Vacuum-Fixed Liner for Closed-Head Drum Integrity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing closed-head drums with liners face issues such as leakage and tearing due to dynamic stresses during transport, and the use of multi-layer liners with barrier properties is costly and not suitable for standard filling systems.
Innovation Solution
A closed-head drum design featuring a thermoplastic liner with a vacuum-fixing mechanism that ensures the liner remains in contact with the drum internal wall, preventing creases and movements, and allowing the use of lower-cost, less tear-resistant liner materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If multi-layer liners with barrier properties are used, then the barrier properties are improved, but the cost increases and shock-tear resistance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the physical state of the liner material from a rigid multi-layer structure to a flexible thermoplastic material that can be heated and formed. By controlling the temperature and forming process, the liner achieves both barrier properties and sufficient tear resistance through proper material selection and processing parameters.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material construction with a thermoplastic liner that combines barrier properties with improved mechanical strength. The liner is formed from thermoplastic material that can be heated to become pliable for forming, then cools to provide both barrier properties and shock-tear resistance.
2Ease of manufacture
If the liner is made from thin-walled plastics material film, then the cost decreases, but the shock-tear resistance becomes insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temperature parameter of the thermoplastic material during forming. By heating the material to above its melting point, it becomes pliable and can be formed into the desired shape. After forming, cooling the material solidifies it to provide sufficient tear resistance while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary heating to the thermoplastic liner material before forming it into the drum. This preliminary action makes the material pliable and easy to form, and after cooling provides the necessary structural integrity and tear resistance at lower cost.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the liner is suspended in the air space above the liquid filling material, then the filling material does not come into contact with the drum interior, but the liner becomes vulnerable to creases and tears during transport
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a vacuum system to create negative pressure between the liner and the drum interior wall. This vacuum holding mechanism presses the liner against the drum wall, preventing creases and tears during transport while maintaining the barrier property that prevents filling material contact.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a vacuum environment (inert atmosphere without molecules) between the liner and drum wall. This vacuum state holds the liner firmly against the drum interior surface, preventing movement, creases, and tears during transport while maintaining the protective barrier.
4Ease of manufacture
If standard closed-head drums are reused, then the cost decreases, but the liner requires replacement which increases operational complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the drum system into two separable components: the reusable drum container and the replaceable liner. This segmentation allows the expensive drum to be reused while the cheaper liner can be replaced as needed, simplifying the reusability process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables selective discarding of the liner while recovering and reusing the drum. The liner can be removed and replaced without damaging the drum, allowing the expensive drum infrastructure to be recovered and reused while the cheaper liner is discarded or recycled.
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 effectively prevents leakage and tearing of the liner during transport, maintains the barrier properties of the liner, and allows for the reuse of standard closed-head drums with liners on existing filling systems.
Implementation Method 1
a vacuum-fixing mechanism that ensures the liner remains in contact with the drum internal wall
Data Source
AI summary
A closed-head drum and inliner for storing and transporting liquid or free-flowing filling materials is disclosed. In order to improve the use of liners in closed-head drums, and to facilitate the handling for the users such as the filling and emptying operators, so as to allow the closed-head drum with liner to be handled in the same or similar way as a closed-head drum without a liner, the disclosed technology can enable the liner to abut, attach to, adhere to, and/or to adhesively and/or detachably bonded to inner surfaces of the drum by virtue of a vacuum being created in the space between the inner surfaces of the drum and the outer surface of the liner.