Design Of Packaging Systems Research Articles

Durability and Functionality of Conventional Polymeric Packaging Materials in Reusable Packaging Systems

Reusable packaging is increasingly recognised as a sustainable solution to address issues related to increasing packaging waste generation and harmful environmental impacts. The packaging sector consumes a significant portion of Europe’s plastic production, which is mostly single-use packaging. There is a sense of urgency to develop sustainable reusable alternatives. Unlike single-use packaging, the longevity of reusable plastic packaging is paramount, necessitating material durability and functionality. This study examines the durability of conventional polymeric packaging materials (polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene, high-density polyethylene) and investigates the effectiveness of scratch resistance additives. A specialised test set-up was created to evaluate the performance of various polymers in reusable takeaway food packaging scenarios. The research included scratch testing, wear analysis and wash cycles to assess the reuse potential of these materials. Qualitative measures were employed to compare material characteristics. Results indicated that polymer type significantly affects hardness and scratch performance, while additives had minimal impact on hardness and modulus. Although current scratch resistance additives do not effectively mitigate wear in reusable packaging in the experimental scenarios, tailored additives could present potential in increasing the durability and longevity of reusable packaging. PET demonstrated notable recovery post-washing, suggesting that washing conditions could influence material resilience. This study emphasises the need for further research to optimise scratch resistance additives and understand the impact of washing conditions on different polymers, aiming to enhance the design and longevity of reusable packaging systems.

An Analysis of Various Design Pathways Towards Multi-Terabit Photonic On-Interposer Interconnects

In the wake of dwindling Moore’s Law, to address the rapidly increasing complexity and cost of fabricating large-scale, monolithic systems-on-chip (SoCs), the industry has adopted dis-aggregation as a solution, wherein a large monolithic SoC is partitioned into multiple smaller chiplets that are then assembled into a large system-in-package (SiP) using advanced packaging substrates such as silicon interposer. For such interposer-based SiPs, there is a push to realize on-interposer inter-chiplet communication bandwidth of multi-Tb/s and end-to-end communication latency of no more than 10 ns. This push comes as the natural progression from some recent prior works on SiP design, and is driven by the proliferating bandwidth demand of modern data-intensive workloads. To meet this bandwidth and latency goal, prior works have focused on a potential solution of using the silicon photonic interposer (SiPhI) for integrating and interconnecting a large number of chiplets into an SiP. Despite the early promise, the existing designs of on-SiPhI interconnects still have to evolve by leaps and bounds to meet the goal of multi-Tb/s bandwidth. However, the possible design pathways, upon which such an evolution can be achieved, have not been explored in any prior works yet. In this paper, we have identified several design pathways that can help evolve on-SiPhI interconnects to achieve multi-Tb/s aggregate bandwidth. We perform an extensive link-level and system-level analysis in which we explore these design pathways in isolation and in different combinations of each other. From our link-level analysis, we have observed that the design pathways that simultaneously enhance the spectral range and optical power budget available for wavelength multiplexing can render aggregate bandwidth of up to 4 Tb/s per on-SiPhI link. We also show that such high-bandwidth on-SiPhI links can substantially improve the performance and energy-efficiency of the state-of-the-art CPU and GPU chiplets based SiPs.

Using M-Series with Adaptive Patterning to shrink PCB systems into System-In-Packages

Traditional system-level design typically includes several Integrated Circuits (IC’s) that get individually packaged and implemented onto a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). This PCB includes the required support circuitry for the IC’s to complete the full system design. This architecture creates a system that is far larger and more power intensive than a single package. It also suffers from greater bandwidth and signal integrity limitations. To counter these shortcomings, many companies are migrating away from PCB to System-in-Package (SiP) designs. In a SiP design, these chips are integrated into a single package along with all the supporting passive devices. The die of the package may be configured through vertical stacking or lateral interconnects to improve design density. For semiconductor companies that design both the IC’s and the system-level PCB, there is an emerging trend in which the existing PCB designs are reused and re-purposed to generate a new SiP design. This allows for companies to leverage known-good design data to create a smaller form factor, higher density package, while requiring fewer engineering design hours. While the prominent solution for SiP designs has been laminate substrates, as the demand for further density scaling and heterogeneous integration grows, advanced packaging technologies are being leveraged. Using a fan-out RDL based solution can accommodate increased interconnect density and reduced layer count as compared to a laminate substrate. Deca’s Adaptive Patterning® technology ensures companies are able to manufacture fan-out wafer-level packages (FOWLP) with the highest possible yield. This paper details the benefits of migrating from PCB to package level integration as well as how utilizing Adaptive Patterning® technology further benefits this migration with increased density and performance as compared to traditional packaging technology

