Airtight Container With Shouldered Rim And Grooved Seal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing airtight containers for storing products like fruits and vegetables lack a practical solution for easily changing the seal while ensuring maximum airtightness and preventing wear, as existing designs either fail to guarantee correct seal positioning or allow for easy replacement but compromise on efficacy.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring a flat peripheral rim with internal and external rims in different planes, forming a shouldered shape, and a lid with a complementary step and groove system that allows for controlled compression and easy seal replacement, preventing premature wear when stacked.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of repair
If the seal is simply placed between the box and the lid without bonding, then the seal can be easily changed when worn, but the correct positioning of the seal is not guaranteed and airtightness is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component - the peripheral groove in the lid - that acts as a mediator between the seal and the box. This groove receives and guides the seal into the correct position, ensuring proper alignment without requiring bonding. The groove serves as a positioning mechanism that maintains seal efficacy while allowing easy replacement.
2Reliability
If the seal is bonded to the internal face of the lid, then the seal positioning is secured, but the seal cannot be changed when necessary
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the seal from its traditional bonded position on the internal face of the lid and relocates it to a peripheral groove. This extraction allows the seal to be removed and replaced easily while the groove structure maintains proper positioning. The seal is taken out from the permanent bonding arrangement and placed in a removable configuration.
3Productivity
If containers are stacked on one another, then storage efficiency is improved, but wear on the seal increases due to excessive compression
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a shouldered shape with internal and external peripheral rims at different planes. This localized structural feature distributes the stacking load away from the seal area. The step between the vertical peripheral rim and internal face of the lid, combined with the shouldered shape, creates a load-bearing structure that prevents excessive compression on the seal during stacking, thereby extending seal service life while maintaining storage efficiency.
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
Ensures maximum airtightness and easy seal replacement while preventing wear, as the seal is compressed uniformly and securely fixed, maintaining airtightness without adhesive bonding and minimizing wear from stacking.
Implementation Method 1
the seal comprising a crushing zone arranged to be crushed on the internal peripheral rim of the box in order to ensure airtightness when the lid closes the box
Data Source
AI summary
A container for storing products includes a tub and a cover which is equipped with a seal positioned in a peripheral groove formed in the inner face of the cover. The tub includes an inner and outer flat peripheral rim, the cover including a vertical peripheral rim designed to cover the outer peripheral rim upon closure of the cover, and in that the inner and outer peripheral rims are in different planes and constitute a shouldered shape, the cover including, between its vertical peripheral rim and its inner face, a clearance with a shape matching the shouldered shape of the tub, the distance between the plane of the clearance and the plane of the inner face of the cover being less than the distance separating the planes of the peripheral rims of the tub.