Reclosable Can Lid Snap-Latch Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing reclosable can lids for beverage cans face challenges in providing airtight and gas-tight closure, requiring high opening and reclosure forces, and are not suitable for large technical applications due to complex handling and usability issues in conventional can filling lines.
Innovation Solution
A can lid design featuring a collar part and lid receiving part made from different plastic materials, forming a snap-in latching connection with a peripheral coupling rib and cut-out, and a pull tab integrated into the collar part, allowing for easy opening and reclosure with minimal force, while ensuring gas-tightness and liquid-tightness, even under high internal pressures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a reclosable opening is provided in the can lid, then the can can be opened and closed multiple times, but the gas-tightness and liquid-tightness are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The closure element is nested within the can lid structure, with the closure element's outer peripheral region inserted into the recess of the lid. The bead structure acts as a nested anchorage mechanism that secures the closure element while maintaining the gas-tight seal when closed.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure element is extracted as a separate, removable component from the lid structure, allowing it to be inserted and removed independently. This enables the opening to be closed gas-tightly when needed while maintaining the ability to open and reclose multiple times.
2Ease of operation
If a prefabricated plastic closure part is used, then the opening can be closed, but high forces are required for opening and reclosure
Solution Approach 1:
The tear seam is designed to transition from a closed state to an opened state through a tearing motion. The tear notch provides a stress concentration point that initiates the tear, allowing the closure element to be removed with controlled force rather than requiring high opening forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The tear notch is pre-formed in the closure element to provide a starting point for the tear seam. This preliminary feature reduces the force required to open the closure by concentrating the tearing stress at a specific location rather than requiring force distribution across the entire closure element.
3Ease of operation
If the tear notch is provided in the metallic can material, then the opening can be accessed, but sharp edges are created that are unsafe
Solution Approach 1:
The closure element acts as an intermediary between the user and the sharp edges created by the tear notch. When the closure element is in place, it covers the sharp edges of the tear notch, providing a safe surface. The closure element mediates the interaction between the user's hand and the potentially harmful sharp edges.
4Volume of moving object
If the closure element is connected via a thin plastic wall, then the structure is compact, but the connection strength is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The connection between the closure element and lid is strengthened by using composite material structures. The bead structure provides mechanical anchorage in the metallic lid, while the plastic closure element material provides the sealing function. This composite approach maintains compactness while improving connection strength through the bead anchorage mechanism.
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 compact, leak-tight, and gas-tight reclosable unit that can be opened and closed with small forces, maintaining airtightness and allowing one-handed operation, suitable for use in conventional can filling lines and pasteurization processes.
Implementation Method 1
a two-armed lever member which is intended to pierce the tear notch, which is connected to a pull tab, on the one hand, and engages at the opening region of the lid surface, on the other hand, and which is supported via a bearing translating the opening force applied to the pull tab
Implementation Method 2
a sealing snap-in latching connection to a peripheral coupling rib and to a cut-out of complementary shape is formed between the collar part and the lid receiving part
Data Source
AI summary
A can lid (1) with a re-closable opening (11) includes an opening region or a closure cover (11), bounded by a peripheral tear-open notch (4), and a lever member intended for breaking through the tear-open notch. Adjacent to the tear-open notch (4), the outer rim of the closure cover (11) is non-positively connected to a collar part (5) of a first plastics material. The collar part is assigned a cover receiving part (10), of a second plastics material, which is outside the opening region and adjacent to the tear-open notch and is non-positively connected to the cover area, wherein the collar part engages over the cover receiving part. Formed between the collar part (5) and the cover receiving part (10) is a sealing snap-in locking connection with a peripheral domed rib and a complementarily formed recess.