Reusable Hinged Sleeve for Multi-Size Cup Insulation and Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cup sleeves fail to provide a rigid, reusable, and adaptable solution for holding various cup sizes and shapes while ensuring heat and cold protection, secure grip, and easy transportation, often leading to material waste and inefficiency.
Innovation Solution
A sleeve design featuring hinged lateral edges with rivets or eyelets, made from multiple layers of materials with low thermal conductivity, allowing for flexible adaptation to cup shapes and easy folding for reuse, while incorporating features like cork for insulation and a water-repellent coating.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a rigid structure is used for the sleeve, then heat and cold protection is improved, but adaptability to various cup shapes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve incorporates a corrugated structure that allows dynamic deformation. The corrugations enable the rigid-looking sleeve to flex and adapt to different cup diameters and shapes while maintaining its insulating properties. This dynamic flexibility resolves the contradiction between rigidity for thermal protection and adaptability for various cup forms.
Solution Approach 2:
The sleeve uses composite construction combining corrugated material layers with insulating properties. This composite structure provides both the rigidity needed for thermal insulation and the flexibility required to adapt to different cup shapes, simultaneously addressing both requirements.
2Ease of manufacture
If a disposable sleeve is used, then ease of manufacture is improved, but loss of substance deteriorates due to material waste
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve is designed to be reusable rather than disposable. After use, the sleeve can be folded flat and stored for future use, eliminating the need to discard it after a single use. This recovering approach reduces material waste while maintaining ease of manufacture through simple folding and storage.
3Ease of operation
If a foldable sleeve is used, then ease of operation is improved for transportation, but reliability deteriorates due to potential opening or tearing
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve is segmented into corrugated sections that can fold independently. This segmentation allows the sleeve to be folded flat for easy transportation and storage while the segmented structure maintains structural integrity by distributing stress across multiple sections, preventing tearing during folding and unfolding.
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 sleeve provides stable heat and cold protection, adapts to different cup sizes, ensures a secure grip with one hand, reduces material waste through reusability, and offers improved insulation and personalization options, while being easy to transport and clean.
Implementation Method 1
The corrugation of these sleeves is largely vertical... The channels of the corrugated cardboard allow insulation from heat or cold
Implementation Method 2
the sleeve is securely locked in by rivets or eyelets and holes for rivets and eyelets
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a cover which is also known under the name “sleeve” and serves for picking up and insulating thin-walled cups and containers. This sleeve prevents the user from burning his fingers when hot drinks such as coffee, tea or hot broth, bouillon, are introduced into the thin-walled cup and that the warm hands of the user heat a cold drink that was filled into the cup. Furthermore, by the materials used it supports the cleaning and through the attached joints a space-saving transportation is possible. The construction and the materials used allow for a long-term reuse.