Rigid-Bottom Flexible Beverage Package for Leak-Tight Injection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible beverage packages for preparation machines face issues such as non-recyclable materials, complexity in manufacturing, and potential leakage due to material deformation or wrinkling, which affect their environmental friendliness and functionality.
Innovation Solution
A flexible or semi-flexible package made from a one-piece elongated primary flat blank sheet of fibre-based material, folded into a U-shape with a cup-shaped bottom portion, coated with sealant and barrier layers, and reinforced with secondary thickness layers, ensuring leak-tight connection and recyclability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a flexible package is made from thin flexible material, then compactness and manufacturing speed are improved, but the package deforms when connection elements are pressed against it, leading to leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The package incorporates a rigid flat bottom portion in the specific location where connection with the beverage machine occurs, while the rest of the package body remains flexible. This localized rigidity provides a stable connection surface that resists deformation under connection elements, ensuring leak-tightness without compromising the overall flexibility and compactness of the package for efficient manufacturing and storage
Solution Approach 2:
The package is constructed as a composite structure combining flexible material for the package body with a rigid material for the bottom portion. This composite design allows each part to fulfill its specific function: the flexible body enables compact storage and easy manufacturing, while the rigid bottom provides structural stability for reliable machine connection and prevents leakage
2Reliability
If the flat wall of the package is made mechanically stronger to prevent deformation, then leak-tightness is improved, but the force required to open the package wall increases
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid flat bottom portion is specifically positioned at the connection area where structural strength is needed for leak-tightness, while the package body walls remain flexible and easy to pierce. This localized reinforcement ensures that the connection surface maintains its shape under pressure without requiring the entire package structure to be strong, thus keeping the force needed to open the package low
3Adaptability or versatility
If existing flexible packages are made with functional inserts, then fluid connection capability is improved, but the packages become heavy and costly to manufacture with poor recyclability
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid flat bottom portion serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides the stable connection surface for fluid communication with the beverage machine, acts as a structural reinforcement to prevent deformation, and serves as the base for piercing operations. By merging these functions into a single integrated component rather than adding separate functional inserts, the package reduces weight, simplifies manufacturing, and improves recyclability while maintaining full fluid connection capability
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is directed to flexible or semi-flexible closed package (1) for containing an ingredient for preparing an edible product in a food or beverage preparation machine, said package comprising: (i) flexible or semi-flexible lateral walls (2) that form a flatten package body, and (ii) a cup-shaped bottom portion (3) adapted to the insertion of a fluid injection element of the machine, the package (1) being formed from a one-piece elongated primary flat blank sheet (5) made of flexible material, that is folded in a U-shape around its transversal symmetry axis (Lx), and sealed along its lateral (4) and upper (34) edges, wherein said cup-shaped bottom portion (3) is a hollow volume having a concave lower side (7) and convex lateral sides (8), and the profile curvature of said lower side (7) being identical to the profile curvature of each of said lateral sides (8).