Tapered-Wall Foam Container for Vertical Cool Pack Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing thermally insulated containers for transporting temperature-sensitive products require multiple types of cool packs and additional fixings, which increases complexity and cost, and may not maintain consistent temperature due to misalignment of cool packs during transportation.
Innovation Solution
A thermally insulated container with a main body and lid moulded from expanded foam, featuring tapered inner surfaces that align and secure rectangular cool packs vertically, eliminating the need for additional fixings and allowing for standardized cool packs to be easily positioned, thereby ensuring consistent thermal contact and product security during transport.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple types of cool packs and additional fixings are used, then product temperature can be maintained, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tapered inner surfaces of the container walls automatically align and secure the cool packs in the correct position through their geometric shape alone, without requiring additional fixings or complex mechanisms. The cool packs self-align within the tapered structure during insertion.
Solution Approach 2:
The tapered wall structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it guides cool pack insertion, aligns cool packs vertically, secures cool packs in position, and ensures consistent thermal contact. This eliminates the need for separate alignment features or fixings.
2Reliability
If multiple types of cool packs and additional fixings are used, then product temperature can be maintained, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The geometric self-alignment feature is integrated into the basic container structure during molding, adding minimal manufacturing complexity while eliminating the need for separate alignment components and fixings, thereby reducing overall manufacturing cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent removes unnecessary components (additional fixings, complex alignment mechanisms) from the container design, retaining only the essential tapered wall geometry needed to achieve cool pack alignment and securement.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cool packs are allowed to move during transportation, then orientation flexibility is maintained, but thermal efficiency decreases due to misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The tapered walls continuously guide and maintain cool packs in the correct aligned position throughout transportation, automatically correcting any displacement without requiring external intervention or complex restraint mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The tapered conical geometry of the walls provides smooth guiding surfaces that naturally direct cool packs into the correct vertical alignment position, maintaining thermal contact efficiency while allowing flexible insertion orientations.
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 solution provides a cost-effective, efficient, and reliable method to maintain product temperature by aligning cool packs within the container, reducing thermal inefficiencies and product damage during transportation, while allowing for interchangeable and orientation-independent cool packs.
Implementation Method 1
a main body moulded from a single piece of expanded foam
Implementation Method 2
These may be cooled until a phase change occurs in the refrigerant in the cool packs, where the subsequent phase change back from a solid to a liquid acts to maintain the contents of the container at a constant temperature
Data Source
AI summary
A first aspect the present invention provides a thermally insulated container comprising a lid and a main body moulded from a single piece of expanded foam with outwardly tapering inner walls, necessitated by the moulding process. The container is arranged to be closed by the lid so that cool packs in the container extend from a base inside the main body to inside the lid, wherein the inner surface of the walls of the lid are tapered such that positioning the lid on the main body, with the cool packs arranged around the inner surfaces of the walls, causes the cool packs to be aligned so that they extend vertically, perpendicular to an inner surface of the base of the main body. This permits regular rectangular cool packs to be used to assist assembly and to provide a regular parallel sided space inside of the cool packs, in which a product to be shipped may be housed.According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of moulding such a container, wherein the provision or absence of an insert on the mould tool permits the container to have, or not to have, provision to accommodate an insulation panel layer, without altering the inner or outer dimensions of the container formed by the method.