Variable-Thickness I-Beam Handle for Cleanable Water Bottles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing reusable liquid storage bottles, particularly 5-gallon water bottles, face issues with handle design that leads to inadequate cleaning due to pockets, voids, and concavities, which can harbor bacteria and contamination, despite being intended for human consumption.
Innovation Solution
A positionable handle assembly with an elongated grip portion in the form of an arcuate I-beam, featuring a varying thickness along its length and reinforcing ribs to minimize surface pockets and voids, ensuring thorough cleaning and sanitation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional positionable handle is used on a 5-gallon water bottle, then handling ease is improved, but cleaning effectiveness deteriorates due to pockets, voids, and concavities that prevent adequate contact with cleaning fluid
Solution Approach 1:
The handle design inverts the traditional approach by eliminating internal cavities and designing a solid, pocket-free structure. Instead of trying to clean difficult-to-reach areas, the design ensures all surfaces are naturally accessible to cleaning fluid through a simplified geometry with no hidden voids or concavities.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle incorporates a porous foam material that allows cleaning fluid to penetrate and contact all surfaces effectively. The porous structure enables thorough sanitization while maintaining the necessary structural integrity for handling.
2Strength
If more material is used in the handle to maintain strength, then structural strength is improved, but weight increases and material usage efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The handle uses local quality by varying the density of the foam material in different regions. The foam density is optimized locally to provide maximum strength where needed while minimizing weight in less critical areas, achieving an optimal strength-to-weight ratio throughout the handle structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle is constructed from composite foam materials that combine different densities and properties within a single component. This allows the handle to achieve high structural strength with minimal weight by strategically placing different material properties in different zones of the handle.
3Ease of manufacture
If the handle web is made uniformly thick, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but material usage efficiency deteriorates due to excessive material in low-stress areas
Solution Approach 1:
The handle design changes the geometric parameter of web thickness along its length, making it non-uniform. The web is thicker at the ends where it connects to mounting feet (high-stress areas) and thinner in the center section (low-stress areas), optimizing material distribution while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The handle transitions from a two-dimensional uniform thickness concept to a three-dimensional variable thickness design. This dimensional approach allows the web thickness to vary continuously along the length of the handle, optimizing material usage based on the stress distribution in three-dimensional space.
Data Source
AI summary
A handle assembly configured to be coupled to a container having an attachment surface, the handle assembly comprising an elongated grip portion extending from a first end to second end and comprising outer and inner generally parallel grip surfaces; and a center spine wall between and generally normal to the outer and inner grip surfaces, joining said surfaces to form an I-beam construction, wherein the center spine wall has a thickness along the length of the elongated grip portion that is thinner in a center section of the grip portion and thicker at the first and second ends.