Design, integration, and evaluation of a robotic peach packaging system based on deep learning

Fruit packaging is one of the most time-consuming and labor-intensive tasks during postharvest commercialization. With the aging of the global population, it is necessary to apply robot to replace the manual manipulation. However, robotic packaging for fragile fruit is more complicated and difficult, compared with other postharvest processes, such as quality detection and grading. In this study, for better positioning accuracy and grasping robustness, we developed a prototype for peach packaging robot based on deep learning. First, the dataset for peach object detection was built, and YOLO v5 models with different width and depth were trained in an end-to-end manner on this dataset. Considering the requirements on both accuracy and real-time performance in fruit postharvest processing, YOLO v5 - S was finally adopted as the peach detection model for robotic manipulation, which can achieve mAP-50 = 0.996 on validation set and runs at 142.86 fps on RTX 3060. Next, the “Eye-on-Base” hand eye calibration method was used to solve the coordinate transformation matrix from the camera coordinate system to the robot base coordinate system. The results on landmark positioning experiment showed that the positioning error along X and Y axes was 4.87 mm and 5.00 mm on average, respectively. The positioning error alone Z direction was 18.47 mm on average, which was caused mainly by the depth perception error of the RGB-D camera. In the grasping experiment, the influence of the depth perception accuracy was explored, the grasping success rate for small, medium, and large size of peaches was 100 %, 97 %, and 97 %, respectively. Besides, the entire pipeline proposed in this study took 252.81 ms on average for depth perception, object detection, coordinate transformation, and grasping path planning. Finally, the early stage bruise of the peaches was also evaluated through SFDI technology. In general, this research provided a feasible and reliable scheme for the fruit packaging robot, which is potential to be deployed in postharvest commercialization.

Peltier Cell Integration in Packaging Design for Minimizing Energy Consumption and Temperature Variation during Refrigerated Transport

This study proposes an innovative approach to reduce temperature fluctuations in refrigerated transport during loading and unloading, aiming to minimize food waste and optimize energy consumption in the food supply chain. The solution involves integrating Peltier cells into secondary and tertiary packaging to improve system efficiency and minimize temperature variations. Four distinct tests were conducted: a reference test, continuous Peltier system operation, and two intermittent cooling tests for the hot side of the cells. The results highlight the effectiveness of this approach, particularly in the fourth test where the average final food temperature decreased from 3.2 °C (reference test) to 2.8 °C. Integrating Peltier cells into packaging shows potential benefits in minimizing food waste, reducing energy consumption, and associated emissions during refrigerated transport. This research contributes to the sustainable design and manufacturing of packaging systems, specifically in the context of refrigerated transport. By maintaining a consistent temperature environment during the critical loading and unloading phases, incorporating Peltier cells enhances the overall performance and efficiency of refrigerated transport system. These results point out the significance of exploring innovative solutions for sustainable food preservation and the decrease of waste all along the food supply chain.

Design of Circuits and Packaging Systems for Security Chips

Hardware oriented security and trust of semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chips have been highly demanded. This paper outlines the requirements and recent developments in circuits and packaging systems of IC chips for security applications, with the particular emphasis on protections against physical implementation attacks. Power side channels are of undesired presence to crypto circuits once a crypto algorithm is implemented in Silicon, over power delivery networks (PDNs) on the frontside of a chip or even through the backside of a Si substrate, in the form of power voltage variation and electromagnetic wave emanation. Preventive measures have been exploited with circuit design and packaging technologies, and partly demonstrated with Si test vehicles.

Block Sponge Compression and Packaging System Design and Analysis with Finite Element Method

In today's sponge industry, sponges are large and take up space, so there is an excessive amount of shipments for delivery. For this reason, there is a need for a system that can pack the sponge in order to reduce the height of the sponge and to ensure the shipment of more products at once, in order to compress the sponge and prevent it from returning to its original state. In this study, the design and analysis of the sponge compression and packaging system, which will reduce the height of the sponge by 10 times, has been made. Soldiworks program was used to model this system. The structural analysis of the system was examined with the help of the widely used Ansys Workbench 18.1 program, that is, the stress, deflection and safety coefficient values of the system elements were obtained. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the designed system can be used safely in the compression and packaging operations of sponges up to 28 density.

Biodegradable and Flexible Nanoporous Films for Design and Fabrication of Active Food Packaging Systems.

