Rotating Blister Dispenser for Accurate Single-Item Dispensing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging/dispensing devices for consumable products like candies and gums lack efficient mechanisms for dispensing individual items conveniently and reliably.
Innovation Solution
A dispenser design featuring a cover, base, blister tray, and label, with a pressing opening and dispensing opening, allowing manual rotation of the blister tray to align and dispense products one at a time, and utilizing indexing devices for tactile and audible alignment cues.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional packaging/dispensing device with housing and end seal is used, then product protection is achieved, but ease of dispensing individual items is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The dispenser is divided into distinct functional components: a cover assembly with pressing opening, a base assembly with dispensing opening, and a rotatable blister tray. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function independently, enabling easy dispensing of individual items while maintaining overall structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The blister tray is designed to be rotatable within the dispenser volume, transforming the static packaging structure into a dynamic system. This rotational capability allows users to access different blisters sequentially, greatly improving ease of dispensing individual items without complicating the overall device structure.
2Productivity
If multiple products are dispensed at once, then productivity increases, but accuracy of individual dispensing is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The dispenser enables periodic dispensing action where users rotate the blister tray to bring one blister at a time into alignment with the dispensing opening. This periodic rotation ensures that only one product is dispensed at a time, maintaining high accuracy while allowing rapid sequential dispensing for improved productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The alignment between the pressing opening in the cover and the dispensing opening in the base provides visual and tactile feedback to the user. When a blister is properly positioned, the openings align, giving clear feedback that the system is ready for dispensing, ensuring accurate single-item dispensing.
3Device complexity
If a simple housing structure is used, then device complexity is reduced, but reliability of product containment is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The blister tray with multiple blisters is nested within the dispenser volume formed by the cover and base assemblies. This nested structure provides reliable product containment while maintaining overall structural simplicity. The blisters are individually contained within the larger dispenser housing, creating multiple levels of containment.
Solution Approach 2:
The blisters themselves act as flexible thin-film containers that seal individual products. These flexible shells provide reliable containment at the individual product level while the rigid cover and base assemblies provide structural support, achieving both simplicity and reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A dispenser for dispensing a plurality of products contained therewithin has a cover including a top wall having a pressing opening and a cover opening in the top wall of the cover, and a peripheral wall extending from the top wall defining a dispenser volume between the top wall and a bottom end of the peripheral wall, a base having a dispensing opening and an engaging member, the engaging member having a top end and a bottom end, and a blister tray having at least a portion of the blister tray disposed within the dispenser volume, the blister tray having a tab extending from an edge of the blister tray for manually rotating the blister tray with respect to the cover and base while being retained within the dispenser volume. The cover opening has a non-circular shape.