Segmented Rigid Cover for Flexible Food Packaging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing packaging for food products, such as cheeses, faces challenges in complexity and high manufacturing costs due to intricate structures, and difficulties in accessing the contents due to awkward lid detachment mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
A packaging design featuring a flexible lid with a more rigid cover that can be cut into sectors using gripping means, allowing easy access without manual handling, utilizing a semi-rigid thermoplastic material with a precut line for clean separation, enabling a partially open position for accessing the contents.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a flexible lid with tear-off strips is used, then the packaging can be opened, but the structure becomes complex and manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is divided into multiple sectors that can be independently detached from the lid. Each sector is separated by precut lines, allowing selective removal of portions of the cover without requiring complex tear-off strips throughout the entire structure. This segmentation simplifies the overall structure while maintaining ease of access.
Solution Approach 2:
Prcut lines are pre-formed in the cover material at predetermined locations to define separation zones between sectors. These precut lines are created during manufacturing, allowing the cover to be prepared in advance with built-in separation paths that enable easy detachment without requiring complex user manipulation or additional structural elements.
2Ease of operation
If a flexible peelable lid is used, then access to contents is possible, but manual handling becomes awkward and difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The cover is segmented into multiple detachable sectors, each equipped with gripping means. This allows users to selectively remove individual sectors rather than manipulating the entire cover structure, significantly improving ease of access and reducing handling complexity. The gripping means on each sector provide convenient points for finger engagement.
Solution Approach 2:
Gripping means are added as intermediary elements extending from the cover sectors. These gripping means serve as mediators between the user's fingers and the cover structure, providing convenient attachment points that enable easy manipulation and detachment of sectors without requiring direct manual handling of the cover itself.
3Strength
If a rigid cover sealed to lid is used, then structural integrity is maintained, but detachment becomes awkward and difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The rigid cover is segmented into multiple sectors separated by precut lines, allowing selective detachment of individual sectors while maintaining structural integrity of the remaining cover. This segmentation enables easy detachment of specific portions without compromising the strength of the overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Prcut lines are pre-formed in the rigid cover material to define separation paths between sectors. These precut lines are created during manufacturing, allowing the rigid cover to be prepared in advance with built-in separation zones that enable easy detachment while maintaining the structural integrity of the cover material itself.
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 solution simplifies access to packaged items by allowing easy detachment and opening of the packaging without manual handling, reducing manufacturing complexity and costs while ensuring clean and efficient access to the contents.
Implementation Method 1
said cover is suitable for being cut into at least two sectors respectively provided with gripping means extending said edge, during a pull exerted on one of said gripping means in the direction of a zone of said edge opposite to this gripping means while pressing the other gripping means onto said lid
Implementation Method 2
said cover being more rigid than said lid and comprising a peripheral edge sealed onto a periphery of said lid in a closed position of said packaging
Data Source
AI summary
A packaging intended to contain at least one item, such as a food product, having a flexible inner seal forming a bottom and a cover delimiting with the inner seal a cavity suitable for receiving the item. The cover is more rigid than the inner seal and includes a peripheral edge sealed on a periphery of the inner seal in a position of closure of the packaging. The packaging is such that the cover is able to be cut into at least two sectors respectively provided with gripping tabs extending the edge, when traction is exerted on one of the gripping tabs, toward a zone opposite the edge while flattening the other gripping tab on the inner seal, so as to detach from the inner seal the sector whose gripping tab is subject to this traction in order to place the packaging in a partially open position.