開けやすい食品用瓶の開発

近年、国内ガラス瓶の出荷量は年々減少し、瓶製造会社は苦しい経営を続けている。主な理由としては、ペットボトルをはじめとする軽量で割れない樹脂容器が普及したことがあげられる。しかし、耐熱性や衛生性の点では瓶は樹脂容器よりも勝っており、瓶製容器は今後も需要があるといえる。本作品は、食品用瓶のデメリットの一つである「蓋の開けにくさ」について研究を行い、筋力が弱い女性、高齢者にも開けやすい瓶を開発したものである。
開発ステップとしては、はじめに市販の食品用瓶を集め、蓋をあける動作の観察と主観評価を行い、開けやすい瓶の形の特徴を把握した。また、動作観察により「開けやすさ」には「持ちやすさ」も関係していることを導き出した。次に、得られた結果をもとに、６つのモデルを試作し、モニターを行った。主観評価を行うとともに、筋電計を用いて蓋を開ける時の力の入れやすさを計測した。結果、平行四辺形断面の案が最も力が入れやすいことが分かった。最後に、製品としての魅力度についてアンケートを行い、現行品よりも良い評価であることを確認した。

Due to the decline of domestic shipment of glass bottles in recent years, bottle manufacturers are obliged to operate in difficult situations. This is mainly caused by the widespread use of light-weight and unbreakable plastic bottles, such as PET bottles. However, as glass bottles are superior to plastic bottles in heat resistance and hygiene, demands for glass bottle containers will continue to exist in the future. This project has developed bottles that are easy to open even for women and the elderly with weak muscles by studying the “difficulty to open”, which is a disadvantage of food bottles.
The development steps were as follows. First, food bottles were collected from the market to observe and subjectively evaluate the motion of opening the bottles to determine the characteristics of easy-to-open bottles. The motion observation also revealed that “easiness to hold” has much to do with “easiness to open”. Next, based on the findings, six prototypes were made to be tested by monitors. In addition to subjective evaluation, easiness to apply force in opening was measured by electromyography. As a result, it was found that the bottle with a parallelogram cross section was the easiest. Finally, a questionnaire was conducted on the attractiveness of such bottle as a product and it was confirmed that the bottle earned a higher rating than current products.

収録刊行物