Partitioned Container With Interlocking Interior Panels
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional divider systems in containers waste volume, add weight, and are costly due to excessive material and adhesive use, and are inefficient for shipping and storage of smaller objects, which can suffer impact damage.
Innovation Solution
A partitioned container design with interlocking interior panels that eliminate perimeter cells, reduce material usage, and incorporate a self-locking mechanism with alternating slot configurations, allowing for smaller cell sizes and reduced weight, enabling the container to fold flat for efficient storage and transportation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If traditional divider systems with perimeter cells are used, then structural support is provided, but significant box container volume is wasted and weight is added without providing additional item cells
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the traditional perimeter air cells from the divider system design. By extracting this non-functional volume that provided no item storage capability, the invention eliminates wasted space while maintaining the essential structural support function through the interlocking interior panels themselves.
Solution Approach 2:
The divider system is segmented into multiple interlocking interior panels that can be configured in various patterns. These panels are positioned within the box container perimeter and interlock with each other to provide structural support without requiring continuous perimeter air cells, allowing more efficient use of container volume.
2Strength
If traditional divider systems with perimeter air cells are used, then structural support is provided, but weight is added that does not provide for additional item cells
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the perimeter air cells from the traditional divider system. This removal reduces the overall weight of the divider system while maintaining structural support through the interlocking interior panels, thereby reducing weight without sacrificing strength.
3Ease of manufacture
If interior panels are spaced apart to permit facial affixing of folding tab sections, then exterior panels can be attached, but cell size is limited to a large minimum volume
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the folding tab sections from the interior panels. This extraction eliminates the requirement for spacing between panels to accommodate these tabs, allowing panels to be positioned closer together and thereby reducing the minimum cell size while still enabling exterior panel attachment through alternative means.
Solution Approach 2:
The attachment function is segmented and redistributed. Instead of relying on folding tab sections at panel edges, the exterior panels are attached through a combination of methods including adhesive application to panel surfaces and interlocking mechanisms between interior panels, allowing greater manufacturing flexibility and smaller cell dimensions.
4Ease of manufacture
If folding tab sections are facially affixed to exterior panels, then interior panels can be secured, but more material, labor and energy are required for manufacturing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the folding tab sections entirely from the interior panels. This removal simplifies the manufacturing process by eliminating the complex facial affixing operation, reducing material usage, and decreasing labor and energy requirements while maintaining the securing function through alternative attachment methods.
5Ease of manufacture
If folding tab sections of the same height as interior panels are used, then exterior panels can be attached, but more material and labor are required and the folded state defines larger space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the folding tab sections that extended to the full height of interior panels. This extraction reduces the amount of material required for each panel, decreases the weight of the container, and reduces the space occupied when folded, while exterior panel attachment is achieved through alternative methods such as adhesive application and interlocking mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
A partitioned container having a plurality of individual compartments formed from mated slotted interior panels. One or more exterior panels surround the mated interior panels to form the outside of the partitioned container. The interior panels may include folding tab sections and partitioning sections, and the panels may be mated with one another through a self-locking mechanism. The various panels may be folded about fold lines to permit the assembly to be folded into a substantially flat state.