Tamper-Resistant Container Rim Structure Against Sidewall Deformation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Vacuum formed containers are susceptible to deformation, allowing unauthorized access to their contents without breaking tamper-evident features, and additional manufacturing steps are often required to enhance security.
Innovation Solution
A vacuum formed container design featuring buttress features on the base rim to reinforce sides against deformation, combined with a tamper-evident frangible attachment of the lid, which includes protruding lid features and pucker elements to indicate tampering, without requiring additional manufacturing steps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the container walls are made thin to reduce manufacturing cost, then the manufacturing cost is reduced, but the container becomes easy to deform allowing unauthorized access
Solution Approach 1:
The base rim is segmented into multiple functional zones: a recessed shelf providing a bearing surface, upwardly extending rim walls providing vertical support, and outwardly extending flanges providing lateral support. This segmentation allows each zone to specialize in resisting specific deformation modes, achieving enhanced overall strength without increasing wall thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The base rim structure extends into multiple spatial dimensions with the recessed shelf extending radially inward, rim walls extending vertically upward, and flanges extending horizontally outward. This multi-dimensional configuration distributes mechanical loads across different spatial directions, preventing deformation of the thin container walls.
2Reliability
If additional manufacturing steps are added to enhance security features, then the tamper resistance is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tamper-evident frangible attachment is merged with the vacuum forming process itself, allowing the security feature to be created during the primary container formation without requiring separate manufacturing steps. The frangible attachment is formed as an integrated part of the lid structure through the vacuum forming operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The vacuum forming process automatically creates the frangible attachment features as the lid is being formed. The protruding lid features and pucker elements are self-formed during the molding process, eliminating the need for post-processing or additional manufacturing operations to create tamper-evident features.
3Volume of stationary object
If the container includes long sides to increase capacity, then the storage capacity is improved, but the sides become susceptible to inward deformation creating gaps
Solution Approach 1:
The base rim structure provides localized reinforcement at critical positions along the container perimeter. The recessed shelf, rim walls, and flanges create zones of enhanced stiffness at the base-container interface, preventing inward deformation of the side walls while maintaining the overall long dimensions for increased capacity.
Data Source
AI summary
A vacuum formed, tamper resistant container resists deformation of the sides thereof that might otherwise permit access to contents of the container without removal of the lid. Downward protruding lid features reinforce the wall of the container base, and buttress features included in the rim of the base extend from a base flange diagonally downward and inward to the inner rim of a recessed shelf, thereby resisting downward rotation of the wall beneath the lid protruding features. In embodiments, attachment tabs surrounded by frangible boundaries are incorporated in the lid and attached to the base by living hinges, such that removal of the lid requires breaking of the frangible boundaries and detachment of the lid from the attachment tabs. Pucker elements associated with the attachment tabs can cause the attachment tabs to pivot away from the lid when the attachment tabs are detached from the lid.