Patent Application
20230021318
This disclosure relates generally to packaging systems and methods and more specifically to multi-axial, thin wall, blow-molded plastic structures, and their use in systems and methods for packaging cushioning, particularly for packaging cushioning of Information Handling Systems (IHSs).
Typical cushioning for Information Handling Systems (IHSs) and related components such as displays, or the like is characterized by either molded paper pulp, Expanded Polyethylene (EPE) foam, Styrofoam, or REFLEX™ thermoformed cushions. Production of these materials is typically either slow, labor intensive, environmentally unfriendly, and/or the cushions do not work well.
As the value and use of information continue to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an IHS. An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user, or for a specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, global communications, etc. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
IHSs provide users with capabilities for accessing, creating, and manipulating data. IHSs often implement a variety of security protocols in order to protect this data during such operations. A known technique for securing access to protected data that is accessed via an IHS is to segregate the protected data within an isolated software environment that operates on the IHS, where such isolated software environments may be referred to by various names, such as virtual machines, containers, dockers, etc. Various types of such segregated environments are isolated by providing varying degrees of abstraction from the underlying hardware and operating system of the IHS. These virtualized environments typically allow a user to access only data and applications that have been approved for use within that particular isolated environment. In enforcing the isolation of a virtualized environment, applications that operate within such isolated environments may have limited access to capabilities that are supported by the hardware and operating system of the IHS.
Existing IHS shipping cushioning typically uses EPE laminated cushions. Issues encountered with such packing include cost, high component part count, and complex cutting and lamination process to make the cushioning structures from foam plank. Further, EPE cushions are not generally recyclable, due to lack of recycling infrastructure. Supply chain issues encountered may include off-site manufacturing and the transportation and storage large amounts of physically large inventory of such packaging.
Embodiments of multi-axial, thin wall, blow-molded plastic structures, systems and methods for packaging cushioning are described. In an illustrative, non-limiting example, a multi-axial blow-molded packing cushion is a resilient, hollow, thin-walled, generally parallelepiped blow-molded body that has first and second, opposite ends, which each have a groove defined by the blow-molded body across each end. The grooves may each be sized and shaped to receive opposite edges of a rectangular opening in a packing insert. The grooves may each defined adjacent a bottom of the blow-molded body and the bottom of the blow-molded body may define a chamfered bottom edge at each end, so as to define a lip adjacent the bottom of the blow-molded body, between, and by, the grooves and chamfered edges. Thereby, each multi-axial, generally parallelepiped, blow-molded packing cushion may be snap-fitted into a packing insert rectangular opening by sliding a first end of the packing cushion into a rectangular opening, aligning a first groove defined by the blow-molded body across the first end with a first edge of the rectangular opening and pressing down on the packing cushion to snap-fit a second groove defined by the blow-molded body across a second end of the packing cushion over a second edge of the rectangular opening with the second grove aligned with the second edge of the rectangular opening. Thusly, the packing insert maintains (the) multi-axial, generally parallelepiped, blow-molded packing cushion(s) in the rectangular opening(s), so that the packing insert may be disposed in (an) outer packaging (box) between a packed item and the outer packaging on each side of the packed item. The resilient, hollow, thin-walled, generally parallelepiped blow-molded body may be blow-molded polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyester, and/or post-consumer resin (PCR), High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP), or the like, and may define a vent or valve configured to enable gradual ingress and egress of air from the body due to change in exterior air pressure and/or impact.
The present invention(s) is/are illustrated by way of example and is/are not limited by the accompanying figures, in which like references indicate similar elements. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale.
Existing Information Handling Systems (IHSs) packaging cushioning, such as for servers, larger monitors, large desktops, and the like, uses Expanded Polyethylene (EPE) laminated cushions. As noted, issues arise with respect to such packing, including high cost, high component part count, complex cutting and lamination processes employed to make the cushioning structures from foam plank, and the like. Also, supply chain issues arise with respect to off-site manufacturing and transporting and storing large amounts of such physically large packaging.