Nanotechnology has facilitated the development of active food packaging systems with functions that could not be achieved by their traditional counterparts. Such smart and active systems can improve the shelf life of perishable products and overcome major bottlenecks associated with the fabrication of safe and environmentally friendly food packaging systems. Herein, we used a plasma-enabled surface modification strategy to fabricate biodegradable and flexible nanoporous polycaprolactone-based (FNP) films for food packaging systems. Their capacity for preserving tomatoes, tangerines, and bananas at room and refrigeration temperatures was tested by analyzing various fruit parameters (mold generation, appearance changes, freshness, weight loss, firmness, and total soluble solids contents). Compared with commonly used polyethylene terephthalate-based containers, the proposed system enhanced the fruit storage quality (i.e., retained appearance, reduced weight loss, better firmness, and sugar contents) by controlling moisture evaporation and inhibiting mold generation. Thus, the FNP film represents a new active food packaging strategy.

Scheme Design of Returnable Transportation Packaging System between Shandong Province and South Korea

The main trade product categories and logistic packaging standard systems were firstly investigated between Shandong province and South Korea. Based on the results, the auto parts were chosen as the target product to design the returnable transportation packaging system. Therefore, the system composed of standardized plastic pallet, nested plastic returnable box and top cover were designed for the light auto parts, while the folding visualized metal mesh box was designed for the heavy auto parts. By simulating the adaptability among different specifications of packaging equipment and the shipping containers, the recycling plastic pallet with size of 1140 mm×980 mm, plastic packaging boxes with size of 480 mm×380 mm were preferred to match 40 ft containers, the plane and space loading efficiencies of which are 94.89% and 87.35%, respectively. While, the metal mesh boxes with 1000 mm×800 mm×760 mm were preferred to match with 20 ft containers, with the plane and space loading efficiencies of 94.89% and 87.35%, respectively.

Forced-air precooling of apples: Airflow distribution and precooling effectiveness in relation to the gap width between tray edge and box wall

Forced-air precooling is a widely-used precooling technique in the food cold chain. Optimizing ventilation design of packaging systems to improve cooling uniformity and reduce energy consumption has been a hot research topic. Inner tray is an important factor contributing to cooling heterogeneity. However, the study about the design optimization of inner tray is rather limited. The present study focused on the influence of inner tray on the precooling process of apples and explored the impact of widening the gap between the tray edge and box wall on airflow distribution and precooling effectiveness. A three-dimensional model was established on the basis of an existing container being widely used in China’s agricultural cold-chain-logistics industry, and the direct computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation method was adopted to study the precooling process. The examined gap width increments were between 0 and 0.015 m. Results indicated that properly widening the gap was an effective way to achieve the goal of enhancing precooling effectiveness, without changing the design configuration parameters of the box. For the selected two-layer package, the optimal increment of the gap width was about 0.010 m, with which the cooling time could be reduced by 18.8 %, the cooling uniformity could be increased by 16.0 %, and the energy consumption could be reduced by 21.6 % simultaneously.

Effect of Temperature Changes on the Vibration Transmissibility of XPE and PE Packaging Cushioning Material

Polyethylene (PE) and its variations are among the most traditional materials used for cushioning in packaging systems. The role of these materials is to prevent damages during handling and distribution processes from physical events such as vibration stress. This study presents new results on the characterization of properties of PE and XPE (cross-linked polyethylene) packaging materials, which have significant relevance as a protective mechanism due to their vibration transmissibility and frequency curve properties. The main goal of this study is the evaluation of vibration transmissibility of PE and XPE cushion material at varied real temperature and static load conditions through a series of experiments using a vibration tester and climate chamber to determine the peak frequencies, vibration transmissibility, and damping ratios. The results can be used by engineers in the package-design process, and can be useful in different distribution conditions. Three different kinds of static loads and a 0.5 oct/min sine sweep of vibration test were used to find the peak frequencies and vibration transmissibility at −20 °C, 0 °C, 20 °C and 40 °C to estimate the damping ratios. The results provided a better understanding of the materials and can assist in the design of suitable protective packaging systems.

Methodology for selecting packaging alternatives: an “action research” application in the industrial sector

Packaging could and should be considered one of the key elements that promote supply chain performance in terms of efficiency and sustainability. Although, packaging should be considered as a system comprising three different levels (primary, secondary and tertiary), in the industrial sphere design problems are usually centered exclusively on two levels: the primary packaging (the “box”) and the tertiary packaging (the “unit load”). Thus, the main object of this paper is to propose a methodology that facilitates, in a comprehensive way, decision making in packaging system design in order to reduce total costs. To do so, the methodology makes a qualitative and quantitative exploration (including a proposal of a heuristic method) to establish strategies that enable the definition, comparison and selection of an efficient range of package designs (with their associated dimensions) that is efficient and sustainable in an overall way in terms of purchasing costs, logistics costs and environmental costs. Likewise, the authors develop the successful case of a Spanish company implementing successfully the proposed methodology. To develop this case, the authors have adopted an “Action Research” approach. The empirical validation process was developed over almost 10 years.

