform to fill voids as product is dispensed. This eliminates the vacuum formation that would otherwise draw air and contaminants into the container through the dispensing opening.
3Strength
If rigid plastic sidewalls are used in squeeze bottles, then structural strength is maintained, but negative pressure creates suck-back of air into the container
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid plastic sidewalls are replaced with a flexible pouch that can deform as product is dispensed. This flexibility allows the pouch to collapse and fill voids, preventing negative pressure formation and the subsequent suck-back of air into the container, while maintaining sufficient containment strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The container transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic flexible structure that can change shape in response to internal pressure changes. The flexible pouch adapts its form as product is dispensed, maintaining positive pressure and preventing air ingress, thus improving reliability without sacrificing necessary strength.
4Ease of manufacture
If conventional upright filling is used, then manufacturing process is simple, but repeated inverting disturbs product stability and creates liquid formation
Solution Approach 1:
The filling process is inverted, with the container filled in an inverted orientation rather than upright. This ensures the product is initially positioned in a stable configuration, preventing liquid separation and maintaining homogeneity throughout storage, transport, and use, while the manufacturing process adapts to this inverted filling approach.
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 flexible pouch system reduces liquid accumulation, prevents air and contaminant ingress, and provides visual and tactile quantity indication, ensuring freshness and convenience during use.
Implementation Method 1
a deformable flexible pouch. As such, the flexible pouch provides the user a visual and tactile indication of the quantity of food product remaining in the package
Implementation Method 2
dispensing requires a slight pressure on the container, providing control over the amount dispensed
Implementation Method 3
The flexible pouch also allows dispensing of food product without creating negative pressure within the pouch, thereby preventing 'suck-back' of air into the food containment and delivery system
Data Source
AI summary
An inverted flexible food containment and delivery system is disclosed. Embodiments disclosed herein include a flexible pouch that is configured to contain a food product. A spout fitment is coupled to the flexible pouch proximate a dispensing end. The spout fitment supports a cap assembly that includes a valve. An exterior support surface of the cap assembly is configured to support the flexible food containment and delivery system and the food product in an inverted/cap-down orientation.