Flexible Membrane Check Valve for Faster Inflation Flow
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional inflatable packaging systems face issues with misaligned check valves due to pre-printed localized features, requiring specialized equipment and resulting in restricted fluid flow and longer inflation times.
Innovation Solution
A check valve design that eliminates pre-printing and specialized registration, allowing for higher fluid flow rates and faster inflation by using bonded flexible membranes without continuous seals, and incorporating a port for easy inflation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If pre-printed localized features are used to form check valves, then the manufacturing process can be established, but misalignment occurs due to heat sealing deformation and specialized equipment is required
Solution Approach 1:
The check valve features are formed during the initial plastic sheet formation process before heat sealing occurs. This preliminary formation ensures that the valve features are already in place and will move with the plastic deformation during heat sealing, eliminating alignment issues that would occur if features were added after sealing.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention removes the requirement for specialized pre-printing equipment by using standard plastic forming processes to create the check valve features directly in the plastic sheets. This extracts the complex registration equipment from the manufacturing system while maintaining valve formation capability.
2Reliability
If conventional check valve designs with heat sealing elements are used, then proper connection between components is achieved, but fluid flow is significantly restricted at the valve inlet
Solution Approach 1:
The check valve is segmented into separate functional zones: a connection zone with heat sealing elements for reliable component attachment, and a flow zone with enlarged cross-section and streamlined features for unrestricted fluid flow. This segmentation allows each zone to optimize its function without compromising the other.
Solution Approach 2:
Different local qualities are applied to different parts of the check valve: the inlet area has enlarged cross-section and smooth transitions for low flow resistance, while the connection areas have heat sealing elements for secure attachment. Each local region has properties optimized for its specific function.
3Strength
If continuous seals are used in inflatable packaging systems, then structural integrity is maintained, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing system is segmented into discrete localized seal features rather than continuous seals. These segmented seals are positioned at specific locations where structural integrity is needed, eliminating unnecessary seal material and simplifying the sealing configuration while maintaining strength where required.
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 new design reduces manufacturing complexity, minimizes equipment costs, and significantly reduces inflation time by at least half while maintaining effective protection against mechanical damage.
Implementation Method 1
The sheets are typically oriented one on top of the other, then joined by heat sealing along the periphery and at various locations within the periphery
Implementation Method 2
these valves are typically defined by additional layers of plastic that form a path for fluid to flow from the channel to each chamber, and further defined by localized features introduced within that air path to direct, restrict, or otherwise control, the flow of fluid through the valve. The localized features are typically pre-printed, which involves applying thermally resistant paint at predetermined locations on a plastic sheet, prior to applying heat, so that thermal bonding occurs in certain areas and not in others.
Data Source
AI summary
A fluid container has a first and second flexible membrane forming at least one chamber, a channel configured to receive pressurized inert gas, and one or more check valve assemblies disposed therebetween. The one or more check valve assemblies is formed from a continuous third flexible membrane folded at an apex, and configured to provide the flow of pressurized fluid in one direction upon inflation, from the channel to the at least one chamber, while restricting flow in the opposite direction. Advantageously, the one or more check valve assemblies do not require pre-printing or electronic registering and are larger thus allowing for an inflation flow rate at least twice that of conventional inflatable packaging systems. The third flexible membrane may also be configured in an S-bend thereby providing a single check valve. A port may be disposed at the inlet of the channel to facilitate filling of the fluid.