Embodiments of the present systems and methods improves upon the shortcomings of existing systems by utilizing rapid plastic blow-molding techniques to make packaging cushions on-demand thus eliminating significant amounts of time, such as up to ninety-five percent of the typical time spent in the value chain. Further, embodiments of the present systems and methods are expected to lower CO2 footprint for a packaging operation, as well. Embodiments of the present systems and methods use blow-molded thin wall, closed plastic cushioning structures to achieve such ends. For example, when combined with high-speed blow-molding, up to ninety-five percent of the typical value chain of transporting and storing the cushions can be eliminated by locating the cushion manufacturing within the IHS product factory, or the like. In accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods, a cushion blow molded, on-demand, in the factory boxing line, can eliminate ninety-five percent of the transportation, space, and time spent by a cushion in the existing value chain. Most of the current process is shipping and storing air. Speed changes things. Use of low-cost blow molding enables a different way of operating optimizing flow of cushions to boxes within the same facility. Whereas existing molded paper pulp cushion take up to twelve days between molding and packing (one day to mold, ¼ day to truck to a warehouse, where it is typically stored for up to ten days awaiting use, another ¼ day trucking to the facility where the product is packed, and ½ day packing). The present on-demand, on-site, blow-molded cushion is, in accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods, used within a half day of being blow-molded.
Embodiments of the present systems and methods use of blow-molded cushioning structures, which can be used in repeatable combinations for use in IHS packaging, such as packaging of servers, monitors, all-in ones, notebooks, desktops, etc. Elastic thin-walled plastic structures are used in accordance with embodiments of the present systems and methods, whereas EPE foam, Styrofoam or non-elastic molded paper pulps have been typically used previously. Further, by using repeatable cushioning elements, the component count and structural complexity of the present cushion system is reduced in embodiments of the present systems and methods. Further, for the same cushioning rate, hollow, thin wall structures are more efficient than solid foam blocks since less material is required. Hence, in some embodiments, some of the resulting cost savings can be invested back into larger cushions to protect against higher drop heights, or the like. For example, various cushion thickness and size, as well as the material used to blow-mold the cushions, can be changed to “tune” the cushions to the product. Thereby, embodiments of the present packaging systems and methods, though the use of the present blow-molded cushions can follow the contours of the packaged product, unlike laminated EPE which is comprised of orthogonal surfaces. This may be particularly advantageous for packing curved monitors, curved bezels on desktops, and/or the like.
In light of the forgoing, embodiments of the present systems and methods are directed to multi-axial, thin wall, blow-molded plastic structures, and their use in systems and methods for packaging cushioning, particularly for packaging cushioning of IHSs. However, packaging of any large electronic or fragile device that now uses EPE foam, Styrofoam, large molded paper pulp cushions, or the like, may make use of embodiments of the present multi-axial, thin wall, blow-molded plastic structures, and their use in systems and methods for packaging cushioning. Packaging by television manufacturers is but one example.
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Further embodiments of the present systems and methods may employ thin wall blow-molded plastic cushion of various shapes, made of various materials. For example, as noted various cushion thickness and size, as well as the material used to blow-mold the cushions, can be changed to “tune” the cushions to the product, and while parallelepiped non-cuboidal and cuboidal shapes are discussed above, other shapes may also be used. For example, modular thin wall blow-molded plastic cushions may be employed in embodiments of the present systems and methods. Such modular cushions might, for example, define a socket on one end and a plug on the opposite end, allowing modular thin wall blow-molded plastic cushion allowing these modular cushions to be snapped together, in a train-like fashion. This enables lengthening of the thin wall blow-molded plastic cushion. Such “trained” modular thin wall blow-molded plastic cushions could be deployed around the packed item, between the packed item and the outer packaging (box), with or without the use of inserts. Such embodiments may be particularly well suited for use at corners of items, such as IHS monitors, or the like, such as to snap-together corner cushion pieces.
For purposes of this disclosure, an IHS may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, calculate, determine, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, communicate, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an IHS may be a personal computer (e.g., desktop or laptop), tablet computer, mobile device (e.g., Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or smart phone), server (e.g., blade server or rack server), a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. An IHS may include Random Access Memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, Read-Only Memory (ROM), and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of an IHS may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various I/O devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, touchscreen, and/or a video display. An IHS may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
Although the invention(s) is/are described herein with reference to specific embodiments, various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention(s), as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention(s). Any benefits, advantages, or solutions to problems that are described herein with regard to specific embodiments are not intended to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims.
Unless stated otherwise, terms such as “first” and “second” are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements such terms describe. Thus, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate temporal or other prioritization of such elements. The terms “coupled” or “operably coupled” are defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless stated otherwise. The terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”) and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a system, device, or apparatus that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more elements possesses those one or more elements but is not limited to possessing only those one or more elements. Similarly, a method or process that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more operations possesses those one or more operations but is not limited to possessing only those one or more operations.
