Medical Container Nest Frame Design for Warpage Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical container nests tend to warp over time due to residual stress from the injection molding process, leading to misalignment of medical containers during automated filling and conveying processes.
Innovation Solution
A nest design featuring a frame-shaped support plate with a hollow interior area and reinforcing ribs that connect chimneys, providing increased stiffness and resistance to warpage and deformation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a flat support plate with multiple chimneys is used to hold medical containers, then the nest can support multiple containers in upright orientation, but the nest is prone to warpage and deformation over time due to residual stress from injection molding
Solution Approach 1:
The support plate is segmented into a frame-shaped structure with hollow interior area, dividing the plate into peripheral support regions. This segmentation reduces residual stress concentration and prevents uniform warpage across the entire plate, while maintaining structural integrity to hold multiple chimneys in upright orientation.
Solution Approach 2:
Reinforcing ribs are added as a third dimensional element extending vertically from the support plate to connect adjacent chimneys. This dimensional addition creates a rigid spatial framework that counteracts warpage forces and stabilizes the nest shape without interfering with the upright positioning function of the chimneys.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the nest structure is made more rigid to prevent warpage, then deformation is reduced, but the complexity of the nest design increases
Solution Approach 1:
The frame-shaped support plate concentrates structural strength at the peripheral edges where it is most needed for preventing warpage, while leaving the interior hollow to reduce overall material usage and complexity. Reinforcing ribs are strategically placed only between adjacent chimneys where local support is required, rather than adding uniform complexity across the entire structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The nest integrates multiple structural elements (frame-shaped support plate, hollow interior space, reinforcing ribs, and chimney array) into a composite system where each component contributes to overall rigidity. This composite approach achieves high stability without requiring any single element to be overly complex or material-intensive.
3Area of stationary object
If the support plate is made larger to accommodate more chimneys, then more medical containers can be held, but the natural warpage increases due to the larger size
Solution Approach 1:
The large support plate is segmented into a frame-shaped structure with hollow interior, dividing it into smaller structural zones along the periphery. This segmentation allows the plate to span larger areas to accommodate more chimneys while the framed structure prevents warpage by distributing stresses along the rigid peripheral boundaries rather than across the entire large area.
Solution Approach 2:
Vertical reinforcing ribs are introduced as a third dimension connecting adjacent chimneys, creating a three-dimensional rigid framework. This additional dimension provides structural support that counteracts warpage forces in larger plates, enabling the nest to accommodate more chimneys across a larger area without proportionally increasing warpage.
Data Source
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AI summary
A nest configured to support medical containers is provided. The nest includes a support plate comprising a first surface, a second surface, and a peripheral edge between the first surface and the second surface, with the support plate configured as a frame-shaped plate having a hollow interior area. The nest also includes a plurality of chimneys extending outwardly and away from the first surface that define receptacles configured to receive medical containers therein. The chimneys include an interior chimney group positioned in the hollowed interior area of the frame-shaped plate and a perimeter chimney group surrounding the interior chimney group, with each of the perimeter chimneys at least partially joined to an inner edge of the frame-shaped plate at the bottom end thereof. The nest further includes reinforcing ribs extending between the plurality of chimneys that connect each respective chimney to a plurality of adjacent chimneys.