Self-Supporting Paperboard Tray Packaging With Viewing Windows
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing product packaging primarily uses one-time use plastics that are difficult to decompose, contribute to environmental pollution, and have low recycling rates, while paperboard packaging is challenging to shape and lacks transparency.
Innovation Solution
A formed paperboard packaging system comprising a tray with a base and planar lip that provides self-supporting structure, allowing the package to stand upright, and a tray cover that can include windows for product visibility, made from creased paperboard blanks to facilitate shaping without tearing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If one-time use plastic is used for packaging, then ease of manufacture and versatility are improved, but environmental harm increases due to difficulty in decomposition and low recycling rates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from plastic to paperboard, fundamentally altering the environmental characteristics while maintaining manufacturability. Paperboard is naturally biodegradable and recyclable, resolving the environmental harm issue while preserving the ease of manufacture through established paperboard fabrication processes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite construction by combining paperboard with clear film or foil layers to create a multi-layer packaging structure. This composite approach maintains the environmental benefits of paperboard while adding functionality through the clear layer, achieving both ecological sustainability and practical packaging requirements
2Object-generated harmful factors
If paperboard packaging is used, then environmental friendliness and recyclability are improved, but difficulty in shaping and lack of transparency worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-creasing the paperboard blank before final assembly. These pre-applied creases serve as guides that facilitate subsequent folding and shaping operations, making the paperboard easier to form into the desired three-dimensional packaging structure without requiring excessive force or complex tooling
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the paperboard structure into multiple components including the base, sides, flaps, and creased sections. This segmentation allows each part to be independently formed and assembled, simplifying the overall shaping process and enabling complex three-dimensional structures to be built from simpler flat components
3Object-generated harmful factors
If paperboard packaging is used, then environmental friendliness is improved, but transparency is lost making products difficult to view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials by layering clear film or foil over the opaque paperboard structure. This composite construction allows the packaging to maintain the environmental benefits of paperboard while the clear layer provides transparency for product visibility, effectively resolving the contradiction between eco-friendliness and transparency
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by making only specific portions of the packaging transparent through the use of clear windows or panels. This allows the majority of the paperboard structure to remain opaque for environmental benefits while localized clear areas provide product visibility where needed
4Shape
If paperboard is formed into three-dimensional shapes, then packaging functionality is improved, but material integrity may be compromised during forming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-creasing the paperboard blank before final assembly. These pre-applied creases create controlled bending zones that concentrate deformation in specific areas, preventing unexpected tearing or failure during the forming process and maintaining material integrity throughout the transformation to three-dimensional shape
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the paperboard into multiple connected components with defined joint areas. This segmentation allows the structure to be assembled through controlled folding and joining operations, distributing mechanical stresses across multiple connection points rather than requiring the entire sheet to withstand forming forces, thus preserving material integrity
Data Source
AI summary
A packaging comprises a tray and a tray cover. The tray is formed to define a pocket configured to receive one or more products therein. The tray cover is coupled to the tray over the one or more products in the pocket to close an opening to the pocket. Methods of making the same are further provided.