Powder Compaction Packaging System for Material Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current packaging methods for powder-like products are inefficient in material usage, leading to excessive consumption of packaging material and energy, and result in shorter storage times due to larger surface areas allowing aroma escape.
Innovation Solution
A packaging system with movable upper and lower parts, featuring dosing devices and compression pistons that compact products, allowing for reduced packaging material usage and extended storage times by forming airtight, sealed bags with minimized surface area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional packaging methods are used with large surface area bags, then product protection is adequate, but packaging material consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by transforming the physical state of the powdered product from loose to compressed. The compression piston reduces the volume of the powdered product, allowing it to be packaged in a smaller bag surface area while maintaining adequate protection. This volume reduction directly decreases packaging material consumption without compromising product integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The packaging system is divided into modular components: upper housing with dosing device, lower housing with compression piston, and separable parts. This segmentation allows for efficient space utilization and optimized packaging geometry, reducing the overall surface area required while maintaining protective functions.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If larger packaging surface area is used, then product filling is easier, but aroma escape increases during storage
Solution Approach 1:
By changing the volume parameter of the product through compression, the patent reduces the packaging surface area required. This compression maintains the product's fillability during manufacturing while minimizing the surface area exposed to the environment during storage, thereby reducing aroma escape.
3Loss of substance
If compression is applied to reduce packaging volume, then material usage decreases, but product structure may be affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully controls the compression parameter to achieve volume reduction while maintaining product structure stability. The compression piston applies controlled pressure that reduces air pockets and loose volume without damaging the powdered product's functional properties or composition.
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 system achieves up to 50% reduction in packaging material consumption, extends storage time, and increases production efficiency while maintaining product quality.
Implementation Method 1
a) where an upper part, which is equipped with several upper part-housings, and a lower part, which is equipped with several lower part-housings, are movably arranged in relation to one another and to the sub-housings
Implementation Method 2
Such packaging and packaging methods are known in particular from the food industry, for example from DE 29 32 236 A1, which relates to a device for producing three-side sealed bags and discloses a generic method. According to this teaching, powdered or granulated products are packaged in an airtight manner so that they are appropriately protected, mainly from the effects of light and moisture
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a material- and energy-saving packaging method for powdered products or mixtures thereof, and to the resulting packaging. A powdered product or mixture thereof is compacted directly before packaging using specially designed and separably arranged housings. A packaging system is to be formed from several housings, each housing being divided into an upper and a lower part. These housings must form a tight but separable connection with each other before the compaction process. Each upper part is to be expediently assigned a metering device and a movable compression piston, while each lower part must be to be movably arranged a fixing and dispensing piston.Before or after the upper and lower parts are joined to form the housing, the compression pistons must always be positioned above the feed openings, while the surface of a metered, loose product must end below the feed openings. A downward movement of the compression pistons achieves the desired product compression, with the level of the compressed product always remaining close to the separable joints and always in the lower sections.Next, the upper parts of the casings must be moved far enough away from the lower parts so that all lower parts can be wrapped undisturbed using packaging material (film) over three levels. In the designated spaces between the adjacent lower parts, vertical, airtight sealing edges, each twice as wide as the previously determined width, are applied to form individual pockets. These pockets will be created after the seal-edge bag strand is later divided into individual seal-edge bags. Furthermore, the entire strand of lower casings, including the pockets, must be rotated 180 degrees around the longitudinal axis of the seal-edge strand and fixed in this position. Now, with the dispensing piston firmly fixed, all lower parts of the casings can be removed simultaneously and efficiently from the pockets, lifting them upwards.Consequently, all dispensing pistons must be removed from the pockets simultaneously and sufficiently to allow for the formation of the 3-edge sealed bag strand by means of a suitably and horizontally positioned sealing edge that extends across the openings of the entire strand. If the individual packages are too small to accommodate all the necessary information, the invention provides that they can be designed as units consisting of twin packs. Otherwise, the 3-edge sealed bag strand is expediently divided into individual 3-edge sealed bags.