Vented Produce Container With Stackable Lid-Tray Connection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional food storage containers face issues with maintaining produce freshness due to lack of ventilation, leading to microorganism growth, and struggle with organization and stability during storage and transport, often resulting in misplaced lids and unstable stacking.
Innovation Solution
A container system featuring a base, vented lid, and perforate produce tray with connecting structures that allow for various configurations, including stacking and connection of lids and trays, preventing spillage and enhancing storage and transport stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the container is completely sealed, then protection from external contaminants is improved, but produce freshness and airflow are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The lid incorporates a filter membrane that allows airflow while filtering out contaminants. This porous/filtration approach enables the container to maintain both protection from external contaminants and adequate airflow for produce freshness simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The container employs different sealing qualities in different locations: the filter membrane provides selective permeability for gases while blocking contaminants, while gaskets and seals provide complete sealing where needed. This localized differentiation of sealing quality resolves the contradiction between protection and airflow.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If vents are provided in the top panel of the lid, then airflow for produce freshness is improved, but spillage entry into the container is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The filter membrane acts as a porous material that permits airflow for produce freshness while its filtration properties prevent liquid spillage from passing through. This resolves the contradiction by allowing gas permeability while blocking liquid entry.
Solution Approach 2:
The filter membrane converts what would be a harmful opening (vent allowing spillage) into a beneficial feature by filtering out both liquid spillage and gaseous contaminants while maintaining airflow. The potential harm of having an opening is transformed into the benefit of selective permeability.
3Ease of operation
If lids are stored separately from container bases, then ease of access is improved, but organization and lid matching are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The container system merges lids and bases into connected assemblies through the nesting mechanism. Lids are attached to bases via the connecting structure, ensuring that each lid remains with its corresponding base. This merging eliminates the problem of mismatched lids while maintaining organized storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The container system employs nesting where lids are attached to bases and smaller containers nest within larger ones. This nesting arrangement keeps lids permanently associated with their corresponding bases in an organized manner, preventing loss of correspondence information while maintaining ease of access.
4Volume of stationary object
If containers are stacked for storage and transport, then space efficiency is improved, but stacking stability is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The container system segments the stacking interface into multiple interaction points through the connecting structure. The lid-to-base connection provides multiple contact points and mechanical interlocking features that distribute loads and prevent sliding, thereby improving stack stability while maintaining compact nesting for space efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting structure incorporates curved or rounded features that facilitate stable stacking. The geometry of the connecting elements creates natural nesting contours that prevent containers from sliding off each other, enhancing stacking stability while maintaining compact arrangement for efficient space utilization.
5Stability of the object's composition
If connecting structures are added to lids and bases, then organization and stacking are improved, but device complexity is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting structure serves multiple functions: it connects lids to bases, enables stacking of containers, provides organizational alignment, and ensures proper lid-base pairing. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components for each function, thereby limiting the increase in overall device complexity while achieving multiple organizational and stability benefits.
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 system maintains produce freshness by allowing airflow, prevents spillage, and ensures stable stacking and storage, reducing the likelihood of lid misplacement and improving transportability.
Implementation Method 1
produce needs to breathe and, thus, providing air flow to produce inside of a container extends the period before microorganisms can grow
Implementation Method 2
The trays also elevate produce above the base bottom and thus above any moisture collected in the base during use
Implementation Method 3
The lids and bases can be connected to one another during use in a stable stacked configuration
Implementation Method 4
The trays also elevate produce above the base bottom and thus above any moisture collected in the base during use
Data Source
AI summary
A food storage container has a base with a bottom, a continuous side wall extending up from the bottom and terminating at an upper end, a storage space within the side wall above the bottom, and an open top. A lid of the container is configured to attach to and close off the open top. A tray of the container has a perforate panel and a tray foot. The tray can fit within the storage space with the tray foot resting on the bottom of the base and the perforate panel elevated above the bottom of the base. A connecting structure is carried in part on the lid, in part on the base, and in part on the tray and is configured so that the lid and the tray can be connected to one another and to the bottom under the base.