Multilayer Single-Dose Capsule Oxygen Barrier Design
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing single-dose capsules for dispensing infused beverages are machine-specific, requiring expensive and complex packaging to prevent oxygen passage, limiting their versatility and durability.
Innovation Solution
A single-dose capsule made from a multilayer material with a structural outer layer, a barrier intermediate layer, and a gas-impermeable sealing film, allowing for customizable configuration to work with different machines and accommodating various product forms, including granular and liquid products.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If single-dose capsules use a simple cup-shaped body with gas-impermeable film sealing, then they are machine-specific and require complex expensive packaging to prevent oxygen passage, but the invention makes them universally compatible with different machines while reducing packaging complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The cup-shaped body is designed with a standardized structure that can be configured with different sealing arrangements (sealed bottom, open bottom with filter, different rim configurations) to be compatible with multiple types of dispensing machines. This universal base design eliminates the need for machine-specific capsule variations while maintaining adaptability through configurable sealing options.
Solution Approach 2:
The capsule employs a multilayer construction combining a structural material (providing mechanical strength and shape) with a barrier material layer (preventing oxygen permeation). This composite structure integrates the oxygen barrier function directly into the capsule body, eliminating the need for complex external packaging while maintaining protection during storage and transport.
2Reliability
If single-dose capsules use expensive special packaging to prevent oxygen passage, then oxygen barrier protection is maintained, but packaging costs and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule employs a multilayer construction combining a structural material (providing mechanical strength and shape) with a barrier material layer (preventing oxygen permeation). This composite structure integrates the oxygen barrier function directly into the capsule body, eliminating the need for complex external packaging while maintaining protection during storage and transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The capsule structure itself provides the oxygen barrier protection through its inherent multilayer design, rather than relying on external packaging systems. The barrier material layer within the capsule body performs the protective function autonomously, making the packaging system simpler and more self-sufficient.
3Reliability
If the cup-shaped body is made of multilayer material with barrier properties, then oxygen passage is prevented inherently, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The capsule employs a multilayer construction combining a structural material (providing mechanical strength and shape) with a barrier material layer (preventing oxygen permeation). This composite structure integrates the oxygen barrier function directly into the capsule body, eliminating the need for complex external packaging while maintaining protection during storage and transport.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the material parameters of the cup-shaped body by selecting specific materials with inherent barrier properties (low oxygen permeability) and configuring them in a multilayer structure. This material parameter optimization provides oxygen protection through the capsule's intrinsic properties rather than requiring additional protective systems.
4Reliability
If single-dose capsules are configured for specific machines, then they work reliably with that machine type, but versatility across different machine types is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The cup-shaped body is designed with a standardized structure that can be configured with different sealing arrangements (sealed bottom, open bottom with filter, different rim configurations) to be compatible with multiple types of dispensing machines. This universal base design eliminates the need for machine-specific capsule variations while maintaining adaptability through configurable sealing options.
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 enables single-dose capsules to be universally compatible with various dispensing machines, reducing packaging costs and complexity while maintaining oxygen barrier protection, allowing flexible infusion directions and product types.
Implementation Method 1
an intermediate layer made of a barrier material, for example a copolymer of ethylene-polyvinyl alcohol, adapted to prevent passage of oxygen from the external environment into the cup-shaped body
Implementation Method 2
the open top is hermetically closed by a film impermeable to gases that has the function of allowing the preservation over time of the product in granular form, while preventing it from escaping
Data Source
AI summary
A single-dose capsule for machines for dispensing beverages in the form of an infusion is provided. The capsule has a cup-shaped body adapted to receive a dose of a product in a granular or particle form, or in the form of a concentrated liquid, and a gas-impermeable film restrained to the open top of the cup-shaped body. The cup-shaped body is made of a multilayer material manufactured by way of a co-injection molding process. The multilayer has an inner layer and an outer layer made of a structural material and an intermediate layer made of a barrier material adapted to prevent passage of oxygen from the external environment to the inside of the cup-shaped body. The invention also relates to a packaging method of the single-dose capsules.