Scalloped Container Walls for High-Viscosity Content Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing containers struggle with efficiently removing high-viscosity contents due to their design, which often results in material sticking to the inner surfaces, making it difficult to empty them completely.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring a sidewall with scalloped segments, including vertically-extending ridges and valleys, provides an undulating inner surface that enhances rigidity while minimizing material usage, facilitating easy removal of high-viscosity contents through optimized curvature and thickness variations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the inner surface of the container is made smooth and continuous, then the container is easier to manufacture, but high-viscosity contents stick to the surface making them difficult to remove
Solution Approach 1:
The inner surface of the container is segmented into multiple scalloped segments that extend vertically along the sidewall. These segments create an undulating surface with peaks and valleys that prevent high-viscosity materials from adhering continuously, allowing easier removal of contents while maintaining manufacturing feasibility through injection molding techniques
2Strength
If the container wall thickness is increased to improve rigidity, then the structural integrity is improved, but the material usage and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The container employs local quality variations through scalloped segments with different thicknesses at peaks and valleys. The wall thickness is locally increased at the peaks to provide structural reinforcement and rigidity, while the valleys have reduced thickness to minimize material usage. This creates an optimized structure that maintains strength where needed while reducing overall material consumption
3Ease of manufacture
If the container uses uniform wall thickness, then the manufacturing process is simpler, but the structural efficiency and material distribution are suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The container design implements non-uniform wall thickness through the scalloped segment structure, where the thickness varies between peaks and valleys. This local quality variation optimizes structural efficiency by concentrating material where stress is highest (at the peaks) while reducing material where less support is needed (in the valleys), achieving better structural performance than a uniform thickness design
Data Source
AI summary
A container includes a brim, a sidewall, and a floor. The container further includes a plurality of scallops or scalloped segments coupled to the sidewall. The scallops or scalloped segments are configured to facilitate removal of contents stored in a storage region of the container.