Rigid Hinged-Lid Package With Collar Compartment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rigid hinged-lid packages for small-sized tobacco articles face challenges such as complex construction, high material usage, and environmental costs due to fillers or collars that inadequately prevent cigarette movement and require complex folding devices or significant material waste.
Innovation Solution
A rigid hinged-lid package design featuring a parallelepiped-shaped container with a metal wrapping foil inner wrapper and a collar that divides the container's volume into two compartments, using a collar with a mechanical interlocking joint and minimal additional material to stabilize the inner wrapper and prevent unwanted movement, while being easy to manufacture and requiring minimal modifications to existing packing machines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a filler is inserted inside the package to occupy empty volume and prevent cigarette movement, then the cigarettes are protected from mechanical stress and tip emptying, but the constructional complexity of the packing machine increases significantly and material usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the filler element from the package structure entirely. Instead of inserting a separate filler object to occupy empty space, the design accepts and utilizes the existing empty volume within the container, thereby eliminating the need for complex filler handling mechanisms in the packing machine while still protecting cigarettes through proper container design
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the permanent, material-intensive filler with a minimal, disposable sealing flange that is integrated into the container structure. The sealing flange is designed to be simple, inexpensive, and sufficient for its single use in sealing and stabilizing the package without requiring complex assembly or disassembly mechanisms
2Reliability
If a filler is inserted inside the package to prevent cigarette movement, then the cigarettes are stabilized during handling, but the material usage and environmental costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the filler component from the package system, recognizing that the empty volume is not a problem to be solved but a natural feature of packaging small-sized articles. This removal eliminates the associated material consumption and environmental burden of producing, using, and disposing of filler material
Solution Approach 2:
The invention adopts a minimalist approach where unnecessary material (filler) is discarded from the design entirely. The sealing flange is designed to be simple and disposable, used once for sealing and stabilization, then discarded with the package without requiring recovery or special disposal procedures
3Reliability
If a collar with containment elements is used to prevent cigarette movement, then the cigarettes are held in place, but the containment effectiveness is insufficient for small-sized cigarettes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses a composite structure combining the rigid container walls with the flexible sealing flange made of foil material. This composite approach provides both structural support and conformal sealing, creating effective containment for small-sized cigarettes without requiring complex geometric features or high manufacturing precision
4Device complexity
If a complexly shaped blank is used to form the container and collar, then the package structure is integrated, but the material waste and folding device complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the package structure into distinct functional elements: the container body and the sealing flange. The sealing flange is formed from a simple linear strip of foil material that is wrapped around the container opening, avoiding the need for complexly shaped blanks and minimizing material waste through efficient use of the strip material
Data Source
Figure 1~2
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AI summary
A rigid package (1) for tobacco articles having a container (2) of parallelepiped shape; a single inner wrapper (3), which encloses a group of tobacco articles, is housed inside the container (2) and has a width that is smaller than the width of the container (2); a lid (5), which is hinged to the container (2); and a collar (12), which is partially arranged on the inside of the container (2) and has a first side wall (13), a front wall (14), a second side wall (15), a rear wall (16), and an intermediate wall (17) which is arranged between the side walls (13, 15) and divides the inner volume of the container (2) into a main compartment (18), which is open on the upper side and houses the inner wrapper (3) and in a second compartment (19) arranged next to the main compartment (18); the collar further has a support element (21), which rests against the intermediate wall (17) of the collar (12) on the opposite side with respect to the inner wrapper (3).