Water-blocking and air-enterable structure of dual drinking-mode cup
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cup lids face issues with assembly difficulties, plug loss, and water leakage due to small plug sizes, and tilting or inadequate sealing with either oversized or undersized air inlet plugs, particularly in dual drinking-mode designs.
Innovation Solution
A dual drinking-mode cup design featuring a direct drinking mouth assembly with a rotatable flap and integral plugs, and a drinking nozzle assembly with an air inlet valve and plastic strip connection, ensuring secure sealing and easy assembly to prevent plug loss and leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If small plugs are used for spout and air inlet, then the cup lid can maintain a compact size, but assembly becomes troublesome and plugs are easy to lose
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple small plugs (spout plug and air inlet plug) into a single integrated plug structure. This merging approach maintains the compact size of the cup lid while eliminating the assembly troubles and loss risks associated with multiple separate small plugs. The integrated plug is assembled as one piece, simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing the complexity of assembly operations.
2Reliability
If large plug is used for air inlet, then sealing is improved, but cup lid becomes unstable and prone to tilting or shaking
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the air inlet plug with the spout plug into a single integrated structure, the patent achieves stable positioning of the combined assembly. The integrated design allows the plugs to work together as a unified component, providing adequate sealing performance while maintaining cup lid stability through balanced weight distribution and proper structural integration.
3Stability of the object's composition
If small plug is used for air inlet, then cup lid stability is maintained, but water leakage occurs due to inadequate sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The integrated plug design combines the air inlet plug and spout plug into one structure, allowing the air inlet portion to be sufficiently sized for proper sealing while maintaining overall stability. The merged structure enables the air inlet opening to be larger than a separate small plug would allow, preventing water leakage while the integrated design keeps the center of gravity balanced.
4Ease of operation
If movable flap with soft plug is used, then drinking function is enabled, but plug and air inlet become dislocated causing water leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the soft plug directly into the movable flap structure, creating a unified component that moves together as one piece. This merging eliminates the dislocation problem between separate plug and air inlet components. The integrated design ensures that when the flap moves for drinking, the plug remains properly positioned relative to the air inlet, maintaining sealing performance throughout the motion range.
5Adaptability or versatility
If individually configured plugs are used, then assembly flexibility is provided, but plugs are easy to lose and may be swallowed
Solution Approach 1:
By merging multiple small plugs into a single integrated plug assembly, the patent eliminates the risk of individual plugs being lost or accidentally swallowed. The integrated structure is larger and more manageable, making it impossible to be mistakenly swallowed like small separate plugs. The design maintains assembly flexibility through the rotatable flap mechanism while ensuring safety by eliminating loose small components.
Data Source
AI summary
A water-blocking and air-enterable structure includes a cup lid disposed with a direct drinking mouth assembly and a drinking nozzle assembly. The direct drinking mouth assembly includes a direct drinking mouth flap, a direct drinking mouth plug and an air inlet plug. The cup lid is provided with a spout and a first air inlet. The drinking nozzle assembly includes a drinking nozzle flap, a drinking nozzle seat, a drinking nozzle and an air inlet valve. The cup lid is provided with a second air inlet plugged by the air inlet valve, and a lower end of the drinking nozzle is connected with the air inlet valve through a plastic strip. The structure adopts two drinking-modes of using the direct drinking mouth assembly and the drinking nozzle assembly both being integral structures, the problems of loss of components, difficult assembly, and assembly dislocation can be avoided.