Tapered-Wall Four Corner Tray Stacking Stability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Foldable trays are difficult to stack and nest due to their vertical sidewalls, which can lead to sticking and instability, and their collapsible construction weakens the sidewalls, causing them to collapse and deform, making them hard to hold and carry.
Innovation Solution
A foldable stackable tray with tapered walls, which can be formed from a unitary blank, allowing easy stacking and maintaining rigidity, featuring a base tray with outwardly tapering walls and a hinged lid with inwardly tapering walls, stabilized by fold flaps and cuts to prevent collapse.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the tray sidewalls are constructed vertically perpendicular to the bottom, then the tray maintains structural simplicity and ease of manufacture, but the trays become difficult to stack and nest together
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameter of the sidewall angle from 90 degrees (vertical) to an obtuse angle greater than 90 degrees, creating an outwardly tapering configuration. This parameter change allows the trays to stack and nest efficiently while maintaining manufacturing simplicity, as the tapering is achieved through the natural fold geometry of the blank.
2Volume of moving object
If the tray is constructed with foldable sidewalls to enable collapsing, then the tray achieves compact storage capability, but the sidewalls are weakened along fold lines and can fail to maintain upright configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates stay flaps and locking mechanisms that are pre-formed as integral parts of the tray blank. These features are prepared in advance during blank formation, so that when the tray is unfolded, the stay flaps automatically engage with the locking mechanisms to reinforce the sidewalls before any loading or use occurs, preventing collapse without requiring additional assembly steps.
Solution Approach 2:
The sidewalls are divided into multiple segments including the main sidewall panel and separate stay flaps. This segmentation allows the stay flaps to be positioned strategically to provide reinforcement at critical points along the fold lines, strengthening the overall structure while maintaining the collapsible functionality of the main body.
3Volume of moving object
If the tray sidewalls are made collapsible for easy storage, then the tray achieves compact folded state, but the trays can be easily deformed and difficult to hold and carry
Solution Approach 1:
The locking mechanisms and stay flaps are pre-configured in the blank design, so that when the tray is unfolded to its operational state, these features automatically engage to stabilize the sidewalls before the tray is filled or handled. This preliminary stabilization ensures the tray maintains its shape and rigidity during use, despite being collapsible for storage.
Data Source
AI summary
A foldable tray with stable side walls and tapered walls for convenient stacking is provided. The tray may include two outward tapered walls and two straight walls. The side walls are reinforced or stabilized by providing an interlocking end flap tab inserted through a cut line in the side wall. The tray may also include a hinged lid to form a hinged box. The lid may include an inwardly tapering wall to accommodate and overlay one of the outwardly tapering walls of the tray.