Food Wrapper with Spicules and Perforations for Steam Venting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional food wrappers for hot items, such as sandwiches and wraps, fail to maintain crispness and freshness due to steam condensation and the loss of crumbs through large holes, leading to a soggy and unsanitary product.
Innovation Solution
A wrapper with a sheet material featuring a multitude of small perforations and surrounding spicules that form an air gap, allowing steam to escape while preventing crumbs from exiting, using silicone-coated paper with specific dimensions for perforations and spicules to maintain the food's crispness and sanitation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If large holes are punched in the wrapper, then steam can escape quickly, but crumbs fall through the holes and the product becomes unsanitary
Solution Approach 1:
The wrapper is segmented with a very large number of very small perforations (e.g., 100-500 microns in diameter) distributed across the surface, rather than using a few large holes. This segmentation allows steam to escape through numerous small openings while preventing crumbs from falling through, as the hole size is smaller than typical crumb dimensions.
Solution Approach 2:
The wrapper incorporates spicules (protrusions) at specific locations around the perforations that create localized air gaps between the food item and the wrapper inner surface. This local structural modification enables steam to migrate laterally along the air gap to reach the perforations for venting, while the spicules also act as barriers to prevent direct contact and crumb passage.
2Temperature
If the wrapper is tightly sealed, then heat is retained and food stays warm, but steam condenses on the inner surface and is reabsorbed into the food item making it soggy
Solution Approach 1:
The wrapper is designed with a porous structure consisting of numerous small perforations that allow controlled steam escape. This porous configuration enables the wrapper to maintain relative tightness for heat retention while providing adequate vapor transmission paths to prevent steam condensation and subsequent food sogginess.
Solution Approach 2:
The spicules create a three-dimensional air gap structure between the food item and the wrapper inner surface. This dimensional modification provides a lateral migration path for steam vapor, allowing steam to travel along the air gap to reach perforations for venting, rather than condensing directly on the food surface.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If perforations are made very small, then crumbs are prevented from exiting, but steam venting efficiency may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The wrapper incorporates a very large number of very small perforations (e.g., 100-500 microns in diameter) distributed across the surface. While each individual perforation is small to prevent crumb passage, the high density and large total number of perforations collectively provide sufficient steam venting capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The spicules create a three-dimensional air gap structure that provides an additional steam migration pathway. Steam can travel laterally along this air gap to reach the perforations, effectively increasing the steam venting surface area and reducing the venting burden on individual perforations.
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 vents steam, maintaining the food's crispness and freshness by preventing moisture reabsorption and reducing crumb loss, while ensuring the product remains sanitary during consumption.
Implementation Method 1
The spicules are adapted to form standoffs defining an air gap between the food item and the sheet material when the food item is contained in the wrapper, with the spicules engaging an outer surface of the food item to enable lateral migration of steam from the food item, along the air gap and through the perforations
Data Source
AI summary
A wrapper and three-dimensional package for toasted and other hot food items that includes a sheet with an array of perforations extending through the sheet material between an inner face of the sheet material adapted to contact the food item, and an opposite, outer face of the sheet material. Spicules are formed from the sheet material surrounding each of the perforations and extending away from the inner face of the sheet material. The spicules form standoffs defining an air gap between the food item and the sheet material when the food item is contained in the wrapper, with the spicules engaging an outer surface of the food item to enable lateral migration of steam from the food item, along the air gap and through the perforations.