Release Coated Carton Packaging for Frozen Meat
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current packaging for freezing and storing meat and seafood faces issues with polyethylene entrapment, where the inner polyethylene bag can tear and leave fragments trapped in the meat, posing a choke hazard, and polymer laminated liners struggle with reliable gluing and adhesion at low temperatures.
Innovation Solution
A packaging system featuring a base and lid with selectively applied release coatings on liner paper, allowing for clean release from foodstuff and selective uncoated areas for gluing, using a pattern printing process to apply a pre-coat and top coat for enhanced release properties and visual inspection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an inner polyethylene liner bag is used to prevent leakage and provide non-adhesive surface, then the packaging provides effective leakage prevention and release from frozen meat, but the bag may tear and leave polyethylene fragments trapped in the meat creating a choke hazard
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the inner polyethylene liner bag entirely and replaces it with a release coating applied directly to the corrugated carton surface. This extraction eliminates the risk of bag tearing and polyethylene fragment entrapment while maintaining the leakage prevention and non-adhesive release functions through the coating system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite coating system consisting of multiple layers including a tie layer and a release layer with specific surface energy properties. This composite material approach provides both effective leakage prevention and controlled release from frozen meat without the hazards associated with polyethylene bags.
2Ease of operation
If an aqueous-based release coating is applied to the liner paper surface to provide clean release from frozen meat, then the packaging achieves low surface energy adhesion for easy separation, but the coating cannot be glued compromising lid-to-base bonding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the release coating selectively only to specific areas of the carton that will contact the frozen meat, while leaving other areas uncoated or with different coating properties to maintain gluing capability. This local differentiation allows the same surface to provide both release functionality where needed and bonding functionality where required.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a tie layer as an intermediary between the substrate and the release layer. This tie layer provides both adhesion to the substrate and compatibility with the release layer, enabling the release coating to be applied without compromising the underlying bonding capability of the carton structure.
3Temperature
If a polymer liner film (polypropylene or PET) is laminated on the inside surfaces to provide non-adhesive surface and higher melting point resistance, then the packaging achieves clean release and temperature resistance, but the polymer surface is difficult to glue at high speeds and shows poor adhesion behavior
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the surface energy parameters of the coating to achieve both temperature resistance and gluing capability. By carefully selecting coating materials with appropriate glass transition temperatures and surface energy characteristics, the coating maintains its non-adhesive properties at freezing temperatures while remaining compatible with adhesives at processing temperatures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a multi-layer composite coating system where the tie layer provides bonding functionality and the release layer provides temperature resistance and non-adhesive properties. This composite structure combines the benefits of different materials while eliminating their individual drawbacks, particularly the gluing difficulty of pure polymer surfaces.
4Manufacturing precision
If polymer extrusion lamination is applied across the entire web width to provide release coating, then the packaging achieves uniform release properties, but it is not possible to create polymer-free areas for glue adhesion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs coating application methods that allow selective deposition of the release coating only in specific areas where meat contact occurs. This selective application leaves other areas of the carton surface free of polymer coating, maintaining the original substrate properties necessary for effective gluing and bonding operations.
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 solution prevents adhesion of packaging to foodstuff during freezing and decanting, enables secure bonding of the lid to the carton, and mitigates poly entrapment risks, while being recyclable and adaptable for various carton designs.
Implementation Method 1
it is capable of providing a clean release from the frozen meat due to its low surface energy of adhesion
Implementation Method 2
The release coating is selectively applied to the liner paper of the lid blank using a pattern printing process
Data Source
AI summary
A packaging for foodstuff, including a base blank adapted to be erected into a carton for containing the foodstuff therein, the base blank including a liner paper that forms an internal surface of the carton and which has a release coating applied thereto; a lid blank adapted to form a lid that is securable to the carton so as to enclose the foodstuff within the carton, the lid blank including a liner paper that forms an internal surface of the lid which has a release coating applied thereto such that at least a part of the lid blank remains uncoated to permit bonding of the lid to an uncoated surface of the carton, wherein, the release coating is contactable with the food stuff and capable of providing clean release therefrom.