Soft-sided cooler
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional coolers lack effective insulation and durability for carrying perishable items, especially in portable forms like backpacks and totes, as they fail to maintain temperature and protect against water ingress.
Innovation Solution
A soft-sided cooler design featuring an outer shell with a deformable material, a hinged and zipped top face, bottle openers, and compressible bottom, along with an inner shell lined with insulation, allowing for secure and accessible storage while maintaining temperature integrity and water resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional coolers are used for portable storage, then they provide basic cooling function, but they lack effective insulation and durability, failing to maintain temperature and protect against water ingress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a nested structure where the inner shell with insulation layer is placed inside the outer shell, creating multiple protective barriers. This nested configuration allows the insulation material to be protected by the outer shell while simultaneously providing thermal isolation, thus maintaining temperature integrity and preventing water ingress without compromising portability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooler employs composite material construction by combining different materials with complementary properties: the outer shell uses durable, water-resistant material; the inner shell uses insulation material; and the bottom uses compressible material. This composite approach resolves the contradiction by integrating materials that simultaneously provide durability, water resistance, and thermal insulation.
2Ease of operation
If conventional coolers are designed for portability, then they can be carried easily, but they lack effective insulation and structural durability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the rigid structure from traditional hard coolers and replaces it with a soft-sided design using flexible outer shell material. This extraction of rigidity while maintaining protective function through the nested inner shell and insulation configuration allows the cooler to be portable yet structurally durable, resolving the contradiction between ease of carrying and structural strength.
3Strength
If the cooler uses a rigid structure for durability, then it provides structural strength, but it reduces portability and flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces rigid shells with flexible outer and inner shells that maintain structural integrity through material selection and design rather than rigidity. The flexible shell configuration provides necessary strength to protect contents while being lightweight and portable, directly resolving the contradiction between structural strength and portability.
4Reliability
If the cooler uses thick insulation material for temperature maintenance, then it provides effective thermal insulation, but it increases weight and reduces portability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies insulation material selectively in the inner shell configuration, providing thermal insulation where most needed while minimizing overall material usage. This localized quality approach ensures effective temperature maintenance in the storage compartment without unnecessarily increasing the weight of the entire cooler, thus resolving the contradiction between insulation effectiveness and portability.
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 design provides durable, portable, and insulated storage for perishable items, maintaining temperature integrity and preventing water ingress, with adjustable straps and secure closure mechanisms for various forms like backpacks, totes, and 24-pack coolers.
Implementation Method 1
The bottom side can be formed of a compressible material that compresses in response to receiving pressure
Implementation Method 2
an inner shell lined with insulation, allowing for secure and accessible storage while maintaining temperature integrity
Data Source
AI summary
Described in detail herein is cooler apparatus. The cooler can include an outer shell and an inner shell. The outer shell can include a top face, a bottom face, a front surface, back surface a first side and a second side. The top face can be secured to the cooler using a zipper. The top face can provide access the inner shell. One or more bottle openers can be affixed to the front surface of the outer shell. The front surface can further include an enclosure accessible using a zipper. The bottom side can be compressible in response to receiving pressure. One or more straps can be affixed to either the first side, second side or back surface of the cooler. The inner shell can form a volume to store physical objects. The cooler can be a backpack, tote or a 24-pack cooler.