Nanoscale manufacturing as an enabling strategy for the design of smart food packaging systems

Abstract Nanoscale manufacturing has enabled the development of smart packaging systems for the functional and convenient distribution of food products, overcoming the major bottlenecks to the future fabrication of stable, safe, economically feasible, and environmentally friendly food packaging systems. Traditionally, packaging systems have been used to protect products from physical impacts and were designed mainly for storage and transportation. The more recent packaging systems carry out the many additional functions required to maintain, preserve, and sustain the food product. In this review, we describe two nanoscale manufacturing-based approaches (viz., nanomaterials and nanofabrication) for smart food packaging systems and focus on their performance, including their gas barrier, antibacterial, and protective effects. Looking to the future, we summarize the updated information on the incorporation of nanoscale manufacturing-based systems into the food industry and discuss new perspectives of these systems for the smart food packaging industry.

Lentivirus expressing shRNAs inhibit the replication of contagious ecthyma virus by targeting DNA polymerase gene

BackgroundContagious ecthyma or Orf is known as a zoonotic disease remains prevalently worldwide despite the application of some control strategies against it. RNAi particularly shRNA provides us with the chance to tackle this obstacle by an encouraging new approach. The current study indicates the design and experiment of third-generation lentivirus packaging systems delivering shRNAs to inhibit Orf virus (ORFV) replication and infection. Given the importance of DNA-pol gene in virus replication, in this study, three shRNAs against this gene were designed and cloned into lentiviral vectors to stabilize the expression of shRNAs. After producing lentivectors expressing ORFV-DNA– pol in HEK293T cells, the synthesized shRNAs were applied to downregulate viral replication and gene expression. The reduction in viral titer and RNA was evaluated by TCID50 test as well as real-time RT-PCR. The results were then analyzed in comparison with the control group.ResultsDesigned shRNAs significantly reduced virus yield approximately 90 to 97% and 96.8 to 99.4%, respectively compared to the control groups (cells infected with ORFV and infected with ORFV and scrambled vector) by TCID50 test. Real-time RT-PCR revealed a dramatic reduction in the expression of viral RNA approximately 99% compared to cells infected with ORFV and from 92.6 to 99%, respectively compared to cells infected with ORFV and scrambled vector.ConclusionsTherefore, it can be stated that RNAi is capable of being used as a potent therapeutically option against viruses like ORFV.

Impact of ventilation design on the precooling effectiveness of horticultural produce—a review

AbstractOptimizing the ventilation design of packaging system is of crucial importance for improving the efficiency of the forced-air precooling process to maintain the quality of horticultural produce and extend the shelf life in food cold chain. Many efforts had been devoted to the study about the impact of ventilation design on airflow and temperature distribution inside ventilated packages. This paper reviews relevant research methods, commonly used quantities for the measurement of precooling effectiveness, attractive design parameters, and their impact on precooling effectiveness. These allow us to know exactly the characteristic and deficiency of each research method, identify dominant design parameters, and seek a promising way for the future improvement of the ventilated packaging system.

Model-based design of smart active packaging systems with antimicrobial activity

Abstract Smart active packaging is an innovative packaging system that combines the benefits of measuring, estimating or predicting different aspects of food quality or safety with the release of an active substance that extends product shelf life. Nevertheless, in its typical configuration, the active packaging and the smart packaging are not connected, and the information provided is not exploited to design the release of the active substance. In this work, we demonstrate how smart active packaging systems using predictive mathematical models allow the automatic optimisation of food packaging design and the prediction of the expected shelf life along the food chain. On the one hand, the system calculates the best design of the active packaging and the concentration of the active substance in the different layers that maximise food quality and safety. On the other hand, the model allows to calculate and update shelf life values along the food chain under unexpected changes in the storage conditions. Shelf life estimations and prediction will help distributors and sellers to adjust the product market prices. For example, prices can be lowered to avoid food losses when the product is close to its use-by date. Hake (Merluccius merluccius) represents an example of a highly relevant and perishable food that can be conserved using natural antimicrobials. Therefore, the case study selected to illustrate the proposed methodology consists of the smart active packaging of hake using carvacrol as the active substance (antimicrobial). Besides, different polymers are considered as possible active packaging materials. The Matlab ™ codes required to perform the simulations of the models described in this work as well as the optimisations for packaging design are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3244153 .

Rheological, nutritional, functional and sensory properties of millets and sprouted legume based beverages.

The present study investigated the effect of processing on the nutritional, functional, organoleptic and rheological properties of millet and sprouted legumes beverage flavored with jaggery (B1) and buttermilk (B2) for its processing suitability. The millets, sprouted legumes, flavoured with jaggery (B1); and buttermilk and salt (B2), used influenced the suspension stability, nutritional, sensory quality and rheology of beverages. Millets imparted minerals and starch while sprouted legumes improved solubility and extractability of nutrients and also increased the levels of anti-oxidants and flavonoids. Buttermilk improved the stability, increased contents of proteins and minerals and imparted a light colour to the beverage. Jaggery was responsible for caramelized colour and flavor, improved consistency, psuedoplasticity and better organoleptic acceptability. The nutritional quality of B2 was higher in terms of iron (1.8mg/100g) and calcium (75mg/100g) with 90% antioxidant activity. Highest L* values were obtained for B2 indicating lighter color, whereas B1 was darker with lower L* values. Organoleptic evaluation showed higher acceptability (7.6) of B1 as compared to B2. Results of flow behavior indicated pseudo-plastic nature of beverages. Significant increase in viscosity was also observed with the increase in temperature (10, 25 and 45°C) of the beverages. The flow curves of B1 produced the best fit applying the Power law model and for B2, Casson model was the best fit. Results of this study could be used in improvement of the process for making millet-based beverage, design of packaging system and also to predict the flow behavior of beverages during storage.

Automated I/O Library Generation for Interposer-Based System-in-Package Integration of Multiple Heterogeneous Dies

System-in-package (SiP) integration of multiple dies in a single package can achieve much higher performance than onboard integration of integrated circuits (ICs) while reducing the design cost/effort compared to a large system on chips (SoCs). However, a major challenge in the design of SiPs with many dies is automated design and insertion of input/output (I/O) cells to minimize energy and delay of the wire traces. This article presents an automated cell library generation flow for all-digital I/O circuits for SiP integration. Given parameterized models of SiP wire traces, our method automatically designs, optimizes, and generates layouts of I/O cells for delay/energy minimization. The proposed flow is demonstrated on interposer-based SiP integration considering 28-nm CMOS technology and 65-nm BEOL technology. Given a multidie SiP design and associated interposer wire traces, this article demonstrates that automated I/O library cell generation can reduce the maximum die-to-die communication delay or energy. We demonstrate the proposed flow for various interposer parameters and SiP designs to show the feasibility of chip-interposer codesign.

The optimal design and energy consumption analysis of forced air pre-cooling packaging system

The packaging system has a significant impact on forced air pre-cooling of the fruits and vegetables. In this work, the simulation model of forced air pre-cooling of products in different opening ratio packaging system was established by using computational fluid dynamics method. The cooling time, inhomogeneity and energy consumption were analyzed in different packaging system when the air velocity (volume flow per unit mass) was constant. The simulation and the experiment results agreed well in different conditions. The results showed that when the air velocity (volume flow per unit mass) was constant, the opening ratio of the packaging system had less influence on the 7/8 pre-cooling time (no more than 20%). With the increased of opening ratio for packaging system, the pre-cooling energy consumption and the cooling inhomogeneity were all decreased. Finally, a new expression for energy consumption in terms of opening ratio and air velocity was established and the expression was modified according to different fruits diameters.

The Effect of Deprotonation on the Reaction Kinetics of an Oxygen Scavenger Based on Gallic Acid

Oxygen scavengers based on gallic acid (GA) usually contain a base that establishes the alkaline conditions necessary for the humidity-induced scavenger reaction. Here we measured the effect of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) on the reaction kinetics of such scavengers. The time-dependent oxygen absorption of aqueous GA solutions (pH 2.9–13.8) was determined and the results were described using a second-order kinetic model. We calculated the degree of deprotonation (DoD) of GA in the solutions from the species distribution curves, and assessed the effect of the DoD on the reaction kinetics. This revealed that both the reaction rate coefficient k and the scavenger capacity n were significantly affected by the DoD. If the DoD fell below 0.25, there was no significant reaction. Although k increased with the DoD, n reached a maximum at DoD = 0.6–0.7. In principle, target DoD values can be achieved using any base, but a strong base is more efficient because lower quantities are required. In our experiments, the amount of Na2CO3 required to reach the maximum DoD was more than twice that of NaOH. Our results provide the basis for the functional design of active packaging systems incorporating optimized GA-based oxygen scavengers.