Telescopic Collapsible Container Wall for Low-Force Liquid Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional collapsible containers face issues with leakage, increased force requirements for expansion and collapse, and lack of optimal hardness to softness ratio, making them impractical for everyday use, especially for children and elderly individuals with limited dexterity.
Innovation Solution
A collapsible container design featuring a flexible wall with corrugation-free areas, telescopic rings, and a co-injection molding process using materials of differing hardness and rigidity, allowing for easy expansion and collapse with minimal force, and a snap-fit watertight lid for convenient storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If wall elements are integrally molded with thin film hinges for folding, then the container can be collapsed, but the wall elements require significant flexing which weakens them and may cause leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The container wall is divided into multiple telescopic sections (first section, second section, third section) that can move independently relative to each other. Each section has its own corrugated pattern for folding, allowing the wall to collapse without requiring excessive flexing of any single wall element, thus maintaining strength while enabling collapsibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall sections incorporate corrugated patterns (undulating curved surfaces) that allow controlled folding and telescopic movement. The curved corrugations provide hinge-like functionality while distributing stress across the entire corrugated surface rather than concentrating it at weak points, preventing leakage and maintaining structural integrity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flexure zones are added to enable folding sections, then the container can collapse, but the force required to expand and collapse increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The corrugated patterns provide built-in hinge functionality through their curved geometry. The undulating surfaces naturally guide the folding motion and distribute the mechanical stress across multiple points along the corrugation, reducing the peak force required to expand and collapse the container compared to sharp angular flexure zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The wall sections are designed with varying thicknesses - thinner in the corrugated regions to facilitate easier folding with less force, and thicker in the flat peripheral regions to maintain structural strength when expanded. This parameter variation allows the wall to be both easy to collapse and strong when in use.
3Ease of manufacture
If single molding step is used for wall sections, then manufacturing is simpler, but optimal hardness to softness ratio cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
Different portions of the container wall have different thicknesses and material densities achieved through the co-injection molding process. The corrugated regions use a softer, more flexible material composition to facilitate folding, while the flat peripheral regions use a harder, more rigid material for structural support. This local differentiation optimizes both ease of operation and structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The container wall is manufactured using co-injection molding with two different plastic materials - a harder rigid plastic for the flat peripheral portions requiring structural strength, and a softer more flexible plastic for the corrugated folding portions. This composite construction allows each region to have the optimal material properties for its specific function.
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 container provides a practical, portable, and easy-to-use solution for storing liquids, maintaining a watertight seal, and accommodating varying capacities, while being suitable for individuals with limited mobility or dexterity, and can be easily washed and stored.
Implementation Method 1
each flexible wall section includes a series of corrugations... the corrugations facilitate flexing of the flexible wall sections
Implementation Method 2
The corrugations are connected to one another by upper, central, and lower living hinges
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~8
AI summary
A collapsible container (10) comprising a rigid base (12), a rigid top ring (14), and rigid intermediate rings (16) extending therebetween. A flexible peripheral wall (18) is intimately bonded to the base (12), top ring (14), and intermediate rings (16), to form wall sections comprising alternating sections of flexible material and flexible material intimately bonded to the intermediate rings (16), whereby the container (10) is adjustable between an expanded position with the top ring (14) spaced upward from said base (12) and forming a container interior, and a collapsed position with said top ring (14) surrounding said base (12) in outwardly spaced substantially concentric relation thereto.