Silicone Baby Bottle Rigid Coupling Sealing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional silicone baby bottles face issues with environmental hormone contamination, leakage, and ease of cleaning due to soft and deformable silicone materials, leading to safety concerns and inefficient sealing.

Innovation Solution

A silicone baby bottle design featuring a body part and nipple made of elastomer with a coupling system using first and second coupling rings for secure assembly, an air inlet integrated into the body part covered by the first coupling ring to prevent formula backflow, and a structure allowing easy disassembly and reassembly for cleaning.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Object-affected harmful factors

If the body part and nipple are made of silicone material, then environmental hormone generation is prevented and heat resistance is improved, but sealing reliability deteriorates due to the soft and deformable nature of silicone

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveenvironmental hormone generationVSAvoidsealing reliability
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

A rigid coupling ring is introduced as an intermediary component between the silicone body part and nipple. This coupling ring acts as a mediator that provides structural rigidity and maintains sealing reliability, compensating for the soft and deformable nature of the silicone materials while allowing the body part and nipple to remain made of environmentally safe silicone.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If the air inlet is exposed to the outside for pressure equalization, then breathing function is improved, but formula backflow and leakage occur when the baby pauses sucking

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebreathing functionVSAvoidformula backflow
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of operationVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The coupling ring is designed to cover the air inlet in advance before feeding occurs. This preliminary covering action prevents formula from escaping through the air inlet during feeding, while still allowing air to pass through the porous material when needed for pressure equalization, thus preventing backflow before it can occur.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The coupling ring is made from porous material that allows air to pass through while providing a physical barrier that prevents formula from escaping. The porous structure enables selective permeability - allowing gas molecules to pass while blocking larger liquid formula molecules, thus maintaining breathing function while preventing leakage.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

3Ease of repair

If the components are made separate for easy cleaning, then cleaning ease is improved, but assembly complexity increases and sealing gaps may occur

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecleaning easeVSAvoidassembly complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of repairVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The baby bottle is divided into separate components (body part, nipple, and coupling ring) that can be easily disassembled for cleaning. Each component can be independently removed and cleaned, improving cleaning accessibility while the standardized coupling interface simplifies reassembly.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The coupling ring serves as an intermediary component that standardizes the connection interface between the body part and nipple. This standardized interface reduces assembly complexity by providing a uniform coupling mechanism, while still allowing complete disassembly for thorough cleaning of all surfaces.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentEP2679214B1Silicone baby bottle
Publication Date: 2019.05.01 LEE YONG KWON
  • EP2679214B1 patent drawingFigure 1A~1C
  • EP2679214B1 patent drawingFigure 2A~2B
  • EP2679214B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The present invention relates to a silicone baby bottle which is made of silicone which does not generate environmental hormones. This allows an infant or young child to be safely fed. The silicon baby bottle includes a body part (10), a nipple (20), and a coupling means composed of a first coupling ring (30) and a second coupling ring (40) which are screwed with each other to be coupled. The body part (10) and nipple (20) are made of silicone which is a soft material and the coupling means (30, 40) is made of a rigid material so that a coupled structure of the body part (10) and nipple (20) can be tightly sealed. Since only the body part (10) and nipple (20) made of silicone are allowed to come into contact with infant formula and infant's mouth, the infant is not exposed to environmental hormones attributable to synthetic resin.