Shipping Package Inflation Rig for Alignment and Rapid Filling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current shipping packages are inefficient, costly, and prone to damage due to ill-fitting designs, requiring additional materials for protection and often failing to withstand environmental conditions, leading to increased costs and consumer dissatisfaction.
Innovation Solution
Incorporation of an inflation feature and inflation rig assembly in flexible shipping packages to facilitate easy and efficient inflation, ensuring proper positioning and securement, reducing inflation time, and enhancing structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If generic shipping packages are used, then packaging can be applied to many different types of goods, but the packages do not provide a custom fit leading to additional packaging requirements and increased volume
Solution Approach 1:
The shipping package transitions from a flat, compact state to an inflated, three-dimensional state. The package structure is designed to be dynamically changeable, allowing it to adapt its volume and shape based on the contents being shipped. This dynamic transformation enables the same package to provide custom fit for different products while minimizing transport volume when empty.
Solution Approach 2:
The package utilizes changes in physical parameters (from flat 2D configuration to inflated 3D configuration) to achieve adaptability. By changing the inflation state of the package, it can accommodate various product sizes and shapes while maintaining a compact form during storage and transport.
2Reliability
If additional protective materials are added to ill-fitting packages, then product protection is improved, but material usage, weight, and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The package structure itself provides the protective function that would otherwise require separate protective materials. The inflatable structure creates a custom-fit environment that naturally cushions and protects products, eliminating the need for additional protective materials like foam or air pillows.
Solution Approach 2:
The package utilizes flexible inflatable membranes to create a form-fitting protective structure. These thin film structures provide adequate protection through their ability to conform to the product shape and distribute forces, replacing bulky traditional protective materials.
3Ease of manufacture
If manual inflation processes are used, then inflation can be performed without specialized equipment, but inflation time and labor costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The manual mechanical inflation process is replaced with an automated system using compressed gas delivery. The inflation rig assembly with guided nozzles automates the inflation process, significantly reducing time and labor while maintaining ease of implementation through standard compressed air systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The inflation process is prepared in advance by positioning the package on the inflation rig assembly with pre-positioned nozzles. This preliminary setup allows for rapid, automated inflation without requiring manual manipulation during the actual inflation process, reducing overall inflation time.
4Device complexity
If package positioning is not precisely controlled during inflation, then the inflation process is simpler, but structural integrity and inflation accuracy deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The inflation rig assembly serves as an intermediary device between the inflation source and the package. It provides a standardized interface with guided nozzles that ensure precise positioning and alignment, achieving high inflation accuracy without requiring complex manual positioning procedures.
Data Source
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AI summary
An inflation feature for a shipping package, an inflation rig assembly for inflating a shipping package, and a method of inflating a shipping package. The method includes providing an inflation feature and an inflation rig assembly with corresponding alignment features, positioning the inflation feature of a shipping package, in an uninflated state, on to the inflation rig assembly in a first position, moving the inflation rig assembly to a second position, such that the shipping package is in fluid communication with an expansion material source, and inflating the shipping package to an inflated state.