Venting Closure Element for Bubble-Free Container Filling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing closure elements fail to ensure bubble-free filling and sealing of containers, particularly in scenarios where oxygen-sensitive beverages or UV-irradiated body fluids are handled, as they allow air to enter the container or lead to air bubble formation during filling and sealing processes.
Innovation Solution
A closure element with a peg-shaped lower part featuring a ventilation channel that starts from the underside and leads to a lateral outlet opening, designed to allow air residues or gas bubbles to escape, ensuring complete displacement of air and liquid during filling and sealing, with a channel configuration that can be acentric, curved, or a combination of straight and arc sections, and made from materials like plastic or cork.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a closure element is used to seal a container, then sealing function is improved, but air residues or gas bubbles remain in the container
Solution Approach 1:
The vent channel is pre-formed in the closure element during manufacturing, enabling automatic air evacuation before the sealing process completes. This preliminary structural preparation ensures that air residues are removed proactively rather than requiring additional active mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The vent channel acts as an intermediary pathway between the container interior and exterior, allowing air and gas bubbles to escape through a dedicated route while the seal prevents liquid leakage. This mediator structure resolves the conflict between maintaining seal integrity and removing harmful gas residues.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If a closure element with vent opening is used, then air residues can escape, but liquid may leak through the vent opening
Solution Approach 1:
The vent channel is designed with a curved, arc-shaped path rather than a straight line, making it more difficult for liquid to reach the outlet under normal conditions. The curved geometry allows gas to escape while the liquid must overcome greater gravitational and surface tension barriers to leak.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the vent channel have different functional characteristics - the inlet section allows easy gas entry, the curved middle section prevents liquid passage, and the outlet section provides controlled gas release. This local differentiation of channel properties enables selective gas-liquid separation.
3Ease of manufacture
If the vent channel is positioned centrally, then manufacturing is simplified, but air bubbles may become trapped in the channel
Solution Approach 1:
The vent channel is deliberately positioned asymmetrically (acentrically) relative to the closure element's center, creating an inclined trajectory that facilitates air bubble movement toward the outlet. This asymmetric positioning prevents bubble accumulation while maintaining manufacturability through standard molding techniques.
Solution Approach 2:
The vent channel incorporates vertical and lateral components, creating a three-dimensional path that utilizes gravitational forces to propel air bubbles toward the outlet. This multi-dimensional channel configuration prevents bubble trapping that would occur in simple horizontal or vertical channels.
4Reliability
If the closure element is made tightly sealing, then sealing performance is improved, but thermal expansion pressure cannot be relieved
Solution Approach 1:
The vent channel serves as a pressure relief intermediary, allowing thermal expansion pressure to be gradually released through the sealed vent pathway. This mediator function maintains the overall seal integrity while providing a controlled pressure release mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The vent channel remains continuously open throughout the sealing process, allowing both air evacuation during filling and pressure relief during thermal expansion. This continuous functional pathway eliminates the need for separate sealing and pressure relief mechanisms.
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 closure element enables complete and bubble-free filling of containers, preventing air from entering during sealing and allowing liquids to expand without pressure increase, thus ensuring accurate photometric measurements and preventing stopper displacement due to thermal expansion.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one ventilation opening being formed by a channel in the closure plug, which begins at an entry opening into the channel from the underside of the peg-shaped lower part inside the sealing plug runs upwards and leads out through a lateral outlet opening from the sealing plug
Implementation Method 2
allowing liquids to expand without pressure increase, thus ensuring accurate photometric measurements and preventing stopper displacement due to thermal expansion
Data Source
Figure 1A~2E
Figure 3~4
AI summary
According to the present invention, a closure element with at least one vent opening is a sealing plug comprising a cone-shaped lower part with an underside, wherein the at least one vent opening is formed by a channel in the sealing plug. Starting at an inlet opening to the channel, the channel extends upwards from the underside of the cone-shaped lower part inside the sealing plug and leads out of the sealing plug through a lateral outlet opening. The invention also includes a container with such a closure element. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for completely and bubble-free filling a container with a closure element according to the invention. The invention also relates to the use of a filled container equipped with a closure element according to the invention.