Produce Picking Container Liner Sleeves with Releasable Fasteners
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing produce picking containers become soiled or contaminated over extended use, necessitating improvements in liners to prevent contact between freshly-picked produce and the interior surfaces.
Innovation Solution
A liner sleeve is placed inside the produce picking container, secured with releasable touch fasteners, allowing produce to fall through the lower end while inhibiting contact with the container interior, and optionally featuring antimicrobial treatments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a liner is added to the picking container to prevent contact between produce and the interior surface, then produce contamination is reduced, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The picking container is divided into two functional parts: the rigid outer container structure and the removable flexible liner. The liner can be separated from the container, allowing it to be replaced when soiled while the container structure remains. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by adding contamination protection through the liner while maintaining structural simplicity through the separable design.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible liner acts as an intermediary layer between the produce and the container interior surface. This intermediary prevents direct contact between produce and the potentially contaminated container surface, thereby reducing contamination risk without requiring modifications to the container structure itself.
2Ease of operation
If the lower end of the container is opened to facilitate produce evacuation, then produce can fall out easily, but the liner must be designed to accommodate this opening mechanism
Solution Approach 1:
The liner is designed with dynamic characteristics that allow it to move independently from the container during evacuation. When the container lower end is opened, the liner can fold or collapse along with the produce, accommodating the opening mechanism without requiring complex integration. This dynamic design resolves the contradiction by enabling easy produce evacuation while keeping the liner-container integration simple.
3Ease of manufacture
If the liner sleeve is secured with releasable touch fasteners to the rim, then the liner can be easily installed and removed, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The touch fastener system is designed to be self-service, allowing the liner to be easily attached and detached by the user without special tools or complex procedures. The fasteners are integrated into the liner and rim in a way that enables simple manual operation, resolving the contradiction by improving ease of installation while keeping the fastener system relatively simple.
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 liner sleeve effectively prevents contamination of produce by maintaining cleanliness within the container, reducing the risk of bacterial or fungal growth, and facilitating easy produce evacuation.
Implementation Method 1
The upper end of the liner sleeve is secured to the rim of the produce picking container with releasable touch fasteners
Data Source
AI summary
A picking container liner sleeve in the form of a sheet or tube of resin is placed inside a produce picking container and held in place by releasably engaging cooperative touch fasteners on the rim of the picking container and the upper end of the liner sleeve. The liner sleeve is sized to line the container in use to inhibit contact between picked produce and an interior surface of the produce picking container with the lower end of the produce picking container in a closed position, but to allow picked produce to fall through the lower end of the produce picking container with the lower end of the produce picking container in an open position.