Microwave Packaging Container Steam Release Seal Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing microwave oven packaging containers face issues with pressure buildup leading to explosions, compromising sealing performance and food quality, as they often require partial unsealing to release steam, which affects heating efficiency and taste.
Innovation Solution
A packaging container design featuring a steam releasing seal part with a weakened through-hole in the flange part, separate from the peripheral seal, allows for controlled pressure release without compromising sealing, ensuring the container opens reliably and maintains internal pressure for enhanced steaming effects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a peripheral seal part projects in an inside direction of the container to prevent explosion, then the container can release steam, but the flange part needs larger width which increases material usage and cost
Solution Approach 1:
The seal part is divided into two distinct functional segments: a peripheral seal part for maintaining hermetic sealing and a separate steam releasing seal part with a weakened portion for controlled steam release. This segmentation allows each part to be optimized independently, eliminating the need for the peripheral seal part to project inward while still providing explosion prevention through the dedicated steam releasing seal part.
Solution Approach 2:
The steam releasing function is extracted from the peripheral seal part and implemented as a separate steam releasing seal part with a weakened portion. This extraction allows the peripheral seal part to maintain its simple flat configuration without inward projection, reducing material usage while the extracted steam releasing component handles pressure relief independently.
2Reliability
If a projecting part is formed at the peripheral seal part to allow spontaneous opening, then steam can be discharged, but the projecting part may be displaced which impairs sealing performance
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing and steam release functions are segmented into separate components: the peripheral seal part maintains hermetic sealing with a simple flat configuration that resists displacement, while the steam releasing seal part with weakened portion handles steam discharge. This segmentation eliminates the conflict between maintaining sealing precision and enabling steam release.
Solution Approach 2:
The steam releasing function is extracted as a separate seal part with a weakened portion, removing the need for the peripheral seal part to have complex projected structures. This extraction preserves the simplicity and displacement-resistance of the peripheral seal part while providing controlled steam release through the dedicated steam releasing seal part.
3Reliability
If the container is partially unsealed before heating to release steam, then explosion is prevented, but the heating and steaming effect is reduced and taste deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The steam releasing seal part with weakened portion is pre-configured during manufacturing to remain intact during sealing and transport. During microwave heating, the weakened portion spontaneously opens at the predetermined location when internal pressure reaches a critical level, providing automatic steam release without requiring preliminary manual unsealing. This maintains the hermetic seal during the critical heating phase for optimal steaming effect while preventing explosion.
Solution Approach 2:
The weakened portion in the steam releasing seal part is designed to automatically open under internal pressure during heating, providing self-regulating steam release without external intervention. This self-service mechanism maintains sealing integrity during heating for optimal cooking performance while automatically preventing explosion when pressure becomes excessive.
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 improved sealing performance, prevents container deformation, ensures stable steam release, and maintains food quality by allowing controlled pressure buildup and efficient steaming, while reducing material usage and manufacturing costs.
Implementation Method 1
when the packaging container is heated in the microwave oven, inside pressure of the packaging container is increased by steam and the like generated from the food contained therein
Implementation Method 2
steam generated from the food inside the packaging container by heating in the microwave oven
Implementation Method 3
hermetically sealed by heat-sealing a lid to a periphery of a flange part of a container body made of a synthetic resin
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a packaging container for a microwave oven that excels in the sealing performance between a container body and lid, and that at heating/cooking by a microwave oven, maintains the internal pressure of the container for a given period of time to thereby enhance the taste of contents through steaming effect, and that thereafter, can spontaneously open with certainty from a steam releasing seal part; and an efficient process for manufacturing the packaging container. In the packaging container for microwave oven having a lid heat-sealed to the periphery of a flange part of container body made of a synthetic resin so as to attain hermetic sealing, at least one steam releasing seal part with a weakened part is disposed inside the peripheral seal part of the flange part at a position separate from the peripheral seal part.