Plastic Can With Piercing Device For Sterile Beverage Packaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current plastic cans for beverages lack the capability to maintain sterile conditions, which is essential for ensuring food safety and extending shelf life, and they often require specialized manufacturing installations and processes.
Innovation Solution
A plastic can design featuring a container with a cap that is irreversibly opened upon first use, equipped with a piercing device welded to the container, allowing for aseptic filling and sealing, ensuring the beverage remains sterile and extending shelf life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a plastic can is designed to maintain sterile conditions, then food safety and shelf life are improved, but specialized manufacturing installations and processes are required
Solution Approach 1:
The can is divided into separate components: a container, a lid with breaking point, and a resealable lid. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured separately using standard plastic molding processes, then assembled through welding, eliminating the need for specialized can-making equipment while maintaining sterile sealing capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The lid is pre-formed with an integrated breaking point during the molding process. This preliminary preparation allows the seal to be irreversibly opened by simple mechanical force at the breaking point, enabling sterile sealing without complex manufacturing installations while maintaining food safety
2Reliability
If a lid is made irreversibly opened on first opening, then sterility is ensured, but the lid cannot be reused for sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The closure system is segmented into a permanent lid with breaking point for irreversible opening and a separate removable resealable lid. The permanent lid ensures sterility through its breaking point mechanism, while the removable resealable lid provides ongoing sealing capability after the can is opened, allowing both sterility assurance and lid reusability
Solution Approach 2:
The removable resealable lid acts as an intermediary between the permanently opened permanent lid and the beverage contents. After the permanent lid is irreversibly opened at its breaking point, the removable lid can be placed on the container to maintain sealing and prevent contamination, enabling both sterility and reusability
3Ease of manufacture
If a piercing device is welded to the container, then assembly is simplified, but the piercing device may accidentally activate during assembly
Solution Approach 1:
The piercing device is pre-positioned and welded to the container in a retracted or protected state during assembly. The breaking point of the lid is designed to prevent contact between the piercing device and the lid until the consumer intentionally activates it, allowing simplified welded assembly while preventing accidental piercing through the breaking point mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The breaking point of the lid serves as a protective buffer between the piercing device and the lid during assembly. This deliberate weakness in the lid structure absorbs any unintended contact forces, preventing accidental piercing while allowing the piercing device to be permanently attached to the container through welding
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 design provides a sterile beverage packaging solution that is cost-effective, easy to produce without specialized installations, and ensures the beverage remains sterile and safe for consumption, with a longer shelf life.
Implementation Method 1
said cap being blocked on the container by at least one weld
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a can (1) made substantially of plastics material and containing a sterile beverage. The can has a container (2) with a cylindrical body and an upper part with an opening (19). The opening of the container is hermetically sealed by a cover (10) made of a metal and plastic complex. A cap (3) having a cylindrical side wall and a piercing device (5) is attached to the container. Preferably, the cap has a closable lid (4). The container-cap assembly has the appearance of